On the menu today: Immediately after the police chief of Portland called on the public to remain calm, the mayor, governor, state senate majority leader, and county chair demonized federal immigration agents in the most furious and incendiary terms. Elsewhere, Minneapolis school children don’t have to show up to their classrooms until mid-February. Meanwhile, a British lawmaker offers a fascinating report of what is flying out of Tehran these days. Read on.
They Just Keep Making It Worse
The press conference about the shooting in Portland Thursday afternoon began with the city’s police chief, Bob Day, laying out the known facts about the incident:
At approximately 2:18 this afternoon, Portland police officers responded to the 10,000 block of Southeast Main Street on the report of a shooting. So, that came in via a 911 call. Officers confirmed that federal agents had been involved in a shooting. . . .
Our officers responded. We found a male and a female with apparent gunshot wounds. Officers applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel. The patients were transported to local hospital and their conditions at this time are unknown.
Separately, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin offered more information by 8 p.m.:
At 2:19 PST, US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop in Portland, Oregon. The passenger of the vehicle and target is a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and involved in a recent shooting in Portland. The vehicle driver is believed to be a member of the vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents. Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired defensive shots. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.
In Portland, after that Joe Friday-esque narration of the facts, Day said:
We have certainly been tested, and this is no small circumstance. The uncertainty and the fear and the sadness within our community is real. And as a chief of law enforcement, the city of Portland, I recognize that. Our members recognize that. And we are doing everything in our power to maintain that level of peace and calm and safety. And I want to thank Portlanders who have continued to show up in this space as well. And I’m hopeful that they will do so over the next couple of days, as I’m expecting many to want to express their frustration and disappointment with events today.
Separately, Day had issued a statement declaring, “We are still in the early stages of this incident. We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”
Got that? Remain calm.
Then, immediately after Chief Day finished speaking, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson stepped up and spoke. Apparently, he missed the memo about urging the public to remain calm:
Just one day after the horrific violence in Minnesota, our community here in Portland was witness to a moment of fear, confusion, and heartbreak. Earlier this afternoon, two people were shot and injured by federal agents in the Hazlewood neighborhood. Violence in our community is devastating. These are not statistics. These are human beings. Portland is not a training ground for militarized agents. . . .
When the administration talks about using full force, we are seeing what it means on our streets. The consequences are not abstract. They are felt in hospital rooms and living rooms, in the quiet moments when families try to make sense of what happened, what is happening. We know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time is long past. That is why we are calling on ICE to halt all operations in Portland until a full and independent investigation can take place.
As with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Mayor Wilson seems to believe that he has some sort of ability or authority to request that ICE halt its enforcement of federal immigration laws. And it turns out the two mayors had talked recently:
Earlier today, I spoke with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. We shared not just our concerns, but our grief for the families who are suffering and grief for the recklessness of our federal government. The administration is trying to divide us, to pit communities against one another, to make us fear one another.
ICE agents and their homeland security leadership must fully be investigated and held responsible for the violence inflicted on the American people in Minnesota, in Portland, and in all the communities across America.
When the mayor was done, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek stepped up to the lectern. She also did not sound like she was interested in keeping the citizens of Portland or the rest of her state calm:
We are all shaken and outraged by another terrible, unnecessary, violent event instigated by the reckless agenda of the Trump administration. . . .
When a president endorses tearing families apart and attempts to govern through fear and hate rather than shared values, you foster an environment of lawlessness and recklessness. . . .
Federal agents at the direction of the Department of Homeland Security are shattering trust. They are hurting people and they are destroying day by day what we hold dear.
The priority right now is a full, completed investigation, not more detentions. My message to the federal government is this. We demand transparency. We demand your cooperation with Portland police and the Multnomah County DA because we need to investigate this incident efficiently and effectively so we can rebuild trust with our nation’s government.
Then the press conference featured Senator Kayse Jama, the majority leader in the Oregon State Senate. He said, “We want to do as best as we can to protect the Oregonians who are fearful, who are scared, who are facing persecution and the federal law. . . . We’re going to introduce quite number of bills that will be trying to minimize the impact of ICE in our community.”
Jama did not specify what those bills would call for, but under the U.S. Constitution, the state does not have any authority over enforcement of federal immigration law.
Jama continued, “The state of Oregon is a welcoming state. We want to keep it that way. We want to fight for that. . . . Let me say this to the federal agencies and the ICE: This is Oregon. We do not need you. You’re not welcome, and you need to get the hell out of our community.”
Then the press conference turned to the chair of Multnomah County, Jessica Vega Pederson. Among her comments:
- “Federal agents should not be in Portland neighborhoods shooting people.”
- “Enough is enough. The terror and violence ICE is causing in our neighborhoods must end now.”
- “Over the holidays, my office received a string of emails and calls from neighbors in the Brentwood Darlington neighborhood who are asking for help to find two neighbors who were kidnapped by federal agents the day after Christmas.”
- “We can only conclude that this federal activity is a threat to our entire community and is a threat that is growing every day.”
- “Thank you to all of you who have come out to protest the cruel and authoritarian actions of this administration while representing Portland’s values.”
To sum up, right after the police chief called for calm, the mayor warned that “reckless” “militarized agents” who cannot be trusted are bringing violence to the streets “all across America.” The governor warned that “lawless,” “reckless,” untrustworthy agents of the federal government “are hurting people and they are destroying day by day what we hold dear.” The state senate majority leader declared his intention to legislatively impede the federal agents, pledged to “fight” for it, and told federal agents they need to “get the hell out of our community.” And the county chair accused federal agents of shooting people, causing “terror and violence,” called them “a threat that is growing every day,” and says they are “cruel and authoritarian.”
Good to see everyone is on the same page urging the public to “remain calm,” right?
None of these elected officials really want the public to remain calm or peaceful. Mumbling some brief pro forma call for peace does not mitigate the lurid demonization of federal law enforcement officials. If you consistently describe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as an illegitimate occupation force committing acts of violent terror against innocent people, then not every last member of your citizenry is going to respond peacefully.
To her credit, the governor did add, “Oregonians know how to stand up and speak out peacefully. We must remain united in peaceful opposition to efforts to tear our community apart.” She also urged Oregonians, “Let’s not take the bait. We can do this peacefully.”
What “bait” would that be? Does she think that the ICE enforcement actions are designed to provoke some sort of violent response on the part of Oregon’s citizens?
Back in May, at the graduation ceremony of the University of Minnesota law school, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said, “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets.”
Walz received some grief and pushback from those remarks, but not nearly enough, and clearly, as much mockery as Walz gets around here, he’s just ahead of the curve in terms of the standard rhetoric of the Democratic Party.
The Gestapo were the Nazi secret police who rounded up Jews and other dissidents and enemies of the state so they could be eradicated through the genocide of the Holocaust.
The U.S. and its allies did not negotiate with the Gestapo or litigate the Gestapo, unless you want to count the Nuremberg trials. The Gestapo as an institution was collectively convicted of war crimes, and their top leaders were individually convicted. The Gestapo was not merely misguided, disproportionate, or excessive in pursuit of legitimate duties. The institution was irredeemably evil, through and through.
There was no way for the United States to mutually coexist with the Gestapo. (Okay, by and large, the U.S. did not find a way to coexist with members of the Gestapo after the war.) The only way forward was to completely eradicate the Gestapo, convict and in many cases execute its leaders, and convict as many of its members as possible.
If you run around insisting that modern-day American federal law enforcement agents are morally indistinguishable from Nazis, you’re going to find that some Americans want to respond to them the way our forefathers responded to the Nazis: by killing them. (And occasionally giving them key roles in our space program.)
These days, a whole lot of elected officials show up to the fire with a firehose full of gasoline. And for what? To stop federal agents from making traffic stops of Tren de Aragua gang members in the country illegally, playing a role in a prostitution ring.
Attending School in Minneapolis Is Optional Until Mid-February
The Minneapolis Public School system closed schools Thursday and Friday. In addition, administrators have decided that students can use virtual learning until February 12. Schools will be open, but students can choose to stay home and attend class remotely.
Again, we keep getting told that education is important, and that kids belong in school . . . and then professional educators keep coming up with new ways to keep kids out of school.
ADDENDUM: Tom Tugendhat is a member of the parliament of the United Kingdom, a member of the Conservative Party, formerly a member of the British Army who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and formerly the security minister (sort of akin to a national security adviser-style post, focusing on counterterrorism). You figure he’s the sort of guy who would have a high security clearance, and be in position to hear some interesting things from MI6, the British secret intelligence service, a.k.a. James Bond’s employer.
And wow, did Tugendhat say something interesting yesterday:
British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat told parliament on Thursday that there were reports of Russian cargo aircraft landing in Tehran and quantities of gold leaving the country.
“We’re also seeing Russian cargo aircraft coming and landing in Tehran, presumably carrying weapons and ammunition, and we’re hearing reports of large amounts of gold leaving Iran,” Tugendhat said. It was unclear what reports he was referencing.
First, this means the sitcom “Two Bedrooms, One Baath” could become real.
Second . . . wouldn’t you love to put together an Ocean’s Eleven-style crew and hijack a jet filled with the Iranian mullahs’ gold?
Third . . . what happens if one of those planes crashes on its way back to Russia?