TX Mad Bomber blows himself up

[Michchamp]

Looks like this one is finally making the national news.

bizarre story.

24 year old home schooled kid from a rural area started bombing parts of Austin... killed 2 and wounded 4-5

Blew himself up as the cops closed in (they still shot him for good measure after... can't get all gussied up and not shoot something.)

in a weird follow-up, the 6th explosion was ruled not to be linked to him (link). WTF is an "artillery simulator"? I'd better google that.

 

[Michchamp]

huh. you learn something new and stupid everyday:

the device that was donated was some sort of artillery simulator. They are used in military training to simulate the sound and feeling of an explosion going off. Unfortunately, in this case, the device went off in the Goodwill worker?s hands, injuring him.

... it was more than likely donated by accident as opposed to the Austin bomber, a copycat, or prankster sending it.

Military equipment like artillery simulators are often donated by families who don?t really know what it is they are donating when clearing out a relative?s home.​

 

[Michchamp]

looks hard to mistake for something that should be donated to goodwill...

maybe the one in the story wasn't so clearly labelled.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Looks like this one is finally making the national news.

bizarre story.

24 year old home schooled kid from a rural area started bombing parts of Austin... killed 2 and wounded 4-5

Blew himself up as the cops closed in (they still shot him for good measure after... can't get all gussied up and not shoot something.)

in a weird follow-up, the 6th explosion was ruled not to be linked to him (link). WTF is an "artillery simulator"? I'd better google that.

I've been hearing about this on KABC radio Los Angeles quite a bit...haven't really been listening to much other news the last couple days.

What does wounded 4-5 mean?

Seems the guy either wounded four, or he wounded five.

 

[Polish-Hammer]

3-5th compromise.

 

[tinselwolverine]

3-5th compromise.

Like, in the Constitution?

 

[Spartanmack]

I've been hearing about this on KABC radio Los Angeles quite a bit...haven't really been listening to much other news the last couple days.

What does wounded 4-5 mean?

Seems the guy either wounded four, or he wounded five.

I've been hearing about it since the beginning as well.

maybe they're still trying to determine if the 5th person's injury is due to the bomber - like the ambulance was there, helping victim #4 and some chubby dude, we'll call him "Maybe Cinco" or "MC" walks up to the paramedic sobbing and asking for help with a bloody finger. Maybe MC was crying so uncontrollably that the paramedics weren't able to determine if the "injury" was from the bomb or a nasty hangnail before the reporters filed their report. Did I mention MC, the chubby dude sobbing uncontrollably about his bloody finger was wearing a Bernie Sanders t-shirt?

 

[Michchamp]

it's pretty infuriating hearing the authorities go out of their way to avoid condemning a murderous piece of shit.

calling someone who was building bombs, killing people, and had created a list of people to kill "troubled" is a little absurd. Psychotic? Evil?

Gov. abbot tried to deflect attention from this creep's past... of course, because he was white, home-schooled, grew up in a rural conservative christian household, belonged to a youth gun club, etc. That whole environment is a lot more toxic than its adherents would want to admit, and those that propagate such views don't want to take responsibility for their outcomes.

 

[Gulo Blue]

it's pretty infuriating hearing the authorities go out of their way to avoid condemning a murderous piece of shit.

calling someone who was building bombs, killing people, and had created a list of people to kill "troubled" is a little absurd. Psychotic? Evil?

Gov. abbot tried to deflect attention from this creep's past... of course, because he was white, home-schooled, grew up in a rural conservative christian household, belonged to a youth gun club, etc. That whole environment is a lot more toxic than its adherents would want to admit, and those that propagate such views don't want to take responsibility for their outcomes.

My gut says homeschooling is probably really inconsistent from home to home, and I bet things have changed dramatically in the last decade or two, but back in the olden days that I remember, my stereotype was more in line with that episode of South Park. A little socially awkward, but really nice, polite, and well educated.

 

[Gulo Blue]

You can probably go online now and search google for things like the best science textbooks for homeschooling if you think the world is 6,000 years old. Stuff that wouldn't have been easy to find not that long ago.

 

[Michchamp]

OMFG:

However, Conditt's motive remains unknown, and officials suspect that "we are never going to be able to put a rationale behind these acts," said Austin Police Chief Brian Manley.
In Conditt's confession video, "he does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate," Manley said. "Instead it is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life that led him to this point."​

He was just challenged...

No, he was a total loser, who became a murderer and a criminal to compensate for his own failings.

Article also references he had list of additional targets, which they're not releasing or even describing in any detail. i wonder why?

 

[Michchamp]

My gut says homeschooling is probably really inconsistent from home to home, and I bet things have changed dramatically in the last decade or two, but back in the olden days that I remember, my stereotype was more in line with that episode of South Park. A little socially awkward, but really nice, polite, and well educated.

yeah, that was a great episode, and I agree. back in the 80's or early 90's it might have been more like that: well-educated, but socially awkward parents who either believed they could teach better than the local school district, or wanted to shield their kids from what they viewed as a dangerous world.

these days, it's largely dangerous religious extremists, degenerates, or even complete psychotics who home school their kids.

you feel bad for the kids, up to a certain point at least; they have a lot to overcome.

 

[Gulo Blue]

these days, it's largely dangerous religious extremists, degenerates, or even complete psychotics who home school their kids.

Nearly worthless anecdote, but of the two homeschooling families I know of, one's lefty, one's right. The family on the right are very (extremely) religious, friendly, lovely people. My stereotype of degenerates are too lazy to homeschool. They can't wait to throw their kids at a school.

 

[Spartanmack]

Nearly? how about completely? There's no evidence that home schooled kids are prone to violence or that being Christian or a member of a gun club or both leads to violence. In fact, the evidence suggests they're better educated...

https://www.parentingscience.com/homeschooling-outcomes.html

Also, mc is obviously cherry picking data and drawing unsubstantiated conclusions. It's probably just as likely that his parents home schooled him because they didn't think he was capable of interacting with other kids and thought he might be a danger to others or himself as it his deeply religious toxic environment drove him into a violent psychosis.

Note, I'm not saying either is likely, quite the opposite - I'm only saying it's probably something a lot harder to pin down than knee jerk Christian bashing.

 

[Michchamp]

EDIT after reading spartanhacks post: people that home school their kids, and are not well-educated and affluent are garbage.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Also, mc is obviously cherry picking data and drawing unsubstantiated conclusions.

I don't think he's presented any data.

 

[Michchamp]

Nearly? how about completely? There's no evidence that home schooled kids are prone to violence or that being Christian or a member of a gun club or both leads to violence. In fact, the evidence suggests they're better educated...

https://www.parentingscience.com/homeschooling-outcomes.html

Also, mc is obviously cherry picking data and drawing unsubstantiated conclusions. It's probably just as likely that his parents home schooled him because they didn't think he was capable of interacting with other kids and thought he might be a danger to others or himself as it his deeply religious environment drove him violent psychosis.

Note, I'm not saying either is likely, quite the opposite - I'm only saying it's probably something a lot harder to pin down than knee jerk Christian bashing.

from your article:

That?s impressive, but we have to keep in mind: This wasn?t a random cross-section of homeschoolers.

Participants were recruited from a special subset of the homeschooling population--families who subscribed to a fee-based testing service.

Compared to their peers in the public schools, these kids were more likely to have affluent, well-educated parents. Were the parents also more committed to educating their children? Perhaps.​

Oh, wow. So affluent, well-educated people who homeschool their kids, using fee-based testing do better than the average kid.

But most home schoolers aren't those things...

 

[Gulo Blue]

But if we're going to draw stereotypes from potential bad actors, let's focus a bit on the Chief. I can cut a lot of slack for someone interacting with the press, sticking their foot in their mouth. If he called him a "challenged young man" just the one time he was describing what was in the journal, and then called him a terrorist other times, I wouldn't think it's worth getting hung up on. But if the rest of him language is also tinted in that way, we should stereotype based on him a bit more before we turn to the homeschooling parents.

 

[Spartanmack]

I don't think he's presented any data.

true, I was using the term rather loosely to describe the qualitative characteristics he highlighted (white, rural conservative Christian, home schoolers, members in a gun club) to draw his conclusion.

 

[Gulo Blue]

But most home schoolers aren't those things...

Based on what? My homeschooler stereotype is a bit well off.