Patterico, Brett Kimberlin, and the Super-Chilling of Free Speech
Over the years, various Reason writers have had their differences with Patrick Frey, the fellow behind the widely read and interesting Patterico's Pontifications blog. The story he's telling today is a call to arms to defend free speech from the worst sort of politically and personally motivated infringements.
Frey begins a long and harrowing post thus:
It's a phone call that could have gotten me killed.
In this post you will hear that audio clip. You will also read about a months-long campaign of harassment carried out by at least three individuals: Ron Brynaert, Neal Rauhauser, and Brett Kimberlin — much of it directed at critics of Brett Kimberlin. This harassment includes repeated references to critics' family members, workplace complaints, publication of personal information such as home addresses and pictures of residences, bogus allegations of criminal activity, whisper campaigns, frivolous legal actions, and frivolous State Bar complaints.
And finally, you will hear a comparison of one of those men's voices to that of the man who made the call that sent police to my home. And you'll read a declaration from a forensic audio expert comparing those two voices.
The Patterico post is part of an effort promoted by Instapundit, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, and others as "Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day." For more on Kimberlin, who is probably best-known as the "Speedway Bomber," the guy who said he was Dan Quayle's pot dealer, and the subject of Citizen K, Mark Singer's account of investigating Kimberlin's claims, go here.
