For nearly a year, violent leftist riots have been caused by Antifa and Black Lives Matter in Portland. In September of 2020, fully 70% of “riot-related” cases had been dismissed by Portland’s far-left District Attorney and feckless leftist Mayor. Shootings are up by 250%. Now, the number of riot-related dismissals has climbed to a staggering 91%.
Far-Left Mayor of Portland, Ted Wheeler, doesn’t seem to mind violence if it is caused by people who are not conservative. He let it go on consistently unabated for months throughout 2020. He now calls it “occasional violence” and claims that he will arrest these violent thugs and then hold them accountable. However, his actions indicate crystal clearly that that is precisely not what he or his district attorney are doing.
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — Since late May, nearly 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the protests in Portland; however, the overwhelming majority will likely never be prosecuted by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. There are reasons for that decision, the district attorney explained, but others say it gives criminals a free pass.
District Attorney Mike Schmidt took over in August and promptly announced his office would presumptively decline to prosecute many protest-related charges. The decision has drawn harsh criticism, but Schmidt says it has been necessary to preserve resources for more serious crimes as well as protect speech rights.
“I had to make a decision, based on resources in this office, where we were gonna prioritize,” Schmidt told KOIN 6 News. “Breaking windows of businesses, lighting things on fire, stealing from those stores in the protest environment so that’s what we’re focusing on. We’re not using our limited resources on people who aren’t doing those things.”
Mike Schmidt was backed by a far-left Shaun King PAC that is akin to a George Soros endorsement. Shaun King is a leftist zealot who seeks to tear down statues of Jesus Christ, claiming him to be a symbol of White Supremacy. ““All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down,” he once tweeted.” King is also alleged to make up all manner of tall tales in order to enrich himself and divide Americans.
One major allegation that seems to have a lot of data backing it up is that King is a race-pimp opportunist who has lied about his bi-racial background. The claim is that he is entirely white but claims to be black in order to enrich himself and push political narratives.
So, that is a major player man behind Portland’s D.A., Mike Schmidt, who–along with other leftists in Portland’s government–has allowed Portland to fall into complete disarray in 2020, following George Floyd’s death.
“Portland’s demonstrations raged for more than 100 consecutive nights before hazardous air quality conditions from the state’s wildfires in September interrupted the streak. Windows have been smashed, stores looted and fires started. There have been assaults. One man was murdered. Police have subjected crowd members, as well as bystanders and residents, to copious clouds of tear gas and other crowd control munitions.”
They also stormed and occupied police stations, set police stations on fire, and barricaded and surrounded a Federal Court building and tried to burn it down while law enforcement were inside. From all of this, nearly 1000 people arrested. But nearly none will be charged with anything:
“Local police agencies have made at least 978 protest-related arrests and citations so far. Around 28 arrests involved juveniles, for which public records are not available, and the outcome of 43 arrests could not be located.”
Charges have effectively been dropped in just over 90% of the cases we know the outcome of.
Leftists claim that all of these arrests are merely people exercising their free speech. One such leftist is Juan Chavez, who claims to be motivated by civil rights and is working for the Oregon Justice Resource Center, which has been involved in several protest-related suits. Rest assured that when people like Chavez say ‘civil rights’ it has nothing to do with constitutional rights and everything to do with protecting political allies. You do not see such organizations supporting any of the alleged perpetrators who supported Trump at the January 6th Capitol building unrest.
“Being in the street is central to people’s speech rights fundamentally and that’s been recognized time and time again,” Chavez said, adding that non-violent crimes account for “99% of the conduct” at protests.
Schmidt said if his office prosecuted every one of those arrests, they “would be effectively chilling speech.”
So, even though the vast majority of the arrests involve physical force offenses that have nothing to do with simply ‘being in the street,’ this far-left D.A. and ‘social justice’ organizations treat them as such and refuses to charge them. Beyond that, he then accuses the law enforcement officers of being the real enemies here:
“By using force on and arresting so many people, police already are criminalizing free speech, Chavez argues. “The police have been punishing crowds, they haven’t been punishing individuals. And if you’re punishing a crowd, that’s per se just too broad and excessive.”
What about the citizens of Portland who are punished by the legalized riots in their city, or the people who get victimized multiple times by the 14% of criminals who are released by Schmidt and who go on to reoffend?
The Portland Police Bureau said it “will continue to make arrests based on probable cause that a crime has been committed.”
But that will be increasingly difficult given the fact that so many law enforcement officers are leaving in record numbers due to the leadership there that doesn’t support constitutional rule of law.
“Charge the arsons, charge the serious assaults, but everything else … we have to figure this out through other means,” Chavez said.
So, people like Chavez and Schmidt get to decide what is a ‘serious’ assaults and what is just an insincere assault, since there will never be a trial to adjudicate the matter. Got that?
“KOIN 6 News’ analysis found nearly 91% of cases have been dismissed or no complained and are listed as “closed” in online court records. Schmidt cautioned against using that number, saying his office is still deciding whether to follow up on those cases.
But when asked if it was likely charges would be reinstituted within the statute of limitations, Schmidt admitted, “The vast majority, no, it’s not likely to happen. The vast majority of those are going to fall within our policy parameters of no evidence of harm or damage.”
Some responsible and more level-headed people disagree with the current Portland D.A., however, and recognize that what he is doing is just pandering to left-wing ideologues who want to destroy this country:
“Longtime prosecutor and former Oregon District Attorneys Association president Josh Marquis slammed Schmidt’s policy as “virtue signaling” and inherently biased because it treats one class of defendants differently than others.”
“It basically says the prosecutor has a particular set of politics. And although prosecutors are elected,” Marquis said, “your only allegiance is to the law. Never to any political party or political movement.”
Selective prosecution of so many laws is blatant tyranny that legalizes terrorism against your political opponents. The laws would be better to not exist if they are so unequally applied to only your ideological opponents. Some people recognize this legal claim and are attempting to fight back:
“Defendants are already latching on to the possible loophole. Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson and a supporter have sued the district attorney, alleging selective prosecution of riot charges stemming from a 2019 brawl outside the bar Cider Riot. While Schmidt can’t comment on Gibson’s case, he maintains the policy is not discriminatory.”
Schmidt claims that things are different now than in 2020. They allowed those riots because they were merely acts of free speech. Now, they promise to prosecute things equally:
“This was recognizing that in a moment where people are criticizing how we do business and what they expect to see, we have the ability to chill speech if we are too aggressive in using our authority toward people who are not causing harm,” Schmidt said.
But, of course, he is always willing to go back to a one-sided policing policy if more leftist riots crop up, as in 2020:
“If protests against a different cause pop up in the future, he said he may reevaluate the policy.”
These people do not care about the endless damage they cause to their communities by not enforcing laws or not enforcing them equally:
“Combined with the ongoing pandemic, the disturbances have wreaked havoc on downtown Portland’s business community.
…The immediate term issue is getting beyond the occasional nightly violence that we’re seeing,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told KOIN 6 News in mid-October. “The ultimate answer to how we end this is crystal clear. For people who are engaged in violence or criminal destruction, you arrest them and then you hold them accountable.”
However, the meaning of the words “violence,” “destruction,” and “accountable” have been anything but crystal clear, and vary widely from department to department.
Marquis, who spent more than two decades as a prosecutor, says the choice not to prosecute is unique because no one has the authority to overrule that decision. If a prosecutor is too aggressive, a judge or jury can strike down the case. But no one can force a prosecutor to bring charges.
“If the prosecutor decides there will be no justice, there will be no justice,” Marquis said.
Without prosecution, Marquis suspects the demonstrations could continue indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election. The core group that continues to show up most nights, dressed head to toe in black, is small and unappeasable, he said.””
Marquis very much understands the motivations of many of the violent rioters who are being set free on a routine basis in Portland:
“There is no endgame apparently other than the destruction of order and civil society in Portland,” Marquis said. “(After the election) do they continue to riot? I think unfortunately the answer is they probably will because for them, the endgame is the riot.”
Meanwhile, the few people in Washington DC who were arrested that were actually associated with Donald Trump are being held indefinitely in prison on vague charges. This, while anti-Trump Antifa and BLM rioters at the capitol are simply set free and paid nearly at least $77,000 by CNN and others for their footage at the capitol.
