It's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and Mayor Charlie Hales wants you to walk with him. Hales' office is planning a "March of Hope" this afternoon at 3 pm. It's essentially from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Steel Bridge and the stated purpose is that Portlanders will "come together and reach out to each other and stand against hate" after the election of Donald Trump.
And as you might guess, it's probably not going off without a hitch. Last night Portland police arrested three well-known protest organizers, who were marching with Portland Public Schools students downtown. The cops accuse Greg McKelvey, Kathryn Stevens, and Micah Rhodes of urging the students to break the law, but the arrests smack of political targeting to some supporters. There's now a movement afoot to protest Hales' march.
Even before the arrests, there'd been criticism of Hales holding a march after recently imploring people not to march against Trump (though he wasn't talking about doing so in a public park when he said it):
This is a shocking reversal from his position last week, when he claimed that the time for protesting was over... (2/6)
— #PDXResistance ✊ (@Pdx_resistance) November 22, 2016
Larry O'Dea might sue! The former Portland police chief has filed notice of as much with law enforcement at both the State of Oregon and Harney County, stemming from an incident where he mistakenly shot a friend while on a camping trip. O'Dea's big gripe, according to the Trib, is a police report that strongly suggested he was intoxicated at the time of the shooting. O'Dea faces a criminal charge for the mistake.
Depending on whom you believe, Trump either invited network news executives to his inner sanctum yesterday to tear into them (according to the New York Post, which is the New York Post) or to press for a "reset" between the networks and his increasingly worrisome administration (according to Politico).
Meanwhile, Trump was supposed to meet with the New York Times today. The Times learned via an early morning tweet storm that that wasn't happening.
Two Necessary Reads: This NYT piece summarizing an openly racist Alt Right gathering in a federal building in DC over the weekend (complete with Nazi salutes and references to white people as "children of the sun"?!).
And this Washington Post piece about two former unemployed restaurant workers who now rake in gobs of cash stoking conservatives into hysterics via dashed off "articles." It is... so depressing.
And while you're at it, read about the despair within the current White House, over the incoming White House.
The Army Corps of Engineers general who oversees the sector where the Dakota Access Pipeline might be built lives in Vancouver, Washington. So of course local activists are demonstrating outside of his home.
The State of Washington wants to give you a junk-ass bridge. Don't fall for it!
Yes, there was an earthquake in Japan, very near the enormous one that caused a devastating tsunami some years back. This time, everything was fine.
Donald Trump posted a presidential-elect address on YouTube and my god this is still happening.
Rain as far as the eye can see. Great for Mount Hood ski season, not great for Mayor Hales' marching ambitions.
