Posted inLGBTQ issues National politics

Supreme Court majority acting like politicians, not judges

This week the United States Supreme Court added to its string of outrageous decisions by voting 6-3 to ban affirmative action in college admissions, to prevent the Biden administration from providing student debt relief to those who took out loans, and to allow a Colorado woman to not offer her web site design service to LGBTQ people -- thereby giving religious bigots a license to discriminate. Previously, of course, the court voted 6-3 to reverse Roe v. Wade, the more than 50-year precedent of abortion rights, a decision that had been upheld in several subsequent decisions by the Supreme Court.…
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Posted inOregon politics

Here’s the dumbest thing Oregon Republicans did this legislative session

Stupidity isn't limited to one political party, for sure. There's plenty of dumb moves made by both Democrats and Republicans.  But I've got to give the award for the most egregious display of political cluelessness in the Oregon legislative session that concluded yesterday to four Republican senators and one independent, who I assume was Brian Boquist, as he used to be a Republican. For even though the six-week walkout by Senate Republicans had ended after Democrats agreed to water down two bills dealing with abortion and gun control, those five senators didn't attend the last day of the session yesterday,…
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Posted inNational politics

Hunter Biden guilty of tax evasion and illegal gun possession. Yawn.

Looks like Republicans are going to have to find another Biden other than Hunter to accuse of dastardly doings. May I suggest the Biden's German Shepherd that bit someone on the White House grounds a while back?  For Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, has gotten the equivalent of a legal slap on the wrist after a five-year investigation by a federal attorney appointed by Trump and kept on the job by President Biden to avoid any appearance of favoritism.  A Washington Post story describes what Hunter Biden is facing. In short, not much, because what he did didn't amount to…
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Posted inOregon politics

Democrats should bend on abortion and gun bills to end GOP walkout

It's difficult for me to say this, since I hate to reward Republican hostage taking, but in this case the hostage is a whole lot of legislation that would benefit Oregonians more than Democrats bending on two bills detested by the Senate Republicans who have walked out would hurt Oregonians. Yes, a month ago I said that Democrats shouldn't negotiate over the walkout, as this will just encourage more walkouts. But now the June 25 deadline when the current legislative session must end is less than two weeks away. So the situation is similar to what President Biden and congressional…
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Posted inDowntown Urban Renewal

How downtown Salem is coming alive. But could be livelier.

Here's the considerably delayed second installment of my May 19 blog post about a City Club program regarding progress in redeveloping Salem's downtown area. That post showed slides of the planned conversion of the Truitt Brothers cannery into a vibrant mixed use development. Now I'll share slides presented by Shelly Ehenger, Urban Development Program Manager for the City of Salem. Ehenger started off by showing the boundary of the Downtown Urban Renewal Area, where leveraging of property tax assessments can be used to promote improvements. She noted that the cannery isn't part of that area, but there are other ways…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump’s federal indictment another first for the worst ex-president

Donald Trump likes to brag about himself. Well, today he got another #1 to add to his list of pseudo-accomplishments. Trump is the first former president to face federal charges. A New York Times story describes the well-deserved indictment.  The Justice Department on Thursday took the legally and politically momentous step of lodging federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump, accusing him of mishandling classified documents he kept upon leaving office and then obstructing the government’s efforts to reclaim them. Mr. Trump confirmed on his social media platform that he had been indicted. The charges against him include…
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Posted inOregon politics

Call this GOP tip line to report 11 Republicans who have walked out from the legislature

Laurel Hines, my wife, had a great idea. Use a tip line set up by Oregon Republicans hoping to find fraud in state government to report a serious wrongdoing: the walkout by GOP members of the state senate that's gone on now for about five weeks, while those legislators who aren't performing the duty they were elected to do continue to pull in their taxpayer-paid salary. Here's a message that Laurel sent to some friends today. Here is something you can do and go on record regarding the walkout by the Republicans. If enough people flood the tip line, it…
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Posted inOregon politics

Oregon GOP is acting crazier than Republicans in Congress

Because this is Oregon, not Alabama or Mississippi, I've gotten used to saying that while our Republican politicians seem to be more reasonable than Republican officeholders in red states, they're actually just as far-right. The only difference being, Oregon Republicans don't have the opportunity to manifest their extremism given how Democrats dominate our state's political balance. Well, now that the walkout of Republicans in the state Senate has entered a fifth week, with the GOP being utterly unwilling to negotiate an end to the walkout (Governor Kotek has said that she's given up on her attempt to broker a deal),…
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