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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! 👋
You can expect a mostly cloudy week with occasional rain showers and highs in the low 50s—so maybe instead of a "White Christmas," a "Muddy Christmas" will do? In any case, since you'll be mostly stuck indoors, it's a perfect time to take the Mercury's SEX SURVEY! It's anonymous, so you can answer all our very probing questions with complete honesty, and in January you can read all the steamy results in our upcoming "LOVE/SEX" print issue! And now allow us to continue raining on your parade with the morning NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Incoming Mayor Keith Wilson ran his campaign on the promise that he'll get houseless people into shelters—and according to various city and county officials he's already making some headway. In this report from our Courtney Vaughn, she drops the deets on how Wilson (along with current Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson) will be opening at least 200 new winter emergency shelter beds “to provide urgent relief to unsheltered Portlanders as the weather gets colder and wetter.” (Think Rene Gonzalez would've been able to accomplish that? Me, neither.)
Get ready for this week's holly-jolly edition of POP QUIZ PDX! This week's holiday themed trivia quiz includes alleged dolphin dildos, supposed Oregon UFOs, and Santa wants to know what you want for Xmas! 😀 See how well YOU score!
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 10:01 AM
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• As expected, the reelection of Trump has emboldened racists across the country, and that includes the tiny coastal town of Toledo, Oregon, where city leaders received a letter advising citizens to begin recording the license plates of undocumented immigrants (they used a much more callous, racist term) in advance of what they called a government "roundup" in late January. While city leaders are speaking out against the racist campaign, they also admit they probably don't have enough resources to track down the asshole(s) behind the letter.
• The prospect of a high speed train that would whisk riders from Portland to Vancouver, BC, and back just got a skootch closer to reality after the feds awarded $49.7 million to the Washington State Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of the plan. If it ever does get built, the plan is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars, and would require the building of a new commuter-only rail line to carry the train which could hit speeds of up to 250 mph.
• Check out the great photos and story from guest contributor Corbin Smith who documented the seventh annual celebration of Björk's birthday with a spectacular night of drag, called "Björk Friday." Besides being a poop-ton of fun, why do they do it? Read the story and find out.
Whether you're accustomed to ordering egg foo young every Yuletide or would just like to try something new this year, we've gathered our favorite Chinese restaurants in the Portland area for your consideration.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 2:41 PM
everout.com/portland/art...
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IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• A report by the House Ethics Committee has accused shoebox-head, drip-dick Republican former Rep. Matt Gaetz of regularly paying for sex, taking drugs (including coke and ecstasy), and having sex with a 17-year-old girl—in other words, exactly what everyone expected. Besides violating House rules for accepting lavish gifts, Gaetz is also accused of breaking Florida’s ban on statutory rape, though there was not enough evidence to indicate that he also violated federal sex trafficking laws. Though the report was released this morning, Gaetz filed a lawsuit to block the report... which, ummm, we've already read? So good luck with that, I guess. 🙄
Breaking news: Former congressman Matt Gaetz regularly paid for sex, possessed illegal drugs and paid a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a 42-page report released by the House Ethics Committee on Monday.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) December 23, 2024 at 8:22 AM
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• After Trump floated the idea of reinstating federal executions, President Biden parried by announcing that he would commute the sentences of 37 (AKA nearly all) inmates on federal death row. All of these prisoners will serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, while three others who were convicted of mass murder will remain eligible for the death penalty.
• As we know, the way to reeeeeeally annoy Trump is to show how weak and ineffective he is, and the Dems have been doing a great job of that by insisting that Elon Musk is the real power behind the Republican party. After Musk nearly single-handedly tanked the bipartisan plan to save the government from shutting down, Dems have been calling him "President Musk" which has annoyed Trump to no end, and forced him to speak out on the matter, saying that Musk will never become president because "he wasn't born in this country." (Does that mean he's gonna get kicked out of the US with all the other immigrants?)
Donald Trump hinted he still wants to buy Greenland, a self-ruling territory of Denmark, saying that US ownership and control of the island is an “absolute necessity” for national security
— Bloomberg (@bloomberg.com) December 23, 2024 at 5:21 AM
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• Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO and internet folk hero to those who despise the insurance industry's corrupt, life-threatening practices, appeared in New York State Supreme Court today to plead not guilty to charges of murder and terrorism. Mangione's lawyer insisted that her client would not be able to get a fair trial due to the way police paraded the suspect in front of the media, while outside the courtroom, a crowd gathered to chant the words, "Free Luigi."
• And finally... what I say to people who ask me if I'm in the Christmas spirit yet.
@citizen_ck #tistheseason #holidayspirit #themanwhocametodinner #1942 #bettedavis #maggiecutler #montywoolley #sheridanwhiteside #shutyournastylittleface ♬ original sound - citizen_ck