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thepermanentrainpress · 3 years

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THE PERMANENT RAIN PRESS INTERVIEW WITH PETER BUNDIC

You may recognize him from Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but Peter Bundic has a few more tricks up his sleeve – behind the camera and on several sports fields as well! We caught up with the charismatic performer to discuss his time on Sabrina, how athletic prowess carries over to his other bodies of work, and what’s next.

One of your more prominent roles to date has been football-playing jock Carl Tapper in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. What did you find most challenging about playing this character?

I think the really cool part about playing Carl wasn’t necessarily that it was challenging, but that in playing this character, it really accentuated the growth of the other characters being hurt by the bullies and overcoming them in the show. Kindness and love always win – something I wish Carl learned a little sooner haha.

What was your favourite scene to be a part of, and why?

There were so many great scenes I can remember it’s so tough to choose just one! One of my favourites was when Billy (Ty Wood) and I got to trash the carnival and then got turned into pigs. I was really curious as to what our pig versions would look like and they were actually really cute.

Do you keep in touch with your former castmates?

It can definitely be tough sometimes with us being in different places, but it’s always a blast when we get the chance to reconnect. Such an amazing cast to be a part of and lots of memories to follow it.

You also appeared as Steve in Spontaneous – a coming-of-age dark comedy starring Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer. Do you have a favourite memory from set?

Honestly, some of the funniest random moments happened in between set-ups during some of our long shoot days. Once you get past the feeling of being tired, you get really creative with activities to keep yourself occupied… Many times we made little flip cup obstacle games to keep us energized for the next scene.

Next up for you is indie short Cupid. What can you share about this project – and can we expect a release around Happy Heart’s Day?

Cupid was a really interesting one to shoot. It’s not your usual Valentines movie; let’s just say that for now. I don’t have an official release day to share just yet but I’ll be sure to post about it once it’s ready to go!

In addition to acting, you have screenwriting and directing credits. Where did this ambition come from, leaning into all aspects of the filmmaking process?

When making shorts, I’ve always tried to learn both sides of film to deepen my understanding of how a film comes to life. In that, I’ve found tons of love and appreciation for writing and directing. Every position in film needs watering like a plant, and those two jobs are definitely not simple but truly rewarding.

Are there any filmmakers you look up to in particular? Or stylistic techniques you’d like to experiment with in the future?

On Sabrina, the show runner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa amazed me with the amount of work he puts in to make all these shows come to life. It really takes an accomplished, driven individual to be able to do what he does. The list of great people I’ve worked with and would like to work with just goes on and on…

I’ve had the pleasure to experiment with different ideologies of performance on many platforms, but I think what I look forward to most is trying new things and always keeping an open mind. There’s always something new to learn and that’s great at keeping you humble.

Your older sister Janette is also an actor, and your initial interest in acting came from her. Do you run lines together – or did you growing up?

Janette’s credited with getting me started as an actor, and we’ve always been really close. Among enjoying our normal brother-sister time, always happy to run lines with each other.

You’re also an accomplished athlete, having represented BC/Canada at football events in Las Vegas and Miami. Would you say the discipline and team aspect of sports have carried over to your entertainment career?

I think it definitely carries over into life in general. I’ve spent some years learning martial arts as well and the discipline I’ve adopted has helped me stay on task, even when life seems super overwhelming sometimes. It’s a great way to stay grounded.

What is one thing readers would be surprised to know about you?

If you’re one of my close friends, you’d know that if a song I like comes on in the car there’s absolutely no holding me back. To the point where it gets annoying sometimes.

Who are you listening to on your playlist?

I’m one of those people who say “I listen to everything,” but actually don’t have a favourite genre. Rock and roll as well as R&B are up there – but when I like a song I really like that song.

If you could be any ice cream flavour, which would you be and why?

I’m way too tempted to say vanilla because that’s always my go-to flavour, but I’ll spice it up this time and say vanilla caramel. Caramel in chocolates were my favourite growing up, so why not combine the two?

Thank you to Peter for taking the time to chat with us about filmmaking, Sabrina and more! You can follow Peter on Instagram to connect with his upcoming work.

#Peter Bundic #entertainment #interview #feature #actor #Vancouver #yvr #NoodleHead Productions #Vancouver Actor #film #tv #actor interview #Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #Carl Tapper #sabrina netflix

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deityfanboy · 5 years

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I have to admit, I start to watch Sabrina because some article on internet suggest Ambrose&Luke on Sabrina. I hesitate at first because it come from same creator of Riverdale (which latest season disappoint me so much). And after watch all part1&2, I am disappoint. For Male&Male representation.

Ambrose & Luke start somewhat nicely on part1. But part2 is not because They just kill Luke off without answer “Is Luke really love Ambrose If he’s not recieve Love potion”. Then the show shift focus of Ambrose from guy to girl until the end of part2 with hint that Ambrose&Prudent will share much more time next season.

Two thing this show is better than Riverdale is 1) Ambrose have storyline and have scene time more than Kevin n Riverdale.

2) They not turn my favourite Harvey & Nicholas to dark path like they did to Archie on Riverdale (Nicholas may change next season but let focus on present day)

I still watch next season for sure. I don’t expect them to give Ambrose a new boyfriend soon (not in part3). But I do hope to see some Male&Male relationship on Sabrina even from minor character.

I have eye on Carl who they tease that he has feeling for Billy since pat1. And Billy seem to become better person on part2 (for Theo at least) and I assume Carl change his behaviour too . With Theo become main character, I hope to see Billy as supporting character for Theo. How they become friend (we saw a glimpse of that in Theo imagination) and see Carl show his feeling to Billy along the way.

#Chilling adventures of Sabrina #Nicholas Scratch #Harvey Kinkle #Carl Tapper #Billy Marlin

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spellmanmortuary · 4 years

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Carlbrina has POTENTIAL bc i did NOT expect him to be such a ... shy soft boy, especially not in comparison to billy lmao. I know its not gonna go anywhere bc we do have that cringey WeRe EnDgAmE line from the trailer but 🥺 i really like a sweet high school romance for spellman

#carl tapper stan #pls just. let me have this one #harvey who #also as much as i love nabrina that line was CRINGE

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nodynasty4us · 2 years

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#john eastman #ginni thomas #clarence thomas #election subversion #supreme court

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thoughtsaboutshows · 4 years

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39. “I’m flattered you’re jealous.”

Stunned. No, that wasn’t the right word. Livid? Too aggressive. Maybe there were no words to describe how Sabrina felt when Nicholas Scratch walked into Baxter High and straight into the hearts of its students. He was good at that, making his way in and setting up camp. He’d done it to her.

Nick wore the same look of disbelief when he’d walked in on Sabrina and Melvin huddled in the corner of the Sanctum. The look had twisted to quiet rage when he’d caught her she’d folded into Carl Tapper’s side at Cee’s.

So really she shouldn’t have been surprised when he showed up to her mortal school, her one reprieve, and became unavoidable. He didn’t exactly talk to her though, but noted the hint of jealousy in her eyes when he’d batted his at Lizzie or flirted shamelessly with every guy on the football team. It only made Sabrina sit closer to Carl, which made Nick flirt more. It was a cycle really, as they continued to circle around the other.

Homecoming was coming up and Carl had mentioned it in passing to Sabrina, but she hadn’t given an answer. If there was someone she’d be dancing with under dim gym lights under a cascade of cheap streamers, in all truth she wanted that someone to be Nick.

She was growing more restless by the day and found herself escaping some of her classes to quiet corners of the library. Nick seemed to do the same as she learned when she literally ran into him going for the same copy of Dracula.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Sabrina mumbled.

“It’s fine, Spellman.” Nick said in a way that led her to believe it was not fine at all.

“Is there a problem, Nicholas?” She turned to him and crossed her arms.

“Not at all.” His smile was sickeningly sweet.

“Are you sure about that?” She challenged and raised her eyebrows.

“Fine you know what? I can think of a few things.”

“Do share.”

Nick took a deep breath and huffed.

“Melvin, Sabrina?” Sabrina pursed her lips in frustration. So this was what it was about. “Do you really think he’s worthy of you?”

“He’s perfectly nice.”

“Yeah and obviously deeply unsatisfying or you wouldn’t be slumming it with another mortal to fill in the blanks.”

“Carl is wonderful.” Sabrina pushed on, trying to steady her breathing. It picked up anytime she was around Nick. When Nick scoffed and rolled his eyes it only made Sabrina madder. “I’m flattered you’re jealous. But you broke up with me. You moved on-”

“What?” Nick growled out a whisper at her insinuation and stepped closer to her. She backed up against one of the shelves and Nick was looking down with an intensity that she hadn’t seen before.

“Obviously you’re feeling jealous or you wouldn’t care that I’m dating-”. Sabrina explained. Was he really trying to deny it?

“No not that. I’m definitely jealous.” He waved off and looked down at her again. “You think I’ve moved on?”

“You and Prudence-” Sabrina started but Nick let out a self-delpricsting laugh that twisted her insides.

“We’re not together.” Nick stated in a sure way that made her believe him. He leaned in closer and decreased the space between them. She couldn’t go anywhere with the bookshelf behind her, but didn’t want to anyways. “And haven’t been since months before I met you.”

“I-um.” Sabrina started, not knowing what to say.

“Do you really think there’s anyone out there for me but you?” Nick spoke in a gentle voice, the one he’d used when he’d invited her to the Sweethearts dance or asked her to take him to Cee’s after the top boy competition. Nick’s arm was above her head resting on the shelf as he looked down at her. He leaned in and she was ready and willing to kiss him. She had missed him terribly and kissing Melvin had been like kissing a brother. Carl had been better, but no one was like Nick. It was about to happen when a voice broke their concentration.

“Sabrina?” It was Carl, peeking his head around a corner. “Is everything okay?”

All things considered, it didn’t look good with Nick hanging over her closely. And if Carl could see Nick’s nearly murderous face at being interrupted he’d likely spring into action.

“We’re good, Carl. I’ll come join you for lunch in a moment.” Carl didn’t move yet though and just narrowed his eyes. Sabrina realized then that one of her hands was grasped tightly in Nick’s shirt. She didn’t move though. Nick started to mumble something but Sabrina scolded him. “Nick, don’t hex him.” She pushed Nick away then and looked over at Carl, who was still eyeing Nick’s back. “Really I’ll meet you in a few. I’m good.” Sabrina used a stern voice to make sure he understood she was no damsel in distress and Carl reluctantly left, leaving Nick and Sabrina alone again.

“Sabrina-”

“Nick.” They said at the same time. Nick allowed her to keep going. “We should talk. Come by my room tonight?”

“I’ll be there.” Nick answered with a small, gentle smile. She answered his smile with a quick kiss to his cheek.

They both left the library smiling and hopeful

#sabrina spellman #nicholas scratch #otp prompts

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caoscompanion · 4 years

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Episode Summary: Sabrina and her family are visited by Father Blackwood, the High Priest of the Church of Night. Blackwood seeks to reassure Sabrina and answer her questions about her baptism to sway her. Meanwhile, Ambrose deals with a corpse for the Spellman funeral home who he believes was a warlock —and possibly killed by a witch hunter. Sabrina’s friend, Susie, is being bullied by four football players, causing Sabrina to take matters into her own hands. She teams up with the Weird Sisters to teach the boys a lesson by scaring them. However, she is still racked with the choice. Sabrina’s birthday arrives, and she decides to spend her last night with her friends at a Halloween party. As midnight approaches, Sabrina heads toward her dark baptism with unease. The ritual is completely different from what Blackwood described and at the last minute Sabrina denies the Dark Lord and flees. She is attacked in the woods but arrives at her house. There, she proclaims her refusal to sign the Book of the Beast, ending the baptism.

First Appearances: Billy’s friends are named as Ed Dursley Seth Grimless and Carl Tapper. The Dark Lord (first proper appearance rather than in a vision. He comes to Mary’s cottage).

Locations: Greendale gas station, The Kinkle Mines (also known as The Devil’s Doorway)

Music: Devil Woman - Cliff Richards, Terrible Thing - AG and Brad Gordon, Strange Magic - ELO, Full Moon Tonight - Silvastone feat BELLSTAINT, Monster Mash - Bobby “Borris” Picket & The Crypt-Kickers, Sixteen Candles - Stray Cats

Pop Culture: When talking comics, Ambrose references Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. The spell to summon the Weird Sisters is from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Deaths: Zelda plans to kill Hilda a whole day ahead of actually doing it. She kills her with a hammer blow to the head. Connor (pronounced dead in October Country) is confirmed to have been found killed in the park.

Baxter High Antics:

Billy and the other ‘Golden Boys’ of Greendale tear down the W.I.C.C.A posters and call Susie a dyke. Susie, in reply, calls Billy Dicks for Brains and attacks them. Billy punches Susie, but Susie is the one who gets suspended. Sabrina gets the boys’ names and goes to ‘Ms Wardwell’ for suggestions about what to do; her advice is to fight fire with Hellfire. Sidenote: Lilith is already doing paperwork.

The Baxter High team are the ‘Ravens’.

We have the first W.I.C.C.A meeting, which Lilith attends as ‘Faculty Adviser’ and confirms she will be at every meeting.

Greendale Lore: Local legend says the Kinkle Mines run so deep that one shaft takes you all the way down to hell

Witch Insults: Half-breed

Random Facts:

Faustus pronounces Samhain wrong. He says sam-ain when it’s sow-en. It’s Irish; I know how it’s pronounced. Faustus denies knowing Conner, though he confirms the mark is a Witch’s mark, yet we later learn Conner was part of the Judas Society.

Hilda has a vegetable garden.

We see Ambrose showing concern for Kemplars and Zeldas asks ‘you’re not meddling in mortals affairs again, are you?’ implying Sabrina is not the only one who feels ties to the mortal realm.

Halloween Costumes: Harvey is a miner, Sabrina in her mother’s wedding dress, Ros is dressed as Cleopatra, Susie’s costume is Eddie Munster

Spellman History: Hilda feels she had no choice in signing the Book of the Beast. She signed it when she was 16 years old because it was ‘simply what was done’ but is implied to have regrets. Montgomery Cliff is implied to be the Spellmans’ warlock cousin.

Edward and Diana:

The Dark Lord himself gave Edward special dispensation to marry Diana, but even then there was still controversy.

Faustus confirms what Hilda and Zelda said in October Country, that their death was a tragic accident and an inquiry proved that.

Edward was considered one of the Church of Night’s greatest thinkers, and wanted Sabrina to follow in his footsteps.

Edward received the call to Priesthood early, when he was only six years old. He was incredibly charismatic and everyone wanted to follow him wherever he went, and he was extremely handsome.

We get to see Diana’s wedding dress, which is very 50s. Hilda says Diana and Edward were a fairytale.

Familiars: Salem does not join Sabrina at her Baptism but remains with Ambrose at the house.

True Faces: We see the Dark Lord in his full current form, half-man and half goat, much like many Christian imaginings of him.

Times: Sabrina’s birthday and Baptism takes place on Halloween under a blood moon, but after she runs away from the ceremony, the next day we see is November 3rd. We are not shown the weekend

Sabrina the Teenage Witch References; The Monster Mash. The song was also used in the 90s show when Hilda and Zelda were trapped at their Aunt’s Halloween Party.

Relationships: We see our first glimpse of the abusive dynamic of the relationship between Lilith and Lucifer, as Lilith quivers and trembles in fear at his feet.

Reading Materials: The Book of the Beast (presented by Faustus at the Dark Baptism), Zelda is reading a Russian newspaper on the morning of November 3rd.

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brookstonalmanac · 1 year

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Beer Events 5.22

Events

Massachusetts Bay Colony repealed all its restrictions on the production of alcohol (1619)

Anchor Brewery in London destroyed by fire (1832)

Friedrich Voss patented a Beer Glass Tray (1906)

1st reported sighting of the Loch Ness Monster (1933)

Elton Ross patented a Beer Dispensing Device (1934)

Culinary Institute of America founded (1946)

F.X. Matt Brewing issued their Schultz and Dooley beer steins (1959)

Walter Despres and Phillip Jamieson patented a Beer Barrel Tapper (1962)

John E. Farrell Elected President & Carl Badenhauser to Chairman of Board of Ballantine (1964)

Carlo Pensa patented a Pump for Transferring Liquids, in Particular Beer or Carbonated Beverages (1990)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas premiered (1998)

RateBeer.com 1st online (2000)

Brewery Openings

Genesee Brewing (New York; 1878)

Oriental Brewery (South Korea; 1952)

Steamship Brewing (Virginia; 1995)

Strand Brewing (Texas; 1995)

John Harvard's Brew House (Georgia; 1996) Brick House Brewpub & Eatery (1999)

#Events

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obiternihili · 5 years

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Ngo writes for the National Review and Quillette. Spins stories such as a hit and run into a group of BLM protestors as antifa attacking an old man. ( https://katu.com/news/local/driver-plows-through-protesters-in-downtown-portland | https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-leftist-mob-polices-portland-1539298766 ) . In the aftermath of that, right wing groups started protesting around Portland which led to what should be understood in democratic countries as normal outcomes of protest; groups A and anti-A arguing in the streets, occasionally breaking out into brawls in the same way drunks do in bars or sports fans do in parking lots. https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2018/10/13/portland-streets-descend-into-bedlam-again-as-proud-boys-and-antifascists-maul-each-other/

And because apparently now “militant” means throwing a milkshake, despite the A groups being known for literally killing people, despite far-A groups being known for stockpiling weapons. An informal, completely unorganized aesthetic some informal counter-protestors with all the coordination of football brawlers get the militant label while the people they’re reacting to, people who nakedly want to overthrow democracy and commit human rights violations discriminating against and deporting a reasonable chunk of the country, despite being nakedly in bed with explicitly white nationalist groups and pushing their agenda, one gets the label militant and the other doesn’t. Gee, I wonder why?

At this point I’m largely going to plagiarize the article I’m using as a middle man. Sorry I just figure if I lead with the source instead of putting the text down as is you’d dismiss it instead of considering the fact that the article draws its information from such horrifically communist tabloids as “a local sinclair broadcaster” or “the wsj” “ It didn’t end there. The flash march created new viral moments. A video of a left-wing activist harassing a woman claiming to be a 9/11 widow was posted days later to The Daily Caller, which was cofounded by Tucker Carlson. (The woman appears to have lied about being a 9/11 widow.) Efforts to doxx the man hurling invective resulted in a professional skateboarder from Portland being falsely identified and inundated with death threats. Eventually the man in the video was identified, which started a new round of harassment. One source says the social service agency that fired him over the video “was flooded with hundreds of harassing calls and Facebook messages that were explicitly racist and threatening to harm and kill staff.”

Carlson credited Ngo with publicizing the videos. Ngo was a bit player, but the incident bolstered him. The incident was an example of a disturbing media model for the Trump era: opportunists using biased reporting, social media, and wild accusations inflame vigilante and digital mobs to target “enemies” such as the media, Democrats, and left-wing activists. Figures like Carlson and Ngo reap followers, prominence, and income from the outrage and threats of violence. But to keep the ratings and the money flowing, the outrage machine must be cranked ever louder, risking greater violence.

One political organizer in Portland who has received death threats stemming from Ngo’s work says, “It’s an arms race for money, and the narrative isn’t the point — the grift is. The larger, more offensive thing you can do, the system rewards it.”

This appears to be Ngo’s model. He uses social media to push biased opinions in conjunction with selectively edited videos that play to the bigotry of his audience. His followers get worked up, and this is often followed by a deluge of threats against his subject.

[source] has talked to six people in Portland, including journalists, political officials, and activists, who described harassing messages and threats of violence resulting from Ngo’s work or political involvement in Portland. Friends of two other activists claim they went into hiding after Ngo spread their names and they became targets of harassment. Some individuals who’ve tangled publicly with Ngo are reluctant to go on the record. They say they want to avoid the “trauma” of being subjected to a new round of death threats.

In fact, Ngo appears to rely on people not speaking up about his effect on them. He often writes of how activists won’t talk to him or they take down social media profiles after he focuses on them, seeming to imply they have something to hide. What he doesn’t mention is many say they are doing so to avoid harassment and threats of violence.

Madison, a Portland activist who tracks Ngo, says, “Ngo signals this is a person that should be targeted, should be harassed, and should be threatened. Andy puts a target on them and that results in the person being doxxed. Andy is giving people explicit permission to unleash hatred and violence on people. He absolutely knows what he is doing.”

Ngo is so intertwined with the specter of violence [writer I’m plagiarizing] encountered it after just a Facebook post. [writer I’m plagiarizing] wrote a post with the headline, “Andy Ngo is no journalist.” The post was shared by notorious right-wing figure, Carl Benjamin, aka, “Sargon of Akkad,” who has been featured on Ngo’s podcast and was banned from YouTube for repeatedly “joking” about raping a British Labour MP. In the comments on Benjamin’s post were calls for violence against [writer I’m plagiarizing], Antifa, and others. Within hours [writer I’m plagiarizing] started receiving threats directly, such as “You’re a bunch of retards and it will be a glorious day when you all are dealt with,” and “You are a disgraceful liar. If you or anyone of your ilk throws even a fucking tissue at me or my family watch what the fuck happens to your family lol.”

Now this model threatens to turn deadly. On June 29, Andy Ngo was attacked in Portland while videoing a Patriot Prayer rally heavily outnumbered by Antifa. A video shows him being punched, kicked, and hit with coconut milkshakes and silly string by masked individuals. Within minutes, videos of the attack and of a beaten Ngo narrating the incident were picked up by right-wing media such as Breitbart that have a dodgy relationship to facts. Headlines screaming brutal assault, vicious assault, and vicious attack by Antifa on Ngo were pumped out.

The sensationalism breached the mainstream with CNN’s Jake Tapper sending out an ill-informed tweet above a video of Ngo being attacked, writing, “Antifa regularly attacks journalists; it’s reprehensible.”

In a bizarre twist, the Portland police threw fuel on the fire by tweeting that some milkshakes thrown on June 29 “contained quick-drying cement.” The police never provided evidence and observers, including journalists, noted that many counterprotesters drank the milkshakes, making it extremely unlikely anyone could have laced them with concrete. But amplified by conspiracy theorists like Jack Prosobiec, the tweet went viral, whereupon right-wing media turned the disinformation into fact and the mainstream press treated it as a credible assertion. The police tweet incited the Right further and the group that made the milkshakes was deluged with death threats. It culminated in the city being flooded with death threats. Days after Ngo was attacked, City Hall was evacuated after a bomb threat. One source inside City Hall says the mayor’s office received “insane vitriol” and every office was receiving threats, including almost 100 harassing calls that tied up emergency service dispatchers.

Far-right figures responded to the June 29 attack on Ngo with graphic threats, and plan to hold an “End Domestic Terrorism” and “End Antifa” rally in Portland on August 17. Such is the level of far-right anger that many in the city fear the rally could become another Charlottesville, or worse — given the anti-Latino murder spree in El Paso and other foiled white nationalist plots since then.”

Here’s a point where I mildly disagree with the writer I’m plagiarizing:

“ To be clear, the attack on Ngo should be condemned. It serves no political purpose, and the Left should not be attacking media makers, even if they use dicey methods.”

Ngo doxxes people and sicks his far right buddies on them, and it’s known he doesn’t do the due diligence to make sure the people he’s targeting are actually guilty. If you think it’s wrong when left-wing adjacent people on tungle or twitter do it, it’s still wrong when right wingers do it, holy shit. If you think it’s dangerous, the type of action that gets people lynched, you’re right! Fuckers like him and Milo need to be silenced. Yes, legally it’s unfeasible to do this without opening people up to loosing their freedom to publish or accuse; which is what movements like antifa serve to do - they do the dirty work the law cannot do so the law doesn’t have to break over every item-line exception to the necessarily clumsy, overgeneralized, poorly thought out “““principle”““ put into place. It’s the same sort of deal as wide-eyed idealistic and overly-narrowly focused deontic reasoning and utilitarian thinking, you know, the ethics that actually deal with consequences and reality.

Does it break the law? Yes. Does it violate principles? Yes. That’s the point - the principles underlying this shit aren’t fundamentally different mechanically speaking from the principles that lead to people’s hands being chopped off for stealing a snickers bar or because they didn’t want to live as a serf or why people are content with sending ethnic minorities to concentration camps because the Party said so. A principle that doesn’t have the nuance or flexibility to recognize when it needs to let other principles take the lead is a bad principle; you’ve fetishized it.

Of course there are other issues too. If you’re not comfortable letting Nazis throw milkshakes too you should be comfortable with people getting arrested for it. But of course fuck all because the cops take one side in all of this, lying about wet cement mix as seen above, so this principle needs to be nuanced for the fact that some people receive more violence from law enforcement than others.

It’s late, I’m tired, lazy, mad, and exhausted. At some point before the last paragraph I was going to ask for evidence of antifa kills comparable at all to the number of far-right kills in the last decade in America. Because it’s a valid question that’s rarely answered. Because again antifa have all the organizational structure and systematization of belief as drunks at a bar. But I can’t remember my rhetorical point.

Continuing.

“Some Antifa activists in Portland also admit the attack played into right-wing hands by elevating him.

That is exactly what’s happened. Trump has beatified Ngo as one of his sinless followers — “A single man standing there with a camera who never got hit and never hit back before in his life” — under assault from the “evil” Antifa full of “sick, bad people.”

But it would also be a mistake to see Ngo as an innocent or as a journalist, considering that whoever he turns his camera, social media, or pen on is at significant risk of being inundated with violent threats from the far right.

Shane Burley is author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It, and a Portland-based journalist who covered the June 29 rally. He says, “I would never condone what happened to Andy Ngo, but I think there is a reason why he got in a conflict with protesters and dozens of other reporters present seemed to be left alone.”

Burley says, “One way to think of Andy Ngo is he is part of a far-right mediasphere that creates victimization narratives of conservatism and profit from it. It’s all about the embattled American man who is under siege at every turn, whether its trans children, immigrant criminals, anchor babies, or dangerous college campuses. ‘They are all out to destroy us and our values.’ It’s an entire infrastructure that’s moved from commentary like National Review to populist media hucksters drumming up a controversy. Ngo doesn’t seem to have many real journalistic credentials, and any he does is from creating controversy. He gets in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post from being a conservative celebrity. His actual reporting is very infrequent and sparse.”

Ngo adds a new element in facilitating violence, intentionally or not. Burley says, “He appears to target ideological opponents, which can make them fair game for harassment and violent confrontation.” The scale of the threats keep escalating. Now Portland is bracing for the August 17 rally.

Killing in the Name of Free Speech?

For the last few years, the far right has used fascistic language about “cleansing” Portland, while its brawlers wore T-shirts proclaiming themselves kindred to South American death squads that killed thousands of leftists in the 1970s. But in advance of August 17, the language and memes from the far right have become more extreme. They’ve posted dozens of threats on social media pledging to kill Antifa and naming left-wing activists in Portland who should be shot during the End Antifa rally.

Individuals affiliated with Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys talk of wanting to “slaughter” Antifa. Others have posted hair-raising images of a Portland activist and his partner with crosshairs over their faces and the words, “End Domestic Terrorist’s [sic].” Another image is of a knife cutting the throat of an antifascist with blood spraying out. This is especially ominous. In April 2017 white supremacist Jeremy Christian attended a Patriot Prayer in Portland and threw Nazi salutes while yelling “Die Muslims!” Weeks later Christian allegedly slashed the throats of three men, killing two, after they came to the defense of two black teenage girls, one wearing a hijab, whom Christian threatened by saying, “Go home. We need America here!”

One organizer of the End Antifa rally is Joe Biggs, a former staffer at Alex Jones’s Infowars website who has “encouraged date rape and punching transgender people.” He shared an illustration for the rally of a Proud Boy punching an antifascist, warning, “Free speech was fought for and paid for with blood. It will not be lost for anything less!” Biggs, whose Twitter account was suspended recently, used the platform to advise his followers to bring guns and declared “DEATH TO ANTIFA!!!!!!”

After the FBI visited him, Biggs now says “he wants a peaceful demonstration and has told his followers to keep their weapons at home.”

But that may be too little, too late as the far right is encouraging potential mass shooters to come to the rally. Recently, Haley Adams, a provocateur in Portland who told a reporter last year, “Damn straight I support white pride,” said on Facebook she “couldn’t wait” to meet Thomas Bartram on August 17. Bartram is an Infowars fan who showed up in El Paso days after the anti-Hispanic massacre and was briefly detained after allegedly brandishing a gun and trying to enter a migrant solidarity center. The center claimed police did not search Bartram’s truck that was decked out with violent pro-Trump images, saying “he has rights.” After being released, Bartram told media he was headed to the End Antifa rally.

What connects these dots is Andy Ngo. He even did his bit to stoke right-wing paranoia in El Paso. In a July 29 tweet Ngo included an image of a flyer about an immigrant rights “border resistance tour.” Ngo claimed stick figures on the flyer represent “border enforcement officers being killed & government property fired bombed” as part of a plot by Antifa to “converge on a 10-day siege in El Paso, TX.” It’s been retweeted more than 11,000 times and hundreds of comments endorse violence against Antifa. Four days later Patrick Crusius allegedly killed twenty-two people in an El Paso Walmart in “response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Gateway Bigotry

Ngo’s ascendancy began as an editor at the Portland State University newspaper, The Vanguard. At a university interfaith panel convened in April 2017, Ngo tweeted a brief video claiming, “the Muslim student speaker said that apostates will be killed or banished in an Islamic state.” The entire clip shows the student gave a long answer in response to a hypothetical question about Quranic law. The panelists stressed they weren’t experts, and the Muslim student later said “he may have misspoke.”

Ngo’s tweet was picked up by Breitbart. The Vanguard fired him days later for a “dangerous oversimplification that violated very clear ethics outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists.” The Vanguard said Ngo’s actions “placed a PSU student in significant danger.” Ngo twisted his termination into an article for The National Review, “Fired for Reporting the Truth,” which the student paper said was a “misrepresentation” that resulted in “unjust threats” against them.

Critics see this episode as establishing a pattern in Ngo’s work: using charged language and selective facts on social media that stoke bigotry, putting his subject at risk of harassment while boosting his own reach and status. It worked because in 2018 Ngo graduated to writing a “racist” and “massively Islamophobic” travelogue to two Islamic communities in England for the Wall Street Journal.

But it’s in the city of Portland and state of Oregon that Ngo calls home where the most damage has been wrought. Zakir Khan is board chair of the Oregon chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy and civil rights organization. Khan says of Ngo, “That guy is obsessed with us.”

Ngo has tweeted dozens of times about CAIR, saying it “has done PR for terrorists & their families.” He characterized CAIR’s representation of the surviving child of the Muslim couple who committed the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino as advocating for “the terrorists’ orphaned baby.”

Recently, in a sprawling New York Post opinion Ngo claimed a “suspicious rise” in gay hate crimes in Portland fits a pattern of hoaxes. (Ngo found space in his 2,100-word article to quote a member of the Proud Boys, which experts call a “gang” notorious for violence, as “the most welcoming organization that I have ever been a part of.”)

Khan says, “We are seen as experts on hate crimes reform, so I questioned Ngo’s groundless claims of ‘hate-crime hoaxes.’ He is not an expert in the field.” Ngo responded by accusing CAIR of “terrorism” and “terror.”

After the exchange with Ngo, Khan says, “We received dozens of threatening and harassing messages. We weren’t able to log them all.” One post that tagged Ngo, as well as Michelle Malkin (who signal boosts Ngo and started a “Protect Andy Ngo” fundraiser after the June 29 attack that netted him nearly $200,000), read, “CAIR IS HAMAS! If you stand with your Muslem neighbors; prepare to die with your Muslem neighbors. We will take our country back![sic]” Ngo frequently claims that Hamas, the governing authority in Gaza, is connected to CAIR.

The irony of all this is that after CAIR challenges Ngo’s claim of hate crime hoaxes, he responds with what could be considered hate speech, accusing them of terrorism. This appears to have incited his followers to threaten and harass CAIR, actions which might qualify as hate crimes.

For his next act, Ngo joined Quillette where he is a “sub-editor.” Described as the voice of the intellectual dark web, Quillette published a report on May 29 claiming fifteen reporters who cover the far right were really “Antifa journalists.” According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the article by “estabished right-wing troll,” Eoin Lenihan, was picked up by the neo-Nazi Stormfront website within a day, and a day after that a video was uploaded to YouTube containing “imagery of mass shooters intercut with images of the [Antifa] reporters.” The names of the journalists were put on a list called “Sunset the Media,” while the video ends with a notorious neo-Nazi saying he won’t “disown” anyone who kills the reporters.

Two journalists, including Shane Burley, wrote of the unnerving effect of being put on a Neo-Nazi death list. Another targeted journalist wrote that Quillette had crossed the line from being merely reactionary to “reckless endangerment” and bluntly stated that its list “could’ve gotten me killed.”

The article was so shoddy, Lenihan was suspended from Twitter. But Ngo promoted the article and more significantly continues to promote it — just as eight months after the fact, Ngo continued to claim that striking the protester from the Patrick Kimmons march is really evidence of Antifa taking their anger out on an elderly man.

In at least one instance it appears Ngo has doxxed activists himself. During May Day 2019, Ngo published a YouTube video that included him talking to members of the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America who were tabling for “Hands Off Venezuela.” The entire time Ngo points his camera at a sign-in sheet, not the person he is interviewing. In the video the sheet is digitally blurred. However, Connor Smith, a Portland DSA member, provided a still from what he claims is an earlier version of the video. The still includes a watermark of Ngo’s twitter handle, “@MrAndyNgo,” exactly the same as in the YouTube video. Eleven names can be seen on the sign-in sheet, including Smith’s, all of which have visible email addresses and six of which include phone numbers. Smith says at least one person on the list received threatening messages such as “Die commie.”

Smith claims it is a common right-wing tactic to doxx people on social media like YouTube and Twitter and then delete the offending material before it is removed for violating the platform’s rules. He says this cat-and-mouse game achieves the results the far right is looking for. “I’m sure some fascist has put all our names and phone numbers in a list.”

Ngo is more of a symptom, however.

Ngo couldn’t exist without social media companies which turn a blind eye to right-wing violence because having to monitor their platforms for hate speech would cut into their profits. Ngo also needs Murdoch-owned media such as the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News that allow him to masquerade his bigotry as journalism. These outlets, in turn, are amplified by the larger landscape of mainstream media, which often fail to distinguish between fact-based journalism and pro-Trump, white nationalistic propaganda. Add in police who collaborate with the far right and weak political leaders, as in Portland, and you have all the conditions needed for opportunists like Andy Ngo to grab the spotlight.

Ngo is just the latest inflammatory right-wing agent in Portland who’s tried to vault to the big leagues. Before him was Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, who has seen his ranks of violent white nationalists dwindle due to infighting and long-overdue arrests.

Way back in 2016, before Gibson, was another media provocateur, Michael Strickland. Strickland shot his YouTube career — which mainly featured him doxxing and harassing local activists — in the foot after he pulled a gun on a Black Lives Matter protest while being armed with enough ammunition for a massacre.

That’s not to say the Left should ignore the likes of Andy Ngo or even Tucker Carlson. They are both the cause and effect of white nationalism and the violence that comes with it. Their synergy is also a reflection of the complex digital landscape. Legacy media like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and even Fox News need Andy Ngo just as much as he needs them. They gave him a platform not for his shoddy reporting and tired bigotry, but for the audience he’s amassed, even if it’s a digital lynch mob.”

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