Again, sorry for the no-show yesterday. I went to the Michigan SPJ awards, and you know how those things go. Woo. Actually, it was fairly dull, but Bridge got some stuff, and I got to lift a glass with my colleagues and eat rubber chicken. #winning
And then the skies opened, and it rained and rained and rained some more, until it stopped and started raining again. It’s raining now. Radar suggests I’m going to continue to do so for a while.
Well, wasn’t I complaining about how dry it’s been? I believe so. This is what happens when you complain. You get what you asked for.
But it was warm this morning before the rain came, so I went for a lunchtime bike ride. It was very windy, enough that I could actually feel the bike move in the gusts. It’s good to be back on two wheels, even for just a lunch hour.
Surgery is scheduled for May 2, so you’ll have me around a little longer than I previously thought. I’m sure that will be the week the spring will finally burst forth in all its delayed glory. I’ll spend it staring at the floor. Or the mattress. God, I hope they give me serious drugs.
What do we think of the bombing suspects? I think it’ll be interesting to see how long it will take to find them. Via Twitter, the Reddit people already found White Hat Guy in a separate photo — see him walking around the corner at the left side of the flame, minus his backpack, strangely unmoved by the spreading chaos. I guess it could be a fake, but I dunno — it’s what Tim McVeigh did.
More will be revealed, as always. Let’s hope it’s revealed soon.
I have some bloggage, yes:
I love dogs as much as anyone, but even I can’t help but think this isn’t the greatest idea ever — a law to allow dogs in restaurants. Because what could possibly go wrong with a bunch of dogs on leashes around people carrying trays of hot food? Really.
Two pieces on fear, vis-a-vis Boston: Some perspective, from my friend Dave Jones, and a little scolding, from Gawker.
But that’s it, for now. Enjoy your weekend, all.
Dexter said on April 19, 2013 at 12:55 am
Starting the weekend with a little whimper, I offer Tom Toles:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/toles?hpid=z2
116 chars
Dexter said on April 19, 2013 at 1:10 am
The first time I saw dogs in a food commons was at the Orange Julius near the campus of UC Berkeley 43 years ago, when I was visiting the cousin of a soldier buddy of mine, who was a student there. I thought that was so damn cool. I am all for having dogs around all the time, constantly.
I spend all my time in the company of my dogs and my cat. I was also informed I WILL BE in Pensacola, Florida in July to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding. She’s waited a long time, she’s 42, and if she wants to go to Florida in hot July and spend more than a few grand on this lavish deal, I can’t say a damn word about how I wished she would go someplace cool like northern Michigan, where the heat won’t be so damned oppressive. I mean…people leave Florida in July, for the most part.
I can’t be a humbug, but the giant communal beach rental home has a no-pet policy, and I will have to kennel my dogs in Ohio, and I am already depressed and mad about that, so I guess I just have to get over it and keep my mouth shut. Florida in July..how loverly! 🙁
1067 chars
alex said on April 19, 2013 at 5:21 am
As of wake-up time this A.M., one down and one to go. And it sounds like they put up quite a fight.
I’m afraid we might not get our wish that these guys are Teapublicans, from the newest looks at their mugs.
319 chars
Dave said on April 19, 2013 at 6:15 am
Dogs in restaurants? No, everything could go wrong, don’t you think some of the same people who don’t watch their kids would show up with their dogs.
Dexter, going back to your late night comments from yesterday and nothing to do with this thread, I believe I’ve mentioned Kewpee before and the great resemblance to Wendy’s. David Thomas was traveling all over the region promoting and starting up KFC’s, he surely went through Lima many times. Also, he did live here in Fort Wayne for a good period of time and was in the restaurant business from youth. I’ve always wondered how he stole their hamburgers and frostees and got away with it.
The turntable at the Kewpee was gone by 1972, when I had my first Kewpee. There are three locations, as you mention, but the best one is the original in downtown Lima.
819 chars
alex said on April 19, 2013 at 6:28 am
Thomas worked for the Hobby House Inn, scene of Fort Wayne’s first lunch counter sit-ins in the early 1960s.
108 chars
alex said on April 19, 2013 at 6:55 am
In more breaking news about the mystery men, they’re reportedly Russkies from Chechnya and brothers as well.
201 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2013 at 6:57 am
Chechnya. Wow. Who saw THAT one coming? One down, and the other clearly wants to take more with him. Chilling.
110 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2013 at 7:03 am
Olympia Snowe is quite a lady, and has a book coming out May 14th about “finding common ground.” (I think that’s the title.) She was our Lugar speaker last night here in Granville at Denison U. She and Dick Lugar talking about dismantling nukes and centrist coalition building . . . I could have listened to them all night. Clearly, computerized district drawing has much to answer for. They both think that the “loon coefficient” in both the House and the Senate isn’t a plurality, it’s just that the number of somewhat unstable ideologues has risen enough to create critical mass, and it leaves the Clyburns and Sherrod Browns and Rob Portmans (men?) reluctant to identify with a moderate stance for fear of being caught out in open ground alone. Lots of mad bomb throwers and tail-gunners in both houses of Congress, and the sense that an elected official has little margin for error in the social media era. That’s what I picked up from their dinner table conversation, anyhow.
981 chars
Connie said on April 19, 2013 at 7:04 am
There were kewpees in Grand Rapids when I was a kid.
52 chars
beb said on April 19, 2013 at 7:54 am
Boy, was I wrong about everything.
I’m surprised by the rapid turn of events.
80 chars
Connie said on April 19, 2013 at 8:04 am
Americablog.com claims to have found a social media page for one of the bombers and it says he is Muslim.
http://americablog.com/2013/04/breaking-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-in-custody-globe-reports.html
210 chars
Christy said on April 19, 2013 at 8:29 am
The dogs-in-restaurants law it didn’t sound like was going to be dogs in restaurants, but dogs in the outside eating area. I’ve seen this work really well at coffeeshop/bakeries, some of which sell house-baked dog biscuits as well. Obviously anywhere with nice china is not going to go for this, but a sandwich/bakery/taco/coffee type fast-casual joint, especially the type that spring up near parks and jogging trails in affluent neighborhoods, can handle this type of thing without too much trouble.
501 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 8:34 am
There’s a mall here that allows dogs in the common areas and in (some) stores, and my main takeaway is how many people simply do not have their animals under control. I recall many restaurant dogs in Paris, but they were all mellow fellows, not like some of these lunging Labradors.
Most ethnic Chechens are Muslims, Connie. It’s early yet, and I won’t put money on it, but I’m starting to think these Chechen boys are more common criminal than jihadi. The dead one is named Tamerlan. For Tamerlane? This guy?
577 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 8:40 am
Pete Williams is telling us that these brothers came here with their parents about ten years. The father may have been an asylum-seeker.
136 chars
alex said on April 19, 2013 at 9:17 am
Here’s a photo essay, about black hat guy, who was an aspiring Olympean.
185 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 9:46 am
Sigh, and here I thought I was going to be able to spend a day not constantly refreshing my computer to get the latest news.
124 chars
coozledad said on April 19, 2013 at 9:57 am
Well, it’s not like there’s a big Chechnyan diaspora to these shores, so maybe we can all calm the fuck down, unless someone’s exhumed Tamerlane again:
It is alleged that Timur’s tomb was inscribed with the words, “When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble.” It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found reading, “Who ever opens my tomb, shall unleash an invader more terrible than I.”[87] In any case, two days after Gerasimov had begun the exhumation, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, its invasion of the U.S.S.R.[88] Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.[89]
I was worried it might be a small group of US ex-military blowing shit up out of frustration with Afghan-Iraq policy. And they were just going to keep blowing shit up randomly, in a self-perpetuating cycle of mob violence, like the IRA, but without claiming responsibility. That would be way fucked up, too.
1049 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 10:08 am
The captions in that photoessay are fascinating, Alex. One could weave quite a story about his motivations based entirely on them.
130 chars
Dexter said on April 19, 2013 at 10:09 am
An hour ago I heard Deval Patrick , Governor, MA, say all of Boston as well as Waltham, Watertown, Cambridge, Arlington, Brighton, and Medford are on alert to stay inside with locked doors and be very aware of what’s going on. I can’t remember such a situation, ever. This young criminal is the most dangerous man in America that is not incarcerated right now.
Right now a teacher is on TV saying what a great kid the killer is, how “lovely a kid he is”. I can’t stand it but it’s on my wife’s TV and I have to hear it or leave the room. Damn.
549 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 10:11 am
Dexter everything is air conditioned in Florida so don’t worry. You’ll survive! And so will your animals. I hate kenneling mine when we are away for longer than 9-10 hours. My neighbors who walked the dogs for me moved away three weeks ago so we’re back to the kennel. At least Lucy the cat gets to stay put – a neighbor girl who is not strong enough to hold two big dogs on leashes comes in to care for our Lucy when we’re gone. So at least I don’t have to put up with a pissed off cat when we come home. She hates being kenneled. The dogs really love to go there, though.
I have a headache trying to keep up with all this breaking news. I wish I didn’t have to be at work today. I’d prefer to be in the car playing my iPod and going to the movies so I could get away from the deluge.
792 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 19, 2013 at 10:12 am
It’s very impressive how fast our law enforcement officials have been working this week, from Boston to Texas to Mississippi. I’m tipping my hat to them all, and trying to wait for more info before making speculations.
Dexter, whenever my mom travels she spends the whole time whining about how much she misses her cat. Try not to do that to your family.
I believe it’s common in England for dogs to go just about everywhere with their owners, including stores and pubs. LAMary can correct me if her in-house Brit disagrees. Our daughter was taking her dog with her into the co-op/restaurant she favors in Washington state until the board of health cracked down. She’s only 10 pounds, the dog that is, but fiercely territorial, and wants to challenge every other dog she runs into. I’m thinking that wouldn’t go down so well in a restaurant.
847 chars
mark said on April 19, 2013 at 10:21 am
Since when do “common criminals” plan and execute events of mass murder? Who knows (yet) if they are jihadists or crazy or Goldwater Republicans, but all are more likely to be bombing crowds of innocent people than common criminals.
233 chars
adrianne said on April 19, 2013 at 10:23 am
Wow, social media is remarkable. In the last hour, I’ve seen a photo essay on Tamerlan, the aspiring Golden Gloves boxer who will “box for passport,” and seen Russian Facebook and classmates.com pages on the younger one, Djohar. Looks like a typical teenage dope, with inclinations toward jihad.
295 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 11:09 am
My daughter and her husband and my two grandkids, one of whom I have yet to meet, live at ground zero of the unfolding madness in Massachusetts. I got an email at 7am today from Emily saying they are going with Governor Patrick’s recommendations and staying inside with the doors locked. I’m glad, but not surprised, to hear that. And coozledad, the IRA gave advanced warnings of its bombings, to prevent carnage. Not claiming that’s sane, but it’s more human and humane thatn the alternative. The Brits were warned several times with plenty of time to evacuate before the Omagh bombings. They chose spectacle to make the opposition look evil, and got a lot of people killed and maimed for their own evil purposes, and they are the invading overlords. Those are war criminals, not common criminals.
Meanwhile, I’m a nervous wreck, and I don’t get nervous.
Chechnyans aren’t Russians, unless you buy the Stalin view of the world. And who knows what evidence there actually is agains these two. It seems clear that the bombs were in black bags, and the photos of these two seemed to show kinda royal blue except for white ballcap kid whose backpack was unmistakably bright silver gray. Then again, jihadists attacking Boston Taxachusetts seems rather less likely than Teabangers attacking the home state of librul Murrca. I think much of this internet hysteria over what is going on comes directly from the slatternly coverage and irresponsible editorial decisions at the NYPost. As Sgt. Carter said, “Surprise, surprise.”
1527 chars
mark said on April 19, 2013 at 11:16 am
“who knows what evidence there actually is agains these two.”
Are you absolutely loony? Do you think the events of the last several hours have been faked?
None so blind as those who refuse to see.
204 chars
Bitter Scribe said on April 19, 2013 at 11:17 am
Well, Chechen terrorists have certainly shown themselves to be as bloodthirsty and ready to take innocent life as any other.
124 chars
Danny said on April 19, 2013 at 11:34 am
Whenever I hear of Chechen separatists, I always think of the Beslan school massacre with 186 children killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis
171 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 11:36 am
The Caucasus area, some background via the Associated Press: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BOSTON_MARATHON_CAUCASUS?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
177 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 11:42 am
Yeah, Mark. I’ve seen any number of images of white baseball cap kid carrying a backback that was anything but black. There are also gigantic holes in what’s been reported for anybody that ever lived in Boston. The people on TeeVee don’t know dick about the geography they are describing. How was an MIT campus cop involved, for instance? As for faked, wasn’t the first question to President Obama in an immediate press conference about this being a “false-flag” incident aimed at gubmint coming for people’s guns. Why, yes, yes it was. Save your indignation:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/morning-after-boston-bombings-041613
And the hunt for these particular guys started with hysterically irresponsible shit published on the front page of the NYPost. Ever heard of Richard Jewell?
797 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 12:04 pm
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. (This happens often.) Because the police said “black backpacks” and one wasn’t black this indicates something? Maybe he misspoke. As for the MIT cop being shot, the 7-11 they robbed was on or near the MIT campus.
TV reporters, especially ones from out of town, often make mistakes in breaking-news coverage.
Are you trying to say these men are not the ones they FBI is looking for?
This WashPost writethru* is pretty clear.
*Journo-slang for “the latest version of a breaking-news story.”
735 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 12:09 pm
It’s entirely likely that the Russian troops besieging the hostage-takers and hostages at the Beslan School killed everyone in the building with poison gas. In fact, the Russian government came close to admitting that’s what happened. It’s not even clear the hostage-takers were Chechen.
287 chars
beb said on April 19, 2013 at 12:09 pm
I think I’ll follow the governor of Massachusetts suggestion and stay inside vwith my computer locked-down.
107 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 12:17 pm
WaPo also has a fancy infographic. Not sure how much it adds, but it does clearly state that the MIT cop responded to the convenience store robbery, which is how he met his unfortunate end.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/boston-marathon-explosions-map/
278 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 12:23 pm
The photos of the exploded bombs clearly showed black backpacks. I believe these are the guys the FBI is looking for, but I don’t see any real evidence in any of this nonsense to actually implicate them. And the TeeVee coverage has been atrocious from the getgo. Why don’t they get local reporters from affiliates? And CNN doesn’t have Boston reporters. And there really is no MIT campus to speak of. It’s all properties bought up like urban homesteading over a long period of time. It’s all urban, and any disturbance at a 7-11 on Mass Ave, the only street that MIT abuts other than Storrow Drive, which has no commercial presence, would have drawn the Cambridge cops immediately. If it were the 7-11 near Porter Square, Tufts Cops would have beaten MIT cops to the scene, and that’s actually in Somerville, not Cambridge.
824 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 12:27 pm
Lots of pubs in UK have an in-house dog so I guess they allow other folks’ dogs too.
I see people here with their teeny dogs (we refer to them as snack size in our house) in Nordstroms. Annoys the shit out of me. I should bring in Max, my great dane boxer mix. Okay, he wouldn’t fit in a designer tote bag, but you tell him he’s not welcome at the Lancome counter.
I love my dogs to the point of ridiculousness, but I don’t expect everyone else to.
453 chars
brian stouder said on April 19, 2013 at 12:30 pm
I think Nancy’s brief comment regarding the “writethru” actually speaks volumes. My friends at msnbc have been righteously (and rightly, I might add) indignant about the New York Post’s example of irresponsible journalism (Murdoch’s NY Post running photographs of un-involved citizens, and proclaiming them the perpetrators!)….you can’t writethru a newspaper in someone’s hands, with photographs and everything. This story was (literally) made for TV/internet.
I think we have some number (hopefully small) of nihilistic people who like to blow stuff up, and knock stuff down, and coldly assault other people. That’s their juice, regardless what their stated cause is. Any stated cause is just a formality; their purpose in life became building a bomb and spilling maximum blood (and in these guys’ case, staying to watch) and disrupting a high-profile public event.
Sammy bin Laden had enough wealth and influence to affect the world positively, in some way, had he chosen to. But instead, he used his resources to do what he really wanted to do – orchestrate spectacular death and destruction with a global reach. Really, war-mongering leaders of state; ToJo, Kaiser Wilhelm, that hack-painter Austrian guy all leap to mind…as well as some more recent leaders of this country (but we digress).
Sherman said something like ‘war is all cruelty, and you cannot refine it’; and I think terrorism is all genuinely mindless cruelty, too.
1470 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 12:30 pm
One of the photos I saw somewhere on the internet showed suspect #1 talking on the phone after getting out of his Mercedes. Mercedes? I wonder where/how he had the money for that? The clothes he was wearing in the photo looked pricey too. On The Dish blog they had a link to Reddit where commenters were trying to pin the suspects down by the clothes they were wearing, like the preppy caps they had on. One of the commenters was trying to figure out the shoes on suspect #1, I enlarged the photos as large as I could to get a look at them and my first inclination was to say they were European. I don’t know of course, just a wild guess, but maybe they did it for money? Yes my tinfoil hat is in place.
703 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 12:32 pm
The reason they’re looking for these two guys:
They were seen walking together.
Then they separated, and were each seen at one of the bombing sites.
Also, and you may not know this, one of the victims — the guy in the grisliest photo, with his legs blown off — came out of surgery and said he remembered someone dropping a bag nearby two minutes before the blast. From what I understand, he ID’d one of the two.
As for your contention that something “would have happened” because of something you believe, all I can say is, sometimes things happen differently. Maybe the MIT cop was stopping by for a coffee.
Honestly, I’m as frustrated as you are with how craptastic breaking-news coverage is, but I chalk it up to confusion and a lack of restraint on the part of cable-news producers. And so the FBI agent at the presser said “black backpacks” instead of “one black backpack, one gray one.” Maybe he’d been up for 72 hours straight. Shit happens.
969 chars
Catherine said on April 19, 2013 at 12:34 pm
I’m sighing at myself for getting drawn in to this, but MIT does have a pretty clearly defined campus complete with campus po. The reports I read last night, which at the time didn’t connect that shooting to the bombing, said it took place near the Strata building: http://web.mit.edu/facilities/construction/completed/stata.html
329 chars
Catherine said on April 19, 2013 at 12:35 pm
typo… that’s Stata
20 chars
Catherine said on April 19, 2013 at 12:37 pm
And NPR is saying clearly that the family is not originally from Chechnya, but Krgystan, FWIW.
94 chars
coozledad said on April 19, 2013 at 12:56 pm
Short, sweet essay at Wonkette. The money quote?
Margaret Thatcher said, famously, “There is no such thing as Society”. She was wrong and she had no empathy. Empathy is the foundation of Civil Society and the only thing that sustains us when people with no empathy act.
Read more at http://wonkette.com/#4cgg5uRVe01qiHv1.99
336 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 19, 2013 at 1:02 pm
With no cable I’ve been glued to NPR and NBC, and I’m just absorbing, not drawing any conclusions yet.
But in the interest of a slight diversion, we were comped tickets to Barry Manilow last night, and though I haven’t paid any attention to him in many, many years, who can beat free? Barry is 69 now, and I think he’s still concertizing to feed his ego. His show is Vegas/Branson, very slick, with well-rehearsed patter and musicians. He seems arthritic, and who can blame him, but the pelvic thrusts were downright embarrassing. At least one song was obviously lip-synced. But despite all this, I had a blast, waving my glow stick and singing along to songs I didn’t even realize I knew.
692 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 1:24 pm
Julie, pelvic thrusts and Barry Manilow in the same comment, almost made me lose my lunch.
90 chars
Suzanne said on April 19, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Who knows exactly what is going on in Boston, but it is all very sad. People dead, lives ruined. This young man that they are looking for is 19 and from all accounts of people that knew him, seemed like a really nice kid. 19! Just on the verge of adulthood but not an age known for long term thinking.
Right suspect or wrong suspect, who knows at this point? But so many lives will never be the same because somebody decided to wreak havoc for God only knows what reason. And this makes me sad.
497 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Julie a guy I went to high school with has a limo service in Pittsburgh and he posted on Facebook a couple of hours ago that Barry Manilow is in town tonight and using his limo service. He does that all the time – Jon Bon Jovi, Tom Cruise, etc. Sometimes he posts pictures. He loves the attention.
A few hours ago I read an article somewhere about the bomber who is deceased – Tamarlan. I saw 15 photos of him, many at the boxing ring. He had aspirations to be a boxer for the US in the Olympics. Now that I try to go back to that website, it is suddenly private. He (Tamarlan) showed off that he likes to dress “European”, with a close-up picture of him in white shoes. He has (had?) a girlfriend who is half Portugese and half Italian, and it said she had converted to Islam.
787 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 2:22 pm
Deborah, the Mercedes SUV is the car they stole. They didn’t buy it. Between the attempted robbery in Cambridge (where the cop was shot) and the shootout in Watertown, they carjacked a guy, drove around with him for about thirty minutes, stopped to use his debit card to withdraw money from an ATM, and let him go before proceeding to Watertown where the confrontation in which the older brother was killed took place.
While driving with the carjacking victim, they are reported to have told him that they were the marathon bombers.
535 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 2:24 pm
I’m not suggesting anything other than that the internet “newspeople” are FUBARing this situation and that it’s starting to look like all of the neceesitiea for a witch hunt are aligning as in the case of Richard Jewell, which could only serve to allow the actual bombers to escape punishment, as did Erik Rudolph. The MIT campus is a connection of properties bought on the cheap, tenants evicted by illegal means and residences destroyed to build classrooms and lab buildings. This has been a Town and Gown battle for years. I also don’t believe the MIT cops carry guns, so responding to a robbery instead of alerting the Cambridge cops would be incredibly stupid. Has anybody identified the “suspect” that died at Beth Israel as black ballcap guy? Cops? FBI? I don’t thhink so. All the self-congratulatory crowd-sourcers like reddit are doing nothing more than further roiling very muddy waters, and drawing attention from the ricin assault on the President.
And these guys were seen walking about 15 feet apart, in a slow moving line of sidewalk pedestrians, with several other people, all of whom were carrying bags, either duffels or backpacks. But for all anybody knows, these guys picked a really bad night to jack a convenience store. And there were photos of two exploded black backpacks. Consider the questions asked of the suspects’ uncle:
http://deadspin.com/in-fiery-press-conference-bomb-suspects-uncle-calls-t-476449342
1441 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 2:34 pm
My son is 19 and I think about how passionate he can become about some subject and how his critical thinking skills take little vacations at times. Nineteen year old boys are usually good kids. They’re at a time when they are trying out adulthood but still teenagers and that can lead to making some big mistakes.
314 chars
brian stouder said on April 19, 2013 at 2:41 pm
but I chalk it up to confusion and a lack of restraint on the part of cable-news producers well, although I tremble at the thought of (seemingly) siding with Prospero as against our proprietress in any argument over journalism, I feel the need to say that that last statement really screams for the inclusion of the word “some” – as in “a lack of restraint on the part of SOME cable-news producers” – and indeed SOME print editors. The New York Post has shown the editorial judgement of…a post.
My people at NBC/MSNBC have consistently shown judgement and restraint…although they have (somewhat gleefully) highlighted the shortcomings of their competitors (both electronic and print).
Just sayin’…..
733 chars
Danny said on April 19, 2013 at 2:45 pm
Hilarious, how many of you are currently on the Let’s-not-Jump-to-Conclusions Bandwagon, but back when Jared Loughner shot Gabrielle Giffords, it was a way different tune. Nancy, Borden, Stouder and a bunch of you wanted to blame it on Sarah Palin and conservatives.
Then there’s this gem from Derrick:
coozledad said on January 9, 2011 at 2:20 pm
DHS links shooter to American Renaissance. An anti-immigrant, anti-semitic group.
Sorry, rightwads. Your boy got tackled before he could reload and shoot himself.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/09/jared-loughner-youtube-videos-_n_806370.html
http://bluewavenews.com/blog/2011/01/09/tea-party-rhetoric-nothing-better-than-a-dead-liberal/
But we all know how all those stupid early connections you tried to make panned out and now that we have something that you can’t reasonably blame on conservatives, it’s suddenly just a story about a zany, mixed-up kid.
Of course, that still didn’t stop Derrick from getting into some Lady Thatcher hate-porn. The man’s gotta get his freak on.
Have fun guys….
1081 chars
brian stouder said on April 19, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Danny, if we start from zero, we may agree that a national-level politician (such as Ms Palin, or President Obama) ought not lend her (or his) name to a graphic that includes cross-hairs on images of political opponents, yes?
225 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Jolene @ 47: You are correct about all that. BUT – at the website I saw, pictures from 2009 of the older brother at a boxing ring, when they photographed him out on the street outside the boxing establishment, the caption on the picture said he was about to get into his Mercedes. I think they owned one in the past – I cannot say for sure it belonged to them or if he borrowed it from someone. But again, this was in 2009. The name of the pages I saw were from johannes hirn/photoshelter.com and were entitled “Will Box for Passport.” I’m sure the site was hit hard and was suddenly taken off line or privatized.
616 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 2:51 pm
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/i-dont-have-a-single-american-friend-photo-essay-titled-will-box-for-passport-reveals-profile-of-boston-bombing-suspect-tamerlan-tsarnaev-8580575.html
199 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Jolene, the Mercedes photo was not since the bombing it was way previous to it. I don’t remember where I saw it but it was not an SUV, the guy was wearing chi chi clothes, had a white scarf around his neck etc. It may have been on the same site as the boxing photos, I just don’t remember. I realize they hijacked an SUV, didn’t know it was a Mercedes but that is not what I was referring to. Because there is so much misinformation swirling around, who knows if what I saw was really how it was reported. I just wonder if the guy was a hired assassin, doing the killing for money, for some wealthy or well funded Jihadists. Again, purely, purely speculative. The photos of the suspect seemed a bit Euro-trash, obsessed with luxury brands.
739 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2013 at 2:56 pm
They had the suspects’ aunt on NPR, and she sounded like one of my great-aunts, sweetly muddled, well-meaning, wanting to put the best face on the situation, but kept backing into saying things like “religion? Religion wasn’t a big deal for them. They weren’t into that. Now, Tamerlan started praying five times a day, what was it, oh, four or five years ago, but that’s all.” You had to feel for her.
We all look at these things through the spectacles we like to wear, squinting and trying to bring the whole scene into focus, until reality comes along and pokes an eye out. Let’s not all end up blind poking each other, either. I was primarily fearing a McVeigh pt. II, given the whole April 15/Patriot’s Day thing, and bombs in the key of tax protest. Turns out I had the wrong tune, wrong instrument, and wrong register all together.
841 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 3:03 pm
I didn’t mean to contradict you, Dorothy. The now-taken-down site is the one Alex linked to early in the day, so I had seen those photos too. I didn’t remember a Mercedes being mentioned, but I agree that there was an image in which he was showing off a fancy pair of shoes and says that he liked European style. So, yes, Eurotrash is on target.
345 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Here’s a graphic/timeline that may clear up some of the geography questions.
183 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 3:14 pm
At the risk of being drawn into the abyss . . .
Prospero, you seem to be arguing against empirical reality. MIT has reported that one of their cops was killed after responding to a disturbance call that turned out to be an attempted robbery. I find it implausible that MIT cops wouldn’t carry guns, but what difference does it make? He was an MIT cop who was killed in the line of duty. You seem to think it more likely that the Cambridge police would have been called, but they plainly weren’t.
You are right that the MIT campus is not a traditional campusy area, but, again, so what? It’s been a long time since I visited, but when I taught there twenty years ago, there was a commercial strip near the Kenmore Square T stop where there might well have been a 7-11. What I remember is a Au Bon Pain, a bank, a drugstore, and a few other restaurants, but it’s not very likely that’s all stayed the same in the meantime.
927 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 3:17 pm
If we ever have a giant NN.c meet up, I’m going to put “arguing against empirical reality since ??” on Prospero’s nametag.
122 chars
brian stouder said on April 19, 2013 at 3:18 pm
I aspire to the “Non sequiturs shared since…” badge!
54 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2013 at 3:22 pm
“Rolling his eyes at gratuitous profanity since ??”
(C’mon, everyone can play.)
82 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Joel Achenbach’s always excellent commentary or terror, journalistic accuracy (or not), and the urge to fill in the gaps regardless of what we really know. ((No idea why there all the extra question marks, but you can read around them.)
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/04/19/a-chaotic-and-unnerving-week-in-american-history/
345 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 19, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Our local CBS is the only one still carrying the story, and CBS *just* discovered the boxing pics. Sheesh. Time to go do something else.
136 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 3:33 pm
A set of photos that give a sense of what the citizens of Watertown, MA are experiencing.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/19/177938697/what-it-looked-like-from-inside-bostons-lockdown
198 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 3:34 pm
no worries, Jolene. I didn’t think you were contradicting me I promise. It’s been a wild day and this craziness won’t stop until they catch the 19 year old suspect. I doubt they’ll take him alive, though.
207 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 3:35 pm
So now the cops have been searching inside their perimeter for about 12 hours? And haven’t found anything? I’m beginning to think this boy is either dead or in the wind.
169 chars
jwfromnj said on April 19, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Mine would be, “enlightened by those around him since 2005”
Dex – It’s not that bad in Florida during the summer. Last year when much of the nation endured a sweltering July, It was pleasant here and not very humid. Where I live in Vero Beach it’s never topped 102.
268 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Every time I pop back into this site today I read the first two sentences and think you went to the Sarah Pessica Jarker awards.
128 chars
MarkH said on April 19, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Here’s the latest WaPo summary and timeline. Anyone who still thinks these two individuals in question aren’t the ones, well…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/massive-police-operation-under-way-in-boston/2013/04/19/979ec6dc-a8c6-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_print.html
288 chars
coozledad said on April 19, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Gotta love that nom de rimjob “Lady Thatcher”. Only hopeless little ass-crawlers on this side of the sea would call her that. It’s like some jackoff with a PHD from the University of Phoenix demanding to be addressed as Dr. Jackoff.
There’s a proper time and place for such usage, and among most of the folks who have titles, gratuitous use of them is a vulgarism. But that’s to be expected from someone who, at an advanced age has failed to recognize “Tales From Topographic Oceans” as art brut farts from a whistling Biedermeier dookie-trumpet.
Bitch is deadass dead, too. And no-one showed up for the spring planting:
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2013/04/18/every-picture-tells-a-story-dont-it/
704 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 3:54 pm
I figure the kid hopped into a stolen car a long time ago and is at least as far as Chicago by now. In fact just a little while ago I walked to the store (in the wind and snow) and saw a kid rubbing his eyes while driving a nondescript sedan with no license plate. My imagination is running way overtime.
304 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 4:02 pm
You honestly think there is empirical reality related to the mass decision on the webs that these two guys were the bombers. On what evidence that anybody knows about. In Boston it is being characterized as a manhunt for the murderer of an MIT cop and shooter of a T cop, who also had no business anywhere near an armed robbery. Cops aren’t saying so and neither is the FBI. That’s like being part of the posse in Ox-Bow Canyon. You’d think, actually, that the care and guile with which the attack was launched would probably logically preclude the dumbass stupidity of doing something as rash as robbing a convenience store in Kendall Square, Cambridge MA. That part of Cambridge, at any time of night or day, is teeming with people. MIT cops are not professional certified graduates of any police academy. They are rent-a-cops and do not carry weapons. And an alarm from the store would have gone directly to Cambridge Police HQ, on the near side of Harvard Square, not two minutes away for a cop car with siren on on Mass Ave. and those mean, tough bastards would have been on the spot in no time. I’ve had experience with both groups.
First place, going away for assholishness commenting on the bombing. Shouldn’t that Arkansas legislative body censure or otherwise discipline this ignorant redneck mofo? I mean, if God won’t strike the ahole down with a lightning bolt, or at least a sound beating with a sap.
1555 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 4:07 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/04/17/1883101/boston-marathon-arrest/
Nobody is getting anything right.
110 chars
brian stouder said on April 19, 2013 at 4:08 pm
…and I’ll sit at prospero’s table at the meet-up, and sip by icy cold Diet Pepsi, and nod every so-often
106 chars
coozledad said on April 19, 2013 at 4:15 pm
For Lady Ice-Tits, an obsequy:
If I can stop one check from clearing
For someone on the dole
I shall cough my life up cheering
for pennies I stole
If I punch one starving bastard
in his freezing nuts
They will call me “Lady”
when I fart out my guts.
265 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 4:18 pm
I’m with you Brian, only I’ll be sipping some Trader Joe’s red wine.
68 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 4:20 pm
“It’s like some jackoff with a PHD from the University of Phoenix demanding to be addressed as Dr. Jackoff.”
Love this. For so many reasons.
145 chars
Brandon said on April 19, 2013 at 4:20 pm
But that’s to be expected from someone who, at an advanced age has failed to recognize “Tales From Topographic Oceans” as art brut farts from a whistling Biedermeier dookie-trumpet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Topographic_Oceans
The things I learn from reading this blog.;)
@prospero On your comment posted the other day. Madonna dated Jose Canseco and Dennis Rodman. She’d be game to date Manti, but Taylor Swift is more his type. On the question of talent: we can all agree that Taylor Swift is not a quarter of the talent Madonna is.
But I acknowledge many other singers can outsing Madonna: Chaka Khan, Jennifer Holliday, Aretha Franklin, et al.
687 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Prospero, the MIT police do carry guns. How do I know? I just called them to find out. If you wish to confirm, you can reach them at 1-617-253-1000.
148 chars
mark said on April 19, 2013 at 4:21 pm
And anybody with a brain knows those boys couldn’t have released the ‘carjacking victim’ at the Shell station on Memorial. That place is lit up like a Christmas tree, and on a Thursday night/Friday morning, Big Bruno would’ve been working the cash register, with a three foot length of hard-seasoned hickory under the counter. Only a moron wouldn’t know that. Even the MIT cops know that. No way would they go there. You’d dump the guy at the Popeye’s on 5th, out back by the dumpster, where the security light’s been broken for months. Anybody that says it isn’t so doesn’t know anything.
It’s Richard Jewell all over again.
635 chars
nancy said on April 19, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Prospero, sometimes I think we read and comprehend English differently.
>You honestly think there is empirical reality related to the mass decision on the webs that these two guys were the bombers. On what evidence that anybody knows about.
The mass decision wasn’t made “on the webs.” It was made by the FBI, who listed them as suspects and showed their photos yesterday evening. A few hours later, the same two guys robbed a 7-11, killed a cop, carjacked a motorist and ran from police, throwing bombs and gunfire. I guess it’s possible these are two misunderstood young men, and we’re all innocent until proven otherwise, but for cryin’ out loud — do you actually live on this planet?
704 chars
Jolene said on April 19, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Brian, I have always thought of you as someone I would enjoy meeting, but ever since you switched from Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi, well, I just don’t know if I feel the same way about you,
185 chars
brian stouder said on April 19, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Arrrgggghhh!! The story of my life, I tell ya!
46 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Off topic, or at least a few days late with topic, I was rummaging through the central supply department’s recycling for some good boxes and I found a box previously filled with something called ProneView Cushion Inserts. Just the thing for lying face down for long periods. I have the illustrated booklet, which is in many languages, explaining how to install and use the product if you anyone in here maybe needs such a thing.
430 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Not to be a smartass or anything, but “empirical reality” is kinda redundant, and reality is one of those things, like pregnancy, that really doesn’t lend itself to lingusitic moderation. Ya know, there are no degrees of pregnancy and reality is what can be seen, heard, felt, tasted, smelled. which is pretty much what is meant by empirical. It is what it is.
As for Mary’s suggestion@85, I think what would be a comfort in the lying prone for a fortnight situation would be one of those soba pillows, I know what would drive me nuts would be wanting to fliip to the cool side every five min.utes. Those bean-filled pillows stay nice and cool and conform immediately to any shift in posture.
The cops and Feebs in Boston are conducting a manhunt for a cop murderer, not a bomber, and they have made that quite clear, to get rid of the hordes of Boston media types that have hounded them for three days. I have friends in Boston who have told me this and have every reason to know the facts better than anybody blabbing on the net.
1037 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 4:56 pm
I heard from a former colleague with whom I used to work before I retired, she had dated a guy who was a grad student at Harvard at the School of Design. He told her he spent the night in the studio last night because of the police action in the area. Yikes. My husband was a grad student there and remembers it well, says it wasn’t that unusual to spend the night in the studio because of projects but not because of police action.
432 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 5:26 pm
I’ve been in that SofD studio and that would be a spooky place to spend the night. I’ve been in there at night, drinking beer and smoking post, but with the lights off, it would seem like a horror movie set.
207 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2013 at 5:30 pm
Prospero smokes post. Now everything makes sense! Especially if they’re pressure-treated fungicide coated posts.
112 chars
mark said on April 19, 2013 at 5:32 pm
Me too, but really, really late at night, doing shots of Johnny Walker Blue and dropping acid. And with the lights off, you could make some wild hand-puppets.
159 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 5:42 pm
It would take a long time to smoke a post. You have to wonder if it’s worth it.
79 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Are we talking about the same place, the GSD (Graduate School of Design) at Harvard, the place they call The Trays? I think it’s a marvelous space can’t imagine it seeming spooky? But I’ve never been there during the wee hours (I didn’t know my husband then). Knowing how architecture students are the place is probably almost always occupied by kids working on projects late at night so again doesn’t seem like it’d be spooky.
428 chars
Sherri said on April 19, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Meanwhile, 14 are confirmed dead and 60 still unaccounted for in Texas: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/19/17825505-investigators-texas-plant-explosion-death-toll-raised-to-14?lite
188 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 6:15 pm
Do they have any idea what caused the Fertilizer plant explosion? I haven’t been keeping up with it because I’ve been so obsessed with the Boston situation. I remember when I lived in Houston for about a year eons ago that you could have a factory down the street from you, there was no zoning separating residences from industry. It was bizarre.
346 chars
Dexter said on April 19, 2013 at 6:17 pm
Jolene, you are right to question the make-up of one brian stouder. Never trust a Diet Pepsi guzzler, I know, my wife sucks down 24 ounce bottles and restaurant re-fills like Steve Buscemi’s six refills of his coffee cup.
NSFW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38
276 chars
MichaelG said on April 19, 2013 at 6:20 pm
I heard the interview of the bombers’ aunt on KPCC while driving down the freeway in Orange County this AM. She did say that they took up praying five times a day several years ago and she also allowed as how they were Muslim. She explained the Chechen connection by saying that many people had been run out of Chechnya during the forties and had taken refuge in K’Stan. So, while the brothers are ethnic Chechens (is that how you say it?) and Muslims, it isn’t clear if either ever actually resided in Chechnya. Let’s hope they catch the kid alive and that he provides some answers.
595 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 6:28 pm
Yeah Deborah and I’m thinking about no artificial light and I believe it would make a great horror movie set, with diaphonously veiled vampires women in a Jean Rollin movie. Ever see those? Right. Typos on the internet. The last bastion of small-minded folks. But I have been in that place many times, and no matter what it will always remind me of the pretentiousness of using the term charette and the ultimate pretentiousness of anything connected with Harvard. What exactly is charette? Getting really drunk and high and smokin whole lots of Gaulloise until you produce the perfect design. Designers and Architects have so small an understanding of materials Codes and details of construction, I have lost any respect for them. There were hundreds of these kids with parents that would have spent their money better sending them to SCAD. Seems to me the typo is not the same as claiming claiming empirical reality as opposed to experiential reality. This is pretty funny, and since it was a mindless joke of which I was the butt, Stick it in a butt of Malmsey ladies.
The Trays makes a very beautiful place in late afternoon. I have been in there all night when my sister-in-law Carolyn was making a better Viet Monument than Maya Lin did, in my opinion. It is a very valuable thing to be opinionated. If y’all disagree with that, I’ll never darken this door. Striving to avoid being opinionated is something that will wrap your colon in knots that can’t be untied. When somebody tells you it’s just your opinion, you tell them immediately: that’s why it came out of my mouth. I will always be some clown you can make a joke of? Parbly not. And the parbly comes from beyond your literary range, from Russell Hoban. That is how Riddley Walker speaks. I thought you all were my friends.
Can anybody that wants to give me shit explain what empirical reality can mean remotely? I know what eeas meant, but it’s not English.
1932 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 6:38 pm
It’s a fact. I’me a smartass shithead. And it’s a fact, big freaking deal. I’m a smartass shithead. Nancy, please admit I’m correct about that small point about tjat matter of languqage. I know more, you don’t/ I]M SMARTER AND KNOW ENG;;ISH BETTER/
248 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Happy weekend, everybody.
25 chars
Deborah said on April 19, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Charette is the french word for cart, the term originated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the 19th century, the word charette is from the French for “cart” or “chariot”. Students would work non-stop day and night to finish a particular project and a person with a cart would pick up their drawings and take them to the school while they slept before their presentation.
“Designers and Architects have so small an understanding of materials Codes and details of construction, I have lost any respect for them.” Sorry to hear your association with professionals is so limited.
Hard to believe anyone could have designed a better Viet Nam memorial than Maya Lin.
675 chars
jwfromnj said on April 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Mass State Police say they did not rob the convience store. The robbery was a coincidence.
90 chars
jwfromnj said on April 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Mass State Police say they did not rob the convience store. The robbery was a coincidence.
90 chars
jwfromnj said on April 19, 2013 at 7:04 pm
The lifting of the lockdown may have been a ruse to flush this kid out after the all-clear notice. Lots of activity now in Watertown
132 chars
Little Bird said on April 19, 2013 at 7:06 pm
You must admit that if nothing else, Prosperos comments do have a certain entertainment value to them.
102 chars
JWfromNJ said on April 19, 2013 at 8:36 pm
I suspect Prospero will be snoring tonight, LOL!
48 chars
Prospero said on April 19, 2013 at 8:45 pm
Kissmy ass JWI’ve got a family in this game. You don’t so fuck you.
67 chars
MarkH said on April 19, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Multiple news reports have the 19 year old suspect now in custody after found hiding in a trailered boat at a residence.
120 chars
MarkH said on April 19, 2013 at 8:51 pm
In Watertown.
13 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Mo Rocca suggests that the feds let the uncle in Maryland talk to his nephew first. But seriously, anyone not happy this guy was taken alive isn’t thinking things through. Hat tip, Boston Police — awesome work all around. What a challenge, what a response.
257 chars
MarkH said on April 19, 2013 at 9:01 pm
Absolutely agree, Jeff. The best scenario at this point was for him to be taken alive. Now we might really learn what happened.
127 chars
Dorothy said on April 19, 2013 at 9:28 pm
Last night we got an offer of cash to buy hubby’s aunt’s condo in Pittsburgh. Our real estate agent said it’s a dad who wants to buy it for his daughter, who is enrolled at CMU for her PhD. Their last name is fairly common but the daughter’s first name is very distinctive. I looked for her on Facebook and Googled it, and lo and behold found out quite a bit. Turns out the dad is a professor at UMass Dartmouth, the same school where this newly arrested suspect was enrolled. How crazy is that?!
500 chars
Basset said on April 20, 2013 at 5:05 am
“But that’s to be expected from someone who, at an advanced age has failed to recognize “Tales From Topographic Oceans” as art brut farts from a whistling Biedermeier dookie-trumpet.”
Whatever the hell that means. I bought “Oceans” when it was first issued, saw Yes do it live at the old Louisville armory, and have the whole thing, all four sides, on my iPod right now. I will agree with Rick Wakeman that it could have been tightened up some but it’s still one of my favorites.
And every time Pros starts behaving the way he has recently I come back around to the idea that his whole act on here is a brilliant, long-term troll.
644 chars
Jolene said on April 20, 2013 at 8:36 am
David Remnick, who spent several years as a reporter in Russia, tells us more about Chechnya and the Tsarnaev brothers. Useful and beautifully written. Also short.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2013/04/29/130429ta_talk_remnick?mobify=0
238 chars
Jolene said on April 20, 2013 at 9:22 am
Another good essay, this one from Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe. Made me think that, like Adam Lanza, Tamarlan Tsarnaev, is just another sad example of a guy who couldn’t fit in. What a price we all pay for the bitterness of these misfits.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/19/tale-two-immigrants/m3alkAoSFQWPwVJ3FXvBkI/story.html?p1=Well_BG_Links
360 chars
Suzanne said on April 20, 2013 at 1:04 pm
The whole thing makes me incredibly sad. The runner who lost his sweet 8 year old son and how faces life with a wife and daughter with injuries that will affect them forever, and the guilt that if he had not run the race, they would not have been in the bomb’s path. The young MIT cop who was pursuing his dream. The Chinese student who probably heard stories about how dangerous it was in America and had no doubt told family and friends in China that they were wrong about it. And even the two handsome immigrant brothers who had parents who wanted a better life for them and whose lives are now wasted.
605 chars
MichaelG said on April 20, 2013 at 2:27 pm
The SacBee has a story this AM about a Sacramento couple, newlyweds, who moved to Boston not long ago. She is a nurse and he is studying for his PhD in Psych. Both were at the finish line. Each lost a left leg.
213 chars
Jolene said on April 20, 2013 at 3:00 pm
I’m betting on a tribute of some sort with people wearing prostheses at center stage at the start of next year’s marathon. So many lost limbs, men and women, at least one child.
A small correction, Suzanne. Although it was (mis)reported many times that young Martin’s father had run the race, in fact, the whole family was there to watch it. If I happen across a link, I’ll post it, but I saw this correction made several times on TV, including by people who were very close to the family.
492 chars
Deborah said on April 20, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Charles Pierce has an excellent piece wrapping up yesterday’s events http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/night-in-watertown-cemetery-042013
141 chars
Deborah said on April 20, 2013 at 6:06 pm
Here’s something that blew my mind when I read it, that the captured suspect actually went back to school at U of Mass, Dartmouth after the bombing and slept in the dorm. Can you imagine!? That’s either sheer stupidity or a completely rampant ego, to think they wouldn’t be caught. Didn’t they know about all of the surveillance in cities these days?
350 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 20, 2013 at 7:21 pm
In the same story (I assume), it appears he’s flunking everything, after having been bright and successful in high school. There’s multi-level tragedy here, with a sociopathic big brother and a cultural clash that has less to do with Islam per se than it does with the maladjustments of a world view that assumes women are second-class bumping into America, c. 2013. Make sure to see the piece written by the woman who had facials for years in the home of this family until not long ago — a startling piece of everyday gonzo journalism by accident.
http://alyssalindley.tumblr.com/post/48368749553/ive-met-the-boston-bombers
629 chars
Jolene said on April 20, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Didn’t they know about all of the surveillance in cities these days?
Apparently not. They don’t seem to have had much of a follow-up plan of any kind. If they had wanted to avoid being caught, they’d have had a car, cash, and a set of GPS coordinates that would take them far away. Shooting a cop, jacking a car, and dropping off the driver after telling>/I> him you are the bomber is not exactly a stealthy way to get out of town.
452 chars
jerry said on April 21, 2013 at 3:07 am
Pros @24: “And coozledad, the IRA gave advanced warnings of its bombings, to prevent carnage.”
This just isn’t true. You might consider, for example, the bombing of the Conservative Party conference in Brighton; or the murder of Lord Mounbatten on his boat in Ireland.
I’m not making any moral claim for the British presence in Ireland but to claim that the IRA were morally impeccable freedom fighters with chivalric behaviour is disingenuous at best. Many were vicious thugs who believed that they were entitled to do anything to further their cause and were perfectly happy to see the death and maiming of the innocent.
628 chars
coozledad said on April 21, 2013 at 7:32 am
jerry: It’s my understanding the paramilitary wing of the IRA pretty quickly became an organized crime syndicate, with no clearer objective than to sustain itself. Michael Collins understood this when he tried to start a peace process, saying “I’ve just signed my own death warrant.”
There’s a full history of Christian terrorism that people here are willfully blind to. I’ve been told there is a pretty jumpy postwar generation of Londoners with their own variety of PTSD.
476 chars
Jolene said on April 21, 2013 at 10:16 am
A TV recommendation for this evening: Hank Stuever’s review makes Robert Redford’s documentary about Watergate sound appealing. On Discover at 8:00 PM EDT.
See http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/all-the-presidents-men-revisited-watergate-again-but-not-just-a-nostalgia-trip/2013/04/17/c6f41066-a6ac-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html
Also, if you failed to heed my earlier recommendation to watch the awhile House Memphis Soul concert on PBS earlier this week, you can still catch it online. I watched it on DVR myself last night and thought several of the performances were really terrific.
See http://m.video.pbs.org/video/2364996259/
658 chars
Jolene said on April 21, 2013 at 12:27 pm
Upon refection, I should, perhaps, say that I wrote “fail to heed” jokingly. I don’t really expect people to treat my entertainment recommendations as directives.
162 chars
Jerri said on April 21, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Re: Cooz’s comment about the jumpy postwar generation of Brits, UK-born mystery writer Jacqueline Winspear has a moving blog post on Boston and that very topic.
http://www.nakedauthors.com/2013/04/about-boston.html
221 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 21, 2013 at 7:25 pm
All these links have been terrific; my thanks to all.
53 chars
brian stouder said on April 21, 2013 at 7:46 pm
Jerri – I agree with Julie; that was a great link.
I’m about 350 pages into The Warmth of Other Suns, and indeed – terrorism is as American as apple pie (not that that makes any difference, in this case)
206 chars
Jerri said on April 21, 2013 at 8:49 pm
I’ve gotten so many great links, laughs, and tears from Nancy and all of you over the years that I’m glad to return the favor.
126 chars
Catherine said on April 21, 2013 at 11:41 pm
Jerri, that was a great link. A friend just observed the other day, as I was vainly trying to throw out my Peet’s coffee cup, “Have you noticed how all the trash cans are disappearing?”
185 chars