Summer stock starts early
A follow-up to my post about yesterday's disturbance in Chapman Square:
The group that says it was attacked was a fairly anemic rally being staged by Stan Pulliam, the reformed (he says) swinger doctor from Sandy who's running for the Republican nomination for governor.
Pulliam posted video of the supposedly horrifying episode on Twitter, here. His group also gave more video to the right-wing Channel 2, which gladly reposted it here after an initial report here.
Pulliam's people called the cops, and they wrote a report here. The O weekend B-Team cautiously regurgitated that here.
I hate to say this, but looking at the two video clips, to me it looks fake as all get-out. The supposed assailants are all dressed in uniforms, which is something the Portland radicals don't do. They waved black flags and threw goofy purple smoke, which is also not Portland black-bloc style. I've watched a lot of Portland riots, and this is not how they go.
Plus, it was noon on a Saturday, when real Portland rioters are just waking up and prepping their first microdose of the day.
So I'm not buying this story. I don't know if Pulliam himself staged this episode, but I suspect somebody did. If I'm right, they wasted some cop time, and deserve both scorn and ridicule, if not prosecution. Oh yeah, I forgot, this is Portland, forget about the prosecution.
It does seem to dovetail a little bit too neatly with his 'war on woke' podium sign.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it does look kinda fishy. I ain’t buying it.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a non-event (counter-protestor-wise or interrupting business as usual a little to get some signs/messages out?), regardless?
ReplyDeleteProtest to meet people, appeal to powers that be or be visible?
What it grew out of in high-middle-ages when balance of force was much more than today on the side of peasants for once after the black death, maybe it was a way of publicly asking nicely for a better deal, but has continued as a mostly empty ritual & doesn't really work for the original purpose?
Not much downtown anymore, especially those hours, but the backdrop is cheaper than a green screen?
BUT, with the speed stuff goes viral on nextdoor, facebook & the need for content that papers have?
Whats a cheaper more effective ad?
Glossy fliers, or backdrop of a mess/unsavory zombie movie scene for free (or couple gallons of gas while out, anyway?) & free distribution?
Maybe glossy fliers if they're a make-work program for consultants, designers & planners?
The patriot prayer stuff pre C19 didn't make huge ripples & showed cops being a bit chummy with proud boys...but it's difficult to make 'bad faith' accusations that are un-provable unless you nail some faces to names in writing/posts showing pre-meditated behavior (which a few people did & re-posted back then, if anyone bothered to read).
This pre election season, things are objectively worse, sounds cheaper than a green screen in boring 'ole 'couve (with its issues, too), Sandy or sending out fliers & potentially works nationwide even if said named local face card doesn't win?
The counter protestors do look too...uh..idk..'personally put together,' but just kinda 'there' as props for a saturday @ noon on the vid?
They look like they're lost & just teleported in from the Sandy Fred Meyer parking lot w/2 rando black pieces of fabric on a stick or two?
At some point I hope even people with half a brain will realize this isn't a new act & will grow weary of this show that now that everything is so bad & deserted and that's not news that at best it looks like a more pathetic version of bum fight videos, but I'm not optimistic/no one remembers anything that didn't happen 5-10 mins ago?
&, if late Rome is any indication, but more lame & less brutal w/0-effort to view on a screen (or distribute the recording to said screen? now...much like flooding the stadium to re-enact naval battles they won from the glory days, in the tent-scape as the R glossy flier backdrop, now you can...uh parachute in on a day off after your mid-morning pow-wow/power-hour warmup sesh...& re-enact epic battles against the '(OMG sooper threatening) woke somebody's? in black' in the blasted zombie-scape?
God help us?
My thoughts exactly on the "counter protest." The matchy-matchy "antifa" outfits and black flags feel 100% fishy. Would Swingin' Stan pull such a stunt?
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