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Anna Begins

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Political chaos

 

The opposition let the nationalist (aka rasist) party create a chaos so big that the government had no choice but to announce a new general election.

 

Well, we kinda knew this was being foreshadowed though... when they got their 13%, right?  Is it a surprise? 

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The Causeway Bridge is the 24 mile bridge that spans Lake Pontchartrain just north of New Orleans.  Here is a link to it's history. http://www.thecauseway.us/causeway/history.php

 

In the last year there have been a number of accidents that have resulted in people going over the railings and into the lake and drowning.  Last month alone there were two fatalities.  In all my life, so far, I do not remember anything like this number of accidents.  It's unprecedented.   One of the problems is the fact that there are far more distractions now...texting, cell phones in general.  Drivers have seen drivers even watching television in the car.  :roll:

 

Anyhow, here is the latest article in the paper. http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2014/12/causeway_police_cracking_down.html#incart_river

 

I hope the crack down helps. 

Edited by pontalba
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  • 2 weeks later...

There is currently a siege situation underway at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney. I used to work literally across the road from it and went there occasionally. The hostages have been made to stand pressed against the windows and hold up the banners of a terrorist organisation. There are conflicting reports, as one would expect early in such a situation. There are reports of 1 or 2 gunmen, and one man of apparently middle age has been shown on TV. There are between 13 and 50 hostages inside—all staff members and office workers.

 

I've been in contact with a couple of my old workmates. They are safe, and no one has been reported missing from the bank where I worked. They have not been evacuated but have been moved to the further end of the building and are in lockdown. A large area surrounding the cafe has been evacuated (or staff moved to higher floors). The Sydney Opera House (which is a few hundred metres down the road) and surrounding area has also been evacuated. I believe the Sydney Harbour Bridge has also been closed (it has previously been identified as a possible terrorist target).

 

Very, very scary stuff. Since 9/11, I have always thought that if an attack was to take place in Australia, in would most logically occur around the Martin Place area because this is the financial hub of Sydney (Sydney being the country's largest city), similar to the World Trade Center. I was right, but I'm not happy to be right. :( I'm so glad I work from home now (way, way on the other side of the city: 50+km away).

 

I suspect the siege will be going for quite a while yet. Here's hoping for a positive outcome.

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Thanks for your thoughts everyone. The siege is in its thirteenth hour now. All major TV channels have had ongoing coverage since it started, and even though they're just going over the same ground over and over, and they rarely have new information or footage, I've been glued to my TV all day.

 

Five hostages have managed to escape. First, three men, and then two women a couple of hours later. They looked absolutely terrified as they fled from the shop. :( It's now believed there are around 15 people in the building. The lights were turned out shortly after it got dark, but before that, it was observed that the hostages were being fed, and no one has been injured, so the hostage taker at least appears to be 'looking after' them.

 

The hostage taker has been using the hostages to contact many media outlets requesting them to read out, or show footage of, his list of requests. They are all refusing on the advice of the police. But I did see one TV network list two of his requests (which they probably shouldn't have done, and they haven't mentioned them since then). He wants an IS (terrorist organisation) flag, which seems kind of pointless because he already has religious banners and we've already figured out he's an extremist, and he wants to speak to our Prime Minister.

 

Given that absolutely nothing has happened for around 5 hours, I guess it's going to go well into tomorrow. I'll probably be up for most of the night watching this.

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It's over! I was watching live when a group of 6 hostages ran out, followed by a 7th a few minutes later. Then all of a sudden the police stormed the cafe and there was so much gunfire. Many stun grenades were thrown in as well. I've seen more hostages being escorted out, and one or two on stretchers. Hopefully they'll be OK. There are reports that CPR was being conducted on two people, possibly one a policeman. We have no official reports yet. Safe to say the hostage taker is no longer alive.

 

The man's identity was released in the last couple of hours. Apparently he lived close to me a while ago and was charged as an accessory to his wife's murder (she was stabbed and set on fire). He has also been charged with sending awful letters to the families of soldiers who have died in combat overseas, and was facing 40 allegations of assault and sexual assault. Why was the man let out on bail? He should have been locked up!! He was an Iranian migrant and self-styled cleric and faith healer.

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It's over! I was watching live when a group of 6 hostages ran out, followed by a 7th a few minutes later. Then all of a sudden the police stormed the cafe and there was so much gunfire. Many stun grenades were thrown in as well. I've seen more hostages being escorted out, and one or two on stretchers. Hopefully they'll be OK. There are reports that CPR was being conducted on two people, possibly one a policeman. We have no official reports yet. Safe to say the hostage taker is no longer alive.

 

The man's identity was released in the last couple of hours. Apparently he lived close to me a while ago and was charged as an accessory to his wife's murder (she was stabbed and set on fire). He has also been charged with sending awful letters to the families of soldiers who have died in combat overseas, and was facing 40 allegations of assault and sexual assault. Why was the man let out on bail? He should have been locked up!! He was an Iranian migrant and self-styled cleric and faith healer.

Reports are that 2 are dead. I was watching it live this morning for a long while. I feel sad for all the hostages as it was a terrible ordeal to go through. Glad that it is all over.

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The man's identity was released in the last couple of hours. Apparently he lived close to me a while ago and was charged as an accessory to his wife's murder (she was stabbed and set on fire). He has also been charged with sending awful letters to the families of soldiers who have died in combat overseas, and was facing 40 allegations of assault and sexual assault. Why was the man let out on bail? He should have been locked up!! He was an Iranian migrant and self-styled cleric and faith healer.

 

That's exactly what I thought Kylie, when I read he was out on bail for those crimes! Whatever makes authorities think people like this are safe to be released???

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Me too. :( There was a 38-year-old mother of three young children under the age of 10. :( She was trying to protect her pregnant friend. The other hostage victim was the 34-year-old manager of the cafe. When he saw that the gunman had dozed off, he tried to wrestle the gun off him while the others escaped. Heroes.

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Another bit of terrible news. Taliban kills 142 people including 132 children. When is the world going to put a stop to this kind of madness!!!!

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/12/16/taliban-assault-on-pakistan-school-leaves-141-dead/21117113/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D583260

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Another bit of terrible news. Taliban kills 142 people including 132 children. When is the world going to put a stop to this kind of madness!!!!

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/12/16/taliban-assault-on-pakistan-school-leaves-141-dead/21117113/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D583260

 

This is absolutely inhuman. I can't begin to understand the mentality of these extremists.

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Sometimes my heart aches for the world. Such horrible and utterly unnecessary deaths that have NOTHING to do with faith or religious ideology. It does however have everything to do with human monsters being attracted to carrying out atrocities with like minded others and as with all cowards, attaching what they think is a legitimacy to it,

 

A sad time for those of us with beating hearts. 

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I heard about that ^ too. It's unfathomable and so tragic :(

 

 

Our current Finnish news is that a woman got injured when a bomb in her garage exploded when she was going in. The police have caught the suspect. I just can't get my head around the fact that this sort of bombing thing can happen in Finland. :no:

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Wow, Frankie. Did the victim know the suspect?

Yes she did, but the police have not yet commented on in what kind of way. I'm glad she survived and nobody else got hurt, either.

 

Another big and terrible news item here today. Eight children aged 18 months to 15 years were stabbed to death in Queensland. :(

Oh my god! :( One tragedy right after another. What's wrong with people these days :(

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Our current Finnish news is that a woman got injured when a bomb in her garage exploded when she was going in. The police have caught the suspect. I just can't get my head around the fact that this sort of bombing thing can happen in Finland. :no:

 

I'm sorry to hear this :(

 

Another big and terrible news item here today. Eight children aged 18 months to 15 years were stabbed to death in Queensland. :(

I am so sorry to hear of this :(.

 

There doesn't seem to be much nice news I can post about at the moment. I thought I could post something uplifting from my area to counter all this terrible news but I can't seem to find anything, sorry.

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