Hello, friends near and far….and welcome to the unredacted Daily Drip for Thursday, April 18, 2019. Portland begins with our compulsory morning cloudiness, but the sun will shine whenever it’s ready and the mercury won’t stop climbing until it rings at least the 70-degree bell. 73 for Portland, 75 Salem, and 77 in Eugene. They’ve added a slight possibility of afternoon rain in Portland. Sunrise 6:20 AM, sunset 8:00 PM. We won’t see another pre-8PM sunset in Portland until August 26.
Well, OK, this is the day the Justice Department comes out with its redacted version of the 400-page Mueller report. The day sets up like this: Attorney General William Barr holds a news conference at 6:30 AM Pacific, which Congressional Democrats say is for the purpose of pre-spin-doctoring. The redacted report is delivered to Congress on CDs. Then it’s posted on the Special Counsel web site. Reporters, along with partisans on either side, will scour the document for morsels exculpatory or condemnatory. The White House legal team has been fully briefed on the document, so they’ll be ready with a rebuttal. And remember that Robert Mueller delegated to outside agencies several investigations that are still very much pending. So whatever happens today will be dramatic and interesting, but the final aria has not been sung in this opera.
Unbelievable. New York police say a 37-year-old philosophy student was arrested for entering the 200-year-old St. Patrick’s Cathedral…with two gasoline cans, two cans of lighter fluid, and a pair of lighters. He claimed he was taking a shortcut to his van which was out of gas. But it wasn’t out of gas. No charges yet.
Church bells across France are ringing in tribute to Notre Dame. And Maundy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper on the Christian calendar.
Passover begins tomorrow evening.
****
The Washington Senate has passed a measure that would make Daylight Saving Time the year-round reality; it’s already passed the House, and now goes back for approval of Senate amendments. The same basic bill passed the Oregon Senate and was assigned this week to the House Rules Committee. This could be a happening thing, friends–after passage here, it’s up to Congress. I say..let’s give it a try!
That new Good Neighbor Agreement for the Portland Timbers prohibits fans from camping out to get the best seats for a match–until 24 hours before kickoff. I’m hearing grumbling from fans who say, hey, homeless folks are camping all over the place, why can’t we?
Today’s the day Portland police Lt. Jeff Niiya moves to his new desk job, having been yanked from his role as the crowd control liaison on the Rapid Response Team He was portrayed in the media as being a bit too chummy by texting with Joey Gibson, leader of the Vancouver ultra-right group that likes to visit Portland to provoke the provokable Antifa. Some say Lt. Niya was just doing his job.
A report from the Safewise home security company says the safest city in Oregon is…ta-da….Lake Oswego. Followed by Sherwood, Monmouth, Corvallis, and McMinnville. The report adds that Oregon is well below national rates for both property and violent crime, which contradicts a general impression around here.
Folks on Hawthorne say there’s a yellow van in the neighborhood with zigzag stripes on the side designed to look exactly like Charlie Brown’s sweater. Sure enough, there’s a sign in the window that says “Psychiatric Help 5 Cents.” At last some affordable mental health care.
This was the day of the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake, a 7.9-or-so-blow that burned down the town and killed over 3,000 people. Folks felt it here in Oregon, and old-growth lumber products were soon sold and shipped in great quantities to help rebuild the flattened city.
*****
Good news? Here.
–“Good Samaritans thwart kidnapping in San Francisco”
–“Notre Dame fire: Disney pledges $5M to help rebuild the ‘Hunchback’s home'”
–“FedEx Driver Spots Fallen American Flag & Doorbell Cam Catches Sweet Reaction.”
–“Identical Twins Earn Full Rides to College Together”
–“What do you do when five baby squirrels accidentally tie their tails together?”
****
On this day in 1930, the BBC reported there was no news, and filled the hour with piano music. I’ll be leaving the keyboard now….join us on the radio, ‘kay? 103.3?
Portland's Daily Drip 