KevinB

She is somewhat inconsistent, as expected for a first year player, but when she is on, she is a real difference maker.

She has a lot of potential.

Thank you for this update, but I refuse to "like" it.

With no Wilson and Weaver for the season, and Hanks playing less than half the season, it's amazing this team finished 5th in goals scored.

Gale is clearly a good person who tries hard to give credit to others.

I just wish his tactical decisions and in-game adjustments were as impressive.

Given the injuries / maternity leave and so many new players getting significant minutes, it's absolutely bonkers that if the Thorns beat HOU at home and KC beats or draws vs SD, we host a playoff match (since ORL plays SEA).

(Or if SD wins and the Thorns win by at least 3 more goals than SD does)

I can't imagine this Thorns team scoring 5 goals against anyone, honestly. Too much attacking talent out.

I think rather than describe it they would interview an endless stream of Republicans and let their descriptions define how it is framed.

They won't learn, because people with power are not used to listening to criticism. So they reject it, whether internally ("They're just haters") or externally ("Take that sign down.")

For nine nights now, the steady thrum of Black Hawk helicopters has circled over Portland. The sound is constant, invasive; a low mechanical beating above our homes. It’s expensive. It’s intimidating. And it’s unnecessary. Our protests have been largely peaceful. There is no insurrection here. Yet this federalized military presence makes us feel like we are living in a war zone (the very kind of chaos this administration claims to be protecting us from). The irony is painful: it is only this occupation that makes Portland feel unsafe. Each hour of helicopter flight costs taxpayers between $2,000 and $4,000, depending on crew, fuel, and maintenance. Multiply that by multiple aircraft over multiple nights, and you’re looking at hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars burned into the sky.

Meanwhile, the Woodstock Food Pantry at All Saints Episcopal Church — which feeds working families, elders, and people with disabilities — has seen its federal funding slashed by 75%. How can we justify pouring public money into intimidation while cutting aid to those who simply need to eat? This is waste, fraud, and abuse in plain sight: * Waste of public resources on military theatrics. * Fraud in the name of “public safety.” * Abuse of the communities that federal agencies claim to protect. Portland is a Sanctuary City. A sanctuary city is not a fortress. It’s a promise — a living vow that a community will protect the dignity and safety of everyone who calls it home. It means that local governments and ordinary people alike will refuse to criminalize survival. That schools, clinics, churches, and shelters will remain safe spaces no matter who you are or where you were born. But the term reaches far beyond policy. It’s an ethic of belonging; a refusal to criminalize need, difference, or desperation.

Sanctuary isn’t weakness. It’s courage. It takes moral strength to meet suffering with care instead of punishment, to believe that our neighbors’ safety is bound up in our own, to insist that safety is not achieved through force but through community, inclusion, and trust. It is living Matthew 25:40 out loud and in deed. It is an act of moral imagination and moral defiance. To hold sanctuary is to say: you belong here. When we hold space for the most vulnerable — refugees, the unhoused, the undocumented, the disabled, the working poor, the displaced — we become something larger than a collection of individuals. We become a moral body. We do more than offer charity. We offer witness. We declare that the measure of a nation is found not in its towers or tanks, but in its tenderness. Sanctuary cities are not lawless; they are soulful. They represent the conscience of the nation, a place where the laws of empathy still apply. To make sanctuary is to affirm that the United States is not merely a geographic territory, but a moral experiment: a republic that must constantly choose between fear and compassion, between domination and democracy.

A nation’s soul is measured not by the might of its military, but by the mercy of its people. When helicopters circle our skies in the name of order, while food pantries struggle to feed the hungry, we are forced to ask: What are we defending, and from whom? The soul of a nation survives only when we make sanctuary for one another. Not through walls or weapons, but through compassion and collective will. If we allow intimidation to replace compassion, we will have traded our conscience for control. Please know that despite the hum of war machines overhead, the conscience of our city — whimsical, creative, stubbornly kind — can still be heard. Portland is not the problem. Portland is the reminder. A reminder that a city can still choose to be sanctuary. That a people can still choose to be human.

This heartfelt and meaningful statement by Portland resident and author Cristina Breshears on another social media platform bears reposting here. I don't think the intent is to idealize Portland but to remind all of us what is important and why. (Posted here with permission.)

Agreed. She has been significantly better than I expected when she arrived from Louisville and in some matches has been our only threat up front.

I think Tordin has a great future, but she is still inconsistent, as is almost always the case with first year players.

Portland had shut out Orlando in five of the previous seven matchups and had not been shut out by Orlando since a 0-0 draw in September 2017.

Unusual to fire an assistant coach during the season when the head coach isn't also fired or some sort of significant issue hasn't occurred.

"Remember when the governor of Texas told the State Guard to monitor a military training exercise called Jade Helm 15, under a Dem. President?

10 years later, that same governor sent the TX National Guard to occupy Portland, against the wishes of Oregon elected officials, under a Rep. President"

🤦🏽‍♂️

15... 13...

Same thing.

more dillon, less ice

I'm biased 😉

(this one is 12 years old now and will be screaming alongside me during the ceremony and match today).

I really enjoy your stories, Phuoc!
Thanks for bringing them to us.

I think I know why "reunited" is in quotes. 😉
Hina signed for Portland on January 26th, 2022.
Parsons left the Thorns in November 2021.

Good chance they communicated before Mark left the team, but they were never actually with the Thorns at the same time.

Isn't Weaver's injury a continuation of her previous not-fully-healed injury that cost her most of the 2024 season?

Things have to move incrementally. Going the entire way in a single step is too distasteful / too far for most people.

Boiling frogs and all...

Nearly everyone who claims to be a "free speech absolutist" is, in fact, an advocate for limiting speech that they disagree with. They just know that argument doesn't draw support.

Also, it is notable how quickly the argument goes from "You're limiting my speech!" to "Well, you started it!"

Almost like we're seeing a confluence of things: previously corporations seemed more likely to react to pressure from the liberal side, that has clearly swung heavily towards conservatives; people who lead corps tend to be conservative; and authoritarianism thrives on whataboutism and hypocrisy.

Agreed.
It's not only natural to want to align these acts and perpetrators to familiar (to the journalists) "sides," it is also easier, since journalists don't have to explain (and understand for themselves) things like groypers or other groups/ideologies to their audience.

Not to mention that history (particularly recently) has shown that "brief" in many cases includes "after several hours," which can be a huge issue if you are with your children or at work.

Plus, LE isn't looking for reasons to let people leave. They are looking for reasons to detain people.

This used to be the case, but it is no longer the case.

That's why if the ball hits the official, the whistle is blown and a drop ball restarts play.

3 goals and 1 assist in 32 league appearances (most off the bench, so limited min) isn't much production, but with injuries to wingers Weaver and Hanks, and Wilson out, Turner and Linnehan were the only players on the roster who can stretch a defense. (Maybe Dufour?) Hurts depth for only $48k.

Leagues (and teams... and owners) are so afraid of people seeing speech they don't like, who then start a social media pile-on, that they instead try to prevent anything that might upset people, ignoring the fact that people get upset when they can't express themselves and their values.

When your main turn of communication is exaggeration (or outright fabrication) of "problems" in order to drive a fear response, you can't actually solve the problems because (almost) everything you said about them isn't real.

Genuinely one of my top 3 favorite players worldwide to watch, regardless of where the ball is and which team is in possession.