If only mobs were allowed to destroy federal property without consequence. So there shouldn’t be any dispute over federal agents defending a federal court in Portland, Oregon; It could simply be overflowed and burned to the ground without untimely resistance from the government.
As it stands, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who presides over a city that has become a watchword over the years for the left-wing thug without control by city officials, has woken up to a state high-burden, about federal officials trying to counter assaults on a federal building.
He calls the feds “a direct threat to our democracy” and argues that they are participating in unconstitutional arrests and fierce protests that he hoped “would end in a matter of days.”
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden had this cold attitude about the President and his acting secretary of Homeland Security: “Now Trump and Chad Wolf are arming DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on the streets of my hometown, because they think it plays well with the right-wing media. “
If Portland was on the brink of calm before the feds came into force, it would have been the first time since George Floyd’s murder.
Protests have been held every day since May 28. Some headlines form a timeline, from local Koin.com television station: For May 29: “Massive vigil in North Portland leads to riot in downtown.” For May 30: “Curfew imposed – and ignored.” For June 30: “Police construction protest: another riot was declared by the police.”
Although the federal court has done nothing to provoke protesters and has remained in the same place since 1997, it has been a constant target. Protesters broke its glass doors, covered its exterior with graffiti, and tried to light it multiple times. This has been going on since at least early July.
True to form, protesters over the weekend tore down the fence and set fire to the building’s entrance. As Portland police put it, “Dozens of people with shields, helmets, gas masks, umbrellas, bats, and hockey sticks approached the doors” of the courthouse, but it was surely just a misunderstanding that led to federal officials. to believe they had to repel them with tear gas.
This is not difficult: it is the people who attack federal property who have the moral responsibility for what is happening in Portland. In every city in the country where nihilist mobs are not trying to burn down symbols of our justice system, there is no increased presence of federal officials.
The feds have not been wearing name badges and have been wearing unmarked cars, fearing retaliation against the officers involved and mob actions against vehicles.
Both are undoubtedly legal tactics. According to DHS, officers wear their agency badges and unique identifiers; arrest only people suspected of involvement in attacks on federal property; and they are identifying with those arrested, though not with the crowds.
Perhaps these officers should be more clearly identified, but there is no point in calling them, as Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has said, “stormtroopers,” who are “kidnapping protesters.”
The arrest of a man named Mark Pettibone has drawn much attention from the press. He says he did nothing wrong and was arrested by federal agents, who took him to federal court and read his Miranda Rights, before releasing him.
He was not detained indefinitely, disappeared, or harmed in any way, but was apparently mistakenly arrested and then allowed to continue on his way.
It would be one thing if Portland municipal authorities could legitimately claim to have things under control. They do not. The mobs have been clashing with the local police for months.
This long-standing mutiny is an outright comment on the mismanagement of Mayor Wheeler, who is much better at insulting federal law enforcement than he is at work.
Rich Lowry is the author of “The Case of Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free.” Twitter: @RichLowry
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