An attack has occurred this morning when an individual carrying 2 backpacks and possibly weapons approached the Louvre in Paris and was engaged by a soldier who fired 5 shots. The assailant was wounded, as was a soldier during the attack. One report claims that the attacker shouted Islamic slogans during the attack.
1111GMT: A second possible assailant has been arrested. The French Govt have confirmed it is a terrorist attack.
1117GMT: It is confirmed that the first assailant attacked a soldier with a machete before being engaged and wounded.
1215GMT: Latest TV statements. The first assailant attacked a security officer and/or soldier with a machete causing wounds to his arm and face, while shouting "Allahu Akbar". A second soldier then engaged the assailant with rifle fire resulting in the assailant being seriously wounded in the stomach. The first assailant was carrying 2 backpacks but no explosives have been found in them. A search of the area is continuing. A second assailant has been arrested within the last hour a short distance away from the scene of the attack.
The Louvre Museum and the area around it is in lock-down, and the public and local workers are been evacuated from the area. The French Govt are releasing only statements that they can verify and are refusing to speculate any further during media questioning.
takyon: French soldier shoots attacker outside Louvre
Assailant Near Louvre Is Shot by French Soldier
Machete attack on soldier near Louvre was of 'terrorist nature'
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday February 03 2017, @03:23PM
Hmm. Your comment led me to a realization. Who's really doing the terrorizing? Is it the guy wielding a blade that injures one guy, or is it the media and government and other parties who spread that terror far and wide for nefarious purposes? When you look at it that way, it's CNN/Fox, our politicians, and lobbyists who are the actual terrorists. They're the ones who use terror to engineer policy changes that direct cash and power into their pockets. If they take actions that inspire more hapless stoolies like these guys to commit materially meaningless crimes, then that quite works for them: A new terrorist attack? Hey, you know what would solve this whole problem is to mandate that every airport buys a Rapiscan naked scanner from my buddy Bob's company...
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @03:49PM
And that is exactly my point...
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday February 03 2017, @04:46PM
I think you're attributing too sophisticated a level of thinking here.
From some ends of the media, it's "I hate Muslims, this clown makes Muslims look bad, report it far and wide." From most other areas of the media, it's "A lot of other outlets are reporting this, we'll look like chumps if we don't, so put it out there." From all of the media, it's "Fear generates pageviews/viewers, so we should be stoking it whenever possible."
Politicians and lobbyists absolutely exploit this fear to push through changes that allow the lobbyists to keep their clients happy and the politicians to keep their lobbyists happy, but again there's not much more planning involved than "Hey, if we do this thing, I can make a lot of money. Let's go for it!"
No fancy conspiring needs to happen, because sheer human stupidity and self-interest is more than sufficient to have the same effects without the effort of coordinating and keeping that coordinating secret. Media outlets absolutely do conspire with politicians, but mostly to help the politician against other politicians, not to affect policy, because the media doesn't care about policy about anything other than the media.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 05 2017, @10:56PM
No, the REAL threat, as explained by Sean Spicer played by Melissa McCarthy, is Moose Lambs!!! Mooselambs! Mooselamb terrorists! Radical Moose-lamb terrorism! I am just so fucking scared. She even had the sockpuppets! http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv-shows/2017/02/05/snl-melissa-mccarthy-sean-spicer-orig.nbc-broadway-video [cnn.com]