I got a lot of problems with you people

We head now into two weeks in which folks won't be able to tell you what day of the week it is. It's the perfect time for the politicians and bureaucrats to release information they'd rather you didn't think too hard about. Most people are too busy with holiday celebrations to pay much attention to the news, and even those who do watch are inclined to see the brighter side.

But for some of us, today is Festivus, the holiday that features the airing of grievances. And so I'd be remiss if I didn't round up a few news items that I've had queued up for blog posts that I'll probably be too busy to write.

• They're doling out the pork from the Portland "clean energy" city sales tax, and guess where a lot of it's going? I know, too easy, you got it... cr-apartments! 

The eight projects approved:...

Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development office, will receive $36 million to build 230 net-zero energy multi-housing units as part of its Broadway Corridor – Phase 1 project. The building is part of the revamping of the former United States Postal Service site in Northwest Portland. The funds will also include workforce development.

Yep, "climate action" means more awful, soulless, Soviet-style bunkers, subsidized by the taxpayers whose neighborhoods they're wrecking. Remember, kids, in Portland, the developer weasels always get their cut. Of everything. They were into green before you were born. And the "prosperity" people? They couldn't attract anyone with money to build anything where they tore the post office down. So they'll use your money and build more "The Projects."

• The dirty dozen, Portland's new City Council, is taking more money for office administration so that they can have more minions to schedule their hair appointments. 

Loretta Smith, one of three councilors elected to represent District 1, has in recent onboarding meetings with city officials been the most vocal member of the incoming council about her desire to increase councilors’ staffing budgets.... But her colleagues across the other three districts have echoed her concern that the budget approved for each of the incoming city councilors doesn’t allow them to hire the staff necessary to fulfill their duties, according to four people close to the discussions.

One thing I hope all the new staffers will get done early on is figuring out exactly what the heck the council members are supposed to be doing all day for their record-high salaries. It seems like a part-time job.

• The federal narc who blew through a stop sign and killed a woman on a bicycle in Salem last year will get away with it. A federal judge has ruled that he's immune from prosecution, no matter how bad his driving was, because he was on duty. A terrible injustice. The victim's surviving spouse speaks out, politely but compellingly, here.

• A big microchip maker that was supposed to put hundreds of millions of dollars into an expansion of its Gresham plant is backing off that plan. It seems that nobody's getting rich in that industry around here any more except Ron Wyden's wife.

• In toney Lake Oswego, on the tense border between the People's Republic of Portlandia and the wilds of Clackistan, a city planning drone gave the OK for a guy to build a house, but three months later, she realized the house was 10¼ inches too tall. The error was not caught until the house was standing. And so the solution was, the homeowner had to tear the roof off and start over. It's so awful, I can't believe it's not Portland.

That's enough for now. The sun's out for a change; a nice walk might be good. Or perhaps a long winter's nap is in order. Happy Festivus!