November 2015 chit chat

Well, helllloooooooo everyone! I got here first! Whoo hooo!

Did you all survive Halloween?

Hi Katiedot glad your back, Halloween was good had lots of little visitors.

Sounds like fun! I totally forgot it was Halloween. Only remembered this morning when I saw all the facebook pictures. Oh well, maybe next year.

When I was small we had no Halloween in Germany and now it is big here as well. I went on my balcony this morning and the beautiful tree in front of my balcony is full with toiletpaper....

Nicky,
I saw many kids dressed up yesterday when I was in town. In my village no kids were walking around, here St. Martin is still the day for kids to go around and collect sweets.

I know everyone says Halloween didn't use to be a big thing in the UK either, but I definitely remember going trick or treating as a child and having to go to fancy dress parties every year (these seemed to be a great excuse for the grownups to get drunk while pretending to be someone/thing else).

Mind you, I also remember doing 'penny for the guy' around Guy Fawkes' night which no one seems to do any more.

I put a bag of sweeties outside for the childrento help themselves this year. The next morning only half had gone !

I reckon the little polite kids had left some for others.
I also reckon that in the 13 years that weve lived here
the little ones who used to come round are old enough
to have had a Halloween party instead of trick or treating. Lol

Hi Katidot.   Nice to hear from you.  Wish you were posting here more often.  Miss your thoughts on everything George.

Hey, Katie! Hope you're back to stay for a while. You've been missed.

I remember being out trick-or-treating for hours when I was a kid. We'd come home from school, put on our costumes, and start ringing doorbells just after an early dinner. We'd come home two or three times to empty our shopping bags of candy (we usually scored enough to last for months!) and then head out again to hit any streets we may have missed- and NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED! The older kids looked out for the littler ones. It was the BEST!!!

Seems like nowadays the kids go out with Mommy for an hour or so after school, hit the houses on their own street, and head home before it gets dark. Very tame.

brilliant !!!   https://www.facebook.com/salt.ph/

i would like


so much !!!

https://www.rockethub.com/projects/61287-later-that-same-life

Just wondering, but did anyone see the latest episode of NCIS that was set in South Sudan? It painted a pretty bleak picture of conditions there and I wondered how close to the truth they got. I also wonder if George had anything to do with them setting the episode there - sort of as a new way to keep the issue alive.

Seeing John Pendergast in Scotland with George made me think of it. I wonder if something's going on that they are meeting to address.

take a look


http://video.d.repubblica.it/moda/corea-la-bambina-e-le-scarpette-rumorose/3856/3985?ref=HRESS-24

Thanks, IM. She's adorable! I think those shoes would drive me crazy. Her parents are either saints or they're deaf.

both I guess !!

Agree.  The little girl is adorable but the shoes have to go!

Well at least they will know where she is at all times lol. I think those shoes would disappear one night she would be sad but I would be thrilled.

to have them you?

I just watched the football match (soccer for the Americans) between France and Germany and there seemed to have happened some terror attacks in Paris and also some shootings anc rumors about a hostage-taking. The news speak of 30 dead people now.
France won but nobody is partying and celebrating, there also was a human crash in the stadium where the match took place. So thousands of spectators are on the playing field because they can't leave the stadium. During the match you could hear an explosion which must have been quite nearby, and during the day there had been a bomb threat for the hotel of the German soccer team so they had to leave the hotel.
So we'll see what they finc out during the night...

The French president just declared the state of emergency and called it an act of terror again (so seems to remember to Charlie Hebdo in January).
What a sad and horrible night 

Yes carolhathaway,  this story is all over American tv.  The President just came out on tv and gave a statement.  This is Horrible.  I'm am so sorry that the French people have to endure another vicious attack on their country.  

Saw the video of the soccer match and heard the bomb go off.  Seems like a very sophisticated attack against France.

Terrible.. terrible.  The numbers reported dead are going up and up. Looks like seven attacks co-ordinated across the city with Kalashnikovs, some attackers still on the loose

Latest Dreadful news that 100 hostages in Bataclan concert hall
were shot one by one. Evil  Evil Acts.

They were there to hear a Californian band

Latest number of the dead is 140.

This is just horrible I will never understand hatred like this .

It's horrific, it is hard to comprehend how anyone can do such despicable things to others.

Admirable words from President Obama......

Prayers to the families of the ones who were killed, all of France and all the people of the world that are having to live thru this horrific happening.  When will it stop???

My prayers go out to all the people of France. What a horrible, cowardly thing to do to people who have been so giving and welcoming to the Muslim people for so long. The President of France has declared this an act of war and closed the French borders. I know it isn't politically correct to say so, but I think he's right and closing the borders is a logical first step in this war.

If someone stands outside your house with a gun threatening to kill you, you don't open the door and invite him in. Everyone's borders should be closed to all people coming from any country harboring these terrorists. If it's a homegrown disciple of a terrorist group, lock them up and throw away the key. Being a humanitarian and taking care of the oppressed of the world only works if you are alive to do it. You can't help anyone if you're dead.

Wise words, Lizzy.

And so very many have been allowed to cross borders with no paperwork or checks whatsoever, not to mention the many thousands of forged passports readily on sale in countries like Turkey from seemingly unchecked people smugglers with no moral code who simply see it as a business opportunity. I could go on............

I do believe the reason President Hollande closed the borders was to get control of the situation and deny any possible accomplices to this act of violence the opportunity to leave. 
 
it is a sad day for all of us.  No one is immune to these attacks.  I would not be  surprised if there are ISIS elements in the states already.  I'm sure there are in other European countries.  Look at what happened in
 Beirut this week.  The Russian airliner.  Don't know the answer as to how to get control or destroy this evil known as ISIS, or Al Qaeda, for that matter.  

I just have such a hard time understanding how there are people who could hate so much.  To destroy other people's lives to make a statement.  They have no moral regard for life.  They don't even care if they live or die.
If they hate this world so much why don't they all just strap on their suicide vests and be done with it. Martyrs. Then they can be with Allah. 

The French people are strong.  They will get through this.  But my heart goes out to them this morning.

about their speech
it seems
those
as in previous one 
were French 


born there

if real again French ppl
but sadly rejected
not integrated


and hateful about that

it's me integration or assimilation is a two way street.  You have to want to assimilate and you have to have a culture that allows for it.

All I do know is that it is a very sad day.

I plan to continue what I do and will continue to go out in public.  I can be cautious but if I completely change then the terrorists have won because they have made us afraid and that's what they want.

I CHOOSE NOT to allow terrorists to run my life or to make me afraid.

Peace to all  - prayers to the families of those killed and prayers for those who were injured - including all the people of France - because this is a wound for all.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-shootings-what-we-know-so-far-after-shootings-and-explosions-shook-french-capital-a6734391.html

It was said that one of the terrorists was french and another one was syrian. But they don't know yet if he came to France to attack the country or if he's lived ib France before. So I don't think Hollande closed the borders to keep terrorists out of the country because they may already be the country. They try to get control over the country. And since there are no border controls for years you can't control every metre of the borders - the border between France and Germany has a length of about 350 miles and there's no way you can stop somebody from crossing this border.

Everybody is just shocked, and I guess November 13th will be the french 9/11...

I just heard that at least two of the suicide bombers had tickets for the match France vs. Germany. But they weren't allowed to enter the stadium so they blew themselves up outside and killed just a few. Just imagine what had happened if they had gone into the stsdium with its 80,000 spectators...
I was in England ten years ago during the terror attacks at the London tube and know how it was to be there, we had been to London the day before...
And I remember how it felt to be in Britain in the 1980s because of the IRA. There were no dustbins on the streets, the gully covers were frozen, and when we wanted to go on a day-trip to London we called London Police in the morning to find out if it was safe to go into town that day and if where we could go...

Well, we now know that there were three separate attacks, according to the Paris prosecutor and at least 90 of the injured are dangerously ill, and the Greek foreign minister has announced that the Syrian passport holder travelled through Greece having landed on the island of Leros in October..........

So we'll see what else they'll find out. It's just horrible!
The IS recruits young people all arounx the world. At the moment there are about 200 young Germans in Syria we know of because relatives and friends have told the police (so they assume that all in all there are much more). And they are Germans or at least grew up in Germany, but something must fascinate them about the IS.

I don't understand some young people's fascination with ISIS.  I know there are many of them who are lost souls looking for something to believe in.  There are others who seem to come from good families and been given a good education but are attracted to this propaganda on the Internet.  I just don't get why they would want to affiliate themselves with this violent and evil group.  The operative words being violent and evil.  How do they not see that????

Maybe I'm naive.

Donnamarie,
I don't understand this fascination either.
It's murder, no matter in who's name it's committed.
We had such a terroristic organization in Germany from the end of the 1960s, and most of them were from very wealthy families. This generation was the post-war and also post-nazi-generation, and they weren't contented with the regeneration of the past. And they systematically killed politicians and businessmen. One of the terrorists was the daughter of a distinguished lawyer family and killed one of the leading German bankers who knew her and therefore let her into his house. 
It's not always poverty or misintegration that produces terrorists.

I sometimes wonder if this terrorist group attract
people with a pscycopathic minds ? 
Their "leaders" who send them out to blow
themselves up are COWARDS. 
Why cant the bombers see that ?
Probably because they are taught that
Life is cheap. Not a Precious Gift from God.

Joanna,
maybe that's part of the problem:
We can't fight the IS because we don't understand what attracts young people to join them.
I also don't understand why people are frightened of the rising numbers of refugees in Europe and especially in Germany. And why they try to fight them by burning up homes for refugees and accept that people might be hurt or killed. I doubt that these people leave their homes and their families and go on a journey which kills many of them just for a bit of money. I mean, if you want to stop people from leaving their countries you have to stop the civil war and the poverty there...

WWHS,
when I first heard of the attacks in Paris Friday night the first thought that came to my mind: "Please, don't let any of these terrorists come from Syria or another of these refugees countries" because that's exactly what I was afraid of. That people in our countries where the refugees take refuge think that they take advantage of our goodnaturedness to attack us.

The refugees don't! They tried to escape the terror and ISIS in their country! The terrorists aren't refugees!

Well said CarolH....Absolutely, they are not refugees...isis played on the word....as I said they did not have to come in as refugees, the fact they did...or someone did on their behalf shows you how isis manipulate....

On the question of the young people, who are brainwashed...***
isis, realised the potential of the internet including social media....before the West was out of bed...

Social media attracts the young, first Facebook then Instagram etc...isis harnessed that feeling of belonging and ran with it....

I truly believe isis are stupid enough to believe they have the upper-hand when it comes to the internet and harnessing its power...this I am happy to say is NOT the case...

Yet another old saying "live by the sword, die by the sword"...I truly believe that this is a war that will be fought through on the Net...AND that is how they will ultimately be defeated...

Everything has it's axis...it's tipping point 13 November was it....The world will be a safer place because 13 November. AT LAST the Net will be properly and appropriately policed and because of the circumstances leading up to policy changes and policing no one will object.....

I know it sounds harsh...but we talk of open boarders etc, yet as far as the Net is concerned we are living in the wild wild west....it had to stop....keyboard warriors abound who can say and do whatever they like, and make contact will like minded twats....manipulation of the public is higher than it ever was....IT had to stop.....maybe now it will...

*** I don't think we have seen the last of this brainwashing....there is much they can, and possibly have done in that arena...as yet we don't know....

WWHS, 
and that-s something that really worries me: We realized too late how people were influenced and infiltrated by the internet, by facebook, twitter etc.

When I now read comments in online news about refugees I get the feeling that I'm nearly the only person who thinks that refugees don't come to Europe because they just want a better life. I just returned from my niece's birthday, and her boyfriend and some other guests there just had the most stupid and sometimes even ridiculous arguments: 
- refugees all have mobile phones (yes, that's how they coordinated their flight and that's how they stay in contact with their friends and families, but smartphones aren't luxury articles anymore, they don't always have i-phones, and in most countries smartphones aed much cheaper than here)
- if it's that bad in their country why don't they take their families with them? Because they just can't afford it, they have to pay escape agents per head, so they usually try to find a safe place for the rest of the family and then take the long journey.
- In my niece's hometown there is a home where refugees come first before they get appartements to live in. And they got six very expensive washing machines, that's ridiculous. My questiin was: How many refugees live there? About 250. And I said, okay, 6 washing machines for 250 people, many of them are children and even babies. Can you imagine how much these machines are used? I guess they run 24/7 so for me it makes sense to buy some which don't break down after a few weeks.
And it went on and on, I got so tired after a while. They always said: But you can read it everywhere on the internet, and everybody knows somebody who has heard from someone who's neighbor knows somebody who read that...

I asked them if they personally knew someone who had made negative experiences with any of the refugees in their town, and they denied. My husband than added that in the town he works in there are two homes for refugees, and although many people feared a lot of crime, nothing happened. Tourists wouldn't spend their holidays there anymore, they still come.  My husband works for the local government and was at a council meeting last week, and there weren't problems with refugees even mentioned! Not even by the citizens who joined this meeting (it's open to the oublic so really everybody can go there). No reports in the newspapers either!
So I guess that's not the end of our civilization...

I think the difference between us and the crazies, is they are willing to die they truly believe there is a reward waiting for them. 
We train our soldiers to fight and they want to come home at the end of their tour. I have wondered if we were willing to die the way the nuts are would it make a difference.

I guess I feel like maybe to win you have to become them and that means being willing to give your life strap on a bomb and go to them.

I know that is a horrible thought but just something I have thought for a while.

Yes, social media and the internet allow these groups with atrocious goals to reach disaffected young people.  There are no excuses for this kind of -but I do not think they are mentally ill unfortunately.  Many of them do not have much to lose and these groups capitalize on that with twisted religious ideology.  There are many sociological and economic roots for this disaffection in France and other countries.  It started decades ago with the colonial policies of European countries.  It was startling to me to read this week that the Muslim population of France is 7.5%, but the prison population of Muslims in France is 70% and higher.  This is obviously a huge failure to successfully integrate these immigrant populations.

Fava,
we failed to integrate immigrants in Germany in the past as well. In the 1950s the first people from Italy and Spain came to work here. Because it was expected that they would just stay for a few years they got no chance to integrate. They didn't get German lessons, they worked in factories and lived in homes with other immigrants so they didn't get the chance to really learn our language and our way of living. Then, suddenly, we realized that they weren't willing to return to their countries, many oc them married Germans, built houses here and became Germans. And we mocked about their bad knowledge of the German language.

In the 1970s we needed more immigrants to do the jobs we didn't want to do and since Italians and Spaniards weren't willing to do these lousy jobs people now came from Greece and Turkey. And we did the same mistakes than 20 years before, we didn't integrate them. 

Now we've the third and forth generation, and many of the young Turks have the feeling of not being part of our society while most of the others do feel so. 
And I really hope that we don't make these mistakes anymore.

I hope with time all countries will help immigrants become accustomed to their new homes. 

People seem to fear what they don't know and a lot refuse to learn about other cultures a little knowledge goes a long way.