Mass Murder on Bastille Day -- Oh, The Irony!
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Bastille Day celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution. A mob attacked the fort/prison, released its prisoners -- seven men -- and murdered three guards. Then the mob severed the head of the superintendent, placed it on a pike, and paraded through the city.
It was a prelude of things to come . . . for five murderous years.
I know of no other national day of celebration that honors such an act of brutality.
On the 200th anniversary of the Bastille murders, Margaret Thatcher was in Paris to attend an economic summit. There, she created a sensation.
"I was asked [in Paris] about human rights and whether I thought human rights started two hundred years ago. Most certainly they did not and I gave the reasons why they go right back to Judaism, to Christianity, they go right back to Magna Carta, they go right back to our Bill of Rights, 1689 after we had our 1688. The American Statement of Independence 1776 was one of the most brilliant pieces of English literature in proclaiming the liberties of man and the government is there to serve the liberties of man."
She went on to say she knew of no national day of celebration of a jailbreak. Well put, Maggie!
She continued this theme in her memoirs.
"For me as a British Conservative, with Edmund Burke the father of Conservatism and first perceptive critic of the Revolution as my ideological mentor, the events of 1789 represent a perennial illusion in politics." Rather than launching liberty as British and Americans understand the term, the French launched oppression, mass murder, and war, all in the "in the name of abstract ideas, formulated by vain intellectuals." [See Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), p. 753]
Yet the news story on the mass shooting begins: "On a warm summer night made for celebrating life." That event was never a celebration of life.
We read: "Identification belonging to a French-Tunisian man was found in the truck. Officials were investigating whether the ID matched the suspect. The driver of the vehicle was a resident of Nice, according to local newspaper Nice-Matin."
In a televised address, French president Francois Hollande said the "terroristic character" of the attack "cannot be denied. It is clear that we must do everything we can to fight against the scourge of terrorism. ... France was hit on the day of her national holiday, the 14th of July, symbol of liberty, because the rights of man are denied by fanatics and France is inevitably their target."
This bloviating pomposity, a socialist who pays $11,000 a month for haircuts, could only muster "terroristic character." He assured the world that "we must do everything we can to fight against the scourge of terrorism." Like what?
This is all he could do: extend the nation's state of emergency, due to expire this month, for another three months. Plus, he "will supplement the 7,000 troops securing critical sites around France with a call up of reserves tasked with tightening border security."
The enemy is in the gates. Now he proposes locking the gates.
This makes Brexit look wise. This makes the European Union look a suicide pact.
President Obama condemned the attacks in a statement, and offered French officials "any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice. We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack."
The hypocrisy of that statement is nothing short of spectacular.
He wants to bring in 10,000 Syrians at taxpayer expense. We await his offer to take half a million ghetto Muslims off Hollande's hands.
Trump jumped at the opportunity. He tweeted: "In light of the horrible attack in Nice, France, I have postponed tomorrow's news conference concerning my Vice Presidential announcement." This was wise.
Next, he told Bill O'Reilly of Fox News that he would ask Congress for a declaration of war, if he were president. I ask: War on whom? ISIS, he says. But terrorism is 4th generation warfare. There is no national target to declare war on.
The genie is out of the bottle in France. I don't see how the French government can put it back in.