Paris Under Attack

Nov 13

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I’ve been sitting in front of the television watching the news on this ongoing event.  Much is not yet known, and the death troll continues to increase; now reported at 43 and with many others wounded.

It’s now after midnight in Paris.  What appears to be an organized terror attack took place at three locations; a restaurant, a theater, and a sports stadium.  An American heavy metal rock group was scheduled to perform at the theater, and it is reported that there are at least 100 hostages.  MSNBC reported that there were tweets from those inside the theater saying that the terrorists were killing them one-by-one.

Paris has closed its borders.   It has declared a state of emergency and deployed its military.

Telegraph has live stream (in French) as well as a timeline of terrorist attacks on France.

 

 

 

Posted on 11/13/2015, in Potpourri and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink. 46 Comments.

  1. Jessie | 11/13/2015 at 6:18 pm

    I simply don’t understand the hate and blood shed. This is such a ghastly and cowardly attack. I feel so angry and upset. I pray for the people affected. And RIP for those dead.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • Xena | 11/15/2015 at 3:14 pm

      Hey Jessie!
      I don’t understand it either, nor people thinking that blowing themselves up to kill others is honorable. Whatever “leader” they have influencing them to do that is a coward.

      Liked by 1 person

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  2. scrodriguez | 11/13/2015 at 6:23 pm

    Praying for Paris I am stuck watching Fox News here at the hotel so I really cant comment because those idiots dont fact check squat they just report and insert their own delusional narratives.

    Liked by 2 people

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  3. Deborah the Closet Monster | 11/13/2015 at 6:35 pm

    I wasn’t aware of this at all until now. I’ll be tuning in after the little ones are in bed. Gah.

    Liked by 2 people

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  4. yahtzeebutterfly | 11/13/2015 at 6:48 pm

    My thoughts and prayers have been with the people of Paris.

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  5. Xena | 11/13/2015 at 7:37 pm

    The body count has increased. 100 reported killed in the theater.

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    • scrodriguez | 11/14/2015 at 2:36 pm

      One of the victims was a student at the school where my wife teaches, She is in a conference right now I am not sure if its one of her former students or not but we have a rather large group of students and faculty from CSULB in Seattle now for a conference I am not sure if any of them are aware yet

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  6. yahtzeebutterfly | 11/13/2015 at 8:32 pm

    Marshall Ramsey ‏@MarshallRamsey
    #prayforParis via @clarionledger

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  7. Two sides to a story | 11/13/2015 at 9:09 pm

    Can barely comprehend Paris and now I see nature has gone awry in Japan. #PrayersToTheWorld

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  8. Xena | 11/13/2015 at 9:19 pm

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  9. Gronda Morin | 11/14/2015 at 9:59 am

    Yesterday, was surreal. I and a friend spent the whole day/ evening at Epcot (Disney) eating our way through all the booths of their wine/ food festival. It was past midnight before I started checking on various blogs to find out about the devastation that occurred in Paris. Now I learn that ISIS is claiming responsibility. This is beyond a nightmare.

    Now, with the loss of lives, pain in dealing with the reality of this tragedy, the blame game starts which is a waste of time. This is an evil group inviting to be attacked by the world. We should accommodate their evil, sick, barbaric thinking. They need to learn that they are not being directed by God!

    However those who are calling for the US to step in to take leadership, are going to have to put their own boots on the ground and to accept their share of this responsibility..

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    • Xena | 11/14/2015 at 3:13 pm

      Hey Gronda. You’ve done some very detailed posts on the middle east. What I’m wondering is if Saudi Arabia is affected by ISIS and what their position is. Would you happen to know?

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      • Gronda Morin | 11/16/2015 at 12:35 pm

        I have hesitated to answer this because I have some very mixed feelings about Saudi Arabia that I almost don’t know where to begin. Remember 9/11, 14 of the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia. This is a Sunni majority governed country. Their major enemy (rival) is the Shia majority country, Iran. They have been funding insurgent groups for years with some unintended consequences like the 9/11 attack on our twin towers in NYC. Almost all the Islamic extremist groups are Sunnis with the one exception of Hezbollah which has its origins in Lebanon. Remember that Osama bin Laden was originally from Saudi Arabia. Now that we have eliminated the Sunnis leadership in Iraq, what is left is a Shia majority population which would inevitably be drawn to their neighbor Iran, with a Shia majority. This terrifies Saudi Arabia. It was not just Israel pushing the US to war with Iran. Saudi Arabia was lobbying for this as well. In short, there are a lot of competing interests in this part of the world.

        Saudi Arabia is feeling the effects of ISIS because ISIS eventually would want to be the Emirs of this country, but Saudi intelligence and military might have been able to keep them ineffective when it comes to getting a foothold in their own country.

        This country practices Sharia law. Women were finally able to ride a bicycle in a park as of 2013 but only if accompanied by a male. In 2015, it is the first year women are allowed to run for elected government positions and to vote. The government will not grant driver’s licenses to women and so they cannot drive a car. Their education system is highly segregated and very limiting. For example, at the university level, women can watch their professor give a lecture via a TV monitor and they have to ask questions via a telephone; etc,etc,etc.

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        • Gronda Morin | 11/16/2015 at 3:24 pm

          PS. When I say, they practice Sharia law, I am including stoning for adultery; cutting off of limbs for theft. There are still public executions and flogging in public (stadium). Executions are by beheading by a sword. In recent years, a young girl received many lashings for talking back to her teacher. Although FMG-female mutilation of genitalia is against the law; but in the south, it is practiced.

          Women in public are swathed in long, black cloaks known as abayas, usually paired with the hijab (headscarf) or niqab (which leaves a slit for the eyes), or a burqa (which covers the body from head to toe, with a mesh for the eyes). There are religious police and zealots which make sure that women comply..

          We don’t hear a lot about Saudi Arabia human rights violations because this country is a long time friend of the US and we get their oil. We have a major naval base in Bahrain, so when they brutalized their citizens when they protested during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, we here in the US heard virtually nothing.(They were cited for human rights violations)

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          • Xena | 11/16/2015 at 8:33 pm

            Hey Gronda! Thanks for the information. I barely heard of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and still wonder what was the reason.

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          • Gronda Morin | 11/18/2015 at 5:16 am

            Technically, It started in Tunisia when an unemployed man was selling goods to make a living. After government officials took some of his equipment, he then set himself on fire upon which huge protests broke out. This was late 2010. By march 2011, major protests broke out in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, and then other middle east countries.

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      • yahtzeebutterfly | 11/18/2015 at 3:03 pm

        “The Saudis Are Stumbling. They May Take the Middle East with Them”
        http://www.thenation.com/article/the-saudis-are-stumbling-they-may-take-the-middle-east-with-them/

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        • Gronda Morin | 11/19/2015 at 10:43 am

          The article you refer to highlights the main points. One major point to focus on is that Saudi is Sunni Muslim and governed by sharia law.They hate and fear Iran which is Shia Muslim but also governed by sharia law. It was not only Israeli leaders lobbying against the Iran nuclear deal, but the Saudis. With this agreement, if Iran abides by the agreement they will have access to billions of their currently frozen assets.This is upsetting to Saudi Arabia. Saudia Arabia wants the more secular governed President Assad of Syria gone who is Alawite Shia. Just so you know Saudi was brutal to their own protesters after the 2011 Arab Spring but they are our ally with the oil. Bahrain was cited with human rights violations but the US has a major naval base in their territory. So, when the US decries how brutal President Assad acted during this time period, which is true but it is not the whole story.

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  10. scrodriguez | 11/14/2015 at 12:36 pm

    A student from Cal State Long Beach was among one of the 129 victims this has hit home

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  11. scrodriguez | 11/14/2015 at 12:39 pm

    Random thoughts here, America needs to really wake up we need to stand up and re unite, we started a fire in the middle east and look at the results both Syria and Iraq are war torn and there has been civil wars in both nations as a result of war.

    Should another world war break out and its brought here to the US do you think our Nation would end up any different? considering the tensions going on and how divided we have become a war being brought here to the homeland would leave us in a similar position that those two nations are in right now.

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    • Xena | 11/14/2015 at 3:45 pm

      I don’t know, Santiago. Because America has its own inward problems is probably why we have not yet experienced suicide bombers. Rather, we experience mass murderers who put a bullet in their own heads.

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  13. yahtzeebutterfly | 11/14/2015 at 6:07 pm

    I am sending my deep sympathy to the loved ones of the people killed and strong prayers for the healing of those people who were wounded. May God guide the hands of the doctors in in whose care they are.

    I am praying that there may be healing of hearts in the world and that love replace the hate. May the people of the world come together in understanding and in kindness.

    Walk together, talk together,
    all ye peoples of the earth;
    then and only then
    shall ye have peace.

    I am keeping hope alive in my heart. The world CAN have a better future.

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  14. IdealisticRebel | 11/16/2015 at 5:20 pm

    I pray for one world filled with love, compassion, caring, goodness, gentleness and goodness. Hugs, Barbara

    Liked by 1 person

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  15. yahtzeebutterfly | 11/16/2015 at 6:50 pm

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  16. Xena | 11/16/2015 at 8:29 pm

    ISIS has threatened to attack Washington.

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  17. yahtzeebutterfly | 11/17/2015 at 9:59 am

    These are some of the words that a grieving man wrote in a poignant letter to the terrorists who killed his wife in Paris:

    “On Friday evening you stole the life of an exceptional person, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hatred.

    “So no, I will not give you the satisfaction of hating you. You want it, but to respond to hatred with anger would be to give in to the same ignorance that made you what you are.

    “You would like me to be scared, for me to look at my fellow citizens with a suspicious eye, for me to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You have lost. The player still plays.

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  18. Kev | 11/18/2015 at 2:10 pm

    ISIS deserve everything they’ve got coming to them and more… cowardly bastards! Do they honestly think blowing themselves up with suicide vests wins them any favours? Fools! Any fool can wave a gun about and blindly kill people… What are they trying to prove? We will not be subjugated by terrorism!

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    • Xena | 11/18/2015 at 8:15 pm

      Kev, I don’t get that blowing up, suicidal method. I can see sacrificing a life to save lives, but not killing oneself to kill others. People would have to be brainwashed to do that.

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    • mindyme62 | 11/19/2015 at 10:24 am

      Recent reports say the terrorist had no interest in Islam or any religion. They mostly just smoked a lot of pot and drank all day. Not Islam practices at all.

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      • Kev | 11/19/2015 at 2:26 pm

        It’s probably how they get brainwashed to begin with… through pot and drink! Having said that, one can’t believe everything one hears.

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        • Xena | 11/20/2015 at 9:15 pm

          Hey Kev! I don’t know about the pot and drink. LOL! By the way, it was reported today that the woman in the apartment yesterday was wearing a vest of explosives, but she did not detonate it. It was a man in the room with her that detonated his vest and it killed both of them.

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  19. eurobrat | 11/20/2015 at 10:24 pm

    Some of the reactions to the attack have been scary too. Trump proposing a database to track Muslims? Praying that we don’t carried away by fear and do awful things ourselves….

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    • Gronda Morin | 11/21/2015 at 3:01 am

      What is worse is that this is the attitude that ISIS wants. They are under the belief that they are being directed by Allah. Their strategy is to create strong hateful feelings between Muslims and non Muslims (the West). When we act in fear and say that we do not want Syrian refugees to come to the USA, they win. By their actions, they are inviting retaliation. They are convinced that they are acting out the Apocalypse. As western powers place their soldiers on the ground, then they can ratchet up their brutality (which is already cruel) because they as Muslims are free to do whatever to the infidels (the western non Muslims). This is an ideology. This is why containment is not the ideal strategy. As they gain territory, monies that they have collected from all the banks from the territories they now control; oil they are selling and taxes they are collecting from the folks living in their territory, they become emboldened which is what we are seeing.

      This is time to take the Apocalypse to ISIS to break their ideology. Then they will not have the success in recruiting they now have..

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