What Really Happened in Charlottesville

Robert · Aug 18, 2017

What Really Happened in Charlottesville is in the video. My comments are limited to what you see with your own eyes, what you hear in the video, I mean, the actual record.

So, if you watch the video, do you have a different view of the events?

Woody01 · Aug 18, 2017

I suspected the police did not handle this whole thing well. This kind of gives me more evidence that it was handled badly by them.

I also fully believe the militarization of police in this country is a very wrong direction to take. It is also something that both sides of the aisle are supporting.

I fully support the right for peaceful assembly and at least some assurance those people participating will be protected to the best of the ability by the police if needed.

I fully do not support the people showing up to unite with Nazis and KKK members to the same degree I do not support Nazis and the KKK.

If I had to chose a side to sympathize with it would not be the people marching under Nazi flags and chanting slogans inspired by Nazis from Germany in the 1930's and 40's.

IMHO Antifa does a disservice to what they claim to be fighting for in a lot of cases. Peaceful counter protest can work. They should let the other side resort to violence and defend themselves in needed.

Instead listing the groups that showed up I'll just point this out of possible source these groups get their inspiration from:

waltky · Aug 19, 2017

Leader of Charlottesville White Nationalist Group Was Marine Recruiter...

Leader of Charlottesville White Nationalist Group Was Marine Recruiter
16 Aug 2017 | This article by Adam Linehan originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old Army basic training wash-out accused of running down counter-protesters demonstrating against hate groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, may not have been the only U.S. military veteran marching under the banner of white nationalism this weekend, Splinter reports. Dillon Ulysses Hopper, the self-described "CEO" of the Vanguard America neo-Nazi hate group whose members appeared alongside Fields in a widely-circulated photograph taken at the rally, reportedly joined the Marine Corps in 2005. A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hopper's military records show the 29-year-old New Mexico native (whose birth name is Dillon Irizarry) served as an enlisted Marine, an information security technician (MOS 0681).

Dillon Hopper in Columbus, Ohio

What makes Hopper's background even more troubling is his service at home. A Vanguard America representative told Splinter that Hopper has identified as a white supremacist since 2012, the same year he started a three-and-a-half-year stint as a Marine recruiter in Ohio, where he was assigned to recruit students in at least one high school. A photo from that era shows a clean-shaven, bespectacled Hopper standing in front of a Marine Corps recruiting poster. These days, Hopper reportedly goes by the name "Commander Dillon" -- and his "army" was on full display at the #UniteTheRight rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, when the group marched alongside other extremist organizations in protest of the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. The ensuing clashes with counter-protesters left a 32-year-old woman dead and dozens more injured, sparking national outrage.

Hopper managed to rise to the rank of staff sergeant and remained on active duty until January 2017, according to his military records. He claimed in an interview with Splinter that he became the leader of Vanguard America one year ago. Marine Corps policy prohibits members from participating in organizations "that espouse supremacist causes," and violators face possible separation or non-judicial punishment. Evidently that wasn't enough to deter Hopper. Hopper's ascension to the head of Vanguard America may be evidence of a growing and troubling trend within the U.S armed forces. A 2008 FBI report found that "white supremacist leaders are making a concerted effort to recruit active-duty soldiers and recent combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." According to Splinter, Hopper deployed twice overseas, serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2008 and in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010. It is unclear if he ever saw combat in his role as an information security technician.

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Charlottesville Driver Who Rammed Crowd Washed Out of Army
14 Aug 2017 | The driver accused of ramming his vehicle into a crowd in Charlottesville on Saturday served a brief stint in the U.S. Army but ultimately washed out.

James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old from Ohio who was charged with second-degree murder after allegedly killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and critically injuring several others in the incident, served on active duty for about four months from August to December 2015, according to an emailed statement from William Sharp, a public affairs officer for the service at the Pentagon. "The Army can confirm that James Alex Fields reported for basic military training in August of 2015," Sharp said. "He was, however, released from active duty due to a failure to meet training standards in December of 2015. As a result, he was never awarded a military occupational skill nor was he assigned to a unit outside of basic training."

James Alex Fields Jr. poses for a mugshot after he allegedly drove into counter-protesters on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville.

Video of the incident in Charlottesville circulated on social media, and Ryan Kelly, a photographer for The Daily Progress, snapped an iconic photograph that shows a gray Challenger plowing into a crowd of people, throwing victims into the air. In addition to the fatality, 19 others were injured, several critically. Just hours after Fields drove into the crowd, a state police helicopter that was providing surveillance to the rally crashed, killing troopers Jay Cullen and Berke Bates. The incident in Charlottesville started when white nationalists gathered Friday for a "Unite the Right" rally to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee -- a memorial that in 2015 was vandalized with the words, "Black Lives Matter."

Another group of counter-protesters held their own rally Saturday and marched while holding signs that read "Black Lives Matter" and "Love." In addition to second-degree murder, Fields is charged with three counts of malicious wounding and failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a death, The New York Times reported. White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said the attack could be defined as domestic terrorism but legally is a criminal act. "I certainly think any time that you commit an attack against people to incite fear, it is terrorism," he said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" news talk show. "It meets the definition of terrorism."

People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

McMaster added, "But what this is, what you see here, is you see someone who is a criminal, who is committing a criminal act, against fellow Americans. A criminal act that may have been motivated, and we'll see what the -- what's turned up in this investigation, by this hatred and bigotry, which I mentioned we have to extinguish in our nation." Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday said he has opened a federal investigation into the racially charged case, which he described as an "evil attack" and domestic terrorism.

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VA Governor On Charlottesville: Militias Had 'Better' Guns Than Police
15 Aug 2017 | Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe defended the actions taken Saturday by state and local law enforcement in response to clashes between white nationalist protesters and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, VA.

McAuliffe told The New York Times in an impromptu street interview Sunday morning that police in Charlottesville did their best considering the circumstances. "It's easy to criticize, but I can tell you this, 80% of the people here had semiautomatic weapons," McAuliffe said. Law enforcement in Charlottesville have received widespread criticism from counterprotesters, bystanders, and participants of the white nationalist "Unite The Right" rally. Many called the police's handling of the event hands-off, often appearing outnumbered and waiting too long to break up skirmishes between protesters and counter-protesters.

Former police officials in New York and Philadelphia made similar criticisms that, despite a large mobilization of law enforcement personnel -- Charlottesville's mayor put the number at 1,000 -- police failed to separate the clashing factions at the beginning of the event, allowing the violence to quickly grow out of hand. Though McAuliffe strongly commended law enforcement's handling of the event, he appeared to suggest that police were unprepared for who actually showed up to the rally. "You saw the militia walking down the street, you would have thought they were an army ... I was just talking to the State Police upstairs; [the militia members] had better equipment than our State Police had," McAuliffe said. "And yet not a shot was fired, zero property damage."

White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' clash with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Lee Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

McAuliffe's response that law enforcement's handling of the violence was successful because there were no bullets fired and "zero property damage" would appear to ignore that dozens were left injured and a 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when an apparent white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd. McAuliffe, for his part, suggested that Heyer's death couldn't have been prevented. "You can't stop some crazy guy who came here from Ohio and used his car as a weapon. He is a terrorist," he said.

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What Really Happened in Charlottesville

Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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