Catch Up Clips - Evening Reading

Readers:

Welcome to the catch-up version of the unedited bi-weekly clips prepared by other younger Oregonians for your consideration with past sources of information and news.  Millennials and younger will decide the future of Oregon and the United States not us dinosaurs. 

After the 60-day blackout from the Secretary of the Senate for emails, this is the catch up edition of past news from younger Oregonian to read over the next couple days.  Nothing earth shattering quite yet like solar storms, world war, or nuclear strikes.  We will be back to the uncensured bi-weekly clips this weekend.

Enjoy this catch-up version this evening:

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Catch Up Clips

Back from hiatus and the mandatory blackout period. Here is an overview of some of the election coverage and updates as the May 2024 primary ends and coverage for the general election begins.

In Oregon, ballots can be postmarked or mailed ON Election Day, meaning thousands of ballots could arrive to the County Clerk’s offices across the state on Wednesday, the day after Election Day, or possibly days later. This means many races will likely not be decided for days, and this includes Democratic primaries. For example, in 2020, the Oregonian mistakenly called the Secretary of State’s race for longtime bureaucrat Mark Hass, when days later, Shemia Fagan (who later resigned in scandal) was called as the winner, but only because Hass resigned his bid for the position amidst ballot recounts since their results were so close. All this to say, remember to keep in mind that the real winner may not be known until days after the election with how Oregon’s voting works.

Also to note, Oregon nonaffiliated voters make up more of the voting population than registered Democrats (or Republicans), so that means many Oregonians are not able to vote for primary candidates since the state has closed primaries. Nonaffiliated voters can still share their opinions for local races in the primary, but must wait for the general election to vote on Secretary of State, Treasurer, Senate or House of Representatives candidates.

A May 13 article, published under one week from the primary election, indicated that voter turnout remained lower than previous primaries with just 7% of registered voters returning ballots at that time.

Great podcast about Portland that isn’t run by extremists. Ramping up to the election, the city is reinstating a “protest response team” ahead of the 2024 elections. OPB reports that the unit of 40 officers will be ready to engage during this heightened and polarized election season. The last time a presidential election included Donald Trump, there were plenty of damaging protests throughout the city; punishing the residents who likely voted the same way as the protesters who didn’t like the result in 2016 and were still unhappy in 2020.

There’s a couple noteworthy phenomenon leading up to Oregon’s primary this year. The first is the enormous participation of the Oregon lobby or special interest groups. They have poured money into their favorite candidate races during the primary when the lobby would usually save big donations for the general election. This ensures special interests are in the drivers’ seat and able to push for the candidates they like best. The other is the, as the youths would say, “pick me” mentality running rampant in the Republican party. There have been mailers that have attacked one Republican for not being “Republican enough” over another. It’s an interesting thing because in the few short years since 2020, when “Republican” was about as bad as a swear word, there’s now inter-party attack pieces about who is the more “Republican” of the options.

Oregon Capital Chronicle reports: Oregon Republicans running for secretary of state target mail voting, and stoke voter fraud claims.

On the national level, the media seems incredibly indecisive over who they want to be president, setting up chances for success for Biden with the possible bird flu fearmongering or his failures with his bases’ hatred of Israel and support of Hamas, and covering the ongoing horrific events in Afghanistan. Similarly, with Trump they either call for his arrest, play up details about the show trials or bury news on the same topic.

When the “powers that be” or the “collective” likes something, we all tend to know about it. Thinking about pop culture references like the outfits at the Met Gala, or the Harrison Butker speech (that was later denounced by nuns), or things like that.

Does the media want to keep Biden? He’s done everything the establishment could ever want; created and maintained war contracts for the military industrial complex; kept the masses unhappy but gaslit about inflation and the cost of living; and more. Trump could be too much of a wildcard, despite how the media clings to any headlines he generates for clicks because clicks = money. Republicans usually campaign on protecting our borders and military spending, but it seems like all the swamp dwellers turn out to be war hawks, ultimately protecting the bottom line and special interests.

As one senator and political candidate said, “They spend money to make money. The question facing the voter is will you allow your candidate selection to be “bought” by special interests?”

NATIONAL

Well this is a very bad gaffe; as the New York Post reports, “Biden was forced to correct himself after yet another brutal gaffe Monday evening, when he told attendees at a White House Jewish heritage celebration that maimed U.S. citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin was “here with us today” – when he remains a hostage in the Gaza Strip.”

Interesting how chatter of exams of incoming presidents has appeared to fade away because if elected again, Trump would be the same age Biden was when he was first elected.

It appears the media is possibly setting the stage for another pandemic-style event. The FDA is testing milk samples for bird flu, but this time cows meat isn’t the enemy in fighting H5N1; this Atlantic article clearly discusses the threat this virus could have if it jumps from bird to pig, harkening back to the 2009s H1N1 virus (Obama was president – so it was a different time altogether).

The Atlantic article says, “But as unnerving as H5N1’s current spread in cows might be, “I would be a whole lot more concerned if this was an event in pigs,” Richard Webby, the director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds, told me. Like cows, pigs share plenty of spaces with us. They also have a nasty track record with flu: Swine airways are evolutionary playgrounds where bird-loving flu viruses can convert—and have converted—into ones that prefer to infect us. A flu virus that jumped from swine to humans, for instance, catalyzed the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. If there’s a list of riskiest animals for an avian flu to infiltrate, “pigs are clearly at the top,” Webby said.”

On bird flu – it’s gotten to the point where the CDC has a map of where the virus is spreading. It’s still in preliminary fear stages with the media push and could be pulled back depending on the direction of the election and Big Pharma donors’ satisfaction, but it’s something to take note of. According to the CDC, symptoms of bird flu include: “The reported signs and symptoms of bird flu virus infections in humans have ranged from no symptoms or mild illness [such as eye redness (conjunctivitis) or mild flu-like upper respiratory symptoms], to severe (such as pneumonia requiring hospitalization) and included fever (temperature of 100ºF [37.8ºC] or greater)…”

The U.S. continues to arm Ukraine, but some GOP politicians worried about an ammo shortage for regular Americans, and back in April, they introduced legislation “to prod the Biden administration to conduct an inventory of the U.S. gunpowder supply chain and offer suggestions to ensure enough will be available for the military and the average consumer,” as reported by the Washington Times.

Along the same lines… SCMP reports, “Europe battles gunpowder shortage to supply shells for Ukraine’s defence against Russia. The scarcity of gunpowder, which goes into propellant charges that hurl artillery shells over distances of tens of kilometres, has hamstrung Ukraine’s military campaign. China has also stopped deliveries of a cotton to make powder, prompting EU to look for alternative solutions.”

Despite being easily glossed over, the Alliance Defending Freedom seemed to admit to fearmongering over the last few years in the first few sentences of this WSJ op-ed. It reads, “The Biden administration’s Title IX rule, which the Education Department published on April 29, is a looming disaster for women and girls. Before this rule, the trend of men using women’s locker rooms, showers and bathrooms—and taking women’s titles, trophies and scholarships in athletic competitions—was only a partial reality, relegated to certain left-leaning states and school districts. No longer…” Currently pursuing a lawsuit against the Biden Admin to push back against the government’s sweeping decision to reinterpret “sex” discrimination in Title IX because the Biden Admin has made it so the law can be interpreted to impact female spaces everywhere.

There are doubts about whether the Boeing whistleblower actually committed suicide. Boeing is a huge contractor for the situation in Ukraine. Some airliners are favoring different manufacturers (not Boeing), such as Airbus.

Cool fact: The first electric car was made in 1907!

WORLD

A helicopter crash took out the Iranian president and foreign minister at the same time due to fog.

On Afghanistan: three Spanish tourists were killed, a flash flood killed 300, and a General based in Kabul is suddenly saying (or at least the media has vested interest in sharing this perspective now) that he warned that Afghanistan would get ‘very bad, very fast;’ now where was this guy in 2021?

OPINION by RealClearDefense: “The U.S. needs to break out of its post-Cold War posture and move to a warfighting doctrine with forward deployed theatre level or tactical nuclear weapons on warships to deter China and others.”

Reuters: Singapore airline hits severe turbulence; multiple passengers injured and one died.

BBC: Zelensky staying in power despite his term expiring. Wonder how long America will be okay with this?

Russia is beginning nuclear drills and sending things into space – continuing to plant themselves as the “enemy” in the media.

Food for thought on Russia: In the book, “Germs: biological weapons and America’s secret war” by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad, published in 2001, they write about the history of America’s germ program and international concerns. Not sure a book like this could be written today. Beginning on page 78 in the book, it goes over some history that is worth mulling over. In the late 1970s, there were reports from Vietnam of Soviet-backed government forces spraying refugees with “yellow rain.” In 1981, after Reagan was elected, a sample of a “yellow rain” contaminated plant sample was sent and it was tested and found to have high levels of mycotoxins. The Reagan Administration ran with this information and in September 1981, Regan’s Secretary of State announced, “that the United States had ‘physical evidence’ that Moscow’s surrogates in SE Asia were using deadly toxins to wage biological warfare. If true, the charges were stunning, suggesting a blatant violation of the germ treaty… The allegations touched off a contentious debate that would echo through the rest of the decade, dividing scientists, government officials, and even America’s allies.” This blurb is included because even after the Cold War ended, America needed reasons for Russia to be the “bad guy,” probably to promote the military industrial complex. What do you think?

Recommended listening: Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves

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

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As a format reminder, the young collators of the bi-weekly news clips write in block letters.  My comments and observations are in italics.  

Again, this is the past catch up clips from the blackout period.  Sort of like election results which we have not seen or covered yet.  Remember, the Democrats passed HB 3291 in 2021.  The chief sponsor was Speaker Dan Rayfield (D) now running for Attorney General.  It is on OLIS.  It allows Clerks to accept and count mailed ballots for up to seven days after an election.  Quote “(8) If the elector returns the ballot by mail, and a postal indicator is not present or legible, the ballot shall be considered to be mailed on the date of the election and may be counted if the ballot is received no later than seven calendar days after the election.”  Generally, business return paid postage does not have postmarks.  Thus, in some elections we will not know the results for seven plus days.  More in the future.

As a primer, I saw this quote from an Eric Prince interview, the former owner of Blackwater, regarding the US House Republican's $100 billion aid package to Ukraine etc: Quote “Most of that money goes to five major defense contractors to replace at five times the cost the weapons that we have already sent the Ukrainians,” the Blackwater founder said, adding that “it does not change the outcome of the battle.”  Wouldn’t it be nice if the DC Swamp gave all of us back our taxes fivefold?  Or maybe to cover rent?  Mortgages?  Food & fuel costs?

Memorial Day is coming.  Take a minute for a prayer to those who sacrificed all for this country.  Remember it is Millennials and younger who fought and died in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the endless ongoing DC Swamp wars that are destroying our economy now.  

Government services government not the people.

Be prepared, be safe, and be ready.

De oppresso liber.

Sincerely,

Brian Boquist

State Senator

 

First Amendment to the US Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Oregon Constitution, Article I, Bill of Rights, Section 8. Freedom of speech and press. No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print freely on any subject whatever ...