Peter Brimelow writes: Incredibly, a year after VDARE.com’s suspension, New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ persecution of VDARE grinds on. Lydia just wrote several hundred dollars worth of checks to lawyers and legal support for June.
I would have much preferred to update VDARE readers myself, but I had to resign last year on legal advice in order to start this substack. I’m posting here Lydia’s working script.
“I simply ask for your prayers.”
I’m Lydia Brimelow.
I’m the President and only remaining officer of the VDARE Foundation.
I have good news--and I have terrible news.
As you know, nearly a year ago we were forced to suspend our key project, the immigration patriot website VDARE.com, because of the costs of the relentless lawfare waged against us by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
NYAG Letitia James was able to wage this lawfare, even though we actually operate out of West Virginia, because the VDARE Foundation had originally been registered in New York State back in 1999, when Republican George Pataki was Governor and before anyone had heard of lawfare.
But once you’re registered in New York State, you can’t get out—without the Attorney General’s permission.
Now let me again make this absolutely clear: after more than three years of “investigation,” THE VDARE FOUNDATION HAS STILL NOT BEEN CHARGED WITH—LET ALONE CONVICTED OF—ANYTHING.
Letitia James claimed to be investigating our (completely legal) purchase of the Berkeley Springs Castle as a conference venue in 2020.
But she refused to meet with our lawyers who had supervised that transaction.
Instead, she embarked on an enormous (and to us crushingly expensive) fishing expedition, including demanding all our emails dating back to 2016—which meant we were forced to redact the names of pseudonymous writers and donors, many of whom would have faced ruin if their identities were revealed.
Letitia James’ “investigation” was simply an excuse to harass us to death.
We have always said that it was obvious that her “investigation” was not being conducted in good faith.
The good news: now we have proof.
A friend recently supplied us with a Youtube video of a November 10 2022 Anti-Defamation League Conference: ADL’s 2022 Never Is Now | Securing Democracy: Taking Hate and Extremism to Court
New York State Assistant Attorney General Rick Sawyer, the NYAG apparatchik who has led the charge against VDARE, spoke at this ADL conference. And he acknowledged that “Hate is protected in the United States Constitution. The First Amendment protects hate, hateful speech, hateful thoughts.” [video 31:19-31:28]
But he nevertheless went on to gloat over his office’s ability to deploy litigation to "corral" speakers in what they are "allowed to do" and drive home the reality that "it sucks to be sued" because litigation is "massively expensive," opening one's "whole life up to discovery," ruining one's credit and inflicting huge opportunity costs. [ADL video 31:19-32:44]
Sawyer concluded:
We have subpoena Authority…this is all before we even file a lawsuit…we can get massive amounts of Discovery without even having to go to court…we have the opportunity to do massive investigations look into sham charities that are that advancing hate speech.
We can look into groups that are making money off of hate and we can look it into individuals who've committed acts of hate crimes without even going to court and we can enter into creative settlements. [ADL video 51:20 to end]
Given that what Sawyer means by “hate speech” is supporting President Trump’s immigration agenda, this is a staggeringly frank admission of exactly what NYAG has done to VDARE,
Sawyer is saying explicitly that VDARE (by implication one of the“sham charities that are advancing hate speech”) was being attacked, not because of some trivial infringement of charity regulations, but simply because Letitia James wanted to suppress our speech.
And now the terrible news:
We have submitted this new evidence to the Federal Court that is hearing our appeal against Letitia James’s obvious violation of our First Amendment free speech rights.
But the Federal Appeals Court has just refused to admit this evidence.
It gave no reason.
Normally, I would end with an appeal for your support. But right now, in the face of this implacable judicial hostility, I don’t have the heart.
Instead, I simply ask for your prayers.
Thank you.
Peter Brimelow: Unlike Lydia, I do have the heart to say that VDARE, and the writers and donors it is trying to protect, absolutely does need your support. Our lawyers are completely baffled about what’s coming next. But a climax must be coming.
In honor of 25 years of immigration patriotism:
To make a tax deductible donation by mail, please use the following address: The VDARE Foundation, PO Box 211, Litchfield, CT 06759
To make an online donation, please visit: www.givesendgo.com/vdare
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