Bi-Weekly Clips - Super Bowl Relief

Readers:

Welcome to the unedited uncensured bi-weekly clips prepared by younger Oregonians with information for your consideration with other sources.  Stay informed.

Over the next six months, we plan to focus more on issues of interest and action by Millennials and younger.  America’s young people are the future.  Millennials are the largest population group.  Millennials were the soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen who fought and won battles on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq while their Boomer & Silent generation generals, politicians, bureaucrats, profiters and DC chicken hawks lost the wars.  When less than one percent of Millennials act they will change the world.  Buckle up.

The bi-weekly clips for your consideration:

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Information in the bi-weekly clips can be used for preparing legislative actions, functions, purposes and responses for potential future enactments in Oregon.

OREGON

The Oregon Legislature is back in session for the February short session. The Senate Minority Caucus priorities are listed here. The short session is primarily reserved for minor budgetary adjustments, but the Democrats, the party that has controlled Oregon for decades, are prioritizing addressing the housing shortage and addiction crisis.

OPB reports: “Gov. Tina Kotek has proposed a $500 million package to spur housing development and another $100 million that would go toward homeless services — including ensuring shelters can remain open as pandemic-era spending dries up. That’s a major spending proposal for a “short” session that is typically reserved for relatively minor budget adjustments. Kotek has also suggested the state could forgo a regular 1% payment into budget reserves — currently set at $318 million — in order to pay for her priorities.”

Recently, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the 10 senators who denied quorum last long session are unable to run for reelection. As one Senator said, “If the Oregon Supreme Court or Legislature wanted to change the quorum issue, they could’ve made the quorum rules a simple majority [rather than attacking sitting legislators’ free speech and right to protest as Measure 113 did]. What we see instead is a judicial tragedy that does not bode well for common-sense, free-speech or justice in Oregon.”

Still fighting for theirs and their voters’ constitutional rights, Senator Boquist (I-Dallas) and Senator Linthicum (R-Klamath Falls) were in front of the Ninth Circuit Court last Friday to present their case against Measure 113 and for Free Speech. A decision will be handed down by March 1.

There is a massive disconnect in America over the cost of living and income. For example, Portland is 145 square miles. In researching homes for sale across the largest real estate platforms (Homes.com, Zillow and Redfin) in the Portland area, there were TWO homes that met the same search criteria (based roughly on the norms for a middle class home). The search criteria was as follows: $250,000-$375,000, with 2+ bedrooms and 2+ bathrooms, with 2,000 square feet. (some platforms showed listings of bare plots of land in these search inquiries, but they are not included in the final tally of TWO).

With this in mind, Portland is clearly expensive. To rent a home in Sellwood, one of the ritzier areas of the city, is roughly $4,000 a month. Who can afford that? According to this news report from KOIN based on a study by Pew Research, if you are making between $29,100 and $87,200 per year, then you’re in the middle class. One of the two homes found in the search above shows an optimistic monthly estimated payment of $3,105 to pay for the home. This number is based on the 20% put down, or $74,000. Who has $74,000 cash laying around? Then this is where loans with massive interest rates come in.

If an Oregonian is on the upper end of middle class and bringing in $87k a year, that averages out to around $7,000 a month. The above housing payment is close to half of the monthly expenses – gone, out the door. Add a car payment or tuition loan of $500, an average daycare cost of $1,400 per month (assuming this person has one child), a $162 electric bill, trash at $33, sewer at $86, internet for an average of $60 a month, and the $400 average cost of food per month, and this income-earner has just over $1,000 of disposable income each month. One thousand dollars a month means this person is likely not saving for retirement unless their job offers a retirement plan, and then the monthly take-home would be less. The $1,000 is spoken for if this person has any medical conditions, subscriptions to things like Netflix or HBO, or a Starbucks reliance. All this to say, if $87,000 is considered the upper-end of “middle class” in America, how on earth are people who are bringing home $37,000 a year (the average income for Portland) making it work? Someone making $37,000 a year is bringing home roughly 3,000 a month, meaning they could not buy a home in Portland. A recent survey shows the majority of Portlanders think the city is going in the WRONG direction.

NATIONAL:

From Reuters: “A 15-month investigation into U.S. President Joe Biden for improperly handling classified documents ended on Thursday, after Special Counsel Robert Hur's probe concluded the president cooperated and a jury would be unlikely to find him guilty.”

From Reuters: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for whistleblowers to win lawsuits accusing companies of unlawfully firing them as retaliation for disclosing wrongdoing, rejecting a bid by Switzerland's UBS Group (UBSG.S), opens new tab to impose a higher bar. The unanimous decision, opens new tab by the justices reinstated a $2.6 million award, including nearly $1 million in damages, to former UBS bond strategist Trevor Murray, who has accused the company of firing him in retaliation for refusing to publish misleading research reports and complaining about being pressured to do so. A lower court had thrown out the jury verdict.”

From The Intercept: “PRO-ISRAEL Democrat Majority for Israel group backs centrist Democrat who progressives fear will side with GOP. DMFI, a staunch ally of the right-wing AIPAC, is only the latest centrist group to throw support behind conservative Democrat Tom Suozzi.” This race could be a real indicator of the death of some leftist policies. Notice how AOC has disappeared from the headlines as of late? She is an extremist, but also know how to play the political game.

From The Center Square: “Seattle to spend $1.8 million on an all-gender waterfront bathroom facility.”

From Scientific American: “‘We’re still in a pandemic,’ says a lead COVID official with the World Health Organization.”

From CBS News: “Queen Camilla said Thursday evening that King Charles III was "doing extremely well under the circumstances," several days after Buckingham Palace revealed that the monarch had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer and was undergoing treatment.”

CONSPIRACY CORNER: Welcome to the second installation of the “Conspiracy Corner,” a new series dedicated to exploring conspiracy theories that are long forgotten or more modern and everything in between.

The next conspiracy is related to air travel, or rather the white condensation trails behind airplanes as they fly through the sky. Called contrails, these cloud-like tracks dissipate quickly, often expanding and growing out of its linear shape before disappearing altogether. The conspiracy here is that the contrails or “chemtrails” are nefarious and full of chemicals like a toxic cocktail of aluminum, strontium and barium sprayed from planes in a plot by the government and scientists to control the weather, the population and food supply. In 2019, 43% of Americans surveyed believed in the existence of chemtrails.

What do you think? Thank you to those who submitted ideas last newsletter – stay tuned!

GLOBAL

On Ukraine:

• Tucker Carlson interviewed Putin (WATCH HERE) and the MSM lost their minds over it.
• From CBC: “Zelenskyy firing his top military commander, the spectacular crash of the bundled U.S. military aid package, the solidifying gridlock in the U.S. Congress, public opinion polling in Canada that shows a growing number of Conservatives believe Ukraine is getting too much aid — and finally the propaganda tour de forceof former Fox News host Tucker Carlson's interview with a rambling Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
• From Axios: “President Bidenand German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated their support for Ukraine during a bilateral meeting at the White House on Friday. The big picture: Biden used the meeting to pressure GOP lawmakers, calling on Congress to pass a national security spending package with aid to Ukraine, saying a failure to do so would be "close to criminal neglect."

On Israel:

• From The Times of Israel: “Biden sets new conditions for US military aid amid calls to limit support for Israel. Memo requires recipients to give ‘credible and reliable written assurances’ they adhere to international law, demands annual reports from State Department, Pentagon on compliance.”
• From CNN: “Israel’s prolonged war with Hamas is going to become a significant economic and political burden for the country over the long haul, Moody’s said Friday. So the agency downgraded Israel’s credit rating… Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Israel’s debt rating from A1 to A2 on Friday, underscoring the economic damage of the country’s war with Hamas, which has resulted in thousands of human casualties and stoked geopolitical tensions around the world.”

On Afghanistan:

• From The Hill: “While the world has paid close attention to wars and atrocities elsewhere, Afghanistan’s people have been ruled by a sanctioned extremist groupsince 2021 that keeps public order through force and coercion. The depth of Taliban depravity includes extrajudicial killings, silencing free speech and even kidnapping teenaged girls on the grounds that they are “improperly” covered and holding them in prison, where they are subject to torture and rape.”
• From Fox News: “Late last month, the Taliban ambassador to China, Bilal Karimi, presented his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, making China the first country to accept a Taliban ambassador.”
• From The Jerusalem Post: “Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan Hassan Kazemi Quomi claimed on Tuesday that Afghanistan is part of the “axis of resistance” and Afghan martyrs would be willing to travel the distance to fight in Gaza, according to a Middle East Monitoring Research Institute’s (MEMRI) translation of an interview given on Iranian TV.”

Recommended listening: a cover of Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega

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My shortened observations in italics.

There is a lot happening in Oregon, the Left Coast, North America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East that will impact you every day for the rest of your life.  However, we will let you watch the MSM for the week to see the propaganda?  Maybe get some uncensored social media truth?    In the meantime, we will let you all digest the new format designed to aid enable Millennial action. 

In the future, we will dive into some topics that will change the future: the White Oligarch War, the Economic Reset, Corporate Union Feudalism, Defense Profiteering,  the Donor Class, the Dollar Collapse, Eating Gold, American Dark Age, American Genocide, Oregon Genocide, Future Prosecutions, Establishment Unity, Housing Hypocrisy, Immigrant Labor Hypocrisy, Republic Failure, Never Democracy, and more like Never Nikki’s real foreign experience at international restaurants in New York City the HQ of the UN.  Or a ride in Nikki’s Cadillac?  Or her connection to Boeing defense contracts?

Government serves Government not the People from the bottom to the top.

Be informed.  Be ready. Be prepared.  Be active. 

De oppresso liber.

Sincerely,

Brian Boquist

Oregon State Senator

The future nor not?  

Fly safe Boeing – 3^rd Largest Defense Contractor 2022.

Boeing in Oregon.  Link.  Link. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Link. 

59 Plus Presidential Candidates!  Link. 

Vote for one !!!  Wile E. Coyote 2024?

Footnote:  Information in the bi-weekly clips can be used for preparing legislative actions, functions, purposes and responses for potential future enactments in Oregon.