[News] Bombings in Brussels

In the proud tradition of "Absurd news from Belgium": the terrorists took the taxi to the airport. The taxi driver recognized them from security footage and this helped the police to quickly find the place they made the bombs - apparently no-one thought it was a bad idea to take the taxi right in front of their Den of Evil, still fool of bomb-making materials and their buddies. That's not the absurd part. They'd ordered a large taxi, but when it showed up, it was a smaller one. They couldn't fit their 5 explosive suitcases in the trunk, so they only took three and left the other two behind. They could've taken a second cab, they could've waited for a bit, they could've rented a car in the first place, they could've put the suitcases on their laps, but no - their solution? Just leave 40% of their payload behind.

Belgian terrorists, ladies and gentlemen. Not the sharpest tools in the shed.
 
In the proud tradition of "Absurd news from Belgium": the terrorists took the taxi to the airport. The taxi driver recognized them from security footage and this helped the police to quickly find the place they made the bombs - apparently no-one thought it was a bad idea to take the taxi right in front of their Den of Evil, still fool of bomb-making materials and their buddies. That's not the absurd part. They'd ordered a large taxi, but when it showed up, it was a smaller one. They couldn't fit their 5 explosive suitcases in the trunk, so they only took three and left the other two behind. They could've taken a second cab, they could've waited for a bit, they could've rented a car in the first place, they could've put the suitcases on their laps, but no - their solution? Just leave 40% of their payload behind.

Belgian terrorists, ladies and gentlemen. Not the sharpest tools in the shed.
On the one hand, Belgium just got bombed. On the other hand, this was quite amusing.

So... damn you, Belgium terrorists, for making me laugh at a deadly attack!
 
In the proud tradition of "Absurd news from Belgium": the terrorists took the taxi to the airport. The taxi driver recognized them from security footage and this helped the police to quickly find the place they made the bombs - apparently no-one thought it was a bad idea to take the taxi right in front of their Den of Evil, still fool of bomb-making materials and their buddies. That's not the absurd part. They'd ordered a large taxi, but when it showed up, it was a smaller one. They couldn't fit their 5 explosive suitcases in the trunk, so they only took three and left the other two behind. They could've taken a second cab, they could've waited for a bit, they could've rented a car in the first place, they could've put the suitcases on their laps, but no - their solution? Just leave 40% of their payload behind.

Belgian terrorists, ladies and gentlemen. Not the sharpest tools in the shed.
Thank God they didn't use Uber? They would have dispatched a big enough vehicle! Thank you for terrible Taxi service in Belgium where you order a big car, and get a small one?

Where do you go with this?
 
This is where more of us realize that terrorists aren't as clever and cunning as they're portrayed in movies, but that they're just as bumbling and inept as everybody else, stumbling their way through their half-assed plans. Only instead of home renovations they're just tearing crap down, which is so much easier.

The are no terrorist masterminds. Not in the sense of a Moriarty. Not at all.

They're just stupid redneck assholes.
 
This is where more of us realize that terrorists aren't as clever and cunning as they're portrayed in movies, but that they're just as bumbling and inept as everybody else, stumbling their way through their half-assed plans. Only instead of home renovations they're just tearing crap down, which is so much easier.

The are no terrorist masterminds. Not in the sense of a Moriarty. Not at all.

They're just stupid redneck assholes.
Like in this movie
 
Hey, @Bubble181 now that we're a month in, what's happened so far?

--Patrick
Let's see.
All of the subways and other public transportation run again on their normal scheduling hours, Maalbeek is open for the public again, though there's still a lot of police and soldiers hanging around/guarding the bigger (and occasionally smaller) stations.
The airport's re-opened, and the traffic directors decided that literally the first week after re-opening was a great time for a strike, since they might have to work longer than 'till 55. Poor poor them (they earn about €12.000 a month, which puts them in the 1% of the 1% in Belgium, higher paid than ministers and congressmen.). Other people working to get the airport up and running again were not pleased.
There was a whole lot of political blame game and recuperation going on, in the "your security didn't track known terrorists" vs "you always ignored radicalization in the name of political correctness" vs "you insisted on cutting budgets for security" and so on - one minister had to leave her post over it (she'd been funneling money earmarked for airport security to....hey, look at that, the flight directors. Bunch of ***holes).
The hospitality sector in Brussels - hotels, bars, restaurants, museums - are all suffering quite badly, with some hotels having occupancy rates of around 20% and restaurants reporting (up to) 80% loss of revenue - there's a whole bunch of different and competing marketing actions already starting to make Brussels popular again and yadayada, we'll see.
In all, 34 people died, a few are still in a coma, most of the wounded are up and about again.
 
12 people arrested after a night of 154 house searches; clear and specific plans found for terrorist attacks during today's football match. No explosives found yet, though....
 
Not really worth its own thread: an attempted suicide bomber was shot dead in Brussels Central Station yesterday evening. He tried to blow up his suitcase but only part of the charge went off, and he was "neutralized" (cough) before he could blow his bomb belt.
Only one casualty, the perpatrator. Minor damage to the station, but trains are already passing through like normal.
 
Not really worth its own thread: an attempted suicide bomber was shot dead in Brussels Central Station yesterday evening. He tried to blow up his suitcase but only part of the charge went off, and he was "neutralized" (cough) before he could blow his bomb belt.
Only one casualty, the perpatrator. Minor damage to the station, but trains are already passing through like normal.
Kati mentioned that to me last night, we were trying to figure if the uptick was due to it being Summer.

--Patrick
 
Nah, not particularly. There's a clear uptick in faux-muslim terrorism during and around the Ramadan, since it's supposed to be the period of the year where your good deeds count for most, you're supposed to repent/rectify mistakes of the past year, and you're generally supposed to be more concerned about/with your faith. There's a mosque in my street and you can very clearly see the higher amount of people going to prayer meetings and so on this time of year and the higher amount of people donning traditional garb - a bit like "Easter-and-Christmas" christians.
While suicide bombers are very much being taught misguided interpretations of the Quran, the "this is the time to do it!" and "repent and change your ways!" vibe is an easy stepping stone. Possibly combined with hunger and thirst making for slightly less intelligent decision making, I guess.
 
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