Killing Portland

Meanwhile, back in Portland, Oregon, the rioting continues. It got so bad that Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a man who has coddled Antifa radicals for years now had to explain to the demonstrators that burning down a police precinct when there were officers inside was… would you believe... attempted murder.

The cities where we have seen the most violent demonstrations are being led by the weakest, most spineless, wimpiest mayors. And the states are being led by the weakest, most spineless and wimpiest governors. 

In Oregon, the Portland mayor and the Governor, Kate Brown, were outraged when federal agents moved into town. Naturally, they blamed the months old riots on the federal government. So, they negotiated a deal with the federal government, whereby they would take control of security in the beleaguered city. 

How is that working out? Would you believe that it isn’t? The Daily Mail has the story:

The deal brokered by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown called for agents from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pull back from their defense of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse starting July 30. 

But after a brief weekend reprieve, protest activity has continued nightly in other parts of the city, with Portland police, local sheriff's deputies and, in some cases, Oregon State Police troopers on the frontlines as demonstrators demand an end to police funding. 

Protests have gone on unabated in Portland since May 25 following the death of Floyd who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him by the neck for more than nine minutes. 

Guess what, weakness invites aggression. Witness the events of last Friday night:

Police in Portland said on Friday night that they were attacked with rocks and chunks of concrete, after the 72nd-straight night of protest descended in to violence once again.

Officers said that some of the protesters were attempting to blind officers by shining lights in to their eyes.

Amidst the chaos, the police tweeted their apologies to the local residents for the disruption and noise, with officers using a sound truck to blast warning to protesters to leave the scene, which they declared an unlawful assembly at 9.45pm. 

'Officers are having rocks and chunks of concrete thrown at them,' the police tweeted.  

'Individuals in the crowd are shining lasers trying to blind officers. 

'The sound truck is issuing warnings and directions to those participating in the unlawful assembly to disperse.

'We apologize to the neighbors who are disturbed by the loudspeaker on the sound truck. We know it’s late. 

'We have to keep our distance to avoid the items being used as weapons against us.'

Apparently, they are under orders not to crush the riots. They are obliged to stand by and suffer assaults.

So now, people are leaving Portland. A woman named Joanna explains to the National Review:

Portland has become an absolute out of control mess of progressive politics. Woke progressivism has accelerated and is amplified everywhere. And it was tolerable for a long time because Portland had so much else to offer. But that’s not the case anymore. Something significant has changed, though it’s hard to blame it on just one thing. The cost of living keeps rising. There are homeless tents everywhere. The ongoing lockdowns have been devastating. The ongoing protests, destruction, and violence have stripped the city of its beautiful downtown. And it’s reached a point where you feel you have to pick a side. In the past, even six months or a year ago, it wasn’t easy, but it was tolerable because you could just keep things to yourself if you disagreed. But right now, by not being forthcoming with either promoting Black Lives Matter, or being openly sympathetic to rioters, it’s viewed as if you don’t care about black lives. And don’t even think about questioning the motives of the Black Lives Matter movement. Full disclosure, I’m a Republican and a Trump supporter. Looking back, 2016 was the year things started to change for me. The city has never gotten over the election of Donald Trump, and I’ve often described it as turning point for Portland. It feels like the city was knocked upside down. Being a Republican was not a problem per se, prior to 2016.

Have a nice day.