'Twas President's Day yesterday, so: protest. Things turned oddly sour at a small anti-Trump demonstration near the downtown federal building, as cops responded to relatively benign acts with swift force. Doug got the goods.
Portland police suggest to the Oregonian that this sort of response is the new normal, that they're sick of dealing with protesters without permits blocking roads. The ACLU of Oregon, which has pushed back against police crackdowns on demonstrations, says the PPB is dead wrong.
Rude awakening: Protests didn't only take place downtown yesterday. A contingent of people headed up into the West Hills last night and rousted Mayor Ted Wheeler from his pre-sleep reveries to demand he acknowledge demands the city divest from companies that support the Dakota Access Pipeline. Wheeler was not pleased. His wife Katrina: even less so.
The owner of a Southeast Portland insurance agency fatally shot a man outside his business yesterday, after a confrontation. Early witness statements suggest the victim might have been a homeless person who'd left belongings outside the agency and became upset that they were thrown away. That's not been confirmed by cops yet.
More bad news for the Portland couple who allowed their two-year-old to slip out of their Northeast Portland home this weekend, spurring a large-scale search that found the boy huddled in a blackberry bush. Their son is now in state custody.
This video of the odd, fatal attack on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother messed me up yesterday. What even happened? What poison is this? The fragility of life!
In my shaken state, my interest was piqued by news that Russia's ambassador to the United Nations died on Monday. But there was no freakish airport assassination at play. Which is reassuring.
“We expect the president of the U.S. to base his statements on facts." Hey, Sweden? Bad news.
When he's not spouting off about nonexistent Swedish terror attacks, Donald Trump is working to fill holes in his staff. For instance: He got a national security adviser. I mean, he already had a national security adviser, but that national security adviser lied about his conversations with Russia. And then Trump's next pick turned him down. But now—NOW—he's got a national security adviser: three-star General H.R. McMaster, who people seem generally impressed with.
By the way: Republicans aren't the only lawmakers facing heat at their district town hall events. Conservatives are using the forums to pressure Democratic senators to confirm Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch.
Worst February. It's official.
