My gut reaction is that this is basically a serial killer whose M.O. happens to be bombs and not necessarily a politically or racially motivated perpetrator, but I guess we will find out as more information comes to light. The early bombs may have been “test runs” so to speak in areas where maybe the bomber didn’t think there wouldn’t be many video cameras and such to catch him in the act and track him. The thing I find scary is that this guy seems to be on a warpath, the frequency of the bombings is increasing, while the amount of time between each incident is decreasing. I hope this isn’t all leading up to some larger bombing event the killer has planned. Each day that passes, especially with the FBI on the case the bomber has to know that the snare around him is getting smaller and smaller, which may make him more desperate and attempt to go out with an even bigger bang so to speak before he is caught or killed. One of the largest military bases is in Texas and only an hour away from Austin, I wonder if this could be some former Explosive Ordnance Disposal guy that went nuts or something. I know this is all speculation but its somewhat stimulating to try and figure these things out before its all over.
They must have some kind of evidence that (most likely) he did both of them.
Many years ago, including prior to 9/11, I did relief work at a clinic on a local military base, and part of the bomb threat protocol, which was posted next to every phone, included the questions “What is your name?” and “What is your address?” 
Research had indicated that the caller is often agitated enough, and not thinking straight, to reply correctly.
So, it’s not impossible, although I personally doubt it.
Some people, including an Austin resident on my Facebook list, are expressing relief that the Goodwill explosion probably wasn’t related. I disagree; this may mean that we have a second bomber out there.
Wouldn’t a “competent” bomber be putting the return address and name of some innocent person whom he hoped to frame as the real culprit?
Or he shipped both in the same transaction, or from the same account, so they could see that packages 12345 and 12346 were sent by the same person, even if there is no genuine name attached.
In any case, it seems like there would be greater risk of being caught.
A friend in Austin works in just the type of government office that could possibly be a magnet for mad bombers. I told him to stay safe.
I don’t get the surprise that a mad bomber could be smart enough to change the MO. Why the notion that the perp must be some sort of slobbering baboon?
NY Daily News is saying that the bomber is dead, shot and killed on a highway near Austin. There’s not much info and I’m not sure how accurate any of it is. So … grain of salt -
Apparently he blew himself up as the police closed in…
A 24 year old white male, ID and motives TBD.
It wasn’t a bomb. It was a military artillery simulator. It’s designed to be dropped near troops and make a loud bang. It’s purpose is to produce noise not concussion, overpressure and shrapnel. It’s not 100% safe, like with a firework holding it when it goes off would be a bad idea for you and your fingers.
Hopefully this does not mean someone else is trying to copy. However, someone using a commercially produced firework and someone designing lethal IEDs are two very different things.
Note that the Goodwill “bomb” was an unrelated thing. Some doofus donated a couple practice rounds to them and one went off. It was a mildish thing.
I don’t think I want to be the guy who first enters his home, Lord knows what kind of booby traps he left behind. For all of his technical expertise in bomb making, it does seem kind of sloppy that he sent them Fed Ex where he would wind up on security cameras. Hope he left something somewhere that tells us what his motive was.
Who donates something like that to Goodwill?
I’m sure I saw a story, relatively recently, about a grenade launcher (with grenade) showing up in a Goodwill bin.
Edit: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article197613449.html
A former wife getting rid of his stuff, who didn’t know what they were.
I don’t know who this TBD guy is, but the bomber is MAC.
Can’t wait for all the wrong people being recognized on Facebook, Russian Twitter bots spamming that he was a socialist Muslim Bernie Bro and Reddit crowdsourcing detectives locating the partisan primary ballot of a guy two states over with a different middle name.
According to this article, Conditt was home-schooled through high school, and was considering going on a ‘mission trip’.
Too bad Dennis and Charlie didn’t stop him. :o
More:
Good news, everyone! The Austin bombings have no apparent connection to terrorism.
Let me repeat that: the mailing of multiple bombs with the purpose of killing or maiming innocent people is not “terrorism”. Officially.
Which is interesting.