Explosions rock the finish line at the Boston Marathon

TIDE-HSV

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If it is black powder, then it's definitely home-grown terrorism. Maybe somebody using black powder as a nod to Patriot's Day. Probably somebody pretty young too.
If it were BP, there was a copious amount to cause that much damage. Also, there's the problem of ignition. It's hard to get a large amount to ignite simultaneously. Rather than cell phone, I'm thinking of something chemical and slow. Maybe potassium permanganate and glycerin. There would be plenty of time to dump it in a trash container, or in a waste can in the adjacent building and get the hell out. I hope the surveillance cameras show something...
 

uafan4life

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Just my opinion but I feel that anyone who does something like this has:

- forfeited their right to live by callously taking the lives of innocents, and
- demonstrated that they are beyond a shadow of a doubt inhuman and have forfeited their right to humane treatment.

Personally, it wouldn't bother me one bit to see the perp tied to a tree with their hands behind their back, to give every injured person and/or their friends and family a sturdy broomstick or pool cue, and to give them each 10 or 15 unencumbered minutes to do as they pleased.

After that, the perp has earned the right to die - as slowly and painfully as possible.

Sent from my HTC Droid DNA using Tapatalk 2
 

Bazza

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i just read this from Patton Oswald and thought it was nice (i can't post a link because of language in part of it)
Thanks '92.....and I think this was the last paragraph:

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."
 

JPT4Bama

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The trauma doc said they were picking ball bearings, lead shot and BBs out of the victims...
Almost impossible to have an explosion of that size without it. That's why I responded to Gwlaw with "wrong".

Plus the last thing we need to do is jump to any sort of conclusion. IMO
 

TIDE-HSV

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Almost impossible to have an explosion of that size without it. That's why I responded to Gwlaw with "wrong".

Plus the last thing we need to do is jump to any sort of conclusion. IMO
It'll come out gradually. The black powder hypothesis seems most likely at this point, given the copious white powder and the sulphur smell. It is a puzzle, though. Anyone with an internet connection could come up with something more compact and powerful, ammonium nitrate, for example...
 

Tider@GW_Law

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Almost impossible to have an explosion of that size without it. That's why I responded to Gwlaw with "wrong".

Plus the last thing we need to do is jump to any sort of conclusion. IMO
I was going off the quoted passage indicating that no shrapnel was found in the third unexploded device.

I stand by my statement (and the training that led me to it) that you will not find an explosive device of this nature from an Al Qaeda trained operative without shrapnel, unless it was some sort of multi-stage dump and the shrapnel guy didn't make it - but it didn't sound to be the case from the found device.
 

TIDE-HSV

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Almost impossible to have an explosion of that size without it. That's why I responded to Gwlaw with "wrong".

Plus the last thing we need to do is jump to any sort of conclusion. IMO
Listened again to Fagenholz again and he said that it was impossible to determine the origin of the shrapnel yet. I listened to other reports today about the characterization of the shrapnel, but you're right, the truth will eventually trickle out...
 

TIDE-HSV

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I was going off the quoted passage indicating that no shrapnel was found in the third unexploded device.

I stand by my statement (and the training that led me to it) that you will not find an explosive device of this nature from an Al Qaeda trained operative without shrapnel, unless it was some sort of multi-stage dump and the shrapnel guy didn't make it - but it didn't sound to be the case from the found device.
No way to know until later, but the white smoke/sulphur smell just seems to point to black powder. If that proves out, I just don't see anything other than (amateur) domestic terrorism. Anyone can come up with carbon, potassium nitrate and sulphur. Meth would be harder.* I'm very curious to see where this investigation leads...

*BTW, I hear that this allergy season is so bad that the drug lords over on Sand Mountain are trying to reconvert their meth into Sudafed... :)
 

JPT4Bama

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I was going off the quoted passage indicating that no shrapnel was found in the third unexploded device.

I stand by my statement (and the training that led me to it) that you will not find an explosive device of this nature from an Al Qaeda trained operative without shrapnel, unless it was some sort of multi-stage dump and the shrapnel guy didn't make it - but it didn't sound to be the case from the found device.
TiderGWlaw, I want you to PM me next time you're in this area (Hoover/Promised Land) so I can buy you a beer and we can argue/discuss in person! :cool:
 

Tider@GW_Law

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Almost impossible to have an explosion of that size without it. That's why I responded to Gwlaw with "wrong".

Plus the last thing we need to do is jump to any sort of conclusion. IMO
I wasn't referring to incidental shrapnel but intentional shrapnel - e.g., placing the explosive device in a duffel bag of nails, as you would see in an anti-personnel IED from experienced bomb-makers.

Ball bearings are a common choice, as more fit in a very compact space, though they aren't the most destructive choice.
 

Tider@GW_Law

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TiderGWlaw, I want you to PM me next time you're in this area (Hoover/Promised Land) so I can buy you a beer and we can argue/discuss in person! :cool:
I just enjoy playing detective and attempting to resurrect knowledge I'd suspected was lost.

Wll do on the PM, though I don't often have much "free" time when I'm down that way unfortunately. Beer's on me. I did do some time at Hoover High, so I'm familiar.
 

TIDE-HSV

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I wasn't referring to incidental shrapnel but intentional shrapnel - e.g., placing the explosive device in a duffel bag of nails, as you would see in an anti-personnel IED from experienced bomb-makers.

Ball bearings are a common choice, as more fit in a very compact space, though they aren't the most destructive choice.
The reports are in conflict to this point. There may have been intentional shrapnel or it may just be incidental from the containers the bombs were deposited in, but there was shrapnel. I still can't imagine a semi-pro terrorist using black powder, so I'm equally interested in that. I understand they are questioning a Saudi on a student visa who was seen running from the scene...
 

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