There are a bunch of cities that are either beginning or hastening existing plans to remove these statues officially. I'll be curious to see how many "extrajudicial" removals occur.
Looks like a teenager was apprehended at the site: http://www.wcvb.com/article/1-in-cu...ostons-holocaust-memorial-police-say/12010894 Remains to be seen if this is "regular" teen assholery or something with a deeper context.
At 630 PM it's hard to believe it wasn't. The first time it happened it was by a mentally handicapped guy late at night who didn't even understand what the Holocaust was. This time, not so much.
Last night in Minneapolis at the courthouse. Since they were so concerned about Trump specifically calling out the Klan, has anyone on the left called out antifa yet? Or are they good with all the violence, destruction of property and other bullshit?
According to the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune there was no violence, vandalism, and nobody was arrested. An effigy of a swastika was burned. So, what exactly needs condemning here?
What violence and mayhem? I just googled "antifa violence" and there's pretty much nothing except for news about Charlottesville. The actions by "antifa" - such as they are - have pretty much been directed at white nationalist activity. That and the protest at Berkeley. There's just not really much of anything to condemn. Personally speaking, I'm liberal but I'm not a bleeding-heart. If you're a person who goes around shouting how brown people, jews, homosexuals, etc., are less than human and therefore don't deserve rights and ought to be discriminated against, and someone takes offense to that and punches you in a face... Well you had it coming for being such a piece of shit. If you're going espouse hatred and bigotry then don't act surprised when people aren't all nice and polite to you about it.
This is false equivalence at it's best. In no fucking universe does "Antifa" equal Nazi's. A single Google taught me that. FFS. The protesters being doxxed are hilarious. Their parents are coming out publicly denouncing them. Also, I found this fascinating: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-manufacturing-council-whos-still-in-2017-8 For a pro-business Republican, guys like Elon Musk and Kevin Plank washing their hands of it is pretty telling. Admittedly, some of them (like Under Armour) have more pressing priorities from their shareholders, but it does seem fascinating that the business community extends a pretty impressive group to help the administration and they shed talent like the Jets.
As Portland Police Stand By, Alt-Right and Antifa Protesters Beat Each Other Bloody The Rise of the Violent Left
Ideally there wouldn't be any violence. But since white nationalists are going to be violent towards the subjects of their bigotry regardless of what antifa, the left, or anyone else does, I'm not going to get all bent out of shape when they get a little taste of their own medicine. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes and all.
I mean, the May Day protests also count. So does the ongoing turmoil at Evergreen college. Or just any campus rioting when someone like Ben Shapiro comes to speak, but has to hire his own private security. None of those have anything to do with actual nationalism. But, whats the goal of such a comparison anyway? Again Im aware I brought them up previously, but it wasnt to make some pointless comparison of "no, your side is worse." Both sides can have terrible elements to them, and for the 1000th time, should be recognized and dealt with. But Nazism is its own animal entirely, and given the history and the amount of pain and suffering that philosophy has caused over the last 80 years or so, I have a very hard time dismissing anyone wearing or waving a swastika around as "just another crazy." The fact that so many people are willing to march under that immediately recognizable banner without obscuring their identity (in the age of social media no less) is frankly pretty terrifying. Check out this image. Thats not in Berlin during World War II. Thats in Madison Square Garden in the late 1930s. Look how many people are there. Those people didnt just change on a dime. They hid beneath the surface and now their descendants are empowered and ready to march again.
Not condoning violence on either side. But seriously...the violence is not equal...it's not even close. A few violent protests as compared to what? A movement spanning 70 years, including burning churches and buildings, predicated on violence and domestic terrorism. Did you think Bernie Sander's invented the term "curb stomp"? In the choice between "anti-fascists" and actual fascists...let's not equivocate a group of people spreading hatred, bigotry and racism, pining for genocide with the angrier parts of the Occupy movement. Also, what the fuck did we expect to happen? The right's pro-gun, pro-military, authoritarian stance always seems to imply the threat of violence, and is it a surprise that the left has now responded in kind? Neo-nazis, and the KKK didn't become famous for sit-ins, they bombed churches and attacked people they hated. Why are we surprised that there are still people willing to combat those ideologies with violence in kind? Again, I'm not suggesting it's ok. It's not, if anything it plays right into their hands. These people see violence as a righteous struggle that legitimizes their beliefs. There's a difference between angry mobs (fair, I live in Baltimore) and actual Nazi's. Angry mobs dissipate and resume being normal, productive members of society. Nazi's....do not.
I'm not a fan of violence in the streets at all, but I've also been fucked with by racist pieces of shit for being a minority. I'm not going to shed one fucking tear if a racist gets what's coming. Attempting to engage with a racist legitimizes (to a racist) that their beliefs have some kind of merit. They have no merit. That is why it is useless to make any attempt to have any kind of discussion with a racist. Racists certainly aren't going to have any kind of rational discussion with non-whites like me. If you were to ask them, they'd say that too, proudly. This is why I'm taking any kind of defense of what happened at that rally so badly. I'm of the firm belief that anybody, no matter how repugnant their views are, can peacefully assemble. But it's fucking galling that white people felt so angry about non-white, non-straight, non-Christian people that they wanted to make that anger and hate public. How fucked in the head do you have to be to tear down other decent Americans because they don't look like you or believe like you or fuck like you?
So in short, antifa violence is righteous indignation and ok then? When choosing between two shitty parties, it is best to choose the one that you align closer to politically instead of saying "Fuck both of them" ?
I see the problem. You're equating groups with sides. See, I don't give a fuck what a person's political bent is as long as they aren't racist. You seem to think my refusal of condemning Antifa for beating the shit out of white supremacists somehow means that I support them being violent. If you go back and read what I wrote, that isn't what I said at all. I said that I wasn't going to shed one fucking tear if a racist got what was coming to them. Whether it's Antifa, a white man standing up to protect two Muslim women of color in Portland, or even me when I was in school is immaterial. I support the end of racism. That is it. Anybody that doesn't, whether willfully or indifferently, is part of the problem.
The problem is, antifa beats the hell out of anyone who might possibly disagree with them, not just actual Nazis and racists. And they destroy public and private property. Are you ok with that too as long as they beat up Nazis?
He - we both - just said that we're rather there not be any violence at all. Since that's not good enough for you, what do you want us to say? Are you asking us to be just as angry and indignant toward antifa as we are toward white supremacists?
You can approve of what a group does against something you are for or against without approving of the entire group. You can approve of the NRA doing everything it can to preserve your right to own and operate a firearm, but disapprove whenever the NRA is silent when a legally armed black man is killed by police after saying he was armed at a traffic stop, just like any responsible gun owner would. I approve of racists getting the shit kicked out of them. I do not approve any group going around fucking up innocent people's shit. Jesus, I don't how much simpler I can spell it out.