More and more sojers
A federal judge on Sunday night blocked the Trump administration from deploying hundreds of out-of-state National Guard troops to Oregon, even as President Trump turned to the Texas guard in a widening hunt for military forces to send to Democratic cities.
The Trump administration had tried to send hundreds of California National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., while mustering hundreds more from Texas, despite a stern ruling from Judge Karin Immergut of U.S. District Court in Oregon just Saturday that sought to block military forces.
Judge Immergut, an appointee of President Trump, called an emergency hearing Sunday, then broadened her restraining order to cover “the relocation, federalization or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon,” telling Justice Department lawyers that the president was ”in direct contravention” of her order.
The blizzard of moves by the Trump administration, from Texas to California, Illinois to Oregon, has left governors and the courts scrambling to keep pace. First, the administration tried to sidestep Judge Immergut by turning to California. Then the president ordered as many as 400 members of the Texas National Guard to deploy for “federal protection missions” in Portland, Chicago and potentially other cities, according to a letter released by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, on Sunday night.
In plain English he’s acting like a dictator, and it’s hard to see what can stop him.
But hey, there are about 70 protesters protesting, so SEND IN THE NATIONAL GUARD even after a judge ruled you can’t.
The president’s repeated depictions of Portland as “on fire” diverged from reality, the judge found, citing a month of reports from the Portland Police Bureau showing that the size and intensity of the nightly ICE protests ebbed in August and September.
On Sunday, residents and tourists in the city were largely reveling in a sunny fall morning, playing fetch with their dogs in neighborhood parks, standing in long lines for brunch and crowding downtown sidewalks to cheer on runners in the annual city marathon. Outside the ICE facility in Southwest Portland, two miles from the central city, about 70 protesters chanted, barbecued and passed out bottled water as passing motorists honked in mutual disapproval of the Trump administration.
70.
That would be a lot of people if they were all crowded into a single living room, but hanging around outside a federal building? It’s not exactly the Russian Revolution, is it.
Dateline Portland….
This weekend the city was absolutely ablaze – with sunshine.
More than 12,000 people (including your man in the street) marched (well, mostly ran, jogged, or walked) withing 50 feet of the entrance to the ICE building in full view of Portland Police. It was part of the Portland Marathon route but fortunately no runners where hit with rubber bullets. The only violence I saw was to the soles of my feet.
Benson Boone joined the rabble participating in this week’s bike bus to Alameda Elementary School. Peace was disturbed by throngs of well wishers, screaming kids, and his music along the route.
One 80+ year old woman was pepper sprayed near the ice building and one was hit in the head with something and went down hard when ICE decided that they needed to up their game in light of a federal judges ruling that we didn’t need National Guard troops.
FYI to TRump. Having fucking Greg Abbott sending Texas guard troops to Portland probably would have ignited the spark you are looking for.