Not a Trump supporter but assaulting someone on the street because you don't like their hat is just juvenile..

This world needs a purge to get us back to some semblance of either decency or not giving a fuck about each other. I'm with the latter, life's hard enough as is for me to care about what the rest of us morons think. The 24 hour news cycle and gullible masses has ripped this country apart.

Poor, poor Teen Troll.

This will end like the Wiemar Republic: Nazi's and Commies killing each other in the streets while the centrists hope they don't get killed in the crossfire.

Apparently "When they take the low road we take a lower road" is the rule of the day.

@1:

Yeah, I'll bet in 1920's/1930's Germany they said the same thing about spitting on someone wearing a brown shirt...

I had not heard the story about the guy with the yoga CD. I am hard-pressed to think of a less threatening position the guy could have been in, sitting quietly in his car, eyes presumably closed, listening to yoga music. It's almost funny, and a "what the fuck is wrong with some people", head-in-hands sort of way.

"But still?"

Really Charles. Every state but one voted for Reagan in 84.

In 2008 I went to the Ellensburg Rodeo. Went to see some guy, I think his name was "the Bandit" everyone else seemed to know who the guy was, the stands were packed. He rode around on a horse and whipped stuff. While he was doing this the announcer kept making jokes like "If you plan on voting for Hillary please forget to turn on your headlights when you drive home tonight" and the crowd would roar in approval.
Yeah the problem is the "tolerant left".

@4 Come on people. This is nothing like Weimar Germany, the result of a lost war and revolution. This is more akin to Spain and it's civil war. Fascist vs communist backed liberal democracy. Btw, in an effort to keep the country's treasury (read stolen Mayan and Aztec gold) out of the hands of Franco and his army, the spanish government thought it would be smart to give it all to the USSR for safe keeping.... needless to say they never saw it again.

Anyway, look to Spain and it's civil war to see how this will all play out.

@5 are you really comparing a provocative teenager to an organized, paramilitary unit with the power of The State behind it? Really?

My guess is, he made America Great yet again?
Did I win?

(STILL not tired of all the Winning. Yet.)

@8 So they were a bunch of Obama supporters?

@5 change Seattle to Nashville and MAGA to Clinton/Kaine 2016.

Do you feel differently? If so your a hypocrite..

Either you thing it's ok to use violence against people you disagree with or you don't. Really is just that simple...

(Also as a descendant of Holocaust survivors the Nazi comparison just isn't applicable here)

why can't conservatives learn how to use your/you're properly? see also: there/their/they're.

No, I did NOT win.
WTF? Call me naive, but has incivility finally reached tolerant Seattle?
Does this mean I'm gonna hafta Shave My Head*?
And keep to my hovel?
Because Trumpfty?

Well -- I guess (at least) I can thank GAWD I'm all White.*
A tight head shave's pretty much all'sa you Need.
Although a nice shiny Swastika
and highly-polished Jack-boots
can certainly make the Man....

*far as I know...

@14 You know the reason. Those words are all spelled the same, because they all sound the same. It's fake news that those words are spelled differently and just some libtard excuse because Uranium One deal and Bengahzi.

@17
Clearly, you're homonymophobic

"But MAGA caps represent crying brown babies in cages...."

It's well known that "Hope and Change" caps also represented that. Between 2009 and 2015, the Obama administration deported more than 2.5 million people, a new record that still stands. Yet the Stranger uttered not a peep of protest when the Obama administration put brown babies in cages. The unfortunate -- but predictable -- partisan posturing of "Seattle's Only Newspaper."

The Obama-era photos of brown babies in cages from a detention facility in Texas:
https://goo.gl/Wq2xcs

Lesson here is know your audience. Back in Illinois, if he wore that hat on the Southside of Chicago (where I'm from), he would have been shot.

How about attacking an adult. It is a right to carry state and MAGA people are likely carrying. Want to be the tester on this one!

@10:

The Sturmabteilung was formed by the Nazi Party in 1919. Hitler wasn't elected Chancellor of Germany until 1933.

@13:

I believe in meeting force with force...

I didn't vote for Trump.

I will say what's good for the goose...

Careful what you wish for leftists, because once you cross the line into physical violence over something as benign as a red hat, you are beckoning an elevation of more physical violence to come. You can dice it however you like about Trump, and about supporters of Trump being assholes, or whatever. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Further entrenching someone into a political philosophy you find abhorrent is an interesting way to go about being part of the solution, not the problem. In fact it's taking part in the problem.

@24 He didn't use force. The person who attacked him certainly did.

This is what happens when Leftists take over the Progressive Movement, and papers like The Stranger placate them. What you end up with is equating a political philosophy with actually imminent physical violence. We all know it's not, but why would that matter to the rabid left?

This is precisely why I have removed myself from the Democratic Party, and disassociated myself with the Progressive Movement. Can't wait for the Leftists to come out of the woodwork, and call me a Trump supporter, even though I'm not. I will say this: You are going to lose. What little political legitimacy you have is waning, thank goodness.

@20 He would have been shot on the south side of Chicago? Bad example. Statistically he would by far be less than a black male. Probably 10,000% less likely.

The only thing significantly more dangerous than wearing an MAGA hat in the south side of Chicago would be being a black man.

@27 Tell that to the 30% of Hispanic, and 30% of Asians who voted for Trump. Guess they didn't get the memo. Mark my words, Hispanics will be voting Republican in much higher numbers as the years move forward, and so will Asians.

I suspect Blacks will be breaking free but in smaller numbers. 2020 you will see twice as many Blacks voting Republican, which would be a significant shift that Liberals better be worried about.

It's hilarious to me that the Stranger isn't just anti-suburbs in the suburbs, it's anti-suburbs in the city. The shit where you make fun of West Seattle and Magnolia is so fucking boring. Essentually everybody in Seattle voted for Clinton, everywhere: https://crosscut.com/2016/11/donald-trump-washington-working-class-election-2016.

@31 It's a fantasy that brings down 30% of the vote in both groups, even with Trump.

Yeah, spitting on people is pathetic, even if their political views are abhorrent. If the kid wants to walk around with a bright red I AM AN ASSHOLE sign on his head, more power to him. Don't even validate him (or confirm his victimized world view) by acknowledging it. Don't feed the trolls.

29

I've noted here before that of the hundreds of immigrants I meet every week, a large portion of them seem to have conservative viewpoints. They just can't stomach the discrimination and attacks against their communities. If the Republicans dropped all that nonsense they'd probably gain a lot of new voters.

@19: you're conflating deportations of undocumented foreigners during Obama's terms with the child separations inflicted on asylum seekers (and sure, other undocumented foreigners), which was a deliberate policy change made by this administration.

this change was made to punish and intimidate anyone seeking asylum, which is LEGAL. you know it as well as I do, and your whataboutist games are transparent and repugnant.

@19: further, one would think you'd celebrate that 2.5 million deportation number, because Obama did it just to placate your ilk, and liberals didn't make a peep because we basically agree that people shouldn't be in America illegally, and that is in fact the law, despite your hyperbolic "Democrats want open borders" bullshit.

we just thought maybe we could show some of them some compassion; specifically the Dreamers, who are here through no fault of their own, and have lived up to every expectation we've asked of them.

oddly, Conservatives are the least willing to exercise Christian charity, despite their endless bleating about the Bible and God and Jesus.

@35 Whataboutism labeling is a common deflection tactic these days. It’s as if it’s been added to the Leftist handbook.

@36 Not all Liberals want open borders. I certainly don’t. But all people who want open borders are Liberals.

Where was Dan Savage when this MAGA shitwipe was parading about Capitol Hill?
@3 & @14 Max Solomon: I know, right?
@15 & @24 Doofus in Shoreline: STFU already you sick, pathetic fuck.
@25 & @26: Oh, and gun totin', bible misquotin', fetus dotin' MAGAs AREN'T violent? Really?
@28 & @29: Just where did you get your data? FOX TV isn't a reliable news source and never was.

Yawn,,,,

@40 Thanks for the link.

It's obvious the little redneck POS is just after right-wingnut clicks.Get out, you little victim-playing #MAGATrash jerk!!! We don't need or want your stinkin' redneck tourist dollars.

I said it before and I'll say it again - why is this news? Who cares? Trump supporters are MURDERING PEOPLE. Fuck them. Fuck them if someone grabs a hat off their head and spits in it and tells them to get out. Trump supporters are physically assaulting people and TAKING THEIR LIVES. This story does not deserve the attention it's getting. If people who hate Trump and his supporters start murdering people like Trumpsters are doing at their hate mongering in chief's behest, then there will be news to report.

Trump's supporters were all about the Fuck Your Feelings rhetoric. So fuck this kid and his feelings. He's free to wear the hat. We are free to associate that with tacit approval of Nazism and respond appropriately.

Other than a mugshot, that is the most famous that green haired guy will ever be. The guy with the hat did him a favor. He should be thanked. We could give him 4 pieces of stolen bikes as a gift.

My first vote in 1984. Voted for Reagan and yep, I have no regrets.

"While he was doing this the announcer kept making jokes like "If you plan on voting for Hillary please forget to turn on your headlights when you drive home tonight" and the crowd would roar in approval."

I voted for Hillary and still find that funny. Sorry ladies, no safe spaces at the rodeo.

"I believe in meeting force with force."

Tough guy! In your Prius. That you woman is driving.

As far as trolling and filming he's no Sacha Baron Cohen.

I own a restaurant. Late one night, I was driving by my restaurant and saw the cops swarming somebody who was on the ground. When I stopped, I identified myself as the owner of the restaurant and asked what was going on. They told me that a black man had claimed to be having car trouble behind the store. They felt he was really casing the place and as he handed them his ID he told them that he was the manager of the restaurant

I told them, "My restaurant manager is black and he often has car trouble because he has his wife drive their more reliable car so that she won't ever be stranded." They had me take a look at the man on the ground who I quickly identified as the manager of my restaurant. Thankfully, they had not shot him or beaten him for simply having car trouble and they let him go.

They never issued a word of apology, of course. Oh, and at no point did they ever ask me, a white person, for any identification or verification that I was, in fact, the restaurant owner.

You failed to mention that the neighbor who called the cops on the kid cutting the lawn was black as well. It had nothing to do with race.

Liberals are one of the most racists and violent groups in the country.

@45 Doofus in Shoreline: With your level of RepubliKKKan stupidity and woeful ignorance, I'm certain a lobotomy would best cure you.
@46 Brent Gumbo: Thank you.

@53: Oh, and gun totin', bible misquotin', fetus dotin' MAGAs AREN'T violent?? Really?

I find many of these posts sad and pathetic. Especially a Trump supporter calling liberals racist when in fact they own that and Trump ran his campaign on hate and divisiveness. This young man is no different than any other whining republican complaining about abuses yet he purposely antagonizes people with that goofy hat. I ignore those hats because my definition is not the same. But, there are those offended by it and I respect that. I don't respect a punk going around starting trouble like many republicans do then whine about it on youtube or facebook as this young man has been doing. Also, for those of you so horribly ill-informed on the situation that Obama faced, he was sending back a major influx of unaccompanied teenagers not babies and small children. No one was kept for more than 42 hours and all were united with family. Not at any time did Obama strip children from parents arms then throw those babies into cages while sending the parents back to South America. That is Trump and he alone is doing that. He kept those children as a pawn to get Democrats to pay for the wall, they refused. Trump is still holding those children and everyone should be outraged. But they have seem to forgotten all those stolen children. No. This kid is a punk, out to create a situation then use it to justify his own hate and ignorance. Shame on all of you.

Spot on and enjoyable.

@53, nope. Pretty white looking.

Though if you read the story I referenced below, sounds like this has a feud with your kooky neighbor element as well. Before the kid got the mowing job, the white neighbor who called 911 had the job of mowing his black neighbor’s lawn. The white neighbors also called the police 60 times in 18 years for all kinds of stuff. They called the police for permission to park their car on the street instead of their driveway so they won’t get a ticket.

Embedded in this story was another story about how Cleveland gentrification meant a demographic shift with wealthier, white millennials moving into the city and long time, city-dwelling blacks moving out into more affordable suburbs like Maple Heights (which had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation in 2007).

“The Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights has seen a major demographic shift in the last two decades, going from 51.6% white and 44.3% black in 2000 to just 23.9% white and 72.1% African American in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.”

https://mic.com/articles/190120/white-ohio-family-that-called-911-on-black-boy-mowing-lawn-calls-police-on-him-again-july-4#.UcFDgz3OZ

This mowing story isn’t black and white simplified, but about black and white displacement, irritating personalities, a fence which didn’t make good neighbors, a dash of racism, culture clash and fear.

Americans today like building walls. Of all kinds. But the main purpose is a good defense. To keep like-minded in and not so like-minded out. A good, angry wall energizes those who have a big void to fill. And Charles, you are a master wall builder.

Robert Frost wrote it best:
“I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go....
....My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.”

@21 - the maga types are more likely to shoot themselves. You know David in Shoreline is a conservative because he advocates for natural selection like this against toddlers and their families.

@26 - You were never a dem or progressive. You say you didn't vote for trump but omit who you did vote for, so I can only assume it's someone almost as bad or worse. Plus you're clearly a racist. And why do you hide your comment history? Telling you'd be terrified if someone could go back and reference your other lies.

The tolerant,accepting left also has the franchise on hypocrisy.

I live in Louisiana. My wife and I were in Seattle on vacation two weeks ago and visited Capitol Hill, and I noticed the signs in the window of every business with words to the effect of "we welcome all genders...you are safe here". You can walk around everywhere with a MAGA hat here in Louisiana (a lot of people do) but if a business around here put that sign in their window it would be vandalized or ripped down the same day. So yeah...free speech and all...but fuck that kid.

@45
Since you aren't a doctor making an actual prescription based on a clinical diagnosis, you're just another dirty, fucking pusher.

@60 - Just cuz the right accepts degenerate, morally reprehensible people into their leadership doesn't mean the left should tolerate it or accept it like you do.

Fuck your feelings snowflake and get better talking points.

“we welcome all genders.”

Welcome to the land of make-believe!

The only people to blame for Brown Babies in Cages, are the idiotically irresponsible parents who illegally cross a border with their children-- and a large percentage aren't even the real parents, but criminals who use the children as loophole to get their foot in. Learn the facts Mugebe.

What do David Meinert's hats say?

@37: It better be in every "Leftist's" handbook. Along with the Gish Gallop, it's the coin of the realm now, gifted us by the Putin Autocracy. I'm going to call that bullshit out every time I see it. I want everyone to recognize it.

And I'm barely a "Leftist".

@65: Seeking asylum is not a crime. Cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional. Learn the facts, racist.

@65. Crossing the border illegaly, and then claiming to be "seeking asylum" when caught, is not actually "seeking asylum" status. You have to go through a LEGAL port of entry to be "seeking asylum". Learn the facts, dumbfuck.

@69 was meant for @68's dumbass Max Solomon. Not @65. Sorry for a mistype, Georgie. Lol.

@47 True. Reconstruction failed because of time and lost political will. What should have happened is that every single confederate soldier who surrendered, like at Appomattox or Durham, should have been shot as a traitor and every single confederate politician should have been hung. Federal troops should have occupied the South for 3 generations so that the rot of treason wouldn't have a lifeline disguised as southern pride or belief in the lost cause. The fighting part of the war ended in 1865, but we've been fighting the cold civil war since then because the failure of the US government at the time to rid this continent of the mindset that all people aren't created equal.

69

I'm sure, were you in the same position as them, that you'd take a number or wait patiently for the US government to properly staff the appropriate point of entry so your claim could be heard. Wouldn't want to commit a petty misdemeanor to save yourself or your family. Or you'd just pull yourself up by your bootstraps or something.

But you won't ever be in that position because of your inherit superiority, I'm sure.

You and 65 are afraid of brown people. Brown women and children. Your insecurity is pathetic and not becoming of a citizen of the greatest country in the world.

So, to preface, I’m about as anti-Trump as they come (in the top 10% anyway). Nevertheless, I have a couple of issues with this article (I’m not even going to go into the comments). First of all, the report of this kid being spit upon because of the hat being so blithely dismissed is distressing. In fact, the author of the article spends more print on ‘cop calling tapes’ than he does the titular teen, and expends only one sentence on the ‘guess what happened’. I understand that the hat represents ‘brown babies in cages’, or the wall, or the Muslim ban, or any number of offenses against immigrants, minorities, women, the poor, the media, the intelligence community, etc… However, the left, even those as proudly far-left as those on ‘the hill’, cannot fall into the trap of seeing civility and the moral high-ground as a liability rather than a virtue. I know that ‘when they go low, we go high’ didn’t exactly work out for us last time, but let’s not slide down the slippery slope of seeing the other side as non-American. Perhaps they’re misguided, or ignorant, or just flat-out racist, but spitting at people isn’t going to move us closer together.

Some might call this kid’s stunt stupid, or trolling, or intentionally provocative, or whatever language you want to use. But he may have done those paying attention a service by crossing the geographical lines of ‘us vs them’ and peeling back how we really feel. Some might even call it brave or ballsy. But, either way, part of the division we’re witnessing in this country due to ‘us’ being here, and ‘them’ being all the way over…wherever it is that ‘they’ live. Unlike the protesters and marchers we so often see on the hill, happy to safely march and chant in the most liberal part of one of the most liberal cities in the country, this guy decided to take wear his beliefs on the other side, whether as a stunt or a point. Maybe, instead of always grousing to each other, we find ways (hopefully more constructive than the hat stunt) of engaging the other side not to incite, but to understand and educate. In short, we need to move past being pissed at each other.

Extra credit rhetorical question: What if, instead of a teenager, this was a 55-year-old white guy with an American flag belt buckle wearing the hat? (I’m positive I’ve seen such specimens near the Starbucks Roastery area.) Would he have enjoyed the same Cap-Hill hospitality, or might the mob have let it slide? Are the young just obligated to toe the blue line?

@69
"8 U.S. Code § 1158 - Asylum

(a) Authority to apply for asylum
(1) In general
Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or NOT [emphasis mine] at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where applicable, section 1225(b) of this title.
...
(B) Time limit
Subject to subparagraph (D), paragraph (1) shall not apply to an alien unless the alien demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that the application has been filed within ONE YEAR [emphasis mine] after the date of the alien’s arrival in the United States. " - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158
Your information is just plain wrong.
Learn the facts...

@72 I WAS in that position, dumbass. I am a LEGAL immigrant and I know exactly how that works. Maybe before assuming shut about other people, you would like to know the facts first. Illegal immigrants make it harder for LEGAL immigrants, like myself and my family, to come here LEGALY because the governments criteria and vetting gets higher and tougher so people have to wait longer. Get in line like everyone else, or don't bitch about the consequences of your own actions when caught. Period. Also, human trafficking is an issue with coming here illegally as well. I have no sympathy for criminals, but I know you have no problems with it.

@74

Did you ever read what I wrote? My point was that you have to apply for asylum LEGALY and have the application go through the proper channels before the it gets accepted. That includes the LEGAL aliens who are already here. Let me repeat that, so you don't get it confused. I know the lefties don't know what LEGAL and ILLEGAL means. LEGAL aliens have been registered here and, or have visas, therefore they are here LEGALY.
Now onto my point: you cannot cross the border ILLEGALY and, when caught, say that "I am now claiming/claimed asylum". That's still ILLEGAL. They have to have applied for it and have their application accepted. Then there would be no reason to run across the border ILLEGALY.

Jesus. Not even talking about "learn the facts";
learn to read and, learn some basic comprehension skills.

75

Uh huh. I begin to see. The man of 1000 sock puppet accounts.

In any case, I do know the facts, thanks. Also, i try to have empathy for everyone, including folks who have committed a misdemeanor or overstayed a visa (not a crime btw).

Also, you can cross illegally and then request asylum. It's called a Defensive Asylum application.

Finally, I don't think people bitch so much when they get caught, but rather when the consequences far outweigh the level of infraction, are immoral and inhumane, and don't respect the standards of due process that are foundational to our democracy.

I am not interested in the ego battles between individual politicians. The bottom line is that voting Republican is voting against the environment. Your nationality, skin color, whatever, does not matter if the water pouring into your glass at home is full of chemicals and your "food" is comprised of chemicals and the air you breathe is full of chemicals. The EPA, the FDA, all those acronyms whose job it is to keep the public safe, they are endangered by the GOP. The blasted Endangered Species Act is endangered! Think before you vote. It's a matter of life and death, maybe not for you but for sure your grandkids.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE how the left is becoming unhinged..keep it up, the middle and right welcome your help. As a hispanic, I am 100% voting republican-and no, I'm not homophobic I actually support equality for the LGBTQ community. I'm not racist either. What I am against are stupid ass liberals and/or socialist ruining this country.

Well done young man for standing up for what you believe in, and fuck what these shitards in Seattle think about your hat.

@79 - I absolutely love how propaganda mouthpieces on the right will pretend they're anyone and anything to project a specific narrative.

It's also telling that the right considers being anti-nazi as "unhinged."

What on Earth did all the "but people called the cops on black people" tangents have to do with the fact that people in America think it's OK to assault someone over a hat? Despite the fabricated narrative the deranged alt-left tries to piece together, those two things have literally nothing to do with each other. Nothing. People have the right to support conservative values/policies and to wear a friggin' hat. If you don't think so, you are the fascist.

@81 - You created a beans new account just to say that?

Sad.

@76
I'll try one more time.
"Whether or not at a designated port of arrival" means they can swim the Rio Grande or arrive via hang-glider, it doesn't matter.
"Irrespective of such alien's status" means their presence in the US is the only thing that matters, not whether or not they have registered with the government.
"Within one year of the alien's arrival" means they have 365 days to begin the application process.
Putting all three of those together and it means that their legal status in this country has heck-all to do with asking for asylum.
Personally, if I were heading to the US for refuge and heard they were separating people from their children, I might opt to slip in and wait for a better option. For all the protest that if they would just do it the 'right way' at a port of entry, there are numerous cases of separation despite these refugees following the rules. That doesn't even address the fact that Border Patrol is turning these people away at the POEs.
The 'Learn the facts' crack was referring to your post #69. My reading comprehension is just fine; yours, however, seems to be a bit lacking, which is why I went ahead and explained all the big words from my previous post.
Btw, before you go insulting other people's language skills you should probably figure out how many Ls there are in LEGALLY and ILLEGALLY.

"MAGA caps represent crying brown babies in cages", future GOP voters escaping socialism and-

Obama's actual cages!
Media's actual coverup!
Exploiting the images of children who aren't refugees!
On the cover of Time no less!

Do you feel a breeze yet? It's not our place to tell the King