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This is pretty much what you need to know about what happened today in Portland. 60 right wingers came to town hoping to have things thrown at them to prove that "the left" is violent.
This was the playful spirit in which 99% of the progressive counter-protestors engaged.
One journalist for an agenda-driven right wing outlet walked amongst leftist protestors & was at first hit w/ a milkshake & silly string, but then met with more serious force. [Taking what shouldn't be a controversial stand here: Roughing up reporters, even crap ones, is bad.]
You will see reports that "the left" put quick-drying cement in the milkshakes. So far, there is zero evidence for this, and many reasons not to believe it.
This strikes me as a fair summation of the story with the right wing journalist who got injured.
Fox News and probably even the White House are going to be going crazy with stories about "the violent left" in "crazy Socialist Portland." Folks, it's a bullshit story. 90% of the people in Portland today didn't even know what was happening downtown.
98% of the people downtown were there because they hate fascism. One guy with a long history of one-sided reporting about events like these marched right up to a group of masked leftists, camera rolling, and got the footage he knew the right would crave.
And now, through the magic of our right wing media industry with its synecdochic rhetoric, this one assault (which I am very clearly stating is bad) will stand in, in the frightened minds of Fox viewers around the country, for "who the left is."
You know what the "leftist agenda" for 98% of the people in Portland today involved? I saw a movie. Others went for walks or gardened. Many worked. Many got high. Many watched TV. We ate pretty good food.
One dude was hoping to get some footage of himself getting beaten up by masked leftists and he got it. That, of course, is the story Fox will be dining out on, in grossly distorted form, for a week.
Here's video from one of the right wing protest organizers. Note at the 1:20 mark when one of her compatriots says "We should go down to the corner to get them riled up so they throw sh*t at the cops. Let's go f*ck 'em up." facebook.com/adamshaley39/v…
You'll also note the shout out to her friend Andy Ngo.
In sum. While I do not condone any of the violence perpetrated today, it is clear that the "peaceful" right wing protestors took actions intended to provoke that violence.
