Paris hostage crisis ends.....

This was all too close to home...... I have family living in Paris, indeed one is a policeman and one more was on a plane on Tuesday from there, less than 24 hours before it all went off.  Watching the pictures all day on France 24 left me empty at the uselessness of it all.  It all felt way to familiar for me and took me back to the bad old days of  9/11.  I just hope the French nation don't opt for a Bush-style knee-jerk reaction.  New security Laws are needed, of that there is no doubt, but hopefully nothing as extreme as the US Patriot Act. Thankfully President Hollande doesn't seem the type and Manual Valls is way to smart for anything too outrageous, and anyway the French people have a much more rounded outlook towards freedom than perhaps does your average American and I couldn't see the French standing for anything as outlandish as French Patriot Act.  But time will tell......

For now, I'm sitting here waiting for President Hollande's address on the current state of affairs.  Reports are still sketchy and the numbers of dead (aside from those who asked for it) are not confirmed yet, and to the families of all the victims I can only offer my deepest condolences and hope that their deaths have not been in vain.

This is not the time for Politics or separatism.  Let's learn from the mistakes of 9/11 and let's come together in peace, everyone who believes in freedom and liberty, regardless of skin colour, nationality, race or creed. Let's begin on Sunday....attend the rally in support of the all the victims that is nearest to you and for one day let's forget our differences, forget our fears and come together in love.  We're all the same under the skin, we're all one under the sun and let's show our solidarity and move forwards in love, united across the oceans, under the skies and stand proud and fear-free and tell these fanatics who bring death to our streets that they cannot win, they will not win.  Let's fight with our words, not with guns; with love and not with hate; with togetherness and solidarity and we will win.  Lets #StoptheHate . 

  

An introduction to my News Network Team

Yo! Yo! Yo!  News Network coming at ya........all the way from Valencia, Spain.  As this is my first entry I feel some sort of introduction is necessary.  Firstly, there's my team - a group of dedicated professionals who live for their work and work to live every day.  A team unlike any other, we shall be covering local stories from our region in Spain, as well as national and international events and happenings that arouse our interest. Our unique perspective gives us views unlike any other and we shall be exploring a wide variety of issues, news and events as they happen.

Without further ado let me introduce myself.  You can call me the Boss, and I'm the Boss for one very good reason - I'm bigger than the rest of the team, so they bow to the inevitable and accept their assignments with the bare minimum of whining and the maximum of haste.....and I have to say, it's all done in the best possible taste, but then with a team like mine behind me one would be hard pushed to see it any other way.

So, I'm the Boss and Editor-in-Chief, and, even if I say so myself, a better looking one you'd be hard pushed to find!

Next, my right hand man.....or should I say right 'paw' wo-man ....... my Political and Animal Rights Analyst, and previous Golden Bone winner for contributions to Inter-Specific Relations and the promotion of Canine Rights.... Lola Lush.

Media Correspondent and Head Woofer, that paragon of virtue with the loudest bark this side of the Pyrenees......Mister Cool.

Society Correspondent, dirty stop out and perhaps the most beautifully elegant girl in the world......... Rudi 'don't touch the hair' Rudivic.

Restaurant Critic, in house food taster and all round......well, just 'all round' really........that man and a half, who just can't say 'no' .......Sonny 'got any grub?' Tiger.

Music and Beauty Correspondent, and a lovely little mover to-boot .......Dijon Dudette.

Social Commentator, sports fanatic and the best dressed reporter of them all....... Negrito Man.






Lifestyle guru and all round good egg........Survivor Selfie.

And last but not least, our Travel Correspondent and Local News Head honcho .........Mini the Moocher.

We shall meet all of them individually soon enough, so don't go anywhere because it's lift off for News Network.

The Team....signing off.

Eds Comments
Posting a first blog entry on the day 12 people at 'Charlie Hebdo (#CharlieHebdo)' got murdered in Paris gives one time to pause....the world carries on, much as before, my blog will be published, along with millions of others today, but for those journo's there will be no next entry, no next report or story and I cannot let it pass without comment.  As yet there seems to be no clear idea of who perpetrated these cowardly, despicable crimes.  French Police say they are looking 3 gunman who managed to escape in a hijacked car, but since this appears to be a highly organised, well-funded attack, the extent and depth of the network behind the gunman may well mean that there are many more than the 3 people sought that can be held responsible.

Since no claims of responsibility have yet been made the authorities and media appear to be treating this as an Islamic extremist attack.  My Dad is not a religious person.  My Mum neither.  But when they got married, Dad converted to Islam because Mum's family are Muslim and they take their religion very seriously.  Hence it became important to understand and appreciate the basics of the Muslim religion in order to do and say the right things whilst undergoing conversion and getting married. The 3rd (the Zakat) of the 5 basic tenets, or Pillars, of Islam states that every Muslim should 'help the needy' and should give at least 2.5% of their income each year to good and charitable causes, and one cannot help wondering that, if these fuckers do indeed turn out to be Muslims, that their sad, misguided, tragic and ill-informed notions of the message the Koran contains will mean that these murderers will not be passing through the gates of Heaven. Islam is a peaceful religion that encourages selflessness, reflection and love and I find it hard to believe that anyone can be so gullible or just plain stupid enough, that they can kid themselves into thinking that murdering in cold blood would be acceptable behaviour to their God and that he would welcome them into paradise as conquering heroes.  Their self-delusion is complete.  Their insanity unopposed.

I hope they get what they deserve.



     

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