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Anarchist Ties Seen in ’08 Bombing of Texas Governor’s Mansion
New York Times ^ | February 23, 2011 | JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

Posted on 02/23/2011 9:31:25 AM PST by La Lydia

It has been two and a half years since an arsonist tossed a firebomb into the governor’s mansion in Austin and slipped into the night, but the Texas Rangers say they are finally closing in on the person responsible. Steven C. McCraw, the head of the Department of Public Safety, said on Friday that investigators had linked the arsonist to a group of anarchists known as Austin Affinity. He said two members of the same group had pleaded guilty to making and possessing gasoline bombs during the 2008 Republican National Convention...

But one of the men who pleaded guilty in Minnesota said the anarchist group that the rangers are focusing on did not exist. The man, Bradley Crowder, said it was an ad hoc collection of young anarchists who had pooled resources to hire a van for the trip north....

...A break in the case came several months ago, they said, when a ranger who was helping review thousands of hours of surveillance tapes from 11 cameras around the Capitol and mansion spotted something strange. Four days before the fire, three men in a white Jeep Cherokee stopped in front of the mansion about 2 a.m. and a person...snapped photos of the building. The ranger thought the men might have been casing the place.

But the video camera did not capture the license plate number. So the police began a painstaking hunt through 3,000 similar Jeeps in Texas, eliminating them one by one, Mr. McCraw said. “Every one of them had to be looked at,” he said, “and it had to be done in a way that you are not letting the person know.”

“It was good, old-fashioned police work,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the minutiae and the tedious that links you to something.”...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: anarchy; idiots; violence
I think the Rangers are probably closer than even this indicates, and that they will get their man.
1 posted on 02/23/2011 9:31:29 AM PST by La Lydia
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To: La Lydia

...the NY Times and other Lefty MSM like to feature stories like this....it dilutes the focus on Muslims....makes it seem as if Muslims aren’t the only ones....that’s why they often mention Timothy McVeigh....of course they don’t say that McVeigh’s handler Terry Nichols got his bomb training from Abu Sayyaf.


2 posted on 02/23/2011 9:39:08 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: STONEWALLS

Sorry to have offended you with my post. I happen to be interested in this story, and believe other people might find it interesting. But since it was so bothersome and misleading to you, I would take it down if I could.


3 posted on 02/23/2011 9:42:53 AM PST by La Lydia
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To: La Lydia

...it didn’t offend me at all...I expect as much from the NY Times...I’m glad that you enjoyed the story and hope that you’ll continue to post such.


4 posted on 02/23/2011 9:52:44 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: La Lydia

Thanks for posting this. I was thinking about this the other day and wondering what had happened.

After reading this, though I realized my family’s Jeep was checked out. We have a white Jeep Cherokee.

The Rangers are a great and dedicated group.


5 posted on 02/23/2011 10:10:40 AM PST by Texas56
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To: La Lydia

I think of anarchists as liberals who are off their meds, so this doesn’t surprise me.


6 posted on 02/23/2011 10:23:37 AM PST by pallis
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To: La Lydia

Many of the lefties I know here in Austin, are absolutely convinced that Rick Perry is somehow behind the burning of the mansion.

They are delusional.


7 posted on 02/23/2011 10:26:00 AM PST by Le Chien Rouge
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To: La Lydia

During the last RNC, in Minneapolis, one of the local reporters interviewed one of these anarchists. The rocket-scientist stated that their biggest challenge was organization and coordination. Morons.


8 posted on 02/23/2011 10:28:45 AM PST by Spruce
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To: Le Chien Rouge
Yes, they are delusional. But I had a brief daydream of his hair products bursting into flames and burning down the mansion.

Seriously, I took a tour of the mansion several years ago and it was a lovely old place with lots of interesting Texas history artifacts in it.

9 posted on 02/23/2011 10:40:37 AM PST by La Lydia
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To: La Lydia

I’d place my money on the “anti-Christ being that guy named Obama/Soetoro -or whatever alias he is using today.


10 posted on 02/23/2011 10:52:45 AM PST by StonyBurk (ring)
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To: StonyBurk

You need to get your glasses checked.


11 posted on 02/23/2011 11:24:28 AM PST by La Lydia
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To: La Lydia

I sure hope so. How is repair of the mansion going?


12 posted on 02/23/2011 1:40:40 PM PST by WinOne4TheGipper ("Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them." Ronald Reagan.)
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