Explosions at end of Boston Marathon

[Balta1701]

It is Patriot Day in Massachusetts.

The first time I ever heard of this holiday was today.

[Brian]

The first time I ever heard of this holiday was today.

 

That's kinda sad

[Ross]

I am in awe of people who run directly towards the blast as their first instinct.

 

Those guys are awesome.

[bmags]

That's kinda sad

 

I'd never heard of it either. Not really ever mentioned in Chicago.

[Balta1701]

That's kinda sad

I'm familiar with this "Patriot day".

[Ross]

Some representative from Mass. said on CNN that they found 2 undetonated (sp?) bombs.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Just read that one of the confirmed dead was an 8-year old kid. But like Duke said, not THAT big a deal.

[Balta1701]

Some representative from Mass. said on CNN that they found 2 undetonated (sp?) bombs.

At this point, I think the morning newspapers are likely to be the first place that really has everything cleared up in terms of number of devices, number of injuries, extent of injuries, etc.

[HuskyCaucasian]

There was a report that one fo the undetonated bombs was under the grandstands. If the bombs were triggered via cellphone, the grandstands might have saved their lives. A densely populated area with tall building, with heavy cell use due to the marathon, and the metal stands would have disrupted coverage to a cell underneath (basically a faraday cage). My guess is that it's completely possible the call was sent, but it never go there.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Athomeboy_2000

[mr_genius]

I would be surprised if this was foreign terrorism. This strikes me as domestic. i think foreign would want to go much bigger.

 

There is a suspect in custody

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/auth...29uC2PDGIjYBalO

[cabiness42]

FYI: ESPN's coverage of this is way better than the broadcast or cable news networks. They interviewed an employee who was 1.5 miles short of the finish line when it happened, an employee who had finished an hour prior to it happening and was in the medical tent just past the finish line getting treated for dehydration when it happened, and they also interviewed a woman who was literally 10 feet from the finish line (and thus 20-30 feet from the first bomb) when it exploded. Great first-person accounts from several angles.

[Reddy]

There is a suspect in custody

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/auth...29uC2PDGIjYBalO

 

 

the post is not reliable news information.

[Balta1701]

Apparently they did indeed cut cell service to prevent more detonations

 

 

I don't know if they could randomly trigger a bomb, but a cell phone can be used to intentionally trigger a bomb. It's a common technique for IED's.

Verizon and Sprint issued statements saying they did not deactivate their networks and were not asked to do so by any agency. Calls simply overehelmed capacity.

[Balta1701]

A third victim has died.

[RockRaines]

The authorities can block calls. That's probably what happened to block any further detonations.

[Reddy]

CNN [update, 8:55 p.m. ET] A Saudi national with a leg wound was under guard at a Boston hospital in connection with the bombings at the Boston Marathon, but investigators cannot say he is involved at this time and he is not in custody, a law enforcement official said Monday evening.

 

f*** you CNN - fear-mongering at its finest. Saudi man was injured at the scene. He's not in custody, but we just want to make sure you all know that an Arab person "may or may not" have been involved.

 

Accidental racism my ass.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Reddy

[Jenksismyhero]

f*** you CNN - fear-mongering at its finest. Saudi man was injured at the scene. He's not in custody, but we just want to make sure you all know that an Arab person "may or may not" have been involved.

 

Accidental racism my ass.

 

slight overreaction.

[Reddy]

slight overreaction.

 

yeah no. what's the point of reporting that if they guy's not in custody?

[Jake]

One has to wonder if he's being "guarded" because he in fact needs protection from people who might accuse the Arab man near the scene of being responsible.

[Reddy]

One has to wonder if he's being "guarded" because he in fact needs protection from people who might accuse the Arab man near the scene of being responsible.

 

guards are always posted at hospitals that treat victims of something like this.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Well, it sucks that this stuff can happen, and that it's almost 0% preventable, but this really could have been a lot worse. In the end, it was a rather small loss in all things considered, so there's the bright side.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I'm no terrorist, but wouldn't Al-Qaeda WANT to claim any event like this as their own? Isn't a perfect scenario for them one in which they can credit for an American attack, become feared and perceived as powerful and still relevant, and yet they didn't have to do anything at all? It just seems to me that we can't believe them if they claim they were responsible for this.

[Jake]

I'm no terrorist, but wouldn't Al-Qaeda WANT to claim any event like this as their own? Isn't a perfect scenario for them one in which they can credit for an American attack, become feared and perceived as powerful and still relevant, and yet they didn't have to do anything at all? It just seems to me that we can't believe them if they claim they were responsible for this.

 

They may have hesitated to claim past events like 9/11 at first because they didn't want plans in the immediate future to be sniffed out by the intelligence. As a terrorist group, you can only get the desired effects by eventually having credit, but you may want to control as much information as you can to keep your operations secure.

 

This is basically the source of the problems with the Benghazi scandal, where the CIA wouldn't let the full story go out right away because it would have given away their wiretaps on those responsible. They had to wait until there was plausible deniability that they had obtained the full story by other means/no longer needed those wiretaps for intelligence gathering.

[The Sir]

You're assigning value to human life based on how its lost, which (at least to me) is a little f***ed up.

 

Do you react the same way to a kid who fatally overdoses on heroin as you do to a kid who gets gunned down on his way to school in a rough part of town?

 

I don't value one life over the other. Both are horribly tragic. But the second kid wasn't involved in activities that led to his own death. The first kid did. That, combined with the instant publicity of terrorism and a major public event like this marathon, elicits greater emotions and reactions amongst people, amongst leaders and amongst the media.

[The Sir]

I am in awe of people who run directly towards the blast as their first instinct.

 

That is heroic. And yet, sadly, it's exactly what the bombers want. Make one little boom to hurt some people and then when people come running over to help them, make a bigger boom to hurt a lot more people.

 

I don't know how to reconcile those two things. I applaud and admire people who run into the face of danger and help out and yet I must also acknowledge that this is the very tactic these terrorists use. I haven't read anything about this particular detail and I suspect they did do it, so this is NOT a criticism in the slightest, but one of the first tasks of emergency personnel should be to get people AWAY from the blast site. Cops, firefighters and paramedics should be in there and the good Samaritans, bless them, should be moved to a safe distance away.