911 Truth Legal Defense Fund

I am proud to announce the formation of the 911 Truth Legal Defense Fund. As many of you know there has been a new surge of attacks against members of this movement by individuals engaging in intimidation tactics, thinly veiled threats, blackmail and online smear campaigns.

As the producer of a soon to be released film on this very subject I have found myself at the focal point of much of this internal conflict, with various members of the movement contacting me from all over this nation expressing their personal fears and anxiety over the veracity of some of these attacks. It is funny to note that these attacks are succeeding in uniting a long-splintered movement, with members whom I have not spoken to in years contacting me to report incidences of intimidation tactics.

I am happy and proud to announce that an anonymous benefactor has stepped forward to offer us legal guidance in protecting ourselves legally against these attacks. In addition to legal seed money, a suitable legal representative has been retained to assist us in taking legal action against those who seek to violate our civil liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and personal safety.

Towards this end I will be meeting this evening with an attorney to discuss basic principals and objectives. Based upon my preliminary discussions, some of the ideas under consideration are as follows:

§ 911 Activists Complaints Registry. By compiling a detailed list documenting all of the complaints of intimidation, harassment, online attacks, spurious accusations, threats against personal safety, blackmail and slander, we can create a case file profiling individuals who are engaging in this behavior, lodge formal legal complaints with the appropriate local and federal law enforcement officials, create a sizeable and verifiable list of victims and witnesses, and ultimately take legal action against these individuals, ranging from cease and desist letters – to, if necessary, filing criminal charges.
§ Pooled Resources. By pooling our resources we far outnumber our adversaries. By all accounts it appears that most of the problems originate with a small circle of easily identifiable disruptors. It will be a relatively simple legal process to file complaints on behalf of the many victims against the sole perpetrators of these acts. We far outnumber them – and it will be a relatively simple case of contacting the appropriate law enforcement agencies and filing complaints on behalf of all those who seek relief from this harassment.
§ Civil Liberties and Freedom of Speech. While free speech is protected under the Constitution, harassment is not. As public figures and activists we certainly must accept the consequences of our actions and accept that vigorous criticism, satire and vitriol is to be expected. This legal defense initiative will not be for the purposes of silencing our critics – no matter how absurd some of these criticisms may appear. But, it is important to note that freedom of speech is not absolute. Freedom of speech does not protect others from harassing and threatening us. Freedom of speech does not protect others from engaging in slander and libel against us. Freedom of speech does not protect others from threatening our livelihoods, and threatening to contact our employers to defame our reputations. Freedom of speech does not include making thinly veiled threats of violence and/or bodily harm against us. Freedom of speech does not protect publishing our private information online – such as posting personal home addresses and employment addresses and phone numbers on hostile online forums. Freedom of speech does not protect hate speech designed to encourage violence against us. And, while it could be debated that many of these are legal grey areas, notice should be served to those who seek to intimidate us that they should be legally prepared to defend their actions against formal complaints filed by an officer of the court in a United States court of law, should they choose to test the boundaries of our civil liberties or resolve.
o In law, defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may harm the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government or nation. Most jurisdictions provide legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to punish various kinds of defamation.
§ Board of Trustees. I will be discussing the creation of a Board of Trustees to act as a steering committee to our legal team. It is my hope that some of the more prominent members of our community will agree to assist in an advisory capacity in determining the merit of, and the financial oversight necessary, to pursue our legal initiatives.

In the coming days I will be announcing more details – as they become available to me. In the interim, I would like to ask that anyone interested in lodging a complaint should do so by emailing me directly at JohnAlbanese@nyc.rr.com. Anyone interested in donating money to this legal defense fund can do so by making a donation at www.crisisinamerica.org.

And lastly, I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to the anonymous benefactor of this most generous gift.