Tag: Portland

Portland and Kenosha violence was predictable – and preventable

The U.S. reached a deadly moment in protests over racial injustice, as back-to-back shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 25 and 29 took the lives of three people and seriously injured another. 

It was tragic – but not surprising. 

The alleged shooters were at the protests for different reasons: One was a pro-police supporter who believed he was protecting local businesses in Kenosha and the other an “antifa supporter” and “fixture of anti-police demostrations” in Portland. The victims included apparent supporters of Black Lives Matter protests and a supporter of a far-right group. Together, they reflect an escalating risk of spontaneous violence as heavily armed citizen vigilantes and individuals mobilize at demonstrations and protests. Continue reading.

DHS official whose office compiled ‘intelligence reports’ on journalists and protesters has been removed from his job

Washington Post logoA senior Department of Homeland Security official whose office compiled “intelligence reports” about journalists and protesters in Portland, Ore., has been removed from his job, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Brian Murphy, the acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, was reassigned to a new position elsewhere in the department, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

Acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf made the decision on Friday, one person said. Continue reading.

Fox News Judge: Trump Is Destroying Freedom In Portland

Two weeks ago, this column offered a brief history of the freedom of speech in America. The essence of the column was that all public speech is lawful when there is time for more speech to challenge it and that the remedy for hate speech is not censorship, but more speech.

Last week, this column addressed the unconstitutional behavior of federal agents in Portland, Oregon, most of whom are out among peaceful demonstrators interfering with free speech, travel and assembly.

Also last week, a newspaper in New Jersey, the editors of which might have disagreed with the essence of this column — that the First Amendment requires the government to protect political dissent and prohibits interfering with it — published my column with the two and a half most important paragraphs removed. Continue reading.

Oregon governor announces “phased withdrawal” of federal agents from Portland

Axios logoThe Trump administration has agreed to a “phased withdrawal” of Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents from Portland, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) announced on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The news comes after weeks of violent clashes between protesters and federal law enforcement deployed by the Trump administration to protect Portland’s federal courthouse.

  • Democrats have accused federal law enforcement of escalating violence against civilians and detaining protesters in unmarked vehicles.
  • Attorney General Bill Barr, echoing other Trump top officials, said Tuesday that protesters’ nightly attacks on the courthouse are “an assault on the government of the United States.” Continue reading.

More federal agents dispatched to Portland as protests rise in other cities

Washington Post logoThe Trump administration is sending more federal agents to Portland, Ore., already the site of aggressive policing tactics that activists and city officials across the country say are inspiring more-violent clashes and re-energizing protests.

The U.S. Marshals Service decided last week to send more deputies to Portland, according to an internal email reviewed by The Washington Post, with personnel beginning to arrive last Thursday night. The Department of Homeland Security is also considering a plan to send an additional 50 U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to the city, according to senior administration officials involved in the federal response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Such moves would mark a significant expansion of the federal force operating at the Portland federal courthouse — there were 114 federal agents there in mid-July — though it is unclear how many existing personnel could be sent home after the arrival of at least 100 reinforcements, according to internal Marshals emails. Continue reading.

Trump’s Brutal Response To Protest Violence Undermines ‘Law And Order’

Donald Trump, whose 2016 presidential campaign was consciously modeled after Richard Nixon’s 1968 run, seems to think he can win reelection by emulating his predecessor’s appeal to a “silent majority” disgusted by raucous anti-war protests. Trump is offering voters a choice between his firm hand and the pusillanimity of “liberal Democrats” who let “violent anarchists” run wild in the streets.

Notwithstanding Trump’s pose as “your president of law and order,” his heavy-handed reaction to the protests triggered by George Floyd’s death represents neither. In response to largely peaceful demonstrations against police brutality that have been punctuated by criminal behavior, he has deployed his own brand of lawlessness, including arbitrary arrests and the disproportionate, indiscriminate use of force.

Billy Williams, the U.S. attorney for Oregon, is well aware of the crimes committed by some people drawn to the protests Portland has seen every day since May 28. He notes that the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse has been vandalized repeatedly and that federal agents assigned to protect the building “have been subjected to threats; aerial fireworks including mortars; high intensity lasers targeting officers’ eyes; (and) thrown rocks, bottles, and balloons filled with paint.” Continue reading.

The echoes of Hong Kong in Portland

Washington Post logoThe protesters are defiant. They equip themselves with makeshift protective gear, donning bicycle helmets, gas masks and goggles while wielding umbrellas as shields. Some have repurposed household tools like leafblowers to help against tear gas and other projectiles fired into the crowds. Others assemble ramshackle barricades and shine laser pointers to disrupt the scopes of the heavily armed security forces. Authorities brand them vandals and “rioters.” But the crackdowns that ensued only galvanized further dissent.

That’s how the script read for months of unrest that gripped Hong Kong last year. But it has also been on view in recent weeks in the West Coast city of Portland, Ore., the site of an intensifying showdown between demonstrators and the Trump administration. Over the weekend, Black Lives Matter protesters marched in cities across the country, from Los Angeles to Omaha to Seattle. In some instances, they clashed with police and federal security forces, leading to arrests.

Portland, though, has become ground zero of a new phase in the United States’ summer of discontent. The city, as my colleagues noted, has “a long tradition of protest as a subculture of anarchism.” Petty street skirmishes there between far-right and anti-fascist groups have inflamed American social media in recent years. Their reelection prospects narrowing, President Trump and his Republican allies have seized upon the disturbances in the Pacific Northwest as a parable for what the American left supposedly has in store for the rest of the country. As a result, Portland has become the first battleground in an apparent nationwide surge of federal agents deployed to big cities with the White House’s prodding — and without local approval. Continue reading.

Trump’s secret police in Portland — and GOP lawmakers’ complicity — could have 2020 consequences: polling

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump’s brutal ongoing crackdown on protests in Portland, Oregon and his threats to send federal agents into other major U.S. cities in the coming days could have electoral consequences for not only Trump but also vulnerable Republican senators in key battleground states who are up for re-election this November, according to polling released Friday by MoveOn Political Action.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) this week surveyed registered voters in Arizona, Maine, and North Carolina, and found that majorities in all three states oppose Trump’s deployment of federal agents in Portland. Some critics have charged the president’s tactics are part of a ploy to sow chaos across the country in an effort to “steal” the election in November, when he is expected to face off against former Vice President Joe Biden. Voters also want Congress to intervene. Continue reading.

OIG to review “use of force” against protesters in Portland and D.C.

Axios logoJustice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Thursday his office will launch an investigation into federal agents’ “use of force” in Portland and the clearing of peaceful protestors in Lafayette Squarein Washington, D.C., including the use of chemical agents.

Why it matters: Demonstrations in Portland against police use of force have continued in the city for more than 50 days. President Trump has threatened to send federal law enforcement into other cities run by Democrats.

The big picture: House Democrats asked the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the response of federal law enforcement personnel to ongoing protests in cities across the U.S. Continue reading.

DOJ watchdog to probe alleged use of force by law enforcement against protesters

The Hill logoThe internal watchdog at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced an investigation into the alleged use of force by federal law enforcement personnel against protesters in Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his office will coordinate with his counterpart at the Department of Homeland Security to examine use of force allegations involving DOJ law enforcement personnel.

Horowitz said in a statement that his office “is initiating a review to examine the DOJ’s and its law enforcement components’ roles and responsibilities in responding to protest activity and civil unrest in Washington, DC, and in Portland, Oregon over the prior two months.” Continue reading.