February 5, 2020: Distancing -

Oregon Republican Knute Buehler, who lost the governor's race to Kate Brown in 2018, announced that he was leaving the GOP, and becoming an Independent, after the Oregon Republican Party declared the January 6th insurrection a "false flag" operation. Buehler said that he doesn't  "know what the Republican Party stands for." Hard to blame him for distancing himself from that crew.

And at the same time, Rose City Antifa, which was founded in 2007, sent a note to local media explaining what they stand for and against, and offering to help news outlets with research or reporting at any time. Partly, they wanted to distance themselves from recent Portland protests that have resulted in vandalism.   

RCA wrote that while many protestors "may consider themselves antifascists in ideology, we narrowly define antifascism as actions taken to oppose the insurgent right-wing. Under this definition, protests that are not involved in direct opposition to far-right violence and instead combat the state, capitalism, etc. would not be considered antifascist protests. Instead, these would be more accurately described as anarchist, anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, or another term reflecting the specific ideology of the participants (boldface mine).

I'm sure the RCA folks are beyond tired of being blamed for the actions of some insatiably angry and destructive types. Willamette Week notes that this message "marks the first time Rose City Antifa has denied responsibility for Portland's civil unrest." Good timing, RCA. I would cut my ties with the vandals now, too, if I had those ties.