Thanks to Tommy Christopher at Mediaite for posting this video of Andrew Breitbart and me, in an interview done back in February, 2011. It really reminded me of how much fun Andrew was. Watch me in the video; I’m burying my face in my hands half the time and laughing.
If you’re a Breitbart fan, I think you’ll enjoy these interviews. I’m a different person today then I was in February 2011 and that’s due to Andrew. I loved the guy and I miss him every day. Enjoy…
A few thoughts on the ongoing Kimberlin saga and yesterday’s arrest of Aaron Walker — this Investment Business Daily piece is a must read.
First thought : there’s a reason we don’t have capital murder trials on Judge Judy.
All me to make a zig-zaggy point about the practice of law with some TV shows references.
Shows like Judge Judy are essentially ‘Small Claims Court on TV’. Judge Judy packs in two cases in a half hour that includes 8 minutes of commercials. Wham bam gavel slam.
I like to watch Judge Judy but - she gets stuff wrong. All the time. Sometimes you want to scream at the TV, “Judge Judy, did you not HEAR what the ex-roommate just said?!?” But no, Judge Judy is already on to the next case. Right or wrong, we’re on schedule.
On the classic TV show M*A*S*H, they referred to the process of stitching up soldiers in the field as ‘meatball surgery’. It’s not the measured methodical surgery done in your fancy hospital. As author Richard Hooker said:
“We are not concerned with the ultimate reconstruction of the patient. We are concerned only with getting the kid out of here alive enough for someone else to reconstruct him.”
And so it is with small claims court. It’s meatball justice. Close enough for jazz. Mistakes will be made but all the cases on the docket will be heard.
The peace order / restraining order process is like that. These are quick operations. The whole Aaron Walker hearings was under an hour before he was handcuffed and led to a cell for blogging.
There’s a reason we don’t do capital murder cases or rape trials or grand larceny cases in the meatball justice format. These things are important and we don’t want or need them done in 45 minutes.
The First Amendment is important, too. Hearings that involve the constitutional rights of United States citizens shouldn’t be handled by the meatball justice formart of the Peace Order process. It’s not equipped to handle it and when it does, mistakes are made. Ask Aaron Walker.
Second Thought : We need some legal crowdsourcing strategy.
If you’re familiar with Aaron Walker’s story - and let’s face, most people are not - do you know about Seth Allen? No?
If you’re familiar with Patterico’s SWATing - and most people aren’t - are you familiar with Mike Stack’s? No, again?
This is a complex story with a lot of characters. It needs some over STRATEGY — not just tactics on each little bit, but some BIG legal thinking by lawyers who can figure out the right way to handle the whole mess.
And it’s important, too. It’s dealing with vital issues for anyone who writes or reads or comments on a blog or tweets or votes or has an opinion. Kimberlin has a posse of cyberthugs. They are targeting me and Aaron and Patterio and Libery Chick. And you.
They are targeting you, too, if you dare to speak out. And if you are afraid to speak out, then they’ve won.
Can we get some legal minds on this thing? A bunch of them? Some smart First Amendment lawyers who can look at this from a 50,000 foot level and solve the problem?
When Aaron Walker was arrested yesterday, it wasn’t entirely clear what was happening but my first hunch was correct — he was arresting for blogging.
This can’t be emphasized enough : Aaron Walker spent time in jail yesterday for political writing.
Patterico’s post hits on every major point and is a must read. Brett Kimberlin is a public figure. Walker didn’t threaten or contact Kimberlin, ever.
What Kimberlin was able to get away with the equivalent of a terrorist taking down a building armed with a box cutter. Kimberlin abused the peace order (aka restraining order) process. Kimberlin couldn’t have gotten Walker arrested for writing if he had filed a multi-million dollar defamation suit with a high priced team of lawyers — even people being sued for defamation keep can on talking, although they might be held accountable for it civilly one day,. But there’s nothing in a defamation that leads to someone being taken away in handcuffs because they wrote something.
As Pat explains:
Apparently Kimberlin went to court and obtained a “peace order”on May 19, 2024 — two days after Aaron wrote his lengthy post about Kimberlin’s extensive harassment of Aaron.
The “interim” order became a “temporary” order on May 22, 2012, as you can see from the above docket entry — and became “final” today. When Aaron refused to stop blogging about Kimberlin, Kimberlin went to court this weekend, on Sunday, and convinced a judge on Sunday to issue a warrant for Walker’s arrest. The charge: violating the peace order.
So Aaron was arrested for the criminal charge that Brett Kimberlin swore out against him on Sunday. That charge was violating the temporary restraining order, which today was extended to November 2012. Meaning that, under the judge’s unconstitutional view of the law, Aaron is not allowed to blog about Brett Kimberlin until November. (There is no way that order will last; trust me.)
Damn right there’s no way it will stand.
We’re now in a post Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day world and now there are a lot of people watching and they have Aaron Walker’s back on this. Even though the Obama administration and the mainstream media aren’t exactly jumping in with both feat on this, it will not stand. Justice will be done — for Aaron and for the First Amendment that Brett Kimberlin finds so inconvenient.
Brett Kimberlin has managed to get Aaron Walker arrested. The Other McCain has the details:
Aaron Walker, whose complaint against convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin became a conservative cause célèbre this past week, was reportedly taken into custody today after a court hearing in Rockville, Maryland.
One person who attended the hearing in Montgomery County District Court said that Kimberlin asserted that Walker’s continued blogging represented a violation of a “peace order” Kimberlin had obtained against the Virginia attorney, who says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him for assault earlier this year.
During the course of the hearing — which reportedly lasted about an hour — Judge C.J. Vaughey appeared to become increasingly hostile toward Walker, who was taken into custody when the hearing concluded.
As far as I can tell, Aaron Walker was arrested for writing.
I have seen no claim that Walker himself made any threats against Brett Kimberlin. Or that he contacted Brett Kimberlin. Walker was arrested because he wrote facts and opinions about Brett Kimberlin and other people supposedly made threats.
If that’s the way we interoperate the law, arrest me. Arrest the other 150 bloggers who wrote about Kimberlin. Arrest anyone who ever wrote about someone else and then other people threatened the subject of the writing.
If you write, blog, or even send an occasional tweet - this effects you.
Aaron Walker is in jail as I write this. You need to get informed right now and write about it, right now.
UPDATE : The Blaze reports: I am told that the info the Blaze posted isn’t accurate. It seems to be that Walker was, in fact, arrested for violating an order to not write about Brett Kimberlin. But this is a fast moving situation and this info may not be correct, either.
The Blaze spoke to a clerk at the District Court of Maryland for Montgomery County who confirmed that Aaron Walker was in fact arrested following his hearing with Brett Kimberlin. He was arrested on second degree assault charges that were filed by Kimberlin when Walker, following a separate court hearing, took and held at bay Kimberlin’s iPad
Recent Comments