Nominal - 2013-04-19
This happened 1000 yards from my place! At first I thought all the sirens were part of the TV cop show I was watching!
Around 1 am I heard a loud boom that I thought was a car crash but after all the helicopters started circling I tuned in to discover this whole mess.
Geez Watertown was a ghost town today. Humvees and SWAT shit all set up in the local mall parking lot.
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Nominal - 2013-04-19 I still have a 2005 era flip cell phone =(
It can hold up to 30 pictures!
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-19 Nominal, I wonder if I know you. Because this happened about 1000 yards from where someone I know lives.
I'm glad you and every other civilian involved is OK.
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-19 It's not someone I know really well, more someone I know from playing shows around town for about a decade.
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-19 If you want to opt out of maintaining complete anonimity the easiest way is the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2212122515/
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-19
CAUGHT
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Nominal - 2013-04-19 Christ. Watertown is a constant stream of cheering, horn honking U-S-A, and people literally running down the street waving American flags like it was the Superbowl.
Am I glad a dangerous murderer is off the streets? Yeah, but this whole spectacle just makes me sad for the same reason that I tried to avoid going out the week after Bin Laden's death where everyone was smack talking like they were a professional wrestler.
I'm sad for the feeling that this country has gotten terminally gung ho and stupid. Sad that everyone was totally cool with police shutting down a whole major U.S. city for one man. Sad that we never learn anything. Sad that we're going to continue doing stupid things in response to attacks like this that end up doing infinitely more damage than the attacks themselves which is the entire point of attacks like this.
I just feel sad tonight.
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-20 I mostly agree, but I think the situation would have actually been worse without the T shutdown and borderline excessive police presence. Because imagine the kind of stupid-related tragedies that would have probably happened if this was drawn out for weeks or months. If nothing else, there will probably be a bit less random harassment or worse of people of various Middle Eastern ethnicities now that it's pretty clear that these guys were probably operating alone. That's still going to be a big problem (not that it wasn't already of course) but I think it would have been a significantly bigger problem if there were still suspects at large.
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Nominal - 2013-04-20 Israeli learned along ago that responding to attacks with shutdowns was a losing move. Plus there's more than enough stupid people that there will be ethnic backlash no matter what. Might as well go with the option that doesn't wreck the economy and give in to fear.
What kind of precedent is it going to set that people so easily go along with and cheer stuff like this? New York didn't do it when they were hunting the first WTC bombers and they caught them just fine. We've gotten dumber and more paranoid since.
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jangbones - 2013-04-20 the security seems excessive but I don't think there was a better option...an armed bomber and killer was on the streets, desperate for escape, and his accomplice had just been shot to death by police...I don't think there's enough insurance for that anywhere
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DavidBowiesLuckyTennisBall - 2013-04-20 So, if I understand it right, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't find him. The lockdown was lifted. A man walks out to his boat, finds the kid badly bleeding, manages to get back safely enough to raise the alarm. All the kings men come back with flash grenades and hand cannons. Police claim flawless victory.
I can't help thinking this would've been handled slightly differently elsewhere and the authorities would have two healthy suspects, not one and a half dead brothers.
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-20 Possibly, I admit my perspective is a bit skewed since I was only around for the bombings, when the response was pretty unambiguously successful on all fronts, police, first responders, bystanders, even the media didn't do too bad.
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Old_Zircon - 2013-04-20 I'm trying yo find a clip of the BPD officer almost pulling his gun on a civilian crowd right after the press conference (it was on the channel 5 broadcast) but no luck yet.
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SteamPoweredKleenex - 2013-04-20
"shot early Friday morning, April 19"
I see what you did there...
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Hooker - 2013-04-20
OF COURSE THERE ARE ADS
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heyitslozeau - 2013-04-21
Decline of Western Civilization? Christ people are dumb.
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jangbones - 2013-04-21 I concur, Christ-people are dumb
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