Ted Wheeler's BFF, Gordon Sondland.

Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today.

Ted Wheelers BFF, Gordon Sondland.
Ted Wheeler’s BFF, Gordon Sondland.

Good morning, Portland! There is so much news today!

Here are the headlines.

Resist: Surprising absolutely no one except for the people who still refer to him as “Mr. President, good sir,” Donald Trump is resisting the congressional impeachment inquiry, refusing to hand over documents or allow his cronies to testify before the House. Trump’s legal argument for doing this is basically nonexistent, but he so clearly does not care about that—hello, constitutional crisis!

All Politics Are Local: Bringing this constitutional crisis a little closer to home, Rep. Earl Blumenauer is calling for a boycott of all hotels owned by Portland hotelier Gordon Sondland, the Trump European Union ambassador who played a central role in the Ukraine scandal. (In case you were wondering, Mayor Ted Wheeler has taken a… different approach to the Sondland situation.)

Betrayal: After Trump turned his back on the Kurds, one of the US’ key allies in the Middle East, Turkey’s military has essentially taken over Northern Syria. The Iraqi government is warning that this will “directly impact security in Iraq“—you know, the country that was decimated by Ellen DeGeneres’ BFF in the early 2000s.

Hey, Read This!

Bye-Bye, Boys: Two close associates of Rudy Giuliani were arrested last night on campaign finance violations. The two men are also linked to the Ukraine debacle—could ole’ Rudy be next?

Confirmation (of) Bias: We already know Trump is a steaming pile of racist dog shit, but sometimes it’s nice to have the cold, hard confirmation that data can provide. An NPR analysis shows that Trump’s tweets about white and non-white lawmakers are quite different—and The Squad gets the worst of it.

Man of God: Joey Gibson, leader of depressing far-right fraternity Patriot Prayer, has been kicked off just about every online fundraising platform there is. The Oregonian reports that Gibson has now resorted to using an untraceable church to keep the cash coming in. It’s called the Church of Faith and Freedom (LOL).

Pay Up: A Black hotel guest who was kicked out of the Portland Doubletree last year under suspiciously racist circumstances is now suing the hotel for $10 million.

Hey, Listen to This!

ARE YOU HUNGRY? Then may I interest you in the Portland Mercury‘s upcoming Nacho Week? OH! AND YES, YOU DO LOOK SEXY! Tickets for HUMP! 2019 are right here. (Oh, and psst! Check out the new, very sexy, and decidedly NSFW HUMP! trailer here.)

Blair Stenvick is a former news reporter and culture writer for the Portland Mercury.