Eight members of an Antifa group were sentenced to jail last Friday. The underlying incident happened in San Diego back in January 2021 when a pro-Trump rally was met by an equal number of counter-protesters. Many of the counter-protesters were anti-fascists dressed in black clothes and prepared to attack people that day. The case dragged on because of the pandemic but in June 2022 11 members of the group were indicted by a grand jury.

Nine of the 11 pleaded guilty and the final two, Brian Cortez Lightfoot and Jeremy Jonathan White, were convicted in a trial that concluded in May. As I described last week, White had traveled to the event from Los Angeles and has sought every possible loophole to avoid taking responsibility for his crimes. He changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity at one point and then retracted that after he was convicted. He also announced just prior to this sentencing that he was trans.

None of this seemed to help his case. On the contrary, the Judge presiding over the sentencing noted that White, unlike some of the other anarchists, had never made any statement of remorse.

Judge Daniel Goldstein considered remorse from Antifa members but sentenced the 27-year-old Los Angeles man to two years in jail for participating in the violent brawl against Trump supporters in a so-called “Patriot’s March” days after the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“You need to be punished for your violent behavior,” Goldstein told Lightfoot...

The judge said the tipping point was when White showed no remorse during his testimony in trial.

“Here’s your chance to say, ‘yeah, I’m really sorry for what happened, I’m really sorry for that woman who got thrown down, pepper sprayed, a chair bashed over her,’ I mean none of it,” said Goldstein.

The judge said during the sentencing that he wished he'd been able to give White a longer sentence as he considered him the ringleader.

Later in the hearing, after sentencing a different defendant, the judge said he would have given White a longer sentence, if possible. Goldstein said that White, who was convicted by the jury on one count of conspiracy to riot, was a “ringleader” of the group unlike many of the other defendants who joined because they were followers who were looking to fit in. White’s attorney told reporters in May after the verdict was read that White intends to appeal his conviction.

The other Antifa members sentenced Friday had pleaded guilty and were each given a jail sentence of 6 months to one year. Three other defendants were previously sentenced to between 2 years and five years in prison for their actions at the same rally.

Judge Goldstein also made a point of saying he believed Antifa was more of an organization than a leaderless group.

“I don’t believe it’s as structured as a criminal cartel,” Goldstein said. “I think it pops up fairly fast … But it does appear they have funding, and they have an ability to make contact and morph into other things very quickly, in many different jurisdictions.”

Here's a local news report on the sentencing.

Finally, this isn't directly connected to the San Diego case except for the fact that it once again shows who these people are. One of Antifa's distinctive beliefs is that violence solves problems. Earlier this year they announced plans for an anarchist bookfair to be held in North Carolina:

From June 28th to 30th, 2024, Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair (ACAB) will once again converge on so-called Asheville, NC, opening a space for all of us committed to liberation and world-building in the here and now to plot and play, mourn and love, co-educate and collaborate. The ACAB collective invites you to join us!

Saturday, between 80 and 100 people showed up for a seminar at the Asheville library titled "Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance." Three residents of Asheville, two of them Jewish, also showed up and livestreamed the event. Some of the anarchists noticed and the meeting quickly turned into a brawl.

"I was just sitting there recording the people who were surrounding us, and a woman grabbed the phone and started running towards the door," she explained.

Buckley said she tried to get her phone back and that's when the violence began, according to the group.

"I jumped on her to get my phone back. There was a swarm of dozens of people that attacked me, and then and Bob and David came to try to help me and then they were swarmed and attacked also," Buckley said. "They were hitting me, punching me, punching my wrists, stomping on my ankles. Somebody choked me with something."

You can see the start of the incident on the livestream. In fact it was people watching the livestream who called police.

Antifa and far-left extremists jumped Jewish people, including an elderly man, who live-streamed their Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair (ACAB) event held at the West Asheville Public Library in North Carolina on June 29.

The masked militants didn't want the pro-terrorism… pic.twitter.com/QHIL1wTRpu

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) July 1, 2024

Police are now investigating but so far no one has been arrested.