Iam confused, shouldn’t the scandal be that they DON’T consider them a extremist group?
TPM: Clark County is in Washington State, directly across the Columbia River from Portland/Oregon.
I think what they are clarifying is that the FBI does not, apparently, have any such designation for any group.
If true, this clarification sounds fairly reasonable.
F any of this. I ain’t seen it yet, but I want to see the Portland cops do what didn’t happen there or in Chancellorsville but did happen in Boston and DC- the cops putting a cop barrier between the Antifa and Proud Boys.
Shorter Oregon FBI: WE’RE not saying you’re an extremist hate group, we’re saying extremist hate groups think you’re an extremist hate group.
(Apologies to Andrew Gillum)…
two freeway bridges connecting… my last jury duty was in Portland, Multnomah County OR, the defendant was a demonstrator from Vancouver, Clark County WA
This “scandal” comes from too many jurisdictions, too many “statements” in the “memo” The FBI does not create labels.
Just wondering. Is the guy in the pic a Proud Boy? And if so, why? Cuz he stole Elliott Gould’s glasses?
The FBI isn’t in the business of defining or naming or categorizing groups. If they were, then that would open them up to accusations of implying guilt by association. Who HAS drawn controversy about this sort of thing is the Portland Police, who has a “Gang Enforcement Unit,” but that’s not the FBI.
Exactly. “We don’t officially label any group. But we know who to keep an eye on. Nudge-nudge, wink-wink.”
Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes even quit the group shortly after The Guardian first published the memo in mid-November. In a YouTube video, McInnes said he was “officially dissociating” from the group because his leadership lent credence to the notion that the organization was a gang with a “head of operations.”
McInnes himself has previously referred to the Proud Boys as a gang, urged members to engage in violence, and made comments disparaging Muslims, Jews and women.
Yeah when the shit hit the fan then Gavin disappears. Com’on Gavin you created it, you nourished it, and now you’re walking away from your offspring?
Of course not they are white racists. Those that also may be white but are not racists are prosecuted as the CHP is doing.
Maybe the FBI could classify PBs as “White Identity Extremists”? They didn’t have any problem with that label when it came to other demographic groups:
On March 20, 2018, Michael German, former FBI agent and Fellow in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program testified before the Congressional Black Caucus regarding the FBI’s August 2017 intelligence assessment describing a purported threat posed to law enforcement officers by “Black Identity Extremists” (BIE). The assessment claims the existence of a “Black Identity Extremist” movement and states that “perceptions of unjust treatment of African-Americans and the perceived unchallenged illegitimate actions of law enforcement will inspire premeditated attacks against law enforcement.”
Hey, hey, HEY! There are good people on both sides!
Of the Columbia river?
I thought Proud Boys was a Village People cover band…
“Right. We call the SPLC.”
“We do not intend and did not intend to designate the group as extremist,’’ Special Agent in Charge Renn Cannon said Tuesday, according to the Oregonian.
“Now Black Power groups were certainly extremists,” Mr. Cannon later added. “And we still have files on those people.”
I was thinking Mr Magoo or Thurston Howell glasses, then it dawned on me that they were the glasses of Mr Six, the dancing old oddball mascot for Six Flags amusement parks.
Well, that’s true. After all, the Proud Boy ain’t african-american or associated with the civil right movement so, historically speaking, it would be very out of character for the FBI to surveil them, bug their phones, intercept their mail, send in provocateur agents to frame them for violent crimes or attempt to blackmail them with illegally obtained information.
That’s just not something the FBI does. Anymore, that is. And certainly not to white supremacists, ever.