Albany Residents United Against Misogyny
by Submission – NY
ALBANY – Various social media accounts in New York State’s Capital District Region centered around anarchist and anti-capitalist causes have reported a growing alt-right presence in the area. This presence has been noted through comments and messages placed on leftist social media accounts and the creation of rapidly growing alt-right fan pages. Although most of the posts found in these places had, up to now, not appeared to be an immediate threat, more recently comments have taken on an increasingly physically threatening tone.
In the interest of community defense, several community members have worked to monitor this threat. Through this process, they have been able to identify several social media accounts claiming local chartership of the Proud Boys, as well as identifying individual members of the group. The Proud Boys are a nationwide fraternal organization that tasks its members with physically defending “the Western way of life”. The group embraces male chauvinism, getting into street fights with leftists, and denigrating feminism and Non-christian religions. If you’ve seen any of the videos from the confrontations in Berkeley, you’ve probably seen the Proud Boys in action, wildly throwing punches at Antifa members (and anyone nearby), and pepper spraying protesters.
Who are the Proud Boys?
Misogony and Anti-LGBTQ+
The Proud Boys cloak themselves in a chauvinistic patriotism based in idealized nostalgia. They endorse what is referred to as “radical traditionalism,” an ideology based in subjugating women and returning men to bread winner status. In support of this chauvinism they support anything perceived to counter feminism, including fat shaming and rape denialism. To give you a taste of the sort of fringe ideas espoused by the group, the movement’s founder Gavin McInnes has penned articles such as “Hey, Ladies! Short Hair Is Rape,”, “Feminist Witch Hunts are Rape”, “When Is It OK To Hit A Woman?”,” and “Having Kids Turns You Into A Complete F*g.”” While the group claims to support “Gays,” their disdain for anything in opposition to heteronormitve masculinity is readily apparent as is their opposition to the trans rights movement. A current popular trend among members of the Proud Boys on social media is to denigrate women (typically those identifying as on the left) by saying how many beers or what types of drugs they would have to consume to have sex with them.
Islamophobia and Racism
The alt-right group also promotes the idea that the “West is the best.” The perpetuation of this ideal directly translates into disparaging Muslims and any individual or movement trying to achieve racial justice. Their social media accounts are filled with content denigrating Islam and the Proud Boys were vocal supporters of the series of islamaphobic “Against Sharia Law” rallies hosted by racist organization ACT for America. For an example of the Proud Boys’ underlying ethos concerning people of color, one only has to look at founder Gavin McInnes, who titled a piece of writing “I’m Not a Racist, Sexist, or a Homophobe, You N*gger Sl*t F*gg*t”, for an example of the Proud Boys underlying ethos concerning people of color.
Violence
The manifestation of these ideals corresponds to the usual rabid Trump support, but more uniquely the Proud Boys demonstrate a fetishism and penchant for violence. The Proud Boys have a hierarchy of membership, denoted by “degrees.” This ranges from first degree to fourth. Getting these degrees requires pretty standard gang initiation rituals – including getting a “Proud Boy” tattoo and getting hazed by other members through a gang beating. The fourth, and most sought-after, degree is the one which presents the most immediate security concern. It requires that a member seek out an antifascist/leftist and physically beat them in public. This is not unlike the skinhead distinction of red-laced boots, which designate the wearer as having shed blood for the skinhead movement. Racist skinheads will often randomly attack non-whites to “earn” their red laces. In the Proud Boys’ cultish hierarchy this is referred to as “getting your fourth,” and Berkeley was a field day for Proud Boys trying to win this designation. To put the seriousness of this into perspective, several months ago an antifascist in California was hospitalized due to injuries she sustained after being attacked by Neo-Nazi and Proud Boy affiliate Nathan Domingo.
Growth in Albany
Online Presence
Neo Nazi Symbolism: White laced boots associated with white power
caption
The local Albany Proud Boy chapter’s activities have appeared to pick up recently, with the group travelling to demonstrations around the country including New York City in May and June and Washington DC last week. These events included an islamophobic rally in NYC hosted by ACT and a so-called “anti-political violence” rally in DC. Another affiliated account has more overtly racist content, such as a post with white laced boots— symbolism that identifies a skinhead as being supportive of “…’white power,’ as opposed to a non-racist (‘traditional’) or anti-racist skin.”
Individuals Involved
Individuals’ membership to the group has been verified through their social media presence. Disturbingly, several of these individuals’ social media accounts claim employment or association with the same tattoo shop in Albany. These include receptionist Erica Christine Cocca, and tattooers “Kirby”(alternatively listed as both Kyle Kirby and Kirby Kyle) and Richie Van. The latter two publicly display their status as 3rd Degree Proud Boys on their social media accounts.
Kirby center, Van to the right.
Van, a popular tattoo artist in the Albany area, has a particularly visible presence. While his original Twitter account has been permanently suspended, his new account has received shout outs from Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and alt-right figure Kyle Chapman AKA “Based Stickman”. Tweets from his old account have also been featured on former Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos’ website. His Twitter account claims he is the co-founder of the New Hampshire Proud Boys.
Erica Cocca also has a large Twitter presence attached to the affiliated Proud Boys’ Girls, whose Twitter account claims it as the only auxiliary group “associated with and recognized by the Proud Boys & PB Magazine.” It claims to represent “the wives/girlfriends/cheerleaders of the Proud Boys and the Fraternal Order of the Alt Knights.” Her image has been retweeted by both the official Proud Boy and Proud Boys’ Girls account. Par for the course her social media is filled with retweets of Islamophobic content.
Cocca in a Proud Boys’ Girl shirt.
Though Kirby’s social media presence is comparatively diminutive, his Twitter posts are no less disturbing. As with other Proud Boys, much of the content focuses on the glorification of violence, anti-Islamic comments, and misogynistic imagery.
In addition to the previous Proud Boys associated with, another prominent member of the local branch has been identified: Todd Clark. Clark’s Facebook account prominently displays his affiliation with the group and shares many of the same images as the official Albany Proud Boys’ account. He has worked with a local plumbing company.
Kirby and Cocca.
We hope this information can help protect the community. As noted above, the Proud Boys glorify violence as a part of their aesthetic, especially against those on the left (both real and perceived). Because of this, our community and others should continue discussions about community safety – namely self-defense preparedness, first-aid response, and public event security. In the short term, community members should consider practicing basic safety protocols and be prepared to protect themselves either through carrying defense/preventive safety measures such as pepper spray or enrolling in some form of personal defense training. Local activists should make sure other organizers are aware of this going forward.
Clark seen here with the Fred Perry uniform.
With all of this said, it’s very important to encourage everyone to KEEP SHOWING UP. The point of the Proud Boys’ tactics is to scare leftists into staying home, so if any community member fears for their safety, make sure to contact your fellow organizers and community leaders so they can organize a response. The more eyes on this problem, and the more hands working to fix it, the better. Don’t let these fuckers win.
Sources
Proud Boys Albany
Richie Van
Kyle Kirby
Erica
Todd Clark
Flyer
Editor’s note: Due to the unprecedented volume of views, we have decided to remove the information surrounding employment. Two owners have contacted us and expressly stated that they do not condone the actions of the Proud Boys, but also felt it was not fair to other employees to have to endure harassment on their behalf. We agree and do not condone the harassment of innocent people. To that point, we do not publish, nor have we ever published, personal information such as addresses or phone numbers. As we reviewed this piece, we felt that the authors’ stated goal of promoting community safety and self-defense was clear. Our goal is to report news and information in the public interest so that communities can decide what the best course of action is with accurate, relevant information.
Categories: FRONT PAGE, NEWS, NY
loveandrage 
While the other folks mentioned in this post are still employed at lark tattoo, Rich left lark tattoo almost 2 years ago. This is some scary stuff.
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How is it that a group that nationally has black jewish and asian members is racist fucking commies need to get a grip
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Awwww poor snowflake triggered by the article? Don’t you fascist micro dicks have some joint masterbation ritual to tend to? Do you guys fap into cereal or something?
Lol you larpers are the epitome of fragile masculinity.
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“Black Lives Matter is stupid, blacks kill more blacks than cops do”
…
“How can a group with black people be racist that’s dumb get a grip”
Man, the only thing consistent about the Right is how willing they are to throw away hindsight just to try and make a point when it suits them.
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Eat a dick faggot
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R Van headed for NH because he doesn’t know how to live in progressive society. Erica oozes low self-esteem and a desperate need for approval from someone she considers “hard” or “roughneck.” The shootings in the neighborhood are disturbing and now that this article is out, it makes me think they’re related. I have gotten 3 tattoos from the Lark shop and sent friends and family there. Things have been going downhill and it’s been noticeable. I won’t go back until Kirby, Van and Cocca are GONE. I definitely won’t recommend it to anyone. What happened to you, Lark Street?
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You should contact me. Yours a good customer and If there’s something I can do , I’d like to help. This is T-bone, you know where to find me.
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It sounds like you can stop employing Nazi scum for starters. Unless you fall into the same political cesspool as your employees. Where do you stand on these issues t-bone?
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http://www.smoloko.com
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Do you guys have a magazine version of this website; I only use magazines to wipe my ass.
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Somebody’s triggered….
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I’ll tell you what’s scary is that you are slandering an excellent business that has been around for 25 years. Why are they responsible for their employees activities outside of work? Are you trying to get them fired? Do you want Lark Tattoo out of business? This is wrong. You are targeting innocent people in order to promote your misleading narrative. Leave Lark Tattoo out of it.
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To answer your question, your employees are a reflection of your company’s values and their actions can make your business a target. That’s why businesses have standards of behavior they expect their employees to follow. If you stick up for these guys, T-Bone, you’re siding with racist, fascist and violent values that harm your diverse clientele and the safety of the community. Their pledges to be Proud Boys and perpetuate bigotry and violence makes people AFRAID to be patrons of your business. I hope that clears it up in the business sense, since the morality argument doesn’t seem to win out.
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The fellow above me is absolutely right.
Nothing that was written here explicitly states the Lark Tattoo business itself is in question, it only mentions the fact that multiple employees seem to be involved. It doesn’t directly implicate the business itself in any way.
However, each and every business is at the mercy of the patrons; it’s simply good business sense(especially talking brick and mortar) to have a good rapport with your customer base and community since it’s their spending dollars you’re chasing to pay your overhead. This is why many businesses will bend over backwards when fixing mistakes and problems; happy customers return and spend, upset customers storm out and leave – and more importantly, both customers tell friends. Reputation is EXTREMELY important in the business world, and many professional jobs can and will demand a certain level of etiquette from their employees even when they’re off the clock as they still represent the establishment and can effect the reputation. It’s simply part of what you agree to when you accept employment, you sign away your right to do as you please, and if you don’t like it you are free to quit.
We, the people, have power. We need to. We effect business with our thoughts and feelings and opinions because those dictate where we spend our money and what demographics we form. We need to know about the kinds of businesses there are in order to make informed choices on where we feel is best to spend our disposable income, as that is the only way we can put pressure on businesses, as it is our job and duty as consumers to make demands, to maintain balance. You exist at our mercy, to supply what we demand.
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🤦🏼♂️ idiot
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Excellent businesses hire excellent people – both on and off the clock. They are not responsible for their employees activities outside of work but employees activities outside of work is a reflection of the business. That Lark Tattoo has hired folks that are less than reputable is Lark Tattoo’s fault. And they will have to suffer the consequences that accompany that.
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Dude, getting a tattoo is trusting somebody with your body. You’re in an almost vulnerable position and it’s one where you need to feel safe in the hands of your artist. As a woman I could never feel comfortable having some dude working on me who is proud of how much he hates my gender. I’m pretty sure any PoC would feel the same way about their racist posts too.
I have a friend who looks like a Viking who went in for a quick tattoo at a shop and his artist started talking NeoNazi crap to him after hearing him speak German on a call he made during a break. My friend booked it out of the shop as soon as the session was done, and has been warning everyone he knows away from there. If you can’t feel safe in a shop, there’s no reason to give them your patronage.
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Erica Cocca who got busted for DWI a couple years back… And is related to the people who own Coccadott’s Cake Shop, Cocca Hotels and Dott’s Garage? Interesting. A quick Google search also brings up an article about the owner of Coccadott’s firing a staff member for being gay. Hmmm…
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I have to say, I got my last four tattoos here by someone who I know does not participate in this shit behavior… but it’s scary this kind of imoralism is so close to home.
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There are several quotes in this article that could be libel. Do your research, you hack. POYB’s!
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Snowflake doesn’t know what libel is, does he? Everything here is true cuck.
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Remove this article. What are you trying to do here? Get someone hurt? Shameful and wrong. DELETE.
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They state pretty plainly, openly, and no unclear terms that they’re trying to /prevent/ anyone from getting hurt, but I guess it’s pretty hard to confuse the two?
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Seems to me the only folks who would get hurt by this article are those who are members of the Proud Boys. And there is nothing wrong with that.
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Lark Street Tattoo was founded in 1993. We have had a number of employees come and go over the years and I never questioned their political affiliation, what they did in their free time or with whom they associated outside of the shop. Lark Tattoo believes in the First Amendment. Lark Tattoo believes in freedom of speech and freedom of association. If “loveandrage” feels it is an insult to associate our business with these individuals, knock yourselves out. These people are outstanding employees, incredibly talented artists and excellent people. I noticed that the person who wrote this article remains anonymous. So tell me brave hero ,why didn’t you print your name, address and phone number along with those you feel you outed? This is irresponsible internet garbage. Targeting these people and my business is simply wrong. There was no allegation that any of our current or former employees engaged in ANY behavior that was inappropriate toward a customer or anyone else, whether at work or in their personal lives. If we are going to punish individuals or the businesses that employ them for having thoughts and association with legal organizations, we will be sliding dangerously close to returning to the age of senator McCarthy and the mass prosecutions of alleged communists. The author of this blog obviously has an agenda and I for one, believe that freedom of speech means little unless we are all willing to defend every citizen’s right to speak, whether we agree with what they say or not. I believe that freedom of association means little unless we are all willing to defend a citizen’s right to associate with an organization that espouses a position with which we disagree.
Tom “T-Bone” Martin
Owner and artist at Lark Tattoo
Since 1993.
“Tattoos That Even Mom Will Like”
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Hi, Tom.
We would like to take the opportunity to inform you, per your concerns about freedom of speech, that we are not the government. In fact, the First amendment imbues upon the public the right to essentially be the media by reporting, as news, anything of interest to the public.
Love and Rage operates as a project in community-sourced, alternative news. Along with original reportage and analysis, we also solicit and accept submissions of news from all over the world, with a focus on upstate New York. This being the case, this story was an anonymous submission. Seeing as how it fits our specific news cycle, it was published. And there is no information contained in the article that is not publicly available so any concerns about doxxing are exaggerated (we also do not publish personal addresses and take no responsibility for user generated content).
Arguments over free speech with non-government entities have no actual foundation. Our comment policy speaks to our point on that, as we publish all comments (they are screened for actual spam, though). In the name of discussion and debate, though, this is an opportunity to expand upon concerns of people in your community.
People do take the actions of Proud Boy outfits very seriously. They have been involved in both violent, and explicitly racist acts. Perhaps those currently and formerly under your employ feel that this is a harmless organization in the exact mold of the goofy, adult fraternity which it commonly passes itself off as. Comments both here and our Facebook page allude to this very conscious effort to ignore the bad and embrace the benign. Nonetheless, a Proud Boy presence in any community is going to raise concerns.
In any case, we wanted to take the opportunity to clear this up. We don’t respond to every comment. In fact, we barely respond to any due to the influence on ensuing discussion. But we did want to clarify. Your beef is not with us; there are issues had with your associates by members of your community. That you’ve taken the time to post hopefully sends a signal that you are willing to deal with at explicitly on a community level.
– Love and Rage Team
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Gee I wonder why someone posting this article would prefer to remain anonymous. Oh right, it’s because this is a violent group of wannabe paramilitaries who actively seeking violence against people who speak against them
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Snowflakes
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“violent and explicitly racist acts”, Well there must be too many to count being that you didn’t name one. Glad you’re out there taking the proud boys “seriously” Know that the proud boys take love and rage seriously, and it’s going down seriously, and a terrorist organization like anti-fa extremely seriously.
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We’re not violent! We’re going to demonstrate how not violent we are by threatening you with violence!
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How about reporting FACTS, not your feelings. Truth in reporting is your responsibility.
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Poor snowflakes so triggered over being outted as white supremacists.
No wonder you freaky waste of sperms have joint masterbation rituals. I wonder if the MGK looking freak ( “Kirby”) is the one they beat off to… erm up as they talk about captain crunch and cheerios
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Wait so the the ugly receptionist got a DWI? Is that why she can’t get a good job?
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This is pure BULLSHIT. Rich and Kirby are nothing you just described and I suggest you delete this immediately
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yeah because someone woke up one day and decided to photo shop three random men throwing up a hand sign that clearly exhibits support for “proud boys”. grow up …
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You’re right, since the election Kirby is far worse. He was always an insecure angry tool. Now he is also showing his racist colors.
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Fuck all of you Nazi apologists, wtf is wrong with you.
Maybe if there were fewer of you fighting for “free speech” you’d actually be able to see the truth of what’s going on in the world around you.
Be safe everyone. ❤
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Are you sure you meant “nazi”? Are you sure you didn’t mean “people who disagree with me”?
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Pretty sure I meant Nazi, but thanks for checking?
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This is pathetic fake news. Proud Boys aren’t violent or racist. What are you trying to do? You should be sued.
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They are actually both. In deed and word. Sweet FB profile btw. Amazing how much one can find out about someone with even the most private of FB accounts.
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Sued for what? How can you sue someone for using their write to publically outcry at a group that has been linked to certain racist events… in my opinion, they should be investigated by state police. This group will be taken seriously after this article and arrests will be made.
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So Derek (I Presume Derek Scarlino), what kind of simple mind would believe that Proud Boys are some neo-facsist alt-right Nazis & are also, by you’re own admission, accepting of gays? The March Against Sharia you sited was organized by a gay man and had 2 gay speakers which was attended, (again according to your article) by the proud boys who not only tolerated them, but rally around them. If they’re so racist, why is the best evidence you have ironically titled headlines by Gavin McInnes, and a random graphic design of shoe lace color *Gasp* on boots. Do you have any blurry pictures of bigfoot we can check out too?
If the proud boys are soooo racist, surely there is better evidence than shoelaces on a drawing. They have a magazine, websites, social media where they go into details about the topics of the day and how the feel about cultural issues. Places like “Storm Front” don’t seem to ever get mistaken for not racist…. cause they’re racist and will tell you about it (all 2 of them). So you must be trying to tell us “they’re secret racists”. Brilliant. They’re racists, so racist they hang out with gays, black dudes, Jews, Asians, Hispanics and so forth (hating them the whole time) to throw everyone off the scent… until now, til YOU were so smart you found one graphic of boots, in black and white, and put the dastardly (dastardly, that’s a 2 dollar adjective right there bitch) plan together. Almost got away with it too!
…..Oh, and you’re going to be sued for libel by millionaires, so hope your pockets are deep.
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Hi, Money.
Derek Scarlino, while a contributor to, and co-founder of, Love and Rage, is not the author. Nor does he live in Albany, NY. Derek mainly does news aggregation and occasional think-pieces.
As noted at the author byline, and mentioned before in above comments, this article was a submission. Love and Rage is, in part, a project in crowd-sourced alternative news.
It was edited, it was checked for accuracy (with some sentences omitted), and it was published. All contact information was compiled from publicly available sources and there are no statements made about those mentioned which lack documentation.
– Love and Rage Team
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Well we do hate Islam but who doesn’t? Worst cult ever.
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….But buck up, this is the most attention your site is gonna in years. Please keep this article up as is. Lawyers usually get in around 9am
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Stupid people are the best. They think everything they don’t like is a crime and threaten with lawyers when they cannot even afford the retainer for one.
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Just remember for every 3 or 4 you unhinged children doxx and make up stories about. I doxx 20 of you and it goes to my contacts in the FBI. So carry on. At this point New Jersey is just the first state. You hide behind anonymity because you know you can’t defend the words you throw around. Spineless children living in their mothers homes.
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Awww the tough guy spouting lies about his “contacts in the FBI” is calling others out for hiding behind their anonymity when he is…..hiding behind his anonymity. The irony.
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Awww proud boy Sean is triggered. Poor snowflake.
Lmao FBI contacts?! Haha I didn’t know they hung around with petulant virgins who join a “fraternity” to cry about their lack of sex.
Seriously go back to your cereal fettish and stop crying. ❄️
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Keep hiding behind your lack anonymity. It will take you as far as your mothers basement where you jerk off to tentacle porn. You bums are so dense you’ve convinced yourself you’re fighting a revolution because your life is meaningless. You have no value or valid skills you bring to society. Soon your platform will be considered terrorist acts across the country and the masks will be banned everywhere. Then you’ll all go back to playing WoW and scraping dollars for malt liquor.
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Literally the gayest article ever written. Does anyone talk like this politically correct anonymous author in real life? So gay, so retarded.
I’m actually jealous of these Albany Proud Boys getting so much attention, it’s a badge of courage to have Neo-Marxists cry tears on the internet about you. Way to go Albany Proud Boys and Proud Boy Girls, keep up the great work.
I’m proud to be a Proud Boy from Ohio, you leftist keyboard warriors are weak and sad.
Come to my home and pay me a visit, and I’ll be happy to show you the business ends of my AR-15:
David Reed
2331 Olt Road
Dayton, Ohio 45417
Front door is open for you.
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Lol so you have a big gun to compensate for something small?
I bet you’re a fat slob redneck, with a rage due to lack of sex.
Lol trailer park keyboard warrior. Is that an invite to your joint masterbation/cereal rituals?
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The Reeds say to you, “fuck you, Neo-Marxist scum. The West is the best. We’re smarter than you, we’re more righteous than you, we’re physically tougher than you, we have more money than you and we’re out-breeding you with more children. You’re communist future is screwed. 👌👌👌👌👌👌 Proud of your boy! Uhuru! Make America Great Again!
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B00TLujyG7R8MUR1R0loeUlReGs/view?usp=sharing
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Translation you have no car. You’re projecting because you’re a depressed loser. Stay safe in mommy’s arms!
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Update: it actually is a trailer! Hahaha
white trash
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Obviously your didn’t Google map the address. 6 acres. 2,500 sqft quad level home. Go ahead, Google Earth.
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While it isn’t a trailer, it really is a garbage home per Zillow:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2331-Olt-Rd-Dayton-OH-45417/34973682_zpid/
It never ceases to amaze me how folks like David think they have a good life in their 1300 sq foot home because they have never ventured outside the confines of their bubble.
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HAHAH THIS IS THE MOST WHITE TRASH THING IVE SEEN SO FAR
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you shouldn’t support those anarchist and anti-capitalist facebook pages… they are just as bad and radical as the alt right. what happened to rational america? can we just all be moderates? there are ideals on the right AND left that work, but radically aligning yourself on either side is just moronic.
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Your talk like a communist, but you think you’re a moderate. You’re just a typical Neo-Marxist.
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lmao what about anything i said here was communist at all? wtf? i actually lean libertarian so it just goes to show you are not as smart as you think you are. please tell me how anything i said was communist. i’ll wait
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Weakest hit piece I ever saw by a butt hurt feminist. Go get some Preparation H and a life outside of supporting the regressive alt-left. Also, have a nice day!
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What I find questionable about this article, is that I have not heard, or seen any violence, physical attacks on citizens, or rioting in the streets from this organization Proud Boys.
What I have seen… and plenty of it… is violent attacks on innocent people, rioting, burning buildings… shooting and killing police officers by the left-wing activist groups like black lives matter and ANTIFA!!!
So I think this article has a left-wing agenda and is completely bogus!!!
#MOREFAKENEWS
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.halseynews.com/2017/06/30/proud-boys-new-fraternal-patriotism/amp/
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How did it feel to have a March against something that literally doesn’t exist here? ( Sharia law) hurrr durrr
You snowflakes need to get laid or something
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“Misogony”
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This article obviously written by a leftist by the way the new anti fascists are the new fascists this article is untrue and upside down world written by a feminazi disgusting propaganda get a fuckin life .
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oh noes will they post that mean frog on the facebooks?
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I know where to go and get my Hillary Clinton tattoo now
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Trailer boy David Reed: ” hurrr durrrr I’m smarter than you but I don’t know the difference between your and you’re hurrr durrr.”
No wonder you joined your cereal fettish cult; they don’t mind you having a GED.
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https://www.facebook.com/DavidReedProudBoy
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The article was shit but it’s good to see Proud Boys going strong in albany.
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Not interested in watching you and a group of white trash/ socially awkward low lives masterbate to captain crunch.
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I have no love for these Proud Boys, but publishing this article is troublingly irresponsible in a few ways.
1) Ad hominem attacks like this are polarizing and dangerous. This is a big subject for a comment, but essentially, this article only serves to create an “us versus them” mentality in which the only possible outcome is all-out war. It doesn’t matter if “They started it.” It doesn’t make a difference if one side uses fists and the other uses dollars. This is the road that leads to war, and an unnecessary one, too.
2) This article does not explicitly call for a boycott of these two businesses, but cut the B.S. That’s the obvious intent, to force employers to punish these evil-doers by taking away their means of supporting themselves. I don’t know either of these businesses. Crisafulli Brothers is a large local company with over 100 employees. Are we to punish the 99% because one jerk posted things we don’t like on the internet in his off time? With that many employees, any business will have people who do despicable things. Whole Foods Market employs 91,000 people. Chances are, at least one person who has ever worked there is a terrible human being. It would be absurd to write a similar article about Whole Foods for what one employee posted on Twitter. It is no less absurd for Crisafulli Bros. and Lark Tattoo.
3) If you succeed in getting these people fired, what then? Do you follow them around, continuing to destroy local businesses for the rest of their lives? Do you think the bigots will just magically disappear? If they repent of their misogyny, will the businesses you’ve hurt suddenly spring back to life? The presenters of this article have clearly given no thought to the consequences of their actions for our local community. How much could they really care about us?
4) If you really believed there was a problem endemic to these businesses, wouldn’t any half-decent journalist or news outlet begin by talking to the business owner? You wasted our time with an article that could have been improved by simply sending two e-mails. That’s not just cowardly. It’s poorly crafted writing.
5) If this is the way things should be handled, have you thought of the consequences for everybody? If every employer had to worry about everything every one of their employees posts anywhere, that means that our bosses will have to start monitoring everything. I don’t believe the bosses want to do that much work, and I don’t believe anybody wants to be monitored that closely, regardless of what you post on Twitter or Pinterest or whatever.
6) Finally, and as important as the first, you, Love and Rage, have taken a few words from four people, four thousandths of 1% of Albany’s population, and made an ominous movement out of it. You have given the tiny effort of a few people the impact of a legitimate threat. You’ve done more for them than they could have paid you to do. Casual readers will come away from this remembering these Proud Boys and probably not thinking about Pride Center of the Capital Region ( https://www.capitalpridecenter.org ). Chances are, you’ve done more for the Proud Boys’ recruiting efforts than they’ve done for themselves. Congratulations, and by the way, this is the last thing I will ever read on your site.
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First, we are not involved in public relations, nor do we provide free advertising for businesses that the crux of small market media do. We are alternative news with a focus on the concerns of the activist community.
Second, nobody affiliated with the operations of this site wrote the article.
It was submitted by a group of activists from Albany who received threats from those who assert that they are Proud Boys in Albany. They compiled screenshots of language matching the exact nature of their accusations and drafted this piece in order to spread the word that these people were also trying to organize in NY’s Capital Region and sought to put a spotlight on their activities.
Third, we aren’t capitalists, but wouldn’t the voice of the people be the so-called free market in this case?
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Hello. I am the owner of Precision Body Arts in New Hampshire. This article was brought to my attention late last night. As of this morning we have placed Rich Van on a leave of absence from our studio.
Please know that our business prides itself on being inclusive to all clientele regardless of background, gender, race, or religion. I would like to deeply apologize for any disrespect or offense any previous independent contractor associated with our studio has made. Precision Body Arts LLC does not support or condone discrimination. We hope our actions will illustrate how seriously we take this matter.
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I don’t avoid Lark St because of the angry white people working there, I avoid it because of the crappy tattoos that are born there. Wake up people, a walk in shop is a shop where people don’t make appointments. As for the two sad angry employees mentioned above, I believe every word. Hug your children people, lest they grow up to be angry little Nazis. White pride indeed, barf.
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It takes 2 seconds to google what the proud boys actually is. Congratulations love and rage, all you did was out yourself as being fake news!
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More fake news, or fraud news as it should be stated, from the Godless Left. Maybe you’ll get doxxed too; wouldn’t that be fun???
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I think your garbage rag needs to stop DOX-ing people like it’s ok. I know one of these guys personally and he’s anything but racist. Try and dig a bit deeper next time.
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One of these people are my ex husband, and this is complete slander. Todd Clark is in no way shape or form degrading to women, he is in fact the opposite. Very chivalrous in a day and age where its hard to find. People are allowed to be conservative and traditional. This is america, the author of this article should be sued, this is the same thing as blaming all Muslims for the acts of extremist. How dare you risk people’s jobs due to your shotty research.
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What a retarded article. Good night left side.
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Very dangerous territory here. Riddled with hearsay and irony.
I’m as liberal as they come but, you guys have constructed a hit piece on people and businesses who employ and operate without a whiff of what you’ve extrapolated here. If an individual experiments with what someone (or a publication) feels are dangerous ideas, and then are publicly shamed with shoddy information and arguments, pigeonholed into movements with vague ties to the jargon and ideals of the black and white universe that the authors have constructed for the sake of this article (I’m sure you, the authors, know the pantheon of political and philosophical gray and varied) then we slide down the McCarthyism slope rapidly.
I’ve followed Gavin McInnes since his early days founding and writing for VICE magazine (a fairly left bastion). And the bits of his body of work as a satirist, comedian and provocateur that you carefully selected to hone an air of white supremacy and hate is sensational at best and could potentially incite a radical response at worst. He lives in Brooklyn and keeps the company of Liberal voices like David Cross, and Jason Jones (frequent comedy and guest collaborators). Poking fun at the extremes of a philosophical or political ideal is not a crime, and is a healthy exercise in intellectual humility. Something that has flown so far over L&R’s head, Elon Musk may patent it.
I guess if you cherry pick pieces of a body of work or subculture you don’t (or are afraid to) understand to fit your narrative and then profess that these voices should be silenced, YOU are the Totalitarian you are railing against. Regardless of whether you disagree with the message or how wrapped up you are in your worldview that others ideas which are at odds with yours are poisonous, blanket censoring, or worse, drawing X’s on people in the community, is definitely not the answer. If you tell someone they are crazy/radical/not a welcome member of the community, what the hell paradigm do you think they are going to fall into?
By definition I guess this isn’t a doxxing, but these aren’t public figures, they’re private citizens who are being wildly misunderstood without any context besides the little box YOU drew and framed. Now these people are being targeted by emotionally charged acolytes (yelp, probably getting threats on their social media) even if you’ve seen them do it or something like what you’ve done, you don’t go lower. Go higher. (RIP Hillary)
As liberals, should we be roped into the same circles as the dude who shot up the republican lawmakers at the baseball game? I’m sure with similar (albeit radically polarised on the side of liberal the spectrum) our thoughts and words have crossed paths with violent left radicals. Without context and a murky stringing together of our tweets and facebook posts angry about Trump or congress or whatever left gripes we tend to have, could some fear mongering alt-right publication or group do the same with one of us and the shooter?
Drawing lines in the sand and compartmentalizing our peers and fellow Americans is the root of all our problems. The lack of communication allows propaganda and falsehoods to thrive through the grapevine. How about opening up a dialogue instead of throwing stones? Or are we just going to make signs and shout canned, contrived, stuff we’ve heard our talking heads say, idioms at each other till the pot boils over and we just hate and refuse to speak to one another. I’ve gained a deeper understanding of this wild American experience by not shutting people off and learning from their experience. Your experience and beliefs don’t nullify theirs and vice versa. Tolerance works both ways. If you think there’s a moral glitch, do your best to find out why. Argue respectively and introspectively. Learn and teach. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary, and our duty as torch bearers of the first amendment.
This piece was easy and wrong.
Happy 4th.
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“As liberals, should we… ”
Stop.
This article was not written by liberals. This site does not support liberal politics or liberal politicians.
Our views are representative of the activist left. We cover news relatable to the activist left. We solicit and accept submissions by authors of the activist left.
We have also published articles which address your liberal bias on confronting fascism. Feel free to peruse the site and glean more.
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White men are going the way of the dinosaurs. No wonder you’re so angry all the time and consumed with making everyone else as miserable as you are. Your entitlements have ended. You are so afraid to lose all your privileges so you won’t be able to keep lording it over ANYONE anymore, females, gays, blacks, Asians, Muslims, or fucking plushies! White men, you. are. doomed. And you are pathetic. Buh-bye!
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There are racists and bigots and prejudice people everywhere, in every business, organization and community. There are also people who are the opposite. Are you going to only do business with those who are not racists or bigots or prejudice. NO! because its impossible. There is just no way to know. You might work for a company whos owner is alt right or his or colleagues or coworkers are altright….but you are totally clueless. You go to a business and do your transaction with the owner but you find out his employee is alt right/fascist whatever. Do you punish owner? What if he didnt know? What if he knows but he depends on his employee. Now don’t peoples opinions matter? Dont people have the right to believe in what they want? Who are we to say that others thoughts and ideas are wrong. I think everyone is wrong to some degree and no one is 100% right. What if its the opposite situation. What if the employee is not racist but the owner is? OMG What if you have been giving your business to so many alt/right or extreme left companies that dont support your views. Oh wait. Too late. Its already happened. It will happen forever and like I said you cant weed them all out. They just keep coming. Point is there is no safe space. You can never and will never “weed” out the good from the bad. You can however educate yourself and try to be the best loving , forgiving, caring and compassionate person to all individuals and hopefully make a change in the hearts of those who fearful and hate.
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Proud Boys = WHITE neutered TRASH – PROUD BOYS ARE BIGOTS, RACISTS, Low-life TRASH – you are not people. You are TRASH.
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I’m wondering if the author only spent all this time writing this piece because they were rejected by Lark Tattoo for wanting to get something totally lame inked on them that would have violated the tattooists’ artistic integrity and pride. Like, I don’t know, maybe a giant snowflake or a tramp stamp with the words “I’m With Her” or something?
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90% of the individuals commenting saying how stupid this article is and how it shoild be taken down are “proud boy” affiliated and are afraid of consequences. I mean, i hooe you all realize how much attention the grouo will get. Feds will and already have been investigating the group. Best of luck. And id like to add, untill these individuals are fired from Lark street i will never take my business there.
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Well apparently you guys won’t post my previous comment. But I need to correct myself it’s not slander you should be sued for its liable
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