Some live questions at the moment:
1. All networks (including Fox) are describing these pipe bomb deliveries as "attempted attacks". I find that curious, considering that pipe bombs require a detonation trigger, such as an electronic fuse. None of the pictures (x rays) of the bombs that have been made public show any detonation devices. There have been no reports that any of bombs not shown had such a device. If that is correct, it would be more accurate to say that these devices were sent to intimidate the recipients, rather than "attack" them. Is there much history of political terrorists taking such a "measured" approach to terrorism?
2. There is wide array of "interception" reporting. At least 2 bombs were identified in corporate mailrooms (CNN and DeNiro). One was identified in a mail drop of a personal residence (Soros). One was intercepted at the Captital Hill mail sorting facility (addressed to Waters). One was intercepted at a US postal facility (Waters 2). Why weren't they all intercepted at US postal sorting facilities? Don't they have bomb scanners? All of the packages appear to have postage stamps.
3. It was reported that at least some of the bombs contained sulfur. Does that mean they were capable of detonation (sulfur is normally used as one ingredient of an explosive, not an explosive on its own), or not? Was the perpetrator simply threatening that he had access to explosive ingredients, and some idea how to make explosives?
4. Why 2 (non-functioning) bombs to Waters? If the object was to threaten Democrats who had encouraged incivility or violence towards Republicans, why did Obama receive one? Unlike the others, he's not on record as encouraging violence or confrontation.
5. The bombs were all addressed from Wasserman Schultz. Were they all posted from the same postal area, or a variety of different post offices? Is there likely one sender, or multiple senders? Why was the Holder bomb delivered to Wasserman Schultz' office?
I'm sure more will occur to me, but that's enough to start.
Holder's bomb was mis-addressed and the SOP of the USPS is to return it to the sender. As far as we know, sealed US Mail is still respected rather than inspected. Although very recent technology (and animal training) allows for some level of inspection from without, it's over-optimistic to imagine a cash-strapped, deficit-ridden, tax-cutting Administration has already equipped the entire vast system with the latest gizmos.
As I replied to
IRIS, a perp could get almost as satisfactory results from well-faked bombs as from real ones, and without causing actual death and injuries among the target's staff. How any of the targets handle their mail is of course, as varied as anything else people do, even workers in monolithic institutions like the USPS.
I'm curious how you know "…none of the pictures (x rays) of the bombs that have been made public show any detonation devices", and why you think that remarkable. I wonder what you're looking for and not seeing and if you could post a pic or two of such a detail. My own thought is that the first thing a Bomb Squad would do is neutralize, and or remove, the detonating device, before anyone got close enough to take any pictures. But even in place, it wouldn't necessarily feature or even show in the Photo Editor's choice of picture.
Yet another example of an event where people want 'news', but would be better served by waiting for something a little more like 'olders'. Wise of you to wait. Now that we know we're not being targeted, we can be certain more info, and more thoughts will come. In fact we'll profit by the wisdom that waiting encourages.