Category: Neutral Objective Journalism

Convicted Perjurer Brett Kimberlin Has 8:30 a.m. Hearing in Maryland Today

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‘Speedway Bomber’ Brett Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in 1981

FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Brett Kimberlin will return to Montgomery County (Maryland) District Court this morning, seeking a peace order against a Virginia man who drove past Kimberlin’s home in Bethesda two weeks ago.

The final hearing on Kimberlin’s complaint against John Norton (Case No. 0601SP033922012) is scheduled at the district courthouse in Rockville (191 East Jefferson St.) today at 8:30 a.m.

A convicted terrorist infamous as Indiana’s “Speedway Bomber,” Kimberlin has recently gained new notoriety for his efforts to silence bloggers who write about his criminal history. In October 2010, Kimberlin sued progressive blogger Seth “Socrates” Allen, who had complained about the activities of Velvet Revolution, a 501(c) non-profit co-founded by Kimberlin. Subsequently, Kimberlin has filed a series of legal complaints against Aaron Walker, a Virginia attorney and blogger, and has also threatened lawsuits against Mandy “Liberty Chick” Nagy and Patrick “Patterico” Frey.

Last month, Walker published a 28,000-word account describing how he says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him for assault. On May 29, Walker was briefly arrested after a Maryland court hearing in which Judge C.J. Vaughey ruled that Walker’s blogging constituted a violation of a peace order obtained by Kimberlin. Judge Vaughey’s ruling has been widely denounced as an infringement of First Amendment rights, and is being appealed in both Maryland and federal courts.

In his June 22 complaint against Norton, Kimberlin claims the Virginia man was “lurking” near Kimberlin’s Bethesda home June 15. Kimberlin says the man took photos of him and his daughter, resulting in a car chase as Kimberlin sought to get Norton’s license tag number.

Norton has responded to the accusation by seeking his own peace order against Kimberlin. In his filing, Norton states that he has never been on Kimberlin’s property and writes:

“I was shocked to read the false claims made by Mr. Kimberlin. . . .
“Mr. Kimberlin has a history of frivolous lawsuits to include one against a sitting U.S. senator. Additionally, he is a convicted perjurer.
“He has a history of using peace orders, then engineering a violation of the order by his target to get the target arrested.”

The Kimberlin-Norton case drew the attention of Walker because of Kimberlin’s claims that Norton was part of a conspiracy:

“Mr. Norton clearly has a relationship with Mr. Allen and Mr. Walker, and I firmly believe that Mr. Norton is or was conspiring with Aaron Walker or his client Seth Allen, or others acting on behalf of Aaron Walker, to stalk or harass me and place me and my family in fear.”

Walker has written about the Kimberlin-Norton case at his blog, Allergic to Bull. Numerous bloggers, journalists, broadcasters, legal scholars and organizations have rallied to Walker’s defense in the past six weeks, including bestselling author Michelle Malkin, Professor Glenn Reynolds, radio host Glenn Beck, Professor Eugene Volokh, the National Bloggers Club, Professor William Jacobson, the American Center for Law and Justice, and the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.

Two special events have raised public awareness of Kimberlin’s threat to First Amendment rights. May 25 was declared “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day” by blogger Lee Stranahan. June 8 was declared “National Day of Blogger Silence” by the award-winning conservative blogger known as Ace of Spaces.

Kimberlin’s legal actions against bloggers have been described as a form of “lawfare,” which is defined as “the illegitimate use of domestic or international law with the intention of damaging an opponent.”

Mark Singer noted in his 1996 book, Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin, that during his years in federal prison Kimberlin became adept as a so-called “jailhouse lawyer,” filing more than 100 legal actions on his own behalf.

Kimberlin was convicted in 1981 of perpetrating a series of bombings that terrorized the small town of Speedway, Indiana. One of Kimberlin’s bombs blew up a police car, while another bomb — placed at a high school — badly maimed Carl DeLong, a Vietnam veteran. A major drug smuggler, Kimberlin could have been sentenced to as much as 230 years in federal prison, but was sentenced to 50 years and eventually served only 17 years of that sentence before being released in 2001.

In 2005, Kimberlin founded the tax-exempt 501(c)3 Justice Through Music Project, which has since collected some $1.8 million in contributions, including grants from a variety of progressive foundations. Kimberlin also co-founded (with liberal blogger Brad Friedman) the non-profit Velvet Revolution, which has gained publicity and raised money by making accusations of criminal wrongdoing against such public figures as GOP political strategist Karl Rove, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Kimberlin’s criminal accusations and lawsuits against his enemies are ironic in that Kimberlin is a convicted perjurer notorious for his dishonesty. A January 2007 Time magazine article noted that Kimberlin had “found a home in the blogosphere” by “repeatedly asserting as fact things that are not true.” Indianapolis Star reporter Joe Gelarden, who covered the Speedway bombing case more than 30 years ago, remarked in 2007:

“Brett Kimberlin is a terrorist. . . . I remember a few things about Brett that give me great pause. First, he was convicted of perjury — in federal court — before he got out of high school. Think about that for a moment.”

Kimberlin’s attempt to intimidate bloggers has also called attention to the phenomenon of “SWATting,” a dangerous hoax in which a fake 911 call results in a police raid on the home of a targeted person.

Mike Stack, a New Jersey man who played a role in the exposure of Rep. Anthony Weiner’s cybersex scandal, was SWATted in June 2011. A week later, Patrick Frey (who had written extensively about the Weiner case) was SWATted at his Los Angeles home. Red State editor Erick Erickson, who had written about the Kimberlin case, was SWATted last month, and Aaron Walker was SWATted Monday after he won a Maryland courtroom victory against Kimberlin. Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Texas Rep. Kenny Marchant and more than 85 House Republicans called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the SWATtings.

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

 

 

THE KIMBERLIN FILES:

 

 


‘The Gaped Crusader’: Brett Kimberlin Associate Neal Rauhauser Stalked and Taunted SWATting Victim Patrick Frey

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Neal Rauhauser: Democrat consultant at 2010 Netroots Nation conference

FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
A Democratic political consultant harassed the victim of a SWATting hoax, employing the online alias “The Gaped Crusader” to taunt popular conservative blogger Patrick “Patterico” Frey and others.

Neal Rauhauser became obsessed with Frey during the 2011 Anthony Weiner cybersex scandal, declaring in a July 2011 post at the Daily Kos blog that Frey “looks to be a pretty good candidate for the planner/operator behind Weinergate.” Both Frey and Mike Stack — a New Jersey resident who helped expose Weiner’s online activities — were targeted by so-called “SWATting” hoaxes in June and July 2011.

Frey published a 3,000-word post at his Patterico.com site Wednesday morning that provides extensive evidence showing Rauhauser, a consultant who has previously worked for Democratic politicians including Rep. Raul Grijalva, used the “Gaped Crusader” alias in a two-month cyberstalking campaign in November and December 2011.

The dates of the “Gaped Crusader” online harassment of Frey, Stack and others are important because Rauhauser has boasted of his connections to Brett Kimberlin, director of the tax-exempt 501(c) group Justice Through Music Project (JTMP), and to another non-profit group, Velvet Revolution (VR), co-founded by Kimberlin and progressive blogger Brad Friedman. Rauhauser has described Kimberlin as a “client” and represented himself as an agent of VR in a September 2011 e-mail to leaders of the Occupy Boston protests. Rauhauser accompanied Kimberlin to a May 29 Maryland court hearing where blogger Aaron Walker was arrested for having written about Kimberlin’s criminal past.

Kimberlin has become the subject of widespread controversy since May 17, when Walker published a 28,000-word account of how he says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him for an assault charge earlier this year. Walker, a Virginia attorney, had provided legal assistance to Seth “Socrates” Allen, a progressive blogger who criticized Kimberlin, Friedman and VR in postings at a variety of liberal Web sites, including Daily Kos and Democrat Underground.

Kimberlin is a convicted felon who in 1981 was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for a weeklong bombing spree in Indiana that maimed a Vietnam veteran and blew up a police car. Released from prison in 2001, Kimberlin founded JTMP and VR in 2005; the two groups have since raised more than $2 million in tax-exempt contributions.

Rauhauser, a founder of the Democrat political consulting firm Progressive PST, was a featured speaker at the 2010 Netroots Nation conference organized by the Daily Kos blog. He described his specialty as “solving problems in the social media work space for political campaigns and causes.”

Rauhauser’s reputation was damaged by his role in the so-called “TwitterGate” scandal in 2010, when he was accused of organizing an online harassment campaign against Tea Party activists. The association between Kimberlin and Rauhauser evidently began in July 2011, when Rauhauser used his “Stranded Wind” account at Daily Kos to write, “someone forwarded me the complaint [made by Kimberlin] regarding Frey running a cyberstalking campaign in conjunction with South Easton, Massachusetts resident Seth L. Allen.”

Rauhauser has called himself a computer “hacker,” and is a known associate of Gregg Housh, a figure connected to the “Anonymous” hacking conspiracy. In a comment posted at a progressive blog in October 2011, Rauhauser described being contacted by a “very big dog from the Anonymous pen” who agreed to assist Velvet Revolution in an apparent plan to attack enemies of Rauhauser and Kimberlin.

In a May 25 blog post at Patterico, Frey described how he was “SWATted” in July 2011, handcuffed in a police raid prompted by a fake phone call. Frey identified Kimberlin, Rauhauser and former Raw Story editor Ron Brynaert as those he suspected of complicity in that incident.

In identifying Rauhauser as “The Gaped Crusader,” Frey noted multiple similarities between Rauhauser and his online alias, including an obsession with the 2011 WeinerGate scandal, which forced a formerly popular New York congressman to resign in disgrace.

Rauhauser claimed that Anthony Weiner was the victim of a conspiracy, and elaborated his theories in multiple postings at Daily Kos under his “Stranded Wind” psuedonym. On July 4, for example, Rauhauser claimed — without citing any evidence — that a “Christian Infowar Militia” had attacked Weiner. Rauhauser then repeatedly attacked Frey in a series of Daily Kos posts:

Rauhauser has boasted of his contacts with law enforcement — including the FBI — and routinely accuses his enemies of criminal activity. Among the targets of Rauhauser’s accusations was an Alabama man, Greg W. Howard, who was viciously harassed during the 2010 TwitterGate scandal. In August 2011, Rauhauser filed a criminal complaint against Howard with the Alabama attorney general’s office, saying that Howard “has constantly menaced me via the Internet.”

In fact, Rauhauser had described in two August 2010 articles at the Open Left site his plans to use “a synthetic presence” — i.e., false identities colloquially known as “sockpuppets” or “trolls” — against conservative activists online, to “penetrate their anonymity,” in order to ”get up inside their network and collect actionable information.” Rauhauser explained that he hoped to be able to bring civil lawsuits or criminal charges against his political enemies:

“People engaged in provocative online conduct feel insulated; they’re in the comfort of their own home, if they’ve engaged in a little bit of caution they may feel completely anonymous, and this emboldens them. Specifying the strategy we’ll use to break their anonymity won’t permit any mitigation on their part without adjusting their behavior, which counts as a win for us. We’re dealing with people who have likely had no interaction with the court system beyond a traffic ticket; the potential for a pro se litigant to force them into expensive, long distance, lengthy, discovery laden litigation doesn’t seem to cross their minds.”

Rauhauser was subsequently accused of recruiting a number of individuals whom he called “beandogs,” who used Twitter to engage in an orchestrated campaign “to harass, threaten, provoke, disparage, intimidate, verbally assault, berate & employ hate-speech against those not in agreement with his brand of politics,” as conservative logger Patrick Read described it in September 2010.

The use of Internet aliases was the subject of an article Rauhauser posted online, describing “Persona Management” methods for maintaining online secret identities in order to avoid detection by others, including law enforcement agencies.

One of the targets of Rauhauser’s online activities was a conservative activist who uses the Twitter handle “@ZAPEM,” who Rauhauser believed to be a New Jersey woman named Michelle Lessick. ZAPEM played a key role in exposing Rauhauser’s role in the TwitterGate scandal.

Frey’s exposure of Rauhauser’s “Gaped Crusader” persona highlights the ways in which Rauhauser has employed deceptive methods in his online activities. In February, Rauhauser sent to law enforcement agencies (including the FBI) a bizarre document titled, “Andrew Breitbart’s ISR Cell?”

This document described a far-fetched conspiracy theory involving Frey, Andrew Breitbart, Mike Stack and the HBGary firm, among others. Rauhauser’s accusations, which seem implausible, may have succeeded in confusing officials responsible for investigating the SWATtings of Stack and Frey, crimes that have remained unsolved for the past year.

Red State editor Erick Erickson was SWATted in May. Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Texas Rep. Kenny Marchant and more than 85 House Republicans called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate these crimes. Despite increasing pressure, sources say, the federal investigation has lagged, perhaps because of the indifference of political appointees in the Justice Department.

Meanwhile, Kimberlin has continued filing a series of lawsuits and criminal complaints against bloggers in an attempt to silence his critics. In a Maryland court hearing Tuesday, Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr. issued an emergency ruling that lifted a gag order that had prevented Aaron Walker from blogging about Kimberlin, who responded by filing his own motion that accused Walker of inciting harassment against Kimberlin. The same day Walker scored his courtroom victory in Maryland, he was targeted by a SWATting attack.

PATTERICO: Brett Kimberlin Associate “Gaped Crusader” — And the Evidence Connecting Him to Neal Rauhauser

(Note: This report was originally posted in a series of updates. The “update” notations have been removed for ease of reading.)

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

 

 

THE KIMBERLIN FILES:

 

 


Professor Glenn ‘Exhibit E’ Reynolds

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FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
The Lonely Conservative took a glance at the ridiculous motion Brett Kimberlin filed Monday in Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court, pointing out that “Exhibit E” is a photo of Instapundit wielding a very large gun. Exactly how Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee Law Professor, is supposed to represent “death threats” to convicted felon Kimberlin, I’m not sure.

Fortunately, it seems Judge Rupp was not impressed by Kimberlin’s claims to victimhood (and apparently didn’t realize that Professor Reynolds is notorious for drinking puppy smoothies).

If you’ll look at Exhibit D in Kimberlin’s motion, you’ll notice on Page 10 that he quotes a Tweet of mine, made on May 21. That was the day Kimberlin caused a security panic at my wife’s employer by calling up and claiming that I was “harassing” him. (As contrasted to the manner in which Kimberlin “harassed” Carl DeLong, you see.) After I posted “Never Doubt That God Answers Prayer” — announcing my departure to an Undisclosed Location — someone on Twitter sent me a message:

Buy a gun and learn to use it if you don’t already know.

To which I responded:

Pump-action 12-gauge is very simple to operate. Just sayin’ …

The intent of Brian’s message was clear: “Be prepared to defend yourself.” And the intent of my reply was equally clear: “Don’t sweat it.”

How is it a “threat” to Brett Kimberlin for one of his intended victims — a law-abiding citizen whose home and family this notorious criminal had menaced — to indicate that he doesn’t intend to be a victim?

In point of fact, a 12-gauge shotgun is highly recommended as a home-defense weapon and, as I told Brian, is simple to operate. You don’t really have to aim it, really. Just point it in the general direction of an intruder and pull the trigger and the godawful roar of the thing will put the fear of God into him, even if he’s not hit.

Of course, if he’s hit, he’s likely to be dead PDQ.

And I specified a pump shotgun for this simple reason: Imagine you were an intruder trying to sneak into a house in the middle of the night and you heard that racking sound of someone chambering a round in a pump shotgun. Wouldn’t you immediately run for your life?

A few years ago, a knife-wielding crackhead broke into my younger brother’s house in Georgia and made the mistake of not running when he heard that sound. The crackhead ruined the carpet when he bled out.

My younger brother is still alive and well.

End of lesson in home defense.

“Better to be judged by twelve than to be carried by six,” folks say down home. And as the science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein once astutely observed, “An armed society is a polite society.”

Being a peaceful man by nature, I regret that matters have escalated to the point that I have been reminded why the Second Amendment is the surest defense of the First Amendment.

Brett Kimberlin is a lying cowardly punk who in 1981 was sentenced to 50 years in prison and who, by all rights, should still be in prison, rather than attempting to intimidate honest citizens.

I said “attempting to intimidate honest citizens,” because I am not intimidated in the least by Kimberlin’s lies and threats, and I will not be silenced. “Truth is great and will prevail,” as Thomas Jefferson said.

Remember that this is still a Shameless Capitalist Blog, and keep in mind The Five Most Important Words in the English Language . . .

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

— Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

 

#TCOT #BrettKimberlin #SWATting Important Event 9:30 p.m. ET Tonight!

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FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Somebody forwarded to me this e-mail announcement from Tabitha Hale of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Intergrity:

Tune in for tonight’s important webinar!
SWATtings and lawfare impact all of us. Our freedom to blog the truth is being compromised, and it’s our duty to fight back. Tonight, we’re hosting a webinar with Lee Stranahan, Mandy Nagy, and Aaron Worthing to discuss the tactics being used to silence bloggers and what is being done to fight back.
All the details are below — please register and help us tweet it out. Any help with promotion is a help.
Thanks for all you do. Keep fighting.
– – – – – – –

June 26, 2012
For Immediate Release

Franklin Center Joins Lee Stranahan, Popehat, Aaron Worthing, Mandy Nagy And Others To Discuss Protection Of The Free Press
Tonight at 9:30pm EDT, The Franklin Center joins Lee Stranahan, Mandy Nagy, and last night’s SWATting victim Aaron Worthing on a webinar to discuss recent attacks on bloggers and the suppression of free speech.
Convicted domestic terrorist Brett Kimberlin and his associates have repeatedly terrorized bloggers and others who highlight his story with over 100 frivolous lawsuits and 4 SWATting attacks. SWATting is a dangerous tactic that involves calling a police department to report a false crime to get a SWAT team dispatched to the victim’s house. The attacks have included bloggers Patterico, Erick Erickson, and as recently as last night, Aaron Worthing.
Yesterday, Rep. Sandy Adams of Florida and 87 cosigners sent another letter to AG Eric Holder urging investigation of costly SWATting tactics. In her statement, Adams said “SWAT-ting is quickly becoming a scare tactic used against political bloggers in an effort to stifle their First Amendment rights.”
Tabitha Hale, New Media Director at the Franklin Center for Government and Public Intergrity, says “These tactics are just appalling. A free press is essential to a free society, and attempts to silence those who are telling the truth are entirely unacceptable. We are glad to have a small part in the fight to protect the First Amendment by supporting victims of these attacks. We will always err on the side of free speech.”
Information on tonight’s webinar is below. Learn what is at stake and learn how to protect yourself and your act of journalism.

Title: Fighting for a Free Press

Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Time: 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM EDT

Reserve your space at the following link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/630051426

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

* * * * * * * *

Everyone familiar with the phrase “Not Good Enough for BlogCon” understands why the New Media Director of the Franklin Center made damned sure that I cannot participate in this event.

However, given the enormous importance of the subject, I sincerely urge you to participate in this event, and also ask you to help promote participation on the largest scale possible.

Tell everybody you know: BE THERE!

Just because I’m persona non grata doesn’t mean you should be, too.

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

Conspiracy Theorist ‘Qritiq’ Conspires Against Neal Rauhauser’s Targets

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Neal Rauhauser at the ‘Netroots Nation’ Conference

FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
How stupid does “Qritiq” think we are, huh? The day after Aaron Walker is SWATted, why would Qritiq (who, several people claim, is actually a New York City schoolteacher named Lane Lipton) decide to publish contact information clearly aimed at getting complaints lodged against Patrick “Patterico” Frey?

Do I even need to cite all the evidence that indicates Qritiq is someone who has been doing the bidding of Neal Rauhauser? Is it necessary for me once again to reference those posts from August 2010 in which Neal Rauhauser explained his entire strategy?

What Rauhauser has been aiming to do, for nearly two years, is to gather (or perhaps we should say, manufacture) “evidence” of a right-wing conspiracy, so that he and his allies, by claiming they are targets of “harassment,” can file civil lawsuits or criminal complaints. Then, as Neal has quite explicitly explained, he expects to use the discovery process (in civil action) or subpoena authority (in criminal cases) to acquire information that can be used to continue this strategy.

Rauhauser is, in essence, attempting to use the legal process to engage in the same kind of “hacking” that LulzSec perpetrated against HBGary (a crime with which Neal was obsessively interested). Apparently now in cooperation with Brett Kimberlin’s 501(c) Velvet Revolution, Rauhauser wants to pursue a fishing expedition that will have the result of putting vast caches of e-mails — private, personal, business, politics, government — into Neal’s hands.

This was, for example, the strategy we saw in action when Rauhauser boasted of hand-delivering a subpoena for James O’Keefe’s e-mails, from the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, to a New Jersey courtroom where there was a case between O’Keefe and Nadia Naffe.

By publishing the contact information for Patterico’s employer, Qritiq is doing her part to advance Rauhauser’s strategy, generating a new wave of complaints and attempting to prompt some kind of investigation that might ultimately make Patterico’s e-mails legal “fair game.”

Anyone who will take the time to research Neal Rauhauser’s conspiracy theories (and his own descriptions of his motives and methods) will understand how everything fits together. Are Rauhauser’s claims of a right-wing conspiracy so ludicrous and implausible as to suggest that Neal is quite literally insane? Yes, but . . .

Despite all that, if Rauhauser can ever get courts and law enforcement agencies to buy into any of his claims, so that Neal gets hold of private information he can use against his enemies, the kookiness of his theories will ultimately be irrelevant: Neal wins.

Having spent 40 days reporting this story — and I was on the phone with four different sources this morning — I am just now beginning to see clearly what is actually happening. The “accuse the accusers” strategy, whereby Rauhauser and Kimberlin introduce zany conspiracy claims via criminal complaints and civil actions, strikes most rational people as lunacy. Yet it is actually much shrewder than it looks, because this tactic steadily creates a sort of bread-crumb trail of legal “evidence” for the existence of the (alleged and entirely imaginary) right-wing conspiracy that would be the premise of a RICO claim.

Google “RICO + Rauhauser,” and you find that Patterico understands exactly what Rauhauser & Co. have been up to, the evidence of which has been piling up on the Internet for months. Why do you think, dear reader, that Rauhauser has been so wildly obsessed with “Zapem”? Because going back to the TwitterGate episode in 2010, Zapem and her friends have been witnesses to how Rauhauser operates, and have been monitoring Neal’s operations ever since — and Neal damned well knows it. Here are a few points to keep in mind:

  • It’s impossible to know everything that people are doing behind the scenes to manipulate this situation. Rauhauser claims to have frequent (friendly) contacts with law enforcement, and may be using those contacts to spread disinformation. But of course, Rauhauser lies so routinely that even when we have e-mails or “scrubbed” online documents in which Neal says he’s done something, these statements might be just more lies and crazytalk. (The possibility that Rauhauser’s trying to prepare an insanity defense is something I can’t rule out.)
  • Law enforcement’s reluctance to take action against what I’ve come to think of as the Kimberlin-Rauhauser Axis may be the result of honest confusion. Neal and Brett seem to think they’re crafty enough to fool the FBI, which I don’t think they are. But they’ve managed to spread enough confusing nonsense — the “Christian Infowars Militia” cell! — that it might be difficult for agents to make a clear-cut case of criminal wrongdoing that they can take to a federal grand jury.
  • We don’t know the extent of cooperation among Kimberlin, Rauhauser and others, including the people behind various “sockpuppet” accounts. For all we know, Rauhauser’s been pushing his nutty schemes independently, without telling Kimberlin what he’s doing, even though we have clear evidence of a client-consultant relationship between them. So pointing the finger of blame at Kimberlin may be a mistake, at least until there is genuine proof that Rauhauser did X, Y, Z at the direction and with the approval of Kimberlin. “Plausible deniability,” you see.
  • The SWATtings are the tip of the iceberg, and we do not yet have clear proof that Rauhauser or Kimberlin were in any way responsible for or complicit in these dangerous hoaxes. There is, of course, evidence that seems to suggest that Rauhauser had early knowledge of the SWATtings, but publicly engaging in speculation beyond the basic facts of this limited evidence is extremely unwise.

A lot of people are working behind the scenes to gather and sort through the evidence. There are ongoing private investigations and, I have been told by multiple sources, the FBI is carrying out its own investigation. Citizen-journalists trying to move the story forward must be careful to stick to the facts, and avoid making any false accusations or jumping to premature conclusions.

Finally, to any law enforcement personnel who may read this: The “accuse the accusers” strategy is aimed most directly and intensively at those who pose the greatest threat to Rauhauser’s operation. Patrick “Patterico” Frey has published vast amounts of facts regarding this case, and is prepared to publish much more, and there is every reason to believe that Qritiq’s post is part of an effort to silence Patterico.

UPDATE: Patterico examines some very interesting evidence. Read that and ask yourself, “Why are Kimberlin and Rauhauser acting worried?”

UPDATE II (Smitty): Welcome, Instapundit (AKA ‘Exhibit E‘) readers!

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

 

 


Aaron Walker SWATted?

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FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
The escalating insanity has apparently reached new heights. Just when Aaron Walker achieved a court victory — this:

 

 

Readers will excuse the intensity of my reaction, but I simply cannot imagine that any criminal would be so stupidly overconfident to attempt such a thing, at a time when there is so much public attention on the subject. It boggles the mind.

UPDATE: Patterico reports:

It happened around 6 p.m. Eastern. I briefly talked with one of the police officers at the scene, who confirmed that someone had called saying he had shot his wife, and sent officers to Aaron’s address.
I just got off the phone with Aaron and he and his wife are a little shaken up but OK. The officers had machine guns but did not point them at Aaron. They were quickly able to determine it was a hoax.

More reaction at Twitchy. Memo to The Washington Post: This is now what they call “local news.” Get on it.

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Perhaps now readers understand why I’ve spent the past five weeks at an Undisclosed Location.

Handing off the “night desk” to Bob Belvedere for further updates.

UPDATE III: Cops with M-4 automatics knocked on the door. Aaron said to the cops, “Let me guess, someone claimed I shot my wife…?”

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

UPDATED: Aaron Walker Granted Emergency Order in Maryland Hearing, Calls Ruling ‘Important Victory’

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FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
At a hearing this morning in Rockville, Maryland, a Montgomery County Circuit Court granted an emergency motion on behalf of attorney/blogger Aaron Walker. The effect of the ruling will permit Walker to resume writing and speaking about convicted terrorist bomber Brett Kimberln.

Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr. presided over today’s hearing, with attorney Reginald W. Bours III representing Walker, who did not attend the hearing at Judicial Center in Rockville. In a brief telephone interview, Walker said that Kimberlin filed a counter-motion that did not address the First Amendment legal issues at stake, but rather “made a bunch of new accusations” against Walker.

It is important to note that Judge Rupp’s ruling only temporarily permits Walker to speak and write about Kimberlin, pending a July 5 hearing in Maryland state appeals court. Walker is appealing a May 29 ruling by Montgomery County District Court Judge C.J. Vaughey that granted a peace order sought by Kimberlin against Walker.

Walker said he plans to file a report on today’s hearing at his blog, Allergic to Bull. A Virginia attorney, Walker has become the center of national attention since May 17, when he published a 28,000-word blog post entitled, “How Brett Kimberlin Tried to Frame Me for a Crime (And How You Can Help!).” Walker’s post highlighted Kimberlin’s long-running efforts harass and intimidate bloggers who had written about Kimberlin’s criminal history.

Kimberlin is director of a 501(c) non-profit, the Justice Through Music Project, which has collected more than $1.8 million in contributions since 2005. Kimberlin also co-founded another tax-exempt activist group, Velvet Revolution, that has made headlines (and raised money) by making accusations of wrongdoing against a variety of public figures, including GOP strategist Karl Rove, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and the late Andrew Breitbart.

In addition to his appeal in Maryland state courts, Walker has filed for an emergency preliminary injunction in federal court.

As the legal blog Popehat notes, UCLA Law Professor (and popular blogger) Eugene Volokh has agreed to provide pro bono assistance to Walker’s legal defense team. University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, whose blog Instapundit is one of the most popular center-right sites, has also shown strong support for Walker.

Patrick “Patterico” Frey also promises to provide more commentary about the Walker-Kimberlin case. Walker, writing under the pseudonym “Aaron Worthing,” was formerly a co-blogger at Patterico.com, a popular conservative site.

Award-winning conservative blogger Ace of Spades comments on today’s Maryland ruling. Ace was one of the targets of an escalating pattern of harassment against bloggers that evidently began last year, during the Anthony Weiner cybersex scandal.

Democrat “social media” consultant Neal Rauhauser has described Kimberlin as a “client.” Rauhauser evidently joined forces with Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution group last summer and is suspected of involvement with a Web site, originally aimed at “exposing” Breitbart, which published items indicating an ongoing effort to determine the offline identity of Ace. The anti-Breitbart site has been repeatedly published personal information (including home addresses) of bloggers who wrote about Brett Kimberlin’s criminal past.

Rauhauser became obsessed with a conspiracy theory explanation of the so-called WeinerGate scandal, which resulted in a formerly popular Democratic congressman from New York resigning in disgrace. Rauhauser has boasted of his connections to the criminal computer-hacking ring known as “Anonymous.”

Both Mike Stack, who played a key role in exposing Weiner, and Patterico — blamed as a prime suspect in Rauhauser’s conspiracy theory of the WeinerGate scandal — were targeted by a harassment tactic known as SWATting, a dangerous criminal hoax. In a May 25 blog post, Patterico named Rauhauser, Kimberlin and former Raw Story editor Ron Brynaert among those he suspects of complicity in the bogus 911 call that resulted in a police raid on Patterico’s Los Angeles home.

Aaron Walker describes his own situation: “An Important Victory For Freedom of Expression,” which includes a link to Judge Rupp’s order. Aaron says to expect further updates.

(Note: This article was originally posted at 10:46 a.m. ET as a single paragraph, and subsequently updated seven times over the course of three hours as new information was added. I have now removed the “update” notices for ease of reading.)

UPDATE 10 p.m. ET: Aaron Walker was SWATted tonight.

— Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

 


The Silence of Mark Singer; Also: Kimberlin v. Walker Hearing Monday

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FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Three years ago, progressive blogger Seth Allen was in communication with Mark Singer, whose 1996 book Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin, had exposed Kimberlin as pathologically dishonest — a “top-flight con man,” as a reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly put it.

A February 2009 e-mail exhange published by Allen shows that Singer was approached by investigative reporter Joe Lauria, who was impressed by Allen’s writing under his “Prepostericity” pseudonym. Lauria wrote to Singer that Allen had “emerged as a player” by exposing the falsehoods promoted by Kimberlin’s tax-exempt 501(c) non-profit Velvet Revolution. Kimberlin was threatening to sue Singer for his alleged involvement with Allen and Ohio attorney Cliff Arnebeck.

Arnebeck had supported Kimberlin’s claims that Republicans “stole” the 2004 election by rigging the vote in Ohio, but there was a subsequent falling-out between the two. Sources have told me that Arnebeck suspected Kimberlin of financial wrongdoing.

For some reason, it appears Lauria never wrote anything about Kimberlin or Velvet Revolution, and Singer has remained silent for more than three years, even while Kimberlin has waged an escalating war of harassment against bloggers, including Allen.

Monday morning, there will be a hearing in Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court on an appeal by attorney/blogger Aaron Walker, who was arrested last month after he was accused of violating a peace order obtained by Kimberlin.

UPDATE: Walker will be represented by attorney Reginald W. Bours III at Monday’s hearing at Circuit Court (Judicial Center, 50 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850). David Hogberg of Investors Business Daily reported Friday that Bours has filed an emergency motion in Circuit Court seeking “a partial stay or a modification of Kimberlin’s peace order that would in effect lift the peace order until the Appeals Court hears the case on July 5th.”

In a May 29 ruling that outraged First Amendment activists, District Court Judge C.J. Vaughey effectively imposed a gag order that prevents Walker from writing or speaking about Kimberlin.

Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II: Aaron Walker became a target of Kimberlin’s “lawfare” strategy after Walker offered volunteer legal assistance to Seth Allen. In October 2010, Kimberlin sued Allen, who had been criticizing Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution (whose director is blogger Brad Friedman) in a variety of liberal Web forums, including Democrat Underground. Allen blames Friedman and former Raw Story reporter Larisa Alexandrovna for getting him banned at DU and other sites, including Daily Kos.

Walker had been a co-blogger at the Patterico blog, whose proprietor Patrick Frey had written critically of Kimberlin. The escalating legal conflict, driven by Kimberlin’s efforts to silence his online crtitics, resulted in Walker publishing on May 17 a 28,000-word blog post entitled, “How Brett Kimberlin Tried to Frame Me for a Crime (And How You Can Help!).”

In addition to his appeal in Maryland state courts, Walker has filed for an emergency preliminary injunction in federal court.

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown