Fired president tells FDA Commish Stephen Hahn to approve vaccine or he too will be fired.
Fired president tells FDA Commish Stephen Hahn to approve vaccine or he too will be fired. Pool / Getty Images

Here’s your daily roundup of all the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to the Mercury to keep it comin’!)

• As 1,611 new positive COVID-19 cases were reported today, Gov. Brown and health officials gave a press conference to talk about the upcoming vaccine rollout, when the general population can expect it, and how to convince Oregon’s sizable anti-vaxxer contingent to take it. Our Blair Stenvick has more.

• Oregon’s healthcare workers—and not just those on the front line, but contact tracers and testing site teams as well—are nearing their breaking point as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to rise.

• Think you know enough about the current Red House occupation to voice your possibly uninformed opinion? HOLD UP THERE, SPARKY. Cover your bases by reading this very informative FAQ on what inspired the North Portland blockade, and how the city and community is responding. In other Red House news: The Oregonian is reporting that the Red House’s current owner—a house-flipper—is interested in selling the house back to the recently evicted tenants.

• Looking for the latest restaurant gossip, news, and delicious new things to stuff in your mouth? Don’t miss our weekly FOOD & DRINK NEWS ROUNDUP!

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• TOO BAD, SO SAD: As just about everyone expected (except those Republicans too cowardly to admit it), Trump’s embarrassingly terrible Texas lawsuit that desperately wanted to overturn the election in his favor has been rejected by the Supreme Court and has gone down in glorious flames. (Ya done, shithead! Pack ya bags!)

• But get this! Before the Supreme Court shot it down, two more states joined the absolutely hopeless Texas lawsuit that wanted to overturn the will of millions of voters, and… wait… this just in: Those two states—New Nevada and New California—DO NOT EXIST.

• Today in “HEY DUMMY! THAT ISN’T HELPING!”: The chief of the FDA was told that he’d be fired by the lame duck White House unless he announces the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the day. (He should wait until 12:01 am, and flip off Trump as he’s doing it.)

• We hate to say “we told ya so,” but since so many refused to listen… WE TOLD YA SO. From the AP: “Across the country, contact tracers and emergency room doctors are hearing repeatedly from new coronavirus patients that they socialized over Thanksgiving with people outside their households, despite emphatic public-health warnings to stay home and keep their distance from others.”

• You actually hate to see it: “Snow leopard at Kentucky zoo tests positive for coronavirus.”

• The Senate has approved a defense policy bill that lame duck loser Trump has threatened to veto because… [checks notes] “it doesn’t clamp down on big tech companies he claims were biased during the election”? Congress will almost certainly override any veto from this lame duck loser.

• Today in “Oh god no… noooooooooo”: Harrison Ford will return in a fifth ‘Indiana Jones’ movie.”

• You have sex and/or relationship problems (or like to hear about those who do), right? Then don’t miss the hilarious SAVAGE LIVESTREAM—in which the honorable Dan Savage answers all your sexy questions LIVE. It’s this Saturday, Dec 12… don’t you dare miss it!

• THE WEATHER REPORT: Cloudy, but much drier tomorrow with a high of 46, but rain returns with a vengeance on Sunday!

And finally, now it’s time for your “Friday Moment of Self-Reflection.”

Bang bang, choo-choo train, let me see you shake that thang. Wm. Steven Humphrey is the editor-in-chief of the Portland Mercury and has held the job since 2000. (So don’t get any funny ideas.)

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