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Open Thread 3/21

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So this happened over the weekend.

If you care about the opening of the new line, other people have said more interesting things than me. But here’s my 2 cents anyway.

This isn’t such a new thing in the way that the line from the airport to Westlake was. That being the first line and all. But it being on time and under budget, as well as a useful extension is promising. The stations are beautiful, and in great locations.

the only real negative for me was that I was a bit claustrophobic getting off at the U-Link station. I wandered around a bit before getting on the escalators but still felt boxed in. I hope at some point we get better as a city at stand to the right walk on the left.

All in all, quite good. I imagine I’ll take it pretty regularly. It’s a bit far from the Capitol Hill station, but if it isn’t raining too bad, you can take the train to Drinking Liberally.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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LobbyWOW! It’s like a bribe, but 100% legal!

Mental Floss: 37 bizarre podcasts.

Jimmy Dore: Political news jokes of the week.

The 2016 Clown Debacle:

Inside the Capitol dome facelift.

White House: West Wing Week.

Seth Meyers: Voter ID laws…a closer look.

John Oliver: International Women’s Day.

Friday #hottakes.

PsychoSuperMom: The Religious Right is Neither.

GOP Obstruction of Justice:

Sam Seder: Dennis Miller isn’t funny.

TestTube News: How powerful is the Black vote?

Thom: How to reduce gun-related deaths in America by 80%.

Minute Physics: Transporters and quantum teleportation.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Oh Hey, We Have a Problematic Prosecutor

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One of the more interesting stories last Tuesday’s primary wasn’t a Presidential race. It was in Cook County where a prosecutor with the support of Black Lives Matter won opposing the worst abuses of the incumbent and ending the school to prison pipeline. I don’t know enough to have any opinion on how it’ll play out going forward. But from the outside it seems like the right local people are excited.

That got me thinking: Here in King County, we have a prosecutor who, while better than Cook County is still a problem. To cite the most prominent example, he didn’t prosecute Ian Berk after he was unjustified in killing John T. Williams.

It’s 2 more years until Satterberg is up for reelection if he decides to run again. And he won his first election fairly easily. Still, it seems like something for lefty activists in King County might be able to pull off if they found the right candidate.

Open Thread 3-18

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If people reading this blog know one thing about me, it’s probably my politics. If they know anything else about me, it’s my sense of humor. But somewhere on the list is my love of the library. Seattle has a great system. New York where I grew up also has a great system, but I honestly don’t remember much about it. What I remember more is that I have family near the first public library paid for with tax money in the country, and hearing that history over the course of many summers rubbed off on me.

Currently, I have 4 books checked out of the Seattle Public Library and I spend far too much time managing my hold list. I’ve recently started reading comics for the first time since I was a kid, and the graphic novel selection is great. I doubt I’d have gotten into them if not for being able to check out some, often pretty silly ones, for free.

Anyway, all this to say fuck the Koch brothers for making anti-library robocalls. What kind of monsters do that?

NPI Fundraising Gala

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Having been kicking around local lefty Internet circles for (approximately) ever I’m glad that we have Andrew Villeneuve and Northwest Progressive Institute around. From his activism against Tim Eyman, to helping build the netroots and his role as part of that netroots, Andrew has been a great part of the community. There were many times when I used to do multi-link open threads or tried on the old blog to at least have one local link a day and going to the Progressive Portal or the Regional Blogroll.

And while I’m always more of a build community on the Internet kind of person, Andrew and NPI are just as much in on the ground stuff. Permanent Defense goes after Tim Eyman in a real way, and the fundraising gala attracts a lot of big name people every year.

Well, the fundraising gala is happening again, and this year is no exception:

What: A special event to benefit the work of the Northwest Progressive Institute
Who: U.S. Representative Adam Smith, former Seattle City Councilmember Tina Podlodowski, and additional speakers to be announced
When: Friday, April 1st, 2016 | Reception starts at 6:15 PM, main program at 7 PM
Where: Mercer Island Community & Events Center
8236 SE 24th Street, Mercer Island, 98040

I know a billion people in politics ask for your money. But NPI are good people and it looks like a fun event if you can make it.

Open Thread 3-16

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I saw a countdown clock to St. Patrick’s Day recently that had days, hours, and minutes. I realized that it’s counting down to Midnight on St. Pat’s. I may be a bit of a prude, but I suspect that if anyone is in a bar at 11:59 on an weekday, they’re not waiting on the holiday to start drinking. I mean, I get that it’s a big drinking day but I think there’s time enough to not have to be up to the minute.

Also, please don’t yell “wooooooooooo” right outside my apartment. What? You’ll yell “woooooooooo” wherever you damn well please? OK.

Election night discussion thread

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I’ll try to offer some commentary throughout the evening, but the real fun will be in the comment thread….

Lil’ Marco has “suspended” his campaign after losing his home state of Florida.

What’s with this “We are ‘suspending’ the campaign” bullshit. “We” are not. You (singular) are. “Suspend” is a weasel word. Why can’t these weasels tell it like it is: “I’m quitting”, “I am dropping out of the race”, “I surrender to Mr. Drumpf”.

Oh…that’s right. They’re fucking weasels.

7:48: While Cruz is giving his “victory” speech, CNN updates the vote totals and Cruz goes from 1st place to 2nd place.

8:40 Carl Ballard commentary on the GOP primary: [fart noises]

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottle

Join us on this sub-Super Tuesday for an election watching party at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Voters go to the polls in five states (FL, IL, MO, NC, and OH) and Republicans caucus on one island entity (Northern Mariana Islands). For Republicans, the presidential primary outcome is “winner take all” in all but the IL and NC primaries. We’ll have election results on the TV.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm, but feel free to join us early to watch election returns.





Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight, the Tri-Cities and Vancouver, WA chapters meet. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma, Bremerton, and Spokane, chapters meet. Finally, on Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 178 chapters of Living Liberally, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

Open Thread 3-14

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I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so this Open Thread and possibly future ones will be a bit less than the already (sorry) less than I’d want output.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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A brief history of cell phones on Capitol Hill.

Minute Physics: The limb of the sun.

Sorry Mitch.

Matthew Filipowicz: Rick Snyder wants taxpayer money for Flint water crisis legal fees:

Stephen: Late Night Wheel of News.

What is dark money and how does it influence elections?

Jim Earl: Antonin Scalia remembered with a moving obituary.

Stephen: Bernie only smoked pot twice?!?

White House: West Wing Week.

The 2016 Clowning Inferno:

Explaining politics to a drunk: superdelegates, candidates, etc.

Mental Floss: 23 facts about U.S. cash.

Jim Earl: Oregon terrorist Lavoy Finicum remembered with obituary.

James Corden: Idaho politics is as weird as it gets.

Who made it okay to hate Muslims?

Songify the News: Bernie and Hillary have a sing-off:

Why is America’s water infrastructure failing?

Congressional hits and misses.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Open Thread 2/11

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Well, no supplemental budget. No deal on McCleary. I guess that means mass vetoes. I’m here for it. Hell, he could have pull an Arnold Schwarzenegger* and just do an acrostic with all his vetoes. At this point, he could just write a note that says “Fuck you” and hand it to the sponsor with each veto and still be in the right here.

It also means we get a special session. So maybe the legislators having to deal with Pam Roch and Matt Manweller some more is a fuck you enough.

[Read more…]

Open Thread 3/9

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I was going to do this post about Inslee’s mass veto threat. Shorter: I’m pro but with reservations because there are some good things he’s probably going to have to veto.

So I went looking for stories on Google News. And all of the stories were kind of a similar summation, or an opinion piece. Fine. In situations where it’s not one particular piece, but just the story, I try to find pieces that aren’t just written by white dudes. It’s a tiny nudge to newsroom diversity (yes, from this white dude writing in a space that’s mostly white and male).

When I looked at the author’s names, I noticed that they were all men, and as far as I could tell, all white. I may have missed someone. But I think newsrooms can do better.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottle

It isn’t quite Super Tuesday, but is is another interesting Tuesday for a watching party at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Republicans and Democrats have primaries in Michigan and Mississippi. Republicans vote in an Idaho primary and caucus in Hawaii. Overseas Democrats get a chance to vote as well.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm, but feel free to join us before that for the election returns.



Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight, the Federal Way, Tri-Cities and Redmond chapters meet. And on Thursday, the Kent and Bremerton chapters meet.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

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