The Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the Stormans who wanted to not have to dispense emergency contraception at their pharmacy, because Jesus, and despite Washington’s regulations. Honestly, the state’s regulations were pretty accommodating. But at a certain point, you have to say have someone on hand who can dispense medicine at a pharmacy.

ST3 is going to the ballot. I know, it has more awesome rail than stuck in traffic buses. It’s too bad we’ll have to fight against The Seattle Times and other ed boards who pretend obstruction is accountability just to build our basic infrastructure, but so be it.

It’s pride weekend in Seattle, and there’s tons to do. I’m always a big fan of the parade. Parades aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (and it can run pretty long), but there are other events, if you’re interested.

Last year it was right after the marriage equality decision, and it was exuberant, even by the standards of a pride parade. This year, it’s in the wake of Orlando, and I don’t have any sense of the feel of the parade or any of the events.

So, congrats Britain: Under the leadership of a racist and a man so posh he makes the Queen look like a Commoner, you’ve managed to send a clear message that you’re opposed to the elitism of Europe. That caring for refugees is too elitist. That easy travel between borders is too elitist. Traded German bankers for British ones, who won’t do anything elitist. The only reasonable conclusion you can draw from the Brexit is that Brits hate elites.

The anti-LGBT terrorism cataloged here is a pretty tough read. The whole piece, in fact, is pretty tough. I don’t know what we mean exactly when we talk about radical Islam, but the overlap between that and the far right in this country needs to be addressed.

What in the fuck is the 1515 campaign even thinking? Honestly, if your fake reason for supporting this initiative is to keep creeps out of the women’s restroom, why the fuck would you send creeps into the women’s restroom? I mean, I assume everyone on that campaign is at least a bit of a creep, but still.

I find the GOP brand’s fall in Washington State fascinating. From Dino Rossi running as Prefers GOP Party because it polls better to Susan Hutchinson’s insistence that she wasn’t really a Republican until she decided to chair the Republican Party in the state to independents who would be Republicans if they had to chose winning in Thurston County. It feels like it’s more about branding than any change in policy.

I want to thank you both for participating in Chris Murphy’s filibuster. It’s far past time that the country took up reasonable gun reforms. I don’t know what could get passed through this Congress even in the wake of yet another horror. But thank you for trying.

Sincerely,

Carl Ballard

(if you want to contact them you can here for Murray and here for Cantwell)

I don’t know how to cover the shitstain who thought it would be a good idea to attack a North Seattle mosque. Do you just praise the people who caught him? Do you even give him any attention? I won’t name him, just like I won’t name the Orlando shooter.

I guess back to one I’ve said before: Nobody murder anyone. For any reason.

I don’t know what to say. Orlando should still be in the news, it shouldn’t fade so quickly to become just another in the litany. There are people who are writing more thoughtful, more interesting stuff. I could talk about the candle light vigil: I went, but I didn’t go as a blogger, so I didn’t take notes. I went because it felt immoral to be anywhere else. The speeches were great, especially Ed Murray and the queer Muslim woman (whose name I didn’t get).

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.