Hewitt Blog

From the BBC this morning:

Meanwhile a man who fell into a coma after being beaten last week is thought to be the first fatality of the unrest.

Der Speigel has extensive background:

The rioters are the children of immigrants from North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Schools have been on holiday in France, giving these youths even more time on their hands, and it's also the end of the Ramadan fasting period, a time when nerves are already on edge. Their rebellion is directed against anything that even remotely reminds them of state authority, even the mailman. They are beyond reason, and no one, not their parents, not their teachers and least of all the authorities can get through to them.

The assumption in the U.S. media seems to be that the French police can in fact restore order, but a different result --the same sort of long running violence that eventually escalated into suicide bombing that marked the start and end of the intifada-- is also a possibility.

The certainty is that the longer Chirac and the increasingly absurd-appearing de Villepin conduct meetings and issue statements as opposed to deploying their forces in strength, the greater the chance of the mob's deepening commitment to the violence, a sort of politicization of a previously merely disaffected population.

The missing event thus far is a large public demonstration of discontent --banners, marching etc-- that puts a political face on the violence. If that occurs, then France will have turned a corner.

Tips for U.S. news organizations:

How's the hotel occupancy rate?

Have American universities with "semesters-in-Paris" ended their semesters early? How's enrollment for the spring going?

And where is Le Pen? He was in Cyprus last week.

John McCain again slammed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today, though in a roundabout fashion.

I cannot help but think that a clear majority of Republican primary voters reject Senator McCain's assessment of the SecDef, just as they do his views on campaign finance reform and the Gang of 14. When McCain loses Republican primary after Republican primary in the winter and spring of 2008, it will be because of deep differences such as these, and no other reason.

From the Monday Times of London:

China fears bird flu killed schoolgirl

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal puts the number of new bird flu cases in the China outbreak at three.

From U.S. News & World Report:

The largest shareholder in Knight Ridder, the nation's No. 2 newspaper chain, called for the company to be broken up and sold partly because it cannot capture ad dollars that are migrating to the Web. Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine pointedly noted there might be a shortage of buyers, given the "secular challenges" facing traditional media houses...

Today, more than half of U.S. households have high-speed lines that allow them to easily access and download music and video from the Web onto an array of devices from laptop computers to cellphones to iPods. The average person now spends three hours a day on the Internet, and with the explosion of blogs and social-networking sites, where users provide free content, the line between consumers and providers has all but disappeared.

Meanwhile, a round-up of updates on the UCSD story from Infinite Monkeys.

Off to Phoenix, but be sure to read the latest from AP on the spreading violence in Paris.

Here's a summary of the Paris student riots from 1968:

The May 1968 Paris student riots had a fundamental impact on French and Wider European society. A part of the impact was on fashion. Just as the War in Viet Nam was having a major impact on American society. The Paris Student Riots are now seen as a major watershed event in France. As Charles Dickens put it about an earlier French Revolution, "They were the best of times, they were the worst of times. Surely the virtual open warfare in the streets of Paris during those May days shattered the old order in France more surely than any popular uprising since the Great revolution of 1789. Students and police clashed around burning cars and barricades. Half the French work force struck in solidarity-freezing the gears of a society which at the time was enjoying record prosperity. As a result, the mighty Charles de Gaulle fell from what had seemed a presidency for life. Other popular movements were underway that Spring. The U.S. anti-War movement, the Prague Spring, and violence on campuses from Japan to Italy to Mexico. A new world order seemed at hand. The events are relatively unrecognized in America as we were in the grips of our own national upheaval.

Here is a much longer review of the events of May, 1968, and their impact on French culture.

Like the American anti-war movement from the same era, the Paris "uprising" has been romanticized and its terrible consequences on a generation of French minimized.

If you spot a story on the current French leadership's roots in that era, please send me the link. The necessity of quelling a "popular" uprising must be an unpleasant task for a group of government officials who once cheered or even participated in a "to the barricades" moment, as it must be for the larger population that once cheered the students on.

Sympathy, even longing for DeGualle, isn't going to change the situation for Chirac, though. The seeds of 1968 are bearing all sorts of unusual fruit, just as they have in the U.S.

Rhett Smith on what the UCSD incident tells us about the modern college campus.

The Belmont Club offers analysis. RogerLSimon has key links, including Shrinkwrapped See also this regularly updated blog.

And DryBonesBlog.

I have a suggestion for my friends at PajamasMedia: Run a forum with your incredibly talented editorial board on the importance of the Paris --and now far beyond Paris-- riots.

BTW: The talent assembled at Pajamas is extraordinary, and puts to shame the editorial boards of every major American daily, bar none.

Please contribute to the fund to purchase voice activated laptops for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who need them. Details are all here.

Aaron's got another fine idea rolling out. Reserve your card today. I personally would have preferred the King of Hearts, but it is Aaron's deck.

Dave Kopel is always worth checking in on. A Second Amendment scholar, he is also a keen student of early American history. If you have a half hour this weekend, read his "The Religious Roots of the American Revolution and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms."