Month: May 2010

Big Bust in the Big Apple, Cont’d

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New development from the ongoing Times Square car bomb story:

Police and federal agents on Sunday were reviewing surveillance footage that shows a possible suspect in the failed Times Square car bombing, describing him as a white man in his 40s who was walking away from the area where the vehicle was parked, looking furtively over his shoulder and removing a layer of clothing, officials said [emphasis mine].

Is it possible that the poorly-veiled, separatist, militia-oriented, violent uprising-style rhetoric of the ignorant sectors of the right has taken root? In case you need a reminder:

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45 [emphasis mine].

One nut begets another. Black swans on the horizon…

Recommended Reading (2010-05-02)

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– Just why should we care what Presidents are reading? The Washington Post attempts to answer.

– A coherent argument against the coddling, wait-’til-you’re-older strain of permanent adolescence that seems to be all the rage these days. We’re not all special. We need a chance to fail. But we need a chance to begin with (via Isegoria).

– Where have all the Vlashki and Mamuju speakers gone? Why, New York, of course.

– 72% of the millennial generation is “more spiritual than religious.” One devout optimist “is encouraged by the roughly 15% who, he says, appear to be ‘deeply committed’ Christians in study, prayer, worship and action.” That’s cute. Only one or two more impediments halting progress to go…

– Why conspiracy theories matter, and why Christian Caryl thinks you’re an idiot for believing in them. Not that I necessarily disagree, I just hold the right to reserve judgment on one or two official verdicts. But I offer no theories of my own.

– China v. America: fight of the century?


And from the past week on Automatic Ballpoint:

I settle on a dissertation topic and unearth a gem from the archives, but most of my time is wasted checking out interesting new sites. Currently making me angry: old people, the state of Arizona, and at least one guy with a pickup truck in Virginia.

A post on obesity and the military blows up my traffic for the better, while an interesting map might explain the obesity. New tech is found, as is a failed car bomb in Times Square. I take a look at other dimensions to urban warfare than VBIEDs.

The Chinese naval ‘menace’ is probably overrated, but may be sent west if water tensions with India continue; knife-wielding crazies remain a threat to Chinese schoolchildren.

The French built a pretty sweet Vespa for their paratroopers.

Big Bust in the Big Apple

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A police officer in a bomb suit examined a Nissan Pathfinder sport utility vehicle.

If you haven’t been following, a pretty poor VBIED was found in Times Square today after a t-shirt vendor notified a horse cop that there was a smoking SUV parked at a strange angle. Quick evac of the area and speedy response from the NYPD. Turns out it was in the midst of detonating, but was shoddily constructed and thus never actually went off. Possibly a downside to open-source warfare, etc. : you can have the plans and the equipment, but actually following those instructions may prove difficult. Ever try to assemble something from Ikea?

But so far, the reaction from Bloomberg and the NYPD has been pretty stellar. And no one is panicking a la the Pants Bomber. In this case, at least, failure as a strategy has proven to be no more than just a plain failure.

The vendor who found the bomb is absolutely Mr. Cool:

He said that he was reluctant to speak with members of the media because they had twisted his words when they interviewed him in recent years.

He got into the back seat of the taxi, took off his hat and used it to fan his face.

Before he left, he was asked what he had to say to New Yorkers.

“See something, say something,” he said.

Chinese Knifefight

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China’s bizarre wave of elementary school knifings continued yesterday, with 28 children, two teachers, and a security guard all wounded by a deranged 47 year-old, and the next day five more were wounded by a 45 year-old with a hammer before he set fire to himself.

Sadly, these are surprisingly frequent events in China. And they’re just so odd – no connection to the victims, no clear motive, et cetera. So why are they lashing out?

What we’re witnessing, I think, is the first pangs of this severely male-heavy generation. by 2020, the male-female imbalance in China is expected to reach 24 million, thanks to the one-child policy and other social engineering measure of the Communist regime. This is one of the major destabilizing factors that Gordon Chang thinks will limit China in the twenty-first century. The Era of China, indeed.

But basically, we’re about to see a massive wave of angry, frustrated young men with little-to-no marriage prospects, traditionally one of the drivers of men beyond adolescence and into maturity. The best we can expect is an emotionally stunted class of mental dwarfs, but far more likely is a cohort coming to power and lashing out. Or the whole edifice crumbling around them.

Forgive the rambling; it just seems like a such a fundamental weakness in the character of a nation (and a more-than-likely explanation for the spate of knifings). It can only end poorly.