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Education Secretary Betsy DuVos recommends forced infection of your children this fall.
Education Secretary Betsy DuVos recommends forced infection of your children this fall. ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Baby I would climb the Andes solely to count the freckles on your body. Never could imagine there were only ten million ways to love somebody. LET'S GO TO PRESS.

• This weekend marked more violent response to protesters from Federal officers (supposedly sent in by Trump) who in the past week have taken an increasingly heavy hand with demonstrators in downtown Portland, firing off more tear gas than even local police. This peaked on Saturday night after feds shot one peaceful protester, Donovan LaBella, in the head with a munition for the crime of holding a speaker above his head. The victim was diagnosed with facial and skull fractures, and though he had finally regained consciousness yesterday, doctors were unsure of his future cognitive state and were making attempts to drain the blood out of his brain.

• Oregon Senators Merkley and Wyden immediately condemned this life-threatening attack on a peaceful protester, quickly followed by Gov. Brown, and Commissioners Hardesty, Fritz, and Eudaly. Mayor Wheeler (the police commissioner) did not comment until late last evening when he had this to say:


The mayor avoided fully condemning the Feds' response, and refused to point out that Portland Police are causing the lion's share of violence night after night. Meanwhile, in stark comparison:

• Local headline of the day (as far as the police are concerned): "Tear gas, riot gear incite protesters. Make targeted arrests instead, experts say."

• The Oregon Health Authority reported 332 new positive coronavirus cases on Sunday, and two new deaths. Reminder that if things continue to progress down this path, the state could be seeing up to 7,300 new cases PER DAY by the end of July.

• A lawsuit has been launched against the Oregon Employment Department for what the plaintiffs call a "staggering" delay in unemployment benefits which have caused "catastrophic" results—especially to low-income Oregonians.

• Portland Public Schools have announced a tentative plan to reopen this fall, IF health authorities say it's safe to do so. It would involve kids splitting the week between home and in-school instruction.

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• Coronavirus cases are surging across the country except in a small handful of states—and how is Trump spending his time? Undercutting his top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (and Trump toady) is pushing for schools to fully reopen this fall... because of course she is... and without offering any plan if and when there are outbreaks.

• Related: An Arizona teacher who taught in-class summer school has died of coronavirus.

• For those keeping score at home: "President Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims."

• Despite hitting a US daily record in Florida (15,000 new cases on Sunday alone!), Republican officials are still planning on attending the GOP convention in Jacksonville.

• A fiery explosion aboard the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard left 17 service people and four civilians injured.

• According to the organization, the Washington Redskins will be changing their decidedly racist name, probably by the beginning of the 2020 season.

• Actress Kelly Preston (Twins, Jerry Maguire) has died of breast cancer at the age of 57.

• And now, let's squint suspiciously skyward at the WEATHER: Expect three gorgeous, sunny days in a row with the highs in the low-to-upper 80s!

• And finally, while this video is too good to be real, the 2020 sentiment behind this is 100 PERCENT ACCURATE: