Freedom to Blog Update July 3, 2012

Apologies up front, but my blogging's been a little off these past couple of days. It's hard to keep up with the left's war on bloggers, but conservatives are fighting back, and there's more today.

First, catch up a bit with Camp of the Saints from yesterday: "The #BrettKimberlin Report D+38: The Madness Of King Sockpuppet."

And then the big news today from The Other McCain, "Brandon Darby Defamed by Kimberlin Associate Neal Rauhauser; Pursues ‘All Legal Remedies’ Against SWATting Charge." And at Robert's previous entry, "Freedom Is Under Attack: Help the National Bloggers Club Fight Back." I commented there, mentioning why I wouldn't be contributing to Ali Akbar, and cited my entry: "Bloggers Against #BrettKimberlin Fracture Over Ali Akbar and the National Bloggers Club." And here's Robert's reply:

Donald: You go into battle with the army you have. The battle has been underway for more than six weeks. Personal criticisms against Ali have been aired widely, but do not detract from the valuable work that the National Bloggers Club has done, and will continue to do, to win this battle. There is a lot of backstory, of which you almost certainly are not aware, and I do not have time or inclination now to explain everything. However, you have my personal assurance that contributions to the National Bloggers Club are crucial to the effort now under way, and will be carefully utilized for that purpose.

There's a lot of "backstory" I don't have, actually. But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of an informed opinion on Ali. One lengthy Twitter exchange was really all it took, plus the non-replies to the update I posted: "Update on Ali Akbar and Bloggers Against #BrettKimberlin." Film Ladd posted a couple of times as well: "Good Luck National Blogger's Club: And See Ya Later." "Convicted Felon Ali Akbar: Kneel Before Zod." And I don't know the motive, and I don't know about the author (other than he's on the left), but folks can take a look at this piece, which was linked at The Other McCain and then removed: "Is There Anything Ali Akbar Has NOT Lied About?"

Enough about that. The main thing is that folks are fighting the battle, and with reference to Robert's comment above, I'm reminded of Winston Churchill's famous quote on Britain's alliance with Stalin against Hitler:

If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.

Now, there's been a lot of blogging at Patterico's as well. Check the link. I especially like Patrick's "accuse the accusers" post, "Stacy McCain on Accusing the Accusers":

The post is titled Lying Felon Brett Kimberlin Scores a Draw in Maryland Hearing, but the key part is Stacy’s description of the Rauhauser/Kimberlin strategy of accusing the accusers:

It is genuinely amazing to think that anyone could read that 1981 article by Indianapolis Star reporter Joe Gelarden — please print it out and read the whole thing — without recognizing that Kimberlin’s characteristic modus operandi has scarcely changed in the past 30 years.

By accusing others of wrongdoing, Kimberlin seeks to evade responsibility for his own wrongdoing. What I’ve called the “accuse the accusers” strategy – which is also witnessed in the actions of Kimberlin’s associate Neal Rauhauser — looks very much like obstruction of justice.

And Patterico's own flourish:

Stacy also has an interview with Brandon Darby which is very important ...

See how it works? If they think you’re about to reveal something about them, they start accusing you first so they can portray your reveal as retaliation. If they are going after someone associated with the FBI, they may be trying to set up a pre-emptive defense in case they are arrested by the FBI. “You guys are prosecuting us because we were revealing the truth about your informant Darby!” Something like that.

I posted on this previously: "'Accuse the Accusers': How It Works." Also here and here.

Finally, at Aaron Worthing's, "Exclusive: The Police Report on my SWATting," and "The Story I Couldn’t Tell, Part III: The May 22 Hearing and Brett Kimberlin’s Bigotry Towards Me."

And one more thing. Don't miss this Twitchy entry: "Brooks Bayne targets conservatives with Brett Kimberlin-style tactics." Books will be written later about this latest phase of the blog and Twitter wars, and the stakes have gotten extremely high. I suspect people will be going to jail when it's all done, and I hope that's soon.