16 September 2017 — 1315 mdt

Sheriff calls school threat case “cyberterrorism”

According to a press release (below) from the Flathead County Sheriff, law enforcement officers, including agents of the FBI, are in contact with the person behind the threats. They do not know who are where that person is. He could be in Kila, Michigan, Timbuktu, the Ukraine, or anywhere else on Earth. They may know what he wants, but they continue to refuse to release that information to the public. But the sheriff is calling the threat cyberterrorism. Here’s the news release, which the Daily InterLake’s Matt Baldwin published on Twitter this morning:

If the threats are being made from a thousand miles away, or from across the sea, that to me suggests there’s a high probability that some kind of extortion scheme is underway. It’s possible that a ransom is being negotiated.

Frightened people demand unquestioning support for the constable

The more an event frightens people, the more their judgment becomes clouded and the more they lose tolerance for any criticism of authority, especially of law enforcement. They believe that criticism, and tough questions, impede investigations, and help the lawbreakers. They regard legitimate questions as attempts to impugn the integrity of the men and women wearing a badge, and demand blind support for whatever law enforcers, and in this situation, school authorities, decide and do. At times, the intensity of the fear approaches hysteria, and the denunciations of citizens exercising their right to demand answers become recklessly mean spirited. Given some of the feedback I’ve received, that’s happening now.

To those of you demanding that I go silent and provide blind support for whatever the powers that be do, I recommending taking a deep breath, tamping down your fears, and renewing your faith in the First Amendment. The powers that be are not asking me to not write about this situation, or urging that I write about it one way or another.