Siege Notes, Portland July 14: Tin Soldiers and Trump is Comin'...

Tents have started popping up in Lownsdale Square park across from Portland's US District Court as antifa looks to be settling in. Yesterday their Twitter sent out the call for the necessary gear. Earlier in the day park rangers visited their "Riot Ribs" tent which operates a grill and hands out food and water.

Antifa says federal agents in unmarked cars are "kidnapping" people off the streets:

What is this? They are kidnapping people. pic.twitter.com/M0AnuZ1GSi

— Cozcacuahutli Itzpapalotl (@KohzKah) July 15, 2020

Also under their "#fashcar hashtag they are posting license plate numbers of suspicious vehicles--one for a pro second amendment bumper sticker.

Monday night, after a bruising weekend battling Federal Marshals and Border Patrol tactical agents (BORTAC) who emerged from the embattled courthouse in force, making arrests and driving the rioters several blocks away, antifa returned to the softer target that is the police union headquarters on the east side.

Seven were arrested for last Saturday's assault on the federal courthouse and all promptly released by an Obama-appointed judge in a move unusual for federal charges.

Naturally the state's Democratic senators have roused themselves from considering their white privilege and are protesting the federal government's response and asking about undercover agents embedded in antifa demonstrations.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said Monday in Portland that the president has a dangerous fixation with strongarming peaceful protesters.

“What America does not need is Donald Trump parachuting federal law enforcement into U.S. cities as if they’re enemy strongholds requiring an occupying army to suppress,” Wyden said.

Wyden referenced Trump using federal police to clear protesters in Washington D.C. for a photo opp outside a church as an example.

“And America saw some of those past dangers in Portland when a peaceful protester was shot in the head,” Wyden said

Department of Homeland Security officers were sent to Portland after the president issued an executive order in late June protecting statues from protesters.
Since arriving just before July 4, the officers from Customs and Border Patrol’s elite BORTAC unit and the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group have played an aggressive role protecting the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse from vandalism and assisting the Portland Police Bureau in clearing protesters from city streets.

Court documents filed Monday also revealed federal agents have used undercover officers embedded with protesters to make at least one arrest involving a protester who allegedly pointed a laser pointer at federal agents.

Asked about their use, Wyden was displeased.

“I have already asked the federal government why law enforcement planes are engaging in surveillance of our city. And I’m going to insist on answers to that matter as well,” Wyden said. 

Apparently the "planes" are probable surveillance drones spotted by protesters.

Here's the Department of Homeland Security's description of BORTAC:

 The unit was created in 1984 to serve a civil disturbance function in response to rioting at legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service detention facilities. It quickly evolved and acquired additional skill sets in high-risk warrant service; intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance; foreign law enforcement/Border Patrol capacity building; airmobile operations; maritime operations; and precision marks- man/observer.

 Wikipedia on the history of BORTAC:

During the 1980’s “War on Drugs,” BORTAC, in conjunction with the DEA, conducted counter narcotics operations in South America during Operation “Snow Cap.” In 1992, BORTAC was deployed to Los Angeles to help restore order after rioting broke out in the wake of the Rodney King trial. In April of 2000, the BORTAC conducted Operation “Reunion,” in which it executed a raid on a home in Miami, Florida and safely returned Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez to his family in Cuba.

Following the World Trade Center Attack in September of 2001, BORTAC personnel were sent to high-risk areas around the country to help secure against future attacks. In 2002, BORTAC worked jointly with the United States Secret Service to secure sports venues at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Recent natural disasters have vaulted BORTAC personnel into tactical relief operations (TRO) by providing hurricane relief aid to Gulf Coast residents and law enforcement support to law enforcement agencies affected by Hurricane Katrina.

On Sunday a small contingent of counter-protesters appealing for an end to rioting were met by an antifa contingent looking to intimidate them. "Oregonians for Peace" were determinedly non-partisan in their demonstration, gave non-political speeches accepting the BLM line but pleading for an end to the violence. Naturally they were identified as fascist by antifa.

Some members of 'Oregonians for Peace' have come to verbally engage the counter protesters. Both sides are remaining peaceful so far. #PortlandProtests #PDXprotests #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/lYn4bw2lVm

— Portland Independent Documentarians (@PDocumentarians) July 12, 2020

Crime is spiking in the usual places as a result of everything and for the usual idiotic reasons
A Portland man died after he was hit in the head with a pistol by a family friend who claimed he was disrespected after being called “cheap,” according to authorities.

Damian Lucas, 36, is accused of second-degree murder in the death of 67-year-old Jeffrey Sloan. Lucas told court employees at the Multnomah County Detention Center that he lived in the same neighborhood as Sloan and had known him for six years, court documents said.

Witnesses told police that Lucas was one of several people in Sloan’s home July 2. He was there to repay $10 to Sloan’s wife, a probable cause affidavit said. One witness said Sloan apparently joked that Lucas shouldn’t be “cheap” when Lucas said he had a $20 bill and asked for change.

I've been pointing out ever since the "black lives matter" notion took off the reality isn't that society values black lives too little, but that blacks value life, generally, too little. 
That's the relevance of "black on black" crime as it applies here--the hypocrisy of it is beside the point.
As the case above shows, blacks also value personal honor--at least their definition of it--too highly. More than half of murders in black urban neighborhoods arise ultimately from some perceived insult.

Now if only whites could develop a sense of personal honor.