Domestic Terrorism in America

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"We therefore advocate a revolution against the industrial system." -Ted Kaczynski

The sun rises to a deep spring-blue sky on Sunday the Fifth of May 2017; 51,000 people are converging on downtown Spokane for the 39th running of the Bloomsday road race. Thirty miles to the south, near the town of Fairfield, a small cluster of people watch from a distance as two men in protective coveralls and respirators pour fifty gallons of a clear fluid into the payload compartment of a Bell 300C helicopter. The crop duster, which was purchased for cash in Walla Walla, is a descendent of the Korean War era helicopters depicted on the television series MASH. After the liquid is loaded, and the outside of the helicopter is sanitized, the pilot runs through his preflight checklist and fires up the engine. Thirty minutes later, moments before the starter fires his gun into the air, the helicopter swoops in low over Riverside Avenue, coming from the east so the sun is to the pilot's back. As the pilot reaches the near edge of the crowd, his right hand depresses to trigger on the control stick and begins to spray his payload on the assembled runners.

Although the liquid evaporates before reaching the ground, most runners withdraw from the race. The continuing news coverage of the event reports that authorities are unable to trace the aircraft and cannot identify the mysterious liquid.

Around 7:30 that same evening, the first of the exposure victims checks in to the Emergency Room at Sacred Heart Medical Center complaining of a general malaise. Before the hour is up, thirty more people are in the waiting room with a similar condition. By midnight, in a scene repeated at all of the Spokane area hospitals, hundreds of people line the hall...

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