A Majority In New Poll: ‘Deep State Is Manipulating Policy’

The Monmouth University Polling Institute found that 74% of Americans believe that the “deep state” is manipulating public policy unelected and behind the scenes. Only 21% don’t think the deep state exists.

Those numbers are compelling considering the mainstream media’s very obvious attempt to get everyone to believe that the deep state is a figment of the imagination.  The poll also interestingly indicates that those in every single political group, republicans, democrats, and independents, all believe the deep state is manipulating the government. “We usually expect opinions on the operation of government to shift depending on which party is in charge,” Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray said in a statement. “But there’s an ominous feeling by Democrats and Republicans alike that a ‘Deep State’ of unelected operatives are pulling the levers of power.”

The numbers indicate that 31 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independents reported that they believe a deep state “definitely exists,” while 19 percent of Democrats believe this. Pollsters also found that a majority of those polled, 63 percent, said they were “not familiar” with the term deep state, however. Thirteen percent said they were “very familiar,” while 24 percent said they were “somewhat familiar.”

But that’s not all this poll uncovered about public opinion. A majority of the American public believe that the U.S. government engages in widespread monitoring of its own citizens and worry that the U.S. government could be invading their own privacy. Interestingly, there are no significant partisan differences when it comes to whether or not a person believes their government is spying on them.  57% of independents, 51% of Republicans, and 50% of Democrats are at least somewhat worried the federal government is monitoring their activities. Another 24% of the American public are not too worried and 22% are not at all worried.

“This is a worrisome finding. The strength of our government relies on public faith in protecting our freedoms, which is not particularly robust. And it’s not a Democratic or Republican issue. These concerns span the political spectrum,” Murray.

Another important factor uncovered in the poll is that just over 1-in-5 Americans (22%) feel angry with Washington while the vast majority (59%) feel dissatisfied. Very few express a positive feeling toward DC with just 12% reporting as satisfied and only 4% are happy with the government.

The survey of 803 adults was conducted from March 2 to 5. It has a slim margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

College Professors Begin Direct Support For AntiFa Groups On Campuses

Authored by Jacob Grandstaff via Campus Reform,

• Two professors, one from Purdue University and the other from Stanford University, are assembling a "Campus Antifascist Network" (CAN) to serve as a “big tent” for “anyone committed to fighting fascism.”


• Despite the reputation Antifa groups have cultivated for employing violence to shut down opposing speakers, the professors insist that they only support "self-defense" by "those who are being threatened by fascists.”

Two professors are organizing a campus Antifa (Anti-Fascist Action) organization with the goal of confronting groups it considers fascist and “driv[ing] racists off campuses.”

According to Inside Higher Ed, the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN) was organized by Purdue University Professor Bill Mullen and Stanford University Professor David Palumbo-Liu with the intention of serving as a “big tent” for “anyone committed to fighting fascism.”

“Since Trump’s election, fascists, neo-fascists, and their allies have used blatantly Islamophobic, anti-semitic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and ableist messaging and iconography to recruit to their ranks and intimidate students, faculty, and staff,” Palumbo-Liu wrote in the group’s invitation letter.

“The time to take action is now,” he maintained, saying, “we call on all interested individuals and organizations to support or join the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN).”

In an interview with Campus Reform, Palumbo-Liu reiterated that “the groups that concern [CAN] the most are fascist in the sense they espouse a hateful ideology that targets particular groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, [or] sexuality, and wish to dominate, exclude, drive out, and harm members of those groups with force and violence.”

As part of its efforts, CAN provides a syllabus which labels fascism as a “historical expression of capitalism’s tendency to dominate the poor, working class, and oppressed people.”

Mullen told IHE that the network has grown to 200 members, including students and faculty, in the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, adding that CAN will “build large, unified demonstrations against fascists on campuses” and protect groups that are vulnerable to attack.

While Mullen and Palumbo-Liu do not advocate direct violence, Antifa has been criticized for engaging in violent protests around the country, including riots against conservative speakers.

When asked about violent elements within Antifa, Palumbo-Liu told IHE that CAN would reject some elements of the movement and would only “advocate self-defense and defense in various forms of those who are being threatened by fascists.”

Palumbo-Liu likewise told Campus Reform that “physically attacking speakers is not [within the law],” and therefore is not something that his organization promotes.

“The issue really is not speech, but rather the kinds of actions a group is known to engage in that precisely impinge upon others’ free speech, academic freedom, and civil liberties,” he said.

“We are organizing to protect members of campus communities from groups that come to campus to provoke physical confrontations, purposefully destroy property, invade individuals’ privacy.”

The professor also pushed back on the view that President Trump is not a fascist, branding it as “literally an academic argument in the worst sense of the word” and declaring that “we need to pay attention to what is happening, not the labels that we feel are most fitting.”

Mullen did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.

*  *  *

As Ron Paul explained earlier, the alt-right and its leftist opponents are two sides of the same authoritarian coin.

The alt-right elevates racial identity over individual identity. The obsession with race leads them to support massive government interference in the economy in order to benefit members of the favored race. They also favor massive welfare and entitlement spending, as long as it functions as a racial spoils system. Some prominent alt-right leaders even support abortion as a way of limiting the minority population. No one who sincerely supports individual liberty, property rights, or the right to life can have any sympathy for this type of racial collectivism.

Antifa, like all Marxists, elevates class identity over individual identity. Antifa supporters believe government must run the economy because otherwise workers will be exploited by greedy capitalists. This faith in central planning ignores economic reality, as well as the reality that in a free market employers and workers voluntarily work together for their mutual benefit. It is only when government intervenes in the economy that crony capitalists have the opportunity to exploit workers, consumers, and taxpayers. Sadly, many on the left confuse the results of the “mixed economy” with free markets.

*  *  *

Oh, and as a reminder, the petition to label AntiFa a terrorist group now has over 250,000 signatures.

The "Extremism Experts" Who Used To Fear The Right, Are Now Worried About The Left

Authored by Daniel Lang via SHTFplan.com,

For most of the past 30 years, violent extremism has been most closely associated with the far-right in America. The media, the government, and watchdog groups like the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation league have railed against the far-right for a generation, and used scaremongering to convince the masses that conservative rhetoric was becoming more violent, and that right-wing groups pose a serious and growing threat to our society.

Of course, they often neglected to mention that the far-left has a long history of violence, especially when you consider the wave of domestic terror attacks that occurred throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. Perhaps these institutions should have been paying more attention to the Left, because while they were screaming about right-wing groups all these years, far-left radical groups like BAMN and ANTIFA have been riding under the radar.

However, “extremism experts” are finally starting to take note. Vice News recently interviewed Brian Levin, a former member of the NYPD who studies domestic extremism. He started focusing his efforts on the Left when he attended a public KKK rally last year to study the group, but found himself protecting one of the Klansman from a violent member of ANTIFA. “At that point,” he revealed “I said we have something coalescing on the hard left.”

The evidence is so far largely anecdotal. Levin says that since December 2015, he’s documented nearly two-dozen episodes in California where political events turned violent because of agitation on both sides, something he says he hardly ever saw before.

Now, there are violent clashes on college campuses involving groups like Antifa, the anti-fascist group, taking on the alt-right; and aggressive anti-Trump rallies attended by members of the Redneck Revolt, a new pro-minority, anti-supremacist group that encourages its members to train with rifles.

Online, hard leftists increasingly discuss politics in dire terms, and rationalize violence as a necessity -  even the true inheritor of traditional progressive activism. (Or, in the case of the “Punch a Nazi” meme, a fun game.)

And Levin isn’t alone. Other watchdog groups that typically focused their attention on the Right, are now taking a second look at far-left radicals.

“I think we’re in a time when we can’t ignore the extremism from the Left,” said Oren Segal, the director of the Center on Extremism, an arm of the Anti-Defamation League.

Over the past few months, the ADL, which hosts regular seminars on homegrown extremism for law enforcement officials, has begun warning of the rising threat posed by far-left groups, most recently at a seminar just this past Sunday.

“When we have anti-fascist counterprotests - not that they are the same as white supremacists - that can ratchet up the violence at these events, and it means we can see people who are violent on their own be attracted to that,” Segal said. “I hate to say it, but it feels inevitable.”

The fact that Vice, a very liberal media outlet, is wincing at the sight of violence among liberals, is very telling. The fact that these organizations are taking a look at the Left speaks volumes. Liberals can’t ignore or encourage this behavior any longer, because even the groups that are typically hyperventilating about conservatives, are beginning to admit that there’s a problem on the Left.

And that problem has wider implications. As leftist rhetoric and actions become more violent, and as the police in urban areas fail to rein in leftist counter-protesters time and time again, it won’t be long before right-wing protesters begin to retaliate. You can’t expect anyone, regardless of their political beliefs, to keep taking it on the nose indefinitely, without fighting back. When that retaliation becomes commonplace, the results will be unbelievably ugly.

Theresa May Urges Global Internet Regulation "To Deprive Terrorists Of 'Safe Spaces'"

Speaking to the public following the attacks in London last night - the third such terorist incident since March - UK Prime Minister Theresa May proposed Sunday that the UK work with democratic allies to root out extremist groups from the internet and social media.

Here’s May:

“We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed, yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide.”

“We need to work with allies, democratic governments to reach international agreements to regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning,” May said. “And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online.”

Western tech firm, May believes, should do more to censor and police extremist content. But who would be qualified to determine what is and isn"t fit for publication? It seems there"s a danger that unpopular views and political opinions that don"t fit with the mainstream narrative could also be swept up in this type of censorship...and to a degree they already have. For example, Twitter suspended WND for its reporting on the suspicious death of former DNC staffer Seth Rich.

“We need to work with...democratic governments to reach international agreements to regulate cyberspace..." - Theresa May pic.twitter.com/cikJM3ecg6

— Don Draper (@DonDraperClone) June 4, 2017

As the Verge reported, this isn’t the first time that May has made calls to regulate internet behavior. In 2012, then-Home Secretary May drafted a bill that would force internet service providers to retain user data for up to a year. That bill was blocked, but she worked to introduce similar legislation in subsequent years.

Last month, May’s Conservative Party included its intent to enact internet regulations that are designed to combat online extremism and to protect the public from abusive and offensive materials.

The Prime Minister also said Britain was too tolerant of extremism and that "pluralistic" British values had to be established as superior.

The Center Folds - GOP Loses Obamacare Reform Votes From 'Tuesday Group'

It is not just the Freedom Caucus tails of the Republican Party that are holding out from the Obamacare reform vote, GOP centrists in the House are fleeing from their party’s first major legislative test of President Trump"s reign.

As The Hill reports, centrist defections in the last 24 hours include Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), the co-chairman of the moderate Tuesday Group, which has roughly 50 members.

Reps. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.), David Young (R-Iowa), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), all centrists, have also announced their opposition to the bill. 

Reps. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.), two other centrists, earlier announced their opposition.

That brings the number of centrist no votes to at least eight, though there could be more.

Republican leaders can afford 22 defections and still pass their legislation, which all House Democrats are expected to oppose.

Centrists warn that their constituents would lose coverage under the repeal bill, and some have even said that ObamaCare is better than the Republican bill. A group of centrists met with leadership in Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) office Wednesday night to discuss where they are on the legislation and their concerns.

“Everybody’s frustrated, but some moved, some stayed the same, and some got more equivocal,” said a GOP lawmaker who attended the meeting.

Finally, The Hill points out that deep cuts to Medicaid in the GOP bill, and the end of ObamaCare’s expansion of the program, are also major sources of centrist objections.

“The overriding concern I have is the Medicaid expansion being significantly altered,” Smith, whose home state of New Jersey accepted the expansion, told the Asbury Park Press. “It affects so many of our disabled individuals and families, and the working poor.”

Many centrists remain undecided, including electorally vulnerable members like Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.).

The center is not holding as RINOs emerge everywhere when the vote actually means something.

Ironically the Freedom Caucus seems to be coming around...

Lengthy standing ovation from the Freedom Caucus when @POTUS walked into the Cabinet Room just now. Big momentum toward #RepealAndReplace. pic.twitter.com/N1FLGAVFMN

— Cliff Sims (@CSims45) March 23, 2017

Portland Anarchists Begin Fixing Roads & Potholes (Because the Government Won't)

Authored by Derrick Broze via TheAntiMedia.org,

“Who will build the roads?” The question is a common response to the proposition that human beings can coexist peacefully in the absence of a government or even the concept of a State altogether. Anarchists often claim that in the absence of an institutionalized State, people will voluntarily organize and discover solutions to the problems they face, including the construction and maintenance of roads. One such group of anarchists decided to put their beliefs into action by repairing potholes in Portland, Oregon.

A Facebook page called “Portland Anarchist Road Care” claims PARC is an anarchist organization dedicated to putting “the state of the roads of PDX into the hands of the people.” The group’s page says they “believe in building community solutions to the issues we face, outside of the state.” They say they are working to change the stereotype of anarchists as road blockers and window smashers. PARC also accuses the city of Portland of failing to repair roads in a timely manner and failing to provide adequate preventative care for winter storms.

“Portland Anarchist Road Care aims to mobilize crews throughout our city, in our neighborhoods, to patch our streets, build community, and continue to find solutions to community problems outside of the state,” their Facebook page reads.

Dylan Rivera, a spokesman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, told Anti-Media he can empathize with those who are frustrated. “We have a backlog of more than 1000 pothole requests,” Rivera said over the phone. “That work has been frustrated by a wet spring, with very few dry days for potholes.”

Rivera says the city has held a “Patch-a-thon” where they quadruple their staff working on potholes. He stated that during a recent “Patch-a-thon,” the city had 29 crews fix more than 900 potholes. In contrast, The Portland Mercury reports that PARC has patched five potholes in Portland. While those differences may seem stark, it is worth mentioning that the anarchists fixed the potholes via voluntary direct action while the city of Portland is using money stolen from the local community via taxation.

Rivera warned that Portlanders who choose to privately maintain the city streets without the approval of the government are doing so at their own risk. “Portlanders maintaining city streets is not safe and it’s not allowed,” Rivera stated. “It’’s not safe for the people doing the fixes because they are working in traffic and they are not trained to have the right procedures, barricades, and that sort of thing, to have a safe work zone.” Rivera also warned that individuals who choose to fix the roads could face potential civil liability if someone’s car is damaged. The irony is that, currently, if an individual’s vehicle is damaged due to government inaction on potholes, the government is rarely held accountable.

Whether Portland Anarchist Road Care will continue to fix potholes and eventually outcompete the City of Portland remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the community is a shining example of what a determined group of individuals can do when working together on a common goal.

Portland Anarchist Road Care’s profile picture on Facebook.

Even more so, they are a powerful example of how the people can accomplish both mundane tasks like building and maintaining roads, and more complex issues like how to organize our lives in the absence of the State. The beauty is that we each have the power to be an example of what a world without theft, institutionalized violence, and force can look like. We can choose to live lives that do not rely on the force of government and instead use our individual power to work towards collective liberation.

Meanwhile, In Greece...

Following the inauguration of Golden Dawn offices in Xanthi overnight, an anti-fascist rally marched through the streets of the North-Eastern Greek town to protest the right-wing extremists. However, once the rally was over the situation rapidly got out of control as a 300-strong group wearing gas masks and helmets broke police cordons and police and rioters exchanged tear gas and molotov cocktails.

Via KeepTalkingGreece.com,

The situation got out of control and they started to hurl molotov cocktail bombs at the policemen. They answered with teargas.

The group moved through the streets of center of the town hurling fire bombs.

Eurobank ATM, damaged bank branch

They set garbage bins and chairs and tables of cafes on fire.

They clashed with riot police.

According to local media, the group members are from Xanthi, Thessaloniki and surrounding areas who plan protest actions all through the weekend due to the presence of 5 GD MPs at the office inauguration.

According to local media xanthi2.gr, there were hardly any locals present the GD inauguration but some 1000 people protesting. Unions, political parties, student organizations and other groups had appealed to people to refrain from attending the inauguration.

A reporter of Xanthi2 was reportedly threatened by GD members who also attempted to shoot a picture of him. The reporter was rescued by several riot policemen who were watching the incident and rushed to his aid when things got serious.