[Zhang Fei]

The most serious charge available to federal prosecutors would be the use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, which carries a possible death sentence.

I'm happy to prosecute this guy every which way, but calling a homemade bomb a weapon of mass destruction is an indication of how this administration is willing to twist the meanings of words to get its way. By that definition, the Taliban are using WMD's against us in Afghanistan.

[GBA]

Thanks(!) for making that point and bringing it to everyone's attention.

I confess that I'm starting to get numb to the constant misuse and dramatic overuse of the language by progressives of all political strips and I failed to even notice until you pointed it out.

[null and void]

By that definition, the Taliban are using WMD's against us in Afghanistan.

[broken_clock]

I'm happy to prosecute this guy every which way, but calling a homemade bomb a weapon of mass destruction is an indication of how this administration is willing to twist the meanings of words to get its way. By that definition, the Taliban are using WMD's against us in Afghanistan.

Also by that definition they just vindicated W's invasion of Iraq.

[easternsky]

But by definition, aRE the homeowners guns and ammo going to be weapons of mass destructuin also??????

[justlurking]

I'm happy to prosecute this guy every which way, but calling a homemade bomb a weapon of mass destruction is an indication of how this administration is willing to twist the meanings of words to get its way. By that definition, the Taliban are using WMD's against us in Afghanistan.

I read the statute long ago, and that is indeed what it says. Any kind of explosive device is considered a "weapon of mass destruction" under federal law. It predates the Obama administration. It might even go back to the Clinton administration.

I didn't track the history of the amendments to the law, but it looked like sloppy drafting. It was through several indirect references that combined both explosive devices and true WMDs (like nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons) into the same classification.

[EBH]

I am glad you caught that...’calling a homemade bomb and WMD.’

I noted back on the day of the bombing the order for people to go home and stay inside. I thought that was an interesting order at that time. Even after 9/11 we were not ordered to ‘stay inside.’

This city-wide lockdown is stunning. The excuse is what? Perpetrators throwing homemade bombs? Pipe bombs? Or is there something else going on here?

Is this ‘editorial’ statement overkill or ...or was it a leak of something more insideous happened with these ‘pressure cooker bombs.’