Brett Kimberlin

Blogger Aaron Walker (aka Aaron Worthing) has been vindicated by a Maryland appellate court, David Hogberg of Investor’s Business Daily reports at Capital Hill blog.

The restraining order that violated Walker’s constitutionally protected free speech rights by preventing him from blogging about the “Speedway Bomber,” a dangerous felon and left-wing activist named Brett Kimberlin, has been quashed.

Read Hogberg’s story here.

Retired police officer Peter Bella introduces us to a new character in the unfolding saga of “Speedway Bomber” Brett Kimberlin: Neal Rauhauser. Here is the top of a recent piece Bella wrote for the Washington Times‘ Communities website:

“People engaged in provocative online conduct feel insulated; they’re in the comfort of their own home, if they’ve engaged in a little bit of caution they may feel completely anonymous, and this emboldens them. Specifying the strategy we’ll use to break their anonymity won’t permit any mitigation on their part without adjusting their behavior, which counts as a win for us. We’re dealing with people who have likely had no interaction with the court system beyond a traffic ticket; the potential for a pro se litigant to force them into expensive, long distance, lengthy, discovery laden litigation doesn’t seem to cross their minds. The reality of travel, or frightful expenses, or summary judgments needs to be made real. We probably need to make a very visible example of at least one of them before the rest understand.” (Neal Rauhauser)

CHICAGO, June 28, 2012— Earlier this week I wrote about criminal terrorist (Speedway Bomber), convicted felon, and pseudo left wing activist Brett Kimberlin. I mentioned some of the people he is affiliated with. One is Democratic operative Neal Rauhauser.

I received emails about Rauhauser. After doing a little research, Neal Rauhauser became a story unto himself. Rauhauser is a technological idiot savant, especially in the field of cyber technology. He is a self-admitted hacker. From available information and sources it is hard to determine if he is a black hat hacker (criminal) or a gray hat hacker (line between criminality and legitimacy).

Actually, it is hard to determine anything about Neal Rauhauser. Facts are sparse. Rumors, legends, myths, and his own braggadocio are plentiful. What is known is deeply disturbing. He is described as maniacal, diabolical, and extremely vengeful.

Depending on who you talk to or what you find on the Internet, Rauhauser is either a very disturbed individual, domestic and political super spy, agent provocateur and federal informant, federal cyber security contractor or consultant; is usually armed with a hand gun on his person or in his car, lives somewhere in America, lives in Montgomery County, Maryland, works on Capitol Hill, is an expert on wind technology, started and busted out several businesses, cannot hold a responsible job, the list just goes on and on and on.

Rauhauser’s life reads like James Bond or Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

What is known for sure is that a family in Iowa adopted him as a child. He married, sired two children, his wife divorced him, he rarely had or has contact with his children, he owes between thirty and thirty five thousand dollars in back child support (a federal and state criminal offense), and is involved with Speedway Bomber, Brett Kimberlin.

Rauhauser is a master of black operations and political dirty tricks, especially political cyber warfare. Like Kimberlin, he uses lawfare, abusing the legal system to get revenge on his perceived enemies. Like Brett Kimberlin, Rauhauser’s enemies are people who try to expose him, have an opposing political point of view, or disagree with him. [...]

Investor’s Business Daily reporter David Hogberg reports that the frivolous assault charge that convicted “Speedway Bomber” Brett Kimberlin brought against conservative blogger Aaron Walker has been thrown out after the prosecutor declined to move forward with the case. Walker blogs under the name Aaron Worthing and had been a persistent critic of Kimberlin who is now a left-wing activist. (For background, read an article I wrote about Kimberlin here.)

Though clearly an affront to the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections, the “peace order” Kimberlin previously obtained against Walker that prevents him from blogging about Kimberlin remains in effect, Hogberg writes on IBD’s blog, Capital Hill.  Walker has appealed the ruling which was issued by retired Maryland judge Cornelius “InterTubes” Vaughey.

Are the two nonprofits founded by radical activist and convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin entitled to tax-exempt status? It’s a question worth examining.

Kimberlin is a paid employee of one of the nonprofits, Justice Through Music Project, a 501c3 “educational” nonprofit. JTMP paid Kimberlin $19,500 in 2010 for his services as a director, according to the group’s most recent publicly available tax return. Both JTMP and the other group, Velvet Revolution US, a 501c4 “action” nonprofit, are headquartered in Kimberlin’s Bethesda, Maryland, residence. (JTMP expressly acknowledges in the tax return that the address given is Kimberlin’s.)

Kimberlin spends much of his time attempting to silence conservative bloggers through frivolous and vexatious litigation and by employing other nasty, unorthodox tactics. Incredibly, Kimberlin got blogger Aaron Walker (nom de blog: Aaron Worthing) jailed for daring to  write (factually accurate) articles about him. Kimberlin doesn’t like it when anyone points out his criminal history.

Despite the free speech protections of the U.S. Constitution, a Maryland judge’s so-called peace order forbidding Walker to write about Kimberlin remains in effect – for now. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh and other notable legal practitioners have volunteered to assist Walker in his defense in a case in which, according to Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the judge clearly ignored legal precedents.

The Kimberlin case has drawn attention to the cases of bloggers who have been “SWATted.” SWATting, undoubtedly a criminal act, consists of tricking 9-1-1 operators into dispatching emergency response teams to a targeted person’s home. Typically the caller masks his identity using technology and makes it appear that the call is originating from the victim’s home. The caller claims he has killed someone or that shots were fired. This precipitates a massive show of force from police. It’s a brutal prank that could easily get a victim killed.

Last year, both Mike Stack – who was involved in exposing the Anthony Weiner sex scandal – and conservative blogger Patrick “Patterico” Frey were targeted for SWATtings. More recently, Red State editor and CNN commentator Erick Erickson says he was SWATted after he wrote about the Kimberlin case.

The apparently politically motivated SWATtings have received some publicity, garnering coverage from Fox News, CNN, and ABC News. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and close to 100 congressmen are now demanding the Obama administration do something about SWATting.

Kimberlin denies having anything to do with the SWATtings. Indeed he even claims to have been the victim of a SWATting himself. No evidence of Kimberlin’s allegation has surfaced and local authorities say it didn’t happen.

Velvet Revolution raises money by routinely making farfetched, unverifiable allegations against conservatives and Republicans, demonizing them and accusing them of criminal activity. The group demanded the arrest of Karl Rove, the late Andrew Breitbart, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Thomas J. Donohue. It promotes wild-eyed conspiracy theories about stolen elections which Kimberlin business partner Brad Friedman (The Brad Blog) promotes on his website and when he guest-hosts the Mike Malloy Radio Show. Incidentally, Malloy, Friedman, and Kimberlin are a perfect fit. Malloy is the left-wing ranter who prayed for Glenn Beck to commit suicide and without any credible evidence called Rush Limbaugh a “child molester of the highest order.”

Robert Stacy McCain, a reporter and blogger who had to leave his home after Kimberlin contacted his wife’s employer, reports that a known Kimberlin associate reached out last year to the criminal computer hacking ring known as Anonymous. The same individual is also reportedly linked to the violent Occupy Wall Street movement.

In America no activist group or nonprofit corporation has the right not to pay taxes. But if the group agrees to abide by certain rules laid down by Congress the IRS may grant the organization a tax exemption. This privilege (that may be revoked for cause) allows the entity to avoid paying the various taxes that corporations normally pay.

When a tax-exempt nonprofit organization runs afoul of federal law by doing things it shouldn’t, the IRS may revoke its tax exemption (after which it publishes the group’s name on a running list).

In an article nonprofit attorney Stephen Fishman writes IRS “audits of public charities are meant to accomplish the following objectives.”

-Ensure that nonprofits are truly operated for public (not private) interests.

-Determine whether nonprofits are engaged in any substantial nonexempt (that is, taxable) activity, such as running unrelated businesses.

-Ensure that nonprofits protect and preserve their assets exclusively for tax-exempt purposes.

-Evaluate procedures for accounting for money paid to individuals or noncharitable organizations.

-Determine whether nonprofits pay any excessive compensation, fees, or benefits.

-Determine whether nonprofits engage in lobbying or participate in political campaigns.

-Determine whether nonprofits should be classified as public charities or foundations.

On IRS Form 13909, the Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form, the tax collection agency lists grounds for yanking a group’s tax-exempt status.  One of those grounds is if:

Income/assets are being used to support illegal or terrorist activities [emphasis added]

Have Kimberlin’s nonprofits forfeited their tax-exempt status by engaging in prohibited activities?

Perhaps it’s time for some lawyers to ponder whether the Justice Through Music Project and Velvet Revolution US deserve to retain their tax-exempt status.

Note: This post was edited for clarity after initial posting. -MV

Somebody started a website to expose Brett Kimberlin, the radical activist and convicted terrorist bomber who makes his living intimidating conservative bloggers into silence (or at least trying to). Kimberlin is the founder of two Bethesda, Maryland-based nonprofits, Velvet Revolution US and Justice Through Music Project.  For background read a piece I wrote about him here.

The new website is called Original Velvet Revolution.

I was on “The Source” with Ezra Levant on Sun News Network (TV) last night providing an update on the Brett Kimberlin saga.

Here’s the video clip:

(Thanks for posting the video, SDAMatt2a!)

David Hogberg of Investor’s Business Daily has a fascinating post up at Capital Hill blog.

In it he discusses the arrest warrant whose execution a few days ago caused the temporary incarceration of blogger Aaron Walker (a.k.a. Aaron Worthing). Hogberg also posted the document and supporting material.

As I understand the increasingly complicated, weird story, Maryland Judge Cornelius Vaughey agreed with the positively absurd contention of Brett Kimberlin, a convicted terrorist bomber, perjurer, document forger, attempted murderer, drug trafficker, and impersonator of a federal officer, that Walker’s blogging about him somehow constituted harassment.  Vaughey’s ridiculous ruling (to make permanent a temporary restraining order against Walker) flies in the face of decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence.

Kimberlin really lucked out when he drew a judge who didn’t understand the Internet and didn’t care about the First Amendment.

What do self-described “communist” Van Jones, his good friend Arianna Huffington, radical philanthropist George Soros, the Threshold Foundation, and the Tides Foundation all have in common?

They all are connected in some way to convicted “Speedway Bomber” Brett C. Kimberlin, a man described by Michelle Malkin as “a radical, violent, lying, dangerous felon.”

Kimberlin, as blogger Liberty Chick previously reported,

spent nearly 17 years in prison after being convicted of launching a week-long bombing spree that terrorized the residents of Speedway, Indiana in the late 1970’s. One of the blasts horribly maimed a man so badly that it directly led to that man’s suicide a few years later, which was proven when the widow of that bombing victim successfully sued and won a civil judgment against Kimberlin for $1.6 million.

Kimberlin is a political trailblazer of sorts. He is a tactical innovator whose tried and true methods would have impressed the father of modern community organizing, Saul Alinsky. The late conservative Internet entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart recognized Kimberlin’s unique talents last fall, tweeting that the convicted terrorist and his confederates needed “exposure.”

Kimberlin is focusing on bullying conservatives into silence, which is the same thing that so much of progressivedom is concentrating on nowadays. But unlike Van Jones and the various Marxist agitators who have inflicted damage on conservative talk radio and innocuous groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) through innuendo and smears, Kimberlin gets in his enemies’ faces. While in prison he taught himself the law. Nowadays he sues conservatives who write about him and obtains restraining orders against them – the First Amendment be damned.

Amazingly, a leading Kimberlin detractor, conservative blogger Aaron Walker, was jailed by a Maryland judge yesterday after criticizing Kimberlin.

JTMP and another nonprofit Kimberlin founded, Velvet Revolution, receive money from left-wing funders. Of course it’s their privilege to do what they want with their money even if it means funding nonprofits operated by “a radical, violent, lying, dangerous felon.” Similarly, since 1984 it has been Capital Research Center’s mission to report on and analyze what charities do with their money.

The Threshold Foundation has been in the news in recent days because the San Francisco-based philanthropy gave $20,000 in 2008 to the Justice Through Music Project, a seven year old Bethesda, Maryland-based 501c3 nonprofit entity. JTMP was founded by Mr. Kimberlin a few short years after his release from prison. (See its latest IRS Form 990 [tax return] here.) Threshold has also given $60,000 to the related nonprofit, Velvet Revolution, since 2007. (For more information on Threshold, see Bonner Cohen’s July 2006 Foundation Watch article.)

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Sen.  Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who was once a victim of a vexatious lawsuit filed by convicted terrorist bomber Brett Kimberlin, today weighed in on the ongoing Kimberlin saga.

As Kerry Picket of the Washington Times reports,  when he was a prisoner Kimberlin sued Hatch baselessly blaming the senator for his failure at the time to win parole. The suit went down in flames.

Hatch’s office issued the following statement:

Senator Hatch has had run ins with Brett Kimberlin before and they weren’t pleasant. So it’s certainly no surprise that Mr. Kimberlin has now taken to harassing and targeting conservative bloggers. Needless to say, efforts to silence and chill political speech are contrary to the values of our Constitution and First Amendment.

I discussed the exploits of left-wing terrorist bomber Brett Kimberlin on “The Source” with Ezra Levant yesterday on Sun News Network (Canada).

Here is the video clip of the interview: