
According to a document obtained by the Guardian, the FBI is now considering Gavin McInnes’ “Proud Boys” an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism.”
For those who don’t know, it’s framed as a giant fraternity with ONE rule: You must love the West.
The Southern Poverty Law Center considers it a “hate group,” but I take everything SPLC says with an eyeroll, because it considers non-hate groups “hate groups” ALL THE TIME. Pro-life organizations? HATE GROUP. Organizations championing traditional marriage? HATE GROUP.
Property of the People releases doc revealing FBI considers #ProudBoys “an extremist group with ties to White Nationalism”, but FBI missed it at first despite ample evidence re what PB’s “believed in and […] promoted.” #Antifa https://t.co/gKf4bEoMYu
— PropertyOfThePeople (@PropOTP) November 19, 2018
The report, and the FBI’s warning to south-west Washington police agencies about the Proud Boys’ role in escalating violence at these events came in August, two months before the group was involved in an infamous weekend of street violence in New York City and Portland, and not long after they participated in street violence in downtown Portland on 30 June.
The document, provided to the Guardian by the government transparency non-profit Property of the People, was part of an internal affairs investigation into a probationary deputy in the Clark county sheriff’s department.
“The FBI has warned local law enforcement agencies that the Proud Boys are actively recruiting in the Pacific north-west,” the document states. “Proud Boys members have contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses, and in cities like Charlottesville, Virginia, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.”
The author of the document, headquarters commander Michael McCabe, is in charge of internal affairs, training, background investigation and courthouse security in the Clark county sheriff’s department.
After confirming the authenticity of the document, he told the Guardian in a telephone interview that the FBI’s classification of the Proud Boys as an extremist group was revealed to him in “a briefing we were given by the FBI” on 2 August, at Clark county’s west precinct.
The thing is, is the group causing violence, or does that sometimes happen because the other side is so reactionary? Of COURSE things get ugly when you combine provocateurs like the Proud Boys with Antifa freaks.
Thoughts?
h/t The Guardian