There you are! The Daily Drip has popped up in your feed on Friday, February 22, 2019. Portland’s weather is going straight down the loo, with potential snowflakes in the morning, rain in the afternoon, and highs of 41. The weekend looms cold and wet, with tons of snow in the Cascades, and, uh-oh, a possibility of an inch or two at 500 feet on Sunday and Monday as well, with a chance of low-elevation snow continuing into Wednesday. Nobody’s calling it Snowpalooza or anything stupid like that yet, because some computer models send the snow way south, so It’s not exactly time to restock the emergency stash of kale–or better yet pinot noir and Cherry Garcia–but stay tuned. Sunrise 7:01 AM. Sunset 5:47 PM.
OK, News!
A key to understanding Portland is that every voice must be heard. That fact was on display at the Portland Police “listening session” last night at Maranatha Church, on the matter of the (pick one: just-doing-his job, or too-chummy) text messages between a police commander and an alt-right agitator. There to listen were Mayor Wheeler and Chief Outlaw and some assistant chiefs; many in the crowd were there to vent, hiss, boo, stand on pews and yell. Words flew that don’t belong in church, and while the mayor tried his Wheelerest to cool things down, it was the senior pastor who arose and calmed the crowd. So people got said what they needed to say. Most pointed sign I saw: “Reassign Police to Hardesty.”
At the same time we’ve got a battle on between City Hall and the cop shop, with the head of the Portland Police Association demanding a “wholehearted apology” from Commissioner Chloe Eudaly for this slam regarding the texting story: “Does ‘basic police work’ include ignoring racist and right wing extremist thugs while they intimidate, harass, and menace people and arresting left wing activists for no reason? Just curious.” Fired back PPA president Daryl Turner, ” Is she speaking of the activists who block transit, bridges, freeway access, and sidewalks restricting access for people who are trying to get safely to work, to appointments, or home? What about those who throw bricks, rocks, bottles, feces, and urine at police officers endangering not only our officers but also peaceful protesters who are exercising their right to free speech?”
In the shadow of a sexual harassment lawsuit, the leadership of the Oregon legislature is emphatically zero-tolerance about politicians behaving badly. House Speaker Tina Kotek has booted one member of each party off choice committee assignments because of intemperate words spoken or tweeted. Irascible Portland Democrat Mitch Greenlick was jerked from the chairmanship of the Committee on Health Care after basically calling pharmaceutical lobbyists stupid. And longtime Valley radio figure and Keizer Republican Bill Post was zipped from the Judiciary Committee for inviting gun advocates to a “Moms Demand Action for gun sense in America” rally next week, telling them to “be ready, be there!” which sounded provocative to some in a Patriot Prayer kind of way. And also for calling a fellow lawmaker “cray-cray.” Second Amendment advocates are delivering some First Amendment blowback on Post’s demotion.
A million bucks and counting, is what the Clark County measles outrage is costing Washington taxpayers, as the local health department has almost half its full-time staff assigned to the response, while the state health department has put 166 workers on the case. Washington is even bringing in experts from out of state.
Delta Airlines wants to rev up its service from PDX to Japan by adding twice-daily nonstops to Tokyo-Haneda, which is a downtown airport that is much more convenient to business travelers than the present arrival spot, Tokyo-Narita, which is an hour away from downtown via high-speed rail.
The Portland Trail Blazers whipped the Nets in Brooklyn 113-99 last, a fine debut for backup center Enes Kanter, who racked up 18 points and 9 rebounds. Nice start for both the road trip and Kanter’s time as a Blazer.
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And now half of the Monkees are gone, with Peter Tork’s passing yesterday at age 77. He was cast as the goofy one; the producers who created the Prefab Four patterned him after Harpo Marx. He wasn’t much of a singer, but he played several instruments and was an early friend of Steven Stills, whom he beat out for the Monkees gig (though Stills says he actually turned it down because he’d have to surrender his songwriting rights). After the Monkees folded Tork became a high school teacher and later served a jail term for hashish. But he was part of the Monkees reunions over the years.
Today is the actual birthday of George Washington (1732).
This was the date 200 years ago that Spain renounced any claim to the Oregon Territory.
And today in 1980 was the Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team beat the Soviet Union 4–3. We won gold, they didn’t. They saved their meddling for later.
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The good news is….
–“Park ranger furloughed during shutdown wins lottery”
–“Girl ‘with a very big heart’ received heartwarming letter of thanks from homeless man”
–“Twitter helps cops rescue injured hawk near Wall Street”
–“Incredibly Kind Man Buys Single Mom New Set of Much-Needed Tires Just Because He’s Great”
–“Dog found on NJ train tracks reunited with family”
Details in the mug down below.
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I think today I’ll post the whole DD on FB as normal; it’s easier for folks to find and comment. But for those who are trying to avoid the welter of pitches flying at you in the Facebook feed, when all you want are some friendly faces, I’m trying to make a habit of posting a link to the DD IN the Coffee Cup that’ll take you straight to it including the comments. So if you just bookmark the Cup (I’ll link it in comments), you’ll have a direct connection to the community of Dripsters.
Back to Z-land for me!
Portland's Daily Drip 