Chaos, pandemonium, terrorism, popsicles, Britney Spears — this is the latest from San Bernardino where fourteen were murdered earlier this week.
Today’s developments in no certain order.
The FBI confirmed Friday that the attacks are under federal terrorism investigation.
Because we’re officially in some bizarro world, even Chris Hayes seems to get it:
And then things got weird. Starting with the jihadi couple’s landlord.
So the landlord, who did not use a popsicle, pried the wood off the doors and let the press rummage through the apartment of terror.
The Hill reported:
Members of the media on Friday swarmed into the home of the suspects in this week’s shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., as many watched in disbelief at the level of access shown on live television.Reporters for live broadcasts on networks including CNN and MSNBC said the dozens of reporters and camera crews were invited into the townhouse by its landlord.
Some reports suggested the entertainment show, Inside Edition, paid the landlord $1,000 to gain entry:
But the entire ordeal turned into a madhouse:
We’d be remiss if we left out the alleged popsicle theft that occurred in the midst of all of this. Mashable reports:
A Sunday Times reporter stands accused of popsicle theft on Friday after he was seen standing outside the San Bernardino shooters’ residence carrying an object that looked like an orange-flavored frozen ice pop.Not so, he says.The object in question was, in fact, a screwdriver that the reporter, Toby Harnden, used to assist the landlord as he broke into the house. The doors had been sealed with plywood by the FBI and the landlord, Doyle Miller, was set on letting dozens of members of the media inside.”It’s a screwdriver, not a popsicle,” Harnden tweeted as many expressed amazement that a journalist had stolen dessert from an alleged terrorist. “I was helping [the] landlord, who was right beside me, take off the board.” He added: “I can confirm that no frozen treats were involved in my assisting the landlord.”
MSNBC effectively doxxed the terrorist family members live, on air.
The Atlantic explained:
A baffling, surreal scene just played out on the two networks, where the landlord of the San Bernardino shooting suspects apparently allowed reporters into their apartment.The result was disturbing. On live national television, reporters sifted through the remains of the lives of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. They picked over children’s toys. They held up photos, speculating about whether the woman depicted in one might be Malik. They displayed Social Security cards and driver’s licenses with readily identifiable information—and not just for the deceased suspects:
As if the journalistic irresponsibility of baselessly speculating while holding up images of potentially innocent people on TV wasn’t bad enough, it beggars belief the scene wasn’t taped off and guarded. Reporters were given free rein to walk through an apartment that is an important part of the investigation, and they were allowed to handle what one would expect to be evidence. Police didn’t appear to know the media tour was going on. Brian Ries of Mashable reports:
And it ended as you’d expect:
Malik was here on a finance visa and whoever processed her application didn’t bother to verify the address she provided.
Pretty much this:
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