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Good Afternoon, Portland. Where are you atâmentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically? While I wouldn't be so rude as to ask for optimism, remember that you aren't alone. There's a big alligator at the end of this news blast. LET'S GETT'M.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
⢠Within hours of this morning's US Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional right to abortion, Oregon reproductive rights advocates spoke to Oregonians about changes to come. Oregon is one of several states preparing to help people seeking the health care procedure, if it is banned in their home state. "Don't assume your community is free right now because you havenât been targeted yet," warned Sandy Chung, director of the ACLU of Oregon. "Nobodyâs free until everybody's freeâbecause theyâre coming after all of us."
⢠Abortion is still legal in Oregonâthe right enshrined in our state constitutionâbut the Mercury's Isabella Garcia put together a list of organizations that use donations to help people have access to abortions and abortion-related services, in this state and others.
⢠If you're following the protests in Portland tonight, the Mercury's Alex Zielinski is on the ground. Follow her for updates:
Iâm down at Salmon St fountain where @PPAdvocatesOR and @prochoiceoregon are rallying against todays SCOTUS ruling. Some vibes: pic.twitter.com/iuLvxPAbS8
â Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) June 25, 2022
⢠Some will be called to action over this morning's revelation. Some will only have time to reminisce. What will they remember? Perhaps that only one Portland city commissioner showed up to speak at the recent Saturday "Bans Off Our Bodies" rally:
We knew this was coming, but that doesnât make todayâs decision any less upsetting or harmful. Access to abortion is fundamental to our right to control our own bodies. I have been fighting for these rights my whole life and am not about to stop now. pic.twitter.com/N9pyOzaly8
â Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty (@JoAnnPDX) June 24, 2022
⢠Well, America is ridiculous, but it's Fridayâand if you're not in the streets you may want to shake off some of that rage energy on the dance floor. I'm a firm believer that joy in the face of oppression is resistance. So in that spirit, get over to the three-day Good in the Hood, put on the new Lambo Lawson, and check out the weekend's excellent DJ nightsâone of which offers free entry to those dressed like Mariah Carey.
⢠IF YOU'RE GOING TO STRESS EAT, you may as well do it on the cheap. The Mercury's Sandwich Week is still doing good sandwich-y things in Portland (and Beaverton). Through Sunday, June 26, 30 (!) local restaurants have $8 sammiesâincluding several vegan and vegetarian optionsâto carb over your extremely valid anxieties.
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
⢠WELL, as we mentioned above, today the Supreme Court's of the United States overturned Roe v. Wadeâshifting the legality of the health procedure to individual states and triggering laws that immediately banned it in eight of them.
⢠In his concurring opinion on today's SCOTUS ruling, Clarence Thomas set his dead lights on three other landmark privacy protection cases, which respectively protect the rights of married people to have access to contraception, the rights of same-sex activity at all, and the right to gay marriage.
There is really an entire genre of elite centrist-ish punditry devoted to telling people they are not seeing the things happening in front of their faces https://t.co/zr1CKvFYf3
â Adam Serwer đ (@AdamSerwer) June 24, 2022
⢠THIS ENERGY FOR THE WEEKEND. STAY SAFE. BE GATOR.
pic.twitter.com/bYeSh3fAwS
â Gators Daily đ (@GatorsDaily) June 24, 2022