Terrorism, Journalism and Other Crimes of ‘Workplace-Related Violence’

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Still scrambling today to keep up with the latest developments in the Boston Marathon bombings. Last night I got to bed about 1 a.m., woke up about 8:15 a.m. and had my first story at ViralRead online shortly after 9 a.m., updating with the FBI press conference and new leads:

UPDATE: ‘We Will Go to the Ends of the Earth’
to Solve Boston Marathon Bombing,
FBI Agent Says; UPDATE: ‘Blood All Over’
at Bombing Scene

Just in case I missed anything, as of 12:30 p.m. ET today, here was the headline stack on top of the Drudge Report:

Remember: When this story broke yesterday, Joe Biden was on a conference call with gun control groups. Obviously, the administration will need to update their agenda. We must ensure that high-capacity pressure cookers don’t fall into the hands of dangerous criminals.

Speaking of dangerous criminals, we so far don’t know whether the Saudi national highlighted in early accounts is actually a suspect in the crime. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air links a report by a disreputable right-wing Islamophobic blog called “CBS News,” including this video:

“Domestic terrorists,” Chris Matthews says.

“Homegrown anarchists,” Geraldo Rivera says.

We don’t know jack shit yet, I say.

And yes, I’m still wearing my pajamas.

 


22 comments

  1. “We don’t know jack shit yet, I say.”
    I would love for those words to be said on MSNBC or CNN.
    (You need to put “p” in pressure.

  8. If I didn’t have to go work in an office four days a week (at least I get a telecommuting day nowadays) I wouldn’t be wearing clothes either.

  9. For about four years, I commuted 75 miles one-way every day five days a week (75 x 2 x 5 = 750 miles/week). Much of the work I did could have been done at home, and I begged my bosses to let me have one day a week to telecommute, so that I could reduce my weekly travels by 150 miles (which would have saved me over $100 in gas a month, to say nothing of the time). But no, for some reason that was never adequately explained, they felt it was important to have me physically present in the office every day.
    Then in 2008, I quit. Don’t miss it.

  10. I’m somewhat lucky that over about 10 jobs in 15 years in Atlanta, my longest commute has been ~25 miles one-way (30-45 mins depending on traffic). Currently it’s more like 5 miles and I don’t even need to get on an expressway.

  12. Gunpowder: the chemicals that go into making home-made bullets, black-powder rifles and such. It’s the new frontier in gun control.

  14. I think we need to call for background checks of all those purchasing IEDs.

    Now, if there were bomb-sniffing dogs, they didn’t sniff anything. That means the bombers arrived later? Suddenly? Men with backpacks? The fellow who tried to get into the VIP area?

    My hypothesis is: Occupy Boston elements (remember among the NATO 3 bombers with the plot to attack the NATO summit in Chicago, there was on Occupy Boston man) and/or Anonymous.

  15. IEDs aren’t bought outright. Well, unless you have a Russian connection and can get your hands on a 107mm rocket. Like OKC, it is going to take a while of going through hardware stores’ receipts, and trying to find makers’ marks to discover that low/no-cost IED components can be picked up over years, and stolen from work sites.
    As for whomever did it: those that have means and motive are an ocean wide. Opportunity and intent is smaller. And if any of them contributed to OFA, they’ll be excluded.
    Anyone talked to the Unabomber lately?

  16. […] Yeah, that sums it up pretty good, although it must be admitted that some conservatives were a bit too quick to jump on the reports that a Saudi student was a suspect. Of course, those reports were  based on actual facts — cops grabbed this guy running from the scene of the bombings and served a search warrant at his apartment — rather than mere political convenience, but I kept emphasizing the obvious truth that we don’t know jack shit yet. […]

  20. Yes, of course, it was said in irony. Obviously, the “improvised” part of the IED means you assemble it from parts. Already they’ve found the type of pressure cooker, and not that many people buy them, even in an area where people boil lobsters. I don’t think this list of suspects is an ocean wide, just like I don’t think Anonymous is some huge, loose network. The people who can overcome human conscience and feeling to methodically plan and execute something to maim as many people as possible, with ball bearings and nails, are members of cadre organizations with high discipline, and that could be Al Qaeda or Anonymous, which is in fact a cadre organization, too. Of course, it could always be a really nerdy overly-planning mentally sick nerd like Adam Lanza, but then, we don’t know if he had Internet help because he blew up his hard drive deliberately.

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