France - Explosions and shooting in Paris, 13 November 2015 #3

[dotr]

VRT-deredactie.be-Flanders news in English.For some reason the articles in english do not stay up.

Says the hooker to the bishop! ( again sorry, lol)

 

[cottonweaver]

The controversial French writer and intellectual Michel Houellebecq has issued a harsh critique of François Hollande, saying that the French president and decades of French leaders before him had failed in their fundamental mission of keeping France safe

From cuts to police budgets that made them “almost incapable of doing their jobs” to the promotion of the idea that borders were an “antiquated symbol”, Houellebecq argued in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that a series of mistakes by Hollande and others made them partly culpable for the terrorist threat facing France.
“The inevitable conclusion is unfortunately very tough: the successive governments of the last ten years (20? 30?) have failed pathetically, systematically and heavily in their fundamental mission, which is to protect the French population, which they have been given responsibility for,” he wrote in Corriere.
The controversial remarks are nothing new for France’s most successful living writer. His recent best-seller, Submission, which was set in 2022 and described a France with its first Muslim president, was released on the same day as the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
. In an interview with the Guardian earlier this year, Houellebecq said he would probably describe himself as islamophobic, in so far as “phobia” meant he feared rather than hated Islam.
The writer has lived under constant police guard since January’s terrorist attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/li...igate-isis-mastermind-dead-st-denis-raid-live

 

[cottonweaver]

'Surgery of war': Paris hospital doctors reflect on 12 hours of mayhem
City’s medics tell how they dealt with an emergency on a scale France has not seen since 1945 as 221 patients are still in hospital following Paris attacks

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-french-hospitals-after-facing-surgery-of-war

 

[cattlekate]

This is such a great thread due to the international input. Thank you websleuths! I am especially enjoying momoffourboys' diverse news links. She's a world news reader!

Say, just to add: France 24 (English in USA) can be streamed, live, on Apple devices and through you tube. It is France's government station, and is so refreshing. No shouting at each other, no commercials, no political agenda, and professionally-dressed, serious news readers.

I haven't had cable or air stations in years, but thanks to internet live broadcasting on France 24, I have been able to have a unique, live news source during the Charlie Hebro, Germanwings, Metrojet, and now Paris terrorism events.

I have no clue why BBC, CBC, Russia Today, and Al Jazerra don't do this as well. They all upload English news segments to you tube, but they are not live. Maybe young Justin Trudeau will work on providing live CBC/BBC over the internet, as politically-slanted, and filled with dumb commercials, cable 24 hour news is so old school!

 

[cottonweaver]

Syrian refugees in America: separating fact from fiction in the debate

Obama has condemned more than half of the US’s governors as ‘un-American’ for saying they will no longer provide placement for Syrian refugees. Who is right?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress

Any American posters , for an opinion on this article?

an excerpt:

......But such a fear is misguided because the process of relocating refugees to America is very different from the way that refugees currently arrive in Europe. Syrians flown to the US will be the most heavily vetted group of people currently allowed into the US, according to the State Department.

Each candidate is vetted first by the UN’s refugee agency, and then separately by officials from the State Department, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department. The process takes between 18 months and two years.

By contrast, a refugee hoping to reach Europe can pay a smuggler approximately $1,000 (£660) to take them in a dinghy across the six-mile-wide strait between Turkey and the Greek islands.

Upon arrival, a refugee is fingerprinted and then allowed to reach the European mainland even if they do not have identification documents. They are then transported through a succession of European countries until they reach more welcoming countries, such as Germany, Austria and Sweden, where many of them claim asylum. Due to Europe’s Schengen system, which allows anyone to pass between most of the countries in the EU without having to show their passport, a migrant could then easily reach Paris without ever being given a background check by any government official.

......Since 2012, the US has accepted 2,174 Syrian refugees – roughly 0.0007% of America’s total population. ( similar to UK numbers per capita

 

[catatonia]

To all of our European friends, is this a good idea, or not?

http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-government-floats-mini-schengen-idea-eu-partners-115634969.html

Yes, I think it would be good to reintroduce border checks. However, the article mentioned "transit camps" and I can tell you that at least in Germany, this idea is quite controversial and rejected by many.

 

[Momoffourboys]

This is such a great thread due to the international input. Thank you websleuths! I am especially enjoying momoffourboys' diverse news links. She's a world news reader!

Say, just to add: France 24 (English in USA) can be streamed, live, on Apple devices and through you tube. It is France's government station, and is so refreshing. No shouting at each other, no commercials, no political agenda, and professionally-dressed, serious news readers.

I haven't had cable or air stations in years, but thanks to internet live broadcasting on France 24, I have been able to have a unique, live news source during the Charlie Hebro, Germanwings, Metrojet, and now Paris terrorism events.

I have no clue why BBC, CBC, Russia Today, and Al Jazerra don't do this as well. They all upload English news segments to you tube, but they are not live. Maybe young Justin Trudeau will work on providing live CBC/BBC over the internet, as politically-slanted, and filled with dumb commercials, cable 24 hour news is so old school!

Aww Thank you, CattleKate!
( I've always been a news junkie )

 

[Momoffourboys]

Syrian refugees in America: separating fact from fiction in the debate

Obama has condemned more than half of the US’s governors as ‘un-American’ for saying they will no longer provide placement for Syrian refugees. Who is right?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress

Any American posters , for an opinion on this article?

an excerpt:

IMO and as an American...I don't believe they will be heavily vetted. How on earth is that possible given the time frame?

 

[cottonweaver]

I have no clue why BBC, CBC, Russia Today, and Al Jazerra don't do this as well. They all upload English news segments to you tube, but they are not live. Maybe young Justin Trudeau will work on providing live CBC/BBC over the internet, as politically-slanted, and filled with dumb commercials, cable 24 hour news is so old school!

All the broadsheets here are doing a live feed - in those journalists are doing a trawl of every news source over a 24 hour duration , as opposed to one company or one national source - that's a good diverse alternative -Must be a US based one worth following?

 

[cottonweaver]

IMO and as an American...I don't believe they will be heavily vetted. How on earth is that possible given the time frame?

did you read it Mom.... i didn't know my country was on such a low percentage. and the low incidence rates - 2 %

 

[ZaZara]

Syrian refugees in America: separating fact from fiction in the debate

Obama has condemned more than half of the US’s governors as ‘un-American’ for saying they will no longer provide placement for Syrian refugees. Who is right?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress

Any American posters , for an opinion on this article?

an excerpt:

I'm no American poster, and I see some slight mistakes in the description of the immigrant movement in Europe, but upon the whole, Obama captures the madness of the European 'system' (or better: complete lack of system) rather well.

Anyone who makes even the slightest attempt at selecting refugees in Jordan or Turkey does a better job than Mad Merkel and the Gutmensch Germans.

 

[cottonweaver]

Applications to join the French army have soared since the Islamic State attacks on Paris, according to figures obtained by the newspaper Le Monde.

The military did not want to announce the figures during France’s three-day period of national mourning, but has now said requests for information and applications through its website had trebled from about 500 a day to about 1,500 since the 13 November attacks, the paper reported.

from " Le Monde" published via the guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ad-to-surge-in-applicants-to-join-french-army

 

[leah]

IMO and as an American...I don't believe they will be heavily vetted. How on earth is that possible given the time frame?

Syrians flown to the US will be the most heavily vetted group of people currently allowed into the US, according to the State Department. (from the article) I want to believe that, but if I say I totally think this will happen, I'm sure people will laugh. And even if there will be heavily vetted, people always fall through the cracks. At the same time, no matter what security, whatever vetting, if someone has the mind to do terrible harm, the person/people will find a way. Feel like I'm riding a roller coaster, moments of a bleeding heart, moments of a conservative, and then moments of being in the middle of both. I can't help but keep wondering, where are all these people in desperate need go? And when there is a place to home them, what crackpot is going to do something awful to a group of people, because there is no tolerance or understanding?

 

[dotr]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/paris-attacks-keith-boag-muslims-saint-ouen-1.3325784

"Muslims in Paris suburbs fear and loathe ISIS, too: Keith Boag
Banlieue has become a pejorative for drab, low-income housing projects associated with poverty and crime"

 

[cottonweaver]

couple of eye witnesses told sky news they saw the ringleader (so called "mastermind") drinking whisky, beer and smoking joints on the street outside the St Denis flat after the attacks.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-street-drinking-whisky-bottle-attacks.html

 

[Dockins]

I can't find it now, but last week just before the attacks, there was a piece locally in Charlotte about a Syrian refugee family. They were so thankful to be safe in the US. I really felt for them. Out of millions of refugees, there are many that are not terrorists. As many know, my DH is a pilot, and I worry a lot, but I have learned that many peoples are great and loving. They are not all bearing hatred like ISIS. I don't know how to vet the terrorists, but I would hope someone would help me if I was stuck in the middle of extremists.

 

[bluesneakers]

Syrian refugees in America: separating fact from fiction in the debate

Obama has condemned more than half of the US’s governors as ‘un-American’ for saying they will no longer provide placement for Syrian refugees. Who is right?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress

Any American posters , for an opinion on this article?

an excerpt:

I agree with what Obama said and I agree with this:

“Sowing fear of refugees is exactly the kind of response groups like Isis are seeking,” said Iain Levine, deputy executive director for program at Human Rights Watch, on Thursday. “Yes, governments need to bring order to refugee processing and weed out militant extremists, but now more than ever they also need to stand with people uprooted from their homes by ideologies of hatred and help them find real protection.”

I think it's important for a rich and powerful country like ours to continue helping people who need it.

The quote about smugglers bothers me because people who can afford that are either not refugees or are refugees setting themselves up to be taken advantage of. Imagine saving up a fortune to save a family member and never knowing if he or she were killed or abused or sold into slavery. If that happens, imo, it's similar to what happens to people who hand their lives over to smugglers to come to America through Mexico, or to people trying to reach North America (and Australia) by boat. They're treated horribly and often turned away anyway.

 

[Zuri]

Syrian refugees in America: separating fact from fiction in the debate

Obama has condemned more than half of the US’s governors as ‘un-American’ for saying they will no longer provide placement for Syrian refugees. Who is right?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress

Any American posters , for an opinion on this article?

an excerpt:

Thank you for posting this article. I hate that ISIS has been so successful in fearmongering. They need to be destroyed and hopefully, Turkey will step up and The EU and US can get on the same page in their fight against ISIS. IMO

 

[Mrs G Norris]

A STARTUP from Silicon Valley has been caught in the middle of the cyberwar between Anonymous and Islamic State, with the hacking collective accusing it of helping keep terrorist websites online.

The company, known as CloudFlare, is a content-distribution network which prevents small to medium-sized websites from crashing by absorbing internet traffic when their servers become inundated.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/o...s/news-story/cc3b7d083bf8ef2f956da42837e1710d

Must be having trouble with their DOS attacks ...

Yes, it looks like that is one of the services CloudFlare offers: https://www.cloudflare.com/features-security/

Advanced DDoS protection – layer 7

Sudden surges in traffic are often difficult to manage. CloudFlare layer 7 DDoS protection offers your website automatic protection by constantly monitoring and reacting to changes in your site’s traffic patterns.

Funny, the blog that I linked yesterday criticising Anonymous uses the same company for protection .. funny that.

 

[cottonweaver]

Brother (not close) , neighbours and acquaintances are giving an account of the female suicide bomber's lifestyle- lifestyle, background , education.

Most unlikely suicide bomber basically, certainly not what I would have imagined.