On these pipe bombs
Andrew C. McCarthy has this to say on the reportage about the apparent pipe bombs sent to various Democrats and CNN:
At this point, there is no evidence whatsoever that provocative words from the president had anything to do with the sending of bombs. Indeed, there is as yet no known evidence of who is behind these possible attacks. And speaking of “attacks,” why, in light of the context of a possible bombing spree, is the Times asserting that Secretary Clinton, President Obama, and Mr. Soros have “figured prominently in conservative political attacks”? They have not been subjected to “attacks” in the sense conveyed by this report; they have been on the receiving end of mere political criticism, not the subjects of attempted political assassinations.
There is plenty of media commentary at the moment about incivility, in the form of incendiary rhetoric and actions. This is entirely appropriate. But I’m at a loss to understand how the climate is improved by spicing up reports with thinly veiled suggestions that President Trump may have triggered a series of potentially murderous attacks on political opponents. When Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson opened fire on the Republicans he targeted and nearly killed Representative Steve Scalise, I don’t recall much Times speculation about whether he could have been set him off by Democrats urging their supporters to get aggressive — “get in their face”; “if they bring a knife, we bring a gun” — when dealing with political adversaries.
The press is very happy about this story. The timing could hardly be better. It appears to contain many elements they consider very helpful: attempted violence against Democrats (including themselves) that doesn’t succeed and which can be blamed (rightly or wrongly) on the right and particularly on Trump. The logic of that—and the fact that the MSM fails to do anything of the sort when the roles are reversed, and the violence or threatened violence is against the right—doesn’t matter. If they can sell it and they think it will help the left and hurt the right, it doesn’t have to be correct and it certainly doesn’t have to be evenhanded; au contraire.
As none other than Donald Trump Jr. points out here:
Jim, did you or your colleagues take any responsibility for your rhetoric in constantly calling my family Racists and Nazis for 2 years when my wife actually opened an exploding envelope of white powder intended for me? What about when it happend to my brother? https://t.co/TpMTk17x9W
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 25, 2018
And speaking of what’s “correct” or not, much of the speculation on the right has to do with the composition of these pipe bombs and whether they were ever intended to go off or not. That is speculation at this point, in no small part because the MSM is unreliable and much of what is printed about things like this is later discovered to have been false.
But I present this as an example of what’s out there:
Photos of the device show a cylindrical object, about six inches long, wrapped in black electrical tape and with wires emerging from either end.
The wires — one red and one black — lead to a digital clock or timer taped to the middle of the tube.
A senior law-enforcement official told The New York Times that it resembled the others, saying, “Same package. Same device.”
The FBI described the devices as “potentially destructive,” and law-enforcement sources told The Post that the first one discovered — in a mailbox outside the Katonah home of billionaire George Soros Monday — had black powder on it.
But a source briefed on that device and the one sent to CNN told The Post on Wednesday that they couldn’t actually have blown up because neither was equipped with a blasting cap or other means of detonating explosive material.
“There was nothing to ignite it,” the source said. “There was nothing there.”
The source also said an envelope of unidentified powder contained in the CNN package was too small to create a radiological or biological “dirty bomb.”
The fact that none of the bombs blew up suggests they were built by an amateur, former FBI Agent Steve Gomez told ABC News.
Or by someone who didn’t want them to blow up.
Take your pick.
It’s less than two weeks to the election. I very much doubt whether we’ll know who did this and why until after the election. Maybe not even then.
[NOTE: The MSM is also positing a false equivalence between words that actually incite violence and words that criticize the press. Pointing out the flaws of the press and the fact that some of their stories are fake or wrong is not even remotely equivalent to telling people to send them bombs or hurt them. But the MSM would like you to make that connection, and keep themselves safe from all criticism as a result.]
[NOTE: The MSM is also positing a false equivalence between words that actually incite violence and words that criticize the press. Pointing out the flaws of the press and the fact that some of their stories are fake or wrong is not even remotely equivalent to telling people to send them bombs or hurt them. But the MSM would like you to make that connection, and keep themselves safe from all criticism as a result.]
distraction
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqTt5TmW4AACCeP.jpg
A lot of the speculation that the bombs are “false flag” centers on the apparent non-functionality of the bombs (no blasting caps? really??), the publicizing of pix before the investigators start work* (or even arrive??), the inanity of the packaging, the cluelessness of sending to people who have all their mail screened by SS, the timing (has to be more than one person), possibility of surveillance of the couriers (why stamp them and then hand-deliver them? suddenly realizing they will be rejected by USPS at the PO?) and the “staleness” of the targets (all selected for show, none of them are currently in government power positions), and why do they know Biden’s bomb is missing??
However, all of the speculations that the Khashoggi affair were Turkish “fake news” seem to have evaporated,** so as a famous detective said, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence.”
May be a mistake, but it’s how you drive an investigation; the real mistake, as Holmes continues, is letting your theories blind you to the contrary evidence.
*releasing photos taints things, like making it hard to weed out the people who call in with false confessions, revealing clues needed to track the perps, and generally giving people grist for the speculation mill.
If the photos were of actual dangerous bombs, then ramping up the fear factor is a motive for Dems; if they are fake, it’s a stupid own goal, because of the internet crowd-sourcing of discovery. But then, Dan Rather has never admitted his memos were forgeries.
**apparently his body has been found, and the Saudi’s have reversed course.
https://nypost.com/2018/10/25/saudis-now-say-jamal-khashoggis-killing-was-planned/
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/remains-of-khashoggi-found-in-garden-of-saudi-counsel-s-home-sky-news-reports-1.6589232
There is thus far insufficient evidence to form a definitive opinion, but Occam’s razor and the almost invariably essential question Cui bono? might lead one to consider that a false flag operation by one or more leftists is likelier than a completely inept “terrorist” attack by a deranged right-winger, angry with Democrats but succeeding only in sabotaging Trump and the Republicans.
A follow-on note about Khashoggi, quoting the NYPost as representative of the earlier stories from SA
“Initially, Saudi Arabia said Khashoggi, who was a vocal critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, had left the consulate after a visit Oct. 2 — but then changed its tune to say a brawl led to his death and that 18 Saudi suspects had been detained.”
Apparently, someone tried to impersonate Khashoggi leaving the consulate, and maybe the Saudi government was going off of that info until it was debunked, then getting cover stories from the perps (consonant with MbS being Henry II rather than Henry VIII), but the planning might have come from him directly.
Too early to tell, and we may never know. The purpose of courtiers is having someone handy to fall on his sword for the king.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/22/saudi-coverup-scrapped-cause-khashoggi-body-double-wore-wrong-shoes.html
Saudis reportedly scrap coverup plan because Khashoggi ‘body double’ wore the wrong shoes
An alleged Saudi Arabian plot to cover up the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi went awry after a suspected Khashoggi “body double” wore the wrong shoes, a diplomat familiar with the matter told The Washington Post, according to an article published Monday.
The report came shortly after CNN published footage that appeared to show a man exiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul Oct. 2 wearing a fake beard and glasses, as well as the pants, shirt and jacket that Khashoggi was seen wearing when he entered the building earlier in the day.
“It was a flawed body double, so it never became an official part of the Saudi government’s narrative,” the diplomat told the Post.
Tucker Higgins
Published 1:33 PM ET Mon, 22 Oct 2018 Updated 6:03 PM ET Mon, 22 Oct 2018
In re the press attacks on the Right & Trump (especially at Legal Insurrection), I was reminded that the Mock Turtle’s Arithmetic definition also applies to politics.
“Reeling and Writhing of course, to begin with,’ the Mock Turtle replied, ‘and the different branches of arithmetic-ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.”.
No blasting cap or igniter. Hmm.
There is a hint of #MeToo as well. Andrew Cuomo touts that he has received a “suspicious package” too. The NYPD later stated that no packages with pipe bomb styled devices were found in any Cuomo offices.
And what to make of the bomb-like package found at Robert De Niro’s restaurant?
Is the commonality between “victims” that they are all Dem loudmouths; with access to microphones and cameras?
This is a reasonable report from NBC, with summary information.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/package-found-robert-de-niro-s-office-nyc-matches-other-n924251
How do the pipe bombs fit into the scheme of things?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1018/hanson102518.php3
“On the eve of the midterms, progressives believe that these public spectacles showcasing feminist, immigrant and identity issues trump the booming economy and might galvanize independents and fence-sitters to vote for liberal candidates.
Yet the caravan, the Kavanaugh hearings and the Warren fiasco remind voters of the very opposite of what was intended.
Every country requires a border and the rule of law. Due process cannot so easily be thrown out in a moment. There can be no Senate without safety and calm inside its halls. Powerful, privileged Washington officials should be the last to game a system designed to help the underprivileged.
Americans know all that. Strangely, progressive activists don’t.”
If they came from a conservative conspiracy, the perps are remarkably dense, sense even taking out Maxine Waters won’t slow down the leftists in government, and none of the rest have anything other than symbolic significance.
To threaten them on the eve of an election where the Right is already being tarred as violent psychopaths is totally counter-productive.
And (as many commenters have noted), a conservative would have made bombs that worked.
On the other hand, the Left gets a lot of sympathy noise from the MSM, which might sway independents, and no one actually got hurt.
But if a credible case for false flag ops can be made before Nov 6, the plot could backfire spectacularly.
So, what will the LEO / FBI investigation reveal, and will they tell us what they find in time to influence the election, or not (which will also influence the election)?
I hate living in a world given over to political thriller optics.
Has it always been this way, and only the internet is making it obvious, or is this something new?
If it’s a false flag, it won’t be tied back to any lib org or shaker/mover like Soros or Steyr, or even Clinton and company.
So they have lots of deniability and it will blow by, not back.
After all, they control the press while never pulling a string.
So these “bombs” are containers filled with either a black or white powdery substance, with a wire coming out of each end connected to a clock on the outside. But nothing, I repeat, nothing in the way of blasting powder or any form of igniting device connected to any of them. In other words, something made to look like a bomb, but one that will never go off. Now who would create something like that, and why?
Something’s mighty fishy here. The padded envelopes had six 50 cent forever stamps on them, which were not canceled. Apparently the packages were delivered by hand, to several widely-separated destinations, all during a short time period. That requires organization. Sounds like more than one suspect.
NBC says one package had an image of an ISIS flag (but actually mud flap ladies) and Arabic-looking letters saying “git ‘er done” (from CableGuy)? What’s with that? I’m thinking this was done by more than one, relatively smart, but very far-Left, person. I think they were trying to make the package look like it was put together by someone on the far Right. So they had to think like an alt-Right person would think. But having never met any, all they knew was that far-Right people are really dumb. So: No igniter in the device. Mud flap lady logo. CableGuy. Git ‘er done. Wasserman return address.
I just missed the editing cut-off. I’ve looked at several on-line images of several of the packages, and could not see any marks on the stamps showing cancellation. Does the Post Office not cancel some packages??
debbie wasserman-schultz has been busy! no bomb to bernie sanders. sanders supporters hate debbie more then republicans do. on the other hand see if soros shorted the market for this week. bill clinton home alone. I doubt it!
I was thinking yesterday along the same lines. If this was an act by a conservative we’d have that guy in custody in short order and thats all we’d hear about in the news for weeks. If not, it would forever be a mystery forever attributed to someone on the right.
This would have been a huge gamble to pull this hoax off at any other time, but as noted earlier, people would have to hear about it as a hoax, and guess who controls the press.
I think Harry is right: if the culprits, or suspected culprits, are right wing (or can be painted as right wing, akin to Jared Loughner), we’ll know the identities very soon. If they are left wing, or of Islamic extraction (or any other minority), it will be buried.
The more time passes with no leak about a suspect, the more likely this was not done by anyone on the right.
here is the best picture you can find. [save it or put it up]
do note, no one was afraid of it enough not to photograph it, etc.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqSp4FyWwAEZCng.jpg
This is as bad as the hack job to create a very odd birth cert with wrong number, xerox shading from a curved page, sharpening, and other odd ball things like being made of layers you could work with if you have the software..
these are not intended to go off and its now being reported most couldn’t
we will know about the rest later… the politicos can wail, but the police that do this are kind of pissed off as all this does is increase the danger and odds others will think its good…
one, you do NOT use pipe bombs for mail… they are place items or thrown.
usually placed… package bombs usually will have some means of being triggered when opened at an unknown location with an unknown timing.
the big give away is how the dem politicians are acting.
they are NOT acting like they take this serious, they are acting like they know its fake and can pretend to be brave and grandstand.
unless who did this was VERY VERY SMART – meaning its all designed, a prop, or they will know who what where how within another day or so…
funny thing is that given rhetoric, the able are not on the left
the able don’t need statism, the able dont need help, the able can be effective
there is nothing for someone on the right to gain this way
the problem is that you guys are not yet realizing what it means when the left is described as polar… it erases all other directions and makes everything else a move towards another pole…
this is the beauty of this soviet style spectrum… it reduces everything to part and not part, and makes all other directions irrelevant… your either with us at the south pole or your a northern…
to anyone living at the south pole, all other humans are northerners
by far the lions share of violence and ability to cover it up and deflect or reassign it has always been the lefts skill… from cutting eliza pinkstons breasts off to get blacks to not vote republican during hayes tilden election, to even lying that blacks could not vote and women couldnt… they could… i can list about 50 more blacks murdered and mutilated to win an election and make them fear republicans till this day…
now… what do you know of all that horrid violence? nothing. nada… not even an aside on wiki… so the violence and the BS that is so bad and is so much is inconsequential once time passes a bit… if people knew history more in detail this would be less so, but since they dont, well its more so… and thats not including changed histories.
who burned the Reichstag’s… if you don’t say a Russian, well, then you know who willi munzenberg put forth and we all remember, not who actually did it as the germans (not under the freaky austrians control yet), caught them..
you wouldnt read about it when i put it up, but hey, evne the smithonian knows, why dont anyone else?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-reichstag-fire-and-nazis-rise-power-180962240/
Even neo has covered it, but her coverage never mentions willi, he too is an example of why actions today are not horrid and wont matter in a very short while… we are not the kind of people we think we are, and we do not want to remember and we avoid discussing these things in the extreme!!!!!
how do you stop this erasing?
easy, dont censor it or remove it, or refuse to share the light with it
thats all…
Then tomorrow will suffer what today chose to save it from knowing
think of all this when the bomb rhetoric happens and the claims of how bad this is or that person caused that.
The left cant even remember when their president raped a woman, took the baby from her, gave it away to adoption, stuck her in a mental ward… and because they forget we all forget mostly…
this bomb will be forgotten like the rote zora bombs of the feminists, the FALN bombs, and literally dozens i can mention that most people forget…
————————=========================—————————
the next fun question is this, if they do know and find out something, will they say before or after the election voting is done… and who do they think they are helping or hindering…
Lowell Wrucke said:
“So these “bombs” are containers filled with either a black or white powdery substance, with a wire coming out of each end connected to a clock on the outside. But nothing, I repeat, nothing in the way of blasting powder or any form of igniting device connected to any of them. In other words, something made to look like a bomb, but one that will never go off. Now who would create something like that, and why?”
Actually, they didn’t really look like bombs. This was not an original observation on my part. Artfldgr saw the same thing. Lots of people saw the same thing. This is not a bomb. It was, in my opinion, a hoax designed to show the sender knew what a mail bomb should look like, but at the same time advertise this was not a real attempt at a mail bomb.
“So, let’s add it all up, Whoever sent this knows all the classic clues of a mail bomb. Back when I was training to provide intel support to counter-terrorism excessive postage is a classic giveaway. The bomber wants the bomb to get to his target but he sure as hell isn’t going to go inside the Post Office and interact with a postal worker. The stamp that cancels the postage would show from what what office the bomb was sent, and at least one worker could identify the sender. So the bomber would drop it off in a mailbox outside. Why didn’t this guy do that instead of sending it by courier? Because it was in a manila envelope, and any mail handler would immediately recognize it was suspicous when sorting the mail by hand. It never would have arrived at its destination. Misspellings are another classic sign of a mail bomb.
And then the fact it has a timer taped to the bomb, a wire from each end cap attached to the wire. Screams “This is a hoax bomb” as it is essentially designed not to work.”
I should have elaborated more on the absurdity of wires going to each end of the pipe. All the wires would go to the detonator, and there would be only one at one end had this been a serious attempt at building a pipe bomb. Not even an insane person would build a pipe bomb this tiny with two detonators, one at each end. Even an insane person with no experience would have to get their plans from somewhere, and you can search the internet until your brains fall out and you’ll never find a recipe for a pipe bomb that looks like this (and you’ll also probably get a visit from the FBI wanting to know why you’re researching pipe bombs). If the sender really wanted to make it look like a bomb all the wires would go to one end. Even that wouldn’t fool a really knowledgeable person, which I don’t claim to be, but it would have been better. Whoever sent this didn’t want better.
Whoever did this isn’t a complete idiot. It’s something who knows something about mail bombs, and both wanted the authorities to find his packages and also know he had no intention of sending a working bomb through the mail. Not like he won’t get prosecuted as hoax bombs are no joke.
My comment, and Artfldgr’s comment that I agreed with and elaborated on, was on this comment thread.
https://www.thenewneo.com/2018/10/24/political-violence-left-and-right/
ok, lets make this more interesting..
I am guessing he is not a mineral collector mistaken as something else…
Steve57: To me, “courier” means FedEx or UPS or some commercial entity. In which case there would be a record. And the agent who picked up or delivered it would certainly have recognized the package by now, because of all the images on the ‘net. So . . . the maker or his minions must have delivered the package. No?
no bomb to bernie sanders. sanders supporters hate debbie more then republicans do.
There has been speculation at Althouse that this is a Bernie supporter angry at the Hillary crowd. The crazies, like Hodgkinson, seem to collect around Bernie.
MikeK:
But can’t you see, even if it’s a Bernie supporter, Trump is responsible.
Trump is responsible for all the evil in the world.
Thanks Steve57
the only point i would disagree with is that you said he may not be as angry as Hodgekinson.. i think he could be, but that he/she wasn’t suicidal and a different level of tolerance for confrontation (and physical action)
Bombers are angry impotent chickens which is why you don’t see many good ones and despite their “targeting” someone, they actually are quite indiscriminate due to the method. their actions never achieve any kind of real ends or change they cry for, nor do they do much mostly than turn heads for a short while, which is a very impotent act (like screaming for a few seconds in the park and then calmly walking away).
another quality they have is a kind of broken thought process disorder (if trying to be a real bomber and not something else). I have yet to hear how any such action as it either happens or is planned to happen would achieve in any way the kind of change or ends the person initiating the behavior seems to want or follow.
short of removing mobsters by making them harder to remove from the neighborhood, its not an effective anything – even the terror it causes isn’t an effective anything and whatever end a thought process that would find this a good idea, is probably NOT going to have a hook on how people will feel, behave, or act in its aftermath.
the whole concept of the president being the cause or not is as asinine as you can get if its thought past its immediate emotional grab.. yeah, thats what i want, a president who casts ever decision statement and action on the international nuclear playground in terms of “what do the contradictory violent bugaloos want today”…
wonderful… that would be sooo much better..
Like having to ring up Nora Desmond for her opinion on world events and then agreeing on action
I could see it now… Xi, Putin, i have to go… WHY they both say at the summit… well, there is this lady in omaha who has 53 cats, and a canary, and our state office is afraid of what she may do if i ignore her. cant tell you what she said, thats secret, but suffice it to know we have everything in order as google is using alexa and we have siri covering it..
Law Enforcement Has Surveillance Video of Courier Delivering ‘Bomb’ Package to CNN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgVJJH9Anbw
just a report that they should have a video
stretching stretching stretching…
Calling people evil is an incitement to violence. Relentlessly smearing people as white supremacists, Nazis, racists, sexists, deniers, fascists, etc. obviously increases the likelihood that someone will be violent toward those people. See Antifa’s violent attacks. See the attacks on cops egged on by BLM rhetoric.
When rhetoric is intended to make people furious with rage, we shouldn’t be shocked when some of the enraged listeners respond by seeking to eliminate the evil ones.
if it was a false flag op the preps don’t necessary have to be the dems or their associates, it could be anyone who wants the Dems to win or who’s interest depends on the Dems winning, such as China. Trade war would be over effective immediately when the Dems win.
Dave, an “insurance policy” kind of deal?
CapnRusty, I don’t know what they are referring to when they say it was delivered by a courier. There are a lot of bicycle couriers in NYC, a place I’ve never been to and have no desire to visit, but I don’t know how they operate. Or how easy or difficult it would be to impersonate one. For now I just understand what they’re saying was the package was hand-delivered.
What?! No blasting caps!
Fake bombs!
OMG! This sounds like the biggest 4chan prank ever!
Harry on October 25, 2018 at 4:17 pm at 4:17 pm said:
I was thinking yesterday along the same lines. If this was an act by a conservative we’d have that guy in custody in short order and thats all we’d hear about in the news for weeks. If not, it would forever be a mystery forever attributed to someone on the right.
This would have been a huge gamble to pull this hoax off at any other time, but as noted earlier, people would have to hear about it as a hoax, and guess who controls the press.
Ackler on October 25, 2018 at 5:50 pm at 5:50 pm said:
I think Harry is right: if the culprits, or suspected culprits, are right wing (or can be painted as right wing, akin to Jared Loughner), we’ll know the identities very soon. If they are left wing, or of Islamic extraction (or any other minority), it will be buried.
The more time passes with no leak about a suspect, the more likely this was not done by anyone on the right.
* * *
Bets you can take to the bank.
I would just change that to “no leaks based on actual evidence about a genuine suspect” as the Left is always “leaking” false suppositions and lies.
And the Left attributes deplorable things to the Right that are not mysteries at all: the truth is known to any half-way unbiased observer, but they ignore it.
A close family member, who is a dyed in the wool Democrat, surprised me by saying that these pipe bombs look like a Democrat false flag operation.
Well, well. A man in his 50s has been arrested in far south Florida, and there are photos of a white van plastered with pro-Trump stickers. The suspect is said to have a previous record of making terroristic threats. So, a nut case; an incompetent one, at that, since the now-dozen devices do not appear to have been designed to actually explode.
We’ll see if the MSM can make this stick to Trump. It shouldn’t. They didn’t blame Bernie Sanders when a demented supporter of his tried a mass assassination of House Republicans. Not that logic is their strong point.
Man’s name reported as Cesar Sayoc, Jr., said to be registered to the Green Party. Probably best to wait for more details than labeling the guy.
Man’s name reported as Cesar Sayoc, Jr., said to be registered to the Green Party. Probably best to wait for more details than labeling the guy.
Remember Richard Jewell? Remember Stephen Hatfill? Best to reserve judgment about anything the flacks for the flatfeet have to say.
If he actually is guilty and actually is identified with the Florida Greens, the media will try two tacks:
1. A Sarah Palin’s e-mails dumpster dive to attempt to prove he’s a Republican sailing under false flags.
2. Bury the story after two days.
What I’m betting is that time is short enough that option 2 will be selected by reporters after Paul Krugman and David Brooks have submitted specious nonsense about Trump being at fault. Some wanker like Corey Pein will try option 1 in six months and Robert Redford will put the legend on film
Art Deco, they’ve already suffered a blow since the arrestee has what sounds like a hispanic name. Limbaugh is reading some site that says he’s “Native American.” If any of this holds up, your option #2 will be in effect shortly.
Just announced… they just caught the bomber… president announcing… they are prosecuting them him her to the fullest extent of the law..
now the more intersting part starts.
i prefer air popped popcorn, a nice chair, plenty of refreshment..
i even taught my wife how to buy whole cream and shake your way to great butter!!!
sit back, relax, the real show is about to start
cue act II
Reports said He is a registered republican, but who knows, he could have only made the party affiliation change recently to just make the false flag more believable in the event that he got caught, DMV should have the record of the date of party preference change.
He sure went out his way to make sure everyone knows he is a “REPUBLICAN” and pin the bomb scare on Trump by putting new stickers with Maga and prominent democrat with superimposed crosshair marks all over his van. Yeah right, that van would get torched within minutes parking in any major cities in America. Media also whitened his images with photoshop like they did with George Zimmerman to make him appear more like a white supremacist.