Austin police announced that the man described by police as a “serial bomber” is now dead. The suspected bomber reportedly blew himself up with a bomb as police approached. Investigators identified the suspect as a 24-year-old white male.
The self-inflicted death of the suspect brings a three-week terror campaign of bombings to a close. The five exploded bombs left two people dead and five injured.
This may be a picture of the bastard.
UPDATE 8:05 a.m.: “We know the mastermind behind these bombings is deceased,” Governor Greg Abbott told Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, the Washington Times reported.
The governor said “We don’t know if there are any other bombs out there,” and “We need to make sure we rule out whether there was anybody else involved in this process.”
UPDATE 7:55 a.m.: KVUE is reporting that a person has been arrested outside the bombing suspect’s home. A reporter on the scene say the person arrested may be a photojournalist who got too close to the suspect’s home.
KVUE Video Screenshot of person arrested outside bombing suspect’s house.
UPDATE 7:45 a.m.: Pflugerville Police Chief Jessica Robledo said officers are investigating a suspicious package near the downtown area, KXAN reported Wednesday morning. Residents have been advised to remain indoors.
KXAN reporter Lauren Kravets tweeted from the scene that DPS troopers confirmed the location is the bombing suspect’s house.
UPDATE 7:05 a.m.: The scene where the Austin serial bomber killed himself is located less than ten miles from the scene of the original March 2 bombing that killed 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House
UPDATE 7:00 a.m.: Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted a congratulatory note to law enforcement authorities following the death of the suspect.
KVUE reports police are inside the deceased suspected bomber’s home and are conducting a search for additional evidence. Investigators are also reported to be talking with the suspect’s parents.
UPDATE 6:40 a.m.: Police warn people in Austin and the surrounding communities to maintain vigilance as they do not know where the suspect has been for the past 24 hours. Investigators found the suspect in Round Rock which is located just north of Austin.
UPDATE 6:35 a.m.: Media outlets in Austin are reporting they know who the suspect was and where he lived but they have not yet released the information.
UPDATE 5:50 a.m.: The Austin American-Statesman reported via KVUE that the suspect wore a disguise, including a wig, when he entered the FedEx store in Sunset Valley where he shipped two explosive devices. In the video surveillance released by investigators, the suspect can also be seen wearing gloves.
UPDATE 5:45 a.m.: President Donald Trump tweeted a congratulatory message to the law enforcement investigators involved in the Austin serial bombing investigation.
UPDATE 5:35 a.m.: Austin Interim Police Chief Brian Manley asked the community to remain vigilant and look out for each other. “We don’t know where this suspect has spent his last 24 hours and therefore we still need to remain vigilant to ensure that no other packages or devices have been left in the community.” The chief asked people in the surrounding communities to remain vigilant as well. This announcement came after locating the suspect in Round Rock, a few miles north of Austin.
Police are waiting for daylight to continue searching the vicinity of the bomb blast that killed the suspect. The delay is to ensure the safety of the investigators and to make certain they can preserve evidence at the scene.
Chief Manley tweeted his thanks to the law enforcement team that successfully brought the bombing campaign to a close.
UPDATE 5:15 a.m.: Chief Manley announced the death the bombing suspect. The man blew himself up with his own device after police made contact with his vehicle. One officer was injured in the explosion. Manley described the bomber as a 24-year-old white male. He did not provide any additional information about the suspect or his motivation for the bombing campaign that left two people dead, five people wounded, and a community terrorized.
Manley said they found the vehicle that had previously been described to police by witnesses. Investigators found the vehicle in the parking lot of a Red Roof Inn in Round Rock, Texas, just north of Austin.
“We had multiple officers from both the police department and our federal partners that took up positions around the hotel awaiting the arrival of our tactical team,” Manley said describing the scene. “We wanted to have ballistic vehicles here so we could attempt to take this suspect into custody as safely as possible.”
The chief said the vehicle began to drive away while the officers were waiting.
Officers began following the suspect’s vehicle and the suspect stopped his car in a bar ditch. “As the SWAT team approached the vehicle,” the chief stated, “the suspect detonated a bomb inside the vehicle knocking one of our SWAT officers back. One of our SWAT officers fired at the suspect as well.”
“The suspect is deceased,” Manley stated, “and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle.”
The chief said he could not release any information about the suspect’s identity pending formal identification by the medical examiner and notification of the suspect’s family.
Original Story Follows:
“A man whom authorities were attempting to arrest early Wednesday in a string of bombing attacks in Austin killed himself with an explosive device as authorities closed in,” according to a report from a high-ranking law enforcement official, the Austin American-Statesman reported early Wednesday morning.
Investigators reportedly used “cell phone technology” to track the suspect’s location and found him just north of Austin in Round Rock, Texas,” KVUE reported.
Police reportedly identified the man after reviewing video at a FedEx store where he allegedly shipped two bombs.
“The Austin serial bomber is dead this morning,” KVUE reported.
Police reportedly used cell phone technology to track down the suspect’s location after identifying him from security video and online searches, KVUE reported.
During an interview on KVUE, American Statesman reporter Tony Plohetski said police began to track down the suspect by finding receipts from materials he allegedly used in the bombings. The investigation led police to obtain a search warrant to obtain online search information. Some of those searches included Google searches for FedEx locations — including the Brodie Lane store where the suspect allegedly shipped two packages.
The searches led to police finding the IP address of the suspect which revealed additional information.
Plohetski said police then used “cell phone technology”to track the suspect down to a location in Round Rock where he eventually blew himself up with his own device.
The man allegedly killed two people and injured five others in a series of explosions that rocked the capital city region since March 2.
The bombing campaign began on March 2 when a package exploded in northeast Austin. The blast killed 39-year-old Anthony House. On March 12, a second package exploded when 17-year-old Draylen Mason opened a package left on the front steps of his home. The parcel exploded, killing him and injuring his mother.
A third explosion detonated a few hours later and sent a 75-year-old woman to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Shortly after this explosion, Chief Manley disclosed the bombs were linked.
Less than one week later, Austin’s fourth bomb exploded and injured two young men on the city’s southwest side.
On Tuesday morning, officials told reporters that a medium-size package exploded inside the FedEx sorting facility in Schertz, near San Antonio. There were about 75 people inside the plant at the time of the blast that occurred shortly after midnight Tuesday morning. One woman near the package was treated for minor injuries and was released at the scene.
The package originated in Austin and was addressed to be delivered back to Austin, KENS reporter Charlie Cooper stated. An FBI agent told the CBS reporter that “it’s more than possible” that this explosion is connected to the four bombs that have exploded in the Austin area this month.
Officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the Schertz explosion and a “suspicious package” that was later determined to be an unexploded device were both connected to the series of package bombs that exploded in Austin since March 2. Both packages were reportedly shipped from a FedEx store in Sunset Valley, southwest of Austin.
Put that SOB and his wife in front of a firing squad.
Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, highlighted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) financial ties to the Chinese government as an example of how politicians monetize political influence while evading financial disclosure regulations.
Schweizer joined Monday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight for an interview with co-hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak to discuss McConnell’s linkages to China, as detailed in his latest book, Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) familial ties to the Chinese state via his father- and sisters-in-law are causes for concern, deduced Schweizer. James Chao, McConnell’s father-in-law, founded Foremost Group, a shipping company that has done “large volumes of business” with Chinese state-owned companies. McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, is the current secretary of transportation.
“So Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, his wife Elaine Chao, who’s the transportation secretary in the Trump administration, her family has deep economic and financial ties to the Chinese government itself,” said Schweizer. “They are in the shipping business, and they own something called the Foremost Group, and really, in 1993, Mitch McConnell, as a senator, travels to China with his father-in-law, James Chao, as guests of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.”
He continued, “The China State Shipbuilding Corporation is the largest defense contractor in China, and the projections are that by 2030, if current trends continue, they are going to surpass the U.S. Navy as far as naval capability. Basically, what happens is, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation says to the Chao family, ‘Look, we will build your ships. We will finance the purchase of some of your ships. We will provide crews for your ships. We will provide contracts for you to ship state-owned goods from state-owned companies around the Pacific. In other words, we are going to set you up in the shipping business,’ which is exactly what they do, and, in fact, James Chao — this would be Elaine Chao’s father, Mitch McConnell’s father-in-law — and Elaine’s sister, Angela Chao, actually joined the board, in 2007 and 2008, of something called China State Shipbuilding Corporation, CSSC Holdings, which is a subsidiary of the largest defense contractor in China. So you have this powerful American political family that is making U.S. policy related to China, related to trade, and other critical issues that is highly dependent upon the good graces of the Chinese government.”
Schweizer framed McConnell’s “increasingly soft” political positioning towards China as a function of his familial and financial ties to the Chinese state.
“McConnell himself has benefited because a few years ago, James Chao gave Mitch McConnell a gift between five and twenty-five million dollars that more than quadrupled his net worth overnight,” noted Schweizer. “So this is not just about Elaine Chao’s family getting wealthy. That wealth has now trickled into Mitch McConnell’s pocket, as well, and it’s a huge problem because if you chart the positions that Sen. McConnell has taken on China over the last twenty years, guess what? Shock of all shocks, he has become increasingly soft as it relates to China, and I think it is directly related to the fact that he knows his family’s financial future is tied to the good graces and good faith of the Chinese communist government.”
Schweizer described the Chinese government as “freaked out” over the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, owing to the 45th president’s decades-long view of the “rising threat of China.”
“So the election of Donald Trump, there’s no other way to say it, it completely freaked out the Chinese government because Trump has really been focused — whether one agrees with him on trade policy or not — he has focused since the 1980s on what he regards as a rising threat of China; whether it relates to trade, economics, or military power,” surmised Schweizer.
According to Schweizer, China’s decision to appoint McConnell’s sister-in-law, Angela Chao, to the Bank of China’s board of directors — ten days after 2016’s presidential election — was a response to the election of Trump to the White House.
“So when [Donald Trump] gets elected in 2016, China is in a panic. So one of the things that happens is, they appoint, really, the first American, or only the second foreigner to the Bank of China,” Schweizer said. “Now, the Bank of China is government-run, government-controlled, is sort of the backbone of the Chinese government’s economic diplomacy around the world. Ten days after Donald Trump is elected, they put Elaine Chao’s sister — Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law — on the board of directors of the fourth largest bank in the world, which is run by the Chinese communist government. It’s a shocking development, and, again, unprecedented in American history that you would have senior political leaders have immediate family members that are sitting on the board of foreign government-owned businesses.”
Sabine Duren, the mother of son killed by illegal immigrant, shares her perspective on ‘Fox & Friends First.’
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who sparked national outrage when she undermined a federal immigration raid last month, worked with illegal-immigration activists before she warned the public about the raid– a move that ICE said led to hundreds of illegals evading detention.
Schaaf took to Twitter to warn the public about the raid, and has stood by her decision despite a number of hardened criminals being caught — and ICE officials warning that potentially hundreds of other criminals escaped as a consequence of the tipoff.
“It is Oakland’s legal right to be a sanctuary city and we have not broken any laws,” Schaaf said in a statement last month. “We believe our community is safer when families stay together.”
Her move sparked anger not just from ICE officials, but also the Trump administration. The Justice Department is currently conducting a review of Schaaf’s actions.
“What happened in Oakland was a disgrace to our nation,” President Donald Trump said in California on Tuesday.
KPIX5 reports that Schaaf was in touch with Centro Legal de la Raza just hours before the announcement, giving her information on what employers should do in the case of an ICE raid.
That group, which did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News, is a nonprofit with a focus on providing legal services to those in the country illegally. It also appears to act as an advocacy group for illegal immigrants — printing an “ICE Activity Hotline” on its website.
“Centro Legal has been at the forefront of efforts to curtail unlawful collaboration between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities in order to prevent unjust deportations and keep immigrant families together,” the group’s website says. It does not appear to be affiliated with UnidosUS — formerly the National Council of La Raza.
According to KPIX5, Schaaf also spoke with a Catholic priest at St. Jarlath’s Church and Emma Paulino at Oakland Community Organizations. Paulino appeared with Schaaf at a press conference warning of the raid.
“It is important for us to understand that sometimes what ICE is doing with these tactics is to try and paralyze our communities,” she said.
Paulino told Fox News Friday that the conversations were about assessing whether or not to share the information with the community in the first place, and then how to do so in a way that did not create panic.
“It was about if we should share what we know and how to share that information in a responsible way so to not create panic in the community,” she said. “People live in fear already.”
KPIX5 reports that the emails also show that the Oakland Indie Alliance, a group of independent businesses, received a message saying, “Important Alert! Credible information ICE Raids in Oakland Sunday 2/25 and Monday 2/26” and, “This information comes directly from the Mayor.”
A spokesman for Schaaf told Fox News that she consulted “with several leaders and groups representing our immigrant community before she made her public comments.”
“She mentioned it in her initial press release and in numerous public statements after; it’s well known that she conferred with several people before making her decision,” he said.
He also said that she did not warn businesses, although added that “it appears those who she consulted with may have shared the information with business owners in an attempt to make sure the owners knew their obligations and responsibilities under state law.”
Families of victims of illegal immigrant crime have expressed their anger at Schaaf’s actions, calling for her to be prosecuted, as have groups which lobby for less migration into the U.S.
“As far as Libby Schaaf is concerned, what she did is nothing short of obstruction of justice,” said Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
“She is not compelled to assist ICE in doing its job, but she certainly has no right to interfere with ICE carrying out its lawful duties,” he said. “In our view, the U.S. Department of Justice should look into the matter and prosecute her for obstruction if the circumstances warrant legal action.”
But amid the national controversty, Paulino told Fox News that Schaaf’s stance was getting a very positive reception in Oakland.
“People are really supportive of her because she took a stand,” she said. “She is serving the people who elected her.”
Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) should be “fired immediately” as deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over lies about his relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Dershowitz said, “I think Keith Ellison has to be fired immediately as deputy chairman of the DNC. Not only has he become close to Farrakhan, but he has lied to the American public about ending his relationship with Farrakhan. We know that he continued to meet with Farrakhan even after he said he no longer met with him. This is the leadership of the Democratic party.”
He continued, “Farrakhan is a bigot. He is far worse than David Duke. Why? Farrakhan has a large falling. David Duke is a joke. He has no large following. He has no influence on university campuses and no influence with the major segment of the American public. We see Farrakhan has continuing influence within the African-American community at the very highest levels. That’s why he is so much more dangerous and he ought to be treat you had the way we treat David Duke. If any Republican dared to meet with David Duke, that would be the end of their career. It should be the end of the career of any Democrat who has any association with this bigot Farrakhan.”
The private equity firm of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden inked a billion-dollar deal with a subsidiary of the Chinese government’s Bank of China just 10 days after the father and son flew to China in 2013.
The Biden bombshell is one of many revealed in a new investigative book Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends by Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer. Schweizer’s last book, Clinton Cash, sparked an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
According to an exclusive New York Post excerpt from the book, the Biden billion-dollar China deal occurred as follows. In 2013, Hunter Biden and the stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry, Chris Heinz, were managing partners in the private equity firm Rosemont Seneca Partners. In December of that year, Vice President Biden and his son Hunter flew aboard Air Force Two to China. Ten days after the trip, a subsidiary of the Bank of China named Bohai Capital signed an exclusive deal with Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz’s Rosemont to form a $1 billion joint-investment fund called Bohai Harvest RST. The deal was later increased to $1.5 billion.
“The Chinese government was literally funding a business that they co-owned along with the sons of two of America’s most powerful decision makers,” writes Schweizer in Secret Empires.
Neither Joe Biden or John Kerry have yet to comment on how the son of a sitting vice president and the stepson of a Secretary of State were permitted to bag a billion-dollar deal with the Communist Chinese government—nor whether they had any knowledge or involvement in the deal.
Secret Empires is slated to hit bookstores nationwide on Tuesday, March 20.
I bet he believes in God Now. When Billy Graham Died Atheist and Liberals Mocked him but we will see who gets the last laugh.
Billy Graham is doing fine right now but I bet you can’t say the same for Stephen Hawking.
THIS IS A QUOTE FROM STEPHEN HAWKINS
“When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in. It’s like asking directions to the edge of the earth; The Earth is a sphere; it doesn’t have an edge; so looking for it is a futile exercise. We are each free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no god. No one created our universe,and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization; There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that I am extremely grateful.”
Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain some of the most complicated questions of life while working under the shadow of a likely premature death, has died at 76.
* His children Lucy, Robert and Tim:
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humor inspired people across the world. He once said: ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.”
* Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web:
“We have lost a colossal mind and a wonderful spirit. Rest in peace, Stephen Hawking.”
* Actor Eddie Redmayne, who played Hawking in the 2014 film ‘The Theory of Everything’: “We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet. My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family.”
* Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge:
“Professor Hawking was a unique individual who will be remembered with warmth and affection not only in Cambridge but all over the world. His exceptional contributions to scientific knowledge and the popularization of science and mathematics have left an indelible legacy. His character was an inspiration to millions. He will be much missed.”
* Professor Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, Fellow of Trinity College, and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge:
“Soon after I enrolled as a graduate student at Cambridge University in 1964, I encountered a fellow student, two years ahead of me in his studies; he was unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty. This was Stephen Hawking. He had recently been diagnosed with a degenerative disease, and it was thought that he might not survive long enough even to finish his PhD. But, amazingly, he lived on to the age of 76.
“Even mere survival would have been a medical marvel, but of course he didn’t just survive. He became one of the most famous scientists in the world – acclaimed as a world-leading researcher in mathematical physics, for his best-selling books about space, time and the cosmos, and for his astonishing triumph over adversity.
“Tragedy struck Stephen Hawking when he was only 22. He was diagnosed with a deadly disease, and his expectations dropped to zero. He himself said that everything that happened since then was a bonus. And what a triumph his life has been. His name will live in the annals of science; millions have had their cosmic horizons widened by his best-selling books; and even more, around the world, have been inspired by a unique example of achievement against all the odds – a manifestation of amazing will-power and determination.”
* NASA:
“His theories unlocked a universe of possibilities that we and the world are exploring. May you keep flying like superman in microgravity, as you said to astronauts on @Space_Station in 2014.”
*Paul Nurse, Chief Executive and Director of the Francis Crick Institute:
“Stephen Hawking was a great physicist, a great public communicator, and a great icon for science and rationalism throughout the world. He will be sorely missed.”
* Matthew Colless, professor of astronomy & astrophysics at The Australian National University:
“Hawking was a great scientist and an inspirational figure. The universe is better understood and more interesting because he was in it.”
* British Prime Minister Theresa May:
“Stephen Hawking was a brilliant and extraordinary mind – one of the great scientists of his generation. His courage, humor and determination to get the most from life was an inspiration. His legacy will not be forgotten.”
* Katherine Mathieson, chief executive of the British Science Association: “He was a true genius who had a great admiration of and connection to the public. Most people, when he published ‘A Brief History of Time’, would have thought a book about physics would not sell. But Stephen knew people would want to read it – and it turned out they did. He simplified and explained, but without gimmicks. His assumption that people are curious about the universe and black holes was true. He inspired us all to wonder.”
“Importantly, he showed that disability and difference are no barriers to success; he challenged perceptions. On a personal note, I remember him – from when I was a student at his University – speeding down the middle of the road to get around, because the pavements were too bumpy. It sent out a message that ‘it doesn’t matter what you look like, you can be a scientist here’.
* Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang:
“Mr Hawking was a remarkable scientist and also was a fighter for science in his long and bitter struggle against illness. He made great contributions to science and to humanity.
“China’s leaders have met with him. China’s scientists and science lovers have had very enjoyable interactions with him. Mr Hawking followed China’s development closely. He gave a high assessment of China’s developments and progress in science. Mr Hawking also had a keen fondness for Chinese culture.
“As I understand it, under his strong persistence and with the help of his assistant, he was finally able to see China’s Great Wall. We express condolences for Mr Hawking’s passing and our sympathies to his family. I have faith that Mr Hawking and his contribution will never be forgotten.”
* Professor Paul Hardaker, Chief Executive of the Institute of Physics:
“A quite remarkable physicist and certainly a remarkable person. He made several fundamental and lasting contributions to cosmology but is probably best known by the public for his passion and enthusiasm in sharing his knowledge of how the universe works.”
