By Andrea Widburg, AMERICAN THINKER
On Sunday, President Trump took aim at Antifa, which apparently has driven the violent side of the protests ripping through America’s Democrat-run cities. With full-throated support from Attorney General Barr, Trump is designating Antifa as a terrorist organization. This is an extremely important announcement because Antifa is more than just a terrorist group. It is, in fact, the paramilitary arm of the Democrat Party.
As is often the case, Trump made his consequential announcement via Twitter:
@realDonaldTrump
The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
John Solomon provides some context:
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that the rioting in most cities was being instigated by outsiders aligned with Antifa.
“The reports we’re receiving is that this is Antifa. They’re crossing state lines,” O’Brien said. “And we’ve seen this happen before. We saw it in Portland. We saw it in Seattle. We saw it in Berkeley. So, look, we’ll keep our eyes open for anyone else that wants to take advantage of the situation, whether it’s domestic or foreign.
[snip]
Some of the group’s tactics include throwing bricks, crowbars, metal chains, water bottles, and balloons filled with urine and feces, according to the Anti- Defamation League.
This is Antifa:
(Twitter has since suspended the account.)
This is also Antifa, attacking Andy Ng, a citizen journalist, in Portland last year. Ng sustained a brain bleed because of the attack:
Many people believe that George Soros is funding Antifa and pulling its strings. While he may be funding the organization, its radical ties put it squarely within the new Democrat party. Indeed, the moment New York Mayor Bill deBlasio’s son heard about Trump’s announcement, he proudly declared fealty to the group:
Jeremiah Ellison@jeremiah4north
I hereby declare, officially, my support for ANTIFA
Unless someone can prove to me ANTIFA is behind the burning of black and immigrant owned businesses in my ward, I’ll keep focusing on stopping the white power terrorist THE ARE ACTUALLY ATTACKING US! https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1267129644228247552 …
@realDonaldTrump
The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
Antifa claims to be Anti-Fascist, so people think it’s a good organization. It’s not.
When fascism appeared in the 1930s, its biggest enemy was communism. This was not because fascism and communism were antithetical ideologies. It was because they were sister totalitarian ideologies, both arising out of socialism, with both competing for the same voters. The Antifa of the 1920s and 1930s in Germany, therefore, wasn’t a peaceful democratic movement seeking to stand against all forms of totalitarian socialism; it was, instead, a violent communist group engaged in bloody internecine warfare with Hitler’s fascists.
Lest you have any doubt that today’s Antifa is the direct descendant of the violent communist group in Hitler’s Germany, just compare the logos. Here’s the original Antifa logo:
And here’s the American Antifa logo:
For those who say that Antifa is obviously communist, so it has nothing to do with the Democrat Party, think again. Over the past few years, Antifa has been operating freely in Democrat-run cities such as Berkeley and Portland, attacking anything or anybody they think is conservative. In those cities, the mayors have explicitly told their police forces to stand down. This means that the mayors are treating treat Antifa as a Democrat paramilitary organization that uses violence to suspend citizens’ First Amendment rights to free speech.
The easiest way to think about Antifa is to view it as the 21st-century version of the Ku Klux Klan. Back in the day, the KKK was the Democrat party’s terrorist arm. Now it’s Antifa, which is the Democrat Party’s brownshirts. In the media and in the halls of Congress, Democrats talk the language of politics while on the streets their black-clad, masked girls and boys smash heads.
Kurt Schlichter argues compellingly that, if Bill Barr is able to put pressure on Antifa (as he has promised to do) Barr can end that vile organization’s existence. Just as importantly, prosecuting Antifa will force Democrat politicians out into the open, as they defend their street fighters:
Memo to @realDonaldTrump:
The pressure point for the Antifa terrorists is federal law-enforcement.
Federal law criminalizes their use of interstate organizational activities.
If the FBI balks, Wray must be fired
Fed LE is not under the control of leftist DAs, police chiefs & mayors. For too long you had Democrat cities pulling back police & releasing rioters immediately w/o serious charges.
By reviewing arrest records, the FBI can determine potential candidates for federal charges. And @realDonaldTrump can score huge political victories by highlighting Democrat politicians who obstruct his prosecutions.
People will not tolerate covering for rioters who may have committed federal crimes.
Make the Dems side with the thugs or alienate their base. What Antifa fears is federal prosecution.
When the first of these little trust fund sissies figures out he’s not walking out of his cell after 20 minutes with a $50 fine but looking at five years in Leavenworth on a Fed rap, he’ll squeal on his comrades. This is an opportunity to destroy Antifa root and branch, and to eliminate the armed wing of the Democrat party. Forever
They miscalculated and overstepped – America is absolutely against them and this is the time for @realDonaldTrump to strike a fatal blow against them.
Trump’s decision to turn federal law enforcement on Antifa is a disaster for Democrats. No wonder Susan Rice is already trying to blame the Russians for the riots. Expect to see a lot more deflecting from Democrats in the coming months.
*****
Blog: Who is recruiting, moving and paying the professional anarcho-rioters?
By Patricia McCarthy AMERICAN THINKER<
>
The death by cop of George Floyd in Minneapolis was grotesque, a clearer example of police brutality that has otherwise rarely been filmed for all to see. Even if, as has been reported, Floyd did not die of asphyxiation or strangulation as it appeared, his death was without a doubt caused by that officer’s cruel and unnecessary action and the inaction of his fellow officers who stood by and watched. That officer has been charged with third degree murder and the other officers have been fired. Judicial due process will ensue, both state and federal. In the meantime, that the people of Minneapolis have turned out to protest is understandable.
What is not comprehensible is the destructive actions of so many. Is it really the citizens of Minneapolis who have set the city on fire, burning down small businesses as well as the police precinct building, libraries, etc.? Who are those masked men in black with secret-service quality ear-pieces, military grade gas masks and backpacks full of Molotov cocktails? They are very likely professional rioters, recruited, transported and paid by the likes of some George Soros front group or other anonymous Cloward-Piven devotees who share Soros’ hatred of America and want to see this nation bought to its knees. Panic over the virus was waning. These orchestrated riots across the country are the next ploy. Someone is organizing this madness. Someone is supplying the most lethal rioters with all the accoutrements of conflagration and moving them into place to all the affected cities. That all costs a great deal of money. Antifa owes its funding to Soros as do the more violent branches of Black Lives Matter. These players seem strangely secure that they will not be arrested or that if they are, they will be quickly released.
These upheavals seem to occur only in Democrat-run cities: Ferguson, Baltimore, New York, Los Angeles. It is easy to see why after seeing the mayor of Minneapolis called back the police and National Guard giving the vandals free rein to destroy his city. His concern was that they be masked so as not to spread the virus! The leadership of Baltimore did the same in 2015; “Let them have their space” said then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings. The riots in Ferguson in 2014 were exacerbated by President Obama and Eric Holder, who, as was their habit, immediately blamed the police which had the effect of giving permission to angry citizens to act out in the most destructive ways. Rioters in that city also burned the businesses owned and operated by their neighbors. They burned the markets they regularly patronized. The rent-a-mobs get the action going and the suddenly mindless residents join in to destroy their own community.
What is happening all over America these past several nights is not about George Floyd. The rioters are using his death to embark on rampages, to loot small and large businesses alike. These are not protests. What we are seeing is mass thievery under color of protest. Chances are if the looters in Los Angeles were asked “who was George Floyd,” they would not have a clue nor would they care. Democrat-run cities have long valued “social justice” (different standards for different groups) and identity politics over lawfulness and basic values. This is what you get when deviancy has been defined down so egregiously that we have citizens behaving like animals. The looting in Los Angeles, all filmed from above, continues unabated and without police presence. Businesses that have been shuttered for two and a half months are now being completely destroyed, their merchandise looted. Where is Mayor Eric Garcetti? Making sure no one walks on dry sand.
No matter how much the media loves to fan the flames, indicting America as a racist nation and blaming Trump for every single thing they can, these riots have nothing to do with race beyond it being a convenient excuse for criminal behavior. Those rioting, setting things on fire, smashing store windows and looting businesses are black, white, and Hispanic; they are a conglomeration of races, but are all thugs without a shred of decency.
Perhaps the people pulling the strings of these riots think this level of anarchy will be blamed on President Trump but it is more likely that it will ensure his re-election. These things do not happen in Republican-run cities. They happen in cities whose leaders are actually racist but fear being labeled as such so they step back and reveal their own bigotry of low expectations. It’s tragic for their cities and for their citizens from whom they instinctively expect criminal behavior. George Soros is most likely funding much of the chaos and is delighted by what he sees. Now we are all seeing the consequences of the tyranny of political correctness, that amorphous decree that common sense has been outlawed and nihilism is the order of the day.
<
>
@ Reader:
Reader,
The reason Supreme Court justices “are simply political appointees” is because that is what the US Constitution says they should be:
“The appointment and confirmation of Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States involves several steps set forth by the United States Constitution, which have been further refined and developed by decades of tradition. Candidates are nominated by the President of the United States and must face a series of hearings in which both the nominee and other witnesses make statements and answer questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which can vote to send the nomination to the full United States Senate.[1] Confirmation by the Senate allows the President to formally appoint the candidate to the court.[1] The Constitution does not set any qualifications for service as a Justice, thus the President may nominate any individual to serve on the Court.”
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appointment_and_confirmation_to_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
I think you’ve been shooting from the hip again. I have yet to figure out who your target(s) is (are).
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I am not arguing with Passover Haggadah – it talks about the Jews, not about the US.
Absolutely no one rises up in every generation to destroy the US, it is convenient for the American politicians to keep drumming this paranoid idea of a country under attack into the public’s ears.
It serves their purposes.
Reader Said:
“In every generation, they rise up to destroy us.” – Passover Haggadah.
Naaah. Just paranoia, right?
Spontaneous, huh?
And what kind of judge would grant bail under these circumstances? Very suspicious. A purge is called for, a grand purge is what we need.
@ Bear Klein:
Or, more recently, George Zimmerman.
I have just read that Chauvin has been charged with unintentional second degree murder. That will be easier to get a conviction on.
I have just Chauvin has been charged with unintentional second degree murder. That will be easier to get a conviction on.
There are now numerous police officers killed plus over 200 injured and many more attacked. Police Stations burned and others shot at across the USA. 100s of police cars destroyed and serious damage businesses and property across the USA.
The anarchists (Antifa) and other groups or individuals who want to destroy the USA are seriously hurting it. The cities and States run by progressive Democrats were afraid to allow the police and National Guard to effectively clamp down on the violence intermediately for appearing insensitive to the mob or like De Blasio who actually identifies with the mob burning down NYC. He still has not called in the National Guard.
The left has been feeding Blacks a false line that they are oppressed by the system and police. Statistically you can prove that is wrong but that is not the perception most Blacks or leftists have. The anarchists (Anitfa) are handing bricks to anyone they think might throw them at a cop or through a store window. They are writing BLM on buildings.
It appears they have waiting for an event to occur to take advantage of and found it in the death of George Floyd by a stupid Minneapolis Cop.
My observation or educated guess is that riots will stop shortly as effective policing is finally taking place in most cities. In a few months the Minnesota cops will go on trial. Derek Chauvin the cop who is the main defendant has been charged with murder in the second degree. The prosecution will have to prove that Chauvin intentionally murdered Floyd. He will try to do this by saying by the length of time his knee was on his neck that he knew that would be the outcome. That will not be a slam dunk.
The three other officers who were at the scene are being charged with aiding and abetting. That means they either had to be helping physically or advising Chauvin. A lesser included charge that will be much easier to prove is negligence on their part in the death of Floyd. I have no idea what the outcome will be.
The lefties and many BLM types might riot again if they do not get the verdicts they desire. If you do not think that is possible just do a search on Rodney King. Those riots killed about 40 people in the Los Angeles Area.
@ Reader:
No. I had a liberal upbringing and I was a radical leftist until age 40. My accidental discovery of Palestinian Media Watch, The Oslo War, a few months later, and 9/11, they year after that changed everything, though I had been having doubts every since the Crown Heights Pogrom and the Left’s defense of it as an uprising. And, they do have organization. It’s well coordinated and paid for. Rioters are being directed to sites where piles of bricks and other weapons are available and many of them are being paid. Just because they haven’t gotten around to investigating it thoroughly doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. In 1978, I was an Anarchist-Communist, myself, and around 1981, I became a Marxist-Leninist.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
“electrifying speech” Because you were brought up to believe that the US is surrounded by enemies lying in wait, seeking to destroy “the shining city on the hill”.
I don’t buy it.
This fear is cultivated to untie the government’s hands to conduct endless wars while the population cheers and adores “our heroes who fight for our freedoms in Iraq”.
This is as long as there is no war on the American soil and the country remains fairly prosperous.
The situation changed drastically because of the coronavirus scare (I think Floyd’s death merely served as a trigger for the protests) and in order to control the situation (for which the powers that be refuse to accept responsibility) and have an excuse to “disappear” the dissenters, now we have a “riot scare”.
I refuse to submit to this fear and beg the government to shoot everyone they want who even looks suspicious to them or to beg them to invoke some sort of a Roman proscription campaign to get rid of “the enemies of the state”.
This is all I wanted to say.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
“being targeted as terrorists” My point (among others) was that if there is NO organization, it cannot be declared ANYTHING (admittedly, a formality).
In my opinion, Trump has just lost the November elections by the way he has handled the protests and NOT because he failed to act like Lincoln.
The example you give “Lincoln sent troops from the battlefield” is precisely one of the exceptions I support – it was WARTIME.
Your suggestions scare me more than the riots because I always imagine this kind of government violence directed toward me and others like me using pretend reasons to suspend habeas corpus and to round up and “disappear” the dissenters like in Chile while you are convinced that the government will always limit itself to rounding up and shooting the “true criminals”.
@ Reader:
The Constitution came later. In the beginning, Congress outlawed everything and expropriated and expelled Tories without compensation.
https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/congress-bans-theatre/
President John Adams jailed his critics.
Incidentally, I voted for George W. Bush in 2004 because I was won over by this one passage in his graduation speech at West Point less than a year after 9/l11. You say Antifa isn’t an “organization?” It is, just Anarchist-style. This is the line.
“For much of the last century, America’s defense relied on the Cold War doctrines of deterrence and containment. In some cases, those strategies still apply. But new threats also require new thinking. Deterrence — the promise of massive retaliation against nations — means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. Containment is not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.
We cannot defend America and our friends by hoping for the best. We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants, who solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties, and then systemically break them. If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long. (Applause.)”
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020601-3.html
I heard it live on the radio and it was the most electrifying speech I ever heard a President make. Now, he’s just another pathetic Rino and anti-Trumper.
@ Reader:
People who participate in violence whether through formal organizations or amorphous networks being targeted as terrorists is not scary to me, at all. I’m anxiously waiting for the government to do just that. It’s a good time for martial law until order is restored. Lincoln sent troops from the battlefield at Gettysburg to New York to quell the uprising. Troops fought with “protesters” and defeated them. Indiana and Ohio were placed under martial law, arrest warrants issued for their democrat governors. Habeus Corpus was suspended. This is getting to be like a civil war. Trump should emulate Lincoln, to whom he is often been compared. I’m in New York. De Blasio and Cuomo are bickering with each other while the city burns. De Blasio said he was proud of his daughter for protesting and blocking traffic. Enough, already. Bring in the heavy guns. Shoot first and ask questions later. I am so not mourning the accidental death of some criminal in Minnesota. As Tucker Carlson put it, “I’ve never even been to Minnesota!”
@ Sebastien Zorn:
“Antifa” 1) Antifa is not a defined organization and has no known source of funding in spite of Soros’ name being brought up as usual (is there ANYTHING this man DOESN’T fund on his “pitiful” 8.3 billion (cf., Gates $102 billion)?); 2) there was no evidence given nor investigation done, nor lawsuits filed before the announcement.
This way anyone and anything can be declared “a terrorist organization” which is kind of scary.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
“distinction without a difference” Not really. A great idea is only as great as the lowest common denominator which is called to implement it.
The US adopted a great constitution which inspired Europe to fight for its own freedom but after awhile the American people themselves started to take it for granted and, finally, appeared to have rejected it in favor of a feudal (now based on high technology) state.
We cannot equate The Constitution itself with the humans who feel free to distort it or even reject it based on the needs of the moment.
The Constitution can be amended but instead they are trying to bypass it with unconstitutional laws or to ignore it. WHY?
@ Sebastien Zorn:
The ACLU vs. The Patriot Act. The ACLU is right and The Patriot Act is wrong because it potentially criminalizes at government’s discretion any act of protest as life threatening – false witness/biased interpretation/fearmongering on part of the media always possible – (see “the coronavirus scare”) and is, therefore, completely unconstitutional.
HOWEVER, The Patriot Act has a BIG FIST behind it and The Constitution does not.
All that The Constitution has to protect it is the corrupt (mostly) and/or biased Supreme Court justices and the will (almost nonexistent) of the people.
And, indeed, this is sad.
I am not saying that any insurrection/protest is legitimate or has to be tolerated, especially in war time or when it is accompanied by vandalism and looting, or is provoked by another country in order to unseat a legitimate government but history shows that if governments severely abuse the power granted to them by their subjects and refuse to reform, they end up with mass protests which may grow into a full-fledged revolution.
@ Reader:
Reader there are lots that you don’t understand, and I will NOT make it my life’s work to explain to you. But I cannot understand that even with Ted’s instructions, and the disappearance of Disqus, WordPress (I hope) etc, that you did not notice how much smoother and easier this system has become. I am a hopeless computer “navigator”, but even I find it much easier to both read and post, than in the recent past. Maybe it’s still the same system, but if so, it’s working vastly better.
@ Reader:
“: The ACLU claims that the Patriot Act “expands terrorism laws to include ‘domestic terrorism’ which could subject political organizations to surveillance, wiretapping, harassment, and criminal action for political advocacy.” They also claim that it includes a “provision that might allow the actions of peaceful groups that dissent from government policy, such as Greenpeace, to be treated as ‘domestic terrorism.'” (ACLU, February 11, 2003; ACLU fundraising letter, cited by Stuart Taylor in “UnPATRIOTic,” National Journal, August 4, 2003)
Reality: The Patriot Act limits domestic terrorism to conduct that breaks criminal laws, endangering human life. “Peaceful groups that dissent from government policy” without breaking laws cannot be targeted. Peaceful political discourse and dissent is one of America’s most cherished freedoms, and is not subject to investigation as domestic terrorism. Under the Patriot Act, the definition of “domestic terrorism” is limited to conduct that (1) violates federal or state criminal law and (2) is dangerous to human life. Therefore, peaceful political organizations engaging in political advocacy will obviously not come under this definition. (Patriot Act, Section 802)”https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/subs/u_myths.htm
@ Reader:
And, if the Supreme Court lets Trump declare Antifa a domestic terrorist outfit (which it is) how is that sad? This is a civil insurrection and there is precedent. Lincoln put Indiana and Ohio under martial law, issuing arrest warrants for their governors, sent federal troops straight from the battlefield to New York to suppress the draft riots and suspended habeus corpus. Did the Consitution say he could do that? Was he wrong, nonethless? In the words of Justice Robert Jackson: “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.”
Reader Said:
Isn’t that a distinction without a difference?
@ Edgar G.:
I am sure that if I didn’t follow the blog’s instructions, someone would let me know about it and would have requested changes or explained the rules.
I don’t understand your mysterious hints at my alleged misunderstanding of the blog’s instructions.
@ Reader:
@ Reader:
Perhaps if you read the blog instructions, AND understood them clearly, you then might understand…… but only “might”…I am not an optimist in this case. !!
That you are posting right now shows that you DID, wittingly or not, do what was necessary to be able to post….or maybe “rachmonas” was applied in your case.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
It seems to me that the decisions by the majority in the cases that you described were once again based on not what was right under the law but on what was politically expedient.
Also, one cannot give a precise definition of “clear and present danger” and other terms like this so they are always subject to interpretation by biased humans.
In addition, it seems that no one distinguishes between such terms as freedom of expression, freedom of emotion (which cannot be made law by any means), freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of opinion, freedom of the press, freedom of action, etc. which leads to to conflicted legal decisions.
I can’t understand how the speech that (possibly) leads to action be prohibited – doesn’t it undermine the freedom of assembly, at least in some cases?
Anyway, the powers that be will always win (until they push the “ants” too far).
@ Sebastien Zorn:
The constitution is not malleable at all, it is the Supreme Court justices who are malleable to the prevailing political opinion and their own biases which is sad.
At this point, I think, they are simply political appointees.
No one even tries to hide the fact that this or that justice is less an expert in law than he is this or that President’s favorite to be appointed to promote certain political biases in the Supreme Court decisions.
So it’s not the Constitution which is corrupt, it’s the system.
@ Sebastien Zorn: I still can’t get over this one. They are so unabashed in their hypocrisy.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210084
@ Reader:
So, as you can see, it would appear that even with due process “anyone can be linked to anything and deprived of life, liberty, or property on any government official’s say-so.” Look at Israel, on the one hand, and major human rights abusers like China, Iran, Syria, and the double standard of the “international community and what we shall laughingly refer to as “international law.” Look at who is the head of the WHO, for pete’s sake. Look at who sits on the UN human rights committee.
@ Reader:
I forgot Schenck v. US (1919): “”Shouting fire in a crowded theater” is a popular analogy for speech or actions made for the principal purpose of creating panic. The phrase is a paraphrasing of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s opinion in the United States Supreme Court case Schenck v. United States in 1919, which held that the defendant’s speech in opposition to the draft during World War I was not protected free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution”.- Wikipedia. Just google all of these for the details. And Dennis V. US (1951)
But the Supreme Court went back and forth until it reversed all of it:
“Subsequent jurisprudence”
“In subsequent cases, when it appeared to him that the Court was departing from the precedents established in Schenck and companion cases, Holmes dissented, reiterating his view that expressions of honest opinion were entitled to near absolute protection, but that expressions made with the specific intent to cause a criminal harm, or that threatened a clear and present danger of such harm, could be punished. In Abrams v. United States, he elaborated on the common-law privileges for freedom of speech and of the press, and stated his conviction that freedom of opinion was central to the constitutional scheme because competition in the “marketplace” of ideas was the best test of their truth. In Whitney v. California (1927), concerning a conviction for seditious speech forbidden by California law, Holmes joined a concurring opinion written by Justice Louis D. Brandeis once again explaining the clear-and-present-danger standard for criminal attempts in these terms, reiterating the argument that political speech was protected because of the value of democratic deliberation. The Supreme Court continued to affirm convictions for seditious speech in a series of prosecutions of leftists, however, culminating in Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494 (1951) in which a bitterly divided Court upheld the sedition convictions for the leaders of the Communist Party. Judge Learned Hand in the court below and Chief Justice Vinson for the plurality in the Supreme Court cited Schenck, and the language of “clear and present danger” accordingly fell into disfavor among the advocates of free speech and freedom of the press.
A unanimous Court in a brief per curiam opinion in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), abandoned the disfavored language while seemingly applying the reasoning of Schenck to reverse the conviction of a Ku Klux Klan member prosecuted for giving an inflammatory speech. The Court said that speech could be prosecuted only when it posed a danger of “imminent lawless action,” a formulation which is sometimes said to reflect Holmes reasoning as more fully explicated in his Abrams dissent, rather than the common law of attempts explained in Schenck. Brandenburg is also taken to have repudiated the clear-and-present-danger standard as construed in Dennis, and to have adopted something more like the explication given by Holmes and Brandeis in subsequent opinions. Partly because the standard for protecting expressive behavior under the First Amendment was stated differently in his different opinions, “revisionist” scholars have argued that Holmes changed his mind in the summer of 1919, and that after writing three opinions for a unanimous court, he stated a different and more liberal view in his Abrams dissent a few weeks later.[7] Bolstered by this argument, a number of advocates for freedom of expression have insisted that the Supreme Court has rejected Schenck and the majority opinion in Abrams, and in practice has followed the reasoning of Holmes’ Abrams dissent and Brandeis’ and Holmes’ concurring opinion in Whitney.[8] The Court has repeatedly reaffirmed Schenck, however, holding that the destruction of a draft card could be prosecuted as a violation of Selective Service regulations even though carried out as a protest (United States v. O’Brien), but that burning an American flag at a protest could not be prosecuted because it posed no danger of causing a harm that the legislature had power to forbid (Texas v. Johnson).
In 2010, the Supreme Court rejected the argument of Holmes’s Abrams dissent. The facts in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project were similar to those in Abrams: persons who planned to advocate the causes of Sri Lankan and Kurdish organizations, designated terrorist groups, had a reasonable fear of prosecution under the USA PATRIOT Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 2339B, for providing material support for terrorist organizations. The Supreme Court held that such prosecutions were not barred by the First Amendment, expressly rejecting the argument that a “specific intent” to assist terrorist acts was required, rejecting also the claim of the dissenting justices that the case was governed by the concurrence in Whitney, or by the standard stated in Brandenburg. Finally, in Citizens United v. FEC, the majority of the Court rejected the argument made by the dissenters that the First Amendment was premised on the value of democratic deliberation in the “marketplace of ideas.” Instead, they held that First Amendment rights are individual, not based on communitarian considerations.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenck_v._United_States
@ Reader:
The Constitution is obviously as malleable as Basic Law in Israel. It means anything the Supreme Court wants it to mean. In Plessy Vs. Ferguson, the Supreme :Court upheld segregation. In Brown v. Board of Ed., it knocked it down. In Korematsu vs. United States, it upheld the internment of Japanese Americans. In Trump vs. Hawaii it repudiated it, even though it had nothing to do with the actual case. In Dennis v. US, it upheld the Smith Act (Alien Registration Act of 1940). In Yates v. US, it gutted it, leading to all the mayhem that followed. And then there’s Roe v. Wade. A few examples.
@ linda goudsmit:
Yes, Linda — you have precisely described the situation. And from the OP,
“Antifa is more than just a terrorist group. It is, in fact, the paramilitary arm of the Democrat Party.”
In other words, Antifa = Brown Shirts, 2020 version. They may think they are today’s Spartacists; but in fact, they are Kristallnacht perpetrators — and the police, as in 1938, look the other way.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Without due process anyone can be linked to anything and deprived of life, liberty, or property on any government official’s say-so.
@ Edgar G.:
I don’t know what you mean by the blog update and how you became aware of it.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
It seems that The Patriot Act is perfectly unconstitutional – how did they manage to pass it?
The cops charges will be very likely upgraded to 2nd Degree Murder. It is early in the investigation so we will see what happens.
@ Reader:
Ted was prescient enough in that this new Blog update he’s done recently,
to incorporate a “Garbage Gobbler” akin to those garbage disposal units that were installed at kitchen sink exits. They macerate and spit ….!!-like tobacco juice…..
Well Done Ted….-as usual. !!
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Preliminary Medical examine said that just google it. It is all over.
Private exam by Michael Baden says otherwise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPp8jmTgSU8
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
This is important. Can you provide a link to sources that say the video was edited and Floyd didn’t die of asphyxiation from the arrest?
@ Bear Klein:
Wow! If Soros could be linked to Antifa, could the government seize his assets?
The “Judge” on FoxNews said that the POTUS could not designate a domestic terror organization for legal purposes such as he can a foreign terror organization via the Secretary of State.
However if one reads the USA PATRIOT Act it defines it and should be able to used against Antifa according to the law as written. (Click on below in red).
How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines “Domestic Terrorism”
Seizure of assets – Sec. 806: Section 806 of the Act could result in the civil seizure of their assets without a prior hearing, and without them ever being convicted of a crime. It is by far the most significant change of which political organizations need to be aware. Section 806 amended the civil asset forfeiture statute to authorize the government to seize and forfeit: all assets, foreign or domestic (i) of any individual, entity, or organization engaged in planning or perpetrating any act of domestic or international terrorism against the United States, or their property, and all assets, foreign or domestic, affording any person a source of influence over any such entity ……………………
@ Reader:
Amnesia? Not interesting in dialoging with you!
@ Bear Klein:
Shouldn’t there be some semblance of due process instead of merely “off with their heads”?
Or am I too naive?
@ linda goudsmit:
Do you really think that the mighty American government couldn’t stop the “miscreants” like Fauci, Birx, Gates, and Soros (can’t do without him!) if it really wanted to?
linda goudsmit Said:
A couple of hours before Trump tweeted that he was designating Antifa a terrorist group I posted to all my Facebook Friends and Followers that Antifa (or Antifada as I call them) should be designated Domestic Terror Group. This provides the Federal Government far more legal avenues to go after them One that can be used is to confiscate their property swiftly.
Dear Mr. Belman.
My comment has disappeared again.
Please detrash it if it’s been trashed.
I am starting to think that it’s the content of my comments that makes them disappear.
I’ll be happy to be proved wrong.
More GEMS from American “Thinker”.
The commies in Nazi Germany were ba-a-ad boys (Tsk-tsk-tsk!) because they fought the Nazi brown shirts (Nazi paramilitary units who terrorized the population) in the streets (the commies usually lost many more men than the Nazis in those street fights but it’s OK because the commies were so UNCIVILIZED and wanted to build COMMUNISM! And, anyway, they are the same as Nazis.)
The alleged German Antifa LOGO shown in the article is actually a NAZI LOGO. It says:
“NATIONAL SOCIALIST NATIONWIDE ACTION”.
It was actually the NAZIS IN GERMANY WHO COPIED THE ANTIFA LOGO, not the other way around.
Antifa is not an organization and is not funded by Soros or anybody else, as far as I could find out, unlike The Tea Party movement which was funded by the Koch brothers.
It seems to me that Soros (whatever he does) is being used as a Jewish scarecrow to show how the JOOS (also/always) fund anti-American activities.
Finally, has it occurred to anybody that those masked professional looking folks are perhaps the security services provocateurs?
P.S. How about a nationwide ban on the NeoNazi groups? They seem to be still legal which looks kind of bad side by side with the ban on the ANTIfascists.
Well, well, well! From pandemic to pandemonium – first Gates sends in his CDC mouthpiece Anthony Fauci to frighten us and destroy Trump and his roaring economy, especially in black communities where the lowest unemployment records in history were improving black lives. As Americans became increasingly aware that the Gates/Fauci dance team was selling globalist political medicine, not public health, people stopped being afraid and started going back to work. Trump’s V-shaped recovery began taking effect so the globalist singers and dancers launched a second fear campaign. This time, globalist choreographer, George Soros sends in his professional anarchist army Antifa to frighten the audience back into their homes, destroy black communities, and create staggering levels of racial divisiveness and fear. Music provided by the globalist media orchestra continues playing their signature chorus, “Blame Trump, Blame Trump, Blame Trump” while patron of the globalist arts, Nancy Pelosi, promises the entire dance team and audience that federal bailouts for all will be served after the performance. There are 19,500 cities in America and 40 have been set on fire by Soros’ team of Antifa anarchists – all in leftist Democrat strongholds. Political medicine is as dangerous to public health as political arson. Trump has to put out both the smoke and fire of leftist Democrats and their globalist handlers to win this battle for the country. Designating Antifa a terrorist organization is the necessary first step. Thank you President Trump!
Adam, I can not prove it but reading various reports and listening to some law enforcement about the tactics the arrested rioters have taken this is very organized in some cases and is so wide spread that it would highly unlikely to be leaderless. If you are reading about it kindly provide links to what you are reading.
Adam please provide a link on the NYPD information you have.
I studied riots as far back as the 1960s and never have they been even close to this widespread. Social Media certainly will account for some of that but I believe it is beyond.
Question is this just for the sake of anarchy? Could it be the organizers want to bring Trump down? I have theories but can not prove them.
This police brutality nonsense that everyone, including Donald Trump and nearly all conservative commentators are piously repeating, is 99% b____t. The autopsy of the “victim” showed that he had numerous “intoxicants” in his system, that he had a pre-existing heart condition, and suffered a heart attack. It did not find that he had been strangled, or his airway cut off, rendering him unable to breathe. The videos widely shown on the media were heavily edited, most likely to remove segments that suspect being disorderly and resisting arrest. None of the videos has been shown in full. The District Attorney for the county in which Minneapolis is located said he hasn’t seen any evidence that would justify prosecuting the policmen for murder.
He and the other officers will never get a fair trial. The media has made that utterly impossible.
The head of the NYPD’s counterterrorism unit says that the “protests” are highly organized by “domestic terrorists” with walkie-talkie’s and encrypted cell phones, who communicate with each other to identify spots and stores where there are no police in the vecinity, and who then direct the “protestors” to burn and loot these stores and homes nearby. The counter-terrorism unit head says many of the protestors come from places as far away as Texas and Arizona. Apparently there is a network of them that travel all around the country organizing these “protests.”
More and more evidence is accumulating that the riots are highly organized, and that there is high-level Democratic government’s sponsorship of them. For example, Hope Walz, daughter of Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, tweeted her followers that they should not worry about the national guard interfering with their “protests” that night, because it would take time for the national guard to be mobilized, and they wouln’t be able to be on the streets that soon. When someone “trolling” her account released the story, she blocked her Twitter account, which is now strictly private. See https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2020/05/30/report-minnesota-governors-daughter-reassures-protesters-that-the-national-guard-wont-arrive-for-a-while-yet/.
It was not Deblasio’s son .. his daughter was arrested.. this is Keith Ellison’s son