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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   13414 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026

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The fraud is in creating fake bank accounts and shell entities. That it's stupid and absolutely inappropriate behavior for an NGO are separate complaints.

I think we're too far apart in our respective biases on the topic and what kind of actions should be allowable for NGOs to commit.

The fraud is in creating fake bank accounts and shell entities. That it's stupid and absolutely inappropriate behavior for an NGO are separate complaints.

It seems like the actual law is rather specific given that using other company names for billing is a not that uncommon practice (see tons of sex toy/porn/etc companies for instance). IDK whether or not the SPLC behavior qualifies for that specific violation or not, but it's clearly not a given.

These sorts of rules are highly technical, and given the poor track record of targeted lawsuits so far against other enemies of the admin, I think it's fair to expect not much difference here.

using other company names for billing is a not that uncommon practice (see tons of sex toy/porn/etc companies for instance)

Ehh, fair example.

I still see virtually no difference between this case and the Trump "34 felonies" hush money. He paid someone to not talk, recorded it under the wrong header, and everyone raised a big stink. The SPLC pays people to talk, set up shell accounts for it, and... somehow that's fine? I don't get it.

Very little I've said has been about the actual success of the case, which I expect to fail even if the leadership team of the SPLC said, on video and broadcasted to the world, "Real hate groups basically don't exist any more except the ones we pay to keep cushy activist jobs." Success of the case has little to do with the law or the behavior of the SPLC, and everything to do with Trump.

Whether or not it's fraud by legal standards if you squint and stand on one foot and jump through the loopholes, I think it's bad behavior for an NGO to engage in.

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