NY Man Planned to Blow Self Up in DC Over Country's Direction

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Police and FBI agents searched a Hudson Valley, New York, home Wednesday and arrested the 56-year-old man living there after learning about his alleged plan to build a bomb and blow himself up in Washington, D.C., on Election Day, two law enforcement officials told News 4 New York.

Court documents say Paul Rosenfeld wanted to draw attention to his belief in an ancient election system called "sortition," a method of choosing political officials at random.

Officials tell News 4 Rosenfeld had no criminal history but had told a reporter in Pennsylvania he planned to blow himself up on the National Mall around Election Day because he was angry about the country's direction.

FBI agents pulled over Rosenfeld while he was driving on Tuesday, and he confessed to the plot, telling them he ordered black powder over the Internet and built a bomb in his basement.



Officials: NY Man Planned to Blow Self Up in DC Over Country's Direction


:shrug:


Another NY Sortition Nutter
 
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GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Sortition Ideology


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition



https://www.britannica.com/topic/sortition

Sortition, election by lot, a method of choosing public officials in some ancient Greek city-states. It was used especially in the Athenian democracy, from which most information about the practice is derived. With few exceptions, all magistrates were chosen by lot, beginning with the archons in 487–486 bc; likewise the Boule (council) of 500 and the juries of the law courts were chosen by lot. The practice of sortition obviated electoral races and provided for the regular turnover of officeholders. The operations of government were thus not in the hands of experts, but, through the system of sortition, the Athenian democracy provided at least some practical political education for its citizens.

The rationale of sortition was the equality of all citizens. Only those who had presented themselves as candidates were chosen by lot to fill public offices. Military officers (including the 10 stratēgoi) and some financial officials were selected by voting rather than by sortition. But for the most part executive functions were broken down into small tasks, of which each was entrusted to an annual board of 10 members chosen by lot.
 
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SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Sortition Ideology

I kind of like the general idea - but - regrettably, the world's most powerful nation really can't have a bunch of greenhorns running the government, because
the details are simply too complex. It's one thing when you're a city-state the size of a county - it's another when you're a nation that spans a continent.

Worse - the biggest concern I have about something like term limits is that a substantial part of the government in DC is a permanent floating
staff of bureaucrats who work for an office or party but not necessarily a PERSON. So when an office changes hands, these people switch jobs, but they
are all there - an extremely large body of unelected persons who do the grunt work of drafting and reviewing bills and so forth. Should you create term limits,
you may put even more power in the hands of people who AREN'T elected.

And this is because for a lot of our elected representatives, the work they do is too much for one person. They're all division heads of a large division.
They know very little of what is going on in the "trenches".
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
Sortition Ideology


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition



https://www.britannica.com/topic/sortition

Sortition, election by lot, a method of choosing public officials in some ancient Greek city-states. It was used especially in the Athenian democracy, from which most information about the practice is derived. With few exceptions, all magistrates were chosen by lot, beginning with the archons in 487–486 bc; likewise the Boule (council) of 500 and the juries of the law courts were chosen by lot. The practice of sortition obviated electoral races and provided for the regular turnover of officeholders. The operations of government were thus not in the hands of experts, but, through the system of sortition, the Athenian democracy provided at least some practical political education for its citizens.

The rationale of sortition was the equality of all citizens. Only those who had presented themselves as candidates were chosen by lot to fill public offices. Military officers (including the 10 stratēgoi) and some financial officials were selected by voting rather than by sortition. But for the most part executive functions were broken down into small tasks, of which each was entrusted to an annual board of 10 members chosen by lot.

Makes sense to me that if we choose juries that way, we could choose jurists that way - SCOTUS Justices.

The Constitution was meant to be understood by we, the people. "Interpreting" the Constitution should not fall to legal scholars who contort legal philosophies to twist the meanings of things. No need to make it more complicated than it should be - easily understood by we, the people.

Experts gave us Plessy and Kelo. Very few average citizens would do that.

I would also absolutely LOVE to see the House convert to sortition, personally.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
The Constitution was meant to be understood by we, the people. "Interpreting" the Constitution should not fall to legal scholars who contort legal philosophies to twist the meanings of things. No need to make it more complicated than it should be - easily understood by we, the people.

I guess I disagree. Law is complex enough by itself, and it requires a lot of mental discipline to separate what you FEEL is right from what you understand is lawful.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
So when an office changes hands, these people switch jobs, but they are all there - an extremely large body of unelected persons who do the grunt work of drafting and reviewing bills and so forth. Should you create term limits, you may put even more power in the hands of people who AREN'T elected.



I heard / read yrs ago, the 'power' in congress is the Staffers ...
Congressional Nobody is not going to read an 1000 page Obamacare Bill
the staff will and tell the congress critter how to vote
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
I guess I disagree. Law is complex enough by itself, and it requires a lot of mental discipline to separate what you FEEL is right from what you understand is lawful.

I agree with what you are saying, but I don't see how that disagrees with what I wrote.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
We could draw straws to select politicians and 100 times out of 100 tries get a smarter person than Mad Maxine. Rainman could replace her and nobody would notice.
 

BOP

Well-Known Member
Take the brother out into an empty field and let him have at it. It'll make him feel better (for a microsecond) and won't get anybody else hurt.
 

black dog

Free America
Take the brother out into an empty field and let him have at it. It'll make him feel better (for a microsecond) and won't get anybody else hurt.

He must not have been using threaded pipe to house his bombs, Black Powder and Steel pipe threads usually are a self cleaning oven..
 

Pete

Repete
I think they should grant his wish of being blown up. Do it in a big field where the explosion would not damage or injure anyone. To make it more dramatic and pleasing for him I would have the countdown clock be an audible "beep beep beep" that stops several times during the countdown and makes a audible "CLICK" to fake him out. Make it go for a couple hours and don't tell him how long. Sell tickets.

Imagine the ####ing fun that would be. Goober strapped to a chair on top of a 200lb bomb. "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP CLICK" dude flinches, nothing happens, crowd cheers BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP CLICK, dude flinches again, nothing happens crowd cheers. 40 minutes later after he is used to the false CLICK the bomb goes off and blows him into a red mist. Crowd Cheers!
 
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