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Lawsuit Challenges SPLC’s ‘Hate’ Label
American Spectator ^ | February 8, 2019 | Robert Stacy McCain

Posted on 02/08/2019 2:56:20 PM PST by Twotone

When he decided in 2016 to create a club for his supporters, Gavin McInnes says he had in mind something fun — like the “Loyal Order of Water Buffalo” lodge to which Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble belonged in the old cartoon series. A humorist-turned-political commentator whose YouTube channel has nearly 270,000 subscribers, McInnes certainly didn’t intend the Proud Boys to be a “hate group,” but that’s what the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled them, and a federal lawsuit McInnes filed this week accuses the Alabama-based SPLC of “tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy.”

The 61-page complaint in the case details how the SPLC began targeting McInnes in 2017 and continued upping its characterization of him as an “extremist” and labeling the Proud Boys a dangerous “white nationalist” group until they succeeded in getting McInnes banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram last year. Citing numerous articles on the SPLC website as “false and defamatory,” the complaint accuses the tax-exempt left-wing group of using the “hate” label in a deliberate campaign to “destroy” its chosen ideological enemies. It seems the SPLC considers more or less anyone who supports President Trump to be a “far-right” extremist.

“I made it fun to love Trump, and I’m effective — that scares the Left,” McInnes said in a telephone interview this week, explaining his opinion of how a comedian ended up being branded with what he calls the “Scarlet Letter” of the SPLC’s hate label. Employing a metaphor made popular by the 1999 film The Matrix, McInnes says, “I’m red-pilling an entire generation.”

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: defamation; defamationsuit; gavinmcinnes; hategroups; lawsuit; morrisdees; proudboys; richardcohen; splc

1 posted on 02/08/2019 2:56:20 PM PST by Twotone
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To: Twotone

If he files it in Montgomery, he will automatically lose the first round.


2 posted on 02/08/2019 3:01:08 PM PST by yarddog
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To: Twotone

A lot of financial sites along the lines of PayPal will not allow transactions involving “hate groups.” They rely on the SPLC’s definition to determine whom to exclude. This certainly deserves to be hashed out in a court of law and this communist group deserves to lose this immense power, though it will almost certainly go their way.


3 posted on 02/08/2019 3:04:58 PM PST by Rastus
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To: yarddog

I should have said that if it goes to Myron Thompson.


4 posted on 02/08/2019 3:07:08 PM PST by yarddog
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To: Rastus

The names of the individuals at SPLC who decide who is a “hate group” should be made public knowledge.

These people are effectively dictating government policy and we really have no idea who they are.


5 posted on 02/08/2019 3:14:18 PM PST by thoughtomator (Nobody is coming to save the day)
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To: Twotone; wardaddy; Travis McGee

Back during FR’s Bush Immigration Amnesty Wars there were a number of posters here who routinely cited the SPLC’s hate the right propaganda in order to smear anyone who objected to open borders and illegal aliens. They even managed to get a lot of good posters banned. With any luck these lawsuits against the SPLC will bankrupt that foul brood of leftwing hatemongers.


6 posted on 02/08/2019 3:35:54 PM PST by Pelham (Secure Voter ID. Mexico has it, because unlike us they take voting seriously)
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To: Rastus

The SPLC “ Southern Poverty Leadership Center” is simply a hard left political organization funded by left wing extremists such as George Soros and others of his ilk. The media accepts their propaganda without analysis nor push back of logic. The media accepts it as they are on the same side of a political fight.

The media is totally corrupt and the number one enemy of our great nation. We can survive the fools on the left in politics. We may not survive the non fools in the media. They are the real enemy.

If one looks at the history of how to defeat the United States of America the communist selected Hollywood, the media, and one of the political parties for dominance. They have succeeded.

It is most odd that today the goals of the communist party are alive and well in the United States. Today in the old Soviet Union the birth place of Marxism is dead. Marxism actually started in Germany and England via Karl Marx and Engels but blossomed to its evil in Russia.

Today Russia is not Marxist. It is a quasi dictatorship of Putin. This is non ideal but is far better than the past.


7 posted on 02/08/2019 3:36:08 PM PST by cpdiii ( canecutter, deckhand, roughneck, geologist, pilot, pharmacist THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR)
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To: thoughtomator; Twotone; wardaddy; Travis McGee

Just FR search keyword splc and you will get a good showing of everything that this leftist group has labeled ‘hate groups’, over the years.

Such as Catholics, Protestants, Christians, Christian businesses, etc.

It’s time to put a stop to their control over things that effect our lives, our govt, etc.


8 posted on 02/08/2019 3:42:23 PM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: cpdiii

Well, and accurately said.


9 posted on 02/08/2019 3:44:14 PM PST by yarddog
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To: Twotone

I hate people who hate.

I also hate people who hate people who hate.

And I REALLY hate people who hate people who hate people who hate.

And I hate my neighbor Steve.

Keep your stupid leaves off my lawn stupid Steve!


10 posted on 02/08/2019 3:47:15 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Twotone

The whole concept of hate crimes and hate groups should be hateful to all good Americans.

Hate, like violence is neither good nor bad.


11 posted on 02/08/2019 3:51:43 PM PST by yarddog
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To: Twotone
I hope he bankrupts the Southern Poverty Law Center and causes them to loose all their off-shore accounts. Discovery of assets should be worth the price of admission.
12 posted on 02/08/2019 4:01:09 PM PST by Robert357 ( Dan Rather was discharged as "medically unfit" on May 11, 1954.)
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To: Twotone

S ecretly
P romoting
L iberal
C auses


13 posted on 02/08/2019 5:41:29 PM PST by lightman (Obama's legacy in 13 letters: BLM, ISIS, & ANTIFA. New axis of evil.)
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To: Twotone

In a just world, the SPLC would be lose.


14 posted on 02/08/2019 6:36:53 PM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: Rastus
A lot of financial sites along the lines of PayPal will not allow transactions involving “hate groups.” They rely on the SPLC’s definition to determine whom to exclude. This certainly deserves to be hashed out in a court of law and this communist group deserves to lose this immense power, though it will almost certainly go their way.

It gets worse.

There’s an e-commerce site associated with the Proud Boys. Square, Chase, and PayPal just pulled their services.

Chase Bank Shuts Down Proud Boys Leader’s Personal Bank Account

Proud Boys today. Alex Jones tomorrow. NRA members the day after that...

15 posted on 02/08/2019 6:41:35 PM PST by Drew68
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To: cpdiii

Rush pointed out that SPLC has about a half-dozen members who purposefully look for groups that they can label hate and get clicks. It’s the same with Media Matters.


16 posted on 02/08/2019 7:59:57 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Trust the plan of the 17th letter of the English alphabet!!)
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To: Drew68
Yep. Like him or not, Vox Day was running a campaign on Indiegogo (a service like Kickstarter), it fully funded, and IGG removed it citing SPLC’s hate group designation. Jordan Peterson has been talking about creating alternatives to PayPal and crowd-funding sites, but it’s hard to get past Stripe and the credit card companies refusing to do business with whoever the Left hates today. Mailchimp even refused to do business with Alex Jones. 😡
17 posted on 02/08/2019 8:03:57 PM PST by Rastus
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