by Carl Ballard — ,
– Does anyone buy the Cheneys’ books?
– I still support Seattle teachers.
– Being pro-a-war-that-won’t-happen probably isn’t a terrible political position: You don’t get the down side of actually having to deal with the consequences of a war, and if something does go bad (I don’t think it will) you get to I told you so everyone. But wanting to go to war with Iran kind of makes the people advocating for it seem like the worst.
– Move Seattle seems pretty good.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– I’m taking Monday off for Labor Day. Do you guys want an Open Thread on Tuesday-Thursday or to wait until Wednesday?
– I support the Seattle teachers.
– Finally a place where cars and bikes can gang up on other people. I don’t mind waiting at drawbridges that much, but I don’t bike past a bridge for my commute (generally).
by Carl Ballard — ,
Jesus (video plays automatically at the link).
The Thurston County Prosecutor announced that the Olympia police officer who shot two men earlier this year will not face criminal charges.
Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said that assault charges have been filed against Bryson Chaplin, 21, and Andre Thompson, 24. They are scheduled to be in court on September 22.
Tunheim said Officer Ryan Donald was “acting without malice” and had a “good faith fear” when he shot two men in May.
…
In documents released by the sheriff’s office last week, Donald reported that one of the men had been threatening him with a skateboard before the shooting.
Coming at a person with a skateboard is obviously not OK, if that’s what those people did (and let’s be honest, at this point we can’t take a cop’s word for these sorts of things). But even if you accept that’s what they did, it’s not something to get shot over.
Cops should be calming these situations down, not pulling out and using deadly weapons. They have Tasers and other non-lethal methods (not that those are without problems, but they aren’t bullets). So once again, I’ll say if police can’t do their job while armed, we should take away their guns.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– Good on Mike O’Brien on Uber drivers.
– Another day, another Democrat going from the legislature to Inslee’s office.
– Another day, another office for Pam Roach to run for.
– This Denali thing sure brought out a lot of problematic people [h/t].
– More Case of the Week Quotient at Overthinking It.
by Carl Ballard — ,
Ross Hunter is retiring from the legislature effective RIGHT NOW to head the state Department of Early Learning.
Hunter will start in the $150,000 a year job next Tuesday. He takes over at a time when the state is placing a major emphasis, and increased money, into early learning programs. He said he views the “opportunity to improve outcomes for hundreds of thousands of at-risk children (as) incredibly compelling.”
His departure could set off a scramble among senior Democrats for the job of House Appropriations Committee chairman, a powerful position that has major influence on how the state spends billions of dollars in its operating budget. The chairman of the Finance Committee, which sets taxes, may also be leaving. Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, has announced plans to seek a Senate seat if its current occupant, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, wins a seat on the King County Council in November.
Hunter has a long list of accomplishments, but mostly I’ll remember him saying on Podcasting Liberally that people should vote for him for exec because he couldn’t figure out the Metro Trip Planner. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be good at his new job.
Is there anyone you’d like to see replace Hunter, either in the district or as the main budget person for for the House Dems?
by Carl Ballard — ,
– Another Birthright Citizenship link in an open thread. This time from Eric Foner in The Nation.
– Other than the legitimate dome-related questions I raised on Twitter, my main issue with Walker’s Canada wall idea is will it go all the way to the Beaufort Sea?
– Seattle, nice job using somewhat less water.
– Feminist_Tinder is pretty funny.
– I’m not a big fan of country music, but I found this analysis of some Martina McBride songs interesting.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– Huzzah. It’s raining. Remember, people forget to drive in the rain every summer in Western Washington, and I’m sure this year will be worse than normal.
– A homeless woman was beaten to death so can we all just get on board with encampments now?
– The Seattle Times Editorial Board Can Go Phở Itself
– I think Donald Trump could check out the HA Bible Study if he wants to find a new favorite verse.
– My worst nightmare would be being Tim Eyman.
by Carl Ballard — ,
Rand Paul came to town recently. He said some nonsense about guns:
It was a terrible morning to glorify guns. At the exact same time that everyone on the internet was horrified by the latest in a seemingly unending string of mass shootings, Paul’s adulation of the 2nd amendment felt awkward and dripping with an unpleasant machismo. ( “If you doubt me on the 2nd Amendment, come into my house unannounced,” Paul warned as the room applauded the thought of Paul shooting another person to death.) Before Paul took the stage, local politician Elizabeth Scott was proudly introduced as a member of the NRA. Meanwhile, on Twitter, people were scrolling past auto-play videos filmed by a man as he murdered two innocent people in cold blood. For a candidate who repeatedly claims to be uniquely in touch with reality, Paul is surprisingly out-of-step with an America that overwhelmingly favors commonsense gun safety laws.
When I talk about gun control with my pro gun friends, I’ll almost always hear someone talk about responsible gun ownership. But this sort of braggadocio is alarmingly common. Oh, give me the chance to kill the fuck out of someone who comes to my house unannounced. That’s not a death penalty offense, but I’m so excited about it I’m going to share this fantasy that to a decent person would be one of the worst days of their life with several hundred supporters.
It’s something decent people aren’t fantasizing about. It isn’t something the sort of people who feel responsible would say. And if people wanted hold him responsible, they could boo instead of applaud.
Now sure, I realize that one candidate from one party who isn’t doing very well in the polls isn’t indicative of the whole of gun owners. But this sort of thing rarely, if ever, gets called out from the people who tell me they’re the responsible sort. Hell, a dickbag can wrap bacon around his gun, get what type of gun it is wrong, and nobody who claims to be all about responsible gun ownership is like “Um, noppers buddy. That’s not how ya’ do it.”
So you know, step the fuck up. Or people like me — that rare breed who do actually want to take your gun away — are going to keep being the ones to call it out.
by Carl Ballard — ,
I decided to hold off on this post mostly due to laziness, but also because writing it while the stock market was going down in the last week or so might seem a bit justifying Obama or whatever. But now today that the Dow went up 619.07 mostly meaningless to me points, the post stands on it’s own. And that is why the fuck were people claiming a week’s worth of bad stock market news was some how reflective of Obama’s handling of the economy, of some sort of shade of capitalism more generally, or of stories about panic!!!!!!! throughout the land?
The truth is that Obama is handling the economy fine, and on the granular level doesn’t have much to do one way or the other with the stock market going down in a given day or week, or week and change. Capitalism will have its ups and downs but it’s here for a long time. And stories about panic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! are pretty boring absent actual panic.
Of course, people’s retirement accounts are often tied up with the market. I know mine are. But I’m not retiring for several decades. So unless you’re planning on retiring this month, these fluctuations will probably be something you’ll be able to ride out. While it was bad for some people, for the majority, it wasn’t anything unless you panic.
Maybe the issue is that the Dow — or the market more generally — is the only snapshot of the economy we have. However flawed it is, it’s something to say what the economy did today. Or this week. Or whatever short amount of time. But maybe we don’t need that. Maybe we don’t have a good measure of the economy in such short bursts because that’s not a good way to think of the economy.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– I’m surprised it took Senator Murray that long to support the Iran deal. Still, good for her for being on the right side of this.
– This oil train forum in Olympia looks like it might be interesting.
– I generally don’t think of myself as being a big fan of 80’s music (not a genre, but whatever), but I’ve been enjoying 80’s day on KEXP so far.
– Despite agreeing with everything in this cartoon, it seems to me the best reason to oppose treating prisoners poorly isn’t recidivism, but because it’s bad on its own.
by Carl Ballard — ,
It looks like Bertha’s cut cut bits are getting back underground.
Welp, another recovery goal has been met for the broke-down, downtown tunnel boring machine: Bertha’s repaired front end is now reuniting with the rest of its body. Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP), the state’s contractor, started lowering Bertha’s 2,000-ton cutterhead and drive unit into the rescue pit this afternoon—a complex positioning job that will wrap up tomorrow.
Once Bertha’s new facial transplant makes its way into the pit, STP will begin reconnecting all of the machine’s parts and test the monster for two months. These tests consist of a “no load” (read: no soil and water) exam and another exam that will measure how the machine’s cutterhead spins into earth.
It won’t be until November that they finish all the tests, and start it up properly. Now the project is scheduled to finish in early 2018. We’ll see.
Honestly, I was as as opposed to the project as anyone, but we had a vote, and that matters. So as long as the state or the contractor — who whoever that isn’t Seattle really — is paying for it, I wish the project the best. Also, please finish before there’s a major earthquake.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– Maybe we shouldn’t reward Chuck Schumer for being so wrong on Iran by making him the next Democratic leader.
– Seriously, birthright citizenship is the best, and anyone opposing it is the worst. QED.
– The seawall project is over budget.
– The Breitbart people should be ashamed of themselves. Part something in an infinity series.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– Excellent news for SeaTac workers
– How False Narratives of Margaret Sanger Are Being Used to Shame Black Women
– BrechtFest is the best name for an event ever, but no Mother Courage?
by Carl Ballard — ,
When the legislative session finally ended, Senator Schoesler — the Majority Leader — decided to write about how excellent the session turned out. In light of the legislature being in contempt for how badly they fucked up on education (paraphrasing the recent McCleary ruling), I thought it would be fun (?) to revisit. Enjoy…
This year’s Legislature did not impose a general tax increase. We did end a couple of small tax breaks, which some members of the Democratic majority in the House are calling a major victory, and we raised gas taxes for road construction with our transportation package. But that’s not quite the same thing as imposing $1.5 billion in new and increased taxes to finance the growth of government, remake the state economy to suit liberal urban activists, and set the state up for an income tax in the future.
You could have maybe been on the path to sustain education if not for that. Anyway, I’m sure that knowing that the state officially fucked up education, we can look back on the education part of the post and see how the top GOP person thought about that issue.
Victory number two? We fully funded basic education, passing the best K-12 budget we have seen in the last 30 years. We increased spending by $1.3 billion and we made significant progress in satisfying the state Supreme Court mandate that we do right by our schools.
Um, not so much.
Now, I know the fuckuping on education has come with Democratic governors and with legislatures from both parties. But honestly, this is some pretty awful bragging given how horrible the courts have found it.
by Carl Ballard — ,
– I think we can all agree that after his years of hating unions, being so obviously correct on the tunnel, the ham handed way he tried to push his way into the Senate seat last time, Reuven Carlyle deserves a promotion.
– The mayor of Airway Heights who said racist shit about the Obamas has resigned. Ostensibly because of his health, but come on.
– Birthright citizenship is one of the greatest things we do as a country. So of course, Republicans are against it.
Eager to share our brilliant political commentary and blunt media criticism, but too genteel to link to horsesass.org? Well, good news, ladies: we also answer to HASeattle.com, because, you know, whatever. You're welcome!