VR co-founder and investigative journalist Brad Friedman... "They engage in crimes, create fake scandals and then accuse others of criminal activity. We have asked Maryland law enforcement officials to put a stop to this reprehensible and illegal conduct once and for all."I don't care one bit for Mandy's ideological rants, but she did pen a couple entries folks should know exist. Right click for new windows.
SOURCE VelvetRevolution.us
Progressives Embrace Convicted Terrorist
As Hacked ChamberLeaks Emails Break, Left Scrambles to Hide Ties to Domestic Terrorist
Here's one example how BradBlog can come off as yellow journalism. Brad too often sounds like Brand Left's National Enquirer. He's not one to shy away from sensational titles. In this link, he implied there was some sort of conspiracy to take BradBlog offline.
He linked to a Think Progress page. The appearance is he's been targeted by the Chamber of Commerce through HBGary. Hmmm. Neal Rauhauser says we in Team Breitbart may have taken over for HBGary's Team Themis schtick.
Okaaaay. The problem with that is there's no Team Breitbart. Those associated with his right wing rag are not the ones spreading the kooky kookpocalypse and Weinergate hoaxes. Breitbart's a right wing buffoon somehow utilised by Brad Friedman for internet schtick promotion. This isn't rocket science.
Can someone please explain the following? What was up with a self-proclaimed, investigative journalist contributing to a smear on a sitting representative?
Exclusive: Cover Story on Edmonds 'Outs' Video-taped, 'Blackmailed' Dem Congresswoman; Alleges State Dept. Mole at NYTimes; MUCH MORE...
But first some backstory. Or an excuse to check out Sibel Edmonds. Hey now!
I was never sure if her story added up. Maybe so. What I am sure of is Sibel jumped the shark, when she went after Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
Edmonds says in the Giraldi interview that "in 2000 ... Turkish agents started gathering information on her, and they found out that she was bisexual." A female Turkish agent is said to have "struck up a relationship with her," and then, following the death of Schakowsky's mother, the woman is said to have attended the funeral "hoping to exploit her vulnerability."
"They later were intimate in Schakowsky's townhouse," Edmonds tells Giraldi, "which had been set up with recording devices and hidden cameras."
Who's Phil Giraldi? He's one of them super double secret, ex-intelligence dudes. Those are blokes who always seem to have inside scoops for intrepid, internet journalists such as Brad Friedman, Larisa Alexandrovna, and Jason Leopold. Larisa's best ex-CIA turned blogger buddy has been Larry Johnson.
According to Brad, Philip Giraldi's word means something!
CIA Vet: FBI Whistleblower Edmonds 'Very Credible'
Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, the author of American Conservative magazine's explosive cover story interview with FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds finds her to be "very credible," even though "as a former intelligence officer," he says, he's "normally suspicious of these kinds of stories."Brad's on those shows a lot. He also fills in for some dude named Mike Malloy.
Giraldi was a guest on the Thom Hartmann Program today, as guest hosted by Peter B. Collins. In the 13 minute segment, he discussed a number of aspects of Edmonds' disturbing allegations with Collins, including yesterday's confirmation by a long-time FBI veteran of a key element in her claims, which include bribery, blackmail, and the theft of nuclear secrets as aided and abetted by high-ranking U.S. officials.
Neal's stuff is pure hoax garbage. Ron's schtick is a bit more difficult to figure out, because most of it is to be found through his non-sequitorish Twitter page. But make no mistake about it. Ron Brynaert has been consistently trying to catapult the idea that Brett Kimberlin has been menaced, and that I am the notorious, historic, supertroll cyberstalker. The only explanation I can think of for that is he's paid. It's a hunch. Otherwise he is making a fool out of himself for free.
As for Brad, he's completely ignoring the fireworks all around him.
Some comments from the past
the_last_name_left: interesting. we await Breitbart's piece - or a lawsuit? lolthis might all serve as some grand vindication of your work over the last few years? shame it takes breitbart to do it, eh?
good stuff. well done. can't wait to see what happens next :D
socrates: The article's out at Breitbart.com, in the "Big Journalism" section.There are also a couple threads at Patterico.com, and Brett says he has sued me.
The Breitbart piece shows two donations totalling 1.35 million. It looks like those guys are truly rolling in the dough. Yet Brad continues to whine the coffers are empty, and he might not be able to continue as this great independent, aggressive, patriotic, muckraking media presence.
Brad's got a new item talking up Iran and China trying to hack into a trial run of a US internet voting system. What he left out is that everyone was invited to try to hack into it, from all corners of the world.
I've made some posts at Patterico.com. They are conservatives, but I avoid going into politics. I've been posting as Prepostericity.
It's good to see you post. We were worried about you. Donkeytale even asked if you are ok.
DUSTIN: You deserve tons of credit.
I first read some comment of yours and though it was written in a way that suggested a sound mind, the claims were pretty out there. For one thing: how come no outlet I read has covered such a major story? As I tried to piece it together, I found out that there is no good explanation for that, but your claims are apparently accurate.
Thanks for sticking with it. I'm still pretty surprised at how something this major and fairly easy to piece together took so long to erupt.
I think it needs much more publicity than it's yet received. Too many major institutions stand with Velvet Revolution.
BTW, I noticed you complained that a comment of yours (in the 10-10-10 post) went into moderation at Patterico's (and then you saw it came out). If you cuss (you said bullshite, which has shit in it), that blog filters. It's happened to me 1000 times. I don't want to come across as a shill, but that blog simply doesn't viewpoint censor.
Oh yeah, I'm Dustin. I don't deserve much thanks because I barely did anything but read your comment and ask a question or two.
socrates: Thanks, I was just the right person at the right time.I saw you ponder at BradBlog that maybe Brad is at the beginning cycle where Mark Singer and others were. That he just doesn't have the information we do. Mark had a deadline and was working on a specific story not on Brett's proven criminal history. That's how he missed it. Brad's always on the run 24/7 being Captain Democracy. That's his excuse.
He's basically turning this new brouhaha into a stereotypical right versus left disagreement.
DUSTIN: Brad's been on notice about this for ages from your own comments, but obviously one doesn't enter partnerships like this without being basically aware of your partners.
Brad's just behaving odd, even for someone with something to hide. With this much solid information about his partner, and Brad's manner of addressing this (to filter out mention of his own organization) just can't work.
It's hard to take Brad seriously because of the way he dismisses serious problems while promoting so many fake problems. The way he threatens to delete 'knowing disinformation' reeks of fear he can't win a fair debate. And that just seems like a partisan kook's strategy.
I do wonder if Brad initially had good intentions, and got in over his head. Or maybe he thinks this is cutthroat politics to undermine election confidence, or maybe he's just a kook. The simplest explanation is that he's just trying to make some money selling BS stories.
Predictable that he'd pick a worthy and important cause to exploit.
socrates: On the Iran-China hacking into American email voting thread, one can see the formula in a number of ways.Brad doesn't explain that people from all over the world were invited to hack. It was a trial run.
Schneier on Security; Hacking Trial Breaks D.C. Internet Voting System
(excerpt- originally written by a Washington Post writer.) Last week, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened a new Internet-based voting system for a weeklong test period, inviting computer experts from all corners to prod its vulnerabilities in the spirit of "give it your best shot." Well, the hackers gave it their best shot -- and midday Friday, the trial period was suspended, with the board citing "usability issues brought to our attention."
Brad's peanut gallery chimed in with how those asking about Kimberlin were probably paid to disrupt such a truth seeking endeavour.
But there's no other way to confront Brad with the Kimberlin story than to "hijack" a current thread.
One thing I've noticed is Brad is more willing to allow right wing critics post on his blog than disillusioned lefties.
This is why it seems progressives are sopping up whatever he delivers.
Thus he is able to say that such critics are either regurgitating Breitbart disinformation or it's me, your friendly, neighbourhood, psychotic stalker.
Being a lefty to Brad and Brett is part of a business model, imho. The people they seem to be targeting are naive liberals who tend to believe in conspiracy theory.
It is an American value to distrust government. That is seen on both sides of the political spectrum. I believe animosity between right and left is but a tangent to the big story.
I think Brad has responded predictably. He is saying the attacks on Kimberlin are coming from disinfo sources. His bloggers are saying such efforts are attempts by paid astroturf to cover up the truth of election fraud.
I agree with TLNL's analysis which concludes that Brad Friedman is the Alex Jones of the left.
TLNL: His bloggers are saying such efforts are attempts by paid astroturf to cover up the truth of election fraud.----
haha
Have you had a look at the Justice Through Music tax filing?
link
Donations for the 08/09 tax year are $500k
They sold $80k of non-inventory assets for $79k, making a loss of $1K.
Seems BK claims he worked 40 hour week, for compensation of $19500.
But look at the other expenses - $475,000 (!) including $180k on postage and printing (!)
Jesus - a cool half a million spent on.....the crap they churn out. Or don't churn out, more accurately.
2 f-ing posts on their facebook campaign page in a whole year! How does that cost $500k?
I suppose it does if you're staying in a swanky hotel on a stop-over to engage in supposed "charitable civil rights advocacy". Flights, hotel, food - all expenses, see. Cushty.
I don't believe it all for a second. I think he's having a laugh - and like everything else, the gag is in there only turned round on itself. The joke is that it's him living off charity - he's raking in 500k pa - just like he (as a convicted bomber) is advocating for an "anti-terror campaign".
The whole thing stinks. I think I will raise my concerns with whomsoever has any oversight responsibility for US charities. I can't see evidence of where BK is legitimately accruing expenses of $500k pa.
socrates: In the Breitbart article, there was a pdf allegedly showing a grant of $1.3 million. I couldn't verify that but assume it's true. My download just showed a number of pages with the phrase TIF. Maybe I need to update my comp.The Tides Foundation gave them over 50 grand.
I had a feeling these guys were raking it in.
And who knows how much BradBlog has gotten, or whether some donations have been put into different named organisations, like those you pointed out somehow link back to Velvet Revolution's server.
By the way, the people at Patterico.com are looking for lefty bloggers. I remember you said you like to debate folks with opposite ideology. You might like it there then.
And man, it really looks like BradBlog is simply not getting much comments like they used to.
Agent 99 should return? [/saying we are not worthy through the TLNL question mark. If you've seen Wayne's World, you know what I mean. We are not worthy. We are not worthy. Replace Alice Cooper with TLNL.]
TLNL: :Dthe $1.3m is over 4/5 years
approx 2 years of $400k, 1x$300k and 1x$200k IIRC - 4 years = $1.3m
Not bad.
That's a lot of postage?
Years ago I hit on the potential of running a charity as a personal enrichment vehicle - you cream-off all the donations as expenses doing bugger all. Easy. Of course I rejected the idea for myself, but I can't get away from that notion when looking at Brett Kimberlin's myriad 'campaigns', all of which seem to lack any substance. Yes, they're ever-so worthy, but that's the entire point for a sham scam.
Travel the world as a leading light of some 'electoral reform movement' - why not? Give a few talks, publish a few pages on facebook, buy a new internet domain every few months (for $10!!!) and link it all to one single host (!), promote a few desperate bands, take out a few adverts, Keerrrrching!!!
Stay alive in style and put it down as expenses. Who would know?
socrates: Thanks for explaining. That 1.3 figure is for Justice Through Music. I think I saw where contributions are advised to be sent through JTM rather than VR, so they will be tax deductible. But I'm not sure of anything to do with this money aspect. I wonder why there is no information for 2009.Ah, ok, I see I am not too reliable figuring out the books. I had posted at Patterico the 1.3 million was a grant. Yikes, my bad.
VR's tax returns are linked to at Patterico's from 2006 to 2008. Where are 2005 and 2009?
I can't see those pdf's. I think my comp software is the problem and it needs to be updated.
I did see at Patterico people talking about increased housing costs and large figures being given to independent contractors. We can only speculate what that means. I was going to put a question mark after that last sentence, but then I'd sound like yourself. p:>
I see no info on Brad Friedman's BradBlog. When he whines that the coffers are empty, and he may have to quit blogging, he fails to mention VR and its income. You'd think VR would provide Brad with enough money to be able to continue with his schtick indefinitely.
He's making it seem if people don't start giving him more money, he is about to hang it up. He offers the Clint Curtis video he's in as a gift to go with donations. Maybe VR has paid for those. Like yourself and others, I'm finding it difficult to see where VR has that many costs. It's not like they have ever had to pay out even one of their whistleblower reward offers.
I've thought like yourself in a way, like let's put ourselves in the role of villian and see how we would have reacted. I think Brad's reaction to this recent brouhaha has been a big mistake. I think he did well at first when he characterised the Breitbart piece as being an example of someone knowing how to use google and that there was nothing new there.
But then he had to go with the angle that it's disinformation, deja vu to Larisa's vouching of Brett years ago.
Good people may commit thought crimes, but they never follow through on them. There's something called integrity. I don't think you sinned by thinking about a potential scam. Your integrity kicked in and prevented you ever going near it.
This reminds me of a movie I saw but forget the title. These older guys liked to talk out perfect murder plots, a la Alfred Hitchcock. It didn't mean they'd ever go near being criminals themselves. That's what I think about you pondering that other thing. It was just chewing gum for your own mind.
socrates: TLNL, I just thought of something. Know how at carnivals, one of the big draws are those dolls and other prizes?Well, it seems BradBlog has the same setup to convert merchandise into cash.
He's whining of late saying he might have to quit blogging. He offers to send donors videotapes in return for money.
I imagine VR and Justice Through Music are covering the costs of those videotapes.
Ker-ching is correct, my friend.
TLNL: agree - that sort of scam doesn't stretch the imagination does it?it's not impossible. fact. if I were in such a position I'd want to publish every detail, because, as I explained, I'd hit upon the idea of using a charity as a personal enrichment vehicle myself. It isn't rocket science, it's just unethical.
Limited requirements for reporting standards on accounts needn't necessarily apply - there is nothing saying charities mustn't publish the most detailed accounts.
Why would charities wish to hide such details? Why would (supposedly leftwing) charities make use of accountancy reporting regulations designed to protect capitalist enterprise?
OK - they might be revolutionary marxists......so they don't wanna say what they're doing.
But are Brad and Kimberlin giving out any revolutionary socialism? Hardly.
So why the angst over it? Why is it all such a secret?
For one thing - how can anyone tell VR and everything else around Kimberlin and Bradblog isn't directly funded by the CIA?
Bunch of tossers.
socrates: A bunch of tossers? I never heard that one before. You European lads have a funny way with the words.Everything should be on the up and up and in the open. It should be explained how much has been earned, and what it's been spent on.
I know you were being sarcastic about the CIA. I think there's a possiblity of some kind of FBI involvement a la Hal Turner.
Brad likes to email with his bloggers and establish relationships. That's how he got my personal information. I wrongly trusted him.
No normal person would ever be associated with neonazi sympathisers and right woos left kooks such as Agent 99 and Big Dan.
Brad laughed things off just like Larisa did back when she got busted by me as Prepostericity.
According to Brad, I'm just making things up.
I think BradBlog and Velvet Revolution are officially dead for credibility. They did it to themselves. You can only spread so much tinfoil, before it backfires. Though on the other hand, it seems Alex Jones has a steady pool of believers. Maybe tinfoiling is a big market. I'm just unsure there are as many lefties into it, as it may appear on the surface. Most conspiracy bunk usually has a John Birch, right wing type flavour, imho.
Yeah, these guys are libertarian capitalists or something not lefties.
I think an itemized list of all income and expenditures should be provided, or there should be an investigation. If Brad has also been attempting to "flush out crazies" akin to Hal Turner, that may explain how an idea not stretching the imagination for the most part remains hidden.
Donkeytale has written up a little something about my recent adventures. The twits are saying this is a boring story. The blog owner implies I work for Karl Rove.
