Did Brett Kimberlin Stalk BlogCon? UPDATE: Confirmed or Not?

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FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
New developments today in the story of convicted terrorist bomber-turned-progressive activist Brett Kimberlin: Sources report that conservative New Media activists believe that Kimberlin — whose activities are funded by the tax-exempt 501(c) non-profits Velvet Revolution and the Justice Through Music Project — showed up in April at BlogCon, a conference sponsored by FreedomWorks and the Franklin Center.

The incident was uncovered by @JDonels, who reported on his Tumblr blog that a person using the Twitter alias “Robert Slydell” appears to have been involved in the incident:

Did a left-wing activist infiltrate BlogCon Charlotte? Try to intimidate bloggers on Twitter? Did this person know someone who may have hacked Twitter accounts, and have his real name accidentally exposed in the process? And did this person know of efforts to put conservatives in TwitterGulag?

A photo of Kimberlin was circulated among online activists and, sources say, it was confirmed that Kimberlin showed up at the hotel in Charlotte, N.C., where BlogCon was held. Sources say Kimberlin was seen collecting information about the conference proceedings and was eventually escorted from the premises by hotel security.

Kimberlin has been accused of engaging in a campaign of harassment and intimidation against conservative bloggers, including Patrick “Patterico” Frey, Aaron Walker and National Bloggers Club president Ali Akbar. The case has drawn widespread attention, and major news organizations are taking increased interest in the story. Bestselling author Michelle Malkin wrote today:

[Award-winning conservative blogger] Ace of Spades has called for a National Day of Blogger Silence this Friday to focus Capitol Hill’s attention to this vital free speech fight.

UPDATE: Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute called attention to the Kimberlin case Tuesday in a letter to the editors of The Washington Times. Meanwhile, Examiner columnist Joe Newby contacted a board member of Kimberlin’s non-profit Velvet Revolution, who claimed there have been “coordinated right wing attacks” leveled at Kimberlin “based on no facts.”

Kimberlin’s criminal career has been the subject of extensive reporting by Massimo Calabresi of Time magazine, Mandy “Liberty Chick” Nagy of Breitbart.com, Ed Barnes of Fox News and other news organizations, and was covered in-depth by New Yorker reporter Mark Singer in his 1996 book, Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin..

UPDATE II: Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) just became the first member of Congress to officially demand investigation of the “threats and intimidation [which] have no place in our national political discourse.”

UPDATE III: Instapundit and Dan Riehl on Chambliss story, which is also now the subject of a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE IV: Another source contacted me this evening to express uncertainty about the identification of Kimberlin as the person escorted out of the North Carolina hotel where BlogCon was held in April. Furthermore, this source said, there is concern — based on Kimberblin’s known modus operandi — that heightened scrutiny may prompt the convicted bomber to desperate measures.

“He’s a megalomaniacal sociopath,” the source said, adding that the Mark Singer book Citizen K makes clear Kimberlin’s complete contempt for law enforcement and his belief that he’s “smarter than the cops.” Thus, whether or not Kimberlin was at the April event in Charlotte, he might single out individuals associated with the conference as “enemies,” targeting them for “lawfare” harassment or other types of intimidation tactics.

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 
UPDATE IV (Smitty): Welcome, Instapundit readers!
 

40 comments

  1. Holy shit-snizzle Batman!
    If Tabitha weren’t such a cold b … err person, Stacy would have been there and this all might have broken sooner …

  2. Jimmie Bise Jr. is reporting on Twitter that Senator Chambliss is demanding Holder look into the interstate intimidation:

    http://po.st/YeqdM4

    I’m not holding my breath waiting for bag man Holder to enforce the law, but it’s a start.

  5. There is no reason to make this personal, Paul. We are all equally endangered, and this crisis has been the occasion of extensive fence-mending: Erick Erickson actually mentioned me in his post about Kimberlin, and Tabitha Hale has done the same. The story is too big and too important to allow irrelevant resentments or old animosities to get in the way.

  6. I am impressed Stacy! The King of Butt-Hurt allows his crown to slip.
    Actually, you are absolutely correct! As I stated in my post yesterday, “My second point: I am not important in this situation. I stole their thunder so I now am a zero, without value. Circle the wagons around those that make a difference. I am old and
    disposable. Ali, Stacy, Liberty Chick, Aaron, Patrick, all of them are young and important players in this effort. Circle the wagons on them. Contribute to the National Bloggers Club fund started for this purpose. Blog about them, their efforts regarding the publishing of factual information about a public figure. This is where the forward edge of the battlefield exists, not in a backwater in Florida with a broken old man.
    Move forward, defeat the foe, those that would silence each and every one of us. Rally to the commanders listed above and give them your support.”I’ll abide by the directions of the commanders, among whom you are listed.

  8. If SC is grandstanding, he sure is getting a prime location. But will it spread to Stacy’s cousin, for that special family reunion photo op?

  12. Huge thanks to Saxby Chambliss . . ….

    Sen. Chambliss: One of the good ones. . . . for being the first United States Senator to take action against Brett Kimberlin and his phalanx of flunkies. It’s disheartening to see how many of our purported leaders have remained silent on this sto…

  13. Excellent news. And, yes — this story has been occasion for considerable fence-mending, and there has never been a time when it was more desperately needed. Situations like this one have a way of subordinating differences of style and putting them into the proper perspective. It’s a shame that it takes something like this to do it, but I’m not going to quibble with that, either.

    What’s most amazing is just how many erstwhile warriors have yet to poke their heads out of the foxhole. Maybe being shown up by Chambliss will light a fire under them.

  14. That sounds like criminal trespass to me. Isn’t bad boy Brett still on federal parole?

  17. […] Did Brett Kimberlin Stalk BlogCon? : The Other McCain UPDATE: Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute called attention to the Kimberlin case Tuesday in a letter to the editors of The Washington Times. Meanwhile, Examiner columnist Joe Newby contacted a board member of Kimberlin’s non-profit Velvet Revolution, who claimed there have been “coordinated right wing attacks” leveled at Kimberlin “based on no facts.” […]

  20.  My understanding was that at some point after his last release on parole, he was released from federal supervision, which under the rules existing at the time of his offense (and those are the ones which apply) means he is no longer subject to parole rules.  He’s out, done his time.

  22. So, if I understand this correctly, Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 1981 for the bombings, he somehow finagled paroled in 1993 after serving just 12 years of his 50 year sentence, he had his parole revoked in 1997 for bad behavior, he was somehow re-paroled in 2001, and now, in 2012, 31 years into his 50 year sentence, he’s somehow totally released from federal supervision because he’s “done his time.”  What’s wrong with this picture?

  23. Everything is wrong with that picture. I read somewhere, I’ve no idea where, that when he was re-incarcerated he and his lawyer made a deal similar to a plea bargain eliminating any supervision or parole.

  24.  Kimberlin was sentenced under the OLD federal rules – before “truth in sentencing” all but eliminated parole in the old sense.  When they changed the rules, those whose crimes were committed before the change are not affected.

  27. Might have been one of my suppositions. Unless you’ve read my unpublished mega-post. It explains exactly how that happens under the new federal guidelines …

  28. Once my attorney clears me to be able to post about this person again, You’ll have your answer. It’s been written for over a week …

  33. Was the gentleman escorted out of Blogcon a teeny tiny little elf man?
    Because BKs diminuitive proportions are rather conspicuous.

  34. Michelle Malkin had a link in a post a couple days ago to a blogger who found, apparently, that become.com shares the same IP address as VU, etc.  Wish I could find it.

  36.  Aaaaarrrgggh, that ‘splain’s things then, he got him a little pecker complex and needs to blow things up, and twould also ‘splain certen other past praclivities.

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