Wow, and Schwarzenegger should know, since California has recovered from his lousy governance and has been stronger since.
An alphabetical list of cities hosting #MarchForTruth actions: https://www.marchfortruth.info/cities
See you when we get back!
Scenes from Portland’s march:
A few anarchist guys showed up, but didn’t do anything remotely transgressive.
There was a polite but persistent conspiracy guy, and one kind-of-scary angry Trump supporter. But for the most part the crowd was polite and friendly and enthusiastic.
Getting ready for the coming wars.
If the midterms change nothing, I’m prepared to say “not my monkeys, not my circus” and nope the fuck out of this shitty country.
Having been a non-confrontational peace-loving hippie sort of protester in my past, it’s very strange to see these continued protests that seem to be the worst sort of assholes on both sides of the equation battling each other.
On one side you’ve got the alt-right, with white supremacist militants like Richard Spencer, the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and Based Stickman, who think Trump is some kind of god and advocate violence against any ‘communists’ (people they disagree with) while at the same time using Russia as the ideal of what America could be.
On the other, you have the antifa counter-protesters, who somehow think it’s a great idea to protest racist ideologies by attacking cops and destroying property.
As a former long-haired sign-carrying Berkeley dude, I want none of any of this.
The neo-fashies were outnumbered ten to one, and completely surrounded. I’m planning on putting together a full report later on, but I want to make a note real quick:
The police attacked the antifascist group, straight up. At around 3:30, with the outsider fascist rally set to end at 4, it was clearly decided by those in charge that in order to protect the Nazis, an assault on Chapman was necessary. The police were not provoked, this was deliberate strategy. It wasn’t until after the cops starting firing less-lethal (notice they’ve dropped the pretense of “less-than-lethal”) munitions, including tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray pellets into a crowd which included families, children, and seniors, that the crowd fought back. Of course the police lied about instigation- but the thousands of eyeballs there on the ground could see it for themselves.
This was police state bullshit full-stop. I’m not a brick-thrower, fire-starter, or window smasher. I question the value of those tactics, but by far the PPD were the instigative force here. Mayor Wheeler can’t control his cops, they blatantly protected fascists in a city reeling from fascist violence, and blatantly assaulted the people who are actually prepared to do something about it.
No leadership in city hall, whatsoever. Wheeler is a quisling, and he needs to fucking go.
I didn’t see any fighting, just a line of cops pushing people down the street.
It was kind of sad, more than anything else.
There were, let’s call them, fireworks, stun grenades, whatever, but as an individual I had no way of knowing who brought them or where they came from. It seemed like the event was over except for cops arresting antifas, and I didn’t want to watch that or be arrested so I left.
I should’ve been more clear, and used ‘resisted’ instead of fought back. I also left when shit hit the fan (I’m in school, so getting arrested is no-no,) however my partner stuck around till the end. People threw up barricades, and perhaps a handful of tear-gas canisters were thrown back at police. She saw no brick-throwing, and was pretty sure she saw an un-arrest. On the other hand, multiple photographers captured police collaborating with militia to make arrests/detainments. PPD shows time and time again they are not to be trusted, so any photos of boasting of confiscated objects should be taken with the world’s largest gain of salt, and notice too that they posted these pictures almost immediately afterwards- that was all about propaganda.
I’m going to put together more of my thoughts in a full report later after taking some time to reflect. One thing I’m very sure of, though, is how proud I am of Portlanders of every stripe showing up and completely surrounding these agitators! We outnumbered them ten to one at least.
I think if Lassie came and told them that Timmy had fallen down a well, they’d go out and attack cops and destroy property.
Saw this in my email this morning. Ghod I hope something comes of this.
George wins the internet today:
Why tyrants tremble sick with fear
And hear their death-knell ringing
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?
To any folks in Virginia you can vote early on Saturday. Primary is on Tuesday.
VOTE!
