(OT) (Happy) New Year

UPDATE-2 (1/13/2014)

Israeli newspaper HaMevaser photoshopped out Angela Merkel and three other female politicians (including Danish PM famous for selfies with Obama and Cameron), says UK's Independent.

From a tweet comparing photos:

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UPDATE (1/12/2015)

What a joke. That was nothing but a photo-op. From Liberty Blitzkrieg blog:

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2015 is off to a rocky start. The last week was dominated by events in the French capital where a satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's editor and cartoonists were gunned down by French citizens who claimed to have taken orders from either Al-Qaeda or ISIS to avenge the Prophet.

The cry for "Freedom of Speech" has quickly morphed into the cry from the world governments for more government surveillance of free speech particularly on the Internet, to protect the rest of us plebs from "terrorists", with a quick jab at "racism".

(I knew something was rotten when IMF chief Christine Lagarde showed solidarity by joining the demonstration in New York.)

Then the world was treated with this spectacle on Sunday January 11, 2015, in the largest-ever demonstration in Paris:

Merkl, Hollande, dignitaries from all over the world (including those from countries with dubious records on freedom of speech), arm in arm, looking at... what are they looking at?

A snippet from Bloomberg (1/11/2015) seems to depict France's unpopular president's moment of glory:

“Paris is the capital of the world today,” President Francois Hollande told ministers before receiving dignitaries from around the world at the Elysee Palace.

But the above image seemed somewhat very familiar, as if I had seen it very recently. Then I remembered this image, at Zero Hedge (1/10/2015):

The Economist Magazine's "World in 2015" Japanese version's front page:

Both these images look sinister, as I read this article at Infowars (1/11/2015):

Government Prepares Internet Speech Crackdown Following Paris Attacks

“We forcefully noted the need for greater cooperation with Internet companies to guarantee the reporting and removal of illegal content, particularly content that makes apologies for terrorism or promotes violence or hate,” said French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

US and EU bureaucrats gathered at the French interior ministry to formulate a response to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, many supported, trained and financed by the Gulf emirates, Turkey, western intelligence and the U.S. military.

The meeting in France will be followed by a “security summit” to be held in Washington next month.

“We will bring together all of our allies to discuss ways in which we can counteract this violent extremism that exists around the world,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.

The Paris attack will be used to impose new and more draconian legislation over free speech and the right to communicate without interference by the state.

“France’s police state apparatus is one of the continent’s toughest. Article 13 of its 2014-19 defense appropriation legislation permits monitoring, collecting and maintaining Internet user data,” writes Stephen Lendman.

The legislation requires ISPs and web sites to provide government with information on users’ activities and authorizes surveillance by the state.

Britain, often cited as the incubator for police state activity in the West, leads the way.

In 2005 it imposed the Prevention of Terrorism Act which did away with long standing legal protections. The legislation permits arbitrary house arrest, prohibitions against free association, and bans on electronic communication.

In September, the British Home Secretary Theresa May criticized Parliament the “torpedoing” of a so-called snooper’s charter communications data bill that would outlaw speech the state considers “poisonous hatred.” May specifically cited the Islamic State when she argued in favor of the the legislation.

In addition to addressing the purported threat of Islamic speech, the law would also confront “all forms of extremism‚ including neo-Nazism,” according to The Guardian, and focus on the “culture of bullying and intimidation” in British schools.

So they will kill freedom of speech in order to protect freedom of speech. Makes sense in the world in 2015.

Ah yes, nursery school teachers in the UK will be asked to "snitch" on small children in their care if they are at risk of becoming terrorists.

For Eric Holder, "extremism" in the US is anyone and anything that stands against Obama.

Happy New Year. Hope we the plebs all survive.