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
    103·
    4 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·
      4 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.”