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Sweatshop - Pure Drama
Political Fray
The Little Dictator is dispatching troops to Portland!
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<blockquote data-quote="Admin." data-source="post: 1362450" data-attributes="member: 1129"><p>Trump is having government helicopters patrolling the closed airspace of the Ice Building looking for airborne Antifa warriors or something.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Ok, this is serious. First: For those of you who don't live in Portland, you should know that as I type this, I can hear several military helicopters flying overhead. I know they are military because over the past week, the airspace in Southwest Portland has been restricted. Only military helictopters are allowed. They fly over us frequently, often flying low. I heard them as I was falling asleep last night. We live just a couple miles from the ICE facility; people who live closer hear them even louder. The Port of Portland has had so many calls about their noise that it has changed its automated message to say that it has no control over them.</p><p></p><p>I first learned about the restricted airspace and the military helicopters on Wednesday. I had seen my first helicopter Monday, before knowing what it was--I looked up, wondering whether it was news or life flight, to my knowledge the only helicopters I ever see here. It looked like neither, and it looked vaguely military to me. It occurred to me that it might have something to do with Trump's planned deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, but I don't know my aircraft well and wasn't sure. I tried to shrug it off. </p><p></p><p>Then, on Wednesday, I read about the restricted airspace and the helicopters. Reading about it and realizing what I had seen, I suddenly felt a frightened, sickened feeling. I told Ron about the feeling later, but he didn't understand until he saw his first helicopter and realized what it was himself.</p><p></p><p>So it's a feeling that will be hard to understand if you don't live here and haven't seen something like this in your own life. But it's one thing to know that your President, who hates you, and who has for years demonized you and called you "vermin" and "the enemy of the state," is planning to send troops to your peaceful city. And it's another thing to actually see the military presence in your peaceful city with your own eyes and hear it with your own ears. Realizing what I had been seeing and hearing, it suddenly hit home for me just how much military might is wielded by this deranged man who hates us, and who lives in a twisted alternate reality created by Fox News and Breitbart and the Right-Wing Outrage Machine. It hit home for me that the military was here, right here, right close by.</p><p></p><p>For hours on Wednesday after realizing this, I sat at my computer and tried to concentrate on my work while feeling waves of sickening fear. It was then that I eventually saw the news of the "Emergency World Naked Bike Ride" being planned. I laughed out loud with relief, and I posted about the bike ride and the much-needed laugh on Facebook. But what I didn't post was the sickening fear that I had felt for hours before.</p><p></p><p>Humor is the right response to all this, here in Portland. Because what else can we do? What else can we do besides show the world who we really are--not the caricature that Trump and the Right-Wing Outrage Machine have been painting of us for so long, but our real selves, our real culture. Quirky, funny, bold, vulnerable, intelligent, kind, weird. We are working so hard, as a city, to get the word out, to out-shout the delusions being shouted about us. It's like trying to defend yourself in a sham trial, where bogus accusations keep getting hurled at you. How are you supposed to counter them?</p><p></p><p>But if you don't yet live in a city that is in Trump's sights, and especially if you live in a red state or city, and even more especially if you voted for Trump, then humor is not at all the right response. Because this is not funny: if the President can send troops to our peaceful, vibrant city, simply because of a handful of unruly young people who the police (not generally known for their left-wing views) insist that they have under control, then what will stop him from sending troops to any city where he chooses--to stir up trouble, divide our citizens from each other, and normalize the militarization of our country?</p><p></p><p>Yesterday, a federal, Trump-appointed judge issued a ruling temporarily blocking Trump from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland. The judge stated that Trump's justification did not have a basis in fact. In response to that ruling, today it was discovered that Trump had begun deploying the California National Guard here anyway. They weren't technically covered in the ruling. Oregon, Portland, and California immediately sued. This evening, while an emergency hearing was taking place with the same judge, it was announced that Trump was also planning to deploy the Texas National Guard to Oregon and other states. The judge swiftly expanded her temporary ruling. For the time being at least, NO National Guard troops can be deployed here.</p><p></p><p>But the ruling is temporary. This is the President and administration we're dealing with: people hostile to their own citizens, to the rule of law, and to truth and facts. It's long past time to speak up, and I doubt this post will move anyone to speak up who hasn't already, but it should. Are your Members of Congress Republican? Call them. Tell them this is not okay. Not at all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Admin., post: 1362450, member: 1129"] Trump is having government helicopters patrolling the closed airspace of the Ice Building looking for airborne Antifa warriors or something. Ok, this is serious. First: For those of you who don't live in Portland, you should know that as I type this, I can hear several military helicopters flying overhead. I know they are military because over the past week, the airspace in Southwest Portland has been restricted. Only military helictopters are allowed. They fly over us frequently, often flying low. I heard them as I was falling asleep last night. We live just a couple miles from the ICE facility; people who live closer hear them even louder. The Port of Portland has had so many calls about their noise that it has changed its automated message to say that it has no control over them. I first learned about the restricted airspace and the military helicopters on Wednesday. I had seen my first helicopter Monday, before knowing what it was--I looked up, wondering whether it was news or life flight, to my knowledge the only helicopters I ever see here. It looked like neither, and it looked vaguely military to me. It occurred to me that it might have something to do with Trump's planned deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, but I don't know my aircraft well and wasn't sure. I tried to shrug it off. Then, on Wednesday, I read about the restricted airspace and the helicopters. Reading about it and realizing what I had seen, I suddenly felt a frightened, sickened feeling. I told Ron about the feeling later, but he didn't understand until he saw his first helicopter and realized what it was himself. So it's a feeling that will be hard to understand if you don't live here and haven't seen something like this in your own life. But it's one thing to know that your President, who hates you, and who has for years demonized you and called you "vermin" and "the enemy of the state," is planning to send troops to your peaceful city. And it's another thing to actually see the military presence in your peaceful city with your own eyes and hear it with your own ears. Realizing what I had been seeing and hearing, it suddenly hit home for me just how much military might is wielded by this deranged man who hates us, and who lives in a twisted alternate reality created by Fox News and Breitbart and the Right-Wing Outrage Machine. It hit home for me that the military was here, right here, right close by. For hours on Wednesday after realizing this, I sat at my computer and tried to concentrate on my work while feeling waves of sickening fear. It was then that I eventually saw the news of the "Emergency World Naked Bike Ride" being planned. I laughed out loud with relief, and I posted about the bike ride and the much-needed laugh on Facebook. But what I didn't post was the sickening fear that I had felt for hours before. Humor is the right response to all this, here in Portland. Because what else can we do? What else can we do besides show the world who we really are--not the caricature that Trump and the Right-Wing Outrage Machine have been painting of us for so long, but our real selves, our real culture. Quirky, funny, bold, vulnerable, intelligent, kind, weird. We are working so hard, as a city, to get the word out, to out-shout the delusions being shouted about us. It's like trying to defend yourself in a sham trial, where bogus accusations keep getting hurled at you. How are you supposed to counter them? But if you don't yet live in a city that is in Trump's sights, and especially if you live in a red state or city, and even more especially if you voted for Trump, then humor is not at all the right response. Because this is not funny: if the President can send troops to our peaceful, vibrant city, simply because of a handful of unruly young people who the police (not generally known for their left-wing views) insist that they have under control, then what will stop him from sending troops to any city where he chooses--to stir up trouble, divide our citizens from each other, and normalize the militarization of our country? Yesterday, a federal, Trump-appointed judge issued a ruling temporarily blocking Trump from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland. The judge stated that Trump's justification did not have a basis in fact. In response to that ruling, today it was discovered that Trump had begun deploying the California National Guard here anyway. They weren't technically covered in the ruling. Oregon, Portland, and California immediately sued. This evening, while an emergency hearing was taking place with the same judge, it was announced that Trump was also planning to deploy the Texas National Guard to Oregon and other states. The judge swiftly expanded her temporary ruling. For the time being at least, NO National Guard troops can be deployed here. But the ruling is temporary. This is the President and administration we're dealing with: people hostile to their own citizens, to the rule of law, and to truth and facts. It's long past time to speak up, and I doubt this post will move anyone to speak up who hasn't already, but it should. Are your Members of Congress Republican? Call them. Tell them this is not okay. Not at all. [/QUOTE]
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Sweatshop - Pure Drama
Political Fray
The Little Dictator is dispatching troops to Portland!
