11-23-2024  9:58 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

'Bomb Cyclone' Kills 1 and Knocks out Power to Over Half a Million Homes Across the Northwest US

A major storm was sweeping across the northwest U.S., battering the region with strong winds and rain. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect. 

'Bomb Cyclone' Threatens Northern California and Pacific Northwest

The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks beginning Tuesday and lasting through Friday. Those come as the strongest atmospheric river  that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season bears down on the region. 

More Logging Is Proposed to Help Curb Wildfires in the US Pacific Northwest

Officials say worsening wildfires due to climate change mean that forests must be more actively managed to increase their resiliency.

Democrat Janelle Bynum Flips Oregon’s 5th District, Will Be State’s First Black Member of Congress

The U.S. House race was one of the country’s most competitive and viewed by The Cook Political Report as a toss up, meaning either party had a good chance of winning.

NEWS BRIEFS

OMSI Opens Indoor Ice Rink for the Holiday Season

This is the first year the unique synthetic ice rink is open. ...

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

Portland Fire & Rescue extends their wish to you for a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday. ...

Portland Art Museum’s Rental Sales Gallery Showcases Diverse Talent

New Member Artist Show will be open to the public Dec. 6 through Jan. 18, with all works available for both rental and purchase. ...

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Oregon Announces New State Director and Community Engagement Coordinator

“This is an exciting milestone for Oregon,” said DELC Director Alyssa Chatterjee. “These positions will play critical roles in...

Multnomah County Library Breaks Ground on Expanded St. Johns Library

Groundbreaking marks milestone in library transformations ...

Storm dumps record rain in Northern California, while US Northeast deals with winter storms

HEALDSBURG, Calif. (AP) — A major storm dropped more snow and record rain in California, causing small landslides and flooding some streets, while on the opposite side of the country blizzard or winter storm warnings were in effect Saturday for areas spanning from the Northeast to central...

What to know about Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump's pick for labor secretary

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor in his second administration, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions in her district but lost reelection in November. ...

Moore and UAPB host Missouri

Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (1-5) at Missouri Tigers (4-1) Columbia, Missouri; Sunday, 5 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: UAPB plays Missouri after Christian Moore scored 20 points in UAPB's 98-64 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Tigers are 4-0 in home...

Grill's 25 point leads Missouri past Pacific 91-56

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Reserve Caleb Grill scored 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting and Tamar Bates scored 11 points as Missouri overwhelmed Pacific 91-56 on Friday night. Reserve Trent Pierce added 10 points for Missouri (4-1) which made 14 of 30 3-pointers. Elias Ralph...

OPINION

A Loan Shark in Your Pocket: Cellphone Cash Advance Apps

Fast-growing app usage leaves many consumers worse off. ...

America’s Healing Can Start with Family Around the Holidays

With the holiday season approaching, it seems that our country could not be more divided. That division has been perhaps the main overarching topic of our national conversation in recent years. And it has taken root within many of our own families. ...

Donald Trump Rides Patriarchy Back to the White House

White male supremacy, which Trump ran on, continues to play an outsized role in exacerbating the divide that afflicts our nation. ...

Why Not Voting Could Deprioritize Black Communities

President Biden’s Justice40 initiative ensures that 40% of federal investment benefits flow to disadvantaged communities, addressing deep-seated inequities. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

What to know about Scott Turner, Trump's pick for housing secretary

Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term. Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member...

Daniel Penny doesn't testify as his defense rests in subway chokehold trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Daniel Penny chose not to testify and defense lawyers rested their case Friday at his trial in the death of an agitated man he choked on a subway train. Closing arguments are expected after Thanksgiving in the closely watched manslaughter case about the death of...

National monument proposed for North Dakota Badlands, with tribes' support

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A coalition of conservation groups and Native American tribal citizens on Friday called on President Joe Biden to designate nearly 140,000 acres of rugged, scenic Badlands as North Dakota's first national monument, a proposal several tribal nations say would preserve the...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Chris Myers looks back on his career in ’That Deserves a Wow'

There are few sports journalists working today with a resume as broad as Chris Myers. From a decade doing everything for ESPN (SportsCenter, play by play, and succeeding Roy Firestone as host of the interview show “Up Close”) to decades of involvement with nearly every league under contract...

Was it the Mouse King? ‘Nutcracker’ props stolen from a Michigan ballet company

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Did the Mouse King strike? A ballet group in suburban Detroit is scrambling after someone stole a trailer filled with props for upcoming performances of the beloved holiday classic “The Nutcracker.” The lost items include a grandfather...

Wrestling with the ghosts of 'The Piano Lesson'

The piano on the set of “The Piano Lesson” was not a mere prop. It could be played and the cast members often did. It was adorned with pictures of the Washington family and their ancestors. It was, John David Washington jokes, “No. 1 on the call sheet.” “We tried to haunt...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Deadly alcohol poisoning casts shadow over the Laotian backpacker town

VANG VIENG, Laos (AP) — A little town known as a backpacker paradise in northern Laos has come under spotlight...

UN talks in disarray as a rough draft deal for climate cash is rejected by developing nations

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Splintered and rudderless after developing nations rejected what they called too little...

What to know about Scott Turner, Trump's pick for housing secretary

Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a...

North Korean leader says past diplomacy only confirmed US hostility

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his past negotiations with the United States only...

Key UN committee adopts resolution paving the way for a first-ever treaty on crimes against humanity

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A key U.N. General Assembly committee adopted a resolution late Friday paving the way for...

Brazilian police formally accused Bolsonaro of an attempted coup. What comes next?

SAO PAULO (AP) — Police have formally accused Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others of...

Jehron Muhammad Special to the NNPA from the Final Call

President Robert Mugabe(FinalCall.com) – During a recent speech at the University of South Africa, former President Thabo Mbeki took Western nations to task for mounting an "offensive against Zimbabwe" that he called an indirect attack on the aspirations of all Africans.

During his speech, after attending President Robert Mugabe's inauguration in Zimbabwe, he focused on criticisms about the outcome of the Zimbabwe election and Zimbabwe's role as a catalyst in a war to remove vestiges of neo-colonialism from Africa.

"I wasn't intending to speak for so long, but as you can see I'm getting very, very agitated about Zimbabwe, because it's very, very clear that the offensive against Zimbabwe is an offensive against the rest of the continent,"  he said.

Concerning the election outcome, Mr. Mbeki  noted that based on over 1,000 election monitors provided by the African Union and the South African Development Community (SADC) the polling was "free, representing the opinion of the people of Zimbabwe."

So why did Western nations, including the U.S., claim the election outcome was deliberately slanted to favor Mugabe?  John Kerry, U.S. secretary of state, declared the "United States does not believe the results … represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people."

But a closer look reveals Western election observers were not even invited. In fact Zimbabwe, who Western nations have sanctioned, felt Western "observers" couldn't objectively serve as monitors.

In addition, the U.S. had offered to pay "huge" sums of money to the SADC observer mission. According to Mbeki, who said he spoke to members of the observer mission, "We don't know how they got to know that we were going to do this, but they were very, very happy to support us with huge sums of money. But we said no. We refused. We said no, we will finance ourselves." There was a clear reason why SADC decided against accepting outside financing, according to what Mbeki was told. "Because we know that if we accepted that money, then we would have to produce a report consistent with the views of the paymaster," he said.

In the October 9, 2013 edition of The Guardian, film maker Roy Agyemang writes 89-year-old Mugabe was "molded in the crucible of politics of nationalism, he emerges as the surviving face of African nationalism radicalized through armed resistance to settler colonialism. It is in this dimension of his generational politics, this trait of his character, which Britain and the western world has not been able to comprehend."

I might add, as Mbeki suggests, that there is also fear of what Mugabe represents. What they fear from Mugabe, who spearheaded the 1980 overthrow of Zimbabwe's former colonial masters, if what he represents catches momentum, is that their days of exploiting Africa's natural resources are numbered. Belgium, the center of the global diamond trade, reported Voice of America, has demanded that the European Union lift sanctions on the state-run Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC). The EU has announced plans to lift sanctions imposed on ZMDC. Why? Zimbabwe is on the verge of accounting for 25 percent of world diamond production, Mugabe noted at a conference at Victoria Falls last year. He noted the whole industrialized world seems to be "here" in his country and a representative of India told him why.

Mugabe, during his September speech to the United Nations General Assembly castigated the U.S. and Great Britain. "Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies … Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country," he said.

The U.S. and the EU have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwean state firms and travel restrictions on Mugabe and dozens of Zimbabweans, mostly members of Mugabe's Zanu-PF political party. The sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are mostly about Mugabe's redistribution of land forcibly taken by the country's former colonial masters. In fact much of this illegal land distribution was a way of rewarding British citizens for service to the UK during World War II.

Ayemang who is the director/producer of the documentary "Mugabe: Villain or Hero?"  said, "From Margaret Thatcher's grudging acknowledgement to Tony Blair's open hostility, the British establishment has had to contend with the assertive Mugabe."

Mbeki believes Zimbabwe has been the "frontline in terms of defending our right as Africans to determine our future, and they are paying a price for that. I think it is our responsibility as African intellectuals to join them."

South Africans are still suffering from the results of the 1913 Land Act that saw millions of Blacks forcibly removed from their homes. This injustice has yet to be rectified. Maybe Mugabe sees Zimbabwe redistributing land back to indigenous Africans as a precursor for South Africa's future.

Jehron Muhammad, who writes from Philadelphia, can be reached at [email protected].

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