The political imprisonment of Vidmax contributor, Michael Strickland, for defending himself from BLM thugs

A conservative blogger and Vidmax.com contributor, Michael Strickland, has been arrested after pulling a legally owned firearm on a gang of Black Lives Matter activists in downtown Portland Thursday.




At a court appearance Friday, Michael Strickland's bail was set at $250,000. He is currently lodged in the Multnomah County Jail.



According to court documents, in addition to the loaded handgun, police found several magazines and a pocket knife on Strickland.


"The state has serious concerns about Mr. Strickland being out in the community without supervision," a prosecutor said during court proceedings.



The defense argued, that as a journalist, Strickland had been assaulted on the job before, has an open carry permit and no criminal history.



However, prosecutors were quick to cite other reports, including an alleged incident during a candlelight vigil in downtown Portland last month to honor the Orlando nightclub shooting victims. According to prosecutors, an attendee there claimed they received threatening phone calls and text messages in the days following some type of heated exchange with Strickland. The attendee, according to the report, believes Strickland orchestrated the threats.



But the actual video cited in the DA’s complaint, which was featured here on vidmax.com, shows a completely different story. A similar incident to what happened Thursday, in which a gang of angry activists converged on Strickland, trying to expel him from the event after falsely accusing him of being a ‘white nationalist’.



After surrounding him, one attendee gets in Strickland’s face,gives permission to film him and states his name, John B. Slaughter, and continues on to give out his phone number on camera. Slaughter is a gym teacher at Portland Community College.




The video in its entirety can be seen here.





Strickland is not very popular at Portland events since he documents much of the far left wing’s agenda and posts it either on Vidmax or his popular YouTube channel, Laughing At Liberals.



Multnomah County deputy district attorney Kate Molina Friday successfully argued for Strickland's bail to be set at $250,000 after two felony counts of unlawful use of a firearm were added to misdemeanor allegations of menacing and second-degree disorderly conduct.



$250,000 bond is unusually high for a case like this. It is an amount usually reserved for drug trafficking and attempted murder.



‘Given that Mr. Strickland pulled a gun on a crowd of people in front of the steps of the justice center, while he was heavily armed with additional ammunition and has prior police reports of possibly racially based threats is extremely concerning to the state,” Molina said.



Strickland's attorney said the claims were inaccurate.



Strickland’s account, which is backed up by a YouTube video states:



“What happened was there were about 10 or 12 people that surrounded me,” he told Fox. “They started pushing and shoving me. They were using their flag staffs as weapons. I’m backing up, they kept coming towards me. They kept coming towards me. That’s why I drew. … I was outnumbered, they were pushing and shoving me. They were using their flag staffs as weapons. I was backing up, they kept coming towards me. I feared for my life because I was outnumbered and they had weapons.”




The video above clearly shows a mob of angry protesters approach Strickland, shouting and gesturing in close proximity. The one tall, black man takes off his backpack as if he is getting ready to jump into action. The video unfortunately doesn’t show the previous few minutes, which are critical to the story, only Michael has that footage and no one knows if the DA will ever allow it to be shown.





Again, Strickland was carrying a REGISTERED gun and had a carry permit. Also, the DA makes mention he was carrying 5 magazines of ammunition yet there is no limit in Oregon to how much ammunition one can have.There is also no law prohibiting a gun owner from carrying ‘in close proximity’ to a federal building. So to review, the weapon and ammo on his person were legal and the video proof, documented on this site of the Orlando vigil and what actually happened should be enough to release Michael of all charges. So why is he still in prison?