Do I thank Lowering the Bar for introducing me to a group calling itself Insane Clown Posse?
Sure. Anyway. Hello, Insane Clown Posse! Now that we’ve just met, let me report on what happened to you when you sued. Again. For the umpteenth time. (I believe this is called litigious paranoia.)
“Flat-out ridiculous and un-American bullshit” is probably the lead quote from Insane Clown Posse’s press conference about the June 30 decision dismissing its lawsuit against the FBI for classifying its fans as a “gang” (Washington Post). Violent J wasn’t talking about the decision itself, but rather the discrimination against Juggalos that was the basis for the allegations in the lawsuit.
I’m on record as agreeing with ICP on this, although I think I have generally used slightly different wording. See “Suspect’s Juggalo Status Unclear, Say Juggalo Experts” (May 31, 2011); “Legal Action Announced at Gathering of the Juggalos” (Aug. 14, 2012) (referring to earlier FOIA lawsuit); Juggalos Sue FBI Again (Jan. 10, 2014) (the present case).
ICP’s lawsuit focused on the FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, which classified “Juggalos” as a “loosely organized non-traditional hybrid gang subset,” which is a category that really mocks itself but which I’ll mock (for the third time now) as being defined so broadly it would also include the cast of Saturday Night Live.
Somehow, I think you’ll want to read the rest of this: Insane Clown Posse Will Appeal Loss in “Juggalo Gang” Case – Lowering the Bar. Who wouldn’t want to keep up with this stuff?