Man Arrested for Anti-Obama Facebook Post
A Stillwater, Minnesota man was arrested on Monday evening, charged with threatening the life of President Barack Obama inÂ a Facebook post he says he made in jest. The US Attorneysâ office said Tuesday morningÂ that 39-year-old Eric Arthur Blair was charged in a criminal complaint. Investigators monitoring BlairâsÂ Facebook account flagged posts in which heÂ discussed his intentÂ to âhogtie,â âslaughter,â and âsmokeâ Obama. BlairÂ runs his familyâs hog farm in nearby St. Paul and insisted that the message was a joke. The US attorneyâs office began monitoring Blairâs Facebook pageÂ last January after racially insensitive comments and illustrations he posted were flagged by Facebook andÂ forwardedÂ to the US Secret Service. Images from BlairâsÂ now deactivated page included several in which the President and Mrs.Â Obama appeared dressed in jungle attire while hosting a state dinner. Mrs. Obama was shown offering slices of watermelon to world leaders, also caricatured. German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared in one of the illustrations wearing a nazi armband. Sgt. Edward Bell of the Benton County Sheriffâs Office accompanied Secret Service members to the Blair farm. âBy law, we are required to investigate all threats or perceived threats,â said Bell. âOfficers were denied entrance onto the suspectâs property.â BlairÂ was placed under arrest and taken into custody, charged with intent to inflict bodily harm upon the President and resisting arrest. His computer and an external hard drive were confiscated. The secret service responds to thousands of threats against the President each year. FewÂ result in arrest or prosecution. No no such luck for Blair, an individual exercising his freedom of speech and freedom of expression rights. Shouldnât the Secret Service, with its tarnished image, be stopping knife-wielding fence jumpers who actually enter the White House, rather than wasteÂ taxpayersâ money by investigating innocentÂ Facebook posts meant to provide humor? BlairÂ couldÂ spend up to 3 months behind bars for resisting arrest, although his attorney is askingÂ forÂ a swift dismissal of allÂ charges, stressing that his clientâs comments, while inappropriate, demonstrated no intent to harm the President or members of his family.