• Eugene Weekly is locally owned by Anita and Art Johnson of Eugene and Georga Taylor, now retired to northern California from Coos Bay. The owners take no profit from this free weekly newspaper. This week we want to give thanks for our amazing staff. Not one employee has been let go or furloughed through this pandemic, although six staff members have cut five hours per week to help keep expenses down. As you can tell from the size of the paper, advertising has dropped too low, but thanks to the contributions from our readers and the resourcefulness of our business manager, Elisha Young, we continue to fill those boxes and racks every Thursday, and you continue to empty them. For that we are thankful.
• What we’re reading: We cannot put this book down, Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, the first of his two-part memoir, is out. Obama is an eloquent, thoughtful writer, and the book gives an often rueful insight not only to Obama’s presidency but to his marriage to Michelle Obama and how a family deals with the tumult of the presidency and politics. How did this country elect both Obama and Trump, one so literate, the other not so much?
• Overnight lows for Thanksgiving weekend will be a touch warmer than the previous weekend, so Egan Warming Center may not be activated during the holiday. Still, the program named after Major Thomas Egan, who died on the streets of Eugene in 2008, and administered by St. Vincent de Paul can always use volunteers for this winter season, especially in a COVID environment. Fortunately, there are Zoom volunteer orientations on Dec. 1 and Dec. 3. More information about these orientations at EganWarmingCenter.com.
• It’s shameful that three weeks after Joseph Biden won election as president, the majority of Republicans, including those in both houses of Congress, still refuse to recognize his victory. As dozens of judges have already ruled, there is no evidence of election fraud, so long as you ignore the fraudulent claims made by Trump and his clownshow of lawyers. By delaying a responsible and orderly transition of power during a worldwide pandemic, the GOP has completed its own transition — one from a political party with integrity and conservative values to a criminally extremist cult of personality.
• Just in case you missed the memo: Stay home.
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