One Boston Marathon Bomb Suspect Dead, Other At Large After Shootout With Police 1109
theodp writes "During the night, The Tech broke news that gunshots were reported at MIT near 32 Vassar Street (the Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences), and one officer was shot and taken to Mass General Hospital. MIT's Emergency Information page also reports that injuries have been reported. Sadly, CNN is now reporting that the university police officer has died. Look for updates on Twitter."
The two suspects identified earlier as being behind the Boston Marathon bombings are believed to be responsible for this. They were found by police. One suspect, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout. The other suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is still being pursued. The Associated Press reports that the two are believed to be from the Russian region near Chechnya. During the firefight, the suspects threw explosive devices at police. Public transit in Boston has been shut down, and hundreds of thousands of people have been asked to not leave their homes. Here are live feed for local TV news and emergency services audio. Police have been warned that the remaining suspect may have a suicide vest.
Reader Okian Warrior points out a related story worthy of notice: "The 4chan crowd, poring over images of the Boston marathon, identified two dark-skinned and bag-carrying suspects (among others). This was then picked up by The New York Post, who ran the image on Thursday's front page with the headline 'Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.' And now, a completely innocent teen now finds himself scared to leave his home."
Reader Okian Warrior points out a related story worthy of notice: "The 4chan crowd, poring over images of the Boston marathon, identified two dark-skinned and bag-carrying suspects (among others). This was then picked up by The New York Post, who ran the image on Thursday's front page with the headline 'Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.' And now, a completely innocent teen now finds himself scared to leave his home."
MIT (Score:5, Insightful)
It looks like, from what I can gather from online media etc., that they were carrying explosives to plant around MIT. And it was campus security that first become suspicious. If this is the case, then thoughts are with the campus security officer that gave his life - a lot of students are probably a lot better off because of his bravery. Thoughts are with everyone in boston and hope this is over soon.
Gotta Love 4chan (Score:5, Insightful)
Reader Okian Warrior points out a related story worthy of notice:
"The 4chan crowd, poring over images of the Boston marathon, identified two dark-skinned and bag-carrying suspects (among others). This was then picked up by The New York Post, who ran the image on Thursday's front page with the headline 'Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.' And now, a completely innocent teen now finds himself scared to leave his home."
Dark skinned. He must be guilty. Basically 4chan, like anonymous, is simply a bastion of the socially immature taking vigilante justice into their own hands. Stoke the fire of society's fears and then claim innocence when someone acts on their "information".
Big Echo Chamber (Score:4, Insightful)
And Now the Crowd-sourcing Cleanup Phase (Score:5, Insightful)
"The 4chan crowd, poring over images of the Boston marathon, identified two dark-skinned and bag-carrying suspects (among others). This was then picked up by The New York Post, who ran the image on Thursday's front page with the headline 'Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.' And now, a completely innocent teen now finds himself scared to leave his home."
Yesterday on my facebook news feed I saw no less than three fake images that could have been mean pranks. And I didn't even see the one listed above. So now all the "crowd sourced" news folks are going to remove images of this man [abcactionnews.com] and this woman [abcactionnews.com] and this guy [abcactionnews.com]. The reason I didn't propagate these things was that they could have been anybody! You could play a mean prank on a friend/enemy if you have a picture of him with a backpack.
Also there are many fake first hand accounts but also some real first hand accounts in crowdsourced news. Ignore the former and herald the latter. People will think you're doing god's work simply because they didn't watch the shitfest that is crowdsourced news in the moments of pure confusion immediately following the event. The signal to noise ratio, the added noise, the fact that people can start leads anonymously, it all reeks of a really bad, lawless, unaccountable lynch mob.
So now post hoc you scrub out all those false leads and you clean up all the things you were wrong about. Then when that's done you point out the few leads you were right about. Then you go on and on at length about how 4chan and reddit are the new real sources of journalism. The mainstream press is busted to all hell (do not confuse this with a free pass or defense for them) but they know they'll be held accountable and the New York Post's gamble should really turn into a slander/libel suit with damages paid out to that young man. NYP made money off those 'exclusive' images at the expense of a person's safety and that should be a civil suit that should expose the NYP for what it really is: a piece of shit rag no better than a tabloid version of "crowd-sourced" news.
Who was it that initially fingered Salah Eddin Barhoum? You don't know and no one ever will because there is no integrity with how that lead was developed.
Re:One Suspect Dead (Score:5, Insightful)
"couldn't they use some kind of anaesthetic bullets?"
What, call the local vet and tell him to bring his tranquilliser gun because they have a wild terrorist on the loose?
Re:News for nerds? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it really your place to question what Slashdot decides to post on Slashdot?
Start your own news site, and then you can tell your own editors what they can and cannot put on the front page.
Re:News for nerds? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:News for nerds? (Score:4, Insightful)
Does this story really have a place on Slashdot?
You can read more about it on practically every major news site, and it is live on all news-oriented TV channels all over the world. It does not need to be on the tech sites too.
Slashdot has never claimed to be just a tech site. Also, you can't discuss events with your peers on major news sites.
Thanks, Surveillance Society (Score:4, Insightful)
You know what they will use this anecdote to justify: more cameras with better resolution that are always on. Think 'Eye of Sauron'.
Re:Watch the total absence (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't forget the IRA and their fundraisers in various US cities, including Boston.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Watch the total absence (Score:3, Insightful)
You guessed right, sucks when bigots feel validated through confirmation bias. You were wrong about the Norway attacks though, I remember what you posted in that thread. So, one right, one wrong, you're about as good as a flipped coin.
Re:Not News For Nerds (Score:5, Insightful)
Whenever one of you idiots wander in here and complain that its not "News for nerds" you always seem to forget the "Stuff that matters" part.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Terrorist or freedom fighter? (Score:5, Insightful)
So what do you call them now, Americans, are these Chechen guys "terrorists" or "freedom fighters"?
They are Islamist, that much certain, so why are they bombing USA, after all USA was probably more on the side of Chechens in their search for independence from Russia (this is of-course about oil, there is oil in Chechnya).
However it is my personal guess that these guys wanted to bring some terror to USA as an asymmetric response to USA being in the Middle East, Afghanistan most likely. What is interesting is that the two brothers (Johar [vk.com] is the younger one) lived in USA as refugees since 2000-2001. What else could be their motivation if not a newly discovered sympathy towards their 'brothers in religion' somewhere in the Afghan mountains, being attacked by the US empire?
I think this is an example of how exactly the war on Terror will backfire just like the war on drugs did with more violence and more drugs.
War on terror creates more terrorists that were just kids just a few years ago. War on drugs creates more drug related violence.
There is an old idea that violence begets violence, I think it's very much true.
Re:Gotta Love 4chan (Score:5, Insightful)
None of those news reports were front-page stories on a physically distributed newspaper identifying specific, vulnerable individuals, you ass.
Re:MIT (Score:5, Insightful)
If this is the case, then thoughts are with the campus security officer that gave his life
Why aren't your thoughts with him anyway? Even if he was just pulling the guys over for driving too fast on campus the bottom line is still the same; he's a guy who's dead for just doing his job.
There are tons of crappy cops, yes. The ratio of crappy versus good cops seems to go up when you're dealing with rent-a-cops and security, yes. But the bulk of people enforcing the law are just looking to do the right thing, go home alive and enjoy life just as much as you and me. I believe it's a profession that gets a bad rap because there are plenty of abusive asses who are drawn to a job with the prospect of beating people down but I think there are many more who are drawn to the profession because they have an honest interest in serving and protecting.
Sorry if you didn't mean it that way but there are just so many people around here who are willing to look down on a cop just because he is a cop. No different a form of bigotry than any other.
Re:Terrorist or freedom fighter? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:One Suspect Dead (Score:5, Insightful)
The first reports of any incident are always wildly inaccurate yet people are very fast to jump to judgement because of them.
I remember when the brave UK police only just caught a dangerous terrorist who was running though the London metro system with the clear intention of detonating a backpack bomb in there. Two weeks later the story was the about an innocent man on his way to work who was held down and shot 7 times in the head by the police without even being given a warning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Charles_de_Menezes [wikipedia.org]
My point is wait two weeks because the current version of who did what and why could well turn out to be wrong.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:MIT (Score:5, Insightful)
There are tons of crappy cops, yes. The ratio of crappy versus good cops seems to go up when you're dealing with rent-a-cops and security, yes. But the bulk of people enforcing the law are just looking to do the right thing, go home alive and enjoy life just as much as you and me.
[citation needed]
People believe cops are bad because cops do so many bad things. They have not taken responsibility as a group and purged their ranks of bad cops, so people will continue to assume that every cop is a bad cop. This is the only rational assumption to make, because many of them are bad people, and they have power over you. Thus, you must be on your guard against bad cops, and you must assume that any cop interaction will go wrong.
Re:Holy crap! (Score:2, Insightful)
This all looks like a great excuse for the government to take away more of our rights in exchange for security theater.
That said, every person who is alone and carrying a backpack is clearly a terrorist.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And Now the Crowd-sourcing Cleanup Phase (Score:5, Insightful)
, the fact that people can start leads anonymously, it all reeks of a really bad, lawless, unaccountable lynch mob.
Yes, but if you point that out [slashdot.org], everyone jumps on you to shut you up. Asking even educated and highly literate people to restrain themselves is an excercise in futility. They will have their emotional satisfaction, dammit, and who cares who gets hurt? Yet these very same people rant about the ineptitude of government and the restriction of their civil liberties.
Well guys, take a good look: The government found the right people, in a targeted search, within days. The general public, would, and have, condemned a half dozen innocent people to spent the rest of their lives in fear. Very few will feel any remorse whatsoever for reposting these "crowdsourced" reports. The officers who investigated this, on the other hand, risked and gave their lives in pursuit of the actual criminals... and nobody else. If this is any indication, the government is far better at keeping you safe and preserving your freedoms than the general public is. And the government, at least, apologizes when they screw up -- usually with big piles of cash to the victims.
The vigilants can't say the same. Their only apology is that they're already looking for the next innocent to hang.
Re:Watch the total absence (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes except that's a complete lie given that there were a number of bombings that resulted in deaths and injuries where no warnings were given.
Don't try and pretend there's any difference simply because you're racist, terrorists are terrorists.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Holy crap! (Score:5, Insightful)
Time to get my Concealed Carry Permit.
Won't stop a bomb, but would be pretty handy if people like these two chuckle heads decide to start shooting things up instead of blowing them up.
Yeah, so they can pick up a spare gun after one ambushes you, like happened in Santa Cruz not long ago. Leave law enforcement to the trained professionals.
Re:Sexist!!!!!!!!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Because society places a higher value on women than it does on me? It's generally acceptable to treat men like cannon fodder, but it's quite unusual to have the same zeal for war when it involves sending women to their doom over stupid things.
Re: Holy crap! (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you seriously calling Law Enforcement 'trained professionals'? Lately, some of the arrests/videos/incidents I have seen make me question whether some of these cops should be allowed to drive, much less enforce laws and carry weapons. It seems like instead of safety and peace of mind police like to tote their guns as bolt-on confidence, and love to wave them around for whatever reason they can find.
I would feel a whole lot safer with a well-practiced civilian carrying a gun than the boys in blue who have only the department's weapons training to work with. At least your average civilian isn't going to shoot you unless you start shooting first. Police don't have the same prerequisites to shoot people, and will be let off the hook for just about any shooting, no matter how unjustified. Their trigger finger is especially itchy when they think their uniform makes them a target and everyone is out to get them.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Re:Watch the total absence (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, unfortunately that list also for some unknown reason (well I lie, it's not known, that list has been produced by someone with a bias) completely missing many other incidents.
There were in the same period attacks that would also fall under the lose definition used (or even a much tighter definition) of terrorist attacks by Shining Path rebels in Peru, Farc rebels in Colombia, Buddhists in Burma (against muslims), PIRA in Ireland, Hindus in India (against muslims). I could probably go on if I bother to Google for other parts of the world that the Western press rarely gives a fuck about but there's little point given that there's enough here to run a bulldozer over the worthfulness of that list.
Further, it seems a little odd to take a list so many attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq and pretend they're somehow evidence of muslims being somehow a problematic grouping of people without considering the context of those attacks and that they were triggered by the actions of Bush and Blair's modern Christian crusades and that most attacks are against other muslims so are as much demonstrative of civil war, than terrorism.
But anyway, I don't know why I'm bothering, you've made enough posts in response to enough stories that have absolutely no relevance to Islam proclaiming your hate for it for it to be obvious you are a fully signed up far right propagandist and hence inherently unable to think rationally or converse sensibly on this topic, but I guess for the benefit of others, perhaps they can at least see that terrorism happens globally, and that muslims are as much victims as they are perpetrators. You only have to look at the suffering muslims faced in Afghanistan in the 80s by the USSR, and Chechnya as a result of Putin's policies for example to see that they haven't exactly had an easy ride themselves. You may think a few attacks in the West are evidence of some horrible group of people far worse than anyone else, but here's an idea - why not go live somewhere like Burma, or Islamic areas of India for a while and then tell me they're the bad guys not the victims - you don't know what terrorism is unless you've seen or bothered to even read about how some of these communities suffer daily.
Re: Holy crap! (Score:2, Insightful)
What I really don't understand about this Conceal Carry mentality is how the police and/or other 'knuckle-heads packing heat' know how to distinguish you from the real bad guy... the way I see the scene playing out is Bad guy becomes apparent... hero A draws his piece to defend society (and hopefully inflict no collateral damage)... hero B arrives on the scene and now has two targets to choose from... repeat ad nauseam.
You do realize that the real objective is to bring the suspect to justice (and justice does not necessarily mean kill them)... right?
What you choose to do in your own house is one matter. In public, like other posters have said, leave this to the trained professionals.
Re:Will Box for Passport (Score:0, Insightful)
Bald-faced liberal lie.
Re:MIT (Score:4, Insightful)
Even though I think MANY cops are bad at their job, and abuse their authority, I actually think some are quite good at it. They are respectful and polite, and don't immediately assume because they are talking to you that you have done something wrong or you are a victim.
On the other end of the spectrum you get such gems as the officers who pull their service weapon during traffic stops because they think everyone wants to kill them because of the uniform.
Here's a hint for the bad cops: if you aren't a dick to everyone you interact with, most people don't want to kill you for doing your job.
Re:Gotta Love 4chan (Score:5, Insightful)
Al Qaeda can never win militarily.
No, they win by bankrupting us to fund the expanding police state.
Re:Will Box for Passport (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Will Box for Passport (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally I hope the FSB and CIA start working together on the 'Islam' problem.
Is that like the Jewish problem? Someone tried to take care of that a while back too.
Re: Holy crap! (Score:3, Insightful)
"Yeah, so they can pick up a spare gun after one ambushes you, like happened in Santa Cruz not long ago. Leave law enforcement to the trained professionals."
Oh the cognitive dissonance is great with this one.
Gee, you'd think that if guns were so dangerous that just holding one is likely to kill you, the cops would want the bad guys to have lots of them.
But the truth is they don't, and they aren't, especially if you train and prepare as you are supposed to, and have good aim.
But you go ahead drone and hide behind your couch, I'll be busy protecting myself and my family.
Re:Watch the total absence (Score:5, Insightful)
"Read the Qur'an and listen to the words of Muslim clerics and you will see how anyone who believes in tolerance, equality, justice for all, and freedom of expression should opose Islam"
But that's just it isn't it? These things are all open to interpretation and whatever is said in the Koran, or by extremist preachers is really irrelevant - that says nothing about the followers as a whole, that does nothing to justify your generalisation of all 1.3bn muslims.
As I have pointed out to you, right now there are Buddhists attacking and killing muslims in places like Burma, do you really not see that even if the teachings of Buddhism can be interpreted in such a way as to justify violence that anything can? That it's not the text, that kills people, it's simply people who are often brought up in a world of turmoil, violence, and anger - the same sort of anger you're preaching, which is precisely the type of anger that creates far right extremists. You seem entirely oblivious that your distortion of the facts, your preaching of select points and ideas (i.e. you never make mention of the billion odd muslims who behave and even do genuine good in the world) is exactly the same as what those Islamic preachers you so hate do?
You may think you're doing right, you may think you're doing good, but in reality you're exactly the same as the likes of Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada, you just thankfully haven't found the platform and hence do not have the listeners to do the same damage they do.
Are you really so oblivious to the fact you're doing exactly what they do in generalising about muslims as they generalise about Westerners and preaching hate towards them? If you don't recognise this then tell me, what do you think is different? the mere fact your preaching hasn't led to a terrorist incident yet but theirs has?
Re: Holy crap! (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, so they can pick up a spare gun after one ambushes you, like happened in Santa Cruz not long ago.
So if he has a concealed carry permit, how will they know to ambush him? Are they psychic?
If they are already shooting the area up, they aren't ambushing him and he has a weapon to protect himself.
Stuff happens: 80 Year Old Michigan Homeowner Fights Off FIVE Armed Robbery Suspects Using Handgun [gunssavelives.net]
Re: Holy crap! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, they are "trained professionals" --- and out of a gigantic pool of trained professionals, you still get a lot of fatal idiocy. If you think think unleashing a bunch of gun-totin' civilians (each personally convinced they are the sharpest shooter and most level-headed adjudicator of human conflict) is going to have better results than this, you're completely looney. Handing over the same corrupting power --- a license to kill --- to any panicky racist hick, with an itchy trigger finger for vigilante justice, who fills out the forms won't make the world safer.
Re:MIT (Score:5, Insightful)
I think there's merit to your post, but I substituded 'cop' for 'black guy' and your sounds bigoted to me. It may be important to generalize and stereotype, but take care to recognize it.
The (clear, obvious) difference is that no one is born a cop, and they can decide to stop being a cop. Another is that we take rights away from brown people, but we give more rights to people who wear a badge, though they have demonstrated that they are no more responsible than the general population.
Re:Will Box for Passport (Score:5, Insightful)
I suspect that is a very common experience for immigrants of all backgrounds.
I don't think there is anywhere in the world more welcoming to immigrants than America. I am an American, but I lived much of my life abroad, and my kids were born overseas where they attended local (non-English) schools. When we moved back to America, my daughter was nervous about going to school, but when she came back home after the first day, she said she had already made several friends. The following weekend she was invited to a sleep-over.
About a third of my co-workers are immigrants, including several muslims. They fit in just fine, and they all have friends outside their ethnic group.
If this guy failed to make a single friend in ten years, then there is something seriously wrong with him. Blaming it on America is ridiculous.
Re:Will Box for Passport (Score:4, Insightful)
As an immigrant I can confirm that the US is pretty welcoming (so far). Especially when compared to the previous country I lived in, also as immigrant.
One thing I want to note though. The distinction between Americans and non-Americans, when they both live on US soil is stupid and pretty dangerous one to make. In US it is stupid because of a great cultural diversity, especially in California. It is dangerous because since the line is kinda blurry a lot of hate groups use it to push their agenda. Like this guy, for example. Whoever he does not like or understand, he labels them as "american". While he can make friends with other people, because they are "asians", "black", "mexicans", "canadians", "europeans" -- whatever label he chooses to assign to them.
I see similar behaviour in some other immigrants too. Prejudice is a pretty stupid thing and as any other kind of stupiditiy, pretty hard to deal with.