The attacks on AFA are emblematic of the state of the nation
Honestly, I just don’t even know how to do this.
And if, after reading this, you want to walk away from the American Freedom Alliance, well, so be it.
On the other hand, if it galvanizes you, that would be marvelous.
Here’s the thing.
As you know, the Torrance DoubleTree Hotel, where we held the last two conferences, has refused to host us again.
We were aware that they had been dealing with threats, with intimidation, with having people post flyers on cars in their parking lot, with phone calls to the hotel and to their corporate headquarters. We were aware that they were attacked on Twitter, on Yelp, and various social media platforms.
We knew it was a concerted attack, designed, of course, to have the DoubleTree cancel our Globalist Puppetmasters conference, which, to their credit, they did not do.
But in the end, of course, the intimidation worked, and despite everything that the hotel in fact KNOWS about it, despite all the FACTS, they still have refused us service.
Faced with this, and because, as you well know by now, I don’t capitulate, nor do I retreat quietly, I went back to what was said about us.
And this is it.
First, the Daily Kos hit-piece on us. This appeared September 28th, a few days before the event.
It’s painful to read, not only because of the lies but because of the utter delusions under which they are operating, or, at least, which they claim to be convinced of.
But before I go into that, I want to share this image wtih you, the utter ironoy of which makes me truly sick.
This pop-up “activist” window shows up over the article in questions.
What is wrong with this picture?
Is this not the height of lunacy, of dystopia, of gaslighting? Here they are, wanting to ensure all sides are able to be heard, that we have access to books, etc, “free from viewpoint-based censorship,” superimposed on the shutting down of… us. The sleight of hand regarding free speech – no, it’s not sleight of hand, it’s deliberate deranging, along with the righteousness that EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE HEARD… except evil people like us.
Like us.
I had written about the absurdity of AFA being considered antisemitic here. And I stand by every word.
A few points about this slanderous hit-piece by “community blogger” Vishal Singh:
1) The General manager, Linda Amato, is cited as having taken the safe but, in fairness, stalwart position of defending the notion of free speech, and, as she herself had said,
The hotel does not discriminate against guests or conferences that wish to utilize our facilities. We welcome everyone to our hotel and do everything we can to ensure a safe place for all.
This both seemed to accept the premise of our being hateful, antisemitic etc, but also the notion of freedom of expression and gathering, not too dissimilar to the ACLU pop-up noted above.
But sadly, it was a lie, as they have chosen to refuse to host us.
It was also a bit deceptive in that, while they did take various measures to “ensure a safe place for all,” so, too, did we, at far greater cost and inconvenience. Plus, we were infinitely accommodating of every one of their concerns.
2) But let’s look further. “Amato’s statement rings hallow [sic] to those who highlighted the antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant hate promoted by this conference.” Fascinating, how not one word of that is accurate, as noted above. But as always, the truth has no bearing on anything done by the left, none, zero.
Clearly, Vishal doesn’t seem to care about the truth, at all. Where did he get HIS marching orders? Ah, well, my guess is straight from the SPLC which, as we have seen in the past, rallies their minions to go on the attack, exactly as we are seeing here.
3) Note also the Leftist talking points about Agenda 21/2030, all things Soros, etc, being crazy extremist conspiracies… when we know, and they know, that these are, in fact, real. Too real, too easy to prove that they’re real, there is plenty in the public domain that indicate that they’re real. In fact, the entire conference was about what’s real. But conspiracy-shaming is de rigeur, it’s one of the most effective means of suppressing truth, whether or not it was “invented” as such by the CIA, a claim I am not supporting but only noting. Whoever “invented” it, though, knew such a smear could be exceedingly effective in shutting down opposition. Sadly, Leftist seem more eager to cling to feel-good talking points rather than to seek the truth, and the conspiracy label gives them comfort.
4) But wait! There’s more!
I pressed the Hilton on their thoughts on the multifaceted examples of hate speech from American Freedom Alliance and Steve Bannon, but they repeatedly refused to comment on the content of the conference and the violently bigoted backgrounds of those involved.
The author, Vishal Singh, paints himself as a social justice hero, PRESSING the HILTON – let’s pause for a moment and consider: did this author reach out to the American Freedom Alliance? No, he did not. Did the author EVER reach out to us? Did the author even look at all the work we’ve done, at the content we’ve created? No, he did not. Again, this purported “journalist” did not one bit to verify anything, and only sought to disrupt, attack, incite. (And by the way, note the responses to his tweet, here. Happy little sheep, outraged without any particular curiosity but joyous in their faux-righteousness) And in the outrageous use of the nonsensical “violently bigoted,” in fact, it was HE who incited OTHERS to violence against us.
This is crucial: it was HE and Daily Kos putting the Hilton, our speakers and attendees in danger, NOT us. The violence was, always is, entirely on their side. It was WE who had to take measures, WE who had to spend more money than I care to think about on security, WE who had to be hypervigilant, WE who had to bring in the police department and so on, it was WE who had to protect ourselves against THEM, NOT the other way around.
It is THEY who put US at risk. THEY who call to action, THEY who call for violence.
This is OBSCENE.
But it WORKS. Most organizations have to capitulate just because of the cost. But because of the generosity of our donors and supporters, we were able to foot the bill for security, and because we are utterly committed to our mission – the mission of TRUTH and FREEDOM – we will NOT, EVER back down. But we still are at the mercy of venues like the Hilton, and that is WHY they are the targets of the relentless silencing efforts. This is war by proxy: the enemy is US, and how they get to US is through venues, vendors, and others.
And, tragically, it works.
It didn’t in the moment, but it has now.
And to be honest, we have no guarantee that it won’t happen again with the next one. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that they’re drooling over the opportunity to do some more social justissy deceit and deception.
But before I close, there’s even more.
5) Vishal’s little call to arms cites another one by Ground Game LA, apparently a now-suspended account. But the Ground Game LA tweet links to complaining to the Hilton in a nice, neat package. Isn’t this marvelous? You might want to go to that very same link, actually, and make your thoughts known on their capitulation.
5) But I’ve left the best for last. From Vishal’s slanderous little piece:
Others demanded that the Torrance branch drop the event altogether. MSNBC Columnist Ruth Ben-Ghiat tweeted at Hilton asking, “is this now your brand?”
When I finally read this piece last night, I almost fell off my chair. I KNOW Ruth Ben-Ghiat! We were in the same class at Pali Hi, the one year I was there. This is Ruth’s tweet. Again, note the comments, the outrage. (Plus, DEMANDS? DEMANDS? Who ARE these people?!)
And indeed, if anything that was said were true, one would be right to be outraged. But the blatant dishonesty draws no skepticism, and our friends, neighbors, family, are all too happy to be told whom to hate, and they can wrap themselves in righteousness as they tweet their support.
As to Ruth, apparently she is an acclaimed EXPERT on this sort of thing, on :authoritarians, fascism and propaganda, according to her twitter bio. Just a quick perusal of her feed is stomach-turning. And she is the author of Strongmen, a book that one can only imagine is as hysterical as it is false, and as ludicrously obsessed with Trump as anything else from the deranged Left.
So.
This is the slander, the hysteria, the hate-mongering from the Left that seeks to silence us. Not in the marketplace of ideas, not in making a case for their thoughts vs. ours, oh no. Even as they cloak themselves in anti-fascism, anti-authoritarianism, pro-coexist and Kumbayah, they make DEMANDS of corporations to silence us because of our “violent bigotry,” without citing any such thing.
And again, this is suppression by proxy – depriving us of a platform rather than engaging us in debate is what they do. I know, we all know this, but the case study is a sickening one.
And in the context of what we now have evidence of regarding twitter, and how so many of us have lost our YouTube voices (AFA migrated away before our last “strike”) and on and on and on, this is naturally par for the course.
I didn’t mean for this to be so long. But THIS IS the world we’re living in.
As I noted, if you want to distance yourselves from us, I get it. It’s hard to be associated with this much hate. But THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO. Read the hit-piece again, read their attacks on the Hilton regarding condoning, supporting and so on, and remember who they are talking about. They are talking about US, who want NOTHING MORE than to preserve the founding principles that underlie THIS FREE NATION, that contribute to prosperity and self-agency and flourshing. WE are not the bigots, THEY are. WE are not the antisemites – the fact of the matter is, THEY ARE. THEY ARE! TO DEMAND that the Hilton not host US is supremely antisemitic, and it’s outrageous of anyone to claim otherwise.
And THEY are the ones who put US at risk, not the other way around.
By the way, here are my opening remarks at the conference.
It is appalling. But I DO hope you stand WITH US, AGAINST this TYRANNY, against the silencing and suppression and hate.
Stand WITH US for FREEDOM.
And stand by for more regarding the chain of command of the Hilton, and who may REALLY be behind all this.
Because we can’t stop it till we know whom to stop.
