Free Republic

Far-left Portland city councilwoman accused of stolen valor after military record questioned A recent poll showed that 49 percent of likely voters said they’d vote for Gonzalez, a lawyer, and technology business owner, compared to 22 percent for Hardesty, an anti-police, pro-Antifa, one-term incumbent. In a city council meeting on Thursday, far-left Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who is running for reelection, was accused of stolen valor. Hardesty has also called on her challenger Rene Gonzalez to "denounce" The Post Millennial’s editor-at-large Andy Ngo for his coverage of her. The official Twitter account for Hardesty’s re-election posted on Thursday...

Only two recent retired officers among 81 contacted by Police Chief Chuck Lovell have expressed interest in helping fill Portland police vacancies under the city-approved retire-rehire program. The chief urged them to consider returning in a letter last month, acknowledging that those who had retired since August 2020 left “at a time of great despair for the Bureau and the City of Portland.” The Police Bureau is now rebuilding with support from elected officials and residents, Lovell wrote, and urged the retirees to help this “once vibrant city come back to life.” Officers have been leaving faster than the bureau...

Portland has 1.2 officers per 1000 people. National average in 2020 was 2.4 officers per 1000 people PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The number of Portland Police Bureau sworn officers is the fewest it’s been since 1989. There are currently 788 sworn members combating record shootings and murders, confronting anarchists breaking windows and property, dealing with far left and far right groups squaring off in the city, crime in homeless camps and a rash of stolen cars. Portland, which once proudly called itself “The City that Works” is struggling to keep up with crime. Police staffing numbers in Portland have dwindled...

The head of the police union in Portland shot back against new criticism from City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty - who has spearheaded the local defund police movement - over the recent resignation of all 50 members of the police riot squad, arguing her self-serving agenda endorses violence, “instead of defending our communities and the business owners whose livelihoods were destroyed by the riots.” Portland Police Association Executive Director Daryl Turner argued in a statement issued Friday that “roving gangs of black-clad rioters do not speak for the hundreds of thousands of residents and business owners of Portland who want...

A curfew in Philadelphia tonight from 9pm to 6am. Streets in the downtown area closed. Members of the Pennsylvania National Guard deployed... A federal judge in Portland granting a preliminary injunction saying that federal officers denied First Amendment rights to peaceful protesters... Walmart removing firearms and ammunition from display floors...Today Walmart reversing course... The country with the highest coronavirus infection rate in Europe moving to a national lockdown. Belgium shutting down... In Canada Winnipeg the largest city in Manitoba moving to a Code Red coronavirus lockdown... An earthquake measuring 7.0 struck off the coast of Turkey today... The current UK...

Even as gun violence breaks records in New York City, Chicago, and Philly, the Democrats don’t have much to say about the epidemic of shootings or their pet cause, gun control. While activist Democrat prosecutors like Attorney General Letitia James have neglected to deal with the violence and are instead targeting the NRA, they aren’t really talking about gun control. Mass shootings are rarely mentioned anymore even though there are more of them than ever. A Washington D.C. mass shooting at a cookout last month that wounded 20 people was treated as another local crime story. And there are a...

PORTLAND, Ore. — In a short letter issued Thursday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown said it was time elected officials and community leaders come together to condemn the acts in violence in Portland. The letter mentions there is no place for white supremacy or vigilantism in Oregon, but fails to mention the attacks on police or arson fires set by demonstrators inside occupied buildings including the building where Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler lives. The letter is signed by Mayor Wheeler and City Commissioner Amanda Fritz. City Commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty and Chloe Eudaly did not sign the letter. Newly elected Multnomah...

Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty apologized for claiming police are sending 'saboteurs' to infiltrate anti-racism demonstrations to start fires that have lit up the city on many of the 56 consecutive nights of protests.

There was a stunning war of words Wednesday between Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and the Portland Police Association president, Daryl Turner. “It is appalling to find out the Portland Police Association and the union president continues to lie to the public on a daily basis about the lack of cooperation by Portland police personnel,” Hardesty said. “If Portland does not stand up now and we as a City Council don’t hold our own police officers accountable for this egregious behavior, we will be – we will go down in history of having failed in our obligation to protect...

OregonLive reports Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said Wednesday she didn’t believe protesters in Portland are setting fires but that police are sending in “saboteurs” to create the strife – an unsubstantiated claim that drew immediate pushback from police and then an apology from her hours later. She also made a not-so-oblique reference to Mayor Ted Wheeler, referencing “ignorance at the highest levels in our city government” as she participated in a national briefing sponsored by a left-leaning think tank based in Portland. Hardesty spoke amid growing frustration in the city for the aggressive tactics of federal officers who...

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commissioner Joann Hardesty: ------------------------------------------------------------- Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly tonight flatly accused the Portland Police Bureau of coordinating forceful crackdowns on protesters with the federal forces occupying the city. "The Portland Police Bureau has collaborated with federal occupiers," Eudaly wrote in a statement. "This collaboration needs to end immediately." Eudaly did not provide evidence for her assertion, but reports from downtown over the weekend lend credence to the idea that Portland cops were working in tandem with Homeland Security and Border Patrol officers in clearing demonstrators from around the federal courthouses. The two law enforcement agencies acted...

Portland, OREGON: No matter who gets sworn in next January, the dynamics of City Hall will change. This City Hall race features six contenders: former state Rep. Jo Ann Hardesty (D-Portland), two-term Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, architect Stuart Emmons, mayoral aide and David Douglas School Board member Andrea Valderrama, and Felicia Williams, the business manager at her partner's biotech firm, as well as perennial candidate Lew Humble. We've concluded that Hardesty, a Navy veteran, county aide and nonprofit leader, is the best person for the job. Hardesty is not without flaws. She doesn't always work well with others,...