All Protestors are Antifa

On May 31st, shortly after massive protests sprung up nationwide to highlight police brutality and the inequities in many US systems in regards to race, Trump proclaims the US will be declaring Antifa a terrorist organization.

He never did. It is entirely unclear how he thought he was going to go about enacting this designation. The only current means by which it could be done, is inserting this “organization’s” name into the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list. Since Antifa, so far as the implication of being a US group, is not foreign, it doesn’t meet that criteria. Since there is no means by which to declare they are terrorists in any organized, or indeed, ongoing legal framework, it doesn’t meet that criteria. Since they are not in any way recognizable as an organization, it does not meet that criteria. There isn’t any part of the F the T or the O, that this “organization” rises to.

Antifa is a political ideology. Its roots go back to anti-fascist groups of WW2. We know that. It continues as an ideology to “stand against fascism,” not an appropriated moniker for a national organization of terrorists. There is no such organization. There is a small organized group in Portland and a very casual, online one in NY (this could be an organization of one person as far as I can tell) that use the name Antifa, that’s it. Most famously, that Portland group organized citizenry to counter protest Portland’s Alt-right protestors in 2018; their involvement in the proceeding alt-right marches is not clarified. Outside of these examples, there is no affiliation, or chapters, or organization of any kind. There is no act of violence attributed to any organized “Antifa” except for a few instances where the person who committed isolated criminal acts, affirmed they ascribed to the ideas of anti-fascism, not allegiance to a nonexistent organization.

The administration and all of it’s arms, have failed to show what Antifa is, where Antifa is, or who Antifa is, and yet, despite this, the Administration and their proxies have declared Antifa to be the driving force in protests whom are responsible for anything ranging from- only the violent aspects of protests to the entire nationwide activity of protesting in general. One thing is for certain, if there are any aspects of ongoing protests that the Administration and their proxies dislike, Antifa is responsible. And this is firmly supported with zero evidence. It’s simply just a known fact, period.

How important is Antifa to Donny? I think a small sample of Donny’s recent tweets and retweets answers the question.

How important is declaring Antifa to be the driving force in the Portland protests to Homeland Security?

It is of utmost import, so important that the rational for finding a way to blame Antifa is outlined in this leaked Homeland Security memo:

It is no longer violent opportunists (VO) that commit illegal activities, it’s been decided we’ll call them “inspired by…,” Violent Antifa Anarchists Inspired (VAAI). Note- this dreadful memo’s logic is supposed to be applied to Portland only…but don’t let that stop you.

The results of the flawed logic in this memo is mind-boggling:

Overall the violence in Portland is not opportunistic violence, it’s ideological violence. That ideology is roughly the same as anti-fascist ideology. That similarity is the same as a nonexistent organization callled Antifa. We realize we can’t lump all violence into this newly defined class, but for sake of unified labeling, we’ll call them VAAI anyway. In practical use, no one is going to use the acronym VAAI, so let’s call them Antifa.

Therefore, all violence in Portland is Antifa, and here is your justification to call all violence nationwide Antifa, and if you’re super-propagandist certified, just go ahead and call all protests Antifa, violent or not.

Example of this illogical framework as played out in the recent William Barr hearing before the House Judiciary Committee:

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colorado)- “Now the American left is actively cheering as it’s fascist(?) militia Antifa rages in the streets. Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization that hijacks peaceful rallies, organizes armed riots, attacks peaceful protestors, burns buildings, loots stores, and spreads hate.”

“Reports of Antifa–linked attacks began in 2017.”

“Antifa fascists totalitarian activities are now oozing into other Democrat run cities.”

“What’s worse, Denver’s cowardly liberal leadership ordered police to retreat once they saw Antifa entering the fray.”

“The best our Chairman can do is call Antifa a myth. General Barr, this has to stop, we can’t let Antifa continue terrorizing our country. Can you please tell us about the appropriate use of civil and criminal RICO statutes to address violent criminal groups like Antifa?”

Paraphrasing Barr’s short answer: We could possibly use RICO, that doesn’t mean we have a RICO case pending.

WTF Rep. Buck? Why do you go through this exercise of defining Antifa, delineating its supposed actions of violence as cheered on by Democrats, and then at the end, ask how RICO can be used for organizations like the nonexistent organization Antifa, instead of fucking asking Barr what is going on with the DOJ in regards to their investigations of the “Domestic Terrorist Organization” Antifa? You did not mention any other group like Antifa. It sure sounded like you were super duper interested in Antifa as you spent almost your whole 5 minutes talking about them and then instead of asking about all investigations into this shadowy organization, you asked about RICO as applied to groups like Antifa. To which, there are no cases pending and we both know why Rep. Buck. For that, you need “organized” crime, and Antifa isn’t an organization by any definition, and it is doubtful there exists any group like them that can be classified as such either.

Dear lord.

Mixed amidst this administrations word-game subterfuge is a larger, much larger issue of intelligence gathering by the administration as hinted at in the above leaked memo: the inclusion of the word “cards” refers to intelligence gathered on individuals. There are other such reports for later discussion, but drawing from them for this context, it is noted that intelligence gathered, specifically in Portland as to the nature of the protestors is:

“The DHS memo described the conflict as connected to a years-long history of violence against government personnel and facilities in the Pacific Northwest by “anarchist extremists.” But it acknowledged that “we have low confidence in our assessment” when it comes to understanding the current protests in Oregon’s largest city.

‘We lack insight into the motives for the most recent attacks,’ the memo said.”

From the NY Times; anonymous sources:

“Officials who are familiar with the reports, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss them, said they are consistent with the department’s aggressive tactics in Portland, and in particular the work of the Intelligence and Analysis Office, which they worried is exceeding the boundaries of its authority in an effort to crack down on “antifa” protesters to please President Trump. He and other senior administration officials have used that “anti-fascist” label to describe people in Portland and other cities who are protesting police violence, as well as others who have vandalized statues and memorials to Confederate officers that they consider racist.”

What we see with our own eyes, is that the narrative is pervasive. To any cult follower, it’s all Antifa. Everything is explained with the term. Antifa. All motivation, every march, every action…especially any criminal one, is directly attributed to the shadow organization Antifa.

There simply wouldn’t be any protests following the death of George Floyd if it weren’t for Antifa. Therefore, since this is a terrorist group, all calls for reform, justice, or equality are not valid. There isn’t any legitimacy.

What Antifa actually is, is the latest incarnation of the boogeyman coming to get you. The Democrats are coming for your guns,your suburbs, and your apple pie. Those damn Democrats and their social platforms that clearly means they are socialists, and since some socialist principles are in Communism or Marxism, then it only naturally follows that Democrats are Communists and Marxists.

COMING FOR YOU.

The Muslims are coming, The Mexican rapist, drug dealers are coming. OMG the caravans. The communist Democrats will pick them up at the border and drive them to California where they will vote God-fearing Christians out of office. The Post office is coming for you. Liberal commie Hollywood is coming for you. The fake news media is coming for you. STAY ALERT! Everywhere you look, someone is coming for you.

Antifa is the worst of them all! The entire country is burning right before our eyes. Don’t you see? Be ever vigilant for the clear signs.

If you are protesting in Portland, you’re in the Antifa organization.

If you support BLM, you’re in the Antifa organization.

If you wear black, you’re in the Antifa organization.

If you support anti-fascism, you’re in the Antifa organization.

Portland Protests Feed 7/30. State cops coming?

Tonight’s supposedly the night the State cops are to assume the role of the Feds, in some form. We’ll see what form that takes. Times are in local time.

Current stream(s) I am watching:

My favorite stream Eric Greatwood (VeteransForPeace)

Blunt, aggressive stream: https://www.twitch.tv/radarbeam

calm stream: https://www.twitch.tv/anitanoellegreen

12:30: Crowd did their thing, now the size is noticeably shrinking. No one did anything bad. How hilarious would it be if nothing happens here on out? Would be great. Not something to have faith in yet, until we get through a weekend. But man, how awesome would it be. Big middle finger to the feds, it was just you all along.

12 midnight: Some people seem bummed there’s no anarchy going on.

11:55pm: Speeches, organized chants. Zero police. Zero activity on fence.

here’s a shot of the new spotlights from Fed building. Damn strong.

11:20pm: Would not be a good time for any police force to start the festivities. Half the Fed building fence doesn’t even have people in front of it. Crowd is total focused on protests, not building. Pro-grade cameras out there, maybe broadcasters. Would look real bad if police started now, which is the time Feds started last night.

11:10pm: Eric Greatwood describes it as, “A lot of nice cameras out here.” Tons of professional press. Streamers are standing on the fence pilons, facing the crowd, not the building. Crowd is turned away from Fed building, concentrating on organized protest.

Streamers standing on the fence facing crowd

10:50pm. Crowd is starting to cover most of front of Fed Courthouse fence, having moved over from Justice Center. Weird energy. A couple guys are rattling the fence, seeming to want to get the festivities going an hour early, but Feds got it going early last night, so who knows.

Spot light from Fed building is on crowd .

Some brief fight occurred in park in front of Fed building. Broke up fast.

10:30pm: Seems like there are way more press/streamers in front of Federal building than protestors at this point. There is some broadcast news and international news. Everyone is waiting to see who is going to be policing the protests and how are they going to police.

10:05pm:

Wall of vets-

ACLU observers-

10pm: Crowd is growing to it’s normal size. Everyone facing the Justice center, *not* the federal building. Still see no cops of any flavor.

9:45pm: Eric Greatwood is taking his followers around downtown for perspective into exactly how much damage, if any, there is around the immediate surrounding area to fed building. Not much. You will see boarded up windows (to prevent damage) and graffiti. That’s about it. Not only is Portland *not* on fire, neither is the immediate downtown area.

9:15pm: I can’t describe to you how tough this has been on press people; Semi-pro or amateur. They carry their gear, wear protective clothes, a face mask, a gas mask, watch to make sure protestors don’t set them on fire, while getting blanketed with gas and shot with rubber bullets and still try to document what they are seeing. It’s been pretty brutal.

9:00pm. the evenings speakers have started in front of the Portland Justice Center (next to Fed building, per usual). Couple hundred people, mostly in park. totally mellow. Don’t see any police, feds, anything on either side of park now or evident anywhere. Wonder what the plan is.

8:35pm. Portland Police completely cleared out vendors from the park in front of Fed building. It appears as if they are holed up on one half of the park. Earlier they had the whole thing cordoned off, as if the plan was going to be to work with State cop or Feds (who knows at this point) to completely choke the crowd. We’ll see if this happens. That would be scary.

Btw, the streamer I’m watching AnitaNoelle conveniently just panned up the fed building to the top where the Feds hang out to photo protestors. The residue from all the chemicals from past days is making people gag, cough…they aren’t well. The park grass is completely dead and the trees don’t look to good.

8:30 pm I want to say, last night, the feds were super aggressive in herding the protestors around, for whatever reason. They rushed the crowd an hour earlier than they usually would, for no particular reason, had massive forces out behind the crowd, pushing people down towards the 4 block area where the action is (Fed courthouse, Portland Police center, and 2 block park facing those buildings).

It looked to be around 100 feds at least. Most I’ve seen. They literally looked like they were trying out some crowd control herding as an exercise. Not kidding. They were toying with crowd. Force-to-crowd, they were not aggressive, only their underlying tactics were. They tried not to engage and really let people get in their faces on multiple occasions with no consequences. They did make 2 arrests that I’m going to mention in a bit.

ACLU has filed a new suit, this time against Portland police. This in response to Police live streaming the protest and seeming to spend a good deal of time highlighting individual people for what would appear to be identification. Long story short, that is against Oregon law. ACLU already “won” suit of Portland Police in this regard some time ago. This should be pretty cut and dry. I might do a post on this later.

Last night the Feds had installed a massive spotlight on top of the awning of the Federal Courthouse. This appeared to be to better highlight the crowd for the Fed photographers/videographers on the roof of the Federal Courthouse. The two arrests captured by streamers last night did not appear to be because of an incident interacting with the feds during the roundup. Pure conjecture, but I’m wondering if it was because of activity in the crowd some time earlier as picked up by the rooftop camera operators. Might be an interesting angle for ACLU.

You can’t see how massive the spot light is from this angle, but you can see it’s area of effect on the crowd.

Cry Foul! Another Abduction, This time NY

OMG!!! It’s happened again.

Similar to the event in Portland where federal officers abducted a protestor off the streets. You could see how this would raise concern. It was incredibly dumb, and I presume- incredibly lazy. What it was not, however, was federal officers, it was NYPD Warrant officers. It was not similar to the Portland event at all, except in appearance, and we should resist the temptation to lump them into the same type of constitutional over-reach and application of authoritarianism.

It was dumb, because it was undertaken directly in front of marching protestors. How fucking stupid. It was lazy, because they had at least this person in mind from recorded offenses (listed as 5 offenses), from other protests and the officers figured, probably rightly so, that she might make an appearance at this event. So the NYPD Warrant officers just waited, in their not at all unusual street clothes and unmarked car. The reason why this is SOP, can you imagine how effective warrant officers are in public, in their uniforms and driving around in a police cruiser? I’m guessing, not very.

That aside, we don’t like it. We don’t. We don’t like the imagery, particularly after our National psyche was disturbed by the visually similar event in Portland. Could we argue the officers did not identify themselves or mirandize this woman? If you want to…from a twitter video. It’s highly unlikely, but go ahead and make the armchair analysis if it gives you a feel good. Could we argue they used excessive force? What do you think? Does what you feel make a difference.

There is a world of difference between what we feel and what is an actuality in law.

We should not conflate this with the action in Portland, for many reasons.

Most importantly, it dilutes the importance of a separate event. They are not related. We rob from ourselves our own cause. In lumping the constitutionally challenged event in Portland, with our disapproval of the event in NYC, we cloud the importance of challenging the event in Portland on constitutional grounds. This is really important. It’s not to say, that one has an actual affect on the other, but that joining them together confuses and diffuses exactly which are our issues in these disparate events as a narrative.

We have done to ourselves that which the right gleefully and effectively does in many issues, by rebranding and relabeling our issue and then arguing it on the grounds of the new label. Resist this temptation.

These events are not the same.

The event in Portland has been legally challenged by State on constitutional grounds, failed in the States faulty case, but not because the Judge did not agree that constitutional rights were violated, HE DID. read my post here. This doesn’t preclude the fact ACLU, or direct injured party may file separately.

The constitutional difference between Portland and NYC: That the abductee’s first amendment rights to free speech were altered. In NYC no such action has occurred as the protest was not in relation to the charges. That the fourth and fifth amendment rights were violated in seizure and due process. Not evident in NYC as they were serving warrants. Most importantly, and hopefully forthcoming in any future suit, the tenth amendment’s declaration that these powers belong explicitly to States and their localities, not the Federal government. Not at all applicable in NYC.

Let’s keep these events separate. Can we, should we seek redress in NYC? Sure, we don’t like what we saw in NY. But not in any apparent legal ground surrounding the event itself that we are currently aware of. We should approach this separately as police reform within States and local jurisdictions. this is the domain of the State and city; NY, NY in this instance. This is an entirely different issue from the Portland incident. Be aware that having come to this conclusion, would require similar action in every State and locality. Voicing our displeasure on twitter is not going to get that done without someone actually doing the work.

Conflating these issues is of no use to either event separately, to the contrary. Especially to the pressing issue at hand of the constitutional grounds to force the Federal government to cease acting with impunity in defiance of that Constitution.

As a sidenote, the police in this NYC arrest have counter-complained that they had shit thrown at them. Although this would certainly be illegal, I have zero sympathy because the stupidity of this operation was avoidable.

PACT Stormtroopers Withdrawing from Portland?

Governor Kate Brown of Oregon came to some type of agreement with, “VP Pence and others” that the PACT forces in Portland would begin withdrawing from Portland. This doesn’t mean that all of the Federal Protective Service (FPS) which spearhead the task force PACT, would leave. Just as they were there before the creation of the task force, they would remain within their core mission after the withdraw of PACT.

“Agree to begin to withdraw,” means practically nothing. How many, when? Would any remain as operators of PACT, or just revert back to their standard duties?

Governor Brown takes a purposeful swipe at the administration by framing the arrival of State troopers as being present to protect first amendment rights and not the Courthouse.

Except, whatever the agreement was between Governor Brown and “Mike Pence and others,” is already spun into alternate universes before the ink is even dry.

Federal law enforcement officers where there before this created crisis began, of course they would remain. But is he saying he is going to keep PACT there until it’s back to the way it was on July 8th, before the administration purposefully created the crisis?

Honestly, none of this means anything as of yet.

If State troopers are added to the mix straight away, I’d say this crisis is not on its way to a resolution. The result could be exactly the opposite, it could be an expansion of the crisis.

You’d have to picture the environment. If the protestors continue to face the fence as the new object of their displeasure, which they will, we will now have the stormtroopers in front of them, and State troopers on their sides. To me, this doesn’t sound ideal.

This story will obviously have to be updated as I don’t trust or pretend to understand it’s parameters.

The entire federal operation has been a typical Trump administration action:

1. Create a problem.

2. Propagandize the existence of the problem.

3. Attempt to correct the problem of their own creation.

4. Declare victory.

****************

An interesting sidenote:

Last night the protests were noticeably refocused. organized chanting and protest was the overwhelming priority. The wall of moms and vets were well organized and well represented. There was an inclusion of a new sub-segment within their ranks- Native Americans came out and ritualistically chanted as a featured, organized group. It was really nice.

Overall, the evening is becoming organized into segments. The Speakers did a great job, followed by the organized chants. The number of journalists and legal observers is growing….noticeably. The barricade and the federal building enjoyed vastly decreased attention. I have no idea if this can be a trend, depends on what state troopers do.

Last night, I was really happy with the protests. Very good.

The Portland National Narrative Dilemma

The current protests in Portland, which begin on or about May 28th, were in response to the death of George Floyd. As noted in this post, these protests were effectively ceased on July 8th-11th. The Federal task force PACT was formed the day it was penned into existence on July 1st and immediately began acting under that declaration, following Trump’s EO written on 6/26. On July 11th and 12th The federal government most aggressively deployed what they would describe as law enforcement officers, and the citizens of Portland would describe, by employment of their own senses, as an invading army. An unknown, unmarked, invading army operating by unknown principles and unstated rules of engagement.

It is offered by the federal government that these forces are protecting federal property; federal property that was *not* in any danger -or under attack -or under any scrutiny by the citizens of Portland. The citizens of Portland could not have cared less about the US District Courthouse. Had protestors vandalized it with graffiti? Yes they did, because of its proximity to what had been the focus of their ire, the Multnomah County Justice Center, next to the courthouse. I don’t offer this as justification for the graffiti, merely the reason why it was opportunistically selected. There was no particular malice aimed at the courthouse. The US District Courthouse of Portland was, outside of the occasional tagging, entirely ignored by those protesting in Portland, again, as noted and clearly supported in this post.

If “protecting the federal property of Portland”, was the goal of the federal forces in Portland, it is evident they are doing a shitty job, as it is a damn sight worse than its condition before they arrived.

If you have any lingering doubts whether the above statements concerning the Federal Courthouse are true, I suggest you watch the video of the entire night of protest on July 8th. There are very few people, it is super mellow, and no one gives a damn about the Courthouse.

From the outset, DHS’s ‘Protecting American Communities Task Force’ (PACT), aggressively interacted with the citizenry of Portland, setting the tone for the following days. As I suggested in my previous post on How Trump’s Stormtroopers Created Violent Protest in Portland, a timeline in pictures, it was ultimately the federal forces desire to draw attention to that object that they supposedly sought to protect, the Federal Courthouse. It is from the federal property of the courthouse, that PACT are less likely to face legal difficulties for their actions. Something that was evident the day before they arrived, continued to be evident on the 12th when they led protestors to the courthouse, and remains evident to this day.

Now, the state of affairs at the courthouse, is a predictable sequence every night since the 12th. Protestors gather, over a course of hours they become increasingly agitated and begin shooting fireworks, setting small fires, and attempting to knock over the fence(when erected). Somewhere between 12 midnight and 1am local time, the federal forces repel the protestors several blocks back from the courthouse, taking increasing care not to accelerate the repulsion into something legally troubling, and then return to the courthouse as the protestors disperse and generally call it a night.

And here we are.

There is nothing that will happen in this current routine, that will positively play to advance the causes of racial justice and police accountability as inspired by the death of George Floyd. The only narrative that will emerge from this setup, is that which the Trump Administration wishes to present, although not to great effect: Democratic run cities are burning hellholes of anarchy, only a “law and order” President, such as Donny Trump, can control this disaster that will engulf the nation. It is imperative that the administration continue to roll-out this pilot program to other major liberal cities in order to quell the destruction.

Do not doubt that Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, whom control these forces, are political operatives to this end. They are unconfirmed for a reason. There is no facade. They are not public servants, they are Trump campaign employees. They are desperate to control the narrative: Democrats are monsters. Protestors are anarchists and comprised of the well organized, terrorist group-Antifa.

It is unfortunate to state, but supported by the Federal Court’s ruling against Oregon (in my post here), the only way to push the ball forward, is for PACT forces to act in further documentable defiance of the constitution or commit more chargeable offenses, in order to change the legal narrative, and to an extent, the overall narrative.

In this light, both sides of the literal fence need each other. The Federal forces need the protestors to commit offenses; the protestors need the federal forces to commit offenses. Not a great formula. As it stands, the only side that will currently commit further offenses are the protestors.

What cannot be overstated, is the position of the residents and protestors of Portland. Whereas protests in May and June where primarily the social concerns previously mentioned, the current protests about the Federal property are a mixture of the social concerns and a reaction to what is seen as an invading force to their city. PACT is not wanted. No one asked for their arrival. Their deployment not only served no good, it was measurably bad and predictably so. From this angle, those protestors acting out of anger, don’t give a fuck what the national narrative is, and I don’t blame them.

The fact that PACT was rolled out as a propaganda machine for Trump’s re-election is undeniable. This is a fact. This fact becomes increasingly distant to a national narrative, each day the confrontation continues. However, it will not be forgotten by the citizens of Portland.

It seems almost a foregone conclusion that the protestors will do more than break through the fence surrounding the Federal Courthouse. In the fence’s current, ill-advised configuration, mobs of protestors may very well jump over that fence, with the help of the cement barriers on both sides, and begin the ultimate act that will solidify a consensus national narrative.

I don’t know which narrative that will be.

If the protestors cared to form a national narrative, I would suggest returning to the park next to the courthouse, where they previously gathered, waved signs, and chanted to good effect; including new chants voicing their disapproval of the PACT forces. The other obvious adjustment, would be the opposite of that, and I’m not going to type those words.