Police sources: 18-inch pipe bomb found behind Holmesburg church, near railroad tracks

Fox 29 ^ | February19, 2023 | Fox29 Staff

[Repeal The 17th]

YOu are correct.
There are many weak spots in the in the infrastructure.

What is “Metcalf” that you are referring to?

I would not think PVC pipe would contain enough force
to do much damage.

[jimjohn]

I concur, and with over 20 +years in the software and networking business, the digital infrastructure in this country remains operational because most of us are nice guys.

[Squantos]

Power Plants as well ......

[Delta 21]

Sounds like the Coyote did it.

[CodeToad]

Years back I designed an enterprise security system for a ma bell. It carried the western power grid controls. No security clearance required, unknown people had access, and it was simple to manipulate. It is better to day, I expect, but scary to think such things were not as secure as might be expected.

[CodeToad]

Their closing by more than 100 was the first sign we were under attack.

[Joe Brower]

A great many of the technologies that provide the comforts and other benefits of modern civilization, both physical and digital, are much more fragile than we'd like to think -- and, as jimjohn pointed out, most of them stay working because, well, most people are civilized. As more and more human dirt accumulates in our society and our nation, this thinnest of veneers is being punctured more and more frequently.

Why has this been allowed to happen? The question, as always: "Qui bono?"

[CodeToad]

Civil people who want to be productive cannot live peaceably with primal savages people who only want to destroy.

[Joe Brower]

"Civil people who want to be productive cannot live peaceably with primal savages people who only want to destroy."

Can't argue with that. Problem is, how can these orcs be properly dealt with when those in "authority" are on the side of the savages?

[DoodleBob]

This comes down to risk-minimization vs elimination. In investing, you lower your risk of loss or volatility by spreading your eggs across several baskets. However, one risk you cannot diversity away is the "systematic risk" or the risk inherent in the system...call it market risk or whatever, the basic reality is some baseline level of risk will ALWAYS exist, and you can't avoid it.

The same applies to America, her freedoms, and insane acts of violence.

Laws that support, life, liberty, and property are right and proper. Many laws act as a deterrent and will stop people on the margin from doing bad things...this is akin to diversifying away the non-systematic risk. Thus laws criminizing murder, are right and proper.

However, in a nation like America where freedom reigns and the individual trumps the collective, the risk of a maniac going on a killing spree - or derailing a train - is Undiversifiable. It is idiosyncratic.

The adults in the room understand on some baseline level, in a relatively free society of 330MM people who are LARGELY civilized, you'll ALWAYS have a few pathological maniacs who will shoot up a club, derail a train, etc. Thus, random acts of violence, are the Undiversifiable/systematic risk of a free society.

Sure, maybe some laws can help, like liberal application of the 2nd Amendment and concealed carry. But uncivilized folks will act uncivilized.

The political class and purveyors of Authority Bias want you to think the idiosyncratic risk of a free sociey CAN be eliminated, via shredding civil liberties, e.g., we can eliminate train derailments by welding a GoPro to the heads of 330MM people with central monitoring in DC. AND EVEN THEN that wouldn't be perfect...after all, people in jail still get drugs and weapons.

Now, there IS an argument to be made, that the level of Undiversifiable risk in America has risen since 2020. In short, the people on the left have weaponized every -ism and sanctioned illegal behavior, e.g. catch and release for "petty crime," defund the police, rioting and looting/destruction of private (and public) property with impunity, and anything else if it's rooted in "frustration."

At the same time, there is a sliver of folks on the other side of town that have successfully ingested leftist claptrap and happily wear a badge "White Victim." Funny...for a group of people who trash the trans movement, some conservatives seem to have completed their transition to Johnny Fontane.

It SEEMS, that there been an elevated quantum of these brothers from another mother who are are all-too willing to self-justify uncivilized behavior. The uptick in well-publicized derailments, building fires, etc, may be worth measuring to quantify if there IS an actual rise in the Undiversifiable/systematic risk.

Regardless, you can't stomp out bad folks. THAT is the ugly truth.

[Joe Brower]

"you can't stomp out bad folks"

Truer words were never spoken. However, if sane, productive, civilized citizens were not continually prevented from thinning this ever-growing herd, the problem caused by these orcs would be a lot less.

Or, to put it statistically, every time one of these worthless dregs is put into the ground, chances of recidivism on their part becomes zero.

[Lazamataz]

Regardless, you can't stomp out bad folks.

[DoodleBob]

Do those stats include Ralph and Sam? (This is a trick question.)