Elizabeth Hovde and Oregonian vs Mayor Wheeler, Portland Resistance and Antifa

Elizabeth Hovde did the unthinkable, she dared to tell her truth in a Progressive city. On October 28^th 2018 the Oregonian published her opinion piece titled The Misunderstood Joey Gibson and the backlash was swift and aggressive.

Misunderstood

Elizabeth Hovde’s opinion piece was based off her time spent with a local activist group known as Patriot Prayer and their leader Joey Gibson. The rally opposing Washington gun-control Initiative 1639 took place at Washington State University Vancouver campus.

Ahead of the rally the university chancellor cancelled classes and advised students to remain off campus fearing violence. The Patriot Prayer rally was anything but violent. Joey Gibson even set up a question and answer period so that he could discuss his opinion with those who disagreed.

Hovde wrote what she experienced and submitted it to the Oregonian editorial board for publication. It was published and immediately attracted the attention of some powerful people who condemned her, called for her to be fired and for people to target the Oregonians sponsors in an attempt to shut down the long standing publication.

Journalists and Public Officials for Censorship

It is a strange sight to see writers and journalists offering support for censorship. They of course would deny that is their ultimate goal. This denial would not be a lie, because they would believe that they are not supporting censorship. Yet these same people would celebrate if Hovde's article were taken down and she were fired.

I am reminded of Matthew 7:20 “Therefore by their fruits you shall know them.” While they may not be calling for censorship directly nor do they believe they are asking for that, their actions are going to result in that outcome. As Thomas Sowell once said, “Consequences matter more than intentions.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler, who has attempted to use his position as Portland’s Mayor (and police commissioner) to falsely spread public fear in an attempt to stifle the individual’s first amendments right to freedom of expression, had this to say about Elizabeth Hovde article.

His statement shows that he clearly does not understand what Patriot Prayer and Joey Gibson stand for. Joey Gibson has repeatedly called out white supremacists and neo-Nazi’s and told them they are not welcome at his rallies. The speakers at Patriot Prayer rallies are from different backgrounds and ethnicities. At an event on June 30^th 2018 Patriot Prayer had Asian, Black, Hispanic, male, female, Trans and LGBTQ attendees. Speakers included people of various ethnicities and even a Trans person.

Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury had this to say.

She is stating that the Oregonian ‘complicit’ in stoking ‘violence and hatred’ and that it is ‘unforgivable.’ If you were a supporter of Deborah Kafoury and trust what she has to say, what are you supposed to take away from this statement? She wants you to be mad at the Oregonian and to believe that they are spreading hate and violence.

What sort of response should you have to an individual or organization spreading hate and violence? Naturally you would experience fear and in order to protect yourself from that fear you must oppose the Oregonian.

People like Ted Wheeler and Deborah Kafoury will tell you that in order for them to protect you from this boogieman they must be given more power and authority. Authority over where, when, and how people can protest in Portland. Power over what can and cannot be published in the press.

Anna Griffin news director for OPB and Samantha Swindler video producer, editor, and writer for the Oregonian had this to say about their fellow writer and journalist:

Half Truths and the Weasel Rhetoric of Alex Zielinski

Alex Zielinski of the Portland Mercury penned a response to Elizabeth Hovde and the Oregonian. She starts by mentioning the tragedy of 11 people killed in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Why? Because she is trying to tie two unrelated events together to make one look worse through association.

She even calls Hovde article The Misunderstood Joey Gibson a ‘love letter to the leader of the Portland area’s own far-right extremist group.’ She even falsely calls Patriot Prayer a ‘militaristic group of far-right provocateurs.’ Patriot Prayer is in no way militaristic, which means advocating or pursuing an aggressive military policy.

She also goes on to mislead the reader about violence at Patriot Prayer rallies. She frames these acts of violence as if they are spontaneous and happen in a vacuum, when in reality there would be no violence if Antifa did not show up and attack people, throw mortars, urine and bricks at crowds peacefully taking part in a permitted march.

Alex also misleads her readers about claims made by Mayor Ted Wheeler that Patriot Prayer members were ‘lugging rifles and ammunition’ to a peaceful protest, which she puts in scare quotes. These claims were refuted by Portland Police. The men with guns all had legal concealed carry permits and 100% cooperated with the police. When asked to leave the guns in a locked container in one truck and the ammunition in a locked container in another truck the men complied with the request. According to Portland Police “No laws were broken, and there was not imminent danger to the public.”

Yet Alex and Mayor Ted Wheeler would have you believe they were on the roof top with sniper rifles. Alex also makes the claim that LGBTQ friends and Muslim neighbors ‘feel they must stay indoors or leave town altogether’ when Patriot Prayer plans a protest. She offers no evidence or proof of these statements but claims them as fact in the hope that you, the reader, sympathize with these terrified characters that she created out of whole cloth.

As Christopher Hitchens once said “What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” She also outright lies about Jeremy Christian, framing the man accused of fatally stabbing two men and wounding a third on a MAX train as someone who is a mainstay of Patriot Prayer rallies.

The fact is he was kicked out of the one Patriot Prayer event he tried to attend. Here is video evidence of him being kicked out of the one Patriot Prayer event he attended by Tiny and other Patriot Prayer members.

She again tries to mislead her readers by saying “Every single protest in Portland that ended in violence over the past year and a half was organized by Patriot Prayer.” She makes is sound like Patriot Prayer is going out and committing these acts of violence, but in reality the only reason there is violence at these events is because Antifa shows up and attacks, harasses, threaten and antagonize people who attend.

Antifa even left someone who came to protest Patriot Prayer bloody laying in the street with a wound on the back of his head that would require 4 staples to close. They did this because he was carrying an American flag, a symbol of freedom and liberty. She then goes on to accuse Hovde of “cropping out hateful rhetoric and violence.” Patriot Prayer has offered a $2000 reward for video proof of Joey Gibson’s hateful rhetoric and no one has been able to claim this prize.

Alex ends by condemning the Oregonian editorial board and insinuating that her fellow citizens, who are part of Patriot Prayer, who could be her neighbors, the guy pumping her gas or the mechanic working on her car, are not worth listening to.

Portland Resistance Demands Action or Else

Portland Resistance offered a condemnation of the Oregonian claiming that “giving platform to this message is unconscionable, unethical, and dangerous behavior.” They continue by making a list of demands. The demands include:

1)      Issue a front-page apology to our community for their callousness and carelessness in publishing the “The misunderstood Joey Gibson” opinion piece.

2)      Fire Elizabeth Hovde.

3)      Discontinue the practice of lending fascists a platform to recruit and legitimize their hate.

First they do not represent a community, they were not elected or selected and simply claiming you stand for someone does not mean you actually represent them. You are not entitled to an apology for simply reading an opinion you did not like, grow up.

They then want to destroy the career of Elizabeth Hovde over an opinion piece they did not like. Lastly they accuse the Oregonian of “lending fascists a platform to recruit and legitimize their hate.” A baseless accusation of a paper that has published pieces criticizing Trump, Patriot Prayer, and Joey Gibson in the past.

If you are on the Oregonian editorial board I offer this one piece of advice, do NOT apologize. It will only be taken as an admission of guilt on your part and will make things worse. Stand by your journalistic ethics.

They also threaten that if these demands are not met they “will result in a strategic boycott of Oregonian advertisers, beginning with local companies with progressive leanings and proceeding from there.” Essentially they are threatening to bring financial harm to people who had nothing to do with this opinion piece in the hope that they can force the newspaper to do what they want.

This is a naked attempt to hold businesses and charities hostage so that they can force the press to submit to their will. They justify this use of force by claiming they are opposing “white supremacists.”

It is okay to disagree and I do not want any of the people mentioned to be censored or fired, I would rather their ideas be out in the open for everyone to see. But it is not okay to attempt to shut down, censor, and suppress through the force of social ostracization. It is not okay to hold businesses and charity hostage in an attempt to damage a newspaper who published an opinion piece you disagree with.

I have often disagreed with the Oregonian and probably have disagreements with Elizabeth Hovde, but I stand with their right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Sam Carpenter: By Any Means Necessary

Recently a photo was circulated by the campaign manager for Sam Carpenter. This photo showed respected Republican and Communications Director for the Wooldridge campaign, Jonathan Lockwood at a fundraiser for Maria Garcia.

Maria Garcia is running for Multnomah County Commissioner and is a moderate Democrat, who has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders.

Since then I have been watching the activity of the Carpenter Campaign, especially the activities of his campaign manager David Bacon Gulliver and the hyper active brigade of supporters that surround him.

First let’s look at the events of a few weeks ago.

The Lockwood Affair

It did not take long for David Bacon Gulliver, Sam Carpenters campaign manager, to start casting aspersions on Lockwood, calling him an “LGBTQ activist bomb-thrower” and labeling Garcia as a “radical socialist.”

Make Oregon Great Again, who is strongly tied to the Carpenter campaign, echoed this sentiment and was followed by Carpenter loyalists online.

The problem is they missed a few things in their rush to judgement. One Lockwood is an independent contractor working on the Wooldridge campaign not a direct staffer.

Two he did not directly raise funds for Garcia, simply attended a fundraiser for her as a local business owner interested in local politics.

Third he was allegedly fired from the moderate Knute Buhler campaign for being too Republican.

Also Garcia is a staunch anti public employee-labor union advocate. While she was endorsed by Sanders and does support sanctuary status at least she has some common ground with a few Republicans.

Doubling Down

Instead of recognizing that they are creating fractures within the Republican Party Carpenter and his loyalist supporters doubled down and deflected.

They tried to say they were just questioning what Lockwood was doing and that they are standing up for true Republican values. You know the same excuse your nephews give you when you catch them with their hand in the cookie jar and they say they just wanted to make sure the cookies were still there for later.

It did not work when you were kids so what makes you think it would be any different now that you are adults? Also if you had a backbone you would have taken it up personally with Lockwood first.

Instead you were more interested in the public attention you would get for virtue signaling as opposed to doing the real work and sacrifice that it actually takes to have real virtue.

Same Team?

The Oregon Tea Party has released communications from Sam Carpenter’s Campaign manager, David Gulliver, showing him directing Carpenter supporters to paint other conservatives as racists and bigots.

This is to be done to “make Greg [Wooldridge]…ashamed to have them.” This tactic might be effective online and provide short term gain, it does damage in the long run when you have Republicans calling each other racists. It just adds credibility, or at least the appearance of credibility, to the Progressive’s baseless accusations that the Republican Party is the party of racism.

This is the same sort of tactics used by the mainstream media against President Trump. They would say his supports are bigots, racists and violent and when protesters would attack Trump supporters they would say ‘violence erupts at Trump rally’ implying that those who are violent are the Trump supporters. Inferring that Trump is to blame for the violence done by Progressive protesters.

David and his comrades also engage in an online tactic known as brigading. Brigading is a concentrated effort by one online group to manipulate another, usually through mass commenting and down voting. Generally speaking this is an acceptable form of discourse online as it does not seek to silence anyone but rather promotes a differing opinion. Of course it is the internet so expect a few trolls to pop up now and again.

The point of this tactic is to make it appear that there is overwhelming support for one topic, issue or person and drowns out the voices of those who disagree or dissent. If you pay attention you will often see the same small group of people commenting and liking pro-Carpenter propaganda. It also gives the false impression of overwhelming success, which will draw people in who think that he has massive support, when in reality his support base is a minority of people cycling through.

Here are what I believe to be a few members of the brigade: Lori Tiger Davis, David Bacon Gulliver, Carol Leek, Helen Church, and Mary Wellman. Of course you will find a few others who comment and post but they have been taken in by this group think mentality more suited for Social Justice Warriors than free thinking liberty loving individuals.

They even deny reality when confronted with the evidence. Even when provided with screen shots they still deny the truth. The same way the Progressive’s deny biology when it suits them. In this conversation they cannot refute the evidence, so they fall back on personal attack. They call the person dissenting a liar and claim he is engaging in a smear campaign while doing they engage in the same.

My Opinion

These are just a few examples of this sort of behavior.

These sort of tactics accomplish a few different things. One they make people feel like Carpenter is ready and willing to fight it out. It would seem that he is so eager to fight that he is attacking his own party. People want a Republican who is not so soft and who is willing to say I stand for Republican values and I am not ashamed to actively promote and defend them.

Using this on your own party, while it might benefit in the short term, only creates problems in the long term. It gives the Democrats ammunition for the general election and causes sore relationships among party members.

Sam Carpenter, I doubt you are ignorant of the things going on in your own campaign. Meaning that you are not only allowing this sort of behavior to happen, but are fostering and promoting it.

Of course the comments to this blog will be much of the same. You will get people posting things like ‘MOGA’ and ‘Carpenter for Governor’, and ‘I am with Sam.’ You will also get people saying this is nothing but a smear job or a hit piece and they will call me a liar. They will seek to attack me and ruin any credibility I may have while putting me on trial in the court of public opinion.

That is the essence of social justice and we have seen it throughout the history of the world when people try to speak the truth. From Galileo, to Jesus, to Socrates. I am not saying I am anywhere near comparison to these great people, but that we need to learn from their example that the loudest and angriest voices are often not the correct ones.

Be Active: A Harsh Criticism for Republicans

The Republican Party in Oregon is a joke.

The Party fights and squabbles leading up to the primary, yet once the primary is done the Party is no more united then it was before the primary. Instead the different groups split off and call each other RINO or claim that because this candidate does not agree with me on X they are not a real Republican.

Unity

Purity testing is killing the Party and causing it to fractionate. The Party lacks any sort of unity outside of the name Republican.

The sentiment is if you do not believe what I, a real Republican, believe then I am simply going to stay home on Election Day and refuse to vote. Or I will write a name in or simply not send in my ballot because I do not want to waste a stamp.

If you fail to compromise within the Party then you will break and you might as well give up and allow a different Party to take your place. You cannot get everything you want all the time, grow up and make a sacrifice for the future.

The candidate might not be perfect but they are better than the alternative and they are more likely to listen to you in the future if you help get them elected.

Failure to Take Action

The Republican Party is inert. They do nothing to get out in the world and get their message out. I have seen more conservative action from non-political groups then I have ever seen from the Party.

The Democratic Party has several activist groups who attract attention and get people energized. What does the Republican Party do, argue on Facebook! Now is the perfect time for a conservative message.

Young men want, no need, to be told that they can take personal responsibility for their own lives and can make things happen for themselves. And they actually want to hear this message, just look at the wild popularity of Jordan Peterson.

People want to be told that you should always tell the truth and that seeking the truth is a good thing, at the very least do not lie. This is a conservative message, a message of the church and of science, to seek Truth above all else.

Instead they are letting the Progressive Left get away with lying for fear of pissing off their social justice mob. Where are the brave, strong, tough Republicans who will stand up for Republican values and American values?

They are afraid to say they love America because they do not want the bad media attention. But the people will see through the media lies. Use alternative media like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to speak directly to the people and expose the media for their lies.

Just about every cell phone has a camera now, use it and let the public decide for themselves.

Instead the Republican’s try to keep their heads down and hope they can slip in without anyone noticing. How has that worked out so far? That pain in your chest is your soul rotting because you are more focused on protecting yourself from Twitter hate mobs then you are for standing up for Truth, Responsibility, and American Values.

Allows the Left to Label and Define Us

You let those on the left define what you and the Party are. They call you racist, bigot, Nazi and what do Republicans do. The fire back with the word liberal.

It is clear to everyone who the racists and bigots are, just call them for what they are. What did the Republican Party do when Antifa threated to attack them if they marched in the Rose Parade on 82^nd? Nothing. The parade got shut down and the Republican Party did nothing.

This looked weak and conceded the point Antifa was making, that the Republican Party is racist and full of Nazi’s and Fascists. Where was the push back, where was the pride of the Party to defend their reputation?

The people of Oregon are begging for someone to step up and stand up to these people, but the Party leaders are too afraid of being called racist. I understand that the press is against you and you will not get a fair shake in the court of public opinion but that does not mean you take the easy road.

You stand up and fight back, take the hard road, accept the suffering that will be heaped on you and understand that if you are speaking the truth that it will all come out in the end. Have faith.

You allow the left to control the conversation. You argue using their words and premises. It is time to reject their premises and prove them false.

Do the work, challenge Democrats to open debate, make it public and do your homework before the event starts. Study their tricks and literature and do not make a fool of yourself. The left does not want their ideas out in the public and for good reason, they are authoritarian in nature.

Yet the Republican’s just come across as weak and leaderless. I have attended local meet ups and felt zero energy in the room. We have a Republican President, house and senate and yet it feels like the Party is ashamed of winning.

Do not be ashamed of being a conservative or Republican, conservative and Republican thought and ethics have a place and are valuable.

Pick Up What the Left has Abandoned

The left has abandoned Free Speech, innocent until proven guilty, and the universal rights of the individual just to name a few. Instead the left worships hate speech, social justice, and groups rights.

Free Speech, innocent until proven guilty and universal rights of the individual are founding principles that most Americans believe in and will gladly vote for. They have been abandoned as if they are trash on the side of the road.

All the Republican Party has to do is pick them up, yet they just look at them as if they were a coiled rattlesnake. You would just have to read the constitution and the bill of rights as if they were a political playbook and you will have more votes than you have ever had in the past.

Even if the left tried to argue with you most people still agree with the bill of rights. They would be arguing against the bill of rights. They will argue against it, the lefts ideology says it was written by a bunch of white male slave owners and so it is bad.

Of course they hate it because it gives rights to the individual and not the group and all they care about are groups, who they then turn into voting blocks. Yet Republican’s remain silent. They are trying to be statesman like and proper, the time for being proper is over.

Pick up freedom, hold up liberty, and promote personal responsibility, because if you do not then no one will. Republicans complain that the country is being ruined by Progressives, yet they stand by and watch it all happen.

Republicans seem to be in love with their complaints as opposed to doing what it takes to do something about them. It is easy to complain, it is difficult to get real things done.

How about you stand up and fight for the values that made this country great. People want to hear about conservative values and to be told that they, as the individual, have the power to change the world, and the great thing about that message is that it is true!

Why the Republican Party is too afraid to stand up and do anything is beyond me. Where are the radical Republicans that ended slavery, fought against Jim Crowe, and stands up for the rights of the individual? Where are the Republican Activists?

Where are the Republicans who will willingly march into a Progressive city like Portland and tell the small business owners that they are there to support them when their livelihood is being overrun by the homeless? The Progressives organized a protest in favor of the homeless people against the businesses. Seize the opportunity.

Where are the Conservative thinkers who are not afraid to stand toe to toe with a Democrat and challenge them with powerful traditional ideas? Ideas such as the importance of the family and that a family with two parents in the household is better than single parent families.

Where are the Republicans pushing back against the poisonous ideas being disseminated by the Progressives through universities, the media, and Hollywood, such as Toxic Masculinity and White Privilege? Stand up for the young man who is already nervous to approach a girl he is interested in but now has to worry if he could face legal action for making a fool of himself.

Pick up the disaffected liberals in the Democratic Party. They are sick of the Progressive radicals who are simply authoritarian socialists and communists or violent anarchists. You just have to appeal to them in ways they can understand. With classical liberal ideas (read Locke and Mill and founding fathers).

Instead Republicans just wait for Democrats to fail hard and hope that they can get voted in simply for not being Democrats. Why not try to get voted in for being conservative? If you wait the damage done will be irreversible.

What to do

Be controversial. It is not hard because now it is controversial to say you support Freedom of Speech. Ignore the labels heaped on you by your political opponents, it is just an attempt to keep you silent so they do not have to argue against your ideas or principles because they have no arguments against them.

Be public. Get out and interact with people. Hold your own events, do not simply attend other events. Go to controversial events and talk to people. Show people that you will stand up clear and strong.

Be honest. Tell the truth, or at the very least do not lie. The truth always finds a way to come out and you can either take your knocks now and improve or you take make it worse and end up losing everything in the end.

Have thought out arguments and principles. I do not care if we disagree on them as long as they thought out and strong. Consider criticisms to your arguments and use them to make your ideas stronger. Make your case powerful and be ready to face opposition not only in the form of arguments but also in the form of name calling. You know it is coming so be ready for it.

Have a clear place you want to go and a good reason why we should go there. If you want to be a leader than lead. Have a vision of the future, develop a plan for reaching that future and figure out why it is good that we should go that way as opposed to another way.

I make these criticism and suggestions from my own experience as a conservative who has lived in Oregon his whole life and has never had a conservative government in power. I wrote this knowing full well that some people will be angry about it. If that is you than ask yourself are you angry because I got it wrong or angry because it hits close to home?

I would be happy to admit I was wrong, as I am still fairly new to the Party, so please correct me if you think I am wrong on some point.

It is time we stand up and fight for the liberties that have been bitterly won throughout our history. It is time to be active.