A few months ago when Civic Skunkworks new podcasts came out, one of the things that struck me most was in the gun episode hearing President Obama list major gun incidents (starting at 11:32 at the link above). Lists like that are such an integral part of how we define a society. At the time, it made me think of the list of ships in the Iliad. But you can also think of the list of who begat whom in the Bible. Or the 10 Commandments. You can think of the bill of rights. You can think of your new year’s resolutions that you’ll often list publicly if you want a more modern one.

These lists tell us about a society. The mass shooting list is one that defines American in the last few decades. It’s one that even if we can’t get our heads around how large it is, even if we don’t know all of them, we know plenty of the particulars. Even as we grow numb to some of it, we can remember where we were when we heard about many of the shootings on the list.

Today we can add Orlando to the list of mass shootings. Another goddamn mass shooting. It goes with Cafe Racer, and Newtown, and Aurora, and Columbine, and Fort Hood, and whatever comes next.

I want to say a quick word to the lefties who supported Bernie Sanders, but aren’t sure if you can vote for Clinton. I hope you can for policy reasons. She’s pretty great. I said what I like about her here, and I’m sure you’ve heard plenty from other sources in the last few days. Cool. I really hope you can change your mind for the general.

But, even if you can’t, I hope you’ll find some other office to support liberals. This country isn’t going to have top down change, and while who gets to be president is super important, so is who gets to figure out road funding, and public transit, and whatever cemetery district does, and education, and on and on. Sanders got his start in elected politics Burlington, a place I’ve literally looked up and couldn’t find on a map of Vermont, maybe not on a map of Burlington. Surely, there’s someone out there who might be the next Sanders, and the more liberals who get elected, the more the next one will have a chance.

Here in Washington, all the statewide executive offices, half of the state Senate and all of the state House are up for reelection as well as all the US House and Patty Murray’s Senate race. There are also initiatives on gun safety and minimum wage because our legislature hasn’t acted. And there’s a campaign against the trans hate initiative. Any of those campaigns would love to have committed volunteers or a small donation. I wrote here about some of my favorites, and there are a few other suggestions people liked in the comments. I’ll try to remember to do an Act Blue page over the weekend if anyone is interested in making a local donation.

I remember volunteering for a down ticket executive race a few election cycles ago, and they were soooooooo happy to have someone make calls or write letters like once a week. I hope you’ll eventually come around on Hillary Clinton, but even if you don’t, there’s still plenty of work that so many great candidates would be glad to have.

I hope we’re learning a lot from Cascadia Rising. Also, it’s probably a good reminder to stock your emergency preparedness kit.

I’m reading Lindy West’s new book (it’s excellent, read it if you haven’t yet). It’s got one section where she talks about her abortion, and she mentions seeing someone she went to school with. It reminds me of a story from my Grandmother volunteering at the Lutheran Home For Unwed Mothers, in what’s now Lake Forest Park in, I believe, the 1930’s and 1940’s:

She and the other volunteers would do chores or drive the women around. Obviously, if you’re volunteering in a place like that, you can’t be that much of an asshole to single mothers that you know. Still, the stigma was so great at the time that the procedure was the volunteers sign in, and if any of the women needed anything they saw the list, they weren’t supposed to chose someone they knew.

Y’all, housing is getting pretty expensive in Seattle. I don’t know what, short of another crash, lowers prices, but Goldy’s plan will help, rent control will help, the Housing Levy will help. None of them are enough. Maybe all told, combined they aren’t enough. But we really need to do a lot to deal with a large problem.

27: 25
26: 24
25: 23
24: 22
23: 21
22: 20
21: 19
20: 18
19: 17
18: 16
17: 15
16: 14
15: 13
14: 12
13: 11
12: 10
11: 9
10: 8
9: 7
8: 6
7: 5
6: 4
5: π
4: 3
3: e
2: 2
1: 1

So, back when she was First Lady, and considering a run for Senate, Hillary Clinton moved to New York. She told people that she enjoyed watching baseball and that even though she grew up a Cubs fan in Chicago, her American League team was the Yankees. I grew up in New York and as a Mets fan, this is probably my least favorite thing about her. Like, I know a lot of Yankee fans, and like and respect a lot of them: I consider it a character flaw in all of them. Even though there were no Mets when she was growing up, and anyway, she had a team on the Senior Circuit, I’m still disappointed.

But, the point here is that people thought they could audit her fandom. Sure, she used to wear a Yankee hat before she even became First Lady, and she talked about he Yankee fandom before anyone thought about her running for Senate. Anyway, so she’s a Yankee fan who and literally anyone who cares the least bit knows that.

So, you’ve probably heard about that David Brooks column that he has no idea what Clinton does in her spare time, therefore she’s not popular.

I would begin my explanation with this question: Can you tell me what Hillary Clinton does for fun? We know what Obama does for fun — golf, basketball, etc. We know, unfortunately, what Trump does for fun.*

So, yeah, Wonkette does a great job making fun of Brooks (at the link above). But I thought I’d add that if reporters weren’t trying to prove how unauthentic she is, they might be able to answer his bullshit question.

[Read more…]

This week’s open thread’s are apparently random stuff related to me going to the Seattle Center. It’s kind of shameful to admit as a writer for HA, but I went to the Chihuly exhibit. I have always felt about it the same way I felt about Safeco and Century Link Field: I didn’t like how they were created, but now that they’re there, I’m not going to boycott them in protest or anything. I feel a similar way about some of the bars/restaurants/coffee shops whose owners were dicks about the $15 minimum wage or sick leave/safe leave.*

It’s quite impressive. I would certainly go again.

[Read more…]

I really like Folk Life. It’s free. It’s all sorts of music. I remember going from clog dancing to hip hop shows. It’s fun, and you guys, it’s next weekend. Nothing is really calling me as a must go. But I’m still totally going.

Like all of us do from time to time, I was reading about the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. I know, I know: You’re all bored of me talking about the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. It’s pretty much what every liberal blog, and especially every one that deals with Washington State politics, is just obsessed with. I hear you, so just this one time, and then I’ll have to go find some other thing to write about.

Anyway, I was reading about the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and I was surprised to learn how pro-trade the Democrats were, and the Republicans weren’t, at least according to a few paragraphs in Once in a Great City, and then some Internet research.

Part of that is a strange bravado that Kennedy had with things when he said “A vital expanding economy in the free world is a strong counter to the threat of the world Communist movement. This act is, therefore, an important new weapon to advance the cause of freedom.” So sure, Democrats being cold warriors. OK. We kinda did that.

But I think part of it was an assumption that it’s pushing our values. At the time, the head of the UAW supported it. It was still an open question what post-war Europe would look like, and I think trading with us, with our then strong unions and democratic values would pass that on.

So, maybe for those of us who aren’t big on NAFTA and the WTO for labor and environmental reasons, there are lessons. Maybe we need to have those sort of protections in the trade deals. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but if earlier liberals thought of trade as a way to improve things, we probably could too. I don’t know if that makes more sense than just rejecting them, and I don’t know what labor or environmental protections you could get 2/3 of the Senate to pass for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, how will I drag the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 into the next post is anyone’s guess.

Are you excited about whoever has filed where you are? If not, are you gonna run? Are you? Seriously, you have until 5:00 Friday. Here’s the list of the people who have filed so far, and it looks like some of them could use some competition.

I never get allergies, but this year, they’ve just knocked me on my ass. I don’t know if it’s the warm spring or what looks like all of the world’s Scotch Broom growing by the building where I work.

The Obama administration’s administrative directive on trans students is great first and foremost on its own. It’s tough enough navigating high school no matter who you are. But if you’re a trans person and even pooping can be a mined field, this will hopefully make things a bit easier.

On top of that, it’s great for how much it makes the right people sad. Oh my God, do I love asshole tears.

The women on the Seattle City Council have written a nice opinion piece rebutting the garbage people have thrown at them over their stadium/land use vote. It’s sad that the article was necessary in 2016.