We have hundreds of miles of multi use abandoned rail lines, what a great use of an already established trail. How could anyone not support that? Suggesting violence to any group here is illegal but it seems the norm south of the border, sad, and as I said, frightening.The rural urban divide is a real thing in Oregon. This is a story about how an attempt to turn an abandoned rail line into a trail that would draw tourist money into a rural economy became a right wing touchstone that not only divided the community but normalized kkk-style terrorism.
How a trail in rural Oregon became a target of far-right extremism - High Country News
To understand the state’s urban-rural divide, start by looking at Yamhill County’s proposed walking trail.www.hcn.org
When the Yamhelas Westsider Trail was first conceived, the county’s three commissioners supported it. Locals loved the idea; one winemaker donated $16,000 to the cause. The state gave the county a $1.5 million grant to help purchase the right of way, and the commission hired engineers to build a bridge outside Yamhill that was needed to develop the trail.
An early phase would span 2.8 miles, connecting the towns of Carlton and Yamhill, two communities linked in many ways: The schools share the name Yamhill-Carlton, and the entire area is deemed an AVA — an “American Viticultural Area” — for the loamy soil that allows grapes to flourish here. There is no Yamhill without Carlton, and no Carlton without Yamhill.
And yet the towns differ widely.
Though timber built Carlton, wine revived it: Nearly every Main Street storefront now houses a wine-tasting room. A bakery sells mushroom truffle gougères and complicated artisan breads. Gardens behind white picket fences burst with tulips like spring fireworks.
In Yamhill, most of the storefronts stand vacant, and yard signs and flags project a different vibe: “Blue Lives Matter” and “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Trump.” A billboard next to a red barn yells: “The United Nations is Not Your Friend!”
LAST YEAR, TWO WOMEN RAN for the single open seat on the County Commission. One issue dominated the race: the trail.
Candidate Barbara Boyer was a well-known farmer in her mid-50s who co-founded the local farmers market. She has accolades from the state Board of Agriculture, the Agriculture Heritage Commission, the local Soil and Water Conservation Board. She preached compromise and conversation, and waved away political drama with a smile and big laugh.
Boyer’s opponent was a 40-year-old Arizona native and Republican political consultant named Lindsay Berschauer. She has long brown hair and big eyelashes, and often wears power suits. She is known for her willingness to stir the pot. “I would consider myself a consultant who likes to push the limit,” she explained at a forum in 2016. She had worked for Oregon Transformation Project, an organization fueled by anti-Portland rhetoric, which poured tens of thousands of dollars into conservative political coffers, exhorting voters to halt “Portland Creep.” Congestion, density and crime, its billboards warned, were coming for outlying areas.
Until recently, Berschauer lived in a spacious waterfront home on the Willamette River, according to public records. But during the race, she presented herself as a working-class candidate who idolized the Oregon logger. During the election, Berschauer wore a Carhartt vest and jeans.
The story goes on with Bershauer poisoning the community with Trumpian lies and distortions. She joined forces with the County Commission Chair who founded "Oregonians for Life" an anti abortion PAC. As described in the article, as Trumpism evolved, so did the racist and violent rhetoric from the two right wing commissioners.
And there is a racial component to the Yamhill County story, too: Two months after Republicans walked out of the Statehouse and Timber Unity made its grand political entrance, Commissioner Starrett was fighting diversity training for county employees. She questioned whether white privilege was real, drawing on myths about Asian Americans, saying Asians “have better credit scores, they have more wealth. … We could talk about Asian privilege.”
She was opposed and her attempt at stopping a two hour training session was defeated by the community. But damage she caused was permanent. Fast forward to the end of the article. Kulla, the lone not Trumpian commissioner is receiving death threats. The state Rep from southern Yamhill County was the one who opened the locked doors to Proud Boys during a closed session in Salem where lawmakers were debating mask mandates during the epidemic. Rioters got into the building and were eventually pushed back in violent confrontation with the police security officers. This just a month or so before the Jan 6 insurrection. The lone Hispanic city councilor in a nearby town, Sal Peralta, of McMinnville has been targeted and trash dumped on his front lawn. One morning this spring, he found a toilet in his front yard. “I don’t know if that was Timber Unity,” he said. “I also have a Black Lives Matter sign in front of my house. I don’t know why it happened, but I can tell you I have been singled out clearly and deliberately so many times that it wouldn’t surprise me if it was deliberate.”
So the US is becoming one big urban-rural divide. The analogy of a US Taliban is not wrong. The Taliban live in a rural tribal homeland part of which is within Pakistan's borders but not governed by Pakistan. The other part is in Afghanistan. From the Taliban homeland comes terrorism and they even conquered Afghanistan. They are violent, dogmatic fundamentalist religious bigots and extremely conservative in their culture. This is, of course, not the US but there are echoes of the Taliban in places like Yamhill.
The few times I’ve needed a lawyer, the first word out of their mouth was “retainer”.You would think that by now, an attorney would know those five magic words “pay in full in advance”.
Yup I’ve had a standing retainer for 1.5 years now with her on speed dial given the challenges at work after the corporate buy out . VP of eastern Ontario asked why I have a lawyer? “Because you have 10”! “And I’ve worked with cartels that I trust more than you folks”.The few times I’ve needed a lawyer, the first word out of their mouth was “retainer”.
They appear to be doing nothing. They have incredibly damning evidence, top secret sci documents, boxes of documents he should have never taken to begin with, empty folders that they've had plenty of time to match to documents, if the documents that went in them were there to find...i'm starting to think that i'm never going to have to make good on my conditional apology to Garland, because he's never going to prosecute trump. if he doesn't by the end of the year, then Biden ought to replace him with someone who actually has male secondary sexual characteristics...But the current DOJ appears to be constructing a trap up to the job.
You take the low road; I’ll take the high road.They appear to be doing nothing. They have incredibly damning evidence, top secret sci documents, boxes of documents he should have never taken to begin with, empty folders that they've had plenty of time to match to documents, if the documents that went in them were there to find...i'm starting to think that i'm never going to have to make good on my conditional apology to Garland, because he's never going to prosecute trump. if he doesn't by the end of the year, then Biden ought to replace him with someone who actually has male secondary sexual characteristics...
why are unqualified judges making decisions they aren't qualified to make, the same reason we had a president unqualified to lead the country...republicans put them there so they could control them...doesn't take fucking Sherlock Holmes to solve that mystery
a lot of it is just enmity between the parties...expresed a lot more by the republicans.We have hundreds of miles of multi use abandoned rail lines, what a great use of an already established trail. How could anyone not support that? Suggesting violence to any group here is illegal but it seems the norm south of the border, sad, and as I said, frightening.
and we'll get to the gates of hell at exactly the same time...You take the low road; I’ll take the high road.
Scotland isn’t so bad.and we'll get to the gates of hell at exactly the same time...
Lol at some pot head like yours truly trying to tell the doj they have a slam dunk case. You don't actually don't know what the real situation is, just what you're being told.They appear to be doing nothing. They have incredibly damning evidence, top secret sci documents, boxes of documents he should have never taken to begin with, empty folders that they've had plenty of time to match to documents, if the documents that went in them were there to find...i'm starting to think that i'm never going to have to make good on my conditional apology to Garland, because he's never going to prosecute trump. if he doesn't by the end of the year, then Biden ought to replace him with someone who actually has male secondary sexual characteristics...
if neither one of us believe in a deity, is there really a difference between the high road and the low road? what punishment is there for taking the low road? you get where you're going faster, with less effort...Scotland isn’t so bad.
Nobody is resigning, bitching or leaking at the DOJ, so that should tell you something, the place is full of Glenn Kirshner types. Any leaks have been authorized leaks, like prosecuting his ass after the election.They appear to be doing nothing. They have incredibly damning evidence, top secret sci documents, boxes of documents he should have never taken to begin with, empty folders that they've had plenty of time to match to documents, if the documents that went in them were there to find...i'm starting to think that i'm never going to have to make good on my conditional apology to Garland, because he's never going to prosecute trump. if he doesn't by the end of the year, then Biden ought to replace him with someone who actually has male secondary sexual characteristics...
Man, the Founding Fathers thought the country would always be run by people who would do what is best to preserve the health of the country and thus would never appoint life-long judicial positions to incompetents. How times have changed.why are unqualified judges making decisions they aren't qualified to make, the same reason we had a president unqualified to lead the country...republicans put them there so they could control them...doesn't take fucking Sherlock Holmes to solve that mystery
If I am already on the high road, the energetics become favorable.if neither one of us believe in a deity, is there really a difference between the high road and the low road? what punishment is there for taking the low road? you get where you're going faster, with less effort...
what reward is there for taking the high road? slower progress and more work?
you get better at pushing a load up a hill? are you Sisyphus?