bombs added to balmy political times

Pepe Le Pew

It smells somehow callow -- a series of bomb threats against left-leaning politicians/players reported yesterday [10/24/18]. The threats were apparently short-circuited by canny federal watchdogs. None of the alleged explosive devices went off. But the collective announcement ratcheted up the tensions infusing a feeding-frenzy interest in the mid-term congressional elections in November.

Who benefits from bombs?

Who benefited?

It's not yet clear.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left) and Nicola Sacco.

Are we tip-toe-ing up to a latter-day version of Sacco and Vanzetti? ... hang-first-adjudicate-later.

And yet the fact that no explosive device went off suggests a half-baked plan intended to frighten but not actually hurt anyone. Alternatively, it speaks of stupidity. The whole thing seems to point to a need for centralized power.

NEW YORK (AP) — The discovery of pipe bombs targeting prominent Democratic politicians and CNN is raising the threat of election-season violence largely unknown in the U.S. — and prompting uncomfortable questions about the consequences of leaders’ increasingly vitriolic rhetoric.
Coming two weeks before midterm elections, the thwarted attacks Wednesday caused renewed soul-searching — and finger pointing — about whether President Donald Trump has fanned passions to dangerous levels. Democrats swiftly pointed to his remarks seeming to condone violence against reporters and belittling political opponents, including some apparently targeted by the devices. Trump decried all political violence and issued a broad call for unity.

Trump's divisiveness has been palpable so a call for unity basically means to vote for him and his agenda. His supporters more often than not take his word as writ. Life is easier when no proof is adduced and your point man ... well ... points: "Drain the [political] swamp!" "Lock her [Hillary Clinton] up!" In short, fuck 'em all -- listen to me. And the excuses run rampant when criticisms arise -- "well, he didn't exactly mean that. We know what he means and he's right because we agree with him."

But if you really wanted to deliver a pipe bomb, wouldn't you be more circumspect? The internet that may tell you how to build a bomb probably offers wily instruction about how to sidestep detection. Wouldn't you think? Don't make large-scale purchases in one place ... with a credit card ... etc.? No need to be dumber than you already may be... which suggests haste and carelessness of the sort that those who are merely angry might display. As I say, it smells callow and thereby, perhaps, useful to someone. "That'll show 'em!" "Make America great again!" "I'm so angry, I must be right!"

It is a confusing and on-edge-putting time. No one is ashamed. Everyone else is to blame. Resentment and victim-hood -- not bitcoin -- is the common currency. A drained swamp needs re-people-ing.

It is hard to remove the skunk's scent once s/he sprays you.

PS:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday [today, 10/25/18] he was “bringing out the military” to protect the U.S. border as a caravan of Central American migrants continued a slow trek through Mexico toward the United States, but provided no details....
“I am bringing out the military for this National Emergency. They will be stopped!” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the migrants.

As a matter of curiosity, I wonder how many legal Hispanic-origin immigrants will be scared off voting (often Democrat) for fear of federal reprisal. The "illegal voting" in the United States is demonstrably minuscule:

Sensationalist claims have circulated this election season about the extent of voter fraud, with some politicians going so far as to tell voters to fear that this November’s election will be “rigged.” Because electoral integrity is one of the elements necessary to making America the greatest democracy in the world, claims like this garner media attention, and frighten and concern voters. But putting rhetoric aside to look at the facts makes clear that fraud by voters at the polls is vanishingly rare, and does not happen on a scale even close to that necessary to “rig” an election.