A resistant fungus
Take any message of a comeback for Portland with a grain of salt unless and until the problem of political violence is addressed. This week we've learned that several city vehicles were torched on the site of a planned managed camp for homeless people in North Portland. This came shortly before city commissioner Rene Gonzalez's parents' car was torched in front of his house in the Eastmoreland neighborhood.
You don't have to be Columbo to figure out that the same people did both jobs. And you can just imagine who it was. The anarchist types are bragging about it here. These are the people who set the city reeling with the endless riots of 2020 and 2021, from which we've never recovered. Many of the rioters are still around, and they still want to end not only capitalism but also civilization. They're not from around here, usually. One guy, from New Jersey, got his anthropology diploma from Reed College while he was under indictment.
Gonzalez is calling the latest arson incidents "terrorism," and although part of me would like to dismiss that label as a bit melodramatic, I've got to admit that when you think about it, he's right.
Will the arsonists be caught, and if they are, will they suffer any consequences? As a two-proposition parlay, the odds of that are mighty long. Just like there are no consequences to spray-painting your mental illnesss on every surface next to every freeway in the central city. It's completely normalized in Portland now.
And as long as that's the case, you can forget about any economic future for the Rose City. Nobody in their right mind is going to locate an enterprise of any scale in a place where the anarchists are free to commit arson. This is not complicated.
Jack, the last paragraph in your post clearly says it all. I wonder if the local media will ever come to the same conclusion and start reporting on Antifa
ReplyDeleteThese anarchist types have been around Portland since long before anyone ever heard the word "Antifa." As soon as you start railing about "Antifa," you lose about 60 percent of your audience in Portland. But yes, the media needs to pay more attention to who the arsonists are and what happens or doesn't happen if and when they are identified and caught. Including who the judges are and what their track records are in these sorts of cases.
DeleteAs part of the 60%, I wholeheartedly agree. The moment the labels and the name-calling start, I'm out. That said, prosecute the hell out of these bums.
DeleteI think I understand why the media avoids it
DeleteWe need to rebrand them with another name. Antifa sounds ethnic and therefore get extra credit with the white-guilt Portland crowd.
DeleteEven though my political views have changed in the last 30 years, I remember protesting down MLK against the Iraq war back when Bush Mk1 was president. I can only imagine that those same people (or their offspring) are the same ones that show up at every protest now. Call them “recreational protesters”, because that is basically what they are.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of this one, because the arsonists had the gall to go after someone who can actually do something about it.
ReplyDeleteIf they just targeted businesses and private citizens nobody would do anything other than step behind a podium and performatively wail about how terrible it is for some local news B-roll. But now that they've hit at one of the blessed few that have a name plate on a door in the puzzle palace downtown, I'm sure the police will be all over it and our district attorney who doesn't actually prosecute criminals will quickly move to charge and incarcerate the arsonists.
And I'm sure that it will get so much better after we add a bunch more bobbleheads to the downtown puzzle palace through "charter reform."
Hey we can finally use the ARSON word? I remember Gov Kate forbade the idea that these little rascals could possibly be starting fires in the woods. It must have been that mean old climate change.
ReplyDeleteThe anarchists make a very valid point in the linked claim taking credit for burning equipment at the Urban Alchemy construction site: "The city will pay $40,000 per person per year for the planned site, far more expensive than renting each person their own apartment."
ReplyDeleteIf true, and I suspect it could even be more costly, that is something we need to fight.
If you put many of the tent squatters into apartments, they’ll just burn the place down. Until they can and will go into treatment, a tent in a managed camp may be the only solution.
DeleteIt appears Mr. Theo Mathee-O'Brien had his 5 felony charges dismissed by the MCDA after performing a whopping 80 hours of community service. Not even a weekend in jail for intentionally causing thousands upon thousands of dollars in damage to places like the Oregon Historical Society. No conviction. Immediately eligible to have the whole thing wiped clean from his record. This is in addition to the fact he had another case no complainted by Multnomah County during to Riot Amnesty ™. I guess the system this former Reed student despises so much worked out pretty well for him.
ReplyDeleteI think he's back in New Jersey now, and I hope he's doing a lot of explaining.
DeleteOffer a substantial reward. Those who know who he is will sell him out for a chance to move out of their parents garage.
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