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Although most of our dinner-time conversation tends to orbit around schoolwork, the latest episode of this or that TV series or why in the hell Trump is still in office, we found ourselves the other day chewing on a New York Times op-ed regarding a lesbian march in Chicago where on Saturday, three women carrying Jewish pride flags rainbow flags embossed with a Star of David were kicked out of the celebration on the grounds that their flags were a trigger.

When my 20-year-old rising junior at Tulane offhandedly claimed that at least the Right is clear on its positions, it seemed a profound reversal of his Left-leaning tendencies. So I asked him to explain -- and thought his response interesting enough to share here.

By TJ Simpson

When I look at the recent ejection of proud Jewish lesbians from the annual Dyke March in Chicago, one distinct thought comes to mind: the far Left has created something more concerning than the usually extreme and boorish values of the Far Right, the constant shift of their positions making it unclear exactly what they are.

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The Far Right clearly has some frightening ideologies: anti-gay rights, anti-women's rights, racism, dated economic theory, anti-Islamic, anti-Hispanic, anti-Semitic, etc. These are inherently immoral, and negatively viewed by rational-thinking moderates. But when actions are taken by the Far Right, they are at least consistent with their unfortunate values. Their platform might not be a positive or socially acceptable one in the increasingly progressive world in which we live, but it is seemingly more forthright.

Those aligned with the Far Right fight for what they believe in regardless of who listens and they seem to stick to positions. The same was true when the progressive Left fought for gay rights, ecology, universal medical care, the social safety net, etc. But recently we have seen an increase in dissonance between the values that the Left preaches and the actions that are carried out by those who identify themselves as the Left.

The American public hears about Left values of tolerance, acceptance, freedom of expression, economic equality, etc. But increasingly we have seen the Left act in opposition to their supposed values. The exclusion of the Jewish lesbians at the Dyke March in Chicago on the grounds of intersectionality is only the latest example. The whole left-leaning concept of intersectionality seems to me fraught with contradictions and subject to whatever interpretation is convenient at the time.

The increasing disconnect was seen clearly during and in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential race, when Trump supporters (as wrong as they may have been) were condemned. Doesn't that go against the inherent ideals of liberalism -- that everyone has a right to express their opinions without fear of reprisal? Yet, prominent conservatives were disinvited to speak -- or even in some cases prevented from speaking by liberals on college campuses across the country.

Is it not a main tenet of liberalism and our very country to promote freedom of speech and freedom of ideas? If the Left wants to prove they believe in what they preach, should they not rise above this behavior? What values are too precious to contradict, if any? Is the new liberal platform one where it's acceptable to bully and punish those whom you disagree with? That you dont have to respect someones right to freedom of expression or speech if YOU think its wrong? That if someone belongs to a certain religious group or heritage that you disagree with, its OK to exclude them?

Liberals might want to keep in mind this often-misattributed quotation, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.'"

The rest is here:
Dinner Conversation: Is The Alt-Right More Honest Than The Left ... - MediaPost Communications

"Can I get some sunscreen?" one young Nazi asks another young Nazi near the Lincoln Memorial where the alt-right's "Free Speech" rallythe more edgy of two right-wing rallies scheduled for the same time in Washington, D.C. on June 25is about to kick off.

The second rally, which is supposed to be "against political violence," splintered off from the first once alt-right figurehead Richard Spencer was invited. Spencer and his supporters call Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, and the other viral right-wingers leading the competing march "alt-light" because they are less openly racist and mostly fall in line with Trump. Who these "free speech" Nazis are specifically, their names, where they came from, the specifics of their beliefs, doesn't matter and many don't call themselves Nazis but that doesn't matter either (FWIW: they prefer "tribalists" and/or suggest white pride is like black power or whatever and shouldn't be a big deal).

The Nazi in need of sunscreen eventually gets some from a Baby Huey-like Nazi wearing a baseball helmet and holding a "Join, or Die." flag. Bounding up the steps past Baby Huey is neo-Confederate Jason Kessler, who waves a Confederate flag and yells that Lincoln was a traitor in the direction of D.C. United Against Hate's nearby counter-rally.

"The South will rise again," someone snickers.

"Fuck Palestine," a kid, probably 15, mumbles.

"Bill Clinton is a rapist" another yells.

And then, a bunch of ostensibly grown-ass men, all part of Identity Evropa, a white Nationalist group, most in white polos and khakis and at least onean older guy in a motorcycle helmetsieg heil-ing, arrive with synth-pop of the foggy faded sort playing from portable speakers.

A few of the Identity Evropa guys are Spencer's bodyguardsand their presence signals that he has arrived, which means the media gathers for an impromptu pre-rally Spencer presser.

Spencer tells cameras that he is "not a white supremacist."

"I don't want to rule over other races," he says. He is just worried about whites "not having a safe space for their families."

And unlike the alt-light, Spencer says, he isn't blindly for the Donald: "Donald Trump has been very disappointing and I am very worried about his presidency. He can obviously redeem himself in my eyes, but whether or not he's going to do that, I'm skeptical."

Spencer, it seems, is entering his paunchy Elvis phase, dressed in a white suit (with black buckled shoes truly deserving of a "What are thooooooose?"), sporting long-ish sideburns, big dumb Ray-Bans, and looking a bit bloated. He is a slightly better talker with cameras in his face, which let him be more oppositional than he is during the actual speech where his speaking style is best described as diet, caffeine-free, Dwight Schrute from "The Office" channeling Mussolini.

"The most radical thing for anyone to say is, 'I am white, my life has meaning, my life has dignity, I am part of a family," he says to the crowd of 100 or so. He adds, as though he's filibustering through an S.A.T. prompt, "Free speech really matters and this is why we are here today."

There is so much bad faith and cognitive dissonance here and the D.C. police are trying to keep everyone separated, not allowing the Nazis to get too close to the D.C. United Against Hate rally a little closer to the Lincoln Memorial ("The rally you want to be at is over there" a cop tells a guy in Trump gear) and moving D.C. United Against Hate attendees, including one woman in a wheelchair, away from the Nazis, a presumably wise decision but also one that offers up a false equivalency between the two groups.

A stronger stance is taken by a Parks and Rec. volunteer who silently leaves three Internet-y Nazis hanging after they want to shake his hand and "thank him for [his] service," they say.

We're all soaking in it out herethe 4chan-ing, Reddit-residing, Pepe meme-ing, racist, anti-semitic, alt-right to which Trump is at least adjacent to or making coy goo-goo eyes at (did you see Eric Trump's got the Nazi haircut now?). That its face, Spencer, has become a meme himself, someone who, when he shows up, bloviates about white supremacy and then often gets bopped in the face or glitter-bombed, which is then GIF'd, makes sense: The internet's demands will always devour youlike the sea it will make you small, take you over, and you will eventually lose to it. Right now, Spencer's virality is shrinking because, it turns out, he's got this horrible sincerity that won't make him lasthe is like Mike Pence or something, someone who actually cares, truly believes his bullshit, whereas it is the "alt-light," Cernovich and Posobiec, who are super cynical like Trump or Mitch McConnell, goofy grandstanders, needling nihilists.

Then, Spencer's speech gets loosely inspirational: "The real challenge is within ourselves, we are the ultimate censors of free speech, we aren't willing to be honest even when we are alone. There is a black cloud that hangs over whites around the world," he says, really going for it here, referring to white guilt. Yes, the black cloud is white guilt.

Today, Spencer's another racist doofus and he is far less entertaining than, say, the internet ding-dong and former Buzzfeed employee who goes by the name Baked Alaska, who gives off Guy Fieri vibes and whose tone is bro-running-for-high-school-class-president.

The culture wars of the early '90s have only recently entered Baked Alaska's radarhis story is he became alienated working at Buzzfeed and was confronted by culturally sensitives millennials so he bemoans "SJWs" and political correctness and tells the crowd they've been blind to what's been going on and it has to end.

"We just deflected it all, we had our hater blockers on and we just didn't pay attention to it and now all of a sudden everyone's getting butthurt, everyone's afraid to be called racist to be called anti-semitic to be called all these names," he says. "And, and I think it's garbage, I think it's absolutely garbage."

Not far away, closer to the Lincoln Memorial, the collection of liberals, folkies, leftists, and peaceniks discuss Richard Collins III, a college student murdered for being black, nod to the deaths that are imminent under Trumpcare, and chant "Nazis out!"

Baked Alaska, well, he's bitching about Twitter suspensionsthe stuff that really matters.

"I actually got suspended from Twitter for a week," he says, noting/boasting it was because he shared a "Gas chamber meme." The audience laughs and cheers (they booed when he mentioned Buzzfeed, though). During his speech, he also makes a joke about being part of "Generation Z"Z here for Zyklon B, the cyanide used during the Holocaust.

Meanwhile, tourists here to see D.C. on a sunny Sunday have no time for the alt-righters. Some confront and debate them and police move them away quickly. One man with his family chuckles, and calls them Nazis, shocked but also unimpressed.

"Yeah, we're Nazis," one teenaged Nazi spits back.

"88," another Nazi yells.

One of them is dressed like a Hitler youthor a bizarre Hot Topic cosplay version, everything about him is slack and clean rather than orderly.

The rally wraps up quickly following Spencer's speech. Identity Evropa members get in formation and leave. One guy from the group smiles and shoots another sieg heil at photographers. Some have helmets on and one keeps fucking with a mouthguard. It seems as though they are on a mission, and at times they pick up the pace to a march-jog along the D.C. sidewalks away from the memorial.

Then they stop at a Metro station escalator, ride it down, and pull out their Metro cards to go home. Safety in numbers, that's all it was. No grand statement or action or confrontation. That's what all of this is: an expression of bewildered fear, an excuse for failure, a way to be a part of something, anything, all hating together.

Their leader, Richard Spencer, didn't join them on the Metro. He jumped into a rental car not long after his speech ended more than an hour ago.

Continue reading here:
Alt-Right in Fat Elvis Mode: 100 or so Nazis gather for Freedom of ... - Baltimore City Paper (blog)

PORTLAND, Ore. For days, Portland has served as ground zero for American hate, heroism and healing. Today, it served as Americas battleground.

What started Sunday as two counterdemonstrations outside City Hall between anti-fascist protesters and members of the alt-right during a Trump Free Speech Rally evolved into an impromptu march and standoff with police.

As police began closing off Chapman Square, where the anti-fascists had staged their protest, at around 3:45 p.m., officers lobbed loud explosives in the protestors direction. Its unclear whether they were concussion or tear gas grenades, but there was a yellow smoke emanating from some of them. At least five explosions were heard as police pushed people back from that square.

Portland police said the explosives were in response to projectiles thrown at its officers.

Following the release of the explosives, hundreds of the anti-fascist protesters and others started an impromptu march, heading northbound from City Hall and pouring into major roadways open to traffic.

The protesters were held up by police at Fourth Ave. and Morrison Street in Downtown Portland, where officers arrested some and pushed others with batons.

Police fired non-lethal rounds at protesters hiding in a parking garage near the intersection. Shortly after, a chemical substance was released from the spot police fired, burning and stinging marcherslungs and noses. It wasnt immediately clear whether police fired chemical rounds, but the department tweeted that coughing in the crowd was caused by an unknown substance,possibly from parking garage, and not released by police.

Anti-fascist protestors and others storm the streets north of City Hall. (Andy Campbell)

Earlier,HuffPost reporters witnessed several scattered arrests made for disorderly conduct.

As early as 10:30 a.m., the self-proclaimed anti-fascist and alt-right groups had occupied the parks surrounding City Hall. Shoving and screaming ensued until police showed up, including local and state officers, riot police and Department of Homeland Security officers. After that, each side hurled insults at the other.

A third crowd the largest of local liberals protesting the Trump supporters sat outside City Hall.

On each side, demonstrators braced for the moment when police would leave and barriers would fall.

It was a battle theyd been preparing for all week; longstanding tensions between anti-fascists and the alt-right were compounded by the hate-fueled slashing on May 26 that left two dead and a nation in uproar.

In the Trump camp, which had planned its rally days before the recent attack, celebrity alt-righters like Pat Based Spartan Washington stood among people with Nazi symbolism tattooed on their arms and civilian peacekeepers in military gear.

The loudest demonstrators on each side were often the last to identify themselves.

Were surrounded, one woman in a Make America Great Again hat said. Thats Portland for ya.

The Trump rally was already expected to attract alt-right figures from out of state some of whom are straight up neo-Nazis but rumors that that demonstrators would beexercising their right to carry gunsprompted local activists to reconsider and had all sides preparing for war. Mayor Ted Wheelers attempt to revoke a permit for the rally was declined by the federal government.

Joey Gibson, who organized todays Trump rally as well as the one on April 29 at which last weeks stabbing suspect Jeremy Joseph Christian was seen throwing up Nazi salutes, spoke after 2 p.m. to hundreds.

Portland I mean no disrespect, but you have gotten crazy out here, he screamed into a mic. Youre sitting here in a bubble and weve been on the outside looking in, but no more.

He said he wanted to stop focusing on racism as anti-fascists audibly condemned him from across the street.

Anti-fascists in Portland had planned to hold a self-defense and group tactics seminar Saturday, but organizers told HuffPost that it was canceled after white nationalists and neo-Nazis mobilized against them.

The Trump rallys co-organizer, Kyle Based Stickman Chapman, has engaged anti-fascist protesters in battle before. His group of mostly white men called the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights was labeled a fight club by The New York Times and issued a call to arms to his followers for Sunday.

Fights in Portland, just a week after known white supremacist Joseph Christian allegedly slashed two men to deathwhile screaming anti-Islamic hate at two teenaged women on a train, feel surprising and excessive to outsiders. But locals saw this coming a mile away this is a city with a white terror crisisand a storied history of racist confrontation. Sunday was a flashpoint in a decades-old fight.

Lydia OConnor contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

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Violence Erupts In Portland Amid Alt-Right, Anti-Fascist ...

If Pepe the Frogs creator has anything to say about it, his creation will shake off the cloak of bigotry which has been thrown around its shoulders by members of the alt right.

Cartoonist Matt Furie told the Associated Press that he plans on reviving Pepe after killing him off last month, according to a report by ABC News.

To achieve this goal, he and his brother Jason have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $10,000 for the publication of a Pepe comic book. In addition, Furie has hired attorney Kimberly Motley to explore legal options against alt right-ists who have used Pepes image to promote their cause without the creators permission.

According to Furie, once we get the money together, were going to do it [the comic book] from scratch even as he fights togain some entrepreneurial control over Pepefor the future.

In the comic in which Furie killed off Pepe, the titular frog was seen deceased in an open casket at a wake. It was an emotional end for a character devised by Furie in his 2005 comic book Boys Club, which initially had very littleto do with politics. Furie himself identifies as a progressive and was reported to be horrified at the use of Pepes image to promote racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny and other hateful ideas.

In a press statement explaining their decision to label Pepe the Frog as a hate symbol, the Anti-Defamation League argued that Pepe the Frog did not originally have anti-Semitic connotations.

It added, But as the meme proliferated in online venues such as 4chan, 8chan and Reddit, a subset of memes came into existence promoting anti-Jewish, bigoted and offensive ideas. And those have spread virally on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.

Read more here:
Pepe the Frog rises from grave to seek vengeance against alt-right - Salon

While the rally was originally conceived to include Alt-Right personalities like Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, anti-Semitic harassment against Rebel Medias Laura Loomer and other online feuding led to the staging of a rival event Rally Against Political Violence outside the White House.

At the Lincoln Memorial, however, around 100 people gathered to hear a slate of speakers that included Augustus Sol Invictus, the self-described leader of the so-called Alt-Knights, Jason Kessler, a proud neo-Confederate and contributor to VDARE and the Daily Caller, Nathan Damigo, the founder of the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, and assorted other far-right YouTubers and Podcasters.

White Nationalist and Alt-Right figurehead Richard Spencer at the Lincoln Memorial.

Members of white nationalist groups Identity Evropa, Vanguard America, and the Traditionalist Workers Party were in attendance wearing uniforms andcarrying flags. Theycheered along as speakers inveighed against illegals, white genocide and cultural Marxism.

In a call for uniting the right,Invictus used the setting to recall that President Abraham Lincoln pardoned prominent Confederates following the Civil War, though other speakers couldnt resist taking swings at the so-called Alt-Lite and Posobiec and Loomer in particular.

These people on the Alt-Lite, the Jack Posobiecs, they will never criticize Donald Trump. These people are not serious political thinkers. They are not to be listened to. Theyre nothing but shills, said YouTube personality James Allsup, with some of the biggest boos of the day coming after Posobiecs name.

Later, Allsup announced that their rally was twice as big as the one outside the White House and was greeted with cheers ofHail Victory.

But what separated the two rallies besides the overt white identity politics of the likes of Spencer and Damigo was the topic of the Jews.

Kessler, who had a Confederate battle flag held up behind him during his speech and said that the entire country would be better off if the South had won the Civil War, was the first to defend anti-Semitism by being, well, anti-Semitic:

[The Laura Loomers and Jack Posobiecs of the world] say they wont do the rally because somebody is anti-Semitic? So theres a group you cant criticize? Im not going to go overboard on anybodybut I will just say this: they are a powerful group! They have AIPAC, the Israel lobby. Theyre two percent of the population and they pretty much run Hollywood and brag about it. And they are the ones putting out this filthy propaganda. CNN. All you guys out here tell me who is in charge of the global conglomerates that own you, that own CBS and NBC?

Baked Alaska, who was suspended by Twitter for a week in part for circulating a meme depicting a cartoon of President Trump in a Nazi uniform and Loomer in a gas chamber, also spoke. I thought it was funny, personally. Mike Enoch thought it was funny, he said, referencing another speaker who runs the anti-Semitic podcast The Right Stuff.

I have to really follow the truth in my heart and what I believe, Alaska said. And Ive seen an awakening, lately. Have you guys seen it? Generation Zyklon? I mean Generation Z?

Flags for the Tradtionalist Workers Party, Identity Evropa, Vanguard America raised high alongside the Confederate battle flag outside the Lincoln Memorial.

Enoch, whose real name is Mike Peinovich, would later speak and also railed against Jews.

So, freedom, the constitution and liberty, its all good stuff but lets be honest whats really facing our country today is the systematic elimination of white people. The genocide of the white race, Peinovich said to cheers.

In a rant that began with a discussion about an article in the Jewish magazine Forward, Peinovich said:

When you talk about Jewish privilege, which is objectively provable, we can prove it. Whos in control of the Federal Reserve Bank? Whos in control of the media? Whos in control of our foreign policy? Jews. We know that its Jews. Why do we have a war in the Middle East against our countrys interest? Against the interest of our race? Because of Jewish control. Ok. Lets not fucking beat around the bush. Im using my freedom of speech rights here.

Christopher Cantwell of the website Radical Agenda also attacked Jewish influence and referenced Loomers disruption of Shakespeares Julius Caesar in Central Park:

If the answer is not now then we might as well throw in the towel and forfeit to the Communists today. We are losing massive ground each moment. Nonwhite immigration and breeding alone are rapidly diminishing what electoral majorities we have remaining. Jewish influence disarms us in the onslaught of identity politics. Our universities teach no more than the propaganda of our enemies to our children and we are compelled to subsidize it all with our own earnings under penalty of imprisonment or death for refusal. Disrupting a play is the most civil thing we should do to these vermin.

Damigo, whose Identity Evropa members wearing white polo shirts and khakis made up a significant portion of the crowd, also spoke:

I think it would be an injustice to come to a Free speech rally and simply talk about Free Speech. So Im going to say some radical shit. Say some radical things here. America was founded by white people. It was founded for white people. America was not founded to be a multiracial, multicultural society. The founders were well aware of the importance that identity played in the make-up of a nation. And how fundamental it was to the future progress and success of that people.

The reason why our nation is where it is today, is because of anti-dialogical forces. Individuals who were haters of truth. And what they did, they used tactics, they used tactics weve seen over the last year to shut us down, this is nothing new. This has been going on decade after decade after decade.The cultural Marxism that permeates every orifice of our society today is a result of this tyranny.

A Spencer supporter at the Lincoln Memorial rally.

Damigo left the stage after chanting Moldylocks! Moldylocks! with the crowd referencing the woman who he sucker-punched in Berkeley, California back in April.

On the other side of town, at the White House, the Rally Against Political Violence organized by Cernovich and Posobiec attracted about 50. The event was relatively tame though an African American man wearing an Info Wars t-shirt railed against CNN before shouting, Its time to put George Soros in a gas chamber!

Half a dozen or so speakers took turns addressing the crowd from a small makeshift stage, where the overarching theme was blaming the left and Antifa for the political violence taking place in America.

Lucian Wintrich, the White House correspondent for the Gateway Pundit read out a list of hate incidents that had either turned out to be fake or the perpetrators were left leaning.

Corey Stewart, Confederate flag supporting politician who recently ran and lost in a Virginia gubernatorial race told the crowd to get behind president Trump and also support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Stewart Rhodes, head of the anti-government group Oath Keepers was also in attendance with some of his crew providing security for the event.

Rhodes also took the stage and decried Antifa, stating, They now realize that if they order the cops to stand down and if those cops actually do stand down its going to be worse for Antifa. Antifa will get their asses handed to them by the American patriots.

Spencer, Kessler, and others plan to rally again in Charlottesville, Va., on August 12. The theme of that rally? Unite the right.

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Dueling Alt-Right Rallies, Separated by Anti-Semitism, Face Off in DC Despite Calls to "Unite the Right" - Southern Poverty Law Center