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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Put you in my hall of fame, middle of the wall. Yeah, you're my one, my favorite, my ride or die, oh. LET'S GO TO PRESS.
• HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY! Check out this very cool map that documents the original lands of indigenous people around the globe.
Just woke up to say FUCK CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS! Ok now I'm going back to sleep
— Lamont Price (@LPizzle) October 12, 2020
• It was a big weekend of local protests when, on Saturday night, police kettled and arrested 26 peaceful demonstrators whose "posture" and "armored attire" (according to apparently psychic cops) led officers to believe they were going to riot. Sunday marked the “Indigenous People’s Day of Rage" where protesters pulled down two Portland statues: Presidents Teddy Roosevelt (who had expressed hostility toward Native Americans) and Abraham Lincoln (who ordered a Dakota tribe massacre). A riot was declared by police, and several businesses were damaged including the Oregon Historical Society, for allegedly "honoring racist colonizer murderers.”
Now Lincoln. The second statue is toppled in downtown Portland pic.twitter.com/dizgPMkFgf
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) October 12, 2020
• A Friday ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has restored the protection of journalists and legal observers from the violent actions of federal officers. Attorney Matthew Borden who argued on behalf of the ACLU said, "The court’s Opinion affirms that the government cannot use violence to control the narrative about what is happening at these historic protests.”
• After experiencing more than 400 new, positive coronavirus cases for three days in a row, the OHA reported on Sunday that cases had dropped to 337, with no additional deaths.
• Patriot Prayer supporter Chandler Pappas and other likeminded yahoos came into town and kidnapped the locally made Nightmare Elk statue that had replaced the original Elk statue outside of the downtown Justice Center. They trumpeted it as some kind of grand gesture of retribution toward protesters, but no one seemed to care very much.
IN NATIONAL NEWS
• Today begins four days of contentious hearings in which Senate Republicans will attempt to confirm the wildly unqualified, right-wing, and abortion- and Obamacare-hating Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Barrett will be taking the place of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and push the court to a 6-3 conservative majority. Defying what most of the country wants, Republicans are steamrolling this process, leaving Democrats with few tools (other than stalling) to stop them.
Amy Klobuchar is killing it. Just as I hoped, putting the Republicans on trial. Dispensing with the fantasy we do not know how she will vote. THIS is how to use the hearings.. as an ad vs. Trump and Republicans
— Jennifer 'Vote Early' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 12, 2020
• Oh, and would you look at that? Republican Sen. Mike Lee—who tested positive for coronavirus just 11 days ago—showed up to the Barrett confirmation meetings without his mask.
• Trump spent his weekend crowing about how he beat COVID-19 and has proclaimed himself "immune" from the virus. AND YET? No one in the administration will say if or when he's received a negative test. File that under "things that make you say HMMMM."
• Dr. Anthony Fauci has slammed a deceptive Trump campaign ad for taking his comments out of context and without his permission.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pooh-poohed Trump's latest coronavirus relief offer, calling it "grossly inadequate."
• A federal judge has upheld a court agreement in Minnesota to allow absentee ballots to be counted up to seven days after election day.
• Today in (yet more) Republican chicanery: "California GOP installed unofficial ballot drop-off boxes. State officials say they’re illegal."
C̶o̶l̶u̶m̶b̶u̶s̶ ̶D̶a̶y̶
— Jesse Mechanic (@JMechanic) October 12, 2020
Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
How it started: How it’s going: pic.twitter.com/INZ99oGcry
• In "bubble sports" news: The LA Lakers handily beat the Miami Heat with a 106-93 victory that clenched them the 2020 NBA Championship.
• In these terrifying times, don't you need a good, wholesome scare? Get your tickets now for SLAY—the short, eight-minute-or-less HORROR film festival from the makers of HUMP! Debuting Oct 15-31!
• Now let's peer suspiciously skyward for the WEATHER: It's gonna be a cloudy, cool day with a high of 62.
• And finally, here's something you didn't think you needed, but it turns out YOU DID!
Anyway, here’s the Monster Mash sang to the tune of the theme to M*A*S*H pic.twitter.com/QH1P4XlknG
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) October 12, 2020