Nothing about France yet?

[Michchamp]

No comment from jdildo, spartanvag, tLiar yet? Should we invade, bomb, kill... someone? Give government even more power to spy on us & invade our privacy?

Nothing yet?

still waiting to get home and tune into Fox to have the "correct" opinion spoonfed into you?

 

[Monster]

"Je Suis Charlie" - Monster's spoonfed opinion

 

[Monster]

Also...

 

[Michchamp]

After reading some of the terrible tragedies this magazine has mocked over the years, I can't help but feel they would probably make fun of this as well (if they were still alive).

 

[Spartanmack]

No comment from jdildo, spartanvag, tLiar yet? Should we invade, bomb, kill... someone? Give government even more power to spy on us & invade our privacy?

Nothing yet?

still waiting to get home and tune into Fox to have the "correct" opinion spoonfed into you?

Funny how you think you have any idea what my opinions are or that you accuse me of going on pro war, kill em all rants when I've never done anything of the sort. Must be because I call you out for your anti-semitism and homophobic outbursts and regularly point out your comical stupidity and that all you ever do is spew nonsense you buy hook, line and sinker from Salon, Huffpo, Politico, Slate, etc and then laughably criticize conservative outlets. You're such a desperate, sad, angry and hateful little twerp. I've said it so many times before, sure I'll say it many times in the future. You are one pathetic loser.

 

[byco42]

The French policeman shot and killed was unarmed? Accurate?

 

[Thumb]

The French policeman shot and killed was unarmed? Accurate?

Aren't most European police unarmed? Or is that just the UK?

 

[byco42]

Aren't most European police unarmed? Or is that just the UK?

That's insane. Now I'm reading that three officers on bikes and without firearms arrived on the scene and then retreated.

 

[Michchamp]

The French policeman shot and killed was unarmed? Accurate?

not sure... difficult at this juncture to know which news sources are more fact than speculation.

FWIW, wikipedia lists two police officers among the victims. One was a moonlighting as a bodyguard for the magazine, the other was initially wounded, then described as having his hands up when the attackers finished him off later.

 

[Michchamp]

Aren't most European police unarmed? Or is that just the UK?

I've heard that too. My understanding is that it's not that they're unarmed, just that patrol officers are typically unarmed. The police have plenty of guns when needed.

That's insane. Now I'm reading that three officers on bikes and without firearms arrived on the scene and then retreated.

I think in a society where firearms are less prevalent it makes sense. In the U.S. we basically have taken a "mutually assured destruction" approach to domestic gun ownership & policing, with a "first strike" mentality, because paradoxically while we view human life as the most precious thing in the world, we're okay taking it for little to no reason the second we feel threatened.

 

[Michchamp]

I saw a few comments online bagging Catholic League Fanatic Bill Donohue over his comments on the massacre... it took a while to find his actual article on it, and (surprisingly) I agree with him to some extent. Though I don't think Charlie Hebdo was the equal-opportunity offender they're being made out to be... case in point: in 2009 they fired a contributor for making anti-semitic comments and cartoons. He was also charged with a hate crime under French law, but acquitted.

Granted... no one killed him, but then again, no one lost jobs here for anti-Muslim cartoons or was charged under any hate-crime laws either, despite the fact that their cartoons relating to Islam were a lot nastier than his & have gone on for a lot longer. If there's a double standard at work, it's that right there.

 

[Thumb]

I've heard that too. My understanding is that it's not that they're unarmed, just that patrol officers are typically unarmed. The police have plenty of guns when needed.

Yeah, they have armed police, but the general police are not armed I guess because Europe does not have the gun problem we have here in the US, where everyone you encounter has a high probability of being armed. I don't know about France, but in the UK and Germany (also Spain I have heard) it's very difficult for a regular citizen to possess any kind of firearm.

 

[Michchamp]

There are some similarities here to the Jyllands-Posten/Danish cartoons from a decade ago. I had to research the Danish-Islam cartoon scandal fairly extensively for a final exam at the time.

What most commentary missed was that despite the fact that those cartoons were targeting explicitly at Islam itself & should have been an open-and-shut case, prosecuted according to Danish hate crime law, the Danish government never lifted a finger to prosecute the newspaper. Everyone also missed the fact that Danish Muslims (a minority 2% of the population in an overwhelming Christian country) never committed any violent acts in protest, and had a handful of peaceful community discussions in response.

of course I am not arguing that anyone's free speech rights (including hate speech rights) should be curtailed, just that if European countries are going to have these laws on the books, they damn well should enforce them equally, not just when someone makes an anti-semitic or anti-christian cartoon.

 

[Michchamp]

Yeah, they have armed police, but the general police are not armed I guess because Europe does not have the gun problem we have here in the US, where everyone you encounter has a high probability of being armed. I don't know about France, but in the UK and Germany (also Spain I have heard) it's very difficult for a regular citizen to possess any kind of firearm.

I don't think it's even that difficult to get a gun if you're a sport shooter or a hunter in a lot of European countries, though it is much more difficult to get an assault weapon. I read about that Norwegian psycho who shot all those people a few years back. he had to register a fake company AND travel to the Czech Republic to get his AK or whatever he used. Gun laws are obviously not an absolute deterrent, but at least they make it harder to get one and go on an insane shooting spree.

I think the biggest difference between the US & Europe is that unlike the US, Europe has no NRA-like pro gun-sales & marketing lobby pandering to backwoods Eurotrash Yokels with a lot of violent rhetoric, racism and xenophobia that they need to own guns or a tyrannical government & foreigners will control them.

 

[Thumb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qK5ETmfP8#t=30

 

[Michchamp]

Ooh, how's this for irony...

a French comedian makes a facebook post ambiguously merging the name of the newspaper with the name of the of the later hostage-taker-murderer, and is now investigated by French prosecutors. I wonder how many of those same "IamCharlie" people will defend him?

 

[tsmith7559]

Nice to see Barry in the front row with the rest of the 44 nations marching in France, oh wait, NFL football couldnt take a backseat to that. How embarrassing the leader of the free world had his priorities so wrong

 

[Michchamp]

Nice to see Barry in the front row with the rest of the 44 nations marching in France, oh wait, NFL football couldnt take a backseat to that. How embarrassing the leader of the free world had his priorities so wrong

Something tells me that if Bush was in the WhiteHouse, and neglected to go to France - for any reason - in order to sit in his La-Z-Boy with a case of O'Douls to watch the Cowboys, you would be okay with this.

 

[tsmith7559]

Something tells me that if Bush was in the WhiteHouse, and neglected to go to France - for any reason - in order to sit in his La-Z-Boy with a case of O'Douls to watch the Cowboys, you would be okay with this.

Lol, you know dam well he would have been there, I see Barry had San Antonio spurs at the white house over the weekend, christ ,couldn't miss that...he may have got a few lessons on improving his jump shot

 

[Michchamp]

LOL... no comment necessary. link.