Slashdot Mirror
Ricin Tainted Letter Sent to Senator and Possibly the President
An anonymous reader writes "A letter addressed to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) was tested and found to contain ricin, a highly toxic, inexpensive, and easily produced substance derived from castor beans. The letter was intercepted at the U.S. Capitol's off-site mail facility and nobody has been injured. The letter was postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, but listed no return address. Sen. Claire McCaskill told reporters that a suspect has been identified."
And, this morning, a letter addressed to the President was discovered containing a suspicious substance. Update: 04/17 16:25 GMT by U L : And the substance is ricin. Apparently, air filters at another facility have also tested positive for ricin.
Source.
Its someone stupid enough to think a Senator opens his own mail. (Shamelessly stolen from Twitter)
Test your net with Netalyzr
Sounding a little too much like the 9-11 era all over again (which was punctuated by the anthrax mailings) just on a much smaller scale, overall. Though I think it's likely to be totally domestic this time (including the "main event"; in this case, the Boston marathon).
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Obviously we must ban all Assault Beans. Even though castor beans aren't even really legumes at all. All that matters is that word "bean" is used, which qualifies them as Assault Beans.
Just because the Lima Bean ban back in the 1990's didn't reduce the number of assault bean attacks doesn't mean that a properly configured law - which we'll have to pass in order to find out what's really in it, of course - won't save "at least one life."
Next, we'll have to focus on deaths related to soccer and other Assault Sports. I'm looking at you, Kayaking.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I imagine he gets these every single day. It goes with the job.
Oh, wait, we have to take advantage of the bombings! We're still at war with Eastasia, remember!
This whole every-aspect-of-our-lives-must-be-in-the-context-of-1984 conspiracy stuff has really gotten out of hand ...
I've been wondering about that! Man, Walter trying to kill the president?! The finale of Breaking Bad is gonna kick ass!
If someone wanted to get a piece of [tainted] paper into physical contact with the president or other important US political figure, sending it using the mail system is not the way to do it and I should think it would be more than obvious to anyone. Even without specific knowledge of the fact, various sniffing technologies can and should naturally be presumed as part of the normal mail screening and sorting processes. And even without that, isn't it hard to imagine the president actually opening his own mail?! He must receive 50lbs or mail or more a day from all the concerned citizens and crackpots out there. No way HE goes through it all personally. In which case, even without sniffing and detection technologies, it would likely get to someone else first.
So the perpetrator was either immeasurably stupid and thoughtless or this is something else.... more 'theater' for another cause supporting the loss of freedom and liberty.... or both.
Are we seriously testing all mail coming to members of Congress for poisons? How the hell is this accomplished in a reasonable amount of time, with reasonable accuracy, and how much is it costing us?
How about we build a robot that opens the mail, scans the pages into digital form, and skip all that ludicrous bullshit?
Have you noticed that whenever something bad happens in America, to normal people, the next day or the same day, a letter with a "suspicious substance" is sent to a politician in D.C.?
They must have a special unit called "All About Us" that just sends these out as needed.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
one Walter White, described as a mild-mannered, former High School Chemistry teacher.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
You're a moron, ricin is listed ...
And shooting people is already listed in a thousand different ways as illegal. Banning the objects to prevent what actions some few people might take is exactly what breathless politicians are screaming for. They know it's meaningless, and you know it's meaningless. Just like banning the objects from which ricin is made is meaningless.
Take your failed attempts at political satire...
The satire is all you, buddy. You just don't realize it.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
And shooting people is already listed in a thousand different ways as illegal. Banning the objects to prevent what actions some few people might take is exactly what breathless politicians are screaming for. They know it's meaningless, and you know it's meaningless. Just like banning the objects from which ricin is made is meaningless.
You really are stupid, you know that? We're not proposing a ban on steel, we're proposing a ban on the ultimate object that makes pulling a trigger the difference between life and death. Just like castor beans aren't illegal to walk around with sacks of but it is illegal to walk around with sacks of ricin because it is the final product that allows that person to cause death quickly and without much effort.
Are you saying that ricin, a schedule 1 substance, should be sold to whoever wants it because the act of using it to kill people is already illegal?
The fact that I have to explain this to you really illustrates the frustration of this whole gun control debate. I bet the whole concept of "weaponized" is lost on you when we're talking about mustard and ricin, isn't it?
I was thinking exactly the same thing. Someone has been watching too much Breaking Bad.
Are pressure cookers used in the production of ricin from castor beans? Because when pressure cookers are outlawed, only outlaws will pressure cook!
No need for that -- after the Boston Marathon incident, anyone even entering Acme Kitchen Supplies stores will go on the terrorist watch list.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
John McAfee made some far-out claims a few months ago about Mexican cartels helping Muslim terrorists smuggle tons of ricin into the USA.
Let's hope to all that's holy that he was just bat-shit crazy and the allegations are not true, because if they are then thousands of people could be killed by the alleged "tons of ricin"
It is blatantly obvious that if only we had $Politically_Impossible_Ineffective_Action_Advocated_for_Unrelated_Reasons, this tragedy would have been avoided.
Those who are blaming $Different_Reason_For_Different_Unrelated_Reasons, are just cynically using the current crisis for their own political gain!
Reminds me of this story: John McAfee predicted it a few months ago. Just like his software, he couldn't stop anything.
McAfee is a bit crazy, but if he's right, then the corrupt Belize government along with Nicaragua helped Hezbollah and Iran commit terrorist attacks in the US with ricin. Yeah, it sounds crazy.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Excellent point. One that I've been attempting to make repeatedly with my unresponsive elected asshatz and anyone else who will listen. Emotional anecdotes are a ridiculous basis for public policy. If some serial child rapist escapes justice because the police obtained evidence with an illegal search, that doesn't mean that we need to undermine the 4th Amendment so that no child rapist ever escapes justice.
Yes, the murders and attempted murders in Boston clearly demonstrate that a person intent on violence and mass murder will find a way to do it, with or without firearms. In a free society, people can and will abuse their freedoms. Unfortunately, there are many people who would obviously prefer the "safety" of a total police state as opposed to endure the entirely minuscule risks associated with freedom.
From your first paragraph, maybe the problem is the public schools not teaching people about the concept of probability or statistical likelihood?
you're completely full of shit
Really? Here's a typical Hollywood type on the subject:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/16/actor-blames-boston-attack-on-gun-culture-2nd-amendment-must-go/
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I hear snu-snu isn't bad. Well, I mean it's bad, but in a good way.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I've seen FB posts saying essentially, "We MUST do something to make sure this can never happen again".
Apparently, these people want a police state, since that's the only scenario where there's even a reasonable probability of that.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
"Source."
This is premature BS. This info is based on the first tests, which were not conclusive. That's why your "source" says they are "waiting for further tests results"!!!
Why do images of Tyrone Biggums opening Senator Daschel's mail come to mind. (Am I dating myself here?!)
You know the statistics support gun control right? Wealthy countries with more gun control than the US have lower fatal homicide and suicide rates.
Mass shootings are anecdotal, on both sides. There are real statistics, and they're not on your side.
You miss the point of background checks.
No we don't. It's for the government to track who has legal guns among people that will not commit crimes.
It is to make it harder - ON AVERAGE - for people with a history of violent and/or criminal behavior to acquire firearms.
Well then it's stupid on the face of it because "ON AVERAGE" all criminals simply buy or steal guns illegally anyway, since they don't want something that could be traced back to them. They are criminals after all.
In the end all you are doing is tracking the people who will ON AVERAGE never commit a crime, and make it harder for them to buy guns than the criminals that may kill them.
I can't believe that someone on Slashdot is taking the side of the jackboots, so soon after we all feared that civil rights would be further reduced after the Boston bombings. Look no further; reduction is underway. If you are at all about protecting rights you are against further gun regulations; if you are not against gun regulation well then you are just going to have to lay back and take whatever further noxious restrictions result from Boston. Registration when buying kitchen supplies? If gun regulation passes I will be in full support of it, because why go halfway?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Amazon.
Premeditated murder does not mean one is insane.