I'm very angry and apprehensive this morning as I sip my first cup of coffee. The events involving the Department of Homeland Security in Portland, Oregon are reminiscent of the KGB in Russia or the events in Nazi Germany before WWII.
Without an invitation from the Governor of Oregon or the involvement of the mayor of Portland, the Federal Government has deployed agents heavily armed, in camouflaged uniforms, driving unmarked cars to unilaterally apprehend peaceful protesters off the streets. How scary is that? These agents, apparently from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Department, are deployed ostensibly to protect federal property. I would have to say that there may a major case of 'mission creep' here since the protesters apprehended were nowhere near Federal property.
In one case there is a video of an unarmed protester holding a speaker who is shot in the head by an agent and had to be rushed to the hospital. He later required reconstructive surgery where the bullet fractured bones in his skull. It is clear from the video that he is a single, unarmed protester exercising his constitutional rights. In another video, we see a young man snatched off the street by two agents and whisked into an unmarked car. The agents showed no identification nor told him what he had done - if anything. These are very heavy handed police-state tactics that have no place in a free society. Has Vlad given Cheeto a copy of the KGB playbook to use in this country?
As the governor said in an interview, during the demonstrations in Portland, their goal has been to defuse the situation and bring a peaceful resolution to the disturbances. The presence of Federal agents will do nothing but inflame the situation ever further. The only help she has asked from the Federal government is for Pandemic assistance with funding and additional PPE, neither of which has been forthcoming.
If you aren't alarmed by the authoritarian display by the DHS in Portland, you should be. This may well be stage one of a serious overreach by the Federal government in local affairs that impact our ability to exercise our constitutional rights. I wonder if this is how events started in Nazi Germany. I am appalled and very, very angry.
With indignation, I am making another pot of the black liquid.