# The Boston Marathon Bombing Debate Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 15, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799 "2013-04-15T23:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Blkshp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blkshp/32/7135_2.png) [@Blkshp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blkshp)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/181 "2013-04-17T18:25:37Z")
> [@XT](#): > > There are some photos on infowars (sorry, can’t link to them atm) that show who they think are suspects (the one guy is a white guy with a brown beard, another is a white guy in a baseball cap with sun glasses on). No idea how solid this stuff is, but it points to a right wing group doing this if it’s true. :mad: Did you read the story at your link? “Three of the men appear to be Arab or Middle Eastern in appearance, whereas another two of the individuals are white.” ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/182 "2013-04-17T18:26:53Z")
They don’t appear that way to me, but no I missed that part. I only viewed it on my phone though. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/183 "2013-04-17T18:29:41Z")
CNN reports an arrest was made with department store video providing the breakthrough. Good work! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/184 "2013-04-17T18:31:43Z")
[From Fox News:](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/17/fbi-boston-police-say-range-suspects-motives-remains-wide-open/#ixzz2QkMiUSTM) > [@](#): > > The suspect, who is expected to appear in federal court in Boston later today, has not yet been named by authorities. He was seen on surveillance footage that showed a young man carrying – and perhaps dropping – a black bag at the second bombing scene at the finish line of Monday’s race, where two bombs exploded, killing three and injuring 176. The camera at a Boylston Street Lord & Taylor directly across the street from one of the blasts, has given investigators clear video of the area, according to the unnamed official. Well, there we go. A young man – clearly a liberal – is responsible. That settles that. (Lest my sarcasm not be evident, that statement is not genuine in the least; it’s intended to parody the earlier confident declarations about who would turn out to be the guilty party.) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/185 "2013-04-17T18:38:13Z")
MSNBC is reporting that federal officials say that no arrest has occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/186 "2013-04-17T18:47:03Z")
Yes, CNN is saying that they blew it earlier - > **[CNN Walks Back Arrest Reports](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cnn-boston-arrests-media-nbc_n_3102680?1366223929=)** > > CNN Walks Back Arrest Reports Should have waited before they posted the link /innocentWhistle ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/187 "2013-04-17T19:06:37Z")
AP Radio News is still reporting that their source, a Fed speaking anonymously due to being outside official channels, insists that an arrest has been made. AP Radio News also reports that the letter sent to the President has been confirmed to test positive for ricin. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/188 "2013-04-17T19:07:43Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > If real. > > But I’m left wondering whether or not testing congressional mail for ricin is SOP _all the time_ or if testing was stepped up after the Marathon. If they ramped up mail testing after Monday, then there’s your correlation right there and a higher probability of a false positive. Time will tell. Testing any suspcicous mail has been SOP since the Anthrax letters. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/189 "2013-04-17T20:45:35Z")
> [@XT](#): > > There are some photos on infowars (sorry, can’t link to them atm) that show who they think are suspects (the one guy is a white guy with a brown beard, another is a white guy in a baseball cap with sun glasses on). No idea how solid this stuff is, but it points to a right wing group doing this if it’s true. :mad: If it’s the same pictures I saw the guy in the baseball cap looks to me to be of Middle Eastern descent, as does the guy standing next to him in some of the photo’s. The messy looking guy with the brown beard does seem to be of European descent. Either way it doesn’t prove a lot. A lot of people seem to think, ‘oh yeah it might be one of those many right wing groups which have done this in the past’, but which ones? I think it’s mainly a case where people see stuff on TV shows and movies and later subconsciously confuse that with real world facts. McVeigh and Nichols were not a ‘right wing group’, they were two guys, albeit white, and with racist views but otherwise hard to categorize on a ‘left-right’ scale. And besides them, who? Nobody, basically. So, some group which wasn’t radical Islamists (those are the real two choices: Islamists or not) could have white guys and brown guys in it, why not? or an Islamist group could (some converts), or one or both guys in the surveillance footage might not be the actual guy they are homing in on. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/190 "2013-04-17T21:27:05Z")
I’m not sure why you think that McVeigh or Nichols group affiliations (or lack thereof) is relevant, but I don’t see how McVeigh at least can be characterized as anything other than pretty far to the right. He was a fan of the Turner Diaries after all. But McVeigh and Nichols have nothing to do with the current situation other than them being right wing and this attacker _possibly_ being right wing. Actually, thinking about it, the attacker probably was right wing. Either domestic right wing or foreign (probably radical islamic) right wing. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/191 "2013-04-17T21:39:46Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > McVeigh and Nichols were not a ‘right wing group’, they were two guys, albeit white, and with racist views but otherwise hard to categorize on a ‘left-right’ scale. That’s arguable. McVeigh had connections in the past to the Christian Identity movement, and while they’d officially cut ties I understand that’s long been standard practice for any of their people who go for outright violence. Make a show of breaking ties and wait awhile, to maintain plausible deniability for the larger movement. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/192 "2013-04-17T22:02:16Z")
I just hope it turns out to be a lone-wolf with no connection to any group or cause – because that means, once they find him it’s **over,** nobody left to strike a second blow. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/193 "2013-04-17T22:28:21Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > NPR is saying that the pressure cookers contained blasting caps, nails, and, instead of ball bearings, BBs. BBs **are** ball bearings. Hence the name. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/194 "2013-04-18T00:50:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BBs **are** ball bearings. Hence the name. [An imperfect Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun) says the BB was named for an existing size of shot. It also contends: [INDENT]It should also be noted that the ubiquitous usage of the term “ball bearing” for any steel ball is technically incorrect. A ball bearing is a mechanical bearing constructed with a multitude of bearing balls. [/INDENT] That’s a little too picky for me. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/195 "2013-04-18T01:01:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BBs **are** ball bearings. Hence the name. No, they aren’t. The original BBs were made out of lead, which is far too soft and easily melted to be used as bearings, and even contemporary steel and copper BBs aren’t nearly [smooth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BB_copper_and_nickel_plated.jpg) enough. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/196 "2013-04-18T01:07:04Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > [An imperfect Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun) says the BB was named for an existing size of shot. It also contends: > [INDENT]It should also be noted that the ubiquitous usage of the term “ball bearing” for any steel ball is technically incorrect. A ball bearing is a mechanical bearing **constructed with a multitude of bearing balls.** > [/INDENT] > > That’s a little too picky for me. 😕 Like, they make them by tumbling a multitude of balls together? Or, the surface of one has its own “bearing balls” too small to see? Or “ball bearing” refers to a whole mechanical assembly with balls in it rather than a single ball? Or what? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/197 "2013-04-18T01:10:50Z")
[This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ball_Bearing_with_Semi_Transparent_Cover.JPG) is a ball bearing. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/198 "2013-04-18T02:28:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BBs **are** ball bearings. Hence the name. What other people said. Especially the smoothness. I don’t have any modern ones to check within reach (but I do have a BB rifle in reach–I’m simply not prepared for a home invasion) but I recall the ones of my youth all had a little dimple which would not be acceptable in a bearing ball. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/199 "2013-04-18T06:10:58Z")
Oh c’mon guys, it’s so simple. Maybe you need a refresher course. It’s all ball bearings these days. ---
**Author:** ![pjnlsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@pjnlsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjnlsn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/200 "2013-04-18T06:20:03Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > [An imperfect Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun) says the BB was named for an existing size of shot. It also contends: > [INDENT]It should also be noted that the ubiquitous usage of the term “ball bearing” for any steel ball is technically incorrect. A ball bearing is a mechanical bearing constructed with a multitude of bearing balls. > [/INDENT] > > That’s a little too picky for me. That’s what the word ‘bearing’ means? Using the phrase ‘ball bearing’ for any steel ball is like using the phrase “sports car” to refer to any car. ‘Ball’ and ‘bearing’ are two different words… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799.md?page=11)