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Post by htmb on Dec 6, 2015 17:55:13 GMT
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Post by bjd on Dec 6, 2015 18:12:43 GMT
Well...the day after the attacks, Bono also said it was an attack on music!
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Post by htmb on Dec 9, 2015 15:05:39 GMT
I'll be there next time !!!! I will count on that and look forward to seeing your group in action at quiz night.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 10, 2015 20:01:22 GMT
We're the best. Won last time !
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Post by lagatta on Dec 18, 2015 23:53:39 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 6:23:23 GMT
Just another example of how the media often choose the wrong word. One term that particularly annoys me about reports of terrorist attacks is how the terrorists are almost always referred to as "cowardly." I can think of at least a dozen negative qualifying terms to refer to such people, but "cowardly" is not one of them, especially when they blow themselves up. When the "good guys" went on suicide missions, for example in WW2, they were performing exactly the same activities, but I never heard anybody call them "cowards."
Meanwhile, in the good news department, another of the cafés that was attacked in Paris reopened this week.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 19, 2015 11:29:19 GMT
As an aftermath of the attacks, Thalys trains are now boarded after safety checks like in airports. Thalys advise to be 20 min before boarding unless you have a platinum card for frequent travelers... French love priviledges.
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Post by questa on Dec 19, 2015 12:37:25 GMT
One TV news report always described bank or service station robberies as "daring". I was so annoyed that I phoned them to complain, pointing out that a thug who hits an old woman to the ground and terrorises sole attendants with a gun does not qualify as 'daring,' but to use the word 'cowardly' instead. They actually did so for a few months.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2015 19:54:31 GMT
I don't know what other cities do to thank/reward/compensate people who have helped in times of crisis like this, but the city of Paris is giving TVs, X-boxes, Play Stations and other such things to all of the soldiers (about 5000) currently protecting Paris, as Christmas presents. And tonight at the Bercy sports arena, there is a show for 12,000 emergency workers, hospital staff, firemen, police, etc., who participated in assistance on November 13 and the following days. I am rather pleased when I know that my local taxes are making such things possible.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 22, 2015 2:32:11 GMT
I presume they are also properly compensating the families of the two police officers who were killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack and its aftermath. Yes, of course it is good to recognise them. It was shameful how some of the emergency responders were treated after 9-11.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2015 5:46:38 GMT
The funds for victims and their families are completely different things. I just thought it was very nice to compensate people who have done and are still doing a very difficult job.
Meanwhile, Charlie Hebdo is still distributing money to victims from all of the money they received as donations from around the world after the attack. This week they are releasing another 4.5 million euros.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 22, 2015 10:39:43 GMT
Well, that would certainly apply to the two police officers and the victims at Hyper Casher as much as the Charlie staff, so it answers my query. Yes, it is wonderful to recognize the emergency workers, who must still be experiencing very high levels of stress.
It never ends. A friend (originally from Colmar) landed at Roissy on the 13th of November, and was going to meet her two sisters who had taken the train from Strasbourg. And yes, their hotel was in the 11th... She, and her husband who had remained here, did not have a happy time (though she was happy to see her sisters - they are all retired and fortunately all in vigorous good shape).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2015 12:18:59 GMT
So, on the last day of this terrible year for Paris, I went to see a few places again. It made me feel better about next year.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 31, 2015 17:07:39 GMT
Yes, and it looks like a beautiful day. Hope 2016 is happier in Paris, and everywhere.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 7:42:00 GMT
Rather than putting Mohamed on the cover of its one year special edition, Charlie Hebdo put God on the front page instead.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 4, 2016 9:51:26 GMT
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Post by whatagain on Jan 4, 2016 19:33:06 GMT
I slept in a hotel a few dozens meters after the Carillon. Quite sobering to pass it to your hotel.
We have a scandal in Belgium where a military man has been photographed (and of course posted on FB) doing some quick shopping. He was suspended (must find out what they mean by that - I suspect 'light arrests') by the Army and now everybody is saying on FB 'ow, so bad' - people should learn what can happen when they post something...
Anyway, we like our soldiers too. Not quite the same with police :-(
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Post by lagatta on Jan 7, 2016 14:06:46 GMT
I imagine that our friend K2 knew absolutely nothing about the fellow who tried to enter a police commissariat in La Goutte d'Or, 18th arrondissement, wielding a knife and wearing what turned out to be a fake explosive vest. After all, I was writing a final exam while the Polytechnique massacre was ongoing at Université de Montréal...
That is the part of the large northern arrondissement where K2's mum resides in a nursing home - he lives east of there, near the boundary with the 19th. The famous neighbourhood of Montmartre and Sacré Coeur are located west and of course on higher ground than La Goutte d'or.
It is an old working-class district that featured in books by Zola and songs by Aristide Bruant, which welcomed waves of immigrants, and had a large North African population, joined later by West and Central Africans around Château Rouge. But even those areas are becoming gentrified to some degree now.
I know nothing, but I'm wondering whether this wasn't basically a man with mental problems, which was the case of our assailant at the War Memorial and the Parliament in Ottawa...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2016 14:50:04 GMT
He is being described as a deranged man, but a lot of precautions are being taken anyway. The whole area is closed down and I have been listening to sirens all afternoon. That police station is only a few hundred metres away -- and of course even closer to my mother's nursing home.
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Post by mossie on Jan 7, 2016 19:53:21 GMT
Pleased to hear you are not directly affected Kerouac. Not good all the same, sounds like another nutter who hopefully was acting alone.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2016 21:48:35 GMT
I fell asleep in front of a public affairs programme about the terrorist attacks of 2015. But then I suddenly woke up and felt compelled to take some candles to Place de la République immediately. So I grabbed a handful of votive candles (6 in fact; I wish I had taken more.) and jumped on the bus. There were plenty of people there as usual, and they had brought candles as well. There were also people specialised in relighting candles that had blown out. I didn't stay very long, but I felt that I had done my duty for today's commemorations.
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Post by whatagain on Jan 7, 2016 22:56:44 GMT
Good of you.
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Post by htmb on Jan 7, 2016 23:58:03 GMT
So sad. All those poor dead people, and their mourning families and friends.
I read an interview with one of the survivors of the Hypercacher and it's clear the poor man will never be the same again.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 8, 2016 0:25:23 GMT
Yes, I have a friend who lives not far from that Hyper Cacher. The creep stopped shooting to make himself a sandwich from the charcuterie section.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2016 17:23:10 GMT
Today was the first officially approved public gathering since the state of emergency was declared. There was an event planned at Place de la République to commemorate the first anniversary of the march by 4 million people a year ago. I did not plan to attend, but I passed through the area. Security was enormous. It was a very nice ceremony (which I watched on television) but the public was extremely sparse. One of the reasons was "terrorism ceremony burnout" because there were ceremonies on 'Charlie Day', on 'Montrouge policewoman day' and on 'Hypercacher day' which was just yesterday. Even though the normal public was not invited, we certainly got all of it on television. However, I think the prime reason that people did not want to attend was due to "security burnout." We know that bags have to be checked, coats have to be opened, etc., in this new world, but it all gets so tiresome that whenever you can think of a way to not have to show your bag or open your coat, you prefer to do that instead. And today that meant staying home for most Parisians.
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Post by questa on Jan 10, 2016 22:40:03 GMT
Kerouac2...please don't think like that, it means the bastards have won. "Not with a bang, but a whimper".
Put up with the tedium of security checks as your part in the battle. Be nice to the jumped up little bag searcher, he is there to take a piece of shrapnel in your place.
Paris (so I am told) is a special city, with its people strolling in the parks and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors. So much of the city relies on the energy of its people coming together, creating 'Paris' minute by minute.
How the Bad Guys will cheer when everyone stays home rather than have security checks.
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Post by mossie on Jan 11, 2016 14:38:41 GMT
Well said Questa, remember the old adage "nil carborundum", which translates as "Don't let the bastards grind you down"
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Post by tod2 on Jan 11, 2016 14:47:01 GMT
There is only one security check left in my town.....when you enter the casino.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 11, 2016 16:47:46 GMT
Mossie, I know it as 'Nil illegitimi carborundum'.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 17:32:42 GMT
The state of emergency is supposed to end on February 26th in France if nothing new happens. Security will be relaxed then. Probably a lot of the stores and shopping malls will stop by the end of the winter sales. The verifications are a farce anyway and are just pandering to public opinion. Meanwhile, the café on Place de la République which is owned by the city of Paris will change names when it reopens. There was a fire there in February 2015 and it won't reopen for another month or two. It used to be called Monde et Médias because it had a lot of the international press available for customers to read but the new name will be the (Latin) motto of the city of Paris Fluctuat Nec Mergitur. In light of recent events, it is highly appropriate.
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