Boston Marathon Bombed

WTF?

@blogenfreude: Well, it’s either Islamists (half of Twitter), secessionists (the other half), or something else entirely.

Via TPM, Fox is reporting three dead. Other reports say limbs were blown off.

I have been on Twitter on the phone (blocked here at the new workplace) and looking at the pictures of the aftermath — all the blood — I am going to be incredibly ill.

General note: I said “bombed” in the headline, but nobody’s confirming deliberate action yet. The marathon Facebook account is saying “two bombs”, but some journalists are using “two explosions” instead, presumably until underground gas lines are ruled out.

Boston Globe: 2 dead, 22 injured. Bomb squad set off “controlled explosion” outside library.

Boston Globe: Police still finding “secondary devices”.

Nothing like another national tragedy to make your petty Monday concerns seem silly and trite. Heaven help us.

I have 4-5 friends there as spectators or runners and all have already been reported safe via FB. I may have my quibbles with that site, but there’s no doubt that it’s pretty incredible to be able to receive assurance so quickly in the face of a lot of chaos on the ground.

NBC: “Multiple explosive devices found, at least 2 which exploded, officials tell NBC News”

This is really, really fucked up.

@flippin eck: Also, officials are asking folks to say off their cellphones. Texts okay.

NBC: “Small homemade bomb is preliminary cause of explosion at Boston Marathon”

@nojo: It’s tax day. too many nuts feel that they have been taxed enough already and it’s in boston.

@jwmcsame: Yes, but. Too early for finger-pointing.

@nojo: voice of reason.

Ugh. Reeeally hating people who’d do something like this. It doesn’t solve anything.

Reuters says another explosion at the JFK Library.

@jwmcsame: I’m actually reminded of the (unexploded) small homemade bomb in Washington State a year back, but it’s too early for that, too.

@rptrcub: I think that was the bomb squad’s “controlled explosion”. But so far, we don’t have a count of all the “unexploded devices”. Yes, plural.

Boston Globe: 2 dead, 64 wounded.

@rptrcub: Nope, you’re right. Third bomb at JFK Library. TPM reports no injuries.

@nojo: BOSTON, April 15 (Reuters) – Boston police said on Monday that an explosion occurred at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston after other blasts in the city near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Police spokeswoman Neva Coakley said “there has been another explosion at JFK.”
Rachel Day, a spokeswoman for the John F. Kennedy Library, located about three miles from the marathon’s finish line, said that there was a fire at the library but no one was injured.

@rptrcub: @nojo: Apparently it was just a boiler room fire. (And the library is on the outskirts of Boston, far away from the marathon, anyway.)

@rptrcub: Stranger and stranger.

@mellbell: TPM: “There was another device, confirmed at JFK,’ Neva Coakley, an officer in the Boston Police Department’s press office, told TPM.”

Nice to see some proper sourcing.

@nojo: “It’s just a fire” came from the director of the library. Not necessarily the best source of information, as it turns out, but you can’t get any closer than that.

@mellbell: I think that info was correct, as far as it goes. Bomb set off fire, but no injuries. I think.

AP: Cell phone service shut down in Boston.

By EILEEN SULLIVAN

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON —
A law enforcement official says cellphone service has been shut down in the Boston area to prevent any potential remote detonations of explosives.

Authorities have not identified what caused the explosives that erupted at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

The explosions have killed two people and injured at least 23 others.

Copyright The Associated Press

@rptrcub: Jesus Fuck.

I really don’t get the (apparent) symbolism. No government building, no monument to global capitalism. We all have our obvious suspicions, but this could turn out to be flat-out weird.

@nojo: This is fucking frightening (which is the purpose, after all, of terrorism) … and it’s almost time for me to get on a train home. I am seriously thinking of just calling a cab at this point.

@rptrcub: I’d probably stay off public transport in Boston, but you’re not there. It ain’t the Atlanta Olympics.

And right on cue…

Police are asking everyone in Boston to stay home; if you do go out, do not travel in large groups.

Rupert’s NY Post — and nobody else — is reporting a Saudi national in custody. Wingnut blogs — and nobody else — are running with it.

@mellbell: Boston PD: “Update JFK incident appears to be fire related”

My fault for not trusting librarian in the first place.

I’m sitting on a plane waiting to leave JFK airport. When I first saw reports of an explosion at JFK I freaked. My money is on homegrown terrorists. Holy shit, not again.

@Mistress Cynica: That’s what it feels like to me too, but I don’t really think I have enough info. I get more of a tax day or Newtown vibe off it than anything else, and that doesn’t seem like a set of causes that would bring out the international bad guys.

@rptrcub: I was thinking the same thing, but I head home so late, not peak rush hour. Also, I don’t think lightning will strike again here anytime soon.

Canadian media offering a picture that just made me say “Holy Fuck!”
WARNING. (warning that was not given by my friend who posted the pic on the Book of Faces): Do not click if squeamish.
(I was in Canada in the days after Hurricane Katrina and the Canadian media went with way more graphic pics than US media.)

@IanJ: I really hope it was a white guy and not a brown guy. Tax Day in the home of the first Tea Party?

@SanFranLefty: It’s also “Patriot’s Day” in Massachusetts — third Monday in April, by tradition.

Still, all speculation at this point. No point getting ahead of the story.

Organizing for Action (née Obama for America: “Due to the events at the Boston Marathon, we are postponing tomorrow’s National Call Day on gun violence prevention.”

This is going to be a weird week.

Fran Townshend and Ari Fleischer talking about horrific national tragedies give new meaning to the “Situation Room”. Why are those fu$kers on my tele…

.oh that’s right, I have an off switch.

@SanFranLefty: Whoa. And I thought the Kevin Ware pix were bad. That picture makes Ware’s injury seem minor.

Rode the subway home at 8pm – did not see a bit of that extra security promised by May0r-for-Life Bloomberg. Sometimes there are armed soldiers down in the tubes – not today.

Dear People/Countries/Violent Assholes in General,

It’s time to cut the crap. Stop fighting over resources and learn to fucking share. When frustrated, punch a wall, take a walk, take a fucking nap. And share shit so we stop fighting over it. Stop being greedy. There’s enough to go around if we stop hoarding.

Sincerely,
The Partnership of History and Natural Resources

Apparently ball bearings were used in the bombs. Does that tell is anything about the sophistication of the guy who made them?

@Dodgerblue:
It means the bomber is a vicious fucker who deliberately designed the bombs to maim.

Eight hours in, you would think anyone who wanted to claim the bombing for publicity value would have claimed it by now.

Jesus Fucking Christ:

Adding further heartbreak to utter tragedy, the last mile of Monday’s Boston Marathon, which was rocked by at least two explosions resulting in an unknown number of injuries and casualties Monday afternoon, was dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting massacre. Boston Athletic Association president Joanne Flaminio said before the race that had a “special significance” because it was 26.2 miles long and there was 26 victims in the Newtown attack. There was also a group of Newtown parents running as part of a group called Team Newtown Strong who were raising money for local charities.
[…]
Newtown families were reportedly seated in the VIP section right by where the explosions went off. There’s no word whether they are among the 23 injured and two dead from the explosions.

And on that note, I’m going to look at puppy pictures on the tubes.

@JNOV: What you said.
@Dodgerblue: Good luck to you tomorrow.

@SanFranLefty: We had a discussion last summer in my Wilderness First Aid class on the return of the tourniquet. It was in disfavor as recently as three years ago.

CDC has a guide on emergency medicine and bombings. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/masscasualties/blastinjuryfacts.asp

@Dodgerblue: It tells me that Fletch lives, but I’m an asshole who relates everything back to 80s comedies because I don’t want to deal with the horror show that is reality.

What I’m thinking is that the perp(s) of this tragedy may actually NOT reveal themselves so as to strike again in another random setting.

In related news, Fiesta San Antonio begins down here in a few days. Three parades, gatherings all over the city. I hope the SAPD is ready.

Nothing’s on the record yet, but the NYT is reporting this morning via an unidentified source that the injured Saudi student has been cleared. This would be the same dude whose apartment was raided last night.

So Rupert’s NY Post got that one right, sorta — the same NY Post that spent most of the day bannering “12 DEATHS”. Stopped clock, etc.

Still, I’d like to see someone go on the record with that. There are dozens of wingnut blogs that need shaming.

@nojo: Here ya go.

@matador1015: Tumblr has something for everybody.

@nojo: Not comprehensive — nor official — but Saudi embassy and Diane Feinstein (as Senate Intelligence Committee chair) both say they’ve been told that Saudi national is not a suspect. I’d like to hear it on the record before running with it.

@matador1015: The OKC Memorial marathon, which is held in honor of the those killed in the 1995 bombing of the federal building, is in 11 days. It runs at the same time as an arts festival that’s one of the largest in the country. I’m sure OKCPD are bringing in reinforcements.

And, to answer my question, it could be days, even months, before a terrorist group claims responsibility. Not counting the opportunists who rush for publicity.

Copycat in ATL? Police: Man injured by exploding package at a thrift store

Fuck.