Portland is a city with a long history and reputation of supporting left-wing politics and offering a home to like-minded social misfits. That reputation has come back to haunt the city in a big way, as for 39 straight days domestic terrorists have engaged in protest after riotous protest in a misguided attempt to “burn the system down.”
America’s birthday this weekend served as an opportune time for leftists to let their anti-American views be known. Portland police declared yet another riot situation on Saturday, July 4. The violent activity had been going on since Thursday, July 2, and reached its crescendo on Saturday night. The domestic terrorists targeted several businesses, a police precinct, and a federal courthouse with their destruction and other assorted mayhem.
The situation prompted the Federal Protective Service — a division of the Department of Homeland Security — to issue a statement about the events on Sunday.
“Attacks on federal officers at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse involved the use of strobe lights, laser lights, commercial grade fireworks, bricks, rocks, bottles and paint-filled balloons. One suspect was armed with machetes and was carrying a metal pipe with end caps and a fuse.”
Clearly these were not “largely peaceful” protests, as the mainstream media describes them. Portland police reported 13 arrests of people ages 23 to 35 years old in connection with the Fourth of July rioting on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to assault of a police officer.
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Journalist Andy Ngo was on the ground in Portland and his Twitter feed offers a glimpse as to what exactly has been going on in Portland. Included on Ngo’s feed are profiles of many of those arrested. Among those is 30-year-old Ukranian Krystyna Mihailoivna Solodenko, who was charged with disorderly conduct II, interfering with a police officer, and attempted assault of a peace officer. Solodenko was quickly released after being charged, and is now free to engage in more violence while she awaits trial.
Sunday was calmer in Portland, possibly because federal reinforcements from the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were called in to help restore order. The terrorists were not completely quelled, however, as they were still able to set a fire in the area.
On Sunday’s Fox and Friends, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan gave his assessment on the situation in Portland.
“These are not protesters, these are criminals who got together and organized and planned and actually brought weapons, they brought shields, they brought frozen water bottles, rocks, lasers, weapons with the intent to destroy a federal building and harm law enforcement officers,” Morgan said.
“I don’t care what your ideological beliefs are, your political affiliation — violence, we should all be united, is wrong,” Morgan added.
Morgan also asked the same question that many of us are thinking: Where, exactly, is the local political leadership as Portland city is under siege by anarchists?
“It’s serious. This is about law and order. We must be united,” Morgan stressed. “Where are the local political leaders, standing up, saying this is unconscionable, this is wrong, and these individuals should cease and desist and be arrested? Where are they?”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is basically considered an ally of the terrorists, issuing tepid calls for “peace” while undermining the police and their tactics at every turn.
“I am calling for a full and thorough review of all use of force tactics and meaningful public transparency,” Wheeler tweeted on July 3, before the worst of the weekend’s violence.
Heading into the weekend, Wheeler could only note that the Rose City was “on edge” and claimed that the terrorists were “justifiably angry, hurting and frustrated.”
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has also taken the side of the domestic terrorists, claiming that the police in Portland have gone too far in their efforts to quell the disturbances. While acknowledging that the terrorists have “repeatedly lit fires, thrown rocks, bottles, fireworks and other objects and have put the safety of others at risk,” Brown concludes that the use of force is not advisable in such situations.
“Use of force, regardless of its legal justification, will do nothing to solve the underlying concerns of racial justice and police accountability raised by the protests,” Brown has said.
Of course it won’t. The use of force isn’t intended to solve those concerns. It’s intended to deescalate dangerous situations such as the organized riots on July 4.
Brown and Wheeler have worked actively to make the jobs of the police of Portland harder, all the while essentially blaming them for the situation in the first place. Wheeler even signed a temporary order restricting the police from using tear gas except when life is at risk.
The domestic terrorism in Portland probably won’t end any time soon. Not when the terrorists and other assorted anarchists who are doling out destruction have allies in the mayor’s and governor’s offices.
Image: screenshot from YouTube video
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects. He can be reached at [email protected]
