Albert Di Salvo
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Senator Asks DOJ to Investigate SWAT-ting Attacks on Conservative Bloggers
A number of conservative bloggers allege they have been targeted through the use of harassment tactics such as SWAT-ting (fooling 911 operators into sending emergency teams to their homes), in retaliation for posts they have written, and now Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has stepped into the matter. He has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to investigate the SWAT-ting cases to see if federal laws have been violated.
“I am writing with concern regarding recent reports that several members of the community of online political commentators have been targeted with harassing and frightening actions. Any potentially criminal action that incites fear, seeks to silence a dissenting opinion, and collaterally wastes the resources of law enforcement should be given close scrutiny at all levels,” Chambliss wrote.
Senator Asks DOJ to Investigate SWAT-ting Attacks on Conservative Bloggers - ABC News
As well as other sites discussed in the article, Patterico and Red State have already been targeted, and these aren't "pizza pranks." In Patterico's case, a phone call was made from inside his home by a man claiming to have killed his wife, but nobody inside the house had phoned. Deputies arrived and helicopters hovered, and the blogger was handcuffed.
I hope that AG Holder will take an interest in this. In the Red State case, Georgia is well aware of a person of interest. In general, though, if it's a cyber-attack, it could come from anywhere, so the DOJ's active involvement makes sense.
The poster that I was responding to was wrong when he repeated the party line falsehood that the DOJ "threw out the Black Panther Philly voter intimidation case".That's not necessarily a party line. I belong to no party and yet say that the DOJ's not handling the Philly voter intimidation was wrong. So suggested the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Skip to pages 87-91 to read about the DOJ's "inherent conflict of interest" and its "intransigence and baseless refusals to reply to our supoenas," and etc.
http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/USCCR_NBPP_report.pdf
The SWAT incident with Patterico means that for someone "anything goes." Patterico could have been killed. This is something new.
And so the "intransigence" and willful refusal to respond to supoenas is just part of the job? :roll:
It is political terrorism only if it is being done for political reasons.I honestly hadn't gotten this far in my thinking until I read GJ Flash's post, and he's right: This is a form of political terrorism. And no matter who's doing it, it's unacceptable.
Well, you don't know what they're doing. Your lack of information is proof of nothing (other than your lack of information). But you've got a good conspiracy theory going, and Sen. Chambliss put out a nice chest thumping press release which I'm sure will rile up his base (always in search of victimhood), so carry on :roll:
How do you know that is why they are being harassed?
But several conservative bloggers have been vocal about who they believe is responsible for the SWAT-tings and other forms of harassment — Brett Kimberlin, a man who was convicted of a series of bombings in Speedway, Indiana in the 1980s and made headlines in 1988 when he claimed to have once sold marijuana to then-vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle.
The group of conservative bloggers organized “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day” on May 25, during which they urged the blogging community to write about the actions of Kimberlin.
Kimberlin, who is now the director of a non-profit organization called Justice Through Music, told ABC News that he did not commit or ask anyone to conduct the SWAT-ting hoaxes that were perpetrated against Erickson and Frey.
Senator Asks DOJ to Investigate SWAT-ting Attacks on Conservative Bloggers - ABC News
Congrats on following the breadcrumbs. Kimberlin was discussed in the OP's link; apparently no one bothered to read it. Too busy concocting a liberal boogyman, it seems.
It is political terrorism only if it is being done for political reasons.
Since we do not know why it is being done, the right is up to their usual tricks of spreading irrational fear and -- by blaming it on liberals with no evidence -- propaganda. SOS, DD.
Agreed. Just as they had no business dismissing the Black Panther voter intimidation conviction.
Really? Which fact(s)? That Black Panther voter intimidation crime was "the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career," according to one (now former) DoJ attorney. The Black Panthers were charged for their "obvious" crime. What happened then? Anyone?LOL... don't have your facts straight on that case either. Surprise!
Yes. I know. Which is why this response, like the one above it, isn't really directed at you. Nothing I could ever say would get through to you, there is little point in trying to rationalize with those like you. My comments are mostly for the other people reading the thread, those with the ability to rationalize.I don't care what your point is.
Why should the DOJ get involved? Were any Federal crimes commited? If this isn't the action of a government agency, it's not a First Amendment thing. So unless there's something else going on that we don't see, it is at best a State issue.
Funny how the people who scream loudest about states rights are the same ones wanting Holder to get involved in a State jurisdiction.
Nothing in what I've read indicates a Federal crime has been commited. Should the perps be arrested? Yes, of course, they are breaking the law. Unless there's something going on that's not in the OP, It's not the DOJ's place.
You still don't know?Really? Which fact(s)? That Black Panther voter intimidation crime was "the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career," according to one (now former) DoJ attorney. The Black Panthers were charged for their "obvious" crime. What happened then? Anyone?
[...]
Incoherent.Oh, please, Karl, just cut the crap. Don't try to place the blame here on "the right." Insofar as I am aware, the "right" hasn't said a freaking word. Unless, of course, you regard the ABC blog "The Note" as a rightwing news outlet. :roll:
At least two of us in this thread know the "other reason". Even setting that aside, a lack of imagination or information is not justification for a conclusion.What other reason could there be for terroristic attacks on conservative bloggers? Just random weirdos who targeted conservative blogs?This is all just a coinky-dinky?
I discuss the issue of right wing fanaticism all the time. It leads to intolerance, belligerence, and violence -- all of which certainly impacts every POV, or at least the free expression of it. Just look at McCarthyism, which is enjoying a resurgence of late (on "the right").How about getting off your own little agenda and discussing an issue that could have an impact on every POV? How about that?
This has nothing to do with Kimberlin and the Brietbart trolls. Carlton Nalley was a lonely blind kid from a bad home who had a gift for impersonating voices and got himself involved in a nasty circle of trolls on message boards(?) and used SWAT pranks to retaliate against other trolls across state lines that had offended him or wouldn't give him phone sex. It had nothing to do with politics or this current wave of troll wars.Carlton Nalley was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to offenses related to a SWAT-ting conspiracy in Fort Worth, Texas.
This has nothing to do with Kimberlin and the Brietbart trolls. Carlton Nalley was a lonely blind kid from a bad home who had a gift for impersonating voices and got himself involved in a nasty circle of trolls on message boards(?) and used SWAT pranks to retaliate against other trolls across state lines that had offended him or wouldn't give him phone sex. It had nothing to do with politics or this current wave of troll wars.
While that may true (and it sounds reasonable), it was offered to offset the right wing claim -- troll claim, if you will -- that the Obama administration would do nothing about the current situation for partisan reasons. That is the typical right wing attack -- find some rather obscure event and use it to trash someone they don't like (usually on an incorrect or simply preposterous premise).This has nothing to do with Kimberlin and the Brietbart trolls. Carlton Nalley was a lonely blind kid from a bad home who had a gift for impersonating voices and got himself involved in a nasty circle of trolls on message boards(?) and used SWAT pranks to retaliate against other trolls across state lines that had offended him or wouldn't give him phone sex. It had nothing to do with politics or this current wave of troll wars.
Whoever did the deed should be held accountable for the misuse of 911, harrassment, and being a nimrod.
30 years in the slammer should straighten out the stooge.
Yes, they should be. That's just not the DOJ's jurisdiction.
If they can determine that interstate phone lines have been used, it probably will be.Yes, they should be. That's just not the DOJ's jurisdiction.
If they can determine that interstate phone lines have been used, it probably will be.
However, to the right the most important determination has already been made: "Holder = bad."
And now, as we can see, it has become great bandwagon fodder for the right, as they trumpet their other predetermined mantra: "We're victims of the eeevil left".
Such great theater. Such little to do with running the country.
If they can determine that interstate phone lines have been used, it probably will be.
However, to the right the most important determination has already been made: "Holder = bad."
And now, as we can see, it has become great bandwagon fodder for the right, as they trumpet their other predetermined mantra: "We're victims of the eeevil left".
Such great theater. Such little to do with running the country.
Yes...I, at least, have already determined that Holder is bad. That's why I don't expect much from him on this issue, though...if Congress gets vocal enough and if the media runs with this story...he may be forced to prove me wrong.
Suffice it to say, I don't expect him to willingly deal with this issue till after the election...if then.
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