Ricin Tainted Letter Sent to Senator and Possibly the President 461
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.
So? (Score:1, Insightful)
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!
Profile of attacker already available.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Its someone stupid enough to think a Senator opens his own mail. (Shamelessly stolen from Twitter)
Wow ... (Score:4, Insightful)
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 ...
Re:Wow ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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 ...
Has it? I think the actual government-using-1984-as-an-instruction-manual stuff has gotten far more out of hand than your particular gripe.
Re:There is only one option. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Here we go again (Score:3, Insightful)
Any links to stormfront you want to share?
Those are not exactly trustworthy nor impartial websites.
Castor Bean Control (Score:0, Insightful)
Who uses castor beans anymore?
Outlaw them. Register them. Confiscate them.
Why do you need Castor Beans?
How do they test for this? (Score:4, Insightful)
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?
Re:Here we go again (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, it's obviously false flag. Or obviously Middle Eastern. Or obviously domestic. Or obviously FBI-inspired conspirators that they didn't stop in time. Or any other "obviously" thing. *eyeroll*
Re:You're An Idiot (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Idiot Status Reaffirmed (Score:3, Insightful)
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?
Re:Castor Bean Control (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
John McAfee predicted it (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Here we go again (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm truly curious what background check will keep someone from stealing another person's legally obtained weapon?
Are you suggesting that if you have a family member with issues (I wanted to type "crazy", but that's derogatory IMO) then you shouldn't be able to pass a background check? Where does this kind of logic end and what personal liberties are you willing to forgo to allow a database of this size to happen?
Re:Here we go again (Score:4, Insightful)
Keeping guns locked up is a good idea, and not having guns in a house with people with known mental instabilities is an even better idea. I'm just not sure we need to spend legislative effort on creating laws. We should enforce the current ones, although getting rid of the gun show loophole is a good idea.
Re:Here we go again (Score:4, Insightful)
You miss the point of background checks. It is not to stop individual crimes. It is to make it harder - ON AVERAGE - for people with a history of violent and/or criminal behavior to acquire firearms. Think abusive spouses who don't like their ex's being with someone new. Or a stalker who wants to take their obsession to the next level. Or a thug with a record who wants to pick up the latest in thug technology. WIthout a federal background check, states that allow people to carry concealed weapons into bars and schools in the name of "freedom" would do nothing to stop such individuals from acquiring firearms.
The 20 children killed in the Newtown massacre (say that out loud if you are unsure of why people want action) are a drop in the bucket when it comes to gun violence. THOUSANDS have been killed by guns since then, and many of those crimes would almost certainly not have occurred if the US had two things: 1) effective and universal gun regulations, 2) a less fanatical obsession with violence as a solution to people's problems (think "War on ___" or how every "action" movie poster includes someone holding a weapon). I am not one to shy away from criticizing the entertainment industry for their pandering, and hope the increasing number of large-scale public tragedies involving guns will begin to turn the tide against this long-standing trend.
But i digress.
The ridiculous meme that says something like: "Chicago has strict gun laws and they have lots of gun violence" completely ignores the fact that many if not all of the guns used in Chicago come from outside the city's jurisdiction. The same goes for NY, Washington DC, Miami, etc. These cities know what the problem is, but they cant do anything about it because neighboring states ignore it in the name of "freedom". Recent studies have shown that a large percentage of the guns used in NY-Metro area crimes originate as legit purchases in states like Virginia where the gun lobby has fear-mongered the local legislature away from even the most basic regulations.
Consider what would happen if you couldn't go to a "gun show" in someone's backyard and pick up a bunch of handguns to sell on the black market in Chicago. Where would the average street thug get their weapons? Russian arms dealers? 3D printing? Granted there are plenty of weapons already out there, but is "it's hard so what's the point" really an excuse?
And background checks do not address the problem of what you can buy once you pass. Why would anyone need a semi-automatic rifle with armor piercing rounds and a 30-round magazine?!? For that entire heard of delicious armor-plated deer you ran out of standard rounds trying to slaughter? To shoot at UN tanks when they invade Idaho?
Please explain...
Re:Here we go again (Score:4, Insightful)
The ridiculous meme that says something like: "Chicago has strict gun laws and they have lots of gun violence" completely ignores the fact that many if not all of the guns used in Chicago come from outside the city's jurisdiction. The same goes for NY, Washington DC, Miami, etc.
Then why don't the cities around them have the same level of gun violence? The problem with these cities - and the entire country if the politicians have their way - is that honest people do not have guns to defend themselves against people that illegally obtain them.
Your comment is the perfect example of "If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns."
Re:Half-wits know better than this (Score:5, Insightful)
So the perpetrator was either immeasurably stupid and thoughtless
Do you really think that is implausible?
Re:Here we go again (Score:2, Insightful)
Where to begin...
Then why don't the cities around them have the same level of gun violence?
First of all, your initial premise is completely false, which proves my point about the dangerous nature of such beliefs. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Richmond, VA. at 29 deaths per 100K people and Baltimore, MD. with 33 both have almost 6x (that's right 6 TIMES) the rate of NYC with 5 deaths per 100K. And in New Orleans, which is surrounded by Texas, OKC and Arkansas - states with non-existant regulations - boasts 70 deaths per 100K. That's more than 3 times the rate of Chicago (18/100K) and 10 times the rate of NYC.
So please get that particular falsehood out of your head.
honest people do not have guns to defend themselves against people that illegally obtain them
And where exactly do you think the "dishonest" people get their guns? They get them from the black market, which is fed by the loophole infested legit market. If the legit market is reduced drastically, where exactly will the black market acquire all those weapons? From shady Russian arms dealers? Amazon?
Again, please explain.
Re:Wow ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, snap! I see what you did there. You compared one person wanting to imprison another person with one person murdering 3 people and injuring 170+- more. Clearly your perspective is the proper one.
Re:The real dissonance (Score:5, Insightful)
Premeditated murder does not mean one is insane.