Hello, Americans! Here’s the Daily Dripness for Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Portland’s weather is cloudy with lingering showers and highs around 55, as high pressure begins to gather off the coast, giving us a possibility of dry days for a week or more. Sunrise 6:57 AM, sunset 4:50 PM PST. We now have under ten hours of daylight. It’s like driving through a tunnel in the mountains. Honk the horn, Mom!
Mid-term election day is finally here, yippee! TV commercials of people attacking other people will vanish, to be replaced by Christmas spots. At this point, that’s perfectly great with me! Let’s check one more time on voter turnout figures: OK, Oregon and Washington are both at 40%, compared to the overall 32% for a typical midterm–and that’s not counting the sackloads of mail that arrived from weekend voters or the dropped-off ballots that are stuffing collection boxes statewide. In this election, seen by many as a referendum on Trump, people are motivated for sure. Portland’s turnout is second highest in the country behind Minneapolis. Statewide, both Republicans and Democrats have roughly half of their vote in. Around the country, 36 million people voted early–almost ten million more than in a typical mid-term. And long lines had already formed when the polling places opened in the East this morning. I’m dismayed that more states haven’t caught on to the Oregon way of making voting easy and convenient, but perhaps that’s not the point.
If your team wins tonight, or if your team loses, take time to celebrate or sulk, but remember, whatever happens is just part of an ongoing struggle, and victory will only spur the other side to try harder. The 2020 election is 735 days away, and a year from now, campaigning will be hot and heavy, because the Iowa Caucuses will be just around the corner. I’ll have a rundown on the results in the morning on the major developments, and if you have a particular interest in a local race, speak up; we’ll track down the results, or your fellow Drip readers will.
There’s nobody running for mayor or city council in the Marion County town of Gates, population 485. The current mayor is 85 and says he’ll keep doing it if folks write his name in.
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Sadness and rage overflowed in a Vancouver courtroom, where a 37-year old man was arraigned in the murder of his girlfriend’s 5-year old daughter, who was in his care. The child’s father lunged at the accused man in the courtroom but was pulled away.
The Washington Post says paramilitary militia groups are heading to the Mexican border to confront the “invasion” of would-be immigrants, and they include members from Oregon.
NBC reports that President Trump’s move to deploy troops to the border is shaping up to have a price tag of $220 million.
That was a fine mess on I-5 Southbound at Rosa Parks Way, as a truck dropped a huge scoop from the construction crane it was hauling. Blocked three lands and dinged up the freeway, too.
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On this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, prompting seven southern slave states to form the Confederacy before he was even inaugurated.
This was the day in 1990 that Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 5–cutting property taxes, shifting funding for schools to the uber-volatile, economy-sensitive state income tax, and slashing funding for government services for decades to come. I don’t think Oregon State Police ever regained their troop strength; I’d be happy to be corrected. I knew people who voted for this, figuring that the state would fill the funding cavity by enacting some kind of sales tax. Nope.
He’s out riding fences, up there, but today would have been Glenn Frey’s 70th birthday.
It was a big night on the Monday Night Football stage for beloved ex-Duck Marcus Mariota, who threw two TDs, and ran for another in Tennessee’s 28-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
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And to all who’ve scrolled right to the good stuff, greetings and welcome! Check out the following at the Daily Drip link place!
–“Fisherman rescues baby from the ocean, in an incident described as a “freakish miracle”
–“Study: Tetris is a great distraction for easing an anxious mind”
–“Vending Machine Dispenses Clean Clothing and Blankets to People Without Homes”
–“Young super hero donates kidney to family friend who kept his kidney failure a secret for over 10 years.”
–“Mexicans shower the caravan with kindness — and tarps, tortillas and medicine” (I read that, and I think of Matthew 25)
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It’s go time! I love America–especially on election days. Power to the people!
Portland's Daily Drip 