Memorial Day Madness

Today is set aside to remember with gratitude those who gave their lives to establish and maintain this great nation. Let us endeavor to be citizens worthy of their sacrifice. Some of us haven’t been, apparently.

Erick Erickson says he was SWATted, although this time cops checked with him first and didn’t call the SWAT team. I have come to understand there is some way a phone number can be hacked or “spoofed” to make it seem it is coming from a targeted person’s house.

As I said yesterday, tomorrow morning there will be a hearing on a “peace order” request filed by the alleged perpetrator of an earlier SWAT, Brett Kimberlin. Note that the evidence against Mr. Kimberlin is way circumstantial. As explained here, some parts of the rightie blogosophere are being harassed by somebody, and they figure Kimberlin must be behind it because who else would be so pissed off at them?

I’ll pause for a while until you are done snickering.

Seriously, actual harassment, not to mention getting SWAT teams called to someone’s house, is very, very bad and not helping anybody, and if anyone reading this has done such a thing, shame on you. Don’t do it any more.

Regarding the peace order — as I said, it’s my understanding that Kimberlin is trying to get the peace order filed against a blogger named Aaron Walker (his blog). And I believe this is happening in Maryland. So I looked it up and learned that to qualify for a peace order, these conditions must be met:

  • An act that causes serious bodily harm;
  • An act that places you in fear of immediate serious bodily harm;
  • Assault in any degree;
  • Attempted or actual rape or sexual offense; (go to MD Statutes, and read sections 3-303 through 3-308 for the definitions);
  • False imprisonment;
  • Harassment (read the defintion at MD Statutes section 3-803);
  • Stalking (read the definition at MD Statutes section 3-802);
  • Trespass;
  • Malicious destruction of property (read the definition at MD Statutes section 6-301).*

Here’s more information explaining the difference between a peace order and a protective order. And I’m pretty sure, based on this, that you can’t get a peace order filed on someone just because he has said nasty things about you on the Internet. So it will be interesting to see whether the court takes the request seriously or throws it out.

(Walker does tell his side of the story, sort of. He has published on his blog an account that goes on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on on and on and on without ever getting to a clear explanation as to what actually happened between him and Kimberlin. I wasted way too much time on it yesterday and only got a headache.)

Little Lulu is in her overwrought best, saying “Don’t let this insane story of online terrorism, which transcends politics, die. Silence is complicity. Et lux in tenebris lucet…

Yes, but the question is, who are the insane online terrorists? Among other things, Lulu also says “Action alert: Ask Barbra Streisand to answer for funding the work of political terrorist Brett Kimberlin.” WTF?

The Streisand Foundation gives grants to non-profit groups that support environmental issues, women’s issues, civil liberties, civic engagement, education, and civil rights. Apparently the Streisand Foundation has given money to the Justice Through Music project, which allegedly was founded by Kimberlin. “Justice Through Music Project (“JTM”) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that uses famous musicians and bands to organize, educate and activate young people about the importance of civil rights, human rights and voting,” their website says. And based on this post, JTM might need a peace order, too.

The Right just loves these guilt-by-association games. They target someone as being “bad,” and then they try to seek out and defame anyone who can be connected to that person, directly or indirectly. Barbara Streisand is a perfect example. What does she have to answer for? Does the Right have any evidence that Streisand’s money was used for anything other than some probably innocuous do-gooder projects? I doubt it.

And R.S. McCain, who says he has had to go into hiding, spent a whole blog post on Kimberlin’s aunt because (1) she is Kimberlin’s aunt, and (2) she once gave $20,000 to the Threshold Foundation, dedicated to the environment and transcendental meditation, and Threshold in turn donated to Justice Through Music. Again, guilt by association. (She’s a witch! Burn her!)

Rightie bloggers claim Kimberlin is harassing them because they are exposing the truth about his criminal past. But the criminal past was not secret. It had been written up in Time magazine and in a book published by a major publisher. If there is any truth to these harassment claims, it’s more likely that someone is retaliating for being unjustly defamed.

If it’s true that Kimberlin or anyone else has been harassing right-wing bloggers, it’s wrong, and it should stop. But it’s really hard to empathize with people who whine about being bullied in the very same posts they are bullying others.

And if you want to see an example of people being targeted just for speaking their minds, go to Atlanta.

See also Cannonfire and Meghan McCain.

16 thoughts on “Memorial Day Madness

  1. Crazy stuff. The trouble with Memorial Day is that all the movie stations show nothing but war movies. I think Memorial Day is as good as any day for a romantic comedy. Make love not war.

  2. All of this would be rather fun, if these violent feckin’ moronic idjit’s weren’t so feckin’ deadly serious.

    Fact are like Kryptonite to these people.
    And how do you deal with people who can look at empirical history, numbers, statistic’s, and proven facts, and tell you they feel like the numbers are completely wrong and are lying to them, since they’re obviously Liberal ones, since they don’t agree with them.
    2+2 doesn’t equal 4.
    It equals whatever the guy on talk radio, or FOX News, is telling them it equals.
    To them, a Shortstop who makes an error a day, and is hitting his body weight, is Honus Wagner, Cal Ripkin, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter, all rolled into one – if not better.

    We’ll be lucky if all we end up with is another Civil War.
    These feckin’ idjit’s are determined on another Holocaust, with anyone who disagrees with them – meaning the Commies, Gypsies, Gays, Jews, and women, blacks, and Hispanic’s who are too uppity, as unworthy of drawing another breath.

  3. Thanks for the link. And thanks for placing me next to Meghan. I fear I’m forming a bit of a crush on her, even if she is way too young for me.

  4. I’ve seen Meghan on several shows, and she seems to be rather level headed and mainstream. As the father of a pretty young blonde, it pains me to see the insults hurled at her by cyberbullies.

    Several months ago, I contacted my local congress critter’s office to thank her for voting in favor of the high speed rail system. She is a Republican. I asked her staff member if the political climate was heating up, and he said he couldn’t comment.
    I think we’ll see more people in politics leaving to spend time with their families;
    that’s code for the threats and hate mail are over the top.
    As we all know, the world is chock full of idiots with computers. Most are harmless blow hards, but there are also many VERY angry 60 somethings who are armed and dangerous.

    • As we all know, the world is chock full of idiots with computers. Most are harmless blow hards, but there are also many VERY angry 60 somethings who are armed and dangerous.

      One of the things that is fascinating me about this Brett Whozits episode is the way no one blogging about it seems capable of clearly and succinctly explaining what the big deal is. Other that the SWAT episodes, there are many references to unspecified harassments and much certitude that Kimberlin (had to look his name up) is behind them, but the prose is so unhinged and over the top none of it is making sense. I’m not saying they are imagining things, necessarily, but I suspect their perceptions are pretty warped.

  5. Maha — that’s the very point I’ve made a number of times. I’ve kept an eye on the blog wars that emerged out of Weinergate. Everyone who takes part in this ongoing internet mayhem displays an inability to construct a comprehensible linear narrative.

    That goes for both the right-wing and left-wing participants.

  6. As one who has managed to construct a life removed from the stress of living with and/or combatting the unhinged, I find the whole concept of SWATIng bizarre and somewhat incredible to start with. Really? SWAT teams don’t have procedures that prevent their random deployment? I mean, I know we’ve been militarizing local law enforcement, but… I’m sorry, the skeptical, evidence-based liberal in me has to ask, has any third party seen a police report of these activities?

    Assuming that harrassment IS happening, why do they think it’s Kimberlin and not, say, Graeme Frost or someone? I’m just sayin’ that I imagine that there is probably a line, if you know what I mean.

  7. Isn’t that McCain guy the blogger who posted lewd pictures of himself wearing nothing but a marble bag? And I think he also boasts about winning some middle school award for journalism from some back water red neck organization. I wouldn’t give too much credence to anything that wannabe journalist has to say.

  8. I’ve been asking these questions, too. I mean, sure, Kimberlin was definitely–and more importantly, demonstrably–a bad guy in the late 70’s. And as sympathetic as I am to the concept that once folks do their time, they ought to be given a chance to prove they’re not who they used to be, I’m not so sure he should be the face of a liberal organization (to the extent he actually is, anyway.)

    Worthing certainly tried to paint the picture, and from what I’ve read of his epic novel, he has been somewhat wronged by Kimberlin, what with the number of lawsuits and legal motions that’ve passed between them. (But at the same time, all those legal filings and whatnot call the allegations about violence into question, at least logically. Would a guy who intends to blow you up really bother with all this legal nonsense? Maybe… but probably not.) And yet, Worthing and his wife, who worked at the same establishment, we’re both let go, because their employer and some of their co- workers didn’t want to be collateral damage when Kimberlin, et, al came to blow the Worthing’s up. (And of course, “Runaway” Stacey McCain packed up his family and abandoned their home because a phone call to Mrs. McCain’s place of work suggested that Brett Kimberlin knew their address.)

    And the Patterico raid has dropped a notch or two in intensity. Now, it wasn’t a swat team in full riot gear repelling down the sides of his house and smashing in the windows, machine guns at the ready, but several uniformed deputies knocking on his door and asking questions. Still just as wrong, and still just as deserving of a criminal probe, charges, and a conviction, but a whole lot less impressive or eye catching…

    As for the tapes and the rest, mighty circumstantial, and like Barbara said, kind of a self-fulfilling thing… Frey and the others already “know” whodunit, so it’s not real surprising that all of their circumstantial and personal ear witness testimony points to the folks that they believe are the suspects… …and it’s ALSO not surprising that law enforcement appears to be taking all of their evedence and theories with copeous grains of salt.

    Now, I’ve heard that even daring to ask such questions makes me (and some of you, as well) “Kimberlin Truthers,” ( http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Kimberlin+Truthers%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari ) but it seems to me that it is the folks getting ahead of the professionals and buying into unsubstantiated theories that are the Truthers, not the folks who are waiting for expert testimony and the opinions of law enforcement professionals before diving in head first.

    I absolutely want whoever is responsible for these false 911 calls or any acts of violence or vandalism to be caught, tried, and punished, no matter who they are or what party or position they represent. But based on allegations and accusations levelled so far, I’m not ready to convict Kimberlin or his supposed posse, just yet… The evidence just doesn’t warrant it, at least as far as I’m concerned. If that makes me a “Truther,” then so be it.

    • I’m not so sure he should be the face of a liberal organization (to the extent he actually is, anyway.)

      Considering that I had never heard of him, I can’t say he was much the face of anything.

      Worthing and his wife, who worked at the same establishment, we’re both let go, because their employer and some of their co- workers didn’t want to be collateral damage when Kimberlin, et, al came to blow the Worthing’s up.

      That’s why Worthing says he and his wife were fired. But was it the real reason? People in the grip of some kind of paranoid delusion do misconstrue things.

      “Runaway” Stacey McCain packed up his family and abandoned their home because a phone call to Mrs. McCain’s place of work suggested that Brett Kimberlin knew their address.

      I have received harassing phone calls from people who objected to something I wrote, and it is very distressing. However, I didn’t move out of state or demand that the incident be covered on CNN.

      it’s ALSO not surprising that law enforcement appears to be taking all of their evedence and theories with copeous grains of salt

      RS McCain is calling out Nina Totenberg for not reporting on “her buddy” Kimberlin. I take it Totenberg interviewed Kimberlin in 1988; I assume thing was about his unsubstantiated claim he had sold pot to Dan Quayle. McCain fancies himself some kind of investigative journalist because yesterday he exposed the fact that one of Kimberlin’s aunts had donated money to a non-profit organization Kimberlin was running. Obsessive, much?

  9. I’m wondering when, after hearing it was a fully-armed SWAT team that stormed his house, then a not-fully-armed SWAT team that came to his house, to now, a couple of deputies that knocked on his door, do we hear, ala Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, “Well, Chief… Would you believe a Boy Scout, with a pen knife?…”
    ‘No, Max. What really happened?”

    I didn’t care much before, because of hear-say, and a lack of real evidence.
    Now, I care even less.
    Sounds like a tempest in the ‘teapotty.’

    • What fascinates me is that the right-wing blog posts make sense only if you assume everyone with progressive/liberal political views is part of a vast conspiracy to intimidate and terrorize, with violence if necessary, everyone with conservative/teabag political views.

      Righties associate “leftist” political views with a propensity for violence. The hard fact that political violence in America more often comes from the Right than the Left eludes them.

      When somebody on the Right murders an abortion doctor or sets fire to an ob-gyn clinic or otherwise commits any act of violence, that individual is an aberration, someone with no connections to anyone. Or they’ll claim he was really a leftie. But if someone associated with leftie politics does something threatening, suddenly the entire left going back 30 years or more is behind it. Right.

  10. PROJECTION!
    The left cannot now, nor has it ever, been able to herd its cats
    Example: “I’m not a member of any organized party. I’m a Democrat!” That Will Rogers line’s about 80 years old.

    While the right jumps into jack-booted lock-step the second someone perceived as a leader points in any direction.
    Example: Everything for the past 80+ years – from isolationism, to war mongers, to isolationists again, to being war mongers again, depending on who the President was/is, and what party he belonged to.

    So, in their minds, we’re the ones who are the expert lock-step lemming rustlers, and they’re a loose conglomeration of free-thinkers beneath a big tent.
    Every leftie is a bomb-throwing radical clone of another, out to tear this country apart.
    And they’re all unique and fragile snowflakes, trying to preserve the union through Conservatism.

    P-R-O-J-E-C-T-I-O-N!

  11. I think the logic goes like this: If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then it follows that the enemy of my enemy’s enemy is my enemy’s friend. And since I am of course my enemy’s enemy, we can reduce that to the proposition that my enemy is my enemy’s friend. Therefore everyone who has ever disagreed with me is conspiring to blow up my house.

    The thing is, if you followed their tactics, it would be trivially easy to link every right winger in the country to an entire federal penitentiary’s worth of felons and degenerates–anti-choice terrorists, gun nuts, neo-nazis, Gordon Liddy. For every dollar Barbra Streisand ever donated to Justice Through Music you could map out a whole tangled web of links and associations and endorsements and contributions on the Right. David Neiwert has basically devoted his career to cataloging the most egregious examples, and unlike the idiots who are so obsessed with Brett Kimberlin, he’s able to find more than one person to talk about.

  12. Pingback: The Mahablog » Brett Whozits Update: Rightie Blogger Arrested

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