– Boeing employees have rejected another contract. The company should probably not give its executives who fucked things up such great benefits if they weren’t willing to have a traditional pension for normal employees.

– Ted Cruz trying to bully trans kids in Oregon. Stay out of the Pacific Northwest, you creep.

– The 12th District legislative race is very interesting.

– The Storm endorsing Kamala Harris probably doesn’t move the needle, but gosh, what a delight.

– Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Filled out my ballot last night. We have too many judges, but it’s nice to have voter guides to help with those. We’re going to elect Kamala Harris. We’re going to elect Bob Ferguson. We’re going to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. We’re going to defeat those gross initiatives. Seattle is going to pass a levy that’s more car centered than my ideal, but is still fine. We’re going to pick up seats in the legislature and back progressive candidates in local elections. Let’s go.

So, Boeing is offering a 35% raise and more money for their 401k. Not the 40% and a defined benefit for retirement. Better than the earlier offer that was rejected, but still not everything they asked for. It’s tough not to compare it to the gold parachute the bosses who actually harmed the company got.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Your ballot should have been mailed out recently. If you haven’t received it yet, you should soon. Have them postmarked or dropped off by November 5. But how are you going to vote? Here are some guides.

– Fuse has really stepped up in recent years with an explicitly progressive voter guide for the whole state.

– If you’ve in Seattle, The Stranger has been the gold standard for decades.

– The Labor Council has links to various local endorsements.

– The Sierra Club has endorsements if you want to look from an environmental perspective.

– Planned Parenthood and Pro Choice Washington have the endorsements to best protect reproductive freedom.

– As for me, I say vote for the Democrat if it’s them versus a Republican, and no on the statewide initiatives. There are a few races where both candidates are Democrats, but the more progressive candidates is pretty obvious.

The bus route for my commute goes by a high school a few stops ahead of mine. Depending on what after school events are going on, it can be pretty crowded. Because I’m in my 40″s, I generally don’t interact with them much. Anyway, it was standing room for me, and one of the kids offered me their seat.

At first, I thought it was a signpost of aging that I hadn’t prepared for. But the more I think about it, the cooler I think it was. When I was that age, I don’t think I would have given up a seat for someone my age unless they obviously needed it.

And the bus is a reflection of the larger society. So it is neat to see teens going out of their way to be polite, beyond what was the norm 20+ years ago. This has been, Carl overextrapolated from one interaction on public transportation.

Happy Indigenous People’s Day. I usually don’t post on holidays, but I want to note that KEXP is doing Indigenous People’s Day programming all day and it has been really great so far.

– J Line J Line J Line. I was fairly skeptical about Rapid Ride when it was first proposed, and now I get super excited about every announcement.

– We’re going to keep raiding Jumpstart.

– But don’t worry, there’s always money for cops.

– Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

I have linked to other people talking about the new G Line. But like a fool, I had not taken it yet. Now that I have, I think it’s neat. It’s tough to do east-west connections within Seattle. And man does it. I took it at rush hour and it seems like it could add more people comfortably.

Also, I have never rode some of the Rapid Ride lines outside of the city, so forgive me if this is old hat there, but I can’t recall a bus with doors on either side depending on the stop. Obviously that’s how light rail and the streetcar work, but just adding it to a bus feels innovative.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

New park! New park. New park. Look at the Overlook Walk. What a great addition to Downtown Seattle. The replacement for the Viaduct is too road centric, so it’s nice to see some real pedestrian infrastructure. It’s also good to connect the market with the waterfront in a more accessible way. My most serious injury in my life was on the hill climb and it must be worse for people in wheelchairs or the elderly.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

– I understand that there’s a process. But geez Tacoma Police Department, just rip off the bandaid. The whole thing is going to come out.

– Part of me wishes I wasn’t the type of person who has zero sympathy for January 6 people waiving a shotgun. I bet your little 8 Chan friends were very impressed. But they have already moved on.

– My elderly father had dementia, anger issues — and many guns

– What is the value of the Seattle Channel?

– Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Sometimes it will be Tuesday night, and I won’t know what to write about. And then, like a beam of light it hits me. Headlights, too bright, at the bus stop.

Seriously, I was only there for a few minutes, thanks One Bus Away, but I had to look that way to check on the bus and it was blinding. Just terrible. I assume it was a delivery driver or an Uber, because who else is parked at the corner with their lights on. Seattle should regulate the cars that are allowed to drive and the US government should make it so normal cars can’t be that bright.

I remember these jerks driving behind me with lights that bright before I got rid of my car. But I would have hoped not to have to deal with it on the bus.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

– If you’ve been listening to Hush, this statement and refutation is pretty amazing. And if you aren’t, it’s almost done, so you can start binging it.

– It can be difficult to advocate for non drivers when it’s tough to see them.

– Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible. And! Get some tests courtesy of the US government.

The other day I took the rush hour bus from Pioneer Square to Belltown. It’s a route I take frequently, but much more often when it’s gross out. And gosh is 3rd Ave so nice to take the bus through without cars.

Metro has figured it out. The drivers pass each other. The staggered stops are close enough that you can walk, but keep everything going.

Still, every once in a while, a column will suggest putting cars back on 3rd. And I want you to know that the people who write those are bad. Bad people who deserve bad things in their life. As Amazon pushes more people to come in to work, we have to resist the call of these bad people.

– Sick leave/safe leave will hurt workers. A high minimum wage will hurt workers. Union backed initiatives to protect worker safety will backfire and hurt the people it’s supposed to protect. Time and again we hear this from business interests and time and again it’s bullshit.

– The King County Auditor’s report on detention, especially for youth is pretty damning.

– I have been pretty tough on this iteration of the Seattle City Council, but kudos to them for the design review bypass.

– Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

– Trolly busses getting upgraded.

– I still come into my office most days. But I am glad that on days when it isn’t necessary, I am not required to. That seems like the bigger issue than traffic being generated.

– I always feel a bit uninformed when there’s a bug environmental case I don’t know enough about to have a strong opinion. But I do trust Futurewise, so congratulations, probably, to them on their victory.

– Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.