Portland's Democrat Mayor Says DHS Officers Are To Blame For Violence, Not Rioters

[Newest Reality]

I am posting this as relevant to the unlawful abductions of citizens in Portland. DHS is becoming a big concern right now, especially if they are being utilized as an official arm of Trump's Fascist regime. This needs oversight immediately.

The effort seems rather Hegelian. It looks like a conspiracy to create a problem or make it worse in order to justify authoritarian and unconstitutional activity. That may be the cover intention and its very concerning. We need to keep an eye on it or it could get out of hand and be a portent for November.

Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) said that his “biggest immediate concern” was not the criminals destroying the city, but federal officials from the Department of Homeland Security and their alleged “violence” and “life-threatening tactics.”

“I told the Acting Secretary that my biggest immediate concern is the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use. We do not need or want their help.”

Today the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security asked to speak with me about demonstration activity in Portland. He expressed his concern about ongoing violence and asked how his agency can help.

I told the Acting Secretary that my biggest immediate concern is the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use. We do not need or want their help.

— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) July 14, 2020

The best thing they can do is stay inside their building, or leave Portland altogether. Our goal is to end these violent demonstrations quickly and safely. And in the meantime, I asked him to clean up the graffiti on local federal facilities.

Trending: Oklahoma DA Charges Protesters With Terrorism: ‘This Is Not Seattle’

https://thewashingtonsentinel.com/portlands-democrat-mayor-says-dhs-officers-are-to-blame-for-violence-not-rioters/

[riversedge]

1. Trumps America--Feds roaming around Portland Oregon grabbing folks and no reason given them

for their detentions.

what have we become?

[greenjar_01]

2. Oh, its "Democrat Mayor"

[PatSeg]

22. That really jumped out at me

A newspaper should know better.

[Coventina]

23. Not a newspaper, a right-wing propaganda mag. n/t

[PatSeg]

24. Ah, well that would explain it then

I'm not familiar with that newspaper.

[OregonBlue]

3. Why are you posting from a right-wing garbage site?

[Newest Reality]

4. Why are you asking?

[Aristus]

5. Because it's right-wing horseshit to never use the adjective 'Democratic', but instead

the noun 'Democrat', even, or even especially, if it is grammatically incorrect.

It should be "Portland's Democratic Mayor..."

The repukes may call us the Democrat Party simply because their minds can't make it to that last syllable without getting exhausted, but that doesn't mean we need to follow their lead.

[Newest Reality]

7. Good point.

Thanks.

[Alex4Martinez]

8. DU advises copy/paste of actual story headlines, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I hate distractions.

Thank you for the link to what the Portland Mayor is trying to do, it's very important right now.

[Newest Reality]

9. Thanks.

Yes, I don't fiddle with headlines, I can comment on them if I feel it is necessary before the text quotes and link.

In this case, it was just a quick article with pertinent information and I assumed everyone would catch the biased usage. People here know that I am cautious about sources when it matters.

You're welcome, BTW. You are correct, this is extremely important.

[OregonBlue]

10. It was copied and pasted. You obviously didn't click on the link. This is a right-wing rag and shoue

not be referenced here as a source. There are many articles out there by actual news organizations that tell this story.

[Newest Reality]

14. I appreciate...

I appreciate your concern and diligence in this matter and I understand the impetus of your reaction.

Maybe you could post a link you feel is more acceptable and can be clicked on?

Thanks!

[OregonBlue]

19. Here's good coverage of Trump's Portland hate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/17/portland-protests-federal-arrests/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-high_mm-portland-810am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

[triron]

27. Thanks.

[greenjar_01]

28. Well, that's an explicit rule in LBN, anyway

Not sure I've ever seen it promulgated as general advice across forums.

[Fozzledick]

15. It's a shibboleth: fascists can't pronounce 'Democratic'.

The term originates from the Hebrew word shibbólet (שִׁבֹּלֶת , which literally means the part of a plant containing grain, such as the head of a stalk of wheat or rye;[6][7][8] or less commonly (but arguably more appositely)[9] "flood, torrent".[10][11]

The modern use derives from an account in the Hebrew Bible, in which pronunciation of this word was used to distinguish Ephraimites, whose dialect used a differently sounding first consonant. The difference concerns the Hebrew letter shin, which is now pronounced as [ʃ] (as in shoe).[12] In the Book of Judges, chapter 12, after the inhabitants of Gilead under the command of Jephthah inflicted a military defeat upon the invading tribe of Ephraim (around 1370–1070 BC), the surviving Ephraimites tried to cross the River Jordan back into their home territory, but the Gileadites secured the river's fords to stop them. To identify and kill these Ephraimites, the Gileadites told each suspected survivor to say the word shibboleth. The Ephraimite dialect resulted in a pronunciation that, to Gileadites, sounded like sibboleth.[12] In the King James Bible[13] the anecdote appears thus (with the word already in its current English spelling):

And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
—?Judges 12:5–6 KJV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth

[Aristus]

17. The best ever explanation of that story:

[Alex4Martinez]

6. Let's stay on the topic of Fascist Fed provocateurs in Portland, please. Here's a different source:

Challenging a good DU member about the source does not help the cause.

Thank you.

Link to tweet

[OregonBlue]

13. Posting from a right-wing rag does not help our cause.

I'm not questioning whether they are a "good" DUer but want people to be careful of their sources and not give clicks to these cretins.

[Newest Reality]

21. I am careful of my sources.

I have, in the past, posted many links to fact checking and media bias checking sites.

I also occasionally peruse sites and materials that are not in conformity with your criteria in order to at least note my own biases and check theirs, which I don't know how capable you may be of doing so or why that is also a good strategy for "our cause".

In this case, you may be putting far too much emphasis on your idea of sanitation in regards to the subject matter at hand and the content that I quoted, (which was most of the article). This one just came up somewhere and I appreciate the common sense of DUers about the particulars you are exaggerating. The link

I respect your view, but I don't appreciate your blatant accusation of hurting our cause. That's not useful in this context at all and I don't want to play "no true Scotsman" with you.

Gosh, it's just a link, not the battleground for the big one.

[OregonBlue]

30. I think Portland DEMOCRAT mayor should have been the first clue that this might not be the most

unbiased source? Sorry if you think I overreacted but the use of Democrat as an adjective drives me up the wall. Of course that is their purpose in using it. So let's all please avoid publications that do.

[Newest Reality]

31. No problem.

Thanks. It was mostly the comments of the Mayor and that was my focus at that point.

I understand that though. It is annoying

Will watch for that.

I appreciate your comments, no matter what.

[Coventina]

11. Not only posting from it, but using their verbiage as well.

[2naSalit]

12. K&R

[Blecht]

16. "Democrat Mayor"? "Rioters"

Why are you posting right-wing garbage?

[csziggy]

18. Thank you for bringing this to our attention - alternate source to support the OP link

Source:

Oregon Public Broadcasting: giving voice to the community, connecting Oregon and its neighbors, illuminating a wider world.
https://www.opb.org/about/

Portland Mayor On Federal Officers: 'We Do Not Need Or Want Their Help'

by Rebecca Ellis Follow OPB July 14, 2020 5:58 p.m. | Updated: July 15, 2020 6:11 a.m.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler amped up his critique of federal law enforcement dispatched to Portland Tuesday, tweeting that the officers were bringing violence and “life-threatening tactics” to the city’s streets.

“The best thing they can do is stay inside their building, or leave Portland altogether,” Wheeler tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Our goal is to end these violent demonstrations quickly and safely.”

<SNIP>

On Tuesday, Wheeler wrote that he had spoken with Chad Wolf, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, who had asked to speak about the protests and offer the agency’s help, according to Wheeler. But the mayor said he declined.

“I told the Acting Secretary that my biggest immediate concern is the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use,” he wrote. “We do not need or want their help.”

https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-mayor-ted-wheeler-tweets-federal-officers/

The injury the mayor mentioned:

Federal Officers Shoot Portland Protester In Head With 'Less Lethal' Munitions

by Jonathan Levinson Follow OPB July 12, 2020 7:23 a.m. | Updated: July 13, 2020 9:10 a.m. | Portland, Ore.

UPDATE (9 p.m. PT) — Federal law enforcement shot and severely injured a protester Saturday night during demonstrations in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Portland.

Donavan LaBella, 26, was shot in the head by what friends and witnesses said was an impact munition.

Videos of the incident posted online brought swift condemnation from some local leaders, including both of Oregon’s U.S. Senators, who demanded answers from the federal government, and City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who asked that federal troops leave Portland immediately.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, in a statement released just before 9 p.m. Sunday, called on federal law enforcement to abide by the same standards as Portland officers in using less-lethal weapons against protesters.

More: https://www.opb.org/news/article/federal-officers-portland-protester-shot-less-lethal-munitions/

[Bettie]

20. I wonder if some of the abductions

are them getting their planted provocateurs out of the field.

Yeah, I've got a tinfoil hat on....maybe.

[dmr]

32. I've wondered the same. Smart move on their part, I suppose.

Don't want to blow a useful cover. A cover to be used elsewhere.

[obamanut2012]

25. You used the WASHINGTON SENTINEL AS A SOURCE?????

WTAF

[Coventina]

26. Apparently that's A-OK, now.

[Newest Reality]

29. Is it really?