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2020-07-22 Fifth Column
Navy veteran beaten and pepper-sprayed by federal agents at protest in Portland
[USAToday] A Navy veteran said he went to a protest in Portland to talk with the federal agents deployed by President Donald Trump. Instead, he was beaten and sprayed with pepper gas in a confrontation captured in a now-viral video.

Although protests in Portland have been going on for weeks, Christopher David, 53,
...who generally goes by the less formal Chris David...
told the Associated Press he decided to join the protest for the first time Saturday night because he was disturbed by reports of federal officers in unmarked cars arresting people without explanation.
Sure he was. What else, besides supporting an anarcho-communist front group, has he been doing since he left the Navy, and what did he do and for how long, back before he was discharged?
“What they were doing was unconstitutional,” said David, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a Navy veteran.
That’s certainly one perspective. Not what one might call an educated or thoughtful perspective, but definitely one of many possible ways to view the situation..
”Sometimes I worry that people take the oath of office or the oath to the Constitution, and it’s just a set of words that mean nothing. They really don’t feel in their heart the weight of those words.”

David said the federal officers came charging out of the federal building and plowed into a group of protesters. He said he stood his ground after one officer shoved him backward. Another officer pointed a semi-automatic weapon at his chest.

“They came out to fight,” David said.

What happened when he tried to talk to the officers is captured in a video shot by Zane Sparling, a reporter with The Portland Tribune.
The PT is one of those free semi-weekly newspapers that isn’t even worth what the reader didn’t pay for it. But we can tell how good it is by the fact that its reporters submit several second long cell phone recordings as legitimate work product...
One officer hits David with a baton five times, blows that broke his ring finger and another bone in his hand. David doesn't move or flinch. Then, another officer – wearing green military camouflage, a helmet and gas mask – sprays him in the face with what appears to be pepper gas.

David tries to shove the officer's hand away, then finally turns around and walks away while raising his middle fingers. He is wearing a Navy sweatshirt and hat.

Video of the incident has more than 13 million views as of Tuesday morning. David said he will need reconstructive surgery on his finger.

Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, told CNN that he was “familiar with the video” and that the officers were with the U.S. Marshals Service. Cuccinelli said DHS officers were in Portland because of threats to federal facilities but added that “maintaining an appropriate response is an ongoing obligation.”

DHS called some of the protesters “violent anarchists” in a statement about the protests in Portland. The agency said protesters had launched objects at federal officers, set fires and tried to barricade officers inside the federal building.

David said he has become a symbol of the militarized response to the protests in Portland but wants to shift focus back to the goals of the protesters.

“It isn’t about me getting beat up. It’s about focusing back on the original intention of all of these protests, which is Black Lives Matter,” David said.

Posted by trailing wife 2020-07-22 00:51|| || Front Page|| [14 views ]  Top
 File under: Antifa/BLM 

#1 Calling bullshit on this. The mere fact that USA Today is putting it out there makes it stink.
Posted by Whiskey Mike 2020-07-22 01:01||   2020-07-22 01:01|| Front Page Top

#2 There have been a bunch of reports about this incident over the past two days, Whiskey Mike, including the New York Times, so I believe it happened. I would like to know more about Mr. David, USNA (class of ‘95 or so), and how he came to be staged for YouTube as the face of Antifa in Chicago.
Posted by trailing wife 2020-07-22 01:19||   2020-07-22 01:19|| Front Page Top

#3 Sorry — Portland. From the New York Times article about the Portland protests:

Attending the protests for the first time over the weekend was Christopher David, 53, a former Navy civil engineering corps officer and a 1988 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Mr. David, a 6-foot-2, 280-pound former Navy varsity wrestler...


Though it seems to me the reported graduation class year doesn’t fit with a claimed age of 53...
Posted by trailing wife 2020-07-22 01:30||   2020-07-22 01:30|| Front Page Top

#4 ...nor does the US Naval Academy offer a degree in civil engineering... See here.

How very curious, especially given all the editors and fact checkers they have over at the New York Times.
Posted by trailing wife 2020-07-22 01:34||   2020-07-22 01:34|| Front Page Top

#5 Though it seems to me the reported graduation class year doesn’t fit with a claimed age of 53...

21 - 22 in 1988.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-07-22 01:37||   2020-07-22 01:37|| Front Page Top

#6 Not licensed in Oregon as a Civil Engineer. I looked it up
Posted by Frank G 2020-07-22 04:26||   2020-07-22 04:26|| Front Page Top

#7 ...Go on over to This Ain't Hell at valorguardians.com for some interesting background on this. The crew there specializes in tracking down stolen valor cases, and they were able to track Mr. David down PDQ. Short version: he was in the Navy...but it also looks like he went in intending to provoke an incident - YMMV, of course.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski  2020-07-22 06:13||   2020-07-22 06:13|| Front Page Top

#8 Seems like the fellow might have been hit in the head before.
Posted by Skidmark 2020-07-22 07:10||   2020-07-22 07:10|| Front Page Top

#9 Seems like bullshit, but play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Posted by DarthVader 2020-07-22 08:57||   2020-07-22 08:57|| Front Page Top

#10 "Navy veteran beaten and pepper-sprayed by federal agents at protest in Portland"

So what?
If he behaved unlawfully then what is the issue?


Posted by Thorong Grundy1520 2020-07-22 09:44||   2020-07-22 09:44|| Front Page Top

#11 What would Dron66046 do?
Posted by Classical_Liberal 2020-07-22 10:58||   2020-07-22 10:58|| Front Page Top

#12  Go on over to This Ain't Hell at valorguardians.com for some interesting background

The direct URL for Mike Kozlowski’s thingy is here.

Thank you for correcting my math, g(r)omgoru.
Posted by trailing wife 2020-07-22 11:51||   2020-07-22 11:51|| Front Page Top

#13 You go out looking for trouble and it's usually pretty easy to find but you just might get a little more than you bargained for.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2020-07-22 11:58||   2020-07-22 11:58|| Front Page Top

#14 #12 Is not math, arithmetic - always make mistakes myself.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-07-22 13:24||   2020-07-22 13:24|| Front Page Top

#15 Happy to see This Ain't Hell continues on.
Posted by swksvolFF 2020-07-22 17:44||   2020-07-22 17:44|| Front Page Top

#16 He went to a riot to chat with the cops. Totally credible.
Posted by Grunter 2020-07-22 20:20||   2020-07-22 20:20|| Front Page Top

#17 From the This Ain't Hell link:
The veteran said he wanted to ask the officers whether they felt their actions violated the Constitution. Video shows them tear-gassing him and smashing his hand with baton blows.

I guess he got his answer.

Also, Navy veteran...Navy veteran...Navy veteran...Navy veteran...Navy veteran...

Yeah, this was as staged as a Japanese Noh play.
Posted by SteveS 2020-07-22 21:21||   2020-07-22 21:21|| Front Page Top

#18 Note the green lasers being used on the feds at both this and stolen valor video.

Tall guy's job was to cover the retreat, maybe get some video, video which ended up on my local new's montage - of course just the action part, not him sauntering up to fill the gap.
Posted by swksvolFF 2020-07-22 22:56||   2020-07-22 22:56|| Front Page Top

#19 I'd guess that ex-military with the right psychological profile are highly recruited for such positions.

Also note the shield bearers covering the retreat.
Posted by swksvolFF 2020-07-22 23:00||   2020-07-22 23:00|| Front Page Top

16:25 borgboy
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