Just how far does the Brett Kavanaugh fever swamp extend? All the way to my backyard. A special education teacher in Rosemount, Minnesota finds herself out of a job but in plenty of hot water after issuing a threat to the newest Supreme Court justice. The Star Tribune won’t name the teacher, but they do report that the FBI is well aware of who she is.

Yesterday, the school district placed her on administrative leave for tweeting out an incitement to violence:

The teacher, listed as an instructor at the Intermediate School District 917’s Alliance Education Center, has since deleted her Twitter account but her tweet was captured and shared by scores of users who said they reported it to the FBI and U.S. Secret Service.

A spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis said Monday that the bureau was aware of the tweet, which read: “So whose [sic] gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?”

The Star Tribune is not naming the teacher because she has not been charged with a crime. In a statement on the district’s website Monday morning, ISD 917 Superintendent Mark Zuzek confirmed the district received a complaint about an employee over the weekend and placed the employee on paid administrative leave “pending the outcome of the investigation.”

“Pursuant with the data practices act, we are limited to providing additional information regarding this matter,” Zuzek’s statement concluded.

Maybe she should have been fired for poor grammar. That required “who’s,” not “whose.” By this morning, however, the unnamed teacher had decided to depart the field and declare, um, retreat:

A Rosemount school district employee has resigned over a social media post in which she appeared to suggest that someone should kill new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The district said Tuesday that the instructor at the Alliance Education Center, whom it did not name, had voluntarily resigned from her position with the district. In a statement posted on the district’s website, Intermediate School District 917 superintendent Mark Zuzek wrote that the staff member did not make the post on Twitter while at school, adding that “there were no school devices, equipment or other school staff involved in the actions.”

This teacher likely presented more of a threat to herself than anyone else, in what appears to be a case of toxic stupidity. MPR analyst Bob Collins hearkens back to yesteryear, when people this idiotic could only mumble to themselves and therefore keep out of trouble. Providing the masses with amplifiers for their mumbling via social media might have been a bad idea, Collins wrote:

The internet and social media has given people the ability to have their voices amplified. Too often, that’s a bad idea.

Take the case of a Dakota County teacher who thought it might not be an altogether bad idea to raise the possibility of killing a sitting Supreme Court justice. …

Last week, a Florida man was arrested after he posted a series of Facebook messages that threatened to kill members of Congress and their families if Kavanaugh wasn’t confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Democracy may not survive social media and the empowerment of the formerly voiceless.

That’s certainly one way to view it. On the other hand, it might be easier to deal with people when the idiots self-identify. Unfortunately, the Kavanaughcalypse has produced a great deal of that kind of self-identification, sometimes in the most surprising places.

Tweet in haste, repent at leisure, it seems. No one’s quite sure which law enforcement agency will take the lead on this investigation, at least in the media. The FBI might have jurisdiction on federal criminal law, but the US Marshals provide security for federal courts. The Strib’s report includes statements from the local police and county sheriff that neither agency has opened an investigation into the alleged threat, but it’s highly unlikely that this kind of incitement will go unpunished entirely.

John Hinderaker posted a picture of the alleged pink-haired perp, and predicts that it won’t take long for federal law enforcement to take care of business:

The pink hair is a nice touch. It should make her easy to identify. This woman, whatever her name is, can serve as the exemplar of today’s Democratic Party. Let’s murder the people who disagree with us! God help them, in all their pink-haired splendor, if their opponents decide to turn the tables.

It’s enough, I think, to simply shine a light on them.