A woman in the video below suggests she is on Art Patrol in regards to the missing portraits of Mark Milley – who Hesgeth threw under the bus, knowing he is on a “kill list”. Trump has been backed down by the Wee Folks of Uncle Samaclaus who offers his protection to Federal Workers!
MARCH ON YOUR LOCAL POST OFFICE! STOP THE STEAL OF YOUR FEDERAL JOBS!
In my HBO series, I predicted Trump won, and the attack on art was on. As a Real Prophet, I found the Royal Art Patrol, named after my blog and my novel ‘Royal Rosamond Press’. I’m going to write my Senator and ask for our National Portrait. If I do not see it paraded in public, I am going to call…
INTERPOL
John Presco
Master General of The Royal Art Patrol
RAP
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosts the unveiling of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Ret. U.S. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley’s portrait at the Pentagon, Washington, Jan. 10, 2025.
Is Samaclaus Sane?
Posted on May 8, 2014 by Royal Rosamond Press
A woman on this video suggested she is on Art Patrol in regards to the missing portraits of Mark Milley.
John Presco
Capturing Belle – A HBO Series?
Posted on July 1, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
Capturing Belle
A HBO Series
By
John Presco
The Age of Soft Art Crime
After Trump is reelected, and Christian Nationalism takes total control, the Soft Liberal Left takes on someone, and something, they can handle. Johnny Waterfront ran for Governor of Oregon, and almost won, but, he came on too strong. Hence he has been the target of every New Age Gunslinger out to protect the honor of…….Bell Burch…..The Beauty with the all-knowing Mona Lisa Smile.
Ashley Hewes Alley keep me posted… I am willing to be a body guard and it would be legal [i have a DPSST cert] I am even willing to meet and hang out with ms Burch.
Glenn Combs: I’m thinkin’ concrete shoes. We got a river with deep spots… Hypothetically speaking, of course.
May 9 at 10:46am · Like
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Mark Thomas Shekoyan I’d be careful what is said here in public forums. If the law gets involved, all of this is public record submit-able to a court of law.
Ashley Hewes Alley the next time you hear anything from her please refer her to my Facebook as it is the only way I have of contacting people right now… I will have a phone soon but if she wants I am totally willing to conveniently be wherever she is so I can start documenting his obsession.
May 9 at 9:36am · Like · 1
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Ashley Hewes I want to get him on camera.
Posted on July 11, 2020 by Royal Rosamond Press
At 7:33 on July 11, 2020, I sent the following e-mail to the President of the United States.
“Dear Mr. President: May I suggest a statue of President Eisenhower be included in your proposed garden. Ike was an artist who rendered a hundred or more paintings while living in your home. He helped defeat the Nazis. He bid the Monument Men to return stolen art to rightful owners. He was a good friend of art dealer, Howard Young, who is the uncle of my kin, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor.”
For two days I have had enlightened conversations with my friends, Keith, Ray, and Merna, who live in Springfield. We talked about how polarized our Nation has become. We have always sought the middle ground and looked for what we have in common. Yesterday we talked about Howard Young’s friendship with Ike. They hunted, fished, and swam together. They also played poker with rich and powerful men. Three hours later I discover President Eisenhower was a prolific artist who may have seen my kin Liz Taylor on several occasions. They could have fished together. My years of research have struck the motherload in regards of establishing the Artistic Dynasty that is made up of family members – the rival biographers did not find!
I believe Eisenhower is above the fray that has toppled monuments and works of art, because he destroyed the Master Race the destroyers of Caucasian culture and many minorities that were seen as inferior.
After the war President Eisenhower sought the company of men who come from humble roots. How much of an influence Howard had on Ike’s art is to be discovered. I have been puzzled as to why Michael Jackson did a drawing of George Washington and the front door to the White House. Liz encouraged Michael to take up art. Did she tell him about her connection to President Eisenhower – the artist?
Liz’s son married Aileen Getty whose family has amassed one of the largest collections of art in the world. I am going write the Getty Art Museum and suggest they have a show of Ike’s work. My late brother-in-law did the mural at the Getty Villa. My late sister, Christine Rosamond Benton was a famous artist. I was her teacher.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
My Painting Fled The Hands of Nazis
Posted on June 19, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
INTERPOL & STOLEN ART
Posted on November 21, 2016 by Royal Rosamond Press
I have contacted INTERPOL and UNESCO about the Habsburg Pianting at the Schnitzer. I will be sending this blog to Jill Hartz, the Executive Director. I sent an e-mail to Cheyrl Hartup, and got no response. I had several telephone conversation with Alexandra V. Cipolle-Notman of the Eugene Weekly. We exchanged e-mails about our meeting place. She never got back to me, and has not replied to further e-mails from me. She asked me on the phone if I tried contacting the Habsburgs. I told her I had not. I do not trust her. Why should I? All my correspondence is copyrighted, along with the contents of my blog. A real crime may have been committed. This is not the time to play games.
“5 feet of stout hemp rope and a 12 foot drop”
Posted on October 5, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
If Belle had posed for me, would these Domestic Terrorists forbid me to exhibit my painting of Belle Burch? These death threats are appearing on Facebook in May of 2014. Two creeps offer to stalk me. Above is a pic I took of Belle at our meeting in the Wandering Goat. She is writing her e-mail address. Alley says I called the police and FBI. I showed two Springfield Police email threats on Facebook. Glenn Combs is writing fiction in order to incite people to violence. He makes up a story about a woman going to legal aid. A new homeless camp opened.
John Presco
May 9 at 9:25am · Like · 1
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Alley Valkyrie: I’d rather he focus on me than Belle, that I’ll absolutely say. I have 100 miles of distance from this fucker.
May 9 at 9:29am · Like · 1
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Ashley Hewes Alley the next time you hear anything from her please refer her to my Facebook as it is the only way I have of contacting people right now… I will have a phone soon but if she wants I am totally willing to conveniently be wherever she is so I can start documenting his obsession.
May 9 at 9:36am · Like · 1
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Ashley Hewes I want to get him on camera.
May 9 at 9:36am · Like · 1
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Glenn Combs: John Presco(e) has a long history of harassing young women in this area. The police seem impotent to do anything about it, though. I believe he comes from money and could be lawyered up quite well if he needed it. Whatever, it is time to take this “man” down.
May 9 at 9:46am · Like · 2
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Rynn Fox Just be careful…and fierce.
May 9 at 10:15am · Like · 1
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Mark Thomas Shekoyan: You might want to seek legal council.
May 9 at 10:40am · Like
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Glenn Combs: There’s another point – When my friend went into Legal Aid to see about legal representation, she found that Mr. Presco has used the local Legal Aid office so much, it would be a conflict of interest for them do defend anyone against him. That’s kind of the definition of “screwed”, IMHO.
May 9 at 10:43am · Like
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Dave McArthur: 5 feet of stout hemp rope and a 12 foot drop
May 9 at 10:45am · Like · 1
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Glenn Combs: I’m thinkin’ concrete shoes. We got a river with deep spots… Hypothetically speaking, of course.
May 9 at 10:46am · Like
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Mark Thomas Shekoyan I’d be careful what is said here in public forums. If the law gets involved, all of this is public record submit-able to a court of law.
May 9 at 10:51am · Like
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Alley Valkyrie Thanks, Mark. I’m being careful. Police are already looking at it. I’ll probably talk to an attorney today as well. He’s already posted that he’s reporting me to both EPD and the FBI…
May 9 at 1:49pm · Like
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John Monroe This man is dangerous. Regardless of whether he intends or would use physical violence, he is being emotional abusive and manipulative. He is clearly mentally ill, but he is also highly intelligent. Based on my research he comes from a family with incredible abuse but also high capacity. (http://rosamond.com/about and https://rosamondpress.wordpress.com/…/christine-rosamond/)
This guy isn’t making simple errors. He is a very ill person. But he is also highly abusive, and we should be protecting those who are being targeted. On top of that, I don’t see how this isn’t also a case of male domination. Regardless of his mental space, that is patriarchical BS. Our community should be made aware that he is a threat to young women.
Are Zip and Jacob Sons of Zed?
Posted on October 4, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
I will be asking my class at the UofO some very strange questions. Many students do not want Bible lessons, yet they want to be moral people and own permission to do the right thing. Belle Burch thought she had the Right Permission when she invaded our City Government. She allowed her historic actions to be filmed. She agreed to be my model, even my nude model. When I learned she rand with an Anarchist Tribe, I canceled our first modeling session. Ashley Hewes suggests I am about to take a hostage and offers to be Belle’s bodyguard. She worked for a company that hires out bodyguards. I suspect she carries a gun. My desire to capture Belle’s beauty is rendered the most UGLY CIVIC EVENT in the history of any event. Why did this have to be done – to me?
In the movie Zardoz, Consuella tries to murder Zed ‘The Monster’ but has fallen in love with him. She has a son by him. Did she have two sons? I see the story of Genesis here, and, Cain and Able. In ‘The Story of Belle and John ‘The Monster’ lie the story of Beauty and the Beast. Belle’s Tribe had much trouble with my age. Why would their Beauty want to take off her clothes in front of a old man? The Tribe was having a Real Identity Crisis. I wondered if Ashely wanted to – KILL ME – and why? Was she abused by an older man?
My portrait of Belle is almost done! I own the right to finish what I begun!
John ‘The Monster’
Ashley Hewes: Mary how long will it be before he starts capturing people?
Ashley Hewes: All of his writings remind me of the beginning of every sick serial killer movie I have ever seen
Ashley Hewes I’m not just talking about the street families in fact lol I am speaking of an entirely different group of people.
Ashley Hewes I understand and respect your thoughts Mary but I also feel that he should not be allowed to feel comfortable in this community. He rates right up there with child molesters for me.
Ashley Hewes I know the laws pretty well and I am more than protected by the people I keep around myself.
Ashley Hewes Alley keep me posted… I am willing to be a body guard and it would be legal [i have a DPSST cert] I am even willing to meet and hang out with ms Burch.
The Invasion of Eugene and Springfield | Rosamond Press
A Case of Male Domination | Rosamond Press
Two men who are believed to have been seen carrying plastic “zip tie” handcuffs during the deadly riot at the US Capitol – suggesting plans to kidnap lawmakers in an attempt to overturn Donald Trump’s election defeat – were arrested on Sunday.
The US Department of Justice announced charges against Larry Rendell Brock of Texas and Eric Gavelek Munchel of Tennessee and said the cases were being prosecuted by the US attorney for the District of Columbia and the counterterrorism section of the DoJ.
Zip-Tie Guy at Capitol Riot Took Handcuffs From Police: Prosecutors (insider.com)
“At one point, MUNCHEL spots plastic handcuffs on a table inside a hallway in the Capitol. MUNCHEL exclaims, ‘zipties. I need to get me some of them motherf—ers,” and grabs several white plastic handcuffs from on top of a cabinet,” the filing says, adding: “As MUNCHEL and [his mother, Lisa Eisenhart,] are attempting to leave, Eisenhart says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t carry the zip ties, just get ’em out of their hand.’”
As Zed divines the nature of the Vortex and its problems, the Eternals use him to fight their internecine quarrels. Led by Consuella, the Eternals decide to kill Zed and to age Friend. Zed escapes and, aided by May and Friend, absorbs all the Eternals’ knowledge, including that of the Vortex’s origin, to destroy the Tabernacle. While absorbing their knowledge Zed impregnates May and a few of her followers as he is transformed from a revenge-seeking Exterminator. His subsequent efforts to give the Eternals salvation by bringing them death are in essence acts of mercy. Zed shuts down the Tabernacle, thus disabling the force-fields and perception filters surrounding the vortex, which helps the Exterminators invade the Vortex and kill most of the Eternals—who welcome death as a release from their eternal but boring existence. May and several of her followers do escape the Vortex’s destruction, heading out to bear their offspring as enlightened but merely mortal beings among the Brutals.
Zardoz ends in a wordless sequence of images accompanied by the sombre second movement (allegretto) of Beethoven‘s Seventh Symphony, snatches of which are heard throughout the film. Consuella, having fallen in love with Zed, gives birth to a baby boy within the remains of the giant stone head. In matching green suits, they sit with the boy standing between them, who matures as they age in a series of dissolves. The youth leaves his parents, who take each other’s hands and grow very old, eventually decomposing into skeletons and finally vanishing. Nothing remains in the space but painted handprints on the wall and Zed’s Webley-Fosbery revolver. (Boorman says in the audio commentary that the handprint in the final close-up is his.)
Employing Female Sex As Weapon
Posted on January 24, 2022 by Royal Rosamond Press
If I am elected Governor, I’m going to launch an investigation into women using sex as a weapon to destroy a man they see as an opponent, and, are seeking revenge.
In 2014, Mary Broadhurst, activist attorney for the homeless, responds to the evil blood sport Alley Valkyrie is enjoying on her Facebook – which would have got her account closed today. Is it still going? Mary correctly points out there is NO CONCERN for Belle’s safety. Kim Hafner exhibits the same evil glee at DESTROYING A MAN – and wants to be attacked so I will go to jail, get evicted, and lose everything! She could care less if I become enraged and go after Belle in order to exact revenge. I will investigate her work with the mentally ill at the Johnson Unit. She is a Gargantuan Gas-lighter! To claim she is in contact with my daughter she never met, and, she agrees I am a monster, is very provocative. My attorney will get my daughter’s testimony.
I will set up a panel to investigate how sex is used as a weapon by religions in order to oppress people. Newt Gingrich has employed religion as a weapon, and is threatening to jail investigators.
“but fear is what silences victims.”
Alley
John Presco
“Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, stoked outrage on Sunday by predicting members of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack will be imprisoned if Republicans retake the chamber this year.”
Mary Broadhurst pokin’ the beat sometimes not such a good thing. especially if you consider the bear to be unstable.
May 9 at 8:50am · Like
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Alley Valkyrie I hear that, but fear is what silences victims.
May 9 at 8:51am · Like · 3
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Alley Valkyrie And I’m done with patriarchal abusive bullshit.
May 9 at 8:51am · Like · 5
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Jasun Plaedo Wellman Well at least you won’t be bored!
May 9 at 8:51am · Like
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Ashley Hewes Alley keep me posted… I am willing to be a body guard and it would be legal [i have a DPSST cert] I am even willing to meet and hang out with ms Burch.
May 9 at 8:52am · Like · 2
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Ashley Hewes I know the laws pretty well and I am more than protected by the people I keep around myself.
May 9 at 8:52am · Like · 1
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Alley Valkyrie Thank you, Ashley. You rock. I’ll let you know if I need you.
May 9 at 8:53am · Like · 1
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Ashley Hewes I’m not just talking about the street families in fact lol I am speaking of an entirely different group of people.
May 9 at 8:53am · Like · 2
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Ashley Hewes Indeed
May 9 at 8:53am · Like
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Mary Broadhurst yeah well…I’m a bit concerned about labels being applied to this guy. obviously he has issues. but will calling him a psychopath push him over the edge. did anyone consult with Belle before coming to her rescue? perhaps she had a plan as to how to deal with this…
May 9 at 8:57am · Edited · Like · 1
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Alley Valkyrie Yes, I talked to Belle.
May 9 at 9:00am · Like · 1
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Rodolfo Palma We’re with you, Alley!
May 9 at 9:05am · Like · 2
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Mary Broadhurst one can call someone out by noting observations without using labels. just sayin’ I would like to see compassion even for someone who is making some errors in how he connects with the world through the internet.
May 9 at 9:10am · Edited · Like · 1
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Alley Valkyrie Is “making some errors”? Come on, Mary. Please. No. This is sick. What he’s doing is cyberstalking in the legal sense. My compassion ends when I feel threatened.
May 9 at 9:13am · Like · 1
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Mary Broadhurst some people feel threatened by homeless people.
May 9 at 9:13am · Like
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Ashley Hewes I understand and respect your thoughts Mary but I also feel that he should not be allowed to feel comfortable in this community. He rates right up there with child molesters for me.
May 9 at 9:13am · Like · 1
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Alley Valkyrie: Mary, this is legitimate. This isn’t based on prejudicial fear. Read his blog. This man is sick. Cyberstalking and defamation, not to mention DMCA violations for posting my copyrighted photos without permission. He’s already been reported for that.
May 9 at 9:15am · Like
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Mary Broadhurst and this is what I mean. now someone who writes disturbing thoughts and publishes them on the internet is now thrown into the same box as a child molester.
May 9 at 9:15am · Like
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Alley Valkyrie: Have you read his blog? I’m not comparing him to a child molester, but I can’t believe you’re defending him!
May 9 at 9:16am · Like
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Mary Broadhurst: I read his blog. It’s disturbing.
May 9 at 9:17am · Like · 2
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Ashley Hewes: Mary how long will it be before he starts capturing people?
May 9 at 9:18am · Like
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Ashley Hewes: All of his writings remind me of the beginning of every sick serial killer movie I have ever seen
May 9 at 9:18am · Like
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Mary Broadhurst: I’m not defending him so much as defending all of us … it seems some kind of mental health issue is at play but I think we need to be cautious about pretending we understand mental illness enough to call someone dangerous or similar to a child molester.
May 9 at 9:20am · Like · 2
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Sabra Marcroft: Unfortunately, when we lose compassion, we lose a large part of our ability to predictively model future behavior. When you can’t empathize with someone, you don’t have any idea where their next move will take them. The only other way to tune into predictive modeling is to become a stalker yourself. Compassion doesn’t mean going easy on someone, it means focusing on harm and threat reduction for ALL parties to a situation.
May 9 at 9:22am · Like · 3
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Ashley Hewes Mary people like this hurt people who turn the other cheek. That is all I have to say, I will not stand idly by when there is something I can do to quell his obsessing. I would be willing to become the object of his obsession if I felt it would work. But that would be detrimental to his health.
May 9 at 9:24am · Like · 1
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Sabra Marcroft: Confronting someone from a distance, with threat of local consequences is actually pretty compassionate. It gives him a chance to focus on someone he can’t actualy reach while creating real consequences for future unacceptable acts.
May 9 at 9:25am · Like · 1
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Alley Valkyrie: I’d rather he focus on me than Belle, that I’ll absolutely say. I have 100 miles of distance from this fucker.
May 9 at 9:29am · Like · 1
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Ashley Hewes Alley the next time you hear anything from her please refer her to my Facebook as it is the only way I have of contacting people right now… I will have a phone soon but if she wants I am totally willing to conveniently be wherever she is so I can start documenting his obsession.
May 9 at 9:36am · Like · 1
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Ashley Hewes I want to get him on camera.
May 9 at 9:36am · Like · 1
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Glenn Combs: John Presco(e) has a long history of harassing young women in this area. The police seem impotent to do anything about it, though. I believe he comes from money and could be lawyered up quite well if he needed it. Whatever, it is time to take this “man” down.
May 9 at 9:46am · Like · 2
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Rynn Fox Just be careful…and fierce.
May 9 at 10:15am · Like · 1
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Mark Thomas Shekoyan: You might want to seek legal council.
May 9 at 10:40am · Like
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Glenn Combs: There’s another point – When my friend went into Legal Aid to see about legal representation, she found that Mr. Presco has used the local Legal Aid office so much, it would be a conflict of interest for them do defend anyone against him. That’s kind of the definition of “screwed”, IMHO.
May 9 at 10:43am · Like
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Dave McArthur 5 feet of stout hemp rope and a 12 foot drop
May 9 at 10:45am · Like · 1
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Glenn Combs: I’m thinkin’ concrete shoes. We got a river with deep spots… Hypothetically speaking, of course.
May 9 at 10:46am · Like
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Mark Thomas Shekoyan I’d be careful what is said here in public forums. If the law gets involved, all of this is public record submit-able to a court of law.
Here is Gang of Six in action. All of them agree they have a right to harass me because I am mentally ill. Beatdown Boy, Krista’s live in lover, says I should be locked up due to being severely mentally ill. He did not come up with this – on the spot.
The first sign I had that Kim was my Pretend Friend, was when she took Cheryl Walton’s side. Kim was witness to Cheryl’s freak-out at my door, and, how she fought the ambulance crew who took her to the Johnson Unit. Kim was compiling a case file on me while pretending to be my friend. She asked to be my facebook friend. I had her look at my daughter’s facebook as my spy, but, she betrayed me and ragged on me with my daughter.
I believe because Cheryl is a Christian, they believe their Rapture Jesus wants her to be healed, and I locked up in the Johnson Unit. These are religious fanatics playing God with tenants who signed a lease with Umbrella Properties. I heard there were three arrests here last night.
Kim says there was an article about me abusing women in the Eugene Weekly. She is a liar. Alley posted for Belle in a fake abuser site where one reads evil lies made against men, not unlike the lies Lance Jacob was subjected to?
In this video Cheryl approaches me and starts touching me. Her caregiver warned her a week ago about improper touching. Victims of incest do not like unwanted touching. Cheryl is identifying me as the Trouble Maker, who should try harder to get along with my neighbors, meaning – her! She has a giant crush on me.
I do suffer from PTSD and thus, I suffer from mental illness. Kim worked at the Johnson Unit. Where does Krista work? I spend most of my time writing. When my written words were made accessible to my neighbors, and my sister’s bio, they went – HOG WILD! This is what a real Witch Hunt looks and sounds like. This is not what our Mayor had in mind. After founding the Rose City Planners I have considered moving to Portland.
In the first video I see God’s Grunts coming for me with torches and pitchforks to drive out their first Coo-Coo Artist. Consider the Kesey Mural. Some folks can’t handle even a small dose of Art and Culture. They go berserk. There is no unwritten law in Springtucky law that says………..If any two women weigh 700 pounds in combined weight, they get to rule everyone’s life within a hundred yards, and gossip all they want.
And thus ends AAP Test No. X22387. As head of the Alien Art Police I declare Springfield Oregon a hostile environment for the Cosmic Creative Class.
John Presco 007
FAKE! Eugene Abuser Site
Posted on July 20, 2016by Royal Rosamond Press
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Attack Of God’s Art Squad
Posted on July 20, 2020 by Royal Rosamond Press
Federal officers prepare to disperse the crowd of protesters outside the Multnomah County Justice Center on July 17 in Portland. The use of federal agents has only made a bad situation worse, state and local officials told NPR.
It has all come together for me – THE ART PROPHET! From the attacks of the Portland Street Weasel, Alley Valkyrie, to the harassment of a valid Art Historian by El Lardo and The She Uglies, and, including the Hate Fest launched by my daughter The Sociopath. And let’s not leave out the Cultural Warfare with my Muse, Rena Easton. I saw THIS ALL – coming!
Just to stir the pot I am going to write President Trump and inform him what Ed Ray did to my kin, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, who was the sole proprietor of the Oregon Territory. I will inform the Evangelical President there is a plot to remove the name of Joseph Lane from our County. If Wayne Morse were alive he would threaten to have Oregon secede from the Union.
How like Zardoz this Art Happening is. Zed has penetrated the Oregon Vortex and let in his armed masked men so they can exterminate The Immortals. They say these goons are prison guards which fulfills the prophecy of my novel ‘The Gideon Computer’.
John Presco
A US Customs and Border Protection internal memo, obtained by the Nation and dated 1 July, offers some answers. In response to a presidential order “Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Activity, “ the acting director of homeland security has created the “DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (Pact) to provide an ongoing assessment of potential civil unrest and property destruction”.
Doomscrolling, describes the way we compulsively tickle our phones into providing a non-stop stream of dire health and disease statistics, grim economic predictions, images of food lines and exploding emergency rooms.
House Democrats call for ‘urgent’ investigation into federal policing in Portland
With so much doom to scroll through, it’s hard to know when to stop and pay attention, but one story that jumped out at me – and, I hope, at many others – is the account of how demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, protesting racism and police brutality earlier in July, were tear-gassed, beaten, seized off the street by unidentified, masked federal agents in camouflage and fatigues, hustled into unmarked vans and detained for hours. The agents were reported to work with the US Marshals Special Operations Group and Bortac, the Border Patrol Tactical Unit.
Government-funded thugs, assaulting citizens, still conjure up repellent images of Hitler’s Brownshirts stomping their fellow Germans, and the street kidnapping of civilians has been the hallmark of authoritarian dictatorships. That was how you wound up in one of Stalin’s labor gulags, in the helicopter from which the Argentinian junta dropped its critics into the sea, or in a CIA black site. In a headline, an Esquire article on the Portland attacks used Pinochet (the tyrant who orchestrated the disappearance of thousands of Chileans during his 17-year regime) as a verb: “A Major American City is Being Softly Pinochet’d in Broad Daylight.”
One can track the violence to Trump ordering the governors to “dominate” their cities, of which, he claimed, they’d lost control. But the governor of Oregon, the mayor of Portland and other local officials insisted that they don’t want federal agents gassing their citizens. So who does?
A US Customs and Border Protection internal memo, obtained by the Nation and dated 1 July, offers some answers. In response to a presidential order “Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Activity, “ the acting director of homeland security has created the “DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (Pact) to provide an ongoing assessment of potential civil unrest and property destruction”.
The italics are mine, but the memo describes the formation of a paramilitary organization, reporting to the federal government and free from the laws, rules and conventions followed (even nominally) by police and the army.
In addition, the DHS has begun “coordination with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of the Interior (DoI) to establish information/intelligence sharing and resource coordination as outlined in the order.
“CBP will be supporting this effort by deploying personnel to provide support over the Fourth of July holiday weekend which has the potential for increased disruptive activity at specific locations across the country that could threaten our personnel and the federal facilities and property they protect.”
Like potential, support is a questionable word, since Portland never asked for the troops’ support or presence. As for potential disruptive activity, two of the men whisked into unmarked vans were quietly leaving the demonstration, which was winding down.
The mention of the DoJ naturally brings to mind William Barr, the attorney general, okaying the use of teargas and national guard troops against the demonstrators in Washington on 20 June to make way for Donald Trump’s St John’s church photo op. The incident was a public-relations disaster, so why not do better in Portland, cut the awkward, upside-down Bible and Ivanka’s Max Mara purse and go stealthy? Cue the unidentified agents and the trolling unmarked vans. The Esquire article refers to the Portland arrests as a rehearsal; it’s one in a series of rehearsals. First DC, then Portland. Coming soon to a city near you.
Is all that manpower necessary to protect statues? Who knew White House was so invested in art, culture – or American history? These attacks are about exerting power, bullying dissenters, intimidating Americans into giving up their first amendment protections, their constitutional rights. Robert Evans, a Portland-based freelance journalist and conflict reporter, told the New York Times: “Portland is being used as a bellwether to see what this administration can get away with. And also what works to quell protest.”
How much clearer must it be? There are those who would like to see the establishment of an authoritarian state that despise minorities and immigrants, hates women and the poor, and in mid-pandemic, values money and profit over human life. This prospect intensifies the anxiety of many Americans who fear a stolen election, widespread voter suppression, further affronts to the rule of law.
Fortunately, there’s been pushback. The demonstrations in Portland have gotten larger and more impassioned. Portland mayor Ted Wheeler called the violence “an attack on our democracy”. The ACLU and the Portland Mercury are suing federal agents. The Portland city commissioner asked the troops to leave. Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Chuck Merkley, and New York senator Chuck Schumer, are demanding a federal investigation. Oregon governor Kate Brown accused acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf of trying to “provoke confrontation for political purposes.”
Americans who care about our country and still hope we can fix our flawed democracy should pay attention. There are those, Trump and Barr among them, who would like to see our freedoms replaced by unflagging obedience to the needs of corporations and billionaires. What happened in Portland is an important story hiding in the shadow of Covid-19’s devastations. If we let the increasingly empowered paramilitary arms of the government deny our right to assemble and speak freely, to circumvent our legal system and eliminate the writ of habeas corpus, we won’t need to scroll down our phones to know that we are doomed.
- Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
A protester in front of federal security forces on 16th St NW in front of the White House on June 3, 2020.Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
On Tuesday, while walking alongside hundreds of protesters giving the finger to the Trump International Hotel as they marched toward Congress, I spotted armed men in quasi-military gear standing on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the FBI’s headquarters.
I approached, noticing they had no obvious insignias, unlike the DC Police and some of the other law enforcement out tracking protesters and guarding DC buildings this week.
I asked two men who they were with. “We’re with the Department of Justice,” one answered. “Are you with a specific agency?” I asked. “Are you regular DOJ employees or just detailed there?” He responded: “We’re with the Department of Justice” to all my questions. He asked me who I was with, which I was happy to share, and why I wanted to know, which I’d hoped was obvious. This is America. We are supposed to know who’s policing us.
But things are changing. The Trump administration, in the name of order, is claiming the power to use unidentified federal law enforcement personnel to police protests. On top of the dizzying array of federal law enforcement already out in force this week, these are some of the “federal assets” that Donald Trump said he was deploying in DC in the wake of large protests and substantial looting and property damage on Sunday night. These officers, if that’s what they are, have not only declined to identify themselves, but appear to be actively taking steps to hide their affiliation.
As the march Tuesday continued east, I saw dozens more men dressed similarly—green fatigues, black undershirts, helmets, shoes not boots, and no masks. A group of them were spread out around the Navy Memorial between 8th and 9th St. on Pennsylvania. One told me he was with the “federal government.” He said, a little apologetically, that this was all he was allowed to say.
Another said that he and his colleagues were “Justice Department assets.” When I asked if they always wore those uniforms, he said no: “We put on what they tell us to.”
Later, Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec, in response to my inquiry, said in an email that these personnel were from “BOP,” or the Bureau of Prisons. NPR, citing a “senior Justice Department official,” reported Monday that Attorney General Bill Barr “directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to dispatch riot teams” to Miami and DC to help local authorities respond to protests. Kupec didn’t answer additional questions, including whether these security forces have been specifically instructed to hide their affiliation.
But it seems that amid curfews and a stay-at-home order, DC residents are being confronted by people normally used to guard federal prisoners, under a Congress we have no say in electing.
On Wednesday afternoon, Garrett Haake, an MSNBC reporter, tweeted pictures of unidentified law enforcement officers with name plates and insignias removed. Haake said the officers refused to identify themselves.
The badge on the left shoulder of one officer appears to be from a “Disturbance Control Team” at the Bureau of Prisons, my colleague Russ Ch
My Tuesday tweets about the officials who would only say they worked for DOJ drew extensive speculation that the men were private contractors, possibly affiliated with Erik Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and founder of the former private military contractor Blackwater. There was so much speculation that Blackwater, which no longer exists, trended on Twitter for hours. There is no evidence these guys are private contractors or connected to Prince. But that so many people suspected this link highlights an obvious risk of what Barr and Trump are doing. People are trying to puzzle out the identity of armed forces facing us because the government won’t say.
American citizens are left confronting unidentified apparent paramilitary police with no way of knowing what legal authority, if any, these forces vested with the power to kill us possess. That is not occurring in Ukraine, where Russia’s “little green men” occupy parts of Donbass, or in dystopian fiction. It’s happening today, a few feet from the White House.
Update: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a tweet Wednesday night that he plans to introduce legislation to require that uniformed federal officers doing domestic security work identify what agency or military branch they work for. Democrats Don Beyer of Virginia Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s delegate, said they are working on similar House legislation.
DHS and Justice Department personnel have made about two dozen arrests since July 4 in the vicinity of the federal courthouse in Portland, not including short-term detentions of suspects whom agents want to question, according to a DHS official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss federal law enforcement operations in Portland. The protesters’ use of black clothing, face coverings and diversion tactics have made it difficult for federal agents to identify suspects, they said.
DHS teams were deployed to reinforce the Federal Protective Service in Seattle, as well, before July 4 in anticipation of major disturbances, but the Seattle team has been withdrawn, the official added.
While the DHS official said there are no immediate plans to increase the presence in other cities, the president of Chicago’s police union on Saturday published a public letter to President Trump asking for federal assistance in controlling the “chaos” in city. Union President John Catanzara also criticized Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose office called the letter “a stunt,” in a statement to CBS.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday implored the “dozens, if not hundreds” of federal agents to leave the city, saying that unidentified Homeland Security officers were detaining residents in unmarked minivans.
“Their presence is neither wanted nor is it helpful and we’re asking them to leave,“ Wheeler (D) said. “In fact, we’re demanding that they leave.”
In response, Cuccinelli said, “We don’t have any plans to do that.”
“When the violence recedes, then that is when we would look at that,” he said. “This isn’t intended to be a permanent arrangement, but it will last as long as the violence demands additional support to contend with.”
Last Sunday, the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, was re-elected by a narrow margin with the help of an assault on what he styled “LGBT ideology”: he campaigned on a “family charter” to protect Poles from this new threat, worse than communism.
Two of Poland’s near neighbours have recently activated anti-LGBT politics in similar ways. In May, Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian government passed a law that makes it impossible for trans people to change their gender on legal documents. And last month, Russians voted by a landslide to approve Vladimir Putin’s Russian constitution: among its many amendments is one that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
Already, Russia’s lawmakers are explicitly using the new constitution to threaten freedoms associated with the liberal west: on Tuesday, Yelena Mizulina, the woman responsible for Russia’s anti-“gay propaganda” law, proposed legislation barring trans people from adopting children, or from establishing families – including getting married – after transitioning.
Poland divided as right-wing populists win again
For the first time since 1918, “God” is written into Russia’s constitution, which now also mandates the teaching of “patriotism”, and urges citizens to resist (western) falsification of their history. “We are not just going to vote on legal amendments,” Putin said. “We are voting for the country in which we want to live.”
For which read: not Europe. Leaders like Putin, Orbán and Duda use LGBTQ+ people to draw what can be called a pink line against a western secular liberalism that allegedly threatens the “traditional values” of the homeland. This plays on deep-rooted anxieties about globalisation and the digital revolution, and the fear of a loss of control that comes with the opening of borders to new ideas and new people – or, in the case of LGBTQ+ people, those who have been there all along, but now demand to be seen.
This culture wars tactic has undergone a significant shift in recent years: whereas it used to oppose “lifestyles” or “rights”, it is now sets itself against “ideology”; this allows it to assume the status of a counter-hegemonic force – and also to claim, as more people come out of the closet, that it is “not personal”. “LGBT are not people, but ideology,” said Duda when he launched his charter.
Rosamond Press 
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