VDARE-wapo-diversity

WASHINGTON POST’S Ellie Silverman Is Coming For VDARE.com (And Christmas)

By Peter Brimelow

12/29/2022

Above, Ms. Silverman’s Twitter banner, in which she wants her employers to bring “Diversity, Inclusion, and Fairness” to the newsroom, in that order, and never mind that they are mutually exclusive.

See also SPLC Enforcer Michael Edison Hayden Comes For VDARE.com (And Christmas) Again…Along With New “Civil Rights” Icon Tanya Gersh and Peter Brimelow: SPLC Hit Job Shows Once Again, VDARE.com Is Not A “Hate Group” — It’s A Hated Group

In a (small) meeting of local Leftists in VDARE.com’s new home town of Berkeley Springs WV, Southern Poverty Law Center enforcer Michael Edison Hayden revealed that he was working with Washington Post writer Ellie Silverman (tweet her), pictured right, who was sniffing around Berkeley Springs some months earlier, to orchestrate an attack on us. We will only deal with the MSM by email, and we finally received this from Silverman, whose signature informs us that her pronouns are she/her. (This is actually true, but the fact that she feels she has to say it is significant.) So her attack now appears to be imminent.

Dear Peter and Lydia,

I am writing a story about Berkeley Springs and the VDARE Foundation’s purchase of the castle. I would have preferred to speak with you in person or over the phone about this, and I am still available to get on a call with both of you today or tomorrow if you change your mind. If not, please respond to the following questions by Friday morning.

  1. Why did you decide to move VDARE’s headquarters from Litchfield, Conn., to Berkeley Springs, W.Va.? And why did you want to buy this castle?

We bought the castle as a conference venue. Over the previous four years it had become clear that, although the immigration policies we advocate are essentially what elected Donald Trump in 2016, corporately-owned hotels will not stand up to communist threats against our proposed conferences and local authorities cannot be relied upon to defend our First Amendment rights.

  1. Do you both live in Berkeley Springs?

We live in the area, but not at the Castle.

  1. I talked to people who said you attend services at the local Catholic Church and dine at the Country Inn. They mentioned Lydia has participated in public yoga classes in the park and joined the board of the Bath Christmas Project. What has your experience been like in Berkeley Springs and what has the reaction from locals been to you and VDARE?

The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, which is why we eventually decided to move our family here. Lydia is a Southerner and never really liked Connecticut Yankees anyway. FWIW, although I accompany my family to church, I am an extremely angry dispossessed Episcopalian.

  1. I have spoken with residents who said your purchase of the castle created divisions within the town. There are people who are concerned, and upset, that your organization is now headquartered there, while others say they are not bothered and have welcomed you. What is your response to allegations that VDARE has divided the town?

My response is: bunk! In 2020, Trump carried Morgan County, where Berkeley Springs is located, by more than 50 points [according to CNN] There’s no division here, just a few marooned Leftists having temper tantrums.

Some residents said they felt uncomfortable that the castle was being used for the Bath Christmas Project’s “Christmas at the Castle” event. What is your response?

The Berkeley Castle Foundation donated space to the Bath Christmas Project for five fundraising events to help finance the Bath Christmas Project’s work decorating the town. For the second year running, tickets sold out within 48 hours. So obviously most local people do not feel “uncomfortable” at all. My guess: those who do feel “uncomfortable” are just Christophobes who are in favor of the War On Christmas anyway.

  1. I’ve spoken with people who call you and VDARE, “white supremacists,” “racists,” “white nationalists” and a “hate group.” Some locals have started referring to your headquarters as the “hate castle.” What is your response to these accusations?

These are what Richard Weaver called “devil terms,” aimed at suppressing debate. See “White Supremacy” — The “Devil Term” Invented To Dispossess Americans. The people who say the sort of thing probably also think that Trump is a Nazi, and Mitch McConnell is a conservative.

I refuse to accept that wanting to reduce immigration is “hate,” unless “hate” is defined as upsetting the Democratic Party’s plans to Elect A New People.

  1. You sued a local resident for defamation and others have received letters threatening legal actions. How many residents have you sent such letters to and what were you hoping to achieve?

Ted Stein repeatedly alleged that we had organized a gang of armed racists to counter-protest the Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020. In fact, we had nothing whatever to do with the counter-protest and were not even living in Berkeley Springs at the time. Given the post-Jan.6 Reign of Terror, with the Garland Raids and the Garland Gulag, we have to take these allegations very seriously. When Stein refused to retract, we had to sue him. Ultimately, he settled and issued a public apology.

Another local woman, Bibi Hahn. echoed Stein’s allegations, but when our lawyers contacted her, she immediately retracted and apologized.

Our lawyers also sent a Cease And Desist letter to a local Leftist transexual who was posting salacious online comments about our little girls and stalking my family at church with guns.

That’s all — for now.

  1. There were also residents who expressed that they were happy to see a group purchase the castle and hoped to see it restored. I’ve read through your online posts about the construction work you’ve done. How much has this work cost and how much is left to do?

Needless to say, an old structure like the Berkeley Springs Castle requires constant maintenance and this is ongoing. Fortunately, the castle is much-loved in town and we have many local volunteers. Anyone wishing to help can contact The Berkeley Springs Castle Foundation here.

The major repair and renovation was to the third floor, which was badly damaged when what we call the Treason Tree fell on it shortly after we purchased the castle. We’ve taken the opportunity to remodel it into a conference center. It cost low six figures, much of which was covered by insurance. We have many more projects, including even more roof repair and an event space on the battlements.

  1. What was VDARE’s involvement, if any, during a local rally in support of Black Lives Matter in August 2020? I saw these three posts about the rally on your website. Why did you send a film crew to this local rally and what was their role?

None. See above.

We sent a film crew because we thought we might get interesting footage, and we did — apart from anything else, we documented that there were only eight blacks there and four of them were Trump supporters.

However, contrary to what your Southern Poverty Law Center co-conspirator Michael Edison Hayden claims, I was not present.

  1. Lydia mentioned on a podcast that two donors “put up the money for me to buy this historic stone castle.” Who were those donors?

DO YOU REALLY THINK I’M GOING TO TELL YOU? However, you may be interested to know that the major donor was Jewish.

  1. Lydia posted on Gab, criticizing independent bookstores and asking for someone to “open a wholesome book store near me!” Was your criticism about Portals in Berkeley Springs?

Portals doesn’t purport to be a bookstore — it’s a WITCHCRAFT STORE. Have you not looked at its website ?

Lydia would like to buy wholesome books. She is not in the market for a literal cauldron stand.

  1. Peter has written on Gab: “Next stop Brown vs. Board! Peter also said the Supreme Court is “too cowardly to admit that the rationale used to overthrow Roe should also be used to overthrow gay marriage.” Peter, are you saying you think the Supreme Court should reverse Brown v Board as well as Obergefell v. Hodges, and that segregation and denying same-sex couples the right to marry should be legal?

Please try to grasp this distinction: I was making a purely legal point. For at least sixty years, from Brown to Obergefell, Leftist judges have simply written their policy preferences into the law — a process sometimes rightly called “judicial legislation.” The current Supreme Court has now struck down one such case: Roe Vs. Wade. In my Gab, I merely noted that the same argument also applies to all the other major examples of judicial legislation, of which Brown is one. Congressional Democrats obviously agree with me, because they scrambled to codify Obergefell into federal law in the 2020 lame-duck session, when they (and their Republican collaborators) felt safe from voter retribution.

However, this purely legal point is quite separate from the specific policy point: whether school segregation, or homosexual marriage etc. etc, are good things. They may or may not be, but I continue to maintain in my naïve way that these issues should be decided by elected legislators, rather than unelected judges. (You don’t have to tell me that most elected legislators are utterly terrified of these issues and would rather punt to the courts.)

VDARE.com is a one-issue site, completely focused on the post-1965 immigration disaster and some line-extension matters. We do not take a position on homosexual marriage, abortion, or other social issues, and our writers often disagree on them.

Of course, we do report on the obvious failure of integration, because it has implications for the Diversity that post-1965 immigration policy is importing. However, whatever the answer is, it should be decided by debate and legislation.

  1. Why did you create the Berkeley Castle Foundation, what is its purpose and what are your roles in it?

We bought the Berkeley Springs Castle because we had to — we had concluded that, because of the Reign Of Terror orchestrated by you and your allies, there was no other way for us to hold conferences and meeting except to own our own venue. It’s expensive and we are very bitter about having to do it. Land of the Free!

But maintaining a national treasure for its own sake and inviting the local community to participate, is obviously a different mission than saving the American Republic, which is the VDARE Foundation’s focus. Hence the separate foundation. Lydia and I are unpaid board members of the Berkeley Castle Foundation, along with other local enthusiasts. You will be delighted to hear that the Berkeley Castle Foundation will certainly continue even after I croak.

Additionally, we wanted to ensure that anyone paying to use the Castle, whether for otherwise-Cancellable patriot events, or weddings, dinners, balls, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs etc., would not be harassed by communist activists like you for allegedly indirectly contributing to the cause of Patriotic Immigration Reform.

  1. Why did the VDARE Foundation sell the castle in Dec. 2020 to the Berkeley Castle Foundation?

See above.

  1. Have you hired any local Berkeley Springs or Morgan County residents to work at VDARE or the Berkeley Castle Foundation? If so, who and in what capacity?

So you can sic your Antifa friends on to them? Fuhgeddaboudit!

  1. Does the VDARE Foundation pay rent to the Berkeley Castle Foundation to use the castle as office space? If so, how much?

Yes. The amount was determined by an independent real estate consultant.

  1. Are you able to send us a photo of your family at the castle to possibly use with this story in print and online?

We posted this on Christmas Eve.

VDARE-brimelow-merry-christmas

Thank you,

Ellie

Ellie Silverman

The Washington Post

@esilverman11

She/her

Peter Brimelow is the editor of VDARE.com. His best-selling book, Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster, is now available in Kindle format.

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