Portland police claim they’re so shorthanded, they couldn’t send officers to a naked man at a public park attacking people and eventually kidnapping a girl? Citizens forced to act instead

By Lars Larson
NW and national radio host,

The Northwest Nonsense

Imagine a family vacation interrupted when a crazy naked man tries to kidnap your 7 year old daughter in a public park and Portland police say they’re too busy to show up.

It happened Saturday night and it’s the latest evidence that City Hall defunding and questionable management of the police bureau literally put lives at risk.

The incident at Waterfront Park in the heart of downtown Portland saw Daniel Vasey run up to a visiting family, buck naked, and grab the arm of a 7 year old girl to drag her away.

The family and bystanders were forced to defend the little girl with their fists and some mace…while calls to police brought word that a single gun incident somewhere else in the city meant police had no one to send.

Bad staffing means when seconds count, police are now literally 20 minutes away in emergencies.

Chief Bob Day claims he’s done everything he can.

If that’s true, why does the bureau still staff an officer in charge of the Sunshine Division…and another staffer heading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?

You could also cut the fat 1.4 million dollars each budgets of a dozen useless city council members…dump the woke and hire some cops

That’s the Rose City Rap. Join me at noon on KXL for 4 hours of Honestly provocative talk. I’m Lars Larson

The post Lars Larson: Our kids just aren’t safe in Portland first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Top 5 headlines

1 Study: Oregon ranks 9th worst state to move to in 2026
2 Business closures outnumber openings
3 Sec-State speaks about election changes
4 Historic Flip? Dem. voters sour on Gov ‘s leadership
5 Outgoing economy exec says Oregon faces crisis

Bonus

Kotek not ready to back ‘color of water’ plan
Hunting petition ban fails 1st verification step
Kotek: Revenue neutral tax reform possible

The post Top headlines for the week of 7/17 first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

The Lower Creek Fire in Umatilla County continues to be alarming.

See the latest alert form the Umatilla County Sheriff:
.

The post Powerful photo of Lower Creek Fire near road first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation,

This week, a man was running around Portland’s Waterfront Park punching people and attempting to kidnap a 7-year old girl who was with her parents.

Witnesses said the man kept claiming he was God.

Upon arrest he said that his lack of sleep contributed to the episode.  He had earlier in the day checked into a medical clinic on it but abruptly left.

ABC news has more.

The post Nude kidnapper in park, claims lack of sleep first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The super-controversial and awful petition to ban hunting and fishing in Oregon (also known as IP 28 or the P.E.A.C.E Act) has been showing very poor signature validation rate.

Willamette Week reports, “The IP 28 campaign submitted 142,784 signatures on July 2. To qualify for the ballot, the petition needs 117,173 verified signatures. That would require 82% of the submitted signatures to be valid—but on the first sample, Radnovich says, the IP 28 campaign didn’t hit that mark. Though the failure is notable and a warning sign that the petition may be in trouble, it’s not the end of the road. If a petition fails the first round of verification, the Elections Division takes another sample of signatures—this time larger—for verification. Should the petition again fail to reach the necessary validity threshold, the petition cannot be placed on the ballot.” 

This measure is so bad that even liberal lawmakers like Governor Kotek and all House Democrat lawmakers oppose the petition earlier this year.
 

The post Hunt-fish ban petition fails verification step (IP28) first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

A Portland hearings officer Friday confirmed the city’s claim of a land use violation for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. The fine is for daring to erect wood panels over their first floor windows (see above), which the ICE office uses to protect against snipers.

The fine is starting at $981 monthly and grows if not remedied.

Mere days after Portland said ICE cannot protect itself from snipers, someone shot up the windows at the Phoenix ICE building.

It has not even been a year since the Dallas ICE building shooting.

In Portland people have attacked the building, including arson in an attempt to burn down the building.

Here is a graphic we did that showed rioters in Portland breaking down the front door of the ICE building and throwing large rocks inside.  The graphic also shows the injured and bleeding officer.   The graphic also shows vandalism calling for the death of ICE officers.

The post Riot-torn building fined $980 for wood over windows first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

From the densest urban areas of Multnomah County to the less populated rural counties of Oregon, there has been a growing impulse to go east, young man, east to Idaho. If you stop to think about it, this is very similar to what spurned the Oregon Trail, a sense that there is more opportunity elsewhere, that throwing the dice and incurring the tremendous cost of moving can be worth it.

Decades of bad policy decisions in the Beaver State appear impossible to dislodge at the ballot box. So people are voting with their feet.

My parents are now fully committed to that trend. They put the house I grew up in on the market. If you want to buy some prime real estate in rural Clackamas County, check this place out.

It started with the 2022 election, probably the most opportune time to have a change in governance. Shortly after Christine Drazen conceded the race, my sister texted, “peace out Oregon” and followed through on that pledge by moving to Rathdrum, Idaho. And she will ultimately be the caregiver for our parents’ final years, so they are moving too.

Here I am; my kids and I are the last Shiermans living in Oregon. There were more. The Volga German community that built Portland’s east bank of the Willamette River, which in the early years of the City of Roses was monikered “Rushan Town” beckoned my great grandfather, Johann Scheiermann to move from Calgary, Alberta, to the Albina district in 1920, back when the United States, like most of our history, had an open-border immigration policy. He had five kids. Many of them moved to Vancouver, Washington, after the Second World War, but his oldest son, Alexander Shierman, though attending Memorial Lutheran Church in Vancouver with his siblings, bought a house on Humboldt Street in north Portland.

Like my grandfather, my ties to Oregon are too great to leave this state. I’m not a homesteader like Jeff Kropf, but when he talks about his ties to the soil weighing him down, it resonates.

It’s sad to see folks go. Beyond the fact that I see my sister and parents less, there is a downward spiral to public policy when more and more sensible voters depart.

Yet there is a bottom to that spiral. When they hit rock bottom, New York elected Rudolph Giuliani. Look how much Oregon Democrats feel the need to talk about “affordability.” That popular political buzzword will eventually place some constraints on the self-imposed costs of living that Oregon policymakers like to think up. Meanwhile, the 21st-century wagon trains are heading east.

Eric Shierman lives in Salem and is the author of We were winning when I was there.

The post The Reverse Oregon Trail first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Guest Submission Meme,

More memes below:

The post (6 memes) Biden’s new book, ‘I was President?’ first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Tina Kotek Promised More Time in the Classroom. 75% of Oregon Students Won’t Get a Single Minute More.

WILSONVILLE, Ore. – Governor Tina Kotek promised to address Oregon’s instructional time crisis. New reporting shows her executive order will leave the vast majority of Oregon students right where they started.

According to an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive, 137 school districts serving three-quarters of Oregon students will not have to add a single minute of instructional time to comply with Kotek’s order. Only four districts could be directed to add a week or more to their calendars.

“Tina Kotek’s failure to lead is shortchanging our kids. They deserve better. As governor, I will increase instructional time and improve academic outcomes. I will put students first and deliver the results Oregon families expect from their governor,” said Senator Christine Drazan.

Oregon students already receive significantly less instructional time than students in other states. A study commissioned by Stand for Children Oregon found that Oregon students receive the equivalent of 1.25 years less classroom time over the course of their K-12 education than students in neighboring Washington.

Oregon students also rank near the bottom nationally in key academic measures. Just 27% of Oregon fourth graders are proficient in reading and 24% of eighth graders are proficient in math. Research has shown that additional instructional time can improve academic outcomes, particularly when paired with reforms that strengthen the quality of classroom instruction.

The post Drazan: Kotek class time promise fails by 75% first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Monique DeSpain Outraises Career Politician Val Hoyle in Q2, Despite Hoyle’s Incumbency Advantage
By Monique DeSpain for Congress campaign,

EUGENE, Ore. (July 16, 2026) – For the second time in three quarters, political outsider Monique DeSpain has outraised incumbent Congresswoman Val Hoyle, a significant achievement and display of local support for a challenger campaign facing an entrenched career politician with a national fundraising apparatus behind her.

Across all three of her campaign-affiliated entities – Monique for Congress, Team Monique, and Over The Target PAC – DeSpain raised a combined $253,723.76 in Q2 and holds $512,650.48 cash on hand. Hoyle’s campaign, by comparison, raised just $223,215 in the same period and reported $520,893 cash on hand, despite the fundraising advantages that typically come with incumbency.

“I am grateful for the outpouring of support from every corner of our district. Outraising an incumbent is not an easy task, and it is a testament to the undeniable momentum we have in this race,” said Monique DeSpain. “People in Oregon’s Fourth District are done with failed, DC lobbyist-funded career politicians and are ready for change. That’s why they’re putting their money behind me and my promise to deliver commonsense results for Oregonians.”  Roughly half of Hoyle’s donations came from special interest PACs. Over 90% of the money raised for DeSpain’s campaign are contributions from Oregonians.

Breakdown by entity *:

• Monique for Congress: $145,022.76 raised in Q2; $387,694.53 cash on hand
• Team Monique: $108,701 raised in Q2; $6,500 cash on hand
• Over The Target PAC: $0 raised in Q2; $118,455.95 cash on hand

Reporters and the public should report these figures in their proper context. Because DeSpain’s political operation is structured across three separate, legally distinct entities – each with its own FEC filing requirements – the full financial picture only emerges when all three are considered together.

Breakdown by entity – Val Hoyle FEC Q2 Reporting *:

• Val Hoyle for Congress: $223,215 raised in Q2; $520,839.58 cash on hand
• Val Hoyle Victory Fund: $117 raised in Q2; $2,961.99 cash on hand

DeSpain, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel with 30 years of service and licensed Oregon attorney, is challenging Hoyle in Oregon’s Fourth Congressional District in the 2026 general election.

* Includes pre-primary and post-primary quarterly filings for Q2.

The post Monique DeSpain outraises Rep. Hoyle … again first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Lars Larson
NW and national radio host,

The Northwest Nonsense

I guess ICE officers just have to keep shooting people till both Americans and illegal aliens get the message…you can’t just drive over a cop with your car and if you do, he’s likely to shoot you dead.

It happened again yesterday in Biddleford, a tiny town on the coast just south of Portland, Maine

Of course, it happened in Portland, Oregon too back in January and the same circumstances…trying to run from ICE officers who fired in self-defense when two illegal alien gang members tried to run them down.

In Minneapolis, Rene Good, an American, shot and killed when she tried to run over an ICE agent and he fired.

I would think that even lefty liberals with room-temperature IQs would see the pattern: any time you weaponize your car or truck, the person you’re putting in harm’s way can see that threat to his life and use deadly force to stop it.

Legacy media will use this story…like the last half dozen incidents to unnecessarily strike fear into the hearts of immigrants and illegals both.

But understand something about the shooting in Maine…the man who died, died because he tried to kill someone…not because he was an immigrant.

The post Lars Larson: My take on latest ICE shooting first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.