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Good morning, Portland. It's over, y'all! On Saturday, national media outlets called the presidential race, declaring former Veep Joe Biden the next leader of the United States. Right-wing party poopers spent the weekend spreading half-baked conspiracy theories about voter fraud while lefties dedicated themselves to shaming progressives for feeling an ounce of joy and relief for visualizing a future without Trump in the Oval Office. In the words of queen Rebecca Solnit: To hope is to give yourself to the future—and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” To quote myself, Alex Zielinski: "Don't be a turd."

- Here's a new lede I've been waiting for: "On Saturday, Donald Trump finally became the one thing he hates the most: a loser." And here are some vindicating photos and anecdotes from Trump's drive home from the golf course where he learned he had lost his reelection bid.

- What's that—the Biden-Harris team have already put together a transition page? With a COVID-19 recovery plan? I'm personally holding out for the housing and anti-eviction policy to drop, but the idea of a president actually acknowledging and embracing the country's problems is a dang relief.

- On a similar note, Biden's already fine-tuning a suite of executive orders to reverse the Trump Administration's worst decisions. For starters, rejoining the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization, repealing the Muslim travel ban, reinstating the program allowing children (or "DREAMers") who were brought to the United States illegally as children, to remain in the country.

- Americans rejoiced the Biden-Harris win with both large and tiny celebrations Saturday:

Large:

Tiny:

- Georgia campaign workers, volunteers, and organizers are the true heroes f this election—but their work isn't over yet. In fact, election night was just the beginning for two runoff elections that could determine the fate of the US Senate's political majority. Get up to speed.

- Whattaya know: Despite the "warnings of violence, threats of foreign interference, rampant disinformation, cuts to the Postal Service, President Trump’s sowing of distrust and a pandemic that forced the relocation of thousands of polling places," the US had a relatively smooth election.

- A new analysis of Pfizer's experimental COVID-19 vaccine has been found to be more than 90 percent effective. It's the most positive vaccine results we've seen since the scramble to quell the virus began.

- Some 2,000 pro-Trump sore losers with guns met up at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Saturday—a must-win state the president lost—for a "heavily armed pity party."

- Oregon saw a similar gathering in Salem Saturday, with right-wing Trump pals getting in grumpy yelling matches with everyone—including journalists.

- On Sunday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown finally lifted the order putting Oregon State Police and Multnomah County deputies in charge of public safety in Portland leading up to and during the election. Later that night, activists marched through Southeast Portland and vandalized Multnomah County Democrats' building.

- On Friday, commissioner-elect Mingus Mapps held a press conference with other Black Portlanders condemning activists' decision to target City Commissioner Dan Ryan's house for not voting for police budget cuts. The meeting set the tone for Mapps' leadership, which will officially start in January.

- As we enter rainy/cold/gloom season, Oregon's COVID-19 numbers continue to climb. On Friday, Gov. Kate Brown announced new temporary restrictions for five Oregon counties—including Multnomah County—that could help keep slow the virus' velocity across vulnerable communities. On Sunday, Oregon reported a whopping 874 new COVID-19 diagnoses. Stay home, stay safe, wear a mask, stop opening your mouth when strangers sneeze, etc.

- Tuesday’s election results for the Portland mayoral race quickly splintered local progressives, with supporters of Don't Shoot Portland's Teressa Raiford supporters applauding the turnout and Sarah Iannarone backers accusing the write-in campaign of siphoning votes away from a candidate that could have beat Wheeler. On Wednesday, the Mercury spoke with Raiford about the election results, her role in the race, and what it says about the Portland establishment.

- America lost our favorite nerd uncle, Alex Trebek. The charismatic 80-year-old Jeopardy! host died from pancreatic cancer Sunday after announcing his diagnosis a few years' back. In his honor, here's a Mercury cover story written by former News Editor Denis Theraiult about his own experiencing winning the game show—and hanging out with Trebek.

I'll leave you on this deeply cheesy note: