The video below shows a man doing what any other tech savvy person would be tempted to do. Sitting in his car with a companion, the man thought they were at a safe distance, as he filmed the beginning stages of the Texas Fertilizer plant going up in flames.
Then a few seconds into the video the explosion is seen and the man and his companion soon realized that they were a little too close for comfort.
It was later revealed that the occupants of the car was a man and his daughter. According to the Today Show, they have regained their hearing. According to KWTX, as many as 70 people may have been killed.
It is getting so hard to believe in Humanity these days. What’s wrong with people? What causes a person – who is having serious issues in their own lives – to decide to take someone else’s life? The debate is whether these individuals have ‘mental issues’. Yes. That is obvious. But, the question still remains, what causes them to want to take it out on All mankind?
The Boston Marathon bombing was just added to the litany of violent crimes perpetrated on innocent Americans just enjoying their lives, their day, and their families when the unthinkable happened.
Today, a letter addressed to President Obama, was laced with ricin which is a toxic protein agent that is used as a biochemical. This same ricin was intercepted by authorities when it was sent to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi. An arrest was made today in the Tupelo, MS area.
The Newtown Ct. shooting that still has politicians and the NRA fighting over banning semi-automatic weapons. The massacre which robbed the lives of 20-first graders was so appalling, disturbing and unsettling; it tears at the very heart of Hope. How can anyone kill a child?
The movie theatre massacre in Colorado killed 12 and wounded over 50 others. People just wanted to go out and enjoy a nice night out at the movies with friends, family and their children when yet again, a brazened attack on the innocent.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, was shot point blank in the head where six were killed, including a 9-year old girl and 13 others wounded while speaking at a neighborhood shopping center in Arizona. She survived but not without causing severe damage to her brain.
And this is just in America. The outside world is even more dysfunctional than here with suicide killers in Iran and Iraq almost daily. In 2011, a massacre in Norway tore apart a community when a lone killer plotted and executed a plan which included a car bombing, killing 8 and wounded over 200. Then, less than two hours later at a summer camp full of youth, a gunman opened fire upon them and killed 69 for a total of 77.
Are we seeing a pattern yet?
Everyday people, going through their ordinary lives with the ones they love. Why would anyone think the unthinkable would possibly happen to them? We’re not supposed to live in fear. We are not to look over our shoulder every second.
I’m just tired. I’m tired of the violence, the excuses for violence and lawyers attempting to persuade America their clients are ‘Clinically Insane’.
When does this stop? What is wrong world? I know we can’t agree on everything but killing others because of conflict is not the way.
Somehow, someway, Mankind has to find a way to end the violence. I don’t want to give up on Hope but people are making it harder to believe that Hope even exist.
The FBI identified the man as Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Miss.
He was arrested at his home at approximately 5:15 CT, the FBI said in a written statement, adding he was “believed to be responsible for the mailings of the three letters sent through the U.S. Postal Inspection Service which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin. The letters were addressed to a U.S. senator, the White House and a Mississippi justice official.”
The letter addressed to President Obama that field-tested positive for the poison ricin included the message, “To see a wrong and not expose it is to become a silent partner to its continuance,” according to a source familiar with an investigation of the incident.
“I am KC and I approve this message,” the letter read.
The letter was received at the remote White House mail screening facility Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.
The facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery.
The separate Senate mail-handling facility on Tuesday also received a suspicious letter potentially laced with ricin addressed to Sen. Wicker, postmarked from Memphis. It contained the same message included in the letter addressed to the president, according to the source.
Testing on the first letter, addressed to Wicker, was incomplete but expected to be finished this evening, at the earliest, according to sources.
Field tests are often unreliable, and a false positive for ricin occurs at least once each year, a homeland security official told ABC News.
Meanwhile, the sources said, a sensor today was activated at a third federal government mail sorting facility. Investigators were culling through the mail to see whether they could identify a suspicious letter.
The facility, they said, sorts mail for the Department of Justice. The sensor was undergoing additional testing at a lab. A source cautioned that the sensor activation might involve a false positive and not be related to the other letters.
The Secret Service’s White House mail-screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, through which all White House mail goes.
The Secret Service was working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in the investigation.
“The investigation into these letters remains ongoing, and more letters may still be received,” the FBI said in a statement this morning. “There is no indication of a connection to the attack in Boston.”
The FBI added: “It is important to note that operations at the White House have not been affected as a result of the investigation.
“Additionally, filters at a second government mail screening facility preliminarily tested positive for ricin this morning. Mail from that facility is being tested.”
FBI sources said anytime suspicious powder is located in a mail facility, field tests are conducted. The field and other preliminary tests in this instance produced inconsistent results. The material has been sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis.
Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests were in the process of being conducted and generally take from 24 to 48 hours.
The Centers for Disease Control defines ricin as a poison that comes from castor beans and can be found in a powder, a mist, a pellet or dissolved in water.
“In the 1940s, the U.S. military experimented with using ricin as a possible warfare agent,” the CDC writes. “In some reports ricin has possibly been used as a warfare agent in the 1980s in Iraq and more recently by terrorist organizations.”
Meanwhile, Senate offices were on partial lockdown today after the discovery of suspicious packages. The police investigation centered on the offices of Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in the Russell Senate Building, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in the Hart Senate Office Building.
The lockdown was unrelated to the Wicker letter.
Also, the Saginaw, Mich., office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., received a suspicious-looking letter this morning. The office did not know whether it was a threat.
Teens Accused of Teacher Poison Attempt With Hand Sanitizer Watch Video
“The letter was not opened, and the staffer followed the proper protocols for the situation, including alerting the authorities, who are now investigating. We do not know yet if the mail presented a threat,” Levin said in a paper statement.
“I’m grateful for my staff’s quick response and for government personnel at all levels who are responding.”
Several senators have reported suspicious packages delivered to their district offices, with no reports of any credible threats.
But underscoring the jitters among Senate D.C. and district offices, Sen. Deb Fischer’s, R-Neb., Lincoln, Neb., office contacted police when staff found a suspicious package outside this morning.
It turned out to be a used-car part left in a bag on top of a lawn chair.
While the nation was busy mourning the devastation that happened in Boston on Monday, Republicans in the Senate, supported by a few Democrats managed to slowly and willfully kill background checks. Apparently what happened in Newtown Connecticut was not enough for these heartless Senators to support a bill that will guarantee making sure gun purchasers are sane enough to buy a gun.
The vote on the amendment was 54 to 46. Sixty votes were needed for the amendment to be adopted.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein pushes for an assault weapons ban in the U.S. while speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday.
The deal was the result of a deal struck between Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
As the bill was defeated, a voice in the Senate gallery could be heard yelling “Shame on you!”
The Manchin-Toomey amendment would have extended existing background check rules to gun sales made online and at gun shows. It was vehemently opposed by the National Rifle Association, who said it infringed on the rights of gun owners.
BOSTON (AP) — A suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings is about to be arrested, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said Wednesday.
The official was not authorized to divulge details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The suspect was to be taken into custody by federal marshals and taken to a Boston courthouse, the official said.
The official spoke shortly after several media outlets reported that a suspect had been identified from surveillance video taken at a Lord & Taylor store between the two bomb blasts.
An official news briefing was scheduled later Wednesday.
Law enforcement agencies had earlier pleaded for the public to come forward with photos, videos or any information that might help them solve the twin bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 170 on Monday.
Investigators circulated information about the bombs, which involved kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and other lethal shrapnel. But the FBI said nobody had claimed responsibility.
A person close to the investigation had previously told AP the bombs consisted of explosives put in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.
A letter addressed to President Obama that field-tested positive for the poison ricin was received at the remote White House mail screening facility Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.
Law enforcement officials emphasized that these tests are preliminary and are often unreliable. They said the final word would come from a complete lab test that should be completed in the next 24 to 48 hours.
A false positive for ricin occurs at least once each year, a homeland security official told ABC News.
The facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery.
The office of Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi also Tuesday received a suspicious letter potentially laced with ricin, postmarked from Memphis.
Testing on the first letter is incomplete but expected to be finished this afternoon. The first letter was addressed to Republican Wicker.
The Secret Service mail screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, that all White House mail goes through.
The Secret Service is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in this investigation.
FBI sources say anytime suspicious powder is located in a mail facility, field tests are conducted. The field and other preliminary tests in this instance produced inconsistent results. The material has been sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis.
Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests are in the process of being conducted and generally take from 24 to 48 hours.
The Centers for Disease Control defines ricin as a poison that comes from castor beans and can be found in a powder, a mist, a pellet or dissolved in water.
“In the 1940s, the U.S. military experimented with using ricin as a possible warfare agent,” the CDC writes. “In some reports ricin has possibly been used as a warfare agent in the 1980s in Iraq and more recently by terrorist organizations.”
The two sets of pictures below were obtained by Fox 5 Atlanta. The first set of pictures, a ‘before’ pic shows a bag placed by the barricades next to a mailbox. In the ‘after’ picture, the bag is gone.
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The next set of pictures show a man running away from the area where the bag was placed. Although it is possible that he was scared because of what had just occurred, it is a bit strange that while everyone around him seemed shocked, covering their ears and bending down, this man is seen running away in the opposite direction.
Detectives investigating the Boston Marathon bombing are pursuing three major lines of inquiry after the worst terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.
A wide-scale manhunt is underway for a mysterious, hooded ‘man in black’, seen loitering suspiciously near the finish line with a backpack moments before the blasts went off.
Meanwhile, agents, including the FBI and bomb disposal officers, swooped on an apartment in the suburbs of the city after questioning another man spotted driving erratically around state police barracks.
And a third man of Saudi origin is under police guard in hospital, where he is being treated for burns to his legs, after he was tackled to the ground by a civilian who believed he too was acting suspiciously.
A European security official said Tuesday initial evidence indicates that the attacks were not the work of suicide bombers.
“So far, investigators believe it was not the work of suicide bombers, but it is still too early to rule it out completely,” said the official, who spoke from the United States on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the U.S. investigation.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has threatened attacks in the United States because of its support for the Pakistani government, on Tuesday denied any role in the marathon bombings.
Just another day. An ordinary day like every other. Today is April 15th, 2013, Tax Day. Today is also the day of a long ‘running’ event – the Boston Marathon. An event in Boston that has been run since 1897 on Patriots Day, the third Monday in April will now have a stigma forever attached alongside their historic event – terror.
As runners were completing their epic test of endurance of over 26-miles throughout one of the most beautiful cities in the world, bombs exploded in a two-city block area. One actually detonated as runners were crossing the finish line. Why? Who’s responsible? What is the reasoning behind it? The last is obvious: To strike ‘Fear’ in the hearts of All Americans. The previous two have yet to be determined.
As paramedics and EMS attendants began to minister to the wounded, witness accounts of events have begun to surface, some disturbingly graphic. Bloodied spectators were carried to a medical tent intended for runners. Several of the injured had lost limbs, and at least one police officer was hurt.
“Somebody’s leg flew by my head. I gave my belt to stop the blood,” spectator John Ross told The Boston Herald.
Although no one has come forward announcing their guilt and purpose of the attack (as of this writing), we do have confirmed numbers to share. At least two – one being an 8-year old – was pronounced dead and over 100 injured. Chaos, panic and dismay have shrouded the country yet again, bringing about memories of 9/11, the Atlanta bombing at the 1996 Olympics and the Oklahoma City bombing of the federal building 18-years ago in this very month.
President Obama spoke on the attack Monday evening.
“We still do not know who did this or why; we still don’t have all the facts. We will get to the bottom of this. We will find who did this and we will find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. … We’ll find out who did this, and we’ll hold them accountable.”
“The nation will remember Boston in their prayers tonight,” the president said.
As the hours passed and perhaps even days, more information will surface. According to several media outlets, the FBI and terror experts are already searching surveillance cameras in the area to look for ‘suspicious’ activity. With technology and ‘Big Brother’ watching us, it’s just a matter of time before the culprit or culprits are brought to justice.
Two explosions erupted the finish line of the Boston Marathon today, turning the annual race into a bloody crime scene.
The blasts occurred on Boyleston Street about three hours after the top runners had finished the race, but with thousands of marathoners still running the route.
According to law enforcement sources, the first blast was at the Marathon Sports running store before 3 p.m., and blew out windows in four nearby buildings, injuring 15 to 20 individuals.
About 10 second later, a second explosion occurred, severely injuring more bystanders, police said.
Boston EMS personnel could be seen shuttling the injured out of the blast area on wheelchairs. Several of them were bleeding from the face.
Massachussets Genreal Hospital has received four patients and is expecting more, according to a hospital spokesman.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
He was running for charity and lost both his legs in the bombings.
A trauma nurse from the hospital told ABC News that the race’s medical tent, already set up to deal with runner injuries, set up a morgue area at a triage center at the back of the tent. The medical staff reported multiple victims with severed limbs and children with severe burns.
Bomb squads are sweeping the area, checking suspicious packages and are testing for chemicals to help determine what kind of device was used, according to police.
Homeland Security Direction Eric Holder was in touch with the FBI in Boston and President Obama was notified of the blasts.
Police have told people in area to avoid trash cans, according to witnesses.
The explosions erupted on what is usually a festive day in Boston. It is designated Patriots Day and most offices are closed for the celebration and the marathon.
Debris from the explosions could be seen scattered throughout the spectators stands and finish line area of the marathon as emergency personnel cleared the area.
Video of the explosions showed plumes of white smoke pouring into the air above the street where runners were.
More than 26,00 runners were registered to compete in this year’s marathon.
Ok, this is one of those MUST-SEE videos! I’ve watched it too many times already…
Please watch as two robbers try to burglarize Quizhpe’s Gifts and Sports in Logan Square in Chicago.
This is an amazing video of a store owner and his brother who were fed up and fought back with a bat and chairs …and it’s hilarious!
I’m also happy to report that even after receiving a shot to the leg, Luis Quizhpe (store owner) survived the attack and possibly taught those two robbers a lesson they won’t soon forget.
A federal discrimination lawsuit has been filed against U.S. Airways for allegedly refusing to allow two young black men to sit in first class unless they changed clothes.
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