Attack in Barcelona - RIP to the victims

[WristEnvy]

Apparent terrorist attack in Barcelona in the Las Ramblas. 13 dead so far, RIP to the vitcims.

This touches me dearly as Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in the world.

I have a vacation planned in September, not going to deter me from going.

ig @watch.kakashi

[SpeakWithMichael]

I was living there up until 11 days ago when I moved to southern Spain. The video I've seen online (which I don't recommend, of the immediate aftermath), is really terrible. Half a dozen women and a child laying motionless in one area, one bleeding out profusely. I think it's not over yet, as the perpetrators supposedly ran into a restaurant nearby after ditching the vehicle.

Tourism has been a very touchy topic in Barcelona, so I'm anxious to see who was behind this. Foreign terrorists looking to kill anyone who isn't like them, or Catalan extremists looking to scare tourism away from the city (possibly employing foreign terrorists to accomplish that end). I have friends and family who live and work in Barcelona. It's a tragedy. My sister is a supervisor nurse at one of the main Barcelona hospitals, so I might have some info as word gets around.

[TheVTCGuy]

No words

[TheRolexKingofLV]

Thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and there families.

[lapince]

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by lapince

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

Ahem... Hey Arnoud, you might be 100% correct, and it sounds like a position I would tend to agree with (we will sit down and have a cup of coffee some day, sounds like we will get along ) but me thinks this opinion is a little outside the boundries of TRF. I am not offended, just... IBTL

[Cobain]

Originally Posted by lapince

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

My blood is boiling just like your buddy.

RIP victims of politics.

[Wesley Crusher]

Originally Posted by lapince

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

Agreed 100%. We can thank liberal leadership for all of this nonsense.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by lapince

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

You're right on track Arnaud. So much for the productive and idealistic 'assimilation' of incorrigibles.

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

You're right on track Arnaud. So much for the productive and idealistic 'assimilation' of incorrigibles.

Yeah, bring the politics back in the thread.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by MonBK

Yeah, bring the politics back in the thread.

More along the lines of a sociological perspective as some cultures tend to assimilate into mainstream society more smoothly than others.

[mannyv11]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

More along the lines of a sociological perspective as some cultures assimilate into mainstream society more smoothly than others.

just another thread that BC will get closed down.

[Dan Pierce]

Originally Posted by lapince

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

I'll follow the rules of this forum and stop right here.
dP

[Maybelline]

Originally Posted by lapince

That's the new Europe our politicians, European and national, have planned for us, while ISIS said it would infiltrate terrorists with the refugees, what did we do? Open the doors, Merckel just said we could take 40k more on top of the numbers planned. Call me conspiration theorist, but can't believe they could'be so retarded, I think they want to have terror attacks to take away more of our freedoms, under the desguise to protect us, like in the US France had made laws permitting much more power to the police, and services to listen to your phone, internet, etc. When the ennemy tells you what it's gonna do, and you do nothing to even make the minimum vetting of these "refugees", you are guilty as well.

RIP to the innocent victims

[swils8610]

Thoughts and prayers to the victims and families.



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[droptopman]

Thoughts and prayers to the victims. Another sad day for the world.

Updating our intruder policy currently. Shame I need to spend the resources to have emergency preparation in place for incidents like this.

[MonBK]

Watching it, it's awful.

[ELITEVIDEOGAMES]

IBTL But yes I agree.

[RW16610]

So incredibly sad. My thoughts and prayers are also with the victims and their families.

[Tony64]

Agree. IBTL

[SpeakWithMichael]

To provide some insight into Barcelona for those who may not be aware of the goings-on... since I lived there for 4.5 of my last 6 years.

Barcelona has become an international hub for businesses looking to do business for far less money in rental space (while still being able to hire all the native speakers they need in a multitude of different languages) than the comparable major cities in Europe. So the internal growth due to businesses taking advantage of the cheap labor and cheap rent has been rampant the past 8 years since the crisis hit Spain's economy and made it an ideal nest. Every year there is more. And then August is the busiest month of tourism for Barcelona, where a city designed to hold about 1.5 million people can swell to several times that size in July and, more so, August (when many Spaniards take their full vacation time), and every year there is more. Barcelona is really not that big and it's kind of locked into how much it can expand due to the natural topography, unlike Madrid which is a much bigger city in terms of square miles. Barcelona is very dense and compact. This has driven the price of housing through the roof in the last 18-24 months, the cost of food and transportation through the roof in the last several years, and it has angered many long-time residents of Barcelona because many tourists simply don't respect the area and others profit off the tourists in ways that don't return the financial benefits to the city, and some feel there's more harm than good from all of it. It has become the most expensive place to live in Spain. Personally, I wasn't a long-time resident (and was glad to leave) but even I was annoyed when you had to take the metro and it's already hot and packed in the summer regardless, and then you add another million or two people at once who don't know where they are going or how to be efficient in a city, and it becomes truly impossible and very uncomfortable. The new mayor of Barcelona has even gone as far as to enact some laws to try and curb further tourism growth and perhaps scale it back in any way possible, such as a hold on any new hotel development and laws and limits on renting out apartments to short-term guests (apartments in typically quiet buildings that now have someone renting it out for profit to young people arriving drunk and loud at 4 or 5 in the morning, peeing where they shouldn't pee, and generally just angering residents). To help paint a picture of the tip of the iceberg.

And the area where this occurred is the most heavily trafficked tourist area, so it smells real bad to me in regards to the tourism topic. Anyone wanting to make a statement about not wanting tourists in their city would have made the perfect statement by doing it where and when this occurred. A crazy, psychotic, and homicidal statement, but a statement nonetheless. This wasn't some random street in February. Nope. It was Las Ramblas in August, and they may have been clearing the streets like killers.

Frankly, if I were a tourist wanting to go to Spain and all I keep hearing about is Barcelona, well then I wouldn't know any better and I'd go to Barcelona, too. But, you want beaches? You got beautiful beaches from Barcelona all the way up the coast to France (L'Estartit and Cadaques being my faves in that area) and all the way around going south to Portugal. If you want shopping, you can get that in any major city such as Madrid, San Sebastian, Malaga, etc. Food? Barcelona in my opinion is one of the worst places for food (unless you're spending a fortune on the Michelin star restaurants). Sure, the food is amazing if you're coming from the U.S. and you've never tried anything like it, but where I live in the south (and you can also get the same in the northwest), you could have three beers and three tapas of your choice for less than 6 euros ($7). And they taste better, and the people are nicer. Try that in Barcelona - you might get one beer and one tapa, and depending on the place you might just get one beer for the same price. Plus Barcelona is just chaos, and dirty, and dog shit in the streets everywhere because everyone insists on having a dog in the damn city, and overpopulated per square mile, and people begging for money everywhere (including in the metro itself) and living on the streets in the middle of the sidewalk or in the ATM area of the bank (with their two dogs chained to them). You can honestly do a lot better. Go to Barcelona if you want, but you can have a better time, see nicer scenery, and spend less money in other places of Spain getting a more authentic experience. I honestly don't understand why it keeps getting more and more bombarded with tourists. I think because the non-stop flights are cheaper and more abundant to that location (so there's a convenience factor in play - anyone heard about the airport strike the last few weeks? All due to massive tourism), and people haven't been to other places of Spain to compare it with. But if you go to Sevilla or Malaga or Valencia or Madrid and can take a train, you'll come out ahead on the bottom line in overall spend. Anywho, rant over.

RIP to the victims of this terrible act of violence.

[mannyv11]

IBTL since some are bringing politics into this....

[SpeakWithMichael]

Originally Posted by mannyv11

IBTL since some are bringing politics into this....

I was providing insight you may not have otherwise had. Insight more accurate than just being angry at "terrorists" in general and not understanding their motives.

[MonBK]

If it's as bad as you say why did you stay 4.5 years?

[SpeakWithMichael]

Originally Posted by MonBK

If it's as bad as you say why did you stay 4.5 years?

It's where the work was while I was in a particular field. And I had family nearby. Not in that field anymore, thus no need to be in that city anymore.

[padi56]

As this subject is turning political its now closed my prayers to all the victims and their families.

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by padi56

As this subject is turning political its now closed my prayers to all the victims and their families.

Why not just delete the "Ukranian" post?

[NothingToSeeHere]

Terrible news out of Spain.

I have refused to go to Europe since the refugee crisis hit full steam. The only country I will visit is Poland currently. It's extremely safe. They're also a fresh economy and fresh society still recovering from decades of Soviet oppression. The people are lively and positive, and aren't jaded like so much of the modern world.

[Maybelline]

I got no more thoughts and prayers left. Seriously I'm all out. Now it's time to actually do something about it.
What needs to be done I won't discuss on here because I will get in trouble.

[ejvette]

Just another terrible senseless act of violence :(