Just breaking according to NBC.

Shahzad Faisal is apparently the genius who used his own email account to set up the buy. Sometimes you get lucky that evil bastards are stupid.

Sounds like a home grown guy. He's of Pakistani heritage but sounds like he was born and raised in CT (FNC says he's a naturalized citizen). Arrested on LI at JFK. No word about his stance on Arizona's immigration law or his political donations.

Congrats to the NYPD, FBI and the whole NY JTTF.

Heads up from Andy Levy.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:17 PM | Comments (401)
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Supports it with some misgivings and worries, it seems, but that shouldn't freak people, as polls show that 62% or so of us support the law, with those same misgivings and worries.

Here's Fiorina's official statement:

U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina today issued the following statement calling on President Obama to take action to secure the border, rather than attack the people of Arizona:

“Barbara Boxer and President Obama are playing politics with an issue of vital importance to the people of California. No legislation is required for the federal government to do its job and secure the border. It was the height of hypocrisy for President Obama to attack the people of Arizona in light of his refusal to use his presidential powers to secure our borders. Barbara Boxer should do her job by asking President Obama and the federal government to do their jobs.

“Instead of vilifying the people of Arizona, we should be demanding that the federal government do its job and secure the border. The federal government has failed to uphold its most basic function – ensuring the safety and security of its citizens. The Arizona law is a reflection of the outrage felt by the state’s residents, and it underscores the need for the federal government to make border security a top priority.

“While I do believe it is problematic when states take on responsibilities of the federal government, the people of Arizona are justified in their frustration, and I support their efforts to protect their citizens. The exact wording of the law says officials ‘may not solely consider race, color or national origin’ in its implementation, and I am confident it can be enforced responsibly. It is my hope that this bill serves only as an interim measure until the federal government takes the right kind of action to secure our border.”

I think she's talking in a very nuanced way which is why reporters keep reporting contradictory stuff about whether she supports the law or not. But unless she equivocates the heart of the statement away, it seems like she supports the law.

I don't think nuance is a bad thing on this issue -- indeed, the only way a politician is going to sell this is in a more-in-regret-than-anger sort of way. People insisting that politicians not only support this, but do so eagerly, are basically asking politicians to cut their throats.

Conservatives get pretty hardened in our positions, partly because we got so sick of the media and left shellacking us about not caring sufficiently about this or that that we ultimately sometimes start saying, "You know what? You're right, I don't care. FYNQ."

What we really mean is that we're pissed off at being instructed in not caring about the environment or whatever it is this week.

But average voters want to be reassured that a politician does care about stuff even as they vote for tough stuff. It makes sense for a pol casting an pro-oil-exploration to talk up how much he cares> about otters, for instance.

And it makes sense for a politician supporting a tough illegal immigration stance, which will inconvenience and stress a lot of people, to talk about caring for those people.

If you're coming down 99% on one side of an issue substantively, it helps to balance that out with a few rhetorical nods to the other side of the see-saw. Rhetoric doesn't cost nothin'.

The opposite position is to say I support this law and I don't care who it hurts, which is fine if that's what you really think, but a pretty dumb message to insist a politician go into an election with.

Posted by: Ace at 07:15 PM | Comments (53)
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Click here if the embedding doesn't work.

Turns out, by the way, that over 60% of the country are dangerous Nazi racist Tea Bagging sons-a-bitches.

Remember, signs about Naziism could provoke violence:

Also likely to provoke violence? Signs which expressly urge violence.

Allah's thrown up a caution (based on a commenter's post) that the sign referenced there, the last in the series, might be a fake, as it's so overboard and pitch-perfect it's a perfect advertisement for conservatives. But even ignoring that -- hey, what's with all the Nazi shit, Left?

Posted by: Ace at 06:41 PM | Comments (43)
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Worth a watch, if you care about this at all. He's stuck between his head and his gut. His head tells him NBC's decision was justifiable and understandable, and also, he had a role in all this too when he secretly negotiated to put Leno out of a job five years ago. And that, in the scheme of things, a professional disappointment isn't the worst thing that can happen to a person, not when it comes with a $32 million payoff.

On the other hand, he's obviously also really upset about this, and does feel Leno is the bad guy (even if he's contractually forbidden from saying so).

As is usually the case, the head is right. more...

Posted by: Ace at 06:28 PM | Comments (38)
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Yeah. Particularly with his first point, a terrorist trial in NYC ain't gonna happen. If there was any life left in that or not, there's surely none now.

Gitmo for the sake of Gitmo isn't the point, the point is we cannot effectively combat terrorism when we tie our hands to score crappy political points. Obama and the Democrats will simply not be able to convince anyone their moral "superiority" is unassailable when we are burying the victims of the next attack.

Luck is not a strategy.

tip via commenter conscious but incoherent

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:54 PM | Comments (45)
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Welcome to the Monday.

Build Your Own Phaser

It's only a half watt laser but that's still enough to pop balloons and ignite flash paper. And comes with appropriate phaser sound. Caution - do not use on hortas or hobos as it will just annoy them. Thanks to IllTempuredCur.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:47 PM | Comments (697)
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As noted below (and more at this link), the man who bought the Nissan Pathfinder has been identified, and he's a naturalized Pakistani.

Bloomberg has a hunch, though:

"If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, or maybe a mentally deranged person, or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything," he said.

Posted by: Ace at 03:54 PM | Comments (293)
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This is what I meant, exactly what I meant.

I thought there would be a chance these guys were sloppy enough to use email to correspond with the seller, and they were. Next question: Were they sloppy enough to use a traceable email account or IP address?

I'm guessing: Yes!

Sources tell CBS News the last registered owner of the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder - found in Times Square Saturday night - told authorities he recently sold the vehicle to a "Middle Eastern" or "Hispanic" looking man for $1,300 cash in $100 bills on Craigslist.

ID'd: But hasn't shown up for work since Saturday and is in the wind, as they say.

A Connecticut man was being sought Monday in the failed plot to blow up a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square, sources said.

This "person of interest" bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was abandoned with the engine running - and with primitive, but potentially deadly payload in the rear - just two weeks ago, law enforcement and police sources told The Daily News.

Investigators aren't certain whether he is the same man who drove the rolling bomb to the Crossroads of the World, but he has not been seen by his girlfriend - and has not shown up at his home or job - since the frightening incident on Saturday night.

If they know his name, they can tell if he left the country, at least using his own ID. Since they're looking for him in the US, I guess he didn't get out.

Posted by: Ace at 02:50 PM | Comments (222)
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In that Politico piece below, she says she does support Arizona's law, but here, she says she doesn't.

Immigration is proving a tricky issue for GOPers everywhere. Ms. Fiorina told us she supports increasing a federal temporary worker program and securing the borders, but opposes Arizona's new immigration law because it seeks to deal with a federal issue on a state level. In interviews with CNBC and Politico, though, she bent over backwards to say she "understands" the frustrations of Arizonans while decrying a "racist tone" adopted by some of its backers.

It seems like she either 1) took two contrary positions, or more likely 2) offered Politico a confusing and highly nuanced position of offering understanding only for the frustrations of Arizonans but not the actual law, which they then misreported as support of the law.

Or, they got it wrong, I guess.

My guess is they got it right and Fiorina is trying to have it both ways.

That won't do. I was willing to give her a break when I thought her positioning was merely rhetorical (and, to my mind, useful). But if she's going to equivocate on the substance -- Next.

Posted by: Ace at 02:31 PM | Comments (111)
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No written records of the cash sale, but these guys were sloppy, and I'm holding out hope they used a traceable email account or cellphone to initiate the sale.

U.S. law enforcement officials say there is growing evidence the Times Square bomber had ties to radical elements overseas and did not act alone.

One senior official said there are several individuals believed to be connected with the bombing and that at least one of them is a Pakistani-American.

Police release video of possible suspect seen near site of failed attack.
Attorney General Eric Holder said today the investigators had made "substantial progress" in tracking the man who drove a Nissan Pathfinder into New York's Times Square with a crude bomb that failed to detonate.

Officials declined to provide the specifics that led them to believe there were overseas links to a larger plot.

The Washington Post, quoting Obama Administration sources, said the attempted bombing "increasingly appears to have been coordinated by several people in a plot with international links."

Other law enforcement officials said the investigation was closing in on the driver of the vehicle and an unknown number of others connected to him.

"This is moving very fast because they left behind a treasure trove of evidence in the unexploded car," one US official told ABC News.

Officials told ABC News Senior Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas that the Connecticut owner of the vehicle told them he had sold the Nissan SUV last month in an unrecorded sale to an "Arabic or Latino looking man" in his 20's or 30's, for a few hundred dollars in cash.

The license plate on the car was apparently stolen from an auto repair shop outside Bridgeport, Connecticut, according to law enforcement officials.

The authorities told ABC News that the previous owner provided a description of the man who bought the car, and told investigators the vehicle was sold for several hundred dollars in cash, with no written records identifying the purchaser.

I'm not really sure it's a good idea to float every damn lead you have out to the media, just to prove you're "doing something." I assume, provisionally, you all are "doing something." Now that I've assumed that, stop leaking every step of the investigation to the press and find the guys.

Posted by: Ace at 01:32 PM | Comments (172)
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