I have excellent news about Belgium
From a story in UsaToday and an even better one from our public broadcaster.
In the face of terror, an anxious Belgium found laughter. And cats. Naturally.
Authorities asked social media for silence on their movements as police conducted the counter-terrorism operation. The Internet responded as only the Internet could: with an anti-ISIL cat parade.
In a surreal display of solidarity, cat tweets flooded the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag, which had nearly 190,000 mentions on Sunday night, virtually burying any intelligence about police movements.
Freedom wins. And cat memes, too.
The police have tweeted a cat thanks pic to social media users, link in dutch.
Also, in the community of Molenbeek, thousands came together in a show of solidarity.
One picture, Copyright Frederik Sadones, but please treat yourself to the series at the link.
warm regards and take care,
bmc
= new reply since forum marked as read
I have been sad at seeing DU lose so many important voices. It's therefore good to see you.
If you would like to make sure we stay in touch, send me a PM if you would.
Always good to see you 
I love your country as much as they did, thank you for letting us know people aren't letting fear get the best of them.
She was a daddy's girl anyway. 
Hoping this dark cloud passes quickly. Thanks for posting.
After a caller said we should limit our exposure to channels which spread fear, the presenter asked whether the caller had noticed differences between the channels. He said one need only look at CNN, or National Geographic or Discovery Channel and consider the fake gravitas that tries to get your heartrate up.
Another caller in an earlier episode of the program advised to heed the warning of Benjamin Franklin: "Those who are willing to trade freedom for a little security, will get neither and indeed don't even deserve them."
Also consider this bit from the "Ony thing we have to fear is fear itself"-speech by FDR at Inauguration:
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
Thanks for crosslinking your thread!
Glad to be able to post it. Discourse here was very 9/11-y at the start but there has been a marked change pretty soon.
Glad to see both with your reply and looking at the recs that DU still retains many dissident voices. Sorry if I labeled you incorrectly with that
[center]#BrusselsLockdown
The best hashtag on Twitter tonight is #BrusselsLockdown. Following on the heels of last week’s deadly Paris attacks, police in Belgium have been conducting operations in two major cities to arrest terror suspects linked to the attacks. Because of the extent and sensitive nature of the operations, the authorities asked residents to refrain from tweeting observations that could help the suspects identify and elude the police. The response of the Belgians, and then people from many other countries who joined them, has been nothing short of amazing: They flooded the identified hashtag with cat pictures!
...........
#BrusselsLockdown #Trump2016
...when Twitter hashtags collide.
good news can use a kick these days
Later!
Love it!
