The Left is investing a lot of effort in suppressing dissent these days. Flag-spam attacks against conservatives on Twitter continue. In fact, they’ve grown even more common since the high-profile attempts to force Chris Loesch off the social network, judging by how often I see them reported. Twitter has yet to introduce enough modifications to its software to prevent this abuse, which involves large mobs of liberals submitting false “spam” reports against targeted conservatives.
Then you’ve got the “Hush Rush” crowd, grinding away at an effort to force talk radio superstar Rush Limbaugh off the air. Consider also the campaign against ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is a free-market group that has been targeted for suppression by a fringe-Left coalition led by Van Jones, once Barack Obama’s choice for “green czar,” until radio host Glenn Beck exposed Jones’ 9/11 conspiracy sympathies.
The group going after ALEC is very small – only about 15 people actually showed up for their May 11 protest, although of course the media covers them as if they were much larger. However, they’re vocal and determined to suppress speech they dislike, and they’ve been remarkably effective at bullying ALEC’s sponsors away. This repellent mob is using the death of Trayvon Martin as the latest pretext for attacking ALEC, because the conservative group is blamed for its involvement in passing Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws.
In the final irony, those laws might not have anything to do with George Zimmerman’s legal defense at all, since evidence suggests the shooting was covered by simple, universal self-defense rights – you don’t have the option of retreating from an encounter when you’re pinned to the ground, and your assailant is cracking your head against the concrete in an MMA-style beatdown. Not that logic, common sense, or simple human decency matter much to the “progressive” enemies of speech. The real issue underlying much of the current push against ALEC is voter ID laws, a mortal threat to leftist vote-fraud operations, and which ALEC’s enemies regard as inherently “racist.”
The anti-ALEC group has been able to persuade several companies to withdraw their support from ALEC. To their eternal shame, Amazon.com was added to the list this week. It’s nice to see people who made their fortune selling books, movies, and music fall into line with a campaign to suppress free speech, isn’t it?
One of the strangest stories of leftist totalitarianism involves a weird character named Brett Kimberlin, a domestic terrorist known as the “Speedway Bomber.” Kimberlin co-founded a group called “Velvet Revolution” that was very active in using harassment lawsuits to shut down targeted conservatives, notably James O’Keefe of Project Veritas.
Long before that, in 1981, he pulled off a string of terror bombings in Indianapolis, which injured a man so severely that he later committed suicide. Of course, all of this was politely overlooked by “progressives” when Kimberlin became a power player in their community. “Guilty as hell, free as a bird,” as fellow domestic terrorist and Obama mentor Bill Ayers once put it.
Kimberlin was a particularly angry bird, and he did have to do some jail time, having been busted for trying to manufacture Defense Department credentials in an apparent plot to bomb a military installation, along with possession of a huge amount of marijuana. While he was in prison, he gained brief notoriety for claiming to have sold pot to Dan Quayle. These claims received a great deal of instant credibility in the media. If you’re old enough to remember the first Bush Administration, the incident probably sounds familiar.
The justice system saw fit to put Kimberlin back on the streets in 2001. He busied himself with setting up leftist pressure groups like Velvet Revolution and the “Justice Through Music Project.” His usual tactic involves filing waves of nuisance lawsuits, on the theory his targets will become entirely occupied with fending him off, or get the message and stop saying things he disagrees with. He’s not some shadowy figure lurking in the background – he’s widely welcomed in the "progressive" community, and his influence has been felt from MSNBC to the Obama campaign. Of course he got money from George Soros, through the Tides Foundation.
Breitbart.com has much more about Kimberlin’s unsavory adventures. Lately he’s been harassing conservative bloggers who dared to write about him, including Aaron Walker, Patterico, and most recently Robert Stacy McCain. McCain actually went into hiding after Kimberlin contacted his wife’s employer as part of an increasingly sinister harassment campaign. Walker and his wife lost their jobs.
Today, therefore, has been declared Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day. The National Bloggers Club has set up a website to aid Kimberlin’s victims. Conservative titan Michelle Malkin is on board, calling attention to the mainstream media’s curious reluctance to report on this amazing story.
They can’t keep ignoring it, if we keep talking about it. We cannot be oppressed if we stand together. No one can silence a chorus of thousands. The American public should know exactly who is shaping major liberal political campaigns, corporate sponsorships, and news coverage. The average Joe has no idea all of this is going on. We conservatives have the power to correct that oversight now.
As my friend Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller likes to say, liberals want conservatives to shut up, but we want them to keep talking. If you want to declare, in no uncertain terms, that you will not be silenced, today is a great day to blog about Brett Kimberlin. If you're a liberal blogger, this is a great opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to the free exchange of ideas. And if you're not already a blogger, well... there are lots of places where you can set one up for free, and this would be a great topic for your inaugural post.
Update: Remember how the media wrote hundreds of thumb-sucking essays about how the Tea Party was a ticking time bomb that could lapse into domestic terrorism at any moment? Remember how the Tea Party was repeatedly framed as "racists" or hatemongers, and described as "un-American" or outright "terrorists" by liberals from Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden?
Well, the entire time that was happening, a guy who actually planted bombs that blew somebody's leg off was a power player in the "progressive" community. Long before Occupy Wall Street started launching "black bloc" attacks and planning to blow up bridges in Cleveland, there was Brett Kimberlin.
Update: Patterico talks about the tactic used against him, known as "SWATting." It involves using phony 911 calls - "my address is such-and-such, and I just killed somebody" - to send armed law enforcement personnel into what they believe is a "hot" crime scene. The SWATter hopes police will inadvertently injure or kill the target.
Follow that link, read the story, and understand what you're standing up against on Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day.
