Comments

1

$hitler and his gang of Greedy Old Pervert Despicables will have to posthumously prosecute Franklin D. Roosevelt and every WWII-era soldier for their antifa terrorism against Germany and Italy, otherwise known as the last war America officially won.

2

Oh looKKK, Unoriginal Andrew is bacKKK.

If they start arresting antifa, who will make my coffee at my local hipster joint? Or are there more bored white kids available to take the work?

3

Well of course he does. Despite the massive increase in white supremacist violence, his administration has decided white supremacists and their violence are not problems. So he's going after the anti-fascists, because only in this fucking dumb as shit country are people who are AGAINST FASCISM the problem. I seriously cannot wait until Trump is in a land fill. Why the fast food and his mental derangement have not put him there already is something I truly do understand.

4

I do NOT understand. (as for all of the racist minions just like him, I wish they'd all just fucking shove off, too).

5

"Despite the massive increase in white supremacist violence"

Don't you mean "ginormous"?

7

Wait, Antifa is an 'organization'?

8

Antifa is a scapegoat and is largely infiltrated by right wing activists who coopt the anonymity of the mask element and destroy property to create a false equivalency by hijacking a bunch of hipsters, homeless junkies, and rebels without a cause.

9

@8 Cool story bro.

10

I've long had this theory that says that we need radical left groups if for no other reason than to make the center-left look more reasonable.

Without the Black Panthers, Martin Luther King Jr would have been labeled as the radical. But because of the Black Panthers, instead MLK looked like the less radical, more reasonable figurehead of the civil rights movement. When the AIDS epidemic was at its nadir, ACT UP led loud protests, threw fake blood at drug executives and so on. Crazy, right? But they took on the radical label, making quieter protesters and activists look all the more reasonable in their demands. Crazy dykes on bikes with electrical tape on their nipples made the more mainstream gays wanting marriage rights seem less radical.

To me, this looks like the same thing. Sure, Antifa looks radical and ineffective. But they are still pushing the center to the left. Now people arguing in favor of impeaching trump are looking far less radical than those crazy loons in Antifa masks, amirite?

Anyway, that's my theory.

11

@10, under the "leadership" of @SpeakerPelosi, we are led to believe that protesting quietly in the privacy of our own homes will create a nice, polite environment of mutual respect and bipartisanship that will solve problems created by the criminal regime of 45. She might even send a tersely worded letter to Trump letting him know that she would kindly appreciate him being more amenable to historical precedents. If that sounds feckless and weak, that's because it is. #ITMFA

12

Start arresting Antifa and Seattle Community College’s pastry arts program will lose all its students.

14

If this goes through, do I have to burn all my black clothing to avoid being picked up?

15

@1 Original Andrew and @3 & @4 xina for the WIN.
@4: No worries, xina. I knew exactly what you meant. I'm in full agreement with you and Andrew.

16

@2 Trump's Doofus Tool: Take off that ridiculous MAGA cap before your head caves in.

18

Predictably, Katie Herzog writes another tut-tut-tut piece about antifa.

With friends like Katie, who needs Maureen Dowd?

19

@18: Maureen Dowd? We all love Maureen. Her columns provide "fly-on-the-wall" insights - what's your beef with her?

21

tl;dr on this one "very fine people on both sides"...

The far right is responsible for much more violence including murder than any sort of US left wing movement "antifa" or not. Back during the WTO they were called anarchists. They are both labels so the right wing media can assign some sort of false equivalence with the right wing groups that are much more dangerous. When the "antifa" starts taking out black churches and synagogues with gun fire or barreling autos into crowds let us know.

22

@21

Well, there's this weird, dubious thing:

https://metrovoicenews.com/antifa-terrorists-plot-war-at-border-says-fbi/

And good old Connor Stevens:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/28/cleveland-anarchist-bomb-plot-fbi

But in general I agree with you-- if there's one thing that really distinguishes these ninja-costumed kids, whatever you might want to call them, it's that they're so remarkably toothless compared to other radical leftist groups in American history. Any three right-wing radicals are more threatening than 50 of these earnest dorks doing their revolution cosplay.

23

@21: True - but when was the last time the KKK, Proud Boys, or the like smashed department store windows, overturned cars, and other downtown mayhem?

There's ample disgusting filth on both ends of the far left and the far right, and they shake each other's hands on the dark side of the moon.

24

Raindrop. Are you serious? I mean, a white Supremacist murdered a woman at the charlottesville Unite the Right rally and seriously injured many more, and we got racist white boys shooting up garlic festivals and shit, but hey, at least they didn't break a window?

25

"Antifa" can be white supremacists dressed up as such to stage combat with other white supremacists (who then complain of being injured - but never go to a hospital so the injuries aren't documented) or engage in acts of property damage that can blamed on "left-wing radicals."

In fact, I've witnessed this on videos - where it's so obvious because, for example, the "antifa" are even trying to break the windows of a bank and the police are standing right there doing nothing - which was also in Portland. (Rule of thumb - if the police are there and not doing anything, it usually means they're not antifa. If the police start arresting people, rest assured, they're left.)

Another example was in Berkeley which hit mainstream media as "antifa" trying to break windows (and of course police did nothing in those cases, too). There was a right-wing social media account where the poster and others photographed themselves by the damage in what appeared to be a thinly veiled means of "showing the receipts" for whoever was paying them to do this - and in what appeared to possibly be bitcoin.

So there's a lot of stunt-stuff. Now, that's not to say that all antifa are really white supremacists dressed up as antifa - or that this person, whoever he is, wasn't really assaulted. But notice that the man who murdered Heather Heyer with his automobile (and was recently convicted) belongs to an actual organization - which the writer correctly points out, "antifa" is not - as do numerous others involved in violence in Charlottesville and elsewhere - but Trump is not calling for these groups to be classified that way. And, I further believe the pay-offs to some of these charlatans (like in Berkeley) go straight up to the top - to Trump himself. In fact, Bannon was traveling the country organizing these characters while talking daily on the phone to Trump, at the same time.

Last but not least, there is a white supremacist hate group (classified by the SPLC) who actually dress up just like antifa - with the exception that they may be sporting logo for their organization. Like some of these awful people who beat up Deandre Harris in Charlottesville.

There are also open and out antifa who are involved in volunteerism (as with hurricanes and floods and soup kitchens, so on).

26

@25 - another example from the same group that staged this stuff in Berkeley... they even staged a stunt "on air" with a local corporate news affiliate. The reporter was interviewing one of them when suddenly out of the blue this seeming "antifa" leaps onto the camera and "pepper sprays" the "alt-right" person directly blasted in the face. Well, no way was this pepper spray by the way the person reacted. But the reporter was either dumb enough to gobble it up - or in on it themselves (and this wasn't FOX, it was via ABC-7) - and they made it a big news story and then the person started circulating throughout the far-right youtubers and so on, doing interviews about how they were attacked. And it was all bullshit. Eventually, word got out, and they started qualifying their former statements to try to cover their tracks. It was all garbage - it was staged. "Antifa attacked me!"

27

Antifa is really only an issue in shitholes like Portland where the local government tacitly supports their actions, and lets them commit whatever violence they want. Antifa is basically the bored white children of university professors, so they are way too scared to do anything outside of roaming around where they feel protected and attacking people for no reason. They will grow out of their little game eventually, whether from boredom, or because they attacked the wrong person from behind and actually got punched.

Anyone supporting their violent stupidity is obviously a moron grasping at straws. Imagine how stupid you would have to be to think it is all right-wing provocateurs or that violence on one side excuses violence on the other.

28

@24 @25 RE white supremacists who actually dress like antifa. Here's a photo of some from the Washington Post. They're with "Vanguard America" - note the logo on two caps. But other than the small logos, you could easily think they're "antifa." They're not. They're violent and vile racists.

https://images.app.goo.gl/Bt7SDmyxU2gYpBab9

29

@27 Imagine how stupid you'd have to be not to have read the following in @25. It's kind of long for those not used to reading advanced material. But of course, that's not you or what you were posting about. There wasn't anything else you read that disturbed you because of who and what was being outed.

"So there's a lot of stunt-stuff. Now, that's not to say that all antifa are really white supremacists dressed up as antifa - or that this person, whoever he is, wasn't really assaulted. But notice that the man who murdered Heather Heyer with his automobile (and was recently convicted) belongs to an actual organization - which the writer correctly points out, "antifa" is not - as do numerous others involved in violence in Charlottesville and elsewhere - but Trump is not calling for these groups to be classified that way. And, I further believe the pay-offs to some of these charlatans (like in Berkeley) go straight up to the top - to Trump himself. In fact, Bannon was traveling the country organizing these characters while talking daily on the phone to Trump, at the same time."

30

@24 You bet. Heather Heyer and others, Deandre Harris, the 3 men on the train in Portland who defended the 2 black women (2 were killed - a veteran and recent college graduate - 1 was stabbed in the throat and survived (a spoken word artist). The elderly black in NYC who was stabbed and murdered with a sword. There's also the man who was shot on the UW campus in Seattle - he survived, too, but he's lost internal organs, catastrophic medical bills, permanently disabled in ways. And what "energized" these lunatics? Donald Trump. I firmly believe that Congress is remiss in its duties by not impeaching him on the basis of inciting hatred and violence (as brought by Rep Al Green) based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender and political beliefs. It's deliberate and calculated, and the Democrats, for the most part, are handling it terribly.

31

@24 @31 There's also the mosque shootings in New Zealand. These people were incited by Trump. The POTUS has enormous psychological impact, not only on Americans, but across the globe. He should be taken out and thrown out of office, on the basis of his horrific failures in leadership, in and of itself. (Besides the fact that he's shown to have obstructed justice and should be indicted.)

32

@24 @30 (that was supposed be 30, not 31) @31 The elderly Jewish worshipers who were killed, too. We could draw up quite a list. This individual should be thrown out of office, not to mention indicted and jailed, whether in office or after. (Personally, I believe a sitting Pres can and should be indicted. The POTUS is not above the law.) Pelosi should resign, herself - and if she doesn't (which she won't) her voters should throw her out.

33

@24: The difference between burning cars and smashing windows and running some over with a car is a matter of degree, the evil is still the same instigation.

34

@29: No, you are just supporting violent morons that you think are on "your" side, because you have the political sense of that bird in your picture.

You actually know deep down how stupid it is to support violent masked goons because you have to lie to yourself and type all of these words to convince yourself that they are actually evil "right wingers" doing the violence.

Your conspiracy theories and magical sense of causality are hilarious though.

35

Sloppy reporting like this does the right wing's job for them. The FBI director has it right. There is no "antifa" organization. Everybody who comes out to counter neo-nazi, kkk, alt-right proud boys is an anti-fascist. All the non-violent resisters who join hands and try to down out the hate with singing are antifa. They are the good people.

36

27: Yes, and if they actually did something beyond what you describe, the pearl clutchers would really turn on them fast. Is the complaint here really that Antifa is "ineffective" and "toothless"? Does that mean if there were a true radical militant group on the left that was effective and, say, killing fascists, you would praise them for at least doing it right? It seems like every portrayal of antifa is either "menacing leftwing thugs sowing violence and discord" or "ineffective dorks causing minor property damage." I think if the latter became the former, everyone on here would screaming bloody murder.

37

So maybe we should be glad Antifa is basically ineffective so the far right can't just dragnet a ton of nonviolent activists by claiming they're 'antifa.'

38

@36: They are ineffective/toothless at fighting any kind of actual political battle, or enacting any kind of actual social or political change. That does not mean they are ineffective at putting on a mask, and then sucker punching and pepper spraying journalists or random people on the street, when certain local governments endorse their behavior through inaction.

The problem rational people have is with the second part. No one cares if they want to wear their black jammies and shout dumb slogans with their trust fund money. It's the physical assault and mob violence that people do not like in their communities.

39

38:

Yes, so why aren't people criminalizing the right-wing militias and assorted terrorist groups that have engaged in actual murder? Where is the push to end the mob violence on the right? Did communities ask for a bunch of heavily armed hicks to march in their streets and incite violence? Or are we actually pretending antifa and sucker punches are the equivalent of armed right-wing revolutionaries/paramilitary groups? It's funny to me that you're going super nimby on a tiny minority of idiots but have nothing to say about right-wing vigilantes who have organized around the idea of racial violence. As a member of a my community, I don't remember a bunch of racist assholes to march around and intimidating women, gays, and minorities. Do I have a say in this?

40

38:

Yes, so why aren't people criminalizing the right-wing militias and assorted terrorist groups that have engaged in actual murder? Where is the push to end the mob violence on the right? Did communities ask for a bunch of heavily armed hicks to march in their streets and incite violence? Or are we actually pretending antifa and sucker punches are the equivalent of armed right-wing revolutionaries/paramilitary groups? It's funny to me that you're going super nimby on a tiny minority of idiots but have nothing to say about right-wing vigilantes who have organized around the idea of racial violence. As a member of my community, I don't remember asking a bunch of racist assholes to march around intimidating women, gays, and minorities. Do I have a say in this?

42

@40: Um, they are talking about that, and people are being prosecuted. The two that everyone keeps pointing to in this thread are the guy who ran his car into a crowd and the guy who shot up the garlic festival. The former just got sentenced to 11 trillion years in jail plus 8 life sentences, and the latter was shot dead. Not strict enough for you?

Anyone who commits violence should face justice. This is not a hard concept, despite so many who struggle with it here. People are talking about Antifa because THE POST IS ABOUT ANTIFA.

Also, not really wanting masked vigilante mobs committing random political violence in the streets is not "NIMBYism." It is called " civilized society." Pull your head out of whatever dark crevasse you have lodged it in.

43

42: Pretty easy to have dark thoughts when your president is a fascist, albeit one too stupid to realize it. Not sure you've noticed, but our political culture is not civilized.

44

42: I'm not talking about prosecution of a single actor here and there. I'm talking about designating the various white supremacist militants as terrorist organizations. Since the topic is about how antifa brought the right-wing backlash upon themselves and now have to deal with being labeled terrorists, I'm suggesting that our government should be actively disbanding the various right-wing terrorist groups that are currently active, you know, before another Oklahoma City-style incident. I don't think prosecution of a murderer here and there will prevent the inevitable large-scale terror attack the right will most definitely carry out.

45

@44: Why not name the groups you are talking about if they are so prevalent and are massacring thousands as we speak?

Why can't you name the groups and what they have done? Why are you being so vague and coy with this information? You seem to believe "they" are currently plotting a large scale terror attack. Who? Where? How?

46

@36 "Does that mean if there were a true radical militant group on the left that was effective and, say, killing fascists, you would praise them for at least doing it right?"

The only one here who's conflating murder with effective direct action is you, JMS.

There's all sorts of stuff out there that an activist could smash or vandalize that would make a statement or a real difference or both, but windows of chain retail ain't it, and never mind the kind of publicity stunt where you build something instead of break something.

But instead of any of that, the kiddos in black seem to strongly prefer exactly the same sort of macho posturing and strutting and homemade-uniform-wearing and tactical-gear-fetishizing and (amusingly) flag-waving you get in the white-supremecist "militias"... minus the credible threat.

They're all gussied up in this paramilitary nonsense, yet you get the distinct feeling that the whole show would be over, everywhere, if one of them ever blundered into killing someone during one of their performances. I don't get the same vibe from the white nationalist militias-- those fuckers seem instead to be positively inspired by, e.g. Charlottesville.

47

@45

Teddy, anyone who knows your posting history knows that you are acting in bad faith.

Two years ago, when the bus Nazi was punched out on the street, you claimed it was a false flag attack staged by liberals. You claim that the Nazi was not a Nazi. It was proven later that he was in fact a right winger.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/09/18/25419894/witness-neo-nazi-threw-a-banana-before-he-got-socked-in-the-face/comments/78

Anyone who's interested can just look at comment number 78 from the link above.

"Your conspiracy theories and magical sense of causality are hilarious though."

Pretty funny shit coming from a conspiracy theorist like you.

48

Here is my original comment from the punched out bus nazi incident. It seems just as fitting now.

Here's the problem with punching Nazis.

Infowars, Breitbart, Fox News and the rest.

Punching a Nazi is like handing Alex Jones a $50 bill while simultaneously spray painting a Target on your back.

This is 2017 people, and the internet appears to be forever, or as close to forever as any of us is ever going to see.
The Nazi should have thought about this before you put on that stupid armband, and the guy that punched him should have thought about it too.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/09/18/25419894/witness-neo-nazi-threw-a-banana-before-he-got-socked-in-the-face/comments/59

49

@47 Teddy's foibles aside, that "Agents Provocateurs" ranting from the Jay Bird is still completely bananas.

50

@24:

See also: any time a southern university wins a major sports championship...

@33:

You tend to say a lot of stupid shit, but this one may be a personal record for you. Next you'll be telling us the Boston Tea Party of 1773 was just a slightly less-evil iteration of the Boston Massacre of 1770.

51

@49

Both of them sound pretty bananas to me.

My favorite part is that both of them claim that the police are complicit.

52

(Rule of thumb - if the police are there and not doing anything, it usually means they're not antifa. If the police start arresting people, rest assured, they're left.)
-North American jay bird

Antifa is really only an issue in shitholes like Portland where the local government tacitly supports their actions, and lets them commit whatever violence they want.
-Teddy

Stunningly crazy all around.

53

@47: "This looked kind of staged to me" is now a grand conspiracy theory and a "false flag attack." The fact that you guys save and stew over these comments for years is hysterically pathetic. I hope you can realize that.

I did not say the police were complicit. I said the local governments are, which the Portland police union seems to agree with, per Daryl Turner.

So your goals for this year are to find a hobby so you don't obsess over two year old internet comments, and learn to read.

54

@53

"It could be a lot of things, personally it seems to me in order of likelihood it would be an internet prank/publicity stunt, the world's dumbest edgelord, and then an actual Nazi parading around in Seattle (alone and unarmed) and starting arguments with people. None of these things are conspiracies or "false flags" (a conspiracy by whom, even? What would it achieve?)."

What you've described is a false flag:
"A false flag is a covert operation designed to deceive; the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activity, disguising the actual source of responsibility."

"...lets them commit whatever violence they want."
How can they be allowed to commit whatever violence they want without the complicity of the police?

Seriously Teddy, your bullshit is spread pretty fucking thin today.
Don't blame me for your posting history following you.

Finally
You have 7521 comments here on Slog.
I have 1005.
It sounds like you need a hobby and a life.

55

A large-scale right-wing terror attack carried out by an individuals or group affiliated with a right-wing extremist org is pretty much guaranteed. It doesn't take prescience or deep research to predict that eventually some heavily armed kooks are going to commit a horrible act, especially if your boy Trump loses the election. I don't have to show my work because I know it's going to happen and when it does Theo will be there to rationalize it away. Armed extremists on the right and left will always act on their rhetoric eventually. There are just a lot more armed kooks on the right.

56

Meh, I don't like the machismo crap with Anitfa sometimes and the fact that they often lack discipline, breaking a citizen's car windows distracts from the point, focus on banks etc. At the end of the day I'm 100x more afraid of white supremacists than the masked black and red flag wavers. They aren't going to hurt you if you aren't with the fash thugs.

57

Meanwhile, 90% of the groups on the SPLC's Hate Map are given free reign by not only tRump, but both the GOP and the Demoncraps . . . . I recommend all of My Fellow Reds to go as far Underground ASAP! ( by utilizing the Deep Web as well as acquiring a passport for starters . . . and learn how to start various types of fires. #Arson is the Everyperson's WMD ).

58

@55 Right-wing domestic terrorist attacks are a matter of historical fact. I have no idea why you're speculating about this when anyone can do an internet search for "Timothy McVeigh," Eric Robert Rudolph," "Wade Michael Page," "Dylann Roof," "Robert Bowers," or " John T. Earnest."

@57 There are people alive today who are old enough to remember what happened the last time the red Left went underground in the US. If you prefer reading books to talking to old people, I highly recommend Bryan Burrough's "Days of Rage."


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