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posted by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the hate-machine dept.

Three Explosive Devices Sent to Clintons, Obama and CNN Offices

Explosive devices were sent to former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as to CNN's offices in New York, sparking an intense investigation on Wednesday into whether a bomber is going after targets that have often been the subject of right-wing ire.

A law enforcement official said the three devices were similar to one found Monday at the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and liberal donor.

[...] The device sent to CNN was contained in a manila envelope addressed to John Brennan, who was the C.I.A. director in the Obama administration and is a harsh critic of Mr. Trump. The president revoked Mr. Brennan's security clearance in what was seen as an act of retribution. The return address bore the name of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman who formerly headed the Democratic National Committee.

In a statement, the White House condemned "the attempted violent attacks."

Update 1: The explosive devices have been described as pipe bombs. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that a device was also sent to his office.

Update 2:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's spokesman has identified the device sent to his office, originally believed to be suspicious, as a thumb drive containing files on the far right group Proud Boys. It does not appear to be related to the explosive devices.

[...] Another suspicious package has been intercepted at a Congressional mail screening facility in Capitol Heights, Maryland, according to CNN. [...] ABC News reported the package was addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat.

Live updates at The Guardian.


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:43PM (32 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:43PM (#753083) Homepage Journal

    This brings to mind that old AA saw about half measures availing us nothing. What good is blowing up Democrats if you're going to leave the Republicans standing?

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:46PM (5 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:46PM (#753086) Journal

    Yeah - agree with the half-assed. It's bad enough to go down in history as an assassin. Going down in history as an incompetent assassin would really suck. Obviously, we have one or more involved in these ineffective bombings.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:06PM (4 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:06PM (#753106) Homepage Journal

      Yeah, assuming they were actually meant to explode. That's not a given though. Could easily have either been a nutjob hater only looking to make them shit their pants or a nutjob sympathizer trying to pull a non-lethal false flag. I expect someone will find out eventually but I have serious doubts as to whether the public ever learn the truth.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:40PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:40PM (#753348)

        I'm the guy who thinks you want to let this place turn into disqus.

        Those bombs were made to get intercepted. Google image search "mail bomb" and look at the infographics published by our agencies. They don't have fantastic advice really, and much of it is outdated in the face of miniaturization. It feels like the sort of advice you give when really there isn't much good advice. In reality you'll be lucky if a mailbomb has a few of their red flags... and of course you'd never see ALL of them. Keep in mind that with how crude the bombs are. Keep in mind anyone doing research before their attack would encounter the federal mailbomb information in the course of their search and would of course buy flat rate shipping boxes and shove their greasy, lumpy, oblong, over-postage'd joke of a bomb into the clean, inconspicuous, and properly postage'd flat rate box.

        The package was without a doubt designed to look like a mailbomb to anyone who has gone through training.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @07:33AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @07:33AM (#753563)

        That's not a given though. Could easily have either been a nutjob hater only looking to make them shit their pants or a nutjob sympathizer trying to pull a non-lethal false flag.

        So, a Buzzard operation? Dis-information operations as deployed again the North Vietnamese the Afghans. Tell us more!

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:46PM (25 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:46PM (#753088) Journal

    Maybe the idea is to spark so much anger on one side, that they do the job for you. Call it a Civil War starter kit.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:01PM (22 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:01PM (#753104) Homepage Journal

      Yeah, I was kind of wondering why none of them went off. That's either incredible incompetence (did they not even test a prototype or three?) or they were never intended to detonate. It's just mildly interesting to me which it was; I don't really care either way.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:13PM (9 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:13PM (#753117) Journal

        I'd like to see a picture. Little tell-tales like machining the outside surface to produce a lot of fragmentation could help to determine just HOW incompetent the incompetents were. You don't simply pack a pipe full of explosive, and add a primer and a timer to it.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:28PM

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:28PM (#753132) Homepage Journal

          We're talking competence here not expertise. Making something that would actually explode and kill whoever was within five feet of it would be good enough to declare competence. A one inch diameter by one foot length iron pipe half full of black powder going off could accomplish that easily.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:31PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:31PM (#753135)

          CNN had a picture on tv a minute ago, probably on their website by now.
          It was just galvanized steel pipe with some unknown trigger device/wires taped to the side. Probably only like 6" of 1" standard pipe. Normal mail envelope.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:48PM (1 child)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:48PM (#753147) Journal

          https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1055147149158219778 [twitter.com]

          https://twitter.com/PMBreakingNews/status/1055151647213711361 [twitter.com]

          There should be a less cropped view of the close-up image floating around somewhere.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 2, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:04PM

            by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:04PM (#753234) Homepage Journal

            They deleted that tweet, the 2nd. tweet. Too bad! But, new tweet. That says, ISIS put their sticker on the CNN bomb. Put a sticker of ISIS Flag. Which, by the way, it's black but with some white in it -- like Obama. They put the sticker so everybody would know, that one came from ISIS. And possibly, they all came from ISIS. So interesting. So VERY SPECIAL. Obama & Crooked H started that one. Founded ISIS. And now it's looking like ISIS is sending bombs to them!!! twitter.com/PMBreakingNews/status/1055155700618485761 [twitter.com]

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by NPC-131072 on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:57PM (3 children)

          by NPC-131072 (7144) on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:57PM (#753152) Journal

          You don't simply pack a pipe full of explosive, and add a primer and a timer to it.

          Depends on the objective. [nytimes.com] Why would they need to work for Hilary "you cannot be civil" Clinton or Eric "When they go low we kick them" Holder to make political points? Even the most hapless would-be assassins opt for chemical agents. [www.cbc.ca]

          • (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 24 2018, @06:20PM (2 children)

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @06:20PM (#753172) Journal

            If George Soros represents democracy, then I want no part of it. I actually read his biography once upon a time. I simply cannot understand how a man with his background can support communism/socialism/progressivism. He lost something along the way - I guess we could call him "damaged goods". As most of the world measures success, he most certainly is successful. But, he's broken.

            That second link is well worth thinking about. Some looney-tune, presumably leftist, sends ground up castor beans to some right wing officials. Might that have been a trigger, for the looney-tune, presumably rightist, who sent these pipe bombs? It may not be rational, but we can follow the twisted logic: "Those lefties have just tried to assassinate our president - it's time for me to act! Gotta kill some lefties, quick!"

            • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:57PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:57PM (#753266)

              Truly, you are an idiot, Runaway. Of course you do not understand. You understand so little! It is amazing you do not expire from forgetting to properly chew your food.

            • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:23PM

              by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:23PM (#753285)

              I simply cannot understand how a man with his background can support

              Historically similar situations involve "someone" with compromising pictures of him with kiddies or possibly weirder stuff.

              Think of the Clinton example, not that stupid of a guy, other than he stuck his dick in every hole he could find until he was eventually owned by someone holding evidence.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @07:35AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @07:35AM (#753565)

          I'd like to see a picture.

          Sure you would, you pervert! GTFO!

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:23PM (10 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:23PM (#753128) Journal

        Look at the Unabomber's career [wikipedia.org]. The initial bombs were not fatal, and a couple of them didn't even go off. Towards the end the bombs became more deadly. This evolution took place over almost 2 decades. An amateur mailing bombs around all within the same week or so is probably going to fuck something up. Remember, it's a fail if they explode in the bombmaker's face or en route, so there's a balance to be struck between stability and detonation. Some of these bombs were intercepted before they reached their intended targets. It's possible that detection mechanisms are better these days, everyone's mail is being routinely scanned, or it's just a lot harder to get these to someone with Secret Service protection or mail screening than the relatively unknown targets that Kaczynski chose.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:30PM (2 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:30PM (#753134) Homepage Journal

          Fair enough on the quality of work and detection but, shit, you'd think they'd at least test a few out first to make sure they worked at all. Take pride in your craftsmanship, people!

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:35PM (3 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:35PM (#753141) Journal

          Some of these bombs were intercepted before they reached their intended targets. It's possible that detection mechanisms are better these days, everyone's mail is being routinely scanned, or it's just a lot harder to get these to someone with Secret Service protection or mail screening than the relatively unknown targets that Kaczynski chose.

          Go with the latter possibility. If someone mails a bomb to you or me, and it doesn't have wires hanging out, it's going to arrive at our house(s). High profile targets have mail sorters in mail rooms working diligently to separate the cruft from the crap.

          • (Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:19PM (2 children)

            by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:19PM (#753282)

            Sometimes the simplest explanation makes the most sense.

            The FBI likely created and sent all the bombs, so they obviously know where they are; its not difficult for them to make sure they all get found for maximal PR impact.

            They can't afford to let any of them actually explode; the FBI spent a lot of time and effort to plant evidence in the bombs they made and sent, and an explosion isn't going to help them frame the "correct" people.

            Its likely all detail of the devices will be classified for national security reasons such that we can safely assume none of the devices ever contained explosives, etc. It would be extremely embarrassing during the trial if the explosives were chemically traced back to the BATFE or FBI, so its legally less risky to put nothing but air in the "devices". Even if some brave person wikileaks the classified data, if the devices contain air not explosives, they can not be traced back to government supplied explosives if there is nothing there...

            • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:14PM (1 child)

              by crafoo (6639) on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:14PM (#753371)

              Interesting times. Interesting at least, in that this has a medium to high probability of being the truth. "conspiracy theory"? Actually, conspiracies happen all the time. Anyone paying attention to what the FBI and CIA admit to doing over the last 50 years will realize that it isn't even a stretch.

              • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday October 25 2018, @08:25PM

                by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 25 2018, @08:25PM (#753831)

                Some of the private communications inside the FBI since Trump are pretty chilling, basically a rogue agency working on a coup. Crazy times.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:27PM

          by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:27PM (#753288)

          Its also worth pointing out that Uncle Ted had weird ideas against modern technology such that a "serious effort" is unlikely to fail, even if some hipster art project making a political/economic statement, historically didn't work out well.

          I you insist for political reasons on building your "statement" out of hand carved wood, its gonna be problematic, vs using more modern technology similar to middle eastern IEDs or whatevs.

          A more realistic success rate would be like middle eastern IEDs but more successful given more resources, essentially 100% odds of success.

          Unless its all a false flag which is of course vastly more likely.

        • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 25 2018, @03:17AM (1 child)

          by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Thursday October 25 2018, @03:17AM (#753506) Homepage Journal

          One can use a gas chromatograph to detect certain kinds of explosives. For example the suicide bomber's favorite detonator can be made out of Ortho Snail And Slug Death or a certain variety of women's urinary tract infection medicine, and smells just like Formaldehyde because that is what it is made of.

          That HMTD is so popular leaves me puzzled as to why military dogs aren't trained to smell it.

          With Neutron fluorescence you put a small piece of Plutonium next to a package, and if it has lots of nitrogen it will emit I expect a particular energy of gamma ray. You use a crystal scintillator, a photomultiplier tube and a multichannel analyzer to graph the spectrum of the gamma. If it's the nitrogen fluorescence there will be a sharp peak at a certain position on that graph.

          I did this at Caltech but with silver. It turns out that it's legal to possess up to one gram of Plutonium provided you take care to observe the required radiological health precautions.

          But nitrogen gamma fluorescence won't work with Potassium Perchlorate. Perhaps neutron fluorescence is used for that too, but looking for a different gamma spectrum.

          --
          Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
      • (Score: 2, Flamebait) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:07PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:07PM (#753276)

        Yeah, I was kind of wondering why none of them went off.

        Kinda odd isn't it? I've been informed every -R political figure for decades has been literally Hitler and we need to stop the Nazis and punch them and hate white men and all that stuff...

        But I'm kinda a fan of history and ACTUAL nazis rapidly nearing a century ago successfully killed six million people and invented multiple weapons like the V1 and V2 and death camps and crazy good tech like the tiger tank and all this stuff. But, uh, yeah, todays nazis supposedly can't make boomer go boom.

        Something about this fake narrative isn't adding up. What we're seeing just doesn't fit the reported M.O. of who is being implicated.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday October 24 2018, @06:27PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 24 2018, @06:27PM (#753176) Journal
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday October 25 2018, @05:11PM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday October 25 2018, @05:11PM (#753743) Homepage Journal

      A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!