Politics

CNN changes headline after declaring Antifa seeks ‘peace through violence,’ but message remains the same

On Saturday, Breitbart.com and others reported that CNN, the cable outlet now seen as the least-trusted name in network news by a number of people, attempted to justify violence by the radical left-wing Antifa by saying it seeks “peace through violence.”  Later, CNN posted an editor’s note at the top of its article declaring that the “story’s headline has also been updated.”

The headline now reads, “Unmasking the leftist Antifa movement.”  But the intent of the post remains the same.

According to Breitbart:

In a feature story on Antifa protesters who physically assault those they disagree with, CNN lays out the narrative that the leftist protesters are driven to violence in an effort to achieve peace.

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“On the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration, Keval Bhatt hunted through a closet in his parents’ Virginia home for the darkest clothes he could find,” CNN reports. “The 19-year-old didn’t own much in black, the color he knew his fellow protesters would wear head to toe on the streets of Washington that day.”

“I thought, there’s a very good chance that I might get arrested, that my whole life could be radically altered in a negative way if I kept driving, and I was really close to turning around,” Bhatt told CNN. “But I think the rationale is that even if it did negatively affect my life, I had still contributed to this movement that was necessary. I was still making an effort to make other people’s lives better, even if it made my life worse, and once I realized that, I had no regrets.”

Bhatt, who was arrested, is used as an introduction to the people who identify as the Antifa movement, which CNN reports is not the same at the Democrats or other liberals who support them.

A post at Hot Air notes that while the new headline indicates there’s a real problem with what Antifa is doing across the country, “the rest of the article comes across as sympathetic to the group, even to their violence.

Antifa activists often don’t hesitate to destroy property, which many see as the incarnation of unfair wealth distribution.

“Violence against windows — there’s no such thing as violence against windows,” a masked Antifa member in Union Square told CNN. “Windows don’t have — they’re not persons. And even when they are persons, the people we fight back against, they are evil. They are the living embodiment, they are the second coming of Hitler.”

[Scott] Crow explained the ideology this way: “Don’t confuse legality and morality. Laws are made of governments, not of men,” echoing the words of John Adams.

“Each of us breaks the law every day. It’s just that we make the conscious choice to do that,” he said.

John Sexton notes: “Adams included the phrase ‘a government of laws and not of men’ in the Massachusetts Constitution. His point was that no king or autocrat would determine what was legal or illegal. Instead, the government would operate based on laws which applied to everyone equally.”

Which, of course, is a far cry from what Antifa supports.

Breitbart adds:

CNN also speculates that Antifa is a grassroots organization that lacks central leadership, although it has been documented by Breitbart News that powerful Leftists, including George Soros, are funding protests and protesters.

Describing those protesters as anti-Trump on “society’s fringe” – including illegal aliens and transgender people – they embrace violence.

And they do so openly, as Sexton wrote:

Scott Crow is literally saying his group breaks the law (assault, vandalism, etc.) when it determines people are “evil” and delivers extra-legal justice. That’s not at all how a government of laws operates. CNN’s source may be echoing John Adams but he clearly doesn’t understand what Adams was saying.

Breitbart further states:

CNN reports Antifa memebers use Facebook to organize their protests or counter protests and take martial arts classes and “strategize” on how to achieve their goal of “taking down fascists.”

Members of a Portland-based Antifa group “don’t apologize” for the violence, according to CNN.

“You have to put your body in the way,” the group’s leader said, “and you have to make it speak in the language that they understand. And sometimes that is violence.”

As we reported, Antifa activists in Portland shut down a parade after threats against Republicans who intended to participate.  In promoting their efforts, Antifa used a graphic that suggested killing opponents with bayonets.

“The left’s secret society of masked vandals is growing and they are seeking to normalize political violence,” Sexton said.  “People who feel they can act above the law (so long as it’s for the right reason) are a danger to all of us. Responsible Americans should condemn Antifa rather than tolerate them.”

Or better yet, follow New Jersey’s lead and declare them domestic terrorists.

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Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad
Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad – Source: Author (used with permission)

Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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