Thursday, October 25, 2018

Morning friends! It’s Thursday, October 25, 2018, and here’s the Daily Drip for the two-month-and-counting mark before Christmas! Portland’s weather begins cloudy and cool, then heads straight down the tubes, with rain revving up to a full-on downpour tonight. Today’s high’ll be in the mid 60’s. Sunrise 7:40 AM, sunset 6:08 PM.

Security is elevated in media mailrooms, political offices, and post offices, in case there are more pipe bombs like the five that were mailed to the Obamas, the Clintons, CNN, and other targets of far-right rage, The political divide in this country is a bitter poison that’s reached a whole new and sickening level, but nobody’s been injured so far by the homemade devices, and none exploded, and one law enforcement source suggests they were meant to scare but not actually blow up. President Trump, known to fan anger among his supporters against his opponents and critics, attempted a softer tone of voice during a rally last night, calling the episodes “an attack on our democracy itself” and promising “swift justice,” adding, “Do you see how nice I’m behaving tonight? We’re all behaving very well!.” But then he called on journalists “to “stop the endless hostility and constant negative and often false attacks and stories.” But CNN chief Jeff Zucker replied, “There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media. The president, and especially the White House press secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.”

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Pausing to breathe.

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After a public backlash, the state of Oregon is releasing the annual school performance report now–instead of sitting on it until after the election. The rankings may have been complete for weeks, but weren’t going to be revealed until November 15th, ostensibly to give schools a chance to respond, or to finish dotting the i’s, but also handing the Governor’s Republican challenger Knute Buehler a chance to claim she’s hiding bad news until after the vote.

That reminds me! Let’s update the Oregon county ballot arrival numbers–and by special Dripster request, add Washington as well. Oregon’s up to 140,000 ballots returned, and 139 of them are from Yamhill County. Yay! Wine Country is on the clock! Wheeler County’s turnout continues to lead the way, at over 20%, but they have thousands more cows than donkeys or elephants. Clark County is off to a solid start in Washington’s balloting, at a 6.4% early turnout, while the next county up I-5–Cowlitz–is at 4.6. Both states have roughly a 5-and-a-half percent overall turnout so far, which isn’t bad for early returns. The election’s still almost two weeks away.

If downtown Portland business leaders have their way, cars will be banished from the 5th and 6th avenue Transit Mall, and a protected bikes-only corridor will be built within Tom McCall Waterfront Park–rather than permanently making a lane of Naito Parkway a bikeway.

The Springwater Corridor pathway reopens a week from today. The usual route for thousands of bicyclists between Sellwood and downtown has been closed since July.

One of Portland’s original craft beer establishments is shutting down next week. The Alameda Brewhouse has been slinging suds on Fremont for 22 years.

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Big oops at Fort Bragg… An Air Force C-17 transport accidentally dropped a Humvee by parachute into the woods of North Carolina, miles from the target. Nobody hurt.

A woman in New Hampshire was knocked off her motorcycle by a flying wild turkey. She broke her hand, but says, “I got to keep the turkey, so that was good.” Good timing, too…Thanksgiving is four weeks from today.

I see in Pravda today that two corrupt local officials near Leningrad were about to be busted for taking millions of rubles in bribes..when they decided to flee in a black sedan, throwing the money fluttering out the window into the path of the pursuing cops. The head official was arrested, but taken to the hospital, where Pravda says “his health suddenly deteriorated.” Hmm.

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For the love of all that’s holy, tell me something good?

–“After 10 years in a wheelchair, man with receives stem cell treatment, regains ability to walk and dances in viral videos”

–“First responders wed amid Panama City’s Hurricane Michael debris”

–“Woman saves husband–then he emerges from coma to see son’s birth”

–“Little girl mistakes bride for Cinderella, and the internet wants to send her to Disney World””

–“Police take the time to replace elderly woman’s door after it was damaged in a break-in”

Details at the Daily Drip link farm at K103.com.

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Time to wrap up and get rolling. A reminder that I’m off tomorrow, and most Fridays for the next month, but I’ll start up a thread for Dripster interaction, as always, and if things happen, we’ll be on it.