Manhunt Going On In Watertown, Massachusetts Right Now

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

. . . But the self-congratulation of the participants on top of all that?

Key statement.

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Quote:

Tributes to Boston at London race

LONDON -- A defiant, festive mood prevailed Sunday at the London Marathon despite concerns
raised by the bomb attacks on the Boston Marathon six days ago.

Thousands of runners offered tributes to those killed and injured in Boston on a glorious spring
day in London. The race began after a moment of silence for the victims in Boston, and many
here wore black armbands as a sign of solidarity.

"It means that runners are stronger than bombers," said Valerie Bloomfield, a 40-year-old
participant from France.

London's is the first major international marathon since the double-bomb attack near the finish
line in Boston, which left three people dead and more than 170 injured, including many who are
still hospitalized.

In addition, a policeman was killed during the search for the two suspected bombers. One suspect
was killed during a shootout with police, while a second has been arrested.

Some 36,000 runners were expected to take part in the London race, which also draws tens of
thousands of spectators. Police said they planned to add 40 percent more officers and extra
surveillance as a precautionary measure.

(espn)

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But wait . . . those 36,000 runners virtually shut down the city! They're terrorists ! ! !

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Miller, I am glad you and your dog are all right. I bet he was picking up on not only your feelings, but those of your neighbors.

Glad to see you, George. We went to the Stockyard yesterday, and thought of everyone. Even saw a guy who we thought was Bob Kraft (and we told the waitress it was him). Thanked the restaurant for feeding the National Guard.

This strip was in the New York Times today.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/the-strip-slide-2VW7/the-strip-slide-2VW7-jumbo.png

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@Setanta,

They probably should have sent two bobbies on bicycles to Northern Ireland. They would have solved everything in a day, and saved a lot of trouble for the SAS.

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https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/165483_411075128990304_1434982631_n.jpg

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A few of our UK members seem to have a less than charitable take on the last week in Boston. I suspect this has something to do with NORAID. It could also have to do with an overall anti-American attitude, but at least the NORAID angle is a little less obnoxious.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Might be so. Or it might have different reasons.

One reason might be that similar situations were and are handled differently in some countries.

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@Setanta,

Quote:

but whether or not that is true, in the United States, the police don't get to haunt the steps of people just because they know about them.

You are such an ignorant fool, Set. Content to live in a propaganda bubble.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

To the extent anyone can be considered evil, he and his brother fit the bill. They actively planned to kill and maim as many truly innocent people as they could. They walked among their potential victims and saw them enjoying life and family and had no compelling second thoughts about destroying them. In fact, if you examine some of the stills from the video of the brothers you will detect a smirk on the face of the younger brother, as if he was enjoying the thought of the power he had over the people on the street.

You've described the actions of the US military for well over a century and /or their hired proxy killers. Again that American hypocrisy - it's unbelievable!

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@McTag,

Quote:

despite the squad cars and armoured vehicles and helicopters abounding. And hundreds of over-armed law enforcement officers, from organisations too numerous to list here. They shut down a whole city, God knows why.

Footage was being shot for a really bad B grade movie.

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@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Quote:
despite the squad cars and armoured vehicles and helicopters abounding. And hundreds of over-armed law enforcement officers, from organisations too numerous to list here. They shut down a whole city, God knows why.

Footage was being shot for a really bad B grade movie.

I dont find having military forces deployed in american cities on a mission to hunt down americans to be comforting. I however seem to be in the minority, I dont think that I am masochistic enough.

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@hawkeye10,

It looked like a banana republic or an American movie - take yer pick.

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@Region Philbis,

Stay strong, never forget, but put out of your mind the reasons why these things happen.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

One reason might be that similar situations were and are handled differently in some countries.

There's also moments of real culture shock. On the BBC last night they were reviewing the papers, and there were lots of photos of Bostonians waving the flag and celebrating the capture of the terrorist. All the pundits were incredulous, it's very hard trying to understand a culture where people would behave like that.

I'm not saying it's wrong by any means, it's just completely alien to the British psyche. It's something like this that brings home just how different Americans are.

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

I'm not saying it's wrong by any means

That's the thing, Izzy, it is wrong. It's infantile. You don't rush out to celebrate every little thing tying it into your flag and your country.

Noam Chomsky says,

"Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state."

and the US government has this down to a fine art. The people do it reflexively, like automatons. And we know where it leads, it leads to Iraqs and Afghanistans because this mindset feeds all that is needed to carry those things out.

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@JTT,

Chai2 described it in another thread. I quote her here [in its entirety], given its "watershed" moment.

========================

http://able2know.org/topic/212752-3#post-5308650

Now, this is just the curmudgeon in me, but I'd like to address this "strength and courage" thing for a moment.

Ok, I can feel the heat blast gathering from others to spew my way, but being a troublemaker, I'll say it anyway.

For the average Bostonian, one of 625,000 plus people, who didn't know, or before this moment, didn't care about any of the injured killed....What exactly type of strength and courage have you displayed in the past week?

You were inconvenienced for a day when you couldn't leave your house. You watched on TV while this man hunt went on and you sipped coffee, drank a beer, ate a sandwich, or tackled that cleaning/repair job you put off. Maybe you gripped to everyone you knew, and they gripped to you that you couldn't leave your house.
Maybe on the route you take to and from your daily comings and goings you
had to change your schedule.
During all this, the media was feeding to you what wonder people you were, by the pure chance that you lived somewhere where 2 guys set off a bomb, and you were somehow managing to breathe in and out.

What? Some of you had to now explain to your children how bad things happen? That's sorta your job anyway. More than likely you had to listen to your kids go on how they wanted to go outside.

I was listening to NPR when they called off the "stay at home" thing, and they were asking some woman if she intended to go outside. Like this was some big thing. She went on about how she just didn't know if she should, but "my daughter is bugging me about us taking her out to dinner." Give me a break. She should be glad she has the money to afford to take her kid out.
Courage madam, courage, you'll get through this.

Were people literally afraid to step out their doors after the all clear, like they thought someone was lurking in the bushes ready to blow them up?

I think it's a little overstated calling the owner of the boat where the suspect was hiding "a hero"
He noticed a gap in the tarp, some blood, called 911.
He did the right thing, that's all.

Then, when the 2nd guy is caught you get to stand in the street and wave your arms because you're heros and the bad guy was caught, and now you can go back inside and watch American Idol.

Sometimes people (myself included) are just so ******* self important and full of themselves.

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@izzythepush,

Again, we're not a monolithic population. If I were in Boston I would have been cheering the effort of the FBI and police forces after it was over too (whatever mistakes may show up on review, they were trying hard, apparently giving their all). It would have been in relief and strong regard. I don't think I've ever waved a flag. Which does not mean that I don't appreciate my country, whatever serious ills I might go on about.

Even though I haven't been in Watertown since I took my mother back there the year after my father died (would have been 1969) so she could see an old friend and our family, I still have some Boston in my blood and brain, and I've cried several times reading various accounts, seeing some photos. But so have many others with no personal connection to the city. Anyway, I bought stamps today to mail letters (real letters!) to the relatives, now fairly spread out in the area.

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@ossobuco,

It's something we just find really hard to understand. American comic Rich Hall sums it up best.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

dont find having military forces deployed in american cities on a mission to hunt down americans to be comforting. I however seem to be in the minority, I dont think that I am masochistic enough.

I never like the turning a peace keeping law enforcing force into some strange semi-military force however repeat however we had bombs throwing assholes in this case so bring on the armor and the heavy weapons.

1 Reply

Manhunt Going On In Watertown, Massachusetts Right Now

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