Man arrested for suicide bombing plot targeting the National Mall in Washington DC.

Police search the home of the suspect, Paul Rosenfeld. NBC News.

A man has been arrested in upstate New York for a bombing plot that would have targeted the National Mall in Washington DC on election day. NBC News. Paul Rosenfeld, 58, of Tappen New York was arrested for the plot. His goal was to draw attention to sortition, the obscure democratic process of selecting legislators randomly by lottery. The plot fell apart after Rosenfeld sent letters and text messages to a Pennsylvania reporter detailing his plot. Rosenfeld's device weighed 200 lbs but only had 8 lbs of black powder explosives. Rosenfeld appears to have acted alone and had no apparent connections to any terrorist groups. 

My Comment:

A very strange case out of New York. Rosenfeld's actions here are bizarre to say the least. His plot to blow himself up at the National Mall on election day in order to draw attention to an obscure political system seems very stupid. 

I do have to wonder how Rosenfeld expected his plot to work. His 200 lbs device would not be concealable at all and would be immediately noticed by police stationed at the National Mall. And with only 8 lbs of explosives the bomb would be unlikely to kill anyone besides him. It would still be extremely dangerous to be caught in that area and if Rosenfeld had used things like nails or BB's for shrapnel it might be deadly, but when it comes down to it, 8lbs isn't much, especially if it is contained by a 200 lbs device. Perhaps this was less of a terror attack and more of a protest suicide that had a ludicrously high chance of injuring or even killing an innocent person or persons. 

For comparison here's what 5 lbs of black powder can do to a car. Certainly dangerous but smaller than the worst case scenario. 

I don't know much about the sortition political system. I have heard of political systems where people were drawn from the wider voting bloc and made into legislators but I have no idea how Rosenfeld expected to work in the United States. Doing so would probably destroy the two party system but it would be wildly inconsistent. I can't see it ever working in our country considering how massive we are and how many different beliefs people have. If we were a homogeneous nation with a hundredth of the population it might work but that's obviously not the case. 

I do have to say that even if Rosenfeld's plot failed, it did work to draw attention to the concept of sortition. Thousands of people are learning about it today and he defiantly raised awareness of the idea. On the other hand it has now been permanently associated with a nutjob that wanted to blow himself up. 

Of course the timing of this plot was significant. Though the actual damage of this attack would have likely been small the media coverage and ensuing panic could disrupt the 2018 midterms. People would likely be afraid in the immediate confusion and might be too afraid to go to the polls. This could change the outcome of dozens of races and might even lead to calls for new elections. 

I was already worried about violence during the elections or in the immediate lead up to them. Especially with the media's hysterical coverage over the Kavanaugh hearings and Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder's reckless and dangerous statements. Though it doesn't appear that Rosenfeld was inspired by anything by his odd political beliefs, there is a real chance that someone will take Clinton or Holder's words literally...