When I moved to Los Angeles from Portland, (to be more precise Milwaukie to Glendale) I would get a call from my Mom if news reached the NW of earthquakes or fires. Most of the time, the natural disasters associated with L.A. were far from my doorstep. The headline she saw read Los Angeles so she naturally worried.
I see this scenario playing out but in reverse as the federal thugs unleashed by what we all recognize as the worst President ever (by a country mile) has whipped up another problem as if we needed another one right now. Now I am looking at Portland when truly the problem is with one small section.
Portland is not a war zone. It has been a democracy zone. And if left alone, the peaceful protests would have continued downtown and if you lived just south in Milwaukie would not have been any sort of problem. It would at most mean a detour around a closed street or two.
But the Orange one wanted to score points. Either he thought it would be a quick sweep and protests done or it would be a standoff showcasing the strength of Trump. Neither is in the cards. It has only reinvigorated the protests bringing out Moms and Vets. With the not unexpected results of a veteran getting his hand busted up by the thuggish federal police officers “walking on him”.
His base can willfully ignore a lot of shit but a veteran (a white male one) getting maimed and mothers being tear gassed (more mostly white ones) are images that will peel off voters who will most likely just not vote causing a drag on downstream races. And considering he lost the lost election, the Orange one can’t afford losing any group of voters.
Yes, this is a beer blog but we all (fans, brewers, employees) are living in a diminished world due to the actions of someone who gets mashed potatoes in his hair at family gatherings because he is such a little brat.
And I would argue further, that Portland being a major light in the beer world means that beer people should be caring about this issue. This could cause less tourist visits and that could lead to breweries going under.
So, please keep talking about it. The longer it stays news, the sooner we can get a competent person in charge and that leads to us getting better Covid care at least and maybe bring changes that will allow beer to flow from taps freely.
