What happened to Portland?

Nothing. And everything. Portland protests persist.

You probably saw the news story. Last night protesters in Portland spray-painted and then pulled down statues of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

It was, of course, Indigenous People’s Day. And yes, Washington owned slaves and Lincoln, which I didn’t know, hanged 38 Dakota men (and commuted the sentence of 265 others.) So this protest didn’t happen in a vacuum.

But c’mon, you’re taking on dead presidents now? We’ve got an election for a live one coming up in just weeks. And if you have any thoughts on getting rid of Trump, the current one, we’d love to hear them.

It is just so . . . Portland. Other cities, justifiably outraged by violence against people of color, staged huge, impressive — and yes, sometimes violent — demonstrations. But they’ve mostly reset themselves, hopefully with an open mind, and moved ahead.

Portland goes on and on. Over 100 nights of demonstrations. As The Washington Post's Katie Shepherd said:

A familiar pattern developed: Hours of peaceful protests would eventually deteriorate. Sometimes, physical fights broke out between anti-fascist activists and far-right extremists who came to town openly advocating violence. More often, the left-leaning crowds clashed with the police.

It has evolved into street theater. A lot of back and forth with police and then, as happened last night, a building is rushed, graffiti is spray-painted on the walls and flares are thrown through broken windows. Last night’s target was the Oregon Historical Society.

Surely, you think, the majority of the people in Portland must sigh and think, “How is this getting us anywhere?” And in fact, they do. A September poll found that 66 percent of the locals disapproved of protests at this point.

Also, it is impossible that each of those spray-painters and window-breakers have not been told — repeatedly — that they are only providing B-roll for Trump law and order commercials. That taking the bait from those racist red-necks, and getting into a street fight with them, is counterproductive

And yet, Portland persists.

Shepherd’s isn’t the only out of town deep dive into the Northwest ethos. The L.A. Times did one. And Bloomberg ran a long, touching piece by David Shipley, going back to his old home town.

And everybody seemed to ask the same question: What happened to Portland?

Which is when we should all apologize for buying into the whole crunchy-granola Portlandia culture vibe. We overdid the image, probably more so in the Bay Area because we know so many people who have moved up there and feel a kinship.

In fact, Portland has a long activist history all the way back to the 60s. Shipley references 2016, when left and right-wing protests fought, with the police in the middle, swinging sticks. A huge demonstration took place in November, after Donald Trump was elected president. It got out of control, with police using tear gas and protesters spraying graffiti and breaking windows.

That said, Portland is not on fire. A friend (and a subscriber!) visited Portland not long ago and said in most of the city it is as if nothing is happening. It is the small downtown area — Shipley calls it “a 12-block section of downtown near the city center.” — where most of the protests and violence is confined.

Still, the response by authorities has been chaotic at best. When the protests started to get out of hand, especially after the controversial George Floyd death, Portland police struggled to keep control.

In subsequent protests, the police used so much tear gas that in June, state lawmakers passed a bill limiting the amount. Now, police have to declare a protest a “riot” to gas the crowd — which, activists say, they do with increasing frequency.

But of all the responses, the Grand Marshall’s Trophy for not only making it worse, but making it look like a police state, goes to the Trump administration, which sent in federal officers in early July. From the unmarked vans to the officers in black with no name tags, it was a scene out of today’s Belarus.

The number of protesters grew exponentially. Trump made Portland a cause, saying in a news conference, “This is worse than anything anyone’s every seen.” There were scenes of troops battling protestors and wild-in-the-street protesters battling back.

Finally, after repeated appeals from Oregon officials, including Gov. Kate Brown, the federal troops were pulled back after a month of confrontations. Crowds immediately dropped in size and the next night’s protest was orderly and peaceful.

Today things seem to have settled into an uncomfortable truce. The left is still active and organized. The best detail from the pulling down the statues story is that one group came prepared with a blowtorch to cut the bolts.

But the protestors should know their real enemy are those gun-toting, right wingers who come to town to try to goad you in a fight that will end up on Facebook and YouTube. And, the real enemy is the guy who is enabling these facists — President Trump.

Is there something we can do to get rid of him?

Or are you just going to spray-paint statues?

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We tried to warn the 49ers. Last Sunday’s game could be a tipping point. Also election shenanigans

When the 49ers laid such an egg in the loss to Philadelphia, two Sunday’s ago, they were 2-2 and winless at home. It seemed, as I said in my Santa Rosa Press Democrat column before the game, this felt like an absolute must-win game against Miami.

And also a possible tipping point moment for the franchise. If they lost that game — spoiler alert, they did — it would cement them at the bottom of their division and, at 2-3, make the playoffs a serious uphill climb.

But wait, there’s more. South Bay media outlets have been been buzzing with the fact that 49ers owner Jed York had contributed over $1 million to assisting the election of his slate of candidates for Santa Clara city council.

The city and the team have been at loggerheads for years, and locals accuse York of trying to buy control of the council and the small city of some 130,000. We know SC Mayor Lisa Gillmor is watching closely. After the column came out she followed the author on Twitter. (Maybe subscribe to the newsletter?)

Anyhow, given how things worked out last Sunday, this column was either prescient. Or stating the obvious. Your call.

Sending things to friends is always a good idea. Even if they don’t want them. Or say, I don’t ever want to see that again. They’re joking, just kidding. Send them the newsletter

In which, we wonder if there isn’t more to the Jimmy G benching.

To be honest, I’ve had second thoughts about this 49ers blog post in the Press Democrat. The point I was trying to make was that it was significant that Jimmy Garoppolo was pulled from last Sunday’s game.

That Kyle Shanahan can say he was trying to protect him, but when you pull your franchise quarterback, it is going to start some chatter about that franchise quarterback’s future.

But among the smart people who cover the 49ers, no one else took that approach. So I thought I might be — and may still be — a little over my skis.

But I just listened to the “Move the Sticks” podcast and one of the topics was “Is the Jimmy Garoppolo era over?” So at least I feel like it is true that benching Garoppolo is triggering the national media. One guy said Jimmy should contact his realtor because he wouldn’t be in town long.

We will see how this plays out. But I don’t feel that I was completely wrong in calling this a potential story down the road.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Compliments and suggestions gladly accepted. Criticism, not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius