Socially Distant
oregon
nytimes.com The Independent
The Independent"'I was enraged simply because I did not think they were taking their oath of office seriously or they were compromising their oath of office,' Mr David told The Independent. 'So I actually went down because I wanted to talk to them about it.'"This is awful. We should all be enraged.
"Critics say the government’s slow response to requests for transparency and the national media’s focus on the most salacious moments of the city’s demonstrations prove both federal officials and national reporters care more about property damage than the physical injuries protesters sustain on the streets."What life in Portland is really like right now.
Federal Response to Portland Protests
If you haven't been following the story of anonymous federal border patrol agents harassing protesters in Portland, Oregon, here's a quick rundown:
OPB: Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets
Willamette Week: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Says President Trump Is Invading Portland as an Election Stunt
New York Times: Federal Agents Unleash Militarized Crackdown on Portland
Lawfare: What the Heck Are Federal Law Enforcement Officers Doing in Portland?
ACLU: Organization Seeks to Block Federal Law Enforcement Attacks on Journalists, Legal Observers in Portland
New York Times: 50 Nights of Unrest in Portland
NPR: DHS Official On Reports Of Federal Officers Detaining Protesters In Portland, Ore.
The Fed seems to be equating light property damage with violence to justify anonymous border patrol military in the streets of Portland and beyond.
OPB: Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets
"Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkely said if Wolf is coming to inflame the situation in Portland so the President can “look tough,” the acting DHS leader should leave. “Federal forces shot an unarmed protester in the face,” Merkely said in a tweet. “These shadowy forces have been escalating, not preventing, violence.”"
Willamette Week: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Says President Trump Is Invading Portland as an Election Stunt
"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."
New York Times: Federal Agents Unleash Militarized Crackdown on Portland
"The aggressive federal posture has complicated the mission of the Department of Homeland Security, an agency that has spent much of its history focused on foreign terrorism threats and is supposed to build collaborative relationships with local law enforcement partners. And it raises questions of whether it is appropriate for federal authorities to take up the policing of an American city against the wishes of local leaders."
Lawfare: What the Heck Are Federal Law Enforcement Officers Doing in Portland?
"As noted above, the Oregon statute that authorizes federal law enforcement officers to enforce Oregon law requires the officer to identify their authority and their reason for making the arrest. It does not seem like a stretch to interpret that provision to require an officer to at least identify themselves (1) as a federal law enforcement officer; if not (2) as an employee of a specific federal agency with law enforcement authority."
ACLU: Organization Seeks to Block Federal Law Enforcement Attacks on Journalists, Legal Observers in Portland
"The lawsuit was filed on behalf of legal observers and local journalists. Named plaintiffs include The Portland Mercury; Matthew Lewis-Rolland, a freelance photographer who federal agents shot 10 times in the back on Sunday; Justin Yau, a freelance journalist who federal agents attacked with tear gas; and Doug Brown, a legal observer who federal agents threatened to shoot. All individuals were wearing high-visibility shirts that said “PRESS” or “legal observer.”"
New York Times: 50 Nights of Unrest in Portland
"Portland is being used as a bellwether to see what this administration can get away with. And also what works to quell protest. The police tactics don’t work. We’re on night 50. There’s this knowledge, I believe, in the more lucid chunks of the administration, that this problem will get worse in the next month. August is shaping up to be one of the hardest months in our nation’s modern history. September may be worse. And it will have to come to a head."
NPR: DHS Official On Reports Of Federal Officers Detaining Protesters In Portland, Ore.
"...this is a posture we intend to continue not just in Portland but in any of the facilities that we're responsible for around the country."
The Fed seems to be equating light property damage with violence to justify anonymous border patrol military in the streets of Portland and beyond.
“Changing this name is overdue,” Ray said. “While not intended as reference to the actual Civil War, OSU sports competition should not provide any misconstrued reference to this divisive episode in American history. That we did not act before to change the name was a mistake.”Happy to see that OSU and UO are willing to examine their traditions and make changes to make them more inclusive.
Large and Small
Cowie said state officials never expected each county to meet every indicator all the time. Public health authorities plan to monitor progress and offer support to counties. But they have no plans to push for new closures based on what they’ve seen so far.Oregon has detailed criteria that must be met (loosely) for opening counties but only vague criteria for closing them again.
Life at OSU
Life at OSU"The Corvallis study will be completed over four consecutive weekends and will provide important public health information that has been lacking throughout the pandemic. A limited pilot phase of the study in several Corvallis neighborhoods will be conducted Sunday, April 19, to test procedures the study will use in gathering and testing samples."OSU is doing some randomized testing study to see how much covid-19 has spread in Corvallis.
"This effort will be guided by data. We need to see a decline in the rate of spread of the virus before large-scale reopening, and we will be working in coordination to identify the best metrics to guide this."Maybe we could get all states to band together somehow.
“New York needs more ventilators, and we are answering their call for help,” Brown wrote. “We’ll be sending 140 ventilators to help NY because Oregon is in a better position right now. We must do all that we can to help those on the front lines of this response.”Very happy to see this! I could read stories like this or this or this all day.
Life at OSU
“This is a really dire situation statewide and I was really impressed by how OSU responded,” said Mike Bamberger, Oregon State University’s emergency preparedness manager. “We gathered everything from a single box of gloves to a pallet of them. University programs really stepped up at a time of great need.”Happy to see Oregon State contributing resources like this!
Update: Surprise! Now, not true. Article I linked has been updated to the headline: Federal Agents Agree to Withdraw From Portland, With Conditions. Those Conditions? Never! (Paraphrasing.)