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Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Republicans do not trust women.

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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Breaking News: There Is A Parcel Bomber Operating In The Austin, Texas Area

Breaking News: There Is A Parcel Bomber Operating In The Austin, Texas Area

by | 150 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

I would also add to leave the parcel/package exactly where it is, move yourself, anyone else – friends, neighbors, and/or relations – as well as pets well away from it and await the arrival of the police and the bomb squad.

From CBS Austin:

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Police, Austin Fire and Austin-Travis County EMS crews are responding to a reported explosion in southeast Austin.

Its happening in the 6700 block of Galindo, close to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, near Hwy 183 and Hwy 71.

EMS says a woman in her 70s was injured and is being transported to Dell Seton Medical Center with serious, potentially life-threatening injuries.

There is no word yet if it is related to another deadly explosion that happened on Monday.

NBCDFW has the report on that other, and deadly, explosion today:

Authorities have not said whether the most recent explosion was caused by a package bomb like the one that exploded earlier Monday about 5 miles away, or another earlier this month.

Police Chief Brian Manley said at a news conference Monday — before the third explosion — that investigators believe the deadly package blast Monday is linked to a March 2 package bomb that killed a 39-year-old man in another part of the city.

In each case, Manley said, the package bombs were left on the victims’ front doorsteps and not delivered by a mail service. He said the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t have a record of delivering a package to the Austin home where the explosion occurred Monday. He said that package was brought into the kitchen where it detonated, killing a 17-year-old boy and injuring the woman.

The March 2 explosion occurred about 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Monday’s blast. Both explosions occurred in the early-morning hours.

The chief said all of the victims have been black and that investigators are considering whether race could have factored into the attacks.

Here’s Austin Police Chief Manley doing a press conference:

Whether you live in Austin or anywhere else, if you receive a package you are not expecting: do NOT open it. Move yourself and anyone else away from the package, contact authorities, and wait for them to respond. Better safe than sorry as this type of thing has the unfortunate tendency to create copycats. And the copycats may not be good at building improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Or they may simply put non-lethal or lethal noxious substances in the package because they can’t figure out how to make a bomb. Finally, if today’s bombings/explosions are linked than it may mean that the perpetrator is shifting into a more rapid operational cycle.

Updated at 3:55 PM EDT

The second victim today was a Latina woman.

Stay frosty! And safe!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    The Dangerman

    Probably MS-13. Isn’t everything MS-13? Is MS-13 even a real thing? I never hear about it other than from the Righties.

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    SWSX is going on in Austin right now (we have two employees from our office attending it) so somebody wanted to make sure their little terrorist campaign got maximum media exposure.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @The Dangerman: It is a real thing. Actually started in the US and then we exported it to El Salvador by deporting non-citizen members of the gang. It is a problem in about a 1/2 a dozen cities. Largely those with significant Salvadoran immigrants and/or Americans of Salvadoran descent. MS 13 predominantly preys on them. They got a big bump, notoriety wise, when Dick Wolf wrote them into a Law & Order arc, adapted from an actual event. In this case it was how he wrote Jill Hennessy off the series – by having MS 13 assassinate her in order to try to monkey wrench a prosecution into them. Since then t* They’ve become a right wing, nativist, anti-immigrant boogeyman and conjuring phrase.

    * ETA: I clearly misremembered this. They killed Hennessy’s character off in a car accident. My apologies.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    What the hell?

    Aren’t they having the South by Southwest festival in the area? Any added security or concerns?

  8. 8.

    ruemara

    Uh, the bombs (so far), have targeted black families. Just as an FYI. I’m sure that’s not a relevant thing.

    @Mnemosyne: The panels and issues being discussed – at least on who I follow on Twitter – seem interesting. But then Imani discussed how much a badge costs. Holy. Shit.

  9. 9.

    The Dangerman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    In this case it was how he wrote Jill Hennessy off the series – by having MS 13 assassinate her in order to try to monkey wrench a prosecution into them.

    Damn, I missed a L&O episode! Never saw that one. There was one special two parter related to her death that never gets played in syndication. At least I think it was a 2 parter, so it gets no play.

    Oh, man, Jill Hennessy. Swoon. And she has a twin sister, Jacqueline. SWOON.

    ETA: Thanks for the MS-13 illumination; it’s getting so much play these days I thought it was BS.

  10. 10.

    Major Major Major Major

    @ruemara:

    But then Imani discussed how much a badge costs. Holy. Shit.

    If it’s the same organizers who thought it was a good idea to pay homeless people to be WiFi hotspots, I can imagine the tickets being a touch pricy.

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    That’s why the people I know who went had the Giant Evil Corporation pay for their badges. I have no idea who can afford it out of their own pocket.

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: There will be security at the events. But the added concern is lots of people not from Austin in Austin. Also, don’t forget that Texas is now a licensed open carry state. So there are a lot of firearms around – concealed and open carried.

  14. 14.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That’s another example of “Law & Order” showing that it’s not written by people in New York — MS 13 is big here in LA (though LAPD is doing a good job of tracking them down) but not in NYC.

    They also had a big episode about Black and Latino kids getting into racial beefs at school and killing each other but, again, that’s a big problem here in LA, but not so much in NYC.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:
    A lot of people could afford to pay that out of their own pocket if it really mattered to them. People spend more than that on hobbies and fancy vacations all the time.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ruemara: I’m sure it is very relevant. Since it was covered in the news reports I quoted, I didn’t think I needed to separately highlight it.

  17. 17.

    Tractarian

    I would also add to leave the parcel/package exactly where it is, move yourself, anyone else – friends, neighbors, and/or relations – as well as pets well away from it and await the arrival of the police and the bomb squad.

    What if I’m hosting a meeting with my mortal enemies – do I need to move them away from the package? What about my mother-in-law? And do I really need to wait for the bomb squad or can I make a Starbucks run?

    Without your sincere advice as to these matters, I’m afraid I am at a loss and paralyzed with inaction. Please respond ASAP

  19. 19.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @ruemara:

    Uh, the bombs (so far), have targeted black families. Just as an FYI. I’m sure that’s not a relevant thing.

    That’s a very relevant thing. I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s some alt-reich weirdo.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @The Dangerman: Actually I miswrote. They killed her off in a car accident with Briscoe in the car.

    So now I need to know what the hell I’m misremembering!

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    Also, to be fair to both Adam and the news source he quoted, the racial aspect is in the post:

    The chief said all of the victims have been black and that investigators are considering whether race could have factored into the attacks.

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Also, don’t forget that Texas is now a licensed open carry state. So there are a lot of firearms around – concealed and open carried.

    Gun vs bomb. I’m not seeing an equal match-up here.

    The chief said all of the victims have been black and that investigators are considering whether race could have factored into the attacks.

    Fuck. This is potentially an added dimension of insanity.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: It is a problem in Suffolk County, Long Island in the Salvadoran immigrant communities there. But it is not an existential threat to anyone and everyone in Long Island.

  26. 26.

    Chyron HR

    Well, it’s unfortunate that the neo-nazis’ victory in the 2016 election made them feel empowered to start openly exterminating the lesser races, but you have to remember that the neoliberal status quo wasn’t a bed of roses either.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: Not gun versus bomb. Significant percentage of the citizenry armed and believing they are properly prepared to stop a crime in progress and that Texas law empowers them to do so. I expect delivery people to get harassed. And hopefully only harassed, not perforated.

  31. 31.

    The Dangerman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Actually I miswrote. They killed her off in a car accident with Briscoe in the car.

    Now, THAT one I saw; since it was her last show, she must have told the makeup and wardrobe department to make her look SCORCHING. Hard to forget that one (for me, plus, it’s played multiple times recently).

  33. 33.

    ruemara

    @Yutsano: Yeah. And a lost badge costs over $1k to replace. HOLLLEEEEE Shit.

    @Mnemosyne: Saw that. But the headlines and blurbs don’t really convey that. And I cannot believe I am typing that it might be very relevant to tell AA families in the area first off to not touch suspicious packaging in 20fucking18.

  34. 34.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Major Major Major Major:
    He made L&O: SVU. While I liked some of the characters and the concept of a show trying to portray sex crime victims in a convincing and sensitive light, I didn’t like the demonization of defense attorneys, the rights of the accused, and the detectives generally taking a shit on the Constitution and police regs that are in place for a reason. It often hasn’t handled topical issues very well either.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Yutsano:

    They still asking for $1000 or so a badge?

    Here’s their price list. So you can get a badge for under $1000 if you plan in advance, but it’s limited to one track. The all-inclusive badge is $1150 if you get it far in advance, and they’re all $500 more if you buy them as a walk-up. I would guess housing would cost more unless you can find a friend willing to put you up.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    Hobbies and fancy vacations are actually fun. SXSW is work.

    For the kind of people who can get GEC to pay for their pass, yes. But I’m sure there are plenty of people who see it as a fun vacation where they go to see the stuff.

  37. 37.

    T S

    @Adam L Silverman: No worries. If you read the works of Oliver Sacks about neuroscience and cognition, you find that memory is garbage. Everyone’s. This is why I feel bad for Brian Williams and even some people accused of plagiarism–it’s really easy to subconsciously manufacture memories or steal ideas and forget you stole them.

  40. 40.

    LAO

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    I didn’t like the demonization of defense attorneys, the rights of the accused, and the detectives generally taking a shit on the Constitution and police regs that are in place for a reason.

    I HATE all of the L&O’s — and I especially hate when people ask me if any of those shows are remotely accurate. They are not.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @T S: I was sitting ten feet from Brian Williams, and five feet from the retired four star general, that Williams was trying to ingratiate himself with the first time he told that story.

  44. 44.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I was sitting ten feet from Brian Williams, and five feet from the retired four star general, that Williams was trying to ingratiate himself with the first time he told that story.

    Are you sure you remember this correctly?

  47. 47.

    The Moar You Know

    Is MS-13 even a real thing?

    @The Dangerman: Yes. I started seeing them in SoCal in the early 1990s, they were the insane motherfuckers with the face tats. Apparently quite a few have gone back to El Salvador and turned it into a slaughterhouse.

  50. 50.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman: I think you may be thinking of the one where the female prosecutor is an expert on Russian mafia and she’s killed in a safe house. Russians hired a Hispanic couple to do it but don’t remember what country they were supposed to be from.

  52. 52.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I mean, his name is on all the Law & Orders. I don’t think he actually has much to do with the writing, especially of the spinoffs.

    And of course a procedural is gonna be down on defense attorneys.

    I mean, yeah, I get that. He’s just the creator, but that was just a reaction I had to seeing his name, since he is so associated with it.
    The defense attorneys thing is something I see as cultural that has only gotten worse. Everybody hates them and think they’re scum… until they need one.

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    If I have to stand in line for hours for everything from food to bathrooms, I’ll go to Disneyworld first. SWSX is like ComicCon — so huge and unwieldy that it’s hard to see much of anything.

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Possibly you are remembering the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode “Loss,” in which Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot (played by Stephanie March) is assassinated in a drive-by shooting carried out by a brutal Latino drug gang. I don’t remember them being called MS-13, but the profile would fit them (as well as others). At the end of the episode it is revealed that Cabot survived but her “death” is part of the cover for her to go into the Witness Protection Program.

  57. 57.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t like the way the wingnut press has been using them to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria, but do not underestimate the danger MS-13 poses to the Latino community on Long Island. They have been responsible for some very ugly violence there.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    I found it!!!! It was ADA Alexandra Borgia played by Anna Parisse:
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Borgia

    Borgia was the shortest appearing Assistant District Attorney in the history of the Law & Order franchise, seen only in 33 episodes. In her final episode, while investigating a family’s murder, the DA’s office focuses on the husband, Frank Andreas, who is supplying killers with fake DEA badges which they use to commit home invasion robberies. Borgia presses Andreas to give up his accomplices, and is later kidnapped from her own apartment. Her body is subsequently found in the trunk of an abandoned car, bound, brutally beaten and dead of asphyxiation after choking on her own vomit. Outraged, McCoy arranges a sham prosecution to make sure her murderers go to prison for life, skirting legal ethics to the point that he almost faced disbarment and was replaced by a special prosecutor.[4] Borgia’s position is filled by Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza) in season 17.

  60. 60.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Was it the cynicism? I never saw it, but apparently Bauer was hauled before a Senate Subcommittee for his record human rights abuses. He walked away scot-free, I believe, and was justified by the show’s narrative.

    Now Sutherland plays the opposite: he’s the President in some Sorkin-esque drama, having been the designated survivor. Not the writer’s fault necessarily, as it was written weeks before Charlottesville, but there was a Confederate monuments episode that did some mighty equivocating, along with an Elderly Black Civil Rights Hero that basically says the traitor monuments can stay.

    The typical formula of an episode is Sutherland’s character gets on his soap box to give an inspiring speech and the antagonists do what he says in the end.

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steeplejack: Because the events occurred about a week to ten days before the event I was at. And he’d only gotten back from Iraq two or three days before. So he may have told the story privately, but this was the first time to a room full of people.

  62. 62.

    WhatsMyNym

    @ruemara: The trick is to buy your SXSW ticket for 2019 right now. Expensive, but not like it will be later. You also get first dibs at SXSW Hotel Blocks.

  66. 66.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Outraged, McCoy arranges a sham prosecution to make sure her murderers go to prison for life, skirting legal ethics to the point that he almost faced disbarment

    Ah, talk about aesop myopia.

  67. 67.

    LAO

    @TenguPhule: Also –a perfect example I why I fucking hate that show and it should have been “was disbarred” and not “almost faced disbarment.”

  68. 68.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Mnemosyne: I went to SXSW in 2011 and had a fantastic time, a whole week where I did pretty much nothing but go to parties, clubs and bars seeing live music. Heard a bunch of great bands, and met some really nice people. I guess it would have been different if I’d been there to promote a band or a record label, but as it was I enjoyed myself immensely, and would totally do it again.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @Major Major Major Major:

    eyewitness testimony especially should really just not be used.

    That’s not 100% right. There are some kinds of eyewitness testimony that are good and some that are deeply suspect. A good example is identifying people. We’re hard-wired to be able to recognize people we know well, even if it’s been a long time since we’ve seen them or their appearance has changed (e.g. gained weight, grown a beard, etc.). On the other hand, we’re terrible at remembering the details of somebody we don’t know, especially if we saw them in a distracting environment. So if an eyewitness says they recognized somebody, you can usually trust them if it’s somebody they know but not if it’s a complete stranger.

    I saw this demonstrated amazingly when I was taking civics in high school. One day, somebody ran into the classroom, shot at the teacher (with a replica gun) and then ran out. Then a police officer came in and asked us a bunch of questions about the “crime” we had just witnessed. He brought a second person in to discuss eyewitness testimony, and nobody in the class recognized that the expert in eyewitness testimony had been the shooter.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    Austin Police Chief has just updated from the scene on Galindo Street. The victim was a Latina female. It was a package/parcel bomb.

  80. 80.

    MaryL

    @Adam L Silverman: I had assumed it was bullshit when Ed Gillespie was running his racist campaign in Virginia, but apparently MS-13 is pretty big in at least parts of Fairfax and Loudon counties.

  81. 81.

    Mnemosyne

    @LAO:

    One of the signs of a TV show going downhill is when the writers can no longer accept having their characters lose, even when they deserve to. That plot sounds like it would have made a great exit episode for the character, but it’s hard to believe that the assistant DA’s would be willing to keep working under someone who would do that.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MaryL: Yes, but… They are a serious, dangerous problem in the places that they are in, which is about a 1/2 a dozen or so urban and/or suburban areas. They are not a problem in the vast majority of the US.

  87. 87.

    LAO

    @Mnemosyne: IIRC, at the beginning of the show, the prosecutors did used to lose some of the time. I have never thought about that way. I think you are right.

  90. 90.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Wouldn’t that be cynicism on the writers’ parts?

    No, because cynicism would have resulted in Bauher consistently using torture, only to find each and every time it never works, resulting in him always failing to stop the crime, leading to him being rebuked and belittled by the rest of his department and never learning a thing from it, instead insisting it will work if he just hurts them harder.

    The writers were fucking conservative optimists.

  91. 91.

    MaryL

    @Major Major Major Major: I was mugged on the DC metro a few years back – a teenager stole my phone from my hands and took off. Being an absolute fool, I actually struggled with him and chased him down. I actually had him cornered at one point, but he still got away. I clearly had a very good look at him. And yet…..5 minutes later when the cops showed up to take my statement, I could barely remember anything about him or the encounter. I could describe his general height, weight, and skin color, as well as the color shirt he was wearing, but I couldn’t remember anything about his face. I couldn’t even remember which direction he ran in. I thought he had run towards an elevator, but another witness said he had taken the escalator. It dawned on me that if he was ever caught and went to trial, I would absolutely not have been able to testify against, even if I was inclined to do so. So yeah, witness testimony is very often garbage.

  92. 92.

    Steeplejack

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Congratulations on remembering the episode—which had nothing to do with MS-13.

    Borgia was killed by two home invaders—named Ricky Robinson and Vincent Mulkowsky—who were working for a crooked DEA agent.

    There was a Law and Order episode (“Life Line”) featuring a gang called “L-12,” though.

  93. 93.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:
    Perhaps cynical in the sense that the writers knew torture didn’t really work but wanted to hurt the “bad guys” despite that fact.

    Unless they really believed it.

  94. 94.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Steeplejack:

    There was a Law and Order episode (“Life Line”) featuring a gang called “L-12,” though.

    Subtle. Were they afraid the MS-13 legal team was going to take them to court for libel and damages?

  95. 95.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Adam L Silverman: I didn’t know you had ties to Long Island. We’re practically neighbors, then. One of my regular duties here at the library is to clip Newsday. There have been so many killings linked to MS-13 in recent years, especially in Suffolk County, that we finally had to make a separate file just for them.

  96. 96.

    geg6

    @LAO:

    Glad a lawyer backs up my instinct on these shows. I watched a couple of them. Awful. Just so exploitive and a lot of inaccurate information as far as I could tell. Wouldn’t watch that garbage if you paid me. Plus, I found them profoundly boring.

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ridnik Chrome: I was a criminology professor at LI U for one year. I left that position to go to work for the Army and go to Iraq. I had the then (2006-2007) Deputy Commissioner of the Nassau County PD as one of my students. I’m actually a member of the Nassau County PD Detective’s Association. I have a membership card, lapel pin, and matching money clip in a box somewhere!

  103. 103.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Corner Stone: I was going to ask how drastically Austin could have changed in just seven years, but then I think of what’s happened to Brooklyn since 2011, and get really depressed…

  104. 104.

    Jay S

    @LAO:

    at the beginning of the show, the prosecutors did used to lose some of the time

    Some of those defendants came back to get convicted in later shows. IIRC there were also those who were wrongfully convicted where they waved a magic legal wand to get them released when the real culprit was caught.

  106. 106.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @LAO: we lawyers generally don’t do well trying to watch lawyer or cop tv shows. I wind up yelling back at the screen which isn’t very relaxing for anyone else in the room

  108. 108.

    ? Martin

    @geg6: If it makes you feel better, Dick Wolf is a pretty terrible person and has bad taste. My wife makes money off of celebrity divorces, and Wolf had been a bit of a goldmine for us. He dragged his divorce out over a decade or more.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Well, this whole subthread went into the Car Talk zone. After one particularly confused talk with a caller about some problem, they hung up the phone and one of the brothers said that they had successfully proved that it was possible for three people to know less about a topic than one person.

  114. 114.

    geg6

    @? Martin:

    That does not surprise me. A lot of the really bad tv is created and produced by the scum of the earth and, on most of their shows, it shows. I’m glad you can get your hands on a piece of his ill-gotten gains. His shows are like tabloids for tv.

  115. 115.

    ? Martin

    @TenguPhule: I played Postal way back when. I’m going to go with Zelda for the frequency with which Link uses bombs to solve problems. Possibly Paperboy for the mode of delivery.

  116. 116.

    Mary G

    Now I worry some old 2nd Amendment nut job will shoot a person of color who works for the USPS, Fedex, or UPS coming up the walk with a package containing something his wife ordered online.

  117. 117.

    ruemara

    @WhatsMyNym: Well, I’ll probably have to hold out for the 2020 SXSW, because that level of scratch would have to pay some of the medical/car note/tax bills. Barring a windfall of beneficent fortune. Which I am totally OK with.

  122. 122.

    TenguPhule

    @? Martin:

    I’m going to go with Zelda for the frequency with which Link uses bombs to solve problems.

    To be fair, the octoroks had it coming.

  126. 126.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @zhena gogolia:
    Some liberties need to be taken, sure, but not ones that grossly the public’s perception of the justice system and/or civil liberties. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

  127. 127.

    ? Martin

    @geg6: We make money off of pretty much all celebrities – good and bad. After a few decades at this, my wife gets uncomfortably happy when a Hollywood divorce gets announced. Not that she wishes ill on them, but I think Dick Wolf paid for a bathroom remodel. Brad Pitt probably did as well – he’s looped through a few times. Deaths and fires (homeowner insurance/claims) also make us money.

    I view it as a tax on wealth, and, well, regardless of what I think of the person, I support pretty much any tax on wealth.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    I’m sure that’s true for a lot of professions. Doctors probably cringe regularly at stuff on the medical shows. A lot of computer fuckery gets to me. My particular favorite trope is when the good guys enlarge a grainy security-camera image to reveal a less grainy license plate or perp’s face that speeds the investigation along.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    This is what Run for Something tweeted at Betsy DeVos:

    Run for Something
    ‏@runforsomething
    7h7 hours ago
    You can and should run for school board. We’ll help you.

    I love how encouraging they are – like a kindergarten teacher. She should, too. Just start over.

  135. 135.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @zhena gogolia:
    Can’t forget that either.
    @? Martin:
    Ah, NCIS. Another middle brow American show that refuses to die. Love the first comment: “He just turned off the monitor.”

    Not that Quantum Leap was a masterpiece, but how did Bellisario ever come up with that turd?

  136. 136.

    Steeplejack

    @? Martin:

    OMG. That’s probably unbeatable. If I ever saw that episode I (mercifully) blanked it out of my memory.

    ETA: Bonus points for Gibbs unplugging their computer—which does nothing to stop the attack, which presumably continues on the network the computer was connected to. Genius.

  137. 137.

    Roger Moore

    @LAO:

    IIRC, at the beginning of the show, the prosecutors did used to lose some of the time.

    That’s what I remember, too. They would lose as often as they would win because clever defense attorneys would get critical evidence excluded or whatever. It seemed like that started to change when they brought in Sam Waterston to play Jack McCoy; they specifically didn’t want him to lose.

  138. 138.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Don’t get me started on the way college professors give lectures on TV shows and in movies.

    The funniest one may be Woody Harrelson’s architectural history lecture in Indecent Proposal.

  143. 143.

    Citizen Alan

    @LAO:

    When I was in law school, I took you referring to L&O as the “Reversible Error Hour” because it seems like every episode I watched contained at least one scene in which either the cops or the prosecutors did something blatantly wrong they should have gotten like an eviction thrown out on appeal.

  145. 145.

    MisterForkbeard

    @? Martin: Nah, we’re going with Fallout. It is literally possible to reverse-pickpocket a bomb onto another character in that series, and in some of the games there are some quests where setting up bomb traps is an option.

    Also, it’s depiction of a jingoistic US ruined by nuclear war and bad leadership is starting to look more and more prescient.

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: I have been saying that something we never could have predicted will be the thing that gets Trump’s supporters to turn on him. This could be just the thing.

  149. 149.

    Raven Onthill

    And, of course, it is risky for victims to call the police. :-(

    I know one person who never forgets a face; she will remember someone on a single meeting. But that’s not most of us.

    BTW, on scientific problems of the judicial system, including those of eyewitness evidence, I highly recommend Benforado’s Unfair as possibly the broadest overview of these problems, running from evaluation of victims, through interrogation and the idea of criminality, and on through the system of trials and sentencing.

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