The Boston Marathon Bombing

[Tiassa]

Strangely, the whole thing just doesn't compute. But there is a reason. The principal of my daughter's school was running the marathon today. We have received confirmation that he and his family are safe. But I have no idea what, if anything, they're telling the children at school.

And, strangely, this event actually recategorizes my daughter and me. It's not a traumatic reclassification by any means, but, rather, a curious one. The good doctor is officially the first person of my specific acquaintance to have been so close to a terrorist strike during the period of our association.

Wow.

I beg your pardon, of course, if I do not find this transition in any specific or general way encouraging. The best I can do is shrug, file it away as a factoid, and disregard that particular parameter as a habit of minimally crafted apathy.

Condolences, of course, to the victims. Our love to Boston, as well. Your response is encouraging to the distant eye. The world sees, and knows you're not frightened but well and appropriately pissed off. Go get 'em.

 

[GeoffP]

The New York Post says that there's a Saudi in custody, which surprises me - I'd have expected a dumbass kind of attack like that the very special kingdom of some of the distal Pakistani groups, buffed by their connections with ISI and thick as a whale omelet by nature. Then again, that's the New York Post, so... maybe it's so, maybe not. Kind of a Sun-like outfit. They could be right. Who knows? The Saud thing still surprises me.

FBI rep on ABC is spinning domestic patriot groups, neo-Nazi, etc: no surprises there.

 

[GeoffP]

Op - Daily Fail picked up the Saud angle. The case for international muttonheads sinks a-lower.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ital-police-reveal-bomb-went-JFK-Library.html

Glad to hear your kid's principal is all right. I once had my flight diverted because a slightly-raving Iraqi tried to get on the plane with some wires sticking out of his pocket and a battery up his rear end... but no bomb. Makes a great joke now - "let's see... got my wires... definitely... oof... got my battery... what am I forgetting?" - but at the time it was a bit alarming. I had my plastic meal knife all ready to do battle with the dastardlies in case anyone was dumb enough to stand up and say "okay okay.. it was me".

Thoughts and prayers go with the victims.

 

[Saturnine Pariah]

[video=youtube;yN1Q6btIu9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN1Q6btIu9g[/video]
By Scott Malone and Tim McLaughlin

BOSTON | Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:42pm EDT

(Reuters) - Two explosions hit the Boston Marathon as runners crossed the finish line on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring 23 on a day when tens of thousands of people pack the streets to watch one of the world's best known marathons.

Boston police also reported another explosion at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which is three miles from the marathon's finishing line.

"We are not certain that these incidents are related, but we are treating them as if they are," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told a news conference.

Boston police said two people were killed and 23 injured in the explosions on the marathon scene.

Two high-level U.S. law enforcement officials said one or more bombs were responsible for the explosions.

"It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven't stopped shaking yet," said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions.

A fireball rose from behind spectators and a row of flags, video posted on the New York Post website showed. Other pictures showed blood stains on the ground and several people knocked down.

Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 19 victims of the explosion in its emergency room, six of them in critical condition, a spokeswoman said.

Witnesses said two explosions hit as spectators were cheering on people finishing the Boston Marathon, which was first run in 1897.

Reporters in the media center heard two blasts.

Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a "massive explosion."

Smoke rose 50 feet in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said.

"Everybody freaked out," Mitchell said.

Ambulances, fire trucks and dozens of police vehicles converged at the finish line.

U.S. President Barack Obama was notified and directed his administration to provide whatever assistance was necessary, the White House said. Obama was being briefed by Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and other staff, the White House said.

Authorities tightened security in Washington and New York.

"Blood everywhere, victims carried out on stretchers. I saw someone lose their leg, people are crying," the Boston Globe's Steve Silva reported from the scene, the Globe said on Twitter.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators typically line the 26.2 mile race course, with the heaviest crowds near the finish line. The blasts occurred more than five hours after the start of the race, at a time when most top athletes were off the course but slower amateur marathoners were still running.

The transit agency shut down all service to the area, citing police activity.

Ambulances arrived on the scene within minutes and runners and spectators could be seen crying and consoling each other.

The Boston Marathon has been held on Patriots Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897. The event, which starts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and ends Boston's Copley Square, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.

Earlier on Monday, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo won the men's and women's events, continuing African runners' dominance in the sport.

(Reporting by Scott Malone, Tim McLaughlin, Aaron Pressman, Edith Honan, Frank McGurty and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Grant McCool)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/15/us-athletics-marathon-boston-blast-idUSBRE93E0ZF20130415

Understandably Tiassa was unable to provide information on the event due to emotional shock and personal absence to assess the situation. My sympathies go out to OP and the families of this event.

 

[Tiassa]

Proximal Focus

Understandably Tiassa was unable to provide information on the event due to emotional shock and personal absence to assess the situation. My sympathies go out to OP and the families of this event.

Actually the information was updating so quickly that whatever I posted would have been obsolete before it was up. Yeah, that makes sense. Right? But, you know, still. I wonder what my daughter will say tonight; I wonder what they already told the kids. Understandably, they didn't bother to include that in the alert email; they probably hadn't decided. At this point, it's just another sensational display of senseless violence. I'm fascinated when my daughter's mind tackles a completely new challenge. This particular display of senseless violence will actually have a very proximal ripple effect.

Yes, fascinating. Indeed, that will probably be what defines my memory of this event.

 

[Balerion]

I'm just angry. That's all I say for now.

 

[Bells]

The New York Post says that there's a Saudi in custody, which surprises me - I'd have expected a dumbass kind of attack like that the very special kingdom of some of the distal Pakistani groups, buffed by their connections with ISI and thick as a whale omelet by nature. Then again, that's the New York Post, so... maybe it's so, maybe not. Kind of a Sun-like outfit. They could be right. Who knows? The Saud thing still surprises me.

FBI rep on ABC is spinning domestic patriot groups, neo-Nazi, etc: no surprises there.

Wasn't it because the Saudi national had been admitted to a hospital with burns?

And he has been cleared? That's what the media here are saying.

Absolutely awful either way. I'm just amazed the death toll to this point is 2 people. Thankfully the other two that were found had not exploded.

My sympathy to the dead and their families and my best hopes for those who survived.

 

[iceaura]

They got two out of four low power sidewalk bombs going off an hour and a half late at the Boston Marathon on Patriots' Day, and they arrest a Saudi? Oh well - - -

 

[AlexG]

The Boston PD has denied everything the Post claims.

 

[GeoffP]

Wasn't it because the Saudi national had been admitted to a hospital with burns?

And he has been cleared? That's what the media here are saying.

Absolutely awful either way. I'm just amazed the death toll to this point is 2 people. Thankfully the other two that were found had not exploded.

My sympathy to the dead and their families and my best hopes for those who survived.

I haven't heard 'cleared', just that he's a 'person of interest' and that he's under guard at a hospital. It's probably jumping the gun, and something about it doesn't sound right. Three people dead now. The wife tells me that the fire in JFK was related to the bombing; don't know how she knows that.

Now she tells me it was Fox News. :shrug:

Early to the gun or right from the start? Decisions decisions.

 

[Bells]

In December 2012 Adam Lanza pulled on military-style clothing and shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown.

Once inside he systematically murdered 26 victims, including 20 children with a Bushmaster .223-calibre rifle before taking his own life with a Glock 10mm handgun.

The Boston Marathon was dedicated to the victims of that attack. The race was 26.2 miles long. One mile for each of the 26 victims. Before the race began there was 26 seconds of silence for the victims.

Survivors and families were invited to watch the race from the VIP area close to the finishing line. It is not yet known if any of them were injured in the explosions.

A banner marking the final mile carrying a dedication to Sandy Hook still flies in the wind above scattered debris and blood stains.

Among the runners was a group called Newtown Strong – a group of Newtown parents taking part to raise money for local charities.

"In the first 20 miles we're honouring the 20 Sandy Hook first graders," Laura Nowacki, a spokeswoman for Newtown Strong, explained to WBUR Boston.

"When we crest Heartbreak Hill, and we're coming back towards Boston, we run the final six for our six fallen educators, including their lives, to protect our children."

As runners reached the finish line, a bomb went off.

[Source]
​

 

[Bells]

I haven't heard 'cleared', just that he's a 'person of interest' and that he's under guard at a hospital. It's probably jumping the gun, and something about it doesn't sound right. Three people dead now. The wife tells me that the fire in JFK was related to the bombing; don't know how she knows that.

Now she tells me it was Fox News. :shrug:

Early to the gun or right from the start? Decisions decisions.

It reminds me of the Oklahoma bombings, where reports of 3 Middle Eastern men were seen leaving the area..

The bombs were probably detonated from far away and someone showing up with burns to their hands.. I'd imagine if a bomb went off as someone was building it or if it was manually detonated, the injuries would be worse than burns.. but who knows.

No one can know until more information comes in.

I don't suspect it will take long to know either way. Since it is such a central district and I would imagine, there would be cameras everywhere.

 

[Captain Kremmen]

One bad thing happens after another.
Now there has been an earthquake in Iran, with 40 dead and counting.
People upset with the Boston Bombing must be even more distraught now.

 

[billvon]

One bad thing happens after another.
Now there has been an earthquake in Iran, with 40 dead and counting.
People upset with the Boston Bombing must be even more distraught now.

Keep in mind that this is largely an effect of our news network. Even 50 years ago the same kinds of things happened - but news traveled a lot more slowly, so you wouldn't have heard about the Iran quake for weeks (if at all.)

 

[Ophiolite]

Based on previous experience no one will pay a blind bit of attention to this observation.

Since the bombing a few hours ago, several hundred children around the world have died of inadequate supplies of drinking water. A small reduction in oversumption in the west and diversion of funds to the affected areas would eliminate these unecessary deaths. The Boston event is sad, but the tradgedy is the ongoing deaths of truly innocent children.

Please feel free to continue to ignore the plight of the large numbers of anonymous dead and focus on the smaller numbers of soon to be named bombing victims. There is plenty of research to show it's a natural human reaction. Absolutely no need for any of you to feel guilty.

 

[Buddha12]

Since the bombing a few hours ago, several hundred children around the world have died of inadequate supplies of drinking water. A small reduction in oversumption in the west and diversion of funds to the affected areas would eliminate these unecessary deaths. The Boston event is sad, but the tradgedy is the ongoing deaths of truly innocent children

But there's a difference between them both and I do hope you realize that. The children grew up in a overcrowded area where their parents knew that having any children wouldn't be very smart because of the terrible conditions they were living in. Why bring children into this world when you know they will not survive?

On the other hand those who died in Boston were murdered by someone/group that was wanting only to cause fear and pain in those people who were there. Those people who were injured/killed had no idea what was going to happen to them unlike the parents of those children you so aptly want us to remember.

 

[Tach]

The presence of the ball-bearings in the bombs is a Palestinian/Iraqi trademark. Follow the forensics.

 

[Ophiolite]

But there's a difference between them both and I do hope you realize that. The children grew up in a overcrowded area where their parents knew that having any children wouldn't be very smart because of the terrible conditions they were living in. Why bring children into this world when you know they will not survive?

Don't talk crap. This has nothing to do with overcrowding and everything to do with those with the power and the funding to correct the issue doing so. Your remarks are offensive, distasteful and reveal your value as a human being.

 

[Captain Kremmen]

Absolutely no need for any of you to feel guilty.

Shouldn't people feel bad about the revenge bombings?
When Obama finds out who is responsible, he's sure to order some.
Usually, the Terrorists hide among innocent people,
who regretfully must be blown up too.

 

[spidergoat]

...Absolutely no need for any of you to feel guilty.

Don't worry, I don't. Throwing money at the problem might absolve you of guilt, but it won't necessarily fix anything. In some places, the sources of drinking water are considered sacred, and therefore could not possibly be the source of contamination. So there are cultural impediments to deal with, it's not simple.