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Ricin detected in mail sent to Pentagon
Two pieces of mail delivered to the Pentagon mail facility on Monday have initially tested positive for ricin, according to a US defense official.
The two suspicious envelopes were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, the official told CNN.
The mail facility is in a separate building on the grounds of the Pentagon and the piece of mail which tested positive never entered the Pentagon building.
All US Postal Service mail received at the Pentagon mail screening facility on Monday is currently under quarantine and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel, according to Pentagon spokesperson Col. Rob Manning.
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Ricin Found in Mail Addressed to the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Operations
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A figure with curves always offers a lot of interesting angles.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:06AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:16AM (12 children)
One was sent to President Trump.
I'm truly sick of the violence and hatred from the left. They are very lucky that the right is more restrained, because the right is far better armed. The right is even physically stronger; actual measured strength is associated with right-thinking views.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:38AM (8 children)
What makes you think it wasn't the right? Trump keeps making enemies on both sides of the aisle.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @03:00AM
Steve Scalise was shot by Bernie supporter James Hodgkinson. Rand Paul was attacked by his socialist neighbor. Today, Andy Harris (R-MD) got attacked by leftists in his office.
Basically, socialists are trying to kill conservatives. Why would this situation be an exception? It isn't, by Occam's razor.
It's pretty typical around the world. Not long ago, Brazil's most Trump-like presidential candidate was stabbed by a socialist.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:55AM
Two of Ted Cruz's staffers are in the hospital, though that may be just a precaution. In this case, the substance hasn't yet been identified yet.
The left is murderous. The end justifies the means, and so any action is acceptable... even political assassinations.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday October 03 2018, @08:45AM (5 children)
Just an observation, I have no idea about this particular case though:
Extreme left violence is usually targeted at individuals, while extreme right violence is mostly targeted at random people.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:41PM (4 children)
Can we really make that distinction based on evidence?
It seems to me more plausible that mobs attack random people, no matter who the perpetrators are or who the targets are, whereas individuals or small groups who premeditate and plan their attacks focus on specific targets.
I can recall right-wing and left-wing people executing targeted attacks (Timothy McVeigh vs. the guy who shot up the Congressional softball game), and antifa has been doing mob-style random attacks, but I can't recall any right-wing mob random violence off the top of my head. Can you?
All I can remember is Tea Party people showing up to protests carrying assault rifles, but they didn't do anything violent.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 03 2018, @05:48PM (1 child)
Attackers in US Terror Incidents in 2017 [qz.com]
Right Leaning: 37 Attacks
Left Leaning: 11 Attacks
Islamic Extremists: 7 Attacks
Unknown: 10 Attacks
The Right is the most violent, by far.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 04 2018, @02:17PM
We were talking about targeted attacks vs. random attacks, and whether Left or Right were more prone to either.
Thanks for the link to the data. I didn't read every incident report from 2017 in the list, but I did a couple dozen. If we're gonna base our aggregate data on those, as you have, then we would honestly have to scrub those classifications with a lot more rigor than the compilers of that list did. Most of it is extremely flimsy.
For example, Global Terrorism Database ID 201707130061:
So, they asked the pipeline company workers who they thought did it, and they said, "Uhhh, probably one of them eco-nuts." GTD dutifully writes down: "Environmentalists (suspected)."
GTD ID 201706260019:
So, it couldn't have been a Muslim doing it. Couldn't have been a disgruntled Black teenager doing it. Couldn't have been a bored Hispanic teenager doing it. Couldn't have been your average New Yorker pissed that the bus had been hogging four parking spots in a row for months doing it. Nope. Had to be anti-Semitic right wingers doing it. Because reasons.
Then there's this one, GTD ID 201710220035:
GTD classified that one as "white extremists." Really? Triggering an emergency stop on a train constitutes a "white extremist" attack? What if the guy had no such affiliations but was a strict vegan? Would GTD then classify the attack as "vegan terrorism" because they want to alert the public to the growing danger of vegan terrorism?
Or maybe these GTD guys are over-classifying everything as terrorism to justify their existence and hold onto their jobs?
Lies, damn lies, and statistics. It's a saying for a reason.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday October 03 2018, @09:09PM (1 child)
My comment was based on something I read about 30 years ago. It was an article about violent right and left wing groups at the time in Europe. There were left wing groups like the German RAF, which targeted specific politicians and CEO's of the biggest corporations. On the other hand there were right wing groups that bombed public places, like a train station in Italy with over one hundred killed if I recall correctly.
I guess that both sides tend to murder those who they believe are responsible for whatever they think is wrong with the world. I suppose that may have changed over the years, from the 80's in Europe to the world we live in now.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday October 04 2018, @06:12PM
The 1980 train station had right wing executors, and an extensive cover up by the secret service. Either somebody wanted to send a message to the government and the secret service made sure news did not leak out about the government being blackmailed, or possibly it was something aimed at reinforcing the left-right division. Or, like red brigades operations, false flags aimed at undermining political movements of the same color.
I would rule out normal terrorism because there was no public statements from the terrorists. How do you terrorize people when the public does not know what the fuck you want.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:24AM
"Beware the wrath of a patient man."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @01:17PM
You gullible fool. Who burned down the Reichstag?
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Thursday October 04 2018, @04:44PM
Trump is pushing gun control and pissing off the violent factions on the right.
So far there is no info on who sent it or why.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:18AM (3 children)
What makes an envelope "suspicious"? Was the return address something like "Mohammed Mohammed Mohmmed, 123 ISIS lane, Teheran Iran"? Was there white powder dribbling out of the corners? (Hell, I don't even know what ricin looks like, but "white powder" seems to be suspicious in all circumstances, right?)
Was the envelope overstuffed, and taped together?
Think about it. You're a postal worker, and you handle thousands of envelopes and packages every single day. What makes a package "suspicious"?
Postage due might catch a postal worker's attention.
(Score: 3, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:37AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:54AM (1 child)
It's CNN. I'm guessing it's just sloppy writing. I'd assume the mail screening facility flagged it, using whatever methods they use that we have to assume are reliable. (Obviously they worked here, and it also seems obvious that if their methods were bullshit or sloppy, Pentagon secretaries would be dropping like flies, right? But if that were the case, why would this item be newsworthy?) Well, maybe we'll never know other than the entire MSM sucks at delivering anything more than soundbytes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:40AM
It's refreshing to hear someone complain that MSM only does soundbites, which is why they are terrible at reporting things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @03:44AM (2 children)
> and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel
Sounds like the lives of postal workers don't have much value.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:01AM
They aren't the ones opening it dummy. Why don't you cry about the senders who were also exposed themselves to Ricin while you're at it.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:40PM
Or there's a difference between 'tested positive for' and 'touch this evilly contaminated missive with your ungloved sweaty fingers and you'll die...muahahaha! etc. etc. etc.'.
Assuming that there was a lethal dosage and viable means of delivering it contained in the letters, the thing about using mail as a delivery system for this sort of thing is that it's a bit pointless if the delivery agents along the chain all sort of die/get mysteriously Ill before the letter(s) reach(es) the(ir) intended target(s)..gives the game away.
Once the detection gear sniffed and flagged that there was Ricin contamination (having seen the GE Streetlabs return positives for people who've only been in rooms with others smoking pot days prior to the test, I'm assuming that government mail goes through something even more sensitive), I hope that normal Hazmat/CBW procedures kicked in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @11:22PM (1 child)
Coincidentally, a federal judge just ruled that a white supremacist with plans for a ricin attack can walk free. [mydaytondailynews.com]
Seems like uptighty-whiteys lurve themselves some ricin. [myajc.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @12:39AM
LOLZ. They didn't even bother to send ricin, they just sent castor beans... [twitter.com] Laziest terrorist ever! They should have at least included a note that said "Eat me!"