Patterico's Pontifications

6/2/2012

SWATting Story Again in Big Media

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:45 pm



Last night Joe Weber at FoxNews.com published a story about the SWATtings of Mike Stack, myself, and Erick Erickson. The media attention is much appreciated and these basics of the story are correct:

Conservative bloggers say they are being terrorized by a potentially deadly prank in which phony 911 calls bring armed cops to their doors in search of criminals, all in retaliation for their blog posts.

At least two conservative Internet pundits have reported being victims of “SWAT-ing.” In at least one incident, the caller claimed to be the resident of the home and confessed to shooting his wife, according to a recording of the call posted online.

“It’s a phone call that could have gotten me killed,” Patrick Frey, a deputy district attorney at Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, wrote of the July, 2011 incident on his blog, Patterico’s Pontifications.

Given that Brett Kimberlin supporters spent a while claiming that I was never actually SWATted, it’s nice that Fox confirmed the incident. They’ll have to find a new line of attack now (don’t worry, they’re working on it):

Here’s what Frey claims happened:

Frey was awoken shortly after midnight by sheriff deputies after they received a call about a shooting inside his home. In a purported recording of the 911 call, the caller can be heard saying: “I’d like to report a shooting … I shot her, my wife.” Police ordered him at gunpoint to get outside, then handcuffed him until completing a search and finding his wife and children safe.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to FoxNews.com that deputies responded to his Frey’s house on the date in question. The department later filed a report on the incident with the FBI.

Weber (to whom I never spoke) misstated a couple of the details. I was not awakened by the police at my door; rather, I was on the phone with Ron Brynaert at the time. This part is incorrect:

Frey said talks with nationwide experts suggested this was a case of SWAT-ing and says he and all other victims have written about activist and convicted felon Brett Kimberlin.

An earlier version of the story, since corrected, appended this false phrase to the end of that last sentence: “who Frey believes is behind the attacks.” I requested a correction through contacts, and this has been corrected. I have never told anyone in the media that I believe Kimberlin was behind the attacks. As in my posts, I simply provide the facts, and allow people to draw the conclusions they find appropriate from those facts.

Also, I did not tell Joe Weber that all of the SWATting victims wrote about Kimberlin. While that claim is technically true it needs some context. Erickson and I have both written extensively about Kimberlin. Mike Stack, writing as goatsred, left a comment on one of my first posts about Brett Kimberlin. My post reprinted an email from Kimberlin threatening to sue me, and demanding my full name and address. Stack left comment #4 at the post, mocking Kimberlin for demanding my full name and address:

Please give me your real name and address.
Hahahahaha!!!!!

That was Stack’s first comment on my blog, and he did not comment again until Weinergate was in full swing.

However, when I have said that Stack and I were writing about the “same story” at the time of the SWATtings, I have always been referring to Weinergate. I was threatened by email before my SWATting, and the email specifically told me to stop writing about Gennette Cordova and Anthony Weiner. Meanwhile, Mike Stack was famous primarily for being a member of the “Born Free Crew,” a collection of Twitter accounts that were explicitly anti-Weiner. The clear connection between me and Stack was the Weiner story, and that’s what I told police when they came to my door.

Since Weinergate, we have learned that key Kimberlin associates and supporters Neal Rauhauser and OccupyRebellion have been absolutely obsessed with Weinergate since it happened — as has Ron Brynaert.

Shortly after Weiner sent out the Weinertweet, Rauhauser wrote an email to the FBI blaming Stack for having “hacked” Weiner. Three days after my swatting, in a post titled “Patterico’s Penalization,” Rauhauser tried to implicate me and a man named Seth Allen in the alleged plot to bring down Weiner. (Rauhauser also asked for pictures of my wife and suggested that private detectives should stake out Seth Allen’s residence.)

The inclusion of Seth Allen in the post was a red flag to people who had written about Kimberlin, since Seth Allen was a very low-traffic blogger whose principal claim to fame was that he had fought a one-man war to draw attention to Kimberlin’s past, as well as Kimberlin’s partnership with blogger and radio personality Brad Friedman.

Ever since then, Rauhauser and anonymous Kimberlin supporter OccupyRebellion, along with other anonymous Kimberlin supporters, have pushed a version of “Weiner Trutherism” that argued Weiner didn’t actually send out the Weinertweet. The people they have blamed have included Mike Stack and various enemies of Kimberlin, including myself.

The bottom line is this: Rauhauser and OccupyRebellion were early and vigorous advocates of Weiner Trutherism, and blamed two of the SWATting victims, me and Mike Stack, for being behind a plot against Anthony Weiner. Since then, Rauhauser’s close association with Brett Kimberlin has become quite clear — and a long-running campaign of cyberstalking and harassment of Kimberlin critics by Rauhauser, Kimberlin, Brynaert, and OccupyRebellion has been quite evident.

The story is quite complex, and I believe has been deliberately convoluted by the Kimberlin supporters driving much of the story. However, the facts are the facts, and it’s important to be accurate about them.

That is what I have tried to do: provide the facts, and allow readers to draw their own conclusions.

UPDATE: There is also this column in the Washington Times which states: “Mr. Frey was handcuffed, and his frightened wife and children were led outside by police.” Actually, police woke up my children to make sure they were still alive, but as soon as my children stirred, I’m told, police left the room. My daughter reported remembering someone entering her room and shining a flashlight on her. She thinks she assumed it was us, and she barely woke up at all. Meanwhile, my son didn’t remember waking up at all, and seemed a little annoyed that he had missed the excitement, saying: “DADDY WAS PUT IN HANDCUFFS AND PUT IN A POLICE CAR AND I MISSED IT?!?!?!?”

Kids.

UPDATE x2: Thanks to Instapundit for the link. If new readers want to learn how they can help the effort right now, please go here. No money required — just a quick transcription crowdsourcing request to further the cause of free speech.

73 Responses to “SWATting Story Again in Big Media”

  1. Thanks, Pat! I needed to get out of the other thread. whew!

    AND, Ding!

    felipe (3cc5df)

  2. I’m glad Fox and other media are not in charge of anything important. Due to their pervasive inability to get the facts right, it’s a very good thing they are not performing surgery of designing a bridge. After all, who really cares what they say? They are not responsible for anything.

    At least they spelled your name correctly.

    Amphipolis (e01538)

  3. Now that I have read your post, Pat. I remember thinking that it was wrong to have reported that you were “awoken”. I was a red flag for me.

    felipe (3cc5df)

  4. It’s great that Fox News is reporting this, and I hope you’re contacted by their reporters next time so you can provide context and ensure the accuracy of your side of the story.

    However, it’s absolutely shameful that CNN isn’t reporting this when one of their own political contributors has been dangerously SWATted in an attempt to silence him.

    Just beyond words shameful.

    Random (9be8f8)

  5. UPDATE: There is also this column in the Washington Times which states: “Mr. Frey was handcuffed, and his frightened wife and children were led outside by police.” Actually, police woke up my children to make sure they were still alive, but as soon as my children stirred, I’m told, police left the room. My daughter reported remembering someone entering her room and shining a flashlight on her. She thinks she assumed it was us, and she barely woke up at all. Meanwhile, my son didn’t remember waking up at all, and seemed a little annoyed that he had missed the excitement, saying: “DADDY WAS PUT IN HANDCUFFS AND PUT IN A POLICE CAR AND I MISSED IT?!?!?!?”

    Kids.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  6. I’m glad Fox and other media are not in charge of anything important. Due to their pervasive inability to get the facts right

    Cannabilism and a total breakdown of social order under adversity, no cannabilism. What’s the difference really?

    Random (9be8f8)

  7. It’s great that Fox News is reporting this, and I hope you’re contacted by their reporters next time so you can provide context and ensure the accuracy of your side of the story.

    Someone did contact me, but they still had some stuff wrong anyway.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  8. Someone did contact me, but they still had some stuff wrong anyway.

    Ah. Oh well.

    Random (9be8f8)

  9. Maybe they should issue their staff voice recorders or something. Pencils, paper. Something like that.

    Random (9be8f8)

  10. you gotta love kids…

    (and hate the bastards that did this to your family.)

    redc1c4 (403dff)

  11. The pick and choose media will choose to pick another story to cover. {mets no hitter]

    mg (44de53)

  12. It has begun to turn against them I think.

    Harrison (975823)

  13. It has begun to turn against them I think.

    Comment by Harrison — 6/2/2012 @ 1:31 pm

    I hope so, and I’m glad it did (if you’re right) before someone or someone’s partner or kid got hurt.

    Random (fba0b1)

  14. no comments from Times?
    keeping it on the QT
    and very Hush Hush?

    Colonel Haiku (c5d51c)

  15. Reporters always get something wrong. Always.

    Have you asked Goats about his comment on that thread? Did he have some relationship with those guys? Or did his link to his twitter feed in that thread introduce them to him?

    MayBee (2f6e35)

  16. Reporters always get something wrong. Always.

    Yep.

    Sarahw (b0e533)

  17. Remember PA’s Law #1: In any discussion, the journalist is the least informed participant.

    So, getting something wrong is bound to happen. But I’d rather they got a few details wrong, and the important thrust of the story right; and I’m glad they did, too.

    Pious Agnostic (ee2c24)

  18. Pat,

    I found your son’s comment very amusing.

    Still, I think it’s outrageous that your children now have to worry about daddy getting arrested suddenly at any time.

    Whoever did this to you should stop and think about that. It’s one thing to play nasty tricks on adults, but quite another when it affects children.

    norcal (450747)

  19. oh. The thing what bothered me the most about all this was thinking what the kids had been put through. But you know they very well could have been traumatized you just never know how these swatting things are gonna go. And you have to assume that the swatter person was rooting for maximal trauma infliction.

    But also I should be more careful about making assumptions. I think I let my wholly sensible disgust with los angeles law enforcement monkeys get the best of me.

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  20. Big-city cops are probably the same everywhere. I like to think that there are enough officers like Jack Dunphy to leaven the group.

    Small town police can be just as bad, if not worse. My guess is that medium-sized city police are the least bad.

    norcal (450747)

  21. It sounds like the kids coming out of this so well is partially due to LAPD restraint, and partially due to excellent parenting skills.

    MayBee (2f6e35)

  22. “Remember PA’s Law #1: In any discussion, the journalist is the least informed participant.”

    Remember Michael Crichron’s “Murray Gell-Mann amnesia theory.”

    The Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect:

    “Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.
    In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”

    — Michael Crichton

    I miss him like I miss Breirbart

    Mike_K (326cba)

  23. Yeah, it sounds like Pat’s son has a pretty good sense of self, which it takes to make a comment like that.

    norcal (450747)

  24. Mike,

    I have personal experience in seeing my area of expertise mangled in both the newspaper and talk radio.

    norcal (450747)

  25. I think technically these ones were from the sheriff’s department MayBee but point taken

    I might could be wrong I just have it in my head that this was a sheriff department thing

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  26. At the time, I had found it humorous that someone looking to sue someone was demanding that same someone provide an address to help that same someone to be sued.
    I had just recently started following Pat’s blog a few months prior to that. I had no idea who any of these people were at this time.

    Mike Stack (66819b)

  27. “Kids.”

    Kids? I would have wanted to be woken to see it too. (Just kidding, my friend)

    And I’m pretty sure that LASO responds to Patterico’s area. I’ll spare readers my opinion of the relative merits of LASO / LAPD.

    SPQR (e94fe6)

  28. Mike K re Crichton, Gell-Mann Amnesia:

    There is an old saying, “Everything you read in the newspaper is true except for those things you have personal knowledge of.”

    Gary Rosen (afeaef)

  29. Fox and Wash Times are hardly big media. There is a prohibition on this story like the one about John Edwards knocking up his paramour.

    AZ Bob (1c9631)

  30. I’m glad Fox News covered this story, even if they did get a few details wrong. I’m also glad Patterico corrected the errors and put it in context. Finally, I’m glad Patterico’s kids seem to have handled this well. (And if he hadn’t told us which kid said the last quote, I’d have still known it was his son. Boys that age love police stuff.)

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  31. That age? :rolleyes:

    SPQR (e94fe6)

  32. Heh.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  33. 😉

    SPQR (e94fe6)

  34. It seems about 1/2 of the information in paper/on the news is incorrect… Heaven help you to try and figure out which is which.

    BfC (fd87e7)

  35. “I had never even heard of Erick Erickson until a couple of days ago,” he [Kimberlin] told FoxNews.com Tuesday. “And I definitely don’t know where he lives. … I have nothing to do with the SWAT-ing of anybody.”

    Heh.

    Dana (4eca6e)

  36. Was following the link to goatsred’s comment at #4, then went back more, for context. I found that Patterico’s orininal post linking to Liberty Chick’s post on Kimberlin at Bigjournalism.com no longer works; it re-routes to the main Brietbart.com page instead. Anyone know why Liberty Chick’s article is no longer up?(it’s possible I missed this memo of discussion on a prior thread…) Here is the link:
    http://bigjournalism.com/libertychick/2010/10/11/progressives-embrace-convicted-terrorist/#more-131357

    School Marm (bae1d7)

  37. It probably happened when Breitbart put all its websites (Big Journalism, Big Government, etc.) under one Breitbart.com umbrella. The same thing happened when Patterico.com changed servers. Some of the links in older posts no longer work.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  38. So, why’d they bother to SWAT Stack? And why aren’t more people wondering why they SWATted Stack? What did Stack do or know that they wanted to stop?

    Perhaps, get this,….nothing.

    Are you with me yet?

    Was Stack’s SWATting just another “bombing spree to cover up a murder”?

    That is, if they SWAT Stack & Patterico, it looks like it’s about Weiner, because both were fully immersed in Weinergate, though not closely associated. It confuses the motive. And people, journalists, bloggers, & law enforcement spend a year trying to figure out what it was about Weinergate that provoked this.

    But if the real target was only Patterico, and the real motivation was that Patterico was wise to the sources of the trouble, and talking about them, well, then, Stack was just a patsy/mark/diversion (again).

    And who’s the expert in distraction and muddying the waters?

    Mercurio (63f90e)

  39. Is this the article you are looking for?

    Flashback: Progressives Embrace Convicted Terrorist

    BfC (fd87e7)

  40. The story is quite complex, and I believe has been deliberately convoluted by the Kimberlin supporters driving much of the story. However, the facts are the facts, and it’s important to be accurate about them.

    If Kimberlin supporters are responsible for a lot of the confusion surrounding Weiner’s tweet and its aftermath, it’s a load off my mind. For a while there, it was reading as several shadowy groups working at cross-purposes. The thing that was never clear was why all these groups were plotting around a not-very-famous and soon-to-melt-down congressman.

    To this day, aside from being fascinated by Weiner’s classical tragic trajectory, the reason for the aftermath still defeats me. A test of technique? Former allies now at war? Pure insanity? Any of the above could explain the behaviors.

    But Kimberlin’s nasty, egotistical style of obfuscation and thuggery? That explains even more, and much more elegantly.

    Dianna (f12db5)

  41. And who’s the expert in distraction and muddying the waters?

    Comment by Mercurio

    Expert in the same sense as Blackadder always has a “cunning plan”?

    Seriously, when Kimberlin tries to muddy the waters, he generally succeeds in drawing more attention to his behavior. It’s fascinating.

    Dianna (f12db5)

  42. That is, if they SWAT Stack & Patterico, it looks like it’s about Weiner, because both were fully immersed in Weinergate, though not closely associated. It confuses the motive. And people, journalists, bloggers, & law enforcement spend a year trying to figure out what it was about Weinergate that provoked this.

    But if the real target was only Patterico, and the real motivation was that Patterico was wise to the sources of the trouble, and talking about them, well, then, Stack was just a patsy/mark/diversion (again).

    And who’s the expert in distraction and muddying the waters?

    That is certainly a possibility. But when you get to know the depth of Rauhauser’s obsession over Weinergate, and his friendship with OccupyRebellion, it helps the analysis somewhat as well, I think.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  43. You know it’s odd they would stake that particular hill, then again much of what they do is odd,

    narciso (494474)

  44. I’m a little stunned that government officials take the SWAT of a DA so lightly.

    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/06/070806fa_fact_toobin

    There are a lot of whack jobs out there. The FBI should be requesting all the tweets of the questionable tweeters. Just to be on the safe side. And the DM’s direct messages. Along with the IP and MAC addresses used at the ISP’s

    The longer they wait the more expensive it gets to retrieve the info.

    jd2 (40a8c6)

  45. It really is mind boggling that these people are so obsessed with Weiner.

    Why?

    Are they upset that a Democrat had to resign?

    Do they actually believe that “right wing bloggers” decided to just pick out this guy and hack his twitter and ruin his career? Really?

    I mean, why not Harry Reid or Schumer or someone that matters?

    The only conclusion I can draw is that these people (Kimberlin & Rauhauser) have very real mental problems.

    Jay (ea25d4)

  46. Jay, certainly these people are sociopaths but the reason that their silly conspiracy fantasy makes sense to them, is that this is how they know they’d behave.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  47. Meanwhile, I can’t figure out whether to be pleased or annoyed to see Stacy McCain writing up blog posts on Rauhauser / Kimberlin / Bryneart gang that sound as though he’d put together all the pieces himself.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  48. i think he has to actually derive a living from this sort of thing

    plus finance a network of safe houses

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  49. Meanwhile, I can’t figure out whether to be pleased or annoyed to see Stacy McCain writing up blog posts on Rauhauser / Kimberlin / Bryneart gang that sound as though he’d put together all the pieces himself.

    I’m happy to have someone with a lot of time and energy explaining the background.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  50. I guess you are right and I should get over it…

    SPQR (26be8b)

  51. There is an old saying, “Everything you read in the newspaper is true except for those things you have personal knowledge of.”

    Comment by Gary Rosen — 6/2/2012 @ 2:49 pm

    Ha ha ha. I’ve never heard that, but it makes so much sense.

    Random (fba0b1)

  52. It really is mind boggling that these people are so obsessed with Weiner.

    Why?

    Are they upset that a Democrat had to resign?

    Do they actually believe that “right wing bloggers” decided to just pick out this guy and hack his twitter and ruin his career? Really?

    I mean, why not Harry Reid or Schumer or someone that matters?

    The only conclusion I can draw is that these people (Kimberlin & Rauhauser) have very real mental problems.

    Comment by Jay — 6/2/2012 @ 8:08 pm

    I’m not a doctor, but I think that goes without saying. Here’s the thing, though: While Kimberlin is a convicted criminal and a certified stinking orifice, he’s nothing more than a typical vexatious litigant without the antics orchestrated by (who informed people suspect is) Rauhauser, who delights in fulfilling the nastiest fantasies of leftist activists — people with hate so intense, it corrodes any sense of reason or empathy they may have.

    Anyone who doubts Rauhauser’s belligerence should look up his battles with conservative blogger Greg W. Howard, who — much like Seth Allen — I had never heard of before he was mercilessly harassed by Rauhauser’s so-called “beandog militia.” They targeted Howard’s business history (which was public record) and created a lookalike Twitter account and a knockoff of his website with pictures and links to every misstep he had ever committed (all to the delight of the conservophobes at Gawker).

    While Kimberlin’s capacity for violence is a matter of public record, he’s kept his nose clean in that regard since the bombings. Rauhauser’s threats to people’s privacy and reputations is infuriating, but his proximity to Kimberlin adds the dimension of fear for one’s personal safety. Together, they’re a two-headed monster mobster.

    L.N. Smithee (9dd090)

  53. This bit from Weber’s story cracks me up:

    Frey did not return calls seeking to verify his account of the SWAT-ing incident.

    Sure I did, Joe. About 6 times. Your phone was busy each time.

    Ever hear of voice mail? Or email?

    Patterico (feda6b)

  54. I appreciate the coverage, any way you slice it.

    But the ways of Big Media confuse me sometimes.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  55. Ive been watching this story unfold for months and I’m stunned that people can actually get away with SWATTING. Where do people come up with these sick ideas??
    I would like to see someone finally put OccupyRebellion in his/her place. That person has accused me of being a sock account named Michelle Zapem, (don’t know Michelle) so that just shows you the integrity of the bs she/he regurgitates on Twitter.
    I’m pretty sure Fox News fact checks things before they run a story but I guess OccupyRetard doesn’t get that.
    I laugh when I see OccupyRetard say she/he has been investigating Weinergate for the past year…why? Why is it their responsibility?? If you ask me, its over. MOVE ON!!
    OccupyRetard needs to get a life. Maybe if people stopped engaging, she/he/it will crawl back into that hole it slithered out of.

    WisconsinGirl (8cd213)

  56. That is, if they SWAT Stack & Patterico, it looks like it’s about Weiner, because both were fully immersed in Weinergate, though not closely associated. It confuses the motive. And people, journalists, bloggers, & law enforcement spend a year trying to figure out what it was about Weinergate that provoked this.

    But if the real target was only Patterico, and the real motivation was that Patterico was wise to the sources of the trouble, and talking about them, well, then, Stack was just a patsy/mark/diversion (again).

    And who’s the expert in distraction and muddying the waters?

    That is certainly a possibility. But when you get to know the depth of Rauhauser’s obsession over Weinergate, and his friendship with OccupyRebellion, it helps the analysis somewhat as well, I think.

    Comment by Patterico — 6/2/2012 @ 7:46 pm

    So you’re saying the reasoning for SWATting Stack lies in Neal’s obsession over Weinergate.

    I understand that Weinergate was hot and heavy at the time and that Stack figured into the story (like you, like Stranahan, Tommy Christopher, Ace, Adam Shriver, etc. all did).

    But I return to, “Why SWAT Stack?”

    There are other things that the perpetrators did that still don’t seem to make sense, but sticking with this one, I’m looking for a practical reason for committing this specific crime in NJ.

    In your case, Patterico, the reasoning is damn easy.

    1) You’re very smart.

    2) You were clearly putting info out there that said that you were figuring out who was really behind the meta-Weinergate saga (in fact, large swaths of the saga only existed to target, and divide, you and your allies, as it turns out).

    3) You had in the past written extensively about Kimberlin.

    4) You’re highly articulate and can tell a story, even a very complex, convoluted story with aplomb.

    5) You have a large audience and access (via Breitbart) to a huge audience. You and Andrew were a real threat to blow this story wide open.

    So in your case, Patterico, there’s motive aplenty. They committed this hideous crime for either revenge, prevention…or both. They wanted to get back at you for your prior “transgressions” and silence you from future ones either through intimidation or your demise at the hands of the police.

    Which brings us back to Stack.

    Perhaps he was being meted out punishment. But for what? What had Stack really done other than be the useful idiot for Dan Wolfe, the perfect patsy? I’d think he’d deserve a reward instead, in their eyes.

    Let’s go through the list of all the things that made Patterico a prime target for intimidation or elimination and see how they apply to Stack:

    1) Y’all can decide for yourselves how smart he is, but you get my drift.

    2) Stack couldn’t have figured out what was really going on. In fact, he still hasn’t figured it out a year later. Look who his pals are now (Ron & Lane)….and who he’s blaming (Patterico & the Breitbart associates).

    3) Hadn’t written about BK.

    (That quote you cite was likely more a reference to his experience with Joel Pollak & Dana Loesch in the heated first days of Weinergate when Stack, who’d been Wolfe/Patriot’s primary, tangible human friend from Born Free Crew, was asked by Pollak, a top lawyer at the Breitbart organization, for some evidence that Stack’s a real person. Stack was asked for his full name, address, etc. so that Breitbart & co could report on the story of the Weiner photo tweet to Gennette Cordova with a human source that wasn’t just another sockpuppet. Stack has written that he feels he was again set up by the Breitbart folks, via The Smoking Gun, and that his giving his real name and address to Pollak was part of a plan to target Stack further. And that’s likely why he gives LOLs to the notion of giving out one’s full name and address.)

    Stack wasn’t hot on the BK trail like Patterico was.

    4) Stack has blogged for many months about this without coming to a reasoned conclusion. No two paragraphs at his blog are coherent or make an iota of sense. His blog is where good stories go to die.

    5) Stack had no audience. Was already character assassinated in the MSM. Was not a threat.

    So, again, why bother SWATting Stack?

    Revenge? For what? The porn blog wars? I’ll admit I don’t understand those….but that’s still not Weinergate. Hadn’t Stack’s character assassination and international humiliation already been revenge?

    Prevention? What was Stack ever going to reveal? If he really knew what was going on (he didn’t), there was still zero chance that he could explain it.

    So I’m struggling to figure it out.

    …when you get to know the depth of Rauhauser’s obsession over Weinergate, and his friendship with OccupyRebellion, it helps the analysis somewhat as well, I think.
    – Patterico

    I get that there’s this friendship, but how does that play into Stack’s being SWATted a week before Patterico was?

    I return to “bombing spree to cover up a murder.” That is, a scheme to confuse the motive and put investigators off the scent of the real perps (or man behind the perps).

    But please dissuade me of that notion.

    Mercurio (62b020)

  57. Keep in mind that Weiner was a nutroot hero. The adjectives I saw applied to him were “outspoken” and “up and coming” — so his self-destruction put an end to what they considered THEIR MAN IN CONGRESS.

    By their view of the world, it couldn’t have been his fault — so it had to have been a conspiracy. These are people who think Rather was set up, remember?

    How much of their view is paranoid ideation and how much is projection is the big question.

    Rob Crawford (d8dade)

  58. 56 Mercurio — all I can say is that if they are launching a distraction this gigantic, then there is something equally gigantic that they need to distract people from examining. They are “using up” this strategy right now — well before the election. Why?

    jms (f13bc3)

  59. Have you read the latest Seth Allen entry attacking you? He lists how much your home is worth. Why is Allen looking into the value of your home?

    Plus, I was reading his site and his tweets and he has attacked you and Malkin over and over.

    You noted in your other post that he had actually threatened Kimberlin and Mandy Nagy had turned him in.

    Can you explain to me why he is part of your story? Have you read his rantings and the other people he has attacked claiming to be part of BK crime ring? Like the American Conservative, for example!

    I find him suspect. Like some left wing troll sent in to discredit everything.

    Streamforrights (c7fca2)

  60. Man, I’m glad I got out of the blogging business back in early 2009. Sounds to me like it’s just too dangerous to be one these days.

    Greg (d07d4b)

  61. A McClatchy newspaper in Macon, Georgia covered swatting here.

    Kevin Gregory (e2f8e3)

  62. This is not “bullying” as some media are describing it. It is DOMESTIC TERRORISM.

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  63. 61. Kevin Gregory

    Thanks for link to the Macon, GA story.

    Note the errors of detail throughout….

    Erickson said there’s a possibility that all three cases are related, since the other two pundits have also written recent commentaries about activist Brett Kimberlin, who was convicted for a series of bombings in Speedway, Ind., in 1978 and later paroled.

    Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2012/05/30/2043237/hoax-911-call-targets-erickson.html#storylink=cpy

    Timing, other 2 pundits (1’s a pundit?), both commenting on BK (Stack didn’t really). And that’s just a few of them.

    Errors in news have a way of propagating til they look like facts.

    So, who is working on getting the audio of the Erickson SWAT call?

    Mercurio (63f90e)

  64. This harassment must end!

    (Stranded) Breaking Wind (37a9a6)

  65. 58 jms

    56 Mercurio — all I can say is that if they are launching a distraction this gigantic, then there is something equally gigantic that they need to distract people from examining. They are “using up” this strategy right now — well before the election. Why?

    To be clear, I was saying that the Stack SWATting was to distract from the real motive behind the Patterico SWATting, because the motive was “stop blogging about someone.” And knowing the motive, meant you knew the culprits. Stack didn’t fit that motive (Stack didn’t blog about someone), but, conveniently had another big mystery in common with Patterico, namely Weinergate. So SWATting both Stack & Patterico in close time proximity made it seem like it was motivated by Weinergate concerns….not blogging about someone concerns.

    See, if Patterico & Seth or Patterico & LC had been SWATted, then the motive would have been much more clear.

    As for “launching this now” ahead of the election, this SWATting was all going on last year, until Ericskon’s, which was evidently spurred by the Friday blog burst. I don’t know that these guys are focused on “the election” so much….unless you mean the strategy of hauling bloggers into court. If that’s what you meant and you think they’re going to utilize it on bloggers who are more focused on the November election, then testing it now on an unrelated topic might be the plan.

    Mercurio (63f90e)

  66. Comment by Mercurio — 6/3/2012 @ 5:01 am

    My blog doesn’t have “stories”. It tells what happened to me. I am not a blogger, nor a writer. I decided to publish what I had in my possession in order to make it a part of the public record.

    I lived the story, not the suppositions. So, keep on dreaming up inane theories and taking cheap shots at me. I counted quite a few in your comments and for one reason or another, after a year, I’ve taken them from people with real names,and have a very thick skin. See if you could deal with it if it happened to you.

    I had no blog before the swatting.

    Mike Stack (66819b)

  67. Yes very thick skin.

    No offense intended. Stack is just as much a victim as anyone else, if not moreso.

    But how about focusing on the question posed: If Patterico was really SWATted for blogging about someone, why was Stack SWATted? What was achieved by that?

    Someone wanted Stack to …1) stop doing what? (Stack wasn’t blogging) 2) Not tell what that he knew? (what did he know?) 3) feel punished for having done what? (what?) It remains a mystery.

    But Patterico knows why Patterico was SWATted, or so he says. And so does Erickson.

    I’m asking seriously, because motive matters.

    Stack, or anyone else: what are the answers to these questions?

    Mercuro (b1153c)

  68. I return to “bombing spree to cover up a murder.” That is, a scheme to confuse the motive and put investigators off the scent of the real perps (or man behind the perps).

    But please dissuade me of that notion.

    No reason to. I don’t agree with everything you say, but the basic notion that Mike’s swatting was an act of misdirection is plausible. All I’m saying is that, in my opinion, it’s not merely that. It could have been a bonus: let’s misdirect, using this guy because we hate him.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  69. Focusing on that which cannot be known is pointless.

    JD (92e1b0)

  70. Have you read the latest Seth Allen entry attacking you? He lists how much your home is worth. Why is Allen looking into the value of your home?

    Plus, I was reading his site and his tweets and he has attacked you and Malkin over and over.

    You noted in your other post that he had actually threatened Kimberlin and Mandy Nagy had turned him in.

    Can you explain to me why he is part of your story? Have you read his rantings and the other people he has attacked claiming to be part of BK crime ring? Like the American Conservative, for example!

    I find him suspect. Like some left wing troll sent in to discredit everything.

    He isn’t looking into it. Rauhauser has long been obsessed with the value of my home and mentions it every chance he gets — I suppose because he is mostly penniless and considers himself superior to me, so he believes he deserves my home more than I do. Funny how my area is the one place in the country where the housing crisis has had no effect on home values. Would that were the case.

    As for Seth, he was writing about Kimberlin years before any of the rest of us were. Kimberlin sued him and used that lawsuit to harass the rest of us with illegally issued discovery requests. I didn’t go choose Seth Allen to be a protagonist in the story any more than I hand-pick witnesses for one of my murder cases. He’s just there, because he’s part of the story. His presence does not discredit the actions of the rest of us — at least, not to any rational mind. We are each of us responsible for what we ourselves do and not what others do.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  71. Your questions are good ones.

    I was on Dana Loesch’s radio show, Stranahan’s show numerous times, and constantly filling up the comment sections of blogs 24/7 in the days and few weeks after the WG incident.
    The Blogosphere on the right was mainly on my side and trying to help me clear my name. Sure, I had a past, but for the people who had gotten to know me and did the background research on me, I was not that person who being villified in the media. My guess is that some of the attempts to turn me into an ogre had failed and it would be easier to attempt to scare me away.
    My “information” was out there because I was and bam!
    It did shut me up for a long time.

    Mike Stack (66819b)

  72. Thanks to The New Professionalism, you were actually safer surrounded by heavily armed and, um, intensely alert police officers than you would have been tucked in bed. Your dogs, not so much.

    PersonFromPorlock (f56546)


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