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Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

nytimes.com

461–470 of 672 posts

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Eastern Bloc had plenty of terrorism, as well as organized crime -- who do you think was supplying all those black markets? Being a police state is one thing; being an _effective_ police state is something else, much harder (at least in the pre-computer era). In the Soviet case, it didn't help that they didn't really care much about crime...

Plenty of terrorism? USSR funded and commited plenty of terrorism, but I've yet to hear of any terrorist incidents prior to the perestroila.. Soviets did have some organized crime, but they were well, Russians. GDR, Czechoslovakia, etc, somewhat less inept countries had very little crime and no organized crime to speak of.

> Plenty of terrorism? USSR funded and commited plenty of terrorism, but I've yet to hear of any terrorist incidents prior to the perestroila..

While the regime exercised strong control of information prior to glasnost, and had plenty of motive to repress information that would indicate weakness of the regime, there are numerous known hijackings, the 1977 Moscow bombings, and others. (While reliable information about responsibility for some, and any broader organizational responsibility that might be behind those clearly responsible for others, is hard to come by, there does seem to be a disproportionate link to Armenia among the known incidents, with some specifically linked to Armenian nationalists.)

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#462
post #453

[deleted]

I think the bar is to commemorate Gene Amdahl. I think the bar appeared before the attacks.

My mistake. Thank you (and sciurus) for pointing that out to me.

Here's [1] the discussion of the black bar in the Amdahl thread and I agree that it's a very proper show of respect for that man.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10557967

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#463

In Paris right now. We are in shock. At both the scale and the extremely coordinated nature of the attacks on civilians at multiple locations. I work near rue Bichat and Le Petit Cambodge, a warm little restaurant in the 10e that my colleagues and I frequent, where people were tonight killed. The Bataclan is a well-known concert venue for metal bands, where I've seen several bands play live. Les Halles is at the cent…

Sad. Of course. I know the French people will not be intimidated by this.

I find it sometimes asphyxiating to realize humanity has come so far and yet can devolve into baseline animal behavior at the drop of a feather. We are very far away, as a whole, from being an enlightened species.

Clearly there's a huge problem with a small percentage of people in the Islamic world. It seems obvious the "adults on the planet" could and should have the power to truly unite against this ridiculous minority and stop these lunatics cold. Now. Not in ten years. Now.

I don't know what the solution might be but it certainly isn't anywhere near appeasing or accepting them (the minority is what I am talking about). I do know it is sad and ridiculous that in the year 2015 we have to take off our shoes to get on planes and worry about getting shot in a theater or restaurant.

Haven't we all had enough?

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#464
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I volunteered two different refugee camp constructions in Syrian border and I know the difference between a refugee camp and a homeless camp clearly.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais_jungle

I wonder about the etymology behind the term "jungle" here.

Is it derived from the slang term that train hoppers and other people in hobo culture use for the temporary, makeshift residences they hold in the woods near train yards during travel?

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to bjs.gov (Bureau of Justice Statistics), it's been around 11-12,000 gun homicides in recent years, down from around 16,000 a few years ago. Over half of those are black-on-black shootings, mainly gang related. If you control for these gangland shootings, the per capita rate in the U.S. is about the same as Western Europe and Canada. The U.S. has a socio-economic problem in the ghetto areas, not a gun prob…

I suspect law abiding black citizens in gangland ghettos aren't doing most of the shootings either. What you've done here is to subdivide the whole American population into a group of "not many shooters" and "Higher proportion of shooters". Of course you can always do that, and always find a more specific group that dominates the statistics for any type of crime. But there's a worrying implication that we should some…

If those gang bangers are felons, it's already banned.

It's also illegal to murder someone, yet that doesn't seem to stop those that commit said crime.

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#466

The repeated attacks, heavy immigration of refugees...I'm hoping for the best, but I feel like there is a powder keg here. Whether or not it is based in any fact, how this is handled and plays out is a serious concern.

I am afraid. Seriously. I'm scared about my life and life of my family, and the civilization we enjoy in Europe. There was a lot of mess already with the current immigration crisis. Now add that attack, and like you said, it's a powder keg, except I'm afraid that this shooting may have just lit the fuse. People will be connecting those two issues. They already are, judging from things that start popping up on my Face…

> draconian security measures will be introduced by the government

Inevitable. The attack is no joke, it certainly alarms that the current measure is inadequate.

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#467

The US terrorism alert level has not been raised, and there are no US terrorism alerts from Homeland Security following this.[1] PJM and CAISO (the two biggest US power grid operators) aren't showing any emergency actions or warnings. So the US anti-terrorism community isn't seeing an imminent threat. [1] http://www.dhs.gov/news/2015/11/13/statement-secretary-jeh-c...

And let me tell you, my evening was pivoting on what the terrorism alert level would be today. It was double-plus-orangy-red before, right?

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#468

This soils the reputation of islam. I know some good people (muslims) who suffer from prejudice on a daily basis because of attacks like these. Being a muslim in a foreign country is an increasingly difficult and isolating experience.

Islam soils the reputation of islam. It has a massive problem of large percentages of Muslims supporting (or being okay with) violence and terrorism. 42% of young Muslims in France believe suicide bombings are justified (35% overall). http://www.pewresearch.org/files/old-assets/pdf/muslim-ameri...

For clarity, the categories from the survey are often/sometimes/rarely/never justified, with respective percentages of 6%, 10%, 19%, and 64% for all Muslims.

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#469
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that have any value beyond reinforcing people's irrational fear of mass deaths? What if you let your family know you're not one of the 100 killed in this attack then die as one of the 600 murdered in France each year by common crime? I saw this happen with the London bombings. A colleague was almost in tears because her son lived in London and she couldn't contact him on the phone. It turned out he was fine, as…

There are more [geographical] disasters besides terrorist attacks. Tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. where it's much more likely for broad swathes of people to be affected.

A good friend of mine headed up this project when she was at FB. Natural disasters were exactly what they had in mind. We were in touch earlier this afternoon, and she said this was not a use case they had considered.

Re: Paris Shootings and Explosions Kill Over 100, Police Say

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, under what logic would this stop or get any better if we allow the cancer to grow?

War on Terror is causing the cancer.

So just give up and offer your good will???
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