"Glad you survived the Portland terrorist!"

[mylittleredgirl]

I woke up this morning to that email from my mom.

Apparently, somebody tried to blow up the Portland tree-lighting ceremony last night. Woah! (Don't read the comments - it's a lot of people who probably couldn't find Oregon on a map wanting to deport all adopted Muslim children or something.)

Thank you, FBI!! Can I send them flowers or something? <3 <3 The target was partially picked because, as the would-be bomber said, "no one thinks about Oregon," so I'm really glad the intelligence operatives didn't feel the same way.

Comments

[anuna-81.livejournal.com]

This world is seriously wrong. *hugs* Glad you're safe.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I actually kind of feel SAFER now knowing that the FBI is actually catching these yahoos. Yikes!

[georgierae.livejournal.com]

Wha--!!

Very glad the law were on the ball really! (and you think he could at least have waited until NaNo was over, what an ass).

*pouncehugs*

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Bwah! Yes. Just think - if this kid had turned to NaNo instead of violence, the world would be a better place. (Sadly, there are some crazies in the world that probably would not be distracted sufficiently by NaNo.)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Eek. *hugs*

Still, hurrah for the FBI.

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes!! I would send them a bundt cake or something, but they would probably put me on a watch list or something for sending unsolicited items to government agencies.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Maybe a nice postcard? "Dear FBI, ty for your work. My nano novel is now dedicated to you. <3 " ?

[ljs-lj.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong of me to think that the "no one thinks about Oregon" bit is hilarious? Because it's true. I keep remembering the people I met in Germany, who fell into two categories: 1. "Oh, you're from Oregon? I know about Oregon - I've seen Westerns about the Oregon Trail! Why aren't you tanned? I thought Oregon was next to California." or 2. "What's an Oregon? Somewhere between California and Washington? What's a Washington? Oh, between San Francisco and Seattle? Amazing! I didn't know there was anything between San Francisco and Seattle - what do you mean you can't ride BART from Berkeley to the Space Needle?" Or something like that.

My dad sent out an email last night about the attempted bombing and he and his friends who have commented on it are all "Execute him right now!" I can't handle the stress of telling them they're assbutts, but - this terrorist is only 19, he is in fact an American citizen, they got a lot of information by working with him and maybe they can get more, and isn't it better to talk to him and try to figure out how he got onto the whole terrorist way of thinking so we can prevent that from happening in the future?

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Shockingly, my pacifist father said the same thing. His exact words were "hang him. no, tie him to the back of a horse and drag him through the streets." Not often, but sometimes, I am reminded of my father's Middle East upbringing in a part of life not related to falafel!

I don't feel a lot of sympathy for this kid at all aside from general "yes he's also a human" sympathy, because he is probably irreparably fucked up in the head to do something like this. I'm pretty strongly against the death penalty, but I sure hope they keep him locked up where he can't endanger anyone else. And yes, get as much information from him as possible, but I'm not sure this kind of crazy is preventable - anyone living in the United States who does this isn't just someone who fell victim to peer pressure or something. He was out to hurt and kill a lot of people. If it wasn't "jihadist terrorists," I believe he would have found other people and other ways to do just as much damage.