Friday, March 29, AD 2024 8:39am

Blogburst Friday – Political Thuggery II: The Brett Kimberlin Saga (Updated)

In my post last week, I alluded to the ordeal involving the blogger Aaron Walker (who blogged under the name Aaron Worthing) and his run-in with convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin.  Kimberlin pressed assault charges against Walker, and Walker completely denies the allegations.  Dan Collins had an excellent summary of the entire story.

This was just the tip of the iceberg.  Earlier this week, the blogger Stacy McCain felt threatened enough to leave the state of Maryland  after, as McCain claimed, Kimberlin contacted McCain’s wife’s employer.  McCain has continued to post about Kimberlin, and suspects that Kimberlin is the man behind the blog (and twitter account) Breitbart Unmasked.

The story has slowly picked up steam through out the blogosphere.  Initially it was only mid-sized and smaller bloggers, but then Michelle Malkin – a writer intimately familiar with intimidation tactics – talked about this on Wednesday.  Ace of Spades has been all over this as well, providing some more background information about Kimberlin.  Lee Stranahan, meanwhile, has posted a video that provides more context for who Kimberlin is and what he did in 1978.  Bretibart.com also provides some more background information.

Once dubbed “The Wizard of Odd” by Time Magazine, you may recognize the name Brett Kimberlin for much more than Justice Through Music or Velvet Revolution, especially if you’re from Indiana. That’s because in 1981, Kimberlin, then the owner of vegetarian restaurant Good Earth, was finally convicted of a week-long bombing spree in Indianapolis, IN in which eight separate bombs caused extensive property damage, destroyed a police cruiser, and severely maimed a man, which eventually led to the man’s suicide. Kimberlin’s story has so often been overlooked or understated by the national media, which unfortunately all but failed to follow up on what were later proven by the same journalist who first reported on his story to be mistruths. But locals to IN know exactly what happened and have never forgotten it since. It’s time the public got the full story.

Infamously known as “The Speedway Bomber,” Brett Kimberlin exploded his eighth and final bomb on September 6, 1978, which nearly blew off the right leg of his victim, Carl DeLong, and seriously injured the man’s left leg and right hand, causing his leg to be amputated. DeLong committed suicide two years later, unable to cope with the pain and devastation of his injuries. The victim’s wife Sandra later won a civil judgment against Kimberlin for $1.6 million.

Police had immediately suspected Kimberlin in the bombing case. He’d been in trouble since high school, was a suspected drug trafficker and he was already the suspect in a murder that had occurred only months earlier.

Chris Johnson at Midwest Conservative Journal links to several others.  Of particular note is Patrick Frey, who blogs as Patterico.  Frey has had his own run-ins with Kimberlin and his associates, and has posted an amazingly detailed account of how his life was placed in jeopardy.

So why should you care?  First of all, Kimberlin isn’t some isolated individual. As Patterico’s post in particular demonstrates, there are Democrat activists who freely associate with him. Further, he has received funding from the likes of Barbara Streisand and others.

More importantly, this entire saga shines a light on a very real pattern of intimidation against conservatives.  Make no mistake about it – there are certain individuals on the left who are actively working to suppress points of view that run contrary to liberal dogma. Instead of countering our arguments, these titans of intolerance prefer to use bullying tactics in order to shut us down.

These bullying tactics will not work, and in fact they seem to be only working to motivate conservative bloggers to be even more active and vigilant.  That’s why today there is an organized blogburst for freedom, and I am proud to be a part of that. I do not speak for my co-bloggers on this subject, but I for one refuse to be intimidated into silence.

Also see Bob Belvedere at the Camp of the Saints for a roundup of other bloggers participating in today’s blogburst.

Update: Michelle Malkin has a comprehensive list as well of all the other bloggers.  I’ll link to them after the jump:

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds
iowntheworld.com
The American Thinker
Walter Olson at Overlawyered
Blazing Cat Fur
Donald Douglas at American Power
The American Catholic
The Lonely Conservative
Kathy Shaidle at Five Feet of Fury
Nice Deb
Sundries Shack
PJMedia Tatler
Dan Riehl and here
Film Ladd
The Coalition of the Swilling
DaTechGuy
Richard Fernandez
Legal Insurrection
Doubleplusundead
Daley Gator
The Camp of the Saints
Wake Up America
Darth Chipmunk
Zilla of the Resistance
Lady Liberty 1885
Goldfish and Clowns
Small Dead Animals
Hillbuzz
Yid with Lid
Evil Blogger Lady
Israel Matzav
Lisa Graas
Bob Owens asks a central question: Why are Maryland Democrats letting the “Speedway Bomber” get away with terrorism?

Erick Erickson, Red State
Maggie’s Farm
Noisy Room
Hogewash
Andrea Shea King
Bookie
Trevor Loudon
Melissa Clouthier
Blackfive
Kim Priestap
Pirate’s Cove
Other Half of My Brain
POH Diaries
Wicca Pundit
An Ex Con’s View: Apathy or Courage?

Liberal Terrorist Pal
Clayton Cramer
The Right Planet
Daria DiGiovanni
Hyscience
Backyard Conservative
‘Cause I Said So
Northshore Journal
Roderic Deane
Full Frontal Nerdery
Andrea Shea King
Something Fishie
Markham Pyle, UK Telegraph blogs
Doctor Zero: “Oppression fails when we stand together as one.”
Midwest Conservative Journal
Right Wing Professor
The Free Speech Blog
Mark of a Freeman
Beat Canvas
Dedicated Tenther
Wintery Night
Wizbang
The Right Scoop
Marathon Pundit
American Freedom by Barbara
Pull My Chain
Morgan’s Two Cents
Battleswarm
McCrarey in Seoul, Korea
Rick Bulow
Greg Allmain
Write Side of My Brain
Liberty’s Last Shadow
Conservative Hideout
Belle of Liberty
Me and My Soldier Man
Jawa Report and here and here
Red Alert Politics
An NC Gun Blog
Chasing Jefferson
The Right Rant
Pundit Pete
Everything is Backwards
Capitol Commentary
Hoboes
Patriot Post
Adrienne’s Corner
Moonbattery
Mad Bob 
Brad Essex
Right Wing News
The Political Commentator
Simple Justice
Ezra Levant discusses Kimberlin with Matthew Vadum
Poliwog
Dustin – In honor of Carl DeLong
Libertas Per Adamas
Just Barking Mad

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Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 7:14am

“I do not speak for my co-bloggers on this subject, but I for one refuse to be intimidated into silence.”

You speak for me Paul! In the words of William Lloyd Garrison:

“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.”

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Friday, May 25, AD 2012 7:43am

[…] Political Commentator, The Other McCain, The American Catholic, Allergic to Bull,Pundit & Pundette, An Ex-Con’s View, Washington Examiner, The […]

WK Aiken
WK Aiken
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 8:31am

Seriously? This guy’s allowed anything but bread, water and a grey room with a drafty door? I lived right there at that time. Hell, my sister lived in Kimberlin’s old house in Broad Ripple for 4 years with her pottery studio right next door. She used to show us the secret trap door to the “cellar” where he kept his bomb-making materials.

How in God’s name can this guy even have working fingers? When did he get out?

This is completely outrageous. I will not write what my instincts are.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 9:06am

Someone is going to get killed because of behavior like this.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 9:17am

That’s the one in particular I was referring to. As horrifying as it was, far more horrifying was the indifference of the authorities.

Donna Hanson
Donna Hanson
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 9:43am

I am not a Catholic, but Glenn Beck told us about what you all are doing. Just wanted to say “Thank you” for your bravery and for what you are doing in getting the word out. Please keep up the good work.

Pinky
Pinky
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 10:09am

Donna – We all appreciate it, I’m sure. I’ve been reading about this guy over the past few days. Did you ever have an online conversation and think to yourself, “this guy must be in his mom’s basement, and I bet he builds bombs”? Brett Kimberlin lives in his mom’s basement and used to build bombs. He’s the crank that you always hypothesized about. There’s no way he’ll be able to scrub his history from the internet after today, as he apparently did from Wikipedia. He’s a sociopath, a terrorist turned jailhouse lawyer turned blogger. He also seems to be behind a number of urban legends: Dan Quayle’s marijuana use, Diebold voting machine unreliability, and accusations against Andrew Breitbart among them.

Adam
Adam
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 10:32am

I like that you put A.D. in the dates for the comments. I do not know if anyone has pointed it out before, but A.D. always goes before the year. So it should be

Friday, May 25, A.D. 2012 at 10:33am.

Mary De Voe
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 11:15am

Adam. Only in Latin

Foxfier
Admin
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 2:42pm

Oh, good, now I don’t have to blog about it here. ^.^

Was utterly delighted to turn on KTTH and hear Beck talking about this– my only worry is that there will be more “SWATing” attempts. It’s perfect for a certain type of slime: zero personal risk, with a chance of killing those you hate.

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Friday, May 25, AD 2012 9:54pm

[…] -Paul Zummo […]

Valentin
Valentin
Friday, May 25, AD 2012 9:58pm

I think it is funny how priests get arrested for peaceful protests and yet authorities in Maryland defend some gangster punk who bombs people on the side of the road. The US President as well as other democrat leaders are starting to bear fruit of communists. Kimberlin seems like Che Guavera in that they were both murderous adolescents.

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Friday, May 25, AD 2012 10:33pm

[…] Blog, TheRightRant, ErikSoderstrom.com, beatcanvas.com, Twitchy, The POH Diaries, Bookworm Room, The American Catholic, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Iconic Midwest, Riehl World View, The Right Scoop, A […]

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Saturday, May 26, AD 2012 6:35am

[…] The American Catholic – Blogburst Friday – Political Thuggery II: The Brett Kimberlin Saga […]

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Monday, June 4, AD 2012 2:51pm

[…] May 25, I participated in a Blogburst to help expose domestic terrorist Brett Kimberlin and his vile attacks on free speech and […]

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Friday, June 8, AD 2012 12:02am

[…] The Intimidation of Catholic Bloggers – Paul Zummo, The American Catholic […]

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