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Police arrest a protester Saturday evening.
Police arrest a protester Saturday evening. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland

Good morning, Portland. You survived the hottest weekend of the year. Now what?

- Portland's nightly protests continued over the weekend, bringing us into day 80 of consecutive demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice. The past three evenings featured a physical, aggressive response from Portland police officers—who met their weekend step goals by chasing members of the public through residential neighborhoods with no clear reason or purpose. Officers made several arrests that, based on our DA's new protests prosecution rules, will most likely be dismissed.

Here's a clip from Friday night:

- On Saturday afternoon, a group of right-wing protesters affiliated with Patriot Prayer came to the Justice Center to... wave American flags? The group was met by several counter-protesters. Before leaving, one of the flag-wavers allegedly shot live gunshot rounds in the direction of counter-protesters. But, unlike Portland's anti-police protests, this one had no police presence, meaning zero officers witnessed or heard the gunshots. They're reluctantly investigating.

- On Sunday afternoon, a group of boats decked out in Trump swag met up on the Willamette River in downtown Portland to blast classic rock and yell "Trump 2020" at people on the shore. The floating hate crime ended after the boats' wake caused a non-affiliated boat to sink.

- The Oregonian crunched the numbers to find that, since 2003, Portland police have shot and killed 39 people. None of the 65 officers were ultimately disciplined, and 56 of them still work as local officers. Those killed were disproportionally Black.

- Attorneys representing Don't Shoot Portland in a lawsuit against the City of Portland and its police force have asked a federal judge to hold the city in contempt of court, arguing that officers continue to use violent crowd control tactics against nonviolent protesters.

- It's more than just disappearing blue post boxes that have Portland postal workers worried about their leadership undermining the presidential election. As the Mercury's Blair Stenvick reports, there are several recent changes to service that has raised alarm among local United States Postal Service (USPS) employees about hampering Oregon's vote-by-mail system.

- It's these kinds of concerns that have voters across the US pushing state representatives to safeguard USPS before the November election.

- THE BLAZERS ARE HEADED TO THE BUBBLE™️ PLAYOFFS!

- The US isn't the only country actively demonstrating against its government. In Thailand, tens of thousands of people have come out to protest its militaristic government—which continues to "disappear" people critical of its leadership. Tens of thousands of people also took to the streets in Belarus this weekend, decrying the country's dictatorial government.

- Today's day one of the Democratic National Convention. I'm apathetic! But for those genuinely interested, here's an overview of what to expect from this years' virtual Dem party. Oh, and here's an interview of Joe Biden by Cardi B. Will this make him relatable to the youths?


- I have found a mascot for 2020 and it is the fire tornado: