The envelope never made it to Judge Arthur Engoron, but caused an emergency response at the courthouse.

The envelope never made it to Judge Arthur Engoron, but caused an emergency response at the courthouse.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who handed down a $355 million ruling against former President Donald Trump in his civil fraud trial, was sent an envelope containing white powder on Wednesday, causing an emergency response at his New York City courthouse, a source with direct knowledge of the incident confirmed to NBC News.

The judge and his staff were not exposed to the substance — his mail is pre-screened on a daily basis and was intercepted before it reached him, the source said. A court officer opened the letter and powder fell out, according to the New York Police Department, exposing the officer and another court employee to the substance, the source said. The New York City Fire Department said the two refused any medical treatment. The threatening letter was first reported by ABC News.

The threat is far from the first against the judge. Police on Long Island responded to a bomb threat at his home last month, hours before closing arguments in the Trump trial were scheduled to begin.

  • rosemash@social.raincloud.dev
    38·
    10 months ago

    I feel like this kind of behavior can be attributed to the unintended consequences of social media engagement algorithms, black boxes taking over peoples minds and turning them into angry thralls, it’s like a natural disaster. Trump was basically an internet meme and he evolved into this

    • Szymon@lemmy.caEnglish
      272·
      10 months ago

      American education has also been nerfed to the masses, so critical thinking skills were destroyed. They created a system of useful idiots for control, rather than educating a nation for prosperity. This has been decades in the making.

      Trace the money.

      • rosemash@social.raincloud.dev
        103·
        10 months ago

        I don’t believe in conspiratorial thinking though. I don’t think this happened on purpose. Social media algorithms were built to maximize engagement by collecting user data, the algorithms learned that people engage more if posts amplifying negative emotions are amplified, and that explains how stuff like this happened. It’s actually scarier to realize the state of society is because of an accident caused by negligent capitalism rather than tyranny.

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
          2·
          10 months ago

          Precisely. I think this is absolutely the “paperclip problem.” It’s a machine designed and tuned specifically for engagement + profit. That’s it. Humanity or morals or decency aren’t part of the equation.

          To them, so what if it causes a breakdown of society and generations of smoothbrained internet-addicted feral ghouls? “Look at the ad revenue! Look at the fat happy shareholders! We’re doing such a good job. We’re changing lives.”

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
      122·
      10 months ago

      People were sending white powders in the mail before social media.

      Social media exacerbates it, but extremism is a social/ cultural acceptance issue.

      • rosemash@social.raincloud.dev
        9·
        10 months ago

        It’s the level that behavior has been amplified that’s scary and unusual, before the internet it was only the most extreme fringe groups. It isn’t normal to go online and feel like a 50/50 chance everybody you meet is an extremist. That’s a recent thing just sometime within the last 10 years and it’s never been like that before ever