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It's been said that Barack Obama is the first President to truly utilize social media in campaigning and getting out his message. Is it a coincidence then, that President Obama is the first President to have his life threatened, sometimes dozens of times each day, on that same social media?
Should each threat against the President on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or on a private website be taken seriously? Should the Secret Service investigate the hundreds or thousands of such threats that cross its desk every year? And what happens if they don't? What happens if one person posts a Tweet or a Facebook threat and that threat is written off as just a joke, and the person making the threat carries through with it?
Should we take that chance?
It doesn't really matter if you're a popular college lad with a taste for cold beer, fast living, hot chicks and guns. It doesn't matter if your friends come rushing to your defense and say you were only kidding. And it certainly doesn't matter if a California would-be politician accused two weeks earlier of doing the same thing tries to explain your actions.
It is against the law to threaten the life of the President of the United States -- or any other Federal Government official.
MEET TBONE HUFFMAN
This screencap from the website that broke the story on Taylor Huffman's threat compiled several images of the Tarleton State University student, showing his enjoyment of beer, pretty women, friends, and inappropriate Tweets.
The trouble for Tbone started on Dec. 30 when he posted the following plans for the new year on Twitter.
New years resolution= assassinate Obama
A stupid thing to write. Sure. Even more stupid? His name was right there under the tweet!
It took only a little bit of amateur sleuthing to determine that Tbone Huffman was, in fact, Taylor Ross Huffman, former Sophomore of the Year at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.
It would be easy to ignore the tweet if one did not stop to consider how many assassins and would-be assassins were not taken seriously when they made similar such statements. Would Congresswoman Gabby Giffords had been so severely wounded and six people have been killed if someone had noticed and taken action when Jared Loughner, the accused shooter, showed warning signs?
The tweet was reported to a special Secret Service e-mail address. As a result, Mr. Huffman closed his Twitter account, pulled down his Facebook account, erased his LinkedIn profile and, for all practical purposes, disappeared from the Internet.
This did not stop friends from coming to his defense.
MEET BROCK NELSON WEEMS
What is it with these Texas boys, they can't have their picture taken without some eye candy on their arm?
Mr. Weems was not at all happy that the webmaster who broke the story about his friend... broke the story. About his friend.
Two comments to the webmaster's Facebook Fan page would indicate his distress.
your old as @!$%#. ignorant. and if you wanted so much to do with politics you should had ran for a position. You can obviously see that my friend wasn't serious about his tweet, your just trying to be a dick because you have nothing else in life to do, im sure your old, single, and miserable. Go @!$%# yourself. Sincerely, TEXAS.
Gosh. Obama shouldn't do THAT!
The webmaster replied.
First of all, if you are in the same college as T-bone, you might want to work on your punctuation and spelling if you want a real job -- assuming you graduate. Secondly, threatening the president is against the law. It's like joking about a bomb in the airport security line. Third, I have plenty to do. Right now, for instance, I have to add your comments to a story I'm writing for Newsvine. Like the story says, the stuff you write on the Internet... it's forever. When you apply for a job, Brock m'lad, be assured your defense of this threat will pop up. Good job.
The second comment from Mr. Weems was shorter.
you were stalking my friend pretty bad, are you a petafile or just a creep?
This also begged a response.
Petaphile? I assure you, sir, I have nothing to do with PETA.
Keep in mind, these messages were written by a college student. A product of the Texas Public Education system. So, what do we know about Mr. Weems, since he seems to be inviting scrutiny it would be rude not to comply!
Have you considered the gay porn industry? You don't actually have to BE gay, you just have to be good looking and hunky. And it would be "something new!"
Well. It would seem our hero has acting aspirations. This profile was posted on "InstantCast," which promises its members they will "Find fame with the most casting calls." He fails to include a headshot, though. Isn't that a waste of time? Here's his InstantCast info.
His Twitter Account shows he's really mad at the President for forcing his friend to threaten his life.
Whoops! Another hit on the Facebook account. What does our new friend say this time!
well jackass, I graduate in December. And Im not trying to impress you with my gramar or punctuation. Im on my phone. When im finished with law school I will not have any issue finding a job. So do as you please. Obviously your a coward for hiding what I have to say on your public profile. So again, go @!$%# yourself. Your pathetic. Write what you want, your a nobody. Your just trying to find ways to get yourself out there by making big deals out of nothing. Your old, your time has passed. Sorry bout ya.
Good luck finding a job with a law firm. Maybe you could be a defense lawyer. Horrible spelling, horrible grammar, but that's why lawyers have paralegals to do the hard work. Like spelling things correctly.
Oh well. We grow too soon old and too late smart. And Brock isn't alone.
MEET SARA KATHERINE PIERCE
This screen cap from Sara's Twitter account shows just how irritated she was that everyone was picking on Taylor.
Sara Katherine Pierce likes buff guys. The Tuscaloosa, Ala., college student likes guys who know how to spoil a woman. She’s currently angry with her little sister.
Main reason I should never do anything nice for my sister, she is a huge f---n bitch the next day.
She loves a guy in uniform and “Guys that call you sweet names like darlin’ and doll.”
Her first wish for 2012 is “Obama out of Office” because she says she “HATES” Barack Obama and thinks everyone is just being so MEAN to her friend Tbone for his little joke the other day.
The attached screencaps of her Twitter Account show just how irritated she was over all those mean people picking on a sweet boy like Tbone!
And it wasn't just pretty college girls from Alabama who rushed to Mr. Huffman's side.
MEET JULES MANSON
Jules Manson is 48 years old. He lives in a trailer park in Carson, Calif., where he was a city council candidate last year -- coming in 5th out of the five candidates with 3.5 percent of the vote. He wrote to the website that broke the story about "Tbone," saying...
Meet Jules Manson -- failed city council candidate, online death threat afficianado.
January 3, 2012 at 4:30 am(Edit)
I am literally laughing my ass off at this gentleman’s tweet. Here is my take on it:
We know for sure that he has no plans to execute or assist anyone in this endeavor. If he had, he would have been quiet about it. Therefore even if Secret Service investigate him, they should know that he is not the person they need to talk with.
Secondly, it was New Years fuggen eve. He was probably drinking and having a good time. In other words, he was not in the right state of mind. And another thing, was it possible that someone else tweeted that on his phone?
You good people should have thought of this. Why do I always have to put on my thinking cap for you dull-witted minions?
As is the case with all comments to this particular website, in order to comment on the site you must include a valid e-mail address. And the system grabs the IP address from where an individual sends the e-mail. Using this information, the webmaster learned that this Jules Manson was the same Jules Manson featured in a Dec. 20 New York Daily News story. Seems Mr. Manson had a visit of his own from the Secret Service after posting a threat against the president -- and his children -- during an online chat.
This screencap from the New York Daily News, Dec. 20, shows that Mr. Manson had some experience in dealing with the Secret Service.
From the Daily News story...
Manson, a rabid supporter of Tea Party pioneer Ron Paul, called for Obama’s assassination in a recent Facebook post that criticized the President’s decision last week to support a revised military authorization bill.
He blasted the new legislation as an assault on constitutional protections.
“Assassinate the f—– (N-word) and his monkey children,” he goaded, according to a screen grab obtained by YourBlackWorld.com.
An angry backlash quickly ensued, and Manson deleted the posting from his account but defended his right to spew hate.
Further into the story...
He claimed Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Dale Ogden had endorsed him, but Ogden said he did not recall giving a formal endorsement when he met Manson while handing out Libertarian party literature at a street fair.
“He might have been, perhaps, a bit more hard-core than most Libertarians, but I am surprised and puzzled by his specific advocacy of an assassination,” Odgen told the Daily News in an email.
Ogden said he did not consider Manson “a serious threat” after obtaining an oath of non-violence from him via Facebook Monday.
Birds of a feather? Perhaps. The webmaster sent a copy of his story regarding Mr. Manson to the same Secret Service e-mail address he sent the young Texas student's threat.
Sadly, this is not a rare occurrence. The webmaster at "Viletweets.com" goes through this sort of thing every day. Sorts through Twitter looking for the racist tweets, the vulgar references to the president or other Democrats, and he pays special attention to the death threats. Each threat, real or perceived, is sent to the Secret Service for investigation.
Sometimes, it's obvious that the alleged threat is made by someone with no intention of carrying through with it. The morning of Jan. 5, for instance, a 16 year old girl from Alpine, Utah, tweeted...
"I have a bomb and I'm going to kill president obama. Hahahaha."
This youngster is a harpist, a high school athlete, a standout on her local soccer team. And at the moment, blissfully unaware that the webmaster of the VileTweets site has reported her to law enforcement.
As Mr. Huffman learned when he had to pull down all his various social media accounts, as Mr. Manson apparently learned after the Secret Service visited his trailer, joking about killing the president is like making jokes about having a weapon in the security line at the airport.
It's not funny. It's taken seriously. You will be arrested, questioned to determine whether or not you are a real threat or just an ignorant loudmouth. And, especially for the youngsters, it is a blot on your record that will pop up when you apply for college, entry into the military, or when your prospective employers do a "Google" search prior to hiring you.
There is no such thing as being "anonymous" on the Internet. Sadly, this may turn out to be a long-term, expensive lesson for these folks.
