Boston Marathon Explosion(S)

[Thomas Jefferson]

There are a few details about this that seem slightly "off"!

 

Better tighten that tin foil hat and run off back to infowars!

 

[slinkydevil]

There are a few details about this that seem slightly "off"!

 

1. Why were the bombs set off at a time in which a minimum amount of people would be killed or injured? Most of the terrorist activities seen all over the world are timed to create the most destruction to lives and property?

No ridicule here, just answering from what I've read.

 

The bombs were timed for the approx busiest period at the finish line. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/04/16/boston_bombs_timing_were_the_marathon_attacks_timed_to_maximize_casualties.html

 

[Yin & Yang]

Yes the media coverage on the above has changed considerably from the first days coverage! Straight after it happened many people "experts" had mentioned that it could have been much worse if the bombs had been activated 2 hours earlier.

 

I'm a person who - if something doesn't ring true I look at everything else!

 

It hasn't failed me yet! Being female makes me more inquisitive!

[P.K.]

Critical thinking alert! Critical thinking alert! Must ridicule immediately.

So you don't think they're just a couple of thrill-seeking glory boys with "Born to Lose" tattoos?

 

Or is it that you just don't think...

[2thumbs]

They are not the first nor will they be the last. The more America in particular tries to fight terrorism the more it makes itself a target.

[slinkydevil]

Yes the media coverage on the above has changed considerably from the first days coverage! Straight after it happened many people "experts" had mentioned that it could have been much worse if the bombs had been activated 2 hours earlier.

 

You can clearly see that it was pretty busy where the bombs went off, but the casualties were not massive. I'd imagine that's because they didn't make very good bombs, they probably weren't as effective as they could have been.

 

I also presume if you are carrying an explosive device around on your back you might be a bit nervous, after all they were not suicide bombers, you don't hang around doing head counts thinking "It might get busier, or it might not, damn it might have been busier earlier... okay lets do a head count again 1, 2, 3, 4..."

[Yin & Yang]

Yeah I see your point, although I'm still not convinced it was terrorists! As you quite rightly point out, the bombs were not as effective as they could have been, also that walking around with a bomb would be pretty scary!

 

Not really the MO for the usual terrorist activities!

[ballaughbiker]

minimum amount of people would be killed or injured

Do you not believe the story that the pressure cookers were full of ball bearings then?

[Slim]

Yeah I see your point, although I'm still not convinced it was terrorists! As you quite rightly point out, the bombs were not as effective as they could have been, also that walking around with a bomb would be pretty scary!

 

Not really the MO for the usual terrorist activities!

 

What's a usual terrorist?

[Lxxx]

 

Critical thinking alert! Critical thinking alert! Must ridicule immediately.

So you don't think they're just a couple of thrill-seeking glory boys with "Born to Lose" tattoos?

 

Or is it that you just don't think...

 

I clearly don't think.

[Chinahand]

Yes the media coverage on the above has changed considerably from the first days coverage! Straight after it happened many people "experts" had mentioned that it could have been much worse if the bombs had been activated 2 hours earlier.

 

I'm a person who - if something doesn't ring true I look at everything else!

 

It hasn't failed me yet! Being female makes me more inquisitive!

What experts said it could have been much worse? Did they know what they were talking about? Or were they just a talking head on Fox, Sky or CNN paid as much for their entertainment value as for their expertise?

 

Why did the bombs go off when they did? No one really knows - which will create a bigger spectacular: trying to kill world class athletes or murdering charity helping fun runners. The volumes of people coming through the finish are very different between the first elite runners at 2 hours and the fun runners at 4 hours, but which will have a bigger crowd watching it? How much consideration was put into the timing? - again no one knows.

 

The whole incident does show up the contradictions of violence in America - 3 died and hundreds were hurt - many really terribly. On the scale of horror it isn't Columbine, Newtown or Oklahoma City, but this is a lot, lot, worse than a typical Saturday Night Special. The fact that the thousands of casual deaths far outnumber the occasional "spectacular" atrocity is slightly beside the point. The US accepts that constant low level violence, it doesn't make headlines, they see it as contained.

 

A similar example were the Washington Sniper attacks which killed 10. Statistically you'd have difficulty seeing these 10 extra deaths in Washington's crime figures, but the fact they were planned, random attacks outside the ghetto gave them a far higher profile.

 

Yin & Yang, what do you mean when you say you don't think it was terrorists?

 

What do you think these two brothers were doing?

1) Do you doubt they deliberately planted the bombs?

2) Robbed a seven 11?

3) Hijacked a car?

4) Murdered an MIT Policeman?

5) Were involved in a huge gun fight with the police, where they also threw home made hand grenades and another pressure cooker bomb?

 

Do you really think this behaviour was in someway a set-up? In what way?

 

Lxxx likes critical thinking, well Lxxx what do you think happened?

 

For me I'm fascinated by the reaction of the city politicians and police. It's an interesting dilemma. The lock down and thousands of para-military police do seem a huge over-reaction. But then again - how would you react if you were a local politician and were told a small group of people were in your community seemingly hell bent on killing as many people as they could, they had explosives and weapons and probably would try as hard as possible to keep on killing until caught. Especially when the Federal Government is picking up most of the tab, and the marginal costs were low?

 

That is a very very different dilemma from the normal policing of criminal violence. In some ways it is counter-productive as it shows the terrorists just how greatly they can get huge publicity for very little capital.

 

Me, at the moment I'm very much of the opinion if it walks like a Duck and quakes like a duck then its a duck.

 

Refugees from vast state violence against their religion and culture come to America, with a long and, from there point of view, proud tradition of fighting against that threat, often with just as much horror and violence. The American Dream fails them, they end up isolated and alienated from American culture, and increasingly drawn to the ideal of the pious Muslim waging jihad against the infidel. Given their culture and background they are drawn into Chechen radicals. That comes to the attention of the authorities, but fails to raise sufficient alarm. They learn enough to do a lot of harm, but given their lack of resources, the effort is still well down towards the amateur scale of terrorism.

 

As I've said the conspiracists are going to love this one. It is so easy to claim the failures are a deliberate plot.

 

No doubt the securitats will gain budgets and kudos from this incident, but to go from that fact to them deliberately planning it is one huge leap.

 

People do get radicalized, due to the political realities of this world, grievances exist and people do attempt to sow violence to try to reap their political ends. Kids from Bolton and Birmingham have done it, on the balance of probabilities I'm not surprised two from Boston have too.

 

That doesn't take a conspiracy.

[Lxxx]

 

Yes the media coverage on the above has changed considerably from the first days coverage! Straight after it happened many people "experts" had mentioned that it could have been much worse if the bombs had been activated 2 hours earlier.

 

I'm a person who - if something doesn't ring true I look at everything else!

 

It hasn't failed me yet! Being female makes me more inquisitive!

What experts said it could have been much worse? Did they know what they were talking about? Or were they just a talking head on Fox, Sky or CNN paid as much for their entertainment value as for their expertise?

 

Why did the bombs go off when they did? No one really knows - which will create a bigger spectacular: trying to kill world class athletes or murdering charity helping fun runners. The volumes of people coming through the finish are very different between the first elite runners at 2 hours and the fun runners at 4 hours, but which will have a bigger crowd watching it? How much consideration was put into the timing? - again no one knows.

 

The whole incident does show up the contradictions of violence in America - 3 died and hundreds were hurt - many really terribly. On the scale of horror it isn't Columbine, Newtown or Oklahoma City, but this is a lot, lot, worse than a typical Saturday Night Special. The fact that the thousands of casual deaths far outnumber the occasional "spectacular" atrocity is slightly beside the point. The US accepts that constant low level violence, it doesn't make headlines, they see it as contained.

 

A similar example were the Washington Sniper attacks which killed 10. Statistically you'd have difficulty seeing these 10 extra deaths in Washington's crime figures, but the fact they were planned, random attacks outside the ghetto gave them a far higher profile.

 

Yin & Yang, what do you mean when you say you don't think it was terrorists?

 

What do you think these two brothers were doing?

1) Do you doubt they deliberately planted the bombs?

2) Robbed a seven 11?

3) Hijacked a car?

4) Murdered an MIT Policeman?

5) Were involved in a huge gun fight with the police, where they also threw home made hand grenades and another pressure cooker bomb?

 

Do you really think this behaviour was in someway a set-up? In what way?

 

Lxxx likes critical thinking, well Lxxx what do you think happened?

 

For me I'm fascinated by the reaction of the city politicians and police. It's an interesting dilemma. The lock down and thousands of para-military police do seem a huge over-reaction. But then again - how would you react if you were a local politician and were told a small group of people were in your community seemingly hell bent on killing as many people as they could, they had explosives and weapons and probably would try as hard as possible to keep on killing until caught. Especially when the Federal Government is picking up most of the tab, and the marginal costs were low?

 

That is a very very different dilemma from the normal policing of criminal violence. In some ways it is counter-productive as it shows the terrorists just how greatly they can get huge publicity for very little capital.

 

Me, at the moment I'm very much of the opinion if it walks like a Duck and quakes like a duck then its a duck.

 

Refugees from vast state violence against their religion and culture come to America, with a long and, from there point of view, proud tradition of fighting against that threat, often with just as much horror and violence. The American Dream fails them, they end up isolated and alienated from American culture, and increasingly drawn to the ideal of the pious Muslim waging jihad against the infidel. Given their culture and background they are drawn into Chechen radicals. That comes to the attention of the authorities, but fails to raise sufficient alarm. They learn enough to do a lot of harm, but given their lack of resources, the effort is still well down towards the amateur scale of terrorism.

 

As I've said the conspiracists are going to love this one. It is so easy to claim the failures are a deliberate plot.

 

No doubt the securitats will gain budgets and kudos from this incident, but to go from that fact to them deliberately planning it is one huge leap.

 

People do get radicalized, due to the political realities of this world, grievances exist and people do attempt to sow violence to try to reap their political ends. Kids from Bolton and Birmingham have done it, on the balance of probabilities I'm not surprised two from Boston have too.

 

That doesn't take a conspiracy.

 

I don't know what happened any more than you do and I wouldn't even want to hazard a guess because as far as facts go no-one has any apart from the fact some explosive devices went off killing and injuring people.

The FBI/Media/police dept have informed us that they have two suspects, one of whom was unfortunately killed and one other who unfortunately cannot talk.

My only point is that when we are talking about the US and it's alphabet agencies I prefer to keep an open mind and not accept the spoon fed drivel that masquerades as news over there.

[P.K.]

Agreed Mr C.

 

It's just pretty nigh impossible to protect your society against this kind of terrorism. They are going to pop up from time to time even in places like Utoya.

[Chinahand]

Lxxx, I'm reasonably confident they were involved in a huge gun fight with the police throwing bombs etc. It was basically tweeted live by thousands of people with multiple videos posted on Youtube etc.

 

That's citizen journalism and reasonably immune from media spin and political manipulation.

[Slim]

Lxxx, I'm reasonably confident they were involved in a huge gun fight with the police throwing bombs etc. It was basically tweeted live by thousands of people with multiple videos posted on Youtube etc.

 

That's citizen journalism and reasonably immune from media spin and political manipulation.

 

Even Obama has asked people not to jump to conclusions pre-trial. Lxxx you say you aren't guessing, but there's definitely a slant in your postings that suggests some kind of conspiracy or that there automatically has to be some sort of cover up going on.