June 13, 2013

It appears that nearly all of my working assumptions concerning what happened in Boston on April 15, 2013 have been proven wrong. Before beginning this journey, I had thought that recent claims that crisis actors have been involved in these type of incidents were pretty far-fetched, to say the least. But I was wrong (which I can occasionally force myself to admit).

My next assumption, in the early days of my investigation, was that there were only a few actors planted in the crowd, specifically the Jeff Bauman and Associates grouping (hence the title and initial focus of this series), who were there to inflict maximum trauma on the American people through the display of unbelievably graphic disfigurement. But I was wrong again.

My thinking next evolved into the belief that the Boston incident had been run as a drill/training exercise which was sold to the American people, and the world, as a real attack. But I appear to have been wrong about that as well, because it has become perfectly obvious that this crime scene was in no way handled like a real crisis situation should be handled. And if it was, then we’re in a lot of trouble if there ever is a real attack on these shores.

Since 9-11, this country has spent untold billions of dollars conducting disaster-training exercises so that first responders will be equipped to deal with real mass-casualty events. If what happened in Boston is an accurate representation of what all that money has bought, then we have a serious problem here. It’s not very reassuring to learn that, if I happen to find myself a victim of such an attack, and if I have the misfortune of having both my legs blown off, I will likely be allowed to bleed out unattended on the pavement while dozens of responders stand idly by. And if I happen to find myself in traumatic arrest, fighting for my last breaths, I will likely be ignored for even longer – though a cute girl may stop by for a photo-op.

As will become increasingly obvious over the course of the next couple posts, the ‘responders’ on the scene were not real first-responders being trained and tested for disaster preparedness. No, they were in fact every bit as fake as the purported victims. No one on the scene seems to have known how to respond to or react to a real mass-casualty event. The scene that played out was, I have to say, pretty comical at times.

Let’s now get back to where we left off. As will be recalled, Dr. Panter had just slipped into the Lenscrafters building and Carlos was beginning to climb over the scaffolding. The next view that Tang gives us is an almost completely worthless foreground shot, which I have cropped to highlight the only elements that seem to be of any interest. First of all, can that temporary fencing really be considered a “metal and wood barrier”? Does anyone honestly believe that it would offer any protection at all if a real bomb were to be detonated? Also, the only guy who had been in that area who did not leave the scene fairly quickly looks seriously sketchy.

Tang’s next image is an infinitely fascinating one. We see that Dr. Panter has now made his way over to the victim’s circle but he still has his jacket slung across his shoulders and isn’t quite ready to start saving any lives yet. Hilariously, he has just passed by three elderly people who are supposedly seriously injured – with one of them looking like he’s knocking on death’s door – without showing the slightest bit of concern. He is though checking in with one of our Scream Queens.

The bald guy in the dark hoody continues to randomly wander around. The big guy in the center of the image with the backwards baseball cap and the white “Team Keryn” T-shirt is a professional loiterer as well. The guy between the two of them, in the red jacket, is also a bit of a loiterer. He though is at least pretending to provide assistance to someone – a woman who is supposed to be his wife and who he has been working on continuously since the smoke cleared. No one is even pretending to help any of the other victims on the scene.

Meanwhile, Carlos is now trampling the fencing while attempting to get over it. Just beyond him, on the other side of the fence, is our favorite photographer. While there, he will get his ‘iconic’ photo of Nicole as well as the photo of Carlos leaning back against the fence surveying the scene.

Next up we see that Carlos is now inside the barrier but he has restored the fence, disguising the fact that he just came trampling over it. Dr. Panter is now passing nonchalantly by Jeff Bauman, who he can’t help but notice. It couldn’t really be any more obvious that Panter is fully aware that this is not a real crisis situation. There is an old guy who looks dead just inches from him, another guy with no legs just a few feet away, and a half-dead girl maybe ten feet away, but the good doctor still isn’t ready to lend a hand just yet.

Moving on, we find that Dr. Panter was apparently unable to find anyone in need of assistance so he is walking away from the scene. The Director is now standing over the dead-looking old guy, but he doesn’t seem to be too concerned. It is difficult to discern much else.

In the next image in the series, the entire victims’ area appears to have been blurred out, so it’s difficult to say what is going on. It’s unclear whether the heroic Dr. Panter has wandered off the scene or if he is just lost in the haze. The Team Keryn guy is donating his belt to the guy in the red jacket, who already used his own belt. And the gal in the brown sweatshirt is, shockingly, running around screaming.

The next shot gives us more of the same, with a haze hanging over the victims’ area.

In the next image we get a clearer view, but it appears that Tang has excised a number of shots from his collection. According to the race clock, the two preceding images were taken just one second apart, but now we have a gap of eighteen seconds between the last frame and the following one. We can see that Panter is back on the scene but he still has his jacket across his shoulders and he continues to show a complete lack of concern for any of the alleged victims. And Carlos, needless to say, hasn’t yet begun to save Jeff’s life. The smoky haze is still lingering over the scene, but only where the victims are gathered.

Moving on, we find that Panter has finally taken off his jacket and may be ready now to pretend to help someone. Carlos though is still on break. The Director is absurdly standing right in the center of the action, doing nothing. All of our Scream Queens and professional loiterers are gathered to the left, with the lady in the checkered coat doing a fine job of emoting. The police have arrived, but they’re not rushing to help anyone.

Next up we have The Director still standing center-stage, right next to legless Jeff, who no one has yet shown any concern for. Panter has now decided that Mery Daniel is the patient most in need of his attention, Carlos is meditating, and the loiterers are continuing to loiter. Meanwhile, the older guy to the far left is using a time-honored method of reviving an unresponsive patient – stand over them, cup your hands, and yell at them really loudly.

We now pull back a bit to take a better look at the bizarre smoke column centered over the victims’ area. I can see no logical reason why that should be there. Did someone start a campfire to keep everyone warm? For there to be smoke still being generated, something would have to be smoldering on the ground. But why then does no one seem concerned with putting it out? And why has no one moved away to avoid breathing the presumably toxic smoke? Why is no one shielding their face to filter out the smoke? Why does everyone act as though it’s not really there at all?

The next image is largely more of the same – more unexplained smokiness, more loitering, more emoting by the gal in the checkered coat, and more failure by the police to make any effort to secure the crime scene. Carlos though is off break now and doing a little demo work. The fire department is now on the scene, but apparently not to put out the smoldering fire that is producing all of the smoke.

Tang next cuts away to a completely worthless shot that I don’t really have much to say about, but I am including every shot in the collection lest I be accused of deliberately leaving something out.

We now return to the scene to find that Tang has hoodwinked us. While he was cutting away to that worthless foreground shot, a full 27 seconds elapsed. What we have seen then so far in this post is a series of images shot very quickly, followed by an unexplained 18-second gap, which in turn was followed by four images captured in just thirteen seconds, which were followed by an unexplained 27-second gap in which we got just one pointless foreground shot. Clearly Tang is hiding something from us.

There are now far more responders on the scene. In the background, a number of people, none of them police personnel, are actively working to keep outsiders off the scene. Did someone deputize these people? Carlos is still not quite ready to save Jeff’s life. In the upper right corner, we see that the Craft crew arrived on the scene while Tang was taking a break. And Dr. Levine as well. We also see that there is nothing preventing vehicles from pulling up to the scene, and therefore no valid reason to parade the victims down the street for the cameras.

Next up we find our favorite photographer getting ready to move on after capturing yet another of the images that has appeared in this series (he is behind the railing and appears to have just snapped the shot of the victim lying in front of the undamaged paper sign). Carlos continues to fiddle with the scaffolding while ludicrously still holding his flag. The Director, all three Scream Queens and all the professional loiterers continue to linger on the scene, though they clearly have no business being there and they are accomplishing nothing other than frequently getting in the way.

Moving in closer, we can see that Dr. Levine has now arrived, but he isn’t in too big of a hurry just yet to offer any assistance. Victims either lie unattended or are being worked on by civilians. Apparently civilians were authorized to provide medical assistance and tend to crowd control at this event. Someone though really should check on the old guy in the left foreground. Or at least move him before someone trips over him. I’d hate to see anyone get injured.

Let’s now see what kind of absurdities we can find in the next image. Right off the bat, it’s hard not to notice Dr. Levine cheerfully waving to someone while continuing to show no concern whatsoever for the injured victims all around him. The old guy is now surrounded by professional looking responders, but still no one seems to care enough to check up on him. Carlos continues to rescue Jeff by wrestling with the scaffolding. And the guy in the red jacket is still trying to get that tourniquet around his wife’s leg.

This next image will be the last for this post. Dr. Levine is now looking up at the Lenscrafters building, which was a popular thing to do at the time. You can see the FBI-looking guy in the upper right corner doing the same thing, as is the guy in blue just behind Levine. Curiously, the only part of the image that is obscured by smoke is the general area where we know that Campbell and Rand are awaiting medical attention.

In the next installment, we’ll find out whether Carlos will stop wrestling with the scaffolding long enough to rescue Jeff Bauman, whether Dr. Panter will realize that Krystle Campbell is dying, whether the guy in the dark hoody will ever find a purpose in life, whether Dr. Levine will ever decide to use his medical expertise to help out, and whether the Scream Queen in the pink vest will use that bottle of water in her hand to put out the smoldering fire that keeps obscuring our view of the only alleged fatality on the scene. Stay tuned.