Category: Andrew Breitbart

A jolly inspirational fellow.

Who Warned Us About Brett Kimberlin?

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Less than six months before Andrew Breitbart died:

This was important, and Andrew Breitbart understood why it was important: The “TwitterGate” episode in October 2010 exposed Democrat operative Neal Rauhauser’s role in an apparent conspiracy to harass Tea Party activists online. Shortly thereafter, Mandy Nagy (aka “Liberty Chick”) documented Brett Kimberlin heinous criminal history.

Kimberlin and his “Velvet Revolution” partner Brad Friedman teamed up to urge Maryland authorities to prosecute James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. At some point, according to Kimberlin, he became an “associate” of Rauhauser.

Now, investigative journalist Matthew Vadum has shown that major “progressive” tax-exempt foundations contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Kimberlin’s “Justice Through Music Project” and “Velvet Revolution” non-profits.

Money is fungible, as they say. The funding of Kimberlin’s projects — tens of thousands of dollars from the George Soros-connected Tides Foundation, as well as foundations associated with Barbra Streisand and Sen. John Kerry’s wife — thus supported all of Kimberlin’s activities, including his effort to have O’Keefe and Giles prosecuted for their ACORN takedown.

The association between Kimberlin, Friedman and Rauhauser inspires an obvious suspicion: Who is footing the bill for various online projects targeting leading conservative New Media activists?

Read Aaron Worthing’s account of being the target of Kimberlin’s attempted legal intimidation. Worthing’s offense? Apparently, being a former co-blogger with Patterico, who has written extensively about Kimberlin’s criminal record. Patterico has also been a target of Kimberlin.

Evidently, anyone who tells the truth about Brett Kimberlin is subject to this familar pattern of harassment and attempted intimidation.

Kimberlin is a notorious liar, who was convicted of perjury before he graduated high school and has been called a “world-class liar” by award-winning journalist Mark Singer. Just a few years after being released from federal prison, Kimberlin somehow managed to get funding from major donors and began passing himself off as an expert on “election reform,” becoming a favorite of the left-wing blogosphere by “repeatedly asserting as facts things that are not true,” as Time magazine’s Mssimo Calabresi wrote in 2007.

Now, it gets interesting: A site called “Breitbart Unmasked” has published a list of what it calls “The Breitbart Crew,” including everyone from Brent Bozell III to Dave Weigel of Slate.

Patterico and Worthing suspect “Breitbart Unmasked” and Brett Kimberlin are one and the same. On Twitter last night, @BreitbartUnmask denied being Brett Kimberlin, but it is curious to observe how people who tell the truth about Kimberlin become the subject of attacks from “Breitbart Unmasked.”

In 1981, Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison. But that was before “truth-in-sentencing” became law. He only did 17 years for his heinous crimes. A convicted terrorist who has been known to plot the murders of his enemies, including a federal prosecutor . . .

Names on a list?

Kind of what you might call a familiar modus operandi:

Brett C. Kimberlin schemed to elude justice with a series of bizarre plots designed to murder, maim and rob his enemies, create havoc . . . and discredit the chief government prosecutor. . . .
On sheets of yellow legal pad, Kimberlin asked another inmate in the Marion County Jail to arrange for the murder of Bernard L. (Buddy) Pylitt, the former first assistant U.S. attorney who coordinated his prosecution.
The offer contained a list of 10 names, including a potential prosecution witness, Robert Scott Bixler. Some names had crosses next to them. These indicated those marked for murder, it was learned. . . .
— R. Joseph Gelarden, “Kimberlin case a maze of murder, deceit,” Indianapolis Star, Oct. 18, 1981

That article also mentions the July 29, 1978, murder of Julia Scyphers, the grandmother of a pre-teen girl toward whom, Gelarden wrote in 1981, Kimberlin had “strange affection . . . questionable relationship.” You might want to read the whole article. Given that Kimberlin has not pressed a libel action against the Indianapolis Star, we have no reason to doubt the accuracy of Gelarden’s reporting.

So far as I can discover, Brett Kimberlin has never admitted guilt for his crimes, nor has he ever apologized to those he harmed. Instead, he receives tens of thousands of dollars a year in funding from tax-exempt non-profit foundations.

Readers may ask: “What can I do?” One possible answer to this question is provided at the end of Aaron Worthing’s (very long) account of how he was harassed by Brett Kimberlin:

Second, you can write to the State’s Attorney of Montgomery County. I did not name the subordinate responsible for the inaction, but ultimately it is the responsibility of John McCarthy, the State’s Attorney himself. You might also consider writing to the Governor, or the Attorney General of Maryland. Be polite. You will not help me by being foul or insulting. Simply state that you believe a grave injustice has been done to me—if you happen to agree—and ask them politely to see to it that justice be done.

This is his office’s contact information:
State’s Attorney for Montgomery County
50 Maryland Avenue, 5th Floor
Rockville, Maryland 20850
[email protected].
240-777-7300

* * * * * * *

It is not the business of law enforcement authorities to mediate a personal squabble between Worthing and Kimberlin. Nor are officials interested in political controversies. However, this is not merely a personal dispute and it is not really about politics.

Brett Kimberlin is a notorious felon, convicted of multiple violent crimes, not to mention perjury, conspiracy and drug charges. His criminal record clearly indicates that Kimberlin is capable of unspeakable acts against those he designates as his enemies, including law enforcement officials. If Kimberlin is responsible for the “Breitbart Unmasked” operation, which is by all indications targeting those who tell the truth about Kimberlin’s criminal career, the possible implications — including the chance that this might incite criminal violence against targeted individuals — should seriously concern law enforcement authorities.

Andrew Breitbart tried to warn America, but we failed to pay attention to his warning. Is America paying attention now?

 

 

UPDATE: It takes an “Army of Breitbarts” to overcome the indifference, inertia and bias of the mainstream media. One blogger can accomplish little on his own, and I am therefore grateful to all those who have helped call attention to the Kimberlin case, including:

UPDATE II: I Own the World is paying attention.

UPDATE III: Aaron Worthing returns with a brief summary of his 28,000-word original post, which makes clear the following:

Regular readers of this site know that for some time the convicted domestic terrorist known as Brett Kimberlin has been harassing me. He did this because I dared to offer a bit of light, free legal help to a man he was suing named Seth Allen and then as he came after me, I told the truth about his deplorable criminal background and the fact he lied under oath in a hearing on November 14, 2011 and recommended that he be charged with perjury.

So this contradicts my earlier guess that Kimberlin targeted Worthing merely for being a Patterico associate. Exactly who Seth Allen is, or why Kimberlin was suing him, I don’t know. The point is that, so far as I know, Kimberlin’s only source of income is the grants he gets for his tax-exempt non-profit “charities,” which income he then uses to wage campaigns of smears, intimidation and harassment against anyone who criticizes him. Please read the rest of Aaron’s summary.

UPDATE IV: “What It Feels Like to Be Targeted.”

PREVIOUSLY:


Palin Documentary Director Stephen Bannon Announced as Breitbart Chairman

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Stephen K. Bannon, who directed the Sarah Palin documentary The Undefeated, has been named executive chairman of the board of Breitbart LLC, the conservative New Media company announced today. The parent company of Breitbart.com also announced that Larry Solov, an attorney and longtime friend of the late Andrew Breitbart, has been named as CEO and President.

“Andrew and I were like brothers our whole lives and have been business partners since 2007,” Solov said in a press statement (full text below). “Steve was a great friend of Andrew’s and has been there the last several years helping us build Breitbart News. Andrew possessed a very specific vision of what he wanted the company to become. Steve and I share that vision, which we will pursue relentlessly.”

Bannon praised the company’s founder for his “unique visionary leadership,” and vowed “to pick up his torch and forge ahead.” The company also made official announcements of a number of other top management positions at Breitbart.com: Joel Pollak as editor-in-chief, Alex Marlow as managing editor and Ben Shapiro as editor-at-large. Continue reading Palin Documentary Director Stephen Bannon Announced as Breitbart Chairman →

Breitbart Scholarship Fund

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You can make a difference for the Breitbart Scholarship Fund which our friends at the National Bloggers Club just announced:

Andrew Breitbart’s relentless pursuit of the truth has forever shaped America, and for the better. A voice for the voiceless, his life’s work was a bold proclamation of the power of an informed citizenry that holds government accountable to those it serves. His tireless efforts empowered patriotic people to engage in public policy and critically analyze the world around us.
Although he is no longer with us, Andrew’s legacy lives in every individual who seeks what is just and what is right. In his honor, friends and admirers have established a scholarship fund to sponsor enterprising investigative journalists and bloggers who, like Andrew, understand the immeasurable affect citizen journalism has in public discourse and policy-making.
We invite you to give a contribution– any amount helps– for our cause. We will be in touch soon with further details regarding the scholarship and our efforts in continuing his legacy. Thank you in advance for your generosity and your continued support for the values championed by our beloved friend, Andrew Breitbart.
If you donate $44 or more, we’ll send you a shirt.

It is more blessed to give than to receive, but I’ve already given my $44 in expectation of receiving my “Remember Breitbart” T-shirt, and I urge everyone else to do the same. The melancholy moods I’ve experienced since Andrew’s death — I’d known him for five years, and he was nearly 10 years younger than me — are ameliorated by two thoughts:

  1. Many young people inspired to emulate his example will benefit from the Breitbart Scholarship; and
  2. Andrew would be laughing his ass off at all the headaches these kids are sure to cause the Left in years to come.

Please give generously to Breitbart Scholarship fund.

Shapiro Is Far Too Kind To #OccupyResoluteDesk

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by Smitty

Ben Shapiro at Breitbart.com grinds on with The Vetting, this time looking at the inversions of #OccupyResoluteDesk during his time as a Constitutional lecturer. Looking at his final exam question, he concludes, formatting mine:

Obama’s an extreme legal leftist.

  • He thinks that banning infertility treatment for unwed couples is akin to sterilizing them.
  • He thinks that there is no connection between childbearing and childrearing and the integral value of marriage.
  • He thinks that arguments about “tradition” are troubling.
  • And he believes that all judges rule according to their experiences – which goes a long way toward explaining his love for Sonia Sotomayor, whose “wise Latina” experiences may shape her judicial reasoning, according to her own admission.

I think Shapiro is too kind. Obama is a fool, of the dangerous sort who’s convinced himself that his foolishness is the new wisdom.

Barack is in the rationally wasted tradition of Postmodernism. We have extended the benefit of the doubt to this hellish falsehood for far too long. Obama. Must. Go.

And, via Insty, anyone who would let his sorry puss desecrate the flag, while certainly within the First Amendment, merits having abuse heaped about his head and shoulders. I was unaware that this was occurring at a Democ**t Party office. How sick, shameful, and wrong. In summary: Democ**t.

Legal Insurrection embeds video. My dudgeon is sufficiently high that I won’t embed the video or still photos. The fact that any Democ**t is too stupid to understand how antithetical this is to all we represent in this country just goes to show what a decadent little pack of lemmings the crypto-Marxists have become. I need to stop here before my rhetoric gets eliminationist.

Righteous Indignation Meets The Grand Master

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— by Wombat-socho


This post is about two very different people who took the same journey at very different times. One of them grew up in poverty, and one in the middle class. One went to a well-known private school with all expenses paid; other other had to scramble to get an appointment to one of the service academies. One goofed around on the fringes of Hollywood for a few years before finally finding his niche in the Wild West scene of the early internet; the other contracted a serious disease and was medically discharged into one of the worst economic downturns in American history. One of them was an unthinking member of the liberal herd until his father-in-law suggested he listen to a notorious talk-show host; the other dabbled in all manner of esoteric political and social cults before maturing as a “hard” libertarian. One died on the verge of launching a posthumous counterstrike against the Soviets’ memetic weapon; the other would go to his grave despairing that America would ever recover from its egalitarian socialist madness, even as his writings continued to inspire libertarians and conservatives alike.


I am, of course, speaking of Andrew Breitbart and Robert Heinlein. Both of them made the journey from socialism to conservatism, or at least to libertarianism, and while the details in both cases make for interesting reading, the point of this post is to show that both of them left important gifts to the conservative movement. I got the first volume of Heinlein’s biography Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century two years ago as a Christmas gift for my Kindle, and while you should definitely read its account of Heinlein’s part in the internecine struggles of the California Democratic Party during the Depression, what I really want to point you at is his 1946 political tactics manual, Take Back Your Government. There are two versions of this book on the market right now; Baen has an e-book based on the 1992 edition which includes incomplete notes and a forward by Jerry Pournelle* and the 2012 edition of Take Back Your Government, which as Heinlein’s biographer William H. Patterson explains is the original 1946 edition. I personally prefer the 1992 edition because there have been quite a few technological changes since 1946, and Pournelle makes a noble attempt to take note of them. In any event, Heinlein’s book, originally titled How To Be A Politician, has everything you need to know about building a political organization from the ground up, starting at the precinct level and ending with the election of your candidate to Richmond or Washington or wherever it is you’re trying to send Bulldog T. Goodfellow. It is retail, street-level politics; it is all about the going out and knocking on doors and getting to know your neighbors so you know who needs a reminder or a lift to the polls on election day, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. At a time when we are trying to tear the controls of the GOP away from the Establishment, it could not possibly be more useful.


On the other hand, Andrew Breitbart’s Righteous Indignation is an attitude adjuster; it distills much of the territory previously covered in Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism down to a couple of easily-digestible chapters, and carries on from there to sound a call to arms. There is not so much of the nuts and bolts of New Media culture warfare in here, although there are plenty of examples to follow; instead, I think Breitbart is shooting for an adjustment to your headspace that will better enable you to deal with the kind of rhetorical, solipsistic lies and horseshit flung by the Left every day of the week against people who dare to think and act differently from the New Leftist Dispensation. Read both. Use both. Go forth and kick ass. You have a nation to save, one precinct at a time.


*No blame attaches to Dr. Pournelle; they wanted the book out in time for Ross Perot’s 1992 campaign and didn’t give him enough lead time.


UPDATE: Bill Quick links, but misses the point. Part of it is because I stupidly forgot to attach my tagline to the post, so he thinks this is Stacy’s opinion, but the other part is because I’m talking about tools. The comparison of Breitbart and Heinlein is just an introduction.

Ziegler: Breitbart Thought Matt Drudge Was ‘In the Tank’ for Obama in 2008

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In a Wednesday talk-radio appearance, conservative filmmaker John Ziegler said that the late Andrew Breitbart told him that during the 2008 presidential election campaign, Matt Drudge altered content on his famous Drudge Report site in such a way that Breitbart believed Drudge was “in the tank” for Barack Obama.

Interviewed by Chris Daniel on California’s KMJ 580 AM, Ziegler said Breitbart, who for years served as an assistant editor at the Drudge Report, had privately confided that his efforts to post negative articles about Obama at the popular site were blocked by Drudge.

“Matt Drudge was totally in the tank for Obama, and he blocked Andrew Breitbart from doing anything about it,” said Ziegler, who directed the documentary film Media Malpractice about the 2008 election. “Andrew told me about this. The evidence is overwhelming, and I can and will prove it.”

Breitbart “had determined that Drudge was in the tank, that every time [Breitbart] put something up that was anti-Obama that Matt Drudge would at least move it down, if not take it off entirely, which he hardly ever did to Andrew,” Ziegler told Daniels in an exclusive interview Wednesday. “And then specifically the Reverend Wright story was completely muted because of Matt Drudge.”

Ziegler has posted an article on his Media Malpractice site detailing these allegations. Breitbart died last week of a heart attack at age 43.

Andrew Breitbart as Folk Hero: ‘I’ll Die With This Hammer in My Hand’

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In happier times: Andrew Breitbart autographs his book
during an April 2011 event at Americans for Tax Reform

When John Henry was about three days old,
Sittin’ on his Mammy’s knee,
He picked up a hammer and he said,
“Lord, Lord, this hammer be the death of me.”

Tributes to our fallen warrior are coming in from every direction. Donald Douglas at American Power features this video interview in which Kathy Shaidle — that rare thing, a good Canadian — talks about how Andrew Breitbart “went down swinging”:

The Five Feet of Fury blogger echoes Bill Whittle in suggesting that Breitbart’s 24/7 “lust for life” was a factor in his early death, but I would say in Andrew’s defense that he was a pioneering entrepreneur, not somebody collecting a paycheck and punching a time-clock while waiting for their next three-day weekend. If you’re an entrepreneur, the alternative to being what is pejoratively called a “workaholic” is failure and bankruptcy, so I think no one should fault him for his work ethic.

Besides, lazy bums have heart attacks, too, y’know.

When my friend Ali Akbar asked me to speak at Saturday’s “Remember Breitbart” event in D.C., I decided to prepare my remarks in advance because I didn’t want to embarrass myself by rambling inchoherently.

If you ever heard an Andrew Breitbart speech, you know how he would sometimes seem to be rambling. The first time I heard him give a lecture to college students — hosted by the Young America’s Foundation at their 2007 West Coast Conference — I remember him going off on a tangent about his own youthful days as a “Generation X” slacker.

Breitbart wasn’t nearly so famous back then, and his hair was still shoulder-length, and I’m sure some of those polite young Republican kids must have been wondering, “Who is this hippie weirdo, and why is he telling us all this stuff?” Continue reading Andrew Breitbart as Folk Hero: ‘I’ll Die With This Hammer in My Hand’ →