The Continuing Cheapening of the Word "Terrorism"

"Terroristic threats"?

A pickup truck driver is accused of trying to run over a bicyclist and then coming after him brandishing an ax after a road-rage incident in Burnsville last weekend.

The driver, Mitchel J. Pieper, 32, of Burnsville, was charged in Dakota County District Court on Tuesday with making terroristic threats, a felony, in connection with the altercation Saturday. The bicyclist was not seriously hurt.

Seems like a normal threat to me. Or assault, with intent to do bodily harm. What's wrong with those criminal statutes?

Let's save the word "terrorism" for things that actually are terrorism.

Exactly. I'm getting pretty annoyed with all these DA recently who are pursuing overblown charges to get some bona fides for their political future. Maybe this has always happened and I just didn't notice it because it was not in the computer/national security space.