Why Would PapPal partner with a RICO organization

[6768vet]

As someone who has been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years, why would PapPal partner with HSUS who had to pay 15.75 million dollars by a Federal Court?  

HSUS and Co-Defendants Pay $15.75 Million in Racketeering Lawsuit

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) shows TV commercials of abandoned and abused cats and dogs, raising money off of the confusion that it’s a pet shelter umbrella group. (It doesn’t run a single pet shelter anywhere.) Maybe its commercials should instead show HSUS’s lawyers paying a racketeering settlement with their tails tucked between their legs.

This morning news broke that HSUS and its co-defendants, including two HSUS employees, have agreed to pay $15.75 millionto settle a long-fought lawsuit filed against them under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—a law that’s been used to go after the mob.

The suit stems from litigation that animal rights activists, including an HSUS affiliate, pursued against the owner of the Ringling Bros. circus, Feld Entertainment. In that case, activists claimed that the circus was unlawfully harming elephants in its care, and their key witness was a former Feld handler.

However, as that case unfolded over a decade, a payment scheme was discovered going from plaintiffs and their lawyers to this witness. The court eventually threw out the lawsuit, finding that the witness was a “paid plaintiff” who was “not credible.” This paid witness even “lied” to the court.

Feld then filed suit under RICO, alleging bribery, illegal witness payments, and other torts. The ASPCA settled in late 2012 for $9.3 million. And today, the other co-defendants have paid $15.75 million.

The animal liberation movement has long been associated with extremist, bullying, and sometimes even terroristic tactics in pursuit of its radical goal to institute prohibition on how we use animals, whether for food, fiber, or entertainment. The FBI cracked down on the terroristic fringe over the past two decades. And the suit-wearing, lawyered-up part of the movement has now had its day in court. It comes up $15.75 million poorer, but with its inner workings exposed, the rest of society should feel better off.

Sadly, the real losers in this case are the thousands of individual donors who gave money to HSUS thinking that they were helping local animal shelters, only to find that their donations are footing the bill for HSUS’s mismanagement.

[6768vet]

furthermore; 

Fairfax, VA – -(Ammoland.com)- PayPal, the world’s largest money transfer service for online transactions, has aligned itself with the animal “rights” extremists at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) through a deceptively named campaign called Paws United for a Cause!

PayPal has pledged to match donations made to HSUS through its Facebook page, up to a total of $100K, through August 31.

HSUS is no stranger to the charge of being deceptive, to put it mildly. The organization has long been accused of misleading people into thinking it has an actual relationship to directly helping mistreated or abandoned pets by operating shelters. In 2011, the group’s own tax records indicate it gave less than 1% of donor funds to pet shelters.

To add to the deception about HSUS, PayPal’s page through which it promotes contributions to the organization (not the actual Facebook-promoted Paws United campaign) includes the statement that HSUS “receives high marks from charity evaluators.” But is this really true?

Charity Navigator, one of the most trusted names for evaluating the performance of charities, “awarded” HSUS only two stars, out of a possible four, overall. Even worse, HSUS gets a paltry one-star rating under the Financial heading.

But maybe those low marks are anomalies, and other “charity evaluators” give HSUS actual “high marks.”

Then again, maybe not.

Earlier this year, the organization Charity Watch lowered the grade it awarded HSUS to a D. While a D may allow you to scrape through AP Physics during your senior year in high school, very few consider Ds “high marks.”

In stark contrast, the NRA Foundation scores an A+ with Charity Watch. Now that’s a high mark one can wear with pride!

But that’s just two groups giving HSUS low marks, right? Well, sort of.

The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance also dealt HSUS a blow earlier this year, removing its stamp of approval as an Accredited Charity. According to the Wise Giving Alliance website, there is a Review In Progress for HSUS.

Clearly, HSUS does not receive “high marks from charity evaluators,” in spite of what it says on PayPal’s website. So why would PayPal promote and help fund HSUS? Good question! But it may be worth noting that HSUS seems to be the ONLY charity that currently has such status, so somebody at PayPal must really like what HSUS does.

Of course, besides being deceptive, HSUS is also anti-hunting and has run campaigns to end various hunting practices, by both method and species, including supporting efforts to outlaw the use of lead ammunition on public lands. Its financial assets are considerable, as it claims over $300 million in its most recent Annual Report. NRA members and those who support our Hunting Heritage should not take lightly any effort that helps to add to the coffers of HSUS.

In fact, some aren’t very happy with PayPal’s support of HSUS, and have voiced their opposition via the company’s PayPal Community Forum. Others may want to contact PayPal through its contact page.

Some swear by the adage that you are judged by the company you keep. In this case, PayPal’s new pal may not be the company by which it wishes to be judged.