Valli6
10-11-2018, 12:16 PM
Rockland County man arrested for building 200-pound bomb, plotting to detonate it in DC on election day
By GRAHAM RAYMAN and JOHN ANNES NY Daily News
OCT 10, 2018 | 5:35 PM
A Rockland County man who cops say built a 200-pound bomb he was planning to explode in Washington, D.C., in an Election Day suicide attack was arrested Wednesday.
Paul Rosenfeld, 56, of Tappan, was busted on federal charges of manufacturing an explosive device.
“As alleged, Paul M. Rosenfeld concocted a twisted plan to draw attention to his political ideology by killing himself on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. — risking harm to many others in the process,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said.
“Rosenfeld’s alleged plan for an Election Day detonation cut against our democratic principles.”
In August and September 2018, Rosenfeld sent letters and text messages to a person in Pennsylvania detailing his scheme, authorities allege. The recipient of those communications went to the FBI, court papers show.
Rosenfeld wanted to draw attention to his belief in “sortition,” a political theory that advocates the appointment of government officials by random selection from a pool of qualified candidates.
When cops stopped his car Tuesday, Rosenfeld waived his Miranda rights and told officers he ordered large quantities of black powder over the internet, which he transported from a spot in New Jersey to his house, authorities say.
He said he used approximately eight pounds of black powder to construct a large explosive device in the basement of the home. He also disclosed that he had tested smaller devices.
His home was searched and agents say they found a functioning bomb weighing about 200 pounds inside a plywood box. The device was taken from the basement and brought to a secure location.
They also found a fusing system for triggering bombs and empty canisters of black powder. The fusing system was made up of a switch that would generate an electrical charge that would spark an e-match inside the bomb.
Sortition as a political doctrine has its roots in Ancient Greece where some cities, including Athens, used the method to choose its leaders.
Rosenfeld contibuted an essay titled “The Extinction of Politics” to Equalitybylot.com. He described himself as a “Klerotarian,” a reference to a stone device used by the Athenians to randomize voting.
In that 2015 essay, he wrote....
more http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-rockland-man-arrested-plotting-election-day-suicide-bombing-20181010-story.html
About Paul Rosenfeld (heavy.com):
https://heavy.com/news/2018/10/paul-rosenfeld-sortition
...Prosecutors said his plan was to draw attention to “sortition,” which is a “political theory that advocates the random selection of government officials.”...
...Paul Rosenfeld began communicating with a reporter in Pennsylvania about his plan to blow himself up, leading to the FBI investigation, NBC New York reports. He told the unnamed reporter he was “angry about the country’s direction,” the news station reports.
Rosenfeld sent letters and text messages to the reporter and in those messages, he detailed the plans for the suicide bombing, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. Rosenfeld also told the reporter about his support for the sortition theory, the FBI said in the complaint...
...In 2015, Rosenfeld wrote an essay on the blog “Equality by Lot,” a site run by “Kletorians,” the name that supporters of sortition and the “deliberate use of randomness (lottery) in human affairs.” In the blog post, titled “Extinction of Politics,” Rosenfeld argued that they had to work harder to raise awareness of their political theory....
...According to a now-deleted Linkedin profile, Paul Rosenfeld is a painter and has worked in the visual department at Lord & Taylor in the department store’s painting and decorating division. Rosenfeld has also operated an independent painting and decorating company, offering house painting, custom colors and faux finishes
Little else is known about Rosenfeld, who has lived in Rockland County for several years. He has lived in Tappan, New York, along with Piermont, New York; Berkley Heights, New Jersey; and Manhattan, public records show....
...In an argument on the “Equality by Lot” blog, Rosenfeld wrote, “Call me an elitist if you like but my hands are dirty, I live from paycheck to paycheck and I never went to college. My proletarian credentials are firmly intact. But I do not believe there is a snowball’s chance in hell that a large group of humans (however you select them) is capable of managing itself in a manner consistent with social justice or even rational self-preservation UNLESS there are definite conditions laid out in advance for the management of this body. Otherwise, Nature will take its course; I don’t care if the group is composed of janitors, college professors or even a ‘statistically accurate’ cross-section of the population at large. I am certain that it will end badly.”...
https://heavy.com/news/2018/10/paul-rosenfeld-sortition/
By GRAHAM RAYMAN and JOHN ANNES NY Daily News
OCT 10, 2018 | 5:35 PM
A Rockland County man who cops say built a 200-pound bomb he was planning to explode in Washington, D.C., in an Election Day suicide attack was arrested Wednesday.
Paul Rosenfeld, 56, of Tappan, was busted on federal charges of manufacturing an explosive device.
“As alleged, Paul M. Rosenfeld concocted a twisted plan to draw attention to his political ideology by killing himself on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. — risking harm to many others in the process,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said.
“Rosenfeld’s alleged plan for an Election Day detonation cut against our democratic principles.”
In August and September 2018, Rosenfeld sent letters and text messages to a person in Pennsylvania detailing his scheme, authorities allege. The recipient of those communications went to the FBI, court papers show.
Rosenfeld wanted to draw attention to his belief in “sortition,” a political theory that advocates the appointment of government officials by random selection from a pool of qualified candidates.
When cops stopped his car Tuesday, Rosenfeld waived his Miranda rights and told officers he ordered large quantities of black powder over the internet, which he transported from a spot in New Jersey to his house, authorities say.
He said he used approximately eight pounds of black powder to construct a large explosive device in the basement of the home. He also disclosed that he had tested smaller devices.
His home was searched and agents say they found a functioning bomb weighing about 200 pounds inside a plywood box. The device was taken from the basement and brought to a secure location.
They also found a fusing system for triggering bombs and empty canisters of black powder. The fusing system was made up of a switch that would generate an electrical charge that would spark an e-match inside the bomb.
Sortition as a political doctrine has its roots in Ancient Greece where some cities, including Athens, used the method to choose its leaders.
Rosenfeld contibuted an essay titled “The Extinction of Politics” to Equalitybylot.com. He described himself as a “Klerotarian,” a reference to a stone device used by the Athenians to randomize voting.
In that 2015 essay, he wrote....
more http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-rockland-man-arrested-plotting-election-day-suicide-bombing-20181010-story.html
About Paul Rosenfeld (heavy.com):
https://heavy.com/news/2018/10/paul-rosenfeld-sortition
...Prosecutors said his plan was to draw attention to “sortition,” which is a “political theory that advocates the random selection of government officials.”...
...Paul Rosenfeld began communicating with a reporter in Pennsylvania about his plan to blow himself up, leading to the FBI investigation, NBC New York reports. He told the unnamed reporter he was “angry about the country’s direction,” the news station reports.
Rosenfeld sent letters and text messages to the reporter and in those messages, he detailed the plans for the suicide bombing, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. Rosenfeld also told the reporter about his support for the sortition theory, the FBI said in the complaint...
...In 2015, Rosenfeld wrote an essay on the blog “Equality by Lot,” a site run by “Kletorians,” the name that supporters of sortition and the “deliberate use of randomness (lottery) in human affairs.” In the blog post, titled “Extinction of Politics,” Rosenfeld argued that they had to work harder to raise awareness of their political theory....
...According to a now-deleted Linkedin profile, Paul Rosenfeld is a painter and has worked in the visual department at Lord & Taylor in the department store’s painting and decorating division. Rosenfeld has also operated an independent painting and decorating company, offering house painting, custom colors and faux finishes
Little else is known about Rosenfeld, who has lived in Rockland County for several years. He has lived in Tappan, New York, along with Piermont, New York; Berkley Heights, New Jersey; and Manhattan, public records show....
...In an argument on the “Equality by Lot” blog, Rosenfeld wrote, “Call me an elitist if you like but my hands are dirty, I live from paycheck to paycheck and I never went to college. My proletarian credentials are firmly intact. But I do not believe there is a snowball’s chance in hell that a large group of humans (however you select them) is capable of managing itself in a manner consistent with social justice or even rational self-preservation UNLESS there are definite conditions laid out in advance for the management of this body. Otherwise, Nature will take its course; I don’t care if the group is composed of janitors, college professors or even a ‘statistically accurate’ cross-section of the population at large. I am certain that it will end badly.”...
https://heavy.com/news/2018/10/paul-rosenfeld-sortition/