Boston Marathon

[trish]

If Tamerlan aligned himself with the Chechen independence movement, then Russia had reason to be nervous of his comings and goings whereas the FBI would have assigned him to a lower priority watch list. We don't know whether the FBI "closed the file" on him or not. We might surmise they were unaware that the two brothers amassed a number of arms and built bombs (though we don't even know that for sure). We do know the FBI were caught unawares on the day of the Marathon.

To what degree we can blame the FBI or Home Land Security for the tragic surprise still remains to be seen.

I don't expect absolute security. I don't relish having to take my shoes off and I don't like getting patted down at every airport. I certainly don't want to go through a security line just to walk down a city street. The NRA doesn't want gun registration, or tagging agents in explosive compounds like black powder, yet judging by all the footage we had of Tamerlan and his brother, we already live under constant scrutiny.

[buttslinger]

In my Elementary School we practiced air raid drills, where we would all go out into the hallways, sit against the walls, lean over and kiss our asses goodbye. We had a big air raid siren on a telephone pole outside the school that they tested every day at noon, you could here it for miles. But, all in all, it was much more innocent than now, our school was 100% white, negroes had their own reser....neighborhoods, and gays, transsexual freaks, criminals, dopeheads, they all hid in the dark cool shadows.

The Cold War with the USSR was real back then, and while now we have the real chance of a suitcase nuke going off in a large city, back then we had the chance of nuclear ICBMs raining down on every city.

Vietnam was a fight against World Communism, and after we lost it was necessary to change our immigration laws so our South Vietnamese buddies could get the hell out of there. But we never changed the law back, that's why Elemntary Schools today have kids from all kinds of worldly backgrounds.

It's difficult to know how much of these changes were orchestrated by our leaders, and how much was stuff that "just happened" Who can predict the future?

[fred41]

If Tamerlan aligned himself with the Chechen independence movement, then Russia had reason to be nervous of his comings and goings whereas the FBI would have assigned him to a lower priority watch list. We don't know whether the FBI "closed the file" on him or not. We might surmise they were unaware that the two brothers amassed a number of arms and built bombs (though we don't even know that for sure). We do know the FBI were caught unawares on the day of the Marathon.

To what degree we can blame the FBI or Home Land Security for the tragic surprise still remains to be seen.

I don't expect absolute security. I don't relish having to take my shoes off and I don't like getting patted down at every airport. I certainly don't want to go through a security line just to walk down a city street. The NRA doesn't want gun registration, or tagging agents in explosive compounds like black powder, yet judging by all the footage we had of Tamerlan and his brother, we already live under constant scrutiny.

Well stated Trish...
We'll eventually find out if anyone "fucked up"...or not.
Shrill, uninformed knee jerk reactions never solve anything.
(It's funny too...often people that complain the most about being inconvenienced, will be the first to complain when "not enough is being done". I think the key word here is "complain"..lol)

Thanks,
Always enjoy your measured responses.

[Ben]

[Gillian]

I'm struggling to get my head round the fact that a home-made pressure cooker bomb is defined as a "weapon of mass destruction" yet a legally held, fully automatic assault rifle isn't.

Only in America ...

[BBaggins06]

I'm struggling to get my head round the fact that a home-made pressure cooker bomb is defined as a "weapon of mass destruction" yet a legally held, fully automatic assault rifle isn't.

Only in America ...

Hey thanks eurotrash, you can't pass up any opportunity to bash the US even after a heinous act of terrorism. Bravo douchebag. Maybe you'd like to rub salt in the bloody stumps of all the innocent bystanders who had their arms and legs blown off ...

[Prospero]

Chill out Bbaggins... Shelf has got a point and it's hardly anti-American to point out that the death toll from guns wielded by American citizens on MOST days exceeds that of the bombs. Neither is justified. But your government has been useless in all attempts to limit deadly firearms because of "the constitution" and the NRA's recent reporting payments to key Republican politicians and its political influence.

This is hardly America bashing... more pointing some odd discontinuities in public discourse.

[trish]

If you're on the terrorist watch-list, you can't fly; but you can buy as many semi-automatics and as much ammunition as you can carry. Thank you NRA.

It would be a simple matter for manufacturers to mix tagging agents in their explosive compounds (such as black power) to help identify the source of the components used in a bomb and trace its trail of purchase transfers. But no we can't have that, 'cause that would only be like eight times removed from have a federal gun registry. Thank you NRA.

(Talking about rubbing salt in raw wounds, that's exactly what the Senate did this week to the mourners and survivors of Sandy Hook)

[Ben]

Report: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's repeated requests for a lawyer were ignored

Glenn Greenwald: There is zero legal or ethical justification for denying a suspect in custody this fundamental right:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...counsel-denied

[robertlouis]

Hey thanks eurotrash, you can't pass up any opportunity to bash the US even after a heinous act of terrorism. Bravo douchebag. Maybe you'd like to rub salt in the bloody stumps of all the innocent bystanders who had their arms and legs blown off ...

Interesting. Was it the source of the comment that raised your blood pressure or would you have been just as offended if the point had been put by a fellow American?