HorsesAss.Org

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by — ,

DLBottleTim Eyman’s hostage anti-tax measure was declared unconstitutional, Sarah Palin has re-emerged, and we’re down to a week until the Iowa caucuses. This calls for a drink! Please join us tonight for an evening of politics and conversation over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

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.




Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. On Wednesday, the Burien chapter meets. The Woodinville chapter meets on Thursday. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

Spokane Sick Leave/ Safe Leave Law

by — ,

Spokane is moving toward having its version of a sick leave/ safe leave law. It would be require employers with fewer than 10 people to have 3 days of sick leave and employers that are larger than that to have 5 days. While Mayor David Condon has vetoed it, it did pass 6 to 1. So it’ll likely still pass the council.

I have to say, I’m really glad that they’re passing something, but this makes me pretty nervous:

Calling the law “arbitrary,” Condon said his decision to veto also came from a lack of clarity on how the city would enforce the new requirements, or how much it would cost the city. He suggested he prefers incentives to requirements.

“I’m more of a carrot than a stick type of person,” Condon said.

Here in Seattle, we’ve had a tough enough time enforcing our sick leave/safe leave law with mayors who ostensibly support it. I hope he’ll enforce it when it does become law, but if you want to contact him and make sure, you can do that here. If you want to contact the city council and ask them to override the veto, you an do that here.

Also, just like in Seattle, this is a sick leave/ safe leave law, not just a sick leave law. News reports I’ve been reading about this don’t mention it, and they really should.* I couldn’t figure out exactly what qualifies people for safe leave on Spokane’s website, but all their material is pretty clear that it’s a part of the law. If anyone has more details, I’d love to know them.

[Read more…]

Open Thread Monday!

by — ,

Over the weekend, I took a ride on the new streetcar! Here are some random thoughts I had while riding it.

  • It seems like similar cars to the ones in South Lake Union.
  • Still, I was super excited riding it. It felt very much like it will be integrated into the city in a way that the line in South Lake Union hasn’t been.
  • Unlike when the light rail opened, all of the stops are places that are easy enough to get to, as a downtown resident who walks and bikes most trips. It still was pretty cool seeing familiar places through a streetcar window.
  • The next stop projection at the front was a nice touch. It was several stops ahead rather than just the one. Might make it easier for tourists or other people unfamiliar with the area. I’d like to see that on ST trains and maybe on buses going forward.
  • Traffic was an issue. A car tried to get too far forward in a turn when we were coming and the streetcar had to break pretty hard. It was the sort of thing a bus could maneuver around, but we had to stop while the driver sorted themselves out. It’ll probably be worse in rush hour. Still, once people are used to the light rail, maybe they’ll drive better. Or, that’s not how Seattle drivers work traditionally. We’ll see.
  • Maybe it’s the fact that I lived in London and have fond memories of hopping off and on the circle line more or less at random, but when I look at the map, I feel like we could eventually make the streetcar a big circle. It seems like there would be some engineering challenges crossing I-5 in the Northern part of the map, and I don’t know about the parts that are single track. But it seems like a long-term goal for the streetcars.

HA Bible Study: Revelation 9:7-10

by — ,

Revelation 9:7-10
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces. They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.

Discuss.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

by — ,

Matthew Filipowicz: My NSFW Phone-Banking Call With An Angry Conservative.

Farron Cousins: How bad will Republican hate get in Obama’s final year?

135 years of warmin in 30 seconds.

The 2016 G.O.P. BaffoonFest:

President Obama asked about tampon tax by YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen.

Bill Maher wants Barack Obama for his 60th birthday.

Red State Update: Benghazi movie flop.

Why?

Why #Blacklivesmatter protests are happening all over America:

How to become a millionaire in one easy step.

White House: West Wing Week.

David Pakman: Conservatives are loosing it over “gender-inclusive” bathrooms.

Malicious Militia Men:

Thom: Finding America’s missing voters.

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: Congressional factions.

How the Tea Party is splitting the G.O.P.

This billionaire thinks you should be paid more.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about memory.

Making a Killing: Guns, Greed & The NRA.

World of Water Woes:

Follow the money: The truth about Citizens United.

Seth Meyers: Bernie and Hillary.

Comedy Central: Wrestling with History in Whitesboro, NY.

Thom with The Good, the Bad and The Very, Very Cleocentricly Ugly!

How to build a car.

Trevor Noah: Breaking down the Republican and Democratic debates.

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

Open Thread 1-22

by — ,

I had to get up early on Wednesday, and I’m still messed up today. Really feeling the lack of sleep, even an hour or so, is kind of an adult thing. I’m sure when I was a teenager and didn’t get home until super late, I’m sure it screwed me up just as bad. But I think I just pushed past it. I’m actually feeling it now. A couple days later.

Stop Shooting People

by — ,

Oh hey, another day another pointless shooting in a movie theater.

A woman was shot Thursday night at a movie theater at The Landing in Renton, according to police.

Crews responded to the scene after reports of a shooting after 8 p.m.

She was taken to Harborview Medical Center but her condition is unknown. Police are searching for the shooter: one male.

I hope the best for her physically and psychologically. And I hope everyone at the theater who had to witness that shit gets the help they need.

But also, just a note to anyone thinking of getting drunk with a gun and shooting a theater. Or shooting a theater without getting drunk: Just don’t. Just fucking don’t. Leave your gun before you start drinking. Don’t shoot people. Whatever reason is going through your mind, whatever justification you’re making, don’t shoot people. Don’t shoot anyone. I’m so sick and tired of this.

Schadenfreude Alert: Watch Tim Eyman Learn a Court Has Ruled I-1366 Unconstitutional!

by — ,

As expected by just about everybody with even a cursory understanding of the law (you know, everybody but Tim), King County Superior Court Judge William L. Downing ruled today that Initiative 1366 is unconstitutional on grounds that… well… really… it’s hard to find a ground on which I-1366 isn’t unconstitutional.

Initiative I-1366 would have slashed the state sales tax by a penny starting in April (at a cost of about $1.4 billion a year), unless the legislature put a 2/3 supermajority for tax increases constitutional amendment on the November ballot. But Downing tossed it out in its entirety, ruling that I-1366 “exceeds the scope of the initiative power,” that it “violates art XXIII the Washington constitution in usurping the role of the legislature by proposing precise terms for a constitutional amendment,” that it “abridges the plenary powers of the 2016 legislature by tying its hands in an impermissible way,” and, of course, that it violates the “single subject” clause of Article II, section 19 by including “three separate subjects and purposes [that] cannot be said to possess a rational unity.”

Congratulations, Tim, on winning the quadfecta of unconstitutionality!

No doubt Downing’s decision will be appealed—but also no doubt it will be upheld, and his quick ruling takes the distraction completely off the table for the current 60-day legislative session. As for Tim, I could watch his pained expression all day long. What a horse’s ass.

WA State Rep. Mary Dye (R-Scoldville) Asks Lobbying Teens If They’re Virgins

by — ,

WA state Rep. Mary Dye: protective den mother or victorian scold?

WA state Rep. Mary Dye: protective den mother or victorian scold?

Republican state Rep. Mary Dye is getting a lot of grief over her encounter with some teen lobbyists:

OLYMPIA — Walking into a meeting Monday morning with state Rep. Mary Dye, a group of Eastern Washington high-school students didn’t expect to be asked about their virginity.

But visiting as part of Planned Parenthood’s annual Teen Lobbying Day, the group of about a half-dozen got that question from Dye, a Republican lawmaker from Pomeroy, Garfield County. … Dye asked if the students were virgins and suggested one was not, according to the students and Rachel Todd, a Planned Parenthood worker accompanying the kids.

… “I’ve never been in any type of meeting, especially with teens,” Todd said, “where an adult, especially an adult legislator, was so incredibly disrespectful and inappropriate.”

Incredibly inappropriate for sure. But in her defense, perhaps Dye’s lecture on abstinence was merely meant to protect them from Rep. Matt Manweller?

Open Thread 1-20-2016

by — ,

You would think that despite all the very real differences between Democrats and Republicans that the legislature could come together and figure out getting rape kits tested. But it turns out that testing rape kits isn’t free. And while real progress was made last session, it’s still not there and we still need to pay for them.

So the new bill going through the legislature is mostly to the good. But Seattlish explains why an admissions tax on strip clubs is not the best way to pay for rape kits.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by — ,

DLBottle

Last week we had the first week of the WA legislative session, the State of the Union Address, Republican and Democratic debates, and big things happening on the foreign policy front. Oh…and the Seahawks. So let’s call this a Debriefing Edition of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally. Stop by and chat about it.

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.



Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities, Vancouver, WA, and Shelton chapters also meet. The Lakewood meets on Wednesday. And on Thursday, the Tacoma, Bremerton, and Spokane, chapters meet.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

Open Thread 1-18

by — ,

I had a thought in the last few minutes of yesterday’s game that I’ve had a few times when a team is down 9 or 10 points with a few minutes left and driving. I wonder if it might make more sense to just kick the field goal as soon as you get within the kicker’s range. Like 2nd and 5 but you made it to somewhere that you trust the kicker, just bring him on.

My thinking is that you save however much time you would have taken if you get closer but still get the field goal. So if you can get the ball back, you have more time, and you know it’s 4 down territory the whole way.

The downsides are: (a) When there are 10 points: 2 touchdowns wins but a touchdown and a field goal only sends it to overtime. So maybe it only works on 9 points.(b) It maybe sends a message to your offense that you don’t trust them. I don’t think that’s true. Maybe tell them you’re going to go for 2 if they score if that will make a difference. (c) Something something momentum. Every football announcer talks about momentum like it’s a thing so 7 points is momentumier than 3. But I don’t buy momentum as a thing. (d) The other team only needs to get a field goal to put it away. Maybe, but the point here is that you trust your defense. If the other team can get to field goal range, they’ve probably eaten enough clock that the game would be over if you’d dilly dallied around for a few minutes before kicking the field goal.

I’m sure there are others downsides that I haven’t thought of. Generally the coaches who live and breathe this stuff know more than some jerk who has seen like half of the games. But the open threads are fast becoming a random thoughts column, so here’s another one.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

by — ,

Jimmy Dore: Republican liar claims Republicans aren’t anti-science knuckle-draggers.

The 2016 G.O.P. Clown Show:

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about beverages.

Stephen: A town called Whitesboro.

Jimmy Dore: Why Republicans never compromise and Democrats do.

Seth Meyers: El Chapo visits Late Night.

Malicious Militias:

Congressional hits and misses of the week.

Seth Meyers does Trevor Noah.

When guys go off their birth control.

John Oliver comes back for Season 3.

Baby got PACs:

Jimmy Dore: Ron Paul solves Oregon standoff with classic Ron Paul reasoning.

State O’ The Union Be Good:

Trevor Noah: The legend of Bernie Sanders.

Obama: Will Michelle run for President?

Matthew Filipowicz: Snyder administration defends water crisis handling.

Jimmy Dore: Political news (and jokes) of the week.

FAUX Business News asks most offensive question asked at a GOP debate, so far.

Obama’s biggest regret as President.

Gunz:

Mental Floss: 32 facts about body language.

Follow the Money: Big Money fighting legal pot.

Stephen with some Powerball Tips.

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

Open Thread!

by — ,

Despite the latest setbacks (and the fact that I was originally anti-tunnel) I still think we have an obligation to press on with the bad idea. There was a vote and that still matters.

That said, the safety doesn’t seem all that assured. Maybe we should close the Viaduct before the tunnel gets to under it. That sounds bad for already bad traffic, but then again so does pretty much everything about this project from jump.

The Viaduct is always a downer to write about so feel under no obligation in an open thread. Talk about whatever!

Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?

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!

Follow Goldy

[iire_social_icons]

HA Commenting Policy

It may be hard to believe from the vile nature of the threads, but yes, we have a commenting policy. Comments containing libel, copyright violations, spam, blatant sock puppetry, and deliberate off-topic trolling are all strictly prohibited, and may be deleted on an entirely arbitrary, sporadic, and selective basis. And repeat offenders may be banned! This is my blog. Life isn’t fair.