Erratum published in the Times Observer:
An errant classified “personal” ad which appeared in Thursday’s Times Observer has drawn the attention of law enforcement officials.
A person from Warren placed the ad, which apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end by linking him with four assassinated presidents. The ad representative didn’t make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.
Upon realizing the mistake early Thursday morning, the ad was immediately discontinued and the identity of the person who placed the ad was turned over to Warren City Police as per newspaper policy. The local police department forwarded the information to federal authorities, as per department policy.
The Times Observer apologizes for the oversight.
I do rather have to wonder how many people complained before they noticed a problem. A significant number of media outlets seem determined not to notice these problems right now.
While normally I’d employ Hanlon’s Razor, the spate of right-wing terrorism that’s gone on lately, unchallenged by the media, suggests to me that sympathetic parties are in key positions in a number of media outlets. This is scary.
I strongly prefer the attribution of the concept to Napolean. This whole Hanlon thing is some kind of wild conspiracy. Or utter stupidity on the pat of Wikipedia.