You know how this ends.
Three out-of-state men arrested in a Bridgeport apartment raid days before the NATO summit were charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device, their attorney and police said early Saturday.
The arrests were the result of a month-long investigation into a group suspected of making Molotov cocktails — crude bombs usually created by filling glass bottles with gasoline, according to law enforcement sources and police records obtained by the Tribune.
Can’t do it, huh?
Yeah, well, neither can I. These winners are getting represented by the National Lawyers Guild – you’d think that the Chicago Tribune might have mentioned that the NLG is a far-Left group that never met a group of America-hating would-be mass murderers that it didn’t like – and are claiming that their bomb-making equipment – excuse me; alleged bomb-making equipment – is actually for home-brewing beer. Plus, it’s all a fascist plot to go after peaceful protesters! Jack-booted THUGS! OFF THE PIGS! OFF THE PIGS! …Oops.
More seriously, and my cynicism aside, these people are innocent until proven guilty – despite their choice of representation by freedom-hating fanatics, their apparent affiliation with a movement that is increasingly under the sway of a different, more violent group of freedom-hating fanatics, and even their proximity to an event that pretty much everybody is assuming will come under literal assault by various groups of freedom-hating fanatics. It could even be true that Chicago cops really can’t tell home-brewing equipment from bomb-making equipment. Fair’s fair: just because the hardcore Progressive Left can’t stand my country’s and my culture’s values doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t respect those values, myself. Still, and again: is anybody here surprised that arrests were made involving Occupiers and incendiary devices? I mean, is anybody REALLY surprised? Particularly after Occupy Cleveland’s May Day bridge bombing attempt; we all knew that more outrages could occur from those people.
I mean, it’s not like they’re Tea Partiers or anything.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
It takes several weeks to brew a batch of beer.
Out-of-staters came to Chicago to protest NATO, and they brought with them home brewing equipment?
It doesn’t make sense, unless they were staying for at least 3 weeks. Is there any evidence that the equipment was in use for the purpose of making beer?
Obviously, the test would be to have them drink heartily of their home brewed beer/not gasoline.
On a more puzzling note. What does it take to make a Molotov cocktail anyway? A glass bottle, a rag, a can of gas and I suppose a funnel if you want to get fancy. Can you make beer with just these items? Since this combination of things in not illegal (I have these exact things in my garage right now), there is other, non-beer related evidence that may be harder to refute.
Actually, outside the bottles and (I suppose) the funnel, the Molotov cocktail assembly and beer brewing equipment are not congruent. The bare minimum brewing equipment is:
*beer ingredients (water, yeast, malt source, hop source)
*big ol’ pot
*heating source for big ol’ pot
*glass or plastic carboy (big ‘ol container with a narrow opening)
*cleaning/sanitizing supplies
*tubing
*one-way fermenting stopper/valve
*bottles/keg
*time
The funnel would be optional, for those that think siphoning is too icky and can carefully pour 5+ gallons of hotish liquid into the carboy by hand. Anybody check the closet for a carboy?
I hope that everyone will understand that I had a certain reluctance to google ‘how to make a molotov cocktail,’ If for no other reason than because I didn’t want to see the targeted ads that would have resulted. 🙂
The story provided by the NLG was pretty much forced on them, I’ll reckon. Just you try to find a glass bottle that didn’t (or doesn’t) have an alcoholic beverage in it! Wine is even more of a stretch than beer, and as for distilled liquors, that needs pretty much the same thing as beer plus a still (and, as a bonus, is a Federal offense itself). Beer-making is about as close as they’re likely to come to credibility.
What’s the problem!? I mean these are just some guys in the hood, down on their luck, a little low on funds, volunteering their time and making ready to blow up some bridges and stuff! So??!! Come on! They’re somebodys kids, man! I mean..err…Didn’t we all do that when we were down on our luck? “Name that political movement INDEED.”
I know this is all Bush’s fault too. Just trying to piece that together…think..think…think
Incompetent at building Molotov cocktails as they are at everything else the recipe is somewhat well known. Moe look more in history areas rather than on the idiot sites. Check the riots in eastern Europe in the early Twentieth Century where it, the Molotov cocktail was born, I believe it was before WW1. The OWS people were building simple Gasoline bombs, rather easy to deal with, wash off the gas and you wash off the fire. CO2 works on the aftermath also, that’s the difference form the True Molotov. Of course the answer from the authorities at the time was, I believe, the Dragonsbreath round.
There is another news story on this subject, linked from Drudge. It makes more sense: it indicates that the home-brewing equipment belonged to the tenant who allowed the protesters to “occupy” his unit. It also describes the beer-brewing equipment in more detail.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05/18/arrested-protester-charges-mistreatment-after-police-raid-apartment/
Interesting, Daryl. I wonder why the cops didn’t recognize the gear, then? It’s pretty distinctive – I mean, there’s a definite odor involved. It’s not a bad smell, but it’s a real one,