Ha. Ha ha ha. Ha. Haaaaaaaaaa! Oh my God, the anti-trans people not making the ballot is the best. My sides are aching. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

I love reading about the progress of the Angel Lake Station. It’s both that light rail is inching further along, and that I’m excited to go wander around Angel Lake. When I have a free weekend day, I love just hopping on the rail, getting to a station, and wandering around, aimlessly. I can, and do, do that with buses, but it’s not the same.

It’s interesting to see what the tribes are looking for in the next President. And at other levels of government. Tribal Sovereignty seems so obvious, but damn has it been tough to get in practice.

I should have more insightful commentary than comply with the subpoena, Tim Eyman. You big ol’ horse’s ass. But I don’t.

At a certain point, a point long past, it became clear that Tim Eyman was more huckster than anything else.

I think it says something good about a society that a certain number of scams can survive. That people don’t just assume the worst, or that they’re forgiving is a characteristic that scuzzy people take advantage of. I’d rather have that and, some scam artists who take advantage of it, than people have their guard so up that they catch everything.

Far be it from me to tell asshole conservatives what to do with their money, but I’d think there must be a better deal somewhere else.

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.