Terrorism in 'Murica (aka The Homeland)

I'm not sure what I think about that. Of course it was terrorism, but was it orchestrated, religious terrorism, or just some nut who was pissed off about something?

so the father of the guy who tried to blow up the plane to detroit says he warned u.s. authorities about his son. unfortunately the father is a nigerian banker. his email probably didn't make it past the spam filters.

(f'r real tho this shit is alarming and i wish these assholes would stop trying to blow up planes.)

I wish assholes would stop trying to blow things up too.

it would be a good new year's resolution for assholes imo.

F'real. Assholes' Charter.

I hope it leads straight back to Cheney (just kidding but this story was the first thing I thought of)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/jan-june09/nigeria_04-24.html

Corruption Case Exposes Scope of Bribery in Nigeria

Last year, Albert Jack Stanley, the former CEO of KBR, pleaded guilty to bribery for masterminding the payment of more than $180 million to Nigerian officials. PBS Frontline correspondent Lowell Bergmen reports on the damage done by large-scale bribery in that country.

why do all the news reports keep saying this bomb was made by a top al qaeda bomb maker - the shit did not go off - whoever made it is not a top bomb maker

and srsly why not detonate the bomb in the bathroom where no one will disturb yr terror

overall, not impressed

aside from the 9/11 bastards, these terrorists seem less competent than the Weather Underground.

srsly guy gotten tooken down by a dutch filmmaker A DUTCH FILMMAKER smh

Theo wahtshisname avenged

ws dutch filmmaker tbh

I sure am glad we're fighting these guys in remote Afghan villages. Each Taliban Pashtun sheep herder we kill is one less rich British educated Nigerian terrorist to worry about.

it's a little comforting that the whole on-board chem-lab thing is hard to do effectively. but it sounds like dude had enough explosive on him to do the job. and apart from the people he would've killed, imagine the insane right-wing braying about america under attack -- on christmas, no less -- while obama frolics in hawaii. it's not as if anyone caught this guy, everybody just got lucky.

has anyone flown yet since this? i am not looking forward to manchester-newark-sfo in a couple of days.

not sure my bladder can deal with the new era tbqh

god, i cannot imagine that flight, caek. fucking nightmarish bullshit.

am doing Gatwick -> Orlando next week. not exactly looking forward to (1) flight and (2) Gatwick security which is hellish bad at the best of times.

gatwick is the worst place on earth. you have my sympathies.

assuming everything runs on time, 2010 starts for me at 5am GMT Jan 1 and ends at 1am PST Jan 2. YAAAAAAAOOOOOOW. and of course nothing will run on time now.

wonder if cutty can meet me in arrivals at EWR w/ vaporizer.

lol "2010 ends on Jan 2". i wish.

You sound like a terrist, flying crazy routes from Londonistan and calling for the end of the world.

i am taking an implausible number of hard drives in hand luggage too (no joke).

and i'm flying back LAX to munich. would not be surprised if i get tased just a little bit.

jus a lil tasing lets all be cool

Hoekstra on Fox yesterday all but blaming Obama admin.

The government was vague about the steps it was taking, saying that it wanted the security experience to be “unpredictable” and that passengers would not find the same measures at every airport — a prospect that may upset airlines and travelers alike.

^^^ awesome

Airline officials also said the carriers were told to turn off the maps on in-flight entertainment systems that show a plane’s location. The rule apparently was intended to prevent travelers from knowing when a plane had reached the United States. However, industry officials pointed out there are route maps in the backs of airline magazines, and that a traveler could simply time the journey using a watch.

^^^ lol

i will be seriously disappointed if the maps w/the lil traveling airplane get turned off

I'm sorta surprised an airline hasn't tried to go the El Al route but on a bigger scale, and offer, for a higher price, higher security: i.e. having their own security in addition to the airports'. I'd think some people would be willing to pay more for this, and others wouldn't, so the market could support both kinds of fliers.

Where can I read about how things work on El Al?

I think people on long flights are 20 times likelier to eat each other without the distraction of the lil traveling airplane.

why do all the news reports keep saying this bomb was made by a top al qaeda bomb maker - the shit did not go off - whoever made it is not a top bomb maker

why is any possible threat to america from any source overstated and over-reported?

re. El Al, the wikipedia entry has the right details.

The BBC was reporting that the route maps will only be off for the last hour. Seems completely retarded regardless. They're not detailed enough if you're aiming for a specific small conurbation, and any idiot can figure out when they've crossed from Canadian to U.S. airspace.

wow at El Al security.

Does the precise location of the plane you're trying to destroy matter that much?

presumably it has greater political impact if it happens in the U.S.

when youre flying into new york you can look out the window and see new york

yeah (re El Al); I have friends who would gladly pay for that kind of security---you'd think a market as lucrative as the airline market would support such a business.

how much is the typical price premium for El Al? double? extra 25%

imo the market for luxury airline security isnt that great - its already the safest thing in the world

joe will you come out to EWR on new year's day and do yoga with me y/n?

that sounds really lovely but im up in vermont for the next few months

btw factoid: i have never set foot in the newark airport

It's hard to countenance this occurring on the same day as the charity marathon pipe bombing in NJ and there being no connection. But I guess it's possible.

In general the notion of 'bomb in Chelsea' makes one start imagining motives but then the specific locations of the bombs just seem pretty empty of significance. IDGI.

idiot israels on fb all "why are americans so slow to admit the truth" like i understand that in yr country you generally only have one source of terrorism but god bless the US we have so many sources of potential bomb making that we really cannot just jump to one conclusion immediately w/out evidence. it could be right-wing extremists. it could be left-wing extremists. it could be lone nuts. we have a long history of all kinds of groups trying to blow ppl up.

Cant remember the last time left wing extremists bombed anything in the US tbh

But yes i agree w yr overall pt

3 acts of terror, broadly speaking, in one day :/

St. Cloud MN stabber seems to be in the same bucket as Orlando dude ie disorganized sort of Islamist terror

Sort-of-islamist should have hyphenated for clarity

Yeah, thank god it's not worse than it might have been. But we're not in a stage where stuff is ordered from on high, this may have had a certain motive, but how do we react to this dispersed, autonomous ideology?

http://gizmodo.com/explosion-reported-in-manhattan-cause-unknown-1786763151

I don't react. I keep moving, quickly.

So they said definitely intentional, second unexploded bomb similar design to Boston marathon bomb (design can be found on internet), checking for links to NJ race pipe bomb but so far no link to (international) Islamic terror.

It's remarkable that no one died, it was a really powerful bomb. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/nyregion/new-york-explosion-chelsea.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Luke McConnell, who was visiting from Colorado, was headed toward a restaurant on West 27th Street when the blast occurred.

“I felt it, like a concussive wave, heading towards me. Then there was a cloud of white smoke that came from the left side of 23rd Street near Sixth,” Mr. McConnell said. “There was no fire, just smoke.”

Witnesses said they could feel the explosion from several blocks away. Daniel Yount, 34, said he was standing on the roof of a building at 25th Street and Avenue of the Americas with friends.

“We felt the shock waves go through our bodies,” Mr. Yount said.

Seems like ISIS loners. They really underperformed this time, thank god. nypost fwiw: http://nypost.com/2016/09/18/there-will-be-more-chilling-911-call-after-the-chelsea-explosion/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunch_of_Guys

lol come on

5 people taken into custody

http://abc7ny.com/news/multiple-people-taken-into-custody-in-connection-with-chelsea-explosion/1517053/

another explosion in NJ: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nyc-explosion-fbi-cops-investigate-vehicle-interest-n-y-new-n650306?cid=sm_tw

Shit.

Suspect named for the Chelsea bomb, 28 yo Afghanistan born naturalized us citizen of NJ.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/sep/19/us-authorities-investigating-new-jersey-explosive-devices-live-updates

home raided

iPhone extreme alert during Monday morning commute is one way to change the dialectic

I know this is 'letting the terrorists win' but I am strongly tempted to call out today

The NJ stuff is happening about 10 minutes' walk from my apartment.

Hell, if them winning is you taking a personal day then fine, let them have this one.

Personally, I feel like the 'letting them win' thing is more applicable if bombs go off in NY and NJ and you decide to stay home with the curtains drawn even though you live in Wichita. But if there's danger of subsequent events in a place where shit has already gone down, it's only natural to be cautious.

Did it just now. My boss was cool about it.

Sounds like NY and NJ are handling this very professionally and thoroughly, but then, I don't have TV. Maybe TV is hysterical. Probably so.

When is TV not hysterical.

Big Bang Theory?

I don't have tv either. I think they'll handle this well but I'ma give them a day to find the rest of the cached fucking bombs.

Xpost Oh shit, multiple meanings not intentional.

XD

Fp'd for microaggression

Now you're definitely letting the terrorists win.

making people's phones play a siren sound is not "handling it very professionally" imo but i guess it's not boston-level insanity

coming home from manhattan over the weekend while cops ran around in the subways yelling F IS CLOSED F IS CLOSED POLICE ACTIVITY GO HOME makes a fella nervous for sure

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsuXx-LWIAAgyjw.jpg:small

lol

suspect captured in Linden NJ after firing at a cop

Nice

Just seen film of him being taken away on a stretcher.

https://twitter.com/ItsTonyNow/status/777892751757180928

tbf i imagine they're checking for weapons?

P sure that's a direct transcript.

They're checking for embedded cellphones.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fj1HFuaZrD0/ThJdI2QpQPI/AAAAAAAACgQ/esATtrnuZeo/s1600/PDVD_108.BMP

Maybe, given their constraints, they are implementing thus far extra-legal tickle torture tactics to get him to talk. They are going to get some stubbly SWAT dude to blow raspberries on his tummy until he spills the beans.

Disturbing new details in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

New filings claim there was a Plan B the militiamen had drawn up, that involved a takeover of the Michigan capitol building by 200 combatants who would stage a week-long series of televised executions of public officials.

There was also a Plan C -- burning down the state house, leaving no survivors.

"economic anxiety"

Look, an armed coup is totally a reasonable response to not being able to get a haircut.

give me wings, or give me death

Look, an armed coup is totally a reasonable response to not being able to get a haircut.

Also gotta love that their backup plans were just as outlandish. Plan D was to hijack the Space Shuttle and pilot it into the Mackinac Bridge.

iirc that was actually Plan E, Plan D was to poison this year's crop of Traverse City cherries and hand deliver them to everyone at the statehouse.