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Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

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Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#152
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A VHS cassette tape thrown over transmission lines in the middle of nowhere coordinated at 3 or 4 key locations would do that too… and much easier ordinance to acquire. NMS systems can’t react and load shedding chaos is likely.

I think a lot about how terrorists don't act and I guess I don't understand their motives. Electric grids, fiber optic lines, train tracks, bridges, water mains, sewage treatment, all of these can be pretty easily disrupted with equipment that isn't hard to get and doesn't require extensive training. And the disruption could be extreme . I mean, I'm glad they're not doing any of this, but I'm puzzled.

No post body was provided.

Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a "transgender event", just a drag show

That's a distinction likely lost on the perpetrators.

Sure, but still important to point out that we've moved beyond "We'll commit violence to oppress trans people" to "We'll commit violence to prevent people from publicly wearing clothes we don't approve of." which is certainly an escalation. As far as I know most drag performers aren't trans, and most of the ones I know are otherwise straight. This is fully just "you're not conforming to social norms. We will terrorize a county to punish you."

Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't underestimate meth heads looking for copper. I knew a power company employee that told me there were more than a couple of incidents of a tweeker getting fried at the local sub station after they scaled a 9-foot wall covered with warning signs, topped with razor wire, and monitored by a few security cameras...presumably with the notion they'd get a whole lot of copper out of there while everything was energized…

This highlights the vulnerability beautifully. If your random meth-head can get close enough to do some amount of infrastructure damage (frying themselves or not), a coherent enemy, mis-guided or otherwise, with time and resources to plan and execute, could do exponentially more. But maybe drug-seekers are more crafty than I give them credit for. They're probably amongst the most motivated of humanity to reach their…

If terrorists farmed out work to meth heads I'm sure we'd see some creative solutions for spreading mayhem. A lot of those guys are very familiar with critical infrastructure.

Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#156
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently "Lead time on replacement parts" is the biggest issue today with dealing with the issue in a prompt time frame. Maybe they should stock up on at least 1x set of repair parts that would take a long timeframe to replace? Ukraine has shown how important electric substation part supply chains are.

Quoting from the movie Contact: "Why build one, when you could build two for twice the price?" I'd assume this isn't standard procedure, but agree that it should be, considering the increasing importance of power supply to society and in the current terror-paranoia state of the world.

It's probably as idealistic as it gets, governments acting in the long-term interests extending beyond their elected position AND hopefully not turning a it into something costing 10x and 2x as long. But maybe it can focus on a limited set of parts?

Terrorism and security has always been a great motivator for gov capital. Although it typically goes to Washington consultants rather than spending it on critical parts.

Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#157
post #58

Kind of surprising to not see the words "domestic terrorism" here, so let me be the first? This very well could be domestic terrorism and for now it would be prudent to treat it as such.

What is the actual importance of this rhetoric / labeling discussion over all emerging domestic news stories? Do you not feel that it constantly gets in the way of an actual discussion. I feel like this topic has been ongoing for over a decade. There are so many ways to describe the world. This is being described as a “[premeditated] attack”. Is there some ulterior motive I’m missing? Sorry to seem to ranty over this…

Because this was a targeted attack with the intentional goal of disrupting a drag show [0].

There is a rising alt-right extremist movement that is attempting to demonize LGBTQ and drag as pedophiles and groomers.

Their methods are only getting more extreme [1].

They have very clear goals that are absolutely fall under the definition of terrorisms: They are attempting to terrorize a specific subset of civilian population into going back into the closet, under the threat of violence.

They are organized, and they are motivated. That's why it's important to call it terrorism - because there are networks of extremists that continue on their mission even if the specific individuals can be identified that commit individual crimes. There is a movement behind them to continue on the mission.

[0] https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1599464591196491777?cxt=...

[1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/epzv9a/libsoftiktok-trans-ch...

Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#158
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't the replacing part that is the problem, but the rebooting part that is the larger worry.

No, it's both. You need to do research that will show you just how long the lead times are for transformer equipment and supplies. Oh, and those lead times are still getting longer .

They get really long with the power out.

Re: Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A VHS cassette tape thrown over transmission lines in the middle of nowhere coordinated at 3 or 4 key locations would do that too… and much easier ordinance to acquire. NMS systems can’t react and load shedding chaos is likely.

What's the significance of VHS tapes?

Conductive
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