Trump's protection squads may deploy drones in Portland, as he aches for another Minneapolis or DC.
Feds control airspace over Portland to minimize news coverage and facilitate drones, as street confrontations continue against a background of DHS attempts to make the suburbs scared of manufactured urban conflict. These actions, like the DC park-clearing photo-op, are a stunt to frame a national message for the GOP.
Like DHS drones deployed over Minneapolis, the dimension and scale of actual conflict can’t be available in a media-free air space. Trump needs a national perception of urban violence that is greatly exaggerated to help his re-election prospects.
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The Oregonian points out the PORTLAND CHAOS images “come almost exclusively from tiny points in the city” during late-night moments when “only a couple hundred or fewer protesters and scores of police officers are out in…coronavirus-hollowed downtown” https://t.co/FowmNuywhH— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 18, 2020
…national media reports, particularly those published by right-wing outlets, suggest a vastly different version of how safe it is for children and families to stroll through downtown Portland.
One America News Network describes “violence gripping the city.” A Fox News headline blares “Portland protesters flood police precinct, chant about burning it down.” The New York Post reported Saturday that Portland “descended into violence.”
Many people who live in Portland, including Alexander, heard over the past few days from worried relatives in other states who feared that their loved ones in Portland might have been affected by fires or caught in police crossfire as they went about their day.
The images that populate national media feeds, however, come almost exclusively from tiny points in the city: a 12-block area surrounding the Justice Center and federal courthouse.
And they occur exclusively during late-night hours in which only a couple hundred or fewer protesters and scores of police officers are out in the city’s coronavirus-hollowed downtown.
Those events are hardly representative of daily life, including peaceful anti-racism demonstrations that have drawn tens of thousands of protesters, in a city of 650,000 people that encompasses 145 square miles.
The vast majority of Portland residents spend quiet home-bound lives on hushed tree-lined streets with coronavirus and its resulting economic catastrophe as the greatest threat to their well-being.
Portland has experienced weeks of daily protests since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police.
The largest of them, involving thousands of people chanting and marching for racial justice and police non-violence, have been peaceful. www.oregonlive.com/…
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re Certain replies:
A) Kinda weird how many people seem to think you can land an aircraft without going below 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL)
B) Keeping press helicopters and camera drones from flying at all within pretty much the whole city sure seems like info suppression— Jamie â˜Â🌹Ⓐ🌻🄯 (@Jamjar_Jam) July 18, 2020
As unmarked feds snatch protesters off the streets in Portland, memo shows they'll be deployed indefinitely and in undisclosed locations, with drones “on standby to assist as needed”
As much as I revile what President Trump is doing to the country, I have not been among the alarmists who warn of incipient authoritarianism, offesteringfascism. I believe — I have believed, anyway — in the rule of law; the steadfastness of the courts, even larded with Trump-appointed judges; the strong tradition of the U.S. military refraining from being used to serve partisan interests. But to have watched live as federal agents attacked peaceful protesters near Lafayette Square, and now to read the reports from Portland, is to worry: Perhaps that was over-optimistic.
This is not America because of the First Amendment, quoted above. It is not America because we are a federal system, something you would think Republicans, who supposedly believe in states’ rights, understand and respect. So we are a country in which governors can summon federal help, are authorized to call out the National Guard — not a country in which unbadged federal police are loosed upon innocent citizens of a stateover the objections of its governor.In this case, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, joined by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who have beseeched the feds to leave.
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What’s happening in Portland shows Trump is ignoring the Constitution — and attacking America, @RuthMarcus writes https://t.co/cRzC5NB1Qn— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) July 17, 2020
There is a difference between solving a legitimate problem (the destruction of public property) and picking a political fight. Trump, understandably terrified of losing reelection, appears intent on doing the latter. “A federal courthouse is a symbol of justice — to attack it is to attack America,” Wolf thundered in his statement.
But there is a more important symbol of justice than a brick-and-mortar building.
It is called the Constitution. To ignore it is to attack America.
— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 (@DemWrite) July 18, 2020
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Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler: “We're asking the President, in fact, we're demanding that the President remove these additional troops that he sent to our city. It is not helping to contain or de-escalate the situation. It's obviously having exactly the opposite impact.” pic.twitter.com/uiw4NAmF08
Trump in tele-town hall last night on Biden: “They're going to bring people, eliminate single-family zoning, they want to eliminate single family zoning, bringing who knows into your suburbs, so your communities will be unsafe and your housing values will go down.†Per @DJJudd
Basically we're getting a pretty consistent story here. Deaths continue to rise week-over-week. An average of 742 deaths were reported over the past 7 days, as compared to 678 for the 7 days before that. So it hasn't been getting *massively* worse, but it's still getting worse.
