Jeff Goldstein, who has always been a friend to CQ from its earliest days, has found himself and his family the target of some despicable threats, apparently from an academic at the University of Arizona. This series of e-mails allegedly came from Deb Frisch, a professor of psychology at Arizona with some history of on-line histrionics:

"I’d like to hear more about your “tyke” by the way. Girl? Boy? Toddler? Teen? Are you still married to the woman you ephed to give birth to the tyke?

Tell all, bro!"

***

"[...] as I said elsewhere, if I woke up tomorrow and learned that someone else had shot you and your “tyke” it wouldn’t slow me down one iota. You aren’t “human” to me."

***

" Ooh. Two year old boy. Sounds hot. You live in Colorado, I see. Hope no one Jon-Benets your baby.

Are you still married to the woman you humped to produce the toddler? "

***

Give your pathetic progeny (I sure hope that mofo got good genes from his mama!) a big fat tongue-filled kiss from me! LOTS AND LOTS OF SALIVA from Auntie MOONBAT, if you don’t mind!

Somehow, Jeffy boy, I think you get off on the possibility of Frenching your pathetic progeny, even if it is a boy. You seem like a VERY, VERY sick mofo to me, bro.

If this came from Frisch, then perhaps she would be better off the subject of psychotherapy than teaching it. In any case, regardless of whether you agree with Jeff's politics or not, we should all join in condemning this kind of attack on anyone. I'd condemn this kind of sick, perverted threat if it was aimed at anyone in the blogosphere. Nor do I think this is indicative of anyone's politics; I've had plenty of debate even with hard-Left bloggers and commenters without ever encountering anything like this. Namecalling is petty and childish, but it goes with the territory and immature people across the political spectrum engage in it. These threats have nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with intimidation, a kind of terrorism, in its way.

The Univeristy of Arizona is a fine institution -- in fact, the Admiral Emeritus is an alumnus of the school. We root for them every year when they play ASU and USC. One hopes that the adults in charge will investigate this immediately to determine whether Frisch sent these e-mails herself (they came from her university e-mail account, apparently), and if so, that they kick her out ASAP. The FBI should also investigate what Frisch intended by her reference to Jon Benet Ramsey, if she was the one who wrote it.

In the meantime, bloggers across the spectrum should denounce these threats as the sick, perverted, and unacceptable rantings they are, regardless of their author and their intended target. (via Michelle Malkin, who has other links as well.)

UPDATE: Well, this was quick -- apparently the University of Arizona doesn't mess around. The administrators started getting e-mails from Jeff's readers, and now Frisch admits to the threats and has resigned, according to her blog. In her post, titled "white flag", she blames Jeff for her woes:

Some blogs have posted comments that I perceive to be physically threatening. I have contacted the FBI and the Pajamas Media staff to determine how to proceed with this aspect of this unbelievable experience.

My intention in this post is to de-escalate the situation. The comments that started this all were nasty, not threatening. But I feel very threatened by the response.

Riiiiiiight.. She sent these disgusting messages, including a reference to a notorious child murder, and she doesn't see them as threats -- but demands for accountability for those threats have her scared. The funniest part is that she contacted the FBI, which if true, means that they will have to investigate her original messages that started the whole thing ... along with her admission. Her readers aren't fooled:

You really succeeded in making liberals look like psychopaths. Can you do the rest of us a favor, and either stop posting entirely, [or] join the Republican Party? ...

"In hindsight, the things I wrote were over the line of nastiness." Actually, in hindsight, you wrote a bunch of things that could reasonably be interpreted as physically threatening his child. That's not just "nasty"; that's against the law. The fact you can't figure this out, even with the benefit of hindsight, says a great deal about you. The fact you now wrap yourself in a cocoon of pretended victimhood says a great deal more.

I think the Wildcats just learned about addition through subtraction. Go 'Cats!

UPDATE II: The Instapundit cautions us not to assume it's Frisch, even with the blog post on her site, noting that people can still spoof identities easily enough on line. In this case, it seems like a long shot; Frisch has archives going back as long as mine. It is possible that someone hacked her site and posted this under her name, but that seems pretty farfetched. It's not impossible, however.

UPDATE III: Jeff's site is back on the air, so to speak, so we can all enjoy Protein Wisdom yet again. In reading through the comments, I notice that we are quick to blame liberals (and for some strange reason, lesbians) for this kind of behavior. Let me state once more that this has nothing to do with political points of view and everything to do with a seriously damaged sense of judgment and perhaps some emotional problems. Most liberals (and lesbians) I know are decent, well-mannered people who do not deserve to get lumped in with the Deb Frisches of the world. I give you Jeralynn Merritt for a case in point (via Allahpundit at Hot Air).

Let's remember that before we start painting with wide brushes here -- and let's refrain from attempting to guess someone's sexual preferences, especially when it has no relation to the topic.

UPDATE IV: Let's not get wild on this idea of requiring a response from everyone in the blogosphere on this story. Deb Frisch is responsible for her actions -- not Mahablog, nor any other left-wing blogger who never linked or blogrolled Frisch in the first place. The "crickets chirping" on the Left just means that they probably don't read Jeff or Deb Frisch. If we make it a requirement to comment on every blogger who crosses the line on either side of the political divide, none of us will have time for anything else.

Now, if someone uses their blog to defend her comments, then that's a basis for criticism. Otherwise, further commentary is not a requirement.

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