The 24 year-old white man who is believed responsible for all the bombs in Austin blew himself up this morning as the police closed in. The link goes to the Austin Statesman’s coverage, which is quite good.
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: “The Love Always Outweighs the Hate”
The trailer for the new @MrRogersMovie documentary has me in tears already ?? pic.twitter.com/CVPyx0SK5h
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) March 20, 2018
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Even if that’s not statistically verifiable, isn’t it a better way to live?
"We're trying to save lives and we're trying to save America… it's really USA over NRA." @davidhogg111 and @JaclynCorin
on the #MarchForOurLives. We'll be marching in D.C. this weekend, go find a march near you! https://t.co/IvGbnuS1ap pic.twitter.com/kMgXVfGcNZ— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) March 20, 2018
Just talked w/ some DC teenagers preparing for Saturday's rally: they've coordinated > 300 host families for other high schoolers coming in from California, Florida, Conn and more. Organized meals for Friday and Saturday, have first-aid stations/emergency contacts. Incredible
— Astead (@AsteadWesley) March 20, 2018
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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: “The Love Always Outweighs the Hate”Post + Comments (173)
On the Road and In Your Backyard
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Late Night “Some Politics More Local Than Others” Open Thread: Jared Kushner, Grifter Icarus
Slumlord Jared Kushner bought buildings in New York and then filed at least 80 false documents with the city claiming it had no rent-regulated tenants so he could raise rents, push them out and re-sell the buildings for millions of dollars of profit. https://t.co/Zf44a3HCuZ
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 18, 2018
Jared and his family are about to have it explained to them why smart slumlords keep a low profile. “Nobody cares” if a sharp operator hustles the schvartzes in some beat-down burb far from the Big Apple. But New Yorkers take their rent control codes seriously — not necessarily sincerely, but seriously — and NYC prosecutors are always looking for a rich, tender would-be wiseguy of whom to make an example. MarketWatch reports:
A New York City Council member and a tenant’s rights group are launching an investigation into the real-estate firm controlled by the family of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, over a report that it regularly falsified building permits.
Politician Ritchie Torres and Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative (HRI), a tenants’ rights watchdog, made the announcement at a press conference outside Kushner Cos. New York headquarters on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, according to media reports. The news comes a day after the Associated Press reported that Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with New York City, declaring it had no rent-regulated tenants in buildings it owned, when it actually had hundreds.
That allowed the company to move in and conduct extensive construction and renovation that tenants claimed was targeted harassment aimed at driving them out to clear the way for higher-paying renters, said the AP…
In one instance, the Kushner Cos. purchased three buildings in Queens in 2015, in which most of the tenants had some protection that barred developers from evicting them or raising their rents in an effort to turn a quick profit, the AP reported.
But the company ticked a box on construction-permit applications that said the buildings had no rent-regulated tenants, according to an AP review of the documents. Tax records filed a few months after that showed the buildings actually had 94 rent-regulated units. The Kushner Cos., which at the time was headed by Jared Kushner, sold the buildings two years later for $60 million, or nearly 50% more than it had paid.
“It’s bare-faced greed,” said Carr. HRI compiled the work-permit application documents and shared them with AP. “The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment.”…
Filing false documents to the city’s Department of Buildings carries a misdemeanor fine of up to $25,000, but it is regularly flouted. Landlords can receive a demand to file an “amended” form with the correct numbers. HRI found that the Kushner Cos. filed dozens of amended forms for the buildings in the documents, many of them a year or two later…
Even apart from the legal danger, imagine the humilation for Big-Time Global Operator Jared Kushner to be exposed in front of his new downtown “friends” as just another chisler sending thugs to intimidate old ladies out of their homes. If only he’d had the sense to keep a low profile!
The problem with putting your lies in writing is… well… they have them in writing.
How are those security clearance forms coming along, Jared? https://t.co/M5XoaptoJq
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 18, 2018
I have a feeling it’s gonna be a bad few weeks for Jar-Jar Bling. pic.twitter.com/80nfTdogB9
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 18, 2018
Everybody hurts
I don’t know if Trump will fire Mueller but if he does, we can be certain of what the GOP Congress will do: frown, do nothing, and pretend they are planning something, which they will slow-walk and which will never come to fruition. We also know that David Brooks and his ilk will keep insisting that Graham and McCain are on the verge of some great patriotic action agains Trump, that Andrew Sullivan will say that the protests are so uncivil that they are as bad as Trump, that pundits of every stripe will remind us “there was no underlying crime”, that Ken Starr and conservative former DOJ/FBI officials will be all over the airways (and not just Fox) to tell us that Trump was well within his rights to do this, that it’s not as bad as what Clinton did, and so on.
So what can we do? Protest, of course, but I’d go farther and suggest something that I normally would not: hold every GOP office-holder, from dog catcher on up, accountable. Call the office, show up to public meetings, and let them know that you expect them, as members of the Republican party, to say and do something about the fact that the leader of their party does not respect the rule of law. I have a total of one elected Republican who represents me (my state Senator). I would normally never in a million years bug him about something like this because it doesn’t fall under his jurisdiction, but I’ll keep calling his office til I get satisfaction on this one.
This is a dick move, but it’s warranted. If Trump fires Mueller and the Republicans in Congress don’t do anything about it (which of course they won’t) it’s a party-wide failure to abide by the normal rules of a functioning democracy. And the entire party must pay the price.
Does anyone know of any good resources to allow people to find out if they are represented by Republicans at any level of government?
Late Evening Open Thread: Floriduh Monkey! Looking For A Good Time
Floriduh! Monkey, what have you been up to?
Of course… https://t.co/HUnpqDybEw via @nbc6
— Deebs ????? (@DeebsFTL) March 20, 2018
From NBC 6 Miami:
Police were trying to find a monkey that was on the loose near the King of Diamonds strip club in North Miami Beach Tuesday.
The monkey came from an industrial area west of I-95 and was reportedly loose in the area of the club near Northeast 6th Avenue between 179th and 180th streets.
Police said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was assisting in the search.
FWC officials said the Vervet monkey is a wild animal. A colony of them live in Dania Beach but some have migrated south, officials said.
The search was being suspended, FWC officials said.
Stay frosty!
Open thread.
(As far as we know from the reporting, no monkeys – wild or otherwise – nor ecdysiasts were injured in the making of this post.)
Late Evening Open Thread: Floriduh Monkey! Looking For A Good TimePost + Comments (116)
Breaking: Another Parcel Bomb Explodes in Austin, Texas
#Breaking #AustinPolice is responding to a reported explosion in 9600 block of Brodie Ln in south Austin. Please avoid the area. APD PIO en route.
— Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 21, 2018
FINAL Multiple assets #ATCEMS @AustinFireInfo @Austin_Police on scene Brodie Ln/W Slaughter Ln (1902) reported explosion: #ATCEMSMedics transported ~30s male with potentially serious, not expected to be life threatening, injuries to St Davids South Austin. No further info avail.
— ATCEMS (@ATCEMS) March 21, 2018
Provided this is the same perpetrator for all the bombings, or at least all the parcel/package bombs, then he (it is most likely a he) is rapidly moving through his escalation cycle.
From CBS Austin:
AUSTIN, Tex. (KEYE) — A new explosion has been reported in South Austin, hours after explosive packages were found at FedEx facilities in Schertz and near the Austin airport — and four other explosions over the past several weeks have left two dead and four others injured.
According to Austin-Travis County EMS, the latest reported incident happened at around 7 p.m. near the intersection of Brodie and West Slaughter Lanes.
The Austin Fire Department is reporting the explosion happened at a Goodwill location.
A man in his 30s was transported to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with potentially serious, but not life-threatening injuries.
Reaction from the Austin American Statesman breaking news editor who lives near the most recent bombing:
Bomb went off at goodwill store behind my house around 7 pm; standing in field next to my house with my dog; police helicopter is circling overhead; people keep driving down my street trying to bypass blocked traffic; I know I’m a grizzled journalist but I’m a little shook up tbh
— Roberto Villalpando (@daddyrobot) March 21, 2018
And it appears this may have been a two for, which is often used to lure law enforcement and emergency services in with the first device and then attack them with the second.
BREAKING: Authorities tell me that they think there is a second device at location in South Austin based on preliminary information
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) March 21, 2018
I’m working with Alain to try to embed the live feed from CBS Austin, as soon as I can I’ll update.
If you receive a package that you did not order, that does not appear to have normal delivery markings, that appears to be discolored or misshapen, or that seems suspicious: call the authorities. This type of very public type of serial killing will inspire copycats. Better safe than sorry.
Update at 9:15 PM EDT
Here’s the live feed from KXAN Austin:
Updated at 9:25 PM EDT
We have some good news:
#UPDATE: There was no package explosion in the 9800 block of Brodie Ln. Items inside package was not a bomb, rather an incendiary device. At this time, we have no reason to believe this incident is related to previous package bombs. #Breaking #packagebombmurders
— Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 21, 2018
Looks to be a low grade copycat.
Stay frosty!
Open thread.
Breaking: Another Parcel Bomb Explodes in Austin, TexasPost + Comments (123)