dr-know

Should the City Provide Portable Toilets and Garbage Cans for Homeless Camps?

It’s not the Benson, but it’s at least as sanitary as Coachella.

People Say if Trump Is Reelected, They’ll Move to Canada. Is It Really That Easy?

“Most Canadians find it kind of funny, because we know that almost none of those people are actually going to move here.”

Did Oregon’s Once-Famous Columnist Doug Baker Coin a Witticism About Bagpipes?

Several of our newsroom’s most esteemed centenarians looked up from their walkers, eyes seeming almost to focus, at the mention of his name.

If You Sealed Your House Against Wildfire Smoke, Wouldn’t You Just Run Out of Oxygen?

A week or 10 days of airtight lockdown—longer than you might suppose—should be eminently survivable.

What’s the Deal With Cops and Bagpipes?

By the mid-20th century, the tradition of bagpipes at police funerals was as well-established as the stereotype of the Irish cop.

Who Gets the Money if Portland Wins Its Lawsuits Against Trump?

No judge is likely to turn Keller Fountain into Scrooge McDuck’s Money Bin anytime soon.

Do I Have to Burn My Fred Perry Shirts Because the Proud Boys Adopted Them as Their Uniform?

As to whether to keep wearing your polos, I’d say it depends.

Is It Too Late to Make a Change to the Electoral College in Time for the 2020 Election?

To put it another way: 2020? Don’t hold your breath for 2032.

A Rare Dr. Know Mea Culpa

In my recent column about who becomes mayor if the current mayor resigns, I suggested that no Portland mayor had ever quit the job. While I did include the weasel words “as far as [I] could determine,” I grant that readers should expect a newspaper columnist to be more aware of major historical events.

Are Homeland Security Planes Compiling a List of “Terrorists” at Portland Protests?

The whole thing is extremely creepy, and it’s probably only the staggering incompetence of the Trump administration that’s keeping it from being even worse.

Willamette Week

dr know