Overnight Open Thread (8-7-2014)

Quote of the Day

"There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts, a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading, a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right."

-- Marcus Tullius Cicero

Stalked

One woman's account of being stalked by a neighbor in rural Vermont.

E turned up next morning at six because his fire had gone out. I said I had to go for my walk. He went home. When I got back I found a pane of glass on the dresser; there was a gap in its normal home in the side door. E: 'I was cold and you weren't there. But yeah, yeah, I know that was wrong. Don't worry, I'll fix it.'

This was clearly something I could report to the police. It seemed harsh to lock someone up for social cluelessness, but I was spooked. I packed my bags and left for a motel within the hour. Then I found a room on Craigslist that was available until the end of January. I was desperate to finish a book.

E's landlord: 'You're a very attractive woman. He can't help himself. I'm sorry you can't live on your property.'

It's a big leap from 'you know I love her' to baseball bat by the bed. I read the Vermont law on trespass on 28 December 2012 and it appeared to confirm my sense of the social norm. Entering a property when forbidden to do so, or remaining on a property after being asked to leave, carries a maximum sentence of three months and/or a $500 fine. It's not a heavy sentence, but the law is beautifully genderblind: I have the same right to occupy my property undisturbed as my uncle the ex-marine. I believed I could exercise this right and attempted to do so. This was the first step on the slippery slope to the baseball bat.

It's an interesting read but also frustrating because the woman doesn't seem able to truly accept the serious danger she was in - even after the guy broke into her house one night and explained that he was going to kill her. Nor was she willing to take physical action to protect herself.

At the end of August 2013 E came down the road in the middle of the night. I heard glass smashing downstairs and knew who it was. I picked up the weed slasher I kept by the bed and went to the head of the stairs. The door at the foot of the stairs opened. E headed up the stairs, saying: 'I'm going to shoot you.' He was carrying something with a long narrow barrel. Obviously I had to do something. But I could not bring a heavy serrated iron blade down on a man's head.

Being at the head of the stairs gave me a tactical advantage - this was why I was sleeping upstairs. I stood in batting position, weed slasher above my right shoulder, poised to strike.

I couldn't do it.

...I asked if he would like a cigarette.

He said he would like a cigarette.

My sister once had a stalker right after she graduated from college - it was a guy who lived in the same apartment complex that she had gone out with on a single date. He became obsessed with her and gradually more and more threatening and manipulative. She moved twice and changed her phone number but he still was able to track her down and start the harassment and threats again.

He would vandalize her car at her office and leave anonymous threatening notes and call up her boss at work and make accusations against her. He once even broke into her apartment and kidnapped her cat and wouldn't return it until she did exactly what he wanted. Her mail was routinely stolen and anything that she didn't lock up at night would be destroyed or defiled. He made it clear that unless she went out with him something very bad would happen to her and/or her family. But he was also quite clever and always made sure that nothing could ever be directly traced back to him. Even after she moved to a new city he was able to use social engineering to track her down and torment her once again.

The police were sympathetic but couldn't do much unless there was some direct proof of his involvement. And as the threats got more and more specific my father and I eventually offered to make her 'problem' go away permanently. No, she said - she could handle this and he would eventually give up. But we weren't convinced and were very worried given the steady escalation. We monitored the situation as best we could and were prepared to act if we ever sensed imminent violence on his part. Luckily she soon met and started working with an extremely helpful female police detective who was an expert on stalking (from personal experience) and knew exactly what my sister was going through.

The detective's advice was to give absolutely no feedback or reaction to the stalker ever no matter what, document every single thing with the police no matter how trivial, to obscure her identity and personal information as much as possible, and to get and carry a gun at all times - no matter what the law said - and be prepared to use it. She followed all of the detective's advice and eventually, slowly the harassment began to ebb and eventually stopped after about a year and a half.

According to the experts stalkers never really stop stalking - they just move on to new victims. My sister later married and moved again and so far there hasn't been even a hint of the guy in the intervening years. But every time there's a hang-up call or something left on her car or any thing too out of the normal happens, she worries. We all worry.

A Bleg: Beekeeping

So I've been toying for a while with the idea of setting up a beehive in the back yard. And this $187 beekeeping starter kit is very tempting. Any of the horde have experience and/or advice on keeping bees? Could I start now or should I wait until the spring?

Heh: Do-Nothing Millionaire Laments that Millionaires Do Nothing

The University of California-Berkeley pays former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich $240,000 a year to teach one class about the scourge of income inequality and attend Occupy Wall Street rallies. (He also makes up to $100,000 per speech.)

Reich, a millionaire, is very concerned about rich people who, unlike him, don't really deserve their fortunes. "What someone is paid has little or no relationship to what their work is worth to society," he wrote in a recent blog post, without any apparent irony.

Wonder what Reich thinks about Paul Krugman, who draws a $225,000 annual salary from the (publicly funded) City University of New York, and doesn't even have to teach a single class?

Le Shock: More Government Emails Lost After Being Subpoenaed

Jimmy Carter: Still Excusing Jew Killers at Age 89

Jimmy Carter, the former president of the United States, has called on Western powers to recognise Hamas as a legitimate "political actor" .

"Only by recognising its legitimacy as a political actor - one that represents a substantial portion of the Palestinian people - can the West begin to provide the right incentives for Hamas to lay down its weapons."

Also Hey, Remember When Jimmy Carter Personally Begged a Nazi-Hunter to Go Easy on a Captured SS Executioner?

When The Welfare State Runs into Immigration Part I

When The Welfare State Runs into Immigration Part II

Have We Already Passed Peak Gun Sales?

The Strange, Sad Story of the Army's New Billion-Dollar Camo Pattern

Or how the Army spent billions (or maybe just millions) of dollars developing a completely new camouflage pattern only to settle on one not much different from what it was previously using.

The Five Most Evil Vehicles in Movie History

Yahoo group. That is all.

Come on be a smartie and join the yahoo group party! For the children.

And my lo-fi Twitter spew.

Tonight's post brought to you by family budgeting:

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posted by Maetenloch at 10:13 PM

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