Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line • Hacker News Board

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#271

Post by anu_gupta » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:04 PM UTC

CleanedStar wrote: post #220

krcz wrote: post #189

Do you think IRA (or one of its forks like Real IRA, Continuity IRA or one IRA extremist supporter) might have been involved? Today US supreme court has ruled to give tapes containing testimony to Irish police: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/15/ira-tapes-police-su... .

This idea is completely inane. The Volunteers declared war against the England that was on their soil in 1916, that they would shift suddenly to a war against the U.S. is ridiculous. Also, purposefully killing civilians gathered en masse without warning is more along the lines of British Army terrorism (Bloody Sunday, Amritsar), not the Irish volunteers who give warnings and tend to attack military targets, back when…

Honestly, WTF are you talking about? The Harrods bombing, the Lloyds building, Eniskillen were all aimed at civilians.

Take your biased ignorance elsewhere please.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#272

Post by 6thSigma » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:05 PM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #138

The worst part for me (and I really am feeling bad about this) is that I should be concerned about the victims right now, but I can't stop thinking about what freedoms I'll be losing as a result of this.

The fact that this is the top comment for this thread makes me sad.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#273

Post by CamperBob2 » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:06 PM UTC

gyardley wrote: post #263

noonespecial wrote: post #138

The worst part for me (and I really am feeling bad about this) is that I should be concerned about the victims right now, but I can't stop thinking about what freedoms I'll be losing as a result of this.

The most likely change to your freedoms is 'none whatsoever' -- tragedies on this scale don't threaten society as a whole and therefore are dealt with by existing laws.

9/11 didn't threaten society, either. Just a few nutcase cultists who got lucky with a single attack that they couldn't sustain.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#274

Post by illuminate » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:06 PM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #222

numbsafari wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who knows. But after every crisis there should be a post mortem and we should learn from what went wrong. And why does every change in policy and approach have to be seen as a threat to anybody's freedoms? Not that many of the short-sighted response aren't just that, but this sort of knee jerk reaction seems just as unhealthy.

There's no way to prevent every crisis. Just because something bad happens doesn't mean that there is something that you could have done to stop it. Sometimes people just need to realize that things happen and we don't have to pass new laws and regulations every time something bad happens.

Who said anything about the post-mortems necessitating new laws?

Use the powers we're given smarter, less broadly.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#275

Post by nealyoung » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:07 PM UTC

High quality video of the explosion: http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?%2Fservices%2Fplayer...

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#276

Post by aethertap » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:07 PM UTC

pekk wrote: post #190

ConceitedCode wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least I could take nail clippers on an airplane in 1999.

People die and lose their limbs, and your first move is apparently crying about how the government takes away your nail clippers.

People losing lives, in this case, will likely not be the end of the tragedy. I think it is legitimate to be concerned about how much worse it may get with political involvement and the resulting unreasoned "do something" responses.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#277

Post by jmgrosen » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:08 PM UTC

gyardley wrote: post #263

noonespecial wrote: post #138

The worst part for me (and I really am feeling bad about this) is that I should be concerned about the victims right now, but I can't stop thinking about what freedoms I'll be losing as a result of this.

The most likely change to your freedoms is 'none whatsoever' -- tragedies on this scale don't threaten society as a whole and therefore are dealt with by existing laws.

How is the scale of this disaster any different than that of Newtown's? That has obviously had a large political impact.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#278

Post by Glyptodon » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:08 PM UTC

bmelton wrote: post #249

pekk wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are feeling bad, why are you saying it? This feels like you are standing on a soapbox and it's hard to think you are actually sorry for it when you are doing it intentionally.

I felt the same way. My first thought was that I was glad there weren't any assault weapons involved, for which I was immediately ashamed. Immediately after that I was disgusted that Bloomberg.com wanted me to watch an ad for a new Mercedes before I could check on the well-being of my fellow humans. I'm not proud of my thoughts, and I'm not proud of the hundred or so sarcastic remarks that I've thought of since I fir…

FPS Russia is getting investigated by the FBI over tannerite, I think.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#279

Post by warfangle » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:08 PM UTC

bluetidepro wrote: post #184

Update: (4:35PM EST) "A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and nearly 50 injured." [1] [1] http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/two_explosions_at_bost...

the post isn't necessarily a reputable rag to be linking to as a source...

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#280

Post by b-ryan » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:08 PM UTC

w1ntermute wrote: post #182

tomjen3 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thousands die every day, but freedoms should persist. Besides with a little luck this is North Korea and we don't have to loose any more freedoms (do we even have more to lose?)

Are you really asking whether we have more freedoms to lose in the same sentence that you mention North Korea? Really?

You seem to be implying that because North Korea is less free than us, we are completely free with nothing to lose. That's pretty faulty logic. Better to be aware of the freedoms we are losing (even though we still have many) than to risk ending up like North Korea.