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Good Morning, Portland. What a week.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland Police and the Port of Portland Police Department announced Thursday that the agencies purchased a $150,000 robot dog (with a federal grant) to add to the local bomb squad's small arsenal of six (now seven) machines meantfor use in high risk scenarios, like potential bomb or hostage situations. The Oregonian attended a demonstration where the Boston Dynamics Agile Mobile Robot AKA "Spot" worked in tandem with a living, bomb-sniffing dog, who alerted on a bag that Spot quickly picked up and moved. The Oregonian notes that the robot dog won't be armed and "is not intended to confront people." She's pretty good on stairs. The episode of Black Mirror that you're reaching for is "Metalhead."
• The area's environmental advocates had hopes that Portland's new City Council would be able to challenge or reverse the previous council's permissiveness with Zenith Energy's 6-mile liquid fuels tank farm in Northwest Portland. However, a meeting this week left many wondering if there's much the current council can do, or if the Land Use Statement is essentially "preordained" to go forward. Mercury reporter Taylor Griggs explains the confusing situation.
• This summer, Portland may see TWO official World Naked Bikes Rides, which makes sense because the single ride had gotten too big.
Portland now seems to be home to TWO World Naked Bike Rides, both of which are planning events this summer.
— Jamie Hale (@jamiehale.bsky.social) January 23, 2025 at 11:28 AM
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• Looking for the Friday morning ticket drops? The EverOut calendar team put together a list of shows currently on sale, on sale today, and a few you may want to keep on your calendar.
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• National news is depressing. We read so you can skim.
• Earlier in the month, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired missiles at a six-story apartment building in Ain El Delb, Lebanon. It collapsed, and 73 people were killed. The IDF claimed the building was a "terrorist command centre," however an investigation from the BBC verified the identities of 68 of the 73 people. Evidence suggests that six were linked to Hezbollah. 62 were civilians, and of those, 23 were children.
• The US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, was one of the most heavily-documented sieges in history. There's just so much video and in-depth video analysis. So it's particularly frustrating to watch President Donald Trump and his followers try to rewrite history, portraying the mobs crushing through broken windows and doors, trampling one another, and fighting with the local police forces as non-violent, peaceful, and loving. Just bullshit. Bullshit. That's bullshit. You can't lie about things we can see.
• This week, Trump issued pardons for the over 1,500 people charged with Jan 6-related crimes. The accounts of their victims receiving those release notifications are particularly chilling.
"When inmates are released from federal prison, the Justice Department places a call to their victims, notifying them that the defendant who attacked them is now free. On Tuesday, the phones of U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. police officers were buzzing nonstop." www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/u...
— Bill McCarthy (@billmccarthy.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 2:16 PM
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• Interesting to note that Trump has ordered the security details for three members of his former administration removed.
• In response to a lawsuit from Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon, a federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump's executive order seeking to strip people of their right to automatic birthright citizenship. And while it's not uncommon to find a judge willing to block a law going into effect, the people who like to waggle their eyebrows are excited that this judge, who called the order "blatantly unconstitutional," was appointed by Ronald Regan—the big "trickle down" Reaganomics daddy himself.
• 100 years ago today, walkable urbanism became much less legal.
100 years ago today, Los Angeles invented jaywalking:
"On Sat, Jan. 24, 1925...disobedient pedestrians were suddenly "jaywalkers." It was not the first jaywalking law in the US, [but] it’s the one that worked, as far as drivers were concerned. And it is the ancestor of such laws nationwide."
— David Zipper (@davidzipper.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 5:05 AM
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• Please stop saying that thing about Donald Trump signing an executive order making everyone in the country female. Embryos are not default female—I had a super weird majority-religious education, and I still know that. Furthermore, everyone could stand to consider the deep spiritual cavern of the scientific method, wherein all this shit we know is essentially results based on observations and trials. This isn't magical. Nothing happens 100 percent of the time. Generally human beings with XY chromosomes display masc traits, but there's also such a thing as being a person and possessing innate truths. To paraphrase the apostle Paul—who FYI was born Saul, fucking converted, and chaaaaanged that name, girlfriend: When I was an embryo, I did embryo things, like having DNA and floating. Being an adult human being is noticeably more complicated.
• Not only is it a depressing time of year, it's also awards season. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the list of nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards.
• Links to Twitter / X have been banned from several popular subreddits, like r/nintendo for instance. The idea was briefly discussed on r/Portland before a mod noted that links to Twitter / X were generally already banned.
• On the day of Trump's second presidential inauguration, Mountain Goats uploaded a high definition version of the video to their infamous "This Year." Released in 2005 and adopted by people in their feelings everywhere, the song's proud chorus proclaims: "I am going to make it through this year if it kills me."
