Ballot drop boxes in both Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire early Monday morning, destroying hundreds of ballots.
Read MoreBallot Drop Boxes Set Afire in Oregon, Washington, Hundreds of Ballots Destroyed
Tag: Portland
Commentary: Anarcho-Tyranny Is Official White House Policy
Yesterday, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made headlines by declaring gun violence to be a “public health crisis,” a statement that achieves the impressive feat of being both ludicrous and banal at the same time. The declaration was accompanied by a 40-page report — and a televised, direct-to-camera address from Dr. Murthy himself — “recommending,” as the New York Times reported, “an array of preventive measures that he compared to past campaigns against smoking and traffic safety.”
Perhaps the only thing the surgeon general’s report and accompanying statements were right about is that “gun violence” is, in fact, a major problem in the United States today. After that, however, its relationship to reality quickly disappears. Per the Times, “Dr. Murthy’s 32-page advisory calls for an increase in funding for firearm violence prevention research; advises health workers to discuss firearm storage with patients during routine medical visits; and recommends safe storage laws, universal background checks, ‘red flag’ laws and an assault weapons ban, among other measures.” Notably absent from the list of “solutions” is any meaningful strategy at all to take the people who commit gun violence — i.e., violent criminals — off the streets. (Or even to increase police presence in the places where gun violence happens most frequently). Instead, it is law-abiding gun owners who are expected to foot the bill.
Read MoreCommentary: What to Do About American’s Decline
Twenty-first-century America was on a trajectory of gradual decline — until it began to implode.
Was the accelerant the COVID-19 pandemic and unhinged lockdowns? Or was the catalyst the woke revolution fueled by the 2020 summer of exempted rioting, looting, arson, and violence? Or was it perhaps the deranged fixation on removing Donald Trump from the presidency and destroying the rule of law in the process? Or all that and more?
Read MorePortland Schools Teaching Young Children About ‘Infinite Gender Spectrum’
A Portland school is teaching children as young as kindergarteners about the “infinite gender spectrum” and gender “colonization,” according to public documents.
The curriculum implemented in 2021 at Portland Public Schools in Portland, Oregon, teaches K-12 students that there is an “infinite gender spectrum” and that they can make up their own pronouns, according to public documents. The students learn that gender is “colonized” by “white colonizers” who are trying to “erase many cultures, including what some might now call ‘queer’ or ‘trans’ people.”
Read MoreTom Cotton Freezes Confirmation of DOJ Nominees over Failure to Address Antifa Riots
At least eight of Joe Biden’s nominations for the Department of Justice have been placed on hold by Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), due to the Department’s failure to answer Cotton’s questions about its inaction over the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.
As reported by Fox News, Cotton’s criticisms have focused specifically on the DOJ’s failure to properly defend a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, which ended up under siege by far-left domestic terrorists on a daily basis throughout 2020 and even into 2021. Cotton has already sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland pointing out that, on top of letting the courthouse itself be attacked, the DOJ has not offered any legal assistance to several U.S. Marshals who have been sued for defending the courthouse against rioters.
“These courageous officers were attacked by left-wing street militants with weapons such as mortar fire, ball bearings, and blinding lasers,” Cotton’s letter reads in part. “A refusal to represent these Deputy Marshals would violate the Department’s long-standing practice — not to mention its moral duty — to defend law-enforcement officers when they’re sued for actions in the line of duty.”
Read MoreOregon School Board Bans Educators from Displaying BLM and Gay Pride Symbols
A school board in Oregon is receiving backlash following its recent ban on educators displaying Black Lives Matter signs and gay pride symbols.
Newberg, which is situated just outside of Portland, now finds itself the site of the latest skirmish in a pitched struggle between traditional and woke approaches to education being waged in school systems across the country.
Read MoreOregon Senator Ron Wyden Delays Confirming Biden’s CBP Head
Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden will delay President Joe Biden’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) head confirmation until the federal government answers about how officials responded to civil unrest in Portland, Oregon, last year, CNN Politics reported Thursday.
Wyden said he would not advance Tucson, Arizona, Police Chief Chris Magnus‘ confirmation to CBP commissioner, according to CNN. Wyden won’t move forward with Magnus’ nomination “until DHS and DOJ give Oregonians some straight answers about what they were up to in Portland last year, and who was responsible,” the senator said in a statement.
Read MoreRising Crime Forces Liberals to Reckon with Their Stance on the Police
by Ailan Evans As rates of violent crime continue to rise across the country and once-safe neighborhoods face increased dangers, many liberal communities are having to confront their complicated relationship with the police. Following the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, the defund the police movement attracted attention and support…
Read MorePortland City Council: $1.4 Million for ‘Unarmed’ Patrols to Combat Gun Violence
Portland, Oregon’s City Council approved $1.4 million to go toward the hiring of “unarmed” park rangers for around-the-clock foot patrols, Breitbart reports.
KGW reports there will be “two dozen” such patrols. The money for the “unarmed” patrols is part of a larger $6 million plan, none of which will go to the Portland Police Bureau. “$4.1 million will be earmarked for community groups that work in the neighborhoods hardest-hit by gunfire.”
The Associated Press quoted Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s (D) opinion on the approved funding: “We agree that the immediate spike in gun violence is a public health threat that requires a public health response that invests in community-based organizations working to change the conditions and environments that foster violence.”
Read MoreOver 100 Portland Police Officers Have Quit Over the Last Year
After almost a year of nonstop violent riots by Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other far-left domestic terrorist organizations in the city of Portland, over 100 of the city’s police officers have quit the force out of protest of the city’s failure to adequately handle the violence, according to Fox News.
The report first came from the newspaper The Oregonian, which said that since July of 2020, approximately 115 officers have left the department to take lower-paying jobs just to get out of the dangerous environment. The paper described it as “one of the biggest waves of departures in recent memory.”
Out of 31 exit interviews from officers who left during this time period, the general consensus was that the officers quit because they felt that they were receiving “zero support” from the community and local leadership. One officer said that “the city council are raging idiots, in addition to being stupid,” and that “the mayor and council ignore actual facts on crime and policing in favor of radical leftist and anarchist fantasy.”
As a result of the spike in riots, which began last summer after the accidental overdose death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Portland also saw its homicide rate surge to its highest point in 26 years, with 55 deaths over the course of 2020. Numerous efforts by Mayor Ted Wheeler (D-Ore.) to try to curb gun violence in the city, through special police forces and various multi-million dollar studies, have all failed thus far. Wheeler and other local leaders were widely criticized for refusing to crack down on the riots, with their inaction attributed to the fact that they shared many of the same political stances as the far-left rioters.
Read MoreMonths After Gutting Police Budget, Portland Mayor Asks for $2 Million to Stop Surging Murder Rate
Democratic Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler submitted a request to the Portland City Council on Thursday for a one-time $2 million expenditure for police, months after the council voted to cut nearly $16 million from the police bureau’s budget.
Wheeler, who previously advocated for the Portland Police Bureau’s budget to be cut, cited a dangerous surge in gun violence throughout the city as the primary reason for requesting the funds, according to the Oregonian.
Read MoreRioters Vandalize Oregon Democratic Headquarters, Descend on Seattle
Riots broke out in Seattle and Portland, Oregon on Wednesday night after demonstrators clashed with police and vandalized a Democratic Party office.
People dressed in all black shattered windows and the glass door to the Oregon Democratic Party’s office in Portland, according to The New York Times, vandalizing it with spray paint and posting a video to social media, saying that their actions were in response to the inauguration of President Joe Biden. In Seattle, police said that several buildings were vandalized.
Read More‘Burn It Down’: Rioters Threaten to Light Portland Precinct on Fire, Damage Police Cruisers
A group of rioters in Portland threatened to burn down a law enforcement precinct, hurled projectiles at officers and damaged police cruisers on Wednesday, authorities said.
Roughly 50 violent demonstrators, some of whom donned gas masks and shields, chanted “burn it down” in reference to a law enforcement headquarters in the city, according to a press release. Members of the crowd destroyed surveillance cameras outside of the precinct, tried to rip down a fence and used spikes to slash the tires of cop vehicles, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) wrote.
Read MorePortland Rioters Attack Federal Courthouse with Molotovs on New Year’s Eve
A group of violent demonstrators in Portland hurled “Molotovs cocktail-style firebombs”, lit fires and tried to break into a federal courthouse house on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.
Between 80 and 100 rioters tossed at least two firebombs and launched “aerial-grade fireworks” at both the federal building and a county justice facility, according to a press release from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). Others in the group attempted to break into the federal facility using tools, the department wrote.
Read MorePortland Autonomous Zone Is ‘Stockpiling Weapons’, Has Armed Patrols, Police Say
Portland’s autonomous zone, which is moving into its third day, has been “stockpiling weapons” and has instituted armed patrols to defend the walled-in city occupation, authorities said.
Since the encampment began, rioters have increased fortifications around city streets, assaulted residents, and law enforcement has noticed the presence of “armed sentries” patrolling intersections, according to a press release from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB).
Read MorePlans to Disarm Portland State Campus Police on Hold After Too Many Quit
Portland State University announced in August its plan to disarm campus police officers by replacing their firearms with tasers, but those plans have been put on a temporary hold.
The plan to disarm officers was announced earlier in 2020 after rallies and protesters at PSU called for justice for Jason Washington, who was killed by officers in 2018. Campus Reform reported on the efforts of PSU students and staff to disarm officers in 2019.
Read MoreTrio of Cities Take Trump to Court Over ‘Anarchist Jurisdictions’ Designation
Seattle, Portland, and New York City are suing President Donald Trump and his administration over legal actions that have put future federal funds on the line.
The joint lawsuit is in response to a memo issued by the Trump administration last month requesting U.S. Attorney General William Barr review a list of cities that could be considered hotbeds for civil unrest.
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