Explosions and shootings in Paris

[asta]

(note: I have not read past this post yet as it is hard for me to go back and quote under the new system; my apologies if I am repeating something someone else has already said)

So many recent terrorist attacks have had women and/or children (as young as 12 or so) as suicide bomber that I am not so sure that makes you any safer. Besides, I really do not see how it is right to deny anyone safe haven based on gender or really even age. As a mother I would be equally desperate to get my teen son as my teen daughter out of Nigeria or Syria or any other highly dangerous area.

Unfortunately age and gender does not mean anything to these people when it comes to their violence. Female suicide bombers are just as deadly as males. And CNN has a chilling link up to a video of ISIS training the very young on how to kill. Particularly disturbing is a young boy, not much bigger than a toddler that is being encouraged to cut the head off of a teddy bear with one of those big ugly knives.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I thought initial reports were that she came out shooting (and that she killed the police dog). Looks now (at least according to this version) like she yelled "help me" and "I'm not his girlfriend" and was then "blown up" by a suicide belt? I can't help but wonder if someone else was holding the remote, if this is true. Sounds like she and her cousin were blown to smithereens so it might be a little difficult to discern (via "parts", anyway).

They seemed to be sure, that she wasn't there against her will. The plea for help was to draw in more victims. She was positively identified...how is pretty graphic, but accurate.

 

[manning]

They have separate regulations restricting semi-automatics & full automatics are banned. What I'm reading is that if you have a standard hunting rifle in a military caliber, you're subject to more restrictions than a standard hunting rifle in a non-military caliber (which is actually more likely to be more deadly than one in a military caliber).

Sorry for the off topic, this just got my attention.

I get what you are saying. What I'm talking about is fire power (not the power of the round) With the AK 47 the rate of fire is 600 rounds per minute. That's a lot of fire power. A hunting rifle fires only as fast as you can re-chamber a round. What an AK 47 lacks in punch power is more than made up by the rate of fire.

 

[manning]

FYI You can get a Syrian passport for $150.00 no questions asked

 

[CPanther95]

I get what you are saying. What I'm talking about is fire power (not the power of the round) With the AK 47 the rate of fire is 600 rounds per minute. That's a lot of fire power. A hunting rifle fires only as fast as you can re-chamber a round. What an AK 47 lacks in punch power is more than made up by the rate of fire.

With a 30 round mag, that's 3 seconds of firing before you have to reload - and 3 seconds of extreme difficulty maintaining your target. That's why our military rarely uses their small arms on full auto. But I think you're missing Gumbo's point. All select fire weapons are banned, so the clause restricting them to non-military caliber weapons only applies to semi-auto weapons. You can get non-military caliber rifles that are just as devastating as military calibers.

Give a trained shooter the option of an AK-47 set to full auto vs a semi-auto rifle, and they will all choose the semi-auto rifle.

 

[CPanther95]

FYI You can get a Syrian passport for $150.00 no questions asked

If I ever plan a trip to Syria, I'll PM you.

 

[gwynne]

(note: I have not read past this post yet as it is hard for me to go back and quote under the new system; my apologies if I am repeating something someone else has already said)

So many recent terrorist attacks have had women and/or children (as young as 12 or so) as suicide bomber that I am not so sure that makes you any safer. Besides, I really do not see how it is right to deny anyone safe haven based on gender or really even age. As a mother I would be equally desperate to get my teen son as my teen daughter out of Nigeria or Syria or any other highly dangerous area.

I probably should have added an emoticon, my Q was a bit of gentle sarcasm. Lots of talk about refugees...others are here, too. I agree with the points you made.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We wake up to 170 hostages in Mali...at least 3 dead. They are told to quote the Koran or die.

European borders tightened, Germany considering armed soldiers in the streets, Air France CDG-SFO diverted back to Paris, "bomb scare" on Spirit Airlines FLL, etc.

WTH. This is insane.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Huh, you'd never know Germany is considering armed soldiers in the street based on the airport today---I admit I have not gone on a newsite yet today--still sitting at the airport waiting on DH to get in so we can ride home together (I just flew from the US to Germany and DH is coming home from a work trip in Italy). I was surprised by how LITTLE security I saw in either the US airport or here in Germany--nothing extra and honestly in both cases things went faster and seemed less extensive than several other trips in recent years.

ETA--a cursory glance at newsites shows the Mali hostage situation but nothing about Germany considering armed soldiers in the street. can you please provide a link?

 

[Jon84]

We wake up to 170 hostages in Mali...at least 3 dead. They are told to quote the Koran or die.

European borders tightened, Germany considering armed soldiers in the streets, Air France CDG-SFO diverted back to Paris, "bomb scare" on Spirit Airlines FLL, etc.

WTH. This is insane.

Mali does not appear to be ISIS related. They have a big problem in parts of Africa with small cells of terrorists, they have had a handful of incidents in 2015 alone. Because this attack is on a hotel that has international guests, it's made international news.

 

[pryncess527]

ETA--a cursory glance at newsites shows the Mali hostage situation but nothing about Germany considering armed soldiers in the street. can you please provide a link?

The only source I could find was Breitbart, and IMO there is not a less credible source than that.

 

[NHdisneylover]

The only source I could find was Breitbart, and IMO there is not a less credible source than that.

Thanks--and I agree that is not a credible source at all.

 

[Jon84]

The only source I could find was Breitbart, and IMO there is not a less credible source than that.

Telegraph in the UK is also reporting the consideration

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ps-into-streets-for-first-time-since-war.html

 

[pryncess527]

Thank you for that link @Jon84

 

[cabanafrau]

Mali does not appear to be ISIS related. They have a big problem in parts of Africa with small cells of terrorists, they have had a handful of incidents in 2015 alone. Because this attack is on a hotel that has international guests, it's made international news.

But simply because it's not ISIS doesn't mean it's not a threat or less important. Boko Horam(sp?) doesn't urge me to be any less vigilant.

 

[asta]

Huh, you'd never know Germany is considering armed soldiers in the street based on the airport today---I admit I have not gone on a newsite yet today--still sitting at the airport waiting on DH to get in so we can ride home together (I just flew from the US to Germany and DH is coming home from a work trip in Italy). I was surprised by how LITTLE security I saw in either the US airport or here in Germany--nothing extra and honestly in both cases things went faster and seemed less extensive than several other trips in recent years.

ETA--a cursory glance at newsites shows the Mali hostage situation but nothing about Germany considering armed soldiers in the street. can you please provide a link?

Not the OP but a quick Google search turned this up

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ps-into-streets-for-first-time-since-war.html

I don't know if this is a credible news source. The statement from the OP and this news source only states that Germany is considering not that they have put troops in the streets yet so that is probably why you did not see them.

 

[Jon84]

But simply because it's not ISIS doesn't mean it's not a threat or less important. Boko Horam(sp?) doesn't urge me to be any less vigilant.

Absolutely not, my point is that this happens often in some countries, and our news outlets do not always report on it.

Also, I thought it pertinent to make it clear that at this point, this is not related to the events in Paris

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks for the telegraph link.

ETA: I realize the PP said "considering" I just found even that odd in light of nothing at all out of the ordinary even at the major airport in the country--where you might expect tight security and in the absence of hearing anything of the sort from German friends or on the German media I have checked in with today.
Could be--but seemed odd---thus me asking for a link (and thanks again for those of you who provided it)

 

[JaxDad]

Also, I thought it pertinent to make it clear that at this point, this is not related to the events in Paris

I'm not sure it can be concluded yet the two are not related. Besides the Islamic extremist element, it is worth noting that Mali is a former French colony, and the French have led a couple major military operations to oust Islamic militants in the region.

 

[Jon84]

I'm not sure it can be concluded yet the two are not related. Besides the Islamic extremist element, it is worth noting that Mali is a former French colony, and the French have led a couple major military operations to oust Islamic militants in the region.

Seems unlikely at the moment, the country does not have a history, of ISIS involvement, but does have Al Qaeda links. The initial thoughts are that this is not linked to Paris