As the clock in the Eastern time zone officially tells me that it's Memorial Day, it occurs to me that the men and women we honor today did not fight and die so they would see their country become one where a person could be hounded from their home, see themselves and/or loved ones lose their jobs, worry about the safety of their kids, or be visited by police with guns drawn as a result of a false anonymous tip -- all of which has "just so happened" to occur in close proximity to having blogged about the activities of a certain person or his associates.
It also occurs to me that part of the way of life these men and women died to preserve had to do with defending the rights of the press (which at the time of our Founders was understood to be anyone "down" to the level of a pamphleteer) to conscientiously do their jobs, and that part of the reason why what is happening as described in the first paragraph goes on may be because those involved know that they often won't be called out by the local, regional, or national press -- virtually no matter how egregious their offenses.
If they somehow do get caught, tried, and jailed, they frequently become objects of orchestrated sympathy -- and too many in the media aren't averse to playing along. What's more, it seems that some of the worst perpetrators of these crimes against basic human decency, and in some cases actual crimes, are doing so with the assistance of money obtained from people who like to think of themselves as politically correct but should nevertheless know better.
Which leads us to the subject of Brett Kimberlin; a full rundown of his history and who is helping him appeared at The Blaze late last week.
Leading blogger Robert Stacy McCain has decided that he and his family must leave their home and that they can't go back; he officially describes his location as "whereabouts unknown." On Friday, Patterico, an assistant DA by day, revealed a campaign of harassment involving "workplace complaints, publication of personal information such as home addresses and pictures of residences, bogus allegations of criminal activity, whisper campaigns, frivolous legal actions, and frivolous State Bar complaints." Oh, and he was "SWATted" -- he had his home stormed by a SWAT team, complete with a police helicopter and a spotlight. Someone pretending to be him "called the police to say I had shot my wife." An audio expert Patterico hired concluded that "it is probable" that the hoax call was placed by a Kimberlin associate known to have tweeted a public threat against himself and his family.
Erick Ericksen of RedState got "SWATted" Sunday evening; this time, "Someone called 911 (pretending to be) from my address claiming there had been an accidental shooting."
I don't mean to leave anyone out (there have been plenty of others victimized and/or threatened, and, to be clear, it hasn't entirely been bloggers), which is why I encourage everyone to go to the Blaze item, Patterico's post, and McCain's latest to get up to speed on their own.
My main question is basically the same one Patterico asked late Sunday after learning of the Erickson incident: "Anyone else think CNN is going to talk about SWATting now?"
I would expand Patterico's question to the rest of the establishment press. I'd love to be proven wrong, but my knee-jerk response is: "Neither do I." Are they too intimidated to touch it -- or worse, have they convinced themselves that what is going on is no big deal?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
