Video: The Boston pranksters’ surreal, moronic press conference
posted at 3:18 pm on February 1, 2007 by Allahpundit
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They frightened thousands, brought a city to a halt, then redeemed themselves with a bit of absurdist tedium that instantly won the hearts of left-wing Internet nerds everywhere.
Pretty gratifying to see the press played for idiots, though.
Exit question: Did the marketing firm that hired tell them to keep quiet?
Update: E.M. can’t for the life of her figure out what these tools have done that’s illegal. Nothing, probably, but a little less dickishness at the presser after having inadvertently caused a terror scare would have been appreciated.
Update: Some of our commenters are objecting that these guys didn’t frighten anyone, the police did by overreacting. It’s more accurate to say they didn’t intend to frighten anyone (which, incidentally, is why they probably committed no crime), but they were the ones hanging little mystery packages hither and yon. You really want to jump ugly with Boston PD here for erring on the side of caution?
Update: Our webmaster, Mark Jaquith, claims that it’s unfair to call them “hoaxers” in the headline since, as I’ve acknowledged, they didn’t intend to hoax anyone. Fair enough; I used it only because it’s how most people coming to the site will recognize them. I changed it to “pranksters” even though that’s not quite accurate either. Anyone got a better term? “Stoners”? That could be inaccurate, I guess, but … come on.
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Yeah, because electronic devices featuring an image of something the extreme majority of people are unfamiliar with, being stuck on bridges and other locations, is just “ordinary” objects, like a sign, or a squirrel, or street lamp. You’re right, you win.
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 5:33 PM
OK, here’s the deal, these things were up all over town for a couple of weeks, but apparantly no one noticed them. All of the sudden calls satrted coming in about these “devices” from concerned citizens.
I’m assuming the calls started coming in from these two clowns and their stoner friends. The promotion was tanking and they had to grab more attention. The police had to act.
This whole argument if full of terrbile points – the police creating a media frenzy? the media creates it’s own frenzy, plus, look what a slow news cycle it has been.
What is significant? That makes no sense, so unless it’s enough exlposive to take down a city block, it’s ok to let pass?
Are you serious? how many airports, buildings, malls have been evacuated because a suspicious looking package was left behind? That’s fine, if you see something like that, go over and pick it up, shake it a few times, give it a kick. Just make sure no one else is around.
I’m sure the Boston PD will get beat up over this, and let’s just hope they don’t under react next time when there is a real bomb.
Just because a couple of lefty, pot-head, loser- slackers are the perps here, and obviously quite a few of you relate to that, doesn’t mean you have to throw all common sense out the window.
reaganaut on February 1, 2007 at 5:41 PM
My question is this: If these guys managed to go around and put up so many of these things, how easy would it be for someone else (like maybe a terrorist) to do the same thing with something destructive like, maybe, a bomb?
woodie4827 on February 1, 2007 at 5:43 PM
Rawr! You’re all liberal spies! Go back to Russia, you commies! Rawr!
Savage on February 1, 2007 at 5:47 PM
’bout damn time you realized that.
:^]
mattshu on February 1, 2007 at 5:48 PM
That struck me a weird as well reaganaut, the Police commissioner said that calls (meaning multiple) started coming in at around 10 am. All of a sudden everyone started noticing them at the same time when they had been up for weeks?
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 5:48 PM
That’s a bit of a stretch. A lot of people are out there working their asses off, not to mention getting their assess shot off, to provide you with much more than a semblance of security.
Who’s the “douche”?
reaganaut on February 1, 2007 at 5:49 PM
Well, sometimes people decide they all need to start buying tulips even though they’ve been around for years. That’s why it’s called mass hysteria.
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 5:51 PM
I’m from the area where this happened. What they aren’t mentioning in the news is that earlier that morning police discovered two fake pipe bombs at a local hospital. (In fact, the news keeps showing film of a bomb squad blowing up one of the faux pipe bombs.) After they found those, they then found the L.E.D. advertisments and went after them too. That information might make the city’s response more understandable. However, as dumb as the two guys may have been, I don’t believe they did anything wrong or need to be punished.
alathia on February 1, 2007 at 5:52 PM
Ok, following RightWinged, I’ll give up here. Reaganaut you are the winner.
“Hey dude, have you seen my Ipod? I lost it somewhere.”
“You mean the one the bomb squad just blew up?”
rockhauler on February 1, 2007 at 5:53 PM
You can find an article about the fake pipe bombs here.
alathia on February 1, 2007 at 5:53 PM
Whats your point (tulips??) the thing is these idiots called the police themselves to garner more attention because they weren’t getting any.
No one would have given these things a second thought had they not called in (multiple) suspicious packages (all at the same time on the same day).
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 5:54 PM
Well if you’re willing to accept the refusal to properly profile suspects, confiscating grandma’s sizzors and about a thousand other trivializations as real security, then I guess you are.
As an irrelevant aside; I was one of the ones “getting their asses shot off”, so that will be “Capt. Douche” to you.
RC2 on February 1, 2007 at 6:00 PM
You’re not a big reader, I take it.
And your proof for that is…?
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 6:18 PM
The term “hoaxers” isn’t fair. There isn’t any evidence that they intended this to be a bomb hoax or any other kind of hoax. The fact that none of the millions of people in the 9 other cities who were targeted for this campaign reported the ad units as potential bombs for the weeks that they were up rather diffuses that charge. (Yeah, double pun attack. Deal.)
Please tell me you’re playing devil’s advocate here. If not, the answer is: very easy. In fact, a terrorist could have put a bomb in your closet last night. Maybe in that bowling ball you haven’t used in years. You’d better call the bomb squad. It would be easy to do, so the risk is very real! Also, your food could be poisoned by a random person at the grocery store. You might want to worry about that too. Don’t forget spontaneous human combustion. Maybe you are the bomb.
Sigh.
Is it post-post-9/11 yet?
Mark Jaquith on February 1, 2007 at 6:32 PM
You all would be surprised with what kind of damage I could do with a little ‘Flex-X’ (which is manufactured in 1/4 inch thick sheets), a D cell, a few wires and and a thumb sized electronic assembly.
Calling the bomb squad guys idiots for being cautious about these things proves that you are absolutely ignorant about explosives.
LegendHasIt on February 1, 2007 at 6:37 PM
I’ve got a couple of points to make. The first is a sort of proof in a mathematic sense.
Mass. + Kerry + not too bright = end up in Iraq
But it didn’t work.
Maybe it is just a joke? Maybe Kerry could explain it all. Maybe the British or French would respond with a laugh? This could be an example of why we are pariah among the nations.
More seriously, this is another example of the arrogance of the MSM. It doesn’t matter if it is a stupid contest in Sacramento, a viral stunt for a cartoon show, or posting video of dead servicemen on a news site, the MSM feels that the rules do not apply to them. I believe there are two kinds of people in America today: those who know we are at war and behave accordingly and those who think the party should continue. We need more Robert Spencers, Daniel Pipes, Mark Steyns, Victor Davis Hansons, and a lot less stupidity.
mkstach on February 1, 2007 at 6:39 PM
Ahem. Liberal pothead loser-slackers aren’t the only ones who watch ATHF.
-Maj Douche
robble wins the thread!
James on February 1, 2007 at 6:45 PM
Logic, the first device was found in Sullivan Square (far outside of Boston, in fact in a whole other city, multiple phone calls to the police. The Boston Police Commissioner stated that approx 10 am several calls were recieved from different areas of the city – even though there was no description of the device in the media until much later in the afternoon and all pointing out the same exact devices?
All of a sudden people are noticing these things at the same exact time when they had been up there for weeks, hell I probably walked right past it twenty times because I use the subway where the first one was found.
Not much on logic there are ya Jim, but hey,thanks for the ad hominem, thought it was a dying art.
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 6:45 PM
Wow! I’ve seen better heads on an iodine bottle…
Zorro on February 1, 2007 at 6:47 PM
You’re welcome!
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 6:52 PM
I love how they tried to mock the press, though they could have been funnier and more creative — the hair thing was stupid and something a teenager would have come up with.
Drum on February 1, 2007 at 6:54 PM
Yep, and the earth’s temperature COULD rise 7 degrees in the next 50 years, so we’d better all start monitoring how many puffs of CO2 we exhale and how many cu ft of methane we fart out every year….
NTWR on February 1, 2007 at 7:01 PM
I take back everything else I’ve said… Kerry has just released a statement after meeting with these guys and assures us that this was nothing but a “botched joke”, and the Bush administration and the neocons are trying to make something out of nothing.
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 7:04 PM
From what I’ve read, the morons in Boston ought to be more afraid of driving through the “Big Dig” tunnels than some lite-brites.
Jeff on February 1, 2007 at 7:04 PM
Do you really want to call the Cartoon Network mainstream media?
Sorry, I find the whole thing hilarious, and I really like the rationale of flipping out over a Lite Brite: “It has wires and batteries!”
So does an Ipod. Commuting is dead, and the terrorists have won, because the same left that has been screaming about right wing terrorism fearmongering is now pissing it’s pants, officially, over cartoon characters.
Welcome to Massachusetts. get out while you still can.
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 7:06 PM
Has anybody looked at the owner of the comic book store? He could be an accomplice!
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 7:14 PM
Uh, isn’t the quote “These things were up in other cities for weeks.” Followed by “Nobody cared in those cities.”
Just how long had they been up in Boston? They aren’t exactly saying are they? And withholding pertinent information in the middle of an investigation … ?
There’s a lot of fudging going on. Of course, “fudge” isn’t the word I really want to use.
naliaka on February 1, 2007 at 7:21 PM
Marketerrorists?
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 7:21 PM
These guys prove that the odor combination of patchouli oil, pot smoke and cat pee rots out your brain cells.
Booo on February 1, 2007 at 7:25 PM
You definitely know how to attract a crowd.
Anyway, I watched FOX slam Turner broadcasting for this most of yesterday evening, and now they’re doing it again. It’s no mystery why they’re doing it. I watched an earlier segment on Hume’s program where the Mayor of Boston wants to know why CNN aired this story most of the afternoon and still it took Turner broadcasting all day to come forward with an explanation. I guess even they stopped watching CNN.
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 7:36 PM
Do you guys seriously think this (flippin’ the bird warning) looks like a bomb?
dorkafork on February 1, 2007 at 7:39 PM
I don’t know… What does a bomb look like? (HINT: Don’t say like a big black bowling ball with a fuse coming out of it in the cartoons)
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 7:48 PM
No – it looks more like unskilled vandalism. Truly, if terrorists wanted to put bombs in major cities they would not be placed in packages designed to attract attention, or in obvious, open locations. However, seeing odd items in places they weren’t previously located before can cause alarm among unsuspecting and untrained people.
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 7:49 PM
In case anybody is wondering as to how these things were suspiciously put up: http://aquateenhungerbomb.ytmnd.com/
And if you’re wondering who these characters are:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HUhrkuLo8y4
Savage on February 1, 2007 at 7:50 PM
dorkafork
Unexploded Russian antipersonnel minutions look like hammers to the Sudanese farmers. They pick them up in their fields, years after the day the things were dropped and take them home and use them to pound in nails to fix up their houses. These objects have a 100% lethal kill radius of 50 meters in all directions. 80% lethal to 100 yards. Entire families have been wiped out thanks to things that didn’t look dangerous.
Don’t talk about explosives when you don’t know anything about the subject.
naliaka on February 1, 2007 at 7:51 PM
That was abrasive. If we must be experts to post a comment on any given subject, then I believe the vast majority of bloggers would be eliminated from this site at any given time – including you.
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 7:55 PM
How about Criminals. Or Allegend Criminals.
Lawrence on February 1, 2007 at 7:55 PM
It’s a godd**n cartoon character flipping the bird.
dorkafork on February 1, 2007 at 7:55 PM
What I think naliaka is saying is that the people of Boston are as ignorant as Sudanese farmers.
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 8:04 PM
Allahu Lite Brite!
dorkafork on February 1, 2007 at 8:07 PM
Next time, a little content warning. I nearly blew wine through my nose laughing so hard.
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 8:10 PM
Only a stoner could be amused by ATHF so I think its most likely accurate.
lorien1973 on February 1, 2007 at 8:15 PM
dorkafork: LMAO!
Savage on February 1, 2007 at 8:16 PM
You guys (especially rockhauler and JaHerer22) are exactly the same guys that would be crucifying the police and administration, if these things DID end up blowing up and killing people.
Terrorists make bombs that look like lots of innocuous items, in case you didn’t know. And the 1/4 inch thick argument doesn’t hold water because explosive putties have been used in the past in envelopes. And I’m sorry, but I do not believe for one instant that terrorists aren’t that creative.
Those guys knew EXACTLY what they were doing. All of us are now talking about that juvenile waste-of-airwaves cartoon, aren’t we? And all it took was panicking one city. These two idiots could’ve stopped the madness with ONE call to the police to straighten it out. They didn’t.
Snarky little shites..
Overreacting for the police, would’ve been killing or hurting people to find/stop the perps. They didn’t, they erred on the side of caution. Get off their backs, cause you just might need them sometime.
tickleddragon on February 1, 2007 at 8:30 PM
It doesn’t look like a lite brite. You are overreacting. Calm down.
Nonfactor on February 1, 2007 at 8:37 PM
How am I overreacting? And who are you to say a bomb doesn’t look like a lightbright? By the way, these weren’t lite brites, but even if they were, that doesn’t mean anything, especially considering where these were located, etc. Ugh.. what’s the point. (reread all comments, we’re not going to run in circles.
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 8:54 PM
I am glad they turned the presser inside out. The Press believes itself to be omnipotent, and they are most certainly not. Some verbiage in the Constitution gives them the right to ask a question, but not the right to always get an answer.
Besides, why should they publicly incriminate themselves when they did nothing to perpetrate a hoax or cause a “bomb scare.” I agree the Boston PD over reacted by blowing up a light-brite sign of a Mooninite flipping the bird. Get a grip, already.
Maybe if the authorities went after suspicious people (*cough* muslims *cough*) with such zeal we would wrap up this whole War on Terror business before the next President is saddled with the darn thing, especially if the next Pres is a Dimicrat (boo-hoo, warring is just too hard!).
Neo on February 1, 2007 at 8:54 PM
Semantics.
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 9:04 PM
Beware the mailman!
Remember the Unabomber?
And that receipt I got from Target? God only knows…
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 9:08 PM
Im afraid to go outside for fear of starting a mass panic.
I mean, my car stereo has little led lights. Someone might think its a car bomb. Its in a car after all. And car bombs are usually in cars. Makes sense.
Its only fair to punish me for being so naive.
triple on February 1, 2007 at 9:19 PM
There’s a whole industry out there devoted to coming up with explosive devices that look like everyday objects.
Since IEDs are a standard feature of terrorist weaponry, and that people’s lives are at stake, are uninformed comments helpful? No one knows yet what the truth is – only an investigation will put it in chronological order. When the devices were put out in Boston, where, what they looked like. It doesn’t matter what happened in other cities. That’s a red herring. If the set up was different in Boston – including the things being placed on sensitive areas on sensitive structures, and the police were tipped off in a deliberate manner, then it’s a whole new ballgame isn’t it? Maybe that’s why it went bad in Boston,and not elsewhere. The “installers” picked the wrong places. All that talk about the situation in other cities may not be the truth, but CYA for the perpetrators and the people who hired them.
There were a spat of mailbombs years ago – in business sized envelopes, or perhaps you didn’t know that. Blew the secretaries’ fingers off. If you want to maim, you don’t need much and it’s easily concealed. The Unabomber used slightly larger packages, still nothing huge.
naliaka on February 1, 2007 at 9:23 PM
Reminds me of Millhouse,,, : I can’t go to jail! I’ll be traded like currency!”
Mazztek on February 1, 2007 at 9:28 PM
So your argument is that weird electronics are randomly stuck on bridges throughout cities?
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 9:30 PM
Or,
Video: Boston constituents take media on a hair-chase.
Entelechy on February 1, 2007 at 9:30 PM
naliaka is right, these guys are guilty until proven innocent.
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 9:32 PM
To all y’all who think that the size of the devices or the innocuousness is irrelevant I suggest you watch this.
Exit question: Of this explosive type, how much damage could a compartment the size of 4 D Batteries do to a support pylon of the old I93 during rush hour? (Usually bumper to bumper that time of day)
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 9:33 PM
that’s an ironic demand considering that the thing which was misconstrued as a bomb, and which you believe to have been reasonably misconstrued as a bomb, IS IN FACT A CARTOON.
this is the most retarded thing ever. and once again, nobody on the right is at all thinking about this.
this happened in boston, people. that means that the hysterical retards who thought some litebrites hung around the clubs were bombs were liberals. these were kerry voters. these were kennedy recidivists. and we should be using this opportunity to loudly and shamelessly mock them as such.
jummy on February 1, 2007 at 9:39 PM
Better yet, how much damage could 4 D Cell batteries do to a support pylon? I shudder to think.
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 9:40 PM
Dude, this is Boston. The devastation could be enormous, I mean just look at the picture of the rusted pylon Dorkafork linked to. I could walk into in stinking drunk and knock it down.
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 9:44 PM
OMG! The Big Dig is constructed almost entirely of watermelons!
Boston should just surrender. It’s the only way!
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 9:46 PM
And what does that tell you?
But really, the important thing is that Matt Amorello gets a healthy severance package. Otherwise, the terrorists have won.
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 9:50 PM
Good to know that it’s that easy to put up electronic devices all over Boston.
spmat on February 1, 2007 at 9:57 PM
That Jane Swift should be be drawn and quartered for appointing him in the first place I guess.
Believe me, if it weren’t for the oppressive taxes and outrageous high standard of living expenses, I would actually be able to afford to get the hell out of Marxichusettes once and for all.
If anyone would like to donate to my emergency escape fund please let me know; I’ll send wiring instructions. Thank you in advance.
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 10:00 PM
New Hampshire is oh so close…
I’m just sayin’
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 10:01 PM
I love the White mountains, wish I could escape there tomorrow.
So does that mean you plan on donating?
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Yeah, the question isn’t why did Boston think they were bombs, it’s why didn’t the other 9 cities? Why is it that, over 24 hours later, the National Guard hasn’t been mobilized to deal with this threat? For God’s sake, the Homeland Security Advisory System remains at yellow! And the last time I checked, the Turner Broadcasting networks were still going out to cable companies all over the United States. Why are we allowing this to happen?
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 10:04 PM
But it’s still a friggin Dem bastion state!!!
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 10:05 PM
I was going to stay out of the rest of the thread but
has made an assumption and I must respond.
No, I would not blame the police. I would blame the perp. I do not expect, nor demand that law enforcement protect me from all danger. I demand the FREEDOM to live my life with the least amount on interference required to co-exist with my neighbors. I reserve the right to protect myself as I see fit, and I will do so to the best of my ability.
When I see government fail to carry out the duties of government, I speak up. In this case, specifically, as soon as the news media started spreading fear and panic, I would have demanded that the news media refrain from wild speculation, and wait for the facts to be learned. As soon as it became obvious that these printed circuit boards with light emitting diodes were harmless, I would have immediately made that information public, with the caution that it was preliminary, and that further caution would be prudent. At the end of the day, a summary news conference, and no questions from the media.
And I would also caution the public to just calm down a little bit.
Instead, the administration of the city of Boston went into full panic mode.
Compounding the situation, the administration of Boston now wants to put the entire blame for the whole incident onto two people, and use this incident as an opportunity to extort money from a large corporation.
rockhauler on February 1, 2007 at 10:07 PM
Beavis and Butthead live on.
Texyank on February 1, 2007 at 10:08 PM
Duhh ! ! I am 168 post late with that one.
Texyank on February 1, 2007 at 10:11 PM
I could give you a lift the next time I’m headed that way!
Pablo on February 1, 2007 at 10:11 PM
That’ll do.
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 10:13 PM
Tony Snow, watch out.
Reaps on February 1, 2007 at 10:26 PM
You’re right, I forgot how the science of explosives works – Rule #1 – If it looks like a cartoon it can’t explode (especially when it actually is a weird electronic device supposed to look like an obscure cartoon character most have never heard of or seen). My bad, that’s explosives 101.
You people just don’t get it do you? A bomb more often than not doesn’t look like it does in the cartoons. They aren’t round black balls with a fuse sticking out, they aren’t bundles of sticks of dynamite connectd to a gold watch.
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 10:29 PM
So now we’re in the business of being able to demand things of the news media? Too bad no one told Bush or the lies of the left and the media wouldn’t have us in the situation we’re in today, and have Bush’s poll numbers so low, or the economy getting negative marks from the majority of the public, more than half of which doesn’t even know we’re not in a recession, while an extreme majority rank their own finances positively (because they think they’re flukes, which they obviously are not). Yeah, someone should tell Bush about the ability to demand things of the media.
I nominate rockhauler to be the voice of the “fairness doctrine” movement.
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 10:32 PM
If this was a ruse and only one out of the many that were planted was an acutal bomb, I wonder what would be said by those who believe everyone over reacted.
I can see it now……yeah, we checked some of them and none were a bomb. So the citizens started taken them as souviners, but ooooopsies! BOOM! How were we supposed to know some were actual bombs? Heck, we didn’t want to start a panic.
csdeven on February 1, 2007 at 10:40 PM
Where do you live, that this has become a problem for you? If IED’s were a daily concern in my life I think I’d move to a better neighborhood. Funny I haven’t heard the MSM reporting IED’s exploding on the streets of America so I’m not ready to go stand on that ledge just yet. When they do, I’ll be sure to become the informed expert on explosives technology that you admonish us to be.
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 10:50 PM
here we go again.
RightWinged,
RE: demanding something from the media. Got carried away a little bit there, used the wrong word. Point to you. However, the city of Boston failed to ‘manage’ the media, and the public perception of this event.
RE:
First, an ‘explosive device’ has size. A ‘cherry bomb’ is an explosive device.
Second, in order to be an explosive device there must be an explosive material.
LegandHasit mentioned Flex-X. He is the expert, I had to use google. Flex-X is green, a printed circuit board is also green. Flex-X is flexible, and can be wrapped around irregularly shaped objects. These printed circuits boards were not flexible. Printed circuit boards have traces of copper on them, and the boards are often perforated, and these had light emitting diodes, in quantity, arranged in an apparent pattern. I suspect Flex-X does not usually appear that way. I conclude that a visible inspection of the material would tend to rule out Flex-X.
Third. an explosive device has to have some method of initiating the reaction, commonly called a blasting cap.
The experts reading the thread are welcome to methods that do not use a blasting cap, and compare them to what is known about these devices.
Fourth, these circuit boards were reported to be powered by D-Cell batteries. If the D-Cell batteries were visible, one would then look elsewhere for the explosive material. I am not an expert, but I suspect that something that appears to be a stack of D-Cell batteries can not be both power supply, and explosive material, and detonator. Visually inspecting these printed circuit boards, I would be asking myself, where is the explosive material.
Considering that these things might be a distraction, or bait, I would look beyond the circuit board, to insure that it was not connected to something else, or an initiator for something else.
Bottom line, a bomb has certain characteristics. A bomb disposal experts has to be familiar with those characteristics.
Once that determination has been made, it should be made public immediately, not 6 hours later.
Personally, I despise the news media, and consider them blood sucking vultures. Shepard Smith was pretty cool that night, but he was feeding the media frenzy all afternoon.
However, the real point here, is your insistence that a bomb could be anything. Ok, whatever. I am NOT afraid of everything I see everyday, nor do I panic when the cops show up, and the bomb squad starts suitin’ up.
rockhauler on February 1, 2007 at 11:05 PM
Rightwinged
You’re wasting your time. These guys are the ones who would let box-cutter wielding passengers on airliners because they wouldn’t want to be accused of “over reacting”. I mean really….how scary is a box-cutter?
csdeven on February 1, 2007 at 11:20 PM
Since all of these devices have been collected, at least one could presume so, and none of them exploded, what do we conclude from that information?
“Yea, but they could have!”
rockhauler on February 1, 2007 at 11:20 PM
If the Daily Kos has taught us nothing else, it’s taught us that if a thing is possible, it’s inevitable.
Jim Treacher on February 1, 2007 at 11:23 PM
You need to take a deep breath and read this entire thread again rockhauler, because you’re doing nothing but going in circles, and everytime one of your arguments is shot down, you move to a new one, and round an round we go.
Regarding visual inspection… So all those concerned citizens, who saw a foreign electronic object attached to bridges, etc. should never have called them in… They should have pulled to the side of the road, gone up and inspected the device without concern for their safety (even though they are just average citizens), and decided against reporting it to authorities?
(here’s where you say “no, I meant the authorities should have visually inspected it”)
The authorities did. One by one, they responded to each individual, what were being called “packages”. Within probably an hour (give or take) that the media frenzy began, they had eliminated 2 of the 4 initial “packages” as threats, and the took proper precautions by clearing areas where any of these things were found.
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 11:24 PM
The D cell batteries were wrapped in black electrical tape take a good look at the power supply on the front of the devise. Pretty crude and almost sophmoric for anyone who is familiar with elementary electronics.
Again I will point you to the link I listed earlier. An explosive that I’m sure every bomb disposal unit in this country is well aware of.
The amount of binary explosives that size (as I said before) could vaporize or severely destabilize the support beams of any major structure; iron or cement.
While it is rare; with countless millions of dollars at your disposal (like Al Queda) and friendly governments to hide your activities and open porous borders to sneak it across; one could easily develop these types of weapons for use on civilian infrastructure.
Poo poo it all you want, the BPD did the right thing.
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 11:26 PM
Do you remember the panic over liquid explosives? I thought it absurd, then did a little more reading. Now, if the airlines want to ban liquids, all they have to say is, “no liquids, gells, paste”.
Also, for many years I’ve carried a pocket knife, or box cutter, because of the work I was doing, and had no idea people were so afraid of them. To me, they are a tool.
And I understand perfectly why little old ladies had their knitting needles, and scissors taken from them. Seriously, I do understand, because that dear sweet little old lady might be carrying those dangerous edged weapons on board the aircraft, because the guy she is sitting next to is named Ahmed.
You really don’t know anything about me, dude. Don’t make assumptions.
rockhauler on February 1, 2007 at 11:32 PM
Since IEDs are a standard feature of terrorist weaponry, and that people’s lives are at stake, are uninformed comments helpful?
naliaka on February 1, 2007 at 9:23 PM
Where do you live, that this has become a problem for you?
Sorry to be so reality based, but I recently came from New Delhi where IEDs were dumped in the middle of intersections at traffic stops, the India Gate was bombed, with loss of life, and a suitcase full of C-4 was left on one of the Delhi train platforms, in the middle of rush hour. The market where our daughter went several times with her friends to shop was also bombed last year. Thankfully, we were not in Mumbai when that commuter train was blown up.
Have you ever had to worry about such things?
naliaka on February 1, 2007 at 11:33 PM
You are missing the point. The point is not what we know now, but what we didn’t know then. The BPD had to use due precationary measures to protect the public.
csdeven on February 1, 2007 at 11:34 PM
I know this was addressed to someone else…
But I’ve got to say, be careful with that pocket knife. Especially if you play with it while you’re on the phone with your boring sister a couple hours ago, and you somehow let the blade snap down on your finger and slice the sh** out of it, causing you to bleed profusely. It happens!
RightWinged on February 1, 2007 at 11:38 PM
I’m with you naliaka, these twits are f*ing clueless, the danger hasn’t reached us yet so why worry?
Good way to get sucker punched in a bar is to ignore the belligerent drunk picking a fight with you, “Maybe if I ignore the him he wont attack me”.
Next thing you know your getting your jaw wired shut and your skull stitched; or worse.
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 11:41 PM
What you are advocating is no different than my what example illustrated. It is the same exact mentality. According to you, you take on the attitude of the BPD, but ONLY when YOUR personal experiences dictate that action. In other words, unless you have a personal experience with a cetain device, you assume it is benign. THAT is how you are coming off.
csdeven on February 1, 2007 at 11:44 PM
No I haven’t and I regret that you have had to deal with this as a concern. I don’t travel overseas where instances of this are a firm reality, but if I did – from what I see on the news – I’d be constantly watching my back. I live solely in the U.S. where this is not – today, at least – an issue. Being someone who has lived here and overseas, I’m sure you are able to see some very stark contrasts between the two.
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 11:46 PM
You’re late to the game and out of touch with where this interaction started. You should pay attention to the post you respond to before calling people “twits” because you’ll end up looking like one yourself. See, you just did. Now what did we learn?
thedecider on February 1, 2007 at 11:51 PM
Winged,
from the very first post I made on this thread, every post has been directed at the hysteria, and the paranoia, often by implication; something you missed completely.
I have used reasoned fact to point out reasonable conclusions. You have defended an unreasonable reaction based on what could have happened, ignoring obvious information on what was happening. When I use your reasoning of what could happen, you dismiss it by saying that ordinary things in ordinary locations are not a threat, while at the same timesaying that ordinary things might well be a threat, becausea bomb might look like an ordinary object.
If you believe you have refuted anything I’ve posted here, it is in your own mind.
I really don’t want to get into a head buttin’ contest, so if you don’t have something new to bring to this discussion, I am done. (Or are you just sellin page views? OOps, there I go again, throwing something else into the pot. Typical liberal: Circumstantantial Ad Hominem.)
Have a nice evening.
rockhauler on February 1, 2007 at 11:51 PM
When will it become an issue for you decider? When the news reports on NBC start looking more and more like Tel Aviv channel 1?
kiakjones on February 1, 2007 at 11:54 PM
Thanks for admitting that you completely lost the debate and have contributed nothing but complete idiocy to it. I stand by what I said, you throw stuff up there I (and others) handle each one specifically, and instead of responding back to those points (because you simply can’t) you throw other stuff out to divert away. Yes, it is a classic liberal move.
Seriously. On 9/10/2001 worrying about my domestic flight being hi-jacked by Al Qaeda terrorists and flown in to buildings wasn’t a concern of mine.
RightWinged on February 2, 2007 at 12:00 AM
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