Category: Portland
Border Patrol agent shoots 2 in Portland: Officials
Two people were hospitalized on Thursday after a shooting involving U.S. Border Patrol agents in Portland, Ore., according to officials. Local police said they responded to a call from one of the people wounded at around 2:24 p.m. local time. “Officers applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel. The patients were transported to the…
When did America start going to bed so early?
There was a moment — maybe early 2000s? — when people began talking about a new frontier in American life.
I remember there was a “Nightline” episode about it and articles in magazines.
In Portland, where I live, the last 24-hour diner-style chain, Shari’s, closed all its restaurants earlier this year. Too dangerous to stay open that late.
They described a new territory that was open for exploration. A place where most people were still reluctant to go. But this new space held new opportunities and prospects for growth.
This new frontier was called “late-night America.” It wasn’t a geographical location. It was a time period. It occurred from approximately 11:00 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Crosstown traffic
The idea was as the world became more crowded, with more cars on the road, more people packing into office buildings every morning, a natural evolution was occurring.
People were opting to change their schedules to avoid the crowds. They were staying up later, working later, and beginning to inhabit late-night America.
These early adopters preferred a less hectic world, so they adjusted their lives toward the “off hours.”
Think of Midtown Manhattan at lunch time. The Seattle Fish Market at 9:30 am. Or your own city during afternoon rush-hour traffic.
Now think of all those places at 4 a.m. Pretty different, aren’t they? Not so crazy. Not so overwhelming.
The worst thing you might encounter at 4 a.m. is a garbage truck or an impatient jogging enthusiast with an early work schedule.
As more people began to see the obvious advantages of conducting their business and personal lives at a later hour, other businesses sprang up to serve them.
Instead of just one 24-hour restaurant in your town, now there were a dozen. Many gas stations went 24 hours as did convenience stores. Big cities added more night buses. Supermarkets began staying open until 11, then midnight, and then 1 a.m.
With more people inhabiting it, the late-night world became a more active place. It was fun working the late shift. It was easier to drive to work. The vibe was more relaxed. People weren’t in such a hurry.
San Francisco noir
I was always a night owl. My first job out of college I worked at a courier company in San Francisco. We did most of our business during normal hours, 9 to 5. But I quickly maneuvered myself into the swing shift position, coming in at 2:30 p.m. and staying until 11.
After 5, I was alone in the office. I routed the overnight shipping and spent the late hours on the phone with my cohorts at our company’s other branches in other cities.
The late-night crew got to know each other. We were the oddballs of our respective offices. We tended to be more eccentric, more interesting than the daytime employees.
When I was occasionally called in by my boss to work a normal 9-to-5 shift, I found the routine deeply disturbing.
Imagine waking up at 8 in the morning! Riding a packed, slow-moving bus downtown. Waiting in line for 10 minutes for a morning coffee. Standing in another line for a soggy sandwich at lunch.
All of this with robotic office workers crowded around me. Dan from sales. Sheila from billing. Their business outfits. Their terrible hairstyles. It was unbearable!
But to be on the late shift, alone in the office, with the radio on, my feet on the desk. That was heaven. And then leaving the building at 11, the downtown streets deserted, late-night San Francisco all to myself.
Truck stop scribbling
Later when I became a professional writer, I loved working in late-night cafes. Or 24-hour diners. Or truck stops, if there were one nearby.
I went there to work, but I liked having people around, a nice waitress, some foot traffic, someone to share a bit of conversation with.
Or on a bad weather night, there were the state troopers or the snowplow guys coming in from the cold at 2 a.m. for a hot coffee and a piece of pie — wasn’t that fun to be part of?
Thanks to late-night America, there were always such places available. It was a great time for a person like me. I always had somewhere to go. Some coffee to drink. And mostly good people to be around.
Closing time
By now, you probably know where this story is going. We are presently at the other end of the pendulum swing. Now NOTHING stays open late. Good luck finding a coffee shop that’s open after 4!
In Portland, where I live, the last 24-hour diner-style chain, Shari’s, closed all its restaurants earlier this year. Too dangerous to stay open that late. And nobody wants to work those hours.
The early-closing phenomenon had already begun before COVID, and then COVID finished the job.
Plus in many cities, there is now the constant presence of homeless and mentally ill people to contend with.
In response, business owners have decided it’s best to minimize their hours of operation. They lock their doors and lower their metal gates as soon as the sun goes down.
Last of the lounge lizards
Bars are still open, of course. But even that world is shrinking. Young people don’t go out as much these days. They have other ways to socialize, and they have multiple forms of entertainment right there in their homes.
Meeting people for romantic purposes was once the primary reason for being out late at night. But this seems to be on the wane as well.
Men are less eager to approach women in public places. And contemporary women, with careers and important jobs, don’t want to be out late at night. Swiping on dating apps during lunch hour is a much more efficient way to meet a potential partner.
Are there still jobs on the night shift? Sure there are. Trucking, loading, and delivering are still much easier during off-hours. But most of the other late-night jobs are … well … security guard, security patrol, security supervisor.
In other words, protecting people and property from the dangers of the night.
Goodnight, moon
So yeah, that last frontier? It’s closed.
For such a social space to function safely, you need a high-trust, high-functioning society. People need to feel safe. They need to trust each other.
Society is too fractured at the moment for that to happen. There is too much crime, too much drug abuse, too many zombies to venture into the dark.
But think of the romance lost! Think of the late-night walks you can’t go on. The moonlit skies you’ll never see. The late-night drives in a cozy car with the radio on.
These are not insignificant things for a culture to lose. The night should be ours. The night should belong to us.
Urban Disorder: Petty Theft Leads to Fatal Crash in Portland
A Portland thief who stole copper wire from a traffic light box caused a fatal crash earlier this month when a motorcyclist barreled through the non-operational light. It’s the sort of petty theft that normally goes unpunished in the left-wing city.
The post Urban Disorder: Petty Theft Leads to Fatal Crash in Portland appeared first on .
Comedian David Sedaris Goes Viral For Illustrating Impossibility Of Talking To Liberals
‘Democratic point of principle’
Black male stabs white male. But victim uses racial slur AFTER stabbing — and Portland jury issues ‘inconceivable’ verdict.
A black male recently admitted in court that he stabbed a white male over the summer, but a Portland jury acquitted the black male after learning the victim uttered a racial slur — and spoke the word following the stabbing.
Gary Edwards was charged with second-degree assault for knifing Gregory Howard Jr. on Northwest 5th Avenue in Portland’s Old Town neighborhood on the morning of July 7, OregonLive reported last week.
‘Beyond inconceivable.’
A conviction could have handed Edwards a sentence of five years and 10 months in state prison, OregonLive said.
However, even though Edwards admitted on the witness stand to the stabbing, he said it was self-defense due to Howard’s aggression, the outlet said.
Edwards testified that Howard yelled the racist slur as soon as he saw him, the outlet reported, adding that Howard denied the claim.
More from OregonLive:
Transit cameras showed Edwards, a fixed-blade knife clasped at his side, approaching Howard from behind as he sat on a bench. The video has no sound, but Howard springs up and pushes Edwards as soon as he sees him. The duo scuffle against a wall for a brief moment, ending with Edwards stabbing Howard in the shoulder.
Defense attorney Daniel Small said the most relevant evidence was recorded later when security officers heard the wounded man shouting the racist slur and captured it on their body cameras as he described the incident.
Small added that Edwards, 43, was just approaching Howard, also 43, and offering a simple trade: his knife for cigarettes, the outlet said.
“What other than racism could explain why Mr. Howard perceived hatred, animosity, and aggression from a complete stranger?” Small asked the jury on Oct. 30, the outlet reported.
Prosecutor Katherine Williams countered that what Howard said after the knifing was irrelevant and that Edwards was always “in control” during the altercation, OregonLive said.
“The defendant is not scared for his life. He didn’t retreat; he sauntered up — and he sauntered away after he stabbed someone,” Williams told the jury, according to the outlet. “The defendant created the situation.”
Despite the prosecutor’s argument, the jury soon acquitted Edwards, OregonLive said.
More from the outlet:
Edwards, who declined to comment through his attorney, spent about three months in custody before the trial, after prosecutors successfully argued he shouldn’t be released.
Their memo noted that Edwards was convicted of attempted second-degree assault in 2021 and was sentenced to three years in prison for another stabbing at the Skidmore Fountain MAX platform in May 2020. He was accused of fourth-degree assault for fighting with a clerk at Old Town’s Helen’s Market, but the case was dismissed in June because no public defender was available to take his case.
Howard, meanwhile, has been arrested several times in recent years and was convicted of felony rape of a child in Washington’s Kitsap County in 1997, records show. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
The New York Post’s Facebook entry about the acquittal generated well over 1,000 comments — and they’re the exact kinds of reactions you would expect. The following are a few of them:
- “Always remember if you’re shot or stabbed, you must give some type of positive affirmation to your attacker so you don’t sound hateful,” one commenter wrote. “Otherwise your attacker will be acquitted.”
- “It was probably a mostly peaceful stabbing,” another user quipped.
- “That’s wild. So let me get this right … He got attacked then said the N word, and the attacker got away with it cause he said it after he was already attacked?” another commenter asked. “That makes no sense.”
- “Beyond inconceivable,” another user stated.
- “What a funny world we live in,” another commenter observed.
- “Staying out of Portland …” another user shared.
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The Spectator P.M. Ep. 173: Portland Debuts Bizarrely Woke ‘Tree Lighting’ Ceremony
Instead of having a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, participants at a Portland celebration made an effort to avoid mentioning the…
VIDEO: Leotarded liberals protest ICE facility with ’80s-themed aerobics class
Liberals protesting against the mass deportation policies of the Trump administration donned leotards and participated in a bizarre aerobics class outside of a detention facility.
On Sunday, about two dozen protesters dressed up in ’80s garb and hopped around satirically outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon.
‘These people are so freaking weird … I think they might really be space aliens.’
The Portland ICE facility has been the scene of some of the most violent protests against the agency. Protesters have also donned Halloween costumes in an attempt to ridicule federal officers and defuse claims of violent intent. One protest included nude cyclists.
Oregon Live reported that the aerobics protest was called “Sweatin’ Out the Fascists,” and participants collected donations for the Oregon Food Bank.
In one instance, officials blared out orders to protesters with a loudspeaker in the voice of President Donald Trump using a digital voice cloner.
Some mocked the protest on social media with humorous jabs.
“Make insane asylums full again,” read one response.
“Our civil war opposition. Not sure how I will sleep peacefully again,” joked another user.
“These people are so freaking weird. And of course the obligatory furry in the back. I think they might really be space aliens,” added another.
The administration has previously threatened to cut off federal funds to the city if local law enforcement didn’t do more to stop the attacks on federal officials.
“This is not peaceful protesting. This is left-wing anarchy that has been destroying this great American city for years, leaving police officers battered, citizens terrorized, and business properties damaged,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in October.
RELATED: Democratic senator accuses Trump administration of faking anti-ICE rioting
“These radical left-wing lunatics have violently breached the ICE facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram,” she continued, “hurled explosives and other projectiles at law enforcement, repeatedly assault and doxx officers, berate their law-abiding neighbors, and have even rolled out a guillotine in front of the ICE facility.”
Leavitt added, “Law and order will prevail, and President Trump will make sure of it.”
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