Who's to blame for the Floyd protest violence?

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 4:21pm

We all know who's to blame for the Floyd protests, don't we?

It's Russia!
Or China.
Or Venezuela.
Or 'foreign actors'.
Or the media.
Or President Trump.

But primarily Antifa is to blame for the Floyd protests.

according to The Nation, which cited an internal FBI situation report, the bureau's Washington, DC, field office "has no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence" in the violence that took place on Sunday.

Really, it was Antifa.

a Reuters examination of federal court records related to the charges, social media posts by some of the suspects and interviews with defense lawyers and prosecutors found mostly disorganized acts of violence by people who have few obvious connections to antifa or other left-wing groups.

Trust me, it was Antifa.

Of the 51 cases, spread across 18 states, brought by the Justice Department thus far, 20 involve allegations related to arson; 16 involve the illegal possession of a firearm, more often than not by a felon; another eight people face charges related to inciting a riot or civil disorder. Former federal prosecutors told NPR that "if the government had indications that an individual had ties to or documented interest in a particular extremist movement, they would likely include it in charging documents to cite it during a bail hearing." On Monday, AG Barr told Fox News host Bret Baier that the lack of cases against Antifa activists is not conclusive evidence that they were not participating in the violence.

It was Antifa, dammit!

The Daily Beast also combed through the first 22 criminal complaints federal agents filed since May 31 that were related to the protests. None of them list antifa or anti-fascist ideology as being a motivating factor for the alleged crimes.

Someone forgot to blame MS-13.

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floyd protests

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 5:32pm

OK. Maybe it's not Antifa

right-wingers

the FBI's report did warn that people associated with a far-right social-media group had "called for far-right provocateurs to attack federal agents" and "use automatic weapons against protesters."
Politico also reported on Monday that a Department of Homeland Security intelligence note warned law-enforcement officials that a white supremacist channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram encouraged its followers to incite violence to start a race war during the protests...

NBC News also reported on Monday that Twitter had identified a group posing as an "antifa" organization calling for violence in the protests as actually being linked to the white supremacist group Identity Evropa.

And then there's this

On Monday, CNN reported that a man accused of driving his car through a crowd of protesters in Virginia over the weekend is an "admitted leader" of the Ku Klux Klan and a "propagandist for Confederate ideology," according to the county attorney.
The man, Harry Rogers, has been charged with attempted malicious wounding, felony vandalism and assault, and battery.

Barr's news conference on Thursday also came one day after the Justice Department announced charges against the three Nevada men who self-identified as being part of the Boogaloo movement.

Submitted by Marie on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 6:57pm

Debunking today

@gjohnsit -- is a full time job for an army of (unpaid) keyboard warriors.

On Monday, AG Barr told Fox News host Bret Baier that the lack of cases against Antifa activists is not conclusive evidence that they were not participating in the violence.

Lack of evidence didn't stop the Russiagaters from squandering years and million of dollar looking for it and the culprits. Does the DOJ even have a list of Antifa activists?

Protests with zero violence are the exception. Protests almost always attract a few (often cops) nutcases bent on perpetrating violence and/or looting. Would be far easier to contain if the cops didn't waste their time bashing the heads and bodies of peaceful protestors and limited themselves to keeping everyone safe and collaring those engaged in actual crimes.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Sat, 06/13/2020 - 11:04am

Jimmy Dore keeps asking

@Marie how many looters have the police arrested?

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 4:30pm

So...

...who now is saying (stubbornly insisting, rather) it WAS Antifa?

Poor Venezuela, getting dragged into this in their present condition....

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 5:27pm

You know who

@The Liberal Moonbat link

Out of 873,000 pieces of misinformation linked to the demonstrations, 575,800 mentioned antifa, Zignal Labs told The New York Times.
The allegations gained traction after Trump tweeted on May 31 that antifa and other left-wing radicals were responsible for the violence. But they started bouncing around social media days earlier, according to The Times, which found more than 6,000 Facebook posts linking antifa to the protests that garnered 1.3 million likes and shares from May 25 to June 1.

On Thursday, the hashtag #exposeAntifa began trending on Twitter as the president and his allies continued amplifying the theory.
...
As protests unfolded in Idaho last week, white residents armed with military-style assault rifles lined the streets of some towns after seeing unfounded reports of "ANTIFA agitators" planning to invade the state, the Washington Post reported. One of the armed locals told the outlet that he mobilized after hearing trusted sources warning of "antifa types" being on the move.

It turned out the warnings were an online hoax...
An NBC News report described a similar scenario in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where a group of about 200 protesters gathered at a local hotspot and were met with hundreds of their mostly white neighbors across the street, who were armed with guns, hammers, axes, baseball bats, and American flags.

Submitted by longtalldrink on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 4:34pm

They will use the word Antifa

and beat us over the heads with it (pun intended) just like they did with the "Russian Investigation".

As the saying goes, a lie often repeated becomes the truth.

And when THAT happens, everyone and everything will be Antifa.

The average citizen does not know what Antifa is (but it sure sounds scary) which just means you are anti-fascist. If people would only think...don't we all want to be anti-fascist? Not talking to you right-wingers btw.

—

Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin

Submitted by Blue Republic on Sun, 06/14/2020 - 5:13am

According to your definition

@longtalldrink

is anyone who supports the principles of a constitutional republic "right wing"?
And therefore unlikely or incapable of being anti-fascist?

If people would only think...don't we all want to be anti-fascist? Not talking to you right-wingers btw.

How does that work, exactly - since the values/principles of of fascism are
completely at odds with that of classical liberalism - the one requiring the individual to
be subordinated to the state and the latter seeing the individual as holding unalienable rights
and legitimate government flowing only from free individuals exercising them?

Or do you mean right-wingers *can* be anti-fascist but it doesn't really matter - they aren't the right *kind* of anti-fascist?

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 5:11pm

got me laughin';

thanks...i needed that!

but a small quibble: Susie the Meathead Rice only said it 'might be Russia!'

no votes for the other Nation of Epic Evil: Iran? Iran gets my vote...except they would have bombed cities with their non-existent low-yield nukes...

okay, my vote goes to the PO-lice being responsible for the protest 'violence™'.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 5:40pm

The police???

@wendy davis
These protests, like all events in America, are about hating the American flag and Trump.

No one cares about issues, donchknow

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 7:00pm

yeah, i know.

@gjohnsit

i was just spit-ballin' and givin' The Minority Report is all... (i'm so ashamed now...)

Submitted by Linda Wood on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 6:08pm

Posted

in the wrong essay. Sorry.

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 6:19pm

I'll listen to Greenwald and Gaffney,

@Linda Wood

and let you know what Gaffney's explanation is, Linda. He's a very clever neoliberal technocrat who's also a managed care/MFA activist.

From this point forward, I'll continue to listen to, and document some of the activist/partisan public health experts/"talking heads" appearances and comments on Cable teevee--but, I'll also take them with a huge grain of salt. As for my purposes, if public health officials/experts don't bother to cite evidence at the time of their prognostications--they can pound sand.

Better yet, I don't want to get too OT, here. Probably best that I leave my impressions of the Greenwald interview at EB, where the video is posted. Sorry, gj.

Everyone have a nice weekend.

Mollie

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 06/12/2020 - 9:43pm

i'll bite; i know

@Unabashed Liberal

greenwald, but gaffney? ah, i just saw your OT apologies to gjonsit; never mind.