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Secret Service Reads Livejournal
Prong_Thunder writes "A livejournal post written on October 18th (google cache, scroll down to 'a prayer for dubya') resulted in a visit from the US Secret Service nine days later, as it 'constituted a possible threat to the president'."
She goes on to say that they didn't just stumble upon the page and pay her that visit. One of the people that regularly reads her blog "turned her in". Pretty scary thing to happen, but in other countries it could have turned out much worse. *cough*China*cough*
Anyone who reads their web logs knows that there are all sorts of interesting people who are reading your blogs and sites. My personal site gets all sorts of .mil traffic.
Pretty Pictures!
I read about this, but hadn't seen the post. To be honest, it's strong, but I'd stop way short of calling it investigation-worthy, or even worth a trip to the kid's house. (But, the Secret Service investigates all threats made against the President, so that one's out of my jurisdiction.)
If someone said this at a public event, or on the radio, or written it in a newspaper:
Please kill George Bush. I hate him so much.. I want terrible things to happen to him.. And maybe you could have some media people there when the police find the body, so they can take pictures and stuff.. Please, please, please kill Dubya. And Dick Cheney. And everyone else in the Bush Administration."
He would be having a much, much worse night than a visit from a couple of guys in unmarked cars. I see this is marked under "Politics" not YRO, which makes it sound like a free-speech issue. It is, but it's not like Bush just started enforcing that when he took office OMGWTF LUONG LIVE TEH AMERICA!!!. It has, and always was, a felony to threaten the life of the President. Actually, it has been, and always was, a felony to threaten anybody's life; but not everybody has as diligent a private police force as the Service.
This kid was trolling, plain and simple: free speech, on the internet or anywhere else, can't be taken for granted, though I'd like to think we should expect it to be. You're behind a keyboard, so it's easy to say things without realizing you have a world-sized audience. This is one of the reasons I don't have a blog; frankly, I have a Montana-sized ego, so people know I have a knack for expressing my opinion. But I'd rather not have a google-cached word-for-word dossier of my views.
The only way, I believe, that this would have come to the attention of the Secret Service is if someone submitted it to them. And I respect their response -- they apologized and left.
Please report to the Ministry of Love for reeducation.
What's the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind. -Zappa
I assume the secret service has a computer spidering the web and flagging "troublesome" content for further review. I doubt anyone reads your live journal to find out what color underwear you have on, or which pokemon character you are (except maybe your mom).
For more information as to what they were likely under take a look at US Code Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 41, 871(a):
That said, this has nothing to do with the First Amendment and free speech, because while there are protections of free speech, it is well established that there are things you cannot say. These are commonly summed up as the 'yelling FIRE in a theater' statements. This also does not apply to anything Patriot-act related. It's a simple Secret Service investigation of a percieved threat. End of story.
Hopefully she has now learned that publishing something on the internet (and that's what LJ is) is not much different from standing on a street corner and shoting something, except with an eternal echo.
... and it gets read by the public.
And what did you bloody well expect, children?
If you put it on the internet any one can see it, don't say in your blog what you would not say in a crowed public venue. When you put on your blog (or slashdot comments or what ever) expect every one can read, your friends, your enimeys, the goverment, a foreign goverment, people you don't know. So the secreat service reads liver journal, big deal, this is not a invastion of priviace, they person put it there for the world to see, the world saw it.
My kingdom for a mod point!!!
I can't believe that the parent was modded as flamebait! I guess the left-leaning slashbots can't understand a reasonable response.
Sorry, I must have somehow screwed up the link to the PDF. That mirror of the Google cache (in case she asks for it to be removed) is at http://www.nuxx.net/files/dumbgirl.pdf.
Ha! I hope your point/joke isn't lost on them.
See you in jail!
Hah! Look forward to that knock on your door from the SS.
I wonder. If it's not legal to pray for someone's death, as it constitutes a threat against them, then would it be legal for me to make a voodoo doll of them? I mean, would you get busted by the secret service if you had a 'W voodoo doll that you stuck pins into? The quote from the chick is that he can 'feel it every time you pray for him.' Well, how about every time they twist the doll's head around in circles?
I'd rather have a Kerry doll, though. Then I'd probably try to pin the skin around his eyes up, they're so damn droopy. He reminds me of a basset hound. Then again, his IQ is around the same.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
If you read his journal he never once said he was going to kill the president. He merely said he was hopeful that the president would die. These are completely different things. Is it a crime to wish death on someone? Or is it perhaps that he was contracting God to kill Bush that made it illegal?
It was obvious to me that this was meant as a joke. I'm suprised it wasn't taken that way by the authorities. I mean really, shouldn't they be looking for real threats (like terrorists)?
I got a call from the secret service asking me to come in and answer some questions. They found the post using Dejanews, and wanted to know what the secret code was. I told them it was a program. They said they would have their experts look at it. At the time, it was legally questionable to post that code to usenet due to ITAR, so I was polite when questioned, despite having to explain the difference between a web page and a usenet post, among other things.
In retrospect, I'm shocked I actually said this, but when they called me, I actually asked them, "Where did you get this number?" (The number was unlisted.) Their response, "We are the secret service."
How do they know if she is serious or not. If she was a threat and something happened, then the Secret Service would be blasted for not doing more. A visit is a non-issue. The Secret Service had better be doing everything they can to protect our president, including reading blogs. Just hope they have some software to scan it all for them.
And why is this in politics? Obviously her post was politically motivated, but the Secret Service is not acting based on politics.
I am living proof of the Peter Principle
According to this post you just fucked yourself hard. :)
What's the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind. -Zappa
Another day, another death treath
Oh, the stifling of dissent!
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
What makes her not a threat? If she were a more devout Christian (she claims to not have a strong working relationship with ``the Christ"), would her prayers have been considered a bona-fide attempt on W's life?
Makes me wonder if Pat Robertson (?) got a visit, when he asked the Almighty and his throng to pray for the removal of the pro-Roe/Wade justices from the SCOTUS: "Lord, two of them are very old; they could easily have a heart-attack." If a prayer is a threat, it's only reasonable to think that PR should have a long file.
I suspect Charlie Brooker -Screen Burn- from the UK Guardian (original expired from the Google cache) is going to get a visit too. Plus be on the watch-lists for an indeterminate time. Fool -- does he expect policemen to have a sense of humor?
Obviously, the profile of a possible assassin. If only they knew how common these people are... Half the aol chat rooms probably are out to kill someone.
Support more choices in goverment-Vote 3rd party.
..back on the statutes in the US eh.
...an Englishman in London.
I apologize. The journal was written by a woman not a man.
There is no real text here the subject says it all.
10/14/04 09:25 am
a prayer for dubya
Dear God:
Wassup? How's it hanging? Yeah, I know it's been a long time since we talked. This probably stems from my belief that you do not exist. Anyway, the reason why I'm calling you is because last night, President Bush said that he could feel it every time we prayed for him, and since he apparently doesn't listen to anyone but you, Lord, I thought you might pass this along to him.
Please kill George Bush. I hate him so much. I think he is a giant dick and I want terrible things to happen to him. I'm not really big on the specifics of how he dies, but if you could at least arrange it so that the authorities find his dead body on top of an underage black male prostitute surrounded by a mountain of cocaine and child pornography, that would really be super-awesome. And maybe you could have some media people there when the police find the body, so they can take pictures and stuff. That'd be fucking GREAT. Am I allowed to say "fuck" in a prayer? Shit, I just said it again. Ah, well.
Anyway, that's my prayer, Lord. Please, please, please kill Dubya. And Dick Cheney. And everyone else in the Bush Administration. Maybe they can all commit mass suicide together or something. I don't know. You're the one with all the ideas. You come up with something. I need more coffee.
Smooches and Huggles,
anniesj
I hereby and formally state that the above comment was made as satire, and was entirely in jest.
My point is that there is an enormous noise-to-signal ratio on the internet as more and more information becomes available at a higher rate. Continuing the policy of automatic investigation of "any" written threat regardless of context will become an increasingly expensive, resource-consuming enterprise, and will furthermore become less and less effective due to the massive increase of false-positives.
Basically, if the SS actually knocks on my door, we're in a sad state here in these United States.
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
No bigger groups of idiots exists today. Lets looks at the facts:
President Bush is allowed to stay in a classroom for 7 minutes after hearing of the 2nd plane hitting the WTC. His trip to the school is pre-publicized (hence his location is not secret by any means). The secret service should have politly asked to speak to the president and then run his ass out of there the minute he was out of sight of the children. On the trip in the limo to Air Force One, a group of fighters should have been called up from one of the air force bases in florida and been above the plane before it took off. But this did not happen as fighters didn't meet up with the plane until it's next stop (can't remember the base he landed at briefly).
The secret service blew it big time and failed to protect the president and no one has said a word.
But then some kid says "I pray the president dies" and the secret service considers this a threat. What a bunch of fucking morons. Half the world wants this guy dead. Hell, I want the guy dead (He's put this country in more danger than it's been since the cold war by invading a sovereign nation that held *zero* threat to us and he is responsible for the needless death of over a thousand service american man and woman and well over a fifty thousand iraqi civilians). Is the secret service going to investigate *all* of us? Fucking morons!
Personally its not God I dislike, its his fan club I cant stand (bash.org)
Lets change the law. Instead of having the secret service to protect politicians, lets instead ban politicians from being protected by any government employee. Also, ban them from hiring private bodyguards, and when they travel require them to walk, bicycle, take the public subway/bus/train, or fly "coach".
It's a lot easier to have casual contempt for Joe Public if you can flip the bird at him from behind tinted bulletproof glass.
You're still fucked.
Basically, if the SS actually knocks on my door, we're in a sad state here in these United States.
My guess is they already knocked on your door, and compelled you to post this follow up message to dissuade the millions waiting to pounce on GWB next week at 2:45pm.
Ya know I don't feel bad for the kid at all. Lesson learned. Now she'll know there are things you say and things you don't say. Period.
According to the livejournalist concerned here, her statement of opposition to the current president, including, as it did, a juvenile or immature death-wish upon him, has earned her among other things an FBI file, and a "strong possibility" according to her attorney that she may be placed on the US no-fly list.
That would be a significant penalty imposed without due process, and no matter what other posters here have said, this is also an obvious free speech issue.
I'm not sure what kind of a comfort it is to say that it likely would have turned out even worse in China.
Whatever one might want to pray happen to the president, it's arguably time also for a prayer in memory of some traditional US civil liberties and protections.
-wb-
And as this shows us that the Secret Service does not read Live Journal, it becomes clear that even the Headline-writer didn't RTFA.
This post written under Gentoo-linux with an SCO IP license.
I, a friend of Schezar, hereby threaten to take the life of the president of the united states. I make this threat for the sole purpose of getting the secret service to come to my door. I think it would be great fun to talk to them, possibly go to court and learn some secrets. I think it would be especially awesome if they use any provisions of the Patriot act in their visit. That way when I go to court I can be the guy who challenges their constitutionality. Also, it would be great fun and bring an element of excitement into my life. Not only that, but it will give me a great story to tell everyone on the net and everyone I know/meet about how the secret service investigated me because they are so incredibly stupid they cannot differentiate a serious threat from a joking one.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
If this were a country that celebrated freedom of speech, you'd be okay.
Unfortunately for you, Americans are a small, scared, nasty bunch who like nothing more than beat their chests and show how they're much Holier than Thou, and they know how you should act. In fact, they'll pass some laws to force you to act their way.
So, freedom of speech may have worked back in 1776, but in the technological vastness of today's future, it is an idea that is as obsolete as "freedom from unreasonable searches," "separation of church and state," and "innocent until proven guilty."
With that in mind, when the SS comes to your door, do not make any sudden movements; do not look them in the eye; and follow their directions quickly and without protest.
Yeah, right.
...as a guard who just earlier got caught sleeping through a burglary.
America: Spreading freedom--whether you want it or not!--at the point of a bayonet for over 100 years.
Yeah, right.
Yea, go to his door. Not mine. I'm a wuss, and I really don't want to be arrested. ;^)
;^)
Funny. Apreche always said he WANTED to be sued by the RIAA back at Uni. Wanted to fight them in court and all that. Now he wants the same thing from the SS.
I don't know if he's brilliant, insane, or just has a death wish...
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
in a prayer to God:
:) And now that THAT is taken care of ..."
"Please kill George Bush. I hate him so much. I think he is a giant dick and I want terrible things to happen to him. I'm not really big on the specifics of how he dies, but if you could at least arrange it so that the authorities find his dead body on top of an underage black male prostitute surrounded by a mountain of cocaine and child pornography, that would really be super-awesome. And maybe you could have some media people there when the police find the body, so they can take pictures and stuff. That'd be fucking GREAT. Am I allowed to say "fuck" in a prayer? Shit, I just said it again. Ah, well.
Anyway, that's my prayer, Lord. Please, please, please kill Dubya. And Dick Cheney. And everyone else in the Bush Administration. Maybe they can all commit mass suicide together or something. I don't know. You're the one with all the ideas. You come up with something. I need more coffee."
And:
"1) I hate George W. Bush. A lot. I hate him. I wish bad things would happen to him. If he died, I really would laugh. And dance. And scream. And there might be nudity. You all should know this about me by now, unless you're new, and in that case -- hi. I hate Dubya. A lot. Now you know.
is that so bad? I mean seriously? It's not much worse than the character assassination in Amercan (Fuck yeah) movies we see. Don't we all at some point wish someone to be dead even if in reality we don't really want anyone to harm him? I mean I sometimes would love to have the convenience of seeing some people disapear in some violent or embarassing ways. Some are political figures too. That doesn't mean I really want it to happen if I were the one who could roll the dice of chance on that person.
As much as I hate to say it, I can see why.
She specifically asks for something bad to happen to George Bush. Not just a "I wish he was dead, so I wouldn't have to deal with his shit anymore." But in fact a full blown, "God please kill George Bush." Followed by other self-described snarky comments advocating his death.
I think it looks like more of a consistency thing. She was consistently asking for someone to kill George Bush, which could technically incite someone to violence, which might be construed as a threat. (IANAL)
And while I think most people have made jokes about some president or other important official, friend, neighbor, etc dying, being assasinated, etc for the greater good. I think most people rarely couch it in terms of doing or asking someone to do it.
Perhaps the best speculative difference.
"I wish they were dead."
"God, please kill George Bush."
It's tough to say if I think it is a good/bad thing that the Secret Service checked up on this. Hopefully they also read the rest of her livejournal first. Hell that may have been why they *did* check up on her. If the rest of her livejournal had been a total peacenik LJ, they may have just gone on their way. Yet some of the other posts supported at least asking questions of whether or not she is truly a violent individual.
Wake up call. Violent ranting on the internet can be completely misconstured (much like email). Please confine all future rants to actual conversations with known audiences, so that when you make outrageous statements you audience knows you well enough to not turn you into the Secret Service.
So are we supposed to worry about the Secret Service checking up on all of us now?
in the latest version. It comes right before "nucular".
Get a livejournal account
Post an appeal for someone to kill the President
Report yourself to the FBI
Within a week, two nice, polite young men will stop by for a quiet chat about who you are and what you get up to. They will be very interested in you. They will listen to your anecdotes while they sip tea and munch homemade biscuits. And agree your son Albert is a good for nothing scoundrel who never calls his mother.
A week later, repeat process.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
There are a limited number of Secret Service agents.
It takes time to visit each person and nothing actually bad happens to that person except some fame for being oppressed by the government.
Wouldn't the kids posting crap soon overwhelm the SS's ability to visit each and every one? Particularly if they started posting more crap after the visit?
"The worst thing that could happen now is someone attacks him because then people would vote for him (beware the sympathy vote)."
Well, now, wouldn't THAT be an interesting symmetry:
John Ashcroft (a man who lost an election to a dead man), working for a President who can't be re-elected except as a dead man.
So... 'Kill the president' is bad, but "Kill the President" By The Offspring, is okay?
That's a song they did in 89/90 that's very much about the U.S. president. As far as I know, nothing ever happened to them regarding it. Unfortunatly, after 9/11, they removed the name from the discography section of the webpage--which was disappointing to me--but it's still on the album.
Ardente veritate incendite tenebras mundi
... the president!
Yes, I have free speech. But I can't go around yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theatre. I can't call up the cops and report non-existant crimes, or call the FBI and say, "I have the man you are looking for." Just as well, I can't go around telling people, "I am going to kill you!"
If I use my "free" speech to testify in court, and tell lies, and get found out, guess what? I go to jail. If I'm a lawyer and I use my free speech to tell my clients that what they're doing is A-OK! when it's really not, I go to jail! If I'm a doctor and I use free speech to tell a patient, "Here, take three of these cyanide pills a day and you'll get better in no time!", what should happen to me?
Let's just clarify: Sure, you have free speech. The government can't throw you in jail because you disagree with them. But they can throw you in jail for threatening people, harming people, or doing all kinds of bad stuff with your free speech!
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
Secret Service Reads Livejournal
Well, I guess somebody has to.
-Colin
She certainly deserved what she got... If she doesn't want Bush to be president, she shouldn't vote for him (if she's even old enough to vote; if she's just some angsty teen, she'll just have to wait until she grows up). Wishing for his death is just childish and stupid.
Plus all the deficit betting? Ouch!
ps - for all our sarcasm-impaired readers out there [cough!]secretservice[cough!] I'm joking.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
So you're saying that anybody who wants to threaten somebody's life can simply say: "please, God, kill my enemy" instead of "I will kill my enemy", and it's suddenly not a threat? If somebody posted such a "prayer" about you on the internet, would you feel completely safe? What if it was by a person who always happened to "bump into" you everywhere you went?
This person was simply investigated. She wasn't arrested, thrown in jail, beaten, etc. Putting her on a no-fly list isn't going to happen, that's just a scary story put out by her attorney. The worst that will happen to her is she won't be able to ever go on the White House tour now.
The substance of the message is threatening, therefore it is a threat. The superficial grammar of it is immaterial.
Plus, it's just a disgusting, vicious, nasty message. Liberals are always ranting about conservatives being intolerant, but it is the liberals who seem to be very ready to wish other human beings dead.
fuck bush. llama cock sucker.
I can't cite any sources on the 'net (obviously not using the right keywords) but I had a history class which talked about religious armies having "special forces" troops that would go by names of something like "the Hand of God". Essentially striking for God by sneaking into enemy cities and doing damage to put the fear of God in people.
Muslim society probably has a similar concept. So a call for "God" to kill Bush could be construed as a call to action for those forces. (Remember, the CIA swears up and down that Bin Laden gives marching orders embedded in his speeches and uses email for similar purposes... why not embed an order just before an election in a "prayer for dubyah" with a request for his assassination in a public blog?)
I have no clue who modded this up ...
Anyway, you do have a right to free speech so long as there is no "clear and present danger" attributed to your actions. To wit:
You cannot yell "Fire" in a crowded theatre or threaten people's lives. That constitutes a clear and present danger.
You CAN say "I wish CowboyNeal was dead". That does not constitute a clear an present danger. No where in that statement can any resonable person infer that you want to actually do such a thing.
In any case, when the US is facing enemies driven by religious fanaticism, I think a call (wish, prayer, etc) for god to kill someone could easily be considered a direct threat by the secret service. Especially when so many terrorists have killed in the name of their god or acting as "the hand of god."
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
I am totally going to shoot bush in that fat fucking head of his.
She didn't do any of that. What was written was no more a threat than mailing a the president a gift certificate for Rolled Gold Pretzels is attempted murder. The fact that you think, "I will kill you" is equivalent to "I hope you die" and that we should err on the side of unnecessarily depriving people of their civil liberties is exactly what's wrong with america. Equal means cannot be infered from equal ends.
would it be legal for me to make a voodoo doll of them? I mean, would you get busted by the secret service if you had a 'W voodoo doll that you stuck pins into?
I'd rather have a Kerry doll, though.
Looks like they have both Bush and Kerry voodoo dolls.
Should we report them to Homeland Security?
Nobody died when Nixon lied.
I'm meeting you half way you stupid hippies!
Here we have an example of a post that needs to be moderated, -1 Overrated.
This is a proper use of that particular mod, as contrasted with using it to mod an unmodded post with which you do not agree.
Go ahead and mod it down now, then turn to page 47 of your texts.
What was that? You in the back. Good catch! Yes, this post you're reading now is a great example of an off topic post. Go ahead and mod it down, and open your texts.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
you're half right
I IA 3.htm
http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/digest/2001dig/I
while the threat does have to have what you refer to as "clear and present danger," you have to consider the context and audience reaction. if the audience is likely to take that as a queue to act (which the secret service isn't likely to know), then that has the weight of a threat.
in this case, the secret service probably felt they had to check it out to evaluate how real the threat was. sure, it looks like satire, but the satire also includes some very specific circumstances that are concrete and possible for a human to do (not like "struck by lightning" or "struck by the blade of the angel of death").
i can just picture how the decision to investigate went. the agent in charge probably said something like "yeah, it looks like a joke but go check it out to see whether or not you find something to show otherwise."
"Mister Potato-head --MISTER POTATO-HEAD! Backdoors are not secrets!" (War Games, 1983)
Hah yourself! Now you get a visit- because YOU just included a threat in your subject line. What a doofus, including a threat in the subject li-
Aw, shit...
Linking a bomb strapped to the president the whole 4 years and linking that to a voter approval/disapproval box.
;-)
Once they get 1 million over 50% of the vote in disapprove, the president is then blown up, and the VP is ready to stand in. That would sure eliminate the retards and clean up politics a lot.
After all, why shoutnt they put something on the line for all 300 Million of us? Great power comes great responsibility
I wonder if they read Slashdot...
I have a plan! I will kill the president tommorow! Long Live Kerry!
Now we wait...
What moron has given this a Flamebait rating? This is absolute truth.
Or, has truth become Flamebait amongst the geeks?
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
i can just picture how the decision to investigate went. the agent in charge probably said something like "yeah, it looks like a joke but go check it out to see whether or not you find something to show otherwise."
Exactly. It is their job to check out anything that looks like a threat.
If someone famous got assassinated and it turns out that the authorities knew that some crazy had raved about it on a website prior to the assassination, they would be criticised for not checking it out, even though 99.9% of such rantings are harmless.
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
Anyone consider that this whole thing is fake and that everyone has been trolled? There are no corroborating news sources mentioned in the summary, Google turns up nothing significant other than a bunch of other blogs linking to it.
Isn't it very possible, and, in my opinion, likely, that this LJ user just wants attention like all the other LJ lusers? She probably just made up the whole incident about the Secret Service paying her a visit and now she's getting the publicity she wanted. I can't imagine the Secret Service actually construing her post as a threat.
Anyone else thinking this?
The story has two sources, the google catch and the live journal. Has anyone bothered to check to make sure this isn't a hoax? For fucks sake people, if you are going to post something like this, try to have a link to something other then a live journal.
That's cue. Thank you.
~~~
True that...
but I'm posting with Internet Explorer. I don't have ISpell here.
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
And by the way, I corrected my only spelling mistake in the journal before you posted. I can't go back and edit posts.
I do appreciate that somebody are still looking out for the English language. There are just too many people who don't know their "there" from their "their" and "they're", or their "of" from their "'ve".
I'll reward you with an offer to look in my journal. Did you see the "419" post?
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
She wasn't just wishing for him to die. It was more like she was saying "I don't like X and wish somebody would kill him. For sex."
OK, not the "For sex." part. But you get the idea.
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
You'd better let mom know they're coming, and also clean out the basement/your room so they don't have to step on your Pokemon collection when they come get your narrow ass.
You use the words 'absolute' and 'truth' like a lot of people use the word 'genius' nowadays. I'm going to pray that you get a charlie horse.
Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
People reading this story would think differently. The secret service was just doing their job. They felt they had a possible situation, checked it out, and stopped pursuing it when they realized there was no threat.
Now if this guy had been a radical Muslim leader saying that he wished Allah would kill Bush, then it'd be a different story. People would want to hang that guy. This radical leader could use the same type of website to get his message across.
So the Secret Service doesn't know which case this is. I feel they acted accordingly. I think this guy was just a bit shaken up since he seems to be a non-confrontational guy and was confronted by the Secret Service.
I feel bad for the guy since his intentions weren't violent, but there are ways of getting your point across. Saying god should kill Bush isn't one of them.
after the FedEx guy said, "so, you going to fly to washington and shoot the president?"
Of course, he was delivering 1000 rounds of 9MM Luger ammo.
My response was, "nooooo, wouldn't do that...". Never know who's listening. Not that I would do that, but I'm not exactly a bush supporter, and of all the presidents, I think the country would be best off losing him.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
So the USSS go and INTERVIEW the person who wrote this. Not arrest. Not indict. Big deal? Although the agents probably know the context of the blog, they cannot take things for granted. They would be failing in doing their jobs. Now, let's consider other countries where if someone would be jailed and even killed for making these kind of statements about their leader. Is it really so bad to be interviewed??
Any halfway-intelligent chimp should realize that the article was tongue-in-cheek.
Even if it wasn't, she was praying that God kill Bush et al.
She did not make any statements that she herself was going to kill anyone, nor did she request that other humans kill anyone.
She did say that she hated Bush with a passion, but that's pretty common these days.
Wishing someone dead is not a threat.
She was expressing her opinion, and should not have been harassed by the jack-boots or anyone else.
By the way, the word "its" should not have an apostrophe unless it's a contraction of "it is", and the name of the act is the "USAPATRIOT" Act, not the "Patriot" Act.
The "USAPATRIOT" Act has nothing to do with patriotism, so calling it the "Patriot Act" is misleading.
(Considering how the Act is being misused these days, even using its full name is somewhat misleading (How is copyright infringement "terrorism"?).)
Personally, I pronounce it "the you sap at riot act" to avoid confusion.
Other pronunciations are "the US ap uh TRY ot act" and (as Jar-Jar) "the YOUsa pah TR-R-RE-E-E at act".
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
I see you have a weblog too.............
A friend of mine went through a truancy / improper parenting trial recently. Evidence included her Xanga site where she talked about smoking marijuana with her parents. The person who turned her in was the parent of one of her friends who read the site. The key thing to remember is that whatever you put on these sites is public. Never write anything which you would not be willing to have show up in the paper, or as evidence. At that, I reccomend never writing anything which you wouldn't want your mother to read, as often they'll do just that...
As for this girl's "crime," it's happened for years. I have a book on the Secret Service at home written in the 50's which has a section devoted to crank letters to the president including a sampling from elementary schoolers who then received a visit from the authourities. They have to investigate all claims just in case, and just having authourities visit can often scare the kids straight, impressing upon them that people out there do read their mail. Admittedly, here it was less direct, but still a valid threat. They didn't charge her with anything, jsut impressed upon her that threats are taken seriously when it comes to presidents.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Excellent point. As a follow-up thought experiment, what if a virus/worm writer made a program that caused infected machines to write death threats directed toward people on the Secret Services "do not threaten" list? Are the owners of those machines now deserving of questioning? Or what if someone's livejournal username/password is compromised and someone else posts threatening messages? Seems like a mighty easy way to tie up the Secret Service in frivolous activities.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
"Please k*** George Bush"? Why are we upset at the Secret Service and not the boob who wrote that paragraph? No sympathy here for someone so stupid to write a sentence like that. I mean, all the idiot got was a visit. That should have been expected. Hmm. Perhaps God heard her prayer and this is His way of saying "prayer not granted."
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
I find the "prayer" sick, not funny, and says a lot about the person that issued it. Generally, when one really prays for some one you don't think is doing the right thing, you pray that they will do the right thing and be redeemed, not that they would be killed. That has been my experience as a Christian, and hearing what other Christian's pray for in similiar circumstances, including those politically they disagree with.
I continue to find it ironic that so many liberal/democratic folks who preach and make such a big deal about tolerance and understanding for other people have treated George Bush with such personal hatred. These comparisons to Hitler and such are silly and ridiculous. They don't help your cause and make you look like whiny.
>> You CAN say "I wish CowboyNeal was dead"
> you're half right
I wish CowboyNeal was half dead!
'I ain't a liar, baby, and I ain't proud I just want what I'm not allowed.' -- Violent Femmes, 36-24-36
Everytime we use real life events to point out that the greatness of America (at for the average person) is actually a fantasy, you rightwing bots counter with some example from a fascist country or from a 3rd world country. Why not instead compare America to Western Europe?
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Everytime we use real life events to point out that the greatness of America (at for the average person) is actually a fantasy, you rightwing bots counter with some example from a fascist country or from a 3rd world country. Why not instead compare America to Western Europe?
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Any good background check will turn up that file that the FBI now has on her. So which candidate gets the job, the one without the FBI file, or the one with the FBI file?
Uh, yeah, al qaeda attacked us because they hate us for our freedom....my ass!
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Did anyone actually read the comments of the story? I'm not a big fan of the administration, but it does seem as if someone got taken for a ride.
If this was the only thing convincing you not to vote for Bush, what the hell have you guys been doing?
[o]_O
And while the two examples I cited were extreme, their like are hardly uncommon. Many teachers feel threatened by the practice of religion in the school for some reason.
Regardless of whether it's "just" the tax code or a Bill that was passed into Law, the intent of the Founders was pretty clear. The gov't has no business messing with a church.
"Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH