On this day, August 22, 2002, President George W. Bush proposed to end the government's "hands-off" policy in national forests and ease logging restrictions in fire-prone areas.
Also on this day, August 22, 2014, the State of Oregon filed a $200 million suit against Oracle Corp. and several executives over the company's role in creating the troubled website for the state's online health insurance exchange.
Also on this day, August 22, 2020, demonstrators faced off in Portland with the two sides -- one aligned with a "Back the Blue" rally and the other a Black Lives Matter counter-demonstration -- reportedly largely ignoring police warnings. Ultimately, Department of Homeland Security officers deemed the gatherings unlawful and moved through the plaza, forcing the crowd to disperse.
Counters message of defunding law enforcement
Today, the President gathered a group of Americans at the White House to tell stories about our police that we almost never hear about from mainstream media. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities to incentivize law enforcement agencies to adopt best practices in the use of force rather than defund police departments. Without police innocent lives would not be saved. These stories were shared:
- Battling substance abuse since the age of 11, Kenneth Bearden has suffered over 30 overdoses. Police officers had to help revive him more than a dozen times. Today, Kenneth is 6 years sober. “My son would not have his father today if it wasn’t for [those] police officers.â€
- Spencer Bohan, a non-verbal child with autism, "doesn't really have a sense of danger—so when he goes missing, it's like life or death," his mother Sara said. When he climbed out of his bedroom window and went missing, the Roanoke County Police came and found Spencer within 12 minutes of searching.
- Pastor Perry Cleek’s church, Lighthouse Baptist in Tennessee, chose to give $1,000 to every member of the town's police department. "The voice of small-town America is seldom heard . I think small towns all over America feel like we do,†Pastor Cleek said.
- Deputy William Kimbro, a South Carolina police officer, pulled over Boyd for a routine traffic stop when he saw her vehicle. After finding the frantic mother and child inside, he immediately went to work, clearing the baby’s windpipe and helping her to begin breathing again until an emergency medical team arrived. Kimbro saved the child’s life.
As Portland City Council votes to defund police by $15 million, Multnomah County prosecutors dropped charges against 59 rioters giving ANTIFA a free pass. How many lives will Portland police be able to influence or save?
--Donna Bleiler| Post Date: 2020-07-13 19:24:46 | Last Update: 2020-07-14 15:28:12 |
