Explosions At Boston Marathon

[j0ester]

My gf, family and I was about a hundred yards away from the second blast. we was also just informed that a 3rd bomb was at the mandarian hotel, where we watched the finish line along with at least a few more dozen people in 2 Conference Rooms. My mom was at Mile 21 when it happened. She was running for the Spaulding Rehab team. The 3rd bomb we was told probably had ball bearings and nails. Why didn't it go off? Not our time... ?

Also, those phone numbers is a joke. Which I will be complaining today. Those numbers was only for "injured people" not "missing people". If it wasn't for Spaulding Rehab, I would've never knew where my mom was at. I just knew she, along with other runners was in Newton, MA.

I am also very pissed at MBTA. Boston had to be evacuated and I had to fucking pay to go on the trains.

[StayTuned]

I'm reposting this as this needs more attention: https://twitter.com/WBCSays/status/323936471029530624

How can religious people even say such a thing?! They're suppose to be people of God!

Stop giving them what they want. They do not need attention, they need the total lack of it.


I wonder what the motives were for this bombing.... probably just some lunatic who wanted to kill people on public TV

[Seirith]

It is truly sad what humans will do to one another. With our intelligence also comes great evil.

[Bakis]

My gf, family and I was about a hundred yards away from the second blast. we was also just informed that a 3rd bomb was at the mandarian hotel, where we watched the finish line along with at least a few more dozen people in 2 Conference Rooms. My mom was at Mile 21 when it happened. She was running for the Spaulding Rehab team. The 3rd bomb we was told probably had ball bearings and nails. Why didn't it go off? Not our time... ?

There were alot of bombs that didnt go off, reports metion 6-8 bombs total even though it seems to vary a bit in between.

[StayTuned]

There were alot of bombs that didnt go off, reports metion 6-8 even though it seems to vary a bit in between.

What the fuck? How can someone build so many bombs without anyone noticing it?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

My gf, family and I was about a hundred yards away from the second blast. we was also just informed that a 3rd bomb was at the mandarian hotel, where we watched the finish line along with at least a few more dozen people in 2 Conference Rooms. My mom was at Mile 21 when it happened. She was running for the Spaulding Rehab team. The 3rd bomb we was told probably had ball bearings and nails. Why didn't it go off? Not our time... ?

Well, amateurs make mistakes. You (thankfully) got lucky.

[Deleted]

What the fuck? How can someone build so many bombs without anyone noticing it?

My guess here is that we are dealing with a group, not one man.

[Bakis]

What the fuck? How can someone build so many bombs without anyone noticing it?

Its piss easy to make a crude bomb if you are willing to spend time on it.
To my knowledge the US does not monitor purchases of fertilizers and other ingredients to make them either.

[Deleted]

I take it you've never heard of them before or you wouldn't be surprised by what they've said. Pretty standard for them TBH.

I heard they believe Barack Obama is supposedly the Anti Christ etc. But this is too much for me. The images are just so fucking disturbing.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Its piss easy to make a crude bomb if you are willing to spend time on it.
To my knowledge the US does not monitor purchases of fertilizers and other ingredients to make them.

IIRC banks are required to send a report to the FBI if an individual recently bought large quantities of fertilizer and diesel (especially if they are not a farmer). Of course, if they paid cash then that falls apart.

[Deleted]

Stop giving them what they want. They do not need attention, they need the total lack of it.

Yeah, I don't get this about Americans.

Why would you possibly give extra voice and waste your time talking about such extreme views? Do these people have such a hold and position of power in society or something? I mean I could understand a bit if it were a political party, but its just a bunch of random people with extreme, offensive views...

Or maybe it is the fact they wrap themselves up in "religion" that gives them extra credibility in the US? Religion plays such little part in European public (or private tbh) life that perhaps I am missing something.

[Bakis]

IIRC banks are required to send a report to the FBI if an individual recently bought large quantities of fertilizer and diesel (especially if they are not a farmer). Of course, if they paid cash then that falls apart.

Yea but from what I seen in some docu (but it might have been outdated) one could just buy a big load in one state, then travel to another and the system would not really put 1+1 together that well, then there is the issue of cash

It is really hard to protect against those, I presume the EU system will be effective vs a Breivik size bomb but thinking these measures would stop smaller bombs like the ones in Boston seems naive.

[ringpriest]

Drones are the scalpels of war resulting in fewer civilian casualties than almost any other tactic.

War sucks, but of all the shitty options, drones are the best.

If it was conducted by international belligerents the Boston Marathon attack was clearly a violation of of both the Geneva Convention and international law. If it was carried out by a U.S.-based group or individual then U.S. law should be sufficient to put those responsible away for the rest of their lives. But none of that changes the fact that drones are still too inaccurate to justify using them the way the U.S. has been.

"It turns out that the Obama administration has not been honest about who the CIA has been targeting with drones in Pakistan."

Investigative reports and on-the-ground testimonies have made it public knowledge that far more people than al-Qaida leaders are killed by drone strikes. The U.K.’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) estimates that in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia over 1,000 civilians may have been killed by U.S. drone strikes. The Obama administration has long maintained, however, that strikes are only ever authorized to target “specific senior operational leaders of al-Qaida and associated forces.” Documents obtained by McClatchy newspapers suggest that these claims are false.

Drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere are probably straight up illegal (under international law) to begin with, given that the U.S. isn't a declared belligerent in those conflicts. But the awful targeting makes it worse. Indiscriminate attacks are war crimes under the Geneva Convention (Additional Protocol, Article 51), no matter if they're launched by the U.S. government or some jihadi terror group. America was supposed to be better than its enemies, but that standard was lost under President Bush and has gotten worse under President Obama. There's no moral high ground here - both sides should have their turn in front of the ICC to answer for their crimes.

[Wildtree]

CNN fired their real reporters and decided to focus on Tweets instead. This says enough about the lack of demand for real news.

I still see some good journalists at CNN. If anything then it's a broad problem with the US media, and not limited to CNN.
In fact, this case was flushed to the top last Friday, after Anderson Cooper picked it up, and made a thorough report about it, on CNN:
http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/1...abortion-case/

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

If it was conducted by international belligerents the Boston Marathon attack was clearly a violation of of both the Geneva Convention and international law. If it was carried out by a U.S.-based group or individual then U.S. law should be sufficient to put those responsible away for the rest of their lives. But none of that changes the fact that drones are still too inaccurate to justify using them the way the U.S. has been.

"It turns out that the Obama administration has not been honest about who the CIA has been targeting with drones in Pakistan."


Drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere are probably straight up illegal (under international law) to begin with, given that the U.S. isn't a declared belligerent in those conflicts. But the awful targeting makes it worse. Indiscriminate attacks are war crimes under the Geneva Convention (Additional Protocol, Article 51), no matter if they're launched by the U.S. government or some jihadi terror group. America was supposed to be better than its enemies, but that standard was lost under President Bush and has gotten worse under President Obama. There's no moral high ground here - both sides should have their turn in front of the ICC to answer for their crimes.

There is probably a reason why the USA is not a party to the ICC.

[Bakis]

Drones are the scalpels of war

Not when misused no.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

You can do a lot of collateral damage with a scalpel.

[Nero412]

Are people still saying it isn't terrorism? Terrorism is any act that incites fear and panic among a group of people, it doesn't have to come from an organization.

They're trying not to offend anyone probably.

[Wildtree]

My guess here is that we are dealing with a group, not one man.

I know what you mean, but - after the rather recent mass shootings - and learning about how some of them have been thoroughly planned out ahead - I wouldn't rule out for this to be a one man job just yet.

From what we have learned so far, there are 2 aspects that speak against a group of terrorists, at least...
1. The bombs weren't strong. They were fairly weak - luckily, or else all those injured people would be dead now.
2. The timing of the explosions was very poorly handled. For a terrorist group, the bombs went off some 2 hours too late. There were 25.000 runners at the marathon, and over 15.000 already crossed the finish line, with the winner crossing the line 2 hours earlier. At the time of the explosion there were significantly less people watching. For the most part it's been only family members of the remaining runners and volunteers of the event. A blast 2 hours earlier, when the stands were packed, would also have caused a more devastating result.
Judging from there, the top terrorist organizations can be definitely ruled out. They are more professional than that.
Despite of being a planned attack, it was still amateurish. If it was some group, then I'd put my bet on some domestic fascist/racist group. Or maybe "just" another sick fuck, who resorted to bombs instead of a Bushmaster for his killing spree.

[ringpriest]

What the fuck? How can someone build so many bombs without anyone noticing it?

Low-order explosives (like black powder substitute) are legal in the United States, and pretty easy to obtain. They have many legitimate uses and are stupidly easy to make even if they were illegal. High explosives typically require training and certification, and are harder to obtain, but are still legal and are often used in construction and mining. It's quite illegal to build bombs (aka. destructive devices), but very hard to know that's what someone is doing until they try to use them.