Improvised Explosive Device in Times Square NYC

No effect to mass transit during rush hour this morning.

Law enforcement officials tell ABC News that a single, small improvised device was tossed, apparently by a man on a bike, at the armed forces booth in Times Square early this morning, causing the center of midtown Manhattan to be locked down and subways to be diverted but no major property damage.

Al-qaeda resources clearly very stretched.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_of_tension

ban bikes

Man on bike is identified as "in his 20s" but not by race, which is ... interesting.

POINTLESS SPECULATION: The fact that it's a janky window-breaking attack on the recruiting station initially made me a little afraid that this could turn out to be a crazy pissed-off lefty, but if they think it might be connected to the Mexican consulate bomb ... who knows? Both things are relatively ineffective as broad "terrorism," and seem more like weirdo "political" acts, only by people who won't do the important part where you announce what the point is.

i assumed it was a crazy pissed-off, you know, veteran

It was a crazy pissed-off cyclist

Next time use a giant, exploding bee from another dimension.

tho you could read it differently if it's a 'military outpost in the heart of new york city'

Next time blow up TCKTS

if I stick a thumbtack in a Black Cat is that an IED?

Man on bike is identified as "in his 20s" but not by race, which is ... interesting

lol white guy

Possibly the only thing we can safely presume is the "crazy" part -- doesn't seem like anything you'd do for any reason apart from wacko lone-man grudge-holding, right?

Just so long as nobody's trying to get all Weather Underground around here, and so long as they wait at least three months for the Law & Order.

xpost - Yeah, Dan, does that mean white guy by default? Except you'd think in a "terrorism" story that would be worth specifying. It also says his face was "partially covered," which is almost making me think someone said "man in his 20s" just based on his body, despite not actually seeing enough to identify anything at all.

It also says his face was "partially covered,"

Hijab or burqa?

hoodie

Thank god the UK banned hoodies and installed CCTV cameras or else they could have had devastating terror attacks like these with the potential for a massive loss of life.

http://www.anus.com/zine/db/unabomber/unabomber-sketch.jpg

THIS JUST IN

Explosive Devices Found at UC Davis
E-MailPrint Save

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 6, 2008
Filed at 10:52 a.m. ET

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) -- A student is in custody following the discovery of explosive devices at the University of California, Davis.

University police Capt. Joyce Souza tells the Sacramento Bee that investigators found what appears to be two pipe bombs in a dorm.

Four hundred students have been evacuated from eight dormitory buildings while police investigate.

Police became aware of the situation Wednesday night after a woman reported that students had possible explosive devices in a dorm room. Police say after questioning four students they arrested 19-year-old Mark Woods, a freshman from Southern California.

He's being held on possession of materials with the intent to make an explosive or destructive device and other charges.

My friend had a bomb thread called into his office in b0st0n

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/8999/bape2gu2.jpg

I didn't call this bomb thread into my office, it just showed up.

I HAVE A GUB

I'm surprised it took this long for Brazil to finally become the documentary it was.

This has to be on video, right?

it was ethan with a truth bomb :(

it was custos with a logistical beatdown

Improvised? Like MacGyver?

Coltrane

are they sure it wasn't just more Aqua Teens swag

also ladies this is not a "pipe bomb"
http://www.amsterdamheadshop.com/how-to-make-a-bong.jpg

This thread = every future thread related to a bombing in a major U.S. urban center = 9/11 changed everything, maaaaaaaaaaaaaan

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0308/8_House_Democrats_get_letterspic_of_NY_recruiting_station_before_bombing.html

Did they ever find out who was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_of_tension

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, March 6, 2008 7:10 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Link

yeah, lots of fear in NYC today.

I think we're more afraid of your basic infrastructure failures.

http://www.anus.com/zine/db/unabomber/unabomber-sketch.jpg

-- gabbneb, Thursday, 6 March 2008 16:10 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

lol, what I was thinking.

Anthrax powder mailed to U.S. Senators! FBI busy investigating.

^^ "anus.com" ??

video http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/06/police-release-footage-of_n_90180.html

Looks like Hillary may have slept through the 3 am call.

Posted By: Sharon | March 06, 2008

guys obv this was a mccain flak in a hoodie

And right on time, it's the latest completely non-specific Al Qaeda threat alert!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_threat

i was in times square around 4:30 this afternoon and traffic was stopped for like 30 police cars with lights flashing (but not sirens) driving west on 42nd for no apparent reason. it was like a parade. kinda pretty, you could see the red lights for a few blocks.

Yeah, those cop cars apparently do those 'surges' all the time to

a) discourage streetcrime.
b) make everyone feel like the NYPD on top of things

...or so says the Aussie dude on the other side of the world who has only read of such things.

there were SOOOO many footcops all over midtown, too.

Assuming this was planned by ppl who KNEW there would be no injuries, all I can muster is... BRAVO.

tehresa, you witnessed a "show of strength." potential terrorists, fear our motorcades!

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6830051

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/nyregion/02timessquare.html?hp

Perrin: Now, why would Pakistanis be upset with us?

Morbs, that may not seem like a nonsequitor to you, but I shouldn't have to google that hard to decrypt a crotchety one-liner. And to be honest, I still don't know why you posted it.

perrin = america-is-always-wrong dude morbs likes to quote

in this case apparently saying all pakistanis h8 america? or all pakistanis support terrorism? idk seems kinda fucked up to me but that's perrin!

everything's kinda fucked up

no argument here

The quote is just a tweet. I don't understand the context at all. It seems only tangentially related to the car bomb story.

Post 1.) Link to news story about a freaking terrorist attack in NYC.
Post 2.) Somebody's facebook status update.

Post 1.) Link to news story about a freaking terrorist attack in NYC.
Post 2.) "I just made a butter and hummus sandwich."

i'm confused! did a pakistani person make the bomb?

“We have no idea who did this or why,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

oh, i guess they don't know who did it. now i'm more confused than ever!

Post 1.) Link to news story about a freaking terrorist attack in NYC.
Post 2.) "Is looking forward to a warm and drama-free weekend!."

lol

Just ribbing Morbs, obviously. My money is on "homegrown right-wing lone-wolf."

cad, you are aware that Bloomberg doesn't know anything other than how to protect the oligarchy?

not helping w/my confusion, sry

jeezus, hearing Bloomie whine yesterday about how safe Times Square is -- like any natives wanna go there anymore -- was worse than the humidity.

Bloomberg looked so frail on "Good Morning, America" that George Stephanopoupoupoulos could have knocked him cold with his glasses.

^lol

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/nyregion/04bomb.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fnyregion%2Findex.jsonp

fbi found the owner of the car but don't think they are the suspect

Love that dude used nonexplosive fertilizer.

How fortunate for us that the incompetance of felons sometimes negates their bad intentions.

wtf does this have to do Pakistan, or did we conclude that Morbz is just blitzed and posting random shit to random threads?

The tweet Morbius copied was from a right-wing tweeter in part of a long string of tweets about the Times Square situation.

It might have something to do with a Taliban-related group who apparently tried to claim responsibility, although apparently they try to falsely claim credit for lots of terror attempts/attacks.

the "Pakistan Taliban" claimed credit, that's all. xp

yeah lol, Perrin is a "right-wing tweeter" who used to work for Fqairness & Accuracy in Reporting.

Still waiting for enrique to enlighten us on all the US has done for Pakistanis.

I know Bamfans can't tell right from left when Obama, God & America are being slammed, but still.

Personally, I think terrorism and other acts of violence are reprehensible and inexcusable no matter who does it and whether it's "justified" by the victim's government's foreign policy.

(Challenging opinion, I know.)

yeah lol, Perrin is a "right-wing tweeter" who used to work for Fqairness & Accuracy in Reporting.

So he was a left-winger that turned into a right-winger? Sorry, he doesn't have a wiki page or any kind of major coverage that precisely spells out what his deal is.

Very natural position to take, Mordy, if you are a civilian, living in the world's most powerful nation, and therefore well-insulated from the foreign policy of most other nations.

A cursory survey of history will instruct that the era in which civilians weren't considered wartime targets was both limited in time (from around 1500 to 1914) and geographical scope (Western Europe and a few of its colonies).

There's at least a couple extrajudicial killings / murders by Predator UAV every week in Pakistan. Its a part of the world that didn't have that short-lived idea of professional soldiery.

I agree with Mordy.

mostly i feel like trying to assign varying levels of moral righteousness to violence and death is one of those awful futile tasks thats both utterly useless and unfortunately common

Improvised Explosive Device in Times Square NYC, are you an iPod?

http://cookingforbrevitt.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/mooninite.jpg

Still waiting for enrique to enlighten us on all the US has done for Pakistanis.

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, May 3, 2010 7:02 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i try not to deal in idiotic soot-and-whitewash BS a la perrin

currently in pakistan the US is backing the bad against the worse

how they got there? not straightforward

probably easier to blame the brits for partition -- whatever converts an insanely complex history into a morality play that suits you, really

Very natural position to take, Mordy, if you are a civilian, living in the world's most powerful nation, and therefore well-insulated from the foreign policy of most other nations.

I don't understand. So if my city became a constant victim of terrorism, do you think I'd find terrorism LESS reprehensible??

i think aimless means that third world citizens have no moral compass? bit of an extreme view but

So he was a left-winger that turned into a right-winger?

No.

Anyway, the van was parked outside the bldg where I worked in showbiz advertising for 4 soul-destroying years.

So that's what happened to your soul.

Is that why you're being so cryptic on this thread?

no, I just don't want to spend the time

someone set up us

i think aimless means that third world citizens have no moral compass?

What else could I have meant?

Let's see. Perhaps I meant this: foreign policy may be defined as the means a nation chooses to employ in seeking to to align foreign nations with their own interests. This sounds all well and good until you realize that force, threats of force, lies, bribery and corruption fall well within that definition of foreign policy, and that powerful nations very often choose to employ these means to encompass their aims.

Third world citizens have legitimate rights and interests that are quite often swept aside before this onslaught of applied power. The powerful are served and served well by this system, while the poor and powerless are served very ill by this state of affairs. And they do not have the power to redress this situation.

As has been pointed out by some political thinkers, waiting around for the powerful to see the error of their ways, as you are stripped, starved and beaten to serve their interests, is not a likely path to redress. Terrorism, for all its brutality, is no more brutal than what we do, or our surrogates do on our behalf, in third world nations on a regular basis.

This sad fact does not excuse brutality, but if using violence and brutality as political tools means one has no moral compass, then it isn't just third world people who share that distinction. The fact that US citizens are able to reap the benefits of this policy while remaining well insulated from the day-to-day violence of it, makes it very easy to overlook our culpability and to condemn others from an imagined moral high ground we do not occupy.

Maybe I meant something like that, y' think?

you are blowing our minds

Perrin: Now, why would Pakistanis be upset with us?

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, May 3, 2010 7:22 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark

(six morbz posts over the course of nine hours)

Is that why you're being so cryptic on this thread?

― huh! tikuuta. (kingkongvsgodzilla), Monday, May 3, 2010 4:49 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no, I just don't want to spend the time

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, May 3, 2010 5:27 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

xpost

I'm just feeling irritable at being slobbered on by a puppy.

№: one-liner threads don't take much time, asshole.

Aimless otm

btw the chief Person of Interest in this case is a Pakistani, NPR reports.

Bomb squad officers also discovered a two-by-two-by-four-foot metal box — described as a “gun locker” — in the S.U.V. that was taken to the Police Department’s firing range at Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx to be destroyed, Mr. Kelly said. It was not immediately known what, if anything, was inside it.

is this ô_o to anyone else?

It looks weird enough, but when all you know is what some news writer tossed out there, you have to realize that none of us know shite about what's really going on.

tru. it just seemed like that would have to mean "we're destroying this locker w'o finding out what's in it" or "we're destroying this bc we don't want to say what's in it"

Could have sworn I read something somewhere that the lock was blown off but the box not destroyed, but not what was in the box. Regardless, I doubt they would just blow something up without x-raying it and whatnot first.

so how did dennis perrin know the person of interest was pakistani before anyone else??

http://webspace.webring.com/people/kl/liesha_ann/images/pics/pic_inspectpath.jpg

wait

did VIACOM turn morbs into Morbs??????

I didn't work for Viacom.

NBC's Williams reported the man's name was on an e-mail that was sent to the seller of the car last month

wow what a retard

This guy is definitely a nitwit. Terrorism; harder than it looks.

blowing up a box without looking inside it? didnt this weeks episode of the simpsons teach us anything?

I think terrorism and other acts of violence are reprehensible and inexcusable no matter who does it and whether it's "justified" by the victim's government's foreign policy

I apprec the implication that I support mass murder, Mordy, but could you hold the sanctimony and just give me extra mustard? thx

Real truth here: wouldn't it just be a lot easier and more effective for a would-be terrorist to toss a grenade into a random crowded McDonald's? Why always these elaborate flaming underwear and car schemes?

Hope I'm not giving anything away to these anti-geniuses.

yeah really - the specter of "terrorism" seems so much more red-herring like when all you see is some half-assed over-complicated thing like this every once in a while. I honestly can't believe that any remotely competent asshole hasn't figured out how to seriously wreck things in a much simpler and more effective way.

I think that means that various means of deterrence that are already present are more or less working. I'm not sure what would be the greatest deterrent to tossing a grenade into Bubba Gump or whatever revolting chain restaurant on 42nd St, except I guess that in post-9/11 NYC, you're likely to get tackled by eleventy-hundred bystanders before you can run a block.

Car bombs are generally considerably more effective and destructive than lobbing grenades, hence their longterm popularity with every sort of terrorist group in every type of society you can imagine

Wasn't there an official statement that even if the car bomb HAD detonated, it would have killed some bystanders and broken some windows/glass building facades but it wouldn't have collapsed anything or caused major structural damage? That seems like about the same amount of damage a smaller explosive in a contained space would cause.

Seems like the primary advantage of the car bomb is being able to leave it somewhere and walk away from it without risking immediate suspicion, possibly detection.

this guy was clearly an idiot, but you can pack a lot of explosives into a car/truck, even doing structural damage.

a grenade in a macdonalds -- you might get lucky, you might not.

to clarify: this guy doesn't seem to have had much in the way of explosives. just stuff that makes flames and whatnot.

Wonder how the Irish Car Bombs are going down these days

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u276/AxMan150/31707show.jpg

Irish Shooter!

i think this is taking PR stunts a bit too far, even for Chris Morris

this guy was clearly an idiot, but you can pack a lot of explosives into a car/truck, even doing structural damage.

Americans, of all people, should know about this: Oklahoma anyone??!?!?

sounds like some quality police work's been done here imho

Yeah, good job police.

x-post The point of terrorism is not necessarily to kill, but to inflict emotional damage as well. The snipers in DC killed 10 random people over the course of three weeks, and people were freaked. If public places were randomly targeted just about anywhere, whether or not anyone is injured or killed, people would be freaked out then, too. Random unpredictable violence is scary. Repeatedly foiled elaborate plans less so, which is why we laugh at roadrunner/coyote cartoons.

Anyway, I'm happy nothing bad happened, but baffled why these guys aim so high.

x-post The point of terrorism is not necessarily to kill, but to inflict emotional damage as well.

might you call it "terror?"

baffled why these guys aim so high.

dudes have a rep to uphold. perfectly understandable. if they went from 9/11 to lone guys shooting people it would look like they're losing (which imho they are, btw). the fact that all the most recent schemes have bordered on the pathetic just goes to show how remarkably lucky they were (and how remarkably stupid the US was) on 9/11.

if they went from 9/11 to lone guys shooting people it would look like they're losing

Yes. And I'm sure in their promotional material, shooting some old lady in the head with a sniper shot wouldn't look anything like as exciting as blowing something sky high, they have to sell sell sell this Jihad after all

So does the military in fairness

I'd say any non-state group declaring themselves the enemy of the last armed-to-the-teeth superpower is bound to be eternally "losing" by any conventional measure. If these bozos every managed to kill 50,000 Americans instead of 3000, the resultant US bombing and/or invading would make 2001-10 look pacifistic.

thx Capt. Obvious

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004087-503544.html

choice quote: "Did they Mirandize him? I know he's an American citizen but still,"

Shakey stfu

*improvises explosive device*

It'll be interesting what narative this takes: international terror conspiracy or disturbed individual. Apparently guy's house was foreclosed.

I'm guessin a little from column A and a little from column B but who knows

i improvised an explosion in my toilet this morning, if you know what I mean

http://z.about.com/d/animatedtv/1/0/y/Q/athfcarl.jpg

Morbz, I think that if you posted something snarky about the American military sending predator drones after people plotting to kill Americans, and someone responded with, "I can't see why America would be angry with X," or whatever, you'd be annoyed. But the moment someone tries to blow up a bomb in Times Square you're reposting twitters about how Pakistan has every reason to be peeved with the United States (Or being snarky about how no *real* New Yorker goes to Times Square anyway). It's just bullshit. It's bullshit from either side and that should be the response, not trying to understand how we've ANGERED these people. Yes, there are consequences for foreign policy actions, and violence begets violence, but you don't somehow have magical moral authority because you're willing to condemn American actions and elide the responsibility of other foreign State bodies. I mentioned this was a pretty obvious opinion upthread, but I'll repeat it here: Killing anyone is pretty shitty, killing innocent civilians is double-shitty, no matter whose finger is on the trigger.

I don't care for any states killing anybody, honest.

(And btw: I go to Times Square at least once a month to see a flick on 8th, and I transfer at the 42nd station between the 1 and the R almost everyday on my way to classes. So fuck off.)

yeah, I find myself there sometimes too. I use hyperbole you know, don't get all literalist.

Brenda Thurman said Tuesday that the man she knew was quiet and claimed to work on Wall Street.

"He would wear all black and jog at night. He said he didn't like the sunlight," Thurman said.

Tracer, haha.

triboro rfk bridge is closed after driver abandons u-haul truck on it

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/05/new-york-bridge-shut-down-after-driver-abandons-u-haul/

sheesh

So every car that breaks down now is gonna be a bomb scare? geesh. Good luck NYC.

apparently we are safe

i hope no one was inadvertently mirandized

On Oct. 20, 2008, Mr. Shahzad reported his marriage to a woman he identified as Huma Asif Mian, a U.S. citizen. He became naturalized as a U.S. citizen on April 17, 2009.

On her social networking page, his wife listed her languages as English, Pashto, Urdu and French, her religion as Muslim and her political views as "nonpolitical," according to AP. Her favorite television shows were "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Friends."

Wait, again?

CNN:

New York's Times Square evacuated.

wtf, CNN.com

not trying to understand how we've ANGERED these people

And nearly a decade later, the media -- or any politician really -- still hasn't had the balls to pose this all-important question. Is it because the answers would be too unpopular? Or are we really just content to being ignorant towards the causes?

a white cooler? this sounds like bullshit

that cooler comes from a good middle-class family

Working on the causes would mean redefining, or at least clarifying, what "American interests" are. In a corporation-controlled democracy, this direction is not going to work for the corporate interest, therefore it is untouchable.

Or maybe they're just angry guys and there's not much you can do about that.

Your theory is shallow enough to be officially adopted by Fox News.

I think for most of us -- ie: Americans alienated from the political decisions and processes of our Capitalist Democracy -- it's not of huge use to discuss what things we could be doing differently. I don't even know our policy in Pakistan (and I'm a pretty educated guy) let alone have any say in how to change it. I protested the Iraq war years ago, and that did a lot of good. The truth is that we can acknowledge that there are things the United States does to make itself a ripe target, and still criticize people for targeting civilians who are pretty alienated and not influential in American decisions. There's this belief that Americans are lazy and they just need to wake up to fix everything. But the truth is that this is how Capitalism is designed to work.

(Which isn't to say we have NO power in decisions, but that trying to blow up Times Square is 100% the wrong tact to take if you're trying to change American foreign policy. It's the perfect tact to take tho if you're angry and thoughtless and frustrated and can't figure out a better way to enact the performance of your needs.)

it's the perfect tack to take if you want the US military to bomb/invade some random country in retaliation

Information has a monetary value to the holder of it, to the degree it is closely held. Therefore, information is too valuable to be given away to the general public. This, of course, is precisely contrary to the theory of democracy.

Thing is, the question isn't even allowed to be on the table, and hasn't been from day one.

It's perfected hypocrisy to deliver the line "They hate us for our freedoms," and then deny any further questioning into the matter at hand.

How do you figure? There are plenty of people asking these questions and have been since I was old enough to read about politics. When I was 14 Amy Goodman was talking about this shit ALL THE TIME on Democracy Now! (on a public radio station - Pacifica Radio, no less), and now that the internet has become the prime location of political news and discourse, it's all over the place. Glenn Greenwald, ILX, Progressive Blogs, etc. Not to mention the Academic discourses I've been involved with for the past four years.

it's kinda beside the point since muslim terrorists /= rational actors in this case. Like, Bin Laden may have gripes with the US, but they're almost entirely self-serving and kinda insane

Noam Chomsky, Seymour Hersh, Robert Fisk...

(xposts)

or take Sayed Qut'b (essentially the father of modern radical Islam) - dude's complaints about the West really DO boil down, at least in some ways, to "they hate our freedoms"...

like, that's the intellectual tradition these guys are coming from, and it's all well and good to be knowledgeable about it, but let's not pretend that US foreign policy is really the sole, root cause here. Because it isn't.

Naomi Klein, who is apparently so alienated that she wrote a best-selling book and had a HUGE Harpers article about a year ago. These POVs have strong cultural currency.

personally I think Fisk has perhaps the best grasp of the roots of radical Islamic terrorism, and he is very careful and intellectually nimble about properly identifying and separating the legitimate causes and complaints from the psychopathic urges for wanton destruction

and of course Fisk traces a lot of the current conflicts back to that perennial favorite, British/European colonialism

I will have to look into Fisk.

Still, I don't think these people have as much of an influence on the mainstream political discourse in America as they should.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/

the only Western journalist to have interviewed Bin Laden face-to-face, and on multiple occasions

re:shakey

Bin Laden has some weird political goals, like the return of the Caliphate, but given the few levers of power that were available for him to pull, he has been pretty shrewd in his approach. His propaganda has consistently played better than ours in a wide swath of the world. I agree, he's lost consistently on several levels, mostly having to do with technology, resources and applied force, but if he didn't go in expecting to lose in those areas, he'd have been delusive enough at the start to be dead today.

My verdict: he's not not insane, unless challenging the power of the US and NATO, when you are not in command of the Warsaw Pact is defined as insane.

update

Times Square has been re-opened after the police took away a grayish canvas bag of the kind used to hold lunches. The police said it contained bottled water and books.

What about Peter Bergen?

Anyway, there's the theory that Bin Laden intentionally wanted to draw the US into an aimless (or maybe victory free) regional conflict and miscalculated, which seems like a pretty big miscalculation, if so. Then again, it's still unclear if the extent of 9/11 was by design or by accident, right? In any case, as far as any goals are concerned, I assume terrorism would be a lot more successful as a means of ousting an occupier than in altering the foreign policy of a country several thousand miles away. Which is all to say I have no idea what a bombing in Times Square would achieve, even symbolically, when something easier to pull off could probably send a political message a lot more clearly and easily.

Bombs in Times Square tie up US resources far, far beyond the resources needed to plant them. Financially speaking, it is the equivalent of keeping several battalions of your enemy pinned down to their position by deploying one sniper.

I don't think these actors are in any place to try and exhaust US resources, unless they know something I don't. The US army is super developed beyond any other country in the world (not to mention most fully trained from the last bunch of years participating in war). Pinning down several battalions in Times Square isn't going to do anything to further the agenda of Pakistan.

what if the agenda of Pakistan involves fucking up Manhattan traffic

Yeah, really. You know what ties us up? Invading countries, not security in Times Square. And even, I don't feel, personally, terribly tied up in Afghanistan. It'd take something several times 9/11 to bring back the draft and truly, truly change the way we do business.

I think I'm going to start leaving McDonald's value meals lying around to see how often I can get SWAT to come deal with a combination of littering and absent-mindedness.

That's how business is done in Israel. Last time I was there i watched them detonate a box of clothing in the middle of Meah Sharim. Happens everyday.

Was it American Apparel? Because that would at least be funny.

I think it was schmattas.

What about Peter Bergen?

right sorry, "one of the few" I should've said

and it don't stop

NYPD evacuates parts of midtown, Times Square after reports of suspicious package being found

Just heard on the 10o'clock news. Can't find anyone covering it online tho.

"Determined to be garbage," much like these bulletins

Was it American Apparel? Because that would at least be funny.

― I guess for copraphiles this is gonna be awesome (Pancakes Hackman), Friday, May 7, 2010 2:50 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

shards of lamé spandex and thongs flung everywhere, what a mess.

a suspicious package was found outside my local american apparel a few years ago. they actually detonated it, i lolled

They weren't targeting American Apparel, they were targeting the apparel of America.

suspicious package, close to detonating:

http://cache.gawker.com/news/dov_again.jpg

ARGH MY EYES