Unless you have been living under a rock, you already know the storyline. Last Sunday afternoon in Kenosha, Wisconsin (about half the size of Chattanooga), a black man in an arrest-gone-awry was shot seven times in front of his kids. Was he brashly exposing a threatening knife? Still not official; but rushed to the hospital in critical condition and a full-fledged riot shockingly took place in about the time it takes for a match to ignite open gasoline. The reaction was so fast it defies common logic. The White House immediately offered federal aid and was rebuffed, in step-march with other Democratic governors and liberal mayors in our now strife-torn United States.
On Tuesday Wisconsin’s liberal Governor Tony Evers rather haughtily denied Donald Trump’s offer and that same night the rioting got worst. The debacle’s horror was magnified when the out-of-control rage reached its zenith -- two rioters were shot dead and another was critically injured. That’s when Governor Evers sent word to Washington claiming he had grossly misspoken and the people of Wisconsin would deeply appreciate immediate federal assistance.
By Wednesday night, almost 1,000 members of the National Guard were in the Kenosha streets, with Homeland Security agents, members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and carloads of FBI agents arriving in a seemingly endless caravan to the Illinois border town. An 8 p.m. curfew was decreed and in less than an hour almost 50 had been arrested and transported to jail where each would spend the night. No riot hot spot in America this summer has been so quickly extinguished.
A march was held in Kenosha on Saturday by the family of the man who was shot on Sunday, Jacob Blake, with more troops and federal agents also arriving in town earlier in the day. A truck carrying supplies for the protesters’ march, from a church in Milwaukee, was confiscated, impounded, and its occupants arrested. The courthouse, the police station, and City Hall in Kenosha were heavily guarded.
A crowd estimated between 1,000 and 2,000 was peaceful and orderly through 8 p.m. last night.
* * *
IN THE MEANWHILE …
Unrest in Portland, Oregon, continued unbridled after more than 90 straight days of lawless protests and riots. President Trump has asked Oregon officials three different times if they would allow a mix of National Guard and federal agents to intervene. The Kenosha incident has fanned the Oregon flames to the point humor columnist Ron Hart intimated the NBA Trailblazers’ upset over the Lakers earlier in the week was motivated by the fact a Portland loss would have forced the Blazers to go home. “They were playing to save their lives!” was Hart’s jab.
On Friday Portland’s mayor, an extremely left-leaning Ted Wheeler, has come under intense national scrutiny for his arrogant and haughty rebuttals to President Trump’s dissatisfaction about Wheeler’s puzzling response to the lawlessness that has cost the city millions in damages. Wheeler has exemplified himself as a radical and read here a portion of a letter he penned to President Trump on Friday morning:
* * *
PORTLAND MAYOR STILL SAYS “NO” TO U.S. INTERVENTION
August 28, 2020
Dear President Trump:
Yet again, you said you offered to aid Portland by sending in federal law enforcement to our city.
On behalf of the City of Portland: No thanks.
We don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery. Portlanders are onto you. We have already seen your reckless disregard for human life in your bumbling response to the COVID pandemic. And we know you’ve reached the conclusion that images of violence or vandalism are your only ticket to reelection.
There is no place for looting, arson, or vandalism in our city. There is no room here for racist violence or those who wish to bring their ideology of hate into our community. Those who commit criminal acts will be apprehended and prosecuted under the law.
Tens of thousands of Portlanders have peacefully protested and marched for the noble cause of fixing our broken criminal justice system. They are part of the proud progressive tradition of Portlanders fighting for justice - from racial justice to economic justice to environmental justice.
When you sent the Feds to Portland last month, you made the situation far worse. Your offer to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke fear and distract us from the real work of our city.
In Portland, we are focused on coming together as a community to solve the serious challenges we face due to systemic racism, a global pandemic, and an economic recession.
Stay away, please.
Signed,
Ted Wheeler, Mayor
* * *
The mayor made a big deal of his arrogance, holding a press conference and flashing his letter all about, but then Friday’s sunlight dimmed into Friday night’s darkness.
In a 9:30 p.m. Tweet Friday night, the President responded, calling Wheeler “incompetent” and said if he couldn’t get control of the city “we will go in and take care of matters the way they should have been taken care of 100 days ago!” Trump added, "If the incompetent Mayor of Portland, Ted Wheeler, doesn't get control of his city and stop the Anarchists, Agitators, Rioters and Looters, causing great danger to innocent people, we will go in and take care of matters the way they should have been taken care of 100 days ago!"
A group from Black Lives Matter then staged a “sit in” in the lobby of the Mayor’s condo – yes, this was on Friday night! – and chained themselves in the condominium lobby. They demanded, among other things, that Wheeler reduce the Portland Police Bureau budget, commit to never voting for police budget increases again, abolish the police bureau, and for the Democratic mayor to resign.
"Specifically, we demand that you and your fellow city leaders immediately develop a task force to plan for a 50 percent reduction of the Portland Police Bureau budget by 2021, and a complete abolition of the Portland Police Bureau by 2022, with no private or technological replacement," the Black Lives Matter news release read. “This timeline gives existing police officers ample time to find and train for alternative, meaningful work that benefits the community.
"Furthermore, we demand that the resources saved from the abolition of the Portland Police Bureau be re-invested into Black, Indigenous, and Brown communities, community-centered health and safety, and city services and programs that address the root causes of violence, crime, and inequality," the group asserted. "We also demand that you - with your extreme wealth, nepotistic career history, and family legacy that highlight you as a true embodiment of white supremacy - resign from your position as the Police Commissioner and Mayor of Portland."
How do you think Ted Wheeler’s loving liberal stance is working out for him? When this story was written there was still daylight in Portland. You don’t raise cane in Oregon for three months and then let a Saturday night go by unanswered. Then again, you ain’t about to hear a peep out of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The difference in right and wrong is pretty easy, huh?
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