Please contain all of your speculation, well-wishes and vitriol at the worst of our knee-jerk journalism here. While it's natural that you want to talk about it, some others might not, so and it's off-putting to see it woven with the other thread.
I was sitting with the fiance last night watching Diane Sawyer try to fill time while she waited until they could put Pierre Thomas back on to say that they still didn't know anything for the 10th time in 15 minutes...and they were playing video clips of the first bomb going off. I looked at fiance's reaction and she seemed somewhat confused--upset, but also confused--so I asked her what was on her mind. She said, "I thought the blast would be bigger." I said, "It didn't need to be." I'm going to spoiler the rest because at this point everything is speculation anyway. Spoiler Reports from the hospitals this morning are saying that among other pieces of shrapnel, they're also recovering ball bearings from the victims. If you look at the video, the first blast is very localized (you can see that the bulk of it goes through one, maybe two sections of the partition along the grand stands). It looks like whoever did this essentially created their version of a claymore mine--small, focused, directional, and only meant to hurt people, not structures. There was very little damage done to the surrounding buildings. The fiance was expecting something like a car bomb that would take a bite out of a city block or a building, but whoever did this placed it low and aimed directly at the street, almost as if they meant to hit the exhausted legs of the runners coming across the line. This thing was well planned and organized--and completely sick in its execution. They weren't going after a symbol of power or greed, they wanted to kill and hurt a bunch of people and it seems to me like they put some thought into how they would do it and what the best device would be. The "when" part seemed off to me at first, but when I heard about how the race was run in waves, and that there were about 10,000 who hadn't crossed the line yet, it became clear that it didn't matter that the bomb went off more towards the end of the race--there would still be plenty of people around. Also, and I'm basing this on just my gut, but I will not be the least bit surprised if it turns out to be domestic and not some foreign group who is responsible for this. Whoever did this, I just hope they're caught, and that justice is swift and harsh.
What is really striking to me is the coordination of the bombs. These two explosions happened within 10 to 15 seconds of each other. I spent a lot of time in Baghdad from 2008 - 2010. This reminds me of many of the car/suicide bombs I witnessed while there. It seemed to me that the individuals who did this kind of thing treated it like an art form. I can recall in the months leading up to the Iraqi presidential elections there were some spectacular (not in a good way) coordinated bombings. In some cases literally simultaneous detonations on opposite banks of the Tigris river. This was my first thought when it became apparent that these two explosion occurred so close together.
Ow the speculating and hilarious detective work of flicker photos on other sites is off the charts: -20 something with backpack has hands on straps making the bag look heavy. - next picture: same kid facing camera. Backpack straps can't be seen in photo. Hoody hood not visible. GUILTY -3 dark skin Arabs looking at cell phones at the same time in different pictures - one is standing near security guard. GUILTY Sometimes instant access to all available technology is fucking pathetic. I'm not a reddit person but that has to be a looney bin right now.
I'm staying away from the news right now. I'm more interested in what they're saying in three weeks, everything now is just sensationalism.
My education on bombs/IEDs is extremely limited (mostly "stay the fuck away from it and call someone who knows what they are doing"). However, a lot of the EOD guys on another forum I post on have been throwing around the word "amateur" to describe the actual devices - best guess being simple pipe bombs with slow-burning powder and ball bearings. Majority of wounds were to lower extremities, so it was likely left in a backpack on the ground or at knee level. PBIEDs usually detonate at chest level and do much more damage. The wood fencing still remaining intact around the blast zone would probably be imbedded in the building across the street if it was military grade explosives. That would make me think it's some sort of homegrown domestic operation, not AQ or anyone with access to high explosives. Then again, I'm completely talking out of my ass on this subject and merely parroting much more informed people.
I personally enjoyed the Boston PD spokesperson basically saying "I don't know where the fuck the NY Post got its information and they are full of shit."
Don't forget homegrown terrorists. That's part of what has made Al Qaeda's "franchise" model successful. Reach out to the weak, angry, fucked-up failures within Western society with propaganda and training videos and let them carry out their own attacks in your name. (Interestingly, this is also what has triggered a backlash against Al Qaeda in recent years among Muslims who used to be sympathetic to it - because they have no control, offshoots like Al Qaeda in the Yemen are killing far too many other Muslims, and thus damaging their cause). The Underpants Bomber (who went to my university and I had a falling-out with, ironically. Cunt) is just one example of disillusioned fucking imbecile who never set foot in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi or any other place where Islamist terrorists are nurtured and trained. Often people like this don't even have an IM chat with someone who's actually Al Qaeda. They just watch a bunch of videos, maybe listen to a couple inflammatory talks at the local mosque, and hey presto, you've got yourself a wannabe Jihadi who downloads a torrent of the Anarchist Cookbook and if he doesn't blow himself up doing it, will soon be walking around as a not-so-smart-bomb. Speculation: Spoiler I'm pretty certain, given what we know about the incident so far, that this is what will turn out to be the case. One (or several) 25-year-old virgin who's dead-ended in life with a fuckload of misplaced anger at the West, who's probably a second-generation-immigrant who's lived his whole life in the US. Also, I made the mistake of reading the comments section on a news website and I'm fairly certain I have cancer now. Opinion 1: Haha it serves the US right that's what they get for using drones to kill children. Opinion 2: Why are we giving this so much attention when people are being blown up the world over. Opinion 3: It was an inside job by the CIA because OIL! Opinion 4: LOOSE CHANGE ZEITGEIST 9/11 OPEN YOUR EYES Opinion 5: It was an inside job by the big arms companies because they don't want the Assault Weapons Ban to pass! They're creating a climate of fear so people will buy GUNS! (Guns are a great defence against bombs) Opinion 6: NUKE 'EM ALL! The internet is probably the greatest argument against democracy ever created.
Police audio of responders. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.lawofficer.com/video/news/police-audio-boston-marathon-e" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.lawofficer.com/video/news/po ... marathon-e</a>
The biggest fail Ive seen so far is this: Opinion 5a: It was a government inside job to blame right wing extremist who hate the government to help push the AWB to pass. PATRIOT DAY TAX DAY BOMBING?? Coincidence? I think not. The bomb was gun powder and used so they could restrict reloading bullets and push for more gun restrictions. False flag Alex Jones. Derp.
I'm sorry, did somebody say "ball bearings?" As in gigantic homemade fucking claymore mines? They were TRYING to kill children with these things. And they WANTED everyone to see, putting it at the finish line of the most prolific race on earth. Sick, sick, sick.
I flipped back and forth between a few channels here's the narratives in a nutshell: FoxNews: "Probably some Arab guy. Al Qaeda? Muslim Brotherhood? Saudi extremist? Which is it?!" MSNBC: "Probably some homegrown, right wing extremist angry about gun legislation" CNN: "Look at our shiny gizmos and gadgets. Hey Anderson, is your hair and make up ready?" "Sure is, thanks John King. Im in Boston where it's cold and stuff. There's some traffic in the city today, but not a lot so it's not worth reporting on. Back to you in studio John". "Great, now lets go to our interactive map we haven't been able to use since the elections."
I've posted about my nut job cousins before but I had to delete them from my FB feed because of all the Alex Jones false flag bullshit. Remember kids, EVERYTHING is a conspiracy, the shadow government runs your life, CIA operatives are responsible for the bombs and your foil hat can never be big enough.
The weirdest thing about Jones current false flag idea: he thinks it was intended to expand TSA presence at sporting events. Think about that for a moment. He believes the government killed people, including a child, so the TSA can patrol Redskins games.
Re: Re: Sober Thread: Boston Marathon Tragedy Which is why I can't and will never take anything he says or writes seriously. I have no idea what the fuck is wrong with people but his followers swallow everything he says as gospel. No questions or logic, all I can say is never argue with these idiots because they will never back down or admit their insanity.
I hate entertainment news, but I went to TMZ yesterday and the Boston bombings were playing second story to the breaking news of domestic violence at Coolio's house.