...RL event at the Sugar House Casino in Philadelphia, I'm struck by what an enigmatic group of people, whom I term the speakfree folks, are. They were so determined to host an event where it was encouraged to reasonably share any strongly held political and/or societal belief. Voices on the right and voices on the left took the stage together and and joined in incredibly civil panel discussions on topics of the day. If consensus was not reached, we all agreed to disagree and went to have a beer together when it was over at the Human Village Brewing Company. For some unfathomable reason, Antifa decided that people getting together and trying to reach consensus on improving vexing social issues would be a bad thing and must be stopped. Promoting viewpoint diversity was somehow such a heinous act that the event should be disrupted and disbanded. They bullied and threatened the original venue into reneging on their contract leaving the Speakfree leadership with over 500 guests and nowhere to gather. They posed such a threat that the after party location required shutting down an entire city street and the presence of untold number of police officers at an unreasonable cost to the local citizenry. Some ladies scheduled to moderate did not feel safe enough to participate after witnessing their abusive behavior. After changing the venue at the last moment the Speakfree leadership persevered and pulled off a fabulous event that produced a meaningful dialog on socially critical topics. At every step in the event I witnessed them encouraging Antifa to peacefully participate in the discussion. When they first began the disruption they were invited to participate, up until and including the day of the event they were encouraged to participate and speak their truth and at the after party they were invited to drink a beer and agree to disagree. They refused the Olive Branch every time it was offered and chose instead to stare menacingly yet impotently from across the street. So sorry to disappoint Antifa but a good time was had by all but you missed it sadly sitting on the curb outside looking in. Speakfree leadership proved that meaningful dialogue can and will be had and in doing so did indeed move the ball forward toward to a more peaceful coexistence with others. The ladies should feel safe at the next event to have their say and even more voices will be heard. Antifa adopted terroristic tactics to interrupt the free flow of ideas designed to foster a better understanding and acceptance of others. Their schtick is supposed to be an abhorrence of otherisms yet all the while they threatened all of the others who were not like them. That is the ironic dictionary definition of the fascism they purport to be opposed to. Anti my ass! The 1st Gen X #mindsirl #freespeak #minds #antifa Andy Ngo with @Timcast and @ottman.