I’m so old, I can remember when Oregon Governor Kate Brown begged the feds to send in reinforcements to end the occupation of a federal facility in her state. Her current opposition to Homeland Security’s deployment in Portland seems almost hypocritical, in a way.
This week, Gov. Kate Brown made forceful statements in opposition to the deployment of federal law enforcement to defend federal facilities in Portland:
As top federal law enforcement officials arrived in Oregon on Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown accused President Donald Trump of deploying federal officers to Portland to crack down on protesters as a way to boost his flailing reelection prospects.
In an uncharacteristically harsh statement, Brown responded to Trump’s deployment of federal officers to quell Portland’s protests against police violence. Those officers sent one demonstrator to the hospital July 11 with a munition to the face.
“This political theater from President Trump has nothing to do with public safety,” Brown said. “The president is failing to lead this nation. Now he is deploying federal officers to patrol the streets of Portland in a blatant abuse of power by the federal government.”
Her comments come in the same hour that acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf landed in Portland, according to KOIN News 6. This morning, Wolf refused a request from Mayor Ted Wheeler to withdraw his officers from Portland.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown Announces Outdoor Mask Order, Ban on Gatherings Larger Than 10 People
"The consequences of Donald Trump dispatching federal law enforcement into U.S. cities played out in Portland with a peaceful protester shot in the head," Wyden wrote. "Trump must now answer why federal officers are acting like an occupying army." https://t.co/Xj0c3hisR6
— Willamette Week (@wweek) July 12, 2020
What is Chad Wolf doing in Portland? What political theater is Trump trumping up here? “Gov. Kate Brown accused..Trump of deploying federal officers to Portland to crack down on protesters as a way to boost his flailing reelection prospects” https://t.co/89snoqyPe5
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) July 17, 2020
Yet when some angry ranchers took a stand in a wildlife refuge in a remote area of rural southeast Oregon, asking for a redress of grievances, Kate Brown couldn’t get federal officers here fast enough.
Wait what? You wanted the federal governments help 4 years ago because of the “white extremists” but now that it’s your people doing the same thing the militia did you want that feds outta Oregon. Such a clown. https://t.co/ze7R57uLJx
— In Bubba We Trust (@InBubbaWeTrust) July 17, 2020
Oregon GOP Chair Files Second Recall Petition Against Kate Brown, Predicts Success
In 2016, Gov. Kate Brown practically begged for federal law enforcement help:
Gov. Kate Brown again called for an end to the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in rural Harney County and criticized federal officials Wednesday for their tactics.
The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, now in its third week, has no clear end in sight. State and federal law enforcement stationed in nearby Burns have not used force to end the occupation.
“The situation is absolutely intolerable and it must be resolved immediately. The very fabric of this community is being ripped apart,” Brown said at a news conference at the Capitol.
Since Jan. 2, several dozen armed anti-government protesters have occupied federal buildings at the refuge. The occupiers, led by Arizona businessman Ammon Bundy, want clemency for a pair of ranchers imprisoned on federal arson convictions, and they aim to jumpstart the slumped Harney County economy by finding a way to transfer federally managed range land to local or private hands.
The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in an area of the state where sage rats outnumber humans about 1,000 to one, was characterized by Kate Brown as armed, violent, and destructive. And yet, no damage occurred and no one was harmed until LaVoy Finicum, a spokesman for the Malheur occupiers, was murdered by state police and FBI agents while attempting to leave the occupation.
Contrast that to the wanton destruction, assaults on police, arsons, looting, illegal rioting, and other violence perpetrated by antifa and anarchists in Portland for almost two months—blatant lawlessness that has caused well over $23 million in damage:
Downtown businesses in Portland, Oregon, have sustained about $23 million in damages and lost customers because of violent nightly protests that have brought the city to its knees, authorities said Wednesday.
At a police briefing, Deputy Chief Chris Davis said the intensity of the violence by an “agitator corps” and the length of the protests that are now in their sixth week are unprecedented in Oregon’s largest city.
That was as of a week ago, so the total is surely much higher now.
It has become blatantly obvious that what passes for Oregon’s leadership will let any protest proceed, no matter how destructive, if they agree with the politics of the protesters. They aid and abet violent marxists turning downtown Portland into a dystopian hellhole, while opposing peaceful protesters demonstrating over the misuse of land in Oregon by the federal government.
Kate Brown is just another in a long line of Oregon democrats in leadership who has implemented two sets of rules, constitutional equal protection under the law be damned.
Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, and on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds.
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