On Saturday, Antifa and other radicals launched another violent attack on conservatives. Pastors were holding what they described as a permitted Christian worship event in a park when black-clad Antifa members tried to storm and tear down a barricade. To their credit, the Seattle police moved in and arrested the radicals. However, what happened next is even more concerning: Mayor Bruce Harrell seemed to blame the Christian group and demanded to know why they were given a permit at all for an event in the area.
Police in Seattle are shown in videotapes taking down several black-clad and masked individuals who tried to overcome the fencing and storm the stage. That is clearly an improvement over the “summer of love” approach previously in Seattle.
One would hope that the mayor would respond with a simple statement defending free speech (including both the church and peaceful counterprotesters) while condemning the attack.
Instead, Mayor Bruce Harrell released the following statement that attacked the Christian group for holding an “extreme right-wing rally” while demanding an investigation into why they were given this permit instead of being moved into a more remote spot.
Seattle is proud of our reputation as a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice. Today’s far-right rally was held here for this very reason – to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
When the humanity of trans people and those who have been historically marginalized is questioned, we triumph by demonstrating our values through our words and peaceful protest – we lose our voice when this is disrupted by violence, chaos, and confusion.
While there are broad First Amendment requirements around permitting events under free speech protections, I am directing the Parks Department to review all of the circumstances of this application to understand whether there were legal location alternatives or other adjustments that could have been pursued. The Police Department will complete an after-action report of this event, including understanding preparation, crowd management tactics, and review of arrests and citations.
We have discussed other Democratic politicians like Nancy Pelosi demanding reviews or revocation of permits going to Christian or conservative groups. The problem is that conservative or religious views are treated as triggering — a common claim in higher education.
I do not know anything about this Christian group, but they were clearly the victims, not the cause, of this violence. The suggestion that the location was too triggering for transgender activists is yet another example of a failure of leadership on the left.
These two groups clearly disagree on transgender policies. Fine. Protest and counterprotest. However, the police showed how to maintain a principled line. They did not take sides. They protected the free speech rights on both sides and confined their role to maintaining the peace.
Democratic politicians and pundits continue to legitimate Antifa and even align themselves with the vehemently anti-free speech group. This includes selling Antifa gifts on popular sites.
As discussed in my new book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I explore the history of Antifa as a movement that began in Germany. Despite the denial of its existence by figures like Rep. Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.), I have long written and spoken about the threat of Antifa to free speech on our campuses and in our communities. This includes testimony before Congress on Antifa’s central role in the anti-free speech movement nationally.
As I have previously written, it has long been the “Keyser Söze” of the anti-free speech movement, a loosely aligned group that employs measures to avoid easy detection or association. Yet, FBI Director Chris Wray repeatedly pushed back on the denials of Antifa’s work or violence. In one hearing, Wray stated, “And we have quite a number” — and “Antifa is a real thing. It’s not a fiction.”
We have continued to follow the attacks and arrests of Antifa followers across the country, including attacks on journalists.
Some Democrats have played a dangerous game in supporting or excusing the work of Antifa. Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence, and its website was banned in Germany.
Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer. During a prior hearing, Democratic senators refused to denounce Antifa. Likewise, Joe Biden has dismissed objections to Antifa as just “an idea.”
Democratic leaders are playing a dangerous game in pandering to these extreme elements of their party. In the end, they will fare no better than their enemies as this mob turns on enabling establishment figures.
Does anything good come from Washington State? Oregon? What is it with these states that seem so unhinged, and the news outlets cover for them? the news headline from Seattle Times is instructive, giving favorable coverage to a bunch of anarchists who are masked, wear black bloc and are otherwise cowards. “Let it sink into the ocean?” (apologies to Anita (Rita Moreno) from West Side Story)
23 arrests at heated ‘Fascist Family Values’ protest in Seattle
Cal Anderson is a 7.3-acre park that has seen plenty in recent years, from Black Lives Matter protests to the occupation known as CHOP.
The Saturday event took place in the “Sun Bowl” amphitheater. Elsewhere, there was the usual crowd you’d find in the park on a sunny Seattle day with temperatures in the low 70s. Frisbees being tossed and soccer balls kicked around. Another day for the locals.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/arrests-made-at-heated-fascist-family-values-protest-in-seattle/
it appears the chances of a tsunami engulfing the PNW area are being discussed amongst “scientists” who study “climate change” 🙄
Increased flood exposure in the Pacific Northwest following earthquake-driven subsidence and sea-level rise
The Cascadia Rising Scenario conducted in 2016 and 2022 outlined the potential impacts of shaking, tsunami inundation, landslides, and liquefaction from a ~M9 CSZ earthquake in Oregon and Washington, projecting >30,000 casualties, 2,000 destroyed bridges, >170,000 damaged or destroyed coastal structures, and heavy damage to >75% of coastal roadways, >60% of coastal fire stations, >75% of coastal schools, and >80% of seaports, for a resulting economic impact of >$81 billion (64–66). However, the potential effects of earthquake-driven subsidence, which may persist over decades to centuries, and the additional flooding exposure it will cause has not been previously quantified and could substantially increase the timeline to recovery. Our results demonstrate the significant and lasting effects that sudden earthquake-driven subsidence would have on low-lying coastal communities along the CSZ and, therefore, the need for considering subsidence in future hazard assessments.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2424659122
sure beats a plague of locusts, frogs and a death angel smoting the first born
Estovir, maybe we’re going to have another summer of love.
Antifa is a fascist organization, comprised of angry sociopathic orphans of the state.
So far, they have managed to bully, guilt and worm their way into the middle conscience using fear, chaos and violent destabilization trickery. Time to put a stop to it.
As for the mayor, he’s a girl-dog on a leash & won’t last much longer.
Sorry to say. Just like the last Mayor will stick around until more damage is done. Been watching this night for the last 20+ years.
The only good part drive 25 mikes north or East real folks can be found, but they are getting fewer & fewer
The Democrats may be fools for adopting as compatriots BLM, LGBTQ+, Antifa, and now Hamas, all mostly to get activism and votes. These groups are substantially support hate of various kinds, and reside outside the mainstream of American politics. By completely rejecting Christianity they diminish all claims they make about their “big tent” inclusiveness. What the Democrats don’t seem to realize is that all these groups, possibly excepting LGBTQ+, is they want to destroy America, including them. The Dems are dancing with the Devil and don’t seem to know it.
It’s pretty difficult for me to believe that an group that uses fascistic tactics is aligned against fascism. To me, the “fa” in Antifa stands for what their actions actually describe Antifa at its core: anti-First Amendment.
Jonathan: In a previous column you criticized the networks and mainstream media for not covering the apparent mental decline of Joe Biden–an issue that should have been settled when Biden withdrew from the campaign. I would imagine your fellow law professors at GW Law School are a little embarrassed by your fixation with the former president.
If Joe Biden suffers from cognitive decline isn’t that a private issue for his doctors and family, not something that deserves a column by someone who purports to be a “constitutional scholar? The former president now suffers from Stage-4 prostate cancer. I say leave the poor man alone! It’s an embarrassment for you the law school you represent!
Your party impeached Trump after he left office and now you don’t want to investigate who was running the country for four years, who signed pardons or who opened the border???
You bit McInLiar’s ruse hook, line, and sinker.
Hullbobby, it’s time to look forward. Move on folks, nothing to see here, move on please.
The issue of his mental decline would be a personal issue if he had not been the president. His mental decline, evident for at least 3 years leads a reasonable person to question who actually ran the country. That is a valid question that relates to all aspects of the government and the legal aspects of the decisions made and by whom. Some decisions and actions are only delegated to the president.
It would be private if not for the fact he was the president of the U.S. at the time. If he was incapacitated, someone else, someone unelected, was running the country. That’s a Constitutional crisis. How many of the item purportedly signed by Biden actually were? While he could have kept the why he resigned private, he should never the less have resigned.
The legacy the Biden wanted to leave is far from the one that history will record. Jill Biden and Joe Biden committed an offense against the United States by allowing him to run. Go back to March 22, 2020 when Biden came to his basement podium and forgot where he was. Jill led him away, as he awkwardly moved towards her — saying ‘thank you’. Time will not forget the damage he has done to this country and any good he has could have done will always be judged through the lens of self promotion and political greed. There is a lesson in all of this — for each of us and for the country. And, if any good is to come from these last four years and the consequences of an cognitively infirmed President, it is for people to stand up and demand that the President be medically evaluated by a board of doctors and psychologist. There is great shame for all those who didn’t believe what they saw and who for the sake of a party but the country in jeopardy. Hating Trump is not an excuse for having allowed Joe Biden to stay on as President!
Okay, the left cheered when Rush Limbaugh died of cancer. They cheered when Donald Trump got shot. They offered to send the next Trump shooter to sniper school. Meanwhile, an unelected staff ran the country for four years while Biden drooled in his oatmeal while watching Matlack reruns. After all of that, now that it is beyond doubt that a cabal of shadowy operators hijacked the presidency, you want to shame the right into silence. Good luck.
Sorry, Dennis, replace Joe Biden’s name with Donald Trump and let us know just how compassionate and forgiving you and your fellow crazies would be. We all know the answer so suck it up, buttercup.
Dimwit, if Biden suffered from a cognitive decline while in office, which anyone with an IQ above 80 could clearly see as far back as 2020 when they had him campaign from the basement, then it is the right of the American people to know. Further more, then the real question is, who was actually running the country during his nursing home stay at the WH? Whom ever they were, were unelected by the American people. Another question you seem gladly to ignore is why has he only now been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer? Why was he not being screened prior to this diagnoses?
“I say leave the poor man alone!”
That is what you dimwits want. You know by asking questions about his mental decline puts you and Democrats in a bad position. That is why you are all screaming to just “leave the poor man alone!” You do not want the truth to come out about the biggest scandal of the century. That Joe Biden had no business and was not capable of leading the country. And for four years you, Democrats and MSM lied to the country, yet again.
Upstate: you call someone a “dimwit”, and then repeat MAGA media lies. If Biden was suffering from “cognitive decline”, where is the proof? Shuffling when walking–one of you MAGAs keeps harping on this but–arthritis explains this. Occasionally slurrring speech–a lifetime stuttering problem causes this–but the content of what Biden says is just fine. How about occasionally forgetting a name? That happens to everyone–“Tim Apple”–that’s what Trump called Tim Cook. Can you explain why everything that comes out of Trump’s mouth is all about him–including the graduation speech at West Point, where Trump was wearing a MAGA hat? This was THEIR day–not his.
Where is there proof that Biden was NOT “running the country”? Biden gave multiple State of the Union speeches, speeches before the UN, held high-level meetings with other world leaders, NATO and our EU allies. He also brought COVID under control, got America back to work, back to school, businesses and restaurants open again, got the Infrastructure Bill, the CHIPS and Science Act passed and multiple other legislative achievements, including reversing the recession Trump caused. How could he pull off these things if he was “cognitively impaired”, and why didn’t the foreign press say anything if he was allegedly out of his mind at meetings and in giving speeches? You and Karen S. go way overboard in exaggerating the shuffling, slurred speech, etc and trying to morph it into complete incompetence because that’s what MAGA media does–you claim he was living a “nursing home life” in the White House and Karen S. claims that he had to be “led by the hand”. These things are not true at all, but, like MAGA media, you think that if you keep repeating them, the lies will stick.
Now, MAGA media is going after Biden’s cancer diagnosis–everything is some kind of conspiracy theory about which mainstream media has lied–because that’s the oil that keeps MAGA media operating–attacks on Democrats and mainstream media. You have NO evidence whatsoever that Biden had been diagnosed sooner, that he or anyone in his family or administration KNEW he had cancer–so why do you keep harping on this, pretending there is any truth to the accusation that there was some cover-up? It’s all a diversion away from Trump and his utter incompetence, the incompetence of his cabinet members, the damage he has already done to our economy and relations with trading partners and his repulsive arrogance. Trump has set back the cause of American reliability for decades–our trading partners will never again feel that we can be trusted if we allowed someone so incompetent and arrogant be given the reins of power again, even after getting convicted of 34 felonies, bringing the US to the brink of a total depression, and his endless lying.
Another Left wing Troll. It is the smell of desperation.
One example:
The believing of endless lying, foisted by mainstream media: Biden’s so-called lifelong stuttering problem. Please watch any video of him in senate hearings (most all of his political insider career), perhaps the Clarence Thomas ambush, or his early Obama years, and you’ll see that Biden didn’t “stutter.” The stutter LIE was a huge diversion, created to garner “woke” sympathy for his cognitive decline. Biden didn’t simply forget names, he constantly uttered gibberish, and concluded with, “he’ll be in trouble if he says too much,” and who can ever forget the Easter Bunny moving him off, like a doddering imbecile, before he could get started on another one of his “stutters!”
Your sycophantic recall does nothing to aid in your weak argument, in which pure eyesight showed something worse than slurring. No wonder Jake Tapper wrote a book correcting the story you are still peddling—though he’s no great author, you ought to read it and get your head on straight about OLD Joe. The setback you can’t admit, Biden’s own contribution to the setback of American reliability, began with his first (and early) stupid act of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan before securing both people and assets.
If you want to be taken seriously, and be regarded as a cogent daliectician, able to concede, which is the fulcrum of civilized dialogue, do some self-criticism, as Jonathan Turley does.
How many times have you changed your name now? Natasha the nurse. Gigi the lawyer. Mary Jones. Now MsRambova?
BTW, is Hyundai MAGA media?
Hyundai Motor Group Commits to U.S. Growth with USD 21 Billion Investment
The Group to invest a total of USD 21 billion in the U.S. from 2025 to 2028
USD 9 billion to expand U.S. automobile production to 1.2 million units annually
USD 6 billion to enhance parts, logistics and steel business, increasing the localization of auto parts and strengthening supply chains
USD 6 billion to expand future industries and strengthen external partnerships and energy infrastructure, including EV charging
Investment is expected to create more than 100,000 direct and indirect job opportunities by 2028, including 14,000 direct full-time jobs
https://www.hyundainews.com/en-us/releases/4404
LOL…. so after ALL these years. You now admit Biden is bonkers. Welcome to the party Dennis
Mayor Bruce Harrell? Seriously? Has every inner city in America been invaded and conquered? I haven’t been in quite some time. It’s far too dangerous. Where the —- is that U.S. Army that was celebrated by the president yesterday?
I imagine, if those who believe Seattle authorities should’ve appeased the city’s intolerant masses, had lived in the Jim Crow South of sixty years ago, they would’ve also supported official acquiescence to the local Klan.
Sorry, I was a junior in high school in the south in 1965. I don’t remember a lot of klan activity at that time. Maybe in Minnesota but that wouldn’t get any press time.
If you believe your high school recollections are in any way credible or pertinent to the point I was making I suspect you skipped some important classes.
Old School Fool – Old Man has it right. By the 1960’s the Klan was disappearing in some places faster than others. Truman Starting desegregation of the Armed Forces in 1948 and that included elementary schools and high schools on military installations outside the US. Brown vs Board of Education was 1954, Integration of Central High School in Little Rock was 1957, Univ Ga in 1961, Atlanta Public Schools 1964, Emory Univ Med School 1967, Med Col of Georgia 1968 and on and on. Civil Rights act (1964)and Voting Rights Act (1965)were in the 1960’s, Started in the bigger cities then spread out. 11 African Americans elected to Georgia State Legislature in 1965 (including Julian Bond). The KKK was disappearing! You were off by about a decade and a half. I was not there in Arkansas but I was there for the Georgia ones.I attended integrated military schools and lived in integrated military housing housing in Germany in 1954-1956.
The main problem was getting KKK sympathizers out of police forces. Jim Crow was dying a quick death via the DOJ and FBI.
I attended college in the Deep South, and the KKK gathered the first year I attended, 1981, and lynched a black man. It scared the sh*t out of me given my being Latino and Roman Catholic. the Jesuits on campus reassured all of their students, mostly Catholics as well, that the KKK didn’t have a prayer terrorizing their students. It was gawd awful for all of us but especially for me as an immigrant.
On March 21, 1981, Donald was killed by Henry Hays and James Knowles, young KKK members incensed over the failure of a Mobile jury to convict an African American man charged with the murder of a white policeman.
Hays’ father, Bennie Jack Hays, second-highest-ranking official in the United Klans in Alabama at the time, was furious over the failed conviction and told the men “If a black man can get away with killing a white man, we ought to be able to get away with killing a black man.”
Spurred those words, Hays and Knowles kidnapped Donald, beat him, slit his throat and then hung his body from a tree in a Mobile neighborhood.
https://www.al.com/news/2018/04/last_lynching_in_america_shock.html
Shall we not forget. The KKK & Jim Crow came from the Dem party.
You know you’re losing the narrative when you bring both Jim Crow South and the Klan into a conversation in 2025. You’re beyond ridiculous and should be ridiculed.
Truth hurt now doesn’t it. The dem party has never changed
The narrative was formed around a single question: the ability of one group, be it Antifa in Seattle or the Klan in the Jim Crow South, to suppress or deny others their lawful rights by wielding control over local authorities. Apparently this was missed by the Katanji Brown Jackson wing of Turley commenters.
It has long been common for leftists to use names of groups, bills, organizations, etc., that disguise their true actions. Forget labels and observe ideas, actions, and speech. Antifa thus becomes a fraudulent group of violent extremists who have no place in a democratic republic.
“Democratic leaders are playing a dangerous game in pandering to these extreme elements of their party.”
With no hint of irony, the Left for decades has lionized Marxists while attacking others as fascists. Good luck with trying to shame the Left into self-reflection. One might cure some of them, but ultimately, one has to limit their numbers with jail time.
Typical communist answer. Anyone who does not believe in what the ultra left believes is a Fascist. The idea that Antifa is anything but a violent left wing anti free speech is cult group is either stupid a true believer in destroying the Democratic west.
Curious. The Biden admin had no problem calling those who questioned masks and COVID lockdowns as, “Domestic Violent Extremists,” but are mum on masked, black clad people assaulting people, LEOs, and federal buildings.
NEW: Biden Administration Labeled Opponents Of Covid Mandates As “Domestic Violent Extremists,” Newly Released Documents Show
The designation infringed on the First Amendment and opened the door to investigating Americans for vaccine mandate skepticism.
The Biden Administration… pic.twitter.com/BFbffO0xUC
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) May 23, 2025
Yet another prog/left operative devoid of comprehension of our constitution. How did so many lame-*ss progs get into situations of governance when they only want to destroy the entire legal basis for the Rule of Law. I would hope this mayor wouldn’t be elected to dog catcher.
Wow. “Mayor Blames Christians”. Nero lives!
The only ones who are “pro-fascist” are you. We see it in your words and actions. Antifa has become the very things they claim they are fighting. But they are not. They attack innocent people, or people exercising their rights and antifa attacks them. They have no problem using violence as we have seen many times and just yesterday.
And do note, that terrorist who murdered those two young people in DC who worked at the Israeli embassy, he was affiliated with BLM and antifa. That is the kind of people you are defending.
Franke just threatened the President of the United States.
Quite a circus. It would seem the Christian group might have preferred a different location? This venue was in an adulterous neighborhood? Next time put the Christians at hooker row? Maybe near a homeless encampment? Mission district? The mayor is partially right. By whom was that specific venue issued?
You’ll need to decide on a new usa since the old one is dead. Which 3rd world image looks the best to you? The obvious is just fuse with the nearest nation but Canada doesn’t want that.
Free speech has no spatial limits.
Sure it does in the minds of those conducting business and avoiding trouble. Forced trouble is nothing but the 5th graders standing in the crosswalk everyday after school calling names and insults hoping for fist fight.
This may have been the only time some in this community would ever hear about Christ. They were in their permitted location and antifa attacked. Not the first time a permitted group was attacked by them. Charlottesville 2017, a group had a permit and antifa attacked them and there too those with permits were held to be in the wrong. Two left-wing cities with same results. Just goes to show the truth of the saying: The left is for diversity as long as everyone is just like them and for freedom of speech as long as everyone says what they want them to say.
Well, be careful which tribe you choose?
This is so insane…I have no words. Thank you, Professor, for bringing some clarity and fighting for free speech.
The established method of Antifa is and has always been to engage in unlawful behavior improperly couched in freedom of expression. If the mayor is to embrace this unlawful activity (which could be easily established in many first amendment cases), then the city should go back and review what promises were made by the mayor to faithfully uphold the law.
As I’ve been telling my friends the last couple of years….one has to pick up and move to a state that one feels comfortable in….if you love the Marxist philosophy, move to CA, OR, WA, NY, IL and assorted other New England states….if you believe in the Constitution, you have to move to the others…there is no chance of changing the Marxist mind
Mike P
it is a cult mind, no different than an islamic jihadi mind – necessarily blinkered to truth in order to maintain the cult. There really is no difference between cult minds.
And no different from the cult mind of the MAGA cult.
All cults are the same in terms of blind obedience to the cult master.
And no different from the cult mind of the Christian cult.
All cults are the same in terms of blind obedience to the cult master.
Accepting, for the moment, your premise, which cult mind crew is seeking to destroy the USA and rule of law, and thus a real danger to all citizens?
Very true..
why is it that you always attempt (but, yet, fail) to equate conservative constitutional values with MAGA. Do you have a reading comprehension problem? perhaps dyslexia? your mother dropped you on your head as a child? you attended an ivy league school?
Mike P: Yes, to staying away from these states, but I think we must do even more. I’ve been actively trying to not send my money to vendors/companies in these states and definitely not to travel there. I believe we must try to pay attention to where the goods we purchase come from and when feasible, don’t aid them economically.
I always stay away from companies that utilize the insane principles of DEI or affirmative action and if they have any LGBTQ??? reference, they are a no-go.
Like say Boeing
Or since the US no longer exists except in name shop for another country if you’re healthy, wealthy and wise.
Seattle appears inclusive for everyone except Christians and conservatives.
Another city that will never get any of my tourist dollars
Say When
Only when antifa goes after the Democratic leaders and leadership will there be a change in attitude and an adjustment by the Democrats. Just wait for it…. when the far left radicals start eating the Democratic party piece by piece only then are you going to get change, not a moment sooner.