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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋
Get ready for a decidedly cooler start to the week, with showers and highs in the mid-50s today and tomorrow. And here's your reminder to start streeeeeetching out your stomach now, because the Mercury's famous and delicious PIZZA WEEK is starting next Monday, April 14! Get your one-of-a-kind scrumptious slices for only four damn dollars from Portland's top 68 (!) pizza slingers all week long... and now allow me to sling some NEWS at ya!
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland showed up BIG TIME for our version of the nationwide "Hands Off!" protest on Saturday, with an estimated 10,000 people taking to downtown Portland, as well as smaller marches all over the city. In case you haven't emerged from your cave, hundreds of thousands marched and demonstrated across the US to protest the handiwork of King Fool (and his Republican lackeys) in their attempt to deport immigrants, wreck the federal government, and destroy the economy with what is probably an AI-generated tariff plan. According to Portland Police, there was only one arrest for alleged minor vandalism, and the massive turnout should prove once and for all that the anti-Trump resistance is alive and well. Our Taylor Griggs has more!
Those who attended Portland's “Hands Off” rally against the Trump administration on April 5 showed a range of specific, and sometimes conflicting, motivations and protest philosophies. Still, the well-attended event was largely seen as a success for mobilization against Trump and his collaborators.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) April 7, 2025 at 8:02 AM
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• In the latest edition of our Taylor Grigg's excellent Street View column, she asks the important question, "is bigger actually better?"—particularly when we're talking about the plan to expand I-5 in the Rose Quarter. While "abundance" is making the rounds as a problematic Democratic buzz word right now, smarty-pants Griggs rightly points out that the situation is far more complicated than the "build bigger" crowd is letting on. Check out Street View for more!
• Trump's federal officials have taken aim at a University of Oregon student (who the school has not publicly identified), and have terminated their student visa. While supporters have raised more than $10,000 for the international student’s legal aid, the person only has until the end of the week to figure out a way to stay or leave the country. And surprise, surprise, the feds refuse to give a reason for revoking the student's visa.
Michael Hurley: 1941-Forever.
Rest easy, Snock.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) April 6, 2025 at 4:52 PM
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• Portland's oldest steakhouse (and one of the oldest eateries in the city), RingSide Steakhouse, was forced to close up Saturday when a fire swept through its kitchen. While the fire was extinguished, Saturday night dinner service was canceled, and it's unclear when the restaurant might reopen.
Hey trivia lovers! It's time to play this week's super fun edition of POP QUIZ PDX. This week's quizzy Qs include: a very sketchy farmer's market, dipshit politicians, and what's to become of that deeply stupid Uncle Sam billboard? See how well YOU score!
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) April 3, 2025 at 9:56 AM
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IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• The stock market continues its disastrous dive for a third straight day as King Fool's dipshit tariffs and trade war (which he is psychotically calling "a very beautiful thing") continue to wreak havoc within the global economy. Despite the very obvious damage this is causing, Trump is digging in his heels, swearing never to back down, and is begging his minions to be patient as their livelihoods are slowly being drained away. Even Trump's own billionaire toady, Elon Musk, has been criticizing the tariffs—but of course for no other reason than its damaging his already failing brands. The best part? The collapsing global stock market now has its own name: "Orange Monday."
Tesla’s stock has plummeted to a new low only three weeks after the commerce secretary advised Americans to buy it because “it’ll never be this cheap again.”
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 7:27 AM
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• As previously mentioned, America really turned out for Saturday's "Hands Off" mass demonstrations against Trump and his spineless Republican lackeys, holding no less than 1,300 rallies across the country which attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters, and outpacing all expectations.
One of my favorite weird signs at the rally
— Adia Benton (@ethnography911.bsky.social) April 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM
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• Anti-vaxxer and baby bear kidnapper RFK Jr. visited the epicenter of the current measles epidemic in Texas, where two children have died from the entirely preventable disease. Roughly 500 Texans have contracted measles after refusing to get the widely available vaccine, and the disease is reportedly spreading to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Mexico. While RFK has been preaching the anti-vaxx gospel for years, now that he's being faced with the death of children on his watch, he's being forced to admit that the vaccine is "the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles."
President Donald Trump’s administration urged the Supreme Court to block a lower court order requiring officials to bring a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador back to Maryland.
— CNN (@cnn.com) April 7, 2025 at 8:22 AM
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• More weather troubles for the Midwest and South as major storms bring deadly flash floods, particularly in Georgia and eastern Alabama. At least 21 people have died as a result of the storms, and Kentucky received a whopping 15.59 inches of rain within a four-day period.
• And finally, I don't know who needs to hear this, but here's your reminder than when faced with "catastrophe," before you panic, it's best to look at it from all angles.
@akamztwenty20 ♬ original sound - Sound Central
