The hatred of Donald Trump by the Democrats and some Republicans knows no boundaries. It is depraved and desperate at the same time. The latest attack on Donald Trump is pushing meme that Trump is Hitler resurrected and is sending his “Nazi” storm troopers to cities such as Portland in order to terrorize women and children who are engaged in simple peaceful protest. The newest lie insists that Trump’s storm troopers are acting like Pinochet’s secret police and rounding up innocent people and shoving them into black vans. The implication is that these poor, humble souls are being disappeared just because they want to exercise their First Amendment rights.
What a load of festering excrement this is.
The first clue that this is a concocted lie is that it is being repeated vociferously by the mainstream media outlets–you know, the NY Times, WashPost, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC.
But the claim appears to be based primarily on a video clip that has gone viral on social media. Watch it for yourself (the salient clip starts at 1:23):
Do you see the problems? Let me explain the strange elements that absolutely do not support the Storm Trooper meme.
First, the police in camo gear, in contrast to the claim they had no markings on their uniforms, do have tags on the front and back of their riot gear written clearly, POLICE.
Second, although the news reports claim the police did not identifying themselves there is no audio on the tape to support that claim. Moreover, the black masked “protestor” does not demand that the officers identify themselves. He/she meekly complies.
Third, the two officers approach the “protestor” with no weapons drawn and do not order the suspect to the ground. Even more curious is the failure of the officers to handcuff the suspect. The police walk up, the protestor puts his/her hands behind his/her back and the officers grasp each arm. There is no struggle, no fighting, no force.
If these guys are Storm Troopers they apparently do not know what that term means. Where is the furious beatdown? Where is the screaming and yelling at the cowering victim? Does not exist.
Why should the media try to report accurately? They have a clear track record of pushing lies on the America public that serve certain political agendas. These same media outlets happily pushed the lies about non-existent WMDs in Iraq, Syria bombing rebels with Sarin and Trump Collaborating with Russia to get elected, I do not know on what basis any faith can be put into these reports of “Nazi Storm Trooper” or Nazi Brownshirt Tactics. The videos widely available on line show violent mobs not peaceful protestors .
But beyond that, what the hell is the issue being protested in Portland? Crappy weather? Last I checked the Portland Police and the Federal Government officials posted to Portland were not involved in anyway with the death of George Floyd. Facts do not appear to mean much to most of the media.
Larry:
There are similarities, however, with what is happening in large cities and the disturbances in prewar Germany. The difference is one of color. In Berlin the Brown shirts rioted in the streets and in Portland it is the Black shirts. The goal is the same, to topple the elected government.
The videos widely available on line show violent mobs not peaceful protestors.
Maybe, I don’t quite understand. But the claim appears to be based primarily on a video clip that has gone viral on social media.
As evidence of ‘peaceful protestors’ in black or antifa? While those surely aren’t peaceful: As you acknowledge this person easily surrenders. Thus, you feel this is faked evidence as far as protestor but not faked as far as military and/as police are concerned.
Curious protest uniform, anyway.
Larry, great post.
To dress it all up in politico-sociology speak, we are being fed the “Reduction ad Hitlerum” fallacy by the MSM and compliant politicians.
In response to Martin Oline, the pre-January 30, 1933, disturbances in Berlin and other large German cities featured street battles between “brownshirts” and “Reds”, each of which were battling to bring down the Weimar Republic, hoping to inherit the carcass. We are witnessing a similar “weimarization” of American politics driven entirely by the “blackshirts” on the left with no emergence, yet, of “brown shirts” on the right.
Mr Johnson – I see nothing but SOP here. Ride on the back of some peaceful demonstration or march. Get something started – doesn’t matter what, break some windows or something of the sort. Law enforcement has to come in to sort it out and when that happens you’re home and dry.
Home and dry in that there will then always be some incident proving police brutality. The video doesn’t usually show what led up to the “brutality” and if it does there’s always the doubt as to who’s really at fault.
And it’s always possible to say – perhaps it’s sometimes true, I don’t know – that sometimes the police put in agents provocateur to bring the matter to a head. The “man with the black umbrella” was never identified, after all, so there’s plenty of room for such argument in that and other cases.
And as Graeber says, the “Black Bloc” that often gets the thing going isn’t a formal movement or organisation. It is no more than a “tactic”. In as far as it is organised it’s a horizontal structure. Anyone can get together with a friend or several and do what the “Black Bloc” formations are doing.
In that respect it’s spontaneous and difficult to get a grip on. But it’s not as spontaneous as all that. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of videos I’ve seen in which small groups of people are instructed how to attack police officers. “Go for the eyes, they’re vulnerable” was a recommendation I remember from one of those videos. The instructor in that video wasn’t someone who found himself among a like-minded group by accident. That was a formal course of sorts. So they have some sort of organised framework that can instruct newcomers to the scene.
And money is needed no matter how spontaneous the action. Travel, accommodation, implements, legal fees too sometimes I think. We read of vast sums being poured into the various formal protest movements by the foundations and other donors and I think it unlikely that some of that money does not go towards paying the costs incurred by those who employ “Black Bloc” tactics.
So it could be stopped, the use of this type of tactic, but it’s not being stopped. All this against a background of generalised approval from many politicians and many who are in positions of authority.
I don’t therefore think the problem lies so much with those provoking the violence. Such people are always around – I recollect, in my youthful protest days, being aware of them then and it’s no different except in scale now.
The problem lies with those in authority who either fail to speak out or who give covert encouragement. They say the violence is a result of “social” or “attitude” problems. No doubt it is on the ground, but the failure to deal with it results from Senators and Mayors who, either for party political reasons or for ideological reasons, find their hearts are with the “Black Bloc” elements and who do not therefore take the measures needed to suppress them.
I spent a little while yesterday watching various videos of the defence of the Grant Park Columbus statue in Chicago. I think those videos were genuine. Eighteen police officers injured, they said. I read that three police officers might have been blinded elsewhere. Grotesque. Let the cities burn, if you must, or take the proper measures to stop these “Black Bloc” tactics, but this half way house is grossly unfair to the police officers stuck in the middle. Also unfair to those who want to protest peacefully.
For in the middle of that mayhem in Grant Park there was a protester with a megaphone seeking, I think genuinely and at some risk to himself, to stop the attack. He had more guts than many of those in authority. I thought, America can’t be in that much of a mess if there are still people like that around.
Vandalizing, burning and rioting in the wee hours has become recreation in Portland, something to do late at night, no doubt by many college-“educated”-yet lower-wage workers who are receiving $600/wk in COVID relief. The city, like Seattle, is a Mecca for leftist Millennials who are often spoiled suburban youths and unabashed supporters of Bernie Sanders’ brand of socialism or communism. It seems to me that many decry capitalism because they’ve been utterly unsuccessful in capitalizing on any skills that can afford them the lifestyles to which they’ve been accustomed. I have a godson of this ilk. Many often carry large debt for college educations that failed to prepare them for decent-paying jobs. Incidents like George Floyd’s death are just excuses for these arrested-development individuals to act out like overgrown babies.
Maybe when those $600 checks stop being issued things may calm down. As it is, these misguided folk seem to believe they should suffer no consequences for repeatedly breaking the law. Political leaders in Portland have promoted the quirky “Portlandia” image of the city, welcoming the ironically-named “Antifa” types who’ve been harassing and even assaulting people and vandalizing property for the last several years. Law enforcement has either been instructed to stand down or has itself chosen to do so. Thus, Portland’s “leadership” has created this monster. Why are they offended by federal efforts to deal with repeated attempts to vandalize and burn down the federal courthouse? Is violent, destructive anarchy okay with them now?
akaPatience,
“Is violent, destructive anarchy okay with them now?”
Short answer is, yes. As long as it’s directed toward the “right” targets.
“Why are they offended by federal efforts to deal with repeated attempts to vandalize and burn down the federal courthouse?”
Longer answer to this – these weak, short-sighted politicians thought they could co-opt these movements to their ends. The public struggle session the other day that included Portland’s execrable mayor being harangued and assaulted by anarchists was delightful to watch. Same with Minneapolis’ beta-male child mayor shortly after the George Floyd death. The holy-high priestess progressive mayors of Seattle and Oakland had their homes vandalized by these same mobs. I do not wish physical harm on any of these people, but short of that, they deserve everything they are getting. So do the people who vote for them. And yet, they will not learn. They are incapable of assimilating new information into their worldviews and adjusting it accordingly.
aka Patience,
” The city, like Seattle, is a Mecca for leftist Millennials ”
It would help to look at demographics (as destiny) and see how many H1B visa holders are employed in Seattle compared to native-born soylenials.
“these misguided folk seem to believe they should suffer no consequences for repeatedly breaking the law.”
Remind me how many are serving prison terms? What happened to those arrested even as far back as the Trump inauguration? Looks like violence works; for exampled see the latest act of courage from the mayor of Chicago in following the example of Nikki Haley and erasing history in the middle of the night. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/christopher-columbus-statue-chicago-park-71959173
Rejoice! Antifa is winning! Democratic politicians approve, as does corporate America; and black lives that matter will have …….? I wonder how long it will take before those who are the color of life whose history – and future – does not matter decides to respond in kind?
Alexandria:
I am aware of the brownshirts/reds conflicts in Germany. My use of the term blackshirts is quite deliberate. I have read that Saul Alinsky recommended tarring your opponent with the charge which you are most vulnerable but I have never read him. John Solomon says that Hillary did research in 2015 and found she was most vulnerable to charges of Russian influence ($500,000 speaking fees and the uranium deal) so she instigated the whole Russia collusion story around Trump. Time will perhaps tell just who was the driving force behind that operation.
If blackshirts becomes a term to describe the anarchists in the Northwest I will be quite happy as it will create an association with the Fascist brownshirts of the SA. Antifa might well consider the fate of the SA and Ernst Rohm in 1934 when they were no longer needed for street fighting.
“Awake, arise, or be forever fallen.” – Milton
The Portland mayor is obviously a lefty beta “male” POS.
My question:
What kind of people makeup the Portland police?
Did they sign up to be accomplices to law breaking at the whim of the dopey mayor?
Standing down in the face of blatant repeated law-breaking is either laziness or cowardice.
In any case, the Portland police should be working other jobs – ones that don’t demand courage or physical abilities – maybe waiters in coffee houses.
it’s time to switch off social media – there is nothing there but gossip and mis/dis-info. But if we do, so-called ‘reporters’ would have to get their stories the old fashioned way – talking to people instead of eye-humping Twitter.
There is ZERO trust in any news service today. There is so much bias and outright false stories, even made up stories, that people have no idea what is truth and what is fiction.
Those two things being said, I believe turning off social media, even if only for a few weeks, would be an eye opener for many in this country and the world.
Voters do elect these mayors. No reason the elected official should take the heat, since it was his/her supporters put him in office. Things will change when voters change.
2020 will be watershed- and tenterhooks waiting for the outcome which is presented now as “too close to call”. Really? What is being offered as the opposition alternative is that appealing?
You are right about Alinksky accusing the opponent of their own worst attributes .Explains whey all the Dems and talking head keep claiming Trump will use police forces to keep him in the WhiteHouse, if he loses.
The real fear is the Democrat having a meltdown and their goon squads terrorizing us 24/7….. if Trump wins. Yet they want us to fear Trump if he loses.
I really hate what they are doing to this country. I hate their Alinksy gas-lighting but if I turn off the news, I feel we all could get broadsided and not see what they already have planned coming.
Update from the Left Coast – more and more on the local bloggers are starting to fight back and turn on the elected “leaders” in this state, who are milking what they assumed would be political benefit for their own partisan purposes. Appears this is no longer working. The hustings are grumbling, soon to be a roar.
Karens are starting to get cannibalized. We are suffering crisis fatigue. As it becomes more obvious there is either not a crisis, or no longer a crisis. Foolish inconsistencies are finally our leaders hobgoblins.
Maidan comes to USA
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | 24 July 2020 at 12:03 PM
What a lying, stupid and slanderous comparison.
If the vicious bolshevik White-hating rioters in Grant Park are to be compared to anything Ukrainian, they are the violent Stalin-worshipping titushky and soccer hooligans that were shipped in from the sovietized east to terrorize the Maidan, not the Ukrainian patriots who kept the Maidan going for three brutal months. How blindly russophile does one have to be to attempt such a complete reversal of the facts? These scum in black are exactly the opposite of the Maidan patriots, and in order for Armstrong’s analogy to work, the Trump administration must be the equivalent of the Russian-proxy Yanukovych government, poised to relinquish American sovereignty to Russia or China – maybe the only concession Trump has shown some ability to resist.
White Americans would do well to rise to the level of bravery, toughness, perseverance and self-sacrifice that the Ukrainians demonstrated during the Revolution of Dignity. It is going to take that level of resistance, if Biden wins, to keep from being enslaved in the neo-soviet, feminazi, negro-centric country his controllers and their red guards have shown they will go to any lengths to create.
Thank you for posting link to Chicago Police video, Patrick Armstrong.
A key similarity with Maidan and terrorists killing, via snipers, Berkut in Ukraine, and others; with terrorist in Chicago and elsewhere in US: USA news outlets suddenly dropped reporting on number of Berkut injured and/or killed, as with USA news stopped reporting on police officers here being injured killed by terrorists that USA media claim to be mostly peaceful protesters whatever that means.
These media lackeys made same claims during Maidan.
I followed Maidan closely at the time, and NPR just stopped reporting on crimes committed against Berkut.
It was all just whited out.
I knew right then and there USA media was not interested in covering Maidan; rather, they were aiding and abetting Obama/Biden overthrow of sovereign Ukraine government.
The similarity of what is transpiring here and now is obvious, via this particular dimension of these two phenomena.
We can pretend these things did not happen and are not happening; or we can face the obvious facts.
Obama/Biden destroyed the elected government of Ukraine; same forces trying to destroy US, this is not rocket science.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland, speaking with US’ Ukraine ambassador Geoff “Make it Stick Together” Pyatt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL_GShyGv3o
Obama/Biden caught red-handed plotting overthrowing the government of a sovereign nation.
Biden was smack dab in the middle of this effort, which was the complete opposite of doing “well to rise to the level of bravery, toughness, perseverance and self-sacrifice that the Ukrainians demonstrated during the Revolution of Dignity.”
Pretending this was not the case serves no rational purpose.
These scum in black are exactly the Maidan “patriots” in intent and purpose.
The vicious rioters in Grant Park are to be compared to Ukrainian terrorist who with Obama/Biden toppled a sovereign government.
-30-
Just saw the Albuquerque Mayor on Good Morning America. He was smooth and persuasive and the reporter kept floating softballs at him. The gist was that Trump was committing a political stunt and it was the cause of the violence by being divisive by sending the in the federal forces. They mentioned Portland as an example many times.
I fear that will be the extent of most people’s understanding of the matter.
Years ago when I visited Portland on avacation while my friend attended a conference there, I was struck by the total leftie ambiance. It remeinded me of our state’s most leftie city, the home of our current Governor.
I’m now a little concerned that when the fall semester starts up in Boulder, we have to endure this sort of idiocy happening in our state.
It won’t stop until Soros and other of his ilk run out of money. As far as I’m concerned figuring all that out–how the people financing these horrible riots make their money and finding out how to prevent their money from paying the mobs and from getting into the hands of the puppeteers in the first place.
I have four pre-school and eelementary school aged grandchildren. I certainly hope this sot of thing is over when they are older. I was once afraid that my grandchildren would grow up and attend something like Woodstock and get caught on camera doing what they did there. I never could imagine what we are experiencing now as something that would be possible.
Now I have something far worse to worry about in regard to my grandchildren’s futures.
Jim –
It is likely there were snipers from both sides once the shooting started at the Maidan. Some of the snipers there were identified as belonging to right wing groups. But some were IDed as being from Yanukovych’s Security Service (SBU).
However, of the 18 police officers killed during Maidan, only three were identified as Berkut: Andriy Fediukin, Vasil’ Bulitko, and Serhiy Tsvihun. Those three and the 18 total were a drop in the bucket compared to the 112 identified civilian protesters who were killed (AKA the Heavenly Hundred). And none of the of Berkut officers were killed until 18 February over three and a half weeks after the shooting started back on 22 January.
Do you have names of other Berkut officers who were killed?
Since Twitter and Facebook are apparently ‘allowing’ the designated terrorist ANTIFA use of their communications networks.
The Feds can now ‘seize’ Twitter and Facebook, and arrest their CEO’s and their other Corporate headshed types, the Treasury could seize all of their assets and place a freeze hold on all of their corporate and private bank accounts.
And thanks to the NDAA of 2012 that Obama and his cohorts in the Congress enacted, they all can be ‘indefinitely detained’.
It is unlikely there was snipers from “both sides”.
Which is not to say this does not remain in dispute — owing to, if for no other reason: the “Maidan” government refused to see to it that an independent investigation happened, ditto US and others.
Where was the United Nations Organization?
Facts
US supported violent and illegal overthrow of Ukraine President Victor Yanukovich in 2014
Many died
The new government resisted investigating this.
There was no independent investigation of this, in fact.
The US made no effort to investigate this
EU made no effort to investigate this
UNO did not investigate
The successors to Yanukovich immediately blamed, guess who, for the killings?
Answer: Russian Federation President Putin. [Thus no need to investigate, nothing to see here — and does this sound familiar?]
Make what you will of this ten minute phone call between:
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, and Catherine Ashton – the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEgJ0oo3OA8
[Of note: No one denied the authenticity of this call]
Ashton showed zero interest in Paet’s report that he was told the forces killing Berkut and protesters at Maidan were from the new government.
No one in the West showed any interest in an investigation?
Why do you suppose that was?
Neither US, UNO, UK, EU, nor Obama/Biden for that matter.
Here is Ashton talking about corruption of Yanukovich, without irony – right after the ultimate in corrupt acts: overthrowing a sovereign government of Ukraine had just happened, with the EU’s blessing it seems.
Make what you will of this phone call.
The UK newspaper, The Guardian, rather than trying to find out who did what, wrote a story at the time of the leaked Paet/Ashton telephone conversation that sounds as if it was written by current media in US . . . who label the truth about outing of Russian Hoax as conspiracy theorists, with out evidence. And also without irony.
“Ukraine crisis: bugged call reveals conspiracy theory about Kiev snipers” The Guardian wrote as headline on March 5, 2014.
[Of Note: No one denied the authenticity of this call]
There was no investigation, so how could it be a conspiracy theory? Obviously, for me at least, this further point to the actual conspiracy. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/ukraine-bugged-call-catherine-ashton-urmas-paet
At the time, US was claiming that it was working with all sides in the crisis to reach a peaceful solution.
All lies.
The leaked Nuland/Pyatt telephone call evidence US was hiding what it was actually doing; and saying the opposite in public. [Of note: no one denied authenticity of that call either]
My point was that US press during Maidan suddenly lost interest in reporting on the fact that scores of Berkut were being killed.
Just as they have no interest, now, at present: in police being maimed and attacked by terrorists US press insists are “mostly peaceful” protesters. And, thus, the comment that Maidan comes to the US, erudite observation.
The Chicago police supt. made a point of telling the press that they need to do their job and report on police being attacked by terrorists. Can anyone blame him?
Feel free to check this out: make of it what you will. https://gordonhahn.com/2016/03/09/the-real-snipers-massacre-ukraine-february-2014-updatedrevised-working-paper/
And here is a story from Russia Today, at the time; make of it what you will: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/mercenaries-at-maidan-ukraine-558/
-30-
black shirts
On June 11th, 2020, Jeremy uploaded a video onto Twitter from prison commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with Long Term Anarchist Prisoners. In it, he presented a drawing with the anarchist symbol of a large circle A in the middle surrounded by red flames. “June 11 Solidarity” is written around the circle A. The rest of the drawing features a falling prison guard tower, a red and black flag, a black flag, a burning cop car, people holding a banner that says “International Day of Action! Free the Anarchist Prisoners!”[39] This red and black flag is a known symbol for the political protest movement known as Antifa.[40]
Jim – Paet’s voice in the Ashton/Paet call you linked to is not audible. Old links to the conversation also now go to recordings in which Paet’s voice is not audible.
A google search still throws up transcripts – https://nuclearrisk.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/transcript-of-estonian-fm-bombshell-revelation/
– and there are RT links that contain part of the conversation but the original recording I heard back then is now unavailable, at least as far as I can find after looking around on google. Do you have a link to a recording that also includes Paet’s part in the conversation?
…………….
I’d suggest, incidentally, that the conversation is not so much a “smoking gun” proving things one way or another, but more an indication of how deeply the European countries were involved in the events surrounding the Ukrainian coup. Sakwa’s fine account goes into a great amount of detail generally but doesn’t touch on this aspect and I’ve come across no other account that does.
I think that that lack of examination of European involvement at this level is an unfortunate omission. We are left with the impression that Western involvement in the coup was mainly down to the “American Neocons”. I’m not at all sure. German, UK, and French involvement in the events surrounding the coup was, I believe, more significant than is usually accepted.
I just checked out The Right Scoop. It features a story and video of younger teenagers destrying an indoor putt putt in Memphis.
According to the owner, he will now be requiring that all kids must be accompanied by parents if they want to be allowed to stay in the premises.
I wonder if Seattle and Portland can blockade any and all entrances into their cities and require that everyone must be accompanied by grandparents in order to be allowed into the city. (I wouldn’t allow their parents to accompany them. It’s obvious they did not do a good job of parenting. Their parents were probably living in the streets of the Haight Ashbury District of San Franscisco or wallowing in the mud at Woodstock. Or maybe they were rioting at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.)
I am very ashamed of the legacy of my “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” generation and the example it gave for further generations.
When an alleged conservative has lost the Rutherford Institute . . .
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/the_federal_coup_to_overthrow_the_states_and_nix_the_10th_amendment_is_underway
Larry:
There are similarities, however, with what is happening in large cities and the disturbances in prewar Germany. The difference is one of color. In Berlin the Brown shirts rioted in the streets and in Portland it is the Black shirts. The goal is the same, to topple the elected government.
The videos widely available on line show violent mobs not peaceful protestors.
Maybe, I don’t quite understand.
But the claim appears to be based primarily on a video clip that has gone viral on social media.
As evidence of ‘peaceful protestors’ in black or antifa? While those surely aren’t peaceful: As you acknowledge this person easily surrenders. Thus, you feel this is faked evidence as far as protestor but not faked as far as military and/as police are concerned.
Curious protest uniform, anyway.
Larry, great post.
To dress it all up in politico-sociology speak, we are being fed the “Reduction ad Hitlerum” fallacy by the MSM and compliant politicians.
In response to Martin Oline, the pre-January 30, 1933, disturbances in Berlin and other large German cities featured street battles between “brownshirts” and “Reds”, each of which were battling to bring down the Weimar Republic, hoping to inherit the carcass. We are witnessing a similar “weimarization” of American politics driven entirely by the “blackshirts” on the left with no emergence, yet, of “brown shirts” on the right.
Maidan comes to USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1VdhQbfSTY
Mr Johnson – I see nothing but SOP here. Ride on the back of some peaceful demonstration or march. Get something started – doesn’t matter what, break some windows or something of the sort. Law enforcement has to come in to sort it out and when that happens you’re home and dry.
Home and dry in that there will then always be some incident proving police brutality. The video doesn’t usually show what led up to the “brutality” and if it does there’s always the doubt as to who’s really at fault.
And it’s always possible to say – perhaps it’s sometimes true, I don’t know – that sometimes the police put in agents provocateur to bring the matter to a head. The “man with the black umbrella” was never identified, after all, so there’s plenty of room for such argument in that and other cases.
And as Graeber says, the “Black Bloc” that often gets the thing going isn’t a formal movement or organisation. It is no more than a “tactic”. In as far as it is organised it’s a horizontal structure. Anyone can get together with a friend or several and do what the “Black Bloc” formations are doing.
In that respect it’s spontaneous and difficult to get a grip on. But it’s not as spontaneous as all that. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of videos I’ve seen in which small groups of people are instructed how to attack police officers. “Go for the eyes, they’re vulnerable” was a recommendation I remember from one of those videos. The instructor in that video wasn’t someone who found himself among a like-minded group by accident. That was a formal course of sorts. So they have some sort of organised framework that can instruct newcomers to the scene.
And money is needed no matter how spontaneous the action. Travel, accommodation, implements, legal fees too sometimes I think. We read of vast sums being poured into the various formal protest movements by the foundations and other donors and I think it unlikely that some of that money does not go towards paying the costs incurred by those who employ “Black Bloc” tactics.
So it could be stopped, the use of this type of tactic, but it’s not being stopped. All this against a background of generalised approval from many politicians and many who are in positions of authority.
I don’t therefore think the problem lies so much with those provoking the violence. Such people are always around – I recollect, in my youthful protest days, being aware of them then and it’s no different except in scale now.
The problem lies with those in authority who either fail to speak out or who give covert encouragement. They say the violence is a result of “social” or “attitude” problems. No doubt it is on the ground, but the failure to deal with it results from Senators and Mayors who, either for party political reasons or for ideological reasons, find their hearts are with the “Black Bloc” elements and who do not therefore take the measures needed to suppress them.
I spent a little while yesterday watching various videos of the defence of the Grant Park Columbus statue in Chicago. I think those videos were genuine. Eighteen police officers injured, they said. I read that three police officers might have been blinded elsewhere. Grotesque. Let the cities burn, if you must, or take the proper measures to stop these “Black Bloc” tactics, but this half way house is grossly unfair to the police officers stuck in the middle. Also unfair to those who want to protest peacefully.
For in the middle of that mayhem in Grant Park there was a protester with a megaphone seeking, I think genuinely and at some risk to himself, to stop the attack. He had more guts than many of those in authority. I thought, America can’t be in that much of a mess if there are still people like that around.
Vandalizing, burning and rioting in the wee hours has become recreation in Portland, something to do late at night, no doubt by many college-“educated”-yet lower-wage workers who are receiving $600/wk in COVID relief. The city, like Seattle, is a Mecca for leftist Millennials who are often spoiled suburban youths and unabashed supporters of Bernie Sanders’ brand of socialism or communism. It seems to me that many decry capitalism because they’ve been utterly unsuccessful in capitalizing on any skills that can afford them the lifestyles to which they’ve been accustomed. I have a godson of this ilk. Many often carry large debt for college educations that failed to prepare them for decent-paying jobs. Incidents like George Floyd’s death are just excuses for these arrested-development individuals to act out like overgrown babies.
Maybe when those $600 checks stop being issued things may calm down. As it is, these misguided folk seem to believe they should suffer no consequences for repeatedly breaking the law. Political leaders in Portland have promoted the quirky “Portlandia” image of the city, welcoming the ironically-named “Antifa” types who’ve been harassing and even assaulting people and vandalizing property for the last several years. Law enforcement has either been instructed to stand down or has itself chosen to do so. Thus, Portland’s “leadership” has created this monster. Why are they offended by federal efforts to deal with repeated attempts to vandalize and burn down the federal courthouse? Is violent, destructive anarchy okay with them now?
akaPatience,
“Is violent, destructive anarchy okay with them now?”
Short answer is, yes. As long as it’s directed toward the “right” targets.
“Why are they offended by federal efforts to deal with repeated attempts to vandalize and burn down the federal courthouse?”
Longer answer to this – these weak, short-sighted politicians thought they could co-opt these movements to their ends. The public struggle session the other day that included Portland’s execrable mayor being harangued and assaulted by anarchists was delightful to watch. Same with Minneapolis’ beta-male child mayor shortly after the George Floyd death. The holy-high priestess progressive mayors of Seattle and Oakland had their homes vandalized by these same mobs. I do not wish physical harm on any of these people, but short of that, they deserve everything they are getting. So do the people who vote for them. And yet, they will not learn. They are incapable of assimilating new information into their worldviews and adjusting it accordingly.
aka Patience,
” The city, like Seattle, is a Mecca for leftist Millennials ”
It would help to look at demographics (as destiny) and see how many H1B visa holders are employed in Seattle compared to native-born soylenials.
“these misguided folk seem to believe they should suffer no consequences for repeatedly breaking the law.”
Remind me how many are serving prison terms? What happened to those arrested even as far back as the Trump inauguration? Looks like violence works; for exampled see the latest act of courage from the mayor of Chicago in following the example of Nikki Haley and erasing history in the middle of the night.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/christopher-columbus-statue-chicago-park-71959173
Rejoice! Antifa is winning! Democratic politicians approve, as does corporate America; and black lives that matter will have …….? I wonder how long it will take before those who are the color of life whose history – and future – does not matter decides to respond in kind?
Alexandria:
I am aware of the brownshirts/reds conflicts in Germany. My use of the term blackshirts is quite deliberate. I have read that Saul Alinsky recommended tarring your opponent with the charge which you are most vulnerable but I have never read him. John Solomon says that Hillary did research in 2015 and found she was most vulnerable to charges of Russian influence ($500,000 speaking fees and the uranium deal) so she instigated the whole Russia collusion story around Trump. Time will perhaps tell just who was the driving force behind that operation.
If blackshirts becomes a term to describe the anarchists in the Northwest I will be quite happy as it will create an association with the Fascist brownshirts of the SA. Antifa might well consider the fate of the SA and Ernst Rohm in 1934 when they were no longer needed for street fighting.
“Awake, arise, or be forever fallen.” – Milton
The Portland mayor is obviously a lefty beta “male” POS.
My question:
What kind of people makeup the Portland police?
Did they sign up to be accomplices to law breaking at the whim of the dopey mayor?
Standing down in the face of blatant repeated law-breaking is either laziness or cowardice.
In any case, the Portland police should be working other jobs – ones that don’t demand courage or physical abilities – maybe waiters in coffee houses.
it’s time to switch off social media – there is nothing there but gossip and mis/dis-info. But if we do, so-called ‘reporters’ would have to get their stories the old fashioned way – talking to people instead of eye-humping Twitter.
There is ZERO trust in any news service today. There is so much bias and outright false stories, even made up stories, that people have no idea what is truth and what is fiction.
Those two things being said, I believe turning off social media, even if only for a few weeks, would be an eye opener for many in this country and the world.
Voters do elect these mayors. No reason the elected official should take the heat, since it was his/her supporters put him in office. Things will change when voters change.
2020 will be watershed- and tenterhooks waiting for the outcome which is presented now as “too close to call”. Really? What is being offered as the opposition alternative is that appealing?
You are right about Alinksky accusing the opponent of their own worst attributes .Explains whey all the Dems and talking head keep claiming Trump will use police forces to keep him in the WhiteHouse, if he loses.
The real fear is the Democrat having a meltdown and their goon squads terrorizing us 24/7….. if Trump wins. Yet they want us to fear Trump if he loses.
I really hate what they are doing to this country. I hate their Alinksy gas-lighting but if I turn off the news, I feel we all could get broadsided and not see what they already have planned coming.
Update from the Left Coast – more and more on the local bloggers are starting to fight back and turn on the elected “leaders” in this state, who are milking what they assumed would be political benefit for their own partisan purposes. Appears this is no longer working. The hustings are grumbling, soon to be a roar.
Karens are starting to get cannibalized. We are suffering crisis fatigue. As it becomes more obvious there is either not a crisis, or no longer a crisis. Foolish inconsistencies are finally our leaders hobgoblins.
Maidan comes to USA
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | 24 July 2020 at 12:03 PM
What a lying, stupid and slanderous comparison.
If the vicious bolshevik White-hating rioters in Grant Park are to be compared to anything Ukrainian, they are the violent Stalin-worshipping titushky and soccer hooligans that were shipped in from the sovietized east to terrorize the Maidan, not the Ukrainian patriots who kept the Maidan going for three brutal months. How blindly russophile does one have to be to attempt such a complete reversal of the facts? These scum in black are exactly the opposite of the Maidan patriots, and in order for Armstrong’s analogy to work, the Trump administration must be the equivalent of the Russian-proxy Yanukovych government, poised to relinquish American sovereignty to Russia or China – maybe the only concession Trump has shown some ability to resist.
White Americans would do well to rise to the level of bravery, toughness, perseverance and self-sacrifice that the Ukrainians demonstrated during the Revolution of Dignity. It is going to take that level of resistance, if Biden wins, to keep from being enslaved in the neo-soviet, feminazi, negro-centric country his controllers and their red guards have shown they will go to any lengths to create.
Thank you for posting link to Chicago Police video, Patrick Armstrong.
A key similarity with Maidan and terrorists killing, via snipers, Berkut in Ukraine, and others; with terrorist in Chicago and elsewhere in US: USA news outlets suddenly dropped reporting on number of Berkut injured and/or killed, as with USA news stopped reporting on police officers here being injured killed by terrorists that USA media claim to be mostly peaceful protesters whatever that means.
These media lackeys made same claims during Maidan.
I followed Maidan closely at the time, and NPR just stopped reporting on crimes committed against Berkut.
It was all just whited out.
I knew right then and there USA media was not interested in covering Maidan; rather, they were aiding and abetting Obama/Biden overthrow of sovereign Ukraine government.
The similarity of what is transpiring here and now is obvious, via this particular dimension of these two phenomena.
We can pretend these things did not happen and are not happening; or we can face the obvious facts.
Obama/Biden destroyed the elected government of Ukraine; same forces trying to destroy US, this is not rocket science.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland, speaking with US’ Ukraine ambassador Geoff “Make it Stick Together” Pyatt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL_GShyGv3o
Obama/Biden caught red-handed plotting overthrowing the government of a sovereign nation.
Biden was smack dab in the middle of this effort, which was the complete opposite of doing “well to rise to the level of bravery, toughness, perseverance and self-sacrifice that the Ukrainians demonstrated during the Revolution of Dignity.”
Pretending this was not the case serves no rational purpose.
These scum in black are exactly the Maidan “patriots” in intent and purpose.
The vicious rioters in Grant Park are to be compared to Ukrainian terrorist who with Obama/Biden toppled a sovereign government.
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Just saw the Albuquerque Mayor on Good Morning America. He was smooth and persuasive and the reporter kept floating softballs at him. The gist was that Trump was committing a political stunt and it was the cause of the violence by being divisive by sending the in the federal forces. They mentioned Portland as an example many times.
I fear that will be the extent of most people’s understanding of the matter.
Years ago when I visited Portland on avacation while my friend attended a conference there, I was struck by the total leftie ambiance. It remeinded me of our state’s most leftie city, the home of our current Governor.
I’m now a little concerned that when the fall semester starts up in Boulder, we have to endure this sort of idiocy happening in our state.
It won’t stop until Soros and other of his ilk run out of money. As far as I’m concerned figuring all that out–how the people financing these horrible riots make their money and finding out how to prevent their money from paying the mobs and from getting into the hands of the puppeteers in the first place.
I have four pre-school and eelementary school aged grandchildren. I certainly hope this sot of thing is over when they are older. I was once afraid that my grandchildren would grow up and attend something like Woodstock and get caught on camera doing what they did there. I never could imagine what we are experiencing now as something that would be possible.
Now I have something far worse to worry about in regard to my grandchildren’s futures.
Jim –
It is likely there were snipers from both sides once the shooting started at the Maidan. Some of the snipers there were identified as belonging to right wing groups. But some were IDed as being from Yanukovych’s Security Service (SBU).
However, of the 18 police officers killed during Maidan, only three were identified as Berkut: Andriy Fediukin, Vasil’ Bulitko, and Serhiy Tsvihun. Those three and the 18 total were a drop in the bucket compared to the 112 identified civilian protesters who were killed (AKA the Heavenly Hundred). And none of the of Berkut officers were killed until 18 February over three and a half weeks after the shooting started back on 22 January.
Do you have names of other Berkut officers who were killed?
Well folks, seems that the Seattle PD are throwing up their hands and throwing in the towels. Seattle residents are now on their own as far as protecting themselves and their properties. The Seattle PD is as the say ‘bugging out’.
Seattle PD sent out letters yesterday July 24 to residents and business owners telling they were now on their own after their city council banned the use of pepper spray and other tools used to disperse crowds.
The ANTIFA/BLM/PLYNF type groups are using Twitter and Facebook to ‘coordinate’ their attacks ‘nationwide’.
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1286902138996572160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1286902138996572160%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fseattle-police-abandon-residents-antifa-uses-twitter-facebook-organize-nationwide
Since Twitter and Facebook are apparently ‘allowing’ the designated terrorist ANTIFA use of their communications networks.
The Feds can now ‘seize’ Twitter and Facebook, and arrest their CEO’s and their other Corporate headshed types, the Treasury could seize all of their assets and place a freeze hold on all of their corporate and private bank accounts.
And thanks to the NDAA of 2012 that Obama and his cohorts in the Congress enacted, they all can be ‘indefinitely detained’.
It is unlikely there was snipers from “both sides”.
Which is not to say this does not remain in dispute — owing to, if for no other reason: the “Maidan” government refused to see to it that an independent investigation happened, ditto US and others.
Where was the United Nations Organization?
Facts
US supported violent and illegal overthrow of Ukraine President Victor Yanukovich in 2014
Many died
The new government resisted investigating this.
There was no independent investigation of this, in fact.
The US made no effort to investigate this
EU made no effort to investigate this
UNO did not investigate
The successors to Yanukovich immediately blamed, guess who, for the killings?
Answer: Russian Federation President Putin. [Thus no need to investigate, nothing to see here — and does this sound familiar?]
Make what you will of this ten minute phone call between:
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, and Catherine Ashton – the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEgJ0oo3OA8
[Of note: No one denied the authenticity of this call]
Ashton showed zero interest in Paet’s report that he was told the forces killing Berkut and protesters at Maidan were from the new government.
No one in the West showed any interest in an investigation?
Why do you suppose that was?
Neither US, UNO, UK, EU, nor Obama/Biden for that matter.
Here is Ashton talking about corruption of Yanukovich, without irony – right after the ultimate in corrupt acts: overthrowing a sovereign government of Ukraine had just happened, with the EU’s blessing it seems.
Make what you will of this phone call.
The UK newspaper, The Guardian, rather than trying to find out who did what, wrote a story at the time of the leaked Paet/Ashton telephone conversation that sounds as if it was written by current media in US . . . who label the truth about outing of Russian Hoax as conspiracy theorists, with out evidence. And also without irony.
“Ukraine crisis: bugged call reveals conspiracy theory about Kiev snipers” The Guardian wrote as headline on March 5, 2014.
[Of Note: No one denied the authenticity of this call]
There was no investigation, so how could it be a conspiracy theory? Obviously, for me at least, this further point to the actual conspiracy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/ukraine-bugged-call-catherine-ashton-urmas-paet
At the time, US was claiming that it was working with all sides in the crisis to reach a peaceful solution.
All lies.
The leaked Nuland/Pyatt telephone call evidence US was hiding what it was actually doing; and saying the opposite in public. [Of note: no one denied authenticity of that call either]
My point was that US press during Maidan suddenly lost interest in reporting on the fact that scores of Berkut were being killed.
Just as they have no interest, now, at present: in police being maimed and attacked by terrorists US press insists are “mostly peaceful” protesters. And, thus, the comment that Maidan comes to the US, erudite observation.
The Chicago police supt. made a point of telling the press that they need to do their job and report on police being attacked by terrorists. Can anyone blame him?
Feel free to check this out: make of it what you will.
https://gordonhahn.com/2016/03/09/the-real-snipers-massacre-ukraine-february-2014-updatedrevised-working-paper/
And here is a story from Russia Today, at the time; make of it what you will:
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/mercenaries-at-maidan-ukraine-558/
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bladdy terrorists in brown shirts burning down the house again.what next!
black shirts
On June 11th, 2020, Jeremy uploaded a video onto Twitter from prison commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with Long Term Anarchist Prisoners. In it, he presented a drawing with the anarchist symbol of a large circle A in the middle surrounded by red flames. “June 11 Solidarity” is written around the circle A. The rest of the drawing features a falling prison guard tower, a red and black flag, a black flag, a burning cop car, people holding a banner that says “International Day of Action! Free the Anarchist Prisoners!”[39] This red and black flag is a known symbol for the political protest movement known as Antifa.[40]
Jim – Paet’s voice in the Ashton/Paet call you linked to is not audible. Old links to the conversation also now go to recordings in which Paet’s voice is not audible.
A google search still throws up transcripts –
https://nuclearrisk.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/transcript-of-estonian-fm-bombshell-revelation/
– and there are RT links that contain part of the conversation but the original recording I heard back then is now unavailable, at least as far as I can find after looking around on google. Do you have a link to a recording that also includes Paet’s part in the conversation?
…………….
I’d suggest, incidentally, that the conversation is not so much a “smoking gun” proving things one way or another, but more an indication of how deeply the European countries were involved in the events surrounding the Ukrainian coup. Sakwa’s fine account goes into a great amount of detail generally but doesn’t touch on this aspect and I’ve come across no other account that does.
I think that that lack of examination of European involvement at this level is an unfortunate omission. We are left with the impression that Western involvement in the coup was mainly down to the “American Neocons”. I’m not at all sure. German, UK, and French involvement in the events surrounding the coup was, I believe, more significant than is usually accepted.
I just checked out The Right Scoop. It features a story and video of younger teenagers destrying an indoor putt putt in Memphis.
According to the owner, he will now be requiring that all kids must be accompanied by parents if they want to be allowed to stay in the premises.
I wonder if Seattle and Portland can blockade any and all entrances into their cities and require that everyone must be accompanied by grandparents in order to be allowed into the city. (I wouldn’t allow their parents to accompany them. It’s obvious they did not do a good job of parenting. Their parents were probably living in the streets of the Haight Ashbury District of San Franscisco or wallowing in the mud at Woodstock. Or maybe they were rioting at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.)
I am very ashamed of the legacy of my “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” generation and the example it gave for further generations.