The real test of whether you believe in "sentencing reform" - whether that means actually locking a rapist up for 8 years of the supposed 20 year maximum or letting a judge give the same defendant probation - is how you react when someone you care about, or empathize with - is the victim.
In this fascinating case the victims were aligned with people who normally decry harsh (or appropriate) sentences.
I recall the moment I read of Knightly aka T. Rex having got her brains blowd out. I thought "Gosh." Then I read of the others shot that day and I thought "Geez."
Like everyone else I pray that Mr. Smith gets the counseling that he so deperately needs and returns to society a much reformed and productive citizen. Activism such as his, no matter how vital to our wonderful state and nation can so often lose its way.
I have considered the way Ms. Knightly stood so bravely for the absented Mr Timmons (sp). I'm sure that she would wish us all to do all we can to contribute to the reformation of Mr. Smith.
I feel that both Mr. Kimmons and Ms. TRex would pray and work for Mr. Smith's freedom.
Below a student and pro-abolitionist of the American carceral sytem speaks clearly about the prison/industrial complex:
The prison abolitionists are lost in a fantasy that will NEVER come true. The world will always have prisons. There will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be crazy people who need to be locked up. I laugh when I read about these prison abolitionists. They smoke whatever stuff feeds their fantasies and really think that someday prisons will be abolished. It will never happen. Ever. I laugh at people like this. They are totally lost in a fantasy world. LOL...
Apr 22, 2023·edited Apr 22, 2023Liked by Pamela Fitzsimmons
This is a harsh comment, but the shooting of Antifa ghouls seemed like inevitable karma for them trashing Portland and writing "kill kops" on sidewalks. It was surprising that nobody else had at least poured foul liquids from above as Antifa marauded through downtown. Some business owners (vandalized by Marxist loons) were probably silently cheering when a citizen finally took "direct action" on mindless vandals. Of course, we mustn't condone what Smith did, but Antifa's idiocy would never be tolerated in other cities.
Knightly's Normandie Park protest for a thug like Kimmons was ironic, since he shot the very blacks these people claim to care about (what they're really all about is slamming whites and letting POC off the hook for criminality). "Black Lives Matter" is essentially an anti-police movement, favoring criminals. They ignore that cops save more black lives than anyone, on balance, by removing gang killers from poor neighborhoods. That's exactly why black deaths rose after the Floyd mess weakened police across America, but the inconvenient math is ignored by BLM & Antifa. They've accomplished nothing but division, destruction and death, which should always be mentioned in full context.
I noticed that on the Portland City Council agenda for this coming Wednesday, April 26, the first three persons scheduled to speak at 9:30 a.m. under Communications (Peter Creede, Linda Karna and Dolores Creede) want to talk about the “attack at Normandale Park.”
Not sure what that will be about. At Smith's sentencing, there were copies of a press statement left on benches outside the courtroom critical of Portland police and blaming them “as well as local and national politicians and pundits” for giving vigilantes “license to take violent action of their own accord.”
Portland had a record number of homicides that year. How many were committed by vigilantes?
You've probably seen those "White Supremacy is Terrorism" yard signs; the height of denial. People too dumb and blind to admit who's actually ruining Portland don't deserve to live here.
I tuned into the Portland City Council meeting this morning, and the three people who spoke offered surprising testimony (Linda Karna couldn’t make it, and Laurie Rogoway spoke instead).
They wanted the Mayor and City Council to do something about the never-ending vandalism being done to Normandale Park on behalf of Knightly and the young woman who was paralyzed. Spray painting “Kill all the cops” and “White supremacists die” is hardly an honorable way to remember the two women.
Peter Creede showed a photo of himself taken after he was given black eyes when he dared to ask two vandals what they were doing.
“In all my 76 years, I’ve never been physically attacked,” he told the council.
The trio were brave to speak publicly and under their own names. The vandals who attacked Creede wore masks.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, who came in for some pointed criticism from the speakers, promised to get on it. He saw no reason why the city couldn’t go out and clean up the park “today.”
The three speakers spoke at the top of the agenda, starting around the 16.52 mark. What they had to say is worth listening to:
Well said. I have to say I agree with most of the points you've made here. I have NO time for the Anarchy loving BLM or Anitfa scum, either. The BLM founder, a black woman, Patrice something or other, and formerly a devout Marxist said NO to all her holier than thou morals, took all the millions the White Guilter's donated, and is now the proud owner of FOUR, not ONE, but FOUR multi-million dollar McMansions. She is the biggest liar and hypocrite in the world. She performed the biggest "Poverty Pimp Hustle" in US history. She is a hypocrite and pure scum, as far as I'm concerned.
Apr 25, 2023·edited Apr 25, 2023Liked by Pamela Fitzsimmons
The only way I've found to reach BLMers with logic is to laser-focus on their support for criminals, asking questions like:
"On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the character of a home-invasion robber (Floyd 2007) vs. the average cop."
If they give you a brainless number like thugs 7, cops 3, or change the subject to racism, you follow it up with: "If Floyd broke into your house and robbed you at gunpoint, would you refuse to put a knee on his neck if someone managed to get him on the floor? And if you did use a knee, would you simply let him up if he complained? If so, then what? Would you let him kill you?"
Repeat that line of questioning until the fools finally admit that criminals are bad people. Of course, they'll do their best to dodge reality.
Several years ago I spoke with a long-time leftist who actually claimed he'd let black people ransack his home to atone for old white sins. Not that he'd call them over to do it, but he wouldn't resist them if they showed up. He seemed earnest about it being no big sacrifice.
"[T]he inconvenient math is ignored by BLM & Antifa,", the media, the government, and most importantly the citizenry. This enthusiasm for pious lies is killing us. Literally.
This is so good. Thank you Pamela. People need to think about this right here. Very well written, thoughtful and nuanced. Bravo. These are the kinds of things no one in our local Portland media wants to express, because they're cowards. I'm so grateful for you and Richard of Portland Dissent.
That cowardice is, in many cases, legitimate fear of criminal retaliation from smug thugs. Moderates in Portland find themselves in a safety bind if they speak up too much. Some have adopted a Stockholm Syndrome mindset to cope with it.
The real test of whether you believe in "sentencing reform" - whether that means actually locking a rapist up for 8 years of the supposed 20 year maximum or letting a judge give the same defendant probation - is how you react when someone you care about, or empathize with - is the victim.
In this fascinating case the victims were aligned with people who normally decry harsh (or appropriate) sentences.
I recall the moment I read of Knightly aka T. Rex having got her brains blowd out. I thought "Gosh." Then I read of the others shot that day and I thought "Geez."
Like everyone else I pray that Mr. Smith gets the counseling that he so deperately needs and returns to society a much reformed and productive citizen. Activism such as his, no matter how vital to our wonderful state and nation can so often lose its way.
I have considered the way Ms. Knightly stood so bravely for the absented Mr Timmons (sp). I'm sure that she would wish us all to do all we can to contribute to the reformation of Mr. Smith.
I feel that both Mr. Kimmons and Ms. TRex would pray and work for Mr. Smith's freedom.
Below a student and pro-abolitionist of the American carceral sytem speaks clearly about the prison/industrial complex:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/03/abolish-prisons-says-angela-davis/
The prison abolitionists are lost in a fantasy that will NEVER come true. The world will always have prisons. There will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be crazy people who need to be locked up. I laugh when I read about these prison abolitionists. They smoke whatever stuff feeds their fantasies and really think that someday prisons will be abolished. It will never happen. Ever. I laugh at people like this. They are totally lost in a fantasy world. LOL...
This is a harsh comment, but the shooting of Antifa ghouls seemed like inevitable karma for them trashing Portland and writing "kill kops" on sidewalks. It was surprising that nobody else had at least poured foul liquids from above as Antifa marauded through downtown. Some business owners (vandalized by Marxist loons) were probably silently cheering when a citizen finally took "direct action" on mindless vandals. Of course, we mustn't condone what Smith did, but Antifa's idiocy would never be tolerated in other cities.
Knightly's Normandie Park protest for a thug like Kimmons was ironic, since he shot the very blacks these people claim to care about (what they're really all about is slamming whites and letting POC off the hook for criminality). "Black Lives Matter" is essentially an anti-police movement, favoring criminals. They ignore that cops save more black lives than anyone, on balance, by removing gang killers from poor neighborhoods. That's exactly why black deaths rose after the Floyd mess weakened police across America, but the inconvenient math is ignored by BLM & Antifa. They've accomplished nothing but division, destruction and death, which should always be mentioned in full context.
Truth can be harsh.
I noticed that on the Portland City Council agenda for this coming Wednesday, April 26, the first three persons scheduled to speak at 9:30 a.m. under Communications (Peter Creede, Linda Karna and Dolores Creede) want to talk about the “attack at Normandale Park.”
Not sure what that will be about. At Smith's sentencing, there were copies of a press statement left on benches outside the courtroom critical of Portland police and blaming them “as well as local and national politicians and pundits” for giving vigilantes “license to take violent action of their own accord.”
Portland had a record number of homicides that year. How many were committed by vigilantes?
You've probably seen those "White Supremacy is Terrorism" yard signs; the height of denial. People too dumb and blind to admit who's actually ruining Portland don't deserve to live here.
I tuned into the Portland City Council meeting this morning, and the three people who spoke offered surprising testimony (Linda Karna couldn’t make it, and Laurie Rogoway spoke instead).
They wanted the Mayor and City Council to do something about the never-ending vandalism being done to Normandale Park on behalf of Knightly and the young woman who was paralyzed. Spray painting “Kill all the cops” and “White supremacists die” is hardly an honorable way to remember the two women.
Peter Creede showed a photo of himself taken after he was given black eyes when he dared to ask two vandals what they were doing.
“In all my 76 years, I’ve never been physically attacked,” he told the council.
The trio were brave to speak publicly and under their own names. The vandals who attacked Creede wore masks.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, who came in for some pointed criticism from the speakers, promised to get on it. He saw no reason why the city couldn’t go out and clean up the park “today.”
The three speakers spoke at the top of the agenda, starting around the 16.52 mark. What they had to say is worth listening to:
https://www.portland.gov/council/agenda#toc-wednesday-april-26-2023-9-30-am-
Well said. I have to say I agree with most of the points you've made here. I have NO time for the Anarchy loving BLM or Anitfa scum, either. The BLM founder, a black woman, Patrice something or other, and formerly a devout Marxist said NO to all her holier than thou morals, took all the millions the White Guilter's donated, and is now the proud owner of FOUR, not ONE, but FOUR multi-million dollar McMansions. She is the biggest liar and hypocrite in the world. She performed the biggest "Poverty Pimp Hustle" in US history. She is a hypocrite and pure scum, as far as I'm concerned.
The only way I've found to reach BLMers with logic is to laser-focus on their support for criminals, asking questions like:
"On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the character of a home-invasion robber (Floyd 2007) vs. the average cop."
If they give you a brainless number like thugs 7, cops 3, or change the subject to racism, you follow it up with: "If Floyd broke into your house and robbed you at gunpoint, would you refuse to put a knee on his neck if someone managed to get him on the floor? And if you did use a knee, would you simply let him up if he complained? If so, then what? Would you let him kill you?"
Repeat that line of questioning until the fools finally admit that criminals are bad people. Of course, they'll do their best to dodge reality.
Several years ago I spoke with a long-time leftist who actually claimed he'd let black people ransack his home to atone for old white sins. Not that he'd call them over to do it, but he wouldn't resist them if they showed up. He seemed earnest about it being no big sacrifice.
"[T]he inconvenient math is ignored by BLM & Antifa,", the media, the government, and most importantly the citizenry. This enthusiasm for pious lies is killing us. Literally.
This is so good. Thank you Pamela. People need to think about this right here. Very well written, thoughtful and nuanced. Bravo. These are the kinds of things no one in our local Portland media wants to express, because they're cowards. I'm so grateful for you and Richard of Portland Dissent.
That cowardice is, in many cases, legitimate fear of criminal retaliation from smug thugs. Moderates in Portland find themselves in a safety bind if they speak up too much. Some have adopted a Stockholm Syndrome mindset to cope with it.
Always appreciate your perspective!
Excellent post.