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Archives for April 2017

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Onion: America is more religious than other countries due to its proximity to the Gates Of Hell.

Minute Physics: Can we survive curiosity?

Olbermann: Bill-O-the-Clown’s downfall.

Greenman: What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.

Jimmy Fallon: Barack Obama is back from his vacation.

Trevor Noah: Confederate Memorial Day makes waves in the South.

Climate Lab: Going green shouldn’t be this hard.

Turmoil in Трамп-Town:

VOX: FAUX News’ problem is a lot bigger than Bill O’Reilly:

Pot activists arrested after smoking pot on the Capitol Lawn.

Kimmel: The week in unnecessary censorship.

Michael Brooks: FAUX News’ Jesse Watters makes blowjob joke about Ivanka, immediately goes on unplanned ‘vacation’

Minute Physics: How do we know the universe is expanding?

Mental Floss: 31 explosive facts about volcanoes.

Nutcase Alex Jones:

Bill Maher: Change anxiety.

Trevor: So much news…Obama, Coulter & a Senate briefing.

Young Turks: Arkansas is literally on a killing spree.

North Korea’s nuclear threat explained.

Scientists march on Washington.

VOX: How “sanctuary cities” actually work.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Open Thread

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Pete Holmes is pretty good as City Attorney, but it seems like there is space to his left if a challenger wants to come along. I mean a lefty candidate pushing harder on the consent decree might be an interesting race.

I don’t know much about Scott Lindsay (Seattle Times link), but all I really get from that article is that he’s been pushing the homeless sweeps that are gross gross gross. He also has supported safe consumption sites, so he probably wouldn’t be going back to the bad old war on drug days.

The Fair and Balanced Objective Media Has Absolutely No Impact on the Outcome of Elections… but Please Buy a Subscription Because We’re Crucial to Maintaining a Functional Democracy!

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One of the original taglines for HA was “an (almost) daily blog on Washington state politics and the press,” and my original intention was to focus mostly on media criticism. I was a child of Watergate who grew up idolizing journalists as defenders of democracy, but my accidental adventure as a subject of media coverage gave me a personal tour into how the sausage was made that left me, well, more than a bit disillusioned.

And thirteen years later, disillusioned I remain:

Republicans and Democrats in Olympia worked hard to produce thoughtful education plans, but both fall short. Trying to spend as little as possible is usually the right thing for them to do. But in this case, it’s likely to prolong the legal fight that’s kept the state in limbo and shortchanged students for decades.

Oh Jesus. First, Republicans and Democrats in Olympia most definitely did not work hard to produce thoughtful education plans. The Republicans were obstructionist as usual, gleefully seeking to use the McCleary crisis to stick it to Seattle homeowners while strategically defunding the rest of state government. There is absolutely nothing thoughtful about their levy-swap smoke and mirrors—it was bullshit when Rob McKenna ran on it, and it is bullshit today. Their only goal is shrinking state government, period, whatever the cost in human misery, because they are a stupid, deceitful, mean-spirited, and profoundly pathological party. (Notice the lack of the word “thoughtful” in that string of adjectives.)

As for the Democrats, I don’t question their motives, but my God could we possibly elect a bigger bunch of fucking cowards? Vote to raise taxes, goddammit—bigly!—and then run on your record of trying to get something the fuck done! You lose elections when you stand for nothing. Try standing for something besides “values” for a change, and you may be pleasantly surprised at the polls.

Second, “trying to spend as little as possible is usually the right thing for them to do”…? Really? Try supporting your goddamn thesis, Brier, instead of laying this steaming turd out there like it’s some undisputed gem of fiscal wisdom! It’s not. It’s a steaming turd. In reality, the big problem in Washington State has long been that we are not spending enough money—on education, on mental health, on our foster care system, on transportation, and on many other crucial public goods and services. And we’re not spending enough money because we’re not raising enough money. Which brings us to the third sentence of this trite piece of editorial fluff:

Um, you know who’s really “shortchanged students for decades,” Brier? Your fucking garbage pit of an editorial board, that’s who!

Yeah, sure, I agree with the main thesis of your column, but you and your fellow editorialists need to take a little personal responsibility. Your publisher and your ed board have aggressively opposed meaningful tax reform for decades, despite being repeatedly confronted with actual math that proved our current funding crisis was inevitable. INEVITABLE, goddammit! Totally unavoidable! We have a structural revenue deficit. It’s baked in to our absurdly antiquated (and cruelly regressive) tax structure. This is what comes from an over-reliance on a sales tax that grows revenue slower than the natural rate of growth of the cost of providing public services at a constant level. There’s no getting around it.

So instead, of vague platitudes and half-hearted half-references to the need for “new taxes,” it’s time for you and your paper to get out in front of this issue and demand that legislators pass an income tax. Because you fucking well know that taxing income is the only option that raises the “ample” funding you claim you want. And while we don’t need you to apologize for the selfishly destructive role your paper has played in creating this crisis, you damn well better acknowledge it if you and your ed board ever want to be taken seriously on budget issues again. (Assuming you ever were.)

Wait. No, actually. Fucking apologize. Because honestly, your paper has been so fucking dishonest on this issue that none of you deserve even an emphysematous whisper of a voice in this debate until you issue an institutional mea culpa for being so goddamn awful for so goddamn long.

And oh, if you think this rant was worded a bit too strong, prove me the fuck wrong.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottleThe Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight for our weekly dose of political chat and beer. Please join us.

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern beginning about 8pm.



Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the other 228 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

Open Thread Monday, April 24, 2017, CE

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First Capitol Hill Seattle, and now Seattlish except permanent. It turns out it’s tough to make a go of it covering local news on the Internet and being decent.

I don’t know what to say. Seattle politics will be a lesser place without their wit. It will be a lesser place without their compassion. It will be a lesser place without their dedication to the local. In short it will be a lesser place without their voice.

Good luck in whatever comes next.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Late Show: A very Canadian 4/20

Young Turks: Scientists march for science

Seattle police practice crowd control techniques in preparation for May Day.

Трамп Trashes America for Another Week:

Retreating glacier leads to disappearance of a river.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s : guide to getting started.

Sam Seder: Sen. Dean Heller’s VERY, VERY BAD town hall.

Buh-Bye Bill:

Why humans are so bad at thinking about climate change.

Bill Maher: New Rule—Make Earth great again:

InfoWar’s Alex Jones Admits He is a Fraud:

Bill Maher breaks down lies about marijuana.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

O**n T****d

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So it looks like everyone is running for Seattle mayor now that Murray is perceived (fairly or not) as damaged goods. I have decided to sit it out, so I think that makes me the only Seattle citizen not to run. Enjoy the debates where half a million people get on stage. Seriously though, McGinn got in the other day, Cary Moon is getting in the race. There are probably many more to come.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottle
Please join us for an evening of conversations over a drink or two at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern beginning about 8pm.





Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the other 228 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

o–n t—-d

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I didn’t go to either of the tax day rallies over the weekend, although I respect them both. I don’t know, but release your returns guy who is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn’t seem like a high priority. On the other hand, sure. If it matters enough to you to get out, I’m not going to tell you you’re doing it wrong.

That said, it seems like the Black Lives Matter one was more about tax fairness. In any event, it looks pretty amazing.

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It may be hard to believe from the vile nature of the threads, but yes, we have a commenting policy. Comments containing libel, copyright violations, spam, blatant sock puppetry, and deliberate off-topic trolling are all strictly prohibited, and may be deleted on an entirely arbitrary, sporadic, and selective basis. And repeat offenders may be banned! This is my blog. Life isn’t fair.