Freelance journalist Mike Strickland faces 50-plus years in prison for drawing his gun to defend himself against a group of anarchists rushing him to assault him at a Portland protest last July. The group had already assaulted him moments before in an attempt to frighten him into stop him from recording the event.
Strickland never fired his weapon, but the mere presence of the gun caused the men and women coming at him to stop for a moment, giving him time to begin backing away in retreat before they threatened to come at him again.
For defending himself against the band of masked and armed thugs bearing down on him to beat him with their flagpoles (again), Strickland now faces a long stretch in prison.
The unspoken yet neon bright message from the Portland judge overseeing the case was ‘in Multnomah County you can’t use your gun in self-defense.’
That chilling message, and the fact that Strickland did nothing wrong in defending himself, is why the case will be appealed.
For many years, Portland has been indulgent to the professional protester class, allowing them to take over the streets, parks, freeways, sidewalks without permits required of other citizens as just one example. Politicians have even marched with them.
On the occasions when lawless and violent protesters are arrested, they are usually quickly processed around the corner from the protest and ticketed.
Not so with Strickland. He was processed, held for hours, his possessions confiscated, and ordered to present himself in court days later where the DA had magically transformed his attackers into ‘victims.’
Compare this to the treatment of a prominent professional protester, Jessie Sponberg, who was among the dozens of people blocking the Portland Airport recently. Thousands of people were inconvenienced by the antics of Sponberg and his cohorts.
A counter protester was shouting Bible verses at the group as they blocked the roads and pathways of people trying to catch their planes or get home.
Eventually, as Sponberg later admits it on this video, he couldn’t stand it anymore and cold-cocked the guy. He assaulted the man, knocking him out for several minutes.
Activist Jessie Sponberg Claims He Knocked Out Trump Counter-Protester at PDX
(Jessie Sponberg/Facebook)
The victim was taken to the hospital and treated for head injuries.
Here’s a video of the assault:
And here was his response to my question about his prosecution on a Facebook post:
There is a two tier system of justice in Multnomah County. One for protesters and one for everyone else.
Strickland Being Beaten
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Like the never-prosecuted lefty anti-gun protester, Skye Fitzgerald, who was videotaped assaulting Mike Strickland a year before, breaking his arm in three places, Sponberg hasn’t been charged, as he confirmed to me on Facebook.
Here we go again.
