Explosions at Boston Marathon Finish Line

[Beebs]

Thank God the guy has been found.

Yall might have posted it or talked about it already but there was a clip of the National Anthem at a hockey game in which the crowd drowned out the singer singing along.

Absolutely fantastic. I was not in the country during the days following 9/11 so I didn't expereince the solidarity in the country during that period.

My hope is that we learn from the "aftermath" and do not repeat it. What I mean is, right now, America feels pretty united and we are all glad our neighbors in Boston are ok. Right now people seem to have set aside whatever petty political squabbles there are (with a few exceptions obviously) and are just Americans who are glad the good guys one. Not conservatives and liberals or republicans or democrats or anything like that. Just Americans who are all Bostonians in spirit right now too.

I know "normal" life will return to some degree. But I hope we take something good from something awful and we don't go back to the hatfieled and mccoy crap that had turned into such an ingrained sickness after the post 9/11 solidarity wore off.

God bless us all. Let's look out for each other and try and keep the small stuff in perspective.

Sing it brother

[cortez the killer]

At Fenway Pahk today:

[beantownbubba]

Thank God the guy has been found.

Yall might have posted it or talked about it already but there was a clip of the National Anthem at a hockey game in which the crowd drowned out the singer singing along.

Absolutely fantastic. I was not in the country during the days following 9/11 so I didn't expereince the solidarity in the country during that period.

My hope is that we learn from the "aftermath" and do not repeat it. What I mean is, right now, America feels pretty united and we are all glad our neighbors in Boston are ok. Right now people seem to have set aside whatever petty political squabbles there are (with a few exceptions obviously) and are just Americans who are glad the good guys one. Not conservatives and liberals or republicans or democrats or anything like that. Just Americans who are all Bostonians in spirit right now too.

I know "normal" life will return to some degree. But I hope we take something good from something awful and we don't go back to the hatfieled and mccoy crap that had turned into such an ingrained sickness after the post 9/11 solidarity wore off.

God bless us all. Let's look out for each other and try and keep the small stuff in perspective.

Apropos of your thoughts, CY, a blogger who writes a column about baseball wrote about David Ortiz's use of "strong language" in today's ceremony and came down in favor. He also quoted a tweet from the chairman of the FCC that was also positive. He asked for comments. I didn't read all 1,000+ but every single one i read was positive, including this one:

"From what I've seen and heard of and from Bostonians, the statement expressed them perfectly. They'd make good Texans, and I mean that as the highest compliment."

[Cole Younger]

Thank God the guy has been found.

Yall might have posted it or talked about it already but there was a clip of the National Anthem at a hockey game in which the crowd drowned out the singer singing along.

Absolutely fantastic. I was not in the country during the days following 9/11 so I didn't expereince the solidarity in the country during that period.

My hope is that we learn from the "aftermath" and do not repeat it. What I mean is, right now, America feels pretty united and we are all glad our neighbors in Boston are ok. Right now people seem to have set aside whatever petty political squabbles there are (with a few exceptions obviously) and are just Americans who are glad the good guys one. Not conservatives and liberals or republicans or democrats or anything like that. Just Americans who are all Bostonians in spirit right now too.

I know "normal" life will return to some degree. But I hope we take something good from something awful and we don't go back to the hatfieled and mccoy crap that had turned into such an ingrained sickness after the post 9/11 solidarity wore off.

God bless us all. Let's look out for each other and try and keep the small stuff in perspective.

Apropos of your thoughts, CY, a blogger who writes a column about baseball wrote about David Ortiz's use of "strong language" in today's ceremony and came down in favor. He also quoted a tweet from the chairman of the FCC that was also positive. He asked for comments. I didn't read all 1,000+ but every single one i read was positive, including this one:

"From what I've seen and heard of and from Bostonians, the statement expressed them perfectly. They'd make good Texans, and I mean that as the highest compliment."

That's what I'm talking about.

Not my favorite song of his by far but in the words of Charlie Daniels,

" 'Cause we're gone stick together
And you can take that to the bank
That's the cowboys and the hippies
And the rebels and the yanks
You just go and lay your hands
On a Pittsburg Steelers fan
And I think you're gonna finally understand

[sg207]

Well, proud as I am of Boston's history of defending individual rights and liberties, let's also acknowledge that the suspect has not been given a Miranda warning or any of the rights described/guaranteed by the warning.

There are a million questions still open at this point, and these aren't the biggest or most important ones, but they're puzzling me:

What were the circumstances that led to the killing of the MIT officer and why the heck did they do that?

The "second shootout", the one that occurred at about 6:15 pm around the boat where Tsarnaev was hiding was described as an "exchange of gunfire." What happened there? There were an awful lot of shots fired - did they all miss Tsarnaev? Was he really shooting back (and did he shoot first)?

I've read that the boat owner didn't just see blood, he actually peeled back the tarp and saw Tsarnaev. Presumably Tsarnaev saw him, too, unless he was unconscious. So if he didn't plan on surrendering or killing himself, why didn't he try to run? If he couldn't run, the way the end game played out seems even stranger.

Even if the Tsarnaevs planned to resume their normal lives after the Marathon bombing, perhaps as a way of deflecting suspicion, by Wednesday they must have realized the enormity of the search and the unlikelihood of remaining undiscovered. Given the way events played out, they still had over 24 hours when they could have run w/out detection. So why didn't they?

SPECULATION: Given the mysterious circumstances at MIT and the fact that they hung around for several days after the bombing, isn't it most likely that they planned to plant more bombs and were perhaps in the act of planting one at MIT when Officer Collier came into their orbit?

Agreed BTB.

Common sense should have told them they would be found out, so if they were going to take off, why didn't they immediately? They could have been anywhere by the time the authorities figured out who they were.

And if they were going to plant more bombs, why didn't they do it Monday night or Tuesday, when everybody is still pre-occupied with the marathon bombings?

Maybe things just don't make sense with crazy people.

[tinnitus photography]

Beginning of Red Sox pregame ceremony: Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" accompanied by a fabulous goose bump raising photo montage. Sox wearing "B Strong" patches on their uniforms. The Red Sox are amazing at getting this kind of thing right.

Great pics Cortez.

i went to the game w/ my son...amazing doesn't come close to express it.


i thought it was very cool that the jerseys said Boston instead of Red Sox. and Papi w/ the off the cuff profanity somehow felt 100% right.

[beantownbubba]

Freakiest real life (as opposed to movies) moment ever?

" Nowhere were there more questions than at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarniev was known as just an ordinary student.

"Literally, when I seen him he was just regular. He walked past me, we had a brief conversation and then I asked him for a ride home and he told me, 'Yeah,'" said Andrew Glasby, who lived at the same dormitory where Tsarnaev was staying after the marathon bombings.

Another friend, Zach Bettencourt, even asked Tsarnaev about the bombings.

"I talked to him in the gym about the bombing and he was like, 'Yeah man, tragedies happen all the time,'" Bettencourt said. "

Unknowingly talking to a terrorist about his terrorism???!!!!

[Tequila Cowboy]

Freakiest real life (as opposed to movies) moment ever?

" Nowhere were there more questions than at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarniev was known as just an ordinary student.

"Literally, when I seen him he was just regular. He walked past me, we had a brief conversation and then I asked him for a ride home and he told me, 'Yeah,'" said Andrew Glasby, who lived at the same dormitory where Tsarnaev was staying after the marathon bombings.

Another friend, Zach Bettencourt, even asked Tsarnaev about the bombings.

"I talked to him in the gym about the bombing and he was like, 'Yeah man, tragedies happen all the time,'" Bettencourt said. "

Unknowingly talking to a terrorist about his terrorism???!!!!

Very strange stuff. This whole case is strange and I wish the news would take a lesson from their horrible track record of last week and just shut the fuck up and until their is a cohesive narrative based on solid investigation. They have plenty to talk about in the background like this student's account and other stories from last week. Speculation over sleeper cells and motivation should wait until a clearer picture emerges.

[beantownbubba]

Haha, TC. You'll see Santa Claus sliding down your chimney first. Even today, by starting on the lead story on Yahoo and then just more or less randomly clicking on interesting sounding links, about 2/3 of the stories are already of the "meta variety", i.e. stories about the stories:

There's no need for endless repetition of the gore (interesting point: if an al quaida linked station ran the same stuff we'd all be up in arms about it).

Even if you previously ran the marathon, it "couldn't have been you" - empathy and sympathy do not require making it all about you no matter how far the stretch.

Speculation about the people speculating about motives, etc.

Speculation in the guise of bemoaning speculation by others.

The internet, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and will fill it no matter what. The absence of facts is apparently viewed as nothing more than a challenge.

Nobody, at least not anybody i've read, has bothered to ask what the fuck that boat owner was doing looking into the boat once he saw the tear in the tarp AND the blood. Sure, buy the guy a new boat, i have no problem w/ that - his actions directly led to the suspect's capture. But he was still nuts to do that and it wasn't necessary.

Tidbits gathered from around the 'net:

The gunshot wound to Dzhokhar's throat was apparently self inflicted (only one report).

Tamerlan called his mom before/during the first fatal shootout.

Dzhokhar's actually the one who killed Tamerlan by running him over. Surprisingly i did not see any speculation about whether this was intentional (in true true believer style) or not.

Dzhokhar did shoot back at authorities from the boat as they surrounded him. Still no word on how all that return fire missed him.

Some speculation in the form of pseudo "confirmation" that the brothers did indeed plan other attacks. No word on whether MIT was one of them. The circumstances around the MIT murder remains very mysterious to me and I haven't seen much about it (though I haven't made a serious effort to go beyond the most obvious links).

It's still not clear whether the car jack victim was released or escaped. Either way, the brothers ripped off his ATM acct for $800 (impressive limit!) before he was released/escaped. Once again, their lack of planning is astonishing (how far is 800 bucks gonna get 2 people even if they steal cars for their transportation?).

The carjacking and release of the victim was the brothers' downfall - not only did the victim call in their self-identification as the bombers, he of course knew his car license # & description and the authorities were able to track the car thru the gps signal from his cellphone which was still in the car.

Either a lot more info is going to come out that shows that the brothers were a lot smarter than it appears or we're soon gonna be facing the very difficult conclusion that this horrible act of terroristic murder, maiming and mayhem was perpetrated by 2 ill-prepared morons. That would be REALLY scary and unfathomably sad.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Haha, TC. You'll see Santa Claus sliding down your chimney first.

Isn't this the time for a serious look at journalism in this country? While the efforts of emergency personnel and law enforcement were exemplary last week, the efforts of the news media were poor at best and shameful at worst. Journalism schools should have entire courses on this failure. It's time for a discussion on this. Then again there would be 1,947 opinions from God knows how many people and organizations. Very much like the main issue of terrorism I'm very tired of problems that seemingly have no solutions.

edit:

NYT on the failures at CNN:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/busin ... 30422&_r=0

CNN has been in the middle of a rehabilitation ever since Jeff Zucker was appointed at the end of last year to run CNN Worldwide. Until now, the defining story in the Zucker era had been a doomed cruise ship that lost power and was towed to port, where its beleaguered passengers dispersed. This week, CNN seemed a lot like that ship.

[Clams]

The Problem with One-Night Stands in Locked-Down Boston

By Dan McCarthy

I’m sitting in a strange kitchen right now, in a posh two-bedroom condo in Charlestown, Mass., with sprawling views of the Boston skyline and the upper deck of I-93. My head is pounding. I’ve already maxed out on the recommended daily intake of Advil, hung over from a long night of upending pint after pint of Guinness at the Warren Tavern down the road—a legendary pub located in the former home of Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren, where my dad has been bartending for the better part of 20 years.

My memory is a bit strained on the details, but I think it went something like this: As news broke of a MIT police officer being gunned down, followed by a hot-pursuit car chase between the two suspects in Monday’s bombing, I was bellied up to the Tavern’s rustic, centuries-old bar. I remember saying something like “blarphgmchp” out loud, which in my head sounded like “Good lord friends, this week has really been a doozie, what?” And that’s when I got a text by a girl I know who lives up a cruelly steep hill from the bar. At 2 a.m. To come over. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, the little guy driving my core motor skills gave me just enough digital dexterity to reply with a “sure”. Shit’s hitting the fan, I thought. May as well.

I woke up this morning with the standard one-night-stand accoutrements (booze sweats, eyes and brain feeling like they’ve just come out of the microwave, an embarrassing case of gastrointestinal unrest). I put my bare feet down on the floor while trying to find my cell phone and my dignity (both proved elusive), and in doing so I stepped on a giant shard of a broken wine glass. It apparently fell to its end and shattered into a galaxy of twinkling shrapnel from atop the nightstand, which itself had nearly been toppled somehow. Then I hopped over to the TV and turned on CNN.

And it was then when I realized I had a problem. The whole city was locked down. Taxis were suspended. Public transit shuttered. Cops were going house to house. Armored vehicles were roaming the streets. No one could go out. You weren’t even supposed to open the door unless it was for a cop.
With a deadline to hit and a cell phone running on 8% battery, it quickly became clear that my plan to quietly slip out and return home to fulfill my work obligations would be a near impossible feat. I was trapped. And what was meant to be a discreet exit was now an agonizingly gratuitous small-scale walk of shame across the apartment from the bedroom to the bathroom. I paused in the living room to offer up an uncomfortable morning salutation to the roommate, who sat on the couch wearing a robe and a distinct “who the hell is this guy?” look on her face. Yup.

At that point, I really had no option but to just pull up my socks (literally and figuratively) and deal with the moment. One of the great joys (or at least essential requirements) of the boozy one-night-stand is the ability to throw on whatever clothes of yours found strewn across an alien bedroom, and saunter out the door on your own volition. Without it, you face the very real and comically awkward situation of hanging around, reeking of stout and sex, until the city resumes its regularly scheduled programming.

And so the long day began. First, work. I filed the story. Next, some half-awake hanky-panky. While rolling around we almost fell off the side again, knocking into the nightstand, which tipped over again. “Well shit,” I said, “that must've been how that happened last night.”
"I'll have to take your word for it," she said.

Then time elapsed and cabin fever began to take hold. We slipped out the door, contravening the governor's orders, and hustled down the deserted Boston streets, hoping not to get shot by a SWAT team, to go to Dunkin Donuts (if Dunkies closes, the terrorists win) and get some smokes. Provisions secured, we hiked back up the hill to her place, whereupon she reminded me that last night I had apparently forgotten where her apartment was and attempted to locate her by literally yelling her name in the street. A full block from where she lives, as it turns out.

So here I am. Still in her apartment, the lockdown still in effect, the suspect yet to be apprehended, public transit still shut down. And I’m sitting at her kitchen table writing this on her computer. Her roommate is on one side, slightly baffled, and she’s standing behind me, reading this over my shoulder and absolutely laughing her ass off.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/lu ... z2RD0MdlbT

[beantownbubba]

^^^ Good find clams.

As a married man, I take the moral of the story to be this is why you should always be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there.

For a single guy I'm thinking the equation is a little more awkwardness for a little more nookie, which seems like a reasonable trade-off, but what do I know? I guess the roommate factor could tip the scales, though.

[Cole Younger]

Freakiest real life (as opposed to movies) moment ever?

" Nowhere were there more questions than at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarniev was known as just an ordinary student.

"Literally, when I seen him he was just regular. He walked past me, we had a brief conversation and then I asked him for a ride home and he told me, 'Yeah,'" said Andrew Glasby, who lived at the same dormitory where Tsarnaev was staying after the marathon bombings.

Another friend, Zach Bettencourt, even asked Tsarnaev about the bombings.

"I talked to him in the gym about the bombing and he was like, 'Yeah man, tragedies happen all the time,'" Bettencourt said. "

Unknowingly talking to a terrorist about his terrorism???!!!!

That is freaking scary.

But I guess if you can intentionally kill a bunch of people for absolutely no reason and there are children included, you are crazy enough not to seem any different to those who know you after you've done it.

As for the whys relative to what we know about the decisions they made prior to and after the bombing, I used to be a cop (eh? eh? but seriously I did. Long story. It was NOT for me) and something all law enforcement people say all the time is, "It's a good thing these people aren't all that smart or we would REALLY have problems." Bad guy/girls make really koo koo decisions that seem like they were obviously the wrong ones, and that is almost always their undoing.

[cortez the killer]

Even if you previously ran the marathon, it "couldn't have been you" - empathy and sympathy do not require making it all about you no matter how far the stretch.

This is interesting, bubba. By nature, do you believe marathoners are narcissitic and marathon culture breeds or attracts narcissism? What about people who feel more connected than others (but were not actally there) to the tragedy & subsequent events? I haven't "lived" in Boston since 1997, but it is my home. It is who I am. I was born in Brigham & Women's Hospital in 1973. I was raised in the Boston area in a middle-class, Irish/Catholic family. To many of the people I went to college with (a small, private liberal arts college in Upstate New York), to my surprise, I represented what they imagined Boston to be. You can take the boy out of Boston, but you can't take the Boston out of the boy. I still have family & friends in the area. Some were directly affected by the events, some were not. I wasn't in the literal sense, but this whole thing hit me hard. It hit me very hard. I don't begin to pretend my life was impacted like the Campbell, Richard, Lingzi, or Collier families were. None of my family or friends lost a limb or were seriously wounded. But, like many people, the whole thing pissed me off. Right or wrong, I feel more connected to what happened in Boston than any other tragic event (including 9-11) that has transpired in my lifetime. My feelngs are my feelings. Are they less 'valid' than those who lost someone they love or had someone they love suffer life-altering injuries? Maybe my feelings are less significant (somewhat selfishly, thankfully so), but I have a hard time saying they're less valid. Maybe I'm a narcissist, too. Or maybe the town I grew up in fostered such a sense of pride & passion within me that I was not consciously aware of until the tragedy & recovery of the past week happened. I mean, I fucking despised the whole "Sweet Caroline" phenomenom that has swept over Fenway Park the past decade. Yet, as I watched Neil Diamond leading the Fenway faithful in a live rendition this past weekend, I was smiling ear-to-ear & tears were streaming down my cheeks. Corny, cheesy, hokey or not, David Ortiz summed it up perfectly for me, "This is our fuckin' city!" Like millions of others who were born, raised or lived there, Boston is MY city.

[cortez the killer]

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/0 ... errorists/
Who the fuck is this meatball & how the fuck did he get elected? Is this your district, Beebs? The rhetoric is unbelievable. I get the sense he fancies himself as "tough." Also, what's up with his left eyebrow? All jokes aside, this guy represents a lot of what is wrong with our government today.

[bovine knievel]

Even if you previously ran the marathon, it "couldn't have been you" - empathy and sympathy do not require making it all about you no matter how far the stretch.

This is interesting, bubba. By nature, do you believe marathoners are narcissitic and marathon culture breeds or attracts narcissism? What about people who feel more connected than others (but were not actally there) to the tragedy & subsequent events? I haven't "lived" in Boston since 1997, but it is my home. It is who I am. I was born in Brigham & Women's Hospital in 1973. I was raised in the Boston area in a middle-class, Irish/Catholic family. To many of the people I went to college with (a small, private liberal arts college in Upstate New York), to my surprise, I represented what they imagined Boston to be. You can take the boy out of Boston, but you can't take the Boston out of the boy. I still have family & friends in the area. Some were directly affected by the events, some were not. I wasn't in the literal sense, but this whole thing hit me hard. It hit me very hard. I don't begin to pretend my life was impacted like the Campbell, Richard, Lingzi, or Collier families were. None of my family or friends lost a limb or were seriously wounded. But, like many people, the whole thing pissed me off. Right or wrong, I feel more connected to what happened in Boston than any other tragic event (including 9-11) that has transpired in my lifetime. My feelngs are my feelings. Are they less 'valid' than those who lost someone they love or had someone they love suffer life-altering injuries? Maybe my feelings are less significant (somewhat selfishly, thankfully so), but I have a hard time saying they're less valid. Maybe I'm a narcissist, too. Or maybe the town I grew up in fostered such a sense of pride & passion within me that I was not consciously aware of until the tragedy & recovery of the past week happened. I mean, I fucking despised the whole "Sweet Caroline" phenomenom that has swept over Fenway Park the past decade. Yet, as I watched Neil Diamond leading the Fenway faithful in a live rendition this past weekend, I was smiling ear-to-ear & tears were streaming down my cheeks. Corny, cheesy, hokey or not, David Ortiz summed it up perfectly for me, "This is our fuckin' city!" Like millions of others who were born, raised or lived there, Boston is MY city.

Good stuff here! You hit my soft spot...you narcissistic bastard.

[beantownbubba]

Even if you previously ran the marathon, it "couldn't have been you" - empathy and sympathy do not require making it all about you no matter how far the stretch.

This is interesting, bubba. By nature, do you believe marathoners are narcissitic and marathon culture breeds or attracts narcissism? What about people who feel more connected than others (but were not actally there) to the tragedy & subsequent events? I haven't "lived" in Boston since 1997, but it is my home. It is who I am. I was born in Brigham & Women's Hospital in 1973. I was raised in the Boston area in a middle-class, Irish/Catholic family. To many of the people I went to college with (a small, private liberal arts college in Upstate New York), to my surprise, I represented what they imagined Boston to be. You can take the boy out of Boston, but you can't take the Boston out of the boy. I still have family & friends in the area. Some were directly affected by the events, some were not. I wasn't in the literal sense, but this whole thing hit me hard. It hit me very hard. I don't begin to pretend my life was impacted like the Campbell, Richard, Lingzi, or Collier families were. None of my family or friends lost a limb or were seriously wounded. But, like many people, the whole thing pissed me off. Right or wrong, I feel more connected to what happened in Boston than any other tragic event (including 9-11) that has transpired in my lifetime. My feelngs are my feelings. Are they less 'valid' than those who lost someone they love or had someone they love suffer life-altering injuries? Maybe my feelings are less significant (somewhat selfishly, thankfully so), but I have a hard time saying they're less valid. Maybe I'm a narcissist, too. Or maybe the town I grew up in fostered such a sense of pride & passion within me that I was not consciously aware of until the tragedy & recovery of the past week happened. I mean, I fucking despised the whole "Sweet Caroline" phenomenom that has swept over Fenway Park the past decade. Yet, as I watched Neil Diamond leading the Fenway faithful in a live rendition this past weekend, I was smiling ear-to-ear & tears were streaming down my cheeks. Corny, cheesy, hokey or not, David Ortiz summed it up perfectly for me, "This is our fuckin' city!" Like millions of others who were born, raised or lived there, Boston is MY city.

No, no, that's not what i meant at all. I agree w/ what you say.

I was trying to summarize an article I read, not express an opinion (though I thought the guy had an interesting perspective). But I did it too summarily. The easy part is that he was not singling out marathon runners, he was using this latest disaster as an example of what he perceives to be a common type of behavior in crisis/disaster situations. The harder part is to better explain what he meant and i sure can't do it at this hour but for the moment let me just say that, agree or disagree, I don't think you'll find it too controversial. It would be best to find the link to the article but I'm not sure I remember enough about it to do that (e.g. it would be easier if i could remember the author).

[dogstar]

Haha, TC. You'll see Santa Claus sliding down your chimney first.

Isn't this the time for a serious look at journalism in this country? While the efforts of emergency personnel and law enforcement were exemplary last week, the efforts of the news media were poor at best and shameful at worst. Journalism schools should have entire courses on this failure. It's time for a discussion on this. Then again there would be 1,947 opinions from God knows how many people and organizations. Very much like the main issue of terrorism I'm very tired of problems that seemingly have no solutions.

edit:

NYT on the failures at CNN:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/busin ... 30422&_r=0

CNN has been in the middle of a rehabilitation ever since Jeff Zucker was appointed at the end of last year to run CNN Worldwide. Until now, the defining story in the Zucker era had been a doomed cruise ship that lost power and was towed to port, where its beleaguered passengers dispersed. This week, CNN seemed a lot like that ship.

The Daily Shows analysis of this situation

Tragedy + Almost No Time = Whatever The F#*$ You Want To Say.

[John A Arkansawyer]

Who the fuck is this meatball & how the fuck did he get elected?

Not that you were talking to me, but you give me a perfect opening with which to apologize to Boston, America, and Humanity on behalf of Arkansaw for our latest legislative phenomenon, Needledick Nate Bell.

[dogstar]

From the BBC website

Federal prosecutors charged Tamerlan Tsarnaev in hospital with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He could be sentenced to death if convicted on either count.

How does the law define a weapon of mass destruction so that he can be charged with this? If anyone knows I'm really interested to know as this seems to be stretching things too far. Are firearms and/or nail bombs WMD ?

[Beebs]

Is this your district, Beebs?

Fuck no. Downstater.

[cortez the killer]

Who the fuck is this meatball & how the fuck did he get elected?

Not that you were talking to me, but you give me a perfect opening with which to apologize to Boston, America, and Humanity on behalf of Arkansaw for our latest legislative phenomenon, Needledick Nate Bell.

He's a tool, too, but the guy on Piers Morgan's show, Greg Ball, is a NY Congressman.

[cortez the killer]

From the BBC website

Federal prosecutors charged Tamerlan Tsarnaev in hospital with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He could be sentenced to death if convicted on either count.

How does the law define a weapon of mass destruction so that he can be charged with this? If anyone knows I'm really interested to know as this seems to be stretching things too far. Are firearms and/or nail bombs WMD ?

(2) the term “weapon of mass destruction” means—
(A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of this title;
(B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
(C) any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector (as those terms are defined in section 178 of this title); or
(D) any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life
Link

[Beebs]

He's a tool, too, but the guy on Piers Morgan's show, Greg Ball, is a NY Congressman.

State Senator.

[cortez the killer]

He's a tool, too, but the guy on Piers Morgan's show, Greg Ball, is a NY Congressman.

State Senator.

My mistake. It doesn't diminish how much of a clown the "dude" is, but that is a pretty significant distinction.

[Beebs]

He's a tool, too, but the guy on Piers Morgan's show, Greg Ball, is a NY Congressman.

State Senator.

My mistake. It doesn't diminish how much of a clown the "dude" is, but that is a pretty significant distinction.

I wouldn't care of he was the dog catcher. He's trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator and create a little buzz for himself and his impotent little term in office. He's certainly still a clown.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I wouldn't care of he was the dog catcher. He's trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator and create a little buzz for himself and his impotent little term in office. He's certainly still a clown.

Well I'm kind of guessing this will be clown week now that the immediate crisis has resolved. The stupidity that has come out of people's mouths already is nothing, I'm afraid, compared to what is to come. I sure hope I'm wrong.

[beantownbubba]

Even if you previously ran the marathon, it "couldn't have been you" - empathy and sympathy do not require making it all about you no matter how far the stretch.

This is interesting, bubba. By nature, do you believe marathoners are narcissitic and marathon culture breeds or attracts narcissism? What about people who feel more connected than others (but were not actally there) to the tragedy & subsequent events? I haven't "lived" in Boston since 1997, but it is my home. It is who I am. I was born in Brigham & Women's Hospital in 1973. I was raised in the Boston area in a middle-class, Irish/Catholic family. To many of the people I went to college with (a small, private liberal arts college in Upstate New York), to my surprise, I represented what they imagined Boston to be. You can take the boy out of Boston, but you can't take the Boston out of the boy. I still have family & friends in the area. Some were directly affected by the events, some were not. I wasn't in the literal sense, but this whole thing hit me hard. It hit me very hard. I don't begin to pretend my life was impacted like the Campbell, Richard, Lingzi, or Collier families were. None of my family or friends lost a limb or were seriously wounded. But, like many people, the whole thing pissed me off. Right or wrong, I feel more connected to what happened in Boston than any other tragic event (including 9-11) that has transpired in my lifetime. My feelngs are my feelings. Are they less 'valid' than those who lost someone they love or had someone they love suffer life-altering injuries? Maybe my feelings are less significant (somewhat selfishly, thankfully so), but I have a hard time saying they're less valid. Maybe I'm a narcissist, too. Or maybe the town I grew up in fostered such a sense of pride & passion within me that I was not consciously aware of until the tragedy & recovery of the past week happened. I mean, I fucking despised the whole "Sweet Caroline" phenomenom that has swept over Fenway Park the past decade. Yet, as I watched Neil Diamond leading the Fenway faithful in a live rendition this past weekend, I was smiling ear-to-ear & tears were streaming down my cheeks. Corny, cheesy, hokey or not, David Ortiz summed it up perfectly for me, "This is our fuckin' city!" Like millions of others who were born, raised or lived there, Boston is MY city.

No, no, that's not what i meant at all. I agree w/ what you say.

I was trying to summarize an article I read, not express an opinion (though I thought the guy had an interesting perspective). But I did it too summarily. The easy part is that he was not singling out marathon runners, he was using this latest disaster as an example of what he perceives to be a common type of behavior in crisis/disaster situations. The harder part is to better explain what he meant and i sure can't do it at this hour but for the moment let me just say that, agree or disagree, I don't think you'll find it too controversial. It would be best to find the link to the article but I'm not sure I remember enough about it to do that (e.g. it would be easier if i could remember the author).

Well, I gave it the old college try and only found one link that was even remotely close. It's testimony either to my searching skills or the obscurity of the article/author. Anyway, if i remember correctly and read it right, the author was not talking about people who have real ties to a place or event which I agree, definitely heightens one's emotional responses. He was talking about the apparent need to make up a connection as if that validates the speaker's emotions and w/ the perhaps intended effect of turning the conversational spotlight on the speaker not the event. The best example he gave was someone he overheard claiming that he was "almost" on one of the 9/11 flights but it was so lucky that his flight from Hawaii made him miss his connection. Unfortunately all the details he gave were clearly incorrect, e.g. there were no flights from Hawaii to the airport he mentioned. With respect to the marathon, I believe what he was saying was if you ran the marathon 5 years ago you weren't almost blown up ("no, it couldn't have been you), although you might feel a strong connection to those who were or truly almost were. Don't know if that helps but it's the best i can do unless the article resurfaces.

[Iowan]

I was w/out internet over the weekend, and caught so much of this second hand, or from silent news segments on bar TVs.

Some great posts, powerful pictures, and amazing videos in this thread.

Too bad LJ insisted on pulling his usual shit in here.

[beantownbubba]

Who the fuck is this meatball & how the fuck did he get elected?

Not that you were talking to me, but you give me a perfect opening with which to apologize to Boston, America, and Humanity on behalf of Arkansaw for our latest legislative phenomenon, Needledick Nate Bell.

He's a tool, too, but the guy on Piers Morgan's show, Greg Ball, is a NY Congressman.

Most of what I've heard about this (which isn't a lot) is about his "poor timing." Well, ummmm, no. Leaving aside the absurd idea that everyone here is liberal, I have not heard or read a single conversation where anyone has said they wished they had a gun last week or that they were gonna go out and get one. Personally, nobody in my house had a single thought about guns in any manner until this guy's quote popped up.