Everybody Do the Propaganda...

I almost feel like I should tag this one as fiction.

It's really crazy making to watch the president lie about what is happening in your city and not see immediate pushback from the media he is talking to.

Supposedly Portland is war ravaged. We are burning. We have no stores. When people do build they use plywood because it's just going to be burned or broken. It's hell I tell you.

He keeps saying it so it must be true.

Except it's not.

And it's not the first time this has happened. During his last presidency I heard all about how terrible Portland was because of the BLM protests. The difference being there was an area of Portland that was dicey during those protests. About a two block radius around the Federal building was pretty intense after dark. During the day filled with peaceful protestors. At night? It got rough. Now the Portland Police are paying out millions in lawsuits for excessive force and reckless endangerment so you can decide for yourself why it got so rough, but still, it was a little rough.

This time there is nothing. It's like 20-30 people of an evening, fewer during the day. There are dance parties and people in animal costumes. On Sunday morning is the Pastry and Pajamas group (exactly what it sounds like) yesterday there was a group of knitters knitting and protesting. Tomorrow there is an Emergency Naked Bike Ride protest. If you imagined Portland based on the Portlandia television show you would get to pretty much exactly what is going on.

Don't believe me that Portland isn't burning? Here is a website that shows cameras from around town and gives stories about what is REALLY happening.

Kristi Noem showed up last week to survey the war zone herself. And of course found nothing of the sort. They videoed her "standing down Antifa!" from the roof of the ICE facility. The problem is their video showed about a dozen people, half of them news people, and a guy in a chicken suit, telling her to go away that Portland loves their dogs too much for us to feel safe with her here. She also said she arrested the girlfriend of one of the founders of Antifa. When Brent told me that I said, "Who?" and he said, "You wouldn't know her, she's lives in Canada." Which made me laugh and also shake my head.

(It's from the standard joke of Of course I have a girlfriend but she goes to another school/lives in Canada)

She also then went back to the White House and lied her ass off about what happened. And she said that the whole reason why she didn't see what she expected (burned out ravaged Portland teeming with well organized Antifa-ists) was because our political leaders HID it all from her. Honey, we had to call our legislators back into an emergency session to get funding for our roads because they couldn't get organized enough to do it during a regular session, nobody in Oregon is going to get a whole war zone tidied up with two days notice.

AND even if you were to believe her. That it's just been total devastation and that's why they have to send in the National Guard, but the state was able to clean it up and hide it all from her wouldn't that still show we've got it all handled? I mean, honestly. Which, I get is a problem for this administration. Logic and honesty are not their strong suits.

Anyway, there is no Antifa as an organization. Antifa is an idea. It's a belief. It's LITERALLY Anti Fascism. There is a group here in Oregon called Rose City Antifa and the right wing blogosphere has latched on to that like it's where everything started. Nah. It started a long time ago and once upon a time all of the United States was firmly Antifa. At least publically. I mean, clearly, there has been a strong "let's be fascists!" vibe rolling underneath as well. But even the Rose City group isn't an organization like with members and dues and funding. It's basically a website with "how to protest" information.

Which I guess according to the current administration is no longer a freedom we should enjoy. Mike Johnson has declared that the upcoming No Kings rally is really a "We hate America" rally and the majority whip Tom Emmer declared anyone there is a terrorist. And since the White House has declared that Antifa is a terrorist organization anyone they decide is Antifa is a terrorist. Which is why they did it.

See they know that there is no Antifa as a group. There is no head of Antifa. Or his girlfriend. It's an idea. It's a belief. But if nobody is Antifa then everybody is antifa. Which means we are all in danger.

Not just those of us who live in War Ravaged Portland.

Watching the president lie about my city isn't a new thing. Watching the media let him do it without pushback is. Brent's cousin sent him a worried message a few weeks ago. All the news in Kalamazoo repeated his lies without saying they were lies. There are whole sections of the country that believe it. Because he's said it and the media isn't correcting him. Hell, Fox News is weaving in footage from 2020 to make it look like there are more people and more problems. The Republican party HERE IN OREGON made a meme to show how bad it was, but since it's not bad they had to use images from old riots in South America. (here's a clue, the police shields are in Spanish)

It's all propaganda all the time now.

Keep your heads on a swivel. Pay attention to what you actually see. Pay attention to what people who actually live in those places are showing you. Find independent journalists and sources that you trust and follow them.

I'll be at the No Kings protest next week. Not because I hate America but because right now she's hurting my heart and I want her to make better choices.

I'm not angry, I'm just very disappointed.

Okay, that's not true. I'm really angry too.

Fight for the country you want to see.

Before it's too late.