NPR received a bomb threat Monday, five days after its decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams sparked a hugely negative reaction.
Sources at the news organization said the threat was received via U.S. mail and was immediately turned over to local police and the FBI. The organization did not publicly disclose the threat or release details, on the advice of law enforcement officials.
The letter didn’t reference the Williams firing specifically, but people at NPR, who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity, said the timing and tone suggested it was sent after Williams’s widely publicized termination.
Until recently, I’d been confident that teabaggers were mostly too old to engage in any serious terrorist activity. I still hope that’s true, but I’m starting to wonder.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
I think that stomping on people’s heads, coming to political rallies armed to the teeth, and threatening to kill and/or actually killing doctors all count as terrorist activities.
Terrorism – fun at any age!
kdaug
How old was the jackass who shot the guard at the Holocaust Museum?
Moses2317
Yet further evidence that John’s phrase “peak wingnut” will never be realized, because the crazy on the right just keeps getting worse and worse.
Winning Progressive
James E. Powell
The teabaggers are middle-aged and older, for the most part. But their loud and public campaign of hatred and bigotry, amplified by Fox News, Rush, and the rest, will inevitably inspire younger, more reckless people to do things that they would not ordinarily do.
Brian S (formerly Incertus)
The last time I thought seriously about buying a gun, I lived in buttfuck rural Louisiana on a toy farm and considered a 20 gauge shotgun because of wild dogs. Let’s just say I’m real nervous now and leave it there.
James E. Powell
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
When are you gonna learn? It’s only terrorism if a Muslim does it.
Violence by professed Christians is righteous anger that only turned violent because liberals just went too far. Totally understandable and forgivable.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@kdaug: Oh right! He was in fact no whipper-snapper.
Fucking hell. I’m going to bed. This world is exhausting me all to hell.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@James E. Powell: Because, if I remember my Fox-News-ese correctly, “all terrorists are Muslim.”
Right – off to hide my head in a big pillow.
Omnes Omnibus
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Late 80s. My grandmother, despite despising what he did, was rather perversely proud of him. They are more or less the same age and she was impressed that he still was capable of it.
El Cid
Don’t forget this part:
More angry NPR viewers.
Ross Hershberger
I’ll be so glad when this election is over. Can we just skip voting and get right to the recriminations? I don’t think I can stand another week of this.
El Cid
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
What are you talking about? The dude’s back hurt!
mclaren
They’ll roll their scooters into NPRs headquarters and threaten the staff with fully loaded colostomy bags.
asiangrrlMN
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: I want a t-shirt with this saying on it. Terrorism: it’s not just for kids any more to go with my Muslim garb. Night!
ETA: And, you know, I’m sure some eco-terrorist have sent threatening letters to someone or the other, so it’s all good.
Kryptik
@Ross Hershberger:
Don’t worry. If Republicans win as big as they’re hoping, I’d say a good third of the country probably won’t need to worry their pretty little second-class heads about voting in the future anyway.
BGinCHI
Most of this is the car talk guys.
They were probably like “this will be sooo funny.”
I suspect they’d like to take over All Things Considered. They’d ask a question and then just laugh maniacally.
Actually, it might be an improvement.
El Cid
@mclaren: NPR can then respond by playing quirky personal commentaries and offering them CD’s of the songs played in All Things Considered.
Uloborus
Actually, I think this is the evidence that there will never be a widespread problem with teabag violence. They feel free to make threats and be obnoxious precisely because they know they’ll never go through with it and thus think there can’t be any repercussions. Their fear of actually ever doing anything also makes them more angry.
Cacti
It’s those disgruntled NPR viewers.
MikeJ
@BGinCHI: Their producer is already on the lam. Doug the subway fugative? It’s right there every week!
The threats on the phone were probably because she has Carl Kasell’s voice on her answering machine and the long time NPR viewers were jealous.
El Cid
@Uloborus: They only have to get one or two on-the-edge nuts riled up. I.e., the dude who went to shoot up the Tides Foundation, against whom Glenn Beck was screaming, and instead got into a drunk shoot out with cops on a California interstate.
Restrung
I fully expect Click and Clack to denounce all of their previous elitist talk of emissions and mileage. And safety. Especially safety.
mclaren
@El Cid:
If the NRP staff threaten to give the teabaggers John Tesh CDs, man…that’s cruel and unusual punishment.
BGinCHI
@MikeJ: Well played. And I suspect Peter Sagal of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me is a fucking monster who, when he snaps, is going to really snap.
And btw, everyone knows Terry Gross isn’t a real person, right?
El Cid
Mature conservative Karl Rove:
HA HA! The damn NPR libruls are lily-livered uppity snooty elitists and middle eastern tyrants!
Ross Hershberger
In Teatardia do they have special voting booths that you can drive those electric Medicare Scooters into to vote against big government? I think the state should provide those for them.
WHY ISN’T THE STATE PROVIDING OVERSIZED VOTING BOOTHS FOR TEATARDS??!1!
The Dangerman
@Uloborus:
Kinda goes to the definition of “widespread”; since the Baggers have been told for weeks that they will take over at least the House, if they don’t, I see some violence.
BGinCHI
@mclaren: Or Sarah Mclachlan.
Trust me, if you’ve lived in Canada you know you can’t stand her.
ed
And the hits just keep on comin’:
Jewish Steel
I was about to counter that I knew at least one young teapartier. A fella who’s about my age…then I reflected on my age. Not so young anymore.
But I do wonder why Ds aren’t being more vocal about the extreme nature of the other party. Doesn’t that push Independents into their camp.
Although I read that the CW is that Conway’s Aqua Buddha ad is responsible for his recent dip in the polls.
piratedan
Damn! I think those NPR folks were supposed to forward that package on to Raul Grijalva and NOW looks what happens. That’s why these teabagger terrorists gotta start looking into DHL or UPS because you can’t trust the US Government to be reliable when transporting hazardous materiel to a necessary destination….
MikeJ
@BGinCHI:
Wait, Wait, Don’t Tase me Bro!
asiangrrlMN
@BGinCHI: Hey! I like Sarah McLachlan! Then again, I don’t live in Canada.
@The Dangerman: I’m afraid I agree with you. Look at how pissed-off and deranged they got after Obama got elected. I can’t imagine what they’ll do if they don’t at least take the House.
@ed: Sigh. It’s just gonna get worse, isn’t it?
FlipYrWhig
OT: The banner ad I’m seeing on the site right now is from “Keep America Safe,” which I think is the Liz Cheney organization. It has Bill Kristol’s face on it. What kind of sick fuck thinks Bill Kristol‘s mug is good for “branding”? “Wow, that Bill Kristol is one appealing fella, I like the idear of being on his side!” Is this a thought a single actually-existing human being has ever had?
morzer
Scott Roeder was 51 when he murdered George Tiller in church.
Von Brunn, the Holocaust Museum murderer was 88.
Don’t make assumptions about how old a murderous fanatic has to be.
suzanne
Jesus Hussein Christ.
And the thing that gets under my skin the most about this is that I ***still*** know people who vomit forth verbal bile such as, “But both parties are just the same!” and “If we could just compromise, everything would be okay!”. FUCK. THAT. Seriously. The middle of the road is for roadkill. Pick a fucking side and stop being a fucking coward.
These people deserve to be completely shunned from polite society.
morzer
@FlipYrWhig:
I’d brand Bill Kristol gladly, and give him an honest job fixing roads in chains for free.
Lev
@asiangrrlMN: I doubt it. You’re forgetting that the most abundant quality in the universe is conservative self-satisfaction. If they win the House, they’ll be so happy with themselves for saving civilization from the horrors of health care reform that they’ll be happy to reflect on their awesomeness for some time to come.
I can only hope that Obama’s very likely 2012 re-election, with a Democratic retake of the House in tow, will have more of a depressive than enraging aspect to the right wing. I think it will.
Gravenstone
Sorry, I have to ask – who the fuck mails in a bomb threat? Doesn’t exactly add to the air of imminent danger, now does it?
Ross Hershberger
Last week Tomasky had a post in which he contrasted liberals’ and conservatives’ reactions: Cons get mad, libs get sarcastic. Beck vs Stewart, more or less. Here’s a case where a liberal activist mocked a Paulist, attempting to give him a fake ‘award’. He responded by clobbering her.
There was some debate about whether sarcasm was as damaging as anger, but I think that’s pretty much settled now.
MikeJ
@Gravenstone: If the threat is attached to a package it’s a bit more credible than the same threat delivered via email.
Martin
Seven Days in May is on TCM. Reading this against the backdrop of that movie is freaky.
Calouste
@FlipYrWhig:
Probably the original thought was “Wow, that Bill Kristol is one appalling fella”.
morzer
@Lev:
Their corporate paymasters are never going to be happy with just taking the House. They want a lot more return for their investment. They are going to keep whipping up the heat, telling the lies, trying to provoke incidents and worse. Taking the House is just the beginning.
Gravenstone
@MikeJ: True enough, but that wasn’t the impression I got from the snippet above. Rather, I took it to be a good old fashioned First Class letter.
fourlegsgood
You were starting to wonder?
Oh, I think it’s just a matter of time before one of them seriously hurts or kills someone.
asiangrrlMN
@Lev: I was saying if they don’t at least take the House, they will freak the fuck out. I was being incredibly optimistic (in not taking the House, which is very strange for me) because I think they very well may take the House. As someone said in the thread below, I am reaching the point of moral outrage exhaustion. They are wearing me out.
@Martin: I just looked up the movie on IMDB.com, and I am freaked out now. How prescient is that?
@JenJen: You almost had me for a minute. Nicely done.
JenJen
DougJ, I’m increasingly disturbed by the “teabaggers” term. Many Tea Partiers find the term to be highly offensive, and I don’t see what can possibly be gained from calling them names; rather, shouldn’t we be engaging them in civil political discourse? The obvious answer is “yes.”
And that’s why I’ve decided to start calling them Kochsuckers instead.
freelancer
@JenJen:
Okay, that made me laugh.
Martin
@asiangrrlMN: You *must* see it. It’s one of the best movies of the 60s – and great acting. It and Fail Safe are two of the main film influences for Dr. Strangelove.
Cold war films are my favorite category. It was such a transformational time for the country – the world got very small, very fast and it was, IMO, when the right went full-paranoid and became what it is today. It’s a really insightful category of films.
asiangrrlMN
@Martin: I will put it on my list. Just the summary of it creeped me the fuck out. Brr.
Calouste
@morzer:
Why? What’s going to be the effective difference between the GOP controlling the house, not letting any legislation through and shutting down the government Newt Gingrich style and them actually controlling the government? Oh, no new wars on brown people for profiteering.
SiubhanDuinne
@JenJen: Nice, what you did there!
morzer
@Calouste:
Because shutting down the government won’t do anything but provoke a backlash as people watch the US being humiliated and held to ransom by these clueless thugs.
They want to do much more than that – gut regulations, smash social security, rape welfare, destroy health care reform, annihilate government agencies, and make sure that they get the good seats on the gravy train for what’s left.
The Kochs and their criminal co-conspirators have not invested this much money just to win an empty victory and promptly piss it away with a shutdown.
Martin
@asiangrrlMN: If you can commit a snowy day to movies, watch Fail Safe, Seven Days in May, and Dr. Strangelove. They all came out in 1964. The first two based on books, and the last based on the same books (and other influences).
If those freak you out too much, you can round it off with Mary Poppins – also 1964.
Jewish Steel
@jenjen. You got me too.
Zuzu's Petals
I have a friend whose husband is a manager at an NPR station in a rather redneck part of the state. She said he had an unbelievable number of calls just cussing him out over the Williams thing.
A few of them were willing to listen as he patiently explained that it really is inappropriate for an employee to be an opinion commentator for one network while purporting to be an objective reporter on their network. Some of those even said, “Well gee, when you explain it like that, it makes sense.” Sigh.
JenJen
@freelancer: @asiangrrlMN: @SiubhanDuinne: @Jewish Steel: Well, gawrsh, you guys!! I’m blushing! I was just being silly.
Honestly, I’ve been so fucking ticked off about this Rand Paul shit that I wasn’t even able to concentrate at work tonight. So to take my mind off of teabagging Constitutional patriots who were merely defending liberty last night, I decided to have a few cocktails with my awesome coworkers. My Concern Troll impression is the result of JenJen +3, and Ann Althouse’s shitty blog (which was EPIC today and if you haven’t seen it yet, well, you just gotta).
morzer
@JenJen:
A shitty outhouse? Wonders never cease!
suzanne
@JenJen: LMAO.
But isn’t “Koch” pronounced “Coke”?
Ah, fuck it. Your way’s funnier.
Martin
Fuck. Forgot to make bulgogi. Korean spare ribs on the grill for dinner tomorrow. Grr. I hate cooking at 11PM.
JenJen
@suzanne: Awww fuckity! Well, there goes that punchline.
morzer
@JenJen:
You could always call them Kochheads and get two innunendoes for the price of one….
Yutsano
@Martin: Share plz. Or at the very least food pr0n it. Kthxbai.
Martin
@Yutsano: I’ll try to remember. I always forget.
Made St Louis style smoked ribs last weekend. Was going to post pics. Forgot.
Made pizza on the grill last night. Was going to post pics. Forgot.
I’ll try and remember. My son earns his black belt in Tai Kwon Do this weekend, so we’re doing a Korean themed thing. He sees this picture every day. He’s very, very excited.
MikeJ
@Martin: He’s excited that the free trade winds may be blowing again?
jacy
@Martin:
Is it odd that I find Mary Poppins the most frightening of those?
Sinister Mary Poppins Remix
Martin
@MikeJ: Gah! Stupid fucking Mudoch property changes the page depending on how you get to it.
Let’s try this one.
It’s a surprisingly difficult picture to find considering how cool it is.
Martin
@jacy:
Actually, yes.
MikeJ
@Martin: I’m just glad it wasn’t this one.
mai naem
I guess those brown skinned Koran thumpers sent that bomb threat in. No wonder Juan gets scared when he sees them before he boards a plane.
YellowDog
Olbermann reminded everyone last night how much we miss Bill Hicks. He would have pointed out the absurdity of the old, far right having the vapors over a black man losing his job. Hicks would also have pointed out the absurdity of sending a bomb threat by U.S. Mail. Who, born in the last 50 years, would do that? Does the letter have a 40 cent stamp and two 2 cent stamps as postage? Gotta get rid of those old stamps before you buy any new ones.
asiangrrlMN
@Martin: Actually, no. I was going to post the exact same thing. Me and jacy, one mind, two bodies. And, you MUST post pics of the bulgogi. I love bulgogi.
@YellowDog: Or, one forty-cent stamp and four pennies.
Sasha
Shouldn’t this also be tagged with “Enhanced Protest Techniques”?
catclub
@El Cid:
“Rove interrupted, to laughter: “45 percent of NPR listeners were Saddam Hussein.” ”
Actually the fact that the NPR listenership is FAR bigger than FOX is part of what drives FOX batshit insane over NPR.
Just remember that ROVE attacks strong points and pretends they are weak points.
tesslibrarian
@asiangrrlMN: The book version is pretty good, too.
Triassic Sands
I’ll bet the bomb threat came from someone who had never heard of Juan Williams before last week. I mean, who the hell cares enough about Juan Williams to threaten anyone over him? Now that I think about it, the only person I can imagine caring enough would be Williams himself.
PWL
So THIS is what Sarah Palin means when she says “The Constitution shakes her fist!”
Steeplejack
@Martin:
Late to the thread, but I have to call bullshit on this. All three films were released in 1964, and Dr. Strangelove was actually released before the other two.