New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks to fulfill her campaign pledge to get former President Donald Trump, and is doing so by targeting his real estate empire in the Big Apple and beyond.
But in a similar way, James is ready to storm an actual castle to punish and, if she gets her way, bankrupt a conservative website.
For 25 years, the publishers and editors of VDARE, a website founded by conservative activist and author Peter Brimelow, has challenged the thinking of the left and the milquetoast, Mitt Romney-style right with unpopular ideas about the adverse effects of unbridled immigration, racial preferences, lewd popular culture, violent inner-city crime and more.
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At one point, because of those opinions, the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, as it has done with many conservative groups, labeled VDARE a “hate” group and “white nationalist,” as they do for every conservative group. And the left’s pitchfork mob came for the website, now led by James.
Four years ago, because fashionable hotels kept canceling its events and because VDARE is battling debanking, the group bought a $1.4 million castle in West Virginia.
But it simply can’t leave New York because it is overseen by an agency under James’ control that monitors charities and nonprofits.
The American Conservative, which recently reported on James’ lawfare against VDARE, noted that this is not unusual. After all, the leftist Aspen Institute operates its own ski lodge in the Rockies and Black Lives Matter once paid $6 million for a mansion to host parties.
James has now gone after VDARE by claiming Brimelow and his wife use the castle as a personal residence instead of a corporate retreat, which would be illegal under New York law.
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As American Conservative columnist Christopher Brunet wrote, “Letitia James is taking shots at it [VDARE] only because they’re conservative. … VDARE’s case is as much about their castle as Donald Trump’s case is really about favorable loan terms.”
Brunet noted James demands that VDARE hand over at least 40 gigabytes of emails, which could reveal the names of writers and donors who wish to remain anonymous, out of fear of losing jobs or perhaps more.
A judge has allowed VDARE to redact the names, but that could cost as much as $150,000.
“This presents VDARE with a stark dilemma: incur a hefty $150,000 expense to protect the anonymity of its donors and writers, or risk revealing their identities,” Brunet wrote.
“The lesson here is that if your speech falls outside the Overton window, the state of New York will aggressively attempt to bankrupt and/or doxx you.”
“In this crucial moment, when the principles of free speech are under direct threat, the silence from prominent conservative outlets is deafening,” he added.
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“Con Inc.,” he wrote, “must recognize the slippery slope they tread by allowing VDARE to face this battle alone. Today’s targeting of VDARE sets a precedent for the suppression of any form of dissent tomorrow.”
“This moment demands more than passive support for free speech—it requires active defense, especially of unfashionable speech that challenges or discomforts. The absence of solidarity today not only betrays a lack of genuine commitment to free speech but also risks validating a future where such ‘lawfare’ becomes a standard tactic to silence opposition, leaving no voice safe from suppression,” Brunet concluded.
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