I think there is still a reference in post # 30 to post #23 (second paragraph) that now references post # 22.
Its not being jaded. Its the media not wanting to report/ dwell on facts that might cause people to vote the “wrong” way (again). Your judgement that it “should have” isn’t shared by the people who decide what gets on the air. That goes from top to bottom. Most journalists are simply stealth activists, and aren’t interested in talking about things that get in the way of their agenda. Events like these are Exhibit A. They(the events) steer the immigration debate away from the direction they(the media elite) want to push it.
The guy was investigated by federal agents in 2015 regarding ties to enemies of the US. Its not clear to me why we have to sit back and wait for these things to happen. He has a green card, but we should be able to toss the guy out on his butt if it appears he’s up to no good, or even just approves of it. Here’s a link to an old article that discusses immigrant rights, and a provision to remove them if necessary. It’s apparently never been used, but I think we should dust it off.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2001/09/do_noncitizens_have_constitutional_rights.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Alien_Terrorist_Removal_Court
This fellow represents diversity that we don’t need more of. I hope someone is keeping and eye on his family and aquaintances. Lets use this court.
I think it IS being jaded. I admit my reaction to this was pretty muted, mainly due to Las Vegas and other incidents that took far more lives. If anything i had a personal reaction because it is the city I am from, that i grew up in, and I have biked on that bike path many times.
But really when in the past month or so there’s been so much carnage, here (Las Vegas plus innumerable other shootings) and abroad (Mogadishu? More than 350 people killed there in 2 attacks), I admit a certain fatigue does set in. Obviously I am more likely to be on a bike path in Manhattan than a market in Mogadishu, but the scale is…less.
I’ll be in NYC soon, for an event that draws many people. I imagine the security will be even tighter than it would have been before.
I’m very sad for the people who lost their lives in this attack. But it does compete with a lot of tragedies for my attention.
I don’t know what it means that he’s from Uzbekistan, as was the driver in Sweden who hijacked a truck and drove it onto a pedestrian street. Maybe just a sad coincidence.
@OHMomof2 - do you think this was a foreshadowing of something to happen during the NYC marathon?
I don’t think it is being jaded. I just think that this tragedy is not as shocking as some others. We have seen this type of terrorism in other cities recently, so now seeing it in a city that is known to be a big target doesn’t come as a big shock, it is something that is now part of our consciousness. I think the first time a vehicle was used like this in a terrorist attack, it was shocking because it was unexpected. But now we know to look for this type of thing. So while this attack is frightening and sad and tragic, it is not shocking.
As for Las Vegas, while mass shootings are not new, this attack, from a hotel window onto a large crowd did seem new and therefore more shocking. And because it is so hard to fathom what would cause that guy to shoot so many strangers, it stayed with us longer. With the bike path attack, sadly we know the motivation.
Ahh, so we have to rely on shock factor now? How many comments above in reference to what makes an incident “memorable/worthy” now??? (not just referring to @wisteria100 statement)
That almost makes me physically ill.
I genuinely have become distraught at all incidents. Because honestly…it makes me feel like it’s “only a matter of time” before one of the incidents will personally affect you - in your town, your family, your friends, your religion, your occupation…I can’t get past that awful uneasy feeling. I fully support not stopping your life/activity, but it’s really, really sad - and not letting up at all, that the likelihood of being affected is on the increase from years past.
@jym626 no clue. But NYC has large scale events going on all the time - T-day parade coming up, Rock Ctr tree lighting, the marathon, etc. Security is certainly higher at these than just a normal day on the river park bike path.
Well said. Maybe that’s what I meant.
I was in Cambridge for a street festival recently. Noted that police vehicles were parked across all intersections. I knew why. Boston has already been there with a terrorist attack, it’s taking all the precautions now. As I assume NYC also does, and maybe most cities, since the Nice attack at least. It was still sad to see and think about.
@abasket I think you have totally misconstrued what I was trying to say.
Because it did not shock me, doesn’t mean it’s not as you put it “memorable/worthy”. And because it is 8 dead and not 58, like in Vegas, does not make it any less tragic. But, I can understand this one, much better than the Vegas attack.
fwiw - I do think some heads should roll over there being no physical barrier blocking the road way from the bike path. There are barriers all over the city. Surprising there was nothing here
Barriers are unsightly, they take away usable road space, and they cost $$ to install. People hate them because they limit their use of roads and paths. Maybe it is time to rethink…
Barriers don’t have to be ugly and unsightly though (it doesn’t have to be a jersey barrier) and the cost isn’t really that high, surely not as high as the costs from the costs in terms of labor and money that will be spent on this one incident alone.
There are ways to design barriers that don’t allow vehicular traffic but allow for pedestrians and cyclists without limitations. Yes, we need to rethink in light of the world as it stands now.
^^Actually in some cities, NYC included, they use in some spots, large stone planters filled with flowers or other plants.
I was a little surprised a truck could fit on the path, most of it is divided (walkers, each direction for cyclists, etc). I suppose trucks need to get onto it occasionally for maintenance or whatever. And the path varies depending on what is around it. Last time I rode it that area was a mess of construction and I had to get off the path to continue south. I guess that’s over.
You are right, @OHMomof2 - NYC has many large scale events, and is prepped with higher security for them. Times sure have changed since that day in the fall of 1969, my very first time driving in NYC, when there happened that very day to be a 5,000 person Anti-Vietnam/ Moratorium march From Columbia down Fifth Avenue, with speeches by Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern, and performances by Peter Paul @ Mary, Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie. I was so afraid I was going to run over a protester that I probably didn’t pay any attention to the degree of security. But now, I see large planters blocking the entrance to my synagogue, to the entrance to the CDC, the headquarters of many large companies in my city. We live in a very different world. It makes me painfully sad that we can’t feel safe riding on a bike path or listening to an outdoor concert.
*** cross posted about the “planters”. Everyone knows why they are there, and it makes it harder to enter the facilities (which is their purpose, to block vehicles, but still…)
Geez. Rolling my eyes. Why some folks feel the need to go into attack mode?! Really? I am not arguing that barriers are not needed. I am explaining why there were no barriers in the first place. All barriers are unsighty compared to open space. And if you have a shoulder path that goes along a roadway without a divider, any barrier will take away either a chunk of the road width or a chunk of the path width or both.
Nobody is going “into attack mode”. It’s called expressing an opinion. 
Opinions are not presented in the form of arguments.
Take a look at the aerial photo of the area. The path runs alongside a busy street. There is a small divider with trees, but there appears to be a few areas where a car or a truck can enter the path from that busy street by running through that median. A LOT of planters will be needed.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/31/us/timeline-new-york-attack/index.html
One of the victims is a Belgian woman who was the mother of children aged 3 months and 3 years. Of course, the death of every human being by violence is sad, but somehow for me the loss of a mother of two very young children is especially horrific.
Some low budget and not unsightly barriers include boulders.
We had trouble in my old neighborhood with drunk drivers going up on the median and hitting the neighborhood sign or the brick piers that held it up. After the second time, we put a half circle of small boulders in front of the flowers in front of the sign. It’s like a little tank trap!