throwaway-4512

>The NYT footage clearly depicts uniformed individuals without identification detaining protesters.

The people making the arrests are wearing identifying marking as well as their badge number. Look at the man's shoulder where he is wearing a Border Patrol insignia with his badge number above it. You can see this in the original footage of the car based arrest.

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/103/7d8/36268f7317b3d89f028b...

> The "local authorities" include the mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon. Regardless of how one feels about the protests or their legitimacy, any proponent of state's rights should be very alarmed by the situation. They are elected officials representing their constituents, and in their own state their rights and desires should be respected.

I think of states as laboratories of our democratic republic where localities are allowed to craft approaches and responses that best fit their needs. This is a good thing.

It is incorrect though to defend states rights when the local government has allowed federal property to be attacked night after night without attempting to quell it. Federal police was not dispatched until the federal courthouse in Portland was breached by "protestors". If the state and local government refuse to defend federal property, what do you suggest that the federal government should do? And what does that say about those governments?

A better question is, when the video of all these "unidentified" arrests occur, why does no one look at the footage that is ubiquitous on arrests done by federal law enforcement and does any kind of basic research? Isn't it the job of reporters and journalists to do their homework?

Why is no one asking in good faith why federal law enforcement might feel like they need to take these kinds of actions? Police have been being doxxed for weeks now. "Protestors" show up at the houses of local officials across the country and graffiti, vandalize, and threaten officials. In the case of Mayor Durkin of Seattle, she is a former prosecutor who will always live under the threat of being attacked and killed and these people doxxed her anyways.

Why does no one discuss how the local DA refuses to prosecute and forces the release of people who unilaterally attack police? Be fair and recognize that there are many people who are attempting to gaslight through social media.

"Protestors" attack any law enforcement members trying to arrest people committing violence. This allows the arrestee to escape into the crowd.

Talking about gross government overreach without honestly discussing the actions of the "protestors" is intellectually dishonest.

Law enforcement is wearing patches identifying their department as well as identifying badge serial number. You can see it in many of the photos of them making arrests or standing in combat fatigues on their upper arms.

You can see this in the following picture but the article still has the title: "Unidentified Federal Agents Are Detaining Protesters in Portland"

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/103/7d8/36268f7317b3d89f028b...

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/unidentified-federal...

The people attacking federal law enforcement are not "peaceful protestors". For the last 50+ days they have thrown rocks, fireworks, used lasers to blind officers, used wrist rockets to fire metal balls into their faces, etc. When the police have retreated behind fences to guard buildings, these "protestors" try to bring down the fences and attack the police the entire time. They attack people they find recording their actions, beating them into submission and/or stealing their equipment and breaking it. They have tried (and in some cases succeeded) in breaking into buildings and setting fires inside. They have tried to light police precincts on fire.

Portland Police has been catching and releasing these rioters for over 50+ days because the DA refuses to prosecute. The mayor is the police commissioner of Portland and he recently came out to stand with the people attacking federal law enforcement. The city council is even more radical than the mayor. The local government and state government have done nothing to suppress the riots and arguably are aiding and abetting the actions of a violent and vocal minority of citizens.

The omission of the recent history of the violent actions of many of the "protestors" in Portland is shocking to see. Only conservative news organizations are making any mention of what is going on. Outlets like CNN, ABC, NYTimes, WPost, etc. have been silent until the recent actions taken by federal law enforcement. When they have talked about now, the coverage has been anything but even handed and has veered into gaslighting and willful blindness. Anyone who tries to speak out about this on Twitter is attacked en masse. Unless you go looking for a different opinion, you likely have no idea what is really going on.