Self important twit of the week

Some of you may have seen a news story a few weeks ago about Jean-Marie Le Pen, a self-important French politician, objected to being having an embarrassing photo of himself taken in public.

While I'm very glad to see that a court has chucked out the frivolous lawsuit for $56,000 in "damages", I am less pleased to see that the court did fine the photographer €1 as a nominal judgement, and also ordered he pay Le Pen's legal costs.

What sort of crap is this?  They decide there's no claim to be made, but the defendant still has to pay the costs of some politicians's entitlement syndrome?  I realise, as do all thinking people, that the French are an arrogant set of insular, incompetent, lazy cowards, but apparently even their legal system doesn't extend to a level of intelligence beyond this.

Luckily the defendant is going to appeal the decision, and I fervently hope it gets chucked out.

Typical useless politician.  Wants all the media coverage in the world, but only while it's favourable, and thinks he can use his clout to stomp on someone who shows him doing something embarrassing.  Drop dead.

The court also required that the photo be taken down or face a further fine of €1,000 a day, which is more bullshit.  I have no idea what French law is (and for that matter the flight the selfie was taken on was between France and Italy, so does it even fall under French law at all?), but certainly in my legal jurisdiction there is no general right to privacy that protects a person’s image, particularly when not for commercial purposes.  In other words, if you're in public, you chose to be so, and you can't stop your photo being taken.

So fuck you Le Pen, and welcome to the Streisand Effect.

Chilli recipe

1kg minced beef
2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves or a couple of decent spoons of minced garlic
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano (leaves or ground, meh)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 bottle of tomato paste
At least 5 big green jalapeno chillis, chopped - deseed some depending on heat preference (and wash in cold water if even less heat desired).
Tabasco sauce or other chilli sauce, how much is up to you
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 cans kidney beans
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tallie of stout beer (fill the tomatoes can)

To serve:
sour cream
shredded cheese



Fry the mince off in a large pot.  Chop it up with a spatula and get some browning happening.  If any water cooks out, evaporate and continue cooking until you are frying and the mine has a decent crust.

Add onions, garlic, chilli powder, salt, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and Tabasco sauce.  Cook until the onion has softened a bit.

Add everything else left on the bench!  Drink the rest of the beer.

Stir really well and bring to a boil.  Keep stirring so the meat as is broken up as you can get it.

Cook on a low heat for an hour or so, you want the beans tender.  Stir occasionally to stop the bottom catching.



To serve, put up a decent bowl full and add a big handful of shredded cheese.  Stir in so the cheese melts.  Top with a big spoon of sour cream, and add chilli sauce if desired.

For added yums, serve with buttered toast.