Reason Roundup

De Niro and Biden Latest Targets of Suspected Pipe Bombs: Reason Roundup

Some conservatives are calling it a political stunt cooked up by Democrats. Democrats blame Trump's rhetoric. Trump blames the media.

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Suspected pipe bombs intercepted en route to Robert de Niro and Joe Biden. An eighth explosive was reportedly found Thursday morning, this one on its way to actor Robert de Niro in New York City. Not long after, it was announced that a ninth suspected bomb was discovered on its way to former Vice President Joe Biden in Delaware, a claim since confirmed by the FBI.

Since Tuesday, suspected mail bombs have been sent to George Soros, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (in both Los Angeles and D.C.), and former CIA Director John Brennan via the CNN offices. All were intercepted without incident.

The package sent to Brennan's office came with a popular meme image that resembles the ISIS flag but with the Arabic characters replaced by mudflap girls and the words "Get Er Done."

FBI

The Clinton and Obama packages listed Florida Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the return address. Schultz herself had a suspicious package sent to her Sunrise, Florida, office, though it had actually been addressed to former Attorney General Eric Holder. But Holder's address was written wrong, causing it to rebound to the return address ascribed to the representative.

For a while on Wednesday, it was hard to keep up with the rumored mail bombs, several of which turned out not to exist. Reports of pipe bombs bound for the San Diego Union-Tribune, the White House, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were false.

Trump has taken the opportunity to cast blame on the incivility and negativity of the media. This morning, Trump tweeted:

And at a rally in Wisconsin yesterday, he said:

The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. They've gotta stop. Bring people together.

Of course, many have been leveling the same charge against Trump, saying it's his vitriol toward journalists and Democrats that inspired these acts.

Twitter

And then we've got folks from Turning Point USA's Candace Owens, to radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, suggesting or saying outright that this is all a stunt set in motion by liberals.

Twitter

Thankfully, there are some trying to remind everyone that indeed, "this is not normal"—even in polarized and vitriolic times like ours, we're still seeing a fraction of the bombings and political violence we saw in the 1970s and other decades prior.

A statement from the FBI explained that:

The packages were mailed in manila envelopes with bubble wrap interior. The packages were affixed with computer-printed address labels and six Forever stamps. All packages had a return address of "DEBBIE WASSERMAN SHULTZ" [sic] in Florida. Packages identified to date were addressed to:

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Reason editor Jesse Walker writes in The Atlantic about Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, a Russian woman accused of conspiring against America, and reminds us to retain some perspective:

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