Bomb attack in Boston

[Brittain33]

Right now it doesn't serve to speculate.

[Brittain33]

Suspect is a Saudi national:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/authorities_under_suspect_guard_y2m8cJO29uC2PDGIjYBalO

The bombs went off two hours ago. Remember Richard Jewell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell

[Brittain33]

Suspicious device reported near Harvard.

How many of these suspicious devices are unaccounted-for bags that have to be cleared, but aren't bombs?

I keep hearing sirens. Yuck. Today can't end soon enough.

[Brittain33]

A text I got just now: "Very similar to IRA bombings. Public gatherings, storefront. Boston/Irish. Not saying/just saying." Could it be related to Northern Ireland?

No, It would be to hard to do what they did.

My response was "why would the Irish bomb the Irish", but then it occurred to me that this could be radical Unionists attacking Boston for the large Irish populations general sympathy to the republican cause in Northern Ireland.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this whole line of inquiry is not at all realistic or appropriate.

[Brittain33]

The civil war is over in Ulster and mostly all the Loyalist paramilitaries do these days is drugs running and the like. And the same is true of the Provos, obviously. What's left - in terms of terrorism - are tiny ultra Republican sects. Nasty people, but not exactly obvious enemies of the city of Boston.

And to the best of my knowledge, nothing ever happened in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s when this issue was actually relevant here.

[Brittain33]

Man, the asshats on both sides never let an opportunity pass without tripping over themselves to blame the "other side" first.

I honestly don't have a clue what the f[Inks] you're talking about or why you felt a need to share it.

[Brittain33]

Who is Alex Jones and does anyone pay attention to him? Is he like the Westboro Baptist Church?

[Brittain33]

Obama saying not to speculate who did this, but we'll figure it out and get them

So weird to see the president talking about the people of my city the way presidents talked about the people of Oklahoma City, NY, Newtown.

[Brittain33]

In before "HE DIDNT SAY TERRORISM"

As he walked out, reporters were yelling "was it terrorism?" At least two.
I totally forgot that it matters if he uses that term or not. Obviously "yes" but what that means right now could be anything.

[Brittain33]

The news is making the important point that I expect we will find many or most of the victims were visitors from around the country and the world... Because the marathon is such an event with a perimeter, I never would have had opportunity to be close to the finish line. This is shocking for the heart of Boston but the tragedy will not be local.

[Brittain33]

So is there a suspect or not?  Seems to be conflicting reports

The police are talking to lots of people, but who knows what conclusions they're drawing.

[Brittain33]

So what will be outlawed as a result of this?

It's a lovely walkable area, with nice shops and lots of on street parking. I'm sure that's all going to be compromised for security now.

[Brittain33]

Dozens and dozens of state trooper cars, unmarked cars, police cars from nearby cities parked on Storrow Drive by the dam this morning. They've brought in a lot of people to sweep the area.

[Brittain33]

What I was trying to say in part is that the tendency to hope that the perps (and their execrable acts) are part of a larger political ideology or whatever that one considers a bete noir, in order to tarnish that ideology through guilt by association, is something to which I take exception. Some of the heat in this thread seemed to be coming from that direction.

I agree, it's why early on I was discomfited by speculation, even though it was innocent. Seeing the NYPost publish 2 hours after the bomb that a Saudi was in custody... it's too easy to latch on to what we already fear. And even if it turns out to be a Saudi, or a [political ideologue of your choice], or whomever, it's ultimately someone whose willingness to murder innocents should not be applied to whoever may or may not share a banner or nationality with them.

[Brittain33]

http://bostonmarathonconspiracy.com/

[Brittain33]

I'm really confused what this thread is about. I don't want to play thread police, but the talk about identifying a suspect when I click on this thread is confusing where there's a separate thread for the ricin letters and I confess I'm emotionally invested in tracking what's going on in Boston.