Over the weekend, a group of degenerate scumbag, gun-humping, right-wing, Trump loving douchebags attempted to start riots in Portland. This is largely unremarkable because this happens all the fucking time in Portland, but it was notable in several regards. First, there was no violence, because the police cordoned off the group of manbaby Proud Boys and 3 Percenter dipshits. Second, a true American hero was born:
Warning for language. This man does not like the Proud Boys. @KGWNews pic.twitter.com/v9P8QNZR9h
— Tim Gordon (@TimGordonPDX) August 17, 2019
The “you’re cool” to the dog made it for me.
At any rate, the usual suspects tried to gin up antifa violence, including Quillette’s Axis Sally wannabe, Andy Ngo, but largely failed to make their case. On the other hand, this report from the HuffPo is pitch perfect:
A few hundred fascists once again invaded Portland for a much-anticipated rally Saturday, but this time were mostly deprived of the violent spectacle they crave, as a much larger group of anti-fascists made them know they weren’t welcome in this city.
The fascists belonged to far-right groups including the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and the Three Percenters. And whereas at previous Portland rallies these groups have often confronted and attacked anti-fascist protesters, this time they were barely given the chance to do so. Upon arriving at Tom McCall Waterfront Park around 11.am. Saturday, they were kept separated from their foes by concrete barriers and a phalanx of police.
The fascists ambled about, singing the national anthem and chanting “USA” for a mere 30 minutes before deciding it was time to leave. An accommodating Portland Police Bureau — which has been criticized for siding with, and sometimes maintaining friendly relationships with, such far-right extremists — then escorted them to the Hawthorne Bridge, which was closed off to the rest of the city’s residents, for a happy march across the Willamette River.
It was a striking scene: the same group of out-of-town fascists that have terrorized people here for years, given free rein over a city bridge, on their way back from an unpermitted rally in a public park, after weeks of threatening to harm and kill local anti-fascists.
But the police department’s decision nevertheless may have prevented bloodshed, as it largely stopped fascists from crossing paths with their enemies. (“We did not show preferential treatment, but rather facilitated a de-escalation of potential conflict,” Police Chief Danielle Outlaw later argued.)
No mincing of words, no playing both sides, no attempts to equate antifa with these thugs, etc. Just a great job telling the truth about what happened. Notice this caption to a photograph:
Excellent work, Christopher Mathais (@letsgomathias) and Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell
)..
Inventor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWF8iRCan7I
Citizen Alan
In one of those pictures, there’s a burly black guy on the front row marching happily with the proud boys. I am saddened to think that anyone could feel such self loathing. For the same reason that merely thinking about Clarence Thomas always depresses me.
piratedan
shame the police didn’t let the counter-protesters toss these asshats into the river.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Well, when the Police Chief is an Outlaw…
West of the Rockies
Why do so many rightwingers infantalize themselves? Proud Boys (not Men), Sad Puppies (not Dogs), the Young Guns (when Cantor and Ryan and co. were all 40+)…
It’s odd.
West of the Rockies
@Citizen Alan: Toxic masculinity knows no color boundaries.
Tim C.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Was about to say, Putting Danielle Outlaw in as Portland Police Chief seems to have done well. The goal on Saturday was to avoid violence and letting the Brownshirts retreat was the smart move. Personally I don’t love Antifa, I’d rather it be handled by the likes of the Unipiper and other related absurdists, but this was pretty close to the best possible outcome.
Jay
@piratedan:
It’s a shame the Police did not do their jobs and arrest, disarm and charge every Nazi that showed up, for what was an illegal assembly and on charges of gathering to riot.
Instead, they protected the Nazis, not their “community”.
Dan B
@Citizen Alan: The black guy is the leader, a Cuban American guy who bombed in a CNN interview. He was the leader of this march because the original leader is in jail.
Probably from a commie hating Cuban family.
David Koch
Signs at last night’s Portland Thorns match (photo)
debbie
Trump wants the antifascists declared a terrorist group. If this doesn’t show the upsidedownness of the world, I don’t know what does.
Jharp
Proud Boys #PortlandProtest organizer Joe Briggs is asked “What’s the message you got across?”
“Go look at President Trump’s Twitter. He talked about Portland, said he’s watchin’ antifa. That’s all we wanted.”@realDonaldTrump actively supports domestic terrorists.
Jay
@Tim C.:
There is no Antifia, there are only antifacists.
Dan B
@Jay: I know Portland police have been heavy handed with antifa but I believe it was easier to surround a hundred Proud Boys than to surround and protect thousands of anti-nazis.
jl
What happened to the Proud Boys’ goofy grade school pageant warrior outfits?
TS (the original)
@Jay: That is a good thread to read & one of the things I took from it
– trump now has to turn to such groups as the proud boys for support because he is losing much of what he had from the slightly less fascist members of the GOP. This will soon be all he has.
I am not prone to optimism but the fact that this group seems to be reducing in numbers and support & the fact that trump is supporting them is a positive sign for some sanity returning to the US political scene. Add in that those talking economics in the administration have no idea what they are doing – next year is starting to look like 2008.
Given that 9/11 was the only thing that gave GWB 2 terms – I do worry somewhat about what trump might do on the international scene.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I think the correct thing yell at the Proud Boys is “Get a job you hippies!”
zzyzx
@Tim C.: Good to know I’m not the only one. For me, it was an awful first impression. A Proud Boys-esque group marched in Seattle to protest the oh-so-likely imposition of sharia law.
A lot of sane people had fun mocking them and being guards for Muslims who were countering. It was going well for the most part. Then a few self described Antifa people decided to try to pick fights. At one point someone pulled out a gun and threatened people. They were basically angry 18 year old men itching for violence who at least found a better target than those who are going after minorities, but they were not people I respected.
I think in the NW, it’s just a rebranding of the Black Blok
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Citizen Alan: Look, when have a bunch of people who claim to anarchist calling for a fascist dictatorship to save freedom, reason just goes right how the window. These people are the Wingnut even horizon. It’s very likely this the same as the Flat Earther who started out as a joke and got so far into character they believe it now.
Jay
@Dan B:
It was an illegal gathering, by armed Nazis, who were allowed to attack Portlanders, and were allowed to march, escorted by Police.
While the counter protestors were forced to disperse by armed police, and police violence and arrests.
Many of the Nazis who were allowed to march have open arrest warrants for violent attacks and rioting, some as old as 5 years old, that go unenforced.
Meanwhile, spitting on a sidewalk,…….
Starfish
@Citizen Alan: On my Facebook, there was a black woman yucking it up when Marianne Williamson had 1488 photos to her Instagram account. I find this behavior odd.
JR
@Citizen Alan: proud boys have a few minority members. Their variety of fascism is much more in a misogynistic vein.
dr. bloor
Is the third from the left in the bottom photo the future muscle for a Bond villain, or are the other guys just really short?
Starfish
@West of the Rockies: That is how we have always absolved white men for their crimes. “He has his whole life ahead of him so he can’t go to jail for…”
A lot of the resentment politics of these groups is pretty immature.
dr. bloor
@Citizen Alan: Were Sovereign Citizens a presence in the march? J.J. McNabb is a great Twitter follow for background and info on the right-wing loons, and she’s commented on a number of occasions in response to the seeming oddity of PoC claiming to be SovCits in court. There’s some sort of background to it that escapes me at the moment.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Starfish:
Was she a Williamson supporter or opponent? Perhaps she was poking fun at Williamson?
Starfish
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: She is a Republican who thinks 1488 is funny.
Anonymous At Work
The Huff and others do make a mistake here. No collective nouns! It isn’t a few hundred fascists; they have names. They also have relatives and employers who may not want to associate themselves with fascists.
Shape up!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Starfish:
Then she’s an idiot. But you said she was a Republican, so that was never in doubt
Starfish
@Anonymous At Work: For that level of professionalism, you have to go to the journalists at Unicorn Riot.
kindness
WaPo’s coverage today wasn’t as bad as a NY Times headline, but was far too close to Both Sides for me to like it. I look at HuffPo from time to time. Not a big fan (AOL owns them now) but kudos HuffPo.
Mike J
Has the guy saying “you’re cool” to the dog seen Fuller’s White Dog?
Dan B
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Wingnut Event Horizon! Great poster message or punk rock band name.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@kindness: The New York Times is garbage, I’ve heard that at this here blog.
Dan B
@Starfish: Yes. Hitler references is a big giggle…. A real laugh riot.
James E Powell
Why Portland? Is there a huge chunk of history that I missed that makes it all clear? Does it have anything to do with Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen?
smintheus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Jay
@James E Powell:
Why Portland?
It’s a liberal cosmopolitan city surrounded by buttfuck Oregon in a State that made it illegal for minorities to move there, at its founding.
It’s a City who’s Police Force and Civic “Leaders” have welcomed and protected out of City/State Nazis for over 40 years and who’s communities have rallied to drive the Nazis out for over 40 years.
There are very few Nazis in Portland. There’s not even a lot left in Oregon.
They had to bring in Nazis from all across the US to get 300.
Frankensteinbeck
@James E Powell:
In addition to what @Jay said, the anarchist types who love violence and whose ambition is to be tear gassed love Portland and Seattle. They will also flock to Portland from across the country if they hear about a potentially violent protest. Protests in Portland are a powder keg.
Jay
@dr. bloor:
There’s so much overlap between SovCits, White Identitarians, Alt Reich and Nazis, in their “ideology” that it’s best to lump them all together.
A key cornerstone of SovCit “belief” is that the “modern” USA is a Corporation, not a Nation, and any “contract”, ( birth certificate, passport, drivers lisence, paying taxes),
Makes one Property of the State, and not a Citizen.
Given the history of POC in the US, you can see why that fringe CT might be “acceptable” to some POC’s.
lumpkin
The reporting I saw yesterday from Oregon Live said that antifa broke the windows on a busload of proud boys and surrounded two people carrying American flags and intimidated them. No reports of misbehavior by the right wingers. No idea if this was fair coverage or not. I went down there when I got the chance but it was too late so I didn’t get a sense of the atmosphere during the demonstrations.
Edit: They did mention that the police took several weapons (sticks and the like, no guns) but didn’t identify which side they were taken from.
Jay
Andy Ngo, is that you?
In the Cider Riot House incident, the Patriot Prayer event had no incidents of violence.
Not having got their street fights, Andy Ngo and 4 other Nazis went to Portlands Gay District, after dark, attacked patrons of the Cider House sitting on the outdoor patio, enjoying a meal and a drink, breaking one girls neck.
Nice try at “bothsiderism” though. The FTFNYT would be proud.
Portland and Seattle have large anti-facist coelitions because their communities have been under attack by Nazis for over 40 years, and the Police do not protect them.
There’s 3 generations in each city, that have passed down fighting Nazis from generation, to generation. 99% of the time, it’s research, naming, shaming and intersectional community building and communal support.
1% of it is street fighting, because the cops won’t protect the community.
Joey Gibson was arrested on Friday for the Cider House Riot,
And yet, there he was, front and center, on Saturday, having posted hundreds of death threats the past week, packing a knife, gun, baton and body armour. When he missed his bus, armed Portland escorted him to a car, pointed their weapons at the anti-facists, and waved at him while his buddy, drove him away.
Portland has a Nazi problem for the same reason Hamilton has a Nazi problem. The City and the Cops protect Nazis.
Jay
@lumpkin:
Yeah, nope. Follow IGD, Carol Orr, Rose City Antifia, Shane Burley, Gwen Snider is uncivil.
A Nazi on a black short bus, grabbed a non violent protestor, tried to drag him onto the bus and kill him with a claw hammer. Others intervened, took the hammer away from him, threw it back through the windows and then employed some bearspray.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1162972206147743744.html
Adam L Silverman
@lumpkin: That was based on barbered/edited video shot by Andy Ngo. The hammer belonged to one of the guys on the Proud Boys bus or whichever of the white supremacist group’s bus. Basically the white supremacist opened the window or knocked it out with his hammer, then started trying to hit the counter-protestors in the head with it from above them. One of the counter-protesters took it away and was waving it around to taunt the guy.
Also, Kyle “Based Stick Man” Chapman, who I wrote about here on the front page about two years ago, and who is both a convicted felon and wanted on a number of other felonies pertaining to acts of violence at rallies, dressed his 20 year old daughter up as if she was 13, dragged her through the counter-protests, and then started claiming that the counter-protestors were pedophiles because they had assaulted and sexually assaulted her.
lumpkin
@Adam L Silverman:
I said I didn’t know if the reports were fair or not. Guess Oregon Live got fooled by the nazis. Not surprised.
Zinsky
Q. – How many people have Antifa killed?
A. – Zero
Q. – How many people have right-wing espousing, gun-toting delusional conservatives killed?
A. – Hundreds
Trump has no fucking clue where the real risks reside in the world!
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
John Turano, aka Based Spartan and his 20 year old Nazi daughter.
Kyle Chapman’s in Court/Jail in Charlottesville.
https://mobile.twitter.com/rvawonk/status/1162880164746997762
Adam L Silverman
@lumpkin: Andy Ngo has monetized providing on site, immediate video and audio of this stuff. Of course the video and audio is edited to promote Ngo’s preferred narrative.
Jay
@Zinsky:
There was an altercation in 1974 when an antifacist killed a Nazi, with a gun in a melee where the Nazis killed 4 antifacists,
Then that whole Spanish Civil War, WWII thing where anti facists killed the Nazis by the millions.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Look, I’m laying down some rules. They only get one guy with “based” in his name. Otherwise it’s going to be too confusing. He can be Foundationed Spartan, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
“Based” is a redpill reference, so that’s kinda like asking ISIL to have only one al-Baghdadi.
Jay
BTW, the data nerds have the numbers.
The scary “Antifia” gaslighting is coming from inside the house.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: I’m aware, but they’re going to just have to deal with it.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m just enjoying the visuals of all the Nazis arriving on the “short busses”,…..
N M
I wish someone could do a deepfake with all these modern-day Nazis and brownshirt/armband them up (like the Illiniois Nazis of Blues Brothers) as they really ought to be, so that people who are a bit less “plugged in” get a real direct visual of what they represent.
Kent
@Jay:
Not true. There is is a fuckload of Nazi types in Portland, especially the east side and out towards Gresham. And especially all over the logging towns of western Oregon. They might not identify as actual neoNazis and wear swastikas but they are white supremicst racist MAGA fucks. And they are here by the thousands.
I’m in my 50s and I grew up in Eugene which is supposed to be a liberal oasis. But there are plenty of racist fucks down there too. I went to HS with a bunch of them. I still see the facebooks feeds of some of the guys I went to HS with (North Eugene HS) and they are full of guns and ammo and cammo and MAGA bullshit along with all the dead deer they have shot and dead fish they have caught. The guy who played running back next to me on the football team was arrested for beating his wife some years ago, got out and 6 months later got arrested for caving in the skull of his son on a camping trip and leaving him alive but deaf. He just got released again from prison and is now back to posting steelhead fishing photos in cammo on facebook because I guess he can’t have guns anymore. But now he has prison tats.
Remember when Obama came to Roseburg after the school shooting down there at the community college? The racists and nazis came out in full force. There are probably more than 300 in Roseburg alone: https://www.columbian.com/news/2015/oct/09/gun-rights-activists-protest-obama-visit/ click through the photos.
Most of the Proud Boy ilk are from Clark County which is the suburban sprawl on the WA side of the Columbia river including Vancouver and a bunch of smaller redneck towns. They come across the river like clockwork for these silly protests because no one pays attention if they hold a protest in front of a biker bar in Battle Ground WA where they are from.
Anyway, you are kidding yourself if you think Oregon has to import racists. Outside of Portland the college towns like Eugene and Corvallis pretty much the rest of Oregon is deep red and plenty racist. These are my people. I know them. I have extended family all over the Pacific Northwest. In true Oregon fashion they are racist but they still recycle.
MoxieM
Who in the hell brings a dog to a march where there may well be tear gas? Ought to arrest that person on the basis of animal cruelty, regardless of political persuasion. Dogs are not happy in angry yelling crowds of humans. Like the dumbells I saw once who brought a <1 yo baby to club for a Gogol Bordello concert, with only foam earplugs, and then got up close to the amp stacks. That kid will pay for parental stupidity with impaired hearing for a lifetime… Hmpf.
Jay
@Kent:
Rogue River.
But they couldn’t muster the 300 nazis From Portland.
ola azul
@Kent:
Recycled racists!
Must say: Your experience scans with my own. After our mother died, moved from Flint to northern Mich. with the old man at age 14. Will say: Our benighted racists haven’t even the decency to recycle, being more apt to chuck their refuse out the window onto the highway. Legions of backward, reactionary, passionately stupid peeps who resemble pap in Huckleberry Finn.
Kent
@ola azul: Yep. I got family on my mother’s side from Au Gres Michigan. They take a back seat to no one in their gun nuttery and MAGA nonsense. At our last big family reunion my MI cousins escaped off to play hookey at a local gun show and returned to proudly display their haul in trunk of their car.
ola azul
@Kent:
The lurid fetishization of guns is one of the weirder forms of idolatry I can think of.
Reminds me of one of the Planet of the Apes flicks where the underground folk worship a nuke.
coin operated
Late to this party, but let me also reinforce what Kent said above. Interstate 5 runs north/south from Portland to Eugene, and you could consider everything east of that line to be as redneck as Arkansas. Farmers, ranchers, timber-types…lots of blue collar and more than their share of economic depression over the last 25 years as the timber industry went automated or started shipping logs to China for processing. You’ll find a number of MAGA and confederate stickers prominently displayed.