I live in Portland and while there are homeless people downtown it’s a great city to live in and I’ve never felt unsafe. Fox News has been saying for years that Portland is basically a war-torn shell of a city in which people huddle in their homes afraid of the criminals freely roaming the streets. They’ve even used footage from riots in 2020 and pretended it was present-day [0]. It’s terrifying that we have a president who believes and takes action based on what he sees on TV.
Have you ever been to Portland or do you just believe Trump? There were few (not many) Trump flags in Portland during the election and I don’t recall a single person being hurt for it.
I don’t care all that much for the book, but I often think of a passage Samuel Huntington wrote in The Clash of Civilizations:
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”
>> Isn't there something in the constitution about that?
Yes, "The Congress shall have Power...To provide for calling forth the Militia to
execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions".
One of the ways Congress has done that was to pass the Insurrection Act, which was the legal basis for President Eisenhower to send 1,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne in to Little Rock, Arkansas in order to force racial integration of a high school.
The same act was used by JFK 3 times for similar purposes, 3 times by LBJ to suppress riots and civil unrest, by Reagan to suppress a prison riot, and by George H. W. Bush to deal with looting in the Virgin Islands after a hurricane, and to suppress riots in L.A. after the acquittal in the Rodney King beating trial.
There's also the 3rd Amendment quartering of troops restriction, so if you live in Portland, you won't have to let the troops stay at your house unless you want to, unless Trump declares war.
Yeah, the constitution... let's talk about that for a minute.
The feds own immigration policy and enforcement. For a city to declare itself a "sanctuary city" is, basically, a refusal of federal authority. Yeah, previous presidents didn't make an issue out of it. That doesn't make it anything different, though.
And the federal government does have the right to bring in federal troops to protect federal buildings and federal officials.
But of course it's not that simple. That presumes that Trump's actual reason is the stated one, which is not a reasonable assumption. It presumes that all the troops will do is protect federal property and workers, which is unknowable at present.
And it ignores the ruling that Trump bringing troops into LA was illegal. If that was a federal circuit ruling, well, Portland is in the same federal district, so it's current law there. (Does anyone know what the current situation is with that case? Does that ruling stand?)
Look, don't take any of this as an apology for Trump. But he does have the legitimate authority to enforce immigration law. If the troops wind up doing more than protecting the people who are doing that, then he doesn't have the legitimate authority to do that.
A sanctuary city means not having local police cooperate with federal immigration officials. There is no constitutional requirement for local police departments to do so.
The feds know but won't release it. The paid rioters move as groups and there are journalists such as Katy Daviscourt that follow the paid groups all around Oregon. When they recognize her they put up umbrellas, cover their faces, flip her off and sometimes attack her. Its the same groups of people that are paid to travel all over Oregon. If the feds wanted to learn a lot more they should talk to Katy as she has video footage of all of them in multiple locations.
If there were actual paid rioters paid for by anyone but someone in the MAGA orbit to justify government action, and the feds knew who it was, it is clear from their behavior in other cases that they wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to demonize them as an enemy (heck, they can hardly pass up the opportunity to manufacture such demonization with few or no facts behind it.)
So, if there are paid rioters, and the feds know who is paying them and not telling...
I live in Portland and while there are homeless people downtown it’s a great city to live in and I’ve never felt unsafe. Fox News has been saying for years that Portland is basically a war-torn shell of a city in which people huddle in their homes afraid of the criminals freely roaming the streets. They’ve even used footage from riots in 2020 and pretended it was present-day [0]. It’s terrifying that we have a president who believes and takes action based on what he sees on TV.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/05/trump-portla...
Portland’s level of safety depends on your political alignment.
If you’re lefty, you’re relatively safe. If not, expect lower levels of safety.
> If not, expect lower levels of safety.
Citations.
Have you ever been to Portland or do you just believe Trump? There were few (not many) Trump flags in Portland during the election and I don’t recall a single person being hurt for it.
Nothing says small government like troops on the streets
A perfect accompaniment for firing government attorneys for reminding government agents to follow the law.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/26/trump-fires-...
Our state newspaper: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2025/09/trump-says-hell-...
Archive [1]
[1] - https://archive.is/gZ8Q0
«Execute … Order Sixty Six!»
Fascinating how easy it is to use the military against your own citizens.
Seems the whole military honor thing is just a myth.
I guess „thank you for your service“ will only be used sarcastically in the future
Already was if you’re one of the millions of Americans from a country America has ravaged.
I don’t care all that much for the book, but I often think of a passage Samuel Huntington wrote in The Clash of Civilizations:
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”
"War ravaged Portland"? King Bone Spurs no idea what a war looks like.
His supporters think it's "war-ravaged", or can easily be led into believing it.
Remember when BLM was "burning entire cities to the ground?"
Isn't there something in the constitution about that?
What a shameless oligarch.
>> Isn't there something in the constitution about that?
Yes, "The Congress shall have Power...To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions".
One of the ways Congress has done that was to pass the Insurrection Act, which was the legal basis for President Eisenhower to send 1,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne in to Little Rock, Arkansas in order to force racial integration of a high school.
The same act was used by JFK 3 times for similar purposes, 3 times by LBJ to suppress riots and civil unrest, by Reagan to suppress a prison riot, and by George H. W. Bush to deal with looting in the Virgin Islands after a hurricane, and to suppress riots in L.A. after the acquittal in the Rodney King beating trial.
There's also the 3rd Amendment quartering of troops restriction, so if you live in Portland, you won't have to let the troops stay at your house unless you want to, unless Trump declares war.
Yeah, the constitution... let's talk about that for a minute.
The feds own immigration policy and enforcement. For a city to declare itself a "sanctuary city" is, basically, a refusal of federal authority. Yeah, previous presidents didn't make an issue out of it. That doesn't make it anything different, though.
And the federal government does have the right to bring in federal troops to protect federal buildings and federal officials.
But of course it's not that simple. That presumes that Trump's actual reason is the stated one, which is not a reasonable assumption. It presumes that all the troops will do is protect federal property and workers, which is unknowable at present.
And it ignores the ruling that Trump bringing troops into LA was illegal. If that was a federal circuit ruling, well, Portland is in the same federal district, so it's current law there. (Does anyone know what the current situation is with that case? Does that ruling stand?)
Look, don't take any of this as an apology for Trump. But he does have the legitimate authority to enforce immigration law. If the troops wind up doing more than protecting the people who are doing that, then he doesn't have the legitimate authority to do that.
A sanctuary city means not having local police cooperate with federal immigration officials. There is no constitutional requirement for local police departments to do so.
In turn that opens the possibility of sanctuary cities for aggressively enforcing such cooperation.
Reuters has a non-paywalled article: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-orders-deployment-tro...
"Sir... this so-called 'moon bear' issue wouldn't happen to be disrupting the further release of the Epstein files, would it?"
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Wow, who's paying for rioters?
The feds know but won't release it. The paid rioters move as groups and there are journalists such as Katy Daviscourt that follow the paid groups all around Oregon. When they recognize her they put up umbrellas, cover their faces, flip her off and sometimes attack her. Its the same groups of people that are paid to travel all over Oregon. If the feds wanted to learn a lot more they should talk to Katy as she has video footage of all of them in multiple locations.
> The feds know but won't release it.
If there were actual paid rioters paid for by anyone but someone in the MAGA orbit to justify government action, and the feds knew who it was, it is clear from their behavior in other cases that they wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to demonize them as an enemy (heck, they can hardly pass up the opportunity to manufacture such demonization with few or no facts behind it.)
So, if there are paid rioters, and the feds know who is paying them and not telling...
I assume its an ongoing investigation but who knows. Time will tell. Maybe the media will tell.
> When they recognize her they put up umbrellas...
The notorious umbrella rioters: they lurk behind umbrellas, in numbers greater than 2, then they attack!
Be on your guard--Look for the umbrella. Nobody in the PNW uses an umbrella...
Okay, sounds legit. Talk to Katy!
--Wait-a-minute, who pays Katy to follow the umbrella rioters around?!
"The feds know but they won't say..."
Time to track those paid rioters then.
I don't believe that in the slightest. If "the feds" know any kingpin financier type criminal, they roll up the whole organization quickly.