dagblog - Comments for "Marathon Day"

I'm not worried that it will

Doctor Cleveland — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 03:44:14 +0000

In reply to With the FBI saying 'someone

I'm not worried that it will take too long to find the right guy. I'm worried that we'll rush to accuse the wrong guy too soon.

The 1996 Olympics bombing (which is the terrorist incident most like this one) wasn't solved for two years. But that took longer because Richard Jewell (who had acted bravely and probably saved lives) got his name dragged through the mud and his life ruined. And we're inches away from cable news accusing one of the victims of being the killer.

The fear of not getting the guy soon enough is something everyone has to resist. Giving in to it can make things really, really scary.

With the FBI saying 'someone

NCD — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:41:48 +0000

In reply to Yes, I think the general idea

With the FBI saying 'someone knows who did this' and asking for leads it worries me that they don't have much to go on, and may not catch this coward anytime soon. He may be a loner, a unabomber type, a psycho who loves the power and attention. Guys like this are very hard to find, yet are prone to repeat their crimes months or years later if not caught.

The unabomber's specialty was mail bombs. He was only caught, in 1996 after 17 years of mayhem, when his own brother suspected him as being the criminal after reading the 50 page 'unabomber manifesto' published (at the demand of the unabomber himself) in the NYT and WaPo in 1995.

Yes, I think the general idea

Doctor Cleveland — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:18:38 +0000

In reply to It isn't a great analogy, but

Yes, I think the general idea is that this moment of uncertainty, we don't know if this the perpetrator is a nativist, an Islamist, or something else entitrely.

It isn't a great analogy, but

Donal — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:09:25 +0000

In reply to The relation of Schrodinger,

It isn't a great analogy, but I suppose that the cat is supposedly both dead and alive inside the box represents that we haven't narrowed down much speculation about the bombing yet.

The relation of Schrodinger,

NCD — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:10:41 +0000

In reply to Just read this interesting

The relation of Schrödinger, and/or his work in physics to this crime escapes me. I doubt he would see any connection.

There is in fact little or no 'interval' between crime and politics unless you are working at quantum time scales.

The observation that "there is no cause that can justify this deed" brings to mind what we did to Iraq, where bombings like this, previously rare or nonexistent, became commonplace after we invaded and toppled Saddam, failed to secure UN sealed weapons sites, and fired the police and the army, in an invasion which is still publicly touted by those who carried it out as worthwhile and just.

My thoughts and prayers go

Richard Day — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:44:24 +0000

In reply to Marathon Day

My thoughts and prayers go out to Bostonians today along with the visitors to this international event.

I am getting numbers anywhere from 140 to 180 as far as those injured.

MSNBC just reported that 103 people are currently being treated for injuries.

An individual or a small cadre of individuals can do so much damage in such a short window of time.

Cable news is filling its time almost exclusively to this massacre. I am of two minds as far as this development. The protocols have been in place for sometime.

On the right wing web and right wing radio idiots are already calling for a war against all Muslims when we do not know who is behind this act of terrorism.

I just do not understand the purpose behind this tragedy.

Just as I cannot understand the reason for the shootings in Connecticut or Aurora or any of these mass killings/woundings.

All I have been seeing over the last three or four decades is the implementation of more and more drastic security measures imposed by the governmental and corporate authorities.

Six year old kids are screened for weapons these days.

No one can enter a governmental building without being screened.

How in the hell they are going to screen an open air event where participants run some 26 miles is beyond me.

Helpless, helpless, helpless.

Addendum: I don't know why

Doctor Cleveland — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:09:26 +0000

In reply to I just saw a picture of the

Addendum: I don't know why there is a picture of a little girl circulating on the internet who is said to have died yesterday. But all of the newspaper accounts refer to the death of an eight year-old boy.

Because no one knows much yet, and the internet is filled with panicky, innaccuarate, and irresponsible rumors.

Just read this interesting

EmmaZahn — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:05:20 +0000

In reply to Marathon Day

Just read this interesting perspective on W.R. Mead's blog and thought it worth sharing:

Schrödinger’s Bombs

At some point, this Schrödinger moment will come to an end; we will know who did this and why. A lone wacko? A conspiracy? A deranged right-wing nut job who somehow thinks killing innocent people on Patriot’s Day will strike a blow for freedom? A crazed religious fanatic who has mistaken hell-spawned hatred for the love of God? Some other fool carrying some other kind of hate?

Amid our grief and sorrow over this attack, we should, I think, be grateful for the interval between the crime and politics. It allows us to treat the horror on its own terms, to see the pure evil of this act divorced from any rationalization or justification. A hater—of who or of what doesn’t matter—turned a festive public gathering into a bloodbath. Children with no possible connection to or responsibility for any political crime or provocation whatever have been mutilated and torn.

The anonymity of the crime allows us to experience its enormity. Each hour that has gone by since the blast, each new report of heroism among the survivors and responders, each new detail about the identity of the victims clarifies the essential truth of the situation: there is no cause that can justify this deed.

I just saw a picture of the

Bruce Levine — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:57:13 +0000

In reply to Marathon Day

I just saw a picture of the eight year-old little girl who was killed. I'm an attorney and understand my responsibilities, and I understand the constitution and the right to due process, but right now I couldn't care less if the people/person who did this were shot and killed or beaten to death. I know that's wrong and, candidly, I really don't care right now. I know someone up yonder in this thread (Resistance I think) said that the first thing he thought of were the American drone strikes. I didn't think of that, and perhaps it makes me less than fully good--and I can live with that sans question or doubt.

Addendum: I don't know why there is a picture of a little girl circulating on the internet who is said to have died yesterday. But all of the newspaper accounts refer to the death of an eight year-old boy.

Definitely, no cause for

Michael Maiello — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:42:41 +0000

In reply to I think there's plenty of

Definitely, no cause for speculation yet. And let's not rush another Richard Jewell, either.