Argentina Reconsiders Che Guevara's Murderous Legacy

The Wall Street Journal reports on Argentina's movement toward rehabilitating Che Guevara, the Latin American revolutionary hero:

No Argentine has left a bigger mark on the world than legendary revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, yet there is no major monument in his homeland to the face that launched a million T-shirts.

That changes Saturday with the unveiling of a 12-foot bronze statue in this town where he was born 80 years ago.

Since he was killed trying to foment revolution in Bolivia in 1967, the Marxist guerrilla has been a source of inspiration for revolutionary movements from Northern Ireland to East Timor, a symbol of rebellion for three generations of Western youth, and a marketing phenomenon selling everything from snow boards to air freshener.

Until recently, however, Argentina itself has played down its ties to this larger-than-life character, whose nickname comes from the country's most common slang, a catch-all word meaning "hey" or "dude." For many Argentines, he evokes painful memories of the bloody 1970s, when young Che-wannabes took up arms in the name of revolution. The ensuing turmoil gave rise to a brutal right-wing military dictatorship.

Even today, Mr. Guevara's image is often associated with social conflict, a link that has been reinforced lately as pro-government protestors have hoisted Che banners during confrontations with critics of populist President Cristina Kirchner.

When a government tourism official told Argentine travel agents at a conference last November that Mr. Guevara's high name recognition among Europeans meant he deserved a place in Argentina's "national brand," he drew boos from his audience.

"Che motivated a lot of idiots to go about killing people either because they had money or a uniform. How unenlightened is that?" said Michael Poots, a Buenos Aires travel agent.

Among Mr. Guevara's enduring critics in Argentina are members of his own extended family. In an article titled "My Cousin, El Che," Alberto Benegas Lynch wrote last year that to wear a Che T-shirt "is like flaunting the gloomy image of the swastika as a peace symbol."

Frankly, with all the veneration of Che worldwide, it's reassuring that Argentines themselves can see straight on what Guevara and his legacy really mean. Here in the United States, Che's legacy has overwhelmed reason among large segments of society, apparently even those in positions of leadership and power:

Ohio's Lorain County Judge, James Burge, who's pictured in this article at USA Today, must really have some big hopes for change under a potential Obama administration.

Indeed, perhaps Burge can secure a patronage post in correctional management when a Barack Obama administration establishes the American version of San Carlos de La Cabaña prison.

See also, "Che Guevara Totalitarian Chic."

Top Photo: "As in this Mexico City stall, Che Guevara's photo on T-shirts has become an iconic image of rebellion world-wide," Wall Street Journal.

Che Guevara: Superstar Revolutionary

Bolivian leftists are holding a 40th anniversary event this week commemorating the death of Che Guevara, the murderous Latin American revolutionary who died an inglorious death in the jungles of La Higuera, Bolivia, on October 9, 1967. The Los Angeles Times has the story:

Today, the ideological legacy of this peripatetic militant may loom larger than ever in Latin America, abetted by the election of a "Pink Tide" of leftist governments from Nicaragua to Argentina. Socialism is in, the Cubans are on the march, and Che is the defiant embodiment of it all.

To his critics, Guevara was a trigger-happy megalomaniac whose bloody example led thousands to their deaths in futile uprisings that only hardened military repression from Guatemala to Chile.

But to the legions of devotees who subscribe to his personality cult, Guevara is forever the doomed idealist, the poetry- loving guerrillero and "most complete human being of our age," in the words of Jean-Paul Sartre....

A legendary guerrilla leader in the Cuban Revolution that ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Guevara stumbled in his 1960s struggles. Virtually exiled from Cuba after differing with Castro and Cuba's Soviet patrons, he suffered an ignominious defeat alongside anti-U.S. rebels in Congo before meeting his demise in a secluded Bolivian canyon at the end of a quixotic 11-month campaign.

But, 40 years later, Guevara has scored big in the contested battleground of memory, emerging as a kind of secular saint, freeze-framed at age 39 between the Summer of Love and the abyss of 1968. Hollywood sees box-office cachet in Che: Director Steven Soderbergh is filming a new biopic starring Che look-alike Benicio Del Toro.

"Today Che is associated in the collective conscience with values -- his ethics, his principles, his willingness to lose his life for an ideal," biographer Pacho O'Donnell wrote recently in the Argentine weekly Veintitres.

Guevara, a physician with no formal military training, was also something else, critics say: prolific executioner, dogmatic totalitarian and co-designer of the Cuban police state and indoctrination apparatus.

His detractors contend that his short life may appear to his admirers more James Dean than Chairman Mao, but his politics were more Comrade Stalin than Mahatma Gandhi.

"What's left is a kind of idealistic, romantic aura," said Jorge Lanata, an Argentine journalist who has written about Guevara. "It's more culture than political."

I often shake my head at the celebrity cult that has emerged around this revolutionary villain. Young "progressive" mall-rats who wear t-shirts adorned with Che's iconic image - indelibly represented by Alberto Korda's world-famous snapshot - are either indifferent to Guevara's history as Fidel Castro's most willing executioner or downright ignorant of it.

I read up a bit on Che after I saw the 2004 film, "The Motorcyle Diaries," a Che biopic that develops the revolutionary killer's cinema cult. I remember reading Anthony Daniel's critical review of the film at The New Criterion, which concludes with this interesting nugget:

In presenting Guevara as a romantic figure, generous and compassionate rather than ruthlessly priggish and self-centered, and by suggesting that he has anything to teach us other than negatively, the director is guilty of mendacity of a very high order. The film is an exercise in moral frivolity and exhibitionism, self-congratulation, of course, opportunism. It should sell as well as Guevara T-shirts.

The global activists making the trip to Bolivia's Che commemoration this week obviously won't be keeping such points in mind.

Leftist Hypocrisy All the Way Down

The great bulk of recent blogging has covered the virtually unlimited examples of radical left-wing hypocrisy.

Last week's "One Nation" showcased not only the widespread radicalism at the base of the Democrat Party, but also the longstanding official party ties between top Democrat Party organizers and key left-wing movement activists who put together the October 2nd event. But of course neo-commies continue to whine: "But there's no such thing as the monolithic 'left'." We've also had the news of Barack Obama's gangsta rap playlist, which shows how the president has endorsed the racial stereotypes and "pathologies that still haunt and cripple far too many in the black underclass." Where's the outrage against President Obama's racist iPod? We've also had yet another round of classic leftist misogyny with Jerry Brown's "whore" slur of Meg Whitman, but not only has the response been muted (or even buried, in the case of MSNBC), but a purported "women's rights" umbrella group came out to endorse the Democrat candidate within 24 hours of alienating any woman who resents being called a whore. And as I reported today, we saw that Ted Rall, the well-known and award-winning leftist editorial cartoonist, openly proclaimed his call for a revolution against the United States and the installment of a communist dictatorship of the proletariat in its place. On top of that we've got the New York Times and its leftist minions once again distorting the record on Pamela Geller and the opposition to the Ground Zero Cordoba Center. Of course, the great majority of Americans see the mosque project as an affront to the families of the fallen, but the leftists have pushed a false "anti-Muslim" meme that has done nothing except further polarize that nation. (And the left's endorsement of the "Muslim backlash" myth is understandable, since from the academy to the mainstream press and beyond, there's been an open embrace of romanticism and self-denial surrounding radical jihad).

It's all of a piece, as I've said many times. Another one of the hypocrisies of modern times is the deification of Che Guevara to communist sainthood. Humberto Fontova has more on that, "Che Guevara: Guerrilla Doofus and Murdering Coward":

Forty three years ago this week, Ernesto "Che" Guevara got a major dose of his own medicine. Without trial he was declared a murderer, stood against a wall and shot. Historically speaking, justice has rarely been better served. If the saying "What goes around comes around" ever fit, it's here.

"When you saw the beaming look on Che's face as the victims were tied to the stake and blasted apart by the firing squad," said a former Cuban political prisoner Roberto Martin-Perez, to your humble servant here, "you saw there was something seriously, seriously wrong with Che Guevara." As commander of the La Cabana execution yard, Che often shattered the skull of the condemned man (or boy) by firing the coup de grace himself. When other duties tore him away from his beloved execution yard, he consoled himself by viewing the slaughter. Che's second-story office in Havana’s La Cabana prison had a section of wall torn out so he could watch his darling firing-squads at work.

Even as a youth, Ernesto Guevara's writings revealed a serious mental illness. "My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any vencido that falls in my hands!” This passage is from Ernesto Guevara's famous Motorcycle Diaries, though Robert Redford somehow overlooked it while directing his heart-warming movie.

More at the link.

I'll have more on all of this later. No doubt much of the electorate's repudiation of the Democrats lies in the party's rank dishonesty and hypocrisy, from the president all the way down to the lowest neo-commie netroots bloggers. Meanwhile, previously at American Power: "Progressives Are Communists (If You Didn't Know)."

Che Guevara Totalitarian Chic

Remember seeing those "I'm With Stupid" t-shirts, with an arrow pointing one way or another?

Well, the latest version of these the are iconic Che Guevara shirts, which seem to be more ubiquitious all the time.

I've got a couple of students this semester who wear Che gear to class every day. I want to bonk them on the head: "Hey, this guy was Cuba's executioner. Don't you know this? Why do you wear the image of a man who's also infamous as a 'cold-blooded killing machine.'"

You don't need an arrow with these shirts: They just announce, "Hey, everybody, I'm stupid."

I've written about this problem before, which to me indicates the anti-intellectualism of America's youth, and especially the brain-washing by many in the education profession.

But yesterday while out shopping at the mall with my oldest boy, I noticed an attractive, shapely young woman with an eye-turning, body-clinging t-shirt. Naturally I checked out the woman's figure first, but then I said s#!t to myself when I saw Che's image atop her chest!

Anyway, I thought I'd just vent here a bit. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better, I guess.

See some other sources as well:

"The Killing Machine: Che Guevara, from Communist Firebrand to Capitalist Brand."

"Che Guevara: Totalitarian Diaries"

"A Revolutionary Icon, and Now, a Bikini."

Image Source: Those Shirts

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UPDATE: Black Five has an awesome post up on this, "Don't be a DouChe'":

...Dear angry, hate-filled lefties welcome to Blackfive. We aggravate more hippies by 9 am than most people ever do...

The Execution of Che Guevara

The left's communist hero was executed October 9th, 1967, in La Higuera, Bolivia. He cowered like a cornered rat and begged for his life like a child.

At the Washington Post, "New (and disturbing) pictures of Che Guevara right after death resurface."

Foreign Affairs commemorates his death by posting Raymond Garthoff's essay, "Unconventional Warfare in Communist Strategy":

Very simply, "internal," "unconventional," "irregular"-"class"-war is of the essence of Marxist-Leninist theory, hence at least theoretically at the base of Communist strategy. We became so accustomed to Stalin's reliance on the Red Army and the Soviet intelligence services as the most conspicuous elements of force in international politics that it takes a moment to place in focus the older-and newer-more fundamental Communist reliance on man?uvring and manipulating power on an indigenous political fulcrum. This is my first proposition.

Unconventional warfare-our very use of this expression jars one by its contrast to the Marxist-Leninist conception of the conventional nature of internal warfare-may assume various forms, depending on the concrete situation, its opportunities and constraints. Although in other areas the Communists may resort to rigid design or overcentralized planning, when it comes to the application of force they show an acute awareness of the wide range of kinds of unconventional warfare available to them. This is the second proposition I would raise. To rephrase the point: Communists are flexible in waging varied forms of internal war, and irregular warfare is but one of the means.

Not all activity of Soviet, Chinese or indigenous Communists should be considered a form of internal war-though one can define the term broadly enough to encompass most of it. But the Communist leaders do assign a major role to active civil violence at a certain stage of development of the class conflict. For such countries as the United States, that stage may be seen only very dimly-or perhaps merely assumed-in a vague and distant future. But in volatile and unstable societies emerging from colonial rule or undergoing modernization without adequate tools for the job, internal war is expected to have a future-if it is not already present. Thus my third proposition is that the Communists expect, plan and wage internal war as the final stage of class struggle leading to the seizure of power. Internal unconventional war is above all revolutionary war.

III

Bolshevism arose as a revolutionary movement with international pretensions; its fundamental outlook was hostile to the existing international order. None the less, after a number of unsuccessful attempts to wage revolutionary war beyond the borders of the old Russian Empire, in the period from 1918 to 1923, Soviet leaders began to recognize the need to be more selective in choosing the time and place to conduct revolutionary war. Also, as the years went by, they directed their energies increasingly to internal matters. The building of "socialism in one country" marked an indefinite extension of the original compromise by which the Soviet Union proposed to coexist with the outside world. The avowed revolutionary ends have continued unchanged, but means have become increasingly important in themselves. As occasions arose calling for sacrifice either by the Soviet State or by the forces of the Revolution abroad, Moscow's decision has invariably been at the expense of the latter. The subordination to Moscow of Communist Parties everywhere meant that the suitability of local internal war was defined in terms of the prevailing foreign policy objectives of the Soviet Union. And as a consequence, for over two decades Communist "internal war" boasted few campaigns and no victories. Only in China did an active revolutionary war even stay alive, and it did so by liberating itself from Moscow's strategic direction.

World War II brought new opportunities for building undergrounds and waging partisan warfare in many countries occupied by an alien invader. Local Communists (as well as other resistance elements), aided by the Allies, established strong forces in several countries. The Soviets themselves built up sizable guerrilla forces on their own German-occupied territory. At the close of the war, the Jugoslav and Albanian partisans were able to seize power with little opposition. The Chinese Communists were also immeasurably aided by the course and outcome of the war.

In the early postwar period, the sudden shift in the balance of power in areas on the Soviet periphery, and the not accidental projection of the Red Army into many of these areas, led to new opportunities for expansion of Communist rule by various means including internal war. Where Soviet occupation was prolonged, political and subversive techniques were used effectively to establish puppet Communist régimes. But beyond the shadow of the Soviet Army the story was quite different. A wave of attempts at subversion, rebellion and revolution struck in 1948-1949. Success in Czechoslovakia by subversive coup was not matched in Finland, and not even tried in France and Italy. In China, the Communists-against Stalin's advice- pushed on to take all continental China. But the revolutionary guerrilla campaigns in Greece, Malaya, Burma, the Philippines and Indonesia ended in failure; only in Viet Nam did such a campaign drag on to an important partial victory in 1954. Causes of failure varied, but one important general one was that the balance of power in the world had become stabilized anew.

In the current phase, since about 1960, there has been a new wave of Communist guerrilla efforts in Laos and South Viet Nam, a failure in the Congo, and a seizure from within of the successful guerrilla movement in Cuba. Similar efforts to take over other native, non-Communist rebel forces, for example in Angola and Colombia, are at present under way.

In summing up this brief historical review, we reach a fourth proposition: One of the key conditions for resort to revolutionary war, in Communist eyes, is the general world situation (as well as the local situation). And as a related fifth proposition: While the general strategic balance of terror today increases the dangers to the Communist bloc of resorting to direct aggression and creating Soviet-Western military confrontations, it reduces the risks involved in indirect, unconventional war.

IV

Communist strategies for waging revolutionary warfare place a high premium on the political content and context of a campaign. Some strategies, beyond the purview of this article, involve exclusively political action. Others involve infiltration and subversion, where the political vulnerability of the opponent is of cardinal importance. Subversion (which should be distinguished from agitation, propaganda, trouble-making and other overt or underground Communist activities) can be either a substitute for a revolutionary war or a complementary tactic in it, but in general it has not proven nearly as versatile a Communist tool as many of us tend to think. Subversion is usually directed against existing governments, but it may be directed against indigenous revolutionary movements, as in the Cuban case. Infiltration and subversion, political isolation and manipulation, and economic penetration all ultimately should-in the Communist strategy- lay the groundwork for the seizure of power either by coup d'état or by revolutionary war.

As my sixth proposition, I would advance the hypothesis that the Soviet leaders generally prefer the use of subversion, or other non-violent means, to the use of guerrilla war, because the seizure of power by indigenous revolutionary forces tends to make local Communist rulers too independent of Moscow's control. The only countries other than Russia where local Communist forces fought and won their own victories are China, Jugoslavia, Albania and Viet Nam (with Cuba as a quasi-fifth). All, with the uncertain exception of North Viet Nam, are today serious problems for the Soviet Union.

The Chinese-absorbed by their own internal problems and struggles with the Russians, smarting over the frustration of continuing irredentist claims, and "on the make"-have not developed the qualms or subtle calculations which mark the Soviet attitude toward the means of extending Communist power. Maoism as an export item has done well in Indochina; a number of other Communist Parties-especially, but not only, in Asia-are turning to China in the course of the growing division within the Communist movement. The Soviet leaders do not, of course, turn their backs on the theory or even the practice of national-liberation revolutionary war. None the less, my seventh proposition-companion to the sixth-is that the Chinese Communists are likely in the future to be the guiding spirit in most Communist revolutionary guerrilla wars.

Keep reading.

Garthoff continues with quotes from Che Guevara's, Guerrilla Warfare, a "guidebook for thousands of guerrilla fighters in various countries around the world."

And see also, by Jorge Castañeda, Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara.

FLASHBACK: "Che Guevara: Superstar Revolutionary."

Mercedes-Benz Apologizes for Graphic of Marxist Murderer Che Guevara

At USA Today, "Mercedes-Benz apologizes for image of Marxist Che Guevara."

Also at The Blaze, "Cuban-Americans Infuriated After Mercedes-Benz Uses Che Guevara to Promote Cars."

Background at American Digest, "Mercedes: Smart Cars. Stupid Executives."

Obama Must Denounce Che's Revolutionary Terror

It's been a big day for Barack Obama and the swirling associations of hopelessly shady socialism.

But thanks to Jeff Jacoby, who notes Obama's pathetic attempt this week to distance himself from murderous revolutionary Che Guevara, there's no better time for the Illinios Senator to offer a major address denouncing the "snarling enforcer" of early Cuban totalitarianism:

IN 1963, John F. Kennedy was murdered in Texas by a fervent admirer of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. In 2008, a large Cuban flag emblazoned with the image of Che Guevara, Castro's brutal henchman, is prominently displayed in a Barack Obama campaign volunteer office in Houston.

Obama has been widely compared to JFK, most notably by the late president's brother and daughter. President Kennedy, a stalwart anticommunist, despised Castro and his gang of totalitarian thugs. But when word broke last week that Obama's supporters in Houston work under a banner glorifying Che, the campaign's reaction was to brush it off as an issue involving volunteers, not the official campaign. After two days of controversy, the campaign issued a statement calling the flag "inappropriate" and saying its display "does not reflect Senator Obama's views." Would JFK have reacted so mildly?

In December 1962, Kennedy offered a blunt summary of the Castro/Che record. "The Cuban people were promised by the revolution political liberty, social justice, intellectual freedom, land for the campesinos, and an end to economic exploitation," he said. "They have received a police state, the elimination of the dignity of land ownership, the destruction of free speech and a free press, and the complete subjugation of individual human welfare." Eleven months later, in a speech intended for delivery on the day he was assassinated, Kennedy regretted that Castro's "Communist foothold" in Latin America had "not yet been eliminated."

Were he alive today, it's hard to imagine JFK feeling anything but contempt for those who extol a dictatorship that has been crushing freedom and human beings for nearly 50 years. And it would surely pain him that so many of the cheerleaders are members of his own party....

The lionizing of Che, a sociopath who relished killing and acclaimed "the pedagogy of the firing squad," is not just "inappropriate." It is vile. No American in his right mind would be caught dead wearing a David Duke T-shirt or displaying a poster of Pol Pot. A celebrity who was spotted with a swastika-festooned cap or an actress who revealed that she had gotten a tattoo depicting Timothy McVeigh would inspire only repugnance. No presidential campaign would need more than 30 seconds to sever its ties to anyone, paid staffer or volunteer, whose office was adorned with a Ku Klux Klan banner. Yet Che's likeness, which ought to be as loathed as any of those, is instead a trendy bestseller and a cult favorite.

With Che at his side, Castro toppled Fulgencio Batista in January 1959. "As soon as they had seized power...they began to conduct mass executions inside the two main prisons, La Cabana and Santa Clara." As chief prosecutor of the new regime, Che oversaw the bloodbath, ordering hundreds of executions in the first months of 1959....

Like totalitarians of every stripe, Che didn't scruple at the death of innocents. "Quit the dallying!" he ordered Jose Vilasuso, a conscientious government lawyer who was seeking evidence against several prisoners. "Your job is a very simple one. Judicial evidence is an archaic and secondary bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! We execute from revolutionary conviction"....

That this sadistic thug's face also adorns the office of a US presidential candidate's supporters is appalling and disgraceful. That the candidate couldn't bring himself to say so is even worse.

Well said.

See also my post, "Obama's Substance," which contains video footage of Obama's Potomac victory speech; and also, Charles Krauthammer, "Obama Casts His Spell."

President Obama Pictured in Front of Revolutionary Che Guevara Mural in Cuba

At Weasel Zippers, "Obama Speaks In Front of Cuba’s Communist Dictatorship, Praises Their “Passion for Liberty”," and "FLASHBACK: When Castro & Che Guevara Tried to Kill Millions of Americans on Black Friday…"

PIC: Obama Stands In Front of Che Mural in Cuba https://t.co/wuIF8OBQCC pic.twitter.com/Fh2hdzcuVB

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 21, 2016

More, from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "OBAMA GOES LIMP: “I take it that Obama was exploring the outer limits of his defiance of the Castro regime. It seems to represent another of the Obama administration’s great moments in diplomacy, but your guess is as good as mine,” Scott Johnson writes at Power Line."

PREVIOUSLY: "Barack's Adventures in Cuba-Land (VIDEO)."

ANSWER Communists with Che Guevara Signs Lead Protest Against Walmart in Rancho Cordova (VIDEO)

From the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento.

The Che signs can be seen at 1:35 minutes, exposing the big lie behind these so-called "minimum wage" protests.

These are the Bay Area ANSWER hordes, communist revolutionary protesters pushing for the expropriation of capital --- the "$16 billion in profits" --- from the Walmart corporate oppressors.

Frankly, I'm surprised the Che Guevara signs made it into the newscast. Usually the far-left press enables the idiot revolutionary agitators.



More at the Sacramento Bee, "UPDATE: Protests lead to arrests at a Rancho Cordova Walmart, Arden Fair mall."

Radical Syriza Party, Under Greek 'Che Guevara' Alexis Tsipras, Set to Sieze Power in Athens

They're not my cup of tea, obviously.

The party's leader, Alexis Tsipras, zoomed around on motorcycles as a Communist youth activist in his early days. The Greek 'Che Guevara," or so they say.

Still, I can't discount Syriza's anti-EU agenda. The unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels are snuffing out popular democracy across the continent.

At the Guardian UK, "Syriza wins Greek election as Samaras congratulates Tsipras – live updates."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Eurozone braced for 'catastrophe' as Greek PM concedes defeat in crucial election with radical left-wing anti-austerity party on brink of historic victory."

Jose Lara, Los Angeles Social Studies Teacher, Took Students on Revolutionary 'Freedom Ride' to Protest Arizona's SB 1070

You know, I actually found this viddy a couple of weeks ago, while I was doing my reporting on the Phoenix anti-immigration march. It's taken a little time, but the viral distribution's now made it to Fox News. See, "With Revolutionaries 'Looking On,' Teachers Take Kids on a Protest Trip to Arizona."

Standing in front of a wall-to-wall mural featuring a who's who of revolutionaries, including Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, and boldly displaying the motto Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!!! (Fatherland or Death, We Shall Overcome!!!), a group of teachers, students, parents and community activists in the Los Angeles Unified School District gathered last month for an unusual field trip — to Arizona, to protest that state's controversial immigration law.

A video posted on YouTube shows LA social studies teacher Jose Lara interviewing teachers and students on May 28 at the headquarters of an organization calling for a Mexican revolution on U.S. soil. Soon after he shot the video, many in the group left for an overnight "freedom ride" to Phoenix to protest what Lara tells the camera is a "racist and outrageous" law.

Four days later, the school board president implored the superintendent of schools to ensure that students in the district be taught that Arizona's law is "un-American" and Jim Crow-like. The law, passed in April, empowers law enforcement officials to question the immigration status of people they think may be in the country illegally.

Lara, who made the video, teaches at the Unified School District's Santee Education Complex with Ron Gochez, another social studies teacher who came under fire last month after he was identified making incendiary remarks in a widely circulated YouTube video that shows him speaking at a 2007 rally for La Raza, a revolutionary group calling for Mexican revolt inside the United States ....

More at the link.

Not sure if I bumped into Jose Lara, but here's another shot of Ron Gochez, holding his Che Guevara standard:

Both Lara and Gochez are active in numerous revolutionary groups, including Union Del Barrio, a La Raza organization that Gochez helped establish across the street from Santee High School.

In the video shot before the trip to Arizona, students, teachers and others are seen gathered at the Union Del Barrio meeting hall and cultural center in Los Angeles, called Centro Cultural Francisco Villa — a nod to one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution — where wall murals picture revolutionary leaders — including Ho Chi Minh — holding machine guns.

Beside portraits of the revolutionaries is a hand-painted rendering of the famous and long-living revolutionary motto: Patrio o Muerte, Venceremos!!! Popularized by Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution, it’s been used by Latin American leaders including Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia, who declared it the official motto of his nation's army three months ago.

Gochez confirmed to FoxNews.com that he participated in the caravan to Arizona, though he does not appear in Lara’s video blog entry. Gochez did, however, give numerous on-camera interviews to local news outlets from Centro Cultural Francisco Villa that same night.

The Building Backlash to Obama's Marxism?

I noted this morning that the "foundations of Obama's community organization of power are found in his radical ideological, political, and religious history."

As we get closer to the campaign, perhaps Barack Obama's radicalism is becoming more apparent, which may explain why the Illinois Senator's unable to pull out a lead in public opinion over GOP nominee John McCain.

Also, as Carrie Dudoff Brown reports today, at the Politico, the new attention to Obama as smug and elitist seems to be taking hold (recall Obama's dismisall of the working-classes as "bitter").

In turn, the Democrats' far left-wing base has become increasingly crazed in trying to come up with something to offset Obama's own self-immolation. Obama's weaknesses have left Democratic partisans scrambing to paint the GOP as racist, which is perhaps the only thing more scary than a neo-Marxist administration come January, as Investor's Business Daily warned earlier:

When one looks at Obama, it's shocking how radical and anti-American his closest associates are. Taken separately, the black liberation theology of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, or fundraiser William Ayers' unrepentant past as a 1960s terrorist or Obama's openly pro-Che Guevara volunteers in Houston might be dismissed.

But taken together, and given Obama's closeness to his friends, it's fair to ask whether Obama doesn't share their extreme-left views. Yet whenever he's asked, he gets mad and avoids the issue.

Maybe that's not surprising, given that Obama himself began his career as a Chicago community organizer and worked on projects there influenced by Saul Alinsky. The Marxist Machiavellian of the Chicago scene advised budding revolutionaries in his 1971 book "Rules For Radicals" to conceal their radical affiliations to attain greater power. That works well for Marxists.

But Obama's friends seem to be giving him away. If this sounds extreme, take a look at some of the activities of Obama's associates:

Wright is an adherent of black liberation theology, an explicitly Marxist interpretation of the Bible whose aim is to stir up class and race hatred to advance communism. Created by a rifle-toting Peruvian priest in the 1960s, it's now discredited in religious circles.

"Liberation theology isolates a few verses, takes them out of context, and then exaggerates their meaning," said the Rev. Bob Schenk of the National Clergy Council, on "Hannity's America" last weekend.

But Wright clings to it. And recently, he loudly praised the Marxist Sandinista dictatorship of Nicaragua.

Not by coincidence, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's president, endorses Obama. "This is not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. . . . But yes, (Obama and friends) are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change," said Ortega.

If that's not enough, Wright's also made pilgrimage to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in Havana in 1984, alongside the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Cuban-American writer Humberto Fontova noted Jackson and his entourage cheered "Viva Fidel" and "Viva Che Guevara" on the $300,000 trip paid for by the Cuban Council of Churches.

Then there's Obama's friend ex-Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, another Marxist. Not only did Ayers set off terrorist bombs against "the establishment" with no regrets during the 1960s, he told the New York Times "we didn't do enough."

Further, as the American Spectator notes, "Obama’s Left-Wing Extremism":

So the true picture of who Obama is should now be clear. His consistently extreme left policy positions are well grounded deep into his past, dating back even to the prep school Marxism of his youth. How could America allow this man to become President of the United States? Do we not take that position seriously anymore?

See also, Kyle-Anne Shriver, "Obama, the Closer: An Eloquent Clean Cut Black Man is the Perfect Front Man for the Radical Left.

Image Credit: "Obama's Marxist Underpinnings."

Pope Francis Apologizes for 'Grave Sins' of the Catholic Church

He's a freakin' communist.

At the New York Times, "In Bolivia, Pope Francis Apologizes for Church’s ‘Grave Sins’":

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Pope Francis offered a direct apology on Thursday for the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church in the oppression of Latin America during the colonial era, even as he called for a global social movement to shatter a “new colonialism” that has fostered inequality, materialism and the exploitation of the poor.

Speaking to a hall filled with social activists, farmers, garbage workers and Bolivian indigenous people, Francis offered the most ambitious, and biting, address of his South American tour.

He repeated familiar themes in sharply critiquing the global economic order and warning of environmental catastrophe — but also added a twist with his apology.

“Some may rightly say, ‘When the pope speaks of colonialism, he overlooks certain actions of the church,’ ” Francis said. “I say this to you with regret: Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God.”

He added: “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.”

Francis, an Argentine, is the first Latin American pope, and his apology comes as he is trying to position the church as a refuge and advocate for the poor and dispossessed of his native continent.

During his visit to Ecuador, and now Bolivia, Francis has made broad calls for Latin American unity — on Thursday mentioning “Patria Grande,” the historic ambition to make the continent a unified world force — even as he has sidestepped some local controversies.

Bolivia suffered stark exploitation during Spanish rule, as silver deposits helped finance the Spanish empire, bankroll European colonialism elsewhere and also fill the treasury of the Vatican. Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, is a longtime leftist critic of the church, yet on Thursday he spoke before the pope and praised him.

Francis’ criticism of multinational corporations and global capitalism has already brought him criticism and suspicions among some who question the leftist tint of his ideas.

Mr. Morales, a fierce critic of American corporate influence, wore a white shirt and a dark jacket bearing a picture of the Communist revolutionary Che Guevara on the left breast.

“For the first time, I feel like I have a pope: Pope Francis,” Mr. Morales said.

Francis has filled four consecutive days with appearances, but other than an environmental critique offered in Ecuador, the pope had hewed mostly to theological topics or broad themes like family, service and mission.

His appearance on Thursday night was at the Second World Meeting of Popular Movements, a congress of global activists working to mobilize and help the poor. Some people wore Che Guevara T-shirts while some indigenous women wore traditional black bowlers.

Francis drew cheers when he called on the activists and others to change the social order: “I would even say that the future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, through your ability to organize and carry out creative alternatives, through your daily efforts to ensure the three Ls — labor, lodging, land.”

Francis repeated his condemnation of an economic system rooted in pursuit of money and profits, but in an aside he criticized “certain free-trade treaties” and “austerity, which always tightens the belt of workers and the poor” — a likely reference to Greece.

“Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money,” he said. “Let us say no to an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules, rather than service. That economy kills. That economy excludes. That economy destroys Mother Earth.”

But if Francis again called for change, he also offered no detailed prescription...

Che Guevara and Van Jones on American Imperialism

Here's Che Guevara, the postumous pop-star of today's radical left, attacking U.S. imperialism in Latin American at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis:

Then, compare that rant to now-departed "green jobs czar" Van Jones' comments on American imperialism, "Obama 'Czar' on 9/11: Blame 'U.S. Imperialism'! White House 'Rowdy Communist' Held Vigil for Muslims."

And remember, Van Jones is just the tip of the Marxist-Leninist iceberg at the White House. See, "Van Jones—Just one of Many Obama-Marxists." And, "Obama as Leninoid."

Arafat Chic

From Reut Cohen's new essay at Pajamas Media:

My distaste for the keffiyeh fashion trend is similar to my displeasure at seeing silly young women sporting Mao handbags, which many Asians and Peruvians take offense to. I would not wear a Che Guevara shirt as I see no reason to identify with a madman who massacred innocent Cubans. Therefore, I believe the general public needs to be cognizant that the trendy scarf they feel compelled to wear is offensive to people like me who have lost loved ones because of PLO terrorism.

I am a Middle Easterner and I am not offended if someone chooses to wear traditionally Middle Eastern clothing. At Sephardi/Mizrahi hennas and weddings, the theme is typically “Middle Eastern” and I have never been ashamed of the culture that my grandparents were from. However, the keffiyeh is a different case altogether as it is a symbol of Palestinian terror and not merely a Middle Eastern garment used to protect oneself from sand or dirt. This trendy scarf has extremely negative connotations — in this case it is a garment that is associated with Arafat, who is arguably one of the most murderous individuals of our time.

While an individual has every right to wear a garment, people need to be aware that symbols — such as the swastika, Klan robe, or keffiyeh — can never be removed from their meanings. It is difficult to separate the political statement of Palestinian terror from this particular garment.

I've yet to see a student on my campus wear Arafat chic.

Che Guevara's still the rage, and Barack Obama gear is in vogue. But give it time. Both Anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are in the charts.

Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky, Screens Steven Soderbergh's Che to Commemorate Fiftieth Anniversary of Bay of Pigs

According to Robert Farley, who is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Patterson School, University of Kentucky.

See his entry at Lawyers, Guns and Murder: "Happy Bay of Pigs Day!"

Seriously. This is not a joke.

Farley indicates that watching the Che movie is "In support of my COIN seminar this semester..." Farley's seminar spends a week reading books on "the other side," including two on Che Guevara. I'm looking over the assigned readings, and it's "assumed" that students will read David Petraeus', U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which is arguably the most important work on counter-insurgency published in the post-Vietnam period. Hopefully they'll have read it in time for its "deconstruction" in Week 4: Time for the Deconstruction of Field Manual 3-24. But better to "assume," since Farley wouldn't want to overload the students. In Week 12 they have to wade through "The Runaway General," at Rolling Stone, the article that helped bring the early retirement of General Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Some former uniformed personnel had only the warmest thanks for McChrystal's service, and no doubt McChrystal wasn't thrilled that President Obama was handing out medals to troops who did not kill the enemy. Now that's important! So I'm sure Professor Farley has students spend extra time studying the administration's debilitating Rules of Engagement (ROE) that have placed American lives at risk. And that's not all! Farley features Firedoglake's Spencer Ackerman as a guest speaker during that same week. Ackerman, who's also a military affairs writer at Wired, infamously quipped on Christmas 2009 that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempted airline bombing was "a joke" about how some guy was trying to "set off firecrackers" on a plane in a "failed bid for relevance." Boy, that's one crack seminar!

But hey, rejoice! Our future diplomats are in the best of hands! As I note at Farley's post:

The Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce is a propaganda outlet for the Cuban Revolution? Hey, way to train America’s next generation of diplomats! No doubt students get target practice as well, so they’ll be prepared to put the bullet in the next generation of counter-revolutionaries — just like Che!!

Whooo heee!!!!

RELATED: Some alternative readings for Farley's next "counter-insurgency" seminar. See Adam Hassner, "Why The 50th Anniversary of The Bay of Pigs Should Matter To All Who Cherish Freedom." And Babalú Blog, "April 17, 1961."

BONUS: From Ron Radosh, "Marx in the American Academy: When Will its High Priests Ever Learn?"

EXTRA: At ABC News, "Cubans Mark 50th Anniversary of Failed Bay of Pigs Invasion: Country Celebrates 50 Years of Staying Power and Standing up to America."

Che-Loving Kshama Sawant Exhorts Workers to Seize Boeing

Fits News has the report, "Seattle Socialist: Boeing Workers Should Rise Up."

Also at WND, "Socialist lawmaker urges workers to 'take over' Boeing."

She's a freakin' murder-loving communist, it turns out. At her election-night party headquarters, Che Guevara posters adorned the walls.



Che was a remorseless mass murderer. It's pretty sick he's held up as a icon by a top official in one of America's biggest cities, but it's no surprise. (See my previous Che blogging at the link.)

Communists, Hamas Solidarity Protesters Demand Israel's Extermination in Los Angeles — #ANSWERLA

I normally post an announcement when I'm heading out to cover a protest, but not yesterday. I know that some of the ANSWER communists read my blog and, perhaps lying in wait for my arrival, would have assaulted me, stealing my phone and throwing me to the ground, in an effort to prevent me from blogging their rally.

It's not like it hasn't happened before, or anything.

But not this time. I had a great day documenting the protest on Twitter and Vine.

I did give Robert Stacy McCain the heads up before attending the rally. Kindly, he retweeted my entries throughout the day, and had gracious worlds of encouragement.

Andrew Breitbart would be so proud of you today, Donald. https://t.co/kiFESEdU80 @AmPowerBlog #tcot

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) August 2, 2014

Robert also put up a blog post yesterday while I was still in Los Angeles, "The Pro-Hamas Mob in L.A."

I've been covering ANSWER for 5 years. In the early days, I simply asked the organizers if I could attend their events. My reports were literally from the inside. I had infiltrated a movement, for example, "STOP THE WAR! Teach-In on Afghanistan and the Anti-War Struggle - ANSWER L.A."; "Code Pink's Jodie Evans: No 'Rethink' on Afghanistan - 'U.S. Troop Withdrawal Now' ... ANSWER Coalition Decries 'Criminal Occupation'"; "When Defeat is the ANSWER"; and "'We Need to Take 'Em Down' - ANSWER/PSL: Stop the War at Home and Abroad!"

Now, though, these puny little wannabes are scared to death of "just a blogger." In Anaheim these cowards seized my phone, pushed me down, hit me and knocked my cap to the ground. I was injured when I scaled a 10-foot brick wall to retrieve my phone.

They're pussies and weasels. Vile, evil little cowardly trolls who can't stand "just a blogger" telling the real story of their racist protests against the United States and Israel.

Things went as planned yesterday, for the most part. I stood my ground and wasn't accosted until late in the afternoon. I think most people would not appreciate being surrounded by a mob of crazed wannabe Che communists, seriously unclean people, with disgusting, terrible hygiene, getting in their faces. I don't love it. But that's what they do. They do everything they can to intimidate. I won't be intimidated, of course, so the next step for them would be to inflict lethal violence. I'm brave, but I'm not foolish. Friends and followers have been cheering my coverage these last few weeks, calling me a patriot for my fresh, on-the-ground reports. But many have also asked me to be careful. Friends tell me that these leftists are indeed dangerous people and not to take my safety for granted. Wise words and I heeded them yesterday. For one thing, I watched my back all day. I also stayed near the police and Sheriff's deputies. Riot squads were on hand and it got heated at times, as you can see from the posts.

Most of all, understand that these protests are not "pro-Gaza" demonstrations. They're annihilationist anti-Israel protests, with demonstrators raising the flags of Hamas, chanting exterminationist terrorist slogans ("From the desert to the sea..."), and holding anti-Zionist signs attacking Israel as a "Nazi" state, demanding that the Jews be eliminated. As many have been reporting with regard to Europe's surge of anti-Semitic violence, the last few weeks have seen the unleashing of genocidal anti-Jewish hatred not seen since the 1930s. Yesterday in Los Angeles was no different.

The scene at the Federal Wilshire Building for ANSWER protest against for #Israel. @RSMcCain https://t.co/eKI6Xj266l

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Protester w/ pro-#Hamas "From the river to the sea..." sign. Radical racist anti-Zionists. #Israel. pic.twitter.com/IF8teh6rwK

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@Red__Rover Protesters starting up with the anti-#Israel chants. @RSMcCain #ANSWERLA https://t.co/p4hROVB1hD

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@MaroonedInMarin At #Wilshire anti-#Israel protest, racists chant "Free Palestine!" @RSMcCain https://t.co/JuezbZf8Po

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain #Hamas partisan stands w/ #Che Guevara flag-holding racist. #ANSWERLA @PatDollard https://t.co/zeIFbiSNmP

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

The hateful racist @BeautifulChaosJ at the #ANSWER anti-#Israel protest. @SpreadButter @RSMcCain #Racism #Gaza pic.twitter.com/yzWGJuFC9f

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

Communists and #Hamas solidarity protesters at #Wilshire pro-#Gaza hate-fest. @LegInsurrection pic.twitter.com/d0ZvoTSJrf

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Here's the table for the Revolutionary Communist Party at the #Wilshire pro-Hamas protest. pic.twitter.com/6Qt9Ac7Wvp

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain @MichelleMalkin Pro-amnesty protesters in solidarity with #Hamas. #ANSWERLA pic.twitter.com/nSjPOFNFKi

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Here's violent racist "Cassandra" whose "friends" assaulted me in Anaheim. #Wilshire https://t.co/1NhhAzamPD

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@ExJon The pro-Gaza Vichy protesters are out in L.A. #Wilshire #ANSWERLA #Hamas. @RSMcCain @BobBelvedere pic.twitter.com/Ox0JzplVJD

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@MichelleMalkin Pro-#Hamas women with cookie-cutter #ANSWER signs at #Wilshire anti-Israel hate-fest. @RSMcCain pic.twitter.com/A9f8VrT9Ym

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Idiot "Che" commie protester raises fist in solidarity with #Hamas. Sign calls for Israel's destruction. pic.twitter.com/4OGGFbjVcj

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@Red__Rover #Hamas useful idiots on #Wilshire protesting for #Gaza and #terrorism. pic.twitter.com/CoPVqSmoyG

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

On #Wilshire, pro-#Hamas protesters chanting. @RSMcCain @PatDollard #Leftist #Racism https://t.co/X5i37bThyD

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@Instapundit Useful idiot #Hamas solidarity protesters in Los Angeles #Wilshire https://t.co/W6XIIAOd5K

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

#Wilshire march against Israel starting. @RSMcCain https://t.co/KOuxCG4tBS

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain #Hamas protest going under 405 freeway. #ANSWERLA https://t.co/mBmLUmBgd5

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Almost to San Vicente on #Wilshire. @PatDollard #ANSWERLA https://t.co/FWKPQFYzhY

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Protesters chanting #Hamas slogan "From the river to the sea ... Palestine will be free." #ANSWE... https://t.co/kfZJ8Oe0k0

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

Communists protest against Israel in Los Angeles. #Wilshire @RSMcCain pic.twitter.com/W9r8ZekZOx

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@SpreadButter Protesters now outside the #Israeli embassy on #Wilshire in L.A. @RSMcCain pic.twitter.com/ggGdm5rDUp

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

Protesters decrying "criminal" Israel occupation outside embassy on #Wilshire. @RSMcCain pic.twitter.com/dnjVXOirom

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Protesters chanting outside #Israeli embassy. #Wilshire. https://t.co/ZKO6II6RQp

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

#ANSWERLA protesters now screaming at Israel supporters. @RSMcCain https://t.co/ZbPrFuoIEV

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

@RSMcCain More from #Wilshire. https://t.co/RvK0bIsufe

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Cops keeping pro-#Israel supporters back away from racist #Hamas thugs. https://t.co/6W68RIP15O

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

Protesters arrive back at #Wilshire Federal Building. #Hamas Solidarity. @Red__Rover pic.twitter.com/y6TNuELDON

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain County Sheriff's deputies with riot gear across from #Wilshire #Hamas protest. pic.twitter.com/bMt5zgP215

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain More riot cops at #ANSWERLA protest. pic.twitter.com/qQzZ3Yke1A

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Anti-#Israel 9/11 truther at #ANSWERLA protest. #Wilshire. pic.twitter.com/3elBaMoxNP

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Sheriff's deputies warning #Hamas supporter to stay the f-k back. #ANSWERLA https://t.co/AUjtd7Cd34

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Now being swarmed by #ANSWERLA https://t.co/W21k02IdO6

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain More cowardly #ANSWERLA racists. https://t.co/hrKS5CMlqD

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain Pro-#Hamas protester getting in my face at #ANSWERLA protest. pic.twitter.com/lkZzyuEArJ

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain This pro-#Hamas woman following me around trying to intimidate. https://t.co/k480iH9Llc

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain, recharging my phone. Here's #Hamas banner from #ANSWERLA march to #Israeli embassy earlier. pic.twitter.com/INXAs695hy

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 2, 2014

.@RSMcCain This little old communist Che Guevara wannabe was at the head of @ANSWER's march. #Wilshire pic.twitter.com/5WLXvp7NRm

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

.@RSMcCain More dirty scum protesters at #Wilshire march. pic.twitter.com/vy8juPyImv

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

.@RSMcCain Large banner with communist hammer and sickle at head of #ANSWER march. Lots of socialist scumbags. pic.twitter.com/bszIssKCFv

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

.@RSMcCain Cops put their riot helmets on, at #Wilshire protest. It's still going on. pic.twitter.com/zCZT0YHsQ4

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

"Israel is a Nazi cancer." #Wilshire #Hamas #ANSWER pic.twitter.com/QEzA23nb6N

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

.@RSMcCain Local KTLA reporter surrounded by #Hamas solidarity protesters. https://t.co/4pIYUd5g25

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

.@RSMcCain Definitely a mob atmosphere. #Hamas #Wilshire protest. https://t.co/7H5pyDpxP5

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014

.@RSMcCain Over and out from #Wilshire #ANSWER protest. Thanx4RTs!! pic.twitter.com/ad2W0iskhl

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 3, 2014