I have never seen a bigger example of sheer idiocy in my life. This was like watching a comedy. I am now thinking Idiocracy was definitely a documentary.
Mel Brooks would have [had] a field day. It was billed as "The Summer of Love" festival .. . a Proud Boys production with special guests the black-clad Antifa tabernacle choir.
*Chorus:
I can see by your painted spit balls you're from the other side
One would think that Antifa would wear all white. Ya know, like those old cowboys movies where the good guys wore the white hats and the bad saloon keeper dressed in black.
It nearly didn't back then either (there's a fun mini-documentary on youtube about this and the lack of promotion it received), yet somehow south park is able to do far more edgy material right up to the pandemic special.
the level of prescience in that movie in so many ways is pretty stunning, and it always surprises me how many people I come across that have never watched it. But wtf I still havent watched Starship Troopers.
I don't know if it was the build up or my ignorance, I am going to assume the later, but after TK and others cited that movie as a classic I went ahead and rented it. I think the message went over my head because to me it seemed like a relatively low budget 1990's scifi drama.
Just so I don't embarrass myself if it ever comes up, what grand lesson about war and the jingoistic media that supports it was I supposed to pick up from this cult classic?
"what grand lesson about war and the jingoistic media that supports it"
That... was pretty much it.
It's tongue-in-cheek all the way with deliberately bad acting by C-list pretty faces; there's diegetic propaganda within the film, while the genius of the film itself is that it's a work of non-diegetic propaganda intended to make you, the viewer, painfully aware of how propaganda works.
It never really breaks the fourth wall, but Rico achieves apotheosis when he finally appears on TV at the end; Carl appears on TV much earlier, showing how many echelons above the grunt characters he is. Any scene with Michael Ironside as Rasczak is key; the guy gives you the thrill of moral authority and "doing your part."
If it wasn't your cup of tea, that's OK. Not everybody is obligated to like Verhoeven.
Just what makes someone "right wing" these days? "Right-wing" used to refer to folks like, say, actual fascists - Franco. Mussolini. Marcos. Stroessner.
Now it seems like anyone who believes in God, thinks this country is actually an okay place, or is horrified at the notion that we're allowing minors to authorize life-altering and irreversible surgery is "right-wing." Patriotism is "right wing." The U.S. flag is "right-wing." Matt Taibbi is "right wing."
Obviously, anyone who starts firing a gun at a rally is dangerously criminal, but I'm not sure that just because Antifa posts on social media that a "right wing" rally is being organized that it is truly "right wing."
I have my doubts about the veracity of these claims, but am open to being convinced.
As far as Antifa, their self-proclaimed spokespeople have a rather dismal and very public record of anti-Semitic tropes, of trying to intimidate through street violence, of hiding their identity so they can't be held accountable, of advocating for censorship and violence. They dress in all-black military-style garb, they carry weapons to "protests," they even tend to wear jackboots.
I know, right? Because those policies that the GOP passed over the last forty years or so really “lifted up” all of us Americans. News-flash, dude: there is zero difference between Democrats and Republicans. They’re beholden only to their wealthy corporate donors. Unless you’re one of them, you’re gonna get fucked, no matter who’s running the show.
I want things to change. If that’s your idea of “wanting something to fail,” so be it. I mean, the US is fucked. It’s time for something different. We’ve failed already, dude. The current state of everything is an abject failure, except for the obscenely wealthy. So, yeah, I kinda do want “something” to fail.
The current state of politics and governance is indeed a failure. But that isn't everything. Never should be. The problem is believing that politics reflects something real, that its controls something. Then you wield it to "make change". Real change requires breaking those shackles.
I’d say that the whole idea of “your politics are what define you” is the problem. I mean, most people don’t really have an identity beyond the things they “like” on social media. They’re vapid, empty souls who probably never had an original thought in their lives. Who they follow on Instagram is what defines them. And they don’t really “wield” it at all, except to let everybody they know that,”I’m really against this! And I’m really FOR this!” on their meaningless social media posts. But they don’t do anything to actually create real change.
Anyway, I think we’re both in agreement. I really have no “politics” other than “Let’s tear it all down.” Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to vote for a candidate who’ll actually do that.
I ask because, for too many Americans, the answer is unambiguously and emphatically, "Yes!"
and, as a corollary, I'd like to know: does your idea, whether of helping the U.S. right itself or, if you prefer, burning it all down instead, include importing as immigrants--esp. clandestine illegal ones--those who are, above all else, intent on destroying the U.S. as a going concern and reducing it to open civil war?--because theirs _does_.
V. Putin would love to see that. The Taliban would love to see that. ISIS would love to see that; Boko Haram (Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād) would love to see that; Kim Jung Un would love to see that. Oussama Bin Laden would have loved to see that.
_____________________________
"The countries most heavily affected by terrorism in 2011 were, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen. Including these countries, the top ten countries affected by terrorism accounted for 87 per cent of total global incidents."
..."in 2013 were, , Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. Four terrorist groups, ISIL, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and al-Qa'ida, claimed 66 per cent of deaths in 2013. Among OECD countries, Turkey and Mexico reported the highest deaths in 2013 losing 57 and 40 lives respectively."
..."in 2014 were, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. Terrorism increased most significantly in Nigeria, where deaths increased by over 300 per cent to 7,512 fatalities."
..."in 2015 were, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria suffered the highest levels of terrorism, accounting for 72 per cent of all deaths from terrorism in 2015."
..."in 2016 were, (again) Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria suffered the highest levels of terrorism, accounting for 72 per cent of all deaths from terrorism in 2015."
..."in 2017 were, ... Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, and Pakistan remain the top five countries most affected by terrorism. However, Nigeria also saw the greatest reduction in deaths. In 2016, deaths attributed to Boko Haram decreased by 80 percent, however, deaths attributed to ISIL increased by 49 percent. Together these five countries accounted for three-quarters of all deaths from terrorism in 2016."
Any fool who seriously "buys into" that song and dance on the face of it *deserves a candidate like Trump.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the idea that *anyone but the 1-6 Brain Trust *wants this country to "fail" is just cynical red meat horseshit.
Besides, what is it *FOR this country to "fail"? Like the war in Vietnam, nobody right now even knows what this country is TRYING to be ! So, typical fearmongering and name-calling all in one compact, if risible statement. As previously mentioned, transparent "Bumper sticker 'wisdom'"
at its lowest. Even Goebbels is rating it with a "thumbs down". ;-D
Easy enough to understand. Libertarians such as yourself *and Bill, are a vanishing breed. Lately Bill himself seems prone to identify with Dem. I myself do not even *play the Political Game.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free" ― Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Probably not. The progressive wing of the Democrats need the country intact to have things like M4A get passed. The antifa types hate Democrats for being corporatist shills or whatever the mantra de jure is. They just hate Republicans more, and know Republicans are willing to rumble.
Many folks, especially young ones, don't know the character of Chief Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley was played by Sigorney Weaver. It was perhaps more important at the time, when women were still at a minor disadvantage in the workforce. but not so much 30 years later.
I am of *no political party affiliation, but "bumper sticker wisdom" like *that just underscores the reason that Republicans can't win a sack race without Oscars level cheating ! ;-D ;-D
Do you know that it is customary to *credit your source ? Bill is a professional comedian, who can play sarcasm like Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello. Sarcasm, (I am thinking you full well *know, plays VERY poorly online.)
To say what you wrote, with an audience *knowing that it is a joke is a very different animal.
Nah. its a way to find common ground with people that get it. The entire thing was in quotes as well. I just didn't cite the source. I did however cop to it in a reply.
What makes people "right wing" these days is the same thing that always made people "right wing" since Left and Right got their political meanings from the seating arrangement in the French National Assembly: opposing the Left. And what is the Left? At all times since the word got a political meaning it has been the political tendency that seeks power on the plea that an omnicompetent state under its control will vindicate the interests of the downtrodden (and moreover, that this is the only way to vindicate the interests of the downtrodden). Who the downtrodden are has changed from the commoners (with the bourgeoisie leading the movement), to the "workers of the world", to a grab-bag of protected classes (women, blacks, hispanics, sexual minorities, and (unaccountably) Muslims) at the present moment. In a century's time, I have little doubt there will be some new as-yet-unguessable notion of "downtrodden", maybe people conceived by natural sex, rather than engineered, and the folks who want universal power over everyone's life on the plea that they (and only they) and their program will vindicate their interests, will call themselves "the Left" and claim their opponents are the moral equivalent of Nazis.
If you doubt this, consider who was considered "right-wing" when the Comintern defined the normative Left, not just Nazis (who looked a lot like a left-wing movement, just with the wrong notion of the "downtrodden" -- post-Versailles Germans, rather than the workers of the world) and Fascists, but Tories, monarchists, liberal Cold Warriors, advocates of the American Constitutional order, Hayekian free-marketeers, ultramontane clericalists,... Nothing in common except opposition to the Left.
You're conveniently forgetting that whenever the non-downtrodden become the downtrodden, the Right suddenly begins to implement the solutions of the Left that it until then vehemently opposed. For example: the Right opposes government assistance and wants the downtrodden (women, blacks, hispanics, the poor) to help themselves instead -> COVID appears -> a huge amount of people (including, crucially, the white middle class and corporations) suddenly become "downtrodden" and need state assistance -> the Right provides $2 trillion worth of the exact same government assistance that a moment ago it was against. So the Right opposes the Left when everything is going relatively well, but when the shit hits the fan, the Right... suddenly becomes the Left that it recently opposed? What's going on?
No. Post-French Revolution, the only religions with programs to establish an omnicompetent state under their control have been Islam and early Showa-era state Shinto. Nor were the claims of Christian monarchs based on the notion that their rule vindicated the interests of the downtrodden -- though the rare example who took his Christianity as seriously as his throne might have sought to do so.
Nor was the length superfluous, the point was to answer the question what make people "right wing" these days, which needed all of the points I made: the nature of the Left, how the Left changed over time, and that "right wing" has no coherent meaning beyond "opposed the left", a point many who self-identify as left-of-center will deny, but then concede when faced with the Cold War era list of who was "right wing".
I apologize for inciting your response to my deleted comment, I was hoping you would see I retracted it, hastily made before I really internalized your point. I still think your approach is somewhat oversimplified. For instance, I never really found Ron Paul to be 'right-wing' in the slightest despite him constantly receiving that label, and he certainly would not be considered 'left' by almost anyone - so what is he? Could probably provide other examples, but meh. Certain organized religions' rules and practices fall right into your definition of 'left' even if they aren't part of a state/national government but no matter, I'll assume your point was limited to governments. You might have convinced me for now, although I've learned to avoid classifying things into right and left because it discards way too much important nuance anyway, a point at least somewhat supported by your simpler left/right framework.
Often Ron Paul was to the right of the mainstream right (spending) and to the left of the mainstream left (anti-war), because he was always focused on freedom and the (limited) power of the government.
indeed, that's how RP didn't fit into the framework almost everyone in the developed world uses to divide left/right. DNY's framework (the simplicity of which I find really attractive and makes RP pretty firmly 'right-wing') makes it all sound clean and tidy (the way I'm understanding it) when it never is. Are republicans that support unemployment insurance and oppose immigration to protect domestic workers and ostensibly 'reduce crime' against helpless citizens left-wing? Are Biden and Pelosi truly left-wing? No matter what framework is applied, the left/right taxonomy adds very little if any value to me since so much information is discarded/lost. Not altogether different than how the 2-party duopoly packages issues together in stupid ways, while sidelining ones that people want addressed.
I wish. Aesthetically they're both exactly the same. Both sides dress up and LARP around. Sure, they dress up differently. But the principle is exactly the same - this is a game or a sport competition for both sides. Wearing regular street clothes isn't an option.
I'm afraid we have become an entire nation of snow flakes. Apparently a group of man boys with paint guns qualifies as hard hitting news these days.
It's enough to make me miss the Bernie Goetz level crime wave of the 1980's and 1990's. At least they had real guns back then, and better music to boot.
Idea for next story: "Shoving match over who gets to ride the Merry-Go-Round next leads to Nazi Holocaust comparisons."
Yes don’t know if they realize the irony of them choosing to wear all black, as one of the first fascist foot-soldiers were the Black Shirts in Italy, but then I guess history lessons have been removed due to it being a white supremacist tool.
And the Italian fascists originally wanted women suffrage, social security...the Socialist side of it was very strong before it grew into what we all think of as fascist.
It's an incredibly interesting tale about what happens when people who have no real power (Italian soldiers coming back from WWI dead set against allowing that to ever happen again) try to gain it...it often gets usurped.
Recommend the book "The Anatomy of Fascism" by Robert O Paxton. It makes for some compelling info...even if it is academically thick. Two hundred and fifty pages jam packed with eye-opening revelations about the birth of fascism.
Supporting Trump (who made multiple well-documented attempts to subvert American democracy to gain and then remain in power) makes someone right ring. Since today that includes almost all elected Republicans, being Republican makes someone right wing.
I would like a list of those fallacies, yes. Please list them. Thanks. Or maybe you’re just here to post bullshit. I’ll assume that you can list all of the fallacies, though. Looking forward to it.
YES ! As one of your *fellow lovers of Logic Class, I am DYING to see you analyze, correct and name fallacies in that little syllogism above ! It may not be "elegant", but it is *NOT WRONG ! C'MON, Dudester, lay it *ON US ! YES, indeed ! ;-D Let's see it fairly soon, or I will be forced to join minitiger, below in the *heavy suspicion that you may be here a poser !
One, I think it's cute that you think anyone cares what your opinion of us is. ;-) But, two, okay, here are the formal fallacies:
We start off with a Propositional Fallacy: He makes a universal claim that the act of supporting Trump makes one "right wing" - then asserts that all Republicans are "right wing" because "most" of them support Trump.
That is meshed with a Quantification Fallacy - that "almost all elected Republicans" support Trump. Given that there are thousands of elected Republicans in all levels of government - many of whom opposed his nomination in 2016, and others who refused to support him 2020 - this is impossible to prove.
And the whole thing hinges on an informal fallacy: Circular Reasoning: Supporting Trump is de facto "right wing," therefore all Trump supporters are "right wing."
Well now, quite nicely done ! He damned well *DID forget to include those three Trump supporters who were NOT Republican. And, for sure, Jim, if you did NOT care, you would not have taken the BAIT ! ;-D
Apparently you have not been informed regarding how this works. In matters of formal logic, the one *claiming invalid logic bears the burden of *proof to *demonstrate such logical fallacies as they can find. It is not "on" either me or minitiger to do *shit, but call Jim on his accusations ! So, the joke is that people, apparently now including you, who know a sum total of LESS than nothing about the field of Formal Logic, want to "trash talk" as if they DO.
Kind of reduces Jim's challenge to the level of loudmouths in a bar claiming knowledge of martial arts. SURE sign that they likely can't even accurately *spell "martial arts". TRUE practitioners of martial arts, to mention nothing of actual masters, don't *SAY shit ! They remain silent until they have no *other choice, and then they *demonstrate their level of skill. This is what we challenged Jim to do. His response to date has been, as you have so colorfully characterized it: *crickets* ! There *is a definite joke *here, but you have egregiously misidentified the source ! ;-D
And, Harry, coherence ? Your post reads like some kind of exotic code !
Um ok, I was calling Jim out on his bullshit same as you. Not sure why you think you have more right to do that than myself. The formatting did come out weird though, with no way to edit and fix. Your pretentiousness, unwarranted, but you do you.
LOL - Wow, I don't respond fast enough for Harry, and it's "crickets." See, Harry, some of us have this thing called a "job." Not all of us have the luxury of spending the entire day proving our moral superiority by insulting others ...
If subverting American democracy is the standard, does that mean that Obama, who weaponized the IRS against political opponents to subvert American democracy, and the Facebook and Twitter execs who censored news about Hunter Biden's laptop, and the intelligence officials who lied about it "bearing the hallmarks of Russian disinformation" are also "right-wing"? Or is it being "well-documented", i.e. reported by the legacy media, that makes subversion of democracy into proof of being "right wing"?
Who said anything about commies? For that matter, who said anything about Sanders? Your knee jerk reflexes seem to interfere with the functioning of your eyes and brain. You're arguing with straw men of your own devising.
Claiming the line in the sand is supporting 'Democrats' just goes to show that the truth is that everyone draws their own line. Arguments and debates over what is right vs left are so useless most of the time.
So right-wing is anything Trump says? That makes being left-wing so easy! All I have to do is listen to everything he says and decide that I think the opposite!
"As far as Antifa, their self-proclaimed spokespeople have a rather dismal and very public record of anti-Semitic tropes"
Interesting. Do you have any examples? And are you sure that they weren't criticizing the actions of the Israeli government, but were actually being anti-Semitic? Also, what are your thoughts on most or all recent terrorist attacks against Jews in the US (Pittsburgh, Poway, several others) being done by conservative activists? How come you're mentioning one but not the other? Is it more anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government than to shoot up an actual synagogue and murder actual Jews? That doesn't sound quite right to me.
It doesn't? Pittsburgh was a right-winger. Poway is a right-winger. Jersey City was Black Hebrew Israelites, who are neither left nor right wing. Which of the attacks in the list you shared was by Antifa?
Read what you wrote again. Then read what I wrote again. I didn’t say anything about Antifa, and I’m not responding to the part of your response about Antifa.
This is what I wrote: "most or all recent terrorist attacks against Jews in the US (Pittsburgh, Poway, several others) being done by conservative activists"
You're saying that the list of attacks refutes this. How so? The Pittsburgh terrorist was a conservative. The Poway terrorist was a conservative. So how does the list refute this?
I was specifically referring to the Black Evangelical vote. Other than Biden, I doubt any of your examples are very Christian, and none of them are left-wing.
That’s exactly what it is. The fact that these people are too stupid to realize that they’re just straight-up buying into the media’s portrayal of them is the icing on the cake. “We’re anti-fascist! Put your camera down, motherfucker! No media allowed! What? I’m extremely anti-fascist!” “And I’m anti-anti-fascist! I don’t know why I’m here, but I’m gonna counter-protest Antifa anyway!” What a fucking joke.. Clowns…
LARPing and cosplay, indeed ! A bunch of fatheads playing "Army GUYZ" who hilariously expect *respect for using a paint gunz, and breathing the same shit they are trying to spray onto others. If this was anywhere *other than Portland, the absence of actual police would simply reflect the fact that these *truly pathetic pasty-faced kids straight out of their mother's basements, are not really a danger to *anyone but one another, and who risk only property damage to the any of the stores that are even still open! Yawnzers !
I can't get over the paint guns. Like, what? Lmao.
And that dude at the end, arguing with the Christian about whether it's OK to "shoot" the "terrorists?" And the Christian guy actually condemning people for it?
I could hear Dietrich Bonhoeffer rolling in his grave. When the real shit starts, I hope these kids are wearing fucking diapers.
Have you been hit by a paintball before? They hurt, especially if the velocity is cranked up. It's also psychologically difficult to walk towards someone shooting stuff at you. It lets them cause some harm and back antifa off without drawing serious criminal charges.
There's a guy on here comparing Kristallnacht to what happened in Portland with Antifa and the Proud Boys.
In case people are unaware:
"Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers.[5] Rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland.[6] Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed,[7][8] and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps.[9] British historian Martin Gilbert wrote that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from foreign journalists working in Germany drew worldwide attention.[5] The Times of London observed on 11 November 1938: "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenceless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."[10]
Estimates of fatalities caused by the attacks have varied. Early reports estimated that 91 Jews had been murdered.[a] Modern analysis of German scholarly sources puts the figure much higher; when deaths from post-arrest maltreatment and subsequent suicides are included, the death toll reaches the hundreds, with Richard J. Evans estimating 638 deaths by suicide.[11] Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.[12]"
He is comparing this to a paint ball fight and a broken window because the police did not respond. It boggles the mind, although he is an Andy Gno fan. A drama queen who pretended someone throwing a milkshake in his face was akin to being hit by a 100 flaming Molotov cocktails and burned alive.
Where do these people come from? Has our failed educational system really done that bad a job?
They're soft. As to why? It's whomever and whatever raised them. That can be anything from parents, to schools, to churches, to whatever you want.
I was raised soft too. Life has its way with you though and I'm happy to report I've taken really good notes. The world is a beautifully dark place and so many people just... shy away from that?
Maybe I can boil it down like this: we should teach children how to handle danger and adversity - not avoid it, hide from it, and cower in the dark because of it.
Humankind runs straight at the dark and conquers it. Feature of the species.
A thousand or so years ago, when I was 19, I was involved for about half a year with what probably was the "Antifa" of its day. And we did a number of stupid, violent things in the name of noble causes. I can't speak for anyone else who was also involved in that organization, but for my part I think our causes were just and our tactics and strategy was nonsense on a host of levels. I don't think we punched or threatened any reporters, however.
My online interactions with people claiming to be either "Antifa" or merely "anti-fascist" have been singularly unpleasant. Like a huge percentage of Americans, regardless of where they identify on the political spectrum, they're much better at verbal violence and complete intolerance than offering coherent positions and supporting them. One "wrong" word from me or any other adversary (or even apparent ally) and they launch the verbal equivalent of their full nuclear arsenal.
Sadly, a lot of people who identify as progressive, hard left, or similar things but not necessarily Antifa are also horrifically intolerant and operating with rage on hair-trigger alert (not that folks on the right are calm, reasonable, and respectful of dissent). Most people seem almost psychotically prone to verbal Armageddon. So many people go from zero to nuclear war at the drop of a Shibboleth. Maybe someone should write a book about all the hate out there, how most people are siloed into one viewpoint or its opposite, and how the media seems intent on stirring it all up for ratings.
The book could be called something like, "Ire, Ltd," or "Rageaholism and Company": what do you think, Matt?
This is what happens when you have a bunch of people that have been brainwashed from K-12 and into College as they get their BA in Gender and Grievance Studies and then, thanks to Big Tech, are allowed to have a microphone larger than they deserve and the ability to hide behind that microphone without having to ever face anyone in person. This problem needs to get resolved in our schools somehow since no one is ever going to put the phone/social media genie back in the bottle. We need to start teaching about Socialism and Communism instead of indoctrinating people into those ideologies.
neither antifa nor PBs case is really standing out for me in this video - there is a hilarious lack of self-awareness and irony from the similarities between the two from which both would die of embarrassment and shame.
If they're mentally ill then they're not liable for their crimes and can't be sent to prison for them. Congratulations, genius. You're basically saying that Antifas, by definition, can't be held guilty for anything they do.
Do you think we just let psychopaths who commit crimes walk the streets because they’re mentally ill? We don’t hold mentally ill criminals accountable in the same way, but that doesn’t mean we do nothing. Think before you post.
This has all been massively engineered for years. Yes, the silos we are put in makes everyone act tribal and ridiculous. Narcissism and self-centeredness rule the day.
Good observation. Maybe there is a psychological phenomenon at work here - all the rage and frustration at the lack of agency most of people feel in their lives, which cannot be articulated in some positive, constructive way comes out like a hysteric outpour of hate. And I don't see any of it improving, we may be doomed to a cycle of violence.
I certainly didn’t have a decent job when I was 19. But I had enough sense to leave an organization that less than two months later had three members turn themselves into bloody confetti. If your comments about terror are serious, I can’t wait to hear the rationale for them. And about all your glorious actsof vintage violence.
Even before watching this, I should add that it's amazing the responses to the last piece on social media. People are so broken that they just can't comprehend this information outside of their culture war bubble.
Unless someone unequivocally states that Antifa (who doesn't exist, mind you) are the glorious foot soldiers for their nonsensical, incoherent movement, that person is dangerous, a fascist, or worse, like Jordan Peterson, Tulsi Gabbard, Glenn Greenwald, Bari Weiss, Andy Ngo, Matt Taibbi, 75 million Trump voters, people who've held a working class job, etc.
What a boring, dim, dangerous bunch of unthinking twerps the internet has created.
Matt, While this reporting is miles ahead of anything in the mainstream, do you think it's fair to characterize the groups opposing Antifa as right wing? Couldn't they just be centrist Americans, or perhaps populists who are fed up with the violence and property destruction Antifa brings anywhere they go? Far Right makes it sound like they're somehow aligned with Fascism or dream of Peronist Argentina, when my guess is they're simply the fringe of the ordinary. Mostly working class Americans of all races (unlike Antifa largely made up of spoiled college kids whose parents run Vassar or a hedge fund by day). They are only right in the sense that America's working and middle class tend center right, not leftist destructionist, and hope to live and raise families in communities that love their country and care for each other.
It appears to me, both groups are stupid and deluded. They attack each other, instead of the people who are actually oppressing them. So, a waste of time.
Except when you stop to think that the leader of the Proud Boys is and FBI informant directing the festivities, it all makes sense as a red herring for the sheeple to FEAR.
Hey, look the FB I just foiled a kidnapping attempt in Michigan that they were directly responsible for through planning and funding.
See what a GREAT job they are doing to protect John and Jane Average from the dangers IN OUR MIDST!
What a bunch of deranged leaders we have today. Such psychopathy! Total disdain for The Poors.
I've been convinced there is a ratline running into the thought leaders choosing the "consensus" issues on the "antifa" left for years. I remember wondering where the agreements were made that somehow there was automatic mass agreement on a range of issues including some that actually had contradictory internal inconsistencies eg feminism and Trans issues that are not the same or reconciled meaningfully and slowly becoming glaringly out of step. Or crt issues and optics as an emphasis over actually addrssing the economic war waged against most of us. Or weird support for.neocolonial interventions in the broader left. A wise friend reminded me this was the entire point of cointelpro. It would probably be difficult to find any left political extreme influencer that wasn't being either paid or steered by informants. No messiahs allowed right? What better way to set the motivations aside for another generation than to install people right into the role who end up betraying the cause. The disillusionment lag of wasted organizing buys the oligarchs another 5 years building their private island bug out compounds. So far it seems effective against all odds.
Not sure classic political left-right categories even apply. If Antifa was really "left-wing" they would be protesting in front of Amazon, chain themselves to the Bill's house gates, etc. The last genuinely left protest movement in the US was Occupy Wall St. - even the name says they were on right target. The establishment got scared fast and eliminated them even faster, injecting tons of woke distracting goal and petty identity politics issues - under which the movement diluted itself and fell apart. As somebody else said, Antifa is fake left cosplay probably animated by some deep state connected wing of DNC. After all, we know the main role of Democratic party in the scam called US political system - capture genuine movements, absorb them, poison them, spit out their empty corpse.
Well said. That is what I have argued for years now. Why isn't Antifa going after the actual fascists? Which would be the corporations, military and the PTB running the shitshow. Yet they are curiously absent from that. Instead, they go after yahoos without any power at all.
"Welcome to Portland. Today, we expect a real barnburner. The Proud Boys are here in force, and we understand they have both red AND green paint for their toy guns. Some speculate they may even have water balloons. Todd, how does Antifa plan to counter that?"
"Well, Mel, Antifa is planning to fend off the paintballs with umbrellas and, if the fighting gets too personal, they promise the WD-40 WILL make an appearance. Also, they expect the all-black uniforms they are wearing today will give them extra incentive. Rumors on this side, too, with word trickling out that there may be some girl-shoving. Back to you, Peter."
"In other news today, in Oakland's Chinatown, nothing to see here, move along, move along."
Funniest comment I’m probably ever gonna read, on any article, anywhere. You have officially won the the internet. But hey, at least everybody can agree on one thing: we all love football (I’m assuming “Todd” and “Mel” are references to Todd McShay and Mel fucking Kiper; if I m wrong, ignore the “we all love football” part).
I want everyone who reads this to reflect on the FACT that the Proud Boys' leader is a goddamned FBI informant.
He's working for them, and orchestrating this shit with other FBI informants for a REASON.
Watch as the "Domestic War on Terror" unfolds and enjoy watching Biden the war criminal gas-light the press who will never bother to ask a serious question or investigate anything.
We're living in a dystopian sci-fi plot where the elite are staging unrest to keep on justifying their genocidal march to the end of the world.
I believe they know it's collapsing and they're going to try their hardest to not let go of it. I mean... it's a military industrial complex, after all.
Biggest military on the planet.
Joey from Scranton joked, "You'd need F-15 and nukes."
Or looking for scapegoats for the seemingly impending crash as the derivatives market implodes becuase it is basically one big "side letter" just another thing that used to be illegal before Bill Clinton freed Wall Street from the shackles put in place post-depression.
Obama then freed them from the threat of doing time and instead made it rain.
GW proved anyone can be president as long as they have lineage...mostly the Walkers.
Biden proves the press is dead. That one's kind of weak, but it's early in his admin...
Enrique Tarrio, the Afro-Cuban white supremacist, was just sentenced for burning a BLM flag and having loaded high capacity magazines with a felony record. He definitely has been an informant. Will be interesting to see if he actually serves time.
If you asked PBs for their badge number, 1/3 of them would give the game away. Same for Oath Keepers and all the others. Cunt is a perfect description for all of them.
I don't know if Matt reads these emails. I'm not on any social media site like Facebook or Twitter (I find these sites to be dangerous to our freedoms), so I can't comment there, but I would love for Matt to do an expose on both the Proud Boys and Antifa. I trust his judgement over any media organization. I'm reaching out to everyone that follows Matt to encourage him to go to Oregon and report on these two groups. If enough of us on this site do so, hopefully he'll listen and we'll get the real story. Please everyone, reach out to him.
You pitched *such a freakin' hissy fit about *leaving this site, that most people inaccurately think you are *gone. If you ARE going to leave, try to find the door.
If NOT, please take a hint regarding the fact that these bitchy little back-biting ad hominem attacks on Matt reveal you as a coward. You are free to do with your subscription, anything you wish. Just don't weep with the very real possibility that you may be "called on" these Iago inspired sneak attack back stabbings.
That doesn't mean he reads our comments though, does it?
And quoting from your link:
>In front of a crowd of 50-100 people, Proud Boy organizer Tusitala “Tiny” Toese and other speakers touched on subjects ranging from media, to religion, to transgender rights, to Toese’s “Samoan” way to open a beer.
>Randy Ireland, president of the Hell’s Gate Bridge chapter of the Proud Boys, condemned the prosecution and incarceration of January 6 defendants.
>“Our next rally is going to be September 18th, in Washington DC, right where it all started at the Capitol building,” Ireland said before announcing that Micki Witthoeft – the mother of Ashli Babbitt – would be in attendance.
>Proud Boys hung a “Free our political prisoners” banner from the awning of the abandoned Kmart.
....
>Proud Boys surrounded a man in a truck carrying water and snacks for counter-protesters.
>The group smashed the windows and fired mace and paintballs at the driver, who tried to protect his head.
>“Get the fuck out of here, bitch” a Proud Boy said as he pushed the man fleeing on foot.
>Towards the end of the skirmish, a paint-drenched Toese turned to the assembled videographers and spoke out while beginning to cry.
>“I know days from now, I might be arrested,” Toese said. “I’m sick and tired, and if we have to die to defend ourselves, our families, and our fucking freedom in America, we’re gonna do it.”
>The right-wing activists then returned to the Kmart lot, where several flipped over crashed van on Toese’s command and shot it with additional paintballs.
>“Flip this motherfucker over so they don’t get to drive this bitch,” Toese commanded.
But, of course, Matt only writes about the other side. Because he knows where his money is coming from: trumpistas.
It's just a dangerous game to all of these people, and they're all on one "side": chaos and destruction. How long until they replace paintball guns, mace and low-level fireworks with real weapons?
The man covered with paint and saying over and over to "stop shooting people; it's not Christian" was the only likable, reasonable person here, and he was berated, ingnored and yelled at.
This is totally demoralizing, but thanks for covering it. I'd actually seen some of this footage on Twitter—the hellhole you kind of have to be on to follow what's actually happening. (My one caveat on these "riot journalists" is that they may be an essential part of this chaos equation too, but I'm glad some footage is documenting this moment.)
Matt, I'm surprised that you're promoting a video that's so sympathetic to Antifa. The video is hardly in line with your previous post. The only time the Ford Fischer team is critical of Antifa is when one of their own is being assaulted. They consistently call them counter-protesters. Hardly a fitting description of an angry mob who specifically traveled to a site to attack actual demonstrators with chemicals and explosives. They also completely skip over the events that sparked the violence in the first place. The were clearly filming during the peaceful demonstration and then skip to a van being vandalized followed by Antifa being chased away. If they don't have footage, the least they could do is provide an explanation. I live in the Portland Metro area. I've seen Antifa's antics. Surely they didn't just drive all the way out to NE Portland in black bloc to park a van and walk away.
Sympathetic probably isn't the right word, but I definitely didn't see it as balanced. Visually, the majority of the violence was coming from one side and the voice over kept referring to Antifa as anti protestors when they are clearly agitators. Protestors don't show up in black bloc with homemade explosives and bear mace. Antifa went there for a fight, just as they've been doing for years now. There has got to be footage that was excluded that would've shown at least some of the instigation.
I have never seen a bigger example of sheer idiocy in my life. This was like watching a comedy. I am now thinking Idiocracy was definitely a documentary.
>"This was like watching a comedy."
Mel Brooks would have [had] a field day. It was billed as "The Summer of Love" festival .. . a Proud Boys production with special guests the black-clad Antifa tabernacle choir.
*Chorus:
I can see by your painted spit balls you're from the other side
Just one thing I want to know
Who won the war
Of words
One would think that Antifa would wear all white. Ya know, like those old cowboys movies where the good guys wore the white hats and the bad saloon keeper dressed in black.
I think that's probably racist. To boot.
*Mongo comes to town .. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9P2B7NUPfM
and idiots of course. That's how I got in...
And I always wondered if there might be some secret sorority that only accepted jews and nigers?
"Up yours niger!"
I personally love Mel Brooks. He had a whole bunch to do with obliterating racism in my generation, as did Cleavon Little (the Sheriff in that clip).
Keeping white clothing clean is a bitch. Black absorbs dirt.
However blues and greens are prefered by surgeons for that very reason...
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/270642-idiocracy-writer-i-never-expected-my-movie-to-become-a
"I thought the worst thing that would come true was everyone wearing Crocs"
Well, that and worse. Movie is 15 years old! In a sense, time travel has already occurred.
It would never get made today
It nearly didn't back then either (there's a fun mini-documentary on youtube about this and the lack of promotion it received), yet somehow south park is able to do far more edgy material right up to the pandemic special.
So then, who fucked the bat? All I want to know. Don't actually need a recount of first hand experience...
I'm amazed it got made at the time.
Mmm, 90’s/early 00’s pop culture pushed the boundaries of the offensive.
the level of prescience in that movie in so many ways is pretty stunning, and it always surprises me how many people I come across that have never watched it. But wtf I still havent watched Starship Troopers.
Greeter: Hi, welcome to Costco. I love you.
Frito: Yeah, I know this place pretty good. I went to law school here.
Joe: You went to law school at Costco?
Frito: So did my father. Thank God for being a legacy, or else I might not have gotten in.
Gotta be Grisha.
You need your own stack/sub
"wtf I still havent watched Starship Troopers"
You're not... doing your part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijvTiDnWJLE
Service guarantees citizenship.
I don't know if it was the build up or my ignorance, I am going to assume the later, but after TK and others cited that movie as a classic I went ahead and rented it. I think the message went over my head because to me it seemed like a relatively low budget 1990's scifi drama.
Just so I don't embarrass myself if it ever comes up, what grand lesson about war and the jingoistic media that supports it was I supposed to pick up from this cult classic?
Read the book. Heinlein invented space marines.
Got a lot of really interesting ideas.
Pretty sure he hated the movie. Haha.
"what grand lesson about war and the jingoistic media that supports it"
That... was pretty much it.
It's tongue-in-cheek all the way with deliberately bad acting by C-list pretty faces; there's diegetic propaganda within the film, while the genius of the film itself is that it's a work of non-diegetic propaganda intended to make you, the viewer, painfully aware of how propaganda works.
It never really breaks the fourth wall, but Rico achieves apotheosis when he finally appears on TV at the end; Carl appears on TV much earlier, showing how many echelons above the grunt characters he is. Any scene with Michael Ironside as Rasczak is key; the guy gives you the thrill of moral authority and "doing your part."
If it wasn't your cup of tea, that's OK. Not everybody is obligated to like Verhoeven.
Grisha?
Just what makes someone "right wing" these days? "Right-wing" used to refer to folks like, say, actual fascists - Franco. Mussolini. Marcos. Stroessner.
Now it seems like anyone who believes in God, thinks this country is actually an okay place, or is horrified at the notion that we're allowing minors to authorize life-altering and irreversible surgery is "right-wing." Patriotism is "right wing." The U.S. flag is "right-wing." Matt Taibbi is "right wing."
Obviously, anyone who starts firing a gun at a rally is dangerously criminal, but I'm not sure that just because Antifa posts on social media that a "right wing" rally is being organized that it is truly "right wing."
I have my doubts about the veracity of these claims, but am open to being convinced.
As far as Antifa, their self-proclaimed spokespeople have a rather dismal and very public record of anti-Semitic tropes, of trying to intimidate through street violence, of hiding their identity so they can't be held accountable, of advocating for censorship and violence. They dress in all-black military-style garb, they carry weapons to "protests," they even tend to wear jackboots.
They are far more similar to the European f
“Not all Democrats want to see America fail but if you want to see America fail you’re probably a Democrat.”
I know, right? Because those policies that the GOP passed over the last forty years or so really “lifted up” all of us Americans. News-flash, dude: there is zero difference between Democrats and Republicans. They’re beholden only to their wealthy corporate donors. Unless you’re one of them, you’re gonna get fucked, no matter who’s running the show.
Wanting something to fail and being a failure are different beasts.
I want things to change. If that’s your idea of “wanting something to fail,” so be it. I mean, the US is fucked. It’s time for something different. We’ve failed already, dude. The current state of everything is an abject failure, except for the obscenely wealthy. So, yeah, I kinda do want “something” to fail.
The current state of politics and governance is indeed a failure. But that isn't everything. Never should be. The problem is believing that politics reflects something real, that its controls something. Then you wield it to "make change". Real change requires breaking those shackles.
I’d say that the whole idea of “your politics are what define you” is the problem. I mean, most people don’t really have an identity beyond the things they “like” on social media. They’re vapid, empty souls who probably never had an original thought in their lives. Who they follow on Instagram is what defines them. And they don’t really “wield” it at all, except to let everybody they know that,”I’m really against this! And I’m really FOR this!” on their meaningless social media posts. But they don’t do anything to actually create real change.
Anyway, I think we’re both in agreement. I really have no “politics” other than “Let’s tear it all down.” Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to vote for a candidate who’ll actually do that.
It failed a long time ago. The question (if any) is what to do while picking through the ruins.
Okay, let's say that you're right and that right now a pressing issue is "what to do while 'picking through the ruins'".
Q. : Would that be--or include--_doing_ and subscribing to what comedian Bill Maher is mocking and satirizing here:
"The Lesson of Afghanistan"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8LxraECD5E&list=PLAF22812129BFCD50&index=2
I ask because, for too many Americans, the answer is unambiguously and emphatically, "Yes!"
and, as a corollary, I'd like to know: does your idea, whether of helping the U.S. right itself or, if you prefer, burning it all down instead, include importing as immigrants--esp. clandestine illegal ones--those who are, above all else, intent on destroying the U.S. as a going concern and reducing it to open civil war?--because theirs _does_.
V. Putin would love to see that. The Taliban would love to see that. ISIS would love to see that; Boko Haram (Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād) would love to see that; Kim Jung Un would love to see that. Oussama Bin Laden would have loved to see that.
_____________________________
"The countries most heavily affected by terrorism in 2011 were, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen. Including these countries, the top ten countries affected by terrorism accounted for 87 per cent of total global incidents."
..."in 2013 were, , Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. Four terrorist groups, ISIL, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and al-Qa'ida, claimed 66 per cent of deaths in 2013. Among OECD countries, Turkey and Mexico reported the highest deaths in 2013 losing 57 and 40 lives respectively."
..."in 2014 were, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. Terrorism increased most significantly in Nigeria, where deaths increased by over 300 per cent to 7,512 fatalities."
..."in 2015 were, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria suffered the highest levels of terrorism, accounting for 72 per cent of all deaths from terrorism in 2015."
..."in 2016 were, (again) Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria suffered the highest levels of terrorism, accounting for 72 per cent of all deaths from terrorism in 2015."
..."in 2017 were, ... Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, and Pakistan remain the top five countries most affected by terrorism. However, Nigeria also saw the greatest reduction in deaths. In 2016, deaths attributed to Boko Haram decreased by 80 percent, however, deaths attributed to ISIL increased by 49 percent. Together these five countries accounted for three-quarters of all deaths from terrorism in 2016."
..."in 2018 were, ..." (report for 2018: https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Global-Terrorism-Index-2018.pdf)
..."in 2019 were, " https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GTI-2019web.pdf )
..."in 2020 were,..." (report for 2020: https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GTI-2020-web-1.pdf )
@Nick M.
Any fool who seriously "buys into" that song and dance on the face of it *deserves a candidate like Trump.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the idea that *anyone but the 1-6 Brain Trust *wants this country to "fail" is just cynical red meat horseshit.
Besides, what is it *FOR this country to "fail"? Like the war in Vietnam, nobody right now even knows what this country is TRYING to be ! So, typical fearmongering and name-calling all in one compact, if risible statement. As previously mentioned, transparent "Bumper sticker 'wisdom'"
at its lowest. Even Goebbels is rating it with a "thumbs down". ;-D
The best part of the responses are all the Dems believing I must be a Trumper. You people...
@Nick M.
Easy enough to understand. Libertarians such as yourself *and Bill, are a vanishing breed. Lately Bill himself seems prone to identify with Dem. I myself do not even *play the Political Game.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free" ― Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Politics is nothing more than "crowd control".
@minitiger
PREACH, my brother, *preach ! ;-D
Its a good thing you deleted that response about blaming Bill, its his fucking quote. 😂
@Nick
Then do not wait until you are FORCED to *Credit the quote.
"You, Sir, are no Bill Maher." ;-D
Here's the problem, I bastardized it. Its not the original quote but I can't take full credit either.
Probably not. The progressive wing of the Democrats need the country intact to have things like M4A get passed. The antifa types hate Democrats for being corporatist shills or whatever the mantra de jure is. They just hate Republicans more, and know Republicans are willing to rumble.
As if putting a majority of goods and services under State control isn’t wanting America to fail.
"It's the only way to be sure."
-- Ripley, Aliens, somewhere in the late 80's or early 90's
Many folks, especially young ones, don't know the character of Chief Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley was played by Sigorney Weaver. It was perhaps more important at the time, when women were still at a minor disadvantage in the workforce. but not so much 30 years later.
@Nick M.
I am of *no political party affiliation, but "bumper sticker wisdom" like *that just underscores the reason that Republicans can't win a sack race without Oscars level cheating ! ;-D ;-D
Your humor, smarts, and sass are so much like Paglia.
You can thank Bill Maher for this one. Its a joke from the 9/11 era of Politically Incorrect directed at "racist Republicans".
@Nick M.
Do you know that it is customary to *credit your source ? Bill is a professional comedian, who can play sarcasm like Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello. Sarcasm, (I am thinking you full well *know, plays VERY poorly online.)
To say what you wrote, with an audience *knowing that it is a joke is a very different animal.
Nah. its a way to find common ground with people that get it. The entire thing was in quotes as well. I just didn't cite the source. I did however cop to it in a reply.
That's good
I’ll give credit to Bill Maher.
What makes people "right wing" these days is the same thing that always made people "right wing" since Left and Right got their political meanings from the seating arrangement in the French National Assembly: opposing the Left. And what is the Left? At all times since the word got a political meaning it has been the political tendency that seeks power on the plea that an omnicompetent state under its control will vindicate the interests of the downtrodden (and moreover, that this is the only way to vindicate the interests of the downtrodden). Who the downtrodden are has changed from the commoners (with the bourgeoisie leading the movement), to the "workers of the world", to a grab-bag of protected classes (women, blacks, hispanics, sexual minorities, and (unaccountably) Muslims) at the present moment. In a century's time, I have little doubt there will be some new as-yet-unguessable notion of "downtrodden", maybe people conceived by natural sex, rather than engineered, and the folks who want universal power over everyone's life on the plea that they (and only they) and their program will vindicate their interests, will call themselves "the Left" and claim their opponents are the moral equivalent of Nazis.
If you doubt this, consider who was considered "right-wing" when the Comintern defined the normative Left, not just Nazis (who looked a lot like a left-wing movement, just with the wrong notion of the "downtrodden" -- post-Versailles Germans, rather than the workers of the world) and Fascists, but Tories, monarchists, liberal Cold Warriors, advocates of the American Constitutional order, Hayekian free-marketeers, ultramontane clericalists,... Nothing in common except opposition to the Left.
You're conveniently forgetting that whenever the non-downtrodden become the downtrodden, the Right suddenly begins to implement the solutions of the Left that it until then vehemently opposed. For example: the Right opposes government assistance and wants the downtrodden (women, blacks, hispanics, the poor) to help themselves instead -> COVID appears -> a huge amount of people (including, crucially, the white middle class and corporations) suddenly become "downtrodden" and need state assistance -> the Right provides $2 trillion worth of the exact same government assistance that a moment ago it was against. So the Right opposes the Left when everything is going relatively well, but when the shit hits the fan, the Right... suddenly becomes the Left that it recently opposed? What's going on?
Your description, DNY, of right and left helps illuminate why it is tough to equate US political parties with left or right.
Johnson signs The Civil Rights Act and a hunk of southern Democs turn Repubs overnight.
Clinton tacks Repub-lite and urban and nouveau riche start supporting Democs.
No. Post-French Revolution, the only religions with programs to establish an omnicompetent state under their control have been Islam and early Showa-era state Shinto. Nor were the claims of Christian monarchs based on the notion that their rule vindicated the interests of the downtrodden -- though the rare example who took his Christianity as seriously as his throne might have sought to do so.
Nor was the length superfluous, the point was to answer the question what make people "right wing" these days, which needed all of the points I made: the nature of the Left, how the Left changed over time, and that "right wing" has no coherent meaning beyond "opposed the left", a point many who self-identify as left-of-center will deny, but then concede when faced with the Cold War era list of who was "right wing".
I apologize for inciting your response to my deleted comment, I was hoping you would see I retracted it, hastily made before I really internalized your point. I still think your approach is somewhat oversimplified. For instance, I never really found Ron Paul to be 'right-wing' in the slightest despite him constantly receiving that label, and he certainly would not be considered 'left' by almost anyone - so what is he? Could probably provide other examples, but meh. Certain organized religions' rules and practices fall right into your definition of 'left' even if they aren't part of a state/national government but no matter, I'll assume your point was limited to governments. You might have convinced me for now, although I've learned to avoid classifying things into right and left because it discards way too much important nuance anyway, a point at least somewhat supported by your simpler left/right framework.
Often Ron Paul was to the right of the mainstream right (spending) and to the left of the mainstream left (anti-war), because he was always focused on freedom and the (limited) power of the government.
indeed, that's how RP didn't fit into the framework almost everyone in the developed world uses to divide left/right. DNY's framework (the simplicity of which I find really attractive and makes RP pretty firmly 'right-wing') makes it all sound clean and tidy (the way I'm understanding it) when it never is. Are republicans that support unemployment insurance and oppose immigration to protect domestic workers and ostensibly 'reduce crime' against helpless citizens left-wing? Are Biden and Pelosi truly left-wing? No matter what framework is applied, the left/right taxonomy adds very little if any value to me since so much information is discarded/lost. Not altogether different than how the 2-party duopoly packages issues together in stupid ways, while sidelining ones that people want addressed.
The problem here is the media (including News2Share) covering it as though it were political and using established political terms.
The differences between the clowns in this scene are aesthetic, not political.
I wish. Aesthetically they're both exactly the same. Both sides dress up and LARP around. Sure, they dress up differently. But the principle is exactly the same - this is a game or a sport competition for both sides. Wearing regular street clothes isn't an option.
I'm afraid we have become an entire nation of snow flakes. Apparently a group of man boys with paint guns qualifies as hard hitting news these days.
It's enough to make me miss the Bernie Goetz level crime wave of the 1980's and 1990's. At least they had real guns back then, and better music to boot.
Idea for next story: "Shoving match over who gets to ride the Merry-Go-Round next leads to Nazi Holocaust comparisons."
I'm guessing now you know what the 'radical left' feels like
Yes don’t know if they realize the irony of them choosing to wear all black, as one of the first fascist foot-soldiers were the Black Shirts in Italy, but then I guess history lessons have been removed due to it being a white supremacist tool.
And the Italian fascists originally wanted women suffrage, social security...the Socialist side of it was very strong before it grew into what we all think of as fascist.
It's an incredibly interesting tale about what happens when people who have no real power (Italian soldiers coming back from WWI dead set against allowing that to ever happen again) try to gain it...it often gets usurped.
Recommend the book "The Anatomy of Fascism" by Robert O Paxton. It makes for some compelling info...even if it is academically thick. Two hundred and fifty pages jam packed with eye-opening revelations about the birth of fascism.
Supporting Trump (who made multiple well-documented attempts to subvert American democracy to gain and then remain in power) makes someone right ring. Since today that includes almost all elected Republicans, being Republican makes someone right wing.
lol ... you didn't do well in logic class, did you? Would you like a list of all the fallacies in those two otherwise vacuous sentences?
I would like a list of those fallacies, yes. Please list them. Thanks. Or maybe you’re just here to post bullshit. I’ll assume that you can list all of the fallacies, though. Looking forward to it.
@minitiger
He did make a point above. Not breathtaking, but he did make a point.
@Jim
YES ! As one of your *fellow lovers of Logic Class, I am DYING to see you analyze, correct and name fallacies in that little syllogism above ! It may not be "elegant", but it is *NOT WRONG ! C'MON, Dudester, lay it *ON US ! YES, indeed ! ;-D Let's see it fairly soon, or I will be forced to join minitiger, below in the *heavy suspicion that you may be here a poser !
One, I think it's cute that you think anyone cares what your opinion of us is. ;-) But, two, okay, here are the formal fallacies:
We start off with a Propositional Fallacy: He makes a universal claim that the act of supporting Trump makes one "right wing" - then asserts that all Republicans are "right wing" because "most" of them support Trump.
That is meshed with a Quantification Fallacy - that "almost all elected Republicans" support Trump. Given that there are thousands of elected Republicans in all levels of government - many of whom opposed his nomination in 2016, and others who refused to support him 2020 - this is impossible to prove.
And the whole thing hinges on an informal fallacy: Circular Reasoning: Supporting Trump is de facto "right wing," therefore all Trump supporters are "right wing."
@Jim
Well now, quite nicely done ! He damned well *DID forget to include those three Trump supporters who were NOT Republican. And, for sure, Jim, if you did NOT care, you would not have taken the BAIT ! ;-D
Wait, is it All right wingers support Trump. He is a right winger::so he supports Trump
Or is it All Trump supporters are right wing, He's a Trump supporter::so he is right wing
Sorry, just noodling with the concept of logical politics...my new favorite oxymoron!!
Nice articulation of what I hate about the attempts to classify left/right - it almost always turns into some ridiculous straw-man.
Jim Trageser: That statement contained multiple fallacies Atma & minitiger: Cool, name one Jim Trageser: *crickets* What a joke you are.
Dear Harry
Apparently you have not been informed regarding how this works. In matters of formal logic, the one *claiming invalid logic bears the burden of *proof to *demonstrate such logical fallacies as they can find. It is not "on" either me or minitiger to do *shit, but call Jim on his accusations ! So, the joke is that people, apparently now including you, who know a sum total of LESS than nothing about the field of Formal Logic, want to "trash talk" as if they DO.
Kind of reduces Jim's challenge to the level of loudmouths in a bar claiming knowledge of martial arts. SURE sign that they likely can't even accurately *spell "martial arts". TRUE practitioners of martial arts, to mention nothing of actual masters, don't *SAY shit ! They remain silent until they have no *other choice, and then they *demonstrate their level of skill. This is what we challenged Jim to do. His response to date has been, as you have so colorfully characterized it: *crickets* ! There *is a definite joke *here, but you have egregiously misidentified the source ! ;-D
And, Harry, coherence ? Your post reads like some kind of exotic code !
Um ok, I was calling Jim out on his bullshit same as you. Not sure why you think you have more right to do that than myself. The formatting did come out weird though, with no way to edit and fix. Your pretentiousness, unwarranted, but you do you.
@Harry
Appreciating your permission, I have no option *but to "do me".
LOL - Wow, I don't respond fast enough for Harry, and it's "crickets." See, Harry, some of us have this thing called a "job." Not all of us have the luxury of spending the entire day proving our moral superiority by insulting others ...
If subverting American democracy is the standard, does that mean that Obama, who weaponized the IRS against political opponents to subvert American democracy, and the Facebook and Twitter execs who censored news about Hunter Biden's laptop, and the intelligence officials who lied about it "bearing the hallmarks of Russian disinformation" are also "right-wing"? Or is it being "well-documented", i.e. reported by the legacy media, that makes subversion of democracy into proof of being "right wing"?
My favorite part about anarchism?
Sitting outside this stupid shit and thumbing my nose at all of you - right, left, whatever.
It's great! More people should try it.
Wrong. Not supporting Democrats makes someone right wing. the Trump part is simply Venn diagram over lap
Bullshit. I can't stand the Democrats and I am about as far from right-wing as you can get.
I meant this not as fact, but as "the left" sees it.
But I am "the left" lol
Wrong. Not supporting Democrats also refers to a large group of people who are far to the left of the corporate, sold-out Democratic Party.
Ohhh the commies. Nice. Yea, they are part of the problem. "We want State control, just the right state control!"
Nah, Sander's supporters are at least as abhorrent as Trumpers.
Who said anything about commies? For that matter, who said anything about Sanders? Your knee jerk reflexes seem to interfere with the functioning of your eyes and brain. You're arguing with straw men of your own devising.
No, I am not. That defines the American "progressive left". You can pretend what you believe does if you'd like, but you're wrong.
Claiming the line in the sand is supporting 'Democrats' just goes to show that the truth is that everyone draws their own line. Arguments and debates over what is right vs left are so useless most of the time.
I'll agree with that only when you agree that my line in the right line! 😂
So right-wing is anything Trump says? That makes being left-wing so easy! All I have to do is listen to everything he says and decide that I think the opposite!
@Jim
Excellent analysis, but I still find myself *solidly of the opinion" "A pox o' both their houses."
"As far as Antifa, their self-proclaimed spokespeople have a rather dismal and very public record of anti-Semitic tropes"
Interesting. Do you have any examples? And are you sure that they weren't criticizing the actions of the Israeli government, but were actually being anti-Semitic? Also, what are your thoughts on most or all recent terrorist attacks against Jews in the US (Pittsburgh, Poway, several others) being done by conservative activists? How come you're mentioning one but not the other? Is it more anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government than to shoot up an actual synagogue and murder actual Jews? That doesn't sound quite right to me.
Your “conservative activists” claim don’t appear to hold water
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_on_Jewish_institutions_in_the_United_States
It doesn't? Pittsburgh was a right-winger. Poway is a right-winger. Jersey City was Black Hebrew Israelites, who are neither left nor right wing. Which of the attacks in the list you shared was by Antifa?
Read what you wrote again. Then read what I wrote again. I didn’t say anything about Antifa, and I’m not responding to the part of your response about Antifa.
This is what I wrote: "most or all recent terrorist attacks against Jews in the US (Pittsburgh, Poway, several others) being done by conservative activists"
You're saying that the list of attacks refutes this. How so? The Pittsburgh terrorist was a conservative. The Poway terrorist was a conservative. So how does the list refute this?
You can’t be serious. Do you genuinely not understand? Here’s a hint: you pulled two items out of A LIST.
I'm definitely right wing. I'm Christian. Anyone who claims there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans doesn't understand politics.
Cornell West is Christian too.
Chris Hedges
Tons of left-wing Christians. Not sure how that is your overwhelming piece of evidence.
Sure they are. Like Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Christians all of them. Right?
Ah, but they are all right wingers, so not great examples.
I was specifically referring to the Black Evangelical vote. Other than Biden, I doubt any of your examples are very Christian, and none of them are left-wing.
You're assuming they mean something specific.
And from podcasts and radio is still significant.
e.pierce starts spamming, "ASSHOLE" in 3... 2... 1...
There it is. Lol.
I contribute plenty of value. Namely, making you look like an idiot!
Civil war cosplay.
Bingo! LARPing as real soldiers on the field. Hilarious.
That’s exactly what it is. The fact that these people are too stupid to realize that they’re just straight-up buying into the media’s portrayal of them is the icing on the cake. “We’re anti-fascist! Put your camera down, motherfucker! No media allowed! What? I’m extremely anti-fascist!” “And I’m anti-anti-fascist! I don’t know why I’m here, but I’m gonna counter-protest Antifa anyway!” What a fucking joke.. Clowns…
@Jonathan
LARPing and cosplay, indeed ! A bunch of fatheads playing "Army GUYZ" who hilariously expect *respect for using a paint gunz, and breathing the same shit they are trying to spray onto others. If this was anywhere *other than Portland, the absence of actual police would simply reflect the fact that these *truly pathetic pasty-faced kids straight out of their mother's basements, are not really a danger to *anyone but one another, and who risk only property damage to the any of the stores that are even still open! Yawnzers !
Yes. They also haven’t been allowed outside to play for a while, maybe their whole lives.
I can't get over the paint guns. Like, what? Lmao.
And that dude at the end, arguing with the Christian about whether it's OK to "shoot" the "terrorists?" And the Christian guy actually condemning people for it?
I could hear Dietrich Bonhoeffer rolling in his grave. When the real shit starts, I hope these kids are wearing fucking diapers.
Have you been hit by a paintball before? They hurt, especially if the velocity is cranked up. It's also psychologically difficult to walk towards someone shooting stuff at you. It lets them cause some harm and back antifa off without drawing serious criminal charges.
There’s such a thing as “Pepper Balls”, loaded with pepper spray. Don’t know if that’s what they used or not.
How do paintballs compare to bullets?
That’s my point. They’re playing games and it’s gonna bite them.
There's a guy on here comparing Kristallnacht to what happened in Portland with Antifa and the Proud Boys.
In case people are unaware:
"Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers.[5] Rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland.[6] Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed,[7][8] and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps.[9] British historian Martin Gilbert wrote that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from foreign journalists working in Germany drew worldwide attention.[5] The Times of London observed on 11 November 1938: "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenceless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."[10]
Estimates of fatalities caused by the attacks have varied. Early reports estimated that 91 Jews had been murdered.[a] Modern analysis of German scholarly sources puts the figure much higher; when deaths from post-arrest maltreatment and subsequent suicides are included, the death toll reaches the hundreds, with Richard J. Evans estimating 638 deaths by suicide.[11] Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.[12]"
He is comparing this to a paint ball fight and a broken window because the police did not respond. It boggles the mind, although he is an Andy Gno fan. A drama queen who pretended someone throwing a milkshake in his face was akin to being hit by a 100 flaming Molotov cocktails and burned alive.
Where do these people come from? Has our failed educational system really done that bad a job?
They're soft. As to why? It's whomever and whatever raised them. That can be anything from parents, to schools, to churches, to whatever you want.
I was raised soft too. Life has its way with you though and I'm happy to report I've taken really good notes. The world is a beautifully dark place and so many people just... shy away from that?
Maybe I can boil it down like this: we should teach children how to handle danger and adversity - not avoid it, hide from it, and cower in the dark because of it.
Humankind runs straight at the dark and conquers it. Feature of the species.
Quadrophenia, yes; but Kristallnacht?
Are you sure that's not a straw man?
Or Troll?
@Areslent
Which is to say, the Nazis were NOT LARPing ! ;-D
I don't think paint guns would make it at the Kabul airport right now.
*sticks and stones may break their bones, but words will never hurt them.
For this generation it goes:
Sticks and stones may be dodged when thrown, but words cut all the way through me.
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but hollow points will cause massive internal injuries!
I liked Luca Guadagnino's 2018 remake of Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA; it hits on this stuff without being too explicit about it. Static on the radio.
I posted this on the previous article, too:
A thousand or so years ago, when I was 19, I was involved for about half a year with what probably was the "Antifa" of its day. And we did a number of stupid, violent things in the name of noble causes. I can't speak for anyone else who was also involved in that organization, but for my part I think our causes were just and our tactics and strategy was nonsense on a host of levels. I don't think we punched or threatened any reporters, however.
My online interactions with people claiming to be either "Antifa" or merely "anti-fascist" have been singularly unpleasant. Like a huge percentage of Americans, regardless of where they identify on the political spectrum, they're much better at verbal violence and complete intolerance than offering coherent positions and supporting them. One "wrong" word from me or any other adversary (or even apparent ally) and they launch the verbal equivalent of their full nuclear arsenal.
Sadly, a lot of people who identify as progressive, hard left, or similar things but not necessarily Antifa are also horrifically intolerant and operating with rage on hair-trigger alert (not that folks on the right are calm, reasonable, and respectful of dissent). Most people seem almost psychotically prone to verbal Armageddon. So many people go from zero to nuclear war at the drop of a Shibboleth. Maybe someone should write a book about all the hate out there, how most people are siloed into one viewpoint or its opposite, and how the media seems intent on stirring it all up for ratings.
The book could be called something like, "Ire, Ltd," or "Rageaholism and Company": what do you think, Matt?
This is what happens when you have a bunch of people that have been brainwashed from K-12 and into College as they get their BA in Gender and Grievance Studies and then, thanks to Big Tech, are allowed to have a microphone larger than they deserve and the ability to hide behind that microphone without having to ever face anyone in person. This problem needs to get resolved in our schools somehow since no one is ever going to put the phone/social media genie back in the bottle. We need to start teaching about Socialism and Communism instead of indoctrinating people into those ideologies.
what's the proud boys excuse?
Probably watching Antifa getting away with crimes for 130 straight days so some genius decided they needed to get in on the act.
so grievance studies home school
Some grievances are more legitimate than others, no?
neither antifa nor PBs case is really standing out for me in this video - there is a hilarious lack of self-awareness and irony from the similarities between the two from which both would die of embarrassment and shame.
Wish I'd said that.
me too
score
The FBI told them what to do so they did it.
Who is the leader of the Proud Boys?
An informant?
How spicy.
Socialism is a political movement of ugly people. What if all of this idiocy in Portland is just a response to personal rejection?
Man, you need to get out more. There are some ridiculously attractive socialists out there.
Congratulations. You just won respone of the week and I'm not even a socialist.
e.pierce...been too long! Hope you are well.
I believe your claim and would also love a sauce if you have one...never know when it might come in handy!
Merci' mon ami'.
I remember my abnormal psych professor describing something similar back in grad school, but glad to have something more modern to read.
I really appreciate the links, e
@BillPD
Dang, Bill, sorry that you had a deficient psych teacher. Just remember that "abnormal" is only in the eye of the beholder !
;-D ;-D
Holy Hannah, Henderson's has been around since 1885? That's f-ing amazing. Had no idea.
LOL
My oldest kid has recently discovered smoked paprika so of course now I have a Costco-sized container to last a decade.
Amazing spice!
(BTW *sauce* is an old bulletin board term for *source* as I knew you would know, but some may not)
If they're mentally ill then they're not liable for their crimes and can't be sent to prison for them. Congratulations, genius. You're basically saying that Antifas, by definition, can't be held guilty for anything they do.
Do you think we just let psychopaths who commit crimes walk the streets because they’re mentally ill? We don’t hold mentally ill criminals accountable in the same way, but that doesn’t mean we do nothing. Think before you post.
This has all been massively engineered for years. Yes, the silos we are put in makes everyone act tribal and ridiculous. Narcissism and self-centeredness rule the day.
Good observation. Maybe there is a psychological phenomenon at work here - all the rage and frustration at the lack of agency most of people feel in their lives, which cannot be articulated in some positive, constructive way comes out like a hysteric outpour of hate. And I don't see any of it improving, we may be doomed to a cycle of violence.
Mass fucking psychosis.
I certainly didn’t have a decent job when I was 19. But I had enough sense to leave an organization that less than two months later had three members turn themselves into bloody confetti. If your comments about terror are serious, I can’t wait to hear the rationale for them. And about all your glorious actsof vintage violence.
I honestly have no idea what your basis is for your comments about me and my viewpoint.
Even before watching this, I should add that it's amazing the responses to the last piece on social media. People are so broken that they just can't comprehend this information outside of their culture war bubble.
Unless someone unequivocally states that Antifa (who doesn't exist, mind you) are the glorious foot soldiers for their nonsensical, incoherent movement, that person is dangerous, a fascist, or worse, like Jordan Peterson, Tulsi Gabbard, Glenn Greenwald, Bari Weiss, Andy Ngo, Matt Taibbi, 75 million Trump voters, people who've held a working class job, etc.
What a boring, dim, dangerous bunch of unthinking twerps the internet has created.
Or that the FBI and CIA have created.
DARPA did it.
etc., etc.
Is the “someone” and “that person” referring my to the same party?
Matt, While this reporting is miles ahead of anything in the mainstream, do you think it's fair to characterize the groups opposing Antifa as right wing? Couldn't they just be centrist Americans, or perhaps populists who are fed up with the violence and property destruction Antifa brings anywhere they go? Far Right makes it sound like they're somehow aligned with Fascism or dream of Peronist Argentina, when my guess is they're simply the fringe of the ordinary. Mostly working class Americans of all races (unlike Antifa largely made up of spoiled college kids whose parents run Vassar or a hedge fund by day). They are only right in the sense that America's working and middle class tend center right, not leftist destructionist, and hope to live and raise families in communities that love their country and care for each other.
It appears to me, both groups are stupid and deluded. They attack each other, instead of the people who are actually oppressing them. So, a waste of time.
Except when you stop to think that the leader of the Proud Boys is and FBI informant directing the festivities, it all makes sense as a red herring for the sheeple to FEAR.
Hey, look the FB I just foiled a kidnapping attempt in Michigan that they were directly responsible for through planning and funding.
See what a GREAT job they are doing to protect John and Jane Average from the dangers IN OUR MIDST!
What a bunch of deranged leaders we have today. Such psychopathy! Total disdain for The Poors.
I've been convinced there is a ratline running into the thought leaders choosing the "consensus" issues on the "antifa" left for years. I remember wondering where the agreements were made that somehow there was automatic mass agreement on a range of issues including some that actually had contradictory internal inconsistencies eg feminism and Trans issues that are not the same or reconciled meaningfully and slowly becoming glaringly out of step. Or crt issues and optics as an emphasis over actually addrssing the economic war waged against most of us. Or weird support for.neocolonial interventions in the broader left. A wise friend reminded me this was the entire point of cointelpro. It would probably be difficult to find any left political extreme influencer that wasn't being either paid or steered by informants. No messiahs allowed right? What better way to set the motivations aside for another generation than to install people right into the role who end up betraying the cause. The disillusionment lag of wasted organizing buys the oligarchs another 5 years building their private island bug out compounds. So far it seems effective against all odds.
Definitely all part of the FBI/CIA-directed shit show.
Not sure classic political left-right categories even apply. If Antifa was really "left-wing" they would be protesting in front of Amazon, chain themselves to the Bill's house gates, etc. The last genuinely left protest movement in the US was Occupy Wall St. - even the name says they were on right target. The establishment got scared fast and eliminated them even faster, injecting tons of woke distracting goal and petty identity politics issues - under which the movement diluted itself and fell apart. As somebody else said, Antifa is fake left cosplay probably animated by some deep state connected wing of DNC. After all, we know the main role of Democratic party in the scam called US political system - capture genuine movements, absorb them, poison them, spit out their empty corpse.
Well said. That is what I have argued for years now. Why isn't Antifa going after the actual fascists? Which would be the corporations, military and the PTB running the shitshow. Yet they are curiously absent from that. Instead, they go after yahoos without any power at all.
Same reason we go after places like Iraq and Afghanistan. It's fun to win.
Doesn't look like they won this round - lmao, Proud Boys chased their wussy asses away.
With paint ball guns.
I'm sure the boys at Verdun would have been deeply impressed.
I wonder if we'll get a 1st Battle of Bull Run. You know, where folks came out to watch the battle? Legit picnics and shit.
I don't believe they did that at places like Gettysburg or Vicksburg.
Make of that what you will, I suppose.
*coughs awkardly*
I wonder the same thing about so-called "political activist hackers."
Nobody in this video coverage qualifies for 'centrist' nor 'fed up populist', not even the reporters.
"Welcome to Portland. Today, we expect a real barnburner. The Proud Boys are here in force, and we understand they have both red AND green paint for their toy guns. Some speculate they may even have water balloons. Todd, how does Antifa plan to counter that?"
"Well, Mel, Antifa is planning to fend off the paintballs with umbrellas and, if the fighting gets too personal, they promise the WD-40 WILL make an appearance. Also, they expect the all-black uniforms they are wearing today will give them extra incentive. Rumors on this side, too, with word trickling out that there may be some girl-shoving. Back to you, Peter."
"In other news today, in Oakland's Chinatown, nothing to see here, move along, move along."
Funniest comment I’m probably ever gonna read, on any article, anywhere. You have officially won the the internet. But hey, at least everybody can agree on one thing: we all love football (I’m assuming “Todd” and “Mel” are references to Todd McShay and Mel fucking Kiper; if I m wrong, ignore the “we all love football” part).
@Sustack Reader
GREAT Post ! Thanks for the laughs.
I want everyone who reads this to reflect on the FACT that the Proud Boys' leader is a goddamned FBI informant.
He's working for them, and orchestrating this shit with other FBI informants for a REASON.
Watch as the "Domestic War on Terror" unfolds and enjoy watching Biden the war criminal gas-light the press who will never bother to ask a serious question or investigate anything.
We're living in a dystopian sci-fi plot where the elite are staging unrest to keep on justifying their genocidal march to the end of the world.
They are, by inches, declaring liberty an "existential" threat.
I believe they know it's collapsing and they're going to try their hardest to not let go of it. I mean... it's a military industrial complex, after all.
Biggest military on the planet.
Joey from Scranton joked, "You'd need F-15 and nukes."
The press laughed.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan...
AK go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I think they find the 99%, if uncontrolled and unsubdued, an existential threat. They really do not like us.
The Proud Boys leader is Afro-Cuban "White Supreme", on top of being an FBI rat. The hilarity is non-stop these days! :-)
Or looking for scapegoats for the seemingly impending crash as the derivatives market implodes becuase it is basically one big "side letter" just another thing that used to be illegal before Bill Clinton freed Wall Street from the shackles put in place post-depression.
Obama then freed them from the threat of doing time and instead made it rain.
GW proved anyone can be president as long as they have lineage...mostly the Walkers.
Biden proves the press is dead. That one's kind of weak, but it's early in his admin...
Enrique Tarrio, the Afro-Cuban white supremacist, was just sentenced for burning a BLM flag and having loaded high capacity magazines with a felony record. He definitely has been an informant. Will be interesting to see if he actually serves time.
Well he didn't in 2012 and 2104 for crimes he committed while acting as an informant.
Even if it went ANYWHERE, he makes millions doing what he does. What a cunt.
Worse still are the war criminals at the head of the US Gov't death cult he works for.
If you asked PBs for their badge number, 1/3 of them would give the game away. Same for Oath Keepers and all the others. Cunt is a perfect description for all of them.
“The elite” 🤣
I don't know if Matt reads these emails. I'm not on any social media site like Facebook or Twitter (I find these sites to be dangerous to our freedoms), so I can't comment there, but I would love for Matt to do an expose on both the Proud Boys and Antifa. I trust his judgement over any media organization. I'm reaching out to everyone that follows Matt to encourage him to go to Oregon and report on these two groups. If enough of us on this site do so, hopefully he'll listen and we'll get the real story. Please everyone, reach out to him.
Pretty sure he doesn't. He just collects our money and laughs all the way to the bank.
@MarkS
You pitched *such a freakin' hissy fit about *leaving this site, that most people inaccurately think you are *gone. If you ARE going to leave, try to find the door.
If NOT, please take a hint regarding the fact that these bitchy little back-biting ad hominem attacks on Matt reveal you as a coward. You are free to do with your subscription, anything you wish. Just don't weep with the very real possibility that you may be "called on" these Iago inspired sneak attack back stabbings.
That doesn't mean he reads our comments though, does it?
And quoting from your link:
>In front of a crowd of 50-100 people, Proud Boy organizer Tusitala “Tiny” Toese and other speakers touched on subjects ranging from media, to religion, to transgender rights, to Toese’s “Samoan” way to open a beer.
>Randy Ireland, president of the Hell’s Gate Bridge chapter of the Proud Boys, condemned the prosecution and incarceration of January 6 defendants.
>“Our next rally is going to be September 18th, in Washington DC, right where it all started at the Capitol building,” Ireland said before announcing that Micki Witthoeft – the mother of Ashli Babbitt – would be in attendance.
>Proud Boys hung a “Free our political prisoners” banner from the awning of the abandoned Kmart.
....
>Proud Boys surrounded a man in a truck carrying water and snacks for counter-protesters.
>The group smashed the windows and fired mace and paintballs at the driver, who tried to protect his head.
>“Get the fuck out of here, bitch” a Proud Boy said as he pushed the man fleeing on foot.
>Towards the end of the skirmish, a paint-drenched Toese turned to the assembled videographers and spoke out while beginning to cry.
>“I know days from now, I might be arrested,” Toese said. “I’m sick and tired, and if we have to die to defend ourselves, our families, and our fucking freedom in America, we’re gonna do it.”
>The right-wing activists then returned to the Kmart lot, where several flipped over crashed van on Toese’s command and shot it with additional paintballs.
>“Flip this motherfucker over so they don’t get to drive this bitch,” Toese commanded.
But, of course, Matt only writes about the other side. Because he knows where his money is coming from: trumpistas.
He does read them
If South Park doesn't dedicate an episode to Antiva vs. Proud Boys street fighting, it will be a crime against humanity.
You win the thread.
It's just a dangerous game to all of these people, and they're all on one "side": chaos and destruction. How long until they replace paintball guns, mace and low-level fireworks with real weapons?
The man covered with paint and saying over and over to "stop shooting people; it's not Christian" was the only likable, reasonable person here, and he was berated, ingnored and yelled at.
This is totally demoralizing, but thanks for covering it. I'd actually seen some of this footage on Twitter—the hellhole you kind of have to be on to follow what's actually happening. (My one caveat on these "riot journalists" is that they may be an essential part of this chaos equation too, but I'm glad some footage is documenting this moment.)
Matt, I'm surprised that you're promoting a video that's so sympathetic to Antifa. The video is hardly in line with your previous post. The only time the Ford Fischer team is critical of Antifa is when one of their own is being assaulted. They consistently call them counter-protesters. Hardly a fitting description of an angry mob who specifically traveled to a site to attack actual demonstrators with chemicals and explosives. They also completely skip over the events that sparked the violence in the first place. The were clearly filming during the peaceful demonstration and then skip to a van being vandalized followed by Antifa being chased away. If they don't have footage, the least they could do is provide an explanation. I live in the Portland Metro area. I've seen Antifa's antics. Surely they didn't just drive all the way out to NE Portland in black bloc to park a van and walk away.
I didn't see it as being sympathetic to Antifa at all. It seemed to me to be pretty balanced, which is rare to see these days. Objective, even.
Sympathetic probably isn't the right word, but I definitely didn't see it as balanced. Visually, the majority of the violence was coming from one side and the voice over kept referring to Antifa as anti protestors when they are clearly agitators. Protestors don't show up in black bloc with homemade explosives and bear mace. Antifa went there for a fight, just as they've been doing for years now. There has got to be footage that was excluded that would've shown at least some of the instigation.