Thursday morning, Israeli airstrikes had killed around 70 people in Gaza. Now it's closer to 100, with no sign of letting up. If you want to see what those strikes look like, the NYT ran a picture that drives the scale of these explosions home. Meanwhile, the rockets sent from Palestinians to rain down on Israeli cities have been mostly ineffectual. You may have heard of a little something called Iron Dome.
On some weekends, more than 80 people are shot in Chicago, so it's hard to get too worked up about Portland's vastly smaller problems. But for the Rose City, this relatively new summer has been bloody, with two gang-related homicides in a week, and scads of other shots-fired incidents and injuries (including a 5-year-old). While officials work hard to better understand the city's issues, cops are hoping stepped up enforcement and outreach can stem the tide—if only for this weekend.
To hear this sunny report from NPR's Morning Edition this morning, you'd think the Ukrainian government has mostly prevailed against Russia-loving rebels, and has a breezy path to victory all mapped out.Not quite accurate. Just this morning, militants killed as many as 30 Ukrainian troops with rocket fire.
The beauty of something as drawn out and contentious as the current street fee debate is that interesting facts about your tax dollars suddenly start sprouting up everywhere as city officials bend over backwards to show their work. One example: Denis' enlightening look at where property taxes go. Another: the Portland Bureau of Transportation treated reporters to an in-depth look at its budget earlier this week. Me? I was at that weed store in Vancouver. But the O has the details.
Say what you want about military might and robust economies. All I know is, If one day the statues of the world become sentient, and meet in an island arena somewhere in the trash-strewn Pacific to battle over matters of world supremacy, Gujarat, India, crushes us all.
President Obama is catching flack for mingling with the hoi polloi rather than staying shuttered in Washington and arguing with a Congress rigged to stymie his every move. As the Washington Post points out, on a "single day this week" the president drank a beer, and played pool. and shook a guys hand. ON JUST ONE DAY. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS PRESIDENT.
Shouldn't Obama instead be having vindictive discussions with the Republicans twisting his attempts to calm border strife to their own ends?
Remember that newborn who it seemed was cured of HIV last year, causing much rejoicing? It turns out she was not.
It will surprise you to hear that the man charged will executing six members of his ex-wife's family—four of them children—had been waving red flags all over the place.
We asked for this, Portland. Each and every one of us.
