*The Boston Marathon

First and foremost, my sympathies and condolences with Boston. No city, or country, for that matter should have to go through such atrocities. It was an experience, being in the UK tracking in real time as events unfolded over twitter and facebook. I am glad to see friends living in Boston post that they were ok. There have been reports of 3 dead and over 100 wounded.

I only wish Twitter would allow me to go back and look at the progression of discourse that developed around the incident.

From my recollection, and granted that I may get some of this wrong, there was no mention of bombs initially but just that there were explosions. There were menions of limbs flying over people's heads and other horrible things. At first the reports were 2 killed and 22 injured and the number of injuries progressed. The incident is detailed here: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/04/15/1868281/explosions-at-the-boston-marathon/

But soon, we have mentions of the word 'bomb' and another explosion at JFK library.

There were also mentions of a suspect (a saudi national) being guarded by police at a hospital.

NY and London marathons state that they will be undergoing further security cautions and other measures. Major cities go on high alert.

Slowly the term comes up: 'Terrorist Act'

I recall a tweet that stated that the Saudi national being held denies any involvement with the explosions.

Authorities question saudi national: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57579736/authorities-question-saudi-national-in-boston-attack/
 
Tweet from Nightline (2:07 am 16 Apr13): 'Boston police say they do not have a suspect in custory'

Police also report that they would like to see videos and other material sent in to the police for investigation for any clues to the perpetrators.

Out of "respect" they do not hold the press conference on immigration reform. The NBA cancels the Boston Celtics game, the Bruins game is also cancelled.

They say it is unknown whether the act was domestic or international

What I tend to be cautious about is what happens in the white house while this is all happening. That is, what other activity are they doing? Any catastrophe or event is a potential smokescreen, diversion, for other things to happen. And what did I find? Obama signs Stock Act Reversal after he made his address to the pyblic about the Boston marathon.

 "The bill doesn't just eliminate a controversial requirement that personal financial disclosures of tens of thousands of high level federal employees be made publicly accessible online. It also reverses two critical components of the original STOCK act: mandatory electronic filing of PFDs by the president, his cabinet and members of Congress, and the creation of a publicly accessible database."

It clouds the measures of transparency and disclosure, waiving the investigation of political corruption.

*many of my notes are without reference, something that I will have to track better the next smokescreen - incidental or deliberate or otherwise - comes around 

Today, we see the following:
NY Times: Obama calls Marathon Bombing an act of Terrorism

 
Let's not forget: US-bomb-kills-30-Afghan-wedding

And from an earlier post on another forum: 

After watching "America's most dangerous man," a documentary on Daniel Ellsberg. A book came to mind on the nature of American foreign policy. The book is a collection of interviews conducted with Noam Chomsky, called '9-11,' (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2001) and in one of his interviews he calls America: a leading terrorist state. When asked to elaborate on this remark he gave several examples, which I would like to share.

"Nicaragua in the 1980s was subjected to violent assault by the U.S. Tens of thousands of people died. The country was substantially destroyed; it may never recover. The international terrorist attack was accompanied by a devastating economic war, which a small country isolated by a vengeful and cruel superpower could scarcely sustain [...] They didn't respond by setting off bombs in Washington. They went to the World Court, which ruled in their favor, ordering the U.S. to desist and pay substantial reparations. The U.S. dismissed the court judgment with contempt, responding with an immediate escalation of the attack. So Nicaragua then went to the Security Council, which considered a resolution calling on states to observe international law. The U.S. alone vetoed it." pg. 24-25

"the U.S. is the only country that was condemned for international terrorism by the World Court and that rejected a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law"-pg 44

In 1985, Beirut, Reagan administration set off a terrorist bombing, "a truck bombing outside a mosque timed to kill the maximum number of people as they left. It killed 80 and wounded 250, mostly women and children, according to a report in the Washington Post 3 years later. The terrorist bombing was aimed at a Muslim cleric whom they didn't like and whom they missed" -pg. 44 -_-

"Supporting Turkey's crushing of its own Kurdish population, for which the Clinton administration gave the decisive support, 80 percent of the arms"-pg. 44-45

The destruction of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan by the Clinton administration in August 20, 1998.

Al-Shifa produced "90 percent of Sudan's major pharmaceutical products,"
"produced 50 percent of Sudan's medicines, and its destruction has left the country with no supplies of chloroquine, the standard treatment for malaria,"

the British refused requests to "resupply chloroquine in emergency relief"

the Al-Shifa facility was "the only one producing TB drugs-for more than 100,000 patients, at about 1 British pound a month."

Al-Shifa "was also the only factory making veterinary drugs in the vast, mostly pastoralist, country. Its specialty was drugs to kill the parasites which pass from herds to herders, one of Sudan's principle causes of infant mortality"
-quotes from pg. 48-49

Terrorism: "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature. This is done through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear." 
  
Oh Justice, thou art a hypocritical bitch.

interesting...