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We are all France! Though we are never all Lebanon or Syria or Iraq!

David Swanson
CounterCurrents.org
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 01:24 UTC
we are all france
© Unkown
We are all France. Apparently. Though we are never all Lebanon or Syria or Iraq for some reason. Or a long, long list of additional places.

We are led to believe that U.S. wars are not tolerated and cheered because of the color or culture of the people being bombed and occupied. But let a relatively tiny number of people be murdered in a white, Christian, Western-European land, with a pro-war government, and suddenly sympathy is the order of the day.

"This is not just an attack on the French people, it is an attack on human decency and all things that we hold dear," says U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. I'm not sure I hold ALL the same things dear as the senator, but for the most part I think he's exactly right and that sympathy damn well ought to be the order of the day following a horrific mass killing in France.

I just think the same should apply to everywhere else on earth as well. The majority of deaths in all recent wars are civilian. The majority of civilians are not hard to sympathize with once superficial barriers are overcome. Yet, the U.S. media never seems to declare deaths in Yemen or Pakistan or Palestine to be attacks on our common humanity.

I included "pro-war government" as a qualification above, because I can recall a time, way back in 2003, when I was the one shouting "We are all France," and pro-war advocates in the United States were demonizing France for its refusal to support a looming and guaranteed to be catastrophic and counterproductive U.S. war. France sympathized with U.S. deaths on 911, but counseled sanity, decency, and honesty in response. The U.S. told France to go to hell and renamed french fries in Congressional office buildings.

Now, 14 years into a global war on terror that reliably produces more terror, France is an enthusiastic invader, plunderer, bomber, and propagator of hateful bigotry. France also sells billions of dollars of weaponry to lovely little bastions of equality and liberty like Saudi Arabia, carefully ignoring Saudis' funding of anti-Western terrorist groups.
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Bandaid

America: Your solidarity with Paris is embarrassingly misguided

Claire Bernish
AntiMedia
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 19:54 UTC
we are all france
© Unkown
The World, at Large — We are in mourning. Again. Indeed, Paris is in mourning, again.

For the second time in less than a year, we are all de facto Parisians — with Facebook profiles, casinos, and whole buildings draped in the blue, white, and red of the French flag. Solidarity as sympathy, bien sûr — a most poignant message that humanity stands with Paris — and will act decisively to avenge the "carnage" unexpectedly wrought by those whose motives most will never fall victim to, much less comprehend.

Most?

Evidently, despite the accumulated knowledge of the entire planet at our disposal through the computer screen, solidarity has escaped some of us.

And I am weary.

Without question, I mourn for Paris' recent victims and their families — and I would never claim knowledgeable firsthand experience of the same. But I refuse — despite my partial French heritage — to cloak myself in nationalism of any stripe or star, particularly not now. Because, besides victims in Paris, an incomprehensibly astronomic number of people have been grieving loss of the highest order for some time — in places whose names roll off our tongues as if it's accepted that violence simply happens there — and a majority likely couldn't guess the colors on these victims' flags.

You see, I also mourn for those killed mere hours before Paris crumbled into chaos, in strikingly similar attacks in Beirut.

I mourn the hundreds of thousands displaced or killed in Syria, no matter their pledged allegiance. No matter their professed religion. No matter.

I mourn for the millions killed in ongoing and renewed, illegal United States' aggression in Iraq — and those facing a torturous demise from exposure to depleted uranium employed in violation of international and humanitarian law — for reasons far closer to 'American' and corporate hegemony than compassionate principle.
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Bizarro Earth

Jaw dropping: Mother accused of taping toddler's mouth, hands and feet


AJC
Sun, 15 Nov 2015 01:54 UTC
Image
© Hall County Sheriff’s Office
Grace An, 18, was arrested after allegedly using cellophane and packing tape to bind her child’s mouth, hands and feet.
A Hall County mother was arrested after her 16-month-old was found in her car's backseat bound with cellophane and packing tape, the sheriff's office said Thursday.

Grace Love An, 18, called a locksmith Wednesday night to unlock her car on Ahaluna Drive, near Gainesville. The locksmith called police after seeing the child, who was lying in the backseat with cellophane and packing tape wrapped around the child's mouth, hands and feet, the sheriff's office said.

Comment:

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Sun

Muslim people around the world condemn Paris attacks in unison

Adam Johnson
AlterNet
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 00:00 UTC
Image

Outpouring of grief shared by people of all faiths and no faith.

One CIA estimate puts ISIS' total manpower at 31,500, about one-third the capacity of Rose Bowl stadium, or roughly, 0.0019% of the world's total Muslim population when rounding down to 1.6 billion. The idea that the remaining 1,599,965,000 Muslims ought to jump on Twitter and condemn ISIS isn't just silly, it's a definition of prejudice. But here we are. Another attack, another round of people calling on moderate Muslims to condemn something they had nothing to do with. Or as Mohamed Ghilan tweeted last year:

Comment: How awful that not only scores of people died a horrible, tragic and senseless death in Paris yesterday, but that an entire group of people will now be further demonized and lumped in with the maniacs who commit the crimes we are now compelled to face.

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Bizarro Earth

Sickening! Married Oakland County couple accused of producing and distributing child pornography


WXYZ
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 01:40 UTC
Feds believe couple used own children to produce porn


An Oakland County couple is facing child pornography charges involving images and video of children as young a 1 years old.

According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Colin Matthew Boyle is facing charges he produced, distributed, received and possessed child pornography. Anngela Boyle is facing charges she distributed, received and possessed child pornography.
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Fire

Huge fire devastates city hall in Paris suburbs


RT
Sun, 15 Nov 2015 01:23 UTC
Paris city hall fire
© lau.laux / Instagram
A huge fire has damaged the city hall in the Villejuif commune in the southern suburbs of Paris. It is unknown what caused the blaze, which comes a day after a series of deadly attacks struck France's capital.

Fire brigades were deployed to the scene and reportedly managed to contain the fire, witnesses wrote. There have been no reports of injuries or casualties. Those in the vicinity of the blaze were quick to post images of the inferno on social networks.
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Fire

Huge fire rips through Bedford-Stuyvesant building

Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 22:58 UTC
Image
© Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News
A two-alarm fire broke out behind the Monroe Bus Company at 60 Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn.
A massive Saturday afternoon blaze ripped through a Brooklyn building and threatened to tear down the entire structure, officials said.

The fire erupted inside the Nostrand Ave. building near Flushing Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant about 12:10 p.m., officials said.

More than 100 firefighters were dispatched to put out the fire, which was whipped up into a frenzy by strong winds, officials said.

Comment: Another huge blaze in Manhattan's East side as fire rips through residential building

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Bomb

Student from Southern California among those killed in Paris


Press TV
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:48 UTC
Nohemi
© sundial.csun.edu
American Nohemi Gonzalez, a victim in the Paris attacks, November 13, 2015
An American student from the state of California was also killed in the Paris terror attacks, her university has announced.

Twenty-three-year-old Nohemi Gonzalez, a junior studying design at California State University, Long Beach, was one of the at least 129 killed in a series of bombings and shootings in Paris on Friday night. Some reports said she was 20 years old.

The university said in a in a statement on its Facebook page on Saturday that Gonzalez was studying at the Strate College of Design in Paris as part of a study abroad program this autumn.

"I'm deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Long Beach State University student Nohemi Gonzalez. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this sad time," university President Jane Close Conoley said in the statement. "Our university stands with our nearly eighty foreign exchange students from France as they struggle with this tragedy. We will extend all support necessary to comfort them. We will also extend support to all students, faculty and staff who are in need."

In a separate statement, the US State Department said that some US citizens were wounded in the terrorist attacks but it did not say how many. "We are aware there are Americans among the injured, and are offering them the full range of consular assistance. The US government is working closely with French authorities to identify American victims," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

Comment: Tragedy that need not happen to anyone, anywhere. A sad and horrifying day in Paris.
See also:

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Heart - Black

Pathetic! US child refugee program has helped absolutely zero children since its inception

Nadia Prupis
Mint Press News
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 20:59 UTC
south american immigrants

In this June 25, 2014 file photo, a group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are stopped in Granjeno, Texas. Many of the immigrants recently flooding the nation’s southern border say they’re fleeing violent gangs in Central America. These gangs were a byproduct of U.S. immigration and Cold War policies, specifically growing from the increase in deportations in the 1990s. With weak dysfunctional governments at home, U.S. street gang culture easily took hold and flourished in these countries.
A year after President Barack Obama launched a program to grant asylum to Central American children fleeing violence or seeking to reunite with family members, the statistics are in: not one child has made it to the U.S. through that initiative.

New analysis by the New York Times published Thursday reveals that the Central American Minors Program, established last December, received asylum applications from more than 5,400 children in countries like El Salvador and Honduras, most of whom are seeking to escape street gangs or sexual assault—but none of them have been accepted.

In fact, only 90 children total were even interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security, and only 85 qualified for any sort of refugee status and even they remain languishing because their paperwork has not been filed.
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Airplane

London's Gatwick airport evacuated for French national carrying two firearms


Sputnik
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 23:15 UTC
Image
© Via twitter@brightonargus
Passengers evacuated from Gatwick's north terminal.
The airport's North Terminal was evacuated after a man carrying a firearm approached a check-in desk, police said.

A French national carrying firearms was arrested at London's Gatwick airport, police said Saturday. According to the Metro newspaper, the man approached a check-in desk carrying two guns. Police and airport staff pursued the man and he was found to have another gun strapped to his body when arrested a short time after.


Earlier in the day Sussex Police said the terminal was being evacuated "for the protection at the public."


At 6:10 PM London time the Gatwick airport said on Twitter the North Terminal was re-opened.
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