Veterans

douglas9

(4,474 posts) Thu Mar 25, 2021, 05:38 AM Mar 2021

Rep. Pat Fallon claimed SPLC listed 2 veterans' orgs as 'hate groups.' His source? A satirical news

As the House Armed Services Committee met on Wednesday to consider extremism in the U.S. military, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Tex.) tried to push back on the credibility of the hate-group researcher testifying before the lawmakers.

“Has your organization named the American Legion as a hate group?” Fallon asked a puzzled Lecia Brooks, chief of staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Were you aware that the organization named the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as a hate group?” he continued. “You had in the past.”

A spokesperson for the SPLC confirmed to The Washington Post that it has never listed either veterans organization on its “hate map,” a much-cited, sometimes challenged list of extremist groups. But as Brooks pointed out later in the hearing, Fallon’s claim wasn’t just false — it had been fabricated by a satirical news site, Duffel Blog, that lampoons the U.S. military.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/25/pat-fallon-vfw-splc-satire/

3 replies

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Rep. Pat Fallon claimed SPLC listed 2 veterans' orgs as 'hate groups.' His source? A satirical news (Original Post) douglas9 Mar 2021 OP

His comments should be taken down from the Congressional record. hlthe2b Mar 2021 #1

Very small disagreement... MiHale Mar 2021 #2

he's a real pip, ain't he? CurtEastPoint Mar 2021 #3

hlthe2b

(106,360 posts)

1. His comments should be taken down from the Congressional record.

Reply to douglas9 (Original post)

Thu Mar 25, 2021, 05:50 AM

Mar 2021

Only when these A'holes start being publicly called out and having their lies taken down, will they start thinking twice about citing any and all ridiculous sources without checking at all.

MiHale

(10,783 posts)

2. Very small disagreement...

Reply to hlthe2b (Reply #1)

Thu Mar 25, 2021, 06:38 AM

Mar 2021

Leave the remarks in the record with a disclaimer describing the lie and correcting it with truth.

The lie then is on record, there to be presented when necessary.

CurtEastPoint

(19,182 posts)

3. he's a real pip, ain't he?

Reply to douglas9 (Original post)

Thu Mar 25, 2021, 07:31 AM

Mar 2021

In 2015 Fallon was named one of "The 3 Worst North Texas Legislators" by D Magazine. It stated that "Fallon has a lawyerlike relationship with the truth" and was "vindictive, and he’ll say anything to get what he wants ".

This is in contrast to Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party and a Fallon supporter,[23] which rated Fallon 95 percent. The Young Conservatives of Texas scored him 92 percent. The Texas League of Conservation Voters rated him 25 percent; Environment Texas, 28 percent. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility rated Fallon 98 percent; the Texas Association of Business, 80 percent. The National Rifle Association rated him 92 percent.[20]

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