Who is sending Bombs?

[XT]

CNN says there is a suspect that’s been arrested. Not much on details. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/clintons-obama-suspicious-packages/index.html

JUST IN: Man arrested in connection with suspicious packages
From CNN’s Mark Morales, Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz and Brynn Gingras

Federal authorities have arrested a man in connection to the suspected explosive packages, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@davidm

How does De Niro fit into the Bernie bro scenario?

He was a Hillary supporter. I agree it’s looking increasingly unlikely as things develop, not that it was ever hugely likely to begin with.

[UltraVires]

@asahi

I don’t entirely disagree with you that Joe Biden and Maxine Waters may have crossed some lines with their rhetoric as well.

That being said, I would still argue that it’s almost exclusively one side that is talking about “2nd Amendment solutions” and “civil war”. Beyond that, however, there is also the subtle language of authoritarianism and also political behavior, which is inextricably tied to any conversation about rhetoric and tone. It’s one thing to have someone (an elderly man, to be exact) suggesting that he’d like to take someone behind the schoolhouse and throw a right cross. After one of their presidential debates, one of Mitt Romney’s sons said he wanted to punch the president while he was listening to Obama rip into Romney’s political record. It was perhaps inappropriate, but I think most Obama voters and progressives understood he wasn’t really advocating political violence.

But when political leaders tell tens of millions of voters that elections are rigged and that we need take up arms if the results don’t go their way, then that’s raising it to an entirely new level. See, it’s not just the rhetoric about violence; it’s the language of violence coupled with attempts to cast opponents’ political victories as illegitimate. It’s tying the rhetoric of violence into claims that Democrats want hordes of foreigner thugs to invade the country and commit mass lawlessness. It’s the tandem of violent and aggressive rhetoric with claims that the criminal investigations into the Republican party are baseless and only occurring because there are political operatives within the government loyal to the Democratic party, and by extension, also arguing that people can’t trust their own political system and the rule of law to produce fair results. In Republican land, everyone who has different viewpoints is potentially conspiring against them somehow.

If it were a handful of cranks saying “Liberals can take my guns over my dead body,” that would be one thing. But it’s so much more than that, and you damn well know it. So stop the false equivalency bullshit and again, ask yourself, what kind of country do you want to live in? Do you want a country in which violence and intimidation are a regular part of election cycles, as in parts of the post-colonial world?

I am not here to defend Trump’s comments. My point is that nothing about any of them suggests mailing pipe bombs to Bill and Hillary Clinton is even implicitly encouraged.

As far as the false equivalency, I don’t see it. We see posts on this board all of the time how Bush stole the 2000 election, rigged the vote in Ohio in 2004 and that neither him nor Trump are “legitimate” presidents because they lost the popular vote, and further Trump cheated because the Russians helped him.

We heard during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal that the criminal investigation there was nothing but a Republican hit job with no merit to it.

The left has said for years that by cutting the size of the increases of funding in Medicare, for example, that old people have to choose between food and medicine, and that children will go hungry if we reform welfare.

If someone believes these things, then why wouldn’t some crazy person be violent against Republicans?

So, I think I have addressed your points. You paint a picture about how the Dems respect the results of elections, criminal investigations, or paint their opponents in a fair light. They do not.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@UltraVires

If someone believes these things, then why wouldn’t some crazy person be violent against Republicans?

Have you heard any mainstream Democrat advocate beating up Republicans because of those things?

[Section_Maker_Jupe]

even Fox is carrying the news, after talking about everything else but. Footage of some crazy looking white van festooned with stickers and slogans all over the windows etc. :eek:

[Richard_Parker]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Have you heard any mainstream Democrat advocate beating up Republicans because of those things?

Not just advocate it, but directly praise it after the fact.

[Bijou_Drains]

@Section_Maker_Jupe

even Fox is carrying the news, after talking about everything else but. Footage of some crazy looking white van festooned with stickers and slogans all over the windows etc. :eek:

one of the stickers seems to be a picture of Trump and now the FBI just covered the van with a tarp

[Czarcasm]

@Bijou_Drains

one of the stickers seems to be a picture of Trump and now the FBI just covered the van with a tarp

Can’t do videos at the moment-is the a picture available?

[XT]

If Fox has pictures then they are ahead of the curve…both the BBC and CNN only have very minimal information at this point, just saying that an arrest has been made.

[Bijou_Drains]

I would guess somebody did a screen grab of the van before the FBI put the tarp on it.

CNN had video of the van and the FBI putting the tarp on it

[XT]

@Bijou_Drains

I would guess somebody did a screen grab of the van before the FBI put the tarp on it.

CNN had video of the van and the FBI putting the tarp on it

Ok, yeah, I see that now. It’s just a vehicle with a blue tarp on it. They are saying there will be a full press conference at 2:30.

[Section_Maker_Jupe]

All 3 networks had it running…parked outside Autozone. Guys were peering in the windows and actually touching the van, so the media hosts suggest it wasnt rigged to explode etc. Lots of talk about how they probably had this guy zeroed in on day or so ago, geting warrrants etc. 2:30 Attorney General news conference.

[Bijou_Drains]

guys name will likely be leaked out before the 2:30 PC

[Section_Maker_Jupe]

…all the detectives at Reddit will have the vans slogans and stickers decoded by then too!!

[Fiveyearlurker]

@Section_Maker_Jupe

…all the detectives at Reddit will have the vans slogans and stickers decoded by then too!!

Already have. It’s all MAGA stuff.

[Bijou_Drains]

was I right that the picture on the top left of the front window was Trump?

[Aspenglow]

MSNBC has some great shots of the stickers on the van before it was covered by the tarp. Trump love fest.

Not one thing about this suspect or arrest surprises me except that it happened this morning and not this afternoon.

[davidm]

MSNBC has a live feed. The van has been covered with a tarp and is being loaded onto a Flatbed. They’re also showing a blurry photo of some of the windows, showing unclear images of the stickers. They’ve said that there are pictures of Trump, Presidential seals, etc.

[Section_Maker_Jupe]

@Fiveyearlurker

Already have. It’s all MAGA stuff.

I think so too…(I tried Reddit but its such a mess I quit). Stickers were at least placed square and true on the windows…(as compared to Rastafarians bumper stickers)
Autozone stock probably gonna tank, I’ll bet he used facilities to make stuff.

[Bijou_Drains]

guy is 50s , criminal past and ties to NY. Maybe a retiree like many in S. Florida