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Again, I don’t agree with all of this guy’s philosophies, but he has a perspective on this that seems reasonable:
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There was a high ranking Border Patrol Officer on Fox this morning and he was talking about the ongoing war against MS13, We haven’t heard much about them but apparently CBP hasn’t forgot.
Not that the NW States would be harboring any such peaceful protesters. 
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That’s about what I got out of my limited research on the topic. There was an article on Whatfinger.com today that had similar findings. They are using tech and tracking the harm doers and then snatching them off the street gathering all the bonifieds and issuing citations and turning them loose. That said when all this calms down they know who they are and where they live and I’m willing to bet they show up for court or will get snatched again. There was also an interesting tidbit about people crossing state lines to participate/foment a riot/civil unrest which is a serious federal crime that the aforementioned officers have unique jurisdiction over. I think it was Andy Go the journalist that got his butt beat in CA has noted that he sees the same couple of faces in multiple locations across the U.S. at these protests gone riot.
Cheers,
Craig6
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Thanks so much, all, for thoughtful, informative, replies! This is precisely why I posted here. Frankly, this is one of the few venues that I’m involved with where people of different political stripes are willing to engage (mostly) civilly, (cause, let’s face it, we’re all a little scared of @Dawn) and it really helps to get past the headlines and talking points.
@Zavier_D – no worries at all about bringing new material in – that’s why we’re here and I certainly would not take material from different political viewpoints personally; it only adds to the richness of the discussion. To you, @Jeff-A1, and @Thomas681 – I don’t want you to think that I’m in favor of the violence, nor do I think the protests are “peaceful.” I linked above to all the crimes that DHS has documented, and they speak for themself. Maybe I think a higher percentage of the protesters are in fact peaceful than others here, based on what I hear from folks who are there, but those who are causing real trouble are as concerning to me as to anyone else.
@Scotty and @Craig6 – thanks so much for posting the information that you did. Again, that’s exactly why I posted. I had one set of views based on the information I had at the time (mostly from my own little echo chamber), and those views are regularly being modified by the information you all are bringing to the table. Thank you.
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I guess I raised the issues here not so much as a reflection on the protests themselves, but more so to think about the policies of the feds in this case, precisely in a case where most here do not agree with the politics of those impacted. I’ve read a lot of concern within the Community about the hazards of federal over-reach in relationship to gun ownership, and for me a real test of the legitimacy of a viewpoint is if it can be applied equally to folks that I don’t agree with. I don’t remember who it was who said something like, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
One concern I have about the feds in Portland harkens back to my days in the service in the Middle East. At one point, there were regular demonstrations against our presence in one town and, for the most part, we did not care and stayed out of their way. Except that there was a supply road that we needed to keep open, so as the demonstrators would come close to the road, we would have to deploy against them to protect the road. That then gave them a target for their anger, and the situation regularly exacerbated, then we needed to deploy in more force, and so on, and so on. One problem was that we simply were not trained for civilian work, nothing about de-escalation or crowd control – we were only trained to do what soldiers do, which only inflamed the situation. Finally, and only after too many people got hurt, did we initiate a side channel with the leaders and arranged for them to be elsewhere to protest as they liked, and we would leave them be, as long as they would stay away from the road.
I worry that some of that may be happening in Portland. These federal forces seem to be from CBP and elsewhere, with mostly SWAT type training and, like us at the time, little in the way of de-escalation and crowd control, and little knowledge of the local lay of the land. I have huge respect for those who do those jobs, as well as for the Portland police, but the cynical part of me still has a sneaking suspicion that there are those (maybe on both sides) who are less interested in preventing violence than they are in making political points.
Some of the lessons here seem to be exactly what we try to instill in the CCW community: train well for the task at hand, learn to de-escalate, not every problem is solved with violence, in fact most aren’t.
Sorry, all, for the rant. This one is close to home and, like a lot of people here, I worry for where we are going. Thanks to all who have engaged!
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@CascadiaNow We are all concerned, brother. I wholeheartedly agree with you that violence resolves little. There have been many lives given to preserve what freedoms we now hold. Our country has weathered many storms. We will weather more.
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Thanks for sharing this. From strictly legal standpoint, I doubt that these people simply “disappear”. Even Jihad Johnny Walker received a fair trial, served his sentence and soon will be released from prison. So let the due process take place. I will remind you that the Feds brought mail fraud charges against Al Capone, so graffiti vandalism charge against rioters is not outlandish.
Personally, I think these people are absolutely destructive vermin. They’ve come to reduce this whole society to rubble, as they had done in Russia, China, Viet Nam, Cuba, Venezuela… long list. However the Feds choose to stop enemy domestic within the Constitution and existing law - is fine with me.
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I’ve said that dozens of times here and at home. Especially when the shootings happened in Parkland, FL.
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Amen, brother.
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What?? I’m not scary at all! 
This thread is a great example of conflicting views being discussed and people being challenged to think outside of their comfort zone! And you all are being respectful! It’s awesome to see.
Conflict isn’t bad - nasty behavior disguised as conflict is bad. We won’t grow or learn if everyone says the same thing.
No need to fear the moderators, have good discussions (even heated discussions) with the intent to learn and you’ll always be welcome!
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I saw in twiiter a couple was arrested for writing on top of griffiti already there something like BlueLivessMatter!! That shocked me!
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I guess more fun-loving kids enjoying the summer of love are going to get “abducted”. Poor precious children will be in therapy for years…
Someone if finally telling them “NO”.
An added note from Allen West:
https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/allen-west/americas-misguided-children
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Usually you hear No from mommy/daddy, then the kindergarten teacher, then a principal, then maybe kindly school resource officer… Direct transition from a sippy cup to the bang of federal judge’s gavel could be such a shock.
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Here’s my take on the original post. If, someone is working with in the bounds of what is legal, per The Constitution, we should support their right to do so. Even if we don’t agree with what they are saying. If every American would stick to those guidelines, it would solve the vast majority of the problems we have. Yes, I support the rights of those that are peacefully protesting. Those that are defacing statues, burning cars, looting, etc are criminals. If you are a legal gun owner, I don’t care if you have a room full of machine guns, and a tank. Invite me over, I’ll bring pizza. If a private business wants to require a mask to enter, that’s their business. It’s all about supporting the Constitutionally protected Rights, of every American citizen.
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Yes but not many have seen the 
@Dawn those of us who know the secret 
handshake know you are Thor the wielder of the mighty
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I will abstain from further discussion with you on this. We are definitely seeing this movie differently, except the Go Beavs part. We could probably discuss Beaver Baseball all week long. 2006, 2007, and 2018 National Champions!
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If by “making the situation worse” they mean people are upset because criminals are being held accountable, what’s the real issue here?
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I love the Ban Hammer. Like the Zoom mute button, I want one in real life.
Fair enough @Patrick47. And you’re right, it would have to be baseball. Cause let’s face it, if it were football, it would be a pretty short conversation…
Thanks for disengaging so civilly, and let’s pray that whichever movie we’re watching, it has a happy ending.
Go Beavs!