Gunfire at electrical grid kills power for 45,000 in North Carolina Officials in Moore County, North Carolina, declared a state of emergency on Sunday after gunfire damaged an electrical substation and left 45,000 homes and businesses without power in near freezing temperatures. "It appears to be an intentional, willful, and malicious act," said Tom McInnis, North Carolina State Senator, …
Hmmm... North Carolina? Nah, it was a hold my beer moment... And the power station may not have even been the object of attention. Ever see Mythbusters?
Hmm, two substations copping the same fate at the same time as a group of cosplayers are walting outside a drag show in combat fatigues and chest rigs?
Quite the coincidence.
I mean yeah sure. It's a possibility that two geographically dispersed groups had a "hold my beer" moment.
In reality, the Sheriff was quite clear in saying that they had sought assistance from the FBI "because those guys have more experience with domestic terrorism than local authorities".
They're not calling it terrorism yet, but they're not ruling it out either (which reads a lot like "blatant terrorism, we just need to document the motive so we can make it stick in federal court").
Disclosure: resident of central NC (but not Moore County), parent of lesbian, many lgbt friends
According to the article:
One substation shot up in Moore County, NC: December 4, 2022
One substation shot up in California: 2013
Drag show in Lee County, NC: November 4, 2022
I mean there could be links, but at least from this article it seems a little speculative. I have to agree with the "hold my beer" guy - I'd think a terrorist would go for a population center or any of the DoD stuff nearby.
As an aside we have drag shows in Durham and Chapel Hill all the time, please come and be welcome. We don't tolerate threatening behavior. Wish I'd known about the show in Sanford, I'm no fighter but at least we'd have been able to come provide moral support.
One substation shot up in Moore County, NC: December 4, 2022
Ah, the article appears to be in error by using the singular when it states "after gunfire damaged an electrical substation and left 45,000 homes and businesses without power in near freezing temperatures."
Two substations were subject to criminal damage by firearms in what authorities described as a deliberate attack. The links in the article make this clear.
For what its worth, there is now also a wikipedia page which is a useful list of references and sources.
Whilst the authorities have not published a suspected motive, a number of - probably ill-advised - social media posts will be keeping a couple of FBI investigators busy on some due-diligence on a couple of individuals.
"The power is out in Moore County and I know why."
"God will not be mocked"
"Well done Jeff, Chris & John on the power station job"
etc...
Well if you have watched C4's The Undeclared War, isn't as far fetched as some might believe.
Domestic terrorism and extremism has always been a threat. See groups like the Weather Underground, Earth First, the ELF etc for more info. So now we have a strange situation where political violence has been encouraged, or not discouraged due to lack of punishment. So protestors at the fringes of the political spectrum may feel empowered. If they can burn Federal buildings, loot property, and not be prosecuted, what else might they do? Then we also have the news about this incident, and the issues Ukraine's having following attacks on their energy infrastructure. So it's probable that assorted nutjobs are thinking "hey, we could do that!", and it gets worse.
That's rather bad because things like large transformers are both vulnerable, and not exactly available off the shelf from the nearest Home Depot. I once watched a documentary about the challenges of hauling a large transformer to a power station. I think it weighed something like 300t, and moving it by road meant doing a bunch of re-arranging street furniture and remodelling roads so the hauler could make turns.
That's rather bad because things like large transformers are both vulnerable, and not exactly available off the shelf from the nearest Home Depot. I once watched a documentary about the challenges of hauling a large transformer to a power station. I think it weighed something like 300t, and moving it by road meant doing a bunch of re-arranging street furniture and remodelling roads so the hauler could make turns.
One of the larger manufacturers in Europe has a factory complex doing "grid solutions equipment" (f-off big transformers) not far from me. Periodically they close the roads to ship a unit. This doesn't cause much disruption because "periodically" only means once every 6months or so (and this is frequent enough that the street furniture is arranged to not be in their way, so the convoy leaves town at a sensible pace).
Lead times on this gear is measured in years. There's very limited flexibility in supply chains because the volumes are so low.
This doesn't cause much disruption because "periodically" only means once every 6months or so (and this is frequent enough that the street furniture is arranged to not be in their way, so the convoy leaves town at a sensible pace).
One of my favorite photos is of the bow section of one of our Astute submarines being transported through a residential area in Barrow. Imagine waking up, looking out the window and thinking "OMG! Sea level rises are real!". But logistics are often a challenge, and a big cost. I've read a few planning applications for wind farms, and their problem's more length than weight, especially in rural areas. So applications have required roads widening, junctions re-sculpting, banks removed along with hedges and trees. Some of that isn't exactly environmentally friendly, plus there can be murky financial deals. So spinning costs as 'road improvements' and councils picking up the costs rather than the developers.
In this case, I guess that's less of an issue, although lack of iinfrastructure investment and road maintenance in the US may limit the routes that can be used for heavy haulage due to weight restrictions on old bridges etc.
Airbus paid for the enhancements and changes to the road infrastructure between Langon and Toulouse to allow the oversized transports for the A380 to proceed... the procession of every set of wings, fuselage barrels etc was apparently something to behold.
AC, sounds like you're more of a fighter than you give yourself credit for. There's more to fighting for a cause than a bunch of bigoted morons running around tooled-up could understand. The weak kick down.
I despise all discrimination, both positive and negative. Each should be allowed to do as they please with one caveat: do not tread on non-consensual toes.
Peace and love to all.
RTFA. The "probably wasn't an act of terrorism" refers to the substation shot in California, not the recent North Carolina attack.
Per the linked article, the California incident appears to have been performed by a single person. There's no evidence it was done to terrorize anyone; it quite plausibly was just an idiot being an idiot.
While it's still early, there's at least some evidence for the North Carolina case to be domestic terrorism – a coordinated act of violence motivated by ideology and intended to disrupt and oppress members of the populace (as opposed to a military opponent).
I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened more often. We'd get the occasional tray bullets at subs and sometimes clearly deliberate damage to HV insulators on lattice towers, but that seemed more like "I bet I can hit this" type of activity than anything truly malicious. If someone does make a concerted effort to cause damage at a substation it's actually quite easy to do, with long-lasting effects. We waited for more than a year for 345Kv-138Kv transformers for a new sub, so take a few of those out with the right type of round and it's going to be a long time until that functionality is back online. And your odds of getting caught are pretty slim. A lot of subs are in the middle of nowhere and with the right type of firearm you don't need to be anywhere close to cause damage. I won't be surprised to see new regs coming along any day now that require 12-foot high solid walls instead of chain link around these facilities.
Except that:
* with the exception of some truly wonderful microbreweries, American beer is nothing more than fizzy piss
* hamburgers are nice, but if they’re the pinnacle of your cuisine then I’d say more effort is required. Besides, the US has really excellent gumbos and chilli dishes amongst others
* American cars are famous for not doing corners.
* Republican politics!? A bunch of insane, racist, misogynist, gun loving, facist nut jobs? Ahh. You’re taking the piss!
You had us all going there for a moment - but in the current febrile political climate that seems to be a bit like juggling flaming clubs in a firework factory. It might be impressive to watch, but it isn’t a good idea.
Except that:
You've 100% misunderstood what he said - possibly more than 100% misunderstood.
He said - the best beer in America is German beer, not the fizzy piss.
He said - the best burgers in America are German burgers. Not sure on that one, can't recall encountering "German" burgers in my few sojourns stateside
He said - the best cars that can do corners in America are German cars. I disagree, no Ferrari or McLaren or Toyota?
He said - the best Republican politics in America are German. He's calling the Republicans Nazis.
… the american people can count themselves lucky that JFK held his famous speech in Berlin, and not Hamburg…
Why? American people have been cracking wise with “I am a jelly doughnut *” since shortly after his speech there.
It might have been as comical in Frankfurt as in Hamburg, but neither of these cities was surrounded by the DDR.
* — “Berliner” is a US English translation of „Berliner Pfannkuchen“.
I am pretty sure that more people woud have giggled at "I am a Hamburger".
Frankfurter and Wiener would also have been happily misunderstood (especially the latter). whereas Nürenberger and Berliner are internationally less well known culinary goods.
Any way, this is all of absolutely no importance :)
There's actually sort of a microbreweries revolution in America. They've discovered people will pay good money for good beer, and a chance to have some drinks and nosh with friends.
So there's getting to be a microbrewery in every neighborhood along with an associated bar and small restaurant. Sanford FL down the road has 11 of them in about 15 blocks downtown, but that's an extreme example.
Yes, pretty much like English pubs.
True, you have to pay about $15 for a 4 pack of pints these days. A lot of breweries found they make more money on that than a $12 6 pack of 12 oz.
I don't know what it's really like on the other side of the pond these days, beer-wise. But I can tell you there is no shortage of high quality options in _most_ of the US. In fact, I have a really hard time fathoming why there are so many.. and deciding which one to bring home.
There's actually sort of a microbreweries revolution in America
That "revolution" was in progress in the 1990s when I lived in USA and probably for many years before.
It's a shame that US beer is tarnished by the image of the corporate marketed rubbish like Bud, Coors, Miller etc, because there is plenty of exceptionally good stuff available.
A lot of people in UK think Stella Artois is good beer, because they are suckers for marketing.
'American beer is nothing more than fizzy piss'
Some time ago, I was in Duluth, just outside Atlanta and was having a 'Saturday night session' at the local bar. Being on a budget, we were drinking the 'Draft Bud', and put away quite a bit of it, during a very enjoyable evening.
Paid for it the next day by feeling truly awful....banging headaches, aching body and limbs despite drinking about two pints of water before sleepies to ward of the dehydration. Never in my life had I, not have I since, I suffered like at the hands of the demon drink. Don't normally get hangovers, but that one put me flat on my back for most of Sunday.
Draft beer? More like toxicity-on-tap! Didn't stop us re-visiting the local bar...we just drank something else...mostly Michelob, ISTR. Barkeep there must have overhead the whinging we were doing as some 'craft' beers arrived a couple of weeks later and were enjoyed by us Brits and our "127's" (The 'localhosts').
Why waste money on concrete? It's easy to add a privacy screen to a chainlink fence. You can't hit what you can't see ... and there is a lot more air than there is hardware in a substation, so blazing away randomly would waste money (ammo ain't free) and likely not hit anything important. Besides, the shooter(s) wouldn't get to see the pretty light show.
With a high enough calibur or large enough round (so either .50 bmg, deerslugs or something like beowolf rounds) don't really need that higher a level of precision that comes from directly observing the substation.
Just look at were the high tension lines come in and shoot vaguely in that direction until fireworks ensues.
Also no word on if there's skeleton keys for these things like there is in the UK, making walls irrelevant if you can just walk in with the right key (my father was a holder for such a key despite not working for the electric board as he was qualified to turn off the one in the basement of his work).
There's only so much you can do without simply being proactive about removing those likely to be so destructive...
Master key?
I've seen the street door to a transformer building (on a a university campus) with, instead of a padlock through the hasp, a bolt. The bolt had a hole at both ends, each with one padlock. I assume one key was for electricity board, and the other was uni facilities. That way the board's engineers can get in with their normal key. and faculties can get into that specific transformer with they key - but no other transformer.
Indeed, for the reliance and false security and confidence in CCTV have degraded such thinking to , "oh a chain link fence will do, just add a low wall to make it look pretty"
Whilst here in the UK a fairly large city station was completely unmanned overnight many years back, and whilst we may not have the proliferation of people with high powered rifles and appropriate rounds, we do have some of the most creative engineering heads who could achieve a similar result with just a large spanner.
Cameras are great, with power.
A concrete wall works just fine without power.
Indeed, for the reliance and false security and confidence in CCTV have degraded such thinking to , "oh a chain link fence will do, just add a low wall to make it look pretty"
You forget that in the UK we have "Danger of Death" signs on every electrical installation. Guaranteed to stop the hardest, most determined terrorist!
[For leftpondians, yes, this is glossobuccalic.]
> You forget that in the UK we have "Danger of Death" signs on every electrical installation. Guaranteed to stop the hardest, most determined terrorist!
Not true. It won't stop those who are not afraid of dying.
Which is why the signs should read "Danger of Death and a £50 fine."
Because it is impossible to scale a 12 foot wall, or to attack substations that have higher ground or trees nearby that allow shooting what's inside the wall?
A better (and less expensive) investment would be cameras deployed in the vicinity, both inside/along the perimeter of the substation as well as a few discreetly placed on power poles along the nearby road(s)
Now sure they could response to the cameras by wearing masks, covering their license plate, etc. but that makes them more suspicious as they approach/leave the area.
The best thing would to be catch them, and throw them in prison for 20 years. The idea that they might not be able to get away with it is probably the biggest deterrent.
I ride my bike around the countryside so I know where the most remote substations in my county are located. I could easily see how someone might reasonably believe the chance of anyone seeing/catching them in the act are near zero - those roads are pretty lightly traveled in the middle of the day so may go an hour without a single car at 3am. No one lives within a half mile to hear the gunfire. Reading about someone getting caught (especially if it is something they can't easily mitigate against, like one ratting out the others when he's caught for another crime or a big reward causing someone to turn in a family member) would make them think twice.
I won't be surprised to see new regs coming along any day now that require 12-foot high solid walls instead of chain link around these facilities.
Which alters the attack requirement to a dozen large molotov cocktails, with a side of iron filings tossed over the top of the wall rather than shooting a .22 at it.
If you make it a high brick wall then you might be able to penetrate it with a couple of rounds of 7.62; if you make it thicker then you'll probably still shoot through it with a couple of .50 calibre rounds which appear to be legal in the US. If you make it thick enough to deal with that then you have to bear in mind that it's legal to own WW2 era anti tank guns in the US; so you probably need 16" worth of steel to take repeated impacts. And of course the attacker could just roll up with a ladder...
Or, our American cousins need to get a bit better at locking up people who think this is ok. Or restrict firearms ownership a bit; or put armed guards on every bit of power distribution infrastructure, or get used to life without electricity.
Assuming it was a terrorist, we have zero knowledge of their politics.
The 21st Century isn't about evidence, it's about feelings. There were some armed fascists in town that night, so perhaps they did it for publicity. But it probably was deliberate given there were near simultaneous attacks on two seperate substations, with one having it's gate removed to gain entry. But 35,000 victims.
The media of course quickly jumped on a possible coincidence for motivation and to push their fascist, authoritarian demands. It interrupted a drag night, therefore it must have been 'far-right'. In other news that day was another missile attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, so the ability to create mayhem pretty simply has also been in the news. As a 'terror' attack, it worked. It was low cost, had large impact, and generated a lot of publicity that's been used to push political agendas.
Practical problems are now that the effects of this type of attack are more widely known, they'll likely become more widespread. Mitigating the risks will be expensive, ie building solid walls around substations, or adding sheets of Hardox 500 to try and screen vulnerable elements. And I guess not strike arcs.
I don't think Stalin was a big fan of Panto, and given the ubiquity of armed Maoist groups in America it could well have been far-left terrorists
Yup. I notice the Bbc's walked back the drag link a little. I didn't realise N.Carolina's also the second largest financial centre in the US. So it could have been an anti-capitalist thing. Or maybe there's plans to build yet another datacentre, and someone objected. Or just objected to rising energy costs and profits. Or it was eco-terrorism, it being a coal state.
So about the only thing we do seem to know is it was intentional, ie two locations attacked, I'm not clear how deliberate or knowledgeable the attacker(s) may have been as the number of shots fired doesn't seem obvious.
>Assuming it was a terrorist, we have zero knowledge of their politics.
There's no assumption about it. There's not enough evidence for the bona fide press to attribute, for sure, but the least they could do is avoid mincing words with the passive voice or attributing actions to inanimate objects. Gunfire didn't do shit. A person did this, twice.
Trump recently called for the US Constitution to be suspended. The quickest way for that to happen would be Succession. By attacking the power grid, it separates the off-grid survivalist from the softies. Of course, they should have waited for a cold snap or blizzard. Though I don't think the Sandhills gets much snow. I am sure there will be some copycats and the Federal Gov will pass a law of some kind. The most nothing as possible of course.
But the good thing about this Civil War Strategy is that when you shoot the distribution stations, it knocks out all the power and down goes the police response and everything with it.
Bro, do you even Succession? I don't watch it myself, but he's obviously talking about the show named Succession, since Lordrobot above doesn't seem to know (what I assume was supposed to be) secession from succession. On the other hand, you don't seem to be talking about either, since it sounds like you mean 6th January, but that wasn't either a succession or a secession, though it's probably closer to the latter, whilst being on the subject of the former. Perhaps you confused it with insurrection? Beyond that, I've only my speculation to go on.
Trump's a blithering idiot, if you hadn't noticed. His opinion is not useful, to anyone. Including himself, apparently.
And the so-called "off grid survivalists" are too busy trying to be off-grid and survive (it's Winter, you know) to have time for the kind of time-sink you propose.
I seriously doubt the North Carolina (National) Guard would even notice the power outage if they had to come in and keep the peace. Which they didn't, primarily because most people in Moore County are law abiding and more interested in helping their neighbors than they are helping to implement the fantasies of a failed President.
People who downvoted that haven't heard about the "accelerationism" I guess. Knocking out power, water and other basic services so that people with survival training, stockpiles of food and more importantly who are heavily armed become the new ruling class.
Of course it is ridiculous because they'd need to strike the whole US at once otherwise it just becomes a relief effort from the US government like when there's a big natural disaster.
I do wonder whether Trump's open call to "terminate" the Constitution had something do with this with. It happened within hours after his post.
@DS999
"I do wonder whether Trump's open call to "terminate" the Constitution had something do with this with. It happened within hours after his post."
I see a lot of news about Trumps unwise opinion to 'terminate' the constitution but little news about the Biden Administration blocking investigation into the 148 suspicious activity reports concerning Bidens sons-
https://www.theepochtimes.com/reversal-of-long-standing-policy-keeps-key-documents-on-hunter-bidens-business-from-congress_4900180.html
Epoch Media. Now what can we find out about them.... a media bias checking site says:
"Overall, we rate The Epoch Times Right Biased and Questionable based on the publication of pseudoscience and the promotion of propaganda and conspiracy theories, as well as numerous failed fact checks."
"On December 20, 2019, Facebook took down more than 600 accounts connected to The Epoch Times.
The network ..run by Vietnamese users posing as Americans, using fake photos generated by algorithms to simulate real identities. The Epoch Media group, .. spent $9.5 million on ads to spread content through the now-suspended pages and groups.”
"Further, the Epoch Times frequently publishes pseudoscience news,"
I'm glad you brought up the Biden laptop story...
1. The legally blind computer repairman is (to be charitable) a somewhat unreliable observer and seems to have his own agenda
2. The lack of a documented chain of custody renders anything found on the "laptop drive" suspicious
3. The whole episode occurred during Trump's administration, so any mismanagement of the investigation lies at his doorstep
4. So...even if everything's true, Hunter Biden is known to have a substance abuse problem, and he tried to use his family ties for financial gain? Then get a grand jury to indict him and take him to court...I don't think anyone would object. Why hasn't this been done? (see #3, above)
@Antron Argaiv
Thats an odd comment of questionable content. You seem to be attacking the computer repair man who supplied the hard drive to the FBI who buried the investigation. He took it to a lawyer in fear of his own safety. Security experts came out publicly that its Russian disinformation, shown to be incorrect but politically motivated.
"3. The whole episode occurred during Trump's administration, so any mismanagement of the investigation lies at his doorstep"
Point 3 is the dangerous problem, the idea that Trump should have used the FBI as a political weapon! While it was used in such a way by the Dems or on behalf of the Dems (the Dems worked with the Russians to make the 'dossier' trying to frame Trump for Russian collusion) that is a critical part of the problem. As with the pressure applied to the media companies to bury the story and mark it is misinformation. If Trump did any of this he would have been branded the authoritarian Hitler they tried to present him as before he was president.
Not attacking anyone. The laptop was dropped off in April 2019. Mac Isaac gave the laptop to the FBI in December 2019.
I trust you're not disputing that those dates are during the Trump administration. If the FBI found anything on that laptop, it was up to them to investigate it. Trump was in charge...I'm sure he was told about the laptop and its purported ownership. If there was evidence of a crime, or corrupt activities, an investigation should have been opened. That's all on Trump's watch.
The computer guy is a caricature. Blind, unable to identify the person who left the laptop, and a whole bunch of other "don't know" answers. Now, he's recently resurfaced...for a guy who was reluctant to come forward and wanted to stay out of it (his words, paraphrased), he seems to keep popping up.
Even if Hunter Biden tried to use his father's name and position to further his business plans...what of it? I wouldn't want him as a friend, but it's up to the government (and that was Trump's FBI) to investigate and prosecute. I hope you're not trying to say that Trump declined to prosecute because he didn't want to appear to be trying to attack Biden? Because he hasn't stopped making public statements against Biden...so why hold back when he (allegedly) has evidence of a crime?
@Antron Argaiv
"Not attacking anyone."
Its where you called him legally blind as though that has any meaning to this.
"Mac Isaac gave the laptop to the FBI in December 2019."
Not quite. That is when the FBI issued the subpoena to seize the laptop which the repair man delivered.
"I trust you're not disputing that those dates are during the Trump administration"
Why would I? What I point out is that Trump was the president of the US and not in charge of the FBI. The FBI is to be apolitical (in theory). That is why the actions of the FBI to stitch up Trump is so bad especially if coordinated with a political party.
"Trump was in charge...I'm sure he was told about the laptop and its purported ownership."
He also publicly mentioned it which is why the cover up by the FBI, the censorship by media and the direct lies from Biden was again seen as another democrat stitch up just like the falsified dossier the previous election.
"If there was evidence of a crime, or corrupt activities, an investigation should have been opened."
Yes, which is why it is such a big issue the FBI stalled the investigation and security experts claimed it was disinformation is such a sickening act and should be criminally investigated. Yet again this is all stuff that should be in the news, if it was Trump it would have been.
"and a whole bunch of other "don't know" answers"
Except it has been verified that the laptop is not a fake and the data is real.
"Even if Hunter Biden tried to use his father's name and position to further his business plans...what of it?"
Nope. The accusation is actual interference by VP Biden and kickbacks for it.
"but it's up to the government (and that was Trump's FBI) to investigate and prosecute"
Nope. No no no. It is not up to the president of the united states to use the state as a weapon against its political opponents. This is why the 2 failed impeachments and constant attacks by Dems is criticized. That is how the corrupt regimes do it.
Not attacking anyone. The laptop was dropped off in April 2019. Mac Isaac gave the laptop to the FBI in December 2019.
Nothing unusual about that. Louis Rossman explained it a while back when NYC was hassling him. See-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanic%27s_lien
Biden dropped off the laptop asking for work done to them, never returned to collect them, so per the lien and/or repair contract, it becomes the shops. Hence why most repair shops state if you don't pay/collect your goods, they'll sell or dispose of them after 3-6months. Without an explicit contract, length of time and disposal options vary by jurisdiction. Louis' example was fun because there was an IT angle, ie NYC made a law that "second hand" gear purchased had to be logged on an NYC system intended to track stolen goods and discourage fencing. He didn't have a receipt/invoice for his customer's laptop so got threatened with a large fine and possible loss of business licence. All because NYC's system didn't have any facility to reflect property acquired via lien.
If there was evidence of a crime, or corrupt activities, an investigation should have been opened. That's all on Trump's watch.
Trump may be more familiar with the Constitution than some 'civics' experts. So there's this seperation of powers thing. The tree of liberty has roughly 3 branches, which are meant to be independent. So Executive (Trump), Legislative (Congress, Senate), and Judicial (DoJ, FBI). All part of the 'checks and balances' thing which was meant to preserve and protect the Constitution. Trump certainly made a lot of noise about the laptop, but as Judicial is independent of Executive, the FBI could (and it seems did) just ignore him.
I hope you're not trying to say that Trump declined to prosecute
A key point of the Consitution is the President doesn't have that power. That decision would be ultimately up to the US Attorney General. If the Attorney General acts improperly, ie supresses any invesitgation for political reasons, they could be impeached. If the President leans on the AG for political reasons, they could be impeached. The power to impeach Federal officers resides with Congress, which has been using that power extensively against Trump for the last 6yrs, and now says it's going to refer to the AG for possible criminal charges.
But Congress changes in a few weeks, and the ability to investigate and/or start impeachment proceedings changes. This is also why impropriety or collusion is a big issue. So Judicial can investigate and prosecute dodgy members of the Legislative branch, ie Congress critters. Congress can do the same to Executive or Judicial. But if Legislatve and Judicial are no longer independent, that's... a bit of a problem. No more checks and balances, and AFAIK the Executive can't do much about it.. Especially if all 3 branches are working in concert against their opponents.
It seems plausible that the squashing of the Biden laptop story is just a combination of 1) coming from a right wing source 2) heightened concern in social media circles that there was likely to be dezinformatsiya.
As to Trump's negative portrayals - I think we can see that is largely Trump's own doing
@AC
"As to Trump's negative portrayals - I think we can see that is largely Trump's own doing"
This is one thing that amazed me about the attacks on trump. He got a lot of orange man and his hair then loads of made up stuff to tar him. Yet there was plenty of legitimate fodder to use, particularly as he didnt use the sludge filter that normally protects the presidents comments from going as far as the public.
@AC
"If thin skinned narcissists can't take the abuse they shouldn't engage in it."
I dont think you read my comment, or maybe didnt understand it. I was saying he wrote without filter on twitter. Normally there is a sludge filter to stop presidents from voicing their opinions and saying the 'wrong' thing to keep a nice image.
I agree, but an ad hominem is still not a valid argument, even when used against cunts like Epoch Times.
@codejunky: What this story says is that a Republican representative is complaining about not being given access to "suspicious activity reports" - a type of report that banks automatically generate and lodge with the Treasury Dept every time someone transfers more than $10,000 to someone else.
There is a lot to cavil about in this story. For one thing, it talks about a long-standing policy of giving access to duly authorised, relevant congressional investigations and committees. What it glosses over is that no such investigation exists in this case. It may well be that this investigation will be launched soon - in January, possibly - and we'll see what happens then.
Meanwhile, there's a lot of guff about a bill that has passed the House (with heavy Democrat support, which somehow... incriminates Democrats even more, I guess? - I dunno, it's hard to see what point he's trying to make here) to restore that access. But the bill hasn't passed the Senate, so legally it's a dead letter anyway.
I don't know the facts of the case, but it looks to me as if Jim Jordan wants to go fishing in Hunter Biden's bank statements, and he's pretty sure he'll find something there he can use to smear the president. (He's probably right, smearing isn't hard.) In the meantime, he's using the fact that the president apparently doesn't want him to do this as a smear in itself.
He cites the figure of 150 suspicious activity reports "concerning the financial dealings of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and brother, Jim" as if it were a large number. I'd really like to know the corresponding number of reports over the same period relating to Jim Jordan and his close relatives. And Trump, while we're about it - I'm guessing the total on his family would be in four figures. But absent all that information - given the very low bar for generating an SAR, 150 doesn't seem like a particularly high number to me.
I'm not saying it's not news. It's just not particularly interesting news, being reported in a quite unnecessarily sensationalised way.
@veti
"I'm not saying it's not news. It's just not particularly interesting news, being reported in a quite unnecessarily sensationalised way."
And yet this is on the heels of Zuck and Musk exposing the pressure they were put under to censor content. It is extremely interesting to know that the presidents son abandoned a laptop that contains content of a serious nature and looks to involve the sitting president of the USA. Something the FBI have sat on and is barely mentioned at all.
Now if this was Trump... Hell even not freely publicly handing over his tax returns (something they have no right to) caused huge media noise. So much so it was fantastic to see the 'leaked' tax return stump Maddow. They attempted to impeach Trump for his dealings with Ukraine yet it seems Biden as vice president actually interfered in an investigation in Ukraine for his son.
Don't look at the leader of the republican party, previous republican president, and already declared frontrunner for the 2024 nomination openly stating he wants to TERMINATE the constitution.
No, look over there at this claim from a right wing conspiracy rag about Hunter Biden, because the two things are equally bad *eyeroll*
@DS999
"Don't look at the leader of the republican party, previous republican president, and already declared frontrunner for the 2024 nomination openly stating he wants to TERMINATE the constitution.
No, look over there at this claim from a right wing conspiracy rag about Hunter Biden, because the two things are equally bad *eyeroll*"
And there is the stupidity on display. Dont look at one and not the other, look at them both! Complain at the one who says terminate the constitution, but also get that spotlight on the corrupt liars actively abusing (potentially illegal) the powers of the US.
Your eyes are rolling through bias. You are watching the guy slapping your face while ignoring the guy kicking your nuts.
Until you get rid of the nutjobs who want to scrap elections and the constitution, there is no point in worrying about anything else. If I can't vote and have it count because republicans who worship Trump are willing to refuse to certify or legislatively override the results, nothing else matters. Getting rid of Trump and Trumpism is foundational to having a democracy in the future. You're willing to look the other way on that stuff because you think it would benefit "your side". It would not, of course.
Once votes no longer count and/or the constitution is scrapped, the republican party will be tossed aside just as fast as the democratic party by people far too extreme even for you. You'd be left wishing you had listened to those of us saying that everyone in both parties who believes in democracy and the constitution should be ganging up to vote down election deniers and insure anyone who wants to terminate the constitution is kicked out of the party forever.
@DS999
"Until you get rid of the nutjobs who want to scrap elections and the constitution, there is no point in worrying about anything else"
So since 2016 and continuing you should be excessively concerned with the FBI and CIA colluding with the current sitting president and the failed Hillary Clinton for abuse of power.
"If I can't vote and have it count because republicans who worship Trump are willing to refuse to certify or legislatively override the results, nothing else matters"
You again seem to be thinking this is a Trump thing.
"Getting rid of Trump and Trumpism is foundational to having a democracy in the future."
Even if it means harming democracy to do so? That being the issue since the 2016 elections where domestic security was used as a weapon of the president against their political opponent.
"You're willing to look the other way on that stuff because you think it would benefit "your side". It would not, of course."
Interesting you say I am willing to look the other way. Where have I said that? At what point have I dismissed or supported Trumps comment about the constitution? You are projecting.
If there's no constitution there is no government to make or enforce laws, so it is a free for all. If you have a howitzer, who is going to stop you from using it? Just what the right wing militias want, they have the ridiculous weapons and ammo stockpiles so they plan to kill anyone who stands in the way of them taking over.
Probably including Trump, there is no longer any need for him in this accelerationst dream scenario.
Maybe use a step up transformer, hook it up to the fence and bring it online when intrusions are detected?
If you keep it just far enough from the electrics the arcs will only zap whatever is wandering around near the fence. Sure, initially you could end up cooking a couple of bunnies that got too close in the process and annoy PETA, but even leaving those charred remains nearby could prove educational enough for idiots not to try and approach any closer, and any guns would become nice conduits.
It also creates a nice argument for keeping the vegetation on a distance to prevent a bush fire, so win win. Just make sure you have some remote control or it'll be a sod to service.
:)
Nah! with all that electricity wireless powered drones with submachine guns.
"If only those poor transformers had been allowed to have guns to defend themselves."
"Decepticons! ATTACK!!!"
Five minutes later, amongst the smouldering wreckage...
"Starscream, what did I tell you about procuring weapons? What the hell am I supposed to do with a length of steel pipe when the Autobots have pistols, rifles and cannons powered by Energon?"
Unless the reports so far published are filling in the blanks with their imagination, this was aggressive vandalism: the attackers caused severe damage that resulted in immediate disruption. At Metcalf, communications lines were first cut and transformers damaged from a greater distance in a way that led to delayed failure.
It could be reasonably argued that perhaps the purpose of this attack is to probe response and repair times. Against that, if it's a test of capability, the attackers took much greater risks being in the vicinity of the facilties during the power loss.
given the number of practicing religious types in the area, the churches are nearly quasi governmental
"Emily Grace Rainey, a former U.S. Army psychological operations officer, posted about the outages that left nearly 40,000 customers without power, but Moore County sheriff Ronnie Fields told WRAL-TV that he prayed with her and determined her claims were not credible.
"Yes, we had to go and interview this young lady and have a word of prayer with her, but it turned out to be nothing," Fields said."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nc-sheriff-rules-out-right-wing-activist-as-suspect-in-power-outage-after-praying-with-her/ar-AA14VUEr
Why on all earth are churches in that list?
Churches have a long tradition of being places of sanctuary, or just acting as community centres. In emergencies, they're also often used as aid & comfort stations. So somewhere people could go that's warm, has light and probably has one of those big water heaters for dishing out hot drinks. It's more about charity and practicality than religion.
To be fair, a point that nobody has thus far mentioned is the possibility that it was Russian related.
Russia is busy blowing up all the transformers and power in Ukraine that they can hit. The Ukrainian lights are largely being kept on by other countries handing over their [long lead] spares to expedite repairs. From a Russian POV quasi deniably blowing up a bunch of substations may be a good thing if it made countries hesitate to hand over any significant amount of equipment that they might need themselves.
The "permanent" networks have a surprising degree of compatibility. Globally, 50/60Hz equipment is procured in a relative handful of mostly standardised voltages. Often, higher-rated components can and are used in lower rated roles too e.g. 550kV rated equipment is actually quite common in the UK even though we only go to 400kV (AC).
Handing Ukraine odds-and-sods of spares is not a major headache; and nor is shipping out diesel generators. However when it starts coming to shipping replacement switchgear or transformers that's another matter entirely. Besides being incredibly difficult to move (500 tonnes+ not unusual - even the AN225 could not ship them by Air); the supply chain for them has lead times in excess of 1 year - and that chain is growing while simultaneously large amounts of demand for new stuff (e.g. to connect up new nukes, windmills).
A very large proportion of global output of such hardware is expected to have to go for the rebuilding of Ukraine (noting that whatever the outcome of the war, that rebuild needs to happen regardless; eventually).
Demand being what it is, I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a move to expand production capacity because it's practically guaranteed work for the next 30 years.
Thanks for the explanation :-)
"Demand being what it is, I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a move to expand production capacity because it's practically guaranteed work for the next 30 years."
I guess that depends on who "wins". Ukraine will most likely buy from the West. Russia probably not so much, assuming even if sanctions were lifted to allow it. I suspect Russia will end up backing down if and when they can find a face saving way of doing do.
I guess that depends on who "wins"
It's not just about Ukraine. All the countries pushing for "Net Zero" and de-carbonising their economies are going to need massive upgrades to electricity infrastructure to support the increased demand. So in UK, it's estimated we'll need around 3x the generating capacity to electrify everything. Schemes like banning ICE and forcing EVs are going to need a LOT of charging stations, and supporting say, only 10 fast charging points pretty much needs it's own substation. Tesla's been talking about MW fast chargers to support his electric semi's, and thats.. a lot of juice.
Indeed. Net zero on previously-thought timescales (which were already dubious) have been torn up by Russia's war. Transmission and Distribution networks need to expand significantly, and replace a lot of older equipment too, globally, to accomodate reduction in ICE while maintaining reliability.
Given the fantasy nature of some of the ideas, the five-nines reliability most of Europe has had for decades is unlikely to be maintained and people should get used to it. OR, get over their NIMBYism and let us get on and build what's necessary...
For those thinking ‘murica about this… a very common occurrence in the UK are farmers taking pot shots at the insulator strings. Thing is, when one goes in to fix them afterwards they can get compensation for us having to enter their land.
Another unintended problem are polymeric insulators (as opposed to glass or porcelain) where rather than breaking, lead shot embeds itself in the insulator. The damage can be less than obvious and form a nasty flashover risk.
A/c because employed in one of the few orgs that deals with said things.
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Duke is a Nuclear Operator in both Carolinas.
I wanna see whoever did this try to attack a Nuclear Power Plant, and have their shit shoved sideways back into them through their other orifices before they can say anything. No ifs and buts here, attack a NPP and regret, National Security Threat.
On the other hand, we have Hanlon's Razor. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Some accidental discharge, well the FBI is looking into it.
Well you learn something new every day
I was sent to Manning a year or so ago
but we couldn't plug any computers in because the local neighbourhood
kids kept throwing metal tyre rings or shooting the pole transformer
so three engineers sat on their hands for a week
The company we contracted to, didn't even bat an eyelid, they just bill an normal I suppose
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