Source: Common Dreams
by John Marks
“The announcement arrived with theatrical certainty. Troops would go to Portland to protect federal immigration facilities. ‘Full force, if necessary’. The words were meant to settle the matter and to set the scene. Portland, the script insists, is a place of permanent disorder. The city’s answer was simple. Calm streets, improving crime metrics, and no emergency that justifies soldiers. That clash of frames is the real story. It is not only about one weekend, one building, or one President. It is about how federal power is narrated, how cities are chosen as stages, and how a state with long practice in saying no prepares for the next round.’ The question is why now. The events at the South Waterfront ICE site in June offer the easiest pretext.” (09/29/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dear-president-trump-portland-is-not-your-war-zone