Hello, friends…we’re together in this, a Monday, November 6, 2017, the first working day of Standard Time, so the sun will come up earlier, and set earlier than we’re used to. Sunrise 6:57 AM Sunset 4:50 PM Pacific Standard Time. Our weather is nice, mid-fall-like, where you walk outside and think, oooh, this is cold, but then you get in the car and warm up the heater and it’s fine. High about 48, little or no rain until Wednesday,
I’m having such a hard time writing this…can’t get past Texas…
The “shooter”–I hate that word, like all of the words we use to write these stories–is Devin Patrick Kelly, 26, a Texas resident and Air Force veteran with a bad-conduct discharge for assaulting his then-wife and their child. Local media in San Antonio speculate that his new wife attended the church, and that he was targeting her. Used a Ruger AR-15 semiautomatic. It’s unclear whether he took his own life; some reports say (hopefully, as though it somehow mitigates the carnage) that he was shot by “a good guy with a gun.” (Breitbart headline). His 26 murdered victims range from age 1 to 77. About 20 are wounded, with injuries described as minor to critical. Flags are flying low, people at vigils are holding candles and holding hands. We know the ritual.
President Trump’s in Japan. Looks jet lagged. Says he’ll meet with Putin during this trip and talk about North Korea. (Is it OK if we got a chuckle out of the signs that some people held in Hawaii, telling Trump, “Welcome to Kenya”)?
The midyear election that could swing the balance of Congress is one year from today.
This was the day in 1990 when Oregon voters raised the ax and whacked their taxes. Ballot Measure 5 shrank some property taxes in half, and handed the job of paying for schools to the state. Music and art were cut from some schools. Class sizes jumped. Decimated the state police. Willamette Week endorsed the measure, reasoning that the resulting chaos would force the state to figure out a real answer to school funding. They later admitted they were wrong.
A procession on I-84 through eastern Oregon brought home the remains of respected Hillsboro firefighter Ryan Grimaldi, who was killed when a tree fell on him while hunting. Along the way, local firefighters parked rigs on the overpasses, and saluted while the procession went by.
The Portland Timbers are done, losing 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo. Wonder if any suddenly-available Timbers can kick field goals? Because the Seahawks need a kicker ASAP. The guy they have now missed all three of their field goals; if he’d hit them, they would have won yesterday.
The Blazers beat the Thunder 103-99.
Congratulations to Portlander Shalane Flanagan for becoming the first American woman to win the New York marathon…since 1977. She trains with the Bill Bowerman Track Club, and has been a volunteer coach for women’s track at PSU.
Bill Walton turned 65 yesterday, and he looks as vibrant and outgoing as I’ve ever seen him.
That’s all I’ve got so far…the usual sources of happier news kind of go dry for a day or two after a blow to the national morale. So we have to be intentional about looking for light, at least, and comfort, and providing light and comfort to others if we can. Then pretty soon we add joy, to the mix; in fact this week they’ll haul the giant Christmas tree into our town square. It’ll take two weeks for crews to shape it and string it up, but it’ll be there as a symbol of good times to come.
Tell us something good! Anybody?
Portland's Daily Drip 