https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/my-university-sacrificed-ideas-for

'But brick by brick, the university has made this kind of intellectual exploration impossible. It has transformed a bastion of free inquiry into a Social Justice factory whose only inputs were race, gender, and victimhood and whose only outputs were grievance and division. ...'

Read the whole thing at the link. My good friend Michael Weingrad writes:

'His resignation letter is a fierce and sorrowful indictment of the contemporary academy and a testament to his principles.'

https://twitter.com/weingradmichael/status/1435675338218954755

https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1429585019702480899

'Antifa are retreating & throwing explosives in the process after launching an attack on the right-wing rally in northeast Portland. They’re being chased & hit. '

UPDATE:
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1429613814945828868

'1. Claim: Man is pointing a handgun.
False. He's pointing his hand.

2. Claim: A medical van to help the injured was flipped.
This is the vehicle antifa used to crash into the right-wing rally, sparking the riot.'

This morning I paid a visit to the Chabad synagogue in Southwest Portland where I used to pray. I hadn't seen the shul since the fire. (There were actually two fires - the first probably accidental, the second almost certainly arson.) I'd heard at the time that it had been "damaged", which I assumed meant something short of "completely gutted", and in my imagination I pictured perhaps a few scorch marks around the roof. That was wishful thinking. What I saw when I got there was that the building was completely boarded up on all sides, and padlocked. It was readily apparent that there were going to be no prayer services held there at any time in the near future.

The congregation also operates a religious school across the street, and I believe that's where they are holding services now. Still, the burned building was a grim sight.

The period following the mourning of Tisha b'Av (commemorating the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem) is designated as a period of consolation, when we look forward to the redemption of a better era in the future. And that's the feeling I will try to hang on to now.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/01/20/a-key-indicator-of-real-estate-investors-interest-in-portland-shows-a-precipitous-decline/

'At Jan. 5 budget meeting for the city's Bureau of Development Services, economists advising the bureau on the outlook for new construction presented dismal news: Portland has gone from one of the most desirable locations in the country just four years ago to near the bottom of an 80-city ranking.

That ranking was compiled by the Urban Land Institute in a report titled "Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2021." It shows that a survey of more than 1,300 lenders, investors, developers and other national real estate experts found Portland the third-most desirable real estate market in the nation in 2017. For 2021, it now ranks 66th of 80 cities on the list ...'

The article explains that Portland's fall may be attributable to 'factors that include widely broadcast images of protests and nearby wildfires. It may be exacerbated by the documented flight of businesses from the city's core and factors such as the cost of property insurance rising 30% to 50% amid repeated vandalism.'

My political buddy Erin Smith has a very informative article at Center for Security Policy:

https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2020/08/25/contextual-insurgency-lessons-from-a-week-observing-portland-black-bloc/

'This article examines an ongoing effort by a complex, distributed antifa network to conduct a “dilemma action,” intended to target the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) based on several days of open-source research and direct observation.

Put simply a dilemma action is a strategy using carefully-targeted types and degrees of civil disobedience to cause security forces to either concede the space and thus exhibit weakness, or respond in a manner that appears disproportionate and evokes negative sentiments in the population. (Sorensen, 2013)

Civil disobedience for a dilemma action is usually characterized as “non-violent.” but it must be remembered that within radical left organizing circles property damage by itself is considered non-violent by definition. Portland protests in particular have been marked by a nightly damage toll heavily biased towards law enforcement and government property and buildings.

The course of the nightly action against the PPB followed a fairly predictable pattern: a contingent of notional BLM protesters rendezvoused with a group of antifa black bloc at a public park close to their objective. As they moved towards the police building which was their target, “corkers” -a sort of bicycle-mounted blocking force- closed off side streets and the scouting line -typically on mopeds- moved ahead and on the flanks. Behind them came the main contingent of black bloc. Upon arrival at the PPB the streets were blocked with vehicles and burning dumpsters, with the “corkers” stationed to direct traffic away from the action and the scouts setting up a picket line extending out several blocks, watching for police reinforcements and creating the strong impression of antifa control of territory. ...'

Read the whole thing at the link.

I didn't go to yesterday's conservative rally at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland, but apparently there was a good turnout by our side - and, of course, the antifa / blm folks showed up and did their thing. Via a public facebook post, here's an account of the event from my friend Kathryn T.:

Northwest Unrest 8/22/20 - No matter how the MSM or the Portland "officials" try to spin what happened in Portland today, here is the real 411:
1) Hundreds of PATRIOTS went to Portland today. ( Not ALT-RIGHT or FAR-RIGHT or White Nationalists or White Supremacists) PATRIOTS - ALL colors, ALL backgrounds - PATRIOTS who went because they live in Portland or near to Portland or cared enough to fly in from California or Texas..... PATRIOTS who simply love America and are sick of the violence in Portland. PATRIOTS who are not afraid of Antifa or the LIES of the LEFT.
2) They gathered in front of the Federal building which houses the Police. Most of the men had the women in the back to be protected (like REAL men do) and they formed a line in front that they HELD in spite of rocks being thrown, frozen water bottles being thrown, and being pepper-sprayed and pelted with HUMAN EXCREMENT (😡) over and over.
3) After 2 solid hours of the assault, the police declared it an unlawful assembly and Patriots left. As they all came in from different directions, they were in smaller numbers when they left and large crowds followed them, shooting them with paintballs and more pepper spray.
4) 9 people were arrested. 3 for attacking a police officer.
5) The Antifa crowd was energized because they felt they had "won" and ran off the Patriots, BUT, the only reason the Patriots left was that they are still law-abiding and they followed the police orders.
6) As of right now, the only known (to me) injury was one of the people attacking the police officer who was hit with a non-lethal round. Of course, a number of others attacked and then whined and cried if they got hit back.
7) This is Democrat Mayor Ted Wheeler's baby. At this point, it makes Rosemary's Baby ( if anyone remembers that gross movie) look like a walk in the park.
8) This is planned and paid for. These terrorists are well funded and coordinated. This is a Democrat plan to bring instability that they HOPE to pin on President Trump. IT WILL NOT WORK. Even those of us who are political prisoners of WA, OR & CA see it for what it is. VOTE EVERY DEM OUT - this is our only hope for not having our entire country look like Portland.

More on yesterday's events via Andy Ngo at twitter:
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1297328838045601792
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1297568993465622531
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1297509164793511937
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1297522316427984897
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1297518236431351808
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1297516946917691394

Don't miss the bit about guillotining the teddy bear.

The media will tell you our demo was "alt-right" and "white supremacists" which is an absolute fantasy. I know many of the people involved and they are no more "white supremacists" than I am. The media are lying to you.

EDIT: "Black Rebel" Andrew Duncomb, who recently survived a politically-motivated stabbing attack, sets the record straight:

"It was Patriots that showed up in Portland. Ignore the rumors."
https://twitter.com/SpaceForceUSA_/status/1297398195480227842

It was 20 years ago that I first moved to Portland. I lived there until the end of 2017, with a hiatus from 2007 to 2013 when I lived in San Francisco. When I first moved there, it was a beautiful, friendly, safe city. No more.

The last four years - from the beginning of 2014, when I moved back from SF, to the end of 2017, when I moved out of the city to take a job near Scappoose - it became clear that the Portland I had known and loved was gone and was not coming back.

For the latest from Portland, you can read Andy's feed -
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo

So, it is what it is. I'm living in Hillsboro now, about 10 miles to the west of Portland proper, and it's a whole different world.

... my friend and political comrade Alyssa is running for a spot on Portland City Council.

Helen Church, Kathryn Townsend, and my friend Athena Brown are the subjects of this refreshingly fair piece at PBS, which covers the June 4 rally in Portland.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/trump-supporters-portland/

'Some are extremists. Others hold more moderate views. Still others are hard to pin down. They include independent voters like Townsend, who are becoming more active and strident as they see unprecedented efforts on the left to shut conversations down. They include people like Church, who, when slapped with labels, respond by showing up at rallies for the first time. And they include Republicans like Brown who have become fed up with what they see as the left’s PC culture. ...'

Go read the whole thing at the link.

Via my friend Leo Stratton.