Reports on the pipe bomb suspect so far
I said in the previous post that we don’t know much yet about the pipe bomber or his motives, although we may learn more in a press conference that’s supposed to happen later today. But till then, we have this information, which may or may not be true, or may be partly true (note, by the way, the Trump-tie-in headline that characterizes all the targets of the bombs as “Trump critics”):
The suspect in the bombs sent to opponents of President Trump was identified as Cesar Sayoc Jr., 56, of Aventura…
A registered Republican, Sayoc has been arrested at least 10 times according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, once in 2002 for making a bomb threat and most recently in 2015 for a probation violation.
That registration was current as of Sept. 30, 2018, according to state voter files.
State corporation filings show him as an owner or manager of two businesses, Native American Catering and Vending and Ver Tech AG.
So if this information is correct we have a very typical “petty criminal person who’s been unbalanced and making trouble for a long long time”—way before Trump’s presidency, by the way, and in ways that have little to do with Trump. Also, Sayoc’s many previous run-ins with the law include a bomb threat as early as 2002.
Sayoc’s name indicates some sort of possible foreign origins, and here it says that Sayoc has claimed that “his grandfather, Col. Baltazar Zook Sayoc, was a martial arts practitioner who developed his own style of fighting, Sayoc Kali. Sayoc says that style was used to fight the Communist Party of the Philippines.”
So we learn that apparently Sayoc’s origins are in the Philipines. The site also says that he claims to have gone to college in the US, but there is no information there about whether he was born in the US—or, if not, at what point he arrived here and under what program.
More about that 2002 threat and other assorted offenses:
Sayoc has been arrested several times in Broward County, Florida, dating back to 1991, court records show. His most recent arrest in Broward was in 2014. In 2002, he was charged with making a bomb threat in Dade County, Florida. He was sentenced to one year of probation. Prosecutors agreed to withhold adjudication of the felony charge, meaning it was dismissed after he completed the probation in 2003.
In 1991, Sayoc was charged with third-degree grand theft, a felony. He pleaded guilty that same year and was sentenced to two years of probation. In 1994, his mother sought a domestic violence injunction against Sayoc, court records show.
Sayoc was arrested on drug charges in 2004. He was accused of possession and sale of steroids, along with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, tampering with evidence, filing fraudulent tax returns, criminal use of personal ID info and possession or unlawful issue of a driver’s license. He pleaded guilty that same year and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
In 2013, Sayoc was charged with battery and third-degree grand theft, a felony. He pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to probation. In 2009, Sayoc was charged with operating without a valid license, not having insurance and not having a tag light and was fined after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charges. In 2014, Sayoc was arrested on a petit theft charge and violation of probation. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Sayoc filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and was not married at the time. He was working as a store manager at a supermarket in Hollywood, Florida, at the time. He was also arrested on theft charges in Dade and Palm Beach counties in 1992 and 2015.
That’s quite a history. This guy seems to have been trouble in so many ways that it’s hard to count them. And yet note that, until now, Sayoc has only spent 30 days in jail—at least, that’s what his sentence was in 2014; we can’t be sure he actually served it.
“Known wolf” indeed.
And yet mark my words: if all of this pans out as being true, Sayoc will be held up by the left as the quintessential and typical Trump supporter, as well as being a person who was “triggered” into violent action by Trump.
Maybe Trump was even the cause of Sayoc’s bomb threat in 2002—after all, Trump’s been in the public eye for a long time.
He’s certainly not typical of the Republicans and Trump supporters I know. Long history of criminal activity and getting away with minor probation. Not a particularly stable individual, based on this.
Not a positive image of our criminal justice system with virtually no time served for all these prior offenses. That is about to change for this gem.
Hey, lefties, anybody ever hear of James T. Hodgkinson? Thought not.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/14/homepage2/james-hodgkinson-profile/index.html
“James T. Hodgkinson, the man identified as shooting a Republican member of congress and four others on Wednesday morning, was a small business owner in Illinois who defined himself publicly by his firm support of Bernie Sanders’ progressive politics — and his hatred of conservatives and President Donald Trump.”
I was surprised to learn it was a real Trump supporter; one would think they would know how much damage such a stunt at this time could do. Course the FBI says it’s him so how could they possibly be wrong after Atlanta/Richard Jewell (chuckle.) If they are wrong, I’m sure we will find out soon after the midterms.
who funded him?
The guy seems like a cartoon – typical of the sort of over-the-top silliness that happens when lefties try to project some kind of right-wing stereotype. I’m not saying it’s not true as presented. It’s just that even in my red state, your car would get trashed with a bunch of pro-Trump stickers all over it. You’d be really dumb to do that to a car that you didn’t want messed up, particularly if it’s used for business, where it could also offend the infinitely offendable half of your clientele that votes D.
Jim Treacher has a good column about this subject. Instapundit has the link.
trump supporter set up. just like oswald. another reichstag fire!
This also once again puts Broward County law enforcement in a bad light. Multiple offenses, some serious, and little other than probation.
So they caught a guy.
A fingerprint.
I’m awaiting video of him at the P.O.
And receipts.
One more example of Broward County going easy on misbehavior.School discipline program spared Cruz, jeopardized students, lawyer says.
Do we see a pattern here?
Little straws in the wind, over the past two decades, suggest BiPolar Affective Disorder. PDT did not cause that affliction.(Sorry, I don’t have time to enumerate the straws, but there are more qualified people here who can do that better than I can, anyway.)
Scott Adams is the best prognosticator out there, and he isn’t shy about spiking the ball.
After all the talk about how the USPS is trained to double-check suspicious looking packages, how did this even happen? Shouldn’t some mail clerk have wondered a bit about the contents?
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-ne-bombs-opalocka-mail-20181025-story.html
“All of the packages contained the return address of South Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
One of the packages was delivered to her Florida office Wednesday when it was returned by the Postal Service. “
Caravan, Kashoggi and bombs, October has just been full of surprises. I wonder what’s next?
Bilwick on October 26, 2018 at 3:50 pm at 3:50 pm said:
Jim Treacher has a good column about this subject. Instapundit has the link.
* * *
Haven’t found it yet; a little more information would be helpful (title, time of post), but the actual link is the best. It doesn’t take that long to copy the URL.
I noticed that some are referring to the bombings and the suspect as the “MAGABomber”. That certainly ties him directly to Trump. Who knew that Trump had such powers in 2002. Should be refer to the Scalise shooter as the BernieShooter?
I was afraid of this, and thus hoping it was a false flag thing. They should hand this guy over to us conservatives so we can beat the crap out of him for handing the left so much ammunition. That idiot Trump has also handed his enemies their ammunition. I dont recall Bernie Sanders issuing non-sly hints of violence. With Trump its one step forward and probably three steps back in the ultimate direction this country should go.
I have said many times even on here that Trump need to make a disclaimer before every rally that he condemns every form of violence against anyone just to protect himself from accusations exactly like this. Trump is always one MAGA hat wearing lunatic mass shooting at a crowd away from getting ruined politically. Trump simply doesn’t have the expertise in the politician talks like Obama to protect himself from being held accountable for the malicious actions of his supporters. Obama is an expert in using those BUT statements (Free speech is the core of american value BUT we still can’t tolerate hate speech) to protect himself from political backlashes. instead of bluntly saying fake news are the enemy of the people trump should have said it like (We know most journalists work hard to bring the truth to the American people and we thank them for a job well done, but still there are few fake journalists with ill intentions making up fake news to try to hurt this beautiful country, these black sheep of the news industry are truly the enemy of the people and be criticized to the greatest extent. However I condemn any form of violence against anyone and they deserved to be punished by having the political party they supported voted out not by violence.)
AesopFan, I think it may refer to this:
https://pjmedia.com/trending/bomb-scare-targets-democrats-so-the-rules-change-yet-again/
Kate: A most trenchant piece by Treacher. Thanks for the link.
” [An] argument / Of insidious intent / To lead you to an overwhelming question”
indeed.
Thanks Kate – Treacher is always trenchant.
Democrats delenda est.
(Or is that too violent?)
If Sayoc was convicted of any felony wouldn’t that make him ineligible to vote and I guess by extension, ineligible to register? I don’t believe Florida has passed a law (yet) that restores the right to vote to felons who have paid their debt to society. I don’t know that it matters given the scope of what he is alleged to have done other than to allow the left to fuel their outrage machine and echo chambers, which is bad enough.
Steddie, there are still lots of gaps and inconsistencies.
The Soros bomb was hand-delivered … in New York.
Why did only two of the 14 bomb packages have the fake-ISIS flag?
Why 2 bombs to Sen. Waters, and not to anyone else?
Why DeNiro out of all the people in Hollywood that “several prominent critics of U.S. President Donald Trump” (phrase per Wikipedia; which has some discrepancies in their article, but I think due mostly to hasty editing).
The FBI had a fingerprint, DNA, surveillance video, and a guy already on the radar in Florida (threat to Rochelle Ritchie reported to Twitter, plus long rap sheet – as noted above: Way to go, Broward County!).
Doesn’t mean he is the only one involved.
For full tin-foil-coverage, it also doesn’t mean they didn’t frame him as a convenient fall guy–
“Course the FBI says it’s him so how could they possibly be wrong after Atlanta/Richard Jewell ” — Ken
(I don’t actually think that’s true, but the track record of the FBI is not great these days, and I personally know a case where the LEOs did suppress evidence to change direction of a murder investigtion. So watch for the next Deep State Conspiracy coming to a Blog Near You, to run that up the flagpole).
* * *
https://abcnews.go.com/US/billionaire-philanthropist-george-soros-home-explosive-device-found/story?id=58683450
“A postal inspector who examined the markings on the envelope determined it had been hand-delivered, the source said.
Soros’ regular mail carrier was also interviewed, but did not recall delivering the package, the source said.
The bomb was found about 3:45 p.m. Monday in the mailbox of Soros’ home by a property caretaker for the billionaire, the source said.”
https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/pipe-bomb-sent-to-cnn-brennan-included-isis-flag-parody-1352798275719?v=raila&
“The pipe bomb addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan delivered to CNN included a parody ISIS flag that first surfaced on right-wing websites in 2014. The Arabic words have been replaced with an image three women, and a middle inscription reading “Get ‘Er Done.”
Oct. 25, 2018”
FWIW, I made a typo looking for the Wiki article and got this entry for “pipe bomb wwe wikipedia”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms
Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature throughout its existence.[1] Much of it stems from the industry’s origins in the days of carnivals and circuses.[2] In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the worked nature of the business.[1][2] In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms.[1] Many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to in-ring terms.[2]
…
pipe bomb
A worked shoot promo where the wrestler giving the promo appears to break kayfabe and touches on real-life topics that are considered taboo, such as backstage politics or issues which are not typically addressed in storylines due to bad publicity.
kayfabe
The presentation of professional wrestling as being entirely legitimate or real. Prior to the mid-1980s, this was universally maintained across all wrestling territories and promotions.”
Kind of interesting, if you want to write a narrative about…a sting, maybe?
Let’s review.
Was President George W. Bush demonized by the MSM. Yes, yes he was. Did President Bush fight back? No, no he didn’t.
Was President Barack Obama demonized by the MSM? No, no he wasn’t. Did Obama go after Fox News, who did criticize him? Why yes, yes he did.
Has the MSM demonized President Trump? Yep. Has he taken the high road and not fought back? Nope. So, Trump has broken the mold, the customary way of doing things as Republican Presidents do. That attitude, that unwillingness to take the slings and arrows of the MSM in humble silence, has created a maelstrom of anger against President Trump among the Dems and the MSM. Even a blind person should be able to see that. But the Dems and the MSM don’t, and won’t.
Among the people targeted by the bomber are those who have advocated for violent action against cabinet members, (Maxine Waters) have set in motion the “Russia investigation,” (HRC, Obama, Clapper, Brennan,) have threatened to punch him in the face, (DeNiro) threatened to take him out behind the gym, (Biden) have financed violent Democrat mobs, (Soros) have publicly accused him of treason, (Brennan) have advocated for getting in the faces of Republican Senators on the Hill, (Booker) have advocated for when the Republicans go low, we kick them, (Holder) and made a remark about killing Republicans if she was in an elevator with them. (Harris) Of course, those actions are all okay, because they are the “good people.”
May both sides get a clue from both James Hodgkinson and Cesar Sayoc. Using threatening words and demonizing your political opponents is not what is needed in a free society governed by the citizens’ representatives. Stick to policy and issues. Give the other side the benefit of the doubt that they are not evil. Do not let politics govern your life. Well, it’s an idea. Not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.
An idiot appears to have actually been galvanized by the cartoon evil Trump supporter narrative pushed by the media 24/7 for the last few years. And what now? Is everyone supposed to react by running out to vote for progressive humanitarian socialists to save us? We live in idiotic times.
These creatures (see J.J above, or the Treacher piece, or other comments hereabouts) constitute a vile mob with all the lovely attributes of the bully-coward Malfoy and his toadies.
They are a pack of rabid rats, and should be locked up in cages. Unfortunately, I can’t do that and don’t advocate for it except in a metaphorical sense.
[Unless and until it is proven that this or that one has crossed the line and committed actual criminal (or tortious) acts.]
See “Libel, Slander, and Defamation Law: The Basics” at
https://injury.findlaw.com/torts-and-personal-injuries/defamation-law-the-basics.html
I also asked Ixquick whether threat is a tort, the results of which query seem to indicate some difference of Internet opinion about “assault.” I do not feel up to doing the research necessary to present my Law 101 paper to either Prof. Epstein or the Federalist Society. Or even to our present readership.
I would be more than happy to trade off Sayoc for Hodgkinson even though Scalise was almost killed while no harm resulted from Sayoc’s clumsy mail bombs. Reasonable people of all political persuasions could agree that there are a certain number of disturbed “lone wolves” out there and that when one of them acts out it is no reflection on decent people whose politics happen to overlap.
Except the MFM does not treat them equally. Hodgkinson was quickly dropped down the memory hole while Sayoc has probably already gotten more coverage than Scalise’s shooter ever did. I thought that some on the right were premature jumping to the “false flag” conclusion before the perp’s identity was known. But it is understandable in view of the massive bias of the media.
Both were horrible persons but The severity in incomparable, Sayoc had no expertise in bomb making, he knew the bombs would never go off when he mailed them so clearly his intention was to scare contrary to Hodgkinson whose intention was clearly to shoot and kill as many republicans as possible. Sayoc knew his actions would accomplish nothing but benefit the opposing party but did it anyway which implies that he was mentally ill and had no control over his actions contrary to Hodgkinson who carried out the attack with a well thought out plan to kill as many republicans as possible to force a large number of special elections that the democrats might had a chance to win back majority.
The bottom line is no one was ever in danger in Sayoc’s scheme, but many more could have been killed if Hodgkinson succeeded.
Esther on October 27, 2018 at 12:22 am at 12:22 am said:
An idiot appears to have actually been galvanized by the cartoon evil Trump supporter narrative pushed by the media 24/7 for the last few years. And what now?Is everyone supposed to react by running out to vote for progressive humanitarian socialists to save us? We live in idiotic times.
* * *
Anybody ever have kids, where A picks on B relentlessly until B hits back, and A whines to you “It’s not my fault” — yeah, the Left is Kid A.
Sarah Hoyt says all of the things reviewed her as well, with verve.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/dont-let-the-media-and-democrats-get-away-with-it/
“Hey, remember the one about the communist — trained in the Soviet Union — who shot an American president causing the right in the US — which was neither communist nor in sympathy with the Soviet Union — to be cast into the wilderness for a generation?
If you’re getting flashbacks to this insanity you’re not alone. You’re not even close to alone.
I’m not going to tell you not to make fake bombs and send them to people. I’m not going to tell you that, because I don’t think any of you needs to be told that.
But the left thinks you need to be told that.
They’re up on their high horse, demanding civility from us that they never dispense nor adhere to.
Perhaps because they conceptualize themselves as a hive mind, they think we can send word out through the neural net and control how every marginally attached nut behaves or thinks.
On the other hand, they not only don’t apologize for their nuts, they act like it’s a bad thing their nuts don’t take all of us out.”
* * *
RTWT.
One caveat regards her take on the non-lethality of the bombs, as Mr. Wray solemnly announced them not a hoax, although many on-line posters drew attention to the unlikelihood that they were going to explode, and the casualness with which some were treated. I parse him as only saying they could have, maybe, gone off, somehow, and we have to take the possibility seriously, which is fine, but a little nuanced – what he said was “not a hoax,” which is different from “not fake.”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/wray-on-package-bombs-these-are-not-hoax-devices/
If you are keeping a list yourself of Dem / Left deviations from civility (which will continue only until they are returned to power, of course!), this might help:
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/17/republicans-attacked-2018-list/
Some comments from Hoyt’s post were inspirational, and some informational.
Ritchie The Riveter • 6 hours ago
When you’re dealing with those who see the divide not as Left/Right, but as Smart/Good vs. ignorant/Evil, nothing less than submission to them will be regarded as “civility”. And they exercise their intellectual dishonesty behind their own facade of “civility” even as they demand that submission. They have redefined “civility” to serve their purposes as both a club, and a shield.
While respecting life and liberty – particularly when people are “off the clock” and not engaged in politically-relevant activity – my response to the Progressive fundamentalists is below:
Thumbnail [shades of Barry Goldwater graphic]
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7446653b07fec14299a07ac1576f3bfd7d9f9bed44c6f89a906120c5ccab2a5f.png
* * *
Phil Ossiferz Stone • 6 hours ago
Someone needs to explain why a dozen weird-looking packages got shipped through multiple processing stations and never got, um, processed….
[picture of package]
RealityObserver Phil Ossiferz Stone • 5 hours ago
Explained it to another person – apparently this is not as well known as I thought it was.
Notice the perforations at the bottom of the stamps, cutting across the last white bar of the flag image. That is the newer way of cancelling postage, rather than a stamping machine. Not all POs use it yet, so you see both this and the traditional ink stamps – although the perforations are more common with parcels.
[I liked the inked dates, so I could see at a glance when I received something that got tossed in the “keep and file” bins for later.
Sometimes, much later.]
An interesting, although probably not dispositive, linkage.
Everybody is connected to somebody.
https://heavy.com/news/2018/10/cesar-sayoc/
“Sayoc used to dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Instead, he found work as a professional stripper. Back in the 1990s, according to event promoter Tony Valentine, Sayoc was “running around the country” taking jobs as a stripper. Valentine hired him for some stripping jobs in Ohio; Sayoc also worked in Minnesota, the Carolinas, and Florida… Sayoc later described himself on his LinkedIn page as the “choreographer” of a male stripping show as well as of burlesque shows in the Miami-area. ….”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/37618/watch-trump-hating-former-porn-star-engages-ashe-schow
“Security footage released by prosecutors on Wednesday shows the shootout between a former porn star and cops that occurred earlier this year in Miami.
On May 18, 2018, Jonathan Oddi, a former adult film actor, broke into the Trump National Doral Miami resort and began pacing, barefoot, in the lobby. Witnesses to the event said Oddi was “making disparaging remarks about” President Donald Trump, according to NBC.
..
The Miami Herald reports that Oddi “is a self-described fitness instructor, real estate investor and manager at Pegasus, a business dealing in minerals and gemstones.” He also was a stripper for a South Florida website…“
MAGAbomber? Convenient. And in Broward County? Quelle surprise.
False Flag op. The capture of Sayoc does nothing to change my thoughts. Lots of unanswered questions that will likely never be answered now that we have the “suspect”.
And we’ve been lied to enough by the MSM and the FBI (and the Broward County Sheriff) that we should immediately suspect this hybrid “Known Wolf”/ Patsy.
This suspect was tied up with a bow. His van even had wrapping paper.
I note that the lawyer who has represented Sayoc in several of his earlier brushes with the law over the years–and who presumably knows him fairly well–told CNN that he doubts that Sayoc had enough “intellectual capacity” to have pulled off mailing what looked like pipe bombs to Democrats and that, in his opinion, someone else organized, and was behind this pipe bomb campaign.
See https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/10/lawyer_who_represented_sayoc_he_didnt_seem_to_have_the_intellectual_capacity_to_plan_a_conspiracy_like_this_in_my_opinion.html
Interesting speculation this morning at American Thinker: 1) Why were the 32 people Sayoc followed on twitter all leftists? 2) How does a van completely plastered over in right wing pics and stickers escape being vandalized within minutes of being parked anywhere during a time when just having a single Trump sticker on a car insures it will be at least keyed when parked at the grocery store? 3) those pics and stickers look very pristine after sitting in the Florida sun.
I’m fairly certain the FBI probably got the right guy, but there may be more to this than meets the eye.
Physicsguy,
I’m certain the FBI found a nut. I’m just not sure it’s the right nut, no pun intended.
And what strikes me about those stickers is the quality: they have a professional, polished look to them. It’s not the pristine look that strikes me but the polished look. And that they extend over the front passenger window. Vandalism? Why was he allowed to drive with stickers over that window? I’m sure that in itself will get someone pulled over and ticketed , regardless of what the stickers say.
This stinks to high heaven.
When the FBI director was describing the bomb he called the material in the bomb the weasel word, energetics, not explosives. Energetics could be matches.
Snow on Pine: “I note that the lawyer who has represented Sayoc in several of his earlier brushes with the law over the years–and who presumably knows him fairly well–told CNN that he doubts that Sayoc had enough “intellectual capacity” to have pulled off mailing what looked like pipe bombs to Democrats and that, in his opinion, someone else organized, and was behind this pipe bomb campaign.”
Also, how does someone living in a van access a printer for the labels used? How does he access and store the materials for the devices, then construct them in such small space? Where did he find the addresses of Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Obama, the Clintons, Joe Biden, etc.? I was under the impression that such addresses were not easily available to the public.
If he is a low IQ person, as suggested by his lawyer, how did he manage to pull off a relatively complex caper while having minimal financial resources and living in a van? Inquiring minds would like to know.
The van, adorned with pro Trump stickers in left leaning Broward County would likely be defaced by some local lefties. Did that happen?
Many questions. Will they be answered as the perp is processed and put away? Let’s hope.
Snow – this also at American Thinker, linking two other pundits.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/10/sayoc_accusation_doesnt_pass_the_smell_test.html
“October 27, 2018
Sayoc Accusation Doesn’t Pass the Smell Test
By Daniel John Sobieski
“Something still doesn’t pass the smell test. In a moment of time where merely wearing a “MAGA” hat can get you fired, beat up, or merely harangued out of your favorite eatery, we are asked to believe that Cesar Altieri Sayoc was allowed to drive around safely in a van abundantly and meticulously adorned with pro-Trump stickers and a few depicting his personal animus toward the usual anti-Trump suspects, all of their colors vibrant, un-faded in the semitropical Florida sun.
The van was never overturned or torched wherever he parked or drove it. No tires were ever slashed, no windows were ever smashed in with a baseball bat. It was never even keyed. And there it was in pristine condition, undamaged and ready for its close-up before a media avid to blame President Trump for Sayoc’s actions.
…
A noted pundit made another observation that is curious:
Cesar Sayoc — the alleged mail bomber — had Trump stickers all over his vehicle. But on Twitter, he only follows 32 people — many of whom are left-wingers like Lina Dunham, Barack Obama and Jimmy Kimmel. What gives?”