Bad news on the Sweden front: How that very disturbing news about violent crime in Sweden you probably didn't see or read about in the U.S. media yet, affects me... I'm not going to Sweden and Iceland this week as I'd previously planned. :-(
Prestigetidningen the Sunday Times skriver om ”Swedish Crime Surge”. Intervjuad är bland andra min kära chefredaktör @paulinaneuding. Artikeln är bakom betalvägg men med lite tålamod går det att läsa den via bilden nedan. pic.twitter.com/MPzaAOHlDD— Jörgen Huitfeldt (@JHuitfeldt) January 21, 2018
My dispatch from #Sweden, which is experiencing an unprecedented surge in shootings, bombings and sexual crime. The crisis is mainly restricted to areas predominantly populated by immigrants, so ordinary Swedes read the news with disbelief: https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
So, a not-so-funny thing happened on my way to what I'd long thought was going to be the beginning of my 11-day trip to Sweden and Iceland... Tuesday.
As some of you might recall, for a few months, I was originally scheduled to be flying to beautiful Stockholm on Tuesday morning to FINALLY do some pretty exciting personal and professional things I've longed to do for years, details of which most of you know about from what I've previously written or talked with you about, often after many of you asked... per my last blog post, "Dave, why aren't you in Las Vegas?" :-(
The plan was to go visit now and still get back to South Florida in time to watch the Super Bowl on February 4th, though maybe landing at FLL just a few hours before the 6:30 PM kickoff.
Finally edited! Thank you @wow_air for taking us to one of the most beautiful places I've seen yet. @IcelandNatural https://t.co/etgu3RxYVK— Emily Joy (@Emilyjsantos) March 6, 2017
Emily Joy @Emilyjsantos
Finally edited! Thank you @wow_air for taking us to one of the most beautiful places I've seen yet. @IcelandNatural. https://twitter.com/Emilyjsantos/status/838763143241285635
(You insiders reading this near me in South Florida know that I wanted very much to see and share all of this Icelandic beauty above, and in Sweden, with a very talented woman whom, herself, knows a thing or two about how to make a great drone video. Just a few weeks ago I thought there was at least a reasonable chance that she'd be coming along on my trip to Sweden and Iceland, that, if we'd taken it, I have no doubt would have been truly magical, with or without any Auroras and regardless of what sort of rough weather we encountered. Our first overseas trip together.
The trip would've allowed me/us to meet some amazing and super-talented and prominent tech, business people in Sweden whom I've tried to see and interview for quite a long time, who now want to meet and talk and maybe do some interviews that I'd put on YouTube, or weave into a podcast, ideas I pitched them many years ago. Plus, see some super-talented singers who are friends or acquanitances, actually perform. Was so psyched... but now, feeling a bit #distraught :-( )
Even more than I already did everyday before I made my various airline and hotel reservations last Fall, I've been reading the Swedish news media and popular Twitter feeds every day with deep and increasing concern, and not simply out of any concern for my many friends in Sweden.
Rather it's because of the increasing amount of not simply street crime, but violent crime that's been taking place in Sweden's cities and public places these days, a trend that has been spiking upwards for quite some time.
A fact that I have been writing about for many years on this blog, which writes about what's REALLY going on in Sweden more than any other blog or website in Florida, and probably among the most in the U.S., which is why the high caliber and sorts of people read this blog and Follow me on Twitter when I discuss the realities on the ground in Sweden, not the imaginary narrative so preferred by so many prominent current and former Swedish officials and members of the news media and Swedish establishment would prefer.
That disturbing trend and reality is perhaps best highlighted by the honest, forthright article from Sunday's Times of London. An article that pulls no punches, unlike most of what you read or hear about Sweden in the U.S. news media, which follows a familiar and tiresome narrative.
That is, on the rare times the U.S. media DOES mention Sweden.
The Sunday Times
Teens roam streets with rifles as crime swamps Sweden
The army may be called in to halt a gang surge in immigrant areas
Teens roam streets with rifles as crime swamps Sweden
The army may be called in to halt a gang surge in immigrant areas
Bojan Pancevski, Malmo
January 21 2018, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
January 21 2018, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
The blast was so powerful that it shook windows a mile away. Ahmad’s first thought was that someone had thrown yet another bomb at the police.
He was right. On Wednesday night an explosive device was hurled at the police station in Rosengard, a troubled area of Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city.
Attacks on the police are increasingly frequent. Rosengard’s force works from a black fortress of reinforced concrete with narrow windows and a 10ft-high electric fence.
He was right. On Wednesday night an explosive device was hurled at the police station in Rosengard, a troubled area of Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city.
Attacks on the police are increasingly frequent. Rosengard’s force works from a black fortress of reinforced concrete with narrow windows and a 10ft-high electric fence.
Read the rest of the article at:
Det här är bra. Sunday Times Europakorrespondent @bopanc reflektioner efter Sverigebesök: https://t.co/P9TxHWtiqK— Paulina Neuding (@paulinaneuding) January 21, 2018
Spoke to @bopanc at @thesundaytimes about rapes in Sweden: “Our government declared itself the world’s first feminist government, yet they have quietly abandoned women,” Neuding said. “large-scale migration of men from extremely patriarchal cultures is limiting women’s freedom.” https://t.co/eUICe6Ch2O— Paulina Neuding (@paulinaneuding) January 21, 2018
In #Sweden, a country of 10m people, more than 320 shootings and dozens of bombings were reported in 2017, along with more than 110 murders and 7,226 rapes — a 10% increase on 2016. More than 36% of young Swedish women say they feel unsafe at night. https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
I visited some of the worst areas, including #Malmö's #Rosengård, where children as young as 14 roam the streets with Kalashnikovs & bulletproof vests. The average age of gang members is 22, the vast majority of them hailing from migrant families. https://t.co/5aAPKTJAVC— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
The percentage of women in Sweden who reported being victims of sex crimes rose from 1.4% in 2012 to 4.1% in 2016. In 2014 a study on the geography of outdoor rape in Stockholm found two-thirds of the suspects were non-Swedish citizens. https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Tino Sanandaji a Swedish economist of Iranian-Kurdish origin and author of Mass Challenge, a bestselling book, told me: “Sweden was successful in abolishing the traditional class society, but politicians are now creating an ethnic underclass.” https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Attacks on Swedish police in some areas are so frequent that Rosengård's force works from a black fortress of reinforced concrete with narrow windows and a 10ft-high electric fence. It was bombed last week, days after a police car was blown up: https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Swedish authorities have publicly admitted they are unable to investigate rape cases immediately because the resources are focused on gang crime. “We are forced to choose between two evils,” the police said. Four gang rapes reported in Malmo since November https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Stefan Lofven, Sweden's prime minister, said last week that he was ready to deploy the military to “stamp out” organised crime. The next day another bomb went off in Malmo, this time in front of a private property. https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
In Sweden, publicly debating the link between immigration/integration and crime is still a taboo. Even intellectuals of migrant background such as @paulinaneuding and the economist Tino Sanandaji have faced the worst of accusations: https://t.co/5aAPKTs044 pic.twitter.com/uH2H2wKyam— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
#Sweden's "feminist government" have "quietly abandoned women,” @paulinaneuding said. “There is mounting evidence that large-scale migration of men from extremely patriarchal cultures is limiting women’s freedom.” https://t.co/5aAPKTs044— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Sweden's immigrant-populated areas have better infrastructure and services than parts of central London. But crime, anti-social behaviour is surging. This happened to a 60 Minutes TV crew in Stockholm: https://t.co/jbuEa48hCr— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
The head of #Sweden's paramedics union has said that first responders need police protection when they go into certain areas https://t.co/FYBoLO7V2K— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Anti-Semitism & immigration in Sweden: A 2013 study showed that 51% of anti-Semitic incidents were attributed to Muslim extremists. Only 5% were carried out by right-wing extremists; 25% were perpetrated by left-wing extremists. @paulinaneuding in @nytimes https://t.co/tXqFDzhGM1— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Anti-Semitism & immigration in Sweden: A 2013 study showed that 51% of anti-Semitic incidents were attributed to Muslim extremists. Only 5% were carried out by right-wing extremists; 25% were perpetrated by left-wing extremists. @paulinaneuding in @nytimes https://t.co/tXqFDzhGM1— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) January 21, 2018
Ur texten: "Att Hanif Bali kallats Onkel Tom, ”husn*r, doktor Mengele och annat liknande är chockerande och iakttar man Tucker Carlsons ansiktsuttryck under intervjun så kan man karaktärisera det som ”utter disbelief”. https://t.co/Hzn9ctXPXf— Merit Wager (@MeritWager) January 22, 2018
Tucker Carlson's interview with Hanif Ali starts at 1:52
The worsening violent street crime and the Police's continuing inability to cope with it in any meaningful way, and the possibility that the Swedish Army will be soon be mobilized and patroling certain cities, is just one of the reasons that I recently decided to postpone the trip to Sweden and
Iceland that I'd first made reservations for last Fall, and aim instead for sometime this coming Spring or Summer. No specific makeup dates YET.
I made this decision even though experience tells me that it'll be much more expensive to fly then and to stay at a nice property that I stayed at on my last trip to Stockholm, a place in the Norrmalm neighborhood that could not have possibly been more convenient to all the places I needed to go to, plus, its proximity to Central Station, aka T-Centralen, Stockholm's enormous main local T-Bana and commuter train, and bus terminal that is, quite literally, the heart of the city AND the country.
Less than a ten minute walk away!
Actually closer than my current home on Fillmore Street & US-1 in Hollywood is to one of my favorite places, Chocolada Bakery & Cafe on Hollywood Blvd., where I had breakfast on Sunday morning with my friend and fellow Broward County civic activist, Csaba Kulin.as we discussed what's going on in Hallandale Beach and Broward County.
Can't leave Chocolada on weekends without the traditional post-breakfast cookies with my last cup of coffee... my notebook at the ready.
And when I say expensive I mean expensive in a city that's already among the most expensive cities in the world to travel to and stay in, though slightly cheaper for Americans today than when I last visited and was able to stay in the #1 B&B in all of Stockholm according to TripAdvisor.
Last time, a Subway sub, a can of Coke and a small bag of chips = over $15.
Expensive, that is unless I re-start some negotiations with some aspiring blog advertisers like a few airlines, hotel and travel companies which Follow me, to help out a bit, or maybe even comp me and a very special and attractive, photo-shooting +1, as I was close to getting done a few months ago, just before, well, you know...
After which, I knew I'd be going solo. :-(
Going to Sweden and Iceland months from now would make Aurora-watching all-but-impossible, no matter how far north I go, even north of the Arctic Circle, to Kiruna, home of Mia Stålnacke, aka @AngryTheInchMia https://www.instagram.com/angr
Watch this amazing real-time Aurora video that Mia shot in Kiruna Saturday night with a Sony a7, all while walking her dog, Tellus.
The quite disturbing news two weeks ago about a Swedish man being killed by a hand grenade near a Stockholm subway station did not exactly go un-noticed by Swedes, despite how quickly -and desperately- the Swedish news meda tried to bury the story within just hours, as if the New Normal
in Sweden extended to not being surprised that innocent people could sometimes be killed by hand grenades while minding their own business.
Things being what they are in Sweden right now, and my own situation here being what it is, the decision to forego the trip now and wait a few more months was an easy one to make.
Still, I was really, really looking forward to getting out of South Florida for awhile and be back in acountry and a city that I positively love:
Jag älskar Stockholm - ST❤️CKHOLM
Hej #STHLM, jag saknar dig, hejdå. So wish I was there RIGHT NOW!
Is Stockholm's Södermalm neighbourhood as cool as @voguemagazine says? @TheLocalSweden asked Stockholmers themselves: http://t.co/3UQGAwtmNE— Solveig Rundquist (@RundquistS) September 11, 2014
@RundquistS Even on cold Jan. days, area near Åhléns in #Södermalm has a heartbeat, spirit and sense of place U feel! pic.twitter.com/Egructl9g1— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) September 12, 2014
On a positive note, the amazing, adorable and super-talented Cecilia Nilsson, a.k.a. Cilia, whom I have followed so very closely for years because I know her mentor and manager, Andreas, dropped her new single "Myself and I" last Friday.
I've only listened to it fifty times so far...
I've only listened to it fifty times so far...
Obviously, I'm biased, but I think it's very #catchy!
or on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/cili
#sublime! So proud of you, Cissi! 😊😍😊😍 So much sheer talent -and modesty! "All in all hade jag turen att jobba med otroligt talangfulla människor och när man hittar och matchar med ett sånt bra team som jag gjorde kan man verkligen inte få något annat än bra!”😊🇸🇪 #talang— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 20, 2018
You know me, Cissi, just a truth-telling chronicler of fact in a world of facades/self-deception/PR flackery. Yr future in the #music industry = unlimited precisely bec U have the qualities it takes to succeed -and thrive!😊— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 20, 2018
2018 = going to be your year!🎤 @fredrikstrage @variety
Let me know what you think about the song, good or bad.
I'll likely be communicating with her later this week.
I'd been hoping for months that Cissi and I would be able to meet in the coming days in the downtown Stockholm area, just a few feet from the area where Stockholm Fashion Week takes place every year at Kungsträdgården -King's garden- one of the key places that Stockholm meets to clebrate and mourn.
I'd joked with her many weeks ago about the possibility of us going to the Kungsträdgården ice skating rink nearby that has an imposing statue of King Charles XIII looming over everyone on their skates.
I'd joked with her many weeks ago about the possibility of us going to the Kungsträdgården ice skating rink nearby that has an imposing statue of King Charles XIII looming over everyone on their skates.
@CallMeCilia ❤️#Stockholm!😍 That's what I'm talking about! 😊 Beautiful, snowy #sublime #Kungsträdgården, #STHLM, #Sweden, via the amazing eyes and lens of #LottaTumlare: "Winter wonderland under the cherry trees this morning." https://t.co/WbfyBIbKe6— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) November 22, 2017
View this post on Instagram
@CallMeCilia #CMAawards Been having recurring daydream of U & I singing this song while we skate at #Kungsträdgården or #Medborgarplatsen on my next trip to #STHLM in Jan/Feb, w/Coffee after! ☕️😊 .@ThomasRhett - Craving You ft. .@MarenMorris @ #CMAFest https://t.co/kthIg0KQFG— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) November 8, 2017
Of course, this wld be a great song to sing while we skate in #STHLM @ #Kungsträdgården, too, after checking out @fwstockholm nearby. "I was what you wanted, you were what I needed..." #lyrics! 😍.@LancoMusic - Greatest Love Story https://t.co/vexblsRNOf— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) November 10, 2017
Still remember the day over 5 yrs ago that @CallMeCilia's 1st video got posted by Andreas 5 months B4 we met in snowy #STHLM 🇸🇪, and he told me how #amazing Cissi's talent and will to succeed were. Immediately knew THAT was an understatement! #fact :-) https://t.co/wDVUrUWFQK— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) November 11, 2017
My brilliant idea, one that I hadn't shared with Cissi yet because I wanted it to be a complete surprise, was to try to persuade the skating rink attendant the day before I met her, to play some of Cissi's songs on the rink PA system when we were there the following day, especially when influential people from the nearby fashion shows would be outside, in-between shows and at lunch, at one of my favorite places in a city that I absolutely love and adore.
Perhaps even play... yes, a song that would be recognized by most of the people there, "Silhouettes in Slow Motion," her popular 2016 song that Volvo had the good sense to use last year in commercials to promote some amazing features in their new models in Sweden -and elsewhere- which was, obviously, promotion-wise a real coup for her. I mean it's VOLVO!
Volvo Cars Connectivity "Weekenders" from Life in the City on Vimeo.
Master. Produced & directed by Karl-Johan Larsson, Life in the city AB
Song: Cilia Silhouettes in Slow Motion. All rights reserved 2016- okt 2017
https://t.co/VluyMDVfdy
I was really looking forward to seeing what everyone's reaction would be, which I thought would be priceless, but now, that's off the agenda, too, which is a damn shame because it would have been great fun to see Cissi's reaction to my little surprise. :-(
As far as thngs locally go, since I'll be in the area and not in Europe for the next few weeks, unless something crazy happens, I'll likely be attending the upcoming Hollywood and Hallandale Beach City Commission and CRA meetings with something approaching the regularity that most everyone came to take for granted for years.
That includes next Monday evening's meeting in Hallandale Beach, which you should try to get there early for because of what's likely to take place: history.
That includes next Monday evening's meeting in Hallandale Beach, which you should try to get there early for because of what's likely to take place: history.
There's certainly plenty of controversial issues to talk about in both cities regarding what is -and isn't happening- from my perspective. I'm seeing lots and lots of apathy and unwhelming effort with respect to public engagement these days, which will be reflected in my upcoming posts in this space.
Also, I may even hit some Hollywood Chamber of Commerce meetings and events, which I haven't done in a while, so if you see me at one of their events, don't be a stranger -come over and say hello!
Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://tw
Instagram: https://www.instagr
Snapchat: SoBeHoosier
