Portland has become it’s own kind of trainwreck. While violent crime in places like Chicago and New York are climbing, making those cities problem spots, Portland is in a league of its own.

While most of the country has moved on from the riots following the death of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers, Portland hasn’t. The Antifa stronghold has had continuous civil unrest for weeks now. This has led to federal officers stepping in and making arrests of those responsible for damage to federal buildings since, apparently, the Portland police either can’t or won’t step in.

Well, things just got…interesting there on Thursday.

“Last night violence was even more aggressive than previous nights as rioters once again tried to set fire to the federal courthouse and actively tried to breach the entrance of the courthouse,” a senior DHS official wrote in an email Thursday. “Rioters are also employing tactics that force federal officers to leave the Hatfield Federal Courthouse, setting them up to be attacked with lasers and projectiles.”

The attack on the Hatfield Federal Courthouse began after 10 p.m. local time after more than 1,000 people gathered downtown. Some became violent. The attackers blocked the entrances to the courthouse, preventing the special DHS forces inside from easily getting out. Some federal officers escaped and tried to repel those vandalizing the outside of the courthouse but were beamed in the eye by lasers, which can cause temporary and long-term blindness.

Other rioters then installed wooden boards on the outside of the courthouse entrance to prevent the rest of the DHS officials from leaving, while others tried to break down the doors. DHS officials on the scene said a shopping cart full of bricks and baseball bats were left in front of the building. Federal police indoors who were trying to peak outside were struck with lasers, preventing them from seeing what was going on outside.

While the media is still making a whole lot of nothing out of “right-wing extremists,” they continue to ignore that the left has only avoided mass murder through either luck or incompetence. I’m not really sure which it is at this point, but it’s one and/or the other.

Arguably, this is an attempt to kill everyone in the building, though it’s more likely an attempt to try and drive officers out into the mob.

Undoubtedly, any arrest of those responsible will be presented as if some secret police force is swooping in and snatching dissidents off the streets, all while ignoring the serious crimes they’re accused of.

And these are the same people wondering why the Second Amendment crowd isn’t shooting federal officers? “Let them fight” is great for a Godzilla movie, but not something I’m interested in doing in real life, especially when the person encouraging it generally wants people like me either dead or subjugated.

What these dipsticks are doing is serious. Arson is a serious crime. Trying to barricade the building while doing it is even more serious. There’s zero sympathy for anyone who do this being arrested no matter who does the arresting.

This needs to end before it escalates.