Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

We still have time to mess this up!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

The revolution will be supervised.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Explosions in the UK

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133Comments

  2. 2.

    Jay C

    Yep: about an hour ago, that “something horrible” was an explosion (source as yet undetermined) as the concert was letting out that caused “numerous” fatalities and injuries (numbers uncertain).
    BBC and Guardian among other doing live feeds

  5. 5.

    Jay C

    BBC feed HERE
    Guardian feed HERE

    A lot of injuries, a lot of bleeding victims being reported, a lot of ambulances called on scene.
    Outside of the usual “bomb” panic, other reports suggest a transformer explosion, followed by a crowd panic/stampede.

    Sucks for the victims: most of the eyewitnesses quoted in British media have been between 17 and 21

  9. 9.

    amk

    given there are no screamy headlines in bbc fp, it’s probably not a terrorist incident.

  10. 10.

    raven

    @Jay C: Transformer where, on the floor of the area? “The BBC’s Tim Ashburn, who is at the scene, spoke to some volunteer paramedics who treated the injured for “shrapnel-like injuries”. No fucking way.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I begin just about every weekday with the BBC World Report (it comes on my NPR station at 5:00 a.m., an hour before Morning Edition starts). Going to be a very sad program tomorrow.

    Interesting that it’s taken so long (relatively) to get anything close to hard numbers on casualties (both fatalities and injuries). Can’t help thinking that the Brits may be a little bit better than our media at avoiding wild speculation and guessing. (ETA: Talking about the media, of course.)

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    @Jay C:
    I didn’t hear anything about what caused the explosion, but it did sound as if there was a panic, and in cases like that it’s usually the panic that does more damage than the thing that triggered it.

  15. 15.

    efgoldman

    Shit, this feels horrible. Anytime something newsworthy like this happens, my first (and guilty) thought now, in an incident like this, is “please let it be a random accident”, or, if applicable “please let it be a white guy with a Western name.”
    That’s an awful way to be, but I can’t help it.

  18. 18.

    Jay C

    @raven:

    An unconfirmed (i.e. speculative) report I’ve read said the source of the explosion might have been a transformer somewhere in the train station that is underneath the Manchester Arena.
    But again, it’s only been a little more than an hour. A lot more information is needed.

  19. 19.

    lamh36

    One big lesson I’ve learned from twitter…take first accounts and news with a grain of salt…so I’m trying to do my best NOT to retweet speculation.

    News media will immediately go with terrorist attack before any real certainty…and already that’s exactly what MSNBC and CNN are doing..smh

    Wish we had a good on air straight news station…smh

  21. 21.

    lamh36

    MSNBC saying “suicide bomber” based on “sources”

    @NBCNightlyNews 1m1 minute ago
    More
    Replying to @NBCNightlyNews
    BREAKING: US officials briefed on Manchester explosion say UK authorities investigating arena incident as possible suicide bombing.

  25. 25.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I just love how the news takes an hour at a time to have everybody take turns telling us that they don’t know what the hell happened, but then they go on to tell us just exactly what might have happened, or what would have happened if something that didn’t happen had happened, and they go on and on and on. Why can’t they just tell us, “Something happened, but we don’t know what it was yet. We’ll tell you more when we find something out.”?

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    I feel the same way, though, and I imagine a lot of us do. Partly because I really really just hate knowing that my fellow humans are capable of the kind of atrocities I actually know they’re capable of; but more to the immediate point, because in this country we all know good and goddamn well that any act that can be even remotely labelled as “terrorism” is going to bring in its wake a mass of RWNJ rhetoric, numerous draconian restrictions on the First Amendment, and quite likely additional (government-sponsored) violence against innocents.

  29. 29.

    GregB

    Whatever the cause of the initial blast, it appears a frenzy caused a stampede that will add to the toll.

  34. 34.

    lamh36

    So some dude, one already stepped up to be a jackass on the Manchester incident and I wish folks would focus on the victims and don’t give him the attention he wanted.

    Ugh…another pet peeve of mine bout twitter.

  36. 36.

    JMG

    Guardian link to police statement says they’re treating it as terrorism “until they know otherwise” which seems reasonable. They probably have yet to reach the starting point of the explosion. Still rescue and triage at this point. But if it’s a bomb, the evidence is usually pretty clear even to laypeople.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Well, luckily for the terrorists, they have full cooperation from FOX, CNN, MSNBC, the broadcast networks, the current (mal)Administration, and both chambers of the Congress of the United States. Not to mention social media.

  39. 39.

    lamh36

    Malcolm Nance pointing out that cause of the location and the amount of people could mean that the some of the injuries/deaths could be from the stampede that may have occurred in an effort to get out the venue…which is one of the reasons why terrorist target venues like this…a stampede is an “added benefit”…smh

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    everybody take turns telling us that they don’t know what the hell happened, but then they go on to tell us just exactly what might have happened, or what would have happened if something that didn’t happen had happened, and they go on and on and on.

    Their motto: “It would be irresponsible not to speculate.”

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Oy

    Tom Winter‏Verified account @ Tom_Winter 14m14 minutes ago
    NBC News: UK authorities suspect a possible suicide bomber responsible for incident at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester sources say.

    ETA: “suspect” and “possible”, but if gov’t authorities are going that far, it’s not good, I’m afraid.

  45. 45.

    Just Somebody

    @SiubhanDuinne: MSNBC reporting on it as a likely suicide bombing is providing aid to the (probable) terrorists?

    How so?

    I’m pretty confident that Chris Hayes and Malcom Nance aren’t trying to further the RWNJ agenda.

  46. 46.

    JMG

    Police now stating explosion was outside the arena. In my former sportswriting life, after 9/11 I took a keen personal interest in venue security, and anyone can see that security before an event is about 1000 times greater than it is when people are leaving it.

  48. 48.

    ThresherK

    Manchester Arena is a 21,000 seat indoor place, ergo roughly the size of an NBA/NHL arena in the US.

    This is not Etihad Stadium (Man City) or Old Trafford (Man U), quite larger places.

  49. 49.

    John Weiss

    @zhena gogolia: How can you say that? Who else but some monster would have done this to people it didn’t ever know? Terrorist?! Monster.

    jw

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @Just Somebody:

    You mean other than the fact that half the point of committing a terrorist act is to get as much publicity as possible?

    Not to mention that the American news media reporting breathlessly on a (possible, unconfirmed) terrorist attack in England without any actual information helps US viewers how, exactly?

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    On CNN they’re saying it’s near Victoria Station, which is a big tube/bus/train station. We stayed in a hotel that’s over Victoria Station when we went to England in 2006. Oh, man…..how horrible.

  55. 55.

    John Weiss

    @zhena gogolia: How can you say that? Who else but some monster would have done this to people it didn’t ever know? Terrorist?! Monster.

    jw@raven: Oh, right you are, Raven. I’ve had the privilege, if I can call it that, of witnessing several transformer explosions. They are certainly a problem for the squirrels that cause them but not for anyone else. Fake news, rampant speculation at it’s finest.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @John Weiss:

    Because the initial reports were that it was an electrical transformer that exploded accidentally, and there still hasn’t been any information that it definitely was a terrorist atttack. It could very well have been a terrible accident rather than a deliberate act.

    Take a deep breath while we wait for more information.

  59. 59.

    lamh36

    I am trying to keep up on only on “sourced” things, but also knowing to take it as GRAIN OF SALT reporting…ya know…

    @DavidBegnaud 14m14 minutes ago
    More
    CBS News confirms there were two explosions at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, Englad – the devices contained nails.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    @lamh36:

    BREAKING: US officials briefed on Manchester explosion say UK authorities investigating arena incident as possible suicide bombing.

    Is it just me or is this whole incident oddly timed just right for the Conservatives?

    Maybot just melted down during a softball interview and Labor looked to have a shot at winning.

    And now the Conservative strong point “security” just happens on the same day?

    What are the odds?

    /The worst part is that this is the first thing that came to mind instead of the victims, because this is how far down the shitpile things have gone. When the 7/7 bombings happened, it didn’t even cross my mind to wonder who benefited from it.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Just Somebody:

    I’m pretty confident that Chris Hayes and Malcom Nance aren’t trying to further the RWNJ agenda.

    It’s not that they are actively trying to further the RWNJ agenda, or indeed any agenda. What they are trying to further is the most dramatic, exciting, shocking, headline-grabbing, conspiracy-mongering, click-generating narrative they possibly can, and more often than not, that aligns with terrorist motives.

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    Cheeto has been briefed…let’s hope he STICKS TO A DAMN SCRIPT!!!

    And doesn’t create an incident!!

  63. 63.

    GregB

    One of the negative things about driving ISIS out of their Iraqi and Syrian strongholds is that it frees up these fucking ghouls drift back into the rest of world to deliver their ghastly message abroad.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Just Somebody:

    The U.K. media? Of course not — they have specific information that people in the UK may need to know.

    The US media? Why do they need to whip us into a frenzy of fear over something that happened in the U.K. when we’re not quite sure what happened yet?

  65. 65.

    PaulWartenberg

    @TenguPhule:

    that’s the problem. you just know the Murdoch-controlled media outlets and papers will scream 24/7 their fear and rage to make it seem like this was all Labour’s fault and that of the dreaded Other.

  66. 66.

    Origuy

    The Guardian has just revealed their Tuesday front page; the headline reads “Murder in Manchester: at least 19 die in arena attack”. Looks like they’re pretty confident it was deliberate.

  67. 67.

    Just Somebody

    I really hope that it was just a horrible accident. But if it does turn out to be a terrorist attack, can anybody really say that they’re shocked that this sort of thing could happen? It’s the shitty world live in. And it sucks that, if this does wind up being an ISIS attack, it will undoubtedly be used as ammo by Islamophobic wingnut assholes to denigrate 20% of the entire human population.

  68. 68.

    lamh36

    I do appreciate folks like Malcolm Nance and his expertise. He’s always a measured voice compared to who they used to have on MSNBC.

    He’s on the phone with Chris Hayes now.

    I’m dreading what Brian Williams dumb azz will say, but I don’t plan to watch that bullshit show…I haven’t so far, and I won’t be starting now..

  71. 71.

    Gin & Tonic

    @lamh36: Malcolm Nance is good at speculating on TV, bu if he told me the sun was shining I’d walk outside to check.

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    @Just Somebody:

    But if it does turn out to be a terrorist attack, can anybody really say that they’re shocked that this sort of thing could happen?

    Well they certainly picked the right time for it. Right before a snap election with Conservatives melting down from a complete clusterfuck of a manifesto & a PM who’s so incompetent that they don’t dare let her go off script in public. Just the thing to boost Conservative voters to the polls, Fear.

    Odds are that if it was terrorism, its a homegrown radicalized one.

  75. 75.

    Mnemosyne

    @Just Somebody:

    You seem pretty freaked out by it. Did you really need this dose of fear in your life if it does end up being an accident?

    And if it was a terrorist attack, what will you be able to do about it from the US?

  76. 76.

    lamh36

    FUQ YOU GERALDO!

    @GeraldoRivera

    Many terrorists arrested in mowing down of pedestrians outside Westminster London in March were from #Manchester hotbed of Islamic radicals

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    And people in this thread are wondering why I was saying, Hey, maybe the US media should hold back and figure out what happened before freaking out.

  79. 79.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I love Chris Hayes, but this show tonight is just pissing me off. It isn’t like we don’t have news he could be talking aboout that we do know; but instead, they’re all blathering on about shit they really don’t have the first damned clue about. I hate this reaction. And to be fair, pretty much all news does it. I just wish they’d tell us what they know and then leave it alone until they lean something more. It seems like disaster porn.

  82. 82.

    Jay Noble

    Wanna bet we hear something to the effect it was a warm up for an attempt on Trump and he’s headed home?

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roger Moore:

    Having now read a few comments from Just Somebody (and responded to one), I have realised we are dealing with an annoying troll here. Let’s not feed him any more than we already have, okay?

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jay Noble:

    Wanna bet we hear something to the effect it was a warm up for an attempt on Trump and he’s headed home?

    Well, that’s one way to cut short a trip he never wanted to go on in the first place.

    Too soon?

  85. 85.

    Just Somebody

    @Mnemosyne: I’m not at all freaked out by it.

    I hope it wasn’t terrorism, but I won’t be shocked if it is.

    As far as what I’ll “do” about it, probably nothing, because there’s nothing I can do. I’ll lament the fact that frothing at the mouth Trumplings will latch onto this to further their Islamophobic worldview, and I’ll urge reasonable people to not allow incidents like this to color their opinion of an entire religion, 99.99% of whose adherents abhor these tragedied as much as non-Muslims do.

  89. 89.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The pustule on the ass of humanity that goes by the name of Jerry Rivers says this is the work of wild Muslims. Without so much as an atom of fact to support his assertion.

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: Many terrorists arrested in mowing down of pedestrians outside Westminster London in March were from #Manchester hotbed of Islamic radicals

    wasn’t that one guy with a history of DUIs and petty crimes?

  93. 93.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Origuy: Right now the theory is a suicide bomber who planned the attack for when the audience was exiting the auditorium. No word on motive. This won’t stop the morans of the MSM from going batshit with theories. Remember when OKC was obviously the work of Mooslimbs?

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh36:

    Cheeto has been briefed.

    Trying to figure out how they worked his name into every paragraph about an event that took place in Manchester, UK, some 2,400 miles from where he is.

  95. 95.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @? ?? Goku ? ?: You should not care what he says, and that’s the name he went by when he started out. You know him as Geraldo Rivera, eternal scumbag.

  97. 97.

    lamh36

    Let’s see if Rachel is better…

    BTW, Folks are tweeting out pic of family members who were at the venue for the concert…

    @DavidBegnaud

    Follow
    More
    CBS News confirms a large group of young girls are among the 19 dead following alleged terror attack at Ariana Grande concert in England

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Trying to figure out how they worked his name into every paragraph about an event that took place in Manchester, UK, some 2,400 miles from where he is.

    “Manchester (which is far closer to Scotland, where Trump’s mother was born, than London is)….

  100. 100.

    lamh36

    @Villago Delenda Est: A response to Geraldo…

    Glenn Kitson‏ @Glenn_Kitson

    Glenn Kitson Retweeted Geraldo Rivera
    Manchester Muslim doctors working through the night, Manchester Muslim taxi drivers taking people home for free. You don’t know Manchester.

  102. 102.

    eric

    @lamh36: he knows manchester just like every RWNJ knows what they know: they just know it! so there. it is not simply epistemic closure, it is a collective delusion amplified by epistemic closure. Fuckers!

  105. 105.

    lamh36

    I don’t understand the need to have Cheeto say anything…to be honest, I hope he stays quiet UNTIL Manchester official give their statements…

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36:

    I hope he stays quiet UNTIL Manchester official give their statements…

    I agree with you, but the odds that the mango menace behaves decently and tactfully are rather slim.

  110. 110.

    TenguPhule

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    No disrespect meant to the victims, only to the current POTUS.

    And I get that. But that Cheeto Bonito is gonna stick his fat white nose in it, sure as water is wet. And its not going to be a laughing matter.

  122. 122.

    Alexander

    I’m from Manchester. Was in the city centre the last time a bomb went off. Many years ago. ’96, I guess. IRA. No one died then, though…

  125. 125.

    Raven Onthill

    Teresa May says the police are investigating as a terrorist act, but I’m not so sure…crazed misogynist (another sort of terrorism, really, but the cops are probably thinking Islamic) seems to me also a possibility.

  126. 126.

    ? ?? Goku ? ?

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: 12 for Iraq surge. 10 for Katrina. 9/11 I barely remember For a year or so afterwards, things were real weird. Then Iraq happened. Can still see those tan Humvees on the CNN in my mind

  131. 131.

    FlyingToaster

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I was 12. It fucked up our afterschool tv-watching — the only channel not preempted was showing Hanna Barbera followed by Speed Racer followed by Batman followed by Ultraman. IIRC. My then 7-year-old brother was in heaven, and I had to go practice the clarinet and do homework.

    I do NOT miss the 1970s. Nixon poised the whole damn decade.

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