Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Good morning, you! It’s Tuesday, October 17, 2017, and the weather’s taking a hard turn in an autumnal direction. We’ll pick up a bit of rain today with a high of 60, a little more on Wednesday, and then an atmospheric river runs straight to our door on Thursday. Sunrise today is at 7:30 straight up, and sunset 6:21 PM

This seems like a huge and sudden change, and I’d like to hear your thoughts. “Housing is a basic need and a human right”…and with those words, Housing Commissioner Chloe Eudaly has ordered–by deprioritizing enforcement– a temporary program in which tiny houses and RV’s will be allowed to park on any property where the owner says it’s OK. One RV per private home, three per church or business. The property owner is responsible for electricity and sanitation, and no RV’s are allowed to be parked on the street. This affects every neighborhood in the city, and I don’t recall a single public hearing. Is yard parking space up for rent now? Who’s enforcing the sanitation requirement? Bet it’s been awhile since those holding tanks were emptied. I understand the RV’s aren’t allowed on the street, but where will their owners’ cars park? Did the mayor sign off on this?

Some followup props to the Portland Timbers and Thorns: together they raised over $46,000 for the Eagle Creek Fire response, by selling scarves depicting scenes in the Columbia Gorge.

About the heroic force of firefighters waging a 24/7 war against the flames in California’s wine country….more than a third of them are jail inmates who volunteered for the work, and are paid a dollar an hour. They’re instantly recognized by the jumpsuits they wear, and welcomed as “angels in orange.”

The record needs to be cleared up on a statement President Trump during his Rose Garden news conference yesterday. He commented how tough it is on him to call the families of soldiers killed in combat, and implied that he’s going the extra mile, claiming that “The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls.” The fact is that both Obama and George W. Bush were sincere and diligent; one sister of a fallen serviceman tweeted, “When my brother was killed, Pres Bush listened while I screamed at him then held me as I sobbed.” And President Obama called, wrote letters, visited wounded warriors in hospitals, and attended services at Arlington National Cemetery. Trump himself has not yet called the families of Green Berets who were killed or wounded during an operation nine days ago in Africa, but says he “will at some point during the period of time.”

A new Gallup poll says 42% of men approve of Trump’s job performance, while 53% disapprove. Among women, 29% approve, 65% disapprove.

Sen. John McCain accepted the Liberty award last night in Philadelphia with an unveiled jab at Trumpism, saying we live in a time of “half-baked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve the world’s problems.”

Scientists are starry-eyed after witnessing the collision between two neutron stars in deep space, which launched gravitational waves rippling through the universe, and forged enough platinum and gold to outweigh the earth hundreds of times over.

Strange days indeed in the British Isles, where ex-Hurricane Ophelia is now lashing Scotland, while overhead the skies turned an eerie red–the product of wind-whipped sands from the Sahara Desert.

The U.S. Virgin Islands are 100% out of power, 40 days after the hurricane.

Portland is the second best town in America for vegans and vegetarians, right after New York, according to a WalletHub survey. Meantime, a PETA billboard is casting a lunar glow at 21st and W. Burnside from actor Alicia Silverstone’s backside, proclaiming “I’d rather go naked than wear wool. Wear your own skin. Let animals keep theirs.”

Oregon Symphony longtime conductor Norman Leyden was born 100 years ago today.

And my independent, articulate little buddy Thea turns 3 years old today! It’s my greatest pleasure these days to watch both of my kids thriving in the role of parenthood with the same love and respect for their little ones that we had for ours! And still do.

It’s National Pasta Day. Remember to use your noodle!