This Is What I Meant When I Said Things Were Getting Ugly

On Sunday, I published a piece here saying that things are getting kind of ugly, particularly with the hatred toward Tesla. It was a warning, but I was hoping I was just being paranoid. After all, I’ve been concerned about where things were going before, and stuff settled down in time. I hoped this time would be the same.

I’d rather be worried over nothing than not worried when I should be, after all, and I figured I had an obligation to at least mention it where others might start thinking about it. Assuming, of course, they hadn’t already.

But when I talked about where things were going, I was talking about stuff like this from our sister site, Hot Air:

Remember when Donald Trump’s candidacy supposedly represented lawlessness and a threat to democracy? Good times, good times.

In yet more evidence of a case of projection, Austin police discovered multiple “incendiary devices” planted at the local Tesla dealership. Police successfully removed the devices, which means that they may have not just saved a few electric vehicles — they may have preserved some key evidence for the FBI. “Incendiary devices” mean bombs in common parlance:

APD said it responded to a call about suspicious devices at the showroom around 8:04 a.m. Monday. The APD bomb squad was called out to investigate.

The devices were “determined to be incendiary” and were taken by police without incident, APD said.

Yes, bombs.

Now, Molotov cocktails are bad, but the nature of them tends to mean that people know good and well that there’s no one around when they use one–or, conversely, that someone is present. Using one is a violent act, but it’s still a thing that gives the user at least some control over who all is going to be hurt by the cocktail when it’s thrown.

After that, all bets are off, which is why we don’t really treat them as a nothingburger.

But bombs are an escalation. These are intended to go off at a later time. It doesn’t say if they were meant for remote detonation or on a timer, but what we know is that these aren’t necessarily controlled and can be much more destructive.

Further, if this was on a timer, then it means the person who planted them didn’t give a damn about the potential loss of human life. It’s very possible that even with a remote destination, the bomber didn’t, either, but there’s no way he could be sure no one would be hurt if it’s on a timer. Even some more schlub walking by in the middle of the night, or someone driving by, could be injured or killed by the blast and shrapnel, and there’s no evidence the person who made these things cared.

Another unfortunate thing is that bombs aren’t really a threat we can meet with a concealed carry weapon. If one goes off, drawing and firing isn’t really helpful, especially as there’s no one to shoot. The dangerous person is long gone.

But situational awareness can help. Many of us do things to try and improve our situational awareness, and this is a prime example of how else to use that effort. Keep an eye out for suspicious packages and objects. Notify the authorities if you see anything that looks out of place, particularly around Tesla dealerships, but not just there. I suspect that, in time, we’ll see this sort of thing spread.

Be careful, folks.