Antifa, the far-left pukes who've turned politics into a thug act, especially in Portland, Oregon, is getting itself into some kind of death spiral.

Here's a sketchy initial news report about a killing among this bunch from Oregon Public Broadcasting:

Portland Police say a prominent anti-fascist activist was killed early Saturday outside Cider Riot, a Northeast Portland club and a popular gathering spot for left-wing protestors. Sean D. Kealiher, 23, was hit by an SUV a little after midnight. He had been at the club earlier in the evening. Friends drove him to the hospital, where he died. Someone fired shots at the SUV after it hit Kealiher, and the vehicle crashed into the headquarters of the Oregon Democratic Party. The hit and run is being investigated as a possible homicide

Here's another report from Oregon Live.

Based on the initial reports, it looks like someone ran the 23 year-old down with a vehicle in front of a far-left drinking establishment and then tried to make a run for it. Then someone with a gun shot at the fleeing vehicle, prompting it to crash into the local headquarters of the Democratic Party. That's a lot of leftism in a small space. The news reports don't say what happened to the driver, but based on there being no arrests, and no reported beatdowns so far either, he seems to have gotten away. How he got away from someone shooting a gun at him raises the question of whether he, too, had a gun. How'd a guy like that get away?

Both the public radio station and Oregon Live point a finger to a right-wing group called Patriot Prayer, which had come over to the leftist turf and rumbled with Antifa last May 1.

Since I know nothing about this group, and since they fought Antifa earlier, it's a reasonable possibility it could have been one of them, or some other right-wing extremists on a revenge mission and the cops investigating this are probably considering it.

But if so, they would be a clever bunch, and people who engage in street fighting aren't always this way. Their Facebook site is loaded with compassion comments for the victim of the violence and consolations to the young man's mother who, assuming it's really her, and that's a big if, frequents that board. The group, and it doesn't look like a big one, also seems to be focused on some sort of event in Pennsylvania, and another one in Vancouver these days. They did march through Portland on Oct. 6. Pinning the blame on this group tthus far seems to be a rush to judgment.

At least as likely, is the possibility of internecine warfare amongst the Antifas themselves. Kealiher, the victim, was identified as an 'anarchist' which not the same as a communist, or other hard leftist, and leftist groups are well known for their enforcement of political correctness, purges, and "struggle sessions" amongst themselves. They are actually famous for their internecine internal warfare. Could it have been that? Seems like another possibility.

Meanwhile, a vehicular hit is a typical gang activity and yes, normally targeted at a leader, which Kealiher was, so a sort of picture is emerging there on that front, too. Kealiher had a stage name, "Armenio" which gang members have, too. And they all like to wear masks.

It just raises the question as to whether Antifa has entered a new sort of stage in its development, pure gangsterism coming out of its nasty politics, and is now emerging as a full blown criminal gang or mafia, fighting amongst its own if not right-wing gangs for supreme power.

We have seen cases where drug dealers have moved from mere crime to a will to political power, as in the case of Pablo Escobar in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Colombia. We have also seen cases where the opposite has happened, in Colombia again, where communists, such as FARC, descended from a communist terrorist will to power into pure drug-gang activity.

It happens as secretive groups develop their schtick. It leaves open the possibility that Antifa is following a sort of FARC-style gang thuggery pattern, and if so, it's hard to not think drug sales might be involved, as was the case with FARC.

What's Portland's drug situation? Pretty bad. The Department of Justice says the black and Hispanics gangs control the wholesale market, but the whites (and Antifa is pretty white) control mid-level and retail pot sales. There's no evidence at this point Antifa is trafficking drugs, but they do seem to be acting suspiciously like a gang, so maybe that's something to watch for.

It's a tenuous speculation to be sure, but it'shard to think all of this nasty stuff that's coming up with Antifa's name on it is all just random.

Editor's note: This piece originally stated that concealed carry was outlawed in Portland, which is not the case, AT regrets the error.