Day 55 of the Games saw a crowd estimated at 2000. And then it was 2001, as Portlandia mayor Ted Wheeler made an appearance to show his solidarity with rioters, who he was hoping they would welcome him with open arms.
Mr. Wheeler, who scrambled to put on goggles while denouncing what he called the “urban warfare” tactic of the federal agents, said he was outraged by the use of tear gas and that it was only making protesters more angry.
“I’m not going to lie — it stings; it’s hard to breathe,” Mr. Wheeler said. “And I can tell you with 100 percent honesty, I saw nothing which provoked this response.”
While the crowd mocked him as “Tear Gas Teddy,” at least on supporter tried to help his discomfort by offering Wheeler some water from a small distance.
Someone threw something at the mayor pic.twitter.com/ArNnYFxoJ9
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) July 23, 2020
But oddly unmentioned in the New York Times’ coverage of this pairing of protesters and the guy elected mayor of this city was fire.
The fire rises pic.twitter.com/puQfv48MNm
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) July 23, 2020
Perhaps the daily effort to torch the courthouse could explain the tear gas to disperse the crowd, which came after two warnings that tear gas was about to be used?
Mayor Wheeler with eyes closed, coughing, suffering from the tear gas.
“How does it feel, Teddy?” someone shouts. pic.twitter.com/4VPOKcOIII
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) July 23, 2020
After the huge success to the cheers of this tiny cohort of adoring constituents, Mayor Ted Wheeler waved and left them to their evening activities, sharing their joint outrage at federal agents protecting the courthouse from burning now that their foray into snatching black-dressed randos without probable cause off the streets of Portlandia was not met with appreciation.
Wheeler leaves the scene. Protesters throw water bottles at him and curse him. He manages to get inside a building after a scuffle between protesters and his security detail. pic.twitter.com/eRn2gWlpqm
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) July 23, 2020
As it turned out, the rioters were not of the view that tear gas fired by Ted’s cops was any less “urban warfare” than tear gas fired by the feds, although the feds may have had better reason given the firing of Roman candles and fires that Ted failed to notice.
The attack on the federal courthouse began on July 4th to little note, because, after all, this was Portlandia and who would expect otherwise? There were no “federal goons” there yet, no rented minivans snatching people off the street. It’s hard to connect up an attack on the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse if the demand of this small group was to cut the Portland police budget by half without regard to what the residents of the city wanted. And it’s persisted since.
If the “protesters,” as some might benignly refer to them, didn’t want the feds tainting their fair city, then why not protest the mayor’s office, or some other city building that might better represent a target of their fantasy angst? Instead, they appear nightly, lighters in hand, at the federal courthouse. Even those who join the protests and cheer on the front lines are hard pressed to claim they had no idea there would be a riot again that night.
At some point, it would seem impossible to not recognize that this isn’t about cutting police budgets in the wokiest city in America, but about goading the feds to respond to their efforts to torch the courthouse so that they will appear to be freedom fighters to the insipid and the despised feds will be the vicious abusers of force and launching “urban warfare” on the well-intended people of Portlandia.
Condemn the feds for what they did wrong, very wrong. But they stopped doing that, and yet the assault against the courthouse that began before the feds showed up and continue after the extraordinary rendition was over. At this point, the Portlandia Bowl is an extravaganza designed solely to put the horrors of the feds’ reaction to the riot on display.
Whatever “moral” claim the mob might have had after the minivans were rented and returned is now gone. As for Mayor Ted, even a common enemy isn’t doing much to gain him the devotion of the mob, which would be a painful lesson to a mayor in any other city than Portlandia.
Or to put it a different way, does anyone think the feds are going to stand there and watch as the courthouse is burned down?
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“about goading the feds to respond to their efforts to torch the courthouse so that they will appear to be freedom fighters to the insipid”
…with the full support, and enthusiastic cooperation, of the self-proclaimed “newspaper of record” for the country.
A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest.
The government has the non-lethal tools to keep the rioters away from the building, we have used them overseas, but the woke people would be up in arms if we used them here even though these riots are worse than anything we confronted in other countries.
Had you mentioned what “non-lethal tools” you’re referring to, your comment might have some utility. But you said nothing and it has none.
The government has and has used crowd control devices that causes extreme pain trough the use of microwaves and high decibel noise. You would not be able to approach with in 50 to 100 yds without being in such pain you would not be able to stand. But then the woke would cry about using these devices on US citizens. They will not physically hurt the body, just cause extreme pain and discomfort.
See? That didn’t hurt.
LRADs have already been used in Portland and have been used more than a dozen times for various riots across the US going back all the way to 2009 during the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. They’ve also been reported to cause permanent hearing damage and there has been virtually no research into the damage caused by LRADs and other acoustic weapons.
You simply can’t say “they will not physically hurt the body” and you can’t say the US hasn’t used them here already.
I mean if they’re microwaves aren’t they defeated through the use of aluminum foil? Imagine a sea of protesters decked out like baked potatoes resplendent in tinfoil hats.
The soul trembles.
ADS can and will cause horrifying damage to tissue if a person is caught in it’s field for more than a few seconds.
I didn’t address the tool because I don’t know enough about it to have a worthwhile opinion. Yet here you are, possessed of sufficient expertise as to yet another thing. Respect for your mad skillz, Jake.
At this point, it is just a continuation of perpetual disorder. The “peaceful protesters” will not stop trying to burn the federal courthouse until it is abandoned, or until the evil Trump is replaced by a new commander who will praise the children and let them do whatever they want.
Or until something is done to end the nightly riot. What that might be, I hesitate to imagine, but it’s as if that’s what they’re hoping to evoke.
“Perimeter burn?”
Robocop?
Did we not talk about video?
Like the innocent Portland protestors not knowing that things would turn violent again last night, how could I possibly have known that today you were not going to approve of a link to a video?
lol. Good save.
Sorry – that’s not nearly as intimidating as ED-209
Looks like someone with a garden rake could take that down.
The Real Kurt
His Mayorness does realize that few of these people vote? Also our noble ‘Moms’ have been revealed as frauds by the redoubtable Mr. Andy Ngo.
Andy Ngo has nothing to do with anything. You can express your adoration for him at reddit.
It’s not Tuesday?
Looks like we still haven’t found the cost of freedom.
The cost of freedom starts with my minimum retainer and goes up from there.
Well played, though I was hoping you’d catch my reference.
Too many choices when it’s that generic. And I hope it wasn’t the worst CSNY song ever, because that song sucks.
True. But it was the B-Side to Four Dead in Ohio. A moment in history I am saddened to imagine this generation may experience if those with real power don’t choose a different tack.
Mayor Ted has not yet figured out that his continual attempts to ingratiate the mob is futile, but he obviously still believes there is political capital in the move; now that the story is Trump’s Goons, this latest stunt included his personal thanks to, “the thousands of you who have come out to oppose the Trump administration’s occupation of this city.” Of course omitting that these same riots long preceded this “occupation.” Nice spin, Ted.
It seems evident enough that the stated grievances are not connected to mob’s attacks on anything. Numbers show that the Portland cops hardly shoot at anybody, and of that small number, 15% are black. Their demand to reduce/defund police was already approved by the city council on 6/17, explicitly in response to demand; $15 million cut from the police bureau and eliminate 84 positions. Attack on the federal court preceded federal presence. Attacks on the local business are irrelevant to their stated cause.
Leads me to conclude that perhaps Alfred groks their true purpose, when he tells Master Bruce, “…some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
I think Trump needs to build a wall.
I am actually serious. Build a 40 foot steel wall around the courthouse that the protesters cannot destroy each night.
Build a wall around Portland a la escape from New York, let the city burn inside. Build a new courthouse outside. Only somewhat tongue in cheek.
Like has been said here already, the riots will stop when the rest of the city gets tired of them and takes action. Feel sorry for the rioters when that happens, it’s likely to get bloody.
I always find a lack of conviction, of belief and sincerity at any protest where there are phones being held up.
Take away the cameras and most riots would never happen, even long before mobile phones. The TV of thousands of people in close-up, but a background of empty streets or people going about their daily business while dangerous riots are burning the city.
Its about as faked as the Mayor “joining” the mob when he takes a security squad with him!