Rumor What's going on in Portland?

There are a bunch of liberal gun owners as hunters, recreation and personal security.

 

I'm a liberal with 3 rifles, a shotgun, 3 pistols, a pellet gun, a slingshot, and a cache of spitwads

I don't own a katana though

 

I just want everyone to go home. Stop. Please.

 

it would be best, but if that happened, fucking trump would crow about it for months

 

I am also a liberal with multiple firearms. I even had concealed carry permits when I lived in WA and OR. I don’t in CA whereI live currently, but I may apply in the future.

 

Occupying forces being sent to Albuquerque for no known reason as city is peaceful, but it does have a Democratic Latina mayor. To Chicago to supposedly fight crime. Chicago has 12,000 police officers, one of the largest in proportion to size of community but 200 occupiers would supposedly do a better job. To Seattle which is also peaceful. All to be background for Trump campaign ads telling white people to be very afraid.

 

We're heading to Oregon next Thursday. Normally, we like to go downtown (Pioneer Square, Broadway, etc.), but not this time. No way.

 

This was shared on FB by my niece's close friend. Provides a first-hand account of a few matters going on downtown:


Peaceful Till It’s Not

I have never thought I would need a safety plan to get to or from work. I never thought my husband would worry about me going to work. I never thought I’d be so worried about who was behind me in my car and how long they’d been following me.

If you don’t know I work in the Justice Center in downtown Portland. Every night for the last 50+ nights there have been protests. I am all for peaceful protests but I put my foot down when it stops being peaceful. Rioters, looters, setting buildings on fire, all of these things are not ok and it’s not peaceful.

The building where I work has been set on fire multiple times with hundreds of people inside me included. Doors are blocked so there is no way out. Co-workers being followed home, harassed and our lives and our families lives threatened.

I normally keep quiet about this stuff but I am sick of seeing friends and loved ones repost things that aren’t true. Don’t be a reposting warrior and repost things if you don’t know the truth. News outlets aren’t posting the whole truth. And most reposts I see and very one sided.

Last night, July 20, I got a text from work saying “hundreds of protesters around the building. Call in before you try to enter.” My husband was worried and the closer I got to work the more my anxiety level rose. I made it in the building safe for my 16 hour shift that started at 11pm. I turned YouTube on to watch the live streams of what was going on outside our building. Multiple live streams where available to watch to get different perspectives. Protesters stayed peaceful till approximately midnight. No Portland police in sight. No federal police in sight, just protesters. Then it changed.

Rioters started banging on the federal building. It’s like they were taunting the Feds to see what they would do. Why else would someone start messing with a boarded up building? The banging and kicking turned in to pulling plywood off of the building. Not just a piece here or there. Large pieces of plywood to keep rioters out. This is not peaceful, this had turned into criminal activity. Once the rioters were able to see windows they started smashing the windows with fire extinguishers. Windows were broken and the Feds now had to take action. I honestly was surprised it took as long as it did for the Feds to come out and stop all the criminal activity. Good job on their part for holding back as long as they did!

Yes, the Feds used CS gas. Yes, they used other crowd control devices. Why wouldn’t they when their building has been broke into and burned? The Feds “fixed” the building and retreated back inside. An hour later (230am), fires were being lit on the doors of the building, at the base of trees, at the old elk statue, and around the Multnomah County Court house. To protect the people inside these buildings, the Feds came back out to put fires out and to arrest these criminals. A federal officer was ambushed and taken to the ground. Luckily he was able to get away. (You can see the video of this on Twitter)

The peaceful protesters, the “moms and dads” that were out earlier in the night, left around midnight when the criminal activity started. I wonder why?Maybe because it wasn’t peaceful anymore. The fires, looting and criminal activity lasted until 4 in the morning.

Portland Police’s hands are tied by the Mayor and other city officials. I can tell you that the police, both local and federal, want this to stop. They want to be home with their families. Their families want them home safe. Stop breaking in and burning the buildings and the police won’t have to get involved. I can tell you that we will not give up the Justice Center. The Feds will not “go home” and give up the court house. Portland Police won’t give up any of their precincts to criminals that want to burn them down. We are there to protect the buildings and everyone inside.

Yes, peaceful protests need to happen. Change needs to happen as well. Be a part of the solution, not part of the problem, and be willing to have conversations with the other side and honestly listen. What’s happening in Portland every night isn’t helping. Portland is a dump and I am not proud to say I grew up here.

Just like in every profession, there are a few bad apples. There are bad teachers, bad politicians, bad doctors, and, yes, bad officers. But like in every profession the good outweigh the bad.

The next time when you say F*** the Police, Defund the Police, ACAB, please think of Adam and I. You can’t say these words and still be ok with being our friends or family. You can’t say these words then say, “Well, not you guys”. You can’t say these words and then say,

”We know you guys are good”. We won’t stand for it and we don’t need it in our lives.

 

Meet me up at the VA hospital. We can do lunch together at the VA lunch room where they serve the worst food I've ever had at a cafeteria and where I'll be in virtual hell for five hours with two 15 AWG (American Wire Gauge) painfully stuck in my arm and the other arm immobilized with a blood pressure cuff. This means that I have to lay on my back for all those hours unable to scratch my itches and unable to stop my leg cramps from the fluid loss. I also have trouble breathing like that because half my diaphragm is paralyzed and I've got hay fever and asthma so can't breathe well on my back. They use to allow my to use my CPAP which made it bearable but now for some unknown reason because of Covid-19 I'm no longer allowed to use my CPAP. They do give me oxygen up the nose but it's not the same. I think I could talk them into letting you try it and see how you like it if you'd like.

 

Wow, Lanny!! Man, I had know idea you're going through a bunch of this other stuff. We will make every effort to visit you, but I'm at the mercy of my sisters. I won't be renting a car until we're done with the family time and head to Boise. If I don't see you this time, I'll be certain to plan a post-election visit so that we can enjoy dinner/drinks, laughter, etc. Oh, I kinda invited @SlyPokerDog to that, as well. Thought you wouldn't mind. We might need him to be there as a referee.

 

I'll look forward to that. Also, I'll make up for your dinner expense by bringing a nice bottle of wine. I hope you drink wine with your steak. For us a nice red wine is mandatory with a steak dinner.
Right now, we've had little contact with the outside and zero visitors since February. We had to go to the Volvo dealer to get a software glitch fixed but we sat far apart and everyone wore a mask. Volvo works great now. Whatever it was it was screwing with the power steering. My wife had trouble with it and got a warning message. I drove it to the garage the next day and had no trouble with it and no warning message. Probable cleared itself but the dealer erased it all and reinstalled it including all the recent upgrades and told us we should never have the problem again. Other than that we love the car. Never had one with a backup camera before. Really cool.
It's gives a low pitched warning chirp whenever you park it too near an object in front or behind. It also gives a warning chirp whenever we get to close to a car in front or when a car passes us in our blind spot. It even tells us the speed of an approaching car behind us. It's got virtually every bell and whistle.

 

My friends!

You have both been in my living room at the same time.... more than once!

You know what? I think its time for another get together.

I'm gonna pick a few dates and get back to you guys and a few others. I will host a BBQ feast and have some games and we can all social distance on my property and we can all have this discussion. I do feel its needed for many of us. It will help us better understand each other far more than any social media discussion can provide.

 

Portland could unravel trump's urban warfare:

https://www.politico.com/news/magaz...te-cities-trump-bulldozed-constitution-378739

 

Seriously downtown is not bad at all during the day, I spent a few days down there just this week. I wouldn't worry about it and it might be worth the trip to see it for yourself. Just outside of the 5 block or so radius its business as usual. I wouldn't go after dark unless your ready for some action though.