– What could go wrong?

– Fuck.

– The unfortunate fact is that plunder—of land, labor, children, whatever—is a defining characteristic of this country’s relationship with black people. American militias have rarely formed to end that sort of plunder. They’ve generally formed to enable it.

– Why would anyone go out of their way to defend Donald Sterling?

– Interesting to read Jean Godden on the renovation of lower Kinnear Park.

– Why are we still pretending waterboarding is a reasonable discussion?

One thing I’m not going to be able to do as well when the Metro cuts happens is hopping on a random bus and just getting off and wandering around. Sometimes I’ll just wait on 4th Ave or the Bus Tunnel, and take whatever comes next. Usually, it’s quite lovely. The last time I did it, I was caught in some rain, but it wasn’t too bad. Before that happened, I managed to have this exchange with some random person outside an apartment complex on the Eastside that I’d never be able to find again with a map:

Random person: Hey what are you listening to?

Carl Ballard: A Podcast.

RP: What Podcast?

CB: Um, Overthinking It

RP: Never heard of it. Do you want to buy some meth?

CB: No!

RP: Hey what type of music do you listen to?

CB [puts ear buds back in; walks away]

– Good on Governor Kitzhaber for his opposition to coal exports.

– I’m looking forward to someday riding on US Bike Route 10.

– Do any of these 4 Seattle Police Chief candidates inspire you, or is it going to be more of the same under any of them?

– So much about the conservative movement is a scam.

– It’s too bad about Oregon’s health care exchange (NY Times link).

– 5 Insane Lessons from My Christian Fundamentalist Childhood

– 90 years of fucked up Seattle public transit history

– I agree with most of these points about the aftermath of Tuesday night’s vote, but 4 seems like a stretch. Despite being Goldy’s co-blogger I don’t have much of an opinion on TNC’s one way or the other.

– One-bedroom housing wages, by county [h/t]

– Even in a year that will probably be good for Republicans, they feel the need to unskew the polls.

– The Seahawks schedule is out.

Even as the Metro cuts we voted to make happen start to happen, we should consider other ways to pay for it. Goldy had a piece on Seattle maybe keeping our transit, but it really should be a regional thing. The Seattle Times tells us that the biggest problem was how regressive the tax was (and that we pay bus drivers). I’m sure the fact that they haven’t suggested any solutions is a lack of imagination, not proof that complaining about a regressive tax was bad faith. So with that in mind here are some suggestions to at least pay for part of the shortfall:

– King County should up the B&O tax for newspapers to match what the state cut: A few years the state gave an exemption to a portion of that tax to newspapers. Since The Seattle Times is so against unfair, regressive taxes, they’re surely against this unfair regressive tax loophole. I know their publisher lobbied for it, but he also shot a dog [Spokesman Review link]. People do things they regret, and I’m sure given his paper’s fight against regressive taxes, this is another thing he’ll change his mind on. As long as the state insists on being foolish, King County should impose a B&O tax on newspapers to match what it would have paid to the state.

– Private Charity: As we all know when Boeing and Microsoft help gut state education, and then pay a tiny little itty bitty portion of what they saved back, we applaud the paying back. Since The Seattle Times will undoubtedly claim victory for the defeat of Prop 1, they should step up and pay for buses. This is especially true since The Seattle Times doesn’t think 550,00 hours is very much of a loss, it won’t be very much for them to make up.

– Local income tax: It’s time — it’s probably past time — for a King County high earner’s income tax, and apply that to the Metro gap. Is it constitutional? I don’t know! Would the Seattle Times support it? Well, they wanted a less regressive tax, so who knows?

– Dog shooter tax: I don’t know the demographics of who shoots dogs, so this might not be as progressive as I would hope. But obviously, they’re terrible, terrible people. Anyone who thinks people who shoot at dogs shouldn’t pay their fair share and then some more must also be a terrible person who frankly doesn’t deserve to be listened to on anything ever.

– Run on the ACA or at least Medicaid expansion, Democrats.

– I didn’t think Veep was as good as The Thick Of It, but I’m still glad it’s being renewed.

– 40% of Seattle’s greenhouse gas emissions are from road transportation, and 41% of trips are under 3 miles

– We know the real voters.

– More Bertha not going.

– Smart guns

After Rodney Tom dropped out of his reelection race, I quoted some speculation about who might run for what. And I hoped that the party wouldn’t push McBride into taking the House seat if she didn’t want it.

I don’t know the district as well as he does, but I’d be wary of the party trying to push her out for one of the current representatives. She got in the race when it was going to be a tough election. The party recruited her, and she stuck her neck out for them. I’m not saying if one of the House Dems runs, she shouldn’t run for their seat, but I hope the party will stay out of it if there is a primary.

I don’t know how much pressure there was behind the scenes, but Representative Habib is going to run for Senate, and McBride will run for the House seat he’s vacating.

– Get your ballot in the mail by tomorrow, King County.

– Link and the Rising Seas

– Apparently the Bundy Ranch standoff is like Rosa Parks and Gandhi rolled up in one.

– Admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions is such a problem. Part 2,874,098,236,930,671 in an infinity part series.

– The fact that I liked the explodey fun time action sequences means that a movie in which Captain America is pretty much straight up Chelsea Manning and the security state is literally nazis means that it’s secretly glibertarian and in-group approved… but… since we’re on the subject, HOW DARE HE SPEAK AGAINST THE GLORIOUS SECURITY STATE! HAIL HYDRA!

It’s dark days for trying to do local political metacommentary. The election isn’t in enough swing to really make fun of campaign stuff, and the legislature is out of session. So all I get from the GOP caucuses is press releases like this about how people are holding town halls. So instead of making fun of the Republicans, I’m just going to use this Republican press release to air one of my pet peeves about Washington politics. Emphasis mine.

Reps. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, and Graham Hunt, R-Orting, will hold an hour-long telephone town hall for 2nd District residents Wednesday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m.

We have to come up with a more uniform system of labeling where people represent. Seriously, you look at that, and you think, oh, the person who represents Yelm and the person who represents Orting are going to get together and discuss stuff, cool. But in fact, they both represent Yelm and they both represent Orting. I see this all the time, and I assume this is based on where they live, or possibly where their district office is located?

And it seems like the solution is simple enough: Just name the districts after the geography. Then everyone can be from the same place. Also, when people are talking about districts, there will be a name instead of a number, so I won’t have to look at a damn map to have a conversation.

Seriously, the next redistricting commission should get on that.

– Vigil planned for 17 year-old student struck by car, killed in NE Seattle

– There’s your liberal media for you.

– How Football Culture Can Change Rape Culture

– Link’s ridership has increased enough by February to meet it’s yearly projected growth.

– This is an unjust and morally bankrupt system that can be fought by western citizens and governments demanding accountability, including the application of a broad set of international laws that companies must follow regardless of where they site their work or who they contract it out to. Without this, the race to the bottom around the globe will continue.

– It’s time to get worried about the Collectivists

Well, boo for Governor Inslee hiring a coal lobbyist.

Gov. Jay Inslee has hired a coal lobbyist to direct his policy office, an eyebrow-raising selection for a governor who has insisted on sweeping scrutiny of coal export terminals proposed at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, and along the Columbia River at Longview.

The new appointee is Matt Steuerwalt, who has been through the revolving door in recent years. He was a top energy/climate adviser to then-Gov. Chris Gregoire, then went to work for the Seattle-based Strategies 360 group.

Of course the policy matters more than the person putting it in place. And later in the piece, his spokespeople make the case that this hire won’t change Inslee’s decision on the coal export terminal. I hope that’s true, but let’s call this a bad sign none the less.

Here’s the part of the post where I mention that you can drop Governor Inslee a line if you’re unhappy with this hire, you can email his office.

– I can’t imagine city leaders pushing for a freeway through their downtown, but I guess Olympia in the 1950’s is strange.

– TRAP Laws and the Emptying of ‘Roe’

– I’ve probably walked past that bike shop 10000 times. Who could have predicted they’d be a chop shop? Other than I sort of assume that about all bike shops.

– Shoe truthers, sure.

– Why is there a different standard between McAllister and Vitter? Shut up, that’s why.

– Today in “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should,” it’s the Rattlesnake Rodeo—or, more accurately, the Rattlesnake Pile of Snakes Just Kind of Lying There—in Opp, Alabama. The annual event includes snake races, snake handling, snake milking, and snake touching.

Now that Rodney Tom isn’t running for office, Andrew at NPI has some speculation about the seat.

With Tom gone, the way is now clear for either Hunter or Habib to run. One of them likely will declare for state Senate, and Joan McBride will then be well positioned to run for whichever House seat then opens up. The Washington Senate Democratic Campaign (WSDC) would undoubtedly prefer to have a proven winner as its candidate, so it can direct money and resources into other districts.

I don’t know the district as well as he does, but I’d be wary of the party trying to push her out for one of the current representatives. She got in the race when it was going to be a tough election. The party recruited her, and she stuck her neck out for them. I’m not saying if one of the House Dems runs, she shouldn’t run for their seat, but I hope the party will stay out of it if there is a primary.

Also, I’m not sure that the Senate is better. There’s a good chance that it’ll still be controlled by Republicans, or whatever they call their caucus if there’s one Democrat in it. Especially for Hunter, who has quite a bit of seniority in the House, it seems like it would be a step down.

– Stop telling survivors they must report to the police

– Corporations are avoiding their taxes in Oregon (and elsewhere, doy, but that’s another discussion).

– Divorce reform may be one of the scariest ideas I’ve ever heard.

– I have not been impressed with Reuven Carlyle’s time in the House, but maybe he’ll run for Senate. Sure.

– The Mysterious Disappearance

I got an email from Patty Murray’s campaign yesterday about this year’s Golden Tennis Shoes. And oh hey, Elizabeth Warren is speaking this year.

Every year, I host the Golden Tennis Shoe Awards to honor ordinary citizens who have done extraordinary things to help improve their communities and the lives of those around them.

I’m thrilled to announce that my friend, Senator Elizabeth Warren, is going to join us this year to keynote the Golden Tennis Shoe Awards and help me congratulate these amazing Washingtonians.

It’s interesting to see what Warren’s role is in the party as a relatively new Senator. When someone like her is headlining a big deal fundraiser like the Golden Tennis Shoes, it probably says something about the left flank of the Senate. You can say that sort of thing doesn’t play outside of Mass, but you know, she’s taking it on the road here, because she has a popular platform.