On top of KIRO’s homeless map from a few weeks being pretty awful morally, they seem to also be slapdashedly done. Maybe those ridiculous institutional players could take a page from part-time bloggers Seattlish.

It looks like the Northwest Progressive Institute fundraising gala is shaping up to be quite an event. On top of fundraising to NPI can keep doing good work, they always have quite a few notables. And this year is no exception.

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.

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.

A lot of people have taken this ridiculous Seattle Times editorial to task. But now a few days late, let me also make fun of some choice selections.

Meanwhile, Murray is transformed from the bold big-city mayor into one who defers to his defense lawyer when he is invited to speak to The Seattle Times editorial board about the biggest political scandal in Seattle in generations.

I think we can all agree: No matter if you think he did it, if you think a law firm run by bigots is setting him up, or if you’re not sure, the scandal is definitely that he won’t talk to the Seattle Times Ed Board. For decades, we’ll all remember where we were when we read about how Ed Murray isn’t meeting with the Seattle Times to discuss this and is instead deferring to his attorney in a legal matter. For me it was when I got to this paragraph the other day. For many of you, it’s right now.

Murray’s defenders cast the lawsuit and related allegations as well-timed political payback for his iconic career as a gay civil-rights champion. Indeed, there are legitimate questions about the law firm that filed the lawsuit. It is founded by a Tacoma attorney with an anti-gay rights record.

But Murray’s counterpunch begs a question: when is the right time to file a child sexual abuse lawsuit against an elected leader?

This is correct. The Seattle Times shouldn’t sit on the story, just because it’s happening at the beginning of an election year. But also, someone who knows what “begs the question” means* should probably be in the chain. Whatever. You’re here for me to make fun of the baby splitting if you’re here for anything (are you here for anything? Why?).

Murray at times has been that leader, and could still be. Regardless of whether the allegations are true, he cannot lead under this cloud. He should serve out his term and not run for re-election.

There are 2 possible situations. First possibility: He’s guilty of at least one of the charges; If that’s the case, saying he should serve out the rest of his term seems pretty gross. The other possibility is that he’s innocent of all charges; If that’s the case, being forced to not run for office by a bigoted law firm seems like a terrible thing. The Seattle Times’ solution, in other words, is a bad one no matter what you think happened.

[Read more…]

It’s pretty rough that things have to get so bad at the Northwest Detention Center that a hunger strike is the way we know about the problems there. In a more just, more decent world people wouldn’t have to starve themselves so that we could know that they want expedited hearings and better food.

Honestly, the legislature spends more time trying to kill the goose that lays the golden egg in Seattle, today rescheduling the MVET voters just supported, than they do fixing their fucked up constituencies. Don’t those legislators have not paying for education to attend to? Don’t they have a lot of work not regulating so called crisis pregnancy centers? Don’t they have a cruel budget to pass? Leave Seattle the fuck alone until you get your own house in order.

Oh, and the MVET is somewhat regressive? Sure, although it has a fairly high exemption for PEOPLE WHO CAN’T AFFORD CARS PAY 0 DOLLARS. Also, give ST an income tax in exchange, and I think you’ll find a lot of the opposition goes away.

The people giving to the anti-trans people pooping in public bathrooms initiative sure are, um, colorful. No shitty. Sorry, I spelled shitty wrong that first time.

So Ed Murray maybe abused some children in the 1980’s? Obviously, fuck that guy if it’s true.

It’s tough to evaluate the claims and counter-claims. My first instinct is to believe people when they say they’ve been victims. And while I certainly don’t think the numbers game is really helpful (1 is enough), 3 people?

So, I guess we’re at war now? Cool. Right? It’s super cool. I assume that our pro-Trump trolls will be too busy joining the military to defend those people who we’re killing and also wouldn’t let into the country.

I realize that you don’t have to take the same stance as the person you voted for on everything military related (I was protesting the Afghanistan war in 2001 and have been pretty consistently against drones, but somehow voted for people who were considerably more hawkish than me for pretty much every position ever). Still and all, if you voted for president “bomb the shit out of them” you maybe have more of an obligation to put your money where your mouth is.

I’m approximately the billionth person to mourn the hiatus of Capitol Hill Seattle. If there are 2 things they did well, it’s great hyper local news and paying their writers.

Here’s hoping for an eventual return.

It’s pretty amazing how unified we were as a society on Japanese Interment. Sure, if you’d sampled the Japanese population, you could get some very different results than the general population. And there were deserters among the general population. Individuals, and sometimes whole towns. Still, I was surprised to learn that there was only one newspaper paper that opposed the camps. I hope it’s a call for all of us to do better going forward.

I’m really psyched about Councilmember González’ announcement of a legal defense fund for people facing deportation. It’s important that people have the right to defend themselves. I hope that we can make this a long-term thing to outlast the current news cycle, or even the current administration.

Cell service in the Bus Tunnel* is here for T-Mobile users and will be here for everybody soon. And if you need to call 9-1-1, you can no matter what carrier you have.

It’s an overall good, but there are downsides. I will be sad to see the end of people being too loud getting cut off by a tunnel. What a joy that always is, gone because technology is amazing.

[Read more…]

Today’s entry in the Miloscia is the worst category: Seriously, what the fuck? “We want to make sure Washington State has adequate voting rights” “Are you a Christian? Lady in a hijab, are you a Christian?” I mean.