Category Archives: Antifa

Get the facts before trashing TrumpersRegarding Mr. Restifos April 11 letter (GOP talking points are preprogrammed), perhaps he should stop watching the Democrat-controlled evening news and research the facts before he talks like a typical sufferer of Trump-syndrome.Chatty Cathy knows more about being a leader than Mr. Potato Joe (I wont answer questions) Biden. Trump was and will be again, the best president this country has seen in many, many decades.Mark LaJueneBallston Spa

Need explanation for committee moveAt a recent Schenectady city Finance Committee meeting, in an inexplicable move that screams for justification, City Council president Mootoveran removed Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas from the committee (and also removed her as chair of the Planning and Development Committee) and replaced her with Marion Porterfield. He did this without comment, saying he would respond at a more appropriate time.Councilwoman Carmel Patrick hit the nail on the head in her sharp rebuke of Mootoveran when she called the decision irresponsible and questionable.These are not equally qualified women, ladies and gentlemen. Zalewski-Wildzunas has 32 years of professional experience in budgeting and finance and is the only council member with professional experience in real estate development. I dont think the same can be said of Ms. Porterfield. Above all, how can this move be made without justification?City residents will be far the worse for the lack of Zalewski-Wildzunas expertise and dedication. Bad move, Mr. Mootoveran. You owe us an explanation.Richard H. FerroSchenectadyEditors Note: Since this letter was written, Ms. Zalewski-Wildzunas membership to the Finance committee was reinstated, but her chairmanship to the planning committee was not.

Rotterdam: Address ATVs and dirt bikesRotterdam should follow Albanys effort and take steps to stop dirt bikes and four-wheelers on streets and school property.The use of dirt bikes and four-wheelers on the streets of Rotterdam and the land of Mohonasen is out of control once again.Helderberg Avenue, Mohonasens access road and field, are used as a racetrack for these vehicles and it is only a matter of time before an innocent student, dog-walker, runner or family of four out for a drive are going to be injured.Police and school officials are aware of this. Its been going on for years. Odds are that something horrible and preventable will happen. Its just a matter of time.Peggy DagostinoSchenectady

Let our leadership know what we wantAfter reading Polly Windels April 17 letter in The Gazette (Whats wrong with being anti-fascist?), I did some reading on antifa to find out what it was.As far as I can determine, antifa is an unstructured organization of people who have basically anti-right wing tendencies (like opposition to White supremacy) and are convinced that resorting to violence is the only way, and the best way to eliminate this problem.Antifa proponents believe that societies will never act to correct a wrong until they are confronted with mass violence, which is incited against this wrong. To them, the rule of law does not apply.Furthermore, protests are useless unless violence results.Unfortunately, current events lead me to believe that the world is well along the way to mass violence. That is troubling.Even though Polly cant get a national membership card, if she truly subscribes to antifa philosophy and methods, she can send her money to, and sign up with, local groups in New York City, Atlanta, Minneapolis or Portland, Oregon. More than ever, we have to let our local and national leaders know what we want. We must hold them responsible for what they do.Roger FeuersteinSaratoga Springs

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Letters to the Editor Thursday, April 22 - The Daily Gazette

Number of people that died in the Rwanda Genocides 850,000.

Number of Civilians killed in the Vietnam War (North and South) 627,000.

Number of people that died during 9/11 3,000.

The number of people that died during the Capitol Building vandalism was four Trump supporters. One was shot by an unnamed Capitol policeman, one had a stroke, one had a heart attack, one had an overdose of amphetamines. The police guy that supposedly was viciously beaten to death with a fire extinguisher that never happened. After the fracas he went back to his department and texted his brother that he had been pepper sprayed twice. Later autopsies showed no blunt force trauma.

The damage? Several windows were broken, and the Speaker of the House lectern had been stolen and the guy who took it arrested. Probably under $50,000 max damage. Antifa/BLM riots has caused over $2 billion dollars in damage to federal buildings and small business shops.

Candace Owens brought up a Fun Fact in history. In 1933 the Home of the German Parliament (the Reichstag Building) had a fire started by a lone Communist and it did a lot of damage to the building. In the spirit of Winston Churchills statement of Never let a good Crises go to waste, Hitlers group started screaming and started the Reichstag Fire Decree. They started yelling that the Communists were plotting against us! They then (for your protection) suspended civil liberties and started gathering up all the communist Germans. The rights of Habeas Corpus, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of the Press, Public Assembly and secrecy of your mail and phone was taken away.

Now it would be an extreme conspiracy theory to suggest any similarities between then and now, but it sure is strange some of the similarities. Why would asking any questions about this event get you shut down? Fired?

The Pravda political news services (CNN/MSNBC, etc.) all claimed that it was only Trumps group at the Capitol (Do you remember John Sullivan? He is a known antifa/BLM activist who attended the protest at the Capitol). Smells a little Reichstag to me in my opinion of course.

The progressives and the media immediately started screaming armed insurrection! Coincidence? I think not.

Oh, I keep forgetting. Did I mention that on the Jan. 6 protest the FBI announced that no guns were found I did see one guy, using a crutch against someone else, so that might have been a weapon of mass destruction.

It was a stupid thing for the Trump Supporters to go into the building but an armed insurrection? Progressives and the media have milked it for as much mileage as they can get.

David Cannon

Enumclaw

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The Jan. 6 protest, BLM riots, and the Reichstag - Enumclaw Courier-Herald

EXCLUSIVE:He might be the most hated man in the room depending on where he goes, but Andy Nghas undoubtedly amassed a tremendous following for hisexperience covering the ins and outs of Antifa.

The born-and-raised Portlander and second-generation Vietnamese American, a conservative journalist who serves as the editor-at-large of The Post Millenial, is now a New York Times bestselling author thanks to his recently published tome, "Unmasked: Inside Antifas Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy."

In "Unmasked,"Ng explores not only the history of Antifa both in and outside the United States, but also his own experiences covering what he describes as an organized community ofradical, left-wing anarchists.

Andy Ngo, a Portland-based journalist, is seen covered in an unknown substance after unidentified Rose City Antifa members attacked him on June 29, 2019 in Portland, Oregon. (Moriah Ratner/Getty Images, File)

Opponents tried to stop the book from being published, Ng, 33, wrote on Twitter. Even when it was released, some took issue with the book being sold in stores, according to reports. Portland's famed shop Powell's Books opted not to sell thework after union employees protested Ng"and everything he represents," reports stated.

Over the course of years, Nghas endured physical attacks from people in crowds while covering Antifa or radical events, and even unwanted visitors at his and his parents homes, Ngwrote in his book.

But everything came to a head earlier this year when Ngleft the country amid threats of violence and "an escalation of safety concerns," he told Fox News.

"It was just not safe anymore for me. I had already been on borrowed time," he said when reached by phone.

Protesters set a parked limousine on fire in downtown Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, during the inauguration of President Trump. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman, File)

Nggrew to have a keen interest in Antifa following the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, he said.

"Absolutely nobody was expecting it," he recalled. "And the response to that democratic outcome was for people to take to the streets in masses to reject that outcome, and in Portland, many people chose to manifest their frustration through violence and destruction."

In his coverage on the ground in Portland at the time, Ngsaid he began to see "the groundwork being laid for something much worse to come."

"There was just this overall, not just a shift in the attitudes in the public toward left-wing political violence, but also the hollowing out and weakening of law enforcement institutions," he said.

Ngwas a student journalist at Portland State University tasked with working on election night in 2016. He said what he saw shocked him.

He described how rioters descended upon downtown Portland, with their faces covered and "dressed head-to-toe in black." They carried bats, crowbars and hammers and were "just destroying the he--out of the place."

"That was shocking then, and I say that now and its kind of, thats just another, any day in Portland today," he said. "The response from the public at that time was to excuse it. They thought that it was [a] completely legitimate response because of fear and anger over what they thought was not a legitimate election."

He described hearing at the time that Trumps election "was the first step toward ascendant fascism and the rise of a totalitarian regime in the U.S."

MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT ELISSA SLOTKIN CLAIMS ANTIFA ARE 'BOOGEYMEN WHO AREN'T THERE'

"These extremist, radical, unfounded ideas were given space to propagate in our papers of legacy, in our homes and...through broadcast and radio, and of course to online news sites," Ngsaid. "That helped to really radicalize the left, in my opinion."

Ngs resolve to cover Antifa "became more clear and focused" from 2017 through 2018, when he began to notice discrepancies in what he was seeing at riots versus what was being reported, he said.

Antifa members and counter-protesters gathering during a right-wing August 2017 rally at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Berkeley, California. (AMY OSBORNE/AFP/Getty Images, File)

"After every riot that was occurring in Portland and Seattle, the coverage from the local press was not the honest picture about who these masked militants actually were," he said.

Ngcontinued: "The way they were described, they were lionized and described essentially as heroes who are protecting their communities because police dont protect people, because police are racist and transphobic and homophobic."

There grew to be a narrative that it was "up to the people to protect their own."

"And that's what these people are doing protecting communities from neo-Nazis and White supremacists and the KKK," he said. "Thats the story that the public was being told."

THE VIEW'S JOY BEHAR: VIOLENT LEFT-WING GROUP ANTIFA IS FICTITIOUS IDEA, NOT 'A REAL THING

He continued his reporting on the Antifa insurrection for years. But as time went on, his name and face became more well-known amongthe crowds. His writing and reporting style, he said, helped to put him on their radar.

He became a target.

Andy Ngo covered in an unknown substance after unidentified Rose City Antifa members attacked him in 2019 in Portland, Ore. (Moriah Ratner/Getty Images, File)

"I was challenging the narrative that they had, the dominant narrative that they had within both the local press and therefore in the national press, as well," he said.

In 2019, he was attacked by a mob of masked Antifa members and had to be hospitalized, where he learned his brain was hemorrhaging, he wrote in "Unmasked."

But even after Ngs assault, some people in the public and the media criticized him, or questioned his intentions or whether his injuries were as bad as he was making them seem.

"As I watched him stream a close-up of his bloody face to more than a million people, it seemed like a defining moment in a new kind of media career," wrote a Buzzfeed reporter who was with Ngat the time of his assault.

The reporter describedhow Ngwas chronicling his attack and its aftermath on Twitter and through videos, even while he was in the hospital.

He also notedthat despite criticisms that Ng would "provoke people," the attack appeared unprovoked.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

Nonetheless, amid a flood of new and continuing media attention, people came forward with claims that Ng"inflates" or "misrepresents" events for his own benefit.

"[I]t would be a mistake to think this violence came out of some vacuum-sealed ideological intolerance toward conservatives. Ngo has been building to a dramatic confrontation with the Portland far left for months, his star rising along with the severity of the encounters," the Buzzfeed article adds. It notesthat Ngs Twitter bio at one point stated, "Hated by Antifa."It no longer features those words.

The report continues: "The mans literal brand is that anti-fascists are violent and loathe him."

Speaking to Fox News in late March, Ngsaid he felt that his history with Antifa should not disqualify him from covering the topic. He acknowledged it has been "hard not to be treated as a colleague by people who work in this industry."

When Fox News asked Ngabout past social media posts that questioned his credibility or accused him of misrepresenting events, Ngrecognized that he has made errors in his reporting in the past. Such an instance could arise, he said, while live-streaming protests and providing his interpretation of events, only to later learn that something was incorrect.

He said when that happens, he issues updates or corrections as needed to address the error.

"That type of stuff I dont think is unique to me as a journalist, but to my detractors, they think it defines me," he continued. "Its very unfair, but I dont think its operating out of good faith."

In his book, Ngpushes back against the narrative that "Antifa are merely anti-fascists." Instead, he writes, it is "a violent extremist movement that attacks all kinds of targets under the guise of anti-fascism."

Antifas current "plan," Ngwrites, "is to create a decentralized system of cells and affinity groups who share in the same ideology through disseminated propaganda and literature."

MUMFORD & SON BANJOIST STEPS AWAY FROM BAND AFTER PRAISING ANTI-ANTIFA BOOK

"The goal is to inflict maximum damage without death and to maintain the momentum of riots to drain government resource and law enforcement morale," he writes.

He says Antifa members "specifically train for street violence." They are often seen at protests wearing masks and dressed in black and, sometimes, carrying umbrellas.

The umbrellas, he alleged in a message to Fox News, "are specially used to cover the comrades when they commit crimes (starting fires, destroying cameras, etc) and to be used as melee weapons."

Speaking to lawmakers in September, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Antifa is "not a group or an organization. Its a movement or an ideology."

But he also noted that Antifa was a "real thing" and the bureau had worked on "any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists."

Ngtold Fox News that Antifa had a huge "membership explosion" after 2016 "because they had the narrative support of the mainstream media with its daily commentary about fascism in America and how Trump was a Hitler-like figure."

He spoke about how there was "excitement" within the Antifa community surrounding what was, at the time of the interview, the upcoming trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is currently on trial for murder and manslaughter charges in connection with the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd.

"Antifa is always waiting in the background to be able to exploit any type of shootings, or tragedies or deaths involving police and potentially a person of color so that they can organize around that and to radicalize people around that," he said.

Ngadded that periods of growth within the Antifa community "are short-lived" and are tied to particular narratives surrounding events. In 2016, it was the election, in 2017, it was Trumps inauguration and the fatal car attack on counterprotesters at a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"It's not like a constant upward growth," he said, "but I think in other areas where they're having consistent success, [in] my view, is more so their ability to really capture more minds within the mainstream left, minds in the Democrat Party."

He argued that Democrats often argue against the threat of Antifa by going back to "the body count," or lack thereof, as a result of Antifa-linked events. He later pointed tocases of alleged Antifa-linked killings, such asthe shooting death ofAaron "Jay" Danielson allegedly at the hands of reportedly self-described Antifa supporter Michael Reinoehl. In that case, he said, "it somehow doesnt count as a far left-inspired attack."

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"It's an argument that's powerful, right? When you can say, look at how many people associated with a far-right ideology how many people they've killed in the past two decades versus how many far-left people killed," he said.

"That is one argument, but ... it cannot be the only argument."

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Andy Ng reacts to becoming Antifa target, leaving US ...

Black-bloc-clad antifa protesters carrying guns, bats, skateboards attacked cars and trucks participating in a freedom rally caravan in front of the Oregon State Capitol building on Sunday afternoon. No one called the massing of weapons, personnel, offensive weapons, defensive gas masks, and ballistic vests an insurrection, however.

Except for military expert, retired US Army Reserve Lt. Colonel, Tony Shaffer, who wondered, perhaps tongue in cheek, where the National Guard was to put down the planned violence by antifa.

Vehicles bearing Gadsden and American flags were attacked, including a pickup truck bearing a window sticker reading Dont Portland My Oregon.

The truck was pelted with paint and beaten with bats. The driver got out and brandished a gun. As antifa called gun! gun! police, who had up to this point remained on the sidelines hoping for peace, moved into action, ordering the man to the ground.

That man was stopped but not arrested. Nor was he shot by the taser-wielding police officer, which upset at least one live-streamer who cried, if he were black hed be dead by now!

Antifa insurgents smashed the drivers side window of another truck flying the pro-police Thin Blue Line flag. Later, they used a large branch to impale the windshield.

Police say the antifa members planned the assaults in advance, urging people to come to create a fascist free 503, the 503 referring to Oregons legacy area code, to counter-protest the freedom rally. The latest clash was planned to stop the flag-wavers known by antifa as fascists proving again that antifa isnt anti-fascist as much as its anti-First Amendment.

Salem Police said in a news release that the fenced-off capitol building was becoming a draw for demonstrations and protestors.

The first event billed as the Freedom Rally appeared on social media streams in February. A second event appeared soon after, named Fascist Free 503, indicating a counter response to the Freedom Rally. Social media posts connected to the group indicated their intention to prevent the Freedom Rally caravan from meeting at the state capitol.

Shortly before noon, approximately 100 individuals wearing black clothing and ballistic vests and carrying firearms, bats, skateboards, umbrellas, shields and gas masks arrived on the capitol mall grounds. Some individuals from the group carried Youth Liberation Front flags, a group known to espouse leftwing ideologies. The group congregated along Court Street in front of the capitol building.

You can argue the wisdom of the man getting out of his truck to confront the people attacking attacking it, but this, as well as the case of Michael Strickland before it, points to a deeply troubling question revealing itself in America: what is happening to self-defense?

Media executive Tom Elliott said, self defense, a human right dating back more than 2,000 years, has been rescinded.

While I pointed out that the man had not been arrested yet the point should not be lost. Self-defense is on trial in America. Its on trial in Missouri with the McCloskey case. In the Michael Strickland case in Portland, Oregon, in which he pulled a gun (never firing) to stop an advancing antifa mob, the judge determined that what antifa did didnt matter, Strickland pulled a gun inappropriately and that made him guilty. Self-defense was essentially tossed from the courtroom.

The Oregon man who got out of his truck to brush back the mob by brandishing his gun may find out that self-defense is on tenuous grounds in Wokeville. But his Dont Portland My Oregon sticker shows he more than understands the stakes.

Victoria Taft is the host ofThe Adult in the Room Podcast With Victoria Taft where you can hear her series on Antifa Versus Mike Strickland.Find it here. Followher onFacebook, Twitter,Parler,MeWe,Minds@VictoriaTaft

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Armed Antifa Attack 'Freedom Rally' at Oregon's Capitol ...

Retired Marine Corps officer Gabriel Johnson argued on "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday that many police officers in Portland, Ore., are leaving the department because "they are not supported."

In July, living only a block away from the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtownPortland, which has become an epicenter of violence in the city, Johnson marched into the chaos carrying his American flag.

He told Fox News at the time, "I was being called the N-word by Black people. People were chasing me around with baseball bats."

He said he also witnessed a 65-year-old Black veteran attempt to stop the burning of Johnsons flag, only to be beaten by alleged Black Lives Matter protesters.

On Tuesday he told host Ainsley Earhardt, "Iwas actually kind of surprisedbecause I was greeted with thishatred,hatred for the American flag andfor what it stands for and for me, it was really asymbol of justice and a unitingsymbol that people shouldremember to bring us backtogether."

He added that "people in the city really havelost a sense of community andthe community for everyone including theofficers that are out thereserving night in and night out."

ANTIFA ATTACKS PORTLAND POLICE UNION

Late last year, Portlands police department said it received an "unprecedented" number of officers leaving their jobs midcareer to take lower-paying jobs elsewhere and on Sundaythe citys main newspaper published an articleofferinga glimpse intothe reasons why manydecided toleave.

The Oregonian reported thata total of 115 officers have left the departmentsince July 1, 2020,representing"one of the biggest waves of departures in recent memory."

The paper saidit reviewed 31 exit interview statements from these officers that showed a certain level of disillusion with the job. A retiring detective reportedly wrote in one that the community showed officers "zero support."

"The city council are raging idiots, in addition to being stupid. Additionally, the mayor and council ignore actual facts on crime and policing in favor of radical leftist and anarchist fantasy. Whats worse is ppb command (lt. and above) is arrogantly incompetent and cowardly."

Johnson reiterated that sentiment saying he believes "the massive exodus" is due to the lack of support.

"We knewgoing into the new year that wewere going to have a massiveretirement, but now what wereseeing is a massive exodus andI think it's purely just fromthe way that they are notsupported," he said.

"This is one of the only citiesin America where you canactually throw Molotov cocktailsat police officers and expectthem not to do anything, but what weve seen in return fromthem is professionalism.These folks have stood there.They have taken it."

"Theyre human justlike us and believe me it doesaffect them," he continued.

Portland, Oregon, wasthe center of some of the countrys most destructive protests in 2020, which coincided with the citys largest jump in homicides in 26 years, according to the paper. KOIN reportedthat the homicide rate in the city continues to be high and detectives are having a challenging time keeping up with the workflow.

The city experienced 55 killings in 2020and the paper pointed out that the victims ranged from eightmonths to 71 years old.

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A spokesperson for the Portland Police Department and the city did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment. However, Ted Wheeler, the citys mayor and therefore head of its police department, told the Oregonian in an email that the city has a "laser focus on building a better public safety system."

"And, as we pursue change to meet Portlanders needs and expectations, we must focus on support and care for our employees."

Fox News Edmund DeMarche, Teny Sahakian and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Veteran who was harassed by Antifa over flag: Portland cops in 'mass exodus' over lack of support - Fox News

A host for far-left news show Democracy Now! did her darnedest to get Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a staunch Democrat, to condemn the "death squad-style assassination by U.S. marshals" of Michael Reinoehl a self-proclaimed "100% Antifa" militant who gunned down a pro-cop activist last summer after a Portland rally in support of then-President Donald Trump.

But for some reason Brown didn't take Amy Goodman's bait.

As part of a larger interview Friday, Goodman asked Brown to talk about Portland's "hundred-day protest ... against ... racism and police brutality that culminated in a death squad-style assassination by U.S. marshals of the anti-fascist activist Michael Reinoehl."

Brown was happy to talk about a number of things: how much she despised the Trump administration's actions, her support of peaceful protests, her efforts to get rid of racism just not about what happened to Reinoehl.

"The actions of the Trump administration were abysmal and absolutely abhorrent in this state," the governor responded. "And we worked with our local law enforcement to eradicate these forces from our state. We want to make sure that Oregonians can continue to peacefully protest, to uphold those voices that ask for change. And we will continue to support those efforts to eradicate racism from our institutions, from our structures and from our systems."

Goodman perhaps expecting a direct, supportive reply from Brown pressed the governor.

"And do you condemn that death squad-style assassination of this man?" Goodman asked. "And have you called for an investigation?"

But Brown didn't give her what she wanted.

"Look, what happened last summer was abhorrent," the governor answered, again stopping short of addressing Reinoehl. "We are continuing to work to hold federal officials accountable. I expect you will see changes in leadership of local federal officials here in the state of Oregon. That is appropriate. And we are glad to be rid of Donald Trump's corruption, chaos, and, frankly, incompetent governance."

Oregon Governor Kate Brown Pushes Expanding Vote-by-Mail to Counter GOP Voter Suppression Effortsyoutu.be

Reinoehl a self-proclaimed "100% Antifa" militant fatally shot pro-police activist and Patriot Prayer supporter Aaron "Jay" Danielson in an apparent ambush Aug. 29 after a Portland pro-Trump rally that attracted a heavy Antifa presence.

While the likes of then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden floated the possibility that Danielson was killed because his fellow Trump supporters were "inciting responses," the Multnomah County district attorney's office released unsealed court documents suggesting Reinoehl targeted Danielson before shots were fired.

Reinoehl said he believed he killed Danielson in self-defense because he and his friend were about to be attacked.

Law enforcement agents fatally shot Reinoehl on Sept. 3 after they said he pulled a gun when they came to arrest him in Washington state.

Immediately after Danielson was killed, a group of Antifa militants celebrated his death in the street. (Content warning: Language):

"And tonight I just got word, the person who died was a Patriot Prayer person," one woman said to the black-clad crowd. "He was a f***ing Nazi. Our community held its own and took out the trash. I'm not going to shed any tears over a Nazi."

She added, "If ya'll are not angry, you're not paying attention. If ya'll are not angry, you're not with me! Everybody needs to realize what's going on in the community. Our community can hold its own without the police. We can take out the trash on our own. I am not sad that a f***ing fascist died tonight!"

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Leftist host tries to get Oregon governor to condemn 'death squad-style assassination' of Antifa thug who gunned down pro-cop activist in 2020. Nope....

"Real Time" host Bill Maher called Portland, Oregon, a "cautionary tale" asriots and violence continue to plague the Oregon city.

During the panel discussion on Friday night, Maher took a moment to celebrate how there's a "crack" in the "blue wall of silence" as Minneapolis police ChiefMedaria Arradondo testified against ex-Officer Derek Chauvin in his murder trial overGeorge Floyd's death.

"This has finally happened," Maher said. "Until five years ago, you couldn't win a trial against a cop. ... That was their thing. Like, 'Look at the tape again. You don't know what we see,' and now thishas gone away. It's like, 'No, we do see.'"

MAHER SOUNDS ALARM ON 'CLIMATE OF FEAR' IN US SCHOOLS: PARENTS AFRAID OF 'NOT BEING WOKE ENOUGH'

He continued, "And now they're now testifying against their own.And we celebrate for a moment that this a big f---in' deal? It's a big f---in' deal."

One of his guests,Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam, sounded the alarm about the surge in crime rates in recent years and thewave of retiring police officers.

"Poor Portland has an exodus," Maher chimed in. "I mean, if you're one of those people that wants Antifa to get results, you win. They may not be the one you want, but 115 police officers have left the Portland -- That's a lot for a city that size."

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Maher quoted a retired Portland detective who said, "The community shows zero support. The mayor and the counsel ignore actual facts on crime."

"I'm just saying on Portland, it's a cautionary tale," Maher said. "Cause we do not want to live in a world without police. Then it's 'The Purge' every night. So if you think that's a great idea ..."

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Bill Maher calls Portland a 'cautionary tale': 'In a world without police,' it's 'The Purge' every night - Fox News

The movement has been widely criticized among the mainstream left and right. After the protests in Berkeley, Calif., in August 2017, Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried the violent actions of people calling themselves antifa and said they should be arrested.

Conservative publications and politicians routinely rail against supporters of antifa, who they say are seeking to shut down peaceful expression of conservative views. These critics point to moments during which purported antifa members have been accused of sucker-punching Trump supporters.

But overblown fears and false claims about antifa can be dangerous in and of themselves. In Oregon, for example, after a wave of misinformation about left-wing activists intentionally setting fires began to interfere with firefighters efforts to contain the blazes there, law enforcement officials begged people to STOP. SPREADING. RUMORS!

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history at New York University who studies fascism, said she was worried that antifas methods could feed into what she said were false equivalencies that seek to lump violence on the left with attacks by the right, such as the killing of a protester in Charlottesville by a man who had expressed white supremacist views.

Throwing a milkshake is not equivalent to killing someone, but because the people in power are allied with the right, any provocation, any dissent against right-wing violence, backfires, Professor Ben-Ghiat said in an interview last year.

Between 2010 and 2016, 53 percent of terrorist attacks in the United States were carried out by religious extremists 35 percent by right-wing extremists and 12 percent by left-wing or environmentalist extremists, according to a University of Maryland-led consortium that studies terrorism.

Militancy on the left can become a justification for those in power and allies on the right to crack down, Professor Ben-Ghiat said. In these situations, the left, or antifa, are historically placed in impossible situations.

Jacey Fortin contributed reporting.

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What Is Antifa? - The New York Times

An Antifa leader known as Commander Red was busted carrying a flamethrower to a Wisconsin Black Lives Matter rally and dropped into the fetal position and began crying when stopped by cops, officials said.

Matthew Banta, 23, is known to be a violent Antifa member who incites violence in otherwise relatively peaceful protests, a criminal complaint in his Green Bay arrest record insisted, according to WBAY.

He was carrying stickers and a flag for the controversial group the name of which is short for anti-fascist along with military-grade 5-minute smoke grenades, fireworks rockets, and a flamethrower, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Banta was stopped after being spotted with a whole bunch of white people with sticks, baseball bats and helmets heading toward a BLM event in Green Bay, police said in the criminal complaint.

The others fled when a cop blocked them with his squad car, but Banta was stopped and dropped into the fetal position and began crying, the police report said. He complained that the officer got on top of him, which police denied, WBAY said.

Its worrisome when people associated with Antifa come here to Green Bay from out of town for the purposes of committing violent acts, Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith told the station.

At the time of Saturdays arrest, Banta was out on a $10,000 cash bond after being accused of pointing a loaded gun at a police officer as well as biting and kicking a cop at a protest earlier this month, the report said.

A condition of his bond was that he cant have a dangerous weapon, according to the Brown County district attorneys office.

The 23-year-old from Neenah, about 40 miles south of Green Bay, was charged with obstructing an officer and two counts of felony bail jumping after Saturdays arrest, the report said. He was released late Monday on $2,500 bond, court records show.

He was one of 15 arrested at Saturdays Black Lives Matter protest that turned violent in the city and was deemed an unlawful assembly, police said.

Burning buildings, hurting people, shooting, looting, vandalizing theres absolutely no way that is a form of protest, Smith told Fox 11 of his zero-tolerance stance.

Thats criminal behavior, he insisted.

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Antifa 'commander' with flamethrower cried when he was ...

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., describedAntifa as"boogeymen who aren't there" being used as political talking points during a local radio interview on Tuesday.

"What you will hear, both in private and in public, the FBIwill tell you right now there is not one open case of domesticterrorism, of violent extemism, against the group called Antifa," Slotkin told Detroit's WDET-FM.

"It's an ideology. It's not an organized group with leaders and money and organization. It's very very different, and there's no equivalence betweenAntifa and a group like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers who were instrumentalin coming into the Capitol on the sixth."

WHAT IS ANTIFA, THE FAR LEFT GROUP TIED TO VIOLENT PROTESTING?

"Ispend a lot of time trying to make sure my colleagues have full access to that data, and I've been clear with them that we're not going to have a circus in this committee and focus on boogeymen who aren't there. I understand it's a political talking point for people, but you cannot misstate facts," she continued.

Antifa protesters at a rally. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian/via AP)

Slotkin was named the chair of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism, which is under theHouse Committee on Homeland Security,in February. She is a former CIA intelligence analyst who served in Iraq.

Slotkin cited former FBI Director Christopher Wray during her radio interview, although Wray said in September that the FBI does have Antifa-related investigations open.

"Antifa is a real thing. It's not a group or an organization. It's a movement,or an ideology may be one way of thinking of it," Wray said at a congressional hearing."And we have quite a number -- and I've said this quite consistently since my first time appearing before this committee -- we have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa."

Slotkin took a stand against violent protests in the wake of Minneapolis man George Floyd's death.

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"I am worried about the violence taking place in some cities. Destruction of property is a crime and does not further the cause of justice. It will be increasingly important to differentiate between peaceful protests and violent looting in the coming days and weeks," she wrote in an op-ed in June.

Former President Donald Trump often blamed Antifa for violent riots in 2020.

Fox News' Brie Stimson, Brian Flood, Houston Keeneand Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

Link:

Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin claims Antifa are 'boogeymen who aren't there' - Fox News