Kemberlee Kaye’s 10th Anniversary at Legal Insurrection

WILLIAM A. JACOBSON JUL 30, 2024 7:00 AM

One of my greatest joys of running Legal Insurrection is the longevity of our key authors, three of whom (Mike, Leslie, Fuzzy) have celebrated 10th year Anniversaries with us, and several more people 5th year anniversaries. We can add an addition to the Ten Year Club, Kemberlee Kaye.You can read my anniversary posts about them at our Author Anniversary tag.Ten years ago today, on July 30, 2014, Kemberlee posted for the first time at Legal Insurrection.HOLD ON – that’s a lie. I am about to reveal to you something so secret that I forgot about it until recently. Kemberlee did some test posts for us under the pseudonym Red Dawn beginning on June 23, 2014. I hope you can keep this secret.According to our dashboard, Kemberlee has 2948 posts. If she lives to be a million years old and reaches the 100,000 post milestone, none will compare to one of our most popular posts of 2015, the now classic Feminists Fall For #PissForEquality Hoax, about how liberal feminists fell for a 4chan hoax effort to show how liberated they were by peeing their pants and posting images of it.Has anything really changed in our politics? The liberal women are still not okay, and Kemberlee has helped document it ever since. For many years she was our go-to person for culture war stuff, particularly the war on boys and men (on the side of boys and men).More than that, she’s been a key part of our growth.Kemberlee implemented and ran our Morning Insurrection daily newsletter (SIGN UP HERE) for many years (Mary does the newsletter now), and was instrumental in helping with the launch of the Legal Insurrection Foundation in March 2019. Kemberlee now spends most of her time on Foundation work, and only occasionally posts on the blog. She is Director of Operations and Editorial Development, having responsibility for our CRM platforms, making sure people get paid on time, overseeing Foundation staff, and generally keeping the wheels turning.Kemberlee also was responsible for the concept of creating our CriticalRace.org website, which I initially was not big on, and then getting it implemented. She was right, CriticalRace.org turned into a major project of the Foundation and has been a driver of media attention coverage and donations. Kemberlee now is Managing Editor of CriticalRace.org, overseeing several researchers building out and updating our numerous databases and interactive maps (Higher Ed, Medical Schools, Military Service Academies, etc.). We are in the process of expanding beyond the databases to content creation, and she is overseeing that as well.Kemberlee also helps with organization of the Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org), the third prong of the Foundation after the blog and the CRT website, tracking matters, and tallying “wins” and other data.She also travels for many of the conferences where the Foundation has a booth, and joins me from time to time at public speaking events where she interacts with the public. Increasingly, she interacts with donors and potential donors. And she recently launched our Legal Insurrection Podcast, with me tagging along.

There are some personal things you should know about her. First and foremost, chickens. She’s a home chicken farmer, and was laughing her *ss off when the city folk were fighting at the supermarket for eggs during the pandemic. When she’s not tending the flock, she’s trying to figure out ways to buy more of them. She has chicken stories that would make you bust your gut.But enough about chickens, who she calls the “gateway farm animal.”More than an author, manager, and chicken farmer, Kemberlee has delivered some of the most personal moments at the blog.Our first Official Blog Baby was her daughter Klara, born in September 2016, who now is an aspiring baton twirler (they still do that in small town America), and is absolutely brilliant. But of course she is, she’s home schooled, no gubmint indoctrination school for her. There was a time when she would wave at me when I was on TV, and couldn’t understand why I didn’t wave back.And then there was Baby Walt, born in late November 2019 with a rare heart defect requiring he be medivac’d to Houston Children’s Hospital for heart surgery. They didn’t know if he would make it through the first night.It was the most emotional moment in Legal Insurrection’s history:

Kemberlee texted me the Featured Image above, and the following message for readers:

Walt was born with an extremely rare heart defect but he’s in good hands, receiving great care, is stable, and improving a little every day. We look forward to having him home.We want to express our sincere gratitude for the overwhelming care, support, and prayers from friends and family.

Our Legal Insurrection family is praying for Walt’s recovery, and the day he can join his parents, two big sisters, and extended family at home.

If you believe in the power of prayer, please say a prayer. If you don’t believe in the power of prayer, say a prayer anyway.

Many times readers will ask me how Baby Walt is doing. Kemberlee’s last update was when Walt was two and a half, and there were some medical concerns:

I cherish your prayers. They strengthened me through Walter’s first months with us. Your messages, emails, comments and kindness were incredible support when I and my faith were stretched to the max. When I look back, I never asked the Lord to heal my son, I thanked Him that it was already finished. Finished because of His son. My heart and attitude remain in that place. My faith is stronger now than before. But the process is brutal.I am heavy-hearted. Typing through tears. To have an infant with such a condition is one thing, to have a wild, active, amazing little toddler facing open-heart surgery is another entirely. The prospect of a life-long affliction is daunting. But my God is so much bigger than all of this. So it’s not with fear and worry that I look to Walter’s next appointment later this year (after all, perfect love casts out fear 1 John 4:18), but I am expecting the report of the Lord. The King of the Universe.I thank the Lord for you. For the entire Legal Insurrection team. May you be filled with His perfect, complete shalom peace this summer and may His presence abound in your life, in your situations, whatever they may be. That all should work out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Walt is now four, and he’s enormous, energetic, really a miracle. I’ve met him. He’s polite and looks two years older than he is. Recent doctor visits have been excellent, Kemberlee tells me, but of course there’s always the tension and worry leading up to the check up. Maybe she’ll do another update for readers?

With all the success we’re having at the Foundation, a lot of people are just hearing of us. I feel sometimes that we’re like that band who spends a decade grinding out road trips and appearances at small clubs and bars, and then comes out with a hit album and everyone is like “they’re an overnight success.” It took us a long time to get to where we are, there’s nothing overnight about it.

I never know how to end these 10-year anniversary posts. Saying “thanks” to people who have been with me for over a decade doesn’t seem enough.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY