Blogging Tag

This was a tough year. We lost two of Legal Insurrection's biggest fans, my in-laws, who after 68 years of marriage died a couple of months apart this summer. Our friend, reader, commenter and one-time photoshop "director" Patricia also lost her husband John. We also lost two of our dogs in a tragic incident two months ago. We're big dog lovers, and it's hard to get over. Mandy's severe stroke in early September, just two days before she was to come on board at Legal Insurrection full time to run the place, has left a cloud over everything that has happened since. The latest update from Mandy's mother:

This New Year’s Eve Mandy is home. Different therapists come to the home to provide rehab. She can walk short distances with my help and a left handed walker. She still has no use of her right arm but can feel some sensation. In addition to her IPad that has Apps on it, she is now using a speech recognition device which will help her to communicate. She understands most of what is said to her but cannot respond verbally. Surgery to re-attach her skull is scheduled for Jan. 8th. She is deeply touched and so very grateful to everyone who has donated, sent notes and gifts, prayers and good wishes. I believe 2015 is going to be a good year. Happy and healthy New Year to everyone.

I spoke with Mandy almost daily in the 18 months after joining us but before her stroke, and I was so looking forward to handing off many of the administrative and editorial responsibilities to someone I trusted and whose blog strategy and thinking were intuitively aligned with mine. Based on the updates from her mom, I don't expect that Mandy can return to us anytime in the foreseeable future, although there always will be a place here for her to do whatever she wants and can. It wasn't a bad year as relates to the blog activity itself.

As we wrap-up another eventful year, I wanted to share some favorite posts featuring the many diverse areas I cover as part of Professor Jacobson's wonderful team of authors.

Infectious Diseases: “Health and Safety Moms” Could Swing 2014 Elections

I was nothing if not optimistic about the election results this November, but the combination of the government's response to the Ebola epidemic combined with its ignoring a virus spreading among school children that looks as if it can cause paralysis angered mom's across the country.  The final results, especially with the US Senate, were even better than I had hoped.

Tea Party: Did Carl DeMaio have any choice but to run from Tea Party label in #CA52?

After losing to "filthy" Bob Filner in the San Diego mayor's race of 2012, Republican Carl DeMaio ran against a Democrat Scott Peters for the 52nd District house seat -- and lost.  It could be argued that DeMaio's distancing himself from grassroots conservatives cost him this close election.  However, it shows Tea Party activists still have some chops -- even after we have been declared "dead" on several different occasions.  Underestimate  us at your own peril, especially if you intend to run as a "conservative".

India: The Indian economy is shaking like a Bollywood dancer

India has the potential to be a real world power and a great regional counter-balance to China.  Perhaps the biggest story from that country in 2014 was the election of  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had  a pro-capitalism and  pro-Israel platform.  His appearance at a packed Madison Square Garden event in New York City was met with great enthusiasm -- the kind President Obama can now only dream of.

Ah, the comment section. Sometime later today into tomorrow, we will hit our 300,000th comment. In 6 years. That's not a lot compared to some websites, but it's a lot here. And the pace has picked up dramatically in the past couple of years. We seem to be running close to 10,000 comments a month (that's just a guesstimate). We "try" to keep things under control by not using third-party comment software such as Disqus -- which means you have to register here specifically. That cuts down on drive-by commenters and flame throwers, which helps keep the comment section relatively (by comparison to other websites) civil. But it also cuts down on the number of people who comment, and likely cuts down on our traffic. Having massive fights in the comment section is what drives some websites to have several hundred to several thousand comments for a single post. That's not to say sometimes things don't get rough, but we appreciate that our commenters generally don't go there. Policing the comment section is a drag, and with our volume and staff, difficult. In the end, though, I think it's worth keeping comments open. It creates a sense of community and shared purpose. We have shared election victories and losses, graduations, promotions, deaths and births. Some commenters have crossed the cyber/real world barrier, and communicated off site with each other, and with me. I count some of our commenters as real world friends now, and the comment secton was how I located one of our authors (Andrew Branca).

You may not be aware that Dana Loesch of The Blaze makes videos. This new Thanksgiving related spot is pretty funny. In what should come as a surprise to no one, Loesch isn't a fan of fake turkey. I couldn't agree more. Would you believe Tofurky has been around for 20 years?

Who are you to judge?...

They come in all shapes, forms, manners of caps lock, and misspelled profanity, but one thing's certain: no one likes an internet troll. Internet trolls are the thorn in the side of most people who dare to express an opinion on the internet. Trolls are the people completely disinterested in honest debate, but love to hit and run. They comment on blog posts, news articles, Facebook posts and anywhere else the internet provides a forum for their psychosis to be displayed in all its demented glory. Here are a few types of common blog trolls:

• Regular Troll -- This guy is openly 180-degrees opposed to the purpose and/or ideological orientation of the blog. Whatever you're for, he's against, and vice-versa....
• False-Flag Troll -- This guy pretends to be on your side, but he's really not. Claiming to be a conservative, he inevitably advances messages that are anti-conservative. His purpose is to sow confusion, discord and demoralization.
• Concern Troll -- A subspecies of false-flag troll. The Obama campaign deployed a swarm of concern trolls in fall 2008. They were recognizable by the 3-point argument that went something like this: (1) I'm a committed conservative/lifelong Republican, but (2) I'm concernedabout [something the Republicans had said or done], and therefore (3) I'm thinking I might vote for Obama on Election Day....
• Agent Provocateur Troll -- Another false-flag subspecies, who aims to elicit unsavory or disreputable comments from other commenters, which can then be quoted to discredit the blog.

Then there are other internet trolls, like those who spend all their waking hours tweeting and emailing people. Or, sending you an all caps lock laded tweet telling you to "WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!", showing up unsolicited to tell you just how wrong you are, in brutal terms but offering no reasons other than "because your dumb [sic]", and in many cases, all out harassing you just because they have nothing better to do from their mother's basement, internet trolls are an unfortunate byproduct of technological progress.  But I guess we can thank Al Gore's invention of the internet for that. Researchers in Canada decided to explore what types of people make up the majority of the internets trolls. According to Psychology Today:

We mentioned earlier today, in our post about the federal court suit by Brett Kimberlin, that some bloggers also were subject to suit in a state court case as to which the trial was ongoing. Dave Weigel from Slate.com was at the trial, and just tweeted:

Breaking from court: Judge rules against Kimberlin, sides with bloggers. No "defamation" proved.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) August 12, 2014

We all won! #BrettKimberlin @BomberSues @rsmccain @AaronWorthing @wjjhoge (Directed Verdict, judge refused to let it even taint the jurors).

— Ali A. Akbar (@ali) August 12, 2014

Robert Stacy McCain and Ali Akbar react:

Some of you may be aware that Brett Kimberlin has sued numerous conservative bloggers and media figures (Michelle Malkin, Twitchy, Glenn Beck, Redstate, etc.) alleging, to the extent it can be discerned, a wide range of purported violations, including, incredibly, violation of the Ku Klux Clan Act and the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, as well as a variety of other conspiracy and defamation related claims It all relates to criticism of Kimberlin and exposure of his criminal record and other legal problems he has had over the decades, and reporting on the issue of "swatting" (falsely calling in a report of someone with a gun at a location to get the police Swat Team to arrive, guns drawn.) Two of the defendants are Patrick Frey (of Patterico) and Mandy Nagy -- yes our Mandy Nagy -- unrelated to her work for Legal Insurrection. The case is filed in federal Court in Maryland, and has had a bizarrely active and unproductive docket, with over 180 entries to date, many of which were precipitated by Kimberlin's serial filing and requests for permission to file, amended complaints. Kimberlin now is on his 2nd, and according to the Court, final, Amended Complaint. Many defendants have moved to dismiss, and now so too have Patrick and Mandy, jointly represented by Ron Coleman (who also represents Legal Insurrection when needed, which fortunately is rarely). Ron is a great friend to bloggers. My take? Having read through the various complaints, including the latest, I'm wondering how in the world the case could survive. But I've learned not to bet on court cases, we can only hope that justice is done, and promptly. There's also a separate trial underway in a different state court case involving some but not all of the same defendants (Frey and Nagy are not part of that). Dave Weigel is attending the trial and reporting. Stacy McCain, a defendant in the state and federal cases, is reporting on his own trial as well. I've split the Motion to Dismiss in the federal case into the Memo of Law and the Affidavit and Exhibits. Here they are: