Free Republic

Many observers are forecasting that the world’s transition to electric cars will take place much sooner than expected. Now, BBC is also joining the fray. “What makes the end of the internal combustion engine inevitable is a technological revolution. And technological revolutions tend to happen very quickly … [and] this revolution will be electric,” reports BBC‘s Justin Rowlett. Rowlett points to the late ’90s internet revolution as an example. “For those who hadn’t yet logged on [to the internet] it all seemed exciting and interesting but irrelevant — how useful could communicating by computer be? After all, we’ve got phones!...

The enemedia is applauding this because the number is a few shy of last year’s mass car burnings — as if this were consequential. Wrong. Burning close to 1000 cars is the lede — that’s the story, but media has little to say about that, and even less about the fact that it was Muslims. Perhaps the number would have been higher if so many French Muslims hadn’t gone to the Middle East to wage jihad alongside the Islamic State.

A New Year’s Eve tradition for some in France of torching empty, parked cars has continued into 2013. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that 1,193 vehicles were burned overnight around the country, where the stunt began in the 1990s. “In France’s rundown suburbs, it has become as much of a New Year tradition as champagne and fireworks in more affluent neighbourhoods,” the Agence France-Presse

Note: Photo included. "France: Riots over killing of Muslim man Cars burned, police shot at after authorities kill hold-up suspect near Grenoble" News agencies Published: 07.17.10, 17:47 / Israel News SNIPPET: "Rioters burned cars, attacked a tramway and shot at police in the French city of Grenoble overnight in protest at the death of a local Muslim man, identified as 27-year- old Karim Boudouda, fleeing police after allegedly holding up the city's casino." SNIPPET: "Police said they intervened after local residents stopped a tramway by setting a fire on the rails and stoned it. At least 50 cars were burned...

PARIS (Reuters) - France plans to spend a million euros to lure back foreign tourists after its image was damaged by pictures of burning cars and angry youths shown on televisions around the world during recent riots. The Tourism Ministry said on Thursday it will take out advertisements in newspapers and travel websites, with one showing a couple embracing next to the Eiffel Tower. The campaign will particularly target potential visitors from United States, Japan, China, Australia and Russia who France estimates are most sensitive to pictures of the violence that flared up in many of France's suburbs in November....