Shot in the Dark

Hastily Made Portland Tourism Ad?

So is this a tourism ad, or a cry for help?

Odd tourism ad, doncha think? Usually you get a picture of nature, or a soaring skyline, or beatiful people enjoying dazzling nightlife. But not this time.

So what does a tourist do in Portland? Apparently you can cross a bunch of bridges. That might have some allure. I have it on good authority that Portland has a number of restaurants, but it’s difficult to tell what the bill of fare might be from this brown paper ad. It’s possible the restaurants in Portland feature word salad. “We’re a place of dualities that are never polarities.” What does that even mean? Does it mean this?

Portland crowd-control police unit resigns en masse after team member criminally charged - East Idaho News

That might be the dazzling nightlife? After all, things are going well:

Every member of a police crowd-control unit in the US city of Portland has resigned after one of its officers was indicted on an assault charge.

The charge stemmed from violent anti-racism protests that rocked the city, in the state of Oregon, last year.

Prosecutors allege the officer used “excessive and unlawful use of force” against a protester in August 2020.

But Portland’s police union described the decision to prosecute the officer as “politically driven”.

The reporting here is from the BBC. Looks like they didn’t get the “mostly peaceful” memo. 

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46 responses to “Hastily Made Portland Tourism Ad?”

  1. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    The Daily Mail writes, “The ad was created and purchased by Travel Portland, a private nonprofit mainly funded through a contract with the Oregon Convention Center.”

    In other words, Travel Portland and the Oregon Convention Center have an advertising budget and the iron rule of bureaucracy states that money that is not spent will not be reallocated, ie, use it or lose it.

    Hence the ad.

  2. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Expect a similarly stupid ad for Murderapolis shortly. Sanctioned by the city clowncil.

  3. AllenS Avatar
    AllenS

    A person can’t even use this old saying: “It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

  4. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    Sometimes, being a progressive means looking directly at a problem and saying, clearly, loudly, and with as much sincerity as you can muster “There is no problem here!”

  5. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Boss, that’s a great idea. They could easily update that demotivator photo of the burning building:

    Minneapolis – Come for the Diversity, Stay for the Nightlife.

  6. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Biden Calls for Using Covid-19 Aid to Address Rise in Violent Crime
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-say-cities-can-use-covid-19-aid-to-hire-more-police-officers-11624438800

    I will not say this often, but on the surface, Biden appears to be acting like a sane human. The liberal Democrat’s push to defund the police is clearly the worst idea to have come out of their swollen heads. I will say that if local politicians, Democratic politicians, that is, cannot do something about the increase of crime in their cities, apart from increasing social services and other feel goods, then the Feds should step in.

  7. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    Threadjack.

  8. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    👆Sleepy Joe — doing real things in his sleep, apparently.

    At least Trump got a lot of golf in.

  9. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    The population of Minneapolis is still about 50,000 less than it was at its peak in the 1950s. Stasis is rare in human institutions. The question shouldn’t be “why do cities decline?” It should be “Why shouldn’t cities decline?”
    Minneapolis and other big cities thought that they could thrive by attracting young childless professionals and clean “creative” industries. City planners thought that the future was high density housing and mass transit.
    None of the highly credentialed experts foresaw wide scale racial unrest and a pandemic.
    They kind of look like idiots now.

  10. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    Hey! Who all is going to the Aquatennial this year!
    https://www.aquatennial.com/

  11. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    Still a threadjack.

  12. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    👆Still a scold….

  13. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Say what you will:

    From the housing side, Redfin: In May 2021, Portland home prices were up 19.3% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $549K. On average, homes in Portland sell after 6 days on the market compared to 11 days last year. There were 1,432 homes sold in May this year, up from 771 last year

    Housing prices are up in Minneapolis too.

    I guess there is a market for crazy, or at least there is a market for “bad things don’t happen to me because I am such a good person.”

  14. AllenS Avatar
    AllenS

    If you can afford to use Covid funds for the police now, then, you didn’t need the fucking Covid funds in the first place.

    The Feds do not need to step in, the voters need to replace the present city counsel with patriotic Americans (Trumpsters), then, and only then will you see a sea of change in Minneapolis.

    Career criminals do not need to be arrested, but shot dead during the commission of a crime, such as paying for something with a counterfeit bill.

    Call it an attitude adjustment.

  15. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    👆While I am all for refunding police departments nationwide…. the funds allocated by Congress under the Covid-19 Rescue Package were never intended to be used in this manner. Where does the Administration get off just saying they can be applied this way? Doesn’t Congress have an issue with this blatant disregard for the language in the law and their power to decide where money is spent?

  16. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    Career criminals do not need to be arrested, but shot dead during the commission of a crime, such as paying for something with a counterfeit bill.

    If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not go with the judge/jury/executioner model.

  17. AllenS Avatar
    AllenS

    When an armed asshole is trying to carjack, rob, rape, murder your ass, then judge/jury/executioner is the only business model there is.

  18. AllenS Avatar
    AllenS

    I want career criminals dead, and I don’t care one bit how it happens.

  19. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    I want career criminals dead, and I don’t care one bit how it happens.

    If you are deemed a career criminal, thoughtcrime jurisdiction, the model loses significant allure.

  20. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    D, are you equating the physical act of carjack, rob, rape, murder your ass with thoughtcrime?

  21. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Regarding Portland, it’s been rough for a while. My family was there in 2001, and the thing that struck me is that when we visited their Chinatown, I saw more homeless shelters than restaurants. Just half a mile from the convention center, and around the convention center, not too many restaurants, either. The city center has been hollowing out for a while.

  22. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    D, are you equating the physical act of carjack, rob, rape, murder your ass with thoughtcrime?

    I believe the point is, if you normalize shooting on sight for carjacking, robbing, rape and murder because they are immediate threats to individual community well-being, it is only a mere shuffle-step to where Authority deems thought crimes a similar – or even greater – threat, deserving of the same sanction, all without oversight or appeal.

    The problem with slippery slopes isn’t so much the slope, but the inexorable gravity of human nature.

  23. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Shorter response:

    “Some men just need killin’” will always have its appeal. But who decides?

  24. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    What NW said.

  25. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    That whole ‘rule of law’ and ‘presumed innocent’ thing was fun while it lasted. When George Floyd is a saint but Capitol visitors are imprisoned without charges if not actually shot on sight, that model is dead.

    Defund the cops, sue the cops, imprison the cops till there are no cops and criminals run rampant. Check. Take away the guns from law-abiding gun owners and prosecute citizens who try to defend themselves. Coming.

    So what’s the new model for civil society? AllenS proposes the return to a historical model, the Citizens Vigilence Committee, armed neighborhood patrols dispensing summary justice.

    If you don’t like that model, what’s your proposed alternative?

  26. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    /“Some men just need killin’” will always have its appeal. But who decides“/

    Ya — but what about all my “self defense” firearms? A man has to hunt amirite?

  27. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Indeed, JD, as some have stated, law & order doesn’t exist to protect the normals, it’s to protect the criminals.

  28. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    If you don’t like that model, what’s your proposed alternative?

    Not sure, but a variation of the historical model has been implemented in and around 38th and Chicago recently. How is that working out?

  29. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    So far, for me, it works perfectly. I don’t go there. If I could implement the same model where I live, it’d be even better.

    The problem arises when that group is allowed to use the new model but my group is forbidden to use either model. That societal imbalance cannot last.

  30. AllenS Avatar
    AllenS

    Fuck Minneapolis. They voted for the wrong crowd, and now they have to live with the result. If they don’t fight back, then they are just prey. Good luck with that.

  31. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    👆👆Harry Callahan: You’ve Got To Ask Yourself One Question: ‘Do I Feel Lucky? ‘ Well, Do Ya, Punk?

    Harry Callahan: Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

  32. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    The problem arises when that group is allowed to use the new model but my group is forbidden to use either model. That societal imbalance cannot last.

    Don’t disagree.

  33. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    And this brings us full circle to vigilante justice, no? What you are advocating D, to avoid thoughtcrime, is too prohibit self-defense. Why even start down the slippery slope, right? But in absence of law and order, and/or selective law and order, what have you got left to defend yourself?

  34. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    What you are advocating D, to avoid thoughtcrime, is too prohibit self-defense.

    I never said that. I wouldn’t say that. I do not and will not relinquish the right of self-defense, now or ever.

    Having said that, we live in the world we have and, right now, we have a government with a hell of a lot of firepower and a surfeit of woke fervor. We also have groups out there who would dearly love to start dispensing vigilante justice against people who don’t get with their program. So thoughtcrime is on the table and recognition does not equal surrender.

    But in absence of law and order, and/or selective law and order, what have you got left to defend yourself?

    A very bad situation.

  35. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Chaos always seems to be untamable because it is often so violent and unwilling to live by rules. Yet ultimately, the majority wants order and places get “civilized”.

    It seemed that no one wanted to stand against the outlaw Liberty Valance, until James Stewart reluctantly went out to face Lee Marvin. Sure, it took John Wayne shooting Liberty from an alley for “the law” to come back to town, but the majority of people regardless of race, class, or political persuasion, want safe streets, good schools, and secure ways of doing business. The wild ones get squeezed into smaller and smaller areas.

    Currently, we have those supposedly on the side of law and civilization caving into chaos, while thinking they are the ones acting “civilized”. Contrary to popular political thought, the people are not fooled, or appeased, for long.

  36. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    If you remember, NW, it was Andy Devine that played the (useless) sheriff. Which meant the citizens, well, one citizen had to take things into his own hands. And so, there we are back to AllenS’s suggestion.

  37. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Same story with “Open Range”. A corrupt sheriff, on the payroll of the town land baron, necessitated the town, led by two outsiders and the livery stable owner.

    Sadly, the plot looks a lot like what’s going on at the federal level right now.

  38. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Mayor Frey is the reincarnation of Andy Devine.

    Rule of law is inherent to human interest. That is not to say that it isn’t usurped from time to time by chaos, corruption, or pure fecklessness. The problem with taking the law into one’s own hands, however, is that the “law” belongs to the hand holding the gun. In Liberty Valance, Open Range (“You’re men, ain’t ya?”), Shane and Tombstone, violence had to overcome violence, but it was done in order to bring “order” back, not to put a more powerful gunman or gang in power. So, yeah, sometimes you may need a sniper to restore order.

    The problem with AllenS’s “solution” is that you yourself may not win the gunfight. If it’s everyman and gun for himself, who avenges you? Sure, there can be a never ending series of revenge and reprisald, which means you’ve basically got Rwanda, Norther Ireland during “the Troubles”, the Hatfields and McCoys, or large segments of our urban centers in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Justice may not be ideal, but without the ideal there won’t be any justice to be had. At some point, the overwhelming majority asserts its moral authority and separates the violent from the public – either terminally or judicially. It is up to men with chests to draw the line and risk it all not for their own benefit, but the benefit of the society.

    In another classic Western, “The Shootist”, JB Books (John Wayne) states a pretty direct moral code: “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a-hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” Sounds great, but the fact is Books does every one of the things to others that he says he doesn’t do. He settles his business, but his ultimate defeat is that the young man he took under his wing didn’t learn the lesson.

  39. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    I have a response to jdm and bosshoss pending, but somehow it triggered “moderation”. For the life of me, I can’t see what in my comment hit the tripwire.

  40. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    OK, let’s parse it.

    When an armed asshole is trying to carjack, rob, rape, murder your ass, then judge/jury/executioner is the only business model there is.

    To me, this is self defense.

    If you are deemed a career criminal, thoughtcrime jurisdiction, the model loses significant allure.

    To me, this is equating an act of violence that calls for self-defense with thoughtcrime and to me, loses significant allure means you are against it, ie against self-defense during commitment of a violent act as postulated in the original post because of the slope NW’s argument you agreed with.

    Man this is tortuous to write for me as it is for you to read, I am sure!

    And now you added this, emphasis mine: We also have groups out there who would dearly love to start dispensing vigilante justice against people who don’t get with their program. Hate to break it to you, but we already HAVE people dispensing justice, social justice to be exact. Perhaps you missed what’s been going on in Seattle, Portland, NYC and Minneapolis just to name a few cities? So are you saying that reactionary self-defense vigilante justice against the vigilante social justice is a non-starter because the thoughtcrime is on the table? That only one side gets to exercise vigilante justice and the best you can say, it is A very bad situation?

  41. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    jpa, jeez loueez, he’s not arguing for it. He’s arguing it could happen.

  42. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    And now you added this, emphasis mine: We also have groups out there who would dearly love to start dispensing vigilante justice against people who don’t get with their program. Hate to break it to you, but we already HAVE people dispensing justice, social justice to be exact. Perhaps you missed what’s been going on in Seattle, Portland, NYC and Minneapolis just to name a few cities?

    If we go back to the beginning of this thread, the post itself is about all the bad things happening in Portland. I also live in the Twin Cities. You’re not breaking anything to me.

    So are you saying that reactionary self-defense vigilante justice against the vigilante social justice is a non-starter because the thoughtcrime is on the table? That only one side gets to exercise vigilante justice and the best you can say, it is A very bad situation?

    Again, for emphasis, you are misstating my argument. Go right ahead, start up all the vigilante justice you want, but understand that it’s highly likely to end badly for you. But be my guest.

  43. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    I do think this issue is a real progressive blindspot and will lead to significant electoral backlash. Allowing a small group of anarchists to essentially destroy the city nightly for over a year is an abject failure of local government. This has nothing to do with protest or progress and everything to do with lawlessness, entitlement, and a mob-mentality.

    All it would have taken was to enact a policy to arrest, prosecute and convict protesters setting fires, breaking store windows, throwing projectiles at police, etc., and sentencing them to just 90 days in jail for a first offense, with their names and photos published in newspapers and on-line.

    Mayor Wheeler needs to enforce the law and not allow a handful of rioters to make the city unlivable for the myriad of law-abiding Portlanders.

  44. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Can’t be done, E. That was the old model, the “Rule of Law” and “Due Process” model. That model no longer applies to lawbreakers who are Black and/or Democrat.

    Arrest and prosecution only applies to Whites and/or Republicans (compare the treatment of Tim Kaine’s son, the Portland rioters and George Floyd rioters with the Chauvin volunteer-lynching team and the January 6th Capitol ‘rioters’). It’s so obviously blatantly mob appeasement and political hackery that even major media has begun to notice.

    Worse, all of this is occurring in the absence of a functioning electoral system. Whether Democrats win elections or steal them, one-party rule will continue and will prevent restoration of sensible policies, which is why we’re upset at the unjust arrangement and are considering adopting an alternative method of enforcing social order.

    “East Como Citizen’s Vigilence Committee.” I should look into having T-shirts printed. And ballcaps. I need a logo. Suggestions?

  45. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    Go right ahead, start up all the vigilante justice you want, but understand that it’s highly likely to end badly for you. But be my guest.

    Do you not agree that the law had failed? That whatever law remains is discriminatory and unfair? So what’s YOUR solution? Sit at home and wait for the thoughtcrime police to come and get you? Is that a better solution to vigilante justice? At least if you choose to defend yourself, you can die on your feet instead of on your knees.

    Maybe we use different definitions for vigilante justice? Mine is self-defence as I interpret original alien post.

  46. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    JPA, read Night Writer’s comment from 4:32 pm yesterday. He sums up my concerns quite eloquently. But know this: if I have to defend myself, I will.

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