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Just fucking awful: 17 people were killed at a Florida high school yesterday, after a 19-year-old man who'd been expelled from the school opened fire. He used a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, which is a weapon no person needs to own. As usual, the NRA-hamstrung GOP, the party that claims to be deeply concerned about saving unborn children, isn't offering anything but thoughts and prayers for existing children murdered at school.
Your idiot president is calling the shooter "mentally disturbed," as if the biggest common denominator in mass shootings isn't actually ready access to deadly weapons and histories of domestic violence. Trump's planning to speak about the shooting this morning. I recommend watching anything else at all. I hear Moana's good!
Perhaps Trump's got a reason to ignore the domestic violence link: In the wake of White House aide Rob Porter's resignation following news that he was a goddamn alleged repeat batterer, Trump says he's "totally opposed to domestic violence." Which is... deeply unconvincing given that, well, you know.
Today, in conflicts of interest: The O reports on new findings from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission that former Gov. John Kitzhaber may have violated state ethics laws 11 times. The list mainly concerns Kitzhaber's use of his position to benefit fiancée and government payroll recipient Cylvia Hayes' but there's also this bizarre detail. Emphasis mine, because WTF:
Kitzhaber also used his office for personal gain by accepting frequent flyer miles for official state travel and "by permitting state employees to care for Ms. Hayes' pets," according to the report.
Under scrutiny: Staff from a federal boarding school for Native American students in Salem appeared before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce yesterday to respond to questions about Chemawa Indian School. Here's OPB:
In November, [Suzanne] Bonamici and fellow members of the Oregon delegation sent a list of questions to the Bureau of Indian Affairs following an OPB investigation that revealed health and safety shortcomings, questionable diplomas and a culture of secrecy and retaliation at the Salem boarding school.
Today, in bad ideas: Portland architecture firm William Kaven Architecture is moving ahead with that wacky postal building no one asked for.
In Beaverton: International School of Beaverton is on lockout today following a nearby stabbing and robbery.
Good news, maybe: A bipartisan group of senators has come to an agreement on DACA that would protect the status of 1.8 million people eligible for DACA in exchange for increased border security. It would be a huge step forward if the ancient toddler currently running our country doesn't find a way to fuck it up for the rest of us, as is his wont.
Washington State's had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2014. The state senate just voted to repeal it altogether.
Also in Washington State: Raphael A. Sanchez, chief counsel of ICE's Seattle field office, has been charged with trying to steal the identities of people going through immigration proceedings, reports the New York Times.
Today, in product recalls: Hope you haven't been eating any suspicious Australian chocolate.
Here's your update on the Winter Olympics, the only sporting event I truly care about. (Even the cross-country ski races! You can have your head injury monster sports, give me the slow torture of the skiathlon any day of the week!) US alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin won a gold medal in the women's giant slalom yesterday, her first of this Olympics. (She already has one from Sochi.) Everything is terrible but the Winter Olympics*.
Speaking of the Olympics: I don't think we've fully appreciated Mirai Nagasu's triple axel, and since I'm in charge of this news post, you get to see it again. Good morning!
*Except for Shaun White, who honestly needs to hone his apology skills a little better, or at least read Dan Harmon's so he knows what one actually looks like, because, Jesus, dude, get it together.
