Portland

Been seeing a lot of anti-118 ads lately, specifically talking about the harms to "small business" so I had to look it up myself:

FTA above:

"Measure 118 would slap a 3% tax on a business’s Oregon sales above $25 million, then divvy up the money raised among Oregon’s more than 4 million residents, no matter their age.

An analysis by state revenue officials suggests the policy would reap more than $6.5 billion a year, even though it raises taxes on fewer than 2% of businesses. The measure could then send around $1,600 a year to every Oregonian beginning in 2026 — either via tax credits or direct payments."

So, first, if your business generates more than $25 million in sales ($68,493.15 every day!) - you are NOT a "small business".

2nd, we definitely need reform on business taxes to make sure businesses are paying their fair share.

3rd, I'm not so sure $1,600 direct payments to Oregonians is the best use of those tax dollars. It should be used to reduce our overall tax burden. Maybe increase the standard deduction by $1,600 or some such.

The route is EXTENSIVE. Both sides of the river downtown.

Best bet is to steer clear of anywhere close to this on Sunday:

New web series dropped today, it's like Portlandia but more painfully real.

The City of Portland’s Small Donor Elections program has placed a temporary hold on matching contributions from candidates or family members of candidates made after Aug. 7 after learning that many candidates appeared to agree to quid-pro-quo donations to each other.

"Ryan Poffenberger, 38, who has no listed address, pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple counts of first-degree theft and second-degree burglary, as well as charges of being a felon in possession of a gun and unauthorized use of a car. The plea was part of a deal with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office."

"In virtual meetings Thursday afternoon, the cloud software giant notified staffers who report to its Hillsboro office, thirty minutes outside of Portland, of its decision. Customer-success employees, who account for much of the Hillsboro office's staff, were given until November 26 to decide whether to take a severance package or relocate to Indianapolis, Atlanta, or Seattle, where Salesforce also has offices. Other employees were told they could continue to work for Salesforce remotely."

Between Sept. 22-28, for any book bought from Powell's Banned Book list, 20% of the sale will be donated. There are over 150 books on the list available to be purchased, including book titles such as "Hunger Games," "1984," "Heartstopper" and "The Color Purple."

Also applies to www.powells.com

https://powells.com/banned-books

"Members of the Multnomah County District Attorney Access Program also were on the scene, police said. They directed three people toward “deflection” – drug treatment. Two accepted."

33 arrested, 3 qualified for deflection, one would rather be arrested.

I posted about this 3 months ago and it was $750--glad to see the measure is going for it. The $1,600 is per person, not household. Minors count.

Large corps ($25m in revenue minimum) pay.

"Portland mayoral hopeful Carmen Rubio has lost her second endorsement following a reported incident involving a Tesla days after reporting emerged on her driving record.

Rubio, who is currently a Portland City Commissioner, has accrued 150 parking and driving tickets since 1994, with the most recent being a municipal parking ticket for blocking a loading zone in July 2024, court records show."

I’m attending a Gothic Vampire Masquerade themed wedding. I need an outfit that is appropriate, but better than costume quality. A suit of some kind. More “Interview with a Vampire” and less “Hot Topic”

Any suggestions?

19% YOY usage drop last month, 3.6% bill increase. It's been like this for months. Even if you're trying to limit your usage and save money, you get fucked. Such bullshit. Meanwhile the PUC came out and said they don't want to not approve these large increases PGE has requested every year because "it would set a bad precedent". Talk about in another world.

Their "why are my electricity charges higher" are also incorrect on weather, actually the exact opposite--the same page notes the period was 1 degree cooler than last year.

Whatever way you take this:

• 1. A way to be able to remove anything that is deemed "offensive", "unpopular", or "unpalatable" and a good option
• 2. A way to ensure conversations critical of entrenched interests and dominant practices are censored and don't take place

It seems hopelessly broad attempt to shape discourse and thought. Even giving administrators the benefit of the doubt and saying this policy was created so if someone puts a swastika on their door they can take it down, it also means that anything someone claims is political could be removed. As we've seen in the last 10 years, is there anything that can't be politicized with enough money thrown at it? With this policy, if a history or biology teacher put "vaccines save lives" poster on their door, someone could say it's political and offensive. Giving extremists the opening to say something is "political" means that they could say, "Oh your LGBTQ poster is offensive and political to me", and it would be hard to make a case that would stand up under this crap policy that sexuality hasn't been politicized and that is should stay up to support diverse students. Hasn't diversity itself been politicized? The administrator's comment that "LGBTQ flags are ok because they support groups that have been marginalized" is 100% correct, but I don't think they're really working through how "political" and "personal" are so broad anything could be attacked and claimed "offensive", "political", or "personal". What if there was an educational poster about climate change? Economics? History? How, in any universe, could you have those discussions without broaching potentially "political" items?

TLDR; policy thought up by 5-year-olds who apparently haven't been watching the attacks on school boards, policies, postings and education elsewhere to understand where it will lead. Support your teacher's unions, the administrators leading them are scared of conflict and open dialogue and we can't educate without them.

The candidates who agreed to trade contributions include District 1 candidates Cayle Tern and Thomas Shervey; District 2 candidates William Mespelt and Sam Sachs; District 3 Candidates Kelly Janes, Luke Zak and Harrison Kass; and District 4 candidates Chad Lykins, Michael Trimble, Michael DiNapoli, Eric Zimmerman and Bob Weinstein. Willamette Week reported that District 4 candidate Ben Hufford also agreed to trade contributions.

Liv Osthus is the only mayoral candidate that The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained records showing she’d agreed to trade donations.