You may recall previous reports about the Hollywood group headed up by Gary Sinise known as "Friends of Abe." They pal around with Holocaust deniers, and use tax-deductible dollars to stir up hate and right-wing furor wherever they can. That's right, your tax dollars helps this Hollywood Haters' Club to exist.

Sunday evening they held an event in New York featuring James O'Keefe. At the end of the meeting, apparently, people were encouraged to stand up and speak about their own activism and successes. Progressive activists Ryan Clayton and Jason Carter were present with a third activist, Peter James Callahan.

Ryan Clayton, you may recall, is the same activist who counter-stung O'Keefe when he tried to pay progressives to commit violent acts at Trump's inaugural.

Huffington Post tells their story.

The melee broke out at a “Friends of Abe” event that featured O’Keefe at Eamonn’s Bar and Grill in midtown Manhattan. Attendees were invited to share stories about their activism. Some in the crowd, however, were progressive opponents. Clayton was handed the microphone and began speaking. When attendees realized what was happening, Clayton said a man grabbed him from behind. Clayton told HuffPost the assailant put his larynx in the nook of his elbow and began twisting his head sideways. “I felt a pop-pop-pop-pop-pop, and then there was nothing left to pop,” Clayton said. “There was a moment I thought, ‘Oh God, this is how I die.’ Last night was the most terrifying night of my life.” Carter, who was in the crowd, was identified as a liberal infiltrator and also was attacked. Clayton said that as he was dragged through the bar, the crowd cheered his assailants and O’Keefe called out his name.

This is what Jason Charter looked like after he got to the hospital:

Image from: Peter James Callahan

Here are other photos of Clayton being put in a chokehold by thugs present at the event.

Image from: Peter James Callahan

Image from: Peter James Callahan

Police were called, but did not arrest anyone at the time. They did say that if someone was thrown down the stairs, it would be considered assault, according to the Huffpost article.

I'd say the pictures speak for themselves. If that's not a victim of assault in that hospital bed, I don't know what is.

James O'Keefe may not enjoy it when his own tactics are used on him, but that's no excuse to send thugs out to break the necks of activists he doesn't like. That's nothing more than brownshirt tactics, which is how Clayton described it.

“I feel like I stood face to face with fascism last night in a bar in Manhattan,” he said. “The brown shirts are here.”

And they're paid for with our tax dollars.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to identify the person in the hospital bed as Jason Charter, not Ryan Clayton. We regret the error.