We were nowhere near Boston when the bombs went off. But many of Garry’s colleagues and friends were very close. They are all accounted for now, but the numbers of injured are not all in yet. One of the dead is an 8-year-old child.
Today was a holiday in Massachusetts. It is Patriot’s Day, celebrating the battles of Lexington and Concord as well as Paul Revere’s ride. The terrorists (I think we can safely assume this is a terrorist attack) chose an event, full of people from all over the nation and the world, an event which is traditionally family oriented where many children are present. They chose the target with care to inflict maximum damage.
Whether these are home-grown or foreign-based terrorists, it doesn’t matter. There will be justice and an accounting.
Categories: American history, Government, News, Patriotism
Im glad you and your family are safe. We were horrified as we saw the news. A tragedy that we all should pray and work together so that it will not happen again. So evil and senseless. My thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.
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Thought about you all day. So glad you and Garry were not in the area.
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Us too. But what an awful day.
On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 10:35 PM, SERENDIPITY
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I fear this will not be the last…
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There will never be an end. There hasn’t been in my lifetime and wasn’t any end during my mother’s or grandmother’s lives. It’s the nature of the beast and the beast is us.
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It’s unspeakable .. you don’t know what to say .. or think. All those people’s lives destroyed and forever changed. And who – or why – anyone could do such a thing ?
Bravo to the many courageous folks who responded. You know who you are. And we do too.
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We’ll get over it, but it’s pretty bad. Notice that no one has “claimed” this one? I don’t think this was political. I think this is a pschopath looking for revenge on the human race.
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Reblogged this on MikesFilmTalk and commented:
Another view of what happened yesterday…
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And that is the obscenity of it all, that innocents (children and non-combatants) were targeted. But then “terrorists” where ever they come from always strike at the easy targets, it is disgusting and vile. All this is my long winded way of saying I agree. Excellent post and reflagged.
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What is peculiar is that no one has taken “credit” for this particular atrocity. Also, the devices were very amateurish, not the kind of thing you’d expect from Al Queda or one of the well-organized and relatively sophisticated groups. I’m betting this is going to turn out to be a local or, at least, an “idependent” enterprise.
What it proves is that the crazies are everywhere. They don’t have to be from far away. They can just as easily be from next door or around the corner. To me, that’s even scarier because how do you know anything when everyone is just like you?
One more thought to ponder: There was more than adequate security, cameras, etc. If EVERY SINGLE PERSON had been armed to the teeth, it would not have made a bit of difference because whoever (s?) planted the bombs went about their task quietly and unseen.
The bad guys don’t stand up and show their faces. They creep around in shadows, sneak into places where people gather, place their death machines and sliink off into the dark from which they crawled. These aren’t brave stand up guys. Wyatt Earp didn’t have to deal with this and good old Western-style justice isn’t going to solve it. Back-shooting was brave compared to these guys. Back in the Old West, they had compunctions about shooting women and children. Our modern bad guys have no respect for age, sex, or life.
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I’m puzzled that no-one has stepped forward yet. The whole thing, despite being tragic, makes no sense. There are precedents for sick individuals to do things like this. Back in the 80’s in this country there was a chap who made bombs with nails in and then set them off, the last was in Soho I think. When he was eventually caught, it turned out that he had targeted homosexuals and did not want any credit for it. And yeah, Wyatt Earp and Bill Tilghman et al, had criminals who had a code, and I’ve seen with my own eyes that, as you pointed out, new ones do not. Sad days.
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I’m pretty sure, at this point, it isn”t political. It’s personal. Some sicko has a spite on someone in the Boston hierarchy … or he’s delusional and a psychopath to boot. The home grown psychos are really hard to catch because they don’t stand in the limelight. They are slitherers. Slime.
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Agreed.
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The comments say it all. I Covered the the Marathon and Patriot’s Day Events for 31 years until my retirement. They are some of the most wonderful memories in my ENTIRE TV/radio News Career which covers more than 40 years!!. Patriot’s Day is very special here in New England, in Massachusetts, in greater Boston. The Colonial War re-enactments at Dawn in Lexington and Concord were among my favorite assignments. You could see children getting their their first real look at history. Normally stoic or cynical adults looked on with pride and awe. I still see their faces in my sense memory. The Marathon (The Marathon weekend) always was a period when all the bad things in the world were put on hold for a short time. You met people from all around the world. Instant friendships were made. Politics were put aside. Laughter was the common language. Hard not to see it — even in this day and age — as a loss of innocence. So very sad!!
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What madness. 😦
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They picked a completely unprotected and entirely civilian population, packed with children. I don’t know what the point was, but whatever they thought it was, they just showed themselves as black-hearted cowards.
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I simply think of those responsible as cowards. The American Indians would say “they have no power”. They are less than men.
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They targeted a non-military, non-government group of people including many visitors from everywhere in the country and the world. Families with children, disabled people, athletes. A bunch of craven cowards and I only hope they find them and do the right thing.
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Their intent was to mame not kill. They wanted to terrorize the population, to make it so nobody will feel safe at public events.This story will play itself out very slowly, dominating the press. Boston became the new New York.
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So tragic.
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Patriot’s Day will never be festive again.
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