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Good morning, Portland! It’s looking to be a nice weekend, with highs in the upper 70s and no rain until next week. Let’s get straight to the news 📰
IN LOCAL NEWS:
You probably haven’t noticed, but the Mercury rarely, if ever, publishes editorial opinion pieces. But weird news this week pushed us over the edge, and we felt it was our duty to say something. In this piece—a five-byline unicorn—our full news team, managing editor, and editor-in-chief argue that this week’s attacks on Councilor Mitch Green from the Portland Police Association, the Portland Police Bureau chief, multiple city councilors, the mayor, and others are a dangerous, anti-democratic attempt from a shook status quo to meddle in local elections. The Oregonian published a story earlier this week after Green’s 2020 tweets responding to police violence resurfaced, thanks to a small, right-wing propagandist providing the info to the paper of record. It created a firestorm, with the police union president calling on Green to resign. The Mercury‘s editorial said it cannot stand idly by while local leaders try to intimidate elected officials and meddle in elections, saying Portlanders are smart and will understand the dynamics at play (monied, conservative forces fighting against progressive leaders and candidates). And we brought receipts as a reminder of why the city protested: Black Lives Matter, and the history of policing in America is one of systemic racism and violence against vulnerable people. “This is not about one councilor,” the op-ed says. “It is about how we hold onto a free and fair democracy locally, in the face of federal efforts to consolidate power and bully anyone who disagrees.” Read the full op-ed by Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey, News Editor Courtney Vaughn, News Reporters Taylor Griggs and Jeremiah Hayden, and Managing Editor Katherine Chew Hamilton.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has released her policy proposals for a second term. OPB reported Thursday evening that Kotek’s priorities include affordability, boosting the economy, improving schools—including universal preschool—and defending the state against President Donald Trump’s policies that leave people hungry and sick. Kotek is running against Republican Christine Drazen, whose policies are more in line with Trump’s. She’s criticized Kotek, calling her a “failure by definition” on homelessness, education, and the economy. With a third-party candidate in the race, and Kotek’s unpopularity (thanks in large part to her cratering to business interests for the past four years), Oregon is facing the possibility of becoming a red state for the first time since 1979. Read more on Kotek’s proposals at OPB.
We’re back to the weekend, and the Mercury‘s Do This, Do That calendar has some fresh ideas for what to do. (Spoiler: It’s either This, or That.) Australian comedian Josh Thomas performs his “bubbly, awkward, and smart stand-up” at the Newmark Theatre tonight, Portland legend The Unipiper hosts Weird Fest at Oaks Park Saturday, and the totally vegan food and drink festival Circle V at Castaway on Sunday. Read more here for further ideas, and have a great weekend if you get one.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
Reporting from the Guardian this morning says the Trump administration has sent 90 percent of undocumented children in its custody to unlicensed facilities in Texas. Children. Immigration advocates fear the children are sent to a “deportation churn-out factory,” according to the reporting. The roughly 925 children arrived in the United States without a parent or legal guardian, and now face prison for the crime of seeking refuge in a place often referred to as the “greatest country in the world.” Read more on this heartbreaking development here.
Early voting began in Virginia, Minnesota, Idaho, and South Dakota today, marking the beginning of what is likely to be a massive swing away from Republican control of everything. With the November 3 election just over six weeks away, Trump has cast doubt on elections everywhere and attempted to tweak how democracy works. He’s tried to interfere in everything, including vote-by-mail and the US Postal Service (USPS), but the Supreme Court has blocked USPS from implementing rules that could have severely damaged the vote counts. USPS has urged voters to not wait around, saying “everything is solved if people vote early.” Give it seven days in advance if you can, and drop off your ballot at a drop box rather than in the mail. It’s always the “most important election of your life,” but don’t get cynical; it’s like saying it’s the “hottest summer on record” year over year, which is true even if it sounds cliché. The Trump administration is certainly planning all kinds of shenanigans to disenfranchise people. More on elections from the Associated Press.
Today in Genocide Is Bad No Matter Who is Doing It:
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians attended a government-organized rally on Friday, the largest show of defiance after the country was attacked by the US and Israel months ago. The Iranian government is trying to show unity in the face of the war, which has created global anxiety around escalations of war, economic uncertainty, and concerns about shipping routes. Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on an oil tanker in the Straight of Hormuz on Friday, and shows little sign of giving up in the face of threats from the US and Israel. The two countries have killed between 1,700 to 3,600 Iranian civilians, and thousands of military personnel, though numbers are difficult to track with specificity.
New cat just dropped. It’s the first new cat species to be discovered in over 100 years, and lives in Bolivia’s Yungas forests. Have a good weekend. Meow.
