Oregon Senators Demand Probe Into 'Paramilitary Assaults' By 'Occupying Army'

[riversedge]

Source: huff post



07/17/2020 09:10 pm ET Updated 4 hours ago

Sen. Ron Wyden is demanding to know what constitutional authority the Department of Homeland Security has to snatch protesters off the streets.

Oregon’s U.S. senators and two representatives demanded an investigation Friday into “paramilitary assaults” in Portland by Department of Homeland Security forces that the lawmakers say have invaded the city and are snatching protesters off the streets in unmarked vans.

The stunned, angry reactions followed reports earlier this week that troops in military fatigues with “police” patches and no other obvious identification grabbed and detained anti-racism protesters in Portland. The squads — which were dispatched by DHS — have been manhandling protesters since at least Tuesday, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. It’s not clear why Portland was targeted by the DHS crackdown.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) blasted the “paramilitary assaults” by an “occupying army.”

It’s “painfully clear this administration is focused purely on escalating violence without answering my repeated requests for why this expeditionary force is in Portland and under what constitutional authority,” he said in a statement from members of Oregon’s congressional delegation demanding an investigation. “The Office of Inspector General must investigate Trump’s assault on Americans’ constitutional rights now.”

Fellow Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley accused Homeland Security and the Justice Department of engaging in “acts that are horrific and outrageous in our constitutional democratic republic.”

Oregon’s Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici also supported the joint statement..................................


Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-wyden-oregon-portland-homeland-chad-wolf_n_5f12184ac5b6d14c336731f2?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016&section=politics&__twitter_impression=true

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Meanwhile the #coward Congressional #Republicans are silent--because #Trump might name-call them a nasty nickname!!

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MSNBC anchor @chrislhayes
interviews Oregon Gov Kate Brown — and tells her why he would resist detainment by the ‘Secret Police’ in Portland
#PortlandKidnappings

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[bluedye33139]

1. Question about Libertarians reminds me up the definition of libertarian

A Libertarian is "a right-winger who doesn't go to church"

They sometimes pretend to have some kind of elaborate theory of what is appropriate and not appropriate State action, but in every case, they stand up for authoritarian and totalitarian government in the name of right-wing causes. In every case.

[MicaelS]

9. Libertarianism is just a modern version of Feudalism. n/t

[Tech]

15. In conversations I had at a college reunion, my libertarian acquaintances told me they were

fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I said, so you believe in being a republican who can smoke pot and keep abortion legal? Well, yes. I'm sure it isn't always the case, but all that have professed being libertarians in my world are white males.

[bluedye33139]

22. It really skews in one direction. The basic core of their doctrine is

"I possess the ability to determine which government actions are legitimate and which are illegitimate, and you must agree with me."

-- and then they randomly list all of the things they believe in and want the government to do, which they put in the legitimate category. Then they list everything they don't like, and surprise! It's in the illegitimate category!

[olegramps]

18. What more evidence is needed to awaken people to the threat of impending Fascism.

It is beyond outrageous. It is the the rebirth of the Brown Shirt Nazis that terrorized the German people into silence and which thousands of our fathers, mothers and grandparents gave their lives to defeat. It is an evil resurrection of the state terrorism to silence the march of freedom that must go on tirelessly against the forces of evil. We cannot let this stand without bring it to answer for blatant disregard for the rights of citizens guaranteed by the blood of our forefather they enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Many have voiced that our basic rights are under assault by the Republican Party that far to many continue ignore. The fascists who have captured the Republican Party have pursued an agenda to transform the government into a dictatorship. The warning can no longer be ignored if freedom is to be preserved. They launched this vicious campaign with the election of Nixon and have pursued this quest tirelessly over the last forty plus years in which the resistance has been muted by a barrage of propaganda that saturates the airwaves by their boot licking sycophants 24/7. It is a little more than the same tacit that Goebbels effectively used to con the Germans into support of a madman who would bring about their destruction. Are we destined to repeat the same colossal deadly error? Are that blind and deaf to the reality that is being repeated?

The presidency must be recaptured and the Republican Party that is beyond redemption must be totally discredited as the enemy of everything that the our Constitution demands of each citizen to protect. Hopefully, I am in my eighties; I will live to see this onslaught against our basic rights defeated or will the apathy of far too many drown us all.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. They should be investigated.

Who thought to send them in with camo-wear, which is best suited for subtropical guerilla warfare where they could blend into heavy foliage. In Portland they stick out like walking swamp monsters.

[raging moderate]

3. Where were these guys when armed mobs stormed state legislatures?

Gee, funny, these Federal Protective Services did not show up to confront right-wing mobs with giant loaded weapons who took over a few state legislatures. Evidently, it's okay if you are a Republican, or a Libertarian, or a KuKluxKlanner, or a Nazi.

[Hotler]

14. Same group. nt

[raging moderate]

20. I bet you are right.

Just a simple costume change!

[Champp]

4. k and r

[Iliyah]

5. These federal secret police are in several other cities across the USA . . .

shithole and treason barr - all have to do with 2020 elections I truly believe it.

[Dopers_Greed]

6. The Oregon National Guard needs to be deployed

To do battle against Trump's storm troopers

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Trump has ultimate control over NG, not the governor nt

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Hey look

Trump got COVID off the front page by invading Oregon!

Do you see the distraction?

[BigmanPigman]

25. My first thought too.

[ancianita]

8. Give 'em total hell, Chris and Ron! THIS must be stopped. Any defunding of the military

must be accompanied by defunding of this PMC outsourcing by DHS. Better yet, Congress must pass a law that forbids the DHS use of any paramilitaries private or federal.


As I've posted in a related thread, P.W. Singer was the first to map their presence, history and structure in Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (2013). It needs some updating but it's still a relevant read.

An introduction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_military_company

List of U.S. PMC's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paramilitary_organizations#List_of_non-governmental_paramilitary_units

Blurred militias is where Nazi adjacent corporatists in this government are going.

V

arious unorganized non-governmental Militia organizations in the United States (that are not associated with the U.S. military, law enforcement agencies, nor state defense forces in any way) with some linked to white identitarianism, anti-governmental movements, domestic terrorism and crime.

3 Percenters
Arizona Border Recon
Hutaree

Idaho Light Foot Militia
Michigan Militia
Militia of Montana

Missouri Citizens Militia
New York Light Foot Militia
Oath Keepers

Ohio Defense Force (not an actual state defense force)
Texas Light Foot Militia
and many others totaling at around 334 unorganized militia groups as of 2011[13]

[AllaN01Bear]

10. ever since the revolution , popular movments have been put down by goons like this

yes , the officers are on the wrong side .

[niyad]

11. KNR and bookmarking

[DFW]

12. While I abhor the thought of an armed conflict on the streets of Oregon

If armed, unidentified thugs are kidnapping peaceful, unarmed citizens off of the streets of American cities, armed police and National Guard units need to be meeting them with superior armed force. I don't care if these gangsters were ordered there by the Sinaloa Cartel or Ken Coochycrazy. Part of the concept of "SECURITY" means that armed criminals breaking the law and attacking innocent American citizens within the United States need to be stopped, arrested, and, if resisting arrest, met with armed force themselves.

We CANNOT allow this practice to continue. Period.

[dchill]

21. That's about the size of it.

[B Stieg]

16. Sue the gov't for "False Imprisonment"

Just a tort but let's get the courts to start looking at this!

[Hotler]

17. Where is the outrage from the rest of our Representatives and Senators?

Nancy, Chuck?

[Bayard]

19. Has local law enforcement questioned these guys?

Sound like kidnappers, and no one is calling their bluff. No ID, pulling people into unmarked vans. Could even be some vigilante group that the admin is privately encouraging.

[dalton99a]

24. Federal Officers In Portland Face Rising Opposition On Streets and In Court

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/portland-protests.html

Federal Officers In Portland Face Rising Opposition On Streets and In Court
Rather than tamping down persistent protests in Portland, Ore., a militarized presence from federal officers seems to have reignited them.
By Sergio Olmos and Mike Baker
July 18, 2020, 10:34 a.m. ET

PORTLAND, Ore. — An aggressive federal campaign to suppress unrest in Portland appears to have instead rejuvenated the city’s movement, as protesters gathered by the hundreds late Friday and into Saturday morning — the largest crowd in weeks.

Federal officers at times flooded street corridors with tear gas and shot projectiles from paintball guns, while demonstrators responded by shouting that the officers in fatigues were “terrorists” and chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets.” Protesters in Portland have gathered for more than 50 consecutive nights.

While the protesters have repeatedly decried the city’s own police tactics, Mayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner, and other leaders have united in calls for federal agencies to stay away. City commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty went to join protesters gathered outside the county Justice Center downtown, saying the city will “not allow armed military forces to attack our people.”

“Today we show the country and the world that the city of Portland, even as much as we fight among ourselves, will come together to stand up for our Constitutional rights,” Ms. Hardesty said Friday.

While officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have described the stepped-up involvement of federal officers as part of an effort to oppose lawlessness in the city, state and local leaders on Friday contended that the federal officers themselves may be violating the law.

[love_katz]

26. Plus a gazillion!

Thank you for posting this. Looking at some other posts around DU, it seems clear that some misinformation has been appearing here. Oregon is not just taking this laying down. With that said, whatever support the rest of the country can provide is welcome. This effort by Twitler and his goons to exploit the protests for political gain must be stopped, and the unlawful kidnappings opposed in no uncertain terms.