…of constant violence that he encouraged not only with as many words but with as many actions, Portland, Oregon mayor Ted Wheeler says people are “sick of” the constant sturm und drang that has made parts of the city unlivable:
Portland became a hotbed of civil unrest last summer during demonstrations protesting the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in Minneapolis. Similar demonstrations in cities across the country were largely peaceful. But in Portland, some of the demonstrations have deteriorated into widespread arson, looting and assaults. ADVERTISEMENT
Rioters in the city, who have called for the defunding of the local police department along with other measures, have on several occasions targeted a federal courthouse, spraying it with graffiti, setting fires and destroying nearby storefronts and other property.
“The people who work here support the voices of racial and social justice and will not be intimidated from doing our jobs by the ugly graffiti or broken windows,” Scott Erik Asphaug, a U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon, said during the press conference, the AP reported. “We do not confuse the voices of the many with the shouts of the few who hope to hold our city hostage by petty crime and violence.”
The first two things that jumped to my mind?
- After ten months of Wheeler all but setting Portland up as an “Anti”-Fa staging area, I wonder what powerful “progressive” constituency finally figured it was time to rein the party in?
- Reading Asphaug’s quote, am I the only one who thinks it sounds like they’re trying to pin the violence on…”the right”?
Reading Asphaug’s quote, am I the only one who thinks it sounds like they’re trying to pin the violence on…”the right”?
Look what you made me do.
Here’s an interesting take, written by a lifelong Oregon resident, from Quillette.
https://quillette.com/2021/03/14/leaving-portland/
That was a very good article, boss.
I can hardly wait for the sequel, Leaving Minneapolis.
Mr Totten’s article needs a good edit. I wonder if he ever watched the satirical series “Portlandia?” He surely fits in with the cast. My summary of the Portland debacle: lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
Boss, I was thinking of posting a link to the Quillette article, but you beat me to it.
Glad to see people are reading Quillette.
I’ve been reading Totten for some 20 years. He’s a good writer who tries to be objective even if he comes from a center-left position. That said, that center-left perspective was on display in this Quillette article. A disappointment to see.
Also disappointing was the lack of self-consciousness (or admission of same) behind his move to the “suburbs”. Literally nothing was wrong with where he lived except that houses are cheaper in the ‘burbs – and he’s not even sure he likes where it is he moved to. Except it’s cheaper. So why move?
There are a lot of assertions about how the so-called right-wing media misinterpreted and exaggerated events in Portland. I’d have to do some research to confirm or deny this, but it really seems to me that trying to create some powerful bogeyman out of the woefully under-powered right-wing media seems like a lame rhetorical move.
Thanks, Greg. I have contributed to them, too. Claire Lehman seems very dedicated to ensuring that it doesn’t become a one sided outlet.
jdm;
Yea, I found some of his assertions and observations to be biased, but I do agree that he made an effort.
Michael Totten can virtue signal, but he’s walked the walk for a long time. Anybody who goes to downtown Beirut with Christopher Hitchens and gets in an ideological showdown-turned-fistfight with Hezbollah death squad members deserves to be cut a little slack. He knows his bum from third base, even if you don’t agree with his reasoning.
boss and Lex, yes.
The work isn’t complete while there is still two bricks standing upon one another in any leftist dominated shithole.
But I think there may be a lull in the burning of the West Coast while their noodle armed army is on field maneuvers in Minneapolis.
Read your link, Boss. It was well written, but for all the careful line toeing I was left with the impression that Totten’s motivation was gracefully excusing his abandonment of a leftist shithole, without saying so.
He’s the kind of guy that really fucks up heretofore decent towns with their arrival.
“Hey, I’m not a radical, but it’s not radical to say we should have more non-binary teachers of color in Hometown high”