Hello, friends! How was your weekend? Ready for a busy and productive week? Today is Monday, November 18, 2019, the last full working week before Thanksgiving and all that comes with it! Today’s Portland weather? Rain, mainly in the afternoon. Areas of morning fog. Highs around 55. Sunrise 7:13 AM Sunset 4:37 PM.
President Trump made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed over the weekend, and though some media reports say it was because of “chest discomfort,” the White House denies that, saying it was just “a portion” of a routine medical exam. Trump tweeted, “Visited a great family of a young man under major surgery at the amazing Walter Reed Medical Center. Those are truly some of the best doctors anywhere in the world. Also began phase one of my yearly physical. Everything very good (great!). Will complete next year.”
Portlander Gordon Sondland gets another ride Wednesday on the impeachment train chugging along in DC, only this time it’s on live TV. Impeachment activists are planning a protest outside his Sentinel Hotel on Tuesday from 4 to 5; organizers call it “… a unique opportunity to make it clear to Sondland that we expect him to come clean and tell the FULL truth at his public testimony before Congress.”
Breaking news overnight…Ten people were shot, four of them fatally, at a Sunday Night Football watching party in Fresno when somebody sneaked into the backyard and fired into the crowd. No suspects are in custody.
It took a couple of months, but we’re glad to say that Portland cops arrested a 22-year-old guy for putting a bullet hole in a car during a road range exchange at 82nd and Powell back in September. Plus, they seized a semiautomatic handgun—the same one they believe was used in the shooting.
Somebody vandalized the Washington state capitol over the weekend, and stuck a knife into the door of the Temple of Justice where the state Supreme Court gathers.
OK, it’s unavoidable, so: there’s a 30-foot tower of plastic poop in Portland’s Living Room today, in honor of World Toilet Day. It’s, what, thirty feet away from the Christmas Tree that just arrived Friday. Fabulous. But it’s for a good cause, raising money to improve sanitation in third world countries, so. It happens.
Ducks win, Beavers win, a great football weekend for the good guys in the valley. The Ducks have thus clinched the Pac 12 North and are rated #6 in the AP poll, with Utah up to #7; that’s going to be a heck of a Pac 12 championship game. And the Beavers actually have a shot at a spot in a bowl game, but only if they can beat the Cougars this coming weekend. Or the Ducks in the Civil War.
Both of Oregon’s big college women’s basketball teams continue to roll; over the weekend, the Beavers beat Missouri State to win the preseason WNIT championship in Corvallis. And the mighty Ducks pulverized Texas Southern 99-63 Saturday in Eugene, where the visitors had to play the game in their practice uniforms with numbers fashioned out of athletic tape, because their uniforms were stolen from their hotel.
Nice to see the Blazers get a road win in San Antonio! They’re at the Houston Rockets today at 5 PM, and their thinking is that Carmelo Anthony will join the team for Tuesday’s game against the New Orlean Pelicans. That’ll be fun. He’s had a long rest from the NBA, and will be eager to show he’s got something left in the tank.
The Portland Winterhawks dominated Winnipeg 4-1 last night at the VMC.
Happy birthday to celebrity spokesrodent Mickey Mouse (1928).
We’re just a day past the peak of the prolific Leonid meteor shower, when the earth’s orbit crosses the tail of the comet Tempel-Tuttle and tiny crumbs of debris burn up sometimes spectacularly in the atmosphere. Tonight it’s expected to be cloudy, and even if the clouds do part the blob of a moon may blot out some of the action, but if you want to give it a go, dress warmly and head outside late at night, give your eyes plenty of time to adjust to the darkness, and just gaze around the heavens. The meteorites emanate from the Leo constellation, but long streaks may be visible just about anywhere.
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Click on the Coffee Cup for details on today’s good news headlines!
–“Everybody should have a boss like this!”
–“Heroic Puppy Dives In Water To Save Drowning Cat And Piggybacks Her To Safety”
–“13 children of fallen 9/11 firefighters are graduating FDNY Academy”
–“Female Thunderbird pilot inspiring others to chase their dreams”
–“Toddler Sings Adorable Version of ‘What A Wonderful World’ to Baby Sister.”
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It’s Monday before a long holiday week, so we all have lots to accomplish to clear the decks for the Thanksgiving holiday. So let’s get after it. Have a great day, everyone!
Portland's Daily Drip 