G’mornin’

– i am glad that enough of Seattle thinks that the Trump Administration is a threat to do at least a committee.

– Look at all of the people using their Orca Card [h/t]

– Let’s go, Walla Walla students.

– Sexism is a hell of a drug.

Most jobs should not require a driver’s license. Like, if you aren’t driving, who cares? You get a wider pool, and also driving makes people nuts; I am on the bus right now and writing an incoherent post instead of being angry with the car in front of me.

All this to say, I am glad that a bill about it has passed the Washington House. No idea about its prospects in the Senate, but it sure would be nice.

Anyway, it’s a good day to contact your legislator or member of Congress. Maybe your US Senator on the budget.

It seems really bad to single out one law firm in an executive order. Being a Seattle person I have known plenty of Perkins Coie folks. They certainly don’t deserve this. This feels like a bill of attainder for the crime of investigating the President.

And also, many of the things they investigated about President Trump turned out to be true. Like, they wouldn’t deserve this if they were batting .000, but they have found many terrible things President Trump did with Russia.

– Some of you drive like you’re hoping for an accident. Still, congratulations to Seattle for reduced pedestrian deaths and no bicycle deaths by cars.

– Fuck ghost buses.

– Anybody know where I can get a Federal building cheap? Oh, you do!

– We have a moral obligation to everyone in the country, but people in detention who might die otherwise,

– Anyway, please write or call your legislator or member of Congress. Do it today.

Good morning you lovelies. Did you watch Trump’s joint address? I sure as shit did not. I had better things to do, like walk part of the way to Drinking Liberally in uncomfortable shoes. Probably not my best idea ever, but it beats the alternative. Anyway, if you watched, congratulations on being more willing to be lied to by a jackass than me.

– Seattle needs to build a ton more housing. Sometimes that’s where there are trees. We can also plant way more trees to make up for it.

– Tidepooling. Sounds like a blast.

– 15-Hour City

– Hey, go write your legislators or members of Congress.

– Those stickers are so mean to Nazis. Also, I appreciate the article becoming self-aware at the end.

– I understand Seattle politicians giving Seattle or regional businesses people. But you can just not with Musk and Thiel.

– I think of Representative Strickland as a median Democrat. If she supports something, many Democrats also do, and if she’s leading there’s probably close to consensus. So I was glad to see her specifically sponsor a bill protecting transgender service members.

– Hey go call your legislator or member of Congress.

Good morning. Seattle Bike Blog has a delightful post proposing putting large trees in traffic circles. Some could have other amenities. Tom’s proposal is largely for residential areas. And it sounds lovely.

I would also like to replace every traffic light on Aurora with something. There’s already a great trail that runs parallel, so it would not have the same need for a little park. But you could still plant a giant tree in a roundabout. Or! A Miawaki forest. The best Miawaki Forest in the region is already just off Aurora.

As long as there’s enough setback that you can see oncoming traffic it seems safer than Aurora now. On my ideal world, we would eliminate curb cuts and drastically reduce parking, but that’s not what this post is.

Phone weirdness means a short post today and I don’t know about the rest of the week.

Carl, Carl. You keep telling me to write or call my legislators. But what should I call them about? What’s the state of several important bills working their way through the legislature, preferably organized by category? Good news! The good folks at Range Media have you covered.

– Burien is a delightful city, why not just not be jerks to homeless people? Anyway, it’s good that they’re getting their day in court.

– As a member, I support REI workers on the board. Also, the bill mentioned in the article.

– Mass deportation is bad.

– A lot of shit going on right now. Good time to call your representative or legislator.

When the marijuana initiative ran, Governor Inslee was opposed to it. But as soon as it passed, he supported implementation. I hope that can be the case on social housing now that the initiative has passed pretty overwhelmingly despite Mayor Harrell and most of the City Council members supporting the other option. It’s a tougher needle to thread when your pictures were on the mailer, but I do hope they try.

If you live in the city and want the Council to actually work to make social housing a reality, well they’re hearing from Amazon, maybe they could hear from you.

– Tonight is the last freezing night for a bit, and it won’t be as cold as the previous few days. If you’re in Western Washington, you survived the worst of this winter. I’m proud of you.

– Also, proud of the social housing initiative. Unless Amazon’s money buys a late swing (I don’t think it will, but it’s a lot of money), it looks like the better one survived. There is a hell of a lot more needed, but this is an important step for more, and more affordable housing.

– If we want to push against a racist future, we should know about our racist past.

– I heard from your member of Congress and legislators. They said you didn’t call, so probably don’t care how they vote. Is that right? It doesn’t seem right.

Maria Cantwell is not meeting the moment when it comes to Trump’s nominees. Not sure if she thinks she will be able to work with them or other nominees would be worse. Or if she thinks they’re greal. But Trump is filling his cabinet and other senior staff with cruel jerks. They deserve to be voted down. If you want to call her, it’s business hours in DC and will be in her local offices soon. You may get an intern or a voicemail. Here’s a quick script.

Hi,

My name is [name] from [city/town in WA]. I am calling because I am disappointed in how many Trump nominees Senator Cantwell has voted for. [I am particularly disappointed with X because of Y, Scott Bessent after handing over the key to Treasury to those weirdos at DOGE, for example.] I hope you will reject more of his terrible nominees going forward.

Thank you for your time,

[Name]

Read it out loud and make it your own before calling, but please do call today.

– I could read every story about where your poops go (second segment). Figuring out how to deal with waste is such a vital function of government.

– I would like no parking requirements, but lower is better.

– Opponents are giving you the runaround, vote yes on 1A. Get your ballot postmarked or dropped off by Tuesday February 11.

– And, hey. Write your legislators and Members of Congress. Do it today.