On Friday, expat woman-hating woman-chaser Roosh Valizadeh put up a post on his Return of Kings blog with the sensationalized headline “Did Anita Sarkeesian Commit Felony Wire Fraud?”
Roosh breathlessly “reported” that
Two independent journalists have confirmed with the San Francisco Police Department that Anita Sarkeesian, a video game social justice warrior, may have used false pretenses to raise money for her non-profit entity. The police have said that she has not contacted them as she claimed after receiving a Twitter death threat in August. Under Federal law, this may put her on the hook for felony wire fraud.
The two “independent journalists” in question are tech journalist and self-described “fan of 4chan” Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart, and Davis Aurini, the cigarette-smoking, scotch-drinking, Anton LaVey-looking blogger who’s trying to raise money to make a “documentary” about the evils of Anita Sarkeesian and “social justice warriors.”
Both journalists – well, the one dude who writes for a sleazeball right-wing site and the other dude who’s not actually a journalist at all – did indeed contact the San Francisco Police Department and were told by a media spokesman that he couldn’t find a record of Sarkeesian contacting them about the threats she received in August.
This bit of “news” sent #GamerGaters and other Sarkeesian-haters around the internet into a bit of a frenzy.
But it turns out they got worked up over nothing. The police spokesman just hadn’t looked hard enough. A day after Tweeting a number of accusatory questions to Sarkeesian, Yiannopoulos had to backtrack, noting in a series of Tweets that he’d had another conversation with the SFPD, who told him that Sarkeesian had in fact reported the harassment to the FBI.
Another writer posted emails he’d gotten from the police spokesman that seemed to confirm Yiannopoulos’ updated information. In the emails, SFPD Public Information Officer Albie Esparza said that Sarkeesian had indeed contacted the SFPD in August but that the case had been handed off to the FBI. (I’ve confirmed this with Esparza .)
Given that the main “proof” that Sarkeesian was lying about the threats she said she received had just vanished into thin air, you might expect that Roosh and Aurini might, you know, correct their now-clearly incorrect posts on the subject and retract their accusations. Well, not so much.
Roosh’s post remains up, with only a brief “update” at the end, noting that “the police have changed their story and now state that they were contacted.” Aurini’s post remains unchanged, and as I write this he’s posted nothing more on the subject.
Even considering the people we’re dealing with here, the hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Roosh ends his post by declaring that
these new revelations concerning Sarkeesian show that no form of media is safe from the SJW and feminist agenda, and that we must do all the fact checking ourselves. The entire media establishment in the United States is potentially corrupt. Proceed accordingly.
Yet he refuses to frankly acknowledge that the “new revelations concerning Sarkeesian” were based on faulty information, offering instead a weasel-worded “update.”
Aurini, for his part, claims in his post to be “fight[ing] for openness and integrity within Tech and Video Game circles.” But he hasn’t bothered to update his post.
When ethical journalists discover that they were wrong about something, they acknowledge their errors and post straightforward corrections. When they get something spectacularly wrong, they apologize.
Somehow I don’t think we’ll be getting apologies from either of these guys.
And thus we get to the whole wire fraud thing. In his post, Roosh repeated a claim made by Mike Cernovich of the “game” blog Danger and Play, who tweeted:
https://twitter.com/PlayDangerously/status/510245982131335169
https://twitter.com/PlayDangerously/status/510246926990594048
As it turns out, there’s zero proof that Sarkeesian lied about anything here. And she made no direct connection between the threats and her Tweet asking for donations.
Indeed, by Cernovich’s logic it’s Davis Aurini, not Anita Sarkeesian, who’s guilty of felony wire fraud. Why?
Because in his post, he made a direct connection between his accusations against Sarkeesian and his own fundraising efforts. Here’s how he ended his piece:
Personally, I’d like to see a lot MORE documentation on Sarkeesian, because this isn’t the only claim she’s made which I suspect is fraudulent – and not just her, but all of the individuals hiding behind the shield of Social Justice, and the journalists who have been aiding and abetting them, culminating in outrage known as #GamerGate. That’s why Jordan Owen and myself have started a Patreon page, so that we can create a feature-length documentary about these people and their methods, and how they bully and victimize the very people they claim to support.
So please help us get this documentary made, so that we can fight for openness and integrity within Tech and Video Game circles, and expose the professional victims for the con artists that they are. Please support our documentary, The Sarkeesian Effect: Inside the World of Social Justice Warriors.
Given that Aurini now knows that his post was based on faulty information, and given that he hasn’t corrected his post or retracted his insinuations, could he now be guilty of felony wire fraud?
For what it’s worth, I don’t think so. While admittedly I’m no lawyer, Cernovich’s logic seems to me like a bit of a stretch.
I do feel safe in saying, however, that neither Roosh V. nor Davis Aurini should be lecturing anyone about ethics.
UPDATE: I confirmed with the SFPD that Sarkeesian had indeed called the SFPD and that the case was handed off to the FBI; the post has been updated to reflect that.
@ blahlistic
I think I love you!
Haven’t worked my way through the whole thread yet, but this was too precious
Didn’t Marx die in like 1890? That’s what, 125ish years, tops? Is that centuries, now? HELP ME!!!
I would like to take note of the convergence of various conspiracy theories in our latest troll. Anita S is conspiring to bilk us. Feminism is a conspiracy which is in turn part of the greater communist conspiracy. Probably the Trilateral Commission is behind it all. All of us are dupes, and only Conspiracy Sean knows the truth. Wake up, sheeple!
Seriously, there is a very strong resemblance in the logicantations of the MRAs, the right-wingnuts, and the anti-feminists.
The gubmint will support you, FILTHY PARASITIC WOMAN.
@ grumpy,*bows appreciatively* and yeah…commie trap they used for centuries…
Again, what grade did he drop out at?
…If that dude were any denser, he’d have an event horizon around his head…
Don’t forget the racists, GrumpyOldMan. They often have the same kind of circle-jerk, victim blamey, grand conspiracy feel to their reasoning (at least, the ones around here sure do)
They talk about secret conspiracies…yet don’t seem to have that much of a problem with billionaires who conspire to control the government pretty-much openly…
Actually, since I work in tbe Canadian health care system, the government does support me, sort of. I just wish it would support me in the manner to which I would like to become accustomed. You know, more bonbons and fewer bedpans.
More bon bons and fewer bedpans is a worthy goal.
My union is actually in contract negotiations right now. Maybe I’ll mention this to my shop steward.
My whole family works in public healthcare in Canada. Whenever we moved my mom would bring home boxes from the hospital which would later become storage boxes in the new house. Friends would ask why there were boxes of adult diapers in my closet. Eugh. They actually contained Barbie clothes and accessories.
*Adds “communism” to the very long list of things Sean doesn’t understand*
Or, alternatively, people shouldn’t beat up their partners no matter what their respective genders. Why is this so hard for people to grasp?
You called a woman a “scamming huckster” for telling the truth. If that’s not name-calling, I don’t know what is.
BTW, you’re an idiot. That’s not “name-calling”, that’s a fact. Everything else you say here only bears that out.
Also, Sean, you’re clearly butthurt that the facts are bearing Anita Sarkeesian (and us) out. And you’re all bluster and 100% fact-free. Where is YOUR separation of emotion and logic…eh?
Oh crap, that was like 100 comments ago. Stupid WordPress, divides up the email notifications so I don’t see how many there actually are. Sorry folks. Carry on.
Honestly, I miss the days when trolls at least tried to appear sincere. Running around screaming “I’m a troll! Pay attention to me!” would actually be more subtle than what Sean’s doing.
I think the real question is why autocorrect thought that the name of a band from the 60’s fit better in that sentence than “credence”.
Well, they did have opinions about who was and wasn’t getting drafted…
@ marinerachel – my poor children know your pain. But, you have forgotten to mention the other embarrassing types of boxes! Sterile gloves, and syringes and catheter bags!
“Davis Aurini, doing his best impersonation of a cartoon villain.”
Cartoon villain, Pulp Villain, or Anton LaVey Impersonator?
(Tip: If the last, grow a thicker beard.)
My mother (RN extraordinaire) did the same thing! But, the plus side was the wonderfulness of having amazingly complete first aid kits.
We essentially had everything in an ambulance trauma kit but the airway adjuncts…
Those first aid kits were worth the embarrassment of “why do you have a ginormous box of bedpans in your living room?”
Also, she’d buy a year’s worth of toilet paper in one fell swoop from the hospital’s materials management candy store…
Oh wow, a RIGHT WING idiot. Gosh, I’ve never seen any of THOSE before!
@ cotrapangloss – I’m afraid my first aid kit is somewhat lacking, but I attended the Red Green school of first aid improvisation, so it’s mostly OK. Oh, the things one can mend with duct tape!
She has a NAME, you moron. She’s not a possession. And she’s certainly not old.
Also, how his violence towards her (assault being illegal no matter who does it to whom) is supposed to be some sign that we have reached gender equality is a mystery to me. A large, professionally violent man knocks a much smaller woman unconscious and then drags her out like a caveman just to show what a macho he is, and that’s “equality”? Even as a right-wing idiot talking point, that doesn’t make any sense.
But I guess you’re gonna accuse me of thinking with my vagina next, eh?
@ Bina – why do racism, homophobia, and misogyny tend to cluster in people? Not saying Sean was a racist or homophobe (I have no direct proof or either) it’s just that so often, when people start spouting some of this drivel, the other kind of drivel often spews, too. (like this “leftist stupidity” crap).
Grumpyoldnurse,
I got bored and looked at his facebook page. There was plenty of homophobia. That shouldn’t be surprised considering he said it was “debatable” that Cassie’s major domo is a man. People who try to gatekeep which men actually get to call themselves men are usually homophobes. He also used the “n” word in a joking way so, racism too.
Thanks, WWTH! You’re braver than I am for sure. It just makes me wonder where this scape-goating comes from, and why is it always feeeeemales, teh gayz, and whatever racial group is the popular target where said hateful jerk resides (though not always in that order) that are the target of the hatred?
Because those groups are the Other, the lesser, the inferior, and failing to acknowledge/provide money for/provide blowjobs for the Superior White Manly Men fills these losers with rage.