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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

Tragic that we don't see this repeated every time someone in the White House issues falsehoods about Portland.

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

... may not be captured in the above information but when I researched this last week, this is what I discovered. If there was any structural fire incident in or around the address, PF&R would have responded and been in our data map."

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

None of these required a response to extinguish any flames.

"There may be incidents of fire activity and fire suppression that have been addressed by those around the ICE facility that never reach our data portal so a complete total of incidents of fire ...

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

... where the caller believed it was a vehicle fire, and the fourth was as a result of someone calling 911 after viewing a TikTok video and believing there was a significant fire at the address but thus turned out to be inaccurate per the call notes if the incident.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

... with only 100 responses this year and just over 150 last year.

"We have had 4 registered reports of “fire” associated with the address of the Federal ICE building of which 2 were reports of demonstrators burning flags, a smoke grenade device that landed under a vehicle ...

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

... due to inappropriately discarded smoking materials and dumpster fire responses which are also frequently inappropriately discarded smoking materials. The building fire responses for Portland Fire & Rescue were down 33% in 2025 when compared to 2024 ...

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

The overall number of fire responses in 2025 was 15% greater than the same time period in ‘24 with the figures being roughly 2000 fire responses in ‘25 and 1750 in ‘24 but the bulk of these increases were more bark dust/garden fires ...

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

"I researched the fire responses from June 6 through September 30 last week for 2024 and 2025 all over the 145 square mile city and took a look at fires in or around the ICE Facility in S. Portland.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

The only real conflagrations are the fevered fictions of Trump and Miller.
Here's the information I got from fire department public information officer Rick Graves:

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

Or less than one a day, about what you would expect in a major metropolitan area. And for Portland's ICE headquarters where the protestors are? There have been four reports: two flag burnings, one smoke grenade that wound up under a car, and one false report called in because of a Tik Tok video.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

Over the summer of 2025 compared to 2024, minor fires (in dumpsters and gardens) are up slightly because of improperly discarded smoking materials. Building fires, the kind we would associate with mass riots, are down a third from 150 to 100.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

So while Donald Trump and Stephen Miller insist that Portland is a raging inferno because of an "insurrection," here are the facts, according to the Portland Fire & Rescue Department.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · 2d

So is it Kimmel/Colbert in 2028 or Colbert/Kimmel in 2028?

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Sep 3

Do you think maybe God, with a touch of asperity, is telling an angel, "Not venous insuffiency, I said give Trump venal insufficiency."

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 26

So in Trump's vaunted crackdown on crime, where are the National Guard and military deployments against his monster friends?

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 18

All he demonstrated -- again -- is he's got no problem with his friends abusing children if there's something in it for him.

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 18

Is it ironic or tragic that Trump seeks to divert our attention from the Epstein Files by a stage-managed summit with Putin, having U.S. troops roll out the red carpet for the Russian leader who kidnapped Ukrainian kids. Trafficked them, if you will.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 14

Funny how beating cops with flagpoles and dousing them with bear spray is "legitimate political discourse" while, um, enthusiastically offering one a sandwich is a felony.

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

As global warming heats up the oceans and spawns ever more powerful hurricanes, Florida voting for Trump and his fixation on fossil fuels that will produce even faster warming looks like a suicide pact.

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

Trump, the fossil fuel industry, and Republicans fail to grasp the essential truth of the 21st century. Solar, wind, and renewable energy is the oil of this century. The countries that control it, control much of what happens. Trump and the GOP just gave away this century.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

Every time Trump, Noem, Homan, et al, make their wild claims about criminals rounded up in their immigration sweeps, the simple reply should be: Go to court. Prove it. Just prove it. There's plenty of money in the BBB to pay for rapid due process under established procedures.
So, Prove It!

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

When the Epstein matter blew up a couple months ago, I thought Trump and his lackies just didn't want to admit to his base how much they had been lying to them and there really wasn't that much there. But now I have to wonder. Is there at least evidence Trump knew what was going on and kept quiet?

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

With his increasingly incoherent public ramblings and fixation on blocking the release of the Epstein Files, it seems like Trump is vying for the title of Senile Pedophile (which would be a great rally chant). Not that I'm advocating it, but people are just saying. If you know what I mean.

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garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

Every time the news media reports how the vast majority of Americans are or will be doing worse under Trump, they should contrast that with his obscene riches from his unprecedented corruption.

garyblankenship.bsky.social @garyblankenship.bsky.social · Aug 12

As prices and unemployment rise and millions lose health insurance, I guess we'll take comfort that Trump personally has surpassed $1 billion in graft, kickbacks and extortion and is building a giant gilded ballroom from which to warch the decline in our standard of living.

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