Cascadia today: Court OKs Trump invasion + donate to food banks + new exhibit on Ursula LeGuin
Court rules Trump can federalize Guard
OPB reports that the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling yesterday, overturned a lower court decision, and allows Donald Trump to federalize and possibly deploy about 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland. In its ruling, the two Trump-appointed judges in the majority argued the president has authority to send in troops to quell protesters, the vast majority of whom have been peaceful. The Portland Mercury has more on the ruling, which was immediately appealed by the state attorney general's office. Governor Tina Kotek and Portland mayor Keith Wilson say the deployment isn't necessary – No Kings protests over the weekend were completely peaceful and ICE deployed tear gas, pepper balls and flash bang grenades against a crowd of protesters peacefully dancing in inflatable costumes, OPB reported:
Several minutes after the officers ceased deploying the munitions, the crowd began dancing again in the street as the cloud of smoke dissipated.
Amazon fuckup shuts down much of the internet
KUOW reports on how mistakes within Seattle-based Amazon Web Services shut down many websites across the world yesterday, including online banking, Zoom calls, and the Signal chat app. AWS controls about 30 percent of the cloud computing market, and some argue more needs to be done to diversify who controls websites and data.
Food assistance to halt in OR if shutdown continues
Oregon Capital Chronicle reports on how the one in six Oregon residents who depend on federal food assistance will be hit hard when SNAP benefits halt in November if the GOP government shutdown continues. The article notes that 750,000 people in Oregon depend on SNAP benefits, many of them children or people over 65 years old. Seattle's Child reports that 1 million Washington state residents will be without food assistance if the shutdown drags on.
Please consider donating money to Northwest Harvest in Washington or Oregon Food Bank to help food banks cope with the crisis.
It's time for Cascadia to stand up to Trump's illegal slashing of appropriated funds, and his disproportionate cuts to already funded programs important to the Pacific Northwest. The Guardian has an intriguing article about how the states might impound federal tax payments until the Trump administration releases fund that are rightfully ours and appropriated by Congress.
Eric Reinhart
BC Conservative party unravels
The Tyee reports that another MLA, Amelia Boultbee, has joined four other members of the British Columbia legislature in leaving the BC Conservatives after controversies involving John Rustad's leadership of the party. In other campaign news, RANGE Media looks at who's funding candidates in Spokane's municipal elections; KNKX looks at the two candidates running for mayor of Tacoma; and KUOW talks housing, taxes, and cops with the two candidates running for Seattle's 2nd city council district in the diverse South End.
Exhibit explores life and work of Ursula LeGuin
Street Roots has a great essay and review of a new multimedia exhibit exploring the life, work, and legacy of Cascadia's greatest writer: Ursula K. LeGuin. The essay looks at LeGuin's long career and groundbreaking work as a fantasy and sci-fi writer who challenged notions of gender and critiqued capitalism. The exhibit includes manuscripts, video, interactive installations, and more. It runs Oct 31- Feb 8 at Oregon Contemporary in Portland.
“Of course, it’s not just the woman’s voice that’s missing. Women are… probably the largest part of the voices that have not been heard, and generally speaking, that’s not just women but all kinds of other genders. And in white America, in white Europe, people of color… in a sense it’s the unheard voices. If we are going to get anywhere, we really have to start listening to the voices that we have not listened to because I have to say that the dominant European, white imperial voice has gotten us to where we are and it’s not a very good place to be right now.” --Ursula K LeGuin
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