Posted on 10/24/2004 5:08:47 PM PDT by Ex-Dem
Washington D.C.'s Secret Service is investigating Charlie Brooker of the UK Guardian. The entertainment writer's weekend, anti-Bush tantrum, ending with the words, "John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr.--where are you now that we need you," was picked up by the Drudge Report,--using Brooker's provocative last words as the main headline.
Citing federal statute 18 USC 879, Florida attorney John B. Thompson, called in the Secret Service Protective Intelligence Unit. "Please do whatever is necessary to punish the UK Guardian and to educate Matt Drudge on the meaning and scope of statute 18," Thompson wrote in a letter faxed to the SS on Saturday.
Thompson's letter indicates that not only was his complaint being taken seriously by the SS, but that it had already been tipped off about the Guardian story before receipt of his letter.
"I am relieved to find out that you were alerted to this danger last evening and are working on it."
Following a telephone call to the Unit, Thompson registered surprise that the Secret Service seemed unaware of the magnitude of the Drudge Report. "(But) in calling you today, I find that you did not know that one of the most visited sites on the Internet, with more than 10 million hits every 24 hours, is highlighting this call for the assassination of President Bush by placement of it as a headline, as follows: "UK Guardian: "John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr.--where are you now that we need you?"
"This is to be found this morning at www.drudgereport.com. The owner of the Drudge Report is Matt Drudge, who lives on South Beach (Miami Beach), Florida. I would encourage the Secret Services Miami office to pay Mr. Drudge a visit to tell him he needs to comply with the law and take down that screaming red headline."
Thompson's concern is that the combined circulations of the Guardian and Drudge Report manifest a siren call to whackos among the millions of readers reached by the publications.
"As I noted in our call, my friend, who is an Assistant United States Attorney, successfully prosecuted some numbskull who was talking about killing Dan Quayle in a bar. It would seem that an American journalist who puts a threat of the above kind on his website seen by millions is being at least as reckless as the aforementioned drunk," Thompson said in his letter.
In his anti-Bush tirade, Brooker wrote: "On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us" before ending with his call for a would-be Booth, Oswald and Hinckley Jr.
The television entertainment writer seems to have his knickers in a twist about the "Bush-wears-a-wire-to-televised-debates theory.
"The internet's abuzz with speculation that Bush has been wearing a wire, receiving help from some off-stage lackey. Screen grabs appearing to show a mysterious bulge in the center of his back are being traded like Top Trumps. Prior to seeing this debate footage, I regarded this with healthy skepticism: the whole "wire" scandal was just wishful thinking on behalf of some amateur Michael Moores, I figured.
"Quite frankly, the man's either wired or mad. If it's the former, he should be flung out of office: tarred, feathered and kicked in the nuts. And if it's the latter, his behaviour goes beyond strange, and heads towards terrifying."
Brooker criticizes the American media for purportedly ignoring the wire theory. "...And then I start hunting around the internet, looking to see what the US media made of the whole "wire" debate. And they just let it die. They mentioned it in passing, called it a whacko conspiracy theory and moved on."
The American website, www.rense.com, which leans heavily on UFO and alien abduction stories, made the most of the wire theory.
Answering media inquiries about his "mysterious bulge", President Bush identified it as "my spine."
Meanwhile, at press time, Brooker's calling all assassins story was still being carried by the Guardian and Drudge Report.
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: cfp@canadafreepress.com.
I'm glad to read that the SS is on the case. I read the article earlier and it made me sick. that guy needs a beating.
I bet it is. He's a Florida attorney.
Correcting myself, I meant the "mystery bulge" not wire! Ack.
Drudge should have an interesting show tonight.
check this out, and maybe they'll leave Drudge alone. It would have gotten out without him.
Salon.com Announces Election-Year Initiative
With MoveOn, The Guardian and Air America
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/affalert152.shtml
John B. Thompson = our friend Jack Thompson
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=%22John+B.+Thompson%22+++florida++jack
Yes, telling people to chill out is a heinous crime indeed. Will you be reporting me to the FBI too?
I'm embarrassed, for you.
I don't understand why you're so excited about it. A satirist who writes a column for a magazine in another country made a poor-taste joke about the president. What's the deal? Why get so hot under the collar about it?
Have you ever read The Guide? Do you even know what it is? Had you even heard of it before my post?
What does it matter to you what some random funny-man you've never heard of says about the president?
475 posted on 10/24/2004 8:18:59 PM EDT by Choccy
I don't think Drudge will get into any trouble over this. I think Drudge will be told that the way he posted the link to the article was probably an issue. I doubt that Drudge will get into any trouble.
Is this the same one?
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200111%5CCUL20011126d.html
And I suspect he's the same one quoted in this CNSNews article, explaining that a web site advocating the death of a number of public figures (including Pres. Reagan) was violating federal law.
It is a little hard to figure why he thinks Drudge is somehow culpable for reporting what the Guardian printed, but then perhaps I don't understand Section 18, either.
I agree and I do not think Drudge did anything wrong. My point was simply how I thought he got the attention of the SS and what I suspect will come of it.
It has to be "Batman" Jack. He is one of the strangest human beings on the planet.
Have you ever watched "The State." It was a hilarious skit show on MTV in the mid-nineties. One of the episodes had a running joke that carried through all of the skits, all funny on their own. Anyhow, the joke was abut the dangers of saying "I'm going to kill the President" on television. I don't know if any real event spurred this joke, but every time a character would say those words the "Secret Service" would take them and everything else away.
Funny, but the point is not. To simply say it publicly is like yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater. In this case, yelling "Fire" in a crowd of would be assassins. Actually intending for it to happen or not doesn't matter. In Drudge's case, I think the problem is headlining it, thus giving it the appearence of a call to arms, though I'm sure it's not what he intended. He probably won't be in any ctual trouble so long as he removes the headline.
Drudge's headline still is up but I guess the Secret Service got to him
It's now black, not red.
I heard Fox news talking about this Guardian article this morning. I was hoping it would not make it to the national news on tv. You know there are lots of nutcases out there just looking for attention or a reason to be on tv. The more coverage this gets the more chances there are that it will reach a nutcase's ear. We need to pray for President Bush's safety.
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