Leftist Suppression of Conservative Speech

Apparently a liberal/left individual named Brett Kimberlin, along with his operatives, has been making life hell for some conservative bloggers.   Brett Kimberlin has his very own Wikepedia page and it is far from flattering.  See it here.

If my understanding is correct, Kimberlin was convicted of drug trafficking, perjury and domestic terrorism by planting a series of bombs, one of which maimed a Vietnam veteran.  Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in prison but was released (on parole, I assume).  Upon his release he tried to re-invent himself as a liberal social activist, starting non-profit organizations and receiving donations from the public (mostly liberals, I would guess).  A conservative blogger, one Aaron Walker, got wind of these nonprofits and figured Kimberlin was running a scam (an opinion shared by Ed Barnes of Fox News), so he wrote about Kimberlin's criminal past.  Kimberlin promptly sued him.  A judge, apparently no fan of the First Amendment, ordered Walker to stop writing about Kimberlin and even jailed Walker for a few days in what appears to be a transparent abuse of Walker's Constitutional rights.

Kimberlin reportedly taught himself to file lawsuits (without an attorney) while in prison, and has filed over 100 lawsuits to harass his enemies, in what he himself has called "lawfare."  Lawfare is the abuse of the system, using the courts as a weapon to cost the target many hours of time, large amounts of money in legal fees, and great anxiety.  

This practice is called "vexatious litigation," the filing of numerous, frivolous lawsuits that are without legal merit, but nevertheless are highly damaging to the one served.  And, going into court is always a crapshoot, because the integrity, skill and biases of judges vary widely.

That's bad enough, but other practices that bloggers are reporting, allegedly from Kimberlin and his comrades, are these:

1.  Calling the target's employer and either complaining or threatening them or both, sometimes resulting in the target losing his or her job.  

2.  Making false calls to the police, pretending to be from the target's household, claiming that violence has occurred in the household, and to send help.  In at least one case, the police sent a SWAT team to the targeted blogger's house and they entered with guns drawn.  This malicious and fraudulent act has been labeled "SWAT-ing."  

I do not know if Kimberlin & Co. had anything to do with the SWAT-ing of the blogger in question, but apparently, there is suspicion that Kimberlin & Co was involved.  Ruthless suppression of conservative free speech is, of course, not limited to any single leftist.  There appears to be a growing trend, particularly now that liberal (or "progressive") fortunes are on the wane.

Admittedly, my knowledge of the subject matter is limited.  To learn more, consult Robert Stacy McCain and Michelle Malkin, who have written about it extensively and courageously.  To me, Bret Kimberlin is about as important and as relevant as a cockroach.  I don't care who he is or how he may be bilking foolish liberals out of donations to his non-profits.  I do care, however, that illegal and malicious activity may be occurring to freeze free speech and to intimidate conservatives.  We cannot and will not stand for this.

Update:  Donald Douglas at American Power has more details on this case in a post today, "Bloggers Mobilize to Protect Freedom of Speech."