How Joey Gibson made Bob Knight of Clark College look like an idiot.

Our system of public higher education is an embarrassment.

Not just here of course, but this is our local version.

Robert Knight is apparently the one responsible for flipping the switch to the off-position as a result of Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer having the audacity to actually show up with an anti-1639 information booth.

Knight is another one of the local disasters produced by a tailgate assignment at Ft. Vancouver, which is where they send officers in the Army whose careers are dead.  (See "No Choice" Royce Pollard.)

When confronted by (horrors!) the idea that Joey Gibson and a part of his group, Patriot Prayer, was going to come to Clark to set up an information booth against the gun-grabber initiative, I-1639, for last Monday, what decision did Knight make?

That moron actually felt the best thing to do would be to close down the entire school.

After all, we can't expose our little darlings to a position that disagrees with the leftist memes, can we?

I suggested that were I Gibson, I would have announced I'd be spending the entire month there... just to see what Knight would do.

What Gibson did do, was change the date from Monday to Wednesday.  And when Gibson showed up, what happened?

Absolutely nothing.  And it made Knight look like a reactionary pansy idiot.

Knight, who actually served as an Infantry officer for 21 years, apparently had surgery to replace his spine with peanut butter.  And at the first sign of controversy, he bailed on the 1st Amendment as if he had no idea what it was.

Well, Clark wasn't the only place Gibson went to: he also went to WSUV for the same reason: to speak out against the gun grabber initiative.

Soooo... imagine my surprise when this column appeared in the Oregonian as a result.

Elizabeth Hovde: The misunderstood Joey Gibson

Updated Oct 28, 12:30 PM; Posted Oct 28, 10:54 AM

The column was absolutely everything you would NOT expect it to be.

Hovde has been getting the usual hate response from the leftists.  But she told the world what most of us already knew:  That Gibson and his organization have absolutely nothing to do with racism or white supremacy.

That description was just hung on them by leftist haters to discredit him, as they attempt to discredit anyone smart enough to disagree with their form of militant communism.

Antifa, a terrorist organization, has branded Gibson thus.  But then, Antifa also spills blood, assaults, destroys, engages in city-sponsored anarchy (at least Wheeler-sponsored, anyway) and like all leftist groups, sets out to silence those opposed to their view and their actions.

And what did Hovde discover?

For two hours, I watched challenging, inquisitive, respectful conversations happening on the campus plaza between people of different political persuasions. Instead of the violence predicted, Gibson brought something we need more of: talk that leads to increased understanding about opposing thoughts and the people behind them. It was the kind of conversation that helps people find common ground. (Disclosure: I'm a WSUV adjunct professor who had a lot of interest in seeing how things went down on campus.) 

There was zero violence at the rally, as no groups showed up to offer it. Just in case, 15 Clark County sheriff's deputies were there alongside campus police. I saw a Washington State Patrol trooper, as well. The deputies I spoke with before the rally were comfortable with the situation and told me they felt very supported in their law-keeping efforts.  

"That's why we work over here," one Clark County deputy said. 

Contrast that with what has occurred at recent protests in Portland. The violence there prompted Daryl Turner, the president of the Portland police union, to call on Portland City Council members "to quit sitting on their hands," decry violence, hold people accountable and "support our officers when we act to preserve public safety." 

Turner also wrote in a recent Facebook post, "Our officers and our community face those who believe they can harass, assault and victimize Portlanders at will with no threat of arrest, indictment or conviction." After discussing the balance needed for protecting free speech and ensuring safety, Turner called the city out for a "culture of enablement" that's partly responsible for putting Portland in national headlines.

There's more in the column, which I urge you to read... but this is the gist of it.

Gibson was nothing like he's been portrayed and Hovde, to her credit, had the guts to write that.

As a result, the local leftist scum in the area have gone predictably insane.  The comments under her story fall just short of calling for her decapitation with appropriate public involvement and ceremony, of course.

And that's how the left rolls, you see.  They no doubt are foaming at the mouth to get some sort of apology from the Big O and it remains to be seen if they'll get it.... as so many others who start out speaking the truth only to cave to the incessant whining of the left.

Hovde's column shows how inadequate and cowardly Knight's response was.  Another famous soldier had a philosophy that Knight should have emulated:  "Never take council of your fears." (God help me, it was actually CONFEDERATE General Stonewall Jackson who gets the credit for that) and the irony of it all is the sure and certain knowledge that had Knight simply treated Gibson an Patriot Prayer like any other off-campus group engaging in this sort of activity, they would not have received a 19th of the publicity they got, and there's a good likelihood that this column, which should go a long ways towards rehabilitating the groups image, likely would not have been written.

So, on one hand, Knight looks like an idiot because he was afraid.... of nothing.  On the other hand, his fear resulted in someone FINALLY telling the truth about Patriot Prayer and Joey Gibson.

And for that, I am grateful.