Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts

Saturday, July 22, 2017

#22juli - Trying hard not to think too much about today being the 6th Anniversary of the #Utøya Massacre and the #Oslo bombing. But still... 😢 #Norway #Norge #mittlilleland

#22juli - Trying hard not to think too much about today being the 6th Anniversary of the Massacre and the bombing. But still... 😢 
🇳🇴 #Norway #Norge


The message to reporters in the outside world: ”Du behöver komma till Utöya. Det är döda barn överallt.” Den meningen glömmer jag aldrig. 😢
( "You need to come to Utöya. There are dead children everywhere." I never forget that sentence.)
- SVT's Carina Bergfeldt last year, on the Fifth Anniversary



On July 22nd, 2011, even before the TV news cameras and helicopters of the world arrived, there was already an idea in Stockholm at Aftonbladet of how terrible it truly was. 
And they printed it. And I copied it because it was one of the few things I could share with friends about how bad everything was, when rumors were flying abut how many people might've been behind the twin attacks.
Six years later, the words linger in my mind:

”Ring inte ön"”

En varningstweet spreds om att låta bli att ringa de som gömde sig på Utøya, eftersom gärningsmannen fortsatte skjuta under lång tid.
"RING INTE FOLK PÅ UTØYA. De gömmer sig för gärningsmannen. Kopiera statusen! (Ambulansen kommer inte fram ertersom det fortfarande är skottlossning)."

Do not call the island on your mobile as fake cop re-loading gun in search of children to shoot, is listening for rings from phones. 

(Ambulances won't arrive if shooting is happening.)

from http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article13364079.ab






The Roar Hagen drawing in Verdens Gang (VG) that hit Jens Stoltenberg so hard...





This film is honest and heartbreaking in so many ways that few films you've ever seen in your life can be, because you know as you watch it and get a sense of what daily life was like at this idyllic Norwegian island camp during the summer, that so many of the very bright and politically-ambitious teenagers and twenty-somethings you will see here, smiling and laughing, never got off the island alive.
This film proves a level of understanding that simply reading endless news stories and analyses can't hope to provide.
"Terror Island" Documentary about the attacks on Oslo and Utoya 22/7 (eng sub) from Tommy Gulliksen on Vimeo.

"Terror Island" - Documentary about the attacks on Oslo and Utoya 22/7 (English subtitles) https://vimeo.com/27616588


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Sissel Kyrkjebø - Til ungdommen (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011)



Bjørn Eidsvåg - Eg ser (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011)

Wow!
Karpe Diem m/ Kork - "Tusen Tegninger" fra Nasjonal minneseremoni 22.07.2011

I wrote many contemporaneous blog posts on the horrors of the #Utøya Massacre and the #Oslo bombing, as well as the subsequent nationally-televised memorial ceremonies one month later and in the years since. 
Please check the blog's archives for those posts, being sure to use the search terms Utøya, Oslo and minneseremoni

 Dave 

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Friday, April 7, 2017

Today's terror attack in Stockholm at Åhlens Dept. Store - observations and reflections; #openstockholm #STHLM



Today's terror attack in Stockholm at Åhlens Dept. Store - thoughts, observations and reflections; #openstockholm 









The Åhlens Dept. Store on Drottninggatan in Stockholm is easily one of the largest and busiest retail stores in Sweden -and northern Europe- and is located in what they call their Åhlens City location. It's a two city blocks-long store on the city's most famous street for consumer retail shopping that is, literally, a city in itself. Not unlike the nearby and perhaps better-known internationallyretail magnet for upscale consumers, Nordiska Kompanaiet (NK) Department Store..

This store's size and its popularity with both locals and tourists alike is in large part because there are so many large downtown office buildings nearby -large for Stockholm that is- as well as its proximity to many of the city's huge and very busy main train station, 
Centralstationen. 
And, because it's just one block west of the always-busy multi-use Sergels Torg plaza and govt. buildings that are so beloved by residents and tourists, especially me. It's an area where there is constant activity, no matter the time of day.

Above, ground level, looking northeast towards the Sergels Torg obelisk and Sergelfontänen, the fountain, which in the winter becomes the scene of large lighted reindeer, sans red noses. Behind that, across the street on Sveavägen, is the large SEB building, HQ for Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, the bank I frequently used for my 2013 trip, inc. their branch at Arlanda upon arrival and departure. 
Very friendly and professional people, unlike most banks in South Florida. 

 Inline image 1

 Above, looking east towards that same scene but from farther west on the plaza. In the far right, you can see the iconic revolving 22-foot neon, circular Nordiska Kompanaiet (NK) 
Department Store sign not too far away over on Hamngatan, which is green on one side and red on the other at night, with a clock.
It's not only an iconic symbol in the area, but a beacon for those for whom the chic and fashionable life that exists in Stockholm is the only way to go. 

 The plaza is only one of my favorite places in all of Sweden and anywhere actually. I literally spent HOURS standing and walking around it and the adjoining areas in January's cold, marveling at it all -the perfect public square. 
A nexus of high-minded culture, social policy, pop culture, amazing retail shopping, very serious people-watching and the ease of well-located public transportation hubs that make everything seem more intimate and possible. 
Wish we had something like this in South Florida.

My Sergels Torg fountain and plaza in Winter photos are from my blog post of December 25, 2013, from my 2013 trip to Stockholm:

That beehive of activity I spoke of, on a beautiful busy Friday afternoon in Stockholm, is clearly what the terrorists were counting on when they hijacked a beer truck earlier this morning, with the expressed intent of killing as many innocent people in Stockholm as possible. 

Forget whatever numbers you have heard so far via U.S. media about the number of people killed, which is at least 4, 14 injured, because the police have now indicated they will NOT state a number because they know that the people behind the attack will use this for propaganda purposes.

The police and the Security people at Säkerhetspolisen, i.e. SAPO, are still looking for the people behind today's attacks in Stockholm and anyone who aided them.











Below, the words of one of my Twitter Followers who's a pilot for SAS


The Stockholm City Council is offering places to stay for the TENS OF THOUSANDS of people unable to get home tonight because the authorities stopped running commuter trains thru Centralstationen. .

Med anledning av händelse i centrala Stockholm
http://www.stockholm.se/-/Nyheter/Om-Stockholm/med-anledning-av-handelse-vid-Ahlens-varuhus/






The city has been joined in this effort by everyday Stockholm residents upset at what has happened and offering to let people crash at their place until things are "normal."
There's your real story!.

In December of 2010, on one day, that busy area of Stockholm was also the scene of two terror attacks, one of which included suicide bomber Taimour Abdulwahab whose plans was to kill as many people as possible.
Trust me, most of the people who live and work nearby have not forgotten that fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Stockholm_bombings









Mattias Pehrsson (@masse ): "When the police are scared then you get scared for real







Sanna Rayman, above, never disappoints!
Soon enough, the cynicismThe phones ping and vibrate. "Are you okay?" "Are you?" "But on the job." Hearts, hearts, hearts. Soreness bubbling up, manifesting as fluid in the eye and emotikons on screens, offers a ride and overnight.
 What we love each other, anyway. Soon enough we arrive at the cynicism, quarrels, accusations. Against the media, the police, the politicians. Sometimes legitimate argument, so often exaggerated or exploited. In all this hideous, hide these feelings in the heart, and let them remain as a keynote. Forget them. Even the one you are angry tomorrow, are you prepared to offer sleeping and help today. We stuck together, everyone. Let's try to remember that even when disagreements come. Ok? <3 nbsp="" strong="">







If you want to see the latest news regarding today's attack, here are the best places to do that:





Aftonbladet newspaper:  http://www.aftonbladet.se/
This is exactly what a newspaper is supposed to look like in a moment like this!


 Svensk Hjärta
Stockholm i våra hjärtan. (Stockholm in our hearts.)






Dave 
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Friday, November 20, 2015

Tighter security checks on refugees in U.S.? At least for one night, U.S. Rep. @GerryConnolly's concise and to-the-point logic and reason (re refugees) actually triumphed on American TV last night. Sensible people across the U.S. should enjoy it while we can...; #Syria #refugees #Paris #terrorism #ISIS





PBS NewsHour
Does the U.S. need tighter security checks on refugees? 
November 19, 2015 at 7:07 PM ET

Highly recommend you watch this video from last night's PBS NewsHour, and not just because it may be the only fair-minded discussion of the  Syrian/Iraqi refugee debate I've seen on American TV this year, where someone who was arguing for both logic and accountability from the federal government wasn't sandbagged.

It features the insightful comments of Rep. Gerry Connolly, the new Democratic Congressman 
who represents Northern Virginia, and specifically, Arlington County, where I lived for 15 years, roughly about 5 miles from Georgetown.

 Rep. Connolly replaced bombastic, combative and often over-the-top longtime Rep. Jim Moran, 
Moran, not unlike Mayor Joy Cooper in beleaguered Hallandale Beach, was considered by even 
people who voted for him, to often be an insufferable egomaniac with a deep-and-abiding love for TV camera lights that challenged New York Senator Charles Schumer's widely-known love for the limelight, fancied himself a shoot-from-the-hips pol whose shortcuts with facts and logic often resulted in him shooting himself in the foot and getting into un-necessary and petty fights. 
And for good measure, just like Mayor Cooper in Hallandale Beach, Moran has a pugnacious son with a penchant for criminality and mischief but who -surprise- considers himself above the law.

Gerry Connolly was a generally respected politician who stood out among Northern Virginia's lock-step liberal mindset when I lived in Arlington, back when I was still a DLC Democrat, because he was the sort of principled Democrat whom we have far too few of these days in DC, to wit, someone who thinks that well-thought out, fair-minded results that actually solve real problems mattered more than ideology or party. (Usually.)

This is the sort of TV performance that catches people's attention outside of his immediate area, and not just because you have to know that there were NOT exactly many among the 47 Dems who, having voted against President Obama yesterday on refugee resettlement in the U.S., didn't relish the idea of going on national TV and telling everyone why he and his supporters were wrong -again.
Especially when it's so much easier to just toe-the current DNC mindset and blithely assume the federal "bureaucracy" will handle everything correctly without any genuine accountability or benchmarks from Congress.
Like that's ever happened with positive results for most Americans.

Rep. Connolly's performance is also noteworthy precisely because he didn't fall for the usual trap of allowing the news media's own narrative to dominate the discussion, nor did he allow the discussion to drift off into other areas that would allow him to be trapped into a corner and painted as a heartless pol by the other guest, Erol Kekic of Church World Service.

Something that as I have gone on at length about here before many times, seems to frequently happen to most GOP members of Congress appearing on that sort of TV show pretty much without fail.
Usually because they are dumb enough to act like they will be treated fairly instead of aggressively by both host and fellow guests. 
The recent history of the GOP, even when they are in power, is, seemingly, to never learn from history.

Rep. Connolly's concise and to-the-point logic and reason (re refugees) actually triumphed on
American TV.  For at least one night anyway...
Sensible people across the U.S., like so many of you readers of this blog, should enjoy it while we can...
You can be sure there there won't be many more such examples before the end of the year.

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