And bravo again.
Whether or not you care for Michelle Malkin’s political positions, you should be honest enough to admit that this crusade to try to intimidate her and her family—a crusade being waged by mostly anonymous cowards who no person in the blogosphere, left OR right, should encourage or countenance—is both disgraceful and, in the long run, dangerous. Not only that, but the pretext upon which it is based—the reprinting of a press release (which last I checked was INTENDED to be disseminated, and was in fact, as of yesterday, still available in its entirety on a number of leftwing sites)—is so laughable as to be insulting to anyone with even a spark of electricity traveling across his or her grey matter.
So. I am now calling for the very public condemnation and ostracizing of those who would post satellite photos and personal addresses of a their political opponents on the web. I am also calling for the public condemnation and ostracizing of those hyperpartisan bloggers / media figures who condone or applaud such actions.
Consider this post a petition of sorts. And feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.
****
some background here. See also, Lorie Byrd and ABP
****
update: Heh.
We should disseminate a “list of shame” of those that did this. And then ask the big shooters of the Left-o-sphere whether they back them or not.
Dear Jeff,
I usually post under a pseudonym,but I thought this warranted a signature.I’ve just written a thank you note to Michelle for her courage.I hope your actions will serve as both a chastisement and a dash of cold water to the fanatics who do nothing as well as hate.
Do you mean those well-meaning moonbats who referred to Malkin as a “slanty-eyed c***” and expressed a wish that her family had been “killed during a war”?
Crusades are bad, Jeff. Jihad, on the other hand . . . well, that’s a feature of cultural difference.
i think she’s been sniffing glue. if this information is “all over the internet” how come it doesn’t come up in a simple google search?
I found it easily enough. But I’m not going to link photos of her house and big, 46-pt reproductions of her phone number here.
Go ahead and stay anonymous, by the way. It suits you.
posted (more or less in its entirety)
lemme know if you’d rther I excerpt it only.
really? strange. you’d figure it’d come up in the first 25 pages of a google search containing relevant keywords.
this is just her modus operandi. do something terribly nasty then act like a victim.
this is just her modus operandi. do something terribly nasty then act like a victim.
Hey, when did this change to the Cynthia McKinney thread?
It’s pretty easy to find information on a person if they have a presence online and Malkin does have a presence. She’s done plenty of interviews and posts things about herself on her blog at times. If a person wanted to gather intelligence on Malkin, it would be pretty damn easy and would yield a lot of information.
Uh … anonymous ..
it took me 5 minutes.
and no, I’m not going to tell you how.
The first to be shunned here is “anonymous”, whose IP address is 69.218.26.173 for those of you who have blogs and wish to ban him/her/it.
Malkin posted information from a press release. She is now being forced to relocate again. This is not ACTING like a victim. This is being a victim.
Goodbye, and good riddance.
And I was able to find anonymous’s info:
anonymous
223 Faggoty Coward Lane
Nancyboytown, Pussylvania 20001
I don’t know what I’m doing but I found it in about a minute. Mostly luck I think and the versions I found were all in cache, so it looks like they’re either regretting putting the stuff out there (possible) or trying to set her up (possible as well).
Consider this post a petition of sorts.
Then consider this a signature of sorts.
As has been noted elsewhere, these contact numbers were available still on a number of leftwing sites even after Malking posted them and the attacks on her began.
Don Surber, I understand, has de-linked Malkin as a show of his perpetual outrage. Fine. Let’s just hope that if he’d linked Chris Bowers, Democratic Underground, John Aravosis, Atrios, or some of the other folks supporting the outing of Malkin’s personal info, he’ll know make the same show of delinking them for encouraging the posting of personal information, including fairly closeup pics of her house along with maps showing how to get there.
Hell, maybe he’ll even gin up some outrage over THAT.
Don’t count on it…
I am also calling for the public condemnation and ostracizing of those hyperpartisan bloggers / media figures who condone or applaud such actions.
Jeff, you’re assuming that these maggots are smart enough to understand the fact that this was a press release, and that they have the smallest vestige of a conscience. They don’t care. They never have.
Turn on the light and out they’ll come.
Prefer you to daunt them with your vorpal keyboard as they come burbling through the wood.
The wit is mighter than the troll fence, and the trolls—such as anony—do love crashing the fences.
Putting a few blog faces up for the above stated reasons is not a bad idea.
My best guess is that the difference between trolls and those who have valid arguments is the amount of nonsense in comments or blog posts.
However, again, those who are putting this stuff out on MM are one step down from the average troll.
And that is an important distinction.
I’m very puzzled about someone who makes a big point about putting together a press release featuring their addresses and emails, and who are then completely shocked when someone else reposts that information.
The additional comments from the “sensitive” folks, with the language they use and the overall attitude they display? It shows who the real bigots are.
The history of the Left being thugs didn’t end with with the NKVD.
I wonder if Kieth Olberman (Who?) will say anything about this. He’s one of the pieces of shizzle that brought this on.
Just went dumpster-diving over at dKos. Full-throated support for the miscreants. Amusing Dr. Seuss thread, but they seem to be settling in on the meme that she made the whole thing up. Example:
So rage against the machine if you want. I think decency’s beyond their reach. Waiter? Yes, another please.
That’s what people have been trying to tell Malkin for a while now. That’s bad.
Consider this my signature.
Retarded. Telephone. Pole.
Will you PLEASE ban the worthless Actus now, Jeff?
He adds nothing to the discussion.
For what it’s worth, anonymous’s IP address is in Chicago.
Two can play this game.
I LOVE THIS WOMAN! SHE IS MY KINDA CHICK!!
This “in your face, if you think you’re gonna itimidate me you wussy little leftwing wierdos” stuff is FANTASTIC!
She ROCKS! ROCKS ROCKS!
Allow this longtime lurker (but constant reader) to humbly second the motion please, Jeff.
But that’s not what was causing the harassment. IIRC, freerepublic takes down phone numbers. Its not a big deal. Take them down. Its bad to put them up. The kids made a mistake, so did Malkin, and so did teh people targetting her. We don’t have a situation where people can hide anymore, where someone like Malkin can live in an undisclosed location. So the solution is to deride people who don’t play nice.
I was able, through Google cache, to find a PDF document of the original press release on the SAW site. It is, as of 12 midnight eastern, 4/19, still on the site: http://saw.revolt.org/a7-06/SAW_a7.pdf
It also resides happily on my hard drive, should it suddenly disappear.
I think many of the harassers come from here:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/04/top-republican-blogger-posts-phone.html
This is my signature as well, Jeff. Michelle did nothing wrong.
And this is my endorsement as well—ban actus.
Consider my signature added.
And in my opinion, the retarded telephone pole isn’t worth banning. It’s pretty well harmless.
Consider this my signature.
And I look forward to anybody who wants to come by and follow up on it…
Wow! Acthole is wrong 100% of the time. Amazing!
i concur.
however, please don’t expect me to use my real name anytime soon. ;D i mean, i understand where you’re coming from as far as standing behind what you say, but for some of us, that are a little paranoid, it’s a matter of security.
My signature, too.
Although he appears to be willfully ignorant, I don’t think actus has done anything to deserve banishment.
Yet. It’s always a possibility.
(assume blog persona)
We most eagerly add to your petition Our signature and whole-hearted endorsement.
(exit blog persona)
Excellent call, Jeff. I have been outraged at how the Lefists are so hate-driven and hate-filled. This reminds me a bit of a scene from Thank You For Smoking (which I won’t mention so as not to spoil the movie for those who have yet to watch it). Ms. Malkin is quite brave. I don’t know if I could handle such a threat.
Yeah, that pushed me over the line. I support banning of actus now.
Also, I support Malkin, as well, but that and a quarter will buy her a play at an arcade machine, unfortunately. She has all the balls she needs though.
Don Surber is an idiot, as well.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, JEFF!!! If that’s not enough to ban that little creep, I don’t know what is.
You have NO OBLIGATION to him, just because you want to be fair and let everyone have their opinion. Even though I’ve asked you to ban him before, I’ve been kind of on the fence about it because of that, but he crossed the line tonight. FUCK HIM. FUCK YOU, ACTUS. HOW ABOUT IF WE PUBLISH YOUR FAMILY’S ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER, ASSHOLE?
Well, it was fun guys, but the sunlight beckons. Keep up the great work J.G., and I hope you check out the Isaiah Berlin sometime – you two were separated at birth.
It was a press release and the kids were dead wrong, but MM should be aware that she’s not alone in getting those kind of e-mails, and that the problem goes beyond right/left.
WHICH WOULD BE YOUR MOMMY’S ADDRESS.
FUCKWAD.
Jeff,
Why stop with a “very public condemnation and ostracizing?”
I reported two of the sites to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for hate crimes investigations, not just because they published her physical address, but becuase they specifically targeted her ethnicity and her husband’s religion.
https://tips.fbi.gov/
The truth shall set you free, but it is hell on those that would use the internet to make terrorist threats.
That would be bad. In this day and age, its possible to find people. Only a strong norm against publishing that sort of crap can help.
Obligatory ignore acthole comment. If you ban him you could save bandwidth. However if we just ignore him he will go away.
Consider this my signature for the petition. If anyone has any interest in coming after this “nobody”, just e-mail me and I’ll make an appointment for you.
The kids made a mistake, so did Malkin, and so did teh people targetting her.
No, asswipe, she posted public information. It was a PRESS RELEASE.
It’s always amazing to me how lefty types who think they’re intellectuals turn out to be so much stupider than the average person.
Spamword, “thinking.”
AND she wasn’t the only one to post it. That information is still up at several left wing sites as an advertisement for recruiting protesters.
Anyone can go to the SAW site and still see the information.
I love that Michelle Malkin blows little Lefty minds because she doesn’t toe what they believe to be the acceptable minority female line.
I suspect this is more of that tolerance I keep hearing about so much from the esteemed Left side of the aisle. Dissenting voices, and all that. Right?
Oh, right.
I’m a bit puzzled. No one should be posting her family’s contact info–its just wrong. But, um, didn’t she do the exact same thing? I guess I just dont understand the surprise. She was wrong in attacking the SC students in this way and so are those that are attacking her family in this way.
Count me in, Jeff. This is intimidation, pure and simple. The comparison of posting phone numbers from a press release, to posting her home address and photos of her home and neighborhood is bunk.
“Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
I don’t get it.
Some group (of whatever political persuasion is irrelevant) crafts a press release with their contact information, presumably to garner attention and also follow-up from the press.
A member of the press publishes their release verbatim to give them the same publicity they desire and they’re mad about it, and decrying the very source of their success at getting publicity?
Weird.
Myrna, did you flunk reading comprehension?
I’d say you’re more than a bit puzzled. You might even be addled. Did you bother to read the comments on this thread. We have already been through that. There is no tit for tat here.
OK, if a train leaves Chicago at 3:18am, and arrives in Minneapolis at 3:16am, does that confirm the Theory of Relativity?
Myrna?
Ah, you see, the trick is, what about Daylight Savings Time?
Dumbass.
Next to add to the list of those who you won’t see me reference again is Tbogg, whose “101st fighting keyboard” schtick is as worn and abused as his poor cramped palm.
But that’s beside the point.
Which is that instead of taking the opportunity to do the right thing and distance himself from the kind of attack aimed at Michelle Malkin and her family, he’s put up a post mocking my call for bloggers on both the left and the right to distance themselves from tactics such as posting satellite photos, maps, and home addresses of their political rivals.
And no, I’m not really surprised. Because to “tbogg,” ironizing everything marks him as edgy. Unfortunately, to many other people it marks him as nothing more than a partisan mascot who dances for his fellow lefty hatemongers like some Deanhumping organ grinder’s monkey.
To wit: Tbogg, breaking out his renowned dry wit, wonders if such a public shunning as the kind I call for in my post will “leave a mark”. Christ, how I laughed and laughed at that! Such an incisive look into the practical effects of my silly little call to arms! It practically dazzles!
The answer, of course, is no, it won’t leave a mark, tbogg. But what it does do is show that your anonymous pandering—which includes the incessant milking both of the chickenhawk meme and the figthing keyboardist bit—is the work of a social shitstain, someone who can’t for one moment let go of his partisan hatred and do what we all know to be the right thing.
And you know what? It’s my bet that deep down, even those for whom you daily rattle your little tin cup and do your little monkey jig know it, too.
So fuck you.
And it going on her website caused harassment. She knew it would. Even if she didn’t, she was told. This isn’t an all or nothing system. I’m sure Malkin goes home in public, and someone could follow her and post her info. all in public. But its still not ok when it leads to harassment. And I’m sure those kids realized they made a mistake when they put private numbers on there.
Its a bit of a two way street: If its so public, why does it have to be on her site?
And its not causing harassment. Thats the thing. Someone found Malkins info. Its available. Its just that where its posted, its causing harassment. Thats whats wrong.
Ah, actus, as you twist yourself into a pretzel, I laugh, and laugh.
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Actus —
Shut up, please. Malkin is a legitimate member of the press. If these “kids” didn’t want the info disseminated by a certain segment of the press with a particular ideological bent, then they shouldn’t have put it out for general release.
What Malkin has posted was intended to be spread. Whereas putting maps, satellite photos of her house, and her address on Democratic Underground is just a coward’s way of seeing if he can push some other, crazier coward into doing something drastic and physical—particularly when its coupled with a kind of frenzy in the comments.
Apples and oranges.
Please don’t post any more in this thread. You’re making my stomach ache.
Consider me signing. You go Jeff and Michelle!
The mind boggles Actus.
Most any press agent would be turning somersaults in glee if they could get the media to print their release verbatim and they’d be downing Margaritas by the gallon if the media also included contact info on top of that.
I am, as are many here, growing weary of your antics—I think that I’ll not repy directly to you again.
When I was reading through Daily Kos. The argument there seems to be that press release contact information are for press consumption only and that the contact information is never intended for public consumption. But if you google ‘press+release’ (which I did) there are tons of links with contact information.
I don’t always agree with Michelle, especially about immigration, but she hasn’t done anything wrong here. Add my name to the petition.
Lorie Byrd comments in the thread at polipundit:
A few days ago, a blogger was arrested for killing a little girl and preparing to have her for supper. There are crazy people out there, and giving them maps and aerial photos of a person’s house is meant specifically to intimidate.
Providing contact information available to the public and with regard to a specific issue is hardly the same.
Liberals are just a bunch of pussies when they get called out onbeing liberals.
Bookburner Nurse Ratched ‘HAMSHER” talks a big sling and fling shit talk, but when she’s revealed for the lame-ass she is she threatens suit?
Theses guys are just pissed off they are being exposed for what they are and their cause isn’t “framed” by a friendly.
They should anonymous protest the army then.
Journalist, no. Pundit, yes. She peddles in opinion, not journalism.
Holding her to any standard of journalistic ethics would mean she wouldn’t have printed these students’ contact information.
from http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp
She knew these weren’t exactly media savvy sorts, therefore if she is a “Journalist” as you claim, she had an obligation NOT to print their personal contact information.
No, it’s not right for bloggers to be posting her home number on the internet, nor was it right or ethical for her to post these students’ phone numbers.
And its not causing harassment. Thats the thing. Someone found Malkins info. Its available. Its just that where its posted, its causing harassment. Thats whats wrong.
Like when Book Burner, Nurse Ratched “Jane Hamsher” puts an authors book on her site and encourages and praises her readers to purposely deface and write negative comments of a book they’ve haven’t read and “review” Jihad the Amazon listing? LIKE THAT?
Tell it to hand Act. You guys suck.
Joe Mamma is a stupid ho!
I delinked Malkin a while back (privately) just because I didn’t enjoy reading her anymore, and didn’t want to be in any way politically linked to her anymore (although I will link the occasional individual post).
But the current actions taken against her are absurd. If the pants-shitting leftists (they’re not in any way liberals) can’t tell the difference, there’s no point in trying to explain to them.
So, yeah, consider this another signature.
TW: his, as in “Joseph Cannon is a moron, and I’ve documented his stupidity previously.”
Jeff – sign me up.
Now, to the bidness at hand:
Jeezus H. Baldyheaded Fookin’ Christ, actus! Are you trying intentionally to be an asshole, or does it just come naturally?
What part of “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” did you NOT understand?
Have you found, ANYWHERE, anything with Michelle’s personal information (residential addy, phone number, home e-mail) under her name or organization with “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” anywhere?
(sound of crickets chirping)
These little snot-nosed punks at UCSC put out a press release “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”. They put it out on the net. It’s still there. They didn’t redact their names or set up an event horizon to collect junk mail – they just assumed that anyone and everyone would agree with their POV, and those that didn’t would just leave them alone. They assumed incorrectly. That’s life in the fast lane – when you take a position, sometimes people are going to have an equally strident and opposite position, and let you know about it, too.
Now unless and until you can prove that Michelle Malkin has put out any kind of press release anywhere stating “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” and containing wherein her personal information and address and phone number, SHUT THE FUCK UP! You owe everyone on here jointly and severally an apology for being such a jackhammered dolt on this one.
Actus, I used to think you enjoyed playing Devil’s Advocate here. Now I am firmly convinced you are merely just the Devil’s Asshole, and desperately deserving to get gonged from the site.
Make it so, Goldstein!
Wow, Joe Momma is contorting himself with the combined skills of a master gymnast and an expensive exotic dancer to still put Malkin in the wrong here.
You know, were I of less proper upbringing, I would have been prone to shit like these scumbags are pulling before I got better from being a democrat. To be honest, I really have no CLUE what sort of contortions drove me to internalize such “holier-than-thou” bullshit.
A gun, a lot of ammo, a license to kill, and a convenient spot outside of Mrs. Malkin’s residence, and that lady and her family will be bothered by nothing but the occasional gunshot.
Funny, I thought these not-exactly media savvy sorts first got their information into the public sphere through a press release. Even seems like these McLuhan-challenged types had an organization, with individuals whose function was to communicate with the media. Nope, they were clearly virgins when it came to the whole media thing.
Plus, you gotta love the whole “Malkin should have had the psychic ability to discern that information made public was clearly not intended for public dissemination” argument, especially when coupled with the equally appealing “she’s a pundit and not a real journalist and therefore excommunicated by the abjuration of I.F. Stone and the name of Mike Royko” gambit.
If Joe Mamma doesn’t realize how dumb he looks effectively begging us to see his poorly thought out and, at best, only semi-coherent view of the affairs, then Khan, my friend, you are wasting your time.
Just because you can write the words “press release” on a piece of paper doesn’t make you media savvy. As for them having an “organization”, c’mon, it looks like a campus club. Have you been to their website?
Malkin knew exactly what she was doing when she distributed their contact information.
As for her being a journalist, she recycles information gathered elsewhere in the press and writes an OPINION about it. That’s the exact definition of “pundit”.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Here’s my “signature”.
Strangley enough, Benjamin Bratt is a UCSB alumni and starred in The Great Raid, a film that shows the courage and heroics of our fine military men in one of the greatest missions in American history.
A quasi-recruiting film, if you will.
Do the SAW imps throw rocks at Bratt’s house?
I never said they did. As a matter of fact, if you go to my earlier comments on this, I specifically said that posting her information was wrong.
You’re correct. Two wrongs DO NOTmake a right. Malkin is wrong in this too.
Joe Mamma, my comment wasn’t directed at you, it was a summary of my thoughts on the matter.
My bad. Sorry about that.
Yeah, that’s the way I look at it too.
Malkin knew exactly what she was doing when she distributed their contact information.
I still don’t get it. Publicity was decisively NOT their intention when they amateurishly released a press release?
This is trumped up outrage ala a Joe Wilson like deflection, that their message might not be framed or exposed not to their liking, an nothing more.
Joe Mamma,
As a number of people have pointed out, the contact info for the SAW organizers is also publicly available at a number of leftist websites, like this one for instance.
Is it your position that these websites are also “wrong in this” for posting contact info that was disseminated in a press release, or is it only wrong to post the information if your readers are likely to disagree with the people passing it out?
Also, I think their are a few defensive bloggers/commenter who jumped on the creepy blogger who kept tabs of Malkin’s posts bandwagon…only to be slapped down by Talk Left so anything to justify their creepiness will do.
Hmmm, “pundits” aren’t “journalists” because they give their OPINIONS. Wow, that’s almost as stupid as your first comment.
So, it was wrong for MM to post their PRESS RELEASE because she is not a “journalist”, but it’s ok for others to continue to post their PRESS RELEASE because they are. . . what now?
You’re being a tad dishonest.
typo queen, is me tonight.
Joe Mamma: (nods) There’s not a lot of nuance around these parts, so I can see how you might get trigger-happy
No problems. I for one have done my bit, so I’m off now for some more civilised company.
I liked the part in the press release where the administration effectively “lost a real opportunity to de-escalate any potential points of conflict”
Doesn’t sound too much like a veiled threat. But they’re just kids. They probably throw rocks like girls anyway. Two wrongs don’t make a right, you know. Or is it 3, 4 or 5 wrongs now?
Al,
I’m sure they’ll get stoned first, spend all their money on pizza, and have to wait for daddy to wire more money before they can mount a real offensive.
I can see how you might get trigger-happy No problems.
Highlarious! So enthusiastic, ate it’s own and Trigger-happy to boot! Do you have a permit for that gun cowboy?
Reb,
And then you get to the heart of the matter. Where the hell his Daddy in all this. He needs a head-smack asap.
”And feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.” you wrote.
Subtext: But only if they suit me and if they don’t I’ll not only remove them and ban you but post your IP address and if I can, any other personal info about you I come across. And don’t even think about calling me a hypocrite!
from http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004974.htm
After repeatedly using words like “sedition” in the post, what kind of response did she think these students were going to get? They ended up getting death threats (to Michelle Malkin’s credit, she did say she didn’t condone death threats or foul language…right before saying the rather ominous sounding “You are responsible for your individual actions. Other individuals are responsible for theirs.”)
My point is if you want to call Michelle Malkin a journalist, she has a responsibility to follow a set of journalistic ethics, including realizing that posting their phone numbers within an inflammatory post may be a threat to those students’ safety. Regardless of your opinion on these students’ actions, I’d like to think that rational, thinking people would decry the fact that they’re now receiving death threats related to Michelle Malkin posting their information, just as anyone with half a brain should be angry about Michelle Malkin’s personal info being posted on the net. Yes, the students’ information was available elsewhere. How many more hits do you think Michelle Malkin’s site gets? If you yell “fire” in a crowded theatre, don’t you have more culpability than if you yell “fire” in an empty room with no one around?
My point here is, if you want to call Michelle Malkin a journalist, she has to hold herself to a standard. I know her history, she’s written for newspapers for YEARS. She knows full well who the contact information from a press release is intended for, and that it’s not intended for the general public. That doesn’t make what’s happening to her any more right, but having her info posted doesn’t make what she did any less wrong.
And feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.†you wrote.
Subtext: But only if they suit me and if they don’t I’ll not only remove them and ban you but post your IP address and if I can, any other personal info about you I come across. And don’t even think about calling me a hypocrite!
No the hypocrite would be Book Burner, Nurse Ratched “Jane Hamsher”, who not only deletes comments INSTANTLY that threaten to disrupt her minion hamony parade, bans AND rewrites comments in such a way as to make the commenter look bad THEN has the audacity to threaten someone with liable when they “parody” or “lampoon” her bad self…I call that BRAVE.
After repeatedly using words like “sedition†in the post, what kind of response did she think these students were going to get?
hmmm
Why Kate O’Beirne is a Dangerous Bitch
Yeah, please note how that post from FDL does not contain Kate O’Bierne’s personal contact information on it.
If Michelle Malkin weren’t such a hot little thing, no one would listen to the utter drivel that comes from her hyperpartisan mouth like so much shit from a bull.
But even though she is completely devoid of intellectual integrity, I agree that intimately personal attacks should not be made against her family. Even if she is full of shit. Otherwise, we’d have to tar and feather the liar that is Ann Coulter next.