Things go boom

[Eater of Clowns]

They've evacuated UMass Dartmouth, my girlfriend's school, due to one of the suspects' ties.  This apartment might be a temporary shelter in a little bit after her invite goes out.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

I don't trust the news but I still trust George. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh, and my favorite Facebook comment of the day so far:

"But they're white! Muslims aren't white."

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Even the very plausible theory offered by Enki about an FBI entrapment operation gone wrong.

I must have missed that, because Enki.  But it's a pretty interesting theory.

It was on IRC, just now.  Essentially, the theory is the FBI radicalised these guys, but they got too enthusiastic and made the bombs themselves, instead of waiting for duds from their handler.

It's possible, it has happened before.  But we can't know for sure this early into the investigation.

The FBI needs to STOP DOING THIS.

They did it with a college student here in Oregon too, set him up to bomb the Christmas tree lighting and then busted him so they could justify their own existence. It's completely unacceptable and wrong, because they are taking lonely disturbed people who authentically need an intervention to turn the direction of their  lives positive, and instead grooming them to become actual terrorists. I don't understand on what planet that would be considered ethical or even safe. With tactics like that a tragedy of this nature was inevitable. They aren't stopping terrorists, they're creating them.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Didn't read the rest of the thread, me and the kids are still on the other end of the state. Fuck all this shit.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Even the very plausible theory offered by Enki about an FBI entrapment operation gone wrong.

I must have missed that, because Enki.  But it's a pretty interesting theory.

It was on IRC, just now.  Essentially, the theory is the FBI radicalised these guys, but they got too enthusiastic and made the bombs themselves, instead of waiting for duds from their handler.

It's possible, it has happened before.  But we can't know for sure this early into the investigation.

The FBI needs to STOP DOING THIS.

They did it with a college student here in Oregon too, set him up to bomb the Christmas tree lighting and then busted him so they could justify their own existence. It's completely unacceptable and wrong, because they are taking lonely disturbed people who authentically need an intervention to turn the direction of their  lives positive, and instead grooming them to become actual terrorists. I don't understand on what planet that would be considered ethical or even safe. With tactics like that a tragedy of this nature was inevitable. They aren't stopping terrorists, they're creating them.

It's also entrapment, just like the DEA flashing a bankroll at a casual user who's hard up for money and asking them to score a large quantity of drugs - only worse, which is SURREAL. That USED to be illegal, until the 80's IIRC. Everything started REALLY GOING TO SHIT in the 80's.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Takei says "For those following this feed, the suspect's gray Honda CRV has been found abandoned in MA."

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

"Hey there, mentally fragile, isolated, lonely kid. You want your human need for belonging to be satisfied? Well, shit... what you need is a good counselor and maybe some antidepressants, but instead, how about you join this totally fake terrorist cell composed of older, persuasive undercover FBI agents who will make you feel valued and important and feed on your loneliness and fragility to brainwash you into planting fake bombs for them so they can "bust" you and send you to jail for the rest of your life while they receive public funding and accolades for stopping terrorism. Sound cool?"

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Helicopter nearby.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

So, we have
1. Martial Law from Providence to Boston (at least)
2. A fugitive potentially on his way to NYC, where they're always half a breath away from martial law anyway.
3. An entire nation glued to the news feed, just shy of mass panic.

Without making statements about the appropriateness of this response from law enforcement and the media (honestly I can't imagine them doing anything less), I wonder how this reaction could be anything but an advertisement for this kind of despicable behavior to people who might be considering it. If 2 or 3 dudes can cause this much damage to daily life for so many people, with only small homemade bombs, then I imagine the temptation to follow suit would be pretty high.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

What time did this lockdown start, Twid? Are most people at home or are they stuck at work, school, the store, etc.?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

What time did this lockdown start, Twid? Are most people at home or are they stuck at work, school, the store, etc.?

The MBTA did not start up today. Everyone is at home. You hear an occasional car, but, and there's a garbage truck outside, but pics of Boston show it as empty.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

My school called and said that it was closed. My class would have started at 8:30.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Friends in Medford are confirming that they've lost power.

[LMNO]

The first shooting was just after midnight.  The MBTA doesn't start until 6:00 or so.  They started by locking down Watertown, and then that spread to Cambridge, Somerville, and Allston.  Then it was all of Boston.