“Among the victims: a collab between USAID and NASA for flood prediction, early warning, disaster readiness, glacier inventories, and mapping dangerous glacial lakes… in Nepal.””

Unsettling question raised over Trump admin's role in devastating Nepal floods

The devastating flash floods in Nepal this week that killed at least 670 people and left around 3,000 missing — including 90 Americans — might have claimed fewer lives if not for the actions of the Tr...

rawstory.com

Portland anarchists play camera destruction bingo as surveillance infrastructure explodes in popularity. The calls to destroy the mobile camera towers come as public frustration over the surveillance tech — and what it is used for — has boiled over.

Portland anarchists play camera destruction bingo as surveillance infrastructure explodes in popularity — and real life

The competition inspired copy-cat vandalism around the city as people targeted the surveillance infrastructure.

streetroots.org

Researchers in Chicago tracked neighborhood-level tree canopy over two decades and discovered something startling: “Each year-to-year percent increase in canopy was associated with around a 10 percent reduction in mortality." Keeping mature trees alive can help keep people alive -and cooler, too.

Climate: Saving Old Trees Might Save Lives

We know that trees are good for cities. A new study finds that mature trees are especially good.

nytimes.com

Pretty disappointed to see a handful of notable Portland restaurants lend their name to the latest “Portland business chamber in sheep’s clothing” PAC. props for how breathlessly they repeat the word “progressive” in their rhetoric to justify their plan of tax cuts and more cops www.goportlandgo.org

Go Portland Go! | Pragmatic Progressive Leadership for Portland, OR

We're building a grassroots coalition to elect pragmatic Portland leaders who pair compassion with accountability. Join us to make Portland work again.

goportlandgo.org

Here’s a graphic projecting massive and devastating #climate driven drying out of soils right across Europe by mid-century… …oh wait, sorry, that’s an ACTUAL reading from August 10th last. My mistake.

“Abundance”

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 7d ago

When you blurt out stuff like "we need to get good at building things" but you don't assign a moral and environmental valence to WHAT we need to build, this is where you end up: unlimited energy abundance and reformed permitting, exactly how we predicted. heatmap.news/energy/trump...

Israel issues kill-order for Palestinian children flying kites No words... https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/08/24/israel-children-flying-kites/

Israel issues kill-order for Palestinian children flying kites

Israel's order comes after a manufactured panic following kites that broke loose and landed in Israeli neighbourhoods close to Gaza

thecanary.co

There it is. While you struggle to afford groceries, or find any that are edible, and pay thousands more every year in gas, rent, utilities, childcare, and healthcare, they are laughing all the way to the bank. 

And simultaneously, the state, county and city are offering millions to a billionaire.

Portland Jobs with Justice@jwjpdx.bsky.social · last wk.

What's the plan here, people? Drastic cuts like this that make the lives of working people harder, are usually held against the party in power. (Hint, hint.)

New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI. We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

404media.co

The man who broke his only campaign promise and then engineered a billionaire backroom deal has endorsed Clark (Metro Chamber favorite), Zimmerman (Metro Chamber favorite), Novick, and a former Dan Ryan staffer. Makes sense!

Portland mayor picks favorites in upcoming City Council contests

Mayor Keith Wilson is throwing his support behind three incumbents running for reelection and an outside challenger who could shift the balance of power on the often divided legislative body.

oregonlive.com

Wow. Proponents of the ICE taser gloves are openly saying that one reason they love the gloves is that they doesn’t leave any marks or proof that they were used, making it harder for people to sue when they’re shocked excessively.

Sophie Hurwitz@hurwitz.bsky.social · 2w ago

This story’s got everything: Spiderman-villain weaponry, Black Hawk Down, vaccine conspiracy theories, weird YouTube videos www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

“Israel must halt this escalation,” said Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in a statement. buff.ly/WR2qtmG

Israeli Strikes Kill 11 in Lebanon, Including 3 Children, as Strikes Escalate

“Israel must halt this escalation,” said Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in a statement.

truthout.org

These are the moderates on Portland City Council who’ve persistently stonewalled & sabotaged every progressive policy proposed, because they’re in the pockets of Portland’s corporations & billionaires: 👇🏾 * Steve Novick * Olivia Clark * Eric Zimmerman * Loretta Smith * Elana Pirtle-Guiney * Dan Ryan

Nick@ecosozialismus.bsky.social · 3w ago

The moderates just voted against an amendment that would allow for the city council to have full information 15 days before the vote on the deal in December lol. 6-6 fails. These people are so unserious.

Excited to share @portlandmercury.com 's climate issue, which is out online and in print today. The issue includes stories about personal climate grief and despair, Portland's culpability in the crisis, and the people who want to help. (Plus more!) www.portlandmercury.com/climate-issu...

Welcome to the Mercury’s Climate Issue - Portland Mercury

The climate crisis is upon us, and its impacts are both depressing and deeply harmful. Here in Portland, more and more of our summer days are spent avoiding wildfire smoke, extreme heat, or both. Even...

portlandmercury.com

We've been covering NSPM-7 and its implementation extensively and in granular detail in our Creating the Enemy Within series talkingpointsmemo.com/creating-the...

Creating the Enemy Within

A running TPM project tracking the Trump administration's state campaign to treat dissent as terrorism.

talkingpointsmemo.com

Josh Kovensky@joshkovensky.bsky.social · 3w ago

NSPM-7 Watch: federal agents sent an undercover informant to a Sunrise Movement meeting, obtained years of financial records for labor unions, and spied on churches during and after Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dhs-spi...

The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for large parts of northeast and Central Oregon and across Idaho. The advisory is in effect from 2 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday.

Abundant lightning, high winds could challenge fire crews across much of Eastern Oregon

A red flag warning is in effect in areas of the John Day Valley, Blue Mountains and much of Eastern Oregon.

opb.org

Money for billionaires; no money for people.

Heyzell@heyzell.myatproto.social · 3w ago

This is brutal. Public transit has never been great here but this would make it horrendous. But let's give all the city and county money to a billionaire sports team owner

Fascists try to force their victims to look like the criminals they imagine them to be. This is such sick, disgusting humiliation. I think people who have never been around ankle monitors don't realize how painful they are, how difficult they render daily life

Yael Schacher@yaelschacher.bsky.social · 3w ago

So many immigrants I've interviewed break down about this. "Monsanto Maler was one of several Haitian immigrants who traveled from Springfield for a check in...after an ankle monitor was attached to him, Maler was seen collapsing to the ground and crying." www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/hundre...

Rudy Giuliani is why a lot of people died during and after 9/11. Has anyone said he shouldn't show up? How about George W. who cut anti-terrorism measures that might've prevented it? Why does racist fantasy harm matter more than real harm; the answer is racism, including in amplifying these voices.

CNN@cnn.com · 3w ago

Twenty-five years after the mayor of New York City became the champion of America's grief and resilience at the time of the 9/11 attacks, families of those killed are split on whether the current mayor should attend the annual remembrance. https://cnn.it/4zkKYdc

The corporate, monied class has to pay for testimony because they can’t out organize working people any other way. They have exactly one trick and it’s to throw money at any inconvenience, but you can’t outspend grit. Portlanders have grit.

Kevin Foster@kevinhfoster.bsky.social · 3w ago

Just when you think it can’t get any more insane.

Huge turnout for our DSA City Council Candidates reelection canvass kickoff! We knocked +/- 3500 doors today.

A shocking mtg Many councilors refusing to even *consider* term sheet amendments (like below) that would better protect Portlanders, require a breakdown of how $120M+ in public funds would be used, or analyze impact of Moda Center funding on other city services All voted down without discussion

Councilor Candace Avalos@counciloravalos.bsky.social · 4w ago

First amendment being introduced: Green Avalos 1. The amendment addresses two elements of the term sheet that are intended to bring the term-sheet to a position that provides more protection for tax payers while moving the process forward towards a fair deal.

Another shoutout to @jeremiahhayden.bsky.social who links to the public records just released by the City regarding the franchise transfer. I'm still skimming the docs, but they include the "unreasonable delay" lawsuit filed against the city. And reader, it is complete (and hilarious) garbage.

In Zenith Energy Transfer, the Public Wants Assurances. Is the City Listening? - Portland Mercury

A Portland City Council committee on Thursday took its next step in deciding whether to transfer a city contract with Zenith Energy to a new, Miami-based investment company called I Squared Capital (I...

portlandmercury.com

Every three years…

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication@yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social · 3w ago

The winter of 2026 saw some of the lowest precipitation levels in the US Mountain West, leaving many communities with little for the hot summer. A new study found that similar weather events could occur every three years by 2050 given current warming. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

“We’ve always had hot summers” True, but not like this… 🥵 ps- buckle up for 2027. It’s on-track to be scary hot 🌡️

Yesterday, I introduced an amendment requiring a simple reporting process before making a binding financial commitment: show where the money comes from, what Portlanders give up to pay for it, and what the public gets in return.

Willamette Week@wweek.com · 3w ago

The Portland City Council on Thursday evening moved toward approving a non-binding term sheet for the Moda Center renovation that would propose the city contribute $120 million for renovation costs in exchange for a lease keeping the Trail Blazers in town for at least 20 years.

So much to do, so little time. www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-mas...

The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing The World’s Climate

Thinking we have time left to address climate change, or that “Net Zero by 2050” will save us, is driving us toward full social collapse in ways that become more obvious with every new broken temperat...

currentaffairs.org

This ”negotiation” just gets more and more absurd and infuriating. They’ll micromanage taxes for preschool and housing but a billionaire can just have whatever he wants with no meaningful accountability. What’s happened to you @councilordunphy.bsky.social ?

Councilor Sameer Kanal@councilorkanal.bsky.social · 4w ago

We've waited since February (at least), since we first learned the state was working on SB 1501, for a chance to talk about what a deal could look like for Moda renovations. After months of backroom negotiations, executive sessions, work sessions with no testimony, & listening sessions... 1/

No one who advocates for the Moda renovations is allowed to complain about the city or state taking too many taxes EVER AGAIN