No, I'm Not Getting Dragged Into This Leopold Madness Further

Update: You may think this is boring, pathetic, creepy, and sad.

But it's also something else -- comedy gold.

One poster writes:

Wow. This is the bestest crazy ever. Are you sure this is free, Ace? It seems wrong to not be buying a ticket or something.

I mean, seriously, even if you're bored of the story, if you're a Conossieur of Crazy as I am, there are many fine vintages of batshit crazy to be sampled in the thread.

Update: Leopold's sock-puppets don't just harrass and annoy rightwing bloggers. They also annoy the KosKids.

Thanks to JackStraw.

....

For those of you worried that, having just wrapped up with Greenwald 24/7, now I'm into the Leopold thing 24/7, I'll tell you, I'm not very interested in this at all. I posted the background last night because I knew Seixon would be reporting someone making a threat to him on the phone, and wanted to provide context for that.

I intend to post on this as little as possible. Unlike with the Greenwald thing, which I considered to be deliciously embarrassing for someone forever sermonizing to the right about integrity and honesty, I think this story is just creepy and sad.

I have been dragged into this by someone who keeps spamming my site with personal information.

Let me say a few things:

I do not for one instant believe that an actual enemy of Jason Leopold is posting this crap. There is plenty of dirt on Leopold to get into without having to resort to cheap anti-semitic slurs; the fact that the supposed "hateful Leopold enemy" needs to post "Jew" and "kike" in every post suggests strongly, if not well-nigh conclusively, that this person, whoever it may be, is attempting to defend Leopold by posting over-the-top anti-semitic screeds and thereby cutlivating sympathy for Leopold.

Hey, "Leopold Enemy"? If you really want to post something harmful about Leopold, why not make fun of him for his "Sealed v. Sealed" fiasco? Or the long list of "scoops" he's had that no one else could verify? Or the fairly well-known reasons for his losing previous media jobs? Or the fact that he seems to have lied to a source about his identity on at least one occasion to get him to talk, as documented in the WaPo (if memory serves me)?

Why is it that you avoid posting actual derogatory information about him, cutting to the heart of his credibility, in favor of calling him a "Jew"?

Because you're not actually Leopold's enemy. You are someone posting in order to cultivate sympathy for Leopold, not actually reduce his already microscopic credibility any further.

It isn't necessarily Leopold. But it is someone who is acting in what he believes to be Leopold's interests.

The person posting Jason Leopold's "private information" has offered two different addresses, and two different phone numbers. I'm not interested enough to find out if either is genuine. But the fact that the "Leopold enemies" can't seem to decide where Leopold lives or what his phone number is seems sort of suggestive to me.

So, here's my policy: I have twice now deleted posts containing "personal information about Jason Leopold." This, I think, shows that I have no interest in having such information on my site.

However, I do not actually believe this is Leopold's information, or, even if it is, it is actually being posted by an enemy of Leopold. I think it is being posted by someone with Leopold's interests close to his heart.

Ergo, I am not going to continue running around like a jackass redacting posts and rebuidling my site every time someone posts "Jason Leopold's personal information." I have tried to keep it off the site, but I simply do not have the goddamned time to keep up with this foolishness.

If Leopold or his defenders want to post purportedly private information about Leopold here and then run to ThinkProgress and claim, "Oh, look at what they're doing to poor Jason!," fine, go ahead. But this post serves notice that I tried to keep the information off. I cannot keep up with a persistant spammer.

Furthermore, as I banned the first IP putting up Seixon's personsal information, suddenly I'm getting IP's originating from all over the world (the last one apparently coming from Australia), suggesting the possibility of an anonymizer, or else a concerted effort by wide-ranging Leopold defenders to keep on with these transparent, shabby deceptions.

Whatever. I can't keep up with it.

If someone can tell me if an anonymizer works this way, or how Blackberry internet traffic is routed, please contact me, just to figure out if I can stop this, and to unpick a nit.

PS: The "distributed intelligence" of the Internet is ferocious.

RLW looked up the tax information on "Jason Leopold's address," as given in the last spam message.

Latest Sale Date 03/24/2005 Indicated Sale Price $1,048,750

[NOTE: Very minor details of the sale date and price have been altered, so as to prevent anyone from searching for the address with that information.]

Anyone out there believe that Jason Leopold, fearless Internet reporter for fairly minor-league blog TruthOut, just bought himself a million-dollar home last year?

Million dollar homes are not uncommon in California. But people deriving a paycheck from a minor-league website are usually not able to afford them.

Imagine trying to get a mortgage when you list your employer as "TruthOut."

Who?

"TruthOut. It's an, ummm, on-line company."

A blog?

"Oh no. Not a blog. A legitimate media company, TruthOut is."

What do they do?

"We manufacture, process, distribute, and sell Truth."

Oh. I see.

APPLICATION DENIED.

It's also a "singe-family residence," not apparently a multi-family dwelling (i.e, subdivided into apartments), so he must be renting it either alone or with a couple of buddies.

And I don't know what the rent might be on a million dollar home, but I'm still thinking it's beyond the means of a TruthOut reporter. I know nothing much about California, but this address and price range seem a little tony for an Internet Detective.

At any rate, apparently Leopold has two homes, one home in the Los Angeles area and a vacation home in the Los Angeles area as well (summers in one, winters in the other), so, hey, who knows, maybe he's figured out a way to make that Crazy Blog-Money for real.

Update: I am informed by passionate Leopold defenders, who apparently donate ten cents to UNICEF every time they use an exclamation point or unnecessarily capitalized letter, that Jason Leopold received a million dollar advance for a book on a niche subject by an unknown author, and furthermore, $750,000 for his screenplay.

$1 million advance on abook? That's, uhhh, gettin' up into Tom Clancy and Dan Brown territory, isn't it?

And $750,000 for a screenplay? That's not even how the screenplay payment system works. You get paid something like "$75,000 against $750,000," the $75,000 is what you actually get paid when you sign on the line which is dotted, the $750,000 is what you get if -- a big if -- the film actually goes into production. Furthermore, that's kinda high for a first time screenwriter. Not unheard of, but rather high. 40 against 400 or 50 against 500 seems a bit more credible.

And unless it's gone into production, it's that lower figure, not the bigger figure that follows.

I'd like to know the name of this screenplay, so I can search the DoneDeal archives and find out what the actual terms of the deal were.

Also, I'm told this:

I challenge any one of you jerk offs to provide evidence proving that this EXCELLENT investigative reporter's stories were not later proven to be true. I DARE YOU! GO AHEAD YOU FUCKS. And I am not talking about linking to articles in the WaPo or the NYT that relies on rumor and innuendo. Hard evidence. Try to dig it up. You won't find it cause it doesn't exist.

Ah. We can't link to articles refuting Leopold's unverified stories in little rightwing rags the Washington Post and New York Times; we need real sources. Not these little-known basement-printed newsletters that rely on "rumor and innuendo." (Actually, they do do that of course; but I'm having trouble grokking the idea I'm supposed to take Jason Leopold's word over the Washington Post.

Anyway, I'm also told his wife is a "producer," which is pretty meaningless in Hollywood. Anyone in Hollywood who is not more specifically a writer or actor or director is a producer. That last meal you had at In and Out Burger? Probably served to you by a "producer."

My friend's a producer, for crying out loud. Working on a film about, well, I don't know what the hell it is. I don't know if he knows either.

Means nothing.

I don't know any details of Leopold's life, but I'm just trying to bring a little reality to those imagining he's a Master of the Universe based on Leopold's self-reporting of his various and sundry mighty accomplishments.

Ahem Update: Now, I frown on sock-puppets of course, but I'll make a Big Funny exception here. "Delilah" adds to "samson's" listings of Jason Leopold's wondrous accomplishments.

FUCK YOU ACE OF SPADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Leopold is the man that you will never be. He makes a gagillion dollars a minute just for being brilliant.

Also, his balls taste like marshmallows and his penis has its own zip code.

He broke ENRON wingbut asswiper. ENRON, do you understand what I'm saying? E N R O N.

His wife is a hollywood producer, don't you understand that? He IS TRUTH, prove he's a liar. YOU can't can you? Because you pale in comparison to the greatness that is Jason Leopold.

Did I mention his balls taste like marshmallows? M A R S H M A L L O W S. HIS BALLS TASTE LIKE MARSHMALLOWS.

Jason Leopold has the truth coming out of his penis which is right next to his balls WHICH TASTE LIKE MARSHMALLOWS. YOU FUCKING WINGTARD FUCKWAGON.

posted by Ace at 04:48 PM

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