protecting the citizens

The two areas would have the same rate statistical probability of a person being the victim of a crime.  While the more populated area has more criminals, it also has more law-abiding victims so the chances of the victims remain the same in both places.  If you have a pitcher of a five percent sodium solution and you fill a small and a big glass, the big glass will contain more salt, but if you drink from them they will both be equally salty.


I think those gravel trucks were to protect the spectators and the marchers, I guess from somebody who would drive an explosives laden,vehicle or maybe just some rented truck as has been done a few times lately.  But I was thinking how often do the terrorists attack some big event, and I think the answer to that is never.  Then I thought of those kids who bombed that Boston race,  Those gravel trucks wouldn't have made any difference there.  On the other hand their device was pretty amateurish, and I think they only killed a couple people. 

And what kind of terrorists were they?  They spoke the language of Jihad but they weren't affiliated with any group.  In a way these people, call them amateur terrorists, are more dangerous because they can't be tracked the way professional terrorists, terrorists belonging to a group, can be, on the other hand their weapons are not as potent as the professionals.  I would roughly say that the difference between amateur and professional terrorism is the potency of the explosives. 

Those big terrorist events, the truck laden with explosives driving through a barricade happen in the mideast seems like all the time.  Well that is chiefly where the terrorists are fighting their wars, primarily Sunni vs Shia.  If the bomb kills a bunch of the other side and scares the ones who aren't killed that is a point for their side,  If they come here and kill a bunch of Americans what have they gained?  Nothing.  I'm thinking offhand that nothing big has happened here since the twin towers, and what did that gain?  What military objective did it achieve?  It got Al Qaeda driven out of Afghanistan and Bin Laden ultimately killed.  Well it did get us into a totally pointless war in Iraq, and whatever we are still doing in Afghanistan, but I don't think that was something foreseen by Bin Laden, just our personal national bad.

Going about my normal life I fear the guy talking on his cellphone while driving much more than I fear any terrorists.  Those gravel laden trucks strike me as a big waste of money, but maybe they make some feel good, like their government is protecting them.