Weekly civic intelligence report ยท v2.2
A man faced federal and state charges for spraying vinegar on Rep. Ilhan Omar, representing a violent incident against a congressional representative. This is a criminal assault on a political figure.
This is a criminal assault on a member of Congress, but the substance is extraordinarily trivial (vinegar spray). Violence driver scores 3 for physical assault on political figure, rule_of_law scores 2 for criminal charges being filed appropriately, civil_rights scores 1 for potential targeting. However, mechanism_modifier is 0.4 because 'norm_erosion_only' without institutional damage, and the incident is isolated with no systemic constitutional impact. The perpetrator was charged, system responded appropriately. B-score is elevated due to high outrage potential (assault on Omar), meme-ability of absurd weapon choice (vinegar), and strong media coverage of political violence narrative. Layer 2 mismatch is high (8) - the hype around 'violence against Congress' vastly exceeds actual constitutional damage from vinegar spray. A-score of 2.77 is well below threshold of 25. Despite federal scope and narrow population affected, this is fundamentally a single criminal incident with appropriate legal response, no institutional breakdown, and trivial actual harm. The 'norm erosion' mechanism without structural damage flags this as noise - it's a criminal assault properly prosecuted, not a constitutional crisis.
Monitor for pattern: if part of coordinated campaign against representatives or if prosecution fails. Single incident with appropriate charges = noise.