The publication of this story enraged the community of right-wing bloggers that I have named "the Breitbots." These creatures are the remnants of the Andrew Breitbart empire. I liken them to slow-moving, buzzing blowflies; carrion-eaters who have feasted on the corpse of their fallen leader, rubbing themselves with his "glory", claiming his mantle, acting in his name in ways that, if Breitbart were still alive, even he would find horrifying.
Ali A. Akbar is one of five people being sued by Brett Kimberlin, infamous as the Speedway Bomber from the late 1970s, a man who now operates non-profit organizations devoted to peace through music, voter registration efforts, and the like. The other four in this suit are identified as Aaron Walker, a fired and disgraced attorney who created the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" blog under the pseudonym "Aaron Worthing"; R. Stacy McCain, the editor of Akbar-owned "Viral Read" and "The Other McCain" blog; William John Joseph Hoge III, author of the "Hogewash" blog; and a pseudonymous blogger calling itself "Kimberlin Unmasked."
Where does this hatred of Kimberlin -- and thus, of me -- come from? A fellow progressive blogger, calling itself "Xenophone", submitted this explanation on the website, Breitbart Unmasked.
OK, that explains the hatred for Kimberlin. But why have they transferred so much of this hatred to your humble correspondent? Here are some of the "tweets" that were posted in the hours after Op-Ed News published my last piece.
Now, that there is a LOT of hate! :) There's more.
At any rate, the hatred for yours truly began when I became aware of Ali A. Akbar's creation of the National Bloggers Club I wrote about on October 30. When I asked him to provide me with the information that any legitimate 501(c)3 organization is required to provide, he not only ignored the request, he blocked me and ordered his minions to swarm my timeline. With so many people using the "block and report" feature at one time, Twitter's computer algorithms ordered my suspension.
But they weren't finished.
R. Stacy McCain, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as belonging to a rabid, white-supremacist, pro-Confederacy group, was ordered by his boss, Akbar, to begin a series of attack blogs, which were "Google Bombed" by his followers, creating the impression to anyone searching my name on Google that I was a "deranged cyberstalker."
McCain's continues to this day, claiming day is night, black is white, up is down, and his devoted readers accept his lies as if they were written by the fiery finger of God.
Your humble correspondent lives in Maryland. Unlike most states, where one takes his suspicions of illegalities to the police, they investigate and submit their evidence to the District Attorney, who then decides whether or not to prosecute, here in "The Free State," any yokel can walk into a county courthouse, raise his hand and swear to the truth of his allegations, fill out a form, and if the Court Commissioner believes a crime might have been committed, charges are issued.
Since February 2013, your humble correspondent has been subjected to 18 criminal charges. Two from Lee Stranahan, a Dallas "Elmer Gantry" grifter and former pornographer/pimp "cured" of his evil ways by the touch of Andrew Breitbart's healing hand. Three from Aaron Walker, the disgraced attorney mentioned above. And a grand total of 18 from WJJ Hoge III. He charged me with harassment, electronic harassment, illegal access to a computer, and eight charges of violating a peace order. None of these charges was prosecuted by either of the State's Attorneys in the counties where they were filed.
Ah. The "peace order." On his third attempt, Hoge's attorney -- related by marriage to the county State's Attorney -- managed to convince an elderly, bow-tie-wearing circuit-court judge that despite the fact that district courts in Howard and Carroll County, Maryland, had decided there was no harassment involved in my attempts to write stories about the ongoing suspected criminal enterprise (for which Hoge, Akbar, Walker, Stranahan, and 14 others are currently facing a separate lawsuit from Brett Kimberlin, in addition to charges involving the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [RICO]), this judge just didn't care for the fact that I suggested Mr. Hoge had "poop flakes in his beard" and decided, on his own, ignoring Maryland law, the legislature, the written opinion of the state attorney general, and the Federal District Court decision in US v. Cassidy in 2011, and ruled that my conduct on Twitter did, in his opinion, rise to the level of harassment. He granted Hoge's request for a peace order disallowing any contact for six months. I filed a motion to modify the motion, and the same judge, who admitted he had no idea what Twitter was, refused to even allow me to present a case.
For those who aren't aware of the above-mentioned rulings, US v. Cassidy established Twitter cannot be seen as a source of harassment. In a published opinion by the Maryland Attorney General in 2012 and again in 2013, he wrote that Twitter is not a one-on-one communication platform and therefore cannot be seen as a source of harassment. The legislature passed laws strengthening the harassment and electronic harassment laws in 2012 and again in 2013, specifically noting the attorney general's opinion that Twitter is not a source of harassment.
But the rules in Carroll County, Maryland, which is the reddest county in the blue state of Maryland, are different, one supposes.
As a result of this incessant trolling and personal attacking, every time I wrote a story for Digital Journal, the trolls attacked the editor of that publication. I was constantly asked to defend myself against these Akbar-inspired lies. Finally, I threw up my hands and resigned.
When these trolls saw that progressive radio host Alan Colmes had picked up my story about Roger Shuler's horrifying and unconstitutional arrest for exercising his first-amendment rights, the trolls began attacking the Liberaland blog, especially when Colmes and I began discussing my coming to write for him. That decision is on hold as Mr. Colmes tries to figure out if his site can withstand a troll attack.
Having seen all this, you tell me. Do I deserve the hate I have received as a result of my coverage of these individuals? Must I be disallowed from writing for ANYONE because the trolls just will not allow it? Does their hatred for me surpass all reason?
I am a retired person. I left my job with the federal government as a writer/editor at the National Institutes of Health after my Parkinson's disease made the daily commute impossible. I am now wheelchair bound and present no danger to anyone. I blog at my Patriot-Ombudsman blog, and I operate an Internet radio station that reports the news and progressive commentary. This is my right as an American.
Am I not allowed to write for any other website than my own because of the hive-mind mentality of the trolls, ordered by their Queen, Ali A. Akbar, to attack, attack, attack?
