Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2018 13:22:43 GMT -5
Wow, Fred. I hope everything is okay by you.
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Post by raybar on Mar 12, 2018 15:45:33 GMT -5
Three bombs, two dead, additional injuries.
This may sound cruel, but I hope the victims are related somehow - family, work, church, gym, something - because that would make it easier for the police to track down the bomber. If the targets are random, and there is no connection between them, it might be impossible to identify any suspects.
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joan
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Post by joan on Mar 12, 2018 16:30:11 GMT -5
Haven't heard about this yet. Been watching too much news. I'll catch up soon to learn of this new violent abomination.
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Post by faskew on Mar 13, 2018 11:27:25 GMT -5
Like most Texas cities, Austin is spread out over a large area. I think it's about 300 square miles or so these days, mostly running north/south along Interstate 35 for maybe 40-50 miles or so and east/west maybe 20-30 miles. In the old days I35 was the dividing line - with the poor and minorities living mostly east and everyone else west. Even today the eastern part of town is still heavily black and Hispanic. The 3 bombs so far have targeted minorities east of I35. I think the two furthest bomb sites are about 25 miles apart (north/south).
All that the cops will admit to so far is that all the victims are minorities living east of I35. If there is any other connection between them, no one will say. Although this could be a racist activity, it would be very unusual for Austin, which is probably the most liberal city in Texas. Not that there are no classic rednecks at all in Austin, but they are a minority and most prefer to live in more right-wing cities.
Nothing makes any sense. If it's something to do with black drug gangs, then the little-old Hispanic lady would have been a mistake. If it's something to do with racism, then what's the point in attacking random people? In either case, using a gun would have required much less effort than building and delivering multiple bombs.
This is also the first week of South by Southwest, the interactive high tech, movies, and such. Which means thousands of strangers are in town. Next week the music part begins and there are something like 1,000 bands playing around town, many from other nations, plus more thousands of strangers. In 2016 something like 300,000 people attended one or more SxSW events. All of this just makes police work even more difficult. 8-<
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2018 15:34:20 GMT -5
Last night, around 10:30, there were three very loud booms, that sounded like explosives. It scared me and it didn't sound like fireworks or a car back firing. I fully expected to hear police sirens any minute, but nothing.
It's just how the world is right now. I haven't heard anything about it yet, and likely won't.
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Post by faskew on Mar 14, 2018 5:50:30 GMT -5
Could be almost anything. A couple of years ago a house about 4 blocks from me exploded due to a gas leak. I once lived close enough to railroad tracks that I heard when a train hit a car. A super-right-wing man flew his light plane into an IRS office a few blocks from where I worked. When I was a kid living near Lubbock, the Air Force pilots liked to break the sound barrier and set off sonic booms over our town. Large fireworks, gun shots, car wreaks, whatever. The night is filled with noise. 8->
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Post by raybar on Mar 14, 2018 9:16:18 GMT -5
Yeah, sonic booms. When I was young we had our windows rattled almost daily by jets from nearby (< 9 miles) Hanscom Air Force Base. Couldn't complain too much since Dad worked there.
Then there was the day at Warner Bros when some Air Force hero was buried at Forest Lawn, perhaps 2500 feet up the street, and they had a frightening low altitude fly-over by a B-52. We thought the building falling down.
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Post by faskew on Mar 21, 2018 8:42:27 GMT -5
So they found a guy last night and he blew himself up. As of now (about 8:30 AM) all they're saying is that he was a white male, 24. No details as to why yet. Because he's white and he chose Austin, the most liberal city in Texas, as a target, it's possible that he's part of some alt-right group. There have actually been some alt-right types who had planned attacks in Austin, but were caught before they did their deeds. One ultra-conservative guy from east Texas was caught when he was pulled over for a traffic stop and the cop noticed some bombs (or something) in the back seat of his car. I think he planned to attack the capitol building. Another conservative flew his light plane into an IRS office a few years ago. Being both liberal and the state capitol makes Austin a target for many such plots.
There's a very strong anti-government streak among certain groups and sometimes it leads to violence. This current bomber may be one of those. There may be others involved, but right now the odds are that this guy was alone. The city has been warned that he may have placed other bombs before they caught him, so citizens are advised to stay paranoid for the next few days, just in case. Me, I want to know why. Killing people at random with bombs doesn't seem to me to be a good way to promote change or influence the government.
BTW, an explosion earlier last night at a Goodwill store was apparently caused by someone who donated some live ordnance. Many vets illegally keep grenades and stuff from their active duty time. Maybe some old guy died and his kin didn't know that some of his souvenirs were live and they dropped the stuff off at Goodwill. Apparently this is not uncommon and Goodwill staff have special training on how to deal with war stuff. Who knew.
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