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Justice Department Finally Targets Antifa

The Left and Big Media have been on a crusade to persuade the voting public that Antifa, a band of sometimes violent anarchists, is not really a thing.

Antifa is an idea, not an organization,” then-former Vice President Joe Biden argued during a 2020 debate with President Donald Trump.

To which Trump rightly responded, “When a bat hits you over the head, that’s not an idea. Antifa is bad.”

On Thursday, Trump’s Department of Justice unsealed indictments that charged two alleged Antifa members with providing material support to terrorists, attempted murder of an officer, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime during a July 4 attack at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.

“The Antifa Cell was heavily armed with over 50 firearms,” the document charged. They used an encrypted messaging app, and “at least 11 operatives” were dressed in “black bloc.” The worst charge: A gunman shot an Alvarado police officer in the neck.

Many news stories focused on the indictment’s status as the first-ever terrorism charges filed against individuals associated with Antifa. Not right-wing gun nuts. That should come as no surprise after the unconscionable assassination of conservative maverick Charlie Kirk last month and after two failed assassination attempts of Trump last year, as well as the 2024 slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk, and an unprecedented explosion of attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since Trump retook office.

The liberal Brennan Center for Justice headline, however, announced, “Trump’s Orders Targeting Anti-Fascism Aim to Criminalize Opposition.”

Jonathan Choe, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, who has documented violent far-left activism, had a different take: “What took so long?”

“As far as I’m concerned, this is a good, positive first step,” Choe told me. “So kudos to [FBI Director] Kash Patel.”

Amen. Given Antifa’s history of setting fires at protests, bomb throwing, and getting up close and personal with law enforcement and ICE officials, federal authorities should have done this years ago.

Choe has no use for so-called experts who insist Antifa isn’t organized. They haven’t been in the front lines or “on the receiving end of a punch from Antifa militants,” as he has.

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., recently dared critics to name one member of Antifa—his way of pooh-poohing the notion that Antifa is a bona fide organization.

The indictment, law professor Jonathan Turley noted on the social media platform X, named two: defendants Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts.

Choe sure believes Antifa is an organization.

Steven McGuire of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni noted that the anti-fascist mantle “implies the other side is fascist.”

And who wants to side with fascists?

So, if you are well-armed, lawyered-up, and you call yourself Antifa, you should get a pass because, well, you say you oppose fascism.

As the character Roger “Verbal” Kint—or was it Keyser Soze?—said in “The Usual Suspects”: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist.”

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On April 12, 2021, a Knoxville police officer shot and killed an African American male student in a bathroom at Austin-East High School. The incident caused social unrest, and community members began demanding transparency about the shooting, including the release of the officer’s body camera video. On the evening of April 19, 2021, the Defendant and a group of protestors entered the Knoxville City-County Building during a Knox County Commission meeting. The Defendant activated the siren on a bullhorn and spoke through the bullhorn to demand release of the video. Uniformed police officers quickly escorted her and six other individuals out of the building and arrested them for disrupting the meeting. The court upheld defendants’ conviction for “disrupting a lawful meeting,” defined as “with the intent to prevent [a] gathering, … substantially obstruct[ing] or interfere[ing] with the meeting, procession, or gathering by physical action or verbal utterance.” Taken in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence shows that the Defendant posted on Facebook the day before the meeting and the day of the meeting that the protestors were going to “shut down” the meeting. During the meeting, the Defendant used a bullhorn to activate a siren for approximately twenty seconds. Witnesses at trial described the siren as “loud,” “high-pitched,” and “alarming.” Commissioner Jay called for “Officers,” and the Defendant stated through the bullhorn, “Knox County Commission, your meeting is over.” Commissioner Jay tried to bring the meeting back into order by banging his gavel, but the Defendant continued speaking through the bullhorn. Even when officers grabbed her and began escorting her out of the Large Assembly Room, she continued to disrupt the meeting by yelling for the officers to take their hands off her and by repeatedly calling them “murderers.” Commissioner Jay called a ten-minute recess during the incident, telling the jury that it was “virtually impossible” to continue the meeting during the Defendant’s disruption. The Defendant herself testified that the purpose of attending the meeting was to disrupt the Commission’s agenda and to force the Commission to prioritize its discussion on the school shooting. Although the duration of the disruption was about ninety seconds, the jury was able to view multiple videos of the incident and concluded that the Defendant substantially obstructed or interfered with the meeting. The evidence is sufficient to support the Defendant’s conviction. Defendant also claimed the statute was “unconstitutionally vague as applied to her because the statute does not state that it includes government meetings,” but the appellate court concluded that she had waived the argument by not raising it adequately below. Sean F. McDermott, Molly T. Martin, and Franklin Ammons, Assistant District Attorneys General, represent the state.

From State v. Every, decided by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals…

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