Male’s here! Jon Ritzheimer wants you to stop sending your “hate mail,” to the militia holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. And by hate mail, Ritzheimer means dildos and other assorted dicks. Ritzheimer is one of the douchenozzles self-styled patriots who, a little more than a week ago, commandeered a deserted building in […]
Occupy
Posted inNews
Defeated on the Willamette, Shell Takes the Fight to the Courts
The bridge was up around 7 a.m., but the Fennica went back to the dock. What’s a multibillion-dollar energy giant to do when 13 mean activists in hammocks block its ship from pressing Arctic plunder? Ask the courts for help, apparently. After Shell Oil’s ship the Fennica was forced back into dry dock this morning […]
Posted inPortland
It’s May Day: Let’s Protest!
Photo from 15Now PDX protest in April Today is International Workers Day! In countries across Europe (It’s an official holiday over there—what’s wrong with us, America? No metric system and no International Workers Day? What gives?) and also in the US, thousands take to the streets every May Day to protest for things like workers’ […]
Posted inNews
Portland Tries Pressuring Occupy Protester Not to Appeal Pepper-Spray Case
Hoping to ward off a federal appeal, the city of Portland has taken the unusual step of demanding more than $7,000 in court costs from an Occupy protester who lost a lawsuit seeking damages after taking a face full of pepper-spray during a chaotic anti-bank protest in late 2011. Ben Haile, an attorney for Liz […]
Posted inOccupy
Occupy Portland Earns Right to Jury Trials, Now Will They Get Them?
It’s been nearly two years since cops unceremoniously broke up Occupy Portland’s downtown camps in the name of safety, hygiene, and the health of the city’s grass. It’s also been well over a year and a half since the will-they-won’t-they question of whether Occupy Portland defendants will get jury trials started as a fight between […]
Posted inNews
Three Blocks of SW Fourth Are A Homeless Camp
Dirk VanderHart It’s the one night a year Portland openly allows sidewalk camping, and the city’s homeless are on top of it. For the third year running, homeless rights advocates have pitched dozens of tents along SW Fourth, a bit of judo that exploits the city’s practice of letting parade-goers stake out a spot the […]
Posted inNews
Bankers Attack Credit Unions Over New Program
For years, banks have had it in for credit unions. And this year’s round of legislative fisticuffs is no exception. Oregon bankers, big and small, local and not, are behind three Oregon House bills targeting the state’s credit unions. Of these, HB 2486 is the most extreme. The idea behind the bill backed by the […]
Posted inOccupy
Read This Letter From an Evicted Homeowner
Last Tuesday, Debbie and Ron Austin—two of Portland’s longest-tenured foreclosure resisters—finally got the dreaded doorknocking from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and were rousted, along with their kids, from their Southeast Portland home in the pre-dawn dark. The Austins’ story, however, is especially worth reading. Yes, they got behind on their mortgage payments because of […]
Posted inOccupy
Days After Pepper-Spray Mars Protest, Another Marcher Arrested
Portland police officers—ominously warning that they’ve been combing through video footage of the November 3 anti-austerity protest that saw some two-dozen people eat painful pepper spray—have made a second arrest in connection with the otherwise festive, peaceful event. Yesterday, police announced the arrest of Michael Jay Miguel Hernandez, 30, and said he faces charges including […]
Posted inOccupy
High School Student Pepper Sprayed at Budget Cuts Protest: “It was the Most Painful Thing I’ve Ever Experienced.”
sarah mirk The police posted a video today showing what they describe as “a violent struggle with demonstrators, who were ramming police officers on bicycles” at November 3rd’s mostly festive protest against government cuts where roughly 20 people were pepper sprayed. The video shows a crowd of people holding large wooden banners slowly walking into […]
Posted inOccupy
PHOTOS: Occupy Protests Government Austerity at Lloyd Center—Police Pepper Spray 20
A collection of groups protested government budget cuts in advance of the impending election in Portland’s Lloyd District this afternoon. The mostly festive Occupy, Jobs with Justice, and Portland Action Lab rally and march around the Lloyd Center mall turned surprisingly violent in the middle, when riot police pepper sprayed approximately 20 protesters as they […]
Posted inOccupy
“Our Dreams Don’t Fit in Ballot Boxes”: Big Occupy Protest Tomorrow
The Portland Action Lab and Occupy Portland are encouraging citizens to “vote with your feet” tomorrow for a big protest of cuts to education, healthcare, and social services. The action is taking place tomorrow at 1pm in Holladay Park. The organizers write, “We call on all participants in the Occupy movement, rank-and-file union members, students, […]