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Bombs detonated at Boston Marathon finish line

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Seeing news about bombs going off still gives me chills even now. Used to see this all the time growing up (I'm from Northern Ireland) and the sight of actual bomb scenes still make me very uneasy. It's such a cowardly thing to do, I mean anyone getting hurt is horrible of course, but it's such an 'easy' way to hurt many innocent people so quickly. Scumbags.
 
The Real Abed said:
Call me ignorant but why would ball bearings mean terrorism?
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Miscellaneous shrapnel used to create maximum damage. Instead of a regular bomb which mainly sends a shockwave and a fireball (shockwave doing the most damage) adding random sharp and heavy bits to it makes it more lethal as intent to hurt and kill as many as possible.
 
University of Mobile’s Cross Country Coach, who was near the finish line of the Boston Marathon when a series of explosions went off, said he thought it was odd there were bomb sniffing dogs at the start and finish lines.

“They kept making announcements on the loud speaker that it was just a drill and there was nothing to worry about,” Coach Ali Stevenson told Local 15. “It seemed like there was some sort of threat, but they kept telling us it was just a drill.”​

http://www.local15tv.com/mostpopula...e-at-Start-Finish/BrirjAzFPUKKN8z6eSDJEA.cspx

The heck?
 
Just so those that aren't aware understand the international scale of the race, 96 countries were represented at today's race.
 
Tamanon said:
Pretty much, Sandy Hook wasn't considered "terrorism" in media, Aurora wasn't considered terrorism. It's weird semantics that just seem to hurt the conversation in general.
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The difference is that those attacks were not meant to terrorize so much as they were personal rampages. All of these attacks are gruesome and disgusting but how they were meant to be perceived is different. Today's attack was clearly meant to incite fear whereas something like Sandy Hook was more of actions of a madman with access to weaponry.

Attacking a location and focusing solely on that one location, in addition to eliminating himself (Lanza) openly in the process, left not that much room for terror, fear, or chaos shortly after Sandy Hook. This attack was mean to do all of that.
 
Solo said:
What is the strict definition of a terrorist attack? Does it imply a certain number of people involved/a faction or something? The end result is the same, whether they label it as such or not.
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Tricky question. Major news outlets have very strict criteria for labelling attacks as acts of terrorism, and the BBC generally avoids using the word at all costs, even to the point where they come under fire for it. There is some inherent bias in the media when you read about terrorist attacks in London/NY, but "militants" the in ME.

There is no universally agreed upon definition of terrorism.

Not that I don't think this is an act of terrorism, because it clearly is. Any time you intentionally target civilians then imo it's terrorism, and the lowest marker of our species.

Here is the BBC's editorial guidance for using the word: http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidance-reporting-terrorism-full
 
ronito said:
I dunno if we can say "ball bearings" = international terrorist. I'm no expert but I'd say chances are just as good as it being domestic than international
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Yeah, it doesn't prove anything. This thing hits close to home to me since mall I used to frequent got bombed by a similar bomb years ago and the casualties were almost similar, about 100 dead and dozen dead. It was a homemade amateur device.
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
University of Mobile’s Cross Country Coach, who was near the finish line of the Boston Marathon when a series of explosions went off, said he thought it was odd there were bomb sniffing dogs at the start and finish lines.

“They kept making announcements on the loud speaker that it was just a drill and there was nothing to worry about,” Coach Ali Stevenson told Local 15. “It seemed like there was some sort of threat, but they kept telling us it was just a drill.”​

http://www.local15tv.com/mostpopula...e-at-Start-Finish/BrirjAzFPUKKN8z6eSDJEA.cspx

The heck?
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Pretty sure they are going for sensationalist headlines and are taking advantage of people's desire to blame someone for what happened.

I wouldn't read too much into it until we know more.
 
Awful. :( I can't believe someone would do this, it's despicable. The only good thing is that it wasn't a double tap attack. I guess there were 100+ people around the blast site in less than 60 seconds after it hit. Another bomb would have been devastating.
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
University of Mobile’s Cross Country Coach, who was near the finish line of the Boston Marathon when a series of explosions went off, said he thought it was odd there were bomb sniffing dogs at the start and finish lines.

“They kept making announcements on the loud speaker that it was just a drill and there was nothing to worry about,” Coach Ali Stevenson told Local 15. “It seemed like there was some sort of threat, but they kept telling us it was just a drill.”​

http://www.local15tv.com/mostpopula...e-at-Start-Finish/BrirjAzFPUKKN8z6eSDJEA.cspx

The heck?
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He's said a lot of unconfirmed stuff that makes me think he's either crazy or just stupid. Great "clues" for the conspiracy nuts.
 
Notrollious said:
Apparently ball bearings are only outside the US, or so it would seem seeing some of the posts (AKA the congressman from texas...)
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The completely assinine congressman from Texas. Ball bearings are a common payload for antipersonnel mines. They disperse rapidly, ripping through bodies at leg height. We used them in Vietnam. For all I know, we still use them.
 
Condolences to anyone affected. I recommend avoiding watching footage (haven't myself), it does no good to anyone.

If the news about more bombs planted at various locations are true then this probably wasn't done by a lone individual. Still doesn't shed any light on who and why.
 
Is it theorized that these undetonated bombs all malfunctioned? Or that they were scheduled to go off at a later time?

Blows my mind that 50% of the intended bombs went off. Obviously, it's very good the others didn't, but wow.
 
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