This past week resident nimrod, Jerry Nadler told a reporter that the talk of violence in Portland is just a myth told in Washington. Mike Balsamo, reporter for the Associated Press, would not so politely disagree. He has spent time on the ground in Portland and he says the violence is exceedingly real. He also spent a night in the Hatfield building where the federal court is held.
He said hunkering down inside is no comfort with 4,000 screaming domestic terrorists outside your door is no fun at all. Balsamo says that the area around the courthouse looks like a combat zone. Federal officers he talked to told him that they fear for their lives every time they have to leave the building and go outside.
Balsamo said:
“In the no-mans-land outside stood the fence: A thick, black iron installation, erected six days before, a dividing line between protester and protector, a stark separation between two radically different world views.”
“The terrace outside the front door was littered with garbage, the steps leading to the courthouse splattered with paint. A mixture of anti-police and Black Lives Matter graffiti covered the building’s outer walls and columns to a height of about 10 feet.”
Another agent told Balsamo :
“You see a lot of commentary on social media about, ‘Well, they’re wearing protective gear so that it’s not going to hurt them.’ Okay, I’ll put the same protective gear on you and I’ll throw a brick at your head and you tell me if you feel comfortable with that.”
“They can put out 10 seconds of something (on social media) that unfolded over several minutes, and those are the 10 seconds that look bad for us, whereas the rest of it would look bad for everybody. They use what serves their narrative.”