Did this really just happen?

[_moksha]

You feel like Trump and his cohorts are desperately searching for their Reichstag Fire . They are looking for a pretext.

Let's hope Trump does not send Stephen Miller and William Barr over in the middle of the night to start that fire, although I can see Stephen Miller putting on blackface and a sombrero as his disguise.

[_Jersey Girl]

Couple of things regarding Melania.

Don't know if anyone happened to see this last week.

Trump appears to ask Melania to smile during visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiyUYMWtGPA

But I can tell you right now this lady wasn't having it. She (a baptized Catholic) wasn't comfortable being photographed in front of a statue of the Pope for a political photo op. Not even close. It's like someone had a gun to her head and held her hostage. Just watch it.

And now there's this reported:

Melania Trump's messaging frustrating the West Wing, source says

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/politics ... index.html

If you read her messages, she's forwarding the direct opposite of her husband.

I wonder if we'll ever see her pack up her stuff and her kid, and leave the White House (and her husband) in dissent? Probably not. But she does have enough integrity to draw the line in her own way.

[_EAllusion]

https://Twitter.com/i/status/1269337799523733504

Amazing on the one hand. Big yikes on the other.

Depends on whether I'm posting this in the COVID thread.

[_Jersey Girl]

You feel like Trump and his cohorts are desperately searching for their Reichstag Fire . They are looking for a pretext.

Let's hope Trump does not send Stephen Miller and William Barr over in the middle of the night to start that fire, although I can see Stephen Miller putting on blackface and a sombrero as his disguise.

Or a SS uniform.

[_EAllusion]

The AP performed a systematic review of the histories of people arrested in Minneapolis during the riots. They found no evidence that Antifa, or leftwing activism, was behind them:

https://apnews.com/20b9b86dba5c480bad759a3bd34cd875

Among the most serious offenders with identifiable political affiliations, it was a mixture of far right and far left people. The most common trait among serious offenders was prior criminal history. The most famous case of someone widely shared on video handing out explosives (and looting) turned out to be a Trump supporter.

All in all, it paints a picture of people participating in mayhem with a few organized leftist bad actors, but zero evidence of leftwing activism behind the riots.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Who made the argument antifa organized the protests?

- Doc

[_Chap]

The AP performed a systematic review of the histories of people arrested in Minneapolis during the riots. They found no evidence that Antifa, or leftwing activism, was behind them ... The most common trait among serious offenders was prior criminal history. The most famous case of someone widely shared on video handing out explosives (and looting) turned out to be a Trump supporter.

All in all, it paints a picture of people participating in mayhem with a few organized leftist bad actors, but zero evidence of leftwing activism behind the riots.

Color me unsurprised.

Who made the argument antifa organized the protests?

To answer DrC's question, meanwhile in Trumpworld:

Rightwing vigilantes on armed patrol after fake rumours of antifa threat

False social media rumors about so-called antifa activists traveling en masse into rural areas of America have led rightwing vigilantes to carry out armed patrols of small cities and towns in the western United States and beyond.

In some cases, local activists planning peaceful protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in protest at the killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer have been inundated with death threats.

Since Donald Trump tweeted recently that antifa would be declared a terrorist group, the term has gained broader currency on the American right and is seen as a dire threat. In fact, it simply means “anti-fascist” and is used to describe a wide spectrum of leftist and anarchist groups and individuals. It has no existence as a separate organization.

The FBI has said there is “no evidence”NBC News has reported of antifa involvement in violence linked to the Floyd protests and one supposed antifa group posting violent rhetoric on the internet was in fact linked to white supremacists.

But in the Idaho city of Coeur d’Alene groups of 30-50 men armed with semi-automatic weapons have occupied downtown streets on successive evenings this week, guarding against supposed busloads of radical leftists rumored to traveling from cities such as Spokane or Seattle, according to local residents and social media materials obtained by the Guardian.

Videos posted to social media by supporters of the vigilante groups showed dozens of people walking up and down a downtown shopping strip, with many open-carrying AR-15s and other semi-automatic long guns, and sporting tactical apparel.

In a cellphone video, as a videographer pans over the scene, he is heard to say: “If you guys are thinking of coming to Coeur D’Alene, to riot or loot, you’d better think again. Because we ain’t having it in our town.”

He adds: “I guess there’s a big rumor that people from Spokane are gonna come out here and act up. But that crap ain’t gonna happen.”

In a separate video, a YouTube personality associated with the “prepper” survivalist movement filming the same scene is heard to say: “There’a a lot of good guys with guns out here. I don’t think they’ll be setting foot in Idaho.”

A gallery posted to Facebook by a local photographer who has supported rightwing causes showed some of the armed men bear the insignia of conservative militia groups such as the Three Percenters, and the Fallen Saints, a motorcycle club made up of veterans and active duty soldiers.

Also in the town of just over 50,000 residents, almost five hours’ drive east from Seattle, storekeepers were reportedly boarding up shop windows on Tuesday night ahead of an antifa influx that never came, and for which there was no evidence.

The only encounter that the impromptu militia had on either Monday or Tuesday night was with other locals, peacefully protesting in sympathy with Floyd.

On Wednesday night, some social media users redoubled their efforts to mobilize vigilantes, despite the fact that no radical leftists had arrived in the city.

Similar rumors have led to threats to young activists, and proposals that armed vigilantes mount downtown rooftops in Sonora, a city of 4,600 innorthern California, when a local protest condemning the death of Floyd was being planned.

In video and audio recordings of a public meeting held on Tuesday night in the city, a crowd of about 100 local residents is addressed by a succession of speakers associated with the secessionist and pro-militia “State of Jefferson” movement, which seeks to carve out a new state in northern California and southern Oregon, and militia groups like the Oath Keepers and the Northern California militia.

In one speech, the Tuolumne county committee chair of the State of Jefferson, David Titchenal, instructs the crowd to organize in order to provide a “visual deterrent to potential looters and rioters, who may not be from Tuolumne county”. He should they should take up firing positions on top of buildings and become “roof rednecks”.

He also asks them to secure critical infrastructure and the entrances to the city.

Later, the crowd was addressed by Sonora chief of police, Turu VanderWiel. While urging people not to attend armed, VanderWiel appeared to endorse the plan for vigilante action, saying in a video recorded at the event, “as for coming out, I very much appreciate it. Extra eyes, extra bodies, standing together as a community.”

VanderWiel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the event.

Organizers of the Floyd protest in Sonora, meanwhile, passed on evidence of social media threats, and said that their cars were followed in the nights leading up to the event.

One organizer, whose name has been withheld for safety reasons, said that no one outside the community had been involved in organizing the event, and their plan was simply “to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement”.

“We just believe that black lives matter,” they added, but they had been subject to threats, including one from a local resident threatening to “riot” in their workplace.

A livestream of the entirely peaceful event shared by a local media outlet shows it was counter-protested by scores of people in “all lives matter shirts”, and a large contingent sent by an out of town motorcycle club. At one point in the video, a member of that club appears to hurl a racial slur at the demonstrators.

Similar rumors have animated large demonstrations or counter-protests by armed vigilantes in many cities around the country including Snohomish, Washington; Sandpoint, Idaho; and Bentonville, Arkansas.

In Forks, Washington, a family of four campers were harassed by locals who thought they were outside agitators and trees were cut down to form an impromptu roadblock, trapping them in their campsite.

In an email, Lindsay Schubiner, the program director at the progressive Western States Center, said: “Far-right and anti-government groups are eagerly helping spread misinformation about anti-fascist protesters gathering in local communities.”

She added: “The rumors may not be true, but extremist groups find them useful for activating their supporters and sowing turmoil and division. We encourage law enforcement, media and the general public to carefully evaluate claims and guard against spreading misinformation.”

[_Icarus]

Who made the argument antifa organized the protests?

- Doc

From what I can tell it began with Dan Bongino on FOX News. And then Trump said they were now a terrorist organization. And then Barr vouched for that too. And then you called me a communist for pointing out the same things EA and RI have been alluding to; the fact that people are pretending to be ANTIFA and posting violent commentary in order to justify this bogus narrative.

In Klamath Falls, Oregon, victory declared over antifa, which never showed up

Towns from Washington state to Indiana have seen armed groups begin patrolling the streets after rumors spread on social media about an antifa invasion.

When the dust settles on this, the people who will have egg all over the faces won't be the people claiming any kind of affiliation with ANTIFA.

[_Chap]

Yup, like me and that commie bastard Icarus just said.

[_EAllusion]

Who made the argument antifa organized the protests?

- Doc

No one. There were, however, lots of people arguing that Antifa is a terrorist organization that was a significant factor driving the subsequent looting, arson, and riots.