Good morning, Portland. Put down those shovels and click these links, please.

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First, out in print yesterday before the planned Donald Trump-related protests next week, is this week's feature on the history of protests in Portland, written by Joe Streckert. Read up.

Also out in print yesterday is this news story about a feud between the city's police watchdog and a notorious Portland police captain: "More generally, the incident has added to ongoing concerns about how Portland holds police accountable, and who should have a say in disciplining bad behavior. Those questions might come before Portland City Council next month."

The 2017 Oregon legislative session is fast approaching and, for the first time in years, politicians won't have the Landlord-Tenant Coalition to rely on for rental housing law. The coalition couldn't agree on no-cause eviction:

And no-cause eviction policy is why a political, lobbying, and public relations battle is brewing at the capitol, with landlord groups warning their members that “powerful,” “radical,” and “confrontational” tenant groups “have the ear” of politicians like House Speaker Tina Kotek and Gov. Kate Brown (Kotek has introduced bills that so-called “radical” groups like Portland Tenants United support). It’s also why tenant groups are so concerned that landlords are consolidating and raising money to “buy off” other politicians so they can keep raking in profits from poor and middle-class renters.

Here's a Portland Tribune story about a Cesar Chavez School science teacher filing a grievance "for creating unsafe working conditions for teachers and failing to meet its legal mandate to provide equal access to students fo color and students with disabilities."

Ok, we should probably talk about the snow.

This is a really good drone video, filmed and uploaded yesterday. Check out the abandoned cars on the Fremont Bridge:

"The heavy snow Portland received Tuesday and Wednesday ranked in the top 5 of the greatest snowfall in 24 hours in the city’s history, as measured in Northeast Portland," KATU says. Gov. Kate Brown and Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency.

The Oregonian is tracking things closed because of the weather today, here.

O reporter Casey Parks wrote a piece on a four-hour journey for a houseless man to get to shelter because the snow.

The Seattle Department of Transportation sent equipment and crews to help dig Portland out, the Tribune reports: "The 11 trucks and 15 crew members arrived in Portland early Thursday. They include four heavy duty and four light duty plows, an aerial lift for downed tree removal, a wood chipper and a chain saw crew truck. Between 10 and 13 inches of snow fell in metro region on Tuesday, clogging streets and toppling trees."

Ok, time to talk about a significantly bigger disaster: Donald Trump.

CNN: "President-elect Donald Trump went nose-to-nose Wednesday with a press corps itching to cross-examine him after more than five months at arm's length, while his top nominees faced off with senators during a strategic crush of confirmation hearings. The raucous 48 hours, beginning on Capitol Hill early Tuesday, represented an unofficial inauguration of the 45th president — a whirlwind welcome to Trump's Washington, a chaotic and contentious place where graying norms seem destined to clash relentlessly with an idiosyncratic administration."

Deadspin, on "why you don't kiss the ring":

Today we saw a “press conference” by our incoming president at which he put forth a farcical plan to allow his own sons to continue running his vast business empire while he is president, and spoke at length about his belief that as president it is impossible for him to have meaningful conflicts of interest, which is why he felt comfortable presenting his decision to turn down a $2 billion business deal with a Middle Eastern real estate mogul as something noble, rather than as an obvious decision that would be made as a matter of course under a normal presidential administration. He dismissed serious reporting that reflected poorly on him as “fake news,” and promised to retaliate against news outlets that displeased him. These things are not normal. These things are not okay. These are actions that flout well-established ethical and civil norms. Admittedly, there is something thrilling about watching him do this. What will he do next? It always keeps us tuning in, in the same way that a violent alcoholic father will always keep his children on his toes. But we should not fool ourselves about what is happening in front of our eyes. We are all coming to realize that our civil society institutions may not be strong enough to protect the flawed but fundamentally solid democracy that we thought we had. We are witnessing the rise to power of a leader who does not care about norms. Since these norms were created to prevent political, social, economic, and cultural disasters, we do not need to wonder how this will end. It will end poorly.


An Alabama representative said criticism of Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions' horrendous civil rights record is a "war on whites." Fuck that guy.

And, finally, something more controversial: