Good morning! and welcome to Day 100 of 2018! It’s Tuesday, the 10th of April, and following yesterday’s splendor and warmth, we take a walk on the wet and windy side, with rain and gusts to 35 MPH in the morning, then showers and highs of 59 in the afternoon. We made 65 yesterday. Sunrise 6:34 AM, sunset 7:50 PM. There’s a high wind warning at the coast. KPTV’s Mark Nelson blogs that our overnight skies are now filled with all kinds of migratory birds, racing northward and chased by a tailwind, at anywhere from one to two miles’ altitude.
Top story in Portland is that we’re at the early stages of community reaction to the police shooting of 48-year old carjacking suspect John Elifritz at a Grand Avenue homeless shelter. It’s shaping up to be a contentious issue, in the context of Portland’s history of deadly force incidents involving people with mental illnesses. Police say seven officers and a county deputy were involved, and that none will be named for now because of threats against them.
We’re watching for the next shoes that may come tumbling down after the FBI raid on President Trump’s lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen (Henry Winkler will play him in the movie). Trump thundered about the raid being “an attack on our country” and mused about firing special counsel Robert Mueller, which many voices on his side are demanding. But the Mueller team didn’t do the raid; instead, they referred evidence they’d found, which was outside their scope, to the Trump-appointed US Attorney for New York’s Southern District, and that’s who procured the warrant and carried out the search with Justice Department approval. Trump said for the hundredth time that it’s a “witch hunt” (which, as my wife says, seems to keep finding broomsticks), and “a disgrace,” and with uptight body language conveying that he was unhappy indeed, he said, “We’ll see what happens. Many people have said you should fire him.”
Facebook oligarch Mark Zuckerberg will be sizzling on the griddle of a Senate committee today and a Greg Walden-chaired House committee tomorrow, as he hears lectures from each member for allowing his creation to devolve from an idealistic tool that brings people together into a for-sale vehicle for slanderously false news about one’s political enemies, foreign intervention in our sacred elections, and our country’s despicable resurgence of hate speech. At the heart is a business model in which user (your) interests are “harvested” for the purpose of spookily-accurate ad targeting. And that applies to Google and Twitter as well.
Oregon can’t overrule the FCC’s dismantling of Obama-era Net Neutrality rules, but it’s trying to use the power of the checkbook to create a market for fairness. Governor Kate Brown yesterday signed a law withholding state business from internet service providers who sell better connections to people who can pay for them, and slower-speed hookups to the rest.
It’s Equal Pay Day. April 10 is the symbolic day, on average, when someone calculated that women’s earnings finally catch up to what men were paid last year.
The deadline to file your taxes is one week from today. There’s still time salt away money in your retirement account and reduce your 2017 tax liability while embiggening your retirement egg, a couple of worthy goals.
The Blazers dropped their fourth game in a row last night, on the road against Denver, and now they have to win at home against Utah tomorrow night, or they’ll begin the playoffs on the road. Team leader Damian Lillard said the Blazers are playing fine, but have been losing to teams that are desperate to get into the postseason.
With everyone mindful of what happened last week in Canada, the Portland Winterhawks host Everett in the second-round WHL playoffs at the Coliseum. The Winterhawks Booster Club will be collecting donations both tonight and Thursday for the Humboldt Broncos, the Canadian team that was devastated by the bus crash that killed 15 players and staff. The rest are still in the hospital.
Lindsey Buckingham is out of Fleetwood Mac…replaced by a guy from Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers and another from Crowded House. It’s been “rumoured” for a week that he’d been fired. Why, after all he and Stevie Nicks and the entire band have already survived, can’t they keep it together, now that they’re (hopefully) non-24/7-coke-snorting grownups?
Headlines…for happier hearts…
–“Twin girls asked for nothing but stuffed animals for their sixth birthday–and donated 50 of them to New Mexico for kids going through hard times.”
–“Scientists identify genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease in human brain cells, as well as a gene correction for future human testing.”
–“Single parent and 8-year-old are helping the British Columbia homeless through spring with rain gear and a mobile hygiene truck.”
–“Moments before train crash, strangers rescue woman from car that was stuck on tracks.”
–“Firefighter rescues 3-day-old puppy who fell down vent in Auburn, Wash. ”
We do these on the radio, in case you’re new to the program…8 AM straight up on 103.3, and replayed at 5:30 AM the next weekday. Bruce, Janine, and I each do one story in our own style, and it usually seems to work!
There’s a new Starbucks at NW 3rd and Davis.
I delivered the sweet slap of justice to my first mosquito of the year last night on the IPA deck.
Ready to roll into a Tuesday! People seemed to find us OK yesterday..but if you have trouble, just put my name (not Daily Drip) in the Facebook search, and we’ll all pop up together.
Portland's Daily Drip 