Idiots should stay home and ignore the assholes. They crave attention, don't give them any.

The alt right thugs were pretty well welcomed by the city of Seattle and allowed to have a permit and had a police escort anywhere they went. They were inciting violence.
Sorry you were so bored. Do you know what they stand for? If they are not confronted by others then they feel free to intimidate and do worse to vulnerable people. They murder e.g. Roof shot and killed a number of black people while in their church. Two people were stabbed to death trying to protect two women of color in Portland not long ago by one of Patriot Prayer’s members. The killing of Heather Hayer. I could go on and on. They are fascists.
The people arrested by the police are usually the counter protestors. You didn’t notice that the police were lined up against the counter protesters and began to put on their riot gear against the counter protesters? Maybe you should investigate the practices and philosophy of the proud boys and their white supremacist allies? Really a pathetic article and not putting the community on alert to what is going on and the danger they represent. You were doing these thugs a favor.

@1 That did not work for people in Germany that ignored the Nazis in the streets. They got more aggressive and took over the country and you should know where that went. Millions died.

Oh sure, the city just rolled out the red carpet for them. On what grounds would you have denied the permit, Ivy dear? And you would have preferred there be no police there at all? What a novel idea. Undergraduate zeal is always so refreshing.

@4 You were there? Grounds? They have made plenty of threats and their fellows/members have killed and attacked people. They were inciting violence. Should they do more? Look it up.

Maybe you are boring Lester.

Spoilers, Les: Nobody there today cares about your boredom. Sometimes providing a visible, numerous, and loud opposition to fascism is plain hard work, but it's work they needs doing.

Fucking fuck you, you boring fuck. I can understand it, not having that asshole close by.... But you're a fucking journalist. Talk with reporters from your sister paper in Portland. Yes, Joey Gibson is a piece of shit. And what he is doing is effective. He's drumming up right wing rage and bringing it into liberal cities. And then you have a liberal reporter, acting like a liberal. No, it's not just a little show. No, they won't go away if you ignore them. This is a danger. This is a show of force. Look around you "journalist". The government separated children from their parents. Our government is being plundered by professional thieves. And now you have these Pinochet worshipping fools marching in the streets? Do better fuck face.

As in tie the threads together. Look at historical trends. If you're bored, jerk off at home and collect unemployment checks. Give up your job to someone who is interested in doing it.

Anti-climatical withdrawals are tough, going to the gym helps.

You didn't know what people he meant when he said these people killed his grandfather? I knew it in .1 seconds from nothing more than fidgetting through middle school 40 years ago and simple knowledge of what two words "anti-fa" stood for. Hint: the first one is "anti". You went to a protest to cover it for the most popular newspaper in a major US city and walked around wondering "what are these people protesting" and were still wondering while writing and posting the article on the front page. If this is too harsh, let me at least say that your decision to caption a picture of the people you were sent to cover giving Nazi salutes with a joke about grilled cheese seems way less offensive than if it was done by anyone else.

I also knew in .1 seconds why he didn't answer your question about "which people killed his grandfather". hint: He was probably at the bar tonight excitedly telling his friends that he's going to be on Sascha Cohen's show!

Yep, his grandfather, that's a tough one, reporter. Must have been WW II. Maybe he gave his life on Omaha Beach. Maybe he died in a Japanese POW camp. What planet do you inhabit that you don't relate to any of the feelings people are experiencing, in which case, why should it be shocking that someone his age might feel he want not want to share these things with you, Reporter, more interested in melted cheese and convinced that no one should show up to register a counter-protest? Did you notice how many people showed up in D.C.? Didn't that make you feel better, as an American, that people cared enough - in such massive numbers - to say that fascism is not acceptable in the United States? "Oh well, what's the use? Starbucks is a better way to spend your day?" No wonder your newspaper's political endorsements are so confused, too. P.S. BTW this Gibson person did pretty well in the election, last I looked. He was in 4th place. 38,502 Washingtonians picked Joey Gibson for U.S. Senator for Washington State. Now... what if all those people not only voted, but decided to show up to march. You'd advise everyone to head to a Starbucks for coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich instead? And then you wonder why this country has problems.

WWMLKD? What would the Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King do?

No, seriously, how can one apply civil disobedience towards the social issues we have today, when the ire isn't directed at the government so much as other citizens.

MLK was very much against violence. He let the other side be violent and the world saw that and took notice.

With this pathetic report, Lester, you have done more to help the Stranger suck than even Mudede or Nathalie Graham, who contribute toward that end on a daily basis. These are Nazis, do you understand what that even means? Apparently not.

Looks like Seattle needs a real Alt Weekly. Maybe one that doesn’t use shrug off Nazis marching in our streets or cover up for rapists who have advertising dollars.

How far this paper has fallen.

18 - Nobody is shrugging off anything. Yes, constant adherence to the activity of extremist groups is always warranted. But that doesn't mean that we're all expected to wash, rinse, and repeat this ritual every single time.

This has been going on since Skokie. And it will go on for as long as our nation exists, unfortunately. Maintaining diligence does not mean applying our energy and outrage according to everyone's satisfaction in the debate.

@19. Bullshit. Public confrontation and outrage drove those piles of shit underground. The resurface to test if their ideas have mainstreamed and to see if they are tolerated.

We have a president who said some Nazis “are good people.” We have open Nazis and white supremacists as members of the GOP running for office. And winning.

So go fuck yourself with your apathy and appolgia. You either confront this shit or you tacitly condone it.

Meh... I actually find it encouraging that the Nazis can only get 50 people to show up for a rally, despite being dogwhistled by President Dipshit for the past 2 years, and despite all the media coverage that their rallies generate. These people are nothing and going nowhere, other than the unemployment office.

The Stranger is not a newspaper at all. At best they are a news digest; they rewrite stories from other papers, mainly the Seattle Times. In addition to being a news digest they are a newsletter listing and reporting on various entertainment, artistic, and cultural happenings in the area.

These balaclava-bedecked kiddos get so very excited about maybe possibly getting a chance to beat the shit out of people they don't like, but they're silent as church mice when faced with the opportunity to vote for candidates who support pluralistic societies.

"Anti-fascist" is a fig leaf, a sad little disguise for anarchists and other far-left absolutists who can't find the courage required to promote their political ideas on the merits. It's so much easier to just put on a black mask, throw rocks at the people you hate, and absolve yourself of any responsibility for the state of the society you live in... isn't it?

@20: My dear, they haven't been driven underground since 1861.

@22

The Stranger today is a quirky fine-dining circular. It hasn't had any sustained interest in new music for 20 years (excepting local acts with connections), they haven't had a book critic for over a decade now, and they fired the last of their visual arts critics years ago.

It's a booster paper for the local restaurant industry. Anything in it that isn't shameless advertorial is going to be the kind of fluff you might want to have at the ready when there's a lull in the conversation between the cocktails and the appetizers.

@26

I'm sure that belief is tremendously comforting, but I for one don't share it.

The window-smashing cadre are very much a part of our society, not ideologically pure creatures living somehow outside of it.

Paul Constant wasn't a book critic?

Jen Graves wasn't a visual arts critic?

whats the proof these rightists are nazis? seriously curious and wanting to see some evidence. In my day to day I hear nazi used most often to describe a trump supporter, someone who wants immigration enforced and/or someone who publicly has issues with some of the SJW interpretations of moral authority - as opposed to the many who quietly think SJW doctrine is annoying and harmful as fuck. Are these guys ex hard core skinheads or idahoan neo-nazi types? genuinely curious. Also I wouldn't mind a few quotes of what they were on about so we could make up our own minds. too reasonable? punch first ask questions later? ah ok

@24 Christ, don’t you get sick of your own Aw Shucks horseshit?

You spout uninformed bullshit so often it’s embarrassing. For fuck sake you can take five seconds to look this shit up. White Supremacist organizations like the Klan were once mainstream.

You know the KKK had three to six million of members at one point. They had at least a dozen state legislatures and governors and several dozen senators and presidential cabinet members.

Then as fascism became an enemy of democracy during WWII the WWII generation drove them from public life.

See. You can actually measure the rate of growth of supremacist organizations.

There are dozens of human rights organizations that have tracked these movements for fifty years. The SPLC, Amnesty International, even the UN and FBI. There is actually data out there.

So yes they had been driven underground. And they are resurgent. If you don’t actively confront them they grow. Ignoring it doesn’t work. And your stupid bullshit revisionist history of some steady state of our and proud white supremacy is refuted by actual facts and history. Not that you’d take even the five seconds to recognize that.

@30 - I never said ignore.

I've found that those whom get heated in a debate very rapidly, as you always do, conveniently put words in others mouths and often loose site of the what was said.

But for the record, I participated in the protest yesterday in spirit.

@28

Look, it's discovered the past tense!

How aborable, let me get the camera...

@1 Thank you, Jim. I couldn't agree more, and am SO glad I avoided visiting Seattle altogether yesterday. Obviously I didn't miss anything good. Shit like this is exactly what everyone could expect: nothing but racist neofascist gun nuts out to riot and deliberately cause trouble.
@26 GermanSausage: Thank you and bless you for the gentle reminder of one of the few comforts I have left.
@27 robotslave: Were you among the rabid window smashers? Then no, I don't agree with you or share your beliefs. Forget getting the camera. Your trolling is downright ugly enough.

@14 North American Jaybird: The 38,502 (?!) Washingtonians who voted for Joey Gibson for U.S. Senate are obviously beyond sick, grossly blindsided, and stupidly proud of their ignorance.

MEH, yawn,,,,,rinse repeat repeat repeat,,,this here's Pete and this is Repeat,,,,a WTO fucktravaganza this was not, a Fat Tuesday biker riot this was not, this was not a 1999 Mardi Gras race riot in Pioneer Square, this was not the night after the Rodney King riots on Capitol Hill, with a violent confrontation between police and a mob outside East Precinct, ending in 180 arrests. Society is not on the brink, we are not in the abyss, just the Donny Trumpkins years, and this too shall pass,,,Kristallnacht this is not,,,not even close,,,,it's more soul deadening Americana bullshit....which goes on and on and knows not left or right...we've become a lame game show with a lame brain host, not a Nazi stronghold bent on domination....

@34

I have to give you a little credit there, for purity of form. Usually those named logical fallacy thingies at least obliquely reference the topic under debate.

@31

You are the model of courage, strength, and sacrifice.

@37: Nobody can blame me for stupidly voting for and blindly supporting Mein Trumpfy and its shameless agenda.

@39

And yet you were and still are a member of the society that did exactly that. No disavowal can make all those other people go away, not even the most strident expression of animus can change the course the election took.

When you are pubilcly voicing your hatred, everyone can see it. You are visible to all people, not just to your imagined audience, not just to people who share your hatreds and revel in them with you.

"It's [this rag's] a booster paper for the local restaurant industry. Anything in it that isn't shameless advertorial is going to be the kind of fluff you might want to have at the ready when there's a lull in the conversation between the cocktails and the appetizers." --robotsslave

Wow. I get ALL my news from The Stranger.
And I never eat out!

(WTF are we doing here?!)

@41

Well, we're sharing little pictures of oligarchs with each other, at least... and you know, that would make a delightful cocktail napkin, now that I think about it.

Have you tried getting all your news from the weather report? It's not as relaxing as it used to be, but it's still a nice change of pace for a week or two.

@42

They're not my friends; I pride myself in having a diverse social circle, but it doesn't get quite so exotic.

That aside, though, yes, you've put your finger on it. That is precisely the point, thank you.

Nazis...Nazis....NAZIS! grasps pearls

ANTIFA are Fascists. Seems fitting they were there.

Figure out who the protesters usually are. Plan an Alt Right Rally. Only have about 80 people attend. During the rally, rob the protester's homes. Then use the money from the stolen goods to advertise the next rally through the Stranger.

This piece was nail biting. The US flag photos peppered throughout really turned it up a knotch.

Mudede must be pissing his panties over all this.

Nothing screams Nazi White Supremacist like a POC preaching about Freedom and Liberty.

Good thing ANTIFA was there to not let such a small rally go down without incident.

I think both sides are made for one another.

Great Comment, @17!

“While I loathe the guys on the right for their decisions and hate … and can understand why he [a bonafide left-wing jerk] and his ilk are thugs of the left, spoiling for a fight with a guy old enough to be his father. “

Violence is sabotage because it plays so well, right into the hands of the Verminazis; and gives the Police something dramatic and teevee-worthy to Do, and which they are very, very good at. (Although, they’re frequently found to be in the Wrong re: force, and are required [not the cops – I doubt they ever pay] to compensate Citizens for the pain and suffering inflicted at the hands of the “Protectors and Servers.”)

And the Violence – FROM BOTH SIDES -- becomes the Message.

“And if others on the left agree with me, perhaps you might not stand blithely by when your counter-demonstrations are co-opted by destructive and ill-mannered thugs.”

Call out the sonzabitches when they Co-opt the Message.
Or, THEY (and their brothers in Violence) will BE The Story.

Way to Talk the Talk, Boardwalk!

BTW, You write a piece claiming only 50 Alt-Righties show up, then include a photo that shows twice as many at least, how are you doing any of Liberal a favor?

Your Trumpian count feeds into a popular narrative on both sides. It also confirms that narrative.

Fucking hacks at The Stranger just don’t get it.

Oh--NOW I get it--silly me!----robotslave is Joey Gibson's campaign manager. D'UH.

@17 Park Place: Thank you and bless for going to a Seattle Sounders game, braving the alt-right wingnuts, and for sharing your experience.
@49 kristofarian: Fully agreed. Thank you and bless both you and Park Place. Beautifully summarized and SO spot on.

@51 Pretty shit estimate. Why would you have to estimate when you can count the bodies in the photo?

@42 German Sausage: Thank you.
@48 & @50: Don't tell me---let me guess---you're robotslave's black bandanna wearing, mouthy little brother, Trigger? Evidently it's true--the only way to shut up neofascists is to actually laugh at them, revealing the Emperor's New Clothes--or lack thereof. I'm surprised Doofus in Shoreline hasn't logged in yet.

@54

Laughter worked a lot better against the Klan at its height than sneering, threats and swagger ever did. They were undone during the civil rights era in part by the reporting on their goofy secret rituals and terminology.

Those old hippies with their "love" stuff might seem embarrassing today, but at least they didn't reject pluralistic values and indulge themselves in hatred.

That game didn't work while one side refused to play... but unfortunately, the flower kids came around eventually, when punk made love uncool again. Ol' Grizelda is a pretty sad -- but not atypical -- example of how that turned out.

That's how she got us to where we are today-- not by voting wrong, not by changing sides, but by giving in to the simplicity of stereotyping, by indulging in the comfort of public, self-righteous group-vilification, by shifting the culture to a point where across the political spectrum, public expressions of other-hatred are not only normalized and expected, but embraced.

@56: LOL I must be getting to you when you start rambling.

Sad losers preaching a philosophy of hate, destruction, and war. No one shows up because they’re dead end people with dead end ideas and a history of failure. We won’t win by shouting at them, we’ll win when they’re irrelevant, powerless, and impotent. We should point and laugh every time at their tiny crowds.

And before the flame war starts, I’m all for confronting them, every fucking time. But we should confront them with their own failure. They should be mocked and ridiculed, and called failures and purveyors of violence and murder. We should own their fucking marketing and plaster images of their horrible failures all over the place.

Few will be willing to strap on the jackboots enthusiastically. It’s the great indifferent middle that pushes fascism over the edge. We should message those people with nothing but a stream of the failing, shitty, dangerous world that fascists ALWAYS create. Show them losing, failing, killing, injuring, etc. Play their public failings over and over again.

Nullbull I’m with you on exposing ANTIFA. Bootlicking scumbags, every last one of them!

Wait, were you referring to ANTIFA or the Alt-Right?

@53,

What photo are you talking about dumbshit? There's barely 100 people present in all the embedded pictures combined. Ugh, shirtless moron should probably be banned. And I can actually usually (perhaps embarrassingly) enjoy some slog shit posters, but this is just a waste of the world wide web's currently available online comment posting space.

@61 There’s barely 100 in the photo? Thanks for confirming there’s at least twice as many as the author both claims, then refuted by the photo offered.

Seriously, folks. Refer back to my comment @34. I'm with Jim (@1) ---glad I wasn't caught up in Joey Gibson's pathetic little hate rally downtown, and that nothing ugly (i.e.: WTO rioting) came of it.

As far as the article, Lester said it was boring. Why is there a problem with that? It wound up being boring. Good. Do you people desire a full blown riot instead? This is still, for the time being, a country with some semblances of social stability. A boring demonstration is a good one. It means that there is a middle that can still be met. But I do not know for how long. None of us do. Demonstrate, counter protest away. The nazis know we are here. That it was "uneventful" is a nascent good sign. I do not count on this to last. Look at this as a "respite" from what is likely coming.

As far as the article, Lester said it was boring. Why is there a problem with that? It wound up being boring. Good. Do you people desire a full blown riot instead? This is still, for the time being, a country with some semblances of social stability. A boring demonstration is a good one. It means that there is a middle that can still be met. But I do not know for how long. None of us do. Demonstrate, counter protest away. The nazis know we are here. That it was "uneventful" is a nascent good sign. I do not count on this to last. Look at this as a "respite" from what is likely coming.

The news is Lester went outside.

@17, PP asked, "On what grounds do people with character and courage hide behind a mask?" On the grounds that both police and white supremacists tend to target people they don't like. I've had a cop call me out by name and accuse me of obstruction for literally shining a light on what his colleague was doing, which was repeatedly shoving some kid around who was just marching along with everyone else but happened to be on the edge near where the police were riding their bikes.

There is plenty of reason to mask up at a protest like this one. Courage is fine, but we don't need martyrs.

@35 On the bright side, if you totaled all the progressive candidates' votes (which doesn't include progressives who voted for Cantwell), they outnumbered those voting for Gibson (although plenty like them voted for standard GOP candidates). In short, Washington has a problem and so does Seattle. If they were in other cities, we'd see a much larger and well-organized opposition march, as on the news in D.C. In Seattle, it would look more like the Women's March, not as large, but certainly substantial. The fact that this reporter for an alleged "progressive" paper makes fun of the opposition protest shows how he is part of this problem, rather than the solution.

@17 @68 While antifa may mask up, it's worth noting that people also mask up to go into a group they don't support in order to instigate or cause trouble. In fact, there is one particular white nationalist group that masks up and looks quite a bit like antifa even though their views are opposed.

@20 You take 50 pathetic loser right-wingers and let them walk around a few blocks of downtown. People see how ridiculous they are, and just shake their heads, maybe with an ironic smile. Then you keep them from getting into a fight with a bunch of pathetic loser left-wingers who won't even show their faces. Riot prevented. Case closed. Or you remove the police and watch a riot start, with human life and property endangered. If that's your preferred scenario, then feel free to rain down a bunch of cuss words on me like you do others here, since that's apparently the only vocabulary you have developed for expressing disagreement.

@62:

From what I can see in the first photo there's maybe 70 total - and several of them appear to be holding cameras, so it wouldn't be out of line to surmise there were a number of press interspersed in the group. "About 50" seems like a reasonable estimate while leaving room for some margin of error. But regardless, whether it was 50 or even 100, if that's all they could muster for their little "freedom march", clearly they don't have a very strong base - or else their buddies just had better things to do on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon.

@69 North American Jaybird: That is and should be a concern. However, on a brighter note, COMTE offers this analogy @72.
@72 COMTE: I'm so glad I skipped out on Joey Gibson's pathetic little hate rally (and thank you, Stranger Staff, for giving out the warnings about 08-18-18 ahead of time). I mean, what could possibly have been the point but to call attention to those asswipes? I mean, when a woman pictured in a group like that dons a helmet bearing chicken feathers their crowd is just beyond dangerously batshit crazy. Why fan their flames?