Welcome to Byron York’s Daily Memo newsletter.
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive the newsletter.
REMEMBER THE RIOTS? It wasn’t too long ago that the news was filled with reports of violent protests in Portland, Seattle, Washington DC, and other cities around the nation. And then…silence. Networks and newspapers are going wall-to-wall with analyses of every syllable uttered by President Trump’s doctors as he is treated for coronavirus. Of course that’s news, but in the meantime, other news — like a continuing plague of violence in those cities and elsewhere — has virtually disappeared from the coverage.
But it’s still there. A look at the Portland police twitter page from last night shows yet another march and confrontation with police. (Nobody bothers to keep count of the number of consecutive night there has been violence.) “The march has arrived at the new courthouse at 1200 SW 1st Ave.,” police tweeted between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time Sunday. “Some participants have begun vandalizing the building. Do not do this. You are subject to arrest. To the van supporting the march: It is unsafe and illegal to drive the wrong way on a 1-way.” As the marchers continued, police warned, “Vandalism to the courthouse will not be tolerated. If you commit vandalism you are subject to arrest or use of force.”
Remember when Democratic leaders and their allies in the media blamed it all on Trump? But with the president in a hospital 2,800 miles away, and with Democrats and media talkers consumed by other stories, the protests have continued. At the courthouse, as the indefatigable street journalist Andy Ngo reported, the rioters began to vandalize a building that “cost taxpayers $324 million and took four years of construction time.” Six people were arrested.
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
Even more serious was an attack on a police officer. On Sunday morning, a Portland officer was doing paperwork in his car when a rioter smashed a window and filled the car with pepper spray. The officer managed to radio a description of his attacker, who was later arrested in a car that police had been following earlier. “Inside the vehicle, officers found window punch tools, pepper spray, throwing knives, a laser pointer, a slingshot, rocks, and more,” police noted. As you can see in the police photo below, it was a whole rioter’s toolkit. (The packets of Sudecon are for self-treating pepper spray exposure.)
Police reported that the suspect was a 41 year-old Portland man named John B. Russell. He was charged with assaulting a public safety officer, aggravated harassment, and criminal mischief in the first degree. Andy Ngo helpfully provided Mr. Russell’s mug shot, below. Ngo also reported that Russell, like almost every other violent rioter in Portland, was quickly released, so he will surely be back at work soon.
There has also been trouble in Seattle and Washington DC in the last few days. You just probably haven’t heard about it.
It seems needless to say that none of this has anything to do with black lives or any protest against real or alleged police brutality. Much of the agitation is clearly the work of the violent extremist organization Antifa. Remember at the presidential debate that Democratic candidate Joe Biden declared, “Antifa is an idea and not an organization.” President Trump responded, “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding…when a bat hits you over the head, it’s not an idea. Antifa is a dangerous radical group.” Biden’s response was to mock the president by saying, “You have no ideas.”
But in Portland, if Antifa is an idea, it’s an idea armed with window punch tools, pepper spray, throwing knives, a laser pointer, a slingshot, rocks, and more. Perhaps if the violence were covered more in the media, Biden would be forced to defend his indefensible claim. But for now, remember the violence and unrest are still going on, even if they don’t make the news.
