my comment: "This is extremely concerning and I worry about this tactic into the future."
IT IS FINISHED”—NYAG Letitia James Crucifies VDARE.com
VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow writes:
I launched VDARE.com on Christmas Eve 1999. So it is perhaps appropriate that, on Good Friday 2024, the anniversary of Christ’s death, I must announce VDARE.com’s crucifixion by New York State’s communist Attorney General Letitia James.
On March 27 2024, in another of her lightning-fast NYAG James-compliant rulings, New York State Supreme Court Judge Sabrina Kraus held us in Contempt Of Court because we have not yet complied (because we were fighting it) with her January 23 2023 order that we meet NYAG James’ massive and crippling subpoena demands.
Judge Kraus did modify her earlier order to reflect the intervention (much appreciated) of the Institute for Free Speech. So now we no longer have to reveal, explicitly, the names of our pseudonymous writers, some of whom would certainly be fired from their jobs if their identities leaked.
But we are still required to produce 40 gigabytes of emails, an enormous amount. And of course these would in fact reveal the names of those pseudonymous writers, as well as our donors, privileged communications with lawyers etc.
Judge Kraus has also now allowed us to redact these emails. But this is a huge task, which our lawyers estimate could cost as much as $150,000.
An observer tells us this order is more typical of major corporate litigation, not a tiny charity.
And, perversely, although Judge Kraus has now modified her January 23 2023 order, she is nevertheless now fining us $250 a day for not complying with it.
We have fought NYAG Letitia James, at a cost of up to $1 million, for nearly three years. But now we are literally hanging on the cross.
REMEMBER, VDARE.com HAS NOT BEEN CHARGED WITH ANYTHING—BECAUSE IT IS NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING.
There is no legitimate explanation for NYAG’ James enormous fishing expedition—other than a desire to nail us to the cross with compliance costs. The process is the punishment.
NYAG James has claimed to be interested in our purchase of the Berkeley Springs Castle as a conference venue. But this transaction was expensively lawyered and is bullet-proof. Significantly, NYAG James has refused to meet with our expensive lawyers to discuss it.
The victims of crucifixion typically took a long time to die. (Christ was an exception).
All our resources are now focused on our death struggle. VDARE.com will continue publishing on a reduced schedule as long as it can, at least until after our April 26-28 conference.
But , as Christ said on the cross, “it is finished.”
The suppression of VDARE.com’s voice, at a time when the immigration debate is moving to a climax, is of course a political scandal.
But, on a personal level, I might also observe that VDARE.com was an entirely viable 24/7 opinion convenience store. I had hoped to leave it to my young wife and our children after I am gone. Now it appears, thanks to Letitia James, that this will not be possible. They will need some other means of support.
Nevertheless, I’m immensely grateful for VDARE.com’s much loved readers and supporters over these many years.
We hope to see you on the other side.
IT IS FINISHED”—NYAG Letitia James Crucifies VDARE.com
VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow writes:
I launched VDARE.com on Christmas Eve 1999. So it is perhaps appropriate that, on Good Friday 2024, the anniversary of Christ’s death, I must announce VDARE.com’s crucifixion by New York State’s communist Attorney General Letitia James.
On March 27 2024, in another of her lightning-fast NYAG James-compliant rulings, New York State Supreme Court Judge Sabrina Kraus held us in Contempt Of Court because we have not yet complied (because we were fighting it) with her January 23 2023 order that we meet NYAG James’ massive and crippling subpoena demands.
Judge Kraus did modify her earlier order to reflect the intervention (much appreciated) of the Institute for Free Speech. So now we no longer have to reveal, explicitly, the names of our pseudonymous writers, some of whom would certainly be fired from their jobs if their identities leaked.
But we are still required to produce 40 gigabytes of emails, an enormous amount. And of course these would in fact reveal the names of those pseudonymous writers, as well as our donors, privileged communications with lawyers etc.
Judge Kraus has also now allowed us to redact these emails. But this is a huge task, which our lawyers estimate could cost as much as $150,000.
An observer tells us this order is more typical of major corporate litigation, not a tiny charity.
And, perversely, although Judge Kraus has now modified her January 23 2023 order, she is nevertheless now fining us $250 a day for not complying with it.
We have fought NYAG Letitia James, at a cost of up to $1 million, for nearly three years. But now we are literally hanging on the cross.
REMEMBER, VDARE.com HAS NOT BEEN CHARGED WITH ANYTHING—BECAUSE IT IS NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING.
There is no legitimate explanation for NYAG’ James enormous fishing expedition—other than a desire to nail us to the cross with compliance costs. The process is the punishment.
NYAG James has claimed to be interested in our purchase of the Berkeley Springs Castle as a conference venue. But this transaction was expensively lawyered and is bullet-proof. Significantly, NYAG James has refused to meet with our expensive lawyers to discuss it.
The victims of crucifixion typically took a long time to die. (Christ was an exception).
All our resources are now focused on our death struggle. VDARE.com will continue publishing on a reduced schedule as long as it can, at least until after our April 26-28 conference.
But , as Christ said on the cross, “it is finished.”
The suppression of VDARE.com’s voice, at a time when the immigration debate is moving to a climax, is of course a political scandal.
But, on a personal level, I might also observe that VDARE.com was an entirely viable 24/7 opinion convenience store. I had hoped to leave it to my young wife and our children after I am gone. Now it appears, thanks to Letitia James, that this will not be possible. They will need some other means of support.
Nevertheless, I’m immensely grateful for VDARE.com’s much loved readers and supporters over these many years.
We hope to see you on the other side.
