I know the whole Boston Marathon attack was serious, tragic business, and I don't want to minimize it.
But being a trivial guy, I do have to note some totally irrelevant post scripts and besides-the-point moments that struck me as fascinating or cool, now that the immediate crisis has passed.
 |
The famous boat behind the house
in Watertown, Mass. where the terrorist
suspect hid. |
Here are some:
Did the bombing suspects seriously believe they could cow Boston. I mean really, Boston? It's gotta be the toughest (in a good way) city in the United States.
I wonder what kind of tough justice the bombers would have gotten if they'd be released to walk around in Southie?
How tough? Some wag on Facebook posted a photo of are North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with a quote supposedly from him: "Note to self: Do not invade Boston."
A few people might find all those crowds spontaneously singing, badly off key, the National Anthem after the capture a little cheesy. Not me. It's heartwarming and patriotic and was exactly the right release people needed.
Maybe I'm being a bit too populist, but this is moving:
Yes, us Americans will start arguing amongst ourselves any minute now about what we should do next, or what we should have done better. That's normal, and a debate is a good thing. But it is nice to see us all come together when necessary.
Why is it that the average Joe and Jane Schmo involved in the Boston terrorist attack seems to have really risen to the occasion but some politicians observing from a distance act like morons.
We kept hearing reports of people acting bravely to rescue the wounded, the wounded giving critical tips to investigators, and police diligently hunting the two terrorists down.
And many politicians were eloquent, such as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. But others, not so much.
Case in point: An Arkansas state lawmaker, Nate Bell, Tweets the following during the manhunt, right after the MIT police officer is killed: "I wonder how many Boston liberals spent the night cowering in their homes wishing they had an AR-15 with a high capacity magazine?"
He later apologized for what he said was the Tweet's poor timing
The two bombers are/were pathetic young men. And the final capture of the survivor, hiding in a boat parked in a Watertown, Massachusetts back yard, is particularly lame. Another piece of evidence the guy was a total loser.
In other bits and pieces from this episode, I think we call all give our deep gratitude to Neil Diamond for taking a 4:30 a.m. red eye to Logan Airport so he could sing "Sweet Caroline" at Saturday's Red Sox game.
A needed bit of goofy joy and tradition from a Class Act. Thanks, Neil!
One last note: Are you as disturbed as I that a few people on Twitter thought the bombing suspect that survived is, in their words "kind of cute"?
No, he's the ugliest guy in America right now. And I'm not talking about physical looks.
