The Spirit of Portland Protest

Jack stands up to the tear gas onslaught in a chicken suit. The agents casually toss canisters into a nonviolent march. Jan 31, 2026

We’re seeing it on a large scale with the Iran bombings. Pretenses are made, and then response. Disproportionate Reponse is not new.

It’s reported as a common strategy in domestic abuse incidents as well.

Again, Disproportionate Response. The actions that ice perceived as provocation gave them an excuse to hit back as hard as they wanted. It feels like this was their intent all along, and is a pattern we saw at the 2020 protests as well as recently in Minnesota and elsewhere.

The second wave happened (a bit before 6pm) right after a group pushed a dumpster up the street (to a block full of loud cheering), and up towards the driveway (I didn’t see how far they got). Then very loud booms and enough gas to be felt by cars driving by on the terwilleger curve on I5.

From my perspective it was Disproportionate Response rather than “unprovoked.” They hit hard and fast, with reports of induced vomiting that protestors hadn’t experienced before. We saw videos of a young girl being treated for tear gas in her eyes.

I was right by the driveway when the first wave of gas started. Protestors swarmed the driveway, went up to the gate and were loudly banging on the plywood.
It appears ice interpreted that as provocation. Then they came out flashbangs ablazin’.

An example is their gassing of the union march on Jan 31, and protests on Feb 1.

Many of the marchers experienced the gassing as happening with “no provocation”. From their perspective,’this was entirely correct.

Disproportionate Response

There’s a current narrative around ice doing unprovoked attacks, and I think that may not be an effective narrative.

[tldr: an agitator strategy is to elicit a reaction, then blame the victim so they respond with much greater force ]

Thousands protesting at the pdx ICE facility after a union rally and march. Tear gas, flash bangs, and pepper balls.

Amidst the chaos, the upside-down flag still waved.

One ice casually walks out from the mist to lob a flashbang into the crowd, with zero visibility in the middle of the street.

Community | Amp | Portland AMP provides music and art education for youth experiencing homelessness in Portland ages 15-25.

I also recommend Don’t Shoot PDX. You can also donate to the Portland Frog Brigade. And if you want to donate directly to the Portland Frog, you can donate to Artist Mentorship Program amppdx.org and mention it’s for the Portland Frog.

Hi Jesse,
Thanks for trying again. Please let me know what the payment problem is if it happens again. Maybe I can get it fixed? I’m
Pretty new to Squarespace.

And we can try dm if it doesn’t work

Yeah, just logged in for the first time in ages, because of your fb comment

Hi Jesse,
I’ve heard of some payment glitches, but quite a few are going through. If you want, we can try a transaction by dm

We moved my dad to the assisted living part of their complex this week, so I went down to Florida to help out.

This afternoon Bill Colletti came to sing oldies and play pocket trumpet. I did one painting for him and one for my dad to hang in his new place.
#slowcamerapaparazzi @billcolletti

Back to Dog beach, my favorite place down here for Plein air painting.

#art #oilpainting #pleinair

Some Plein airing on the beach. Delnor-Wiggins Pass beach. Naples, fl.
#art #pleinair

Year of the Dragon passes the torch to Snake

#art #lunarnewyear #newmoon #fullmoon

Invocation

— Rachel Pollack, from Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom, talking about the Emperor tarot card.

But if the entire system is corrupt, producing only bad rulers, then stability becomes the enemy of morality”
2/3 …

“In its more negative aspects the Emperor represents the power of unjust laws in a society where stability takes precedence over morality. Once we establish law and order as supreme then a corrupt ruler becomes a disaster.
1/3

One wolf in three trench coats?

Ok, but Shelob/Frodo was not based on mutual consent

Thank you!

Back to Multnomah Falls, this time in the morning. Still no sun on the falls. So I stood in the same spot, same size panel, sketched out the same composition, and then did the painting to see how it would come out different from two days ago. (Posting both pics, today’s first) #pleinair #art

Just finished Somewhere Beyond the Sea!

I’m planning to try a morning next. Hopefully friday morning will be clear. Otherwise I wait til next week. Unless it’s a foggy morning. That would make a cool waterfall painting!

Been wanting to paint Multnomah Falls for awhile. Not sure what’s the best time of day. I guess there’ll just be different moods. So here’s a clear sky day at 4pm with no direct sun.
#art #pleinair #oilpainting #multnomahfalls #columbiagorge