June 10, 2004
NYPD: Terror Email Looks Fishy
The terror email, as reported by Gawker (where you can read it in full), that's been circulating to a number of people, telling them that the NYPD has ordered an extra 2,000-3,000 body bags in anticipation of a terror attack, most likely in the subways, on the national day of mourning for President Ronald Reagan, has been dismissed by the NYPD. Yes, dismissed, even though it had a CNN email address attached to it. The NYPD says that they have "received no credible threat information concerning a widely circulated E-mail message that discusses a purported subway attack." The police believe the email was part of a virus that infilitrated the sender's various books. They are investigating the email's origins.
When Gothamist read about the terror email from Gawker, our first reaction was, "Hey! We didn't get this email firsthand - does no one care about us? Man, do we need to make new friends? Again?" And our second reaction was, "Wait - most people are going to be getting Friday off? Why didn't we get the memo?" As it turns out, the state government is giving its nonessential workers the day off with pay, while essential workers will get that day comped later on. NYC government and schools will remain open. Governor Pataki's reasoning is "so that we in New York can respectfully remember President Reagan and what his presidency meant for our state.'' Tell it to our boss, George!
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Gov. Pataki's reasoning is "so that we in New York can respectfully remember President Reagan and what his presidency meant for our state."
Yes, how "trickle down economics" ripped to shreds the social safety nets that led to a huge increase in the homelessness; how his trade policies and lack of real economic planning led to the complete abdication of the steel mills in Lackawanna (that's in far Western New York, just in case you're wondering); how his environmental policies did nothing to abate -- indeed actually encouraged -- coal plant outputs in the midwest (that's not in New York State, in case you're wondering), causing acid rain to practically take the life out of lakes in the Adirondacks (yes, NYS again); how his "housing policy" was did nothing to help protect those who needed housing the most; and of course, who can forget his drug policies that created some of the most racist prison policies in the world (crack = prison; coke = probation).
Thank you governor for a whole day to think about this.
I was going to post pretty much what GP said. so, ditto. We can all take the day off and sit around discussing how anti-city all of Reagan's economic and social policies were.
Well, Bloomberg didn't give us the day off, so upstaters can take the time to discuss.
Wow, as Gawker says this totally takes me back to the days just after 9/11. Remember the missing Verizon trucks?
The 9/11-3/11-6/11 coincidence is a bit creepy. Other than that, it's a crock of BS.
Most of wall st is off tomorrow as well, since the market is closed.
Snopes devotes a section of their site to rumors like these, including a pretty effective debunking of this "2000 extra body bags" e-mail.
What missing Verizon trucks!?!?! Oh my god!!!
Thanks for those links, Snopes.
And whatisee, while Wall Street is closed, lots of other businesses aren't.
And how, exactly, did the terrorists know that this is when Ronnie was going to die so they could plan accordingly? I don't buy it.
this rumor is obviously BS. but here are reasons someone might have made it up:
1) The 9/11, 3/11, 6/11 numerical connection. (Patterns always feed rumors.)
2) News that police in Europe recently stopped a supposedly imminent attack on the Paris Metro in the Madrid mold, planned for this week. (Although this has been denied by EU officials).
3) Bin Laden's reported "truce offer" of 3 months from 3/11 convieniently ends tomorrow. (Alhtough this was a truce for Europe, not the US).
4) Reagan's funeral on Friday (and the evacuation scare at the Capitol yesterday) has heightened terror concerns across the board.
In this environment, scaremongering rumors like this are easier to spread and more likely to be believed.
Personally, I believe its just a matter of time until trains and buses are attacked in the US the way planes have been (security is just so lax compared to flying nowadays), but tomorrow? Just as likely as next month, next year, or next decade.
Wow, I'm starting to get spooked. Not because of the original e-mail or because of Reagan. However, the 9/11-3/11-6/11 thing has me spooked, and the 3-month truce thing ending tomorrow has me spooked. The Snopes piece mentions how terrorists would prefer not to work in patterns, however, the Madrid attack was 911 days after 9/11, which seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
The city ordering additional body bags is BS. The Reagan connection is BS. But the other parts are spooky.
I want to buy a bodybag so I can fill it full of BBQ this weekend. MMMbbq.
Thanks for the links. I usually try to send the debunking back to the lists who sent me the original email.
I find these things insidious and immoral in the extreme. If people have info, they should just say it plain. Otherwise just shut up.
When we had to go down the stairs into Penn Plaza the day of the blackout, there was a woman there from my office yelling about how "Detroit's down! Boston's down! It's terrorists, I'm telling you!" And that feeling that Terror Watch described came over the crowd of us looking at a long walk back to Brooklyn. Fortunatly, I got a cellphone call out to my father upstate who told me that CNN said there was no terrorism involved. We stopped traffic when we started yelling that out.
We need to count on each other, people! Let's not be irresponsible or stupid. :>)