Marc Thiessen Proves Once More He's A Hack By Analogizing Antifa To Nazis

Let's concede and admit that the WaPo resident troglodyte  Marc Thiessen is a fake news, fake history hack. In his latest essay, which surely must appeal to the fake news buffs (by comparing Antifa to the neo-Nazis), the imp writes (Denver Post, Perspective, p. 4K, Sept. 3):

"Neo - Nazis are the violent advocates of a murderous ideology that killed 25 million people last century. Antifa members are the violent advocates of a murderous ideology that - according to the Black Book of Communism - killed between 85 million and 100 million people last century."

Ok, I call for a flag. A big red one - on the basis of total false analogy.  In this case Thiessen's analogizing Antifa to Stalinists, unaware of the sheer level of his outlandish conflation and disregard for facts and history. Let us try to correct this impetuous ignoramus.  If this nitwit actually KNEW history, at least of Russia- Soviet Union, he'd have been aware of the fact that the greater number of the people killed under Soviet communism weren’t the ordinary people everyone pretends to care about but themselves communists.

Joseph Stalin not only ordered  Russian revolutionary leaders assassinated and executed, but indeed exterminated entire communist parties. For example, Stalin asserted that Leon Trotsky and his followers were most outspoken against him. He therefore ordered “Trotskyites” to be butchered remorselessly. Estimates from released former Soviet archives show more than 44 million Trotskyites were slaughtered.

Hence, it is an egregious claim of the basest form to behold Thiessen's conflation of "communists, Antifa members and hardened Stalinists.  The idiot also evidently doesn't know the primary hallmark of an Antifa member is anti-capitalist which historically has been tied to anti-fascist. Indeed, included among the 14 criteria of fascism are numbered the following:

9- Corporate Power is Protected -- The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed -- Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely or are severely suppressed.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -- Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions, and who use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines fascism is:

"A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."

Both Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany embodied this definition as well as the 14 other criteria when they came into power.  This nexus of attributes defines what Antifa is against.  Thiessen, however, commits the standard error of associating anyone who is against business interests with "communism" and not just the garden variety form but Stalinism.   This then destroys the rest of his thesis,  i.e.  that Antifa members and neo-Nazis are the same.  Hence his assertion.:

"They are morally indistinguishable. There is no difference between those who gave us Hitler and Himmler and those who beat innocent people in the name of the ideology that gave us Stalin."

Falls flat, given:

1) Antifa isn't "beating innocent people" by and large. They are beating people who already initiated violence on peaceful counter protesters. One NAACP spokeswoman observing the goings on at Charlottesville noted  the Alt-Right rally wasn't about exercising free speech but fomenting violence and discord in a peaceful, progressive college community.

Even the right-leaning WSJ saw it that way in an editorial following the violence  ('The Poison Of Identity Politics'). Noting:

"The particular pathology on display in Virginia was the White Nationalist Movement...They alone are to blame for the violence that occurred when one of their own drove a car into peaceful protestors, killing a young woman and injuring 19.

Elsewhere, a group of clergy including Dr. Cornel West linked arms at the top of stairs leading to the park in its southeast corner and were about to be set upon by violent neo Nazis when Antifa members intervened. According to Prof. West: “If it hadn’t been for the antifascists, we would have been crushed like cockroaches.”

Rev. Traci Blackmon related on MSNBC the next day how her congregation had to be sequestered inside their church - during a prayer service- as the howling banshee white supremacists marched outside.

They were then led out the back doors of the Church to avoid confrontation with a clearly violent bunch  - already having tossed urine bottles at peaceful counter protestors, and clubbed others with baseball bats and shields.

She observed this behavior continued on Saturday when African-Americans singing a hymn  near an entrance in Emancipation Park were set upon by the White racist loons and goons who proceeded to beat and mace them. As Rev. Blackmon put it, "the only thing that saved them was the intervention of Antifa and other protestors" - one of whom drove the racist louts back using a spray can and a match - effectively engineering a mini flame thrower

2) As I already showed - indicating the relevant history Thiessen missed -  Antifa has nothing to do with Stalinism so isn't "beating people in the name of the ideology that gave us Stalin."

If Thiessen had more sense and perspective he'd also have noted another distinction: Antifa does charitable work! Antifa doesn't just fight Nazis, they assist the poor and downtrodden. They do food distributions, collecting food from grocery stores and markets to feed to the homeless.  Do Thiessen's neo-Nazis do this? I doubt it.

Antifa members also offer court support to political prisoners and work as street medics during protests. In Charlottesville, it was Antifa street medics who helped tend to burning eyes and busted faces of dozens. And when James Alex Fields drove his car into the crowd, street medics cared for the injured in the crucial moments before ambulances arrived.

More codswallop from Thiessen:

"The United States defeated two murderous ideologies in the 20th century, so we should all be repulsed by fellow Americans carrying either red flags of communism of black flags of Nazism."

Uh no.  The U.S. did not "defeat two murderous ideologies". It cooperated - in World War II - with more than a dozen other allies to defeat the Nazis, it didn't do it by its lonesome/  As for  defeating Stalinism, it was actually more Russians themselves who were responsible for eliminating that odious system. When the Soviet Union did finally fall, Mikhail Gorbachev was more the key player than Reagan or the U.S.

Thiessen in an earlier performance ('The Left's Hypocrisy On Trump's 'Enemy of the American People Comment' )  showed how derelict he is as a journalist or responsible reporter. At least NY Times Sabrina Tavernise tried to show some balance in her coddling of the Trumpies back in February  (at least in her TV appearance), while Thiessen showed little or none. He hyped the "venom spewed by the left at anti-Trump rallies" but said nothing of the venom spewed by Trump - which as we've seen has now given rise to hundreds of hate crimes. Those included the murder of an Indian techie in Olathe, KS by a hard core Trump supporter babbling his same rhetoric.  Also vandalized Jewish gravestones, and at least one burned Mosque (as in Tampa back in February) .

Did Thiessen mention any of these incidents while he attempted to put the Left on the same  vermin scale? No he did not. He showed completely his lack of perspective and his shameful commitment to false narratives - designed more to appeal to the Trump base than to the integrity of the nation.

Thiessen is the worst kind of abject hack: one who infuses his garbage not only with fake news but false history too.

NBC Is Off Its Rocker To Air Alex Jones' Interview After Capitol Shooting

Conpiracy clown Alex Jones, who feeds the Right's febrile conspiracies - including Sandy Hook being a false flag- to appear Sunday night on Megyn Kelly's show.

Incredibly, NBC News is moving ahead with plans to air Megyn Kelly’s interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones this weekend despite a backlash that has cost the show advertisers and led to Kelly being dropped as host for an event by an organization founded by parents of children killed at Sandy Hook elementary school.  And this is also after the shooting of House GOP Whip Steven Scalise and three others this morning during a GOP House batting practice in Alexandra, VA at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the shooting this morning was specifically directed at the Republican House members getting ready for a congressional baseball game. Reports out of ABC News this morning note the perp didn't come in and just mow  people down indiscriminately with his AR-15, he asked where the REPUBLICAN players were, which they were. In other words, this was a political hit job in a highly polarized national atmosphere we've not seen since the Civil War.

And into this atmosphere you are really going to throw gasoline on the fire by airing a Megyn Kelly interview with conspiracy screwball Alex Jones? Seriously? Yes, yes, I know all about the "free speech" thing and at any other time I'd say let Alex have his say. But not now in an overheated environment where from reports in a recent issue of  TIME - both Left and Right are amping up their aggression with the Alt-Right now squaring off against black clad Antifa (anti fascist) brigades, including here in Colorado Springs. E.g.

Anti -fascists square off against cops before the Milo Yiannapoulis appearance at UCCS in January.

Meanwhile, NBC  has been taken aback by the response to booking Jones, the Infowars host who has questioned the factual reality of the killing of 26 people in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, CT. He has insisted it's a hoax, a "false flag",  staged by the Obama administration as an excuse to seize guns. The students shot and killed, in Jones insane view, were merely actors - who are still alive and well somewhere. He refuses to say where, though he evidently knows where the Roswell aliens are ensconced.

NBC News Chairman Andy Lack, who had earlier mulled firing Lawrence O'Donnell - one of the most popular liberal voices on MSNBC -  said the story would be edited with the sensitivity of its critics in mind. But if NBC is going to really give Jones his 0.02 it is hard to imagine how such editing might be done. Virtually every word out of Alex Jones' mouth is inflammatory and polarizing. For example, on Oct. 25th Jones spewed on about a crypto Jewish conspiracy afoot in the country:

“I mean it’s not that Jews are bad; it’s just they are the head of the Jewish Mafia in the United States. They run Uber. They run the health care. They’re going to scam you. They’re going to hurt you.” 

NO  hard data, or cited documents for that claim, or even a tempered speculation. Jones simply emitted a noisome brain fart from a ruptured psychotic embolism in his amygdala. Given he does this every ten microseconds, how will NBC "edit" his stream of bullshit brain modality?  Well, I guess NBC could shut off the audio during Jones' responses and just let the lips move soundlessly.

“It’s important to get it right,” Lack said.  To which I'd respond, "It's impossible to get it right when you put a crackpot on the air".  And especially in an overheated political atmosphere now made worse by what had obviously been a partisan-motivated mass shooting.

Kelly had the nerve to argue last Tuesday that reporters have interviewed controversial characters such as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and child molesters in the past without getting this kind of a reaction. But she misses the key point most everyone knew and accepted those were bad guys. In Jones' case, his febrile follies have been the fodder and launch point for much of the fake news, including 'Pizzagate', spouted with cooperation with the Russkies' own spurious crap.  Indeed, Jones' crappola has been one of the main media diets of Donald Trump, likely fueling his own halfwit conspiracy musings  - including Ted Cruz' dad being one of the Kennedy assassins.

Note here that popularity of a stone screwball does not qualify as a justification to give his screwball ideas major network hearing. (I have no problems if it is done via an online interview, but not a prime time airing on a major network).  Thus Kelly's next blather:

“What I think we’re doing is journalism. The bottom line is that while it’s not always popular, it’s important. I would submit to you that neither I nor NBC News has elevated Alex Jones in any way. He’s been elevated by 5 or 6 million viewers or listeners, and by the president of the United States. As you know, journalists don’t get the choice over who has power or influence in our country.”

Which is a too cute, too pat and too egregious explanation by far. Especially given that Jones' popularity has not been on account of the attention of rational, sober citizens, but of unread, semi-educated screwballs like Jones. Oh, and liars and fake news buffoons like Donald Trump. Hence, Kelly - and Lack - are cherry picking what they regard as "journalism", in this case defining it down to the level of the fake news dumpster. In other words, if you give a fake news purveyor major air time then you become a fake news purveyor too. If you want to delude yourselves this is "journalism", fine, but don't take the rest of us for stock idiots.

Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-gun violence group, said it had asked Kelly to step down as host of its Wednesday-night gala in Washington. The group said it cannot support Kelly or NBC’s decision to give a platform to Jones and hopes NBC reconsiders its plan to broadcast the interview, said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director. Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, was killed at Sandy Hook, founded the organization with Mark Barden, who lost his 7-year-old son, Daniel.

To some critics, NBC’s timing makes the decision worse – airing on Father’s Day an interview that has been publicly denounced by parents who lost young children at Sandy Hook.  But now with the politically motivated shooting this morning that decision is rendered even worse by orders of magnitude.  NBC said it was scheduled "for competitive reasons", because Jones had been booked to appear on ABC’s daytime show The View next week. (A representative of The View said Jones had canceled his appearance there and he would not be rescheduled.)

Lack noted that he had suggested approaching Jones for an interview to David Corvo, the NBC News executive who supervises the network’s newsmagazines. He said there’s nothing new about putting people on the air even if they’re unpopular or have views that are deplorable to many, adding:

“I’ve got tremendous understanding of why they’re so upset, as they have every right to be,”

Ahhh, but he has more appreciation and "understanding" - by far- of the ratings hike he hopes to snare by putting an obnoxious, pseudo-conspiracy gasbag like Jones on the air. The best thing sober people can do is tune it out, or watch 'Fear the Walking Dead'.

Meanwhile, Trump lackey Jeff Sessions performed yesterday as most of us expected, i.e. like the Trump patsies Mike Rogers and Dan Coates did last week. See, e.g.

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/jefferson-morley/73434/stonewalling-sessions-runs-away-from-tough-questions-in-senate-inquiry


See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/kali-holloway/73476/megyn-kelly-and-alex-jones-two-peas-in-a-pod

Excerpt:

"In the flap over Kelly’s upcoming interview with Jones, one fact critics keep missing, or willfully ignoring, is that Kelly and Jones are two sides of the same coin. Sure, Jones arguably says more outlandish things from a position that used to be the far lunatic fringe. But Kelly spent more than a decade doing her own version of the right-wing’s dirty work from within the establishment at Fox News. The difference between Kelly and Jones, at the end of the day, amounts to nothing more than aesthetics. Together, their steady output of garbage has helped expand and thicken our current toxic atmosphere, which is now engulfing and threatening to choke us."

Right Wing Blowhards Need To Put A Sock In It About Protests

Some of the thousands making voices heard in Denver last night

Almost on cue, the right wing, authoritarian blowhards in their assorted blogs were issuing threats and warnings to the "left wing brats, libtard punks and apes" disrupting cities across the nation. This was in the wake of the Trump electoral coup d'état.   From assorted "alt-Right" bloggers we have now beheld warnings to the effect that once Trump assumes power in January "these rat-faced apes" can expect to be hauled into behavior modification "boot camps" and "taught a lesson". What can they expect? "Mild water boarding alternating with sleep deprivation, to start" - then being force -read all of Trump's books.  Jeezus Peace, sounds almost like Chairman Mao's   "re-education camps" during the Cultural Revolution.. I guess it takes a tyrant to know one and use a former one's methods, eh?

The funny thing about these Rush Limbaugh-lubbing, cigar chomping characters is while they cherish their 2nd amendment rights - to carry and collect as many weapons as they choose-  they have no use for any other amendments - especially the first and the fourth. I have news for these alt-Right folks, you're going to see a lot more protests especially on inauguration day.

These energized citizens, like in Denver last night - who came about by the thousands to march - aren't just protesting for the hell of it or to act like "spoiled brats".  They feel under threat by a grade A asshole, whose stark racism attracted enough red state bumpkins and others to vote for a crass pig billionaire who has no use for them or theirs.  They could as well be members of 'Black Lives Matter' for all Trump cares.  He only channeled their stupid rage to get them to cast ballots for him.

The thousands who came out last night in Denver managed to block vehicular  intersections around downtown backing up traffic for blocks  to exercise their first amendment rights. Drivers were patient, as the Denver Post reported, understanding that and also delivering thumbs ups and peace signs. The protestors themselves covered a vast sampling from across the demographic spectrum including  LGBTQ couples, Hispanics, blacks,  poor homeless whites as well as college kids who now fear Trump and his denizens will allow student loan rates to spike (see my previous post).

Kayla Styles, 25, of Metropolitan State University, spoke for many when she said (quoted in today's Denver Post):

"I'm here because I fear my rights will be taken away and my loved ones' rights. "

She added that she is petrified the Trump administration will not only trample on the rights of people of color but also the LGBTQ community. She  has good reason to fear, because already news reports have come through of hate crimes across the nation committed by pro-Trump baboons wearing the signature red Trump caps.

Denver attorney David Lane, also quoted by the Post, nailed it when he said:

"I am witnessing the first amendment at its best. Thousands and thousands have taken to the streets to protest the election of a racist, misogynist, xenophobic man".

One 80 -year old woman who "survived World War II" - escaping from a death camp-  was also part of the protest. She noted she'd seen similar events before and now expressed fear of what may happen again..  She has good reason to fear when you see and hear Trump supporters blustering about taking protestors and objectors to "camps"  after Trump is sworn in.  Will we all stand by and watch as a re-enactment of the Hitler-spawned Reichstag fire takes place? Will we wait to see a repeat of the "Enabling Act" that abolished the German constitution and citizen rights?

She and the other protesters then headed past the Pepsi Center and the Denver Nuggets game, disrupting a bit of traffic, before heading to I-25 where they entered the highway and blocked traffic. Note here, by the way, that when spontaneous (unplanned) marches occur traffic blockage is often a byproduct because of the large masses of people involved. It is not intentional but rather a consequence of the act of protest itself and most citizens caught up in it understand that though a number of Trump supporters didn't. Like our innominate blogger they issued threats of what will happen after Trump gets in and starts fouling his White House nest.

At the end, community activists assembled and articulated their fight against bigotry and hatred.  They railed against Trump - the man they said "had made intolerance, racism and misogyny acceptable to much of the electorate."

Doug GoodFeather, a representative of the American Indian Community, summed up the night's events:

"I'm just a pebble but a pebble can be very irritating in a shoe. Let's all be pebbles."

Let us indeed be "pebbles" and ensure the Trumpies every footfall en route to authoritarian fascism is rendered excruciatingly painful.

One last thing: It's really choice reading the blogs of these blowhards about how the "punks need to just accept reality and settle down"  when that is the last thing they would have done if Clinton had won. By now, if the election tables had been turned, they'd be fire -bombing black churches and synagogues and lynching or torturing any gays or Latinos they found wearing HRC apparel. But - IF they could have accepted Hillary without batting an eyelash-  then they have room to complain about the anti-Trump protests now. If not, they don't.


See also:

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/henry-giroux/69802/a-call-for-resistance-in-dark-times