This is a crazy over-reaction.
Sounds like some kid forgot to do his book report that was due today.
Seems a bit unorthodox for terrorists to issue vague warnings ahead of time.
Not when they know they’ve already won. I still say the best way to deal with terrorists is to ignore them, give them no press, and when something goes bang you mark it up to a mechanical malfunction or a lone wolf crazy. Under the radar you research and pursue the hell out of whoever issued the threat/popped the bomb. But the whole purpose of terrorism is to disrupt daily life and turn people against their impotent leadership. The OP topic is an example of terror working as planned. No bombs needed anymore.
Early reports seem to confirm your assessment. A single email from Germany threatening all the schools in both L.A. and N.Y. triggered this panic? Unless more information comes out about other intelligence that made such a tenuous and generic threat seem plausible, I think the LAUSD superintendent has been grossly irresponsible in closing the schools.
The first time a threat is ignored and a bomb goes off, there will be leaks to the press, and the lawsuits that follow will cripple the local government at the very least.
Fair, but I never said there weren’t risks. Just observing that we’ve recognized and legitimized terrorists for so long now that they can hold us hostage with mere words and I find that unacceptable. The objections you raise merely underscore my belief the press needs to be more strictly regulated, and government entities need immunity from legal action from their constituencies. Well, ok, maybe that’s not a great idea either. But still…
NY simply ignored the threat, said it was preposterous.
If you did not assume already, this was likely the reported IP due to use of a proxy (more likely than not it was Tor).
Yeah it’s interesting that the two systems went in complete opposite directions.
American schools are not going to let foreigners come and murder their kids.
I’m just going off what I heard on the radio driving to work.
If all they had was a single anonymous email then shutting down the schools was a ludicrous over-reaction and only encourages more destructive stunts like this.
NM
The one thing we won’t outsource.
The NY police commissioner said there were errors in the email that indicated it wasn’t a true jihadist, like spelling the word Allah with a lowercase “a”. It will be interesting to hear if LA can provide a reason they gave the threat any credence beyond “but San Bernardino!”
Uh, did no one in the school consider that Star Wars premieres in LA today?
Oldest trick in the book. Threat gets called in, schools close and happy students get the day off to see the premiere.
I’ve read news articles about kids that called in a threat (of some kind) just to avoid taking a test. Not realizing how seriously it can be prosecuted.
Uh, no it doesn’t. The big premiere was last night but the movie doesn’t open to the public until Friday (really Thursday).
<shrug> I got nothin then. 
Star Wars premiere is all over todays news. Didn’t bother reading the articles because I don’t care.
Did the warning come from a guy named Simon?