French PM Defends Spending 350,000 Euros On Chartered Flight

Apparently, the chartered flights scandal that enmeshed four Trump cabinet secretaries - eventually leading to the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price - has spread to Paris.

As France 24 reports, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has become entangled in a controversy over his use of a chartered flight to travel from Tokyo to Paris earlier this month. Philippe chartered a private aircraft at a cost of 350,000 euros ($415,000) to bring him and a delegation back from Tokyo earlier this month when a French military transport was flying essentially the same route at roughly the same time.

Philippe on Wednesday defended his decision to charter the Airbus A340 with first-class seats, explaining that he needed to be back in Paris urgently because President Emmanuel Macron was leaving the country, and that the air force plane would’ve been “too uncomfortable” for a nighttime trip.

"It"s complicated to move the prime minister around and it"s expensive," Philippe told RTL radio on Wednesday. "I understand both the surprise and the questions that French people are asking themselves."

Asked by a reporter if his trip had been a mistake, Philippe angrily responded: "I take responsibility for this decision completely, I take responsibility to such an extent that I want to explain it."

Edouard Philippe

Philippe was returning from the far-flung French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on December 5 along with a 60-strong delegation of officials and ministers. For the first leg of the journey from Noumea to Tokyo, they used the air force plane. But instead of continuing on to Paris, Philippe’s office hired the private A340 to complete their journey and arrived home two hours before the army plane which landed in Paris almost empty.

"We knew that there wasn"t a commercial flight at that time and that we needed to get back. We knew we needed to get back for something vital which is that the president was leaving on the Wednesday morning of our return," Philippe added.

The prime minister explained that the requirements of his job made travel expensive, but that he has done everything possible to keep a lid on costs - within reason. As Philippe explained, his travel requirements as prime minister are much more intense compared with those of a private citizen.

"If you had invited Edouard Philippe, I would have come in the metro which would have cost me 1.90 or 2 euros. But... I arrived with four vehicles, motorbikes, 15 people, and a doctor and a transmitter, who stay with me because these are the resources given to a prime minister to enable him to work at all times," he added.

Philippe’s office also pointed out that the trip cost 30% less than the similar trip taken by Prime Minister Manuel Valls in 2016.

Unfortunately for Philippe, his explanation did little to quiet the criticisms. Ex-minister of agriculture Stéphane Le Foll - a member of the Socialist Party - tweeted that "nothing can explain spending 350,000 euros... The Republic"s planes are very good. There"s no need to take private planes just so that you can sleep better."

 

Rien n"explique la dépense de 350 000 euros par @EPhilippePM pour un voyage ! Les avions de la République sont très bien pas besoin de prendre des avions privés pour mieux dormir! ?? #le79inter @franceinter

— Stéphane Le Foll (@SLeFoll) December 20, 2017

 

During his campaign, President Emmanuel Macron committed to running a frugal administration should he win the office. The president inadvertently created a spending-related controversy of his own last weekend by celebrating his 40th birthday at an opulent chateau in France"s Loire Valley.

While the Elysee Palace confirmed that the affair was paid for with private funds, Macron’s critics said the over-the-top party was yet another sign of how France’s youngest president is “cut off from the people.”

German Food Chain Faces Backlash After Airbrushing Crosses From Churches On Food Packaging

Europe’s war on religion has reached an absurd milestone.

According to the Telegraph, customers of budget supermarket Lidl have expressed outrage after the company airbrushed Christian symbols from packaging of its "Eridanous"-branded Greek-food line, which featured images of the Anastasis Church in Santorini, Greece, in order to remain "religiously neutral," as the company claimed.

“The German chain"s Greek food range features images of the famous Anastasis Church in Santorini, Greece, complete with its world-renowned blue dome roof."

Shoppers have taken to the company’s Facebook page to express their "disappointment" that the cross was photoshopped. One user, Daniel Novak, wrote: "I"m highly disappointed in a company that is bending over to cater to specific people. Why are you hiding from the history?”

"We are all to learn from history, removing it with Photoshop will cause the same mistakes of the past to be done over and over again."

One user demanded to know who the company thought it would be offending with the crosses.

“Steve West added: ‘Why have you taken the crosses off the top of Greek churches in your advertising?

‘Is there somebody you will think takes offence? There is. Me, Greeks and many others. I definitely won"t be using you again if you don"t reverse this policy.’”

Another asked why the company felt compelled to erase reality.

“And Daisy Matthews wrote: ‘Why are you erasing the reality from a photo?’

If there were products from Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, or Muslim countries with their symbols depicted on there I wouldn"t have a problem buying them.”

Still others said they felt discriminated against as Christians, and doubted that the company would treat an image of a mosque the same way.

“‘As a Christian I feel really hurt, discriminated against, upset and disappointed that you have done this, if it is the case I won"t be shopping at your store anymore.’

The "Eridanous" range features Greek delicacies such as olive oil, Moussaka, yogurt and gyros.”

In fact, customers have also pointed out that some of the packaging for Halal meats sold at Lidl appear to feature buildings with minarets, a piece of Islamic religious architecture. According to the Telegraph, the row has spread across Europe, with shoppers in Belgium and Germany criticizing the policy.

The company quickly apologized, but it did little to quiet customers’ anger.

"We have been selling our highly popular Eridanous own-label range in Lidl stores across Europe for over 10 years now, and in that time the design of the packaging has been through a number of updates.

"We are extremely sorry for any offence caused by the most recent artwork and would like to reassure our customers that this is not an intentional statement. In light of this we will ensure that all feedback is taken into consideration when redesigning future packaging."

But the Belgian arm of European TV and radio station RTL, which originally picked up the story after a reader who noticed the packaging wrote in, said it had been given a different statement.

Ironically, the company said it airbrushed the cross because it didn’t want to “exclude” customers of different faiths.

“‘We are avoiding the use of religious symbols because we do not wish to exclude any religious beliefs,’ it quoted a spokesman as saying.

‘We are a company that respects diversity and this is what explains the design of this packaging.’”

"Our intention has never been to shock," said the supermarket"s spokesman.

"We avoid the use of religious symbols on our packaging to maintain neutrality in all religions.

‘If it has been perceived differently, we apologize to those who may have been shocked.’”

Lidl’s experience is one that’s becoming increasingly common in the modern PC-dominated culture: Companies offending large groups of customers while actively trying to do the opposite.
 

After Dr. Phil Exposes Elite Pedophile Ring, Major Dutch TV Network Cancels Show

Last month, Dr. Phil aired an explosive exposé on the dark underworld of elite child sex trafficking. The Free Thought Project noted how this was a monumental episode as it took the taboo topic of elite pedophilia and pushed it into the mainstream. Only days later, however, the Dutch media company, RTL, pulled the plug on their 15-year relationship with the Dr. Phil Show.

The timing of this move by RTL couldn’t be more suspicious. On their website, they claim the reason for the cancellation is that they’ve made “different choices in programming.” However, these ‘different choices,’ according to the broadcaster, are repeats of the show Extreme Brides.

While the Dutch broadcaster didn’t specifically state the pedophile exposé as the reason for the removal, the timing should not be ignored — especially given Netherlands’ history with pedophilia.

In 2013, a Dutch court ruled that the disgusting and vile organization, Vereniging MARTIJN, which promotes the legalization of sex between adults and children, has the right to continue to promote it.

After the victory, the organization’s founder, Marthijn Uitenboogaard, went on record, stating he thinks society is too overprotective, according to the Daily Beast. “A child can see a lot of violence on television, on every cartoon there’s violence, on movies people get killed,” he explains, “But when Janet Jackson’s breast is shown at the Super Bowl people say: ‘Oh children are watching this.’ Nakedness and everything concerning sexuality is a taboo and violence is the norm. And I think that should be the other way around.” He further believes “almost everyone has pedophile feelings in them. Only the percentage is different, some have more than others.”

In 2007 the organization came under fire after a member published on its website photos of children of the royal family, including of the crown prince’s daughter, princess Amalia. Then in 2011, former leader Ad van der Berg was sentenced to four years in prison for possession of child pornography, some 157,500 photos and videos, including 12,000 in which he could be seen posing.

Aside from the court legalizing the promotion of pedophilia, last year, a number of high-profile politicians and elite were exposed in a Dutch court by their victims.

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According to one of the victims, former mayor Ed van Thijn, former Minister Onno Rudding and Prince Claus were all involved in pedophile-prostitution to some extent.

According to recent statistics from (UNODC) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, worldwide child trafficking is on the rise. In only a three year span, the percentage of child victims in trafficking increased from 20 percent to 27 percent. Of every three child victims, two are girls and one is a boy.

“Trafficking for sexual exploitation and for forced labour remain the most prominently detected forms, but victims are also being trafficked to be used as beggars, for forced or sham marriages, benefit fraud, or production of pornography,” said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov in presenting the report.

It is entirely possible that the Dutch broadcaster simply wanted a different show. However, it is also entirely possible that the sick and depraved elite society of pedophiles wanted to make an example out of Dr. Phil to prevent anyone else in the mainstream media from shining light into the darkness.

After listening to the horrifying experiences the former child sex slave explained on his show, it is no question that these people want to keep is secret. The victim told terrifying stories of children being hunted like animals in the forest only to be captured and then raped. They were also forced to have babies, which would then be taken away and trafficked as well.

RTL, who owns RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7, RTL 8 and RTL Z, is one of only a handful of broadcasters in the country and has the largest channel spread of them all. Their reach is vast.

READ MORE:  Mainstream Media Finally Exposes Elite Pedophile Rings in a Horrifying Episode of Dr. Phil

Below is a documentary on the horrid nature of the Dutch pedophilia ring.