Explosion outside Upper East Side Starbucks (Explosive Device)

[KittyWampus]

Source: ABC News

NEW YORK (WABC)

An explosive device blew out the windows of a Starbucks coffee shop in a blast that rocked an Upper East Side neighborhood. The loud blast was heard at the intersection of Third Avenue and East 92nd Street just before 4 a.m. The explosion took place on 92nd and 3rd avenue. Police are still looking for the person who left the device outside of the Starbucks.

The time of day echoed that of a pattern of unsolved early morning blasts that have occurred outside the British Consulate, the Mexican Consulate and the Armed Forces recruiting booth in Times Square over the past two years. "The similarity is the time. The Mexican consulate, the British consulate, the Times Square bombing event at the recruiting station, we have this event. They all happened between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. that's the immediate similarity we are looking at," said Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The explosion took place on a bench outside of the store. The bomb squad, OEM, along with the FDNY and NYPD are investigating.In the earlier cases witnesses and surveillance camera footage showed a suspect escaping on a bicycle. In today's incident, no such information was immediately available but police were canvassing the neighborhood and collecting and reviewing security camera tapes. "We will be checking cameras in the area. Right now there are no reports of anyone on a bicycle," Kelly said.........

snip

The amount of explosive used today was thought to be the equivalent of two or more such fireworks. While the targets in the past blasts suggested a possible political motive to the attacks, the reason for today's attack was unclear.

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

---

Later in article it says motive unknown, Starbucks has been targeted in other cities before.

[MineralMan]

1. The idiot freepers are saying this was leftist terrorism.

Buncha morons!

[Ian David]

5. In this case, the Freepers COULD possibly be correct.

Stopped watch twice a day and all that.

Way you tell is this- was the device intended to kill someone?

If no, left-wing.

If yes, right-wing.

[Doctor_J]

14. If leftists here ever get mad enough to start blowing things up,

Starbucks will be way down the list. United Health, Fox News, Clear Channel, and other fascist party operatives will come long before a coffee shop.

[Ian David]

45. Good point. Where do I contribute to the legal defense of the one who blows-up Fox "News"...

... provided the building is empty at the time.

[JackRiddler]

18. If calculated not to kill or wound, is it terrorism at all?

Please note: It's property damage and it's illegal. Which are not always wrong. But for other reasons -- that a bomb was used at all -- this action is waaaaaaay stupid and wrong, as well as dangerous to people other than the perpetrator since it easily can go wrong.

[ohio2007]

21. eta tactics

[JackRiddler]

22. ETA? The Basque separatist organization?

They've targeted and killed a lot of people.

[architect359]

30. I believe so.

It is to terrorize. Doesn't matter what the potential damage is. It could be a fatal killing or it can be intimidation - but the point to cause unease, doubt, fear.

[Ian David]

46. Terrorism is meant to terrorize, not necessarily to kill.

Shouting "Fire" in a crowded Unitarian Church to terrorize Liberals is still terrorism.

[mitchum]

51. Exactly, someone else who understands the distinction of terror

My formula has always been:
horror = the thing made manifest
terror = the anticipation of the thing

[JackRiddler]

56. Yes, but is this terrorizing? Is it meant to?

Seems like it's meant to fuck up a Starbucks, no more (though it causes fear due to the dangerous method).

[Ian David]

58. Good point. They could just be mad that their fiber smoothie was lumpy. n/t

[JackRiddler]

59. I hate that!

[KittyWampus]

13. So Freepers think "leftist terrorists" would bomb what they mock as a leftist enterprise-

Starbucks?

They don't get the dissonance, obviously.

[BR_Parkway]

20. We blew up our own lattes then drove off in our Volvos? They really

are nuts.

[Starry Messenger]

2. "Device" n/t

[KittyWampus]

15. Thanks, changed. I accept my spelling demerit.

[hedgehog]

3. My guess is that someone is doing this to prove a theory

such as any idiot could be a terrorist or that it is impossible to protect ourselves against terrorists etc.

[jberryhill]

53. Somebody who thinks he is just a wee bit too smart

Terrorism is a tactic used in support of an agenda.

This seems like a sicko.

[Ian David]

4. I think someone is mad that they closed-down "Live Nude College Girls." n/t

[Deja Q]

6. So now they're "Dead Nude College Girls."?

:hide:

[Ian David]

47. No. Now they're "Live Nude College Drop-outs Without Teeth in Hoboken." Very sad. n/t

[Mika]

7. Anyone know where Orlando Bosch or Luis Posada are? n/t

[bushmeister0]

11. Happily living out their golden years, safely unconvicted.

Orlando Bosch was selling his paintings on Calle Ocho a few years back.

[ixion]

8. the size of two fireworks?

sounds like less of a bomb and more of an annoyance, or something placed simply so that the government can claim "terror."

[KittyWampus]

16. IMO, the "government" that you imply would do this wouldn't go small like that.

[ixion]

39. perhaps... although

they're not beyond trivial things like infiltrating anti-war groups and co-mingling violent agitators at rallies, and using FBI plants to get idiots to commit to hair-brained 'terror' plots, so I don't see why something like this would be beyond them.

And there's no reason to put government in quotes. They're out there, they're very real, and they don't care for We, the People, at all.

[Doctor_J]

9. Cheney's media tour isn't working. Don't put it past his fans

to start domestic terrorism.

[troubledamerican]

48. Oh no you DI'HINT

Does Cheney have fans in the Pentagon?

[Mrs. Overall]

10. What radical group scorns lattes because they are elite?

[ohio2007]

12. Is the world still boycotting Starbucks?

They claim Starbucks has links to the IDF or some other type of organization in the middle east

[JackRiddler]

19. If anything this should help them win some sympathy.

[Cassandra]

17. Maybe they were aiming for the 92nd St Y, up the block...

and didn't quite get there. There are so many Starbucks in NYC; why that one?

[slackmaster]

23. Just another domestic terrorist who can't deal with having a black man in the White House

No doubt about it.

[Artie Bucco]

24. I think the guy is left wing

Probably some New York City trust fund anarchist who has solidarity with the working class despite never working a hard days work. A guy who lives in a squat and goes around mooching Wi-fi.

[pattmarty]

25. I'm thinking more like a redneck from Texas.

[hayu_lol]

27. Naw, it's got to be a...

minimum wage coffee bean counter who just got downsized.

[slackmaster]

43. One of the most profound things I ever learned from a political science teacher, in 8th grade...

...If you go far enough to the left or to the right, you end up at the same place.

[Tim01]

49. Are sure he's black? He doesn't sound black.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

26. Why the hell are they telling the world what the signature is?

"The similarity is the time. The Mexican consulate, the British consulate, the Times Square bombing event at the recruiting station, we have this event. They all happened between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. that's the immediate similarity we are looking at," said Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Do they WANT the copycats to continue the destruction and confuse the investigation?

Jeez....

:shrug:

[drm604]

28. They're likely leaving out details.

They're probably giving out just the info that they think may cause some private citizen to think "hey, I know this wacky activist and the timing and locations fit his schedule and he rides a bike and plays with fireworks, etc.".

[davsand]

33. Odd, my first thought was they are reaching for any reason to make this a bigger deal.

Seriously, I looked at that story and mentally figured it was one or even a couple of drunk folks screwing around on a holiday weekend.

I grew up on a farm and fireworks (even larger scale ones) were something we played with. M 80's and Cherry Bombs were prized possessions, and the most common phrase uttered AFTER the explosion was some variation on, "That blowed up real good!" Maybe it speaks volumes about where we live, but I still know adults that love to mess with that stuff.

Not everything is a conspiracy, nor is it always a completely sinister intent. Sometimes stupid and drunk come into play.

:shrug:


Laura

[bitchkitty]

52. Stupid, drunk, and broken hearted.

When I was 16 my boyfriend slapped me and my sisters and I blew up his mailbox and egged his car.

But somehow I don't think that's the case with this bombing.

[jberryhill]

54. False details are common to sort out this kind of thing /nt

[drm604]

29. I have to say that this does sound left-wing to me.

The explosions are timed so as not to hurt anyone, and a recruiting station was targeted. It's reminiscent of the old Weather Underground. I doubt that a right-winger would target a recruiting station.

I hope they catch the party or parties responsible for this before anyone gets hurt.

So what's the connection between Mexico, Britain, a recruiting station, and a Starbucks? Somehow they don't seem entirely random, but it's hard to see what the political statement is.

[Artie Bucco]

31. Supporters of Brad Will; an American Anarchist.

Brad Will was an American who was killed covering protests in the Mexican state of Oaxaca in 2006 I believe. Starbucks would go will with Anarchists staunch anti-globalization stance. The British consulate I am not to sure of.

[drm604]

50. Now that I think about it...

I can see where a radical might see Starbucks, the US Military, and the presence of foreign consulates in general (of whatever nations) as symbols of globalization.

[angstlessk]

32. I recon the police and fbi were too busy plotting how to bring down a quartet of fools

to investigate someone who is really blowing up shit? i guess that is really hard work?

[RedCloud]

34. Can we now pour a trillion bucks into leftist causes as the nuts did for themselves after 9/11?

Might as well reverse that flow of money to the forces of good for a change.

[Downwinder]

35. FBI setting off another dud? Trying to drum up business. n/t

[bottomtheweaver]

37. No, this time it really is for REAL. They promised they'd never fool us again.

:sarcasm:

[MadMaddie]

36. It doesn't matter if it is left wing or right wing

It is meant to illicit a response form citizens.

We cannot let the media or the right nut jobs define this by their terms. They never really considered the OK bombings right wing...they tiptoed around it.

It is "Terrorism"! These people have no right to instill fear into the rest of our lives.

[bottomtheweaver]

38. Remember the Unabomber? His brother says he took part in CIA mind-control experiments at Harvard:

Very good 10-minute film on Google Video:

THE UNABOMBER: HE WASN’T PARANOID, HE WAS CONSPIRED AGAINST - snowshoefilms

David Kaczynski reveals the MK-ULTRA-CIA mind control program that brother Theodore Kaczynski (dubbed the Unabomber by the FBI) was unwittingly a part of for three yeas Harvard, and then at the University of Michigan and probably Stanford. In recalling some of the details of his brother's involvement in the covert behavior modification program, David Kaczynski says of his older brother, In a sense, he wasnt paranoid; he was in a sense conspired against...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3880472500739477614&ei=M-MaSpjjOaGyqAP6hf2hDA&q=david+kaczynski+cia+brother&hl=en&client=opera

[KamaAina]

40. All of three blocks from my dear friends' place

the ones who set me on the path to come to Hawai'i in the first place. :scared:

(Mom is here with me ; anyway she and Republican Stepdad live about 20 blocks south of there)

[struggle4progress]

41. Sounds like NY may need to come down a bit harder on illegal fireworks

[Enthusiast]

42. Obama isn't keeping us safe.

:sarcasm:

[Canuckistanian]

44. That's a strange series of dots to connect

What do Mexico, The UK, The US military and Starbucks have in common?

[jberryhill]

55. They relate to the grudges of a warped individual /nt

[NuttyFluffers]

57. Oh Dick, you try and you try...

but still no one believes you, Vader.

:spank:

[SoxFan]

60. A picture of a suspect has been released