Antifa Assaults Gay Journalist
- Thread starter wvu2007
- Start date
That is tacit approval of what Antifa does. Again...... try being honest for a change. You agree that right wing groups and left wing groups should be allowed to have rallies? I do find it ironic that you excuse head busting by one side while telling us that you don't condone it.......you are one mixed up dude.
Two things from this article...Vice is as left leaning as left leaning can get!
Ted Cruz Thinks the Portland Mayor Let Antifa Take Over His City. Here’s What Really Happened.
[paste:font size="6"]Ted Cruz Thinks the Portland Mayor Let Antifa Take Over His City. Here's What Really Happened.
By Tess Owen Jul 1, 2019
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is calling for a federal criminal investigation of Portland’s mayor after a right-wing writer was beaten up by antifascist activists during a protest over the weekend.
The violence erupted as dueling protest groups faced off with one another and police in a few public squares on Saturday, in the latest of repeated clashes in in the liberal Oregon city since Donald Trump was elected. Three people were arrested, and eight injured, including writer Andy Ngo, who was admitted to the hospital.
The political animosity on display in Portland’s streets Saturday has continued to swirl online since then — and conservative media have pounced on Ngo’s plight as evidence that antifascists (aka “antifa”) are dangerous and ought to be condemned as domestic terrorists.
Other conservatives have echoed Cruz’s outrage at the situation, saying the mayor has lost control of the city.
Antifa often damage property during protests and sometimes get into violent confrontations with police or the far-right — but to date they haven’t been linked to any killings.
Rose City Antifa, Portland’s local antifascist chapter, organized a counterprotest Saturday in response to a planned rally by the Proud Boys, a far-right street-fighting gang. The Proud Boys’ rally was dubbed “The Battle of Portland Part Two”, and was planned almost exactly a year since a similar violent rally, which led to four arrests and four people transported to hospital with injuries.
Meanwhile, conservative activists with the men’s rights movement #HimToo organized their own rally the same day. (Proponents of #HimToo movement believe men have been unfairly accused and maligned by the sexual assault allegations that surfaced during the #MeToo movement.)
Besides the melange of groups, strained police-community relations added an extra dimension to the day.
Earlier this year, Mayor Ted Wheeler — who has received threats from Proud Boys — launched an independent investigation into bias within his own police department after a local paper published hundreds of text messages between a police lieutenant and the leader of the far-right Patriot Prayer.
ANDY NGO [/paste:font]
Ngo works as an editor for Quillette, which touts itself as the bible for the Intellectual Dark Web, and has made a name for himself via his coverage of antifa. He’s also known for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories about members of the media and minorities.
When video and photos of protesters covering Ngo in milkshake, raw egg, and silly string surfaced online, the initial response among his many enemies was somewhat gleeful.
But Ngo’s injuries turned out to be more serious than they first appeared. He later posted pictures to social media showing his bruised and swollen face, and said his video equipment was stolen. He was admitted to hospital and treated for his injuries, which he said included bleeding on the brain.
Video of the confrontation shows Ngo surrounded by many black-clad protesters, being pelted by eggs and silly string, when one runs up to him, throws a punch, and another kicks him. Another black-clad antifascist appears to step in, and shield him as he walks away removing his goggles.
It wasn’t the first time that a rally in Portland ended in violence. Last August, police fired off flash-bang grenades into a crowd of counterprotesters at close range. One of the missiles struck a protester in the back of the head, piercing his bicycle helmet and splitting his skull. The injury caused hemorrhaging and he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
MILKSHAKING
Conservative media have also zeroed in on a tweet by Portland Police Department during Saturday’s events, warning that the milkshakes that antifa were hurling at police and the far-right could contain quick-dry cement.
The trend of dumping milkshakes on far-right activists or politicians started earlier this year in the United Kingdom, and has since become a popular protest tactic of the American left. Popular Mobilization, a leftist activist group, handed out hundreds of homemade vegan milkshakes made with coconut to protesters in Portland on Saturday.
But Portland Police Department offered no evidence to support their cement-milk-shaking claim, nor was it corroborated by any journalists on the ground. Protesters did, however, share photos of themselves enjoying their free vegan shakes. The Police Department did not respond to VICE News’ request for comment.
CALLING IN THE FEDS
Conservative politicians and media outlets are using the rumors of cement milkshakes and the attack on Ngo as evidence that Wheeler has lost control of his city.
“To federal law enforcement: investigative & bring legal action against a Mayor who has, for political reasons, ordered his police officers to let citizens be attacked by domestic terrorists,” Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted on Sunday. Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, is also calling on the Justice Department to investigate the incident.
A senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog, also spoke out about the incident. “It is not acceptable to assault journalists, no matter how much you hate their work,” tweeted Matthew Gertz. “Trying to create carve-outs on this is a very bad idea that is unlikely to end well.”
In a series of tweets Monday, Wheeler said violence was “unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” and that he would ensure those responsible would be “held accountable.”
Wheeler, a Democrat, has struggled to find a balance between respecting citizens’ First Amendment rights and condemning political violence where possible. He’s also had to toe the line between condemning violence without sounding like he is attempting to place blame on “both sides” of the fight, as President Donald Trump infamously did in the wake of the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. Earlier in 2017, Portland was the site of its own hate crime: A white supremacist murdered two men who stepped in to defend Muslim women from verbal abuse.
Portland has long been a stronghold of liberalism, and famous for political demonstrations and clashes with the police. But since the 2016 election, red MAGA-hatted Trump fans have descended on the left-leaning city to confront liberal activists. The confrontations have taken the form of organized rallies by groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, as well as in sporadic street violence.
While Portland leans heavily left, many parts of Oregon are deep red — and growing partisan divides have highlighted that disparity.
- they should not be considered a terrorist group because: Antifa often damage property during protests and sometimes get into violent confrontations with police or the far-right — but to date they haven’t been linked to any killings.
- They point out the mayor is trying not to sound like Trump by blaming both sides (something Bru is doing) so he doesn't place the blame on anyone.
Ted Cruz Thinks the Portland Mayor Let Antifa Take Over His City. Here’s What Really Happened.
[paste:font size="6"]Ted Cruz Thinks the Portland Mayor Let Antifa Take Over His City. Here's What Really Happened.
By Tess Owen Jul 1, 2019
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is calling for a federal criminal investigation of Portland’s mayor after a right-wing writer was beaten up by antifascist activists during a protest over the weekend.
The violence erupted as dueling protest groups faced off with one another and police in a few public squares on Saturday, in the latest of repeated clashes in in the liberal Oregon city since Donald Trump was elected. Three people were arrested, and eight injured, including writer Andy Ngo, who was admitted to the hospital.
The political animosity on display in Portland’s streets Saturday has continued to swirl online since then — and conservative media have pounced on Ngo’s plight as evidence that antifascists (aka “antifa”) are dangerous and ought to be condemned as domestic terrorists.
Other conservatives have echoed Cruz’s outrage at the situation, saying the mayor has lost control of the city.
Antifa often damage property during protests and sometimes get into violent confrontations with police or the far-right — but to date they haven’t been linked to any killings.
Rose City Antifa, Portland’s local antifascist chapter, organized a counterprotest Saturday in response to a planned rally by the Proud Boys, a far-right street-fighting gang. The Proud Boys’ rally was dubbed “The Battle of Portland Part Two”, and was planned almost exactly a year since a similar violent rally, which led to four arrests and four people transported to hospital with injuries.
Meanwhile, conservative activists with the men’s rights movement #HimToo organized their own rally the same day. (Proponents of #HimToo movement believe men have been unfairly accused and maligned by the sexual assault allegations that surfaced during the #MeToo movement.)
Besides the melange of groups, strained police-community relations added an extra dimension to the day.
Earlier this year, Mayor Ted Wheeler — who has received threats from Proud Boys — launched an independent investigation into bias within his own police department after a local paper published hundreds of text messages between a police lieutenant and the leader of the far-right Patriot Prayer.
ANDY NGO [/paste:font]
Ngo works as an editor for Quillette, which touts itself as the bible for the Intellectual Dark Web, and has made a name for himself via his coverage of antifa. He’s also known for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories about members of the media and minorities.
When video and photos of protesters covering Ngo in milkshake, raw egg, and silly string surfaced online, the initial response among his many enemies was somewhat gleeful.
But Ngo’s injuries turned out to be more serious than they first appeared. He later posted pictures to social media showing his bruised and swollen face, and said his video equipment was stolen. He was admitted to hospital and treated for his injuries, which he said included bleeding on the brain.
Video of the confrontation shows Ngo surrounded by many black-clad protesters, being pelted by eggs and silly string, when one runs up to him, throws a punch, and another kicks him. Another black-clad antifascist appears to step in, and shield him as he walks away removing his goggles.
It wasn’t the first time that a rally in Portland ended in violence. Last August, police fired off flash-bang grenades into a crowd of counterprotesters at close range. One of the missiles struck a protester in the back of the head, piercing his bicycle helmet and splitting his skull. The injury caused hemorrhaging and he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
MILKSHAKING
Conservative media have also zeroed in on a tweet by Portland Police Department during Saturday’s events, warning that the milkshakes that antifa were hurling at police and the far-right could contain quick-dry cement.
The trend of dumping milkshakes on far-right activists or politicians started earlier this year in the United Kingdom, and has since become a popular protest tactic of the American left. Popular Mobilization, a leftist activist group, handed out hundreds of homemade vegan milkshakes made with coconut to protesters in Portland on Saturday.
But Portland Police Department offered no evidence to support their cement-milk-shaking claim, nor was it corroborated by any journalists on the ground. Protesters did, however, share photos of themselves enjoying their free vegan shakes. The Police Department did not respond to VICE News’ request for comment.
CALLING IN THE FEDS
Conservative politicians and media outlets are using the rumors of cement milkshakes and the attack on Ngo as evidence that Wheeler has lost control of his city.
“To federal law enforcement: investigative & bring legal action against a Mayor who has, for political reasons, ordered his police officers to let citizens be attacked by domestic terrorists,” Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted on Sunday. Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, is also calling on the Justice Department to investigate the incident.
A senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog, also spoke out about the incident. “It is not acceptable to assault journalists, no matter how much you hate their work,” tweeted Matthew Gertz. “Trying to create carve-outs on this is a very bad idea that is unlikely to end well.”
In a series of tweets Monday, Wheeler said violence was “unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” and that he would ensure those responsible would be “held accountable.”
Wheeler, a Democrat, has struggled to find a balance between respecting citizens’ First Amendment rights and condemning political violence where possible. He’s also had to toe the line between condemning violence without sounding like he is attempting to place blame on “both sides” of the fight, as President Donald Trump infamously did in the wake of the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. Earlier in 2017, Portland was the site of its own hate crime: A white supremacist murdered two men who stepped in to defend Muslim women from verbal abuse.
Portland has long been a stronghold of liberalism, and famous for political demonstrations and clashes with the police. But since the 2016 election, red MAGA-hatted Trump fans have descended on the left-leaning city to confront liberal activists. The confrontations have taken the form of organized rallies by groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, as well as in sporadic street violence.
While Portland leans heavily left, many parts of Oregon are deep red — and growing partisan divides have highlighted that disparity.
Speaking of 1/2 truths... At both Charlottesville and Portland it was the left who tried to silence the free speech of another group that they disagreed with. Imagine if the KKK was allowed to silence the civil rights movement in the 60's. What would America look like now? It does not matter what the rally was supporting, if they were not harming others, its legal. The left is now about controlled speech, not free speech.
At least you ate the only whacko hat acknowledges why Antifa was there so good for you.
As usual your grasp of what happened in Charlottesville is so whacked, not worth discussing. At least not for me.
Charlottesville was a mess, the fact is one group registered to hold a rally, another group tried to shut their voice down. If the left would have respected free speech or protested peacefully (they did not) it would not have escalated. The other side took the bait and an idiot (I reserve that term for criminals and real scum) who will spend the rest of his life in prison, did the unthinkable. Then all of sudden, it was Trumps fault. Go figure.
Your tribe has a simple strategy, deflect positive events with negative noise 24/7. It's legal and a proven strategy that has impact. When you take a singular event and break it down, 85% of the time it falls apart. The whole Trump lied about Obama wanting to meet with NK is a perfect example. Totally beign but it was brought up to take away a historic event that any US President would have been proud of.
Independent voters know what's up, so feeding the base may raise more money but you will lose the war.
It is protected speech. nothing more, nothing less. Not something I would do, but they have the right. I didn't like BLM rally's when they were yelling, kill pigs or whatever the cute slogan they came up with, but it's the same. And yes, that is true strategy of the left and the right. It's legal and effective sometimes.
It’s 100% protected speech. Now whine some more about the fascist scum in the Oval Office little kitty.
Talking Charlottesville, that March was not free speech. It should be protected in terms of the police should keep it from getting violent but the March itself is not. This fact is very clear cut with USSC decisions. You people insisting it is doesn't change facts.
You're a ***** dishonest piece of ****......totally void of character. You DO keep reading and responding.
Nahmod Law
Know Your Constitution (5): Free Speech and Hate Speech
This is the fifth in a series of posts, intended for a general audience, discussing the Constitution. Previous posts introduced the Constitution, rebutted some commonly held myths about the Constitution and addressed the Equal Protection Clause.
Today’s post deals with hate speech and that part of the First Amendment that declares: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”.
I want to emphasize three important take-away points at the outset. One is that the First Amendment protects us from the government; it does not apply to relations between private persons. Second, the First Amendment, like all individual rights in the Constitution, is not absolute. And last, freedom of speech has costs.
What is freedom of speech anyway? There is the joke told years ago by the Russian comedian Yacov Smirnoff. He was confronted by an American bragging about freedom of speech. Smirnoff retorted: “Big deal! We also have freedom of speech in Russia. What we don’t have is freedom after speech.”
One of the most controversial free speech issues involves hate speech, including but not limited to the anti-Semitic kind. Hate speech and anti-Semitism are major concerns in Europe and the Middle East and remain a nagging concern in the US as well. Hate speech can be defined as speech directed at a historically oppressed religious or racial minority with the intent to insult and demean. Hate speech undermines social attitudes and beliefs, it isolates its targets and it tends to silence them because they are often stunned and unable to respond. Hate speech also traumatizes (think of the effect it had on survivors and other Jews when the Nazis threatened to march in Skokie). We all know some of the hateful slurs that are too often directed against Jews, blacks, Latinos and Italians in this country.
What does the First Amendment, through interpretations by the Supreme Court, have to say about hate speech? The short answer is that the First Amendment prohibits government from regulating such speech altogether. This is a very different approach from that of countries in Western Europe that often prohibit such speech, including denials of the Holocaust.
But why should that be? After all, despite the children’s saying about sticks and stones, we know that words can in fact hurt and lead to terrible acts. Words have power. Words have costs.
One answer is that the First Amendment creates a marketplace of ideas in which everyone can participate. Everyone can try to sell his or her ideas to the marketplace and the buyers in the marketplace eventually decide which ideas have value and which do not, which ideas are truthful and which are not. We are all sellers and buyers in this marketplace.
What is the government’s role in this marketplace of ideas? Basically, the government must stay neutral; it must keep its hands off of the marketplace. The Enlightenment assumption—the assumption of the Framers of the Constitution—that underlies the marketplace of ideas is that people are ultimately rational, they may be persuaded by reason, even though emotions and passions play a major rule in political decision-making.
What kinds of ideas are out there in the marketplace of ideas? Political ideas, artistic ideas, scientific ideas, social ideas of all kinds, whether smart, crazy, far-out, brilliant, dangerous.
However, despite what I’ve just said, there are some communications that are not allowed in the marketplace of ideas. Obscene speech, for one, carefully defined by the Supreme Court, is excluded from the marketplace of ideas. Another kind of communication, child pornography, is also not allowed because its production involves child abuse. The reasons for these exceptions include history and the belief that these kinds of communications have little or no redeeming social value.
So now you’re thinking the following: if there are some exceptions under the First Amendment and its marketplace of ideas, why not also include hate speech as an exception? After all, hate speech surely has little or no redeeming social value. It insults, it demeans, it traumatizes, it silences and there is a consensus in American society that it is valueless at best and dangerous at worst. Why should government not be allowed to prohibit it?
The Supreme Court’s answer to this particular question is that even hate speech contains political ideas, however horrible these ideas may be. When you regulate such speech, you are also regulating ideas. Think of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and forbidden words. The Supreme Court has also made clear that just because speech offends people, this is never a justification under the First Amendment for punishing it. Furthermore, we are justifiably suspicious of government when it attempts to regulate speech and ideas. After all, government may have its own political agenda in regulating hate speech—which groups would be protected against hate speech and which not?
Finally, and perhaps most important, think about how the marketplace of ideas functions: even if hateful ideas are communicated, the theory (hope?) is that counter-speech will emerge to rebut it and to fight it. In other words, more speech rather than less is the remedy.
Even the ACLU disagree with you...
The ACLU has been a liberal darling. Charlottesville may have changed that
PUBLISHED THU, AUG 17 2017 6:11 PM EDT
Angelica LaVito@ANGELICALAVITO
KEY POINTS
- The ACLU has condemned violence at a white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
- It has defended protesters’ right to march under the First Amendment.
- The ACLU supported Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler in court after city officials tried to revoke his protest permit.
A member of the Ku Klux Klan shouts at counter protesters, calling for the protection of Southern Confederate monuments, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
The American Civil Liberties Union has been a beacon for liberal causes going back decades, and especially since the 2016 election. Now it’s drawing scorn for defending white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The ACLU is a nonprofit organization that defends and advocates for people’s constitutional rights. The organization’s mission has steered it into controversial areas such as gay rights and immigration laws.
The ACLU has condemned violence that left one person dead on Saturday. But it defended white supremacists’ right to march under the First Amendment. And people are not happy.
One tweet in a thread the ACLU shared on Sunday said:
ACLU
✔@ACLU
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/896742273970524160
We know our defense of free speech yesterday isn't enough for some, and we understand. We hope you will still find places to work with us.
4,492
10:36 AM - Aug 13, 2017
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,546 people are talking about this
The tweet has received almost 1,000 replies. Some people said they are done donating to the ACLU. Some expressed outright dismay at the organization’s stance. Others insisted the white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville shed First Amendment protections when they carried torches and weapons.
The ACLU did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe suggested earlier this week the violence would not have occurred if not for the ACLU. The group represented Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler in a lawsuit against the city.
Officials tried to revoke Kessler’s permit to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. A judge rejected the city’s attempt to move Kessler’s protest to another spot in the city. One factor in his decision was that the city, while requiring Kessler’s protest to move, was not requiring planned counterprotests to move.
“We asked, the city of Charlottesville asked for that to be moved out of downtown Charlottesville to a park about a mile and a half away, a lot of open fields,” McAuliffe told NPR. “That was the place that it should’ve been. We were, unfortunately, sued by the ACLU. And the judge ruled against us.”
The ACLU rebuked the notion it was responsible for the violence. In a statement Monday, ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire G. Gastanaga said the organization is “horrified” by the violence and would be “eager” to work with local government officials to “understand their rights and obligations under the law.”
“But let’s be clear: our lawsuit challenging the city to act constitutionally did not cause violence nor did it in any way address the question whether demonstrators could carry sticks or other weapons at the events,” Gastanaga said.
The ACLU has continued to condemn hate and white supremacy while defending people’s rights to share such views under the First Amendment.
“We fundamentally believe that our democracy will be better and stronger for engaging and hearing divergent views,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Racism and bigotry will not be eradicated if we merely force them underground. Equality and justice will only be achieved if society looks such bigotry squarely in the eyes and renounces it.”
Romero cited the organization’s history of defending free speech rights of Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. He said the ACLU does not want the government to “favor or disfavor particular viewpoints.”
Romero said the First Amendment cannot be used as “sword or shield to justify or rationalize violence.” However, he said, the government cannot use the threat of violence as an excuse to block protests. That is why the ACLU supported Kessler’s lawsuit.
“Invoking the threat of violence cannot serve as the government’s carte blanche to shut down protests,” he said. “If that were the case, governments would almost always be able to shut down protests, even when the protesters themselves are peaceful, because others could exercise a heckler’s veto through violence or the threat of violence.”
The ACLU’s three California chapters issued a joint statement Wednesday saying white supremacists “armed to the teeth with the intent to harm people” are not protected under the Constitution.
The national organization responded Thursday saying it agreed with the California branches. However, it differed on whether white supremacists’ speech is constitutional.
“At the same time, we believe that even odious hate speech, with which we vehemently disagree, garners the protection of the First Amendment when expressed non-violently,” the ACLU said in a statement.
The organization said “horrible events” in Charlottesville last weekend will inform its decisions on who to represent going forward.
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You never know when to quit. Show me a SC ruling that verifies your stance to get back into this discussion.
Let me help you out. You have to learn how to translate Bru.
What he is saying is that you brought forth valid information that contradicted his totally contrived ********. Further, you used a gold standard liberal source and he doesn’t like it, so, it’s actually you being a dick because of how thoroughly you just smacked him down. That is now be focus of the discussion and you are scum, not that he is a lying piece of hypocritical partisan ****.
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