Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Was checking memeorandum, and saw this:
I’m so far removed from the online wingnut community that I no longer speak their language or know all the code words, so when I tried to read Captain Ed, all I could make out was that some jackass was threatening people. Given who we are dealing with here, I am sure this is all the fault of Obama, Holder, Jimmy Carter, Rosie O’Donnell, every Democrat in the country, and George Soros, but has anyone been following this and know what exactly is going on?
Comments are closed.
[…] John Cole, from a couple of days ago: I’m so far removed from the online wingnut community that I no longer speak their language or know all the code words, so when I tried to read Captain Ed, all I could make out was that some jackass was threatening people. Given who we are dealing with here, I am sure this is all the fault of Obama, Holder, Jimmy Carter, Rosie O’Donnell, every Democrat in the country, and George Soros, but has anyone been following this and know what exactly is going on? […]
Spaghetti Lee
What Did Barbara Streisand Know
Crap! They’ve figured out who the real power behind the throne is! Everyone, kill the lights!
Baron Elmo
Hmmmm.
I pick “Some commenter on a blog said that Stacy McCain, Patterico, Liberty Chick, and Aaron Walker should die in a fire OMG OMG OMG LIBERAL FASCISM.”
What do I win?
Napoleon
I hear George Tierney, Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina is behind it all.
Gin & Tonic
Is that photo of Streisand from like 50 years ago?
Mark S.
Somebody figure out who Brett Kimberlin is and why May 25th will be Brett Kimberlin Day. I have a feeling the answer is there somehow.
Arclite
Victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, victim, and victim.
They’re always the victim. That’s all we need to know.
jeff
OK, I tried to research who this guy is but all the articles reference each other as part of “blog about Brett Kimberlin” day. I have no idea what or whom they are talking about. A terrorist that works for Ms. Streisand???? Her gardner?
Scooter
Stacy McCain is moving and needs money. This was the only way he could figure out how to get it.
If they would just give him the money to more, he wouldn’t have to do this.
flukebucket
Somebody mentioned the Brett Kimberlin thing in the comments on another thread. I followed the link and still couldn’t tell what the hell it was about
Ed in NJ
Some criminal with a tenuous link to some Democratic something or other threatened Robert Stacy McCain. Apparently, said criminal is either mobbed up, or controls all of Virginia law enforcement, making it unsafe for McCain to be seen in public, so he has gone into hiding with his family.
In other words, Robert Stacy McCain is a big pussy.
beltane
I haven’t heard the name Stacy McCain since 2007 or 2008. I would like my next stretch of not hearing the name to be at least twice as long. Who are those oppressed conservative bloggers? Are they going to make a show of solidarity with Taco or something?
Soonergrunt
Well, that jackass racist R.S. McCain is claiming that he’s had to move his family into hiding because of death threats. I know nothing about it other than that, and considering the claimant, I find it both not believable, and fucking hilarious.
Not believable because while he is a proudly racist jackass, he is of no consequence to anyone and I just can’t conjure a credible threat (because really, who would bother with him?), and hilarious because he, like most right wingers, has quite frequently made his stock and trade in eliminationist rhetoric about liberals. He’s supposed to be some bad ass (as they all fancy themselves to be) but somebody spooked him into pants-shitting fear and hiding (IF it’s real.)
The other event is that conservative commentator S.E. Cupp apparently was targeted by Hustler magazine (I can’t look from work) in some fashion similar to Hustler’s famous takedown of Jerry Fallwell and there are a lot of people piling on in the comments thread to same, from what I’ve been able to gather in the last few minutes.
Twitter is going on, as you may guess.
fasteddie9318
Why are they all so panicked? Well, let’s see, the country elected a black president and…well, I think that just about covers it.
decitect
but this!
“Thanks, Ed and Michelle. It’s great that the bigger sites are going on this.
As a non-blogger, I plan to do what I can do on twitter.
juliesa on May 23, 2012 at 10:53 AM”
the vast right wing conspiracy is on it. like with vince foster, etc.
they’re so addicted to bullying and victimization-politics, unbelievable.
Southern Beale
I also saw some something on the Twitter Machine about photoshopped images of SE Cupp. That is not something I want to Google (good Lord what hellish images that will result in) so I have no clue what it’s about.
But if I were to bet I’d say it’s probably nothing. The perpetually aggrieved and victimized right wingnutosphere is able to manufacture mountains of controversy out of literally nothing. The majority of it never goes anywhere. So I’m going to ignore this shit until I’m forced to pay attention.
JGabriel
Michelle Malkin:
Things which the rest of the country sincerely hopes will remain uncommon — rare even, like a good steak.
.
daveNYC
Something about blogging about some dude who is in jail. Because that will do stuff and things. I haven’t the foggiest. This Brett guy seems to be doing 50 years for blowing something up.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Barbra Stiesand back terrorist bombers WTF?
Spaghetti Lee
@JGabriel:
“He did Great Things, Mr. Potter….terrible, but great.”
beltane
@JGabriel: Notice how she doesn’t claim they can accomplish great things, only uncommon things.
karen marie
@Napoleon: Perhaps this accounts for the deafening silence from that crew with respect to George Tierney Jr. of Greenville, SC?
dmsilev
@Spaghetti Lee:
and when did she know it?
Also, too, when Barbara Streisand does it, it’s not illegal.
Mojotron
This is no joke; R.S. McCain has had to call 9-1-1 several times already.
Now he may have called to check the traffic report and curse out the 911 operator, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s had to call 9-1-1.
Edit: That was apparently his brother Joe who did that, d’oh.
karen marie
@jeff: From what I gather, Kimberlin brought suit against some rightwing blogger for stalking and saying mean things and the blogger lost by default because he didn’t show up to court.
jibeaux
I don’t know what it’s about either, but I got $10,000 of Mitt Romney’s dollars that none of those guys could explain to you the difference between Rush losing his sponsors and government censorship that would violate the First Amendment. Even though it involves capitalism and individual FREEDOM so it really should be a gimme.
Heliopause
All the Google hits seem to be from right-wing sites. As far as I can tell this Kimberlin is an alleged Dem operative and former violent felon who has allegedly been threatening McCain and other right bloggers. Dispassionate information seems difficult to come by.
Boots Day
I can.
Everett
http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Deeply-American-Journey-Kimberlin/dp/0679429999
Apparently, Obama had him arrested and thrown in jail in 1981 for trumped up terrorism charges because they had gay sex in 1987, which Kimberlin threatened to reveal in 2008.
gnomedad
@Mark S.:
May 25th will in fact be Towel Day.
Dr. Squid
@jeff: Apparently Brett Kimberlin was responsible for bombings in the 70’s in Indiana, then once claimed to have sold weed to Dan Quayle. Been out of prison since ’01, but still on parole since he got a 50 year sentence.
He talked once about Republican vote fraud which of course means that we should restrict black folk from voting.
KCinDC
Lindsay Beyerstein is right about the S.E. Cupp thing. Hustler’s supposed defense of reproductive rights is stupid, unlike Tbogg’s.
Napoleon
@karen marie:
So this is really harass Kimberlin day then?
beltane
@Southern Beale: I Googled it and found this http://www.mediaite.com/online/explicit-image-of-s-e-cupp-its-a-fake-in-hustler-magazine-sparks-outrage/
The only sites making mention of it are Glenn Beck’s padded cell and Clownhall, probably because no one knows or cares who S.E. Cupp is. Sadly, for her, this probably won’t even merit a passing reference in Wonkette. They have standards and she’s hardly a Bristol Palin.
slag
@Mojotron:
Socialist! Get out your gun, you pansy, and settle this issue like a real man.
Hmmm….That felt good…rightwingers may be on to something here. And what could possibly go wrong?
Villago Delenda Est
@Heliopause:
Well, given who is complaining about Kimberlin, I’d take everything these maggots say with barrels of salt.
cminus
Brett Kimberlin was a mid-level Indianapolis drug runner and general-purpose scumbag who claimed to have sold pot to Dan Quayle. I have no idea why he’s now becoming a thing on right wing blogs; not only has Quayle sunk into well-deserved obscurity in Arizona (which deserves him more than Indiana ever did), even investigators hostile to Quayle concluded that Kimberlin’s credibility was nil.
Dr. Squid
@Scooter: Maybe we can take up a collection for him to move to Saudi Arabia.
Amir Khalid
That scapegoat list is incomplete. The right wing should listen to George Tierney, Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina, and add George Sorrento to it.
taylormattd
@karen marie: Hahaha. Somebody took a default judgment against a wingnut, and the right blogs go batshit. Christ they are fucking stupid.
Arm The Homeless
Oh, its the hit parade of liberal black helicopters.
It has Soros (Tides Foundation) some guy on BradBlog, Striesand (not sure if it’s Mecha- or another flavor) and something called the “Velvet Revolution”.
I guess RSM was writing a “story” (it’s a blog, let’s be real) and Kimberlin, or someone associated with his foundation called his wife’s work to complain about harassment. So best I can gather, cause he won’t say what the threats are, is that Maryland has some strict lawsuit laws. He is claiming the guy is a litigious-creep who sues to shut people up. Then RSM moved to an undisclosed, but unfortunately internet accessible location. And he needs yer moneys, for the children and journalism, I guess.
strech
More or less, yes. Said jackass is Brett Kimberlin, who has threatened and sued Aaron Walker (who has blogged under the pseudonym Aaron Worthing) and a number of other people, and attempted to frame Walker for assault in ham-handed fashion.
Kimberlin spent a bunch of time in jail, regarding both drugs and a series of roadway bombings which resulted in the later suicide of Carl Delong, which is where the domestic terrorist stuff is coming in. (And he possibly did other stuff, not sure).
These days he runs a non-profit; the Justice Through Music Project has received donations from the Barbara Streisand Foundation, the Heinz Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, among others, but there’s nothing connecting them to the crazy person behavior here. JTMP has done some (not always credible) voting fraud work, but I don’t know what else.
Baron Elmo
I’d like to know what is really going on here, actually… but the Crazed Hysteria factor that steams off these people like rancid body odor makes it pretty much impossible to suss out the truth.
Maybe Ed Kilgore or Josh Marshall will wade into this stinking swamp, ignore the outraged shrieks (I always imagine that bass singer from the Coasters moaning “Why is ever’body always pickin’ on me?” with the pitch pushed up to window-shattering shrillness) and extract a few nuggets of sense.
Zifnab
Wait, does this mean “Who is Brett Kimberlin?” is going to become the new “Who is John Galt?”
Villago Delenda Est
@cminus:
Hmm, is the Brett Kimberlin that is the subject of Towel Day ire that Brett Kimberlin?
There are a lot of George Tierney Jr.s out there who are NOT from Greenville, SC, whose lives have been made more interesting, in the Chinese curse sense, thanks to the hopefully one and only original.
Villago Delenda Est
@Zifnab:
DING DING DING DING DING
Kman
33 years ago, Brett Kimberlin (then 18) set off a bomb at the Indianapolis Speedway. Nobody was killed, but years later, one of the injured people took his own life. Kimberlin has been out of prison for some time now, and is now working for a lefty not-for-profit organization (which fights against, ironically, domestic terrorism among other things).
Now with a family and children, Kimberlin claims to be reformed, but a few right wing bloggers won’t let him move on from his past — they have been harassing him for years. He’s only recently started to fight back, primarily using the court system. So now he is being tagged as a suppressor of free speech.
I don’t know if Kimberlin is reformed or not, but this has the earmarks of right-wing lynch mob/feeding frenzy. I’ll leave it to others to decide if Kimberlin has it coming.
NancyDarling
Soros and Tides and Babs! Oh my!
Soonergrunt
@Napoleon: That’s what it looks like.
jeff
@Dr. Squid:
Thanks. I see that about Quayle. Still not sure of relevance.
Jeff Spender
I was once a victim of a segment of the far right-wing internet freaks.
It’s not fun. I do not wish it on anyone. You just do not know how much they really lie and make things up when you are actually victim and know the objective truth. These people are insane, quite literally.
It isn’t a matter of a different point of view. These people are mentally ill. Like, lock them in a room shot full of medication mentally ill.
Villago Delenda Est
@taylormattd:
Lizard brain in full control of these clowns. Amazed that they still have an autonomic nervous system, given their evolutionary retardedness.
JGabriel
I just spent half-an-hour trying to figure out who Brett Kimberlin is, and I’m still stumped. Every site that Google lists in response to a search on his name is a wingnut site calling him a terrorist — which, by conservative standards, could mean as little as that he voted for Walter Mondale in 1984.
According to the wingnuts, he’s some sort of famous criminal terrorist leftist, whom no one on the left seems to have ever heard of.
Of course, it’s probable that conservatives simply think ‘criminal terrorist’ is synonymous with ‘left’.
.
Napoleon
@Kman:
Really? During the 500?
Stuck in the Funhouse
I do follow politics fairly close, even wingnut politics, when I have my body condom on. Never heard of this story, of Snidely Whiplash on the loose after our wingnuts. I guess Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright, just don’t have juice anymore. But listening to a bunch of nervous nelly wingnuts fearing ‘real violence’ piques by bullshit detector to rock and roll. Last time I checked, the ‘real violence’ most all has been from the right, or at least directed at the left.
Somebody needs to slip some Xanax in their kool aid.
hilzoy
I started reading this, which at any rate has a lot of detail. Didn’t get all the way through it: it’s one thing, for me, to read someone I regard as basically trustworthy, which means that while I still check the links at points I think matter, I do not have to worry about the possibility that someone is completely misrepresenting or misinterpreting things. It’s another to read a very, very long narrative when I have no confidence at all in the narrator.
The point at which I stopped was when Aaron W. quoted this, from a proposed settlement by Kimberlin, as evidence that Kimberlin was going to try to frame him: “I will forgo any future litigation concerning Mr. Worthing, including bar complaints, sanctions, civil suits, criminal complaints, peace orders and other administrative actions.” How is this evidence? Aaron W. says: because he hadn’t filed any criminal complain yet! So this shows that he was planning to do so.
Meh, I think. It could just as easily be stupid legal boilerplate. Legal documents are full of lists enumerating things included in some term. It would be silly to take these as statements of intent, rather than as attempts to make sure that every conceivable base is covered.
That seemed like such an obvious point that I thought: life is short.
Best I can tell, though (and bear in mind that I gave up before e.g. checking the documents: I am relying on blog posts here): there’s a guy who was convicted of bombing stuff back in the 70s, but who is now out. He sounds like a jerk, and is very litigious. RS McCain has had to leave his home, with his family, for unspecified reasons having to do with this person. Patterico has his own story, and promises that all will be disclosed soon. Aaron W’s story is at the link I provided; if you can get to the end of it, you’re more patient than I am.
I do wish someone would provide a shorter version of it, though.
JGabriel
@Kman: Thanks, KMan.
dragonlady
I’m delurking long enough to answer the question Cole posted.
I keep tabs on some libertarian/semi-conservative legal sites to see what others are saying about various topics. Here’s a (long) explanation by the guy who started the movement against Kimberlin. http://allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-brett-kimberlin-tried-to-frame-me_9842.html
TL:DR version? Kimberlin is a convicted domestic terrorist that I had never heard of before who apparently goes around suing a lot of conservative bloggers. He went after Aaron Worthing because Mr. Worthing gave a bit of legal advice to another person he had a vendetta against.
Villago Delenda Est
Posts 40 and 43 (may the prophet not unmoderate things before that to screw this up) offer two very different takes on the Brett Kimberlin who is the target of wingtard ire.
It seems to me that the usual assholes are being assholes here.
But that opinion is of course subject to change, as more facts, not wingtard bloviating, come to light.
NancyDarling
@NancyDarling: What is going on here and when did I become “undefined”? When I tried to edit the comment, things went wonky.
Here is my addition.
If Brett had joined Colson’s prison ministry and become a right winger, Michelle and her crew would have totally forgiven him for the bombing. Only right wingers are allowed to atone for their sins. Lefties only pretend to be sorry. Or something.
Things are wonkier still, because now my correct name is up. FYWP
Svensker
Captain Ed has a link to some “progressive” site that has been supporting this supposed terrorist person but I get a Forbidden – Users from your country are not permitted to browse this site. when I click on it. Can anyone see what that’s about?
OK, never mind. Apparently this guy Brett Kimberlin was convicted in the 1970s for bombing. He got out of prison in the 90s and has been active in leftist politics, including starting an organization called Justice Through Music Program, which has gotten money from Tides Foundation, Barbra Streisand and some other lefties. Friends of Brett say he was innocent of the charges, has been exonerated, is doing great work. Other folks — including lefties — say he’s a classic sociopath and conning everyone. In the meantime, apparently Brett has gone after some righty bloggers who are pooping their pantses.
Who’s right and who’s wrong and what the troof is about Kimberlin I got no idee.
jeff
@hilzoy:
Sounds like the sort of situation that is of no concern to the public. I guess this should be ignored like the other 100 million silly lawsuits and personal arguments. Can’t see what it has to do with anything, though I hope that the victims are left alone and that the man gets arrested if he broke the law.
gaz
I have no idea what this is. I gave up trying to decode the matrix.
Jeff Spender
@gaz:
It’s all Japanese anyway.
gene108
@Spaghetti Lee:
As long as Streisand doesn’t get the Diamond of Panthios it really doesn’t matter, now does it?
jl
Cole denies knowledge of what his brutal jackbooted thug Tunch has been up to?
Really?
4tehlulz
I think the news is that someone noticed R.S. McCain existed.
cminus
@Villago Delenda Est: After wading into some right-wing websites, and washing my eyes with bleach, I can report that it is apparently the same Brett Kimberlin; Dan Riehl wrote that Kimberlin “once falsely claimed to have sold drugs to a college-aged Dan Quayle”.
If it is the same Brett Kimberlin, I dunno if I’d want to stick my neck too far out defending him just yet. Yes, it’s certainly possible that he’s reformed and he’s entitled to that presumption, and it sounds like there are respectable people who will vouch for him. And, yes, R.S. McCain is the kind of guy whose armpits soak through in fright every night when he checks under his bed for the New Black Panther Party. But even paranoids have enemies, and the old Brett Kimberlin was certainly willing and able to effectively resort to violence. I’d recommend letting people who know the Brett Kimberlin of today take the lead.
kindness
Wait a minute. Wasn’t there a thread last night titled
No? Well. guess I gotta quit sniffing glue and reading Clownhall before bed.
Carbon Dated
@gnomedad:
Ah that explains it. I received a “Geek Pride Day May 25” button with a recent purchase from thinkgeek dot com. (Upon further research, I see that some misguided geeks are also celebrating Star Wars Day on the 25th.) Don’t panic.
RossinDetroit
Shorter wingnut pack:
(hears sound of barking)
BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!
BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!
Stuck in the Funhouse
Jeebus H Christ, it’s that time again, every four years. Hunting season for the right wing blogosphere, sniffing each others pheromones to form a solidified pack mentality going into the POTUS election.
Whatever is going on here, has nothing to do with politics, nor of course freedom of speech as witnessed by the braying and howling. And likely should be on 48 Hours, or some weekend MSNBC whodunnit.
Jeff Spender
@RossinDetroit:
Do you have a boot handy? After all, we are all jackbooted thugs, aren’t we?
FlipYrWhig
Bonus points to anyone who can work in the assault on Kenneth Gladney into the long-tentacled lefty conspiracy at play here. Or, for that matter, other feverish hentai fantasies.
Soonergrunt
@Stuck in the Funhouse:
I think this has more to do with the whole thing than anything else. It’s like SEIU thugs all over again.
Sally Rakowski
@kindness:
There were a couple threads that allowed for commenters to post George Tierney’s place of employment for some weird reason. Is that maybe what you were thinking of?
Which is one of the things Brett Kimberlin’s been doing, calling the employers of people who write about him.
joes527
@Southern Beale: Ugh. In this case, it looks like Hustler managed to justify the outrage.
They took Limbaugh’s treatment of Sandra Fluke to the next level with an attack on S. E. Cupp.* I am no an S. E. Cupp fan, but neither am I a attack on public women fan, so in this case I have no problem saying that she and those who know/respect her are perfectly justified in their outrage and Hustler should be … … … banished from polite company. (yeah, I know)
* Seriously … doesn’t she have a first name? Why do republican poseurs always go with the initial initial?
cminus
@Napoleon: Not during the race, and not even at the racetrack proper. Speedway, Indiana is an independent town, surrounded by Indianapolis on all sides. The town is something of a legal fiction intended to keep the Indianapolis Motor Speedway out of Indianapolis proper, although it does have a real resident population too.
FormerSwingVoter
Why do right-wingers think it’s such a horrible atrocity to associate with former criminals? People with criminal records don’t usually brag about them.
Jay in Oregon
First they came for George Tierney, Jr., and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a “Southern gentleman”.
Then they came for Robert Stacy McCain, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a racist douchehat…
Steve V
A few minutes of googling turned up a bunch of stories about the speedway bombings at http://www.indystar.com. I have no idea what the guy’s all about now, but jeez that’s some sick stuff.
Stuck in the Funhouse
I scanned as much of the righty blogs as I could take, swarming on this story, and have yet to hear where Kimberlin actually threatened violence on current gooper bloggers, or anyone else. If someone has seen such specific allegations, I would like to know.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Sally Rakowski:
I’m curious where you managed to get this:
Jay in Oregon
@FormerSwingVoter:
Oh, they have no problem with former criminals, just ask G. Gordon Liddy and Chuck Colson.
Betty Cracker
@Sally Rakowski: Are you referring to George Tierney, Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina?
Soonergrunt
@Jay in Oregon: It’s got to be the right kind of criminals, you know. People who’ve committed fraud or other financial crimes, as long as they were rich when they committed the crimes or they’ve donated to Republicans, and people who committed crimes of the nature of Colson and Liddy, who attacked the democratic system in the service of a hard-right ideologue are just fine with them.
Nylund
Basically they found some wacko scumbag who likes to sue and threaten wingnuts (and was in jail for bombing some stuff).
In their minds, he’s some super-powerful, well-connected, top Democratic operative and hatchetman. As such, they have decided that this proves that all liberals are terrorists or something.
sharl
Jimmy CarterBarbara StreisandWard ChurchillBill & Hillary ‘Vince Foster killa’ ClintonJanet “Black Helicopters” RenoJeremiah “Whitey Hater” WrightBill “Retired (or IS HE?) Terrorist” AyersBrett Kimberlin
IS HISTORY’S GREATEST MONSTER!
(list not complete; just got tired of typing & formatting)
Shana
@gnomedad: I’m glad someone said that. Love the idea of Towel Dayl
rickstersherpa
[email protected]hilzoy: It is common legalboilerplate used settlements of court cases. This t’ol Nixon doubletwist they learn the first day at ratfuckerschool. Attack, and when counter-attacked whine about it.
NCSteve
@Arclite: And all those people who aren’t like me claiming to be victims? Bitches had it comin.’
Dr. Omed
Ask not for whom the black helicopter lands, it lands for thee.
Villago Delenda Est
@Nylund:
It’s always projection with these idiots. Always.
SteveM
This Time article makes Kimberlin seem like a very dodgy guy who nevertheless may have done some good. I don’t know what the good/dodgy ratio was, or is, but a couple of boldface-name liberals gave money for his good works, then he reportedly did more bad things, therefore ALL LIBERALS 100% EVIL.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jeff Spender:
Any boots I have are US Army issue.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Apparently the conservative hill to die on de jour is over some liberal being mean to someone I’ve never heard of.
I can’t be bothered to read any of the links or this thread to discover what it’s all about. The name will change tomorrow but the butthurt…ahhh, the signature conservative butthurt will never die.
merl
@Napoleon: I thought George Tierney Jr was from Charlotte, South Carolina not Greenville
I also heard that George Tierney Jr is a douchebag.
Nutella
Somebody wrote a book about him a while back. Apparently he’s quite the con man.
Sally Rakowski
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Here, pragmatist posts his place of employment.
Here, gaz posts it.
Here, Barney does it.
Wondering why commenters here think posting his place of employment is such a grand idea, or what the purpose is.
Unless they think exactly the same way Brent Kimberlin would.
John Cole
@Sally Rakowski: Thanks, sally, I have deleted those comments. I don’t stand for that stuff.
Downpuppy
@KCinDC: If SE Cupp was a real person, & not a character created by an unemployable fine arts major to jump on the wingnut welfare gravy train, Lindsay would be right. But from her opening post “Hi! I’m a redneck fewl!” through pretty much everything she’s done, it’s been bleeding obvious that she was just in it for the bucks.
You throw a fake character into public debate, don’t expect the same consideration a real person would get.
Felinious Wench
You know, if the man wants to spend his time and hard earned (or conned) treasure suing conservative bloggers, who are we to keep him from his fine work?
WJS
The timing of all of this is suspect, so I would guess that we have a coordinated effort to discredit one of the leading voices on voting machine fraud.
This is absolutely the most important detail in the story–Kimberlin understands electronic machine voting fraud. He has credibility on this issue and the people who want to silence him know that his criminal past is a millstone around his neck. The only reason anyone cares about this guy is because he is, literally, one of the first people who figured out that Diebold voting machines were rigged to give false tallies.
Kimberlin has helped uncover the irregularities and problems with Diebold, and with the electronic voting machines that can be hacked. If your entire election in 2012 rests with being able to disenfranchise voters in urban areas (in other words, suppress Democratic votes), then you need to start going after all of the credible or capable people who can speak intelligently to voter fraud and to the fact that the 2012 election could very well be stolen.
This Kimberlin person has a sordid past; claiming he sold weed to Dan Quayle is his claim to fame. He was the guy in prison who had to be “hushed up” after Quayle was picked as VP in 1988. Whether he actually did or not is not something that can be proven on the Internets, of course, so that rests as an allegation and not as a fact (but some would argue it was probably true).
What I was able to figure out is that he is a convenient target for phony outrage. He has legal means at his disposal, and he went after RS McCain after a series of blog posts about him popped up on his site. Never one to miss a fundraising opportunity, McCain signed off on his “I’m leaving Maryland” blog post with a link to his tip jar.
I think that the wingnuts will go after The Brad Blog next, and will continue their work against any and all who can speak to voter fraud issues. But this “threat” is largely conjured up in their own minds because the only time the rule of law applies to them is when they seek refuge in it; when the law is used to hold them accountable for the crap they publish, then the law, to them, is illegitimately applied.
We’re dealing with drama queens and socially inept human beings here. In other words, there’s no ‘there’ there until someone working for a reputable news organization takes their bait and makes it a real story.
cthulhu
@SteveM: That’s a useful article to understand that this Kimberlin’s definitely a kook with a hit and miss record who nonetheless has managed to attract some bigger name attention (and an article in Time, after all). He certainly hasn’t admitted or disavowed the bombings (nor does there seem to be any explanation for them). So I imagine you wouldn’t necessarily want to have this guy’s negative attention. But given what an ass Stacy McCain is, I have difficulty working up too much sympathy.
Bago
Just putting this out there, but Hustler has a certain reputation, branding if you would. Classy it ain’t. Remember the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell thing?
Anyone clicking a linkto hustler and being shocked by pornographic images is naive in the extreme. Anyone unaware of the powers of photoshop should probably stay off of the Internet, especially somethingawful.com
AA+ Bonds
The guy in question is some mad bomber who threatened public officials some years back with a weird schizo plan to kill the people who put him in jail, and then later he started grifting on the left, and now he’s trying to become involved in anti-O’Keefe activities
You’re right to ignore it – it’s some business that doesn’t really involve anyone at the moment except a bunch of right-wing bloggers and some psycho crook who managed to trick some big name foundations into giving him funding for his con
AA+ Bonds
@WJS:
Hahaha yeah okay dude you have fun trying to revive Brett Kimberlin’s reputation, as long as you don’t trust him with your stuff or your life the only damage should be to your credibility
AA+ Bonds
Jesus fuck there is not really any question that Kimberlin is a psychopath and a con artist
Don’t even try to defend this guy, people like him are death for the left
AA+ Bonds
Yeah all yall Think Hard about whether or not you want this guy associated with you or anything you care about
Here is the proper response of people seeking electoral reform to meeting Kimberlin:
karen marie
@Napoleon: Pretty much. But what I think is hilarious is that the excuse for not showing up to court was lack of travel funds. Anyone with a few more brain cells would understand more clearly that Justice is out of reach unless you have money. But, no, instead the lesson is “the judge is an ambulance chaser.” Srsly.
It really is amazing that these morans remember to breath much less remember from day to day how to get on the internetz.
Mac G
I also tried to read the long complaint from Aaron Walker and gave up. The TIME article was about the only thing helpful in trying to figure out who this guy.
I agree Brad Blog appears to be the next target as they keep mentioning his name and how Kimblerin is working with a Democratic operative too.
Mac G
Also, I notice conservative bloggers are always under attack than say Graeme Frost and his family.
AA+ Bonds
Nobody even reads Stacy McCain anymore
AA+ Bonds
Kimberlin and these right wing paranoiacs are made for each other, as they all believe they are super-celebrities with magic powers fighting mind wars to uncover the nefarious conspiracy behind U.S. government
I hope they all have a lot of fun playing New Media Dungeons and Dragons together and end up in jail
daleyrocks
Damn, I love the smell of epistemic closure in the afternoon!
Ron Brynaert
@Kman:
Kimberlin is a liar…and he certainly has been menacing critics.
But Kman is an unethical lawyer who leaked a private email I sent to him to a troll who attacked my family – including my sister’s rape. Because I had written his work address, and because I’ve been menaced and harassed by his longtime pal – who is now blackmailing me for $20,000 – and because K-man is a lawyer bound by ethics, I complained to someone at his workplace.
And because of that the vicious thugs that K-man likes to play with have pretended that I’m in some kind of crazy conspiracy with Brett Kimberlin and cybersmearer/Dem operative Neal Rauhauser.
Most of the people attacking Kimberlin are slimeball liars…but BK is a liar and a sketchy dude who has gotten Think Progress, Brad Blog, Raw Story and Wikipedia to hide his past as a convicted bomber.
K-man is slime…and should be ashamed of what he did to me. But he’s a lawyer.
Steve J.
I am sure this is all the fault of Obama, Holder, Jimmy Carter, Rosie O’Donnell, every Democrat in the country, and George Soros,
You left out Woodrow Wilson & Karl Marx! :-)
gocart mozart
@hilzoy:
It’s called a “general release”. It is standard to sign one as part of a settlement so someone doesn’t turn around and sue you anyways after cashing the check. What a bunch of dumbasses.
karen marie
@hilzoy: I did
Patricia Kayden
@jl: Hilarious!! Best comment ever!
karen marie
@Stuck in the Funhouse: That’s because he apparently didn’t. They were harassing him and he took some of them to court. One lost on a default because he couldn’t wipe the Cheeto dust off himself and get to court, so now they’re all butthurt.
P.S. The problem (surprisingly) with most of you here is you’re looking at Kimberlin and not the nexus between Kimberlin and the nutters. Always go to the nexus first with these morans.
danielx
@Mark S.:
See below…
@cminus:
Kimberlin was indeed an all around jerk back in the day, and was convicted of various drug/bombing/injuring offenses. As I recall he owned a health food restaurant that was his front and kindasorta tried to portray himself as an honest merchant/pillar of the community type but was too smarmy to pull it off (the food there sucked too). Whatever his good deeds may be now, back then he was pretty sociopathic and in my thankfully limited experience people like that don’t change. What amazes me is that they let him out at all; must’ve been before 9/11. Anyway, he was a jerk then and I’d guess he’s a jerk now.
Consider: his record and the fact that he got out early on a fifty year sentence.
Sidebar: These days if he was convicted of several bombings, dealing drugs, etc he’d get life and he’d do life in a highly unpleasant location.
But whatever. What does any sane person do under these circumstances?
a) if you’re Kimberlin, you keep your head down and try to stay out of the public eye at all times.
b) if you’re not Kimberlin you avoid him like the plague; who needs to be associated with that kind of grief?
Instead, supposedly here’s Kimberlin showing his ass, making threats, etc etc. That makes me wonder because while he’s a (supposedly reformed) all round bad guy/thug, he’s not a stupid man. Why would he expose himself that way – another offense would put him back in the joint for life. Plus, what’s with someone hiring him to do anything political? Hey, I’m all for redemption but if I was prominent in either party I wouldn’t get within three counties of this guy. He’s reformed? Good for him. Now let’s be serious and find somebody who doesn’t have that level of baggage.
Even on the eleven dimensional chess scale…I wouldn’t get within three counties of this guy.
skippy
@joes527: her first name is sipp.
clayton
I still think that this is Stacy McCain’s way of getting back in with his conservative friends after he “outed” who was at a secret meeting with Romney’s folks — and guess who wasn’t invited?
Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom was much better at squeezing money out of his troops.
Another Halocene Human
@KCinDC: Well, I disagree. SE Cupp earned that. Cupp is disingenuous and a liar, an atheist who pretends to just love regular church-goin’ folk, an ivy-league grad elistist on wingnut welfare who claims to take up the flag of just folks, a devoted acolyte of the Sarah Palin School of female republican politickin’, all polished up apple cheeks and sexy schoolmarm pencil skirts and glasses who is now so, so offended that somebody photoshopped her face with a peen.
SE Cupp is a nobody because her shtick is so lame. Even the Hustler sendup is meh. Hard to imagine her putting a cock in her mouth, like, ewww. The only thing she loves is money, but she’s not bright enough to figure out how to acquire lots and lots of it.
Poor Sippy Cupp. She couldn’t luck out into a bitching acting gig like Terry Farrell, who got by
on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with lousy acting skills, a hot bod, and the sexy librarian look honed to a fine scalpel point.
Another Halocene Human
wtf, I apologize for that weird bq on prior post. I meant to hit em but I’m tired… sorry. Long day.
Another Halocene Human
@Downpuppy:
Bingo. She’s the Olivia Munn of conservative commentary.
I expect one day she’ll quietly disappear off the airwaves and children will be born, waves will lap on the beach, the sun will beat on the Sahara Desert, and a snail will emerge from its shell.
joes527
@Another Halocene Human: This is _exactly_ how the right wing blogs dismiss Sandra Fluke. She totally asked for it. She chose a school to create the conflict. Anyone who takes her side is either a professional victim or a chump.
As long as it is acceptable to tell a woman to shut her cock sucker and get back in her place, (and that was hustler’s message) we will continue to tell women just that.
WJS
@AA+ Bonds: That’s your own paranoia speaking. I don’t care about him, or his reputation.
That does not change the fact that Republicans/conservatives have a vested interest in destroying people with credibility or knowledge of voting fraud. Kimberlin is not the issue; stealing the election by using Diebold voting machines is the issue.
You’re the one falling for the misdirection, not me.
The Red Pen
@gocart mozart:
Sounds like Aaron W. doesn’t have nearly the experience being sued that he probably should.