San Francisco’s top political leaders stood this week in opposition to a right-wing group’s planned rally next week at Crissy Field. At a press conference held Tuesday, Mayor Ed Lee expressed outrage that the National Park Service granted a permit for the rally.
Lee isn’t alone in his outrage against the National Park Service. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has also questioned whether the permit was approved “under the guidance from the White House.”
The permit is issued to “Patriot Prayer” group to gather Aug. 26 at Crissy Field in San Francisco. According to the Southern Poverty Law Centre, which tracks hate groups, Patriot Prayer is a religious group but its purpose is “an attempt to provoke black-clad ideologues on the left into acts of violence.”
There are a lot of security fears given the violent events in Charlottesville the past weekend that saw one person killed and dozens injured. Sonja Hanson, spokeswoman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area says “The park will review and assess safety,” and that the authorities are “planning accordingly.”
Despite reassurances San Francisco’s leadership continues to be concerned about safety issues concerning the rally, “We have demanded the National Park Service re-evaluate the permit in this case,” Lee said.
Who is behind the group ‘Patriot Prayer?’
Patriot Prayer is an “alt-right” group based out of Portland, Oregon. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes it as a group that has attracted white supremacists and that the group specializes “in rallies aimed at provoking far-left and anarchist groups.”
The group organized several events in Portland and Seattle and violence has been documented at events organized by the group. The group also participated in “March Against Sharia” in Seattle, which was organized by ACT for America, labeled an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Patriot Prayer’s leader Joey Gibson is a Vancouver based alt-right blogger who has in the past organized events like the “free speech rally” in downtown Portland which attracted “alt-right” and “white supremacist” speakers from across the country. Gibson worked as a broker for Summa North real estate until June 30th, after which he left his job allegedly due to pressure from leftist activists.
Gibson is known as a polarizing figure in Portland and has recently become more ambitious with organizing alt-right and white supremacist rallies. Most recently, Gibson organized a “freedom rally” in downtown Seattle only a day after violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.
On its Facebook page, the Patriot Prayer group posted:
Seattle is running our state with a pedophile as a mayor. The West Coast has slowly been infected with communist ideologies throughout our entire culture. It is a belief that the individual is weak and that we are all victims. This is the lie of the century. No matter who you are, we are all amazing people with the ability to do anything that we put our minds to. These liberal strongholds run off of hatred and negativity. Patriot Prayer will bring in a positive message to Seattle that the people are starving for.
Gibson denounced the killing of Heather Hyer at the rally in Seattle. But despite Gibson’s tall claims of “peace and love” the Southern Poverty Law Center identified Gibson’s followers and marchers as, “an agglomeration of Trump-supporting ‘Patriots,’ including some white nationalists and skinheads, as well as ‘III Percent’ militiamen and LaVoy Finicum fans.”
Counter protests:
Several counter-protests are already planned including one this Friday announced by Sunset Resistance Council, a group that describes itself as “hyperlocal resistance against Trump & his puppeteers, foreign & domestic,” that plans to hold a “nonviolent sit-in” against National Park Service issuing a permit for the “white supremacist” rally.
The sit in is scheduled for Friday, Aug 18 outside National Park Service’s office on Bush Street.
On the event’s Facebook page Sunset Resistance Council says it will “Show the Regional Director, Laura Joss, that white supremacists and Nazis are not welcome in SF. The NPS will have no “business-as-usual” until they too condemn these white extremist terrorist groups.”
Other counter-protests include “Unafraid Rally” which is scheduled at the same time as the “white supremacist” rally on August 26th, at 2 PM in Crissy Fields. The event’s Facebook page says it’s “Calling all Drag Performers and Sparkly Freaks on Saturday, August 26 at Crissy Field to protest”. So far 1200 people on facebook have said they will be attending while 2700 are interested.
That’s not all, while drag queens plan to rally at Crissy Fields the “SF LovedUp Mobile Dance Counter-Rally” is scheduled on the same day at 1 PM. The event’s Facebook page invites people to “Show the alt-right, white nationalists that SF is the city that knows how; by providing an alternative to hate, confrontation and aggression”, the organizers are asking people to “Dress in your amazing colorful fabulous best AND bring a battery powered boom box. The more boomboxes the more music, the more counter-rally goodness. We’re talking a couple hundred happy people, with a sound system in everyone’s hands.”
The organizers plan at the Marina Green and say their plan is not confrontational “THE POINT IS NOT TO INTERRUPT OR CONFRONT THE WHITE NATIONALIST RALLY, but to provide a nearby, better, inclusive, visible alternative” the page says.
So far over 750 people on Facebook have said they’ll be attending and some 3900 are interested in the event.
Update 8/16/2017 at 6:11 pm:
Senator Dianne Feinstein is the latest democrat to call on the National Park Service to deny Patriot Prayer a permit to rally in Crissy Fields, San Francisco.
In her statement Feinstein says she believe that “there’s a strong potential of violence during this demonstration,” and urges General Superintendent Cicely Muldoon to reconsider “decision to issue this permit in the name of public safety.”
Update 8/16/2017 at 7:45:
According to a statement issued Wednesday evening National Parks service is soliciting response on the right-wing rally planned on Aug 26th. The final permit hasn’t been issued yet. A final decision is expected to be made by the end of next week, one day before the rally.
This post will be updated with as new information becomes available.
A better solution is simply to boycot the event. It is never a good idea to argue with a nazi holding firearms. Take your party with the glitter somewhere else…
I guess one could say the Southern Poverty Law Center is not unbiased so maybe their claim that Kessler was an Obama supporter and Occupy demonstrator was false. However, it does seem like the left considers SPLC a good source. Nevertheless, I could be a fool for believing them.
That is like going to Brietbart for unbiased information you fucking tool.
And you are a douche gargler.
So you aren't even going to try to defend your previous false statements – figured as much. You were spreading lies and you got called out on it. The fact that a "Hillary for Prison" t-shirt is the the most offensive thing you can find about Joey Gibson is indicative of how empty your accusations are. You of course mischaracterize the O'reilly segment as well.
Neither Joey Gibson nor the Oath Keepers support nor associate with white supremacy.
5-second Google found a million examples:
Here's Joey, your Patriot Prayer leader, wearing a "Hillary for Prison" teeshirt. Since you are a Hillary supporter, do you find that disturbing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq7J2ejLC-o
Here's some Bill O'Reilly (Fox) telling the founder of the Oath Keepers that he is an extremist and needs to learn to obey the law:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isd0FlGb_LY
I rest my case.
You are conflating nationalism with separatism or supremacy. There are some of each in every race/ethnic group. If you promote identity politics, don't be surprised if you get White identity politics.
More false statements:
1. You asked if the Oath Keepers would guard an ADL march, not leftists or socialists. Oath Keepers have attended BLM events in the past. I have no idea whether they would work a socialist event but that's not really relevant.
2. Are you seriously suggesting that May Day rallies don't bring out the far left? The point was not whether the Oath Keepers would work these events, the point is that the far left are well represented at these events and don't get attacked.
3. The topic of conversation is violence at rallies and why this necessitates security, not violence in general. The far left frequently attacks rallies of anyone they disagree with – up to this point the right generally has not. If you are going to disagree then cite examples.
4. The Oath Keepers do not attend white supremacists rallies. If you are going to disagree then cite examples.
5. The Boston Event was not a white nationalist event, it was a civic nationalist event. Even the ADL agreed with that.
So many falsehoods. I asked if Oath Keepers would guard speakers at left-wing rallies, and you cite May Day, a traditional time for labor celebrations by the AFL-CIO and others. You equate the labor movement with the far-left and communists. That’s telling.
My question, once again: would the Oath Keepers provide security for socialists? The answer, obviously, is no. Check out that link I shared. The founder explicitly states that he will not work with socialist. Then he goes on to describe the problems with Soros, Jews, and “globalists.”
Once again, you state that right-wing nationalists are peaceful and only resort to violence to defend themselves again their counterparts, the left-wing extremists. But the instances of unprovoked, white-nationalist violence are numerous. Google it. The Oath Keepers could care less about free speech. They attend rallies to intimidate protesters at white supremacy rallies. Nice to see that the protesters outnumbered the white nationalists by 30,000 to 300 at the Boston rally today.
And don’t’ "pigeon hole" (sic, its pigeonhole) me. I voted for Hillary Clinton in the California primary and in the general.
Not at all. Here's a good primer (and I personally don't endorse Antifa's methods):
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/898536730214547458
"European Nationalists rather than White Nationalists."
Chilling. We've been hearing too much talk like that lately. I don't know of any Latinos (or Japanese) advocating genocide. But we all know what "European Nationalists" want. Give it up, boob.
I would think those that support identity politics should not be surprised if they get White identity politics. If you want tribes you will get White tribes. And if you blame White men for all of what is wrong the America, you may get hostile White groups; especially among the poor Whites who don't see themselves as privileged and see their values and way of life threatened. The deplorables clinging to their guns and religion!
I don't read them and never have. I have no idea what the stand for. This time I recall reading about Kessler being an Obama supporter and a Occupy demonstrator and googled it; WND came up. But the original source was SPLC.
Historically the dems weren't controlled by identity politics nut jobs either.
WND was full birther and never misses an opportunity to spew racist bullshit and other lies. If you read that crap, you have zero credibility.
I gave you a link to SPLC, the source, so you don't need to read anything you might disagree with. If you cover your eyes and ears you will be safe.
I'm not going to read anything on WND. Nor should anyone.
Their source, if you read the article, was the Southern Poverty Law Center. But SPLC is also not a credible source, so who knows.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jason-kessler
But even if it were an alt-right event, using violence to prevent the right of free speech and assembly is the crime; not the assembly. Why do Democrats now condone violence to stop the alt-right? Historically, they supported free speech.
It now seems that Democrats condone using violence to stop freedom of speech and assembly. Using fascism to stop fascism. What happened?
Yeah, World Nutcase Daily is a credible source.
there aren't enough neo-nazis around to be a serious threat to the rest of the population. The problems arose in Charlottsville probably because the local police force is small and they didn't take it seriously enough to prepare.
Why do you find it necessary to call people names? That is not an argument.
That was a question not a statement about those who want to keep the Mission Latino. I would say they are more like Nationalists than Supremacists as I understand the definition; More pro-Latino than anti-White. I suppose that is more cultural than racial. But wouldn't those who want to keep European protestant values also be cultural? European Nationalists rather than White Nationalists.
Your problem is you misinterpret legitimate economic and cultural struggles as race wars. There are no "Latino supremacists" in the Mission, you boob.
Can you provide information rather than call names. See john smith above. Maybe a Japanese Supremacist? Would you call those who want to keep the Mission Latino, supremacists?
So many false statements. There are May Day rallies in fly over country every year – no one shows up to stop them or attack them. There were occupy rallies and encampments in many of these places, no one attacked them or tried to stop them. The only violence at these events is from the left, attacking property and the police. No groups (except blm) violently disrupted sanders or Jill stein events. No one attacks left wing speakers on college campuses.
Oath keepers will work almost any event (excluding white supremacist events) as their primary concern is to protect free speech. They have attended numerous blm rallies, for example. So yes, they would provide security to the adl if asked.
Unless you are going to deny that right wing events are being attacked then you have no grounds for criticizing them for bringing security.
"Also how do we know this is a White Supremacist rally…"
Nice try, you race-obsessed boob.
If you support Trump, you support white supremacy.
You are typical of the far-right and the far-left: Whiners claiming to be victims. In case you haven't noticed, a lot of lefties have been beaten up by fat white dudes, too. One of them ran over some people last week, in case you haven't heard.
You think a communist demonstration in a right-wing flyover state town wouldn't attract violent righties? You seem to think that the far-right is passive compared with the evil left. Look in the mirror for once.
–Say, if the Anti-Defamation League held a protest march in Boise, would the Oath Keepers come and defend them? I guess not, because Stewart Rhodes, the founder, believes that Jews are the leading force in the globalist cabal against the white working-class.
-But happy to hear that nobody will be packing next Saturday. Second Amendment rights violated, right? Gun Control is good sometimes, isn't it?
A few problems with your analogy:
The oath keepers don't carry in California, so no one is going to be brandishing firearms
Even if there were protestors at a hypothetical procommunist rally in the Boise town square, it would be peaceful and heavy security would not be needed. The no platform movement is exclusively leftist you didn't see right wing organizations trying to violently shut down Hillary campaign rallies, nor do leftist speakers (no matter how radical) on college campuses get attacked, even at colleges in conservative areas like Boise State, for example. Yet this happens regularly to even moderately conservative speakers, which is why they have to bring such heavy security. To then claim that they are violent and inflammatory for doing so is absurd.
Look at what we have seen in just the last year: Charles Murray attacked on a college campus and an accompanying professor sent to the hospital with a concussion. Multiple Ben Shapiro events canceled due to safety concerns. Milo event at Berkeley canceled after antifa sets fire to the campus and nearly kills several people with bricks. Riots in Portland at May Day events. Protestors attacking at patriot prayer events in Portland and Seattle. And too many other examples to list.
The previous Berkeley "free speech " rallies were held specifically to challenge the hecklers veto that Antifa seemed told in the Bay Area after the milo debacle.
Johnny, let me educate your full-witted self. What if a communist group went to the most conservative city in America (let’s say Boise, Idaho) and hired a radical left-wing group (we’ll say The Black Panthers), armed one and all, to protect it for a rally in the main town park in Boise. Would that be a provocation? Would the locals come and protest? That’d be a great opportunity for violence between the far-right and the far-left. That's what both group wants. And that’s what we’ve been seeing around the country.
—By the way, I’m considered a right-winger by Tim Redmond and others on this website. I see that you are a newbie here.
You keep missing the point. Patriot Prayer needs private security because violent alt-left radicals hab decided they are going assault and shut down the events of anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders, and are encouraged by half-wits such as yourself who scream nazi without any evidence. Ironically this also attracts real white supremacists that they need security to remove as well. The oath keepers are good at it and they work for free. If antifa would stop showing up with bricks they wouldn't be needed.
So if the police fail in their duty to guarantee safety, militias should handle that job? Black Panthers, Communists, Oath Keepers, whatever, right? John, you don't have much trust in the rule of law, do you?
Did the police keep everyone safe at that event? It just shows how weak your argument against patriot prayer is that you are fixating on the political views of the volunteer security team
Does London Breed rail against Jews and multinationalists, too? Gee, I wasn't aware of that.
Um, John? Did the police ask for help from any militia groups at that event? I invite you to listen to that entire interview with the founder. He wants Americans to form their own militias because the government is not up to the task. He's in favor of building private armies throughout the land. In other words, he's a VIGILANTE.
So you are saying you have never heard London Breed speak?
What part of his statements are "more rational" than the SF BoS? His belief that a civil war is imminent in the US? Or his belief that "The Jew Soros" is a leader of "globalism?
After last weekend, or previous Berkeley events, is it your opinion that police can protect rally attendees on their own? But again, why are we parsing the political views of the security team? The oath keepers are not speaking at the event. They do a great job pulling security, that's it. Despite what they carry you don't hear about them freaking out and shooting or assaulting protestors. They actually have a better record than the police in that regard.
Um, Johnny? The Democratic Party today is not the Democratic Party of 1861. Ditto Republican. Parties change over time. But you knew that already, didn't you?
Did you check out the Stewart Rhodes interview? Lots of talk about Jews and globalists, and the need for militias because the police can't protect us on their own.
Stewart Rhodes sounds more rational than most of the sf board of supervisors on most days. In any case they aren't running for office, they aren't even speaking, they are providing security. Do you hold leftist organizations to this level of scrutiny?
Here's Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes "Communists in the Democratic Party…and the entire Democratic Party is Marxist in ideology, with a Marxist leader now trying to overtly overthrow our government." Much talk about George Soros and the "globalists", too. Great stuff! And these guys will be keeping the peace next Saturday. YOU: AMERICAN MILITIA."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ0XIJidii8
Democrats did start the civil war. If the adl stuck to criticizing actual anti-semitism I wouldn't have a problem with them. Gibson doesn't have the funds to pay for this caliber of protection, and the oath keepers work for free. If you have ever seen them in action they are highly professional, and very adept at de-escalating situations, unlike most other security options. They don't open carry at California events anyway.
C'mon, just click around it. "Guardians of the Republic"; Dinesh D’Souza saying Democrats started the Civil War. You can win a free Glock pistol (order today!). Gibson didn't hire standard protection because he wants an intimating presence. That website makes it obvious.
—And not surprising that you think the Anti-Defamation League is "partisan hack." Criticizing antisemitism is "partisan" now, is it?
I am not seeing any confederate flags on their site. The Oath Keepers are very strongly and very vocally against white nationalism. They don't do white nationalist events and don't allow white nationalist advocacy or displays at events they work. They are the guys throwing whit nationalists out of Joey's events. The Alt-right and white nationalists hate the oath keepers.
They also work for free, and seeing as Joey Gibson has the antifa nutcases throwing bricks at him it is understandable why he would accept their help.
Then I suggest you look at the Oath Keepers website. Plenty of photos of people waving Confederate flags and guns. Not the kind of "security guards" you find a Walmart, no? This is a radical right-wing group. Hiring it to provide security at a public event is disturbing.
The adl and splc have become partisan hack organizations with a very distant relationship with reality.
Really? Most private security guards do not have a radical agenda. Mussolini kept his rallies safe through his brownshirt contingent. Sounds familiar
This from wiki:
Several groups that monitor domestic terrorism and hate groups describe the Oath Keepers as extremist or radical. Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes the group as "heavily armed extremists with a conspiratorial and anti-government mindset looking for potential showdowns with the government."[12][13] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) lists the group's founder as a known extremist and describes his announced plans to create localized militia units as "frightening".
As retired law enforcement, the oath keepers are hardly thugs. Nearly every public event of any kind hires private security – criticizing them for this is absurd.
I miss when we had a president who was bought and controlled by corporations and the media, who said all the right buzz words while destroying foreign lands and forcing their people into fleeing in dinghies.
Once again, he has hired the "Oath Keepers" a group of ex-military and ex-law enforcement types with a reputation for violence, to provide security at Chrissy Field. Yeah, you bring your own thugs for security. Altamont II?
He has never called for violence. Your criticism of his tone and a few fringe elements that have shown up at his rallies (and been removed) is not a standard that you hold leftist organizations to. Hypocritical.
Look at any of the past youtube videos of Joey Gibson. He's a screamer with the Huey Long touch. His sudden call for moderation and non-violence is a a front. Wherever he goes he attracts Nazis.
Kessler is certainly trying to incite violence. Look at his actions at that demonstration, waving the Confederate flag and screaming that the protesters "days are numbered."
I recall reading where a couple of organizers for the Charlottesville event were former supporters of Occupy and Obama. There was Kessler cited below and one other. The far-left becomes the far right.
http://www.wnd.com/2017/08/setup-man-behind-white-supremacist-rally-supported-obama/
There seems to be a tendency on the left not to distinguish between shades of conservatism. All conservatives are evil.If you are not progressive you are a Nazi.
Please provide clarity.
Your mind is a very very confused place.
There also the potential for violence at the unafraid rally and they should also be denied a permit on that basis. Or don't they believe that the alt-right will come and cause violence; that only the Ctrl-left causes violence. Also how do we know this is a White Supremacist rally, They may attend the rally but that may not be the purpose of the rally.
Also, isn't there a difference between "supremacist" and "Nationalists?" Few have problems with the Latino Nationalists in the Mission. It may not be that they want to keep White people out of the Mission but want to keep the Mission Latino. It may not be anti-White but pro-Latino. That is not necessarily racist. If we value diversity or identity politics then we will get White identity politics.
The group is trying to provoke the black-clad anarchists into a brawl in order to attract attention. And it will probably succeed, unfortunately. The far-right and the far-left meet at the back end of the circle and hold hands. They have a lot in common.
Bring it on.
This is not a Nazi or alt-right event. The organizer is of Japanese descent. Even the Southern Policy Law Center now concedes that: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/08/15/seattle-patriot-prayer-rally-takes-twist-leader-gibson-denounces-supremacists
So only Pelosi/feinstine approved groups have first amendment rights in sunny san fran. How illuminating to see the nations lawmakers standing up for rights,