“Navy veteran and former bomb disposal officer Tom Sauer weighed in with his expertise and thinks these bombs are not much more sophisticated than Clock Boy’s “cool clock.””
——————
3. Bottom Line: Whoever made that wanted it to be painfully obvious to anyone and everyone that it's a "bomb."
This is nearly the same as a bundle of road flares wrapped together with an old-timey alarm clock ticking away.
Regarding our conversation early this morning on yesterday’s thread— Yes, a large economic movement by a major player has consequences for the whole world economy. However, the argument is that China largely insulated itself artificially during the Great Recession, and did not have the very painful reset that other large economies endured. So during the past 10 years, our economies have become more robust, but China’s, while large and impressive, is still quite fragile and vulnerable.
China is a communist country. I know that’s a fact that Never-Trumpers and their wild west, free trading cohorts like to minimize or forget, but, while there may be trade, there is no such thing as ‘free trade’ with a communist country. There is a price to be paid for ignoring these plain facts.
In the real news of the day, I see where Megyn Kelly is having trouble of some sort over at NBC. Don’t know much about it, but it looks bad. (I got this from Drudge.)
I wonder how many of those hundreds or thousands of Honduran migrants making their way here were ‘lifted out of poverty’ by CAFTA and other multi-national, free trade agreements championed by globalists. Or were they just forced off their lands where they subsisted well enough with their own farming skills, and herded into cities where their families were at the mercy of multi-national corporations.
Huffington Post is a source I probably have not looked at twice in 5 years, but this old article from 2014 is as relevant now as it was then—maybe more. It is surprisingly insightful, though of course, I do not agree with much of its concluding calls to action.
….We spoke to community, union, women’s, and children’s groups, the Honduran government, our embassy. Amazingly, all confirm a unified story—an economy in collapse, widespread violations of minimum wage and all social protection laws, small farmers forced from their land, subsistence farming replaced by African palm and the jobs created in maquila zones dwarfed by the numbers forced to leave ancestral lands and travel to cities already jammed.
The subsistence farmers or campesinos describe how they are pushed from land where they grew beans or corn. Now it is corporate farms growing African palm for sale to US and other multinationals, while Honduras imports beans from the U.S. or even Ethiopia, and the campesinos line up for work at factories far from their homes. There are not enough jobs and 70% pay under the poverty level minimum wage while labor inspectors say they are outnumbered by the violations….
HRW, some of us are trying to avoid that second Civil War through dialogue and reasoning our way through the political fog.
And here’s the daily snippet from ‘Common Good Conservatism’ by RR Reno at First Things. This portion begins to address what I perceive as a core value of political conservatism: political sovereignty.
Still another warning sign: Thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, voters are turning against American-led globalization. They see it undermining their prosperity and robbing them of political sovereignty. This rebellion is underway throughout the West. Populism exposes the profound divergence between elite and middle-class interests. Here in New York, my education and professional position give me access to an international network and create powerful incentives for me to treat America as a platform for global leadership rather than as my primary loyalty. These incentives also motivate my social class to denounce populism as ethnocentric nationalism or as a crypto-fascist perversion that stands in the way of a truly moral and forward-looking (and conveniently self-serving) vision of a more inclusive and more prosperous global future.
Put simply, solidarity has weakened dramatically over the last generation. The collective “we” has become remote and inaccessible. Instead of an invitation to membership, the “we” is now taken to represent a false unity, or even a source of oppression. Our politics is becoming rancorous because our American inheritance itself is increasingly a source of conflict. It is often the very issue under debate, often implicitly, though sometimes explicitly. In an age of migration, globalization, and ideologies of cosmopolitan universalism, we’re struggling with what it means to be a nation, to be a “we.”
“One thing that we know for a certainty about the “suspicious packages” sent to various Democrat political figures is that we don’t know a lot of actual facts, and many facts reported in the media will turn out to be wrong.
It happens every time, including after the Newtown school shooting and Boston Marathon bombing, as I wrote back in April 2013, At Boston Marathon as in Newtown, initial media reports almost entirely wrong.
There also is an immediate media effort to blame “right-wing” perpetrators without evidence of who the perpetrator(s) were. It may be that the perpetrator here is anti-Democrat and politically motivated, but we don’t know that now.
We will do our best to keep you informed as things develop today, but know for certain that many facts being reported in the media will turn out to be wrong.
(Updating to follow below by various authors)
Latest Updates
*Update 2:00PM
Security for former officials under review:
Various federal agencies are now reviewing security protocols involving former cabinet-level and other high-profile officials, following this week’s discovery of suspected pipe bombs sent to Obama administration officials, according to two individuals familiar with the government’s response to the investigation.
Government agencies have been proactively contacting some former officials to make sure they are aware of the ongoing pipe bomb incidents, and that they remain vigilant and report any suspicious packages to law enforcement.
Although cabinet-level and senior agency officials do not maintain protective details after their departure from office, it is common for agency protective operations teams to maintain contact with them to help lessen any perceived threats or identity theft that might result from their high-profile posture.”
“Senate Judiciary refers Julie Swetnick and Michael Avenatti for criminal investigation”
“Seek investigation of possible federal criminal offenses of conspiracy, false statements and obstruction of Congress”
“The Senate Judiciary Committee has referred Brett Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick and her lawyer, Democrat presidential hopeful Michael Avenatti, for criminal investigation.
The Judiciary Committee press release reads, in part:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today referred Julie Swetnick and her attorney Michael Avenatti to the Justice Department for criminal investigation relating to a potential conspiracy to provide materially false statements to Congress and obstruct a congressional committee investigation, three separate crimes, in the course of considering Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States.
While the Committee was in the middle of its extensive investigation of the late-breaking sexual-assault allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Avenatti publicized his client’s allegations of drug- and alcohol-fueled gang rapes in the 1980s. The obvious, subsequent contradictions along with the suspicious timing of the allegations necessitate a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.
“When a well-meaning citizen comes forward with information relevant to the committee’s work, I take it seriously. It takes courage to come forward, especially with allegations of sexual misconduct or personal trauma. I’m grateful for those who find that courage,” Grassley said. “But in the heat of partisan moments, some do try to knowingly mislead the committee. That’s unfair to my colleagues, the nominees and others providing information who are seeking the truth. It stifles our ability to work on legitimate lines of inquiry. It also wastes time and resources for destructive reasons. Thankfully, the law prohibits such false statements to Congress and obstruction of congressional committee investigations. For the law to work, we can’t just brush aside potential violations. I don’t take lightly making a referral of this nature, but ignoring this behavior will just invite more of it in the future.”
We have about a dozen bomb packages now.
None of them have exploded.
i.e. No harm done.
On the one Hand, I am grateful for that
.OTOH,I am getting highly suspicious.
There is a NYPD briefing on FoxNews now.
Bottom line? Nobody knows anything now.
Be careful.j
DJ, I’m still waiting for the Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
The millenials won’t save us. They’ll get old, get stuck in a narrative rut and have the same problem. Its why the best astrophysicist are in their 20s.
Right wing bloggers can relax on disparaging the dead. Trump has joined his NATO allies in condemning murder. Although I think he was more upset that the cover up was so bad. However he missed the point….it was deliberately obvious to test reactions and embarrass rivals. Thankfully an adult must have whispered in Trump’s error.
Putin must have been smiling as Trump almost botched it.
The Kings finally made it, hwesseli. We love the Kings. A girlfriend and I were in high school & babysat for some of the players in the team’s early years in LA.
__________________________
Do you know how many Stanley Cups the Kings have won?
The Los Angeles Kings entered into the NHL during 1967 – 68 regular season and made it the NHL quarter-finals in their first year as a professional hockey franchise. It wasn’t until the 1992 – 93 NHL season the Los Angeles Kings made their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. …
Finally:
The Kings won two Stanley Cups in three years: 2012, over the New Jersey Devils, and 2014, against the New York Rangers
___________________________
Apparently the terrorists are already in the USA. No need to fear a caravan of migrants. They only want to pick your fruit and vegetables. Perhaps some 5 year olds might consider vegetable picking a terrorist act but the adults should be worried about homegrown terrorism.
Debra, you’re right. NAFTA and CAFTA led to economic dislocation. Major agri-food companies wanted to make in roads in new markets and end subsistence farming. The peasants are converted into employees and customers. In addition, the US support for various right wing forces and regime has led to frequent civil wars, death squads, breakdown of order and the rise of crime groups to bring order to neighbourhoods. Thus economic deprivation and civil disorder (serious puss factors) leads to migration. There’s no conspiracy just the inevitable result of international capitalism
Investigators are now focusing on Florida because an analysis of information collected by the United States Postal Service indicated that many of the packages were mailed from the state. The Postal Service records images of mail that comes into its system. As part of the investigation, officials have been searching those images in an effort to determine where the packages were sent from as well as to identify and catch any other possible explosive devices by the bomber or bombers.
_______________________________
How will investigators catch the pipe bomb suspect?
“It’s simply a question of time and thorough investigation, and then this person will be arrested.”
********
… Criminology experts say it is too early in the investigation to build a solid profile of who might be behind the suspicious packages, which were sent to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others, as well as to CNN’s newsroom in New York.
Unlike other fear tactics or more personal acts of violence, such as stabbings or gunfire, mailing threatening packages keeps the offender — or offenders — at a distance from their victims. But that does not necessarily mean they are guaranteed anonymity, said Tod Burke, a retired criminal justice professor and former Maryland police officer.
“This is a method they feel they can do anonymously, even though they’re really not anonymous. They are leaving evidence, they’re leaving telltale signs,” he said. “There’s always a signature somewhere. Bombs and things like that, there are signatures, as much as they may try to avoid it. In fact, sometimes by trying to avoid it, they’re leaving more signatures.”
Forensics will play a major role in identifying suspects, Burke noted. Authorities will check for fingerprints, DNA and any hair or fiber that may be preserved inside the packages.
If the packages have any handwriting on or in them, that could also offer hints into the personality or even nationality of the sender based on how letters and numbers are formed, said former FBI profiler and NBC News criminal analyst Clint Van Zandt. …
… Henry Willis, associate director of the nonprofit think tank RAND Corporation’s homeland security research division, reiterated that it was too early to guess what the specific motive may be.
“One thing history tells us is not to jump to conclusions about motivations. It also shows us that there could be many potential motivations,” he said, citing terrorism to political discord to some combination of factors, including mental illness.
_____________________________________
~ They will also look for basic clues: Have the targets received any threatening messages? Do surveillance cameras show someone delivering the packages, or dropping them off somewhere? Did anyone witness any strange behavior recently, such as unusual purchases at a hardware store that could be used to make such devices? ~
The Leafs last won in 1967, just before I was born. The longest championship drought in the NHL. My uncle used to say he wanted to live until they won, then he would die happy. He died two years.
Grassley made a mistake. Avenatti has already welcomed it. He will use this as an opportunity to be back in the limelight and to investigate Kavanugh’s past conduct. Grassley should’ve been content with the appointment. This victory lap will allow Avenatti to bring up the issues which Grassley denied during the hearings.
1967, that is a long drought. You’ve gotta love fans who stick with those teams though. The Cubs come to mind as well.
“The Cubs won the 2016 National League Championship Series and 2016 World Series, which ended a 71-year National League pennant drought and a 108-year World Series championship drought, both of which are record droughts in Major League Baseball”
This may surprise some of you, but I don’t believe pastors, like Dr. Robert Jeffers (FBC Dallas) should take political positions. I agree on political positions such as same sex marriage, abortion, etc. But they shouldn’t be openly committed politically.
OTOH, I also disagree with one I encountered who boasted that he had never voted.
I got a new insight on Lou Dobbs program tonight. It is revealed that the content of those packages have no biological danger. Nobody has yet, that I have heard, that they actually contain explosives. i.e. I don’t know.
If they are harmless, no laws have been violated. Where is the law forbidding sending a package to the Clintons?
So far, all we know is that there are packages.
Who Mailed the Bombs?
By JIM GERAGHTY
October 25, 2018 10:16 AM
________________________________________
… The good news is, authorities will have a lot to work with, and their forensics abilities are remarkable. They’ll dust the package for fingerprints and test the envelope to see if he licked the seal and left DNA. Many of the components used in the device can usually be traced back to the source. The suspects usually have some sort of formal engineering experience in the military, law enforcement, or from other sources. Bomb-makers often have a “signature” that indicates how and where they were taught. …
…. Mail bombs are difficult to build; they need to be stable enough to not go off during all the movements involved in the shipping process but to work once the package is opened.
… A loud contingent of conservatives on Twitter really want to believe that the perpetrator is someone on the left, who is trying to make Trump supporters look bad. Based upon how little we know, that cannot be ruled out. But it’s rather bizarre to hear the absolute, adamant insistence that this could not possibly be a bomber who identifies himself as being on the right or as a supporter of the president. There are idiots and nut jobs all across the political spectrum, and quite a few who don’t fit neatly on it. The Tucson shooter was a paranoid schizophrenic, and he only became competent to stand trial after being forcibly medicated with psychotropic drugs for more than a year.
Some folks thought that a series of marks on the device resembled the ISIS flag … It’s like we’re living in some sort of absurdist parody of 24. …
… If we really do want to calm passions and anger in society instead of stirring them up, perhaps the New York Times could refrain from offering assassination fantasies in its pages. This coming Sunday, the book-review section will feature “some of today’s most talented spy and crime novelists — Joseph Finder, Laura Lippman, Jason Matthews, Zoë Sharp and Scott Turow — to conjure possible outcomes” to Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Zoë Sharp chose to imagine the Secret Service, so embarrassed by Trump’s presidency, that they choose to assist a Russian assassin:
The Makarov misfired.
The Secret Service agent at the president’s shoulder heard the click, spun into a crouch.
He registered the scene instantly, drawing his own weapon with razor-edge reflexes.
The Russian tasted failure. He closed his eyes and waited to pay the cost.
It did not come.
He opened his eyes. The Secret Service agent stood before him, presenting his Glock, butt first.
“Here,” the agent said politely. “Use mine. . . . ”
Good timing, guys.
______________________________________
Wandering Views 
LikeLike
So does the presses new calls for civility extend to them too?
I guess not.
——————–
https://twitter.com/itsjasonborne/status/1055219588676362240
LikeLike
Nailed it.
https://twitter.com/AndreuJim/status/1055222934766153728
———————
LikeLike
Just gonna put this here…..
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2018/10/24/former-bomb-disposal-officer-weighs-in-on-cnns-bomb-that-thing-is-just-silly-looking/
“Navy veteran and former bomb disposal officer Tom Sauer weighed in with his expertise and thinks these bombs are not much more sophisticated than Clock Boy’s “cool clock.””
——————
——————-
LikeLike
Just don’t say nothing bad about me.
Especially if it’s true. That makes it hard to refute.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Regarding our conversation early this morning on yesterday’s thread— Yes, a large economic movement by a major player has consequences for the whole world economy. However, the argument is that China largely insulated itself artificially during the Great Recession, and did not have the very painful reset that other large economies endured. So during the past 10 years, our economies have become more robust, but China’s, while large and impressive, is still quite fragile and vulnerable.
China is a communist country. I know that’s a fact that Never-Trumpers and their wild west, free trading cohorts like to minimize or forget, but, while there may be trade, there is no such thing as ‘free trade’ with a communist country. There is a price to be paid for ignoring these plain facts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the real news of the day, I see where Megyn Kelly is having trouble of some sort over at NBC. Don’t know much about it, but it looks bad. (I got this from Drudge.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder how many of those hundreds or thousands of Honduran migrants making their way here were ‘lifted out of poverty’ by CAFTA and other multi-national, free trade agreements championed by globalists. Or were they just forced off their lands where they subsisted well enough with their own farming skills, and herded into cities where their families were at the mercy of multi-national corporations.
Huffington Post is a source I probably have not looked at twice in 5 years, but this old article from 2014 is as relevant now as it was then—maybe more. It is surprisingly insightful, though of course, I do not agree with much of its concluding calls to action.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-cohen/viewpoint-from-honduras-c_b_5996170.html
LikeLike
Interesting read
https://thewalrus.ca/americas-next-civil-war/
LikeLike
HRW, some of us are trying to avoid that second Civil War through dialogue and reasoning our way through the political fog.
And here’s the daily snippet from ‘Common Good Conservatism’ by RR Reno at First Things. This portion begins to address what I perceive as a core value of political conservatism: political sovereignty.
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/11/common-good-conservatism
LikeLike
Also interesting https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/older-people-are-worse-than-young-people-at-telling-fact-from-opinion/573739/
LikeLiked by 2 people
LOL. Then all we have to do is wait. Truth will prevail as the young take over. Problem solved. :–)
LikeLike
Well, I don’t think we can dismiss this all just because the bombs were primitive & crudely made.
LikeLike
Haha. I forgot. The Millennials. The nation’s salvation is on the way!
LikeLike
And I’m still waiting of the Dodgers to win the World Series.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We don’t know what we don’t know.
Yet. But we will.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/10/suspicious-package-open-thread-we-dont-know-what-we-dont-know/#more-263676
“One thing that we know for a certainty about the “suspicious packages” sent to various Democrat political figures is that we don’t know a lot of actual facts, and many facts reported in the media will turn out to be wrong.
It happens every time, including after the Newtown school shooting and Boston Marathon bombing, as I wrote back in April 2013, At Boston Marathon as in Newtown, initial media reports almost entirely wrong.
There also is an immediate media effort to blame “right-wing” perpetrators without evidence of who the perpetrator(s) were. It may be that the perpetrator here is anti-Democrat and politically motivated, but we don’t know that now.
We will do our best to keep you informed as things develop today, but know for certain that many facts being reported in the media will turn out to be wrong.
(Updating to follow below by various authors)
Latest Updates
*Update 2:00PM
Security for former officials under review:
Various federal agencies are now reviewing security protocols involving former cabinet-level and other high-profile officials, following this week’s discovery of suspected pipe bombs sent to Obama administration officials, according to two individuals familiar with the government’s response to the investigation.
Government agencies have been proactively contacting some former officials to make sure they are aware of the ongoing pipe bomb incidents, and that they remain vigilant and report any suspicious packages to law enforcement.
Although cabinet-level and senior agency officials do not maintain protective details after their departure from office, it is common for agency protective operations teams to maintain contact with them to help lessen any perceived threats or identity theft that might result from their high-profile posture.”
LikeLike
Creepy porn lawyer’s no good, horrible, totally crappy week continues….. to get worse….
https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/10/senate-judiciary-refers-julie-swetnick-and-michael-avenatti-for-criminal-investigation/#more-263722
“Senate Judiciary refers Julie Swetnick and Michael Avenatti for criminal investigation”
“Seek investigation of possible federal criminal offenses of conspiracy, false statements and obstruction of Congress”
“The Senate Judiciary Committee has referred Brett Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick and her lawyer, Democrat presidential hopeful Michael Avenatti, for criminal investigation.
The Judiciary Committee press release reads, in part:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today referred Julie Swetnick and her attorney Michael Avenatti to the Justice Department for criminal investigation relating to a potential conspiracy to provide materially false statements to Congress and obstruct a congressional committee investigation, three separate crimes, in the course of considering Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States.
While the Committee was in the middle of its extensive investigation of the late-breaking sexual-assault allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Avenatti publicized his client’s allegations of drug- and alcohol-fueled gang rapes in the 1980s. The obvious, subsequent contradictions along with the suspicious timing of the allegations necessitate a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.
“When a well-meaning citizen comes forward with information relevant to the committee’s work, I take it seriously. It takes courage to come forward, especially with allegations of sexual misconduct or personal trauma. I’m grateful for those who find that courage,” Grassley said. “But in the heat of partisan moments, some do try to knowingly mislead the committee. That’s unfair to my colleagues, the nominees and others providing information who are seeking the truth. It stifles our ability to work on legitimate lines of inquiry. It also wastes time and resources for destructive reasons. Thankfully, the law prohibits such false statements to Congress and obstruction of congressional committee investigations. For the law to work, we can’t just brush aside potential violations. I don’t take lightly making a referral of this nature, but ignoring this behavior will just invite more of it in the future.”
LikeLike
We have about a dozen bomb packages now.
None of them have exploded.
i.e. No harm done.
On the one Hand, I am grateful for that
.OTOH,I am getting highly suspicious.
There is a NYPD briefing on FoxNews now.
Bottom line? Nobody knows anything now.
Be careful.j
LikeLike
DJ, I’m still waiting for the Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
The millenials won’t save us. They’ll get old, get stuck in a narrative rut and have the same problem. Its why the best astrophysicist are in their 20s.
LikeLike
Right wing bloggers can relax on disparaging the dead. Trump has joined his NATO allies in condemning murder. Although I think he was more upset that the cover up was so bad. However he missed the point….it was deliberately obvious to test reactions and embarrass rivals. Thankfully an adult must have whispered in Trump’s error.
Putin must have been smiling as Trump almost botched it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Kings finally made it, hwesseli. We love the Kings. A girlfriend and I were in high school & babysat for some of the players in the team’s early years in LA.
__________________________
Do you know how many Stanley Cups the Kings have won?
The Los Angeles Kings entered into the NHL during 1967 – 68 regular season and made it the NHL quarter-finals in their first year as a professional hockey franchise. It wasn’t until the 1992 – 93 NHL season the Los Angeles Kings made their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. …
Finally:
The Kings won two Stanley Cups in three years: 2012, over the New Jersey Devils, and 2014, against the New York Rangers
___________________________
LikeLike
LikeLike
Apparently the terrorists are already in the USA. No need to fear a caravan of migrants. They only want to pick your fruit and vegetables. Perhaps some 5 year olds might consider vegetable picking a terrorist act but the adults should be worried about homegrown terrorism.
Debra, you’re right. NAFTA and CAFTA led to economic dislocation. Major agri-food companies wanted to make in roads in new markets and end subsistence farming. The peasants are converted into employees and customers. In addition, the US support for various right wing forces and regime has led to frequent civil wars, death squads, breakdown of order and the rise of crime groups to bring order to neighbourhoods. Thus economic deprivation and civil disorder (serious puss factors) leads to migration. There’s no conspiracy just the inevitable result of international capitalism
LikeLiked by 1 person
_____________________________
NYT:
Investigators are now focusing on Florida because an analysis of information collected by the United States Postal Service indicated that many of the packages were mailed from the state. The Postal Service records images of mail that comes into its system. As part of the investigation, officials have been searching those images in an effort to determine where the packages were sent from as well as to identify and catch any other possible explosive devices by the bomber or bombers.
_______________________________
And: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-will-investigators-catch-pipe-bomb-suspect-n924001
How will investigators catch the pipe bomb suspect?
“It’s simply a question of time and thorough investigation, and then this person will be arrested.”
********
… Criminology experts say it is too early in the investigation to build a solid profile of who might be behind the suspicious packages, which were sent to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others, as well as to CNN’s newsroom in New York.
Unlike other fear tactics or more personal acts of violence, such as stabbings or gunfire, mailing threatening packages keeps the offender — or offenders — at a distance from their victims. But that does not necessarily mean they are guaranteed anonymity, said Tod Burke, a retired criminal justice professor and former Maryland police officer.
“This is a method they feel they can do anonymously, even though they’re really not anonymous. They are leaving evidence, they’re leaving telltale signs,” he said. “There’s always a signature somewhere. Bombs and things like that, there are signatures, as much as they may try to avoid it. In fact, sometimes by trying to avoid it, they’re leaving more signatures.”
Forensics will play a major role in identifying suspects, Burke noted. Authorities will check for fingerprints, DNA and any hair or fiber that may be preserved inside the packages.
If the packages have any handwriting on or in them, that could also offer hints into the personality or even nationality of the sender based on how letters and numbers are formed, said former FBI profiler and NBC News criminal analyst Clint Van Zandt. …
… Henry Willis, associate director of the nonprofit think tank RAND Corporation’s homeland security research division, reiterated that it was too early to guess what the specific motive may be.
“One thing history tells us is not to jump to conclusions about motivations. It also shows us that there could be many potential motivations,” he said, citing terrorism to political discord to some combination of factors, including mental illness.
_____________________________________
LikeLike
the fact that there were so many of the packages will help — more chance that trace evidence will turn up somewhere.
LikeLiked by 2 people
~ They will also look for basic clues: Have the targets received any threatening messages? Do surveillance cameras show someone delivering the packages, or dropping them off somewhere? Did anyone witness any strange behavior recently, such as unusual purchases at a hardware store that could be used to make such devices? ~
LikeLike
The Leafs last won in 1967, just before I was born. The longest championship drought in the NHL. My uncle used to say he wanted to live until they won, then he would die happy. He died two years.
LikeLike
Grassley made a mistake. Avenatti has already welcomed it. He will use this as an opportunity to be back in the limelight and to investigate Kavanugh’s past conduct. Grassley should’ve been content with the appointment. This victory lap will allow Avenatti to bring up the issues which Grassley denied during the hearings.
LikeLike
1967, that is a long drought. You’ve gotta love fans who stick with those teams though. The Cubs come to mind as well.
“The Cubs won the 2016 National League Championship Series and 2016 World Series, which ended a 71-year National League pennant drought and a 108-year World Series championship drought, both of which are record droughts in Major League Baseball”
LikeLike
This may surprise some of you, but I don’t believe pastors, like Dr. Robert Jeffers (FBC Dallas) should take political positions. I agree on political positions such as same sex marriage, abortion, etc. But they shouldn’t be openly committed politically.
OTOH, I also disagree with one I encountered who boasted that he had never voted.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dodgers last won a World Series 30 years ago.
LikeLike
I got a new insight on Lou Dobbs program tonight. It is revealed that the content of those packages have no biological danger. Nobody has yet, that I have heard, that they actually contain explosives. i.e. I don’t know.
If they are harmless, no laws have been violated. Where is the law forbidding sending a package to the Clintons?
So far, all we know is that there are packages.
LikeLike
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/suspicious-packages-sent-across-country/
Who Mailed the Bombs?
By JIM GERAGHTY
October 25, 2018 10:16 AM
________________________________________
… The good news is, authorities will have a lot to work with, and their forensics abilities are remarkable. They’ll dust the package for fingerprints and test the envelope to see if he licked the seal and left DNA. Many of the components used in the device can usually be traced back to the source. The suspects usually have some sort of formal engineering experience in the military, law enforcement, or from other sources. Bomb-makers often have a “signature” that indicates how and where they were taught. …
…. Mail bombs are difficult to build; they need to be stable enough to not go off during all the movements involved in the shipping process but to work once the package is opened.
… A loud contingent of conservatives on Twitter really want to believe that the perpetrator is someone on the left, who is trying to make Trump supporters look bad. Based upon how little we know, that cannot be ruled out. But it’s rather bizarre to hear the absolute, adamant insistence that this could not possibly be a bomber who identifies himself as being on the right or as a supporter of the president. There are idiots and nut jobs all across the political spectrum, and quite a few who don’t fit neatly on it. The Tucson shooter was a paranoid schizophrenic, and he only became competent to stand trial after being forcibly medicated with psychotropic drugs for more than a year.
Some folks thought that a series of marks on the device resembled the ISIS flag … It’s like we’re living in some sort of absurdist parody of 24. …
… If we really do want to calm passions and anger in society instead of stirring them up, perhaps the New York Times could refrain from offering assassination fantasies in its pages. This coming Sunday, the book-review section will feature “some of today’s most talented spy and crime novelists — Joseph Finder, Laura Lippman, Jason Matthews, Zoë Sharp and Scott Turow — to conjure possible outcomes” to Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Zoë Sharp chose to imagine the Secret Service, so embarrassed by Trump’s presidency, that they choose to assist a Russian assassin:
The Makarov misfired.
The Secret Service agent at the president’s shoulder heard the click, spun into a crouch.
He registered the scene instantly, drawing his own weapon with razor-edge reflexes.
The Russian tasted failure. He closed his eyes and waited to pay the cost.
It did not come.
He opened his eyes. The Secret Service agent stood before him, presenting his Glock, butt first.
“Here,” the agent said politely. “Use mine. . . . ”
Good timing, guys.
______________________________________
LikeLike