A Terrorist's Blast, or a Dope's Dud?

The big local story this weekend was the explosion of a bomb in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood yesterday. I was firmly ensconced in the suburbs, attending the wedding of two longtime friends, and then working an overnight shift at a site I don't typically work... I was pretty much out of the loop as far as the news was concerned, and I was so worn out that I slept until well after 2PM, sleeping through one alarm, but having set a backup alarm in case I was comatose.

I am familiar with the neighborhood in which the blast took place, but not as familiar with it as this guy. The odd thing about this bombing is the placement of the device- anyone aiming for mass casualties would have placed the device in a more trafficked area, such as Times Square. This particular incident is more reminiscent of the placement of a homemade bomb in Central Park, which injured a visitor's leg to the extent that it had to be amputated below the knee. In the case of this new bombing, all 29 victims have already been released from the hospital, not that Gary Johnson knew that they were hospitalized at all:





My instinct is that this incident was rooted in malicious mischief, rather than terrorism. Lately, a lot of, as security experts would describe it, dumb shit has been occurring in Manhattan, notably a series of cigarette lighter attacks on women in Midtown. Thankfully, this current incident didn't kill anyone. I think it'll be blown out of proportion- already the dumpster fire is citing the dumpster bomb as a reason to 'get very tough'. I'd prefer that we get very smart, it's the best way to combat dumbassery.

UPDATE: Listening to the news coverage of the suspect's apprehension, it seems like he's a terrorist and a dumbass. Thankfully, his career of evil was cut short by his incompetence. Meanwhile, the heroes in the case were a pair of luggage thieves and a barman- of the three, the barman has an honorable profession, but high fives go to all three.