Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Bret In Democrat Dog House. Will Bibi's Words Turn Into Bombs? Joe, You've Been Dumped On. Mass Media's New Darling - Ra.dical Racial Darling - Kamala Harris

</
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bret in Democrat Dog House. (See 1 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My friend and fellow memo reader, Sherwin, discusses recent Supreme Court decision. (See 2 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Too many Palestinians choke on their own rope of disbelief. (See 3 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Will BIBI's words turn into bombs? (See 4 and 4a below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Independents will continue to be told Russian interference,in our 2020 campaign, will be a recurring threat  and I have no doubt Russia will meddle.

What independents must learn is the mass media are a far more serious threat because they are hell bent on manipulating voter thinking through their incessant biased reporting. Matters could shift but as of now the mass media have found their new radical,racial darling in Kamala Harris.

Wake up Joe,to the fact you've been dumped! You are yesterday.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Zito: writes  about her travels and said all of America actually resides in D.C.. (See 5 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dick
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1)

The Left’s Political Hit Squads Prep for 2020 By Julie Kelly and Posted By RUTHFULLY YOURS


Lots of people are very angry with Bret Stephens.


But the outrage isn’t coming from the Trump supporters whom Stephens, one of the New York Times’ token “conservative” columnists, routinely maligns. The NeverTrump pundit is under heavy fire from the Left for a frank—and fair—assessment of how “ordinary” Americans view the extreme positions staked out by nearly every Democratic presidential candidate during last week’s primary debates.

In his June 28 column, “A Wretched Start for the Democrats,” Stephens blasts Democrats for making “too many Americans feel like strangers in their own country. A party that puts more of its faith, and invests most of its efforts, in them instead of us.”

Stephens questions the mainstream appeal of a party platform that promises free healthcare for illegal immigrants; the elimination of private insurance coverage; student loan forgiveness; and universal child care. But one passage in particular earned him the most scorn: “They speak Spanish. We don’t. They are not U.S. citizens or legal residents. We are. They broke the rules to get into this country. We didn’t. They pay few or no taxes. We already pay most of those taxes.”

Now, only to the ears of your average Times subscriber or disciple of the Left is that some kind of heresy, or dog whistle to tiki torch-bearing white supremacists. For the rest of us, it’s obvious that Stephens is referring to the Democratic Party’s almost singular focus on the welfare of illegal immigrants—both currently residing in the United States and now attempting to cross the southern border in record numbers—while ignoring the woes of millions of American citizens.

But Stephens’ analysis unleashed fury from the Left. Democratic strategist Peter Daou accused Stephens of xenophobia. “This @BretStephensNYT column is nothing less than Trumpian white nationalism masquerading as a NYT think piece,” Dao tweeted on Saturday. “It’s repugnant and wrong at every level.”

Author Reza Aslan, who in January encouraged violence against a high school student attending the March for Life, dogged Stephens on Twitter for hours, mocking the writer for “[jumping] out of the white nationalist closet.” Amee Vanderpool, a contributor to Playboy and the BBC, claimedStephens “isn’t trying to camouflage that he truly belongs in the Alt-Right Nationalism section that has taken over the Republican Party.” 

Others demanded that the Times should fire Stephens for his “racist” remarks.
(Side note: I’ve been critical of Stephens’ pandering to the Left. Shortly after the piece posted, Stephens again groveled for acceptance, reminding Democrats of his contempt for Trump. The comeuppance for NeverTrump commentators in 2020, as the Left turns on them, will be delicious to watch.)

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, the Left is running drills to see how quickly and effectively their political hit squads can be deployed against Trump, his administration, and his Republican supporters. A few other exercises—the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process, the MAGA hat-wearing Covington Catholic students—have been rolled out, but those spectacles will pale in comparison to what’s in store for Republicans next year.
No cabinet official, administration employee, Trump family member, GOP candidate or regular Trump voter will be spared. We’ve already seen high-profile Trump associates harassed in public, chased out of restaurants, and vengefully pursued by a team of Trump-hating prosecutors in the special counsel’s office and by Democrats on Capitol Hill. A Bernie Sanders supporter in 2017 attempted to assassinate several Republican congressmen and nearly succeeded in killing one of them.

In just the past week, the Left’s pre-election tactics have been on full display.
waitress spat in the face of Eric Trump at a swanky Chicago speakeasy and conservative writer Andy Ngo was assaulted by Antifa thugs in Portland. A Google executive privately admitted that the company is looking at ways to prevent Trump from winning reelection next year; Twitter announced plans to add a warning to any tweet by a political figure that the platform deemed as “abusive,” a move presumably aimed at President Trump. Naturally, the free speech paladins in the corporate leftist media are cheering the policy.
This all is a warm-up for 2020. Anyone who strays outside or dares to challenge the Left’s dogma will be punished harshly. Even the most tepid critic of the Democrats’ de facto open borders policy will be branded a racist and a white nationalist; anyone tasked with enforcing U.S. immigration laws will be criminalized.

On June 29, the Times published a sickening column to encourage immigration lawyers and reporters to reveal the names of federal agents responsible for managing the rising influx of migrant children at the border.
Kate Cronin-Furman, a professor of “human rights” at University College London, compared the living conditions of Central American migrants at U.S. holding facilities to historical mass atrocities in Cambodia and Rwanda, and, of course, the Holocaust. She argued that the agents should be harassed at church and at their homes, as well as subjected to international tribunals.

“The individuals running detention centers are arguably directly responsible for torture, which could trigger a number of consequences at the international level,” Cronin-Furman proposed. “Activists should partner with human rights organizations to bring these abuses before international bodies like the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

Of course this narrative also is being fueled by Democratic House members, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) whoaccused Custom and Border Patrol agents of “systemic cruelty” and treating detainees like “animals” after visiting a Texas facility on Monday.

Even a place of dining won’t be safe for Trump Republicans. The owner of the Red Hen who famously kicked former press secretary Sarah Sanders and her family out of her restaurant last year is encouraging more of that kind of bad behavior, essentially promoting discrimination based on a person’s political views.

Citing “new rules,” Stephanie Wilkinson warned that Republicans are not welcome at her eatery, nor should they be welcomed at any restaurant. “[If] you’re an unsavory individual—of whatever persuasion or affiliation—we have no legal or moral obligation to do business with you,” Wilkinson wrote in the Washington Post on June 28. “If you’re directly complicit in spreading hate or perpetuating suffering, maybe you should consider dining at home.”
The idea that Trump could win reelection next year is unacceptable to the Left and NeverTrump Right. They will employ any tactic to stop him, including the targeted harassment of anyone in his personal orbit or of any American who dares to support him. Physical violence will be encouraged by those who claim the mantle of civility and the silencing of conservative opinion will be cheered by those who claim to support free speech. It’s already a dangerous time—it’s clear that election season will be even more perilous for those on the Right.

Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience. For licensing opportunities for our original content, please contact licensing@centerforamericangreatness.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)

When the Courts Lose Their Neutrality

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Perhaps the greatest threat to democracy is the erosion of trust in the legal system as a result of efforts by the political leadership to undermine that trust and, thereby, delegitimize the legal system itself.  After all, if the courts themselves cannot be trusted to do their job without political interference or if they choose not to do the work which has been entrusted to them, then the very foundations of democracy will crumble.

During the past week two incidents, one in Israel and one in the U.S. should raise red flags for those of us living in either country.

In the U.S. the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that federal courts are powerless to hear challenges to partisan gerrymandering, the practice in which the party that controls the state legislature draws voting maps to help elect its candidates.  The drafters of the Constitution, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority, understood that politics would play a role in drawing election districts when they gave the task to state legislatures. Judges, the chief justice said, are not entitled to second-guess lawmakers’ judgments.  “We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,” the chief justice wrote

Partisan gerrymandering is almost as old as the nation, and both parties have used it. But in recent years, as Republicans captured state legislatures around the country, they have been the primary beneficiaries. Aided by sophisticated software, they have drawn oddly shaped voting districts to favor their party’s candidates. Should Democrats capture state legislatures in the next election, the ruling would allow them to employ the same tactics.

In an impassioned dissent delivered from the bench, Justice Elena Kagan said American democracy will suffer thanks to the court’s ruling in the two consolidated cases decided Thursday.   “The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government,” she said. “Part of the court’s role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections.” 

In her dissent, Justice Kagan said the court had abdicated one of its most crucial responsibilities. “The only way to understand the majority’s opinion,” she wrote, “is as follows: In the face of grievous harm to democratic governance and flagrant infringements on individuals’ rights — in the face of escalating partisan manipulation whose compatibility with this nation’s values and law no one defends — the majority declines to provide any remedy. For the first time in this nation’s history, the majority declares that it can do nothing about an acknowledged constitutional violation because it has searched high and low and cannot find a workable legal standard to apply.”

Bottom line?  No American citizen who feels his or her vote has been nullified by partisan gerrymandering no longer has any recourse via the courts.

In Israel, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Sunday warned against efforts to “delegitimize” Israel’s legal system, which he said could cause a “real erosion” of the legal principles on which the country was founded.

“This feeling comes from a number of simultaneous processes, which have in common the attempt to significantly weaken the institutions whose role is to guard and defend the legal security,” he said, decrying efforts to “delegitimize” the legal system.

Mandelblit said those efforts were not aimed at effecting a specific change to how the legal system operates or to alter the relations between the branches of government, but rather represented a “real erosion” of the legal principles that have served the country since its founding.

“The processes about which I’m talking — of personal and systemic delegitimization, of initiatives to weaken the legal system — have become so conspicuous and tangible that many in the Israeli public understood that the central element of the country’s national resilience may be significantly weakened,” he said.

Mandelblit added that while criticism of the legal system was legitimate, he would resist any attempts to undermine its standing or the rule of law.

The attorney general did not spell out what these attempts at delegitimization were, but his comments came as allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s have been pushing for legislation that would allow the Knesset to overrule decisions of the Supreme Court.

The passage of such legislation would mark what has been called the greatest constitutional change in Israeli history, with vast potential impact on the checks and balances at the heart of Israeli democracy, denying the courts the capacity to protect Israeli minorities and uphold core human rights.

The danger is clear.  In a democracy once the courts lose their neutrality and become complicit in responding to the wishes of the head of state (as in Israel as described above) or a party in power (as in the U.S. case cited) rather than standing on the established principles of democratic societies, the system itself becomes suspect.  And, of course, if the population loses trust in the legal system, the very fabric of society begins to deteriorate and, ultimately, disintegrate into fascism and totalitarianism

Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became head of the abolitionist movement in American in the 1800s, said:  “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”  A lesson needing to be learned yet again.


Sherwin Pomerantz has been living in Jerusalem for 35 years, is president of Atid EDI Ltd, a business development consulting firm and is a former National President of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3)

A sledgehammer blow didn’t ‘Judaize’ Jerusalem or kill the peace process

The real problem is the Palestinian denial of Jewish history, not the presence of America’s ambassador at the unveiling of a biblical archeological site.

The critics are right about U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s presence at the ceremonial opening of Jerusalem’s “Pilgrimage Road” being unprecedented. None of his predecessors would have been caught dead at a Jewish site on the wrong side of the “Green Line.” Up until last year, the United States had stubbornly refused to recognize that any part of the ancient capital of the Jews belonged to the Jewish state.
But even if we concede that the participation of Friedman and U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt was a departure from past policies—and that the ambassador’s swinging of a sledgehammer to break down the symbolic wall that completed the opening of the biblical route provided a metaphor for the critics of the Trump administration—that doesn’t mean it was wrong or a mistake.
If we have to use the imagery of the Americans smashing anything, it was not—as critics of President Donald Trump and Friedman contend—a symbol of their destruction of the already dead-in-the-water peace process. Rather it was yet another reaffirmation of the administration’s correct determination to emphasize the absurdity of the Palestinians’ willingness to go on denying Jewish history.
The “Pilgrimage Road” is a project created by the El Ad Association that operates the City of David National Park in association with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority. Archeologists working at the site first uncovered evidence of the city that was King David’s capital of biblical Israel. The “road” is a tunnel that has been dug underneath a present-day Jerusalem neighborhood that permits scholars and visitors to trod the path taken by ancient Jewish pilgrims. Thousands of years ago, Jews would walk from the Pool of Siloam at the City of David and then ascend to the Temple Mount above to worship. Those who walk through the excavated tunnel now will emerge several hundred yards from its entrance to a point near the Western Wall inside the Old City.
Since the international community normally considers the preservation of ancient heritage sites a good thing, an observer might wonder why the opening of the tunnel has provoked so much fuss and criticism.
The answer is that the international community regards anything that reminds them of the deep roots that both Judaism and Jewish peoplehood have in the soil of Jerusalem with dismay. The City of David is located in the part of the city that was held illegally by Jordan from 1949-1967. That means they consider it “occupied territory” in which the Palestinians and their foreign cheerleaders claim that any Jewish presence is illegal, even if means an attempt to delegitimize a historic site that has provided abundant proof of the historical biblical kingdom of Israel.
Therefore, any Israeli activity in the area, which encompasses the Arab neighborhood of Silwan, has been viewed as an illegal settlement, in addition to an impediment to plans aimed at partitioning the city and making it the capital of a putative Palestinian state. But their main complaint is that the archeological park is part of an effort to “Judaize Jerusalem.”
The notion that Jerusalem—the city that has been integral to Jewish national identity, history and faith for 3,000 years can be “Judaized”—is absurd. But it fits in with the claims of both the Palestinian Authority and their Hamas rivals that the ancient temple, the Davidic kingdom and the whole history of the city is fiction rather than fact.
To buttress their complaints about the excavations, critics of the project point to the fact that some Palestinians have been inconvenienced by the construction that has gone on underneath their homes. They have our sympathy, but the same can be said of anyone who lives in proximity to building projects in cities all over the world. Their real beef is not about cracks developing in walls but that the history the archeologists have unearthed undermines efforts to portray Jews as foreign colonists in their ancient capital.
Trump’s critics say that Friedman and Greenblatt’s presence constituted U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. They say this prejudices peace negotiations in which the Palestinians would hope to be given parts of Jerusalem or at least it would if the P.A. were ever willing to return to peace talks and demonstrate any willingness to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders were drawn.
But the problem with that argument is that as long as the United States was willing to pretend—as it was from 1949 to 2017—that Jerusalem wasn’t Israel’s capital or that it had no legitimate claim to sites such as the City of David, it only reinforced Palestinian intransigence. The United States has always needed to make it clear to the Palestinians that, at a bare minimum, they couldn’t expect Israel to give up parts of Jerusalem that are as integral to Jewish heritage. Yet this is what Trump’s predecessors failed to do, and as a result, it has continued to fuel the Palestinians’ unwillingness to recognize that their century-old war on Zionism had failed.
Friedman wasn’t wrong when he noted not only that Israel was as likely to give up this heritage site as the United States would be to surrender the Statue of Liberty; still, the key point about the opening of the site was the uncovering of truth. Without an acknowledgement on the part of the Palestinians of the truth about the Jewish history that they continue to lie about, true peace is impossible.
Instead of complaining about the unveiling of these sites, the Palestinians and their allies should acknowledge the facts about Jewish Jerusalem and stop hoping for a fantasy in which the Jewish state will no longer exist. Trump, Friedman and Greenblatt are merely sending them a reminder to give up those delusions—something their predecessors didn’t do nearly enough. Those who claim to wish the Palestinians well should be doing the same thing.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS.org and a contributor to the National Review, the New York Post, the Federalist, Haaretz and the New York Jewish Week. He can be reached via e-mail at: jtobin@jns.org.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4)

After Tehran Regime Breaches Nuclear Deal, Netanyahu Reiterates Israel’s Commitment to Preventing a Nuclear Iran


By Ronen Zvulun 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top challenger, former IDF chief Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party, both reacted on Monday to the news that Iran had exceeded the limits on uranium enrichment laid down in the 2015 nuclear agreement.

In remarks at a ceremony for outstanding reserve soldiers on Monday, Netanyahu said, “Today, Iran announced that it has violated its explicit commitment and crossed the threshold of 300 kg. of enriched uranium. Iran is taking a significant step toward producing nuclear weapons.”

“When we exposed the secret Iranian nuclear archive, we proved that any nuclear agreement with Iran is built on one big lie,” he asserted. “Now even Iran acknowledges this. Soon will be revealed additional proofs that Iran has been lying this whole time.”
Netanyahu continued:

I reiterate: Israel will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Today, I again call on all the European countries: Uphold your commitment. You committed to act the moment Iran violated the nuclear agreement. You committed to imposing the automatic sanctions set out by the Security Council. Then I say to you: Do it. Just do it.”

Gantz said in a statement, “Israel is united and determined against the Iranian threat.”

Gantz added, “Today, it is clear that Iran is not an Israeli problem, but an international one. I call for a broad global alliance against Iran, the intensification of sanctions and joint preparations for a situation in which Iran continues on its current path.”

“At the same time,” he noted, “I am certain that the IDF and the security forces are constantly preparing for every scenario in this area, and they can give the political echelon the necessary solutions to the threat so that Iran will never achieve a nuclear weapon.”

4a)

Iran’s Nuclear Breakout

Will Europe wink at the violation, or join the U.S. pressure campaign?

The nuclear deal allowed Iran to store 300 kilograms of uranium, which it could enrich up to 3.67% concentration. Mr. Zarif said in an interview that the country now exceeds the storage limit. Tehran threatened this breakout if Europe didn’t do enough to circumvent U.S. sanctions, and now it’s daring the West to do something to stop it.

This is Tehran’s latest attempt to intimidate the world since the Trump Administration withdrew from the deal 14 months ago. That withdrawal was prompted by the deal’s many flaws, including sunset clauses after which Tehran could sprint to the bomb. The agreement also failed to cover Iran’s imperialism and terror promotion in the Middle East, as well as its ballistic-missile program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed Tehran’s claims. Next week the regime says it plans to begin enriching uranium beyond the 3.67% limit, though it may not immediately leapfrog to weapons-grade material. Tehran also could begin to exceed heavy-water storage limits and to restart reconstruction of the Arak nuclear facility.

Many Europeans will blame Washington more than Tehran for this breakout. But it’s been clear all along that the regime has viewed the deal as a pause, not an end, to its nuclear ambitions. In 2016 the country overproduced heavy water, which the Obama Administration then purchased. Earlier this year the country’s top nuclear official acknowledged the regime had long been preparing to break out from the deal and pursue nuclear weapons.

Iran also ignores United Nations Security Council bans on missile tests and weapons sales. The regime maintains a destabilizing presence in Syria, plots terrorist attacks in Europe, and calls for the destruction of Israel. Its recent attacks on oil pipelines throughout the Middle East are part of a pattern that long preceded the U.S. maximum-pressure policy.
That policy is putting an enormous economic and political strain on Iran, which explains why it is acting out even as it refuses the U.S. invitation to renegotiate. The loud announcement of a nuclear breakout is intended to scare the world into coaxing President Trump to back off the sanctions pressure.

Iran’s actions should instead prompt Europe to join the U.S. in sanctions. Some in Europe are hoping Mr. Trump will lose his re-election bid and a Democrat will rejoin the nuclear accord. But we’ve learned enough about Iran’s behavior to know that the regime always intended to use the deal to finance its adventures abroad, while biding its time and getting stronger as it waits for the date it could escape the deal’s strictures and become a nuclear power.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5)

All of America inside the Beltway

By Salena Zito

 Washington is just as complex as the small towns in Middle America that are often cast as homogeneous stretches of uneducated, immobile, resentful bigots. 
In the past few months, I have driven through the backroads of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and probably some other states I am forgetting. My experiences are always the same: People are nice, helpful, giving, imperfect, hardworking, deeply proud of where they come from, and profoundly aspirational, no matter what trials they are struggling with.
But here’s the irony: As much as Beltway insiders are told they need to get out of D.C. and see the real America, those insiders could see the real America in their backyard if they opened their eyes.
We often miss what is right in front of us, no matter where we live. A several-mile walk through Washington reminded me that it truly does represent all of the aspirations and weaknesses and failures you can see and experience anywhere in this country.”

Click here for the full story.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
6) Antifa’s Brutal Assault on Andy Ngo Is 
a Wake-Up Call—for Authorities and 
Journalists Alike
Posted By Ruth King

All revolutionary movements seek to sanctify their lawless behaviour as a spontaneous eruption of righteous fury. In some cases, such as the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine, this conceit is justified. But usually their violence is a pre-meditated tactic to intimidate adversaries. Or as Bolshevik theorist Nikolai Bukharin put it, “In revolution, he will be victorious who cracks the other’s skull.”
The Antifa thugs who attacked Quillette editor and photojournalist Andy Ngo in Portland yesterday did not quite manage to crack his skull. But they did manage to induce a brain hemorrhage that required Ngo’s overnight hospitalization. (For those seeking to support Ngo financially as he recovers, there is a third-partyfundraising campaign.) The scene was captured by local reporter Jim Ryan, whose video can be accessed at the link below. We caution readers that it is an unsettling spectacle—by which we mean not only the violence itself, but the unconstrained glee this pack of mostly young men exhibit as they brutalize a journalist whom they’d spent months demonizing on social media, and whom they’d explicitly singled out for attack.
Andy Ngo is an elfin, soft-spoken man. He also happens to be the gay son of Vietnamese immigrants—salient details, given Antifa’s absurd slogans about smashing the heteronormative white supremacist patriarchy. Like schoolboy characters out of Lord of the Flies, these cosplay revolutionaries stomp around, imagining themselves to be heroes stalking the great beast of fascism. But when the beast proves elusive, they gladly settle for beating up journalists, harassing the elderly or engaging in random physical destruction.

Antifa’s first prominent appearance was in 2017, when black-clad protestors at Berkeley used violence to shut down an appearance by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. This set a pattern whereby their rallies have been presented as counter-demonstrations aimed at “taking back the streets” from right-wing groups. But more and more, this conceit has dissolved into farce—as in Washington last year, when Antifa gangs showed up to protest largely non-existent conservative protestors. “Again and again, small groups of Antifa members harassed, threatened and occasionally jostled reporters,” the Washington Post reported. “The activists demanded not to be photographed as they marched down public streets—even as many of them hoisted their own phone cameras and staged their own photo ops.”
This vignette is telling, because it points to the base motivations of many Antifa members—which seem to consist of glorifying themselves as freedom fighters on social media, and shutting down anyone who challenges their vainglorious narrative. Which brings us back to the reason Antifa activists were so eager to beat up our colleague Andy Ngo, a Portland resident who has been relentless in exposing the true face of Antifa. They attacked him for the simple reason that he has challenged their ideological propaganda—an Antifa tactic that any true fascist would recognize and applaud.

Given the widespread support for Ngo that has manifested itself over the last 24 hours—and the corresponding disgust with his attackers—we hope that these events will herald new policies to protect the public (including journalists) from those who claim the right to use violence as a form of political expression. Following the hate-killing of Heather Heyer by James A. Fields Jr. in Charlottesville, Virginia two years ago, attention was drawn to the problem of right-wing political violence. And rightly so. But this attitude of vigilance must be broadened to include all radical groups. It shouldn’t require an actual fatality to goad Portland’s mayor and police into real action. Surely, a brain hemorrhage should be enough.

We also are hoping that our fellow journalists might awaken from the delusion that Antifa is a well-intentioned band of anti-fascists with a few bad apples sullying the cause. As Quillette reported last month, a simple statistical study serves to show that the journalists who cover Antifa most often and most energetically have turned their outlets into pro-Antifa propaganda organs. Indeed, this bias is so entrenched that some left-wing media responded to our report not with introspection, but with paranoid and maudlin claims that Quillette and its authors must be secretly in league with Antifa’s fascist enemies. One might hope that the brutality inflicted on one of Quillette’s editors will help disabuse them of such conspiracy theories.

But it’s hard to be sure. Anna Slatz of The Post Millennial has assembled a list of prominent liberal journalists who have responded to the vicious assault on Ngo with either snarky dissembling or outright celebration. And a journalist at Vox, Carlos Maza, has even cheered on the practice of assaulting people with milkshakes, such as the kind used to douse Ngo. These are the same people who would (rightly) respond with howls of outrage if a journalist were assaulted by right-wing protestors. And it is appalling that anyone in our industry would excuse violence against a journalist on the basis of political orientation.

We wish our colleague Andy Ngo a speedy recovery. For more details about the attack he endured, interested readers can follow him on Twitter at @MrAndyNgo. Although we lament his ordeal, we salute his journalistic courage in exposing a movement that seeks to crack skulls under cover of fighting fascism.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

No comments: