Amplifying on the &quot;stupid&quot;:<p>It&#x27;s stupid to screw around with improvised explosives, absent a <i>really</i> compelling need.  Lots of subtle dangers, like static electricity, lots of people kill themselves trying it.<p>It&#x27;s stupid to plant them in a venue with a zillion cameras in operation.<p>It&#x27;s stupid to kill a police officer and not have the wherewithal to take his gun because of its retention holster, without even using a knife to remove it from his belt, or, hey, just undo the belt, to try harder later.<p>It&#x27;s stupid to release the guy who&#x27;s car you hijacked for a while.<p>It&#x27;s stupid to attack a part of the country that&#x27;s notoriously mostly on your side (in the <i>National Lampoon&#x27;s</i> General Alexander Haig Jr. Republican Map of the World the Boston area was one of three that shared the color of the Warsaw Pact).  Not to mention enrage them enough so that the jury votes for the death penalty.<p>Etc.  The were not the smartest jihadists in the drawer.<p>Of course, plenty of the above depends on believing the Official Story, but it does paint a consistent picture.<p>I&#x27;d add that I&#x27;m hardly resistant to government conspiracies, they just have to make sense.  E.g. the immolation of the religious dissidents in Waco sure looks like it was pre-planned <i>by a very small number</i> of members of the FBI&#x27;s Hostage &quot;Rescue&quot; Team.  Means, motive, opportunity, all in alignment, and it could be done by a small enough group that they could keep the secret to their graves.<p>What is the claimed alternative Boston Marathon Bombing motive here?  How was it even vaguely commensurate with the consequences if discovered?  What does Occam&#x27;s Razor suggest?  Etc.