Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets

By artappraiser on Thu, 07/16/2020 - 11:50pm |

Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets . News | OPB https://t.co/jlwAKl4aFB
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 17, 2020

URL:

https://www.opb.org/news/article/federal-law-enforcement-unmarked-vehicles-portland-protesters/

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Related press release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Acting Secretary Wolf Condemns The Rampant Long-Lasting Violence In Portland

Release Date:

July 16, 2020

“The city of Portland has been under siege for 47 straight days by a violent mob while local political leaders refuse to restore order to protect their city. Each night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property, including the federal courthouse, and attack the brave law enforcement officers protecting it.

“A federal courthouse is a symbol of justice - to attack it is to attack America. Instead of addressing violent criminals in their communities, local and state leaders are instead focusing on placing blame on law enforcement and requesting fewer officers in their community. This failed response has only emboldened the violent mob as it escalates violence day after day.

“This siege can end if state and local officials decide to take appropriate action instead of refusing to enforce the law. DHS will not abdicate its solemn duty to protect federal facilities and those within them. Again, I reiterate the Department’s offer to assist local and state leaders to bring an end to the violence perpetuated by anarchists,” said Acting Secretary Chad Wolf

Below is a snapshot of the lawless destruction and violence of the past several weeks that Department of Homeland Security and its subcomponents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Federal Protective Service have faced: [....]

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 2:50am

Homeland Security's pussies these days - afraid of graffiti, fireworks and a few broken windows.

Give these guys a dictionary for "violent" and "anarchist". It's not the same as "protesters", and if these federal schmucks are so shitty at their jobs And can't distinguish grafitti from deadly shootings, maybe they should just retire to Covid, Florida and find new cops who can police in modern times.

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 3:32am

I am aghast that someone sent in this unmarked goon force to a locality to protect Federal Property, I am hoping that some court action takes care of this pronto.

That said, I have looked at several videos of those being "arrested" by these goons in the dark.

They are wearing black ninja outfits and are out "protesting" all on their lonesome. And I just want to know what exactly they are protesting?

Cause it looks to me like they are protesting for the right to deface federal buildings with graffiti, late at night when people aren't around.

So that in the morning the poor essential workers charged with upkeep of the Federal Buildings we all pay for with our taxes will have to spend time cleaning the graffitti off.

I really don't like my tax money spent to clean up after the entertainment of young people who are bored and have got interested in playing "revolution" and want to play ninja warrior against "the man".

CAN WE PUHLEEZ STOP THE BULLSHIT LEFTY KID KABUKI SHOW? Go home! Agitate online! Quit with the fucking graffitti, none of you seem to have Keith Haring's talent. In this way, you will not furnish the Trump administration with opportunity to play Kabuki back but force them to get back to ,splaining their own incompetence with real issues of import.

None of the graffitti is helping "the people", and it is hurting essential workers and taxpayers.

Go home, go home, go home, enough of the "play street fighting man" bullshit, making fools of the movement that lucked into having broad support is all you are doing.

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 6:46pm

Evidence those taken into vans committed crimes? None pulled off the streets were charged. Unidentified agents have also violated city law on the use of chemical agents, and the use of projectiles which have blinded 3 protesters by hitting them in the face, these "nonlethal" rounds are specifically intended and officials are trained to not fire them at the head.

BTW your taxes are paying billions for 200 miles of The Wall, a Trump campaign gimmick.

Nothing the Trump administration does is helping any "people" but Trump, and his lackeys. He is known to seek and create chaos, anywhere and everywhere. The biggest most perverse Kabuki Show is in the White House.

by NCD on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 7:31pm

Graffiti vs. Secret Government Police grabbing people.

THE SECRET POLICE ARE THE GREATER EVIL.

Authoritarian Government versus graffiti

AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM

The Governor did not authorize these goons.

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 8:04pm

Regarding going home

The Governor wants the government goons to go home

The Mayor of Portland wants these goons to come home

The Congressional delegation wants the goons to go home.

Graffiti is a local police matter.

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 8:08pm

Nothing I disagree with there.

Except that the goofball idiot children on the streets (who seem to have little to do with BLM) give an opportunity for the goons to be there in the first place.

Why even do that?

Why bother the local police with that stupid shit as well?

What is the purpose of being there?

Why do you and NCD automatically take sides when both sides are shitheads?

Why feed the idea that this is a war. It's not. It's idiots playing culture wars to no end and for no good purpose.

The fake antifa types just love it that this is making them heeeroes to the far left side of the culture wars and the Trump admin goons just love it that so they can be heeeroes on Laura Ingraham.

And the rest of us pay for these games in all kinds of ways. None of them good. Wasted time effort and money while there are serious problems with people dying.

IT'S ALL KABUKI BULLSHIT AND DISTRACTION and just raises expensive legal cases that don't really need to be litigated right now, are not priority if these parties weren't distracting to make them so.

I am so sick of smart people falling for this shit!

Biden himself should tell all parties, the kids and the goons: GO FUCKING HOME and deal with reality.

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 8:51pm

Kids do childish things, see graffiti

Authoritarians use armed secret police. There is a world of difference in the level of seriousness

This is not Kabuki

This is a Constitutional crisis

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 9:17pm

And rmrd is a drama queen on the internet.

Me, I'll wait Obama (Constitutional lawyer as well as ex-Pres.) Biden and Hillary and Bill and the Supreme Court get their knickers all in a twist over the Trump admin goon force in Portland, crying "Constitutional Crisis". Rather than waiting for the Constitutional system to rectify the situation.

Actually a real Constitutional Crisis (not an rmrd drama queen one) is in the making right now with governor of Georgia suing the mayor of Atlanta over a U.S. public health measures and no leadership on the issue coming from a higher up executive....not to mention the C.D.C. basically giving up its authority concering these matters..

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 9:47pm

Putting secret police in a city against the wishes of the Governor, Congressional delegation, and Mayor is a crisis.

While you remain on the sidelines as citizens are grabbed off the streets by secret police, I will go with the outrage of the following people:

Oregon Governor

“This political theater from President Trump has nothing to do with public safety,” said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, in a Twitter thread condemning the arrests.

“The President is failing to lead this nation. Now he is deploying federal officers to patrol the streets of Portland in a blatant abuse of power by the federal government,” Brown wrote.

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, pinned a video of one of the arrests in question to the top of his official Twitter account, and wrote, “Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters.”

“These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end,” wrote Merkley, referring to the president and U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden

But Oregon’s other senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, wrote on Twitter, ”’A peaceful protester in Portland was shot in the head by one of Donald Trump’s secret police.”

“Now Trump and Chad Wolf are weaponizing the DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on the streets of my hometown because they think it plays well with right-wing media,” Wyden wrote.

Portland Mayor

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office referred local press to his statement earlier in the week about federal law enforcement agencies dealing with protesters.

“We do not need or want their help,” Wheeler, a Democrat said in that statement.

“The best thing they can do is stay inside their building, or leave Portland altogether.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/george-floyd-federal-authorities-grab-portland-protesters.html

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 10:08pm

Listen to him:

Try to relax.
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) July 18, 2020

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 9:48pm

Fuck him

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 10:08pm

Ok trying again.PRIORITIES. Famous for "no drama". Not known for running around like chicken with head cut off crying "constitutional crisis":

The latest data offers a tragic reminder that the virus doesn’t care about spin or ideology––and that the best thing we can do for our economy is to deal with our public health crisis.https://t.co/c1iGYA6pr3
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 15, 2020

I like to remind you that there was a similar "constitutional crisis" only a few weeks ago with unmarked thugs hired by the Feds running around Washington D.C. All gone now. Was bascially kabuki.

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 10:16pm

PRIORITIES

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Marshals Service is investigating after a protester was hospitalized in critical condition over the weekend after being hit in the head by a less-lethal round fired by a federal law enforcement officer, authorities said Monday.

The investigation into the shooting will be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy J. Williams said. He said his office would have no further comment.

“I want to make it very clear so that there’s no confusion,” Portland's Democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler, said on Monday. “The serious injuries sustained by Donavan LaBella at the hands of a federal officer were unacceptable.”

https://katu.com/news/local/justice-department-investigates-as-portland-protester-shot-in-head-with-less-lethal-round

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 10:30pm

The secret police have no identifiers

The Proud Boys, Boogaloos, etc can feel free to play dress up and abuse citizens

This is a time for concern, not a time for calm

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 10:58pm

Fractured skull

No big deal

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 11:00pm

Kids do childish things, see graffiti

For some reason I get the idea that you just wouldn't feel the same way about Proud Boys putting White Power symbols allover Fed buildings for many nights in the row.

Luckily it will be the ACLU that will be a major part of litigating these issues and not rmrd, tribal drama queen on the internet.

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 11:25pm

The police would be called upon to combat graffiti

From the drama queens of the ACLU

PORTLAND — The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon today sued the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals Service, which have deployed federal agents to Portland, Oregon. These agents, which have been deployed over the widespread objections of local leaders and community members, have been indiscriminately using tear gas, rubber bullets, and acoustic weapons against protesters, journalists, and legal observers. Federal officers also shot a protester in the head Sunday with a rubber bullet fracturing the person’s face and skull.

Today’s lawsuit seeks to block federal law enforcement from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or using physical force against journalists or legal observers. The lawsuit is one of many the ACLU will be filing against federal authorities in Portland for their unconstitutional attacks on people protesting the police killing of George Floyd.

“This is a fight to save our democracy,” said Kelly Simon, interim legal director with the ACLU of Oregon. “Under the direction of the Trump administration, federal agents are terrorizing the community, risking lives, and brutally attacking protesters demonstrating against police brutality. This is police escalation on top of police escalation. These federal agents must be stopped and removed from our city. We will continue to bring the full fire power of the ACLU to bear until this lawless policing ends.”

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-federal-agents-portland

A fight to save our democracy

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 3:34am

We spank kids, we punish them, we keep them off the streets, we give them other activities to grow properly.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 1:17am

We don't send in secret government police

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 3:34am

So say what you fucking would do, rather than acting like all this Is nothing. How would you deal with boogaloos and Proud Boys, or there you would use secret police? You say "the police would be called", yet you seem to be calling fór the police to stand down. Should they hop on one leg? Only come in to give hugs?

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 6:31am

Graffiti is a police matter

Secret police. Is done by authoritarian governments

The Governor doesn't want secret police

The two U.S.Senators don't ant secret police

The Mayor doesn't want secret police

Indo think police need to be reformed and that police unions have too much power.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 9:27am

I repeat the facts above because the facts are straightforward

Secret police are not acceptable

John Lewis and C.T. Vivian would not sanction the tactics used by the secret police

Edit to add:

Do you agree with secret police as the solution to a local problem!

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 10:42am

Coming for the Marxists

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-revolution-is-winning/

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 10:07am

Peruse the National Review site, they are hardly removed from QAnon or Infowars. Russian trolls are more rational.

Recent example cited at 1619 blog, against "safetyism" and pro-COVID, "H.G. Wells and the Partnership between Viruses and Humans".

"virus partnership"? i- "immune systems and genetic variations, and other evolutionary adaptations, have lived in vain." masks a "lust for power" and "infinitely cruel."

by NCD on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 11:04am

ACLU is taking care of this! Let them. Let them do the job they specialize in. Move on to other things.

ACLU of Oregon filed what it says is the first of many lawsuits over the Trump administration's deployment of federal law enforcement to Portland https://t.co/ieFReKDcrl
— reason (@reason) July 18, 2020

Meantime while they are working on those already confronted by the goons, kids who want to protest the Federal government in Portland on Federal property would be wise to do it peacefully in the daytime and not attack property that belongs to us all and will belong to us when another administration comes in. One that is not looking to take advantage of every fucking stupid thing lefty protesters do.

A warning, though, this may end up with a legal special force designated by Congress to protect Federal property. All cause of childish addiction to graffitti by a few.

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 10:27pm

This will definitely not wind up with a "legal special force designated by Congress to protect Federal government property". This is typical Trump cowardice. Unleash overwhelming unnecessary force on the weak, the defenceless and the desperate. It's kids in cages Act Two, a fascist show for his bloodthirsty base.

These officers are not on federal property they are roaming over the city. They are not communicating or coordinating with local police or city officials, who in fact want, and have demanded, that they leave.

by NCD on Fri, 07/17/2020 - 11:02pm

AA's point is we give the government cover to be shitheads, and It's already grown so dangerous in this regard, the last 20 years, the faction of US voters who just want a law-and-order Daddy to make the world behave.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 1:33am

PS/ Key features of Barr's Army:

1⃣ Heavily armed
2⃣ Roving (i.e. offensive and defensive)
3⃣ Unidentifiable (no nameplates)
4⃣ Silent (no communication with citizens)
5⃣ Lawless (little communication with local officials)
6⃣ Use-of-force protocols and scope of authority unknown
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 18, 2020

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 2:17am

Very encouraging to know the Senator gets it, what's really going on here, means most of his colleagues do too:

.@realDonaldTrump: Get your DHS lackey and uninvited paramilitary actions out of my state. Our communities are not a stage for your twisted reelection campaign.
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 17, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 3:49am

The current state of the Constitutional crisis

While the protesters have repeatedly decried the city’s own police tactics, Mayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner, and other leaders have united in calls for federal agencies to stay away. City commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty went to join protesters gathered outside the county Justice Center downtown, saying the city will “not allow armed military forces to attack our people.”

“Today we show the country and the world that the city of Portland, even as much as we fight among ourselves, will come together to stand up for our Constitutional rights,” Ms. Hardesty said Friday.

While officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have described the stepped-up involvement of federal officers as part of an effort to oppose lawlessness in the city, state and local leaders on Friday contended that the federal officers themselves may be violating the law.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/portland-protests.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Edit to add:

More on secret government troops adding to chaos

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/portland-officials-decry-aggressive-tactics-of-federal-agents-in-their-city/2020/07/17/ae5dbf18-c871-11ea-8ffe-372be8d82298_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-high_portlandpolice-855pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 12:28pm

This is legal. But also stupid. Because it helps Trump get support to do what he is doing. The tape is going viral with the right wingers:

“[I’m] organizing for the abolition of not just the militarized police state, but also the United States as we know it.” - Lilith Sinclair, Portland Organizer, July 17, 2020 https://t.co/2Yq4Epwkf3
— Aiden Mayhem (@aidenmayhem) July 18, 2020

She is for real, not from the imagination of a Russian troll and not altered video. Here is an interview with here with PortlandMercury.com's Blogtown Section from June 15:

Q&A: Portland Protest Organizer Lilith Sinclair on Activism and Pride

by Blair Stenvick • Jun 15, 2020 at 11:45 am

These types are the types I think Joe Biden needs to do a Sister Souljah moment with. They are mainly the ones continuing the with the hard core night after night protesting and other operations. He just needs to make it clear that he's not for, and the Democratic cities are not for, totally abolishing police and neither are they for abolishing the United States of America.

No one at the rally is doing that, and it's probably being played on Fox multitudinous times already.

He's quite capable of doing this, done it many times before. The Uncle Joe thing: c'mon people, we're not for that, that's ridiculous.

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 7:54pm

Here is how Steve Schmidt of Lincoln Project is handling it Note what he puts as the first sentence, You first must disavow the "rioting anarchists", to rule out any suggestion you are on their side.In addition, pointing out that Trump is being as lawless as the anarchists is a nice touch.

Rioting anarchists should be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned. That is the job of local, county and state authorities. The loosing of these Federal Stormtroopers by Trump and his cabal is an act of lawlessness that cannot be tolerated in this country. We will have no secret 1/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 18, 2020

police in this country. These agencies have no business operating in American cities in this manner and have no legal authority to snatch anyone, for any reason, at any time and stuff them into unmarked rental vans. We have all watched videos of these Federal thugs attacking 2/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 18, 2020

American citizens who posed no threat. No law enforcement agency in this country should be clad in the types of uniforms we are seeing in Portland. Congressional action should be taken to demilitarize these agencies. “Homeland Security” has long been an inappropriate name
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 18, 2020

(note the use of "American citizens who pose no threat". Plus the mention of the "Homeland Security" name which always bothered some Tea Partier and Libertarian types)

for a Federal cabinet agency. The name has always had a dystopian and totalitarian stench. Now this agency has metastasized into something that is dangerous, illiberal and completely out of control. Whatever actual number of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies there may be we should
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 18, 2020

Have fewer of them. The men we are watching assault the civil liberties of US Citizens are the dregs and the bottom of the proverbial law enforcement barrel. They are an egregious affront to every Peace Officer who wears a badge for the purpose of protecting and serving our
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 18, 2020

(note how he supports legitimate local "peace officers". If you don't, you're basically with the violent anarchists, because you're for nobody stopping them)

communities. Jack booted thugs is a moniker that suits these Federal “agents”perfectly. We the people must not and cannot stand for this. Not in America. Not now. Not ever
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 18, 2020

Also, you cannot be for totally defunding police. It's a non-sequiter. You are for totally defunding police, you are for not doing anything about rioting anarchists. It's a real problem with a lot of the radical talk from demonstrators about abolishing most police. One has to object to that or one is basically enabling support for Federal intervention. In that situation, it is no different from Einsenhower sending troops to enforce desegregation of the schools.

Like I said, if the constant vandalism of Federal buildings keeps going on and on and one and the local authorities do nothing substantial about it, don't be surprised if Congress enables a permanent legal force to protect Federal property across the country.

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 8:46pm

It is clear that Trump is insane

It is clear that he has no plan to address COVID

According to Trump, things are fine

The wingnuts feed off of Trump's insanity

Theyf feel that wearing masks is giving up freedom

According to them, Biden is a socialist.

Trump will feed red meat to his followers.

To prevent Trump's re-election, we née to energize the rest of the country

The message is to restore sanity and help those in need

We cannot stop every anarchist from finding a microphone

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 8:44pm

No you can't stop her from talking on a microphone.

BUT you can support local police stopping them from vandalizing Federal buildings owned by all the citizens of the country. I get the impression rmrd doesn't like that, he thinks they can do nothing right.

As for others: you don't applaud that they are vandalizing, you don't think it's cool and awesome. You think it is against the law and they should be arrested and charged. Just like you think Trump should be charged, that he is getting away with stuff against the law. You're either for enforcing the laws enacted by the people or you're not.

That the forces you hire to do this aren't working out so well, that's another matter to discuss.

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 8:53pm

Is yelling from a microphone vandalism?

Vandals are caught and charged. People were arrested and initially charged with a felony for protested at the home of the attorney attorney general. None of police officers involved in the homicide of Breonna Taylor face charges.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/breonna-taylor-louisville-protests.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

People were arrested for setting fire to a statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/27/us/robert-e-lee-statue-richmond-arrests/index.html

I am not willing to give up a little liberty for a little freedom when it comes to letting secret attack a kid spraying graffiti

That gets us into Tom Cotton territory

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/opinion/tom-cotton-protests-military.html

Arrests are being made, except for the murderers of Breonna Taylor.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 9:39pm

Ok now we start with the strawman thing .I said yelling in a microphone was not against the law. I point out the Cottone thing. You don't know what to say to continue a grownup conversattion, so you are going off on a rant tangeant arguing with strawman.

So goodbye.

Did it ever occur to you that when you want to argue with a strawman you should just take it over to a blog entry of your own? Instead of pretending it's one of us. It's extremely irritating and depressing to have it happen hundreds of times.

People don't like having wrong words put in their mouth. Would be so nice for everyone if you used the blog function to make yourself the imaginary enemy you want to argue with.

At the very least don't make it a reply to someone else's comments.

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 9:56pm

You stayed with the microphone

I pointed out that vandals are being arrested. A direct response to your strawman attack.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 10:36pm

Who are they going to arrest for Breonna Taylor, and how? Which officer committed a crime outside of their no-knock search warrant, And how would a DA make that charge stick? Legal systems are not just random sets of TV-like busts. What happened in the trial of the cop who killed Mike Brown? What happened with George Zimmerman? Making show arrests to then see people acquitted doesnt inspire anyone. Fixing flaws in the surveillance and arrest protocols may. Too much symbolic bullshit that changes nothing.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 4:58am

The action report filed by the officers was a blank page.

Edit to add:

Taylor was shot eight times by police. According to a lawsuit filed by her family, her killing was the result of a botched drug-warrant execution. No drugs were found; the warrant in question targeted another person, who lived miles away and had already been detained by the time police entered Taylor’s home.

https://www.thecut.com/2020/07/breonna-taylor-louisville-shooting-police-what-we-know.html

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 12:07pm

just a reminder that what happened in portland is exactly what Tom Cotton proposed in his New York Times op-ed, sooooo
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) July 18, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 9:37pm

The letter from Senators Merkley & Wyden, Reps. Bonamici & Blumenauer to Atty. Gen. Barr & Acting Sec. Wolf:

Summary of our letter to Barr and Wolf: Your authoritarian police state is not welcome here. Get out of Oregon. pic.twitter.com/kL7aXBlcZR
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 18, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 1:06am

gosh what brave and glorious heroes to the revolution, while their colleagues were fighting the Federal goons they did extra duty above and beyond the call, this is really going to accomplish something great!

US news 44 minutes ago

Riot declared at Portland Police Association headquarters as people set union office on fire

Portland Police declared a riot as people broke into the Portland Police Association headquarters in North Portland and set it ablaze. The fire was later put out as protesters were told to move east. Another protest took place at the Justice Center in downtown, where, according to multiple reports, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd of protesters. This comes as Black Lives Matter protests continue in the city.

PPA on fire. Riot declared. Sirens coming from the west. Crowd moving East. Hearing some kind of shots. pic.twitter.com/mzn594pPBa
— Tuck Woodstock (@tuckwoodstock) July 19, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 3:51am

This pre-school teacher, obviously on furlough, decided that it might be an interesting experience to report on twitter from the Portland protests around the Federal buildings for the last 50 days

https://twitter.com/LindseyPSmith7/status/1284716069140049926

She's got it all here on her feed, picture by picture, description by description, explanation by explanation. BASICALLY THIS IS BOGUS BULLSHIT BUNCH OF BORED WHITE KIDS PLAYING GAMES because the niteclubs are all shut down I guess blowing bubbles, throwing projectiles at cops, building and taking down barricades, doing graffitti, making sculptures and starting them on fire, a few Black Bloc directing them into substantial protest now and then

WHY ARE THEY EVEN ALLOWED TO BE THERE all the time? Because the cops let go. She writes how they love it when the cops don't come around, then they can play. I wouldn't want them there if it were my city, I would be against giving them a permit to be there and would want it enforced that they go elsewhere and stop the destructive activity.

WHAT ARE THEY ACCOMPLISHING? Making a fucking mess of the downtown, that's what. That's it.

I bet the moms were there tonight because: they don't want these spoiled bored brats coming back home.

The whole fucking thing is absurd. MAKE THEM GO HOME AND GROW UP.

This is not serious protest it is just juvenile delinquent activity and occupation of a public space, similar to anarchist takeover of Occupy Wall Street BUT THEY WERE PEACEFUL NOT VANDALIZING.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 4:29am

Channeling righteous anger

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/19/ive-been-tempted-b...

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 5:37am

She said it, like three times: Go home. And fucking learn to vote. And that meant not just once every four years in the presidential race. She knows them, she had their number. She knows the kind of kids they were and she know a lot of them don't vote, they wouldn't even know who to vote for. Burning police cars and vandalizing CNN headquarters is not the ticket to anything

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 6:30am

They are not going home.

Do you see things improving if Trump is re-elected?

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 11:35am

Interview with the man-of-steel guy in the Navy sweatshirt made famous by the viral video, Portland Tribune:

The Navy Veteran said this was his first protest, and he attended because he was concerned about reports of protestors being arrested without due process.

"I felt these gentlemen were violating their oath of office, and I wanted to talk to them." https://t.co/r1vqOy4Ehd https://t.co/GjTw63jhLc
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) July 19, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 9:34pm

Not that it has much to do with the serious issues nationally and Constitutionally as far as what Barr is doing,

BUT as is often the case, the local politics of this is more complicated that meets the eye

‘I’ve Had Enough’: Portland’s First Black Female City Commissioner Tells the Mayor to Give Her Control Over Police

by Colin Kalmbacher @ LawandCrime.com, Jul 18th, 2020, 6:18 pm

You've got a lefty City Commissioner who also participates in protests throwing missive at the mayor every day mostly about the brutality of PD, a mayor who has to govern more centrist as he is mayor of all the people. And has to be concerned with those who don't like vandalism from protests and night action going on for 50 days as well as those protesting themselves.

I think it's interesting how little Commissioner Hardesty seems to be concerned about the goons, her focus is on the PD Then. I noted this

In a piece published Saturday, Portland’s major daily newspaper, The Oregonian, expressed doubt about whether Wheeler’s opposition to the presence of federal officers in the city was genuine.

Per that story:....

BUT then I thought: but I also express doubt about her concern! Isn't she better off having the goons there as proof how crooked and corrupt the whole shebang is?

I suspect the mayor and the cops here would actually like some federal help, just not the stoopid illegal kind that were sent. Especially as right within the governing coalition there is discord about how cops are handling it.

What I am saying is: if they hadn't sent the goons, the mayor might be asking for National Guard or some such. Precisely because most of the protesting is about the police now.

There's the argument by rmrd, for example, that the local authorities should take care of this. THAT POINT IS A NON-SEQUITER in this case. No they can't, because they are the object of the discord. In that way, it is just like sending Federal troops down south to help integrate the schools because the local police will not enforce the law!

The whole situation makes local government and policing ineffectual. And that CATCH 22 IS WHERE A TROLL LIKE TRUMP AND MINIONS ARE GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE politically.

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/20/2020 - 6:37pm

Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets

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