A few thoughts on the tragedy in Boston

Note: Future additions from text written Monday night will be in different colors according to day:
4/16/13
4/17/13

By now, the world is aware of the tragedy in Boston during the famous marathon there. There is much uncertainty regarding perpetrators, motives, means, or any meaningful details really.

But one thing we do know is that evil men are bound to do evil things to good people. The innocents were going about their business when two bombs ripped through their bodies. Lives will be changed forever as, of 9 CMT 4/15/13, 3 have died and many more have been maimed or dismembered.

Scene of one of the bomb sites. A bomb technician assesses what I assume is the ignition location while the blood of innocents lies on the pavement.

Evil exists in the world, and we often cannot be protected from it by the government, family, or a firearm. Incidents like this remind us how ignorantly blissful we are in our daily lives. We don't have targets on our backs, we aren't law enforcement, celebrities, politicians, or public figures. We are average Joe and Jane; we don't expect some mad men to load up a pipe with black powder and ball bearings and blow it up in the middle of a crowd. (Note: it only speculation that the bomb was a black powder/ball bearing pipe-bomb.)

Let's check out the perspective though. Today, 30 people died in bombings around Iraq. These attacks happen weekly, if not daily in Iraq and other shitholes around the world. But we barely take notice of them. We are secure and safe in our green castle that has been built for us. We think rarely of danger in our streets, our leaders want us to believe it is safe here. But it isn't. Our country is increasingly becoming the target of Islamic extremists, and the fundamentals want nothing but to spread their filth to our streets.

But this stuff happens now here at home, although it is a tragic part of life around the world. Now I'll stop with the philosophical stuff and get into some more speculation.

Perpetrator(s):

From the lines above, you might have gotten the idea that I think this is the product of a Muslim extremist terrorist. While I think that the most likely suspects are religious fundamentals of the Islamic variety, there is also the possibility this was a crazy Unabomber-esque pyschopath or some sort of unhinged McVeigh-like American claiming allegiance to a patriot movement. No patriots ever willfully killed innocents, so damn them if they claim allegiance to liberty and the preservation of rights.

My bet (that's a figure of speech, I'm not really gambling on any of this) is that this is the product of a small cell or lone wolf that was Islamicly-motivated by some jihad or fatwa or other nonsense.

Still very little word on any suspects, even though, with the camera coverage, there is bound to be many opportunities to find one. There are several amateur analyses like this one here from Infowars (and yes I threw up a bit in my mouth for actually linking that).

Why are they holding back? No one knows, but if this turns out anything like the Newtown shooting, any real answers (if they are real) will come out very far down the line. I'm still holding on to my independent Jihadist small cell or lone wolf theory of perpetrators. Organized terrorist networks would have done much more damage.

Method:

After talking a bit with a friend of mine who has some experience with explosive substances, it appears that the explosion might have been caused by a "dirty" burning powder, like black or smokeless (commonly used in ammunition) or other related substance. Given the lack of a defined and strong shock-wave (like that with high-speed and high-pressure explosives) and the amount of white smoke, a high explosive, like what most networks use, is unlikely.

The second explosion looks very similar to a tannerite or powder explosion.

It also seems likely that bomb contained anti-personnel shrapnel like nails or ball bearings to inflict maximum damage without needing a fast explosion velocity or fatal shock wave. Officials are now saying the bomb was placed in a pressure cooker inside a backpack. They have also confirmed that the explosive was a "low" (or slow) explosive. This does not rule out, but seems to support the theory that the bomb was black, smokeless or cordite powder. It also seems certain now that the bombs were surrounded with shotgun pellets, nails, and ball bearings for maximum effect on people. This is the work of a coward, a worthless piece of humanity.

Expect a news conference within days saying the ingredients were bought from a reloading supply company, and that reloading powder will now be regulated. Hopefully I'm wrong.

So far, there haven't been any federal confirmations of the explosive used, but there has been speculation among the MSMs regarding the possible use of gunpowder. Hopefully I was dead wrong above.

U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said "most likely gun powder" was used in the devices.

Unfortunate incidents like these are often used by our supposed masters to enact new regulations to protect us. As horrible as this attack was, I am very concerned about the consequences down the line.
Do you prefer a safe prison, or a dangerous freedom?