Freedom to Blog Update July 12, 2012

Alex Pareene published a ridiculously slimy account of the Brett Kimberlin controversy Tuesday, "Brett Kimberlin versus right-wing bloggers." Pareene is perhaps the prototypical progressive Internet sleezeball. A former blogger at Gawker/Wonkette, he's famous for attacking Michelle Malkin with crude Asian whore ping-pong ball slurs. Patterico has the epic smackdown, "Salon Does Damage Control for Brett Kimberlin":

Pareene describes Kimberlin’s victim’s as people who “receive a great deal of joy from pretending to be the victims of unprovoked and terrible persecution.” Ask Aaron Walker how much joy he received when he and his wife lost their jobs, he was arrested, and spent money defending against frivolous actions from Kimberlin. It was not “joy” I experienced when Kimberlin’s site published photos of my house and my address; when he filed a state bar complaint against me; when he attempted to file frivolous criminal charges against me with the California Attorney General and the stalking unit of my office; or when he complained to my office numerous times about me.

And so on and so forth.

Pareene mentions Kimberlin’s main defense to the bombings — that some of the witnesses were hypnotized — without mentioning the damning evidence against him, such as his possession of timers and explosive materials consistent with those used in the bombings. Nowhere is there a mention of the wrongful death judgment obtained by Carl DeLong’s widow, or the fact that Kimberlin refused to pay it while collecting over a million dollars from the Tides Foundation, Barbra Streisand, and other liberal marks.

There is so much more I could talk about, but I have to get to work.

This piece pretends to be journalism, but it isn’t. It’s cover to Brett Kimberlin, pure and simple. Pareene repeats Kimberlin’s allegations and doesn’t bother to talk to any of his victims.

It’s Gawker-style “journalism,” at Salon.

Pareene interviewed Brett Kimbelin, but not one of the conservatives who claim intimidation by the Kimberlin network. Robert Stacy McCain has more, "East Coast Opium Kingpin Alex Pareene Writes About ‘Standard-Issue Right-Wing Character Assassination’ of Kimberlin."

Plus, Bob Belvedere has an update on the saga, "The #BrettKimberlin Report D+46: Alex Pareene – Amateur."

And Pareene's laughing about it on Twitter, "Liberal bloggers make jokes about SWAT-ting."

I'm still amazed at those arguing that the Kimberlin story isn't partisan. Once again, there are a couple of progressives who see this as a First Amendment fight, but most on the left have blown this off as some conspiracy cooked up by the crazed conservatives on Twitter.

In any case, back over at the source of this, see Aaron Worthing, "Exclusive: The State’s Attorney Has Given Brett Kimberlin a License to Perjure Himself and He Used it in Kimberlin v. Norton."

I've spoken to my attorney and I'll be updating on Scott Eric Kaufman's campaign of workplace harassment and intimidation.