AZFamily.com- A former assistant professor at Arizona State University is facing criminal charges for allegedly threatening a treasured piece of American history. According to authorities, Carlos Balsas, 41, of Tempe, was charged with making terroristic threats and several other offenses on Sunday after he said he was going to blow up Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell. Balsas reportedly claimed to have explosives in his possession when he walked into the historic site. Two black backpacks were found nearby and a bomb squad was brought in.  No explosives were found, and the scene was eventually cleared. According to Maricopa County Superior Court records, Balsas was an ASU assistant professor beginning in 2004, teaching urban planning. He was denied tenure and promotion to associate professor after a lengthy performance review process that began in 2009. Balsas faces a host of federal charges including making terroristic threats. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to review the case on Monday.

This is the number one reason I’ve always been a little skeptical of every professor I’ve ever had: just because someone gives you a piece of paper saying that you’re smart doesn’t always mean you are. There’s no doubt that most of the people who teach are pretty normal (or as normal as a person who devotes their entire life to going to school can be), but I’m convinced that pretty much anyone can pay enough money and spend enough time studying to be able to reach the upper levels of academia. And Carlos Balsas is Exhibit A, because as much as I admire someone finally deciding to put that thing out of it’s misery, you have to be absolutely insane if you’re going to put the time and effort into planning a terrorist attack decide on the Liberty Bell as your target. This makes the underwear bomber look like fucking Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I don’t know if I can think of a more “Oh, that’s it?” national landmark. It’s only historical significance is having a giant crack running down the middle, you have to go to Philadelphia to see it, and the thing doesn’t even fucking ring. What was Carlos’ end goal here? Make it more broken? Then people would have been forced to walk an extra 100 feet to a place with actual history and then go eat a cheesesteak like every single person that has visited Philly in the past 30 years. What a travesty that would have been.