Ten Years Ago Today
My family and I were SWATted.
As They Might Be Giants said:
Time is marching on.
And time . . . is still marching on.
My family and I were SWATted.
As They Might Be Giants said:
Time is marching on.
And time . . . is still marching on.
Pronounced "Patter-EE-koh"
E-mail: Just use my moniker Patterico, followed by the @ symbol, followed by gmail.com
Disclaimer: Simpsons avatar may resemble a younger Patterico...
The statements made on this web site reflect the personal opinions of the author. They are not made in any official capacity, and do not represent the opinions of the author's employer.
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Powered by WordPress.
You’re older than you’ve ever been
Patterico (e349ce) — 7/1/2021 @ 7:21 pmAnd now you’re even older
And now you’re even older
And now you’re even older
You’re older than you’ve ever been
And now you’re even older
And now you’re older still.
Man that was a while ago. I’m old. Glad you’re OK.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/1/2021 @ 7:35 pmOh wow. I still remember you reporting it to us on the blog a year later. You have certainly had more than anyone’s fair share of weirdos and kooks pass through your life. Thanks for staying resolute through it all.
JVW (ee64e4) — 7/1/2021 @ 7:44 pmWow. Not exactly a ‘summer of fun’ memory.
In other California news of that day: July 1, 2011– Journalist and executive producer Maria Shriver (55) divorces Hollywood action film icon Arnold Schwarzenegger (63) due to irreconcilable differences after 25 years of marriage Actor, Body Builder and Governor of California.
Turning to sports: the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (5-0), July 1, 2011; attendance: 41,253; time of game: 3:18. – source, Baseball-Reference.com
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/1/2021 @ 8:04 pmHave they passed some anti-SWATting laws since then? To me, it should be treated as seriously as arson.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/1/2021 @ 8:12 pmWhat an awful memory. And it’s still got to be so frustrating that no one was held responsible. Thank God no one was physically harmed during the altercation.
Dana (fd537d) — 7/1/2021 @ 9:15 pmI remember that well once you revealed it to us. Glad you and your family are safe.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/1/2021 @ 10:00 pmWow, that Kimberlin is quite a piece of work. I googled him and found Volokh did an article on him last year about Kimberlin losing yet another frivolous lawsuit trying to vacate past convictions for impersonating a DoD police officer. It’s a shame that there are not more penalties for clear abuse of the legal process. It’s the tricky thing about trying to blog relevance: you want to expose bad people but it also inadvertently invites those same bad people….and their evil associates…into your life. Especially ones who are well practiced at harrassment and straddling what is legal. It’s awful and disappointing that the feds weren’t motivated to apply their own pressure in response.
The 2020 Volokh article had links that went back to the 2012 timeframe with regards to harrassment of conservative bloggers like Patterico. I was disturbed to see in the comments section that the internet troll jukeboxgrad had taken up an aggressive mantle against Patrick…by overwhelming the site with post after post of distortions and vitriol….with DRJ prominent in defending Patrick here. Good for her. It all reminded me that the internet can be a black hole for the truth…that there are certifiable sociopaths out there….with little interest in honest good-faith discussion. Sometimes it’s just good to minimize unhealthy interaction.
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 7/2/2021 @ 6:50 amSo, I Googled “Volokh swatting” and found some interesting topics:
Some people do go to jail
Radley Balko saw this eye-to-eye with Patterico
Crime and (a little) punishment via Krebs
A set of (not very good?) ideas for regulating doxxing ans swatting. (PDF)
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/2/2021 @ 8:04 amWow. Kimberlin is such a low-life and he’s squatted other folks too.
I’m glad things turned out okay, but it wasn’t okay that you and your family had to go through with that.
whembly (2e3fb6) — 7/2/2021 @ 8:34 amIt is certainly a tough position for law enforcement…..where they need to act fast and yet need to be aware that they may be being maliciously used. It’s further complicated by the fact that some businesses….like UBER…legitimately need to use phone number spoofing to control their own harassment challenges….so banning spoofing doesn’t seem to be something Congress will want. Still, I would think it would be standard police practice to at minimum call back the number….though, one would also understand not trying to antagonize a potentially homicidal or suicidal individual….but I would say err on the side of confirmation.
Ultimately, why wouldn’t local authorities prioritize investigating this? One would think that potential suspects…whether from some rudimentary voice matching plus other confrontational behavior (probable cause)….would open up the door to subpoenaing phone records….and identifying the criminal. Maybe it’s not that easy…but it would seem so….
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/2/2021 @ 9:12 amHoly Crap ten years… Glad all is well.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/2/2021 @ 9:46 amAJ,
The records are there, if only at the NSA. We could end robocalls tomorrow if we had the will.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/2/2021 @ 5:34 pmI’m happy all is well now too, but it still pisses me off that people can do that type of s#it and skate
steveg (ebe7c1) — 7/2/2021 @ 8:04 pmI’m just glad you and your family got through it Patterico. Best wishes.
Simon Jester (a73139) — 7/2/2021 @ 10:57 pm