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Good morning, Portland! Weather report: Light rain. The Mercury's Holiday Drink Week report: Happening. Use the latter as a way to boost your spirits about the former. Find the map of $10 holiday drinks here. On my radar: The spiked spiced eggnog at Clarklewis, Grand Central Bowl's Malibu-peppermint-chocolate extravaganza, and the really special looking whiskey sour at Taylor Street Tavern. Cheers!
Time for the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland-area housing authority Home Forward, which helps connect low-income Portlanders to affordable housing with Section 8 housing vouchers, is forced to make cutbacks amid a massive budget shortfall. The organization says it's dealing with a $35 million budget deficit, in part due to federal cuts, which will require layoffs and a pause in issuing new housing vouchers. This problem comes as Portland leaders, particularly Mayor Keith Wilson, have been pushing for more shelters in an attempt to "end unsheltered homelessness." But the lack of local and federal support for getting—and keeping—people in affordable housing will make that goal much more difficult.
• Despite a judge’s ruling in favor of the states, Trump has been withholding millions in counterterrorism and emergency planning funds from Oregon and 19 other states, citing their refusal to cooperate with his ICE crackdown. In Oregon, that means the loss of $18 million, which the state has previously used to hire security analysts and pay for bomb detectors. The loss of funds could put Oregon at higher risk for extremist attacks, which has already been a big problem for us in recent years. Check out OPB and ProPublica's reporting on this topic, which details the fight that's been quietly playing out over this funding.
• Another healthcare worker strike in the PNW:
The workers, who unionized in 2023, voted overwhelmingly in October to authorize a strike.
— The Oregonian (@oregonian.com) December 2, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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• Do This, Do That is Portland's own advent calendar! 🤩 For you to open up and enjoy this week: The Fungi Film Fest at Cinema 21 on Thursday, Krampuslauf PDX on Friday (starting at Sewallcrest Park), Holiday Photos with the Grinch at the Lloyd Center Saturday, and Matt Rogers' Christmas comedy show at Aladdin Theater on Sunday. Plus, MUCH MORE (and not all Christmas-y stuff!). Find out more here.
Holocene and synths go hand-in-hand, making the Central Eastside venue perfect for Olivia Block's long awaited return to Portland.
Joined by Pete Swanson of Yellow Swans and Seth Nehil of Hopscotch in a round robin style concert, the short set was sweet beyond belief.
Review ➡️ shorturl.at/pcJbE
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) December 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• There's a special election in Tennessee today for a vacant US House seat, and it could be a real nail biter. While the seat would typically be an easy win for a conservative candidate, Republicans seem very nervous about the election, and are playing a truly pathetic game of defense in an attempt to help their candidate, Matt Van Epps. Their nerves probably come from the very tight margins in Congress, as well as the gains progressives made in the November elections this year. President Trump himself has even weighed in on the race, making the very dubious claim that if Van Epps wins, it'll show the word that the "Republican Party is stronger than it's ever been." Well, no! It won't say much at all. Now, if the Democratic candidate, Aftyn Behn, wins, that'll say something huge about how unpopular Trump and his policies have been in the last year. It'll also give Democrats an edge to take back the House next year.
Now, as much as I think we should be civically engaged regardless of who is in the White House (I stand against the "If Kamala was president, we'd be at brunch" protest sign), I do think it's kind of ridiculous that our political situation has gotten to the point where I'm going to spend a Tuesday evening anxiously refreshing the news to find out about politics in Tennessee, a state I've never been to, for a race I just heard about yesterday. But maybe that says more about my mental state than anything else.
• The Oxford Word of the Year has been announced, and it's actually two words. And it might make you mad. The word is "rage bait," which Oxford defines as "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive," which is "typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account." Can I use it in a sentence? "Oxford was rage baiting us when they picked their 2025 word of the year." If you think this is rough, other top contenders for the title included "aura farming" and "biohack." Last year, they picked "brain rot." But it's not Oxford we should be mad at. They're just picking words that reflect society right now. And society is in its rage baiting era. We should do more aura farming if we don't want to continue being chopped and unc. (How Do You Do Fellow Kids Dot Gif)
• Among all the assholes currently in our world, this guy is definitely top five. Good thing he's in charge of the US Department of Defense (ahem, WAR).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces growing scrutiny over an attack on an alleged drug boat. His response included a parody of the kids' book character Franklin, showing the turtle firing at boats. n.pr/4iI8PLR
— NPR (@npr.org) December 2, 2025 at 9:17 AM
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• Fox News will be in court again today for a multibillion dollar defamation lawsuit brought by the voting technology firm Smartmatic, which Fox hosts accused of participating in "stealing" the presidential election from Donald Trump in 2020. Fox previously lost a very similar lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, and the network was made to pay a record $787.5 million to resolve the case. Now, Smartmatic is suing for a truly massive $2.7 billion. Let's all hope this voting machine company gets its bag.
• Bong Joon Ho does it again. Let's all hate AI more!!!! And have excellent Tuesdays.
