HorsesAss.Org

Part I’ve-lost-count in an infinity part list.

This time he’s spamming out pictures of children with a gun pointed at their heads.

Constantine’s courageous call for the Legislature to repeal I-747 got Eyman’s attention, as did his proposal to send King County voters a levy to fund early childhood and youth services next year. Prompted by Constantine’s speech, Eyman decided to go fishing for media coverage by sending out an attack email with a false, derogatory subject line (“King County Exec Dow Constantine: “Pay higher property taxes or I’m throwing kids with diabetes under the bus”).

Along with his screed, Eyman enclosed a disgusting image of a woman holding a gun to a baby’s head, which he obtained from the Huffington Post.

As with so much of Tim Eyman’s bullshit, you don’t know if it makes more sense to address the substance or to point out the disgusting nature of the stunt. I think in this case, you have to go with the stunt. Holy shit! Kids with guns pointed at their head because you disagree with something the Exec said about you? That’s so awful, I can’t even comprehend it.

Even if the substance of Eyman’s argument somehow made sense — and it never does — that’s still no. Just no. Hell, I have a lower opinion of HuffPo and Tim Eyman because they both thought that picture was appropriate at various times, and I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.

And sure, people fuck up sometimes. If this was an isolated incident, I’d say give him the benefit of the doubt. But it’s long past that point with Eyman.

So, after six years on staff, Dom has left The Stranger to spend more time with his family or something. Good for him. Unlike me, at least he got to walk out on his own two feet instead of being carted off the premises in the trunk of a Cadillac DTS and unceremoniously dumped in the Meadowlands.

But Dom’s sudden departure has people asking questions. In a span of only nine months, first Cienna, then me, now Dom have all been scrubbed from the paper’s masthead. Of The Stranger’s four-person Pulitzer prize-winning news team, only Eli remains.

Cunning, devious, ruthless Eli.*

Now that the Great Purge is complete, the truth can be told: The Stranger’s news department has been reshaped by a brutal internal power struggle, engineered by the Machiavellian mastermind that is Eli Sanders—or, “the Butcher of Barca” as he’s fearfully known in the office. Don’t let his mild-mannered demeanor fool you; it’s all an act. The man is vicious. You should see what he did to his boyfriend—nearly ripped the poor guy’s arms off!

Eli is a monster. And now he’s ruling The Stranger news department with an iron fist. Just like he long plotted.

So beware, Anna and Ansel: the warm embrace of Eli’s carefully crafted cult of personality can be intoxicating. But dare challenge his boundless ambition and you too could soon find yourself stumbling through the muck of a New Jersey swamp, desperately trying to pluck an ice pick from your back.

UPDATE: Honestly, folks, get a sense of humor. It was joke. Really. Eli Sanders is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.

 

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* I double-checked my sources: Eli does not have a single ruth.

– Glad to see the Angry Black Lady Chronicles returning.

– As I just showed in the paragraphs above, a couple of rudimentary searches would find the facts in this case. But rather than inform the public, KXLY sensationalizes instead.

– And you thought the end of Obama’s presidency might mean the end of the GOP’s Saul Alinsky Saul the time obsession.

– Rand Paul is not the spokesman for the entire civil liberties community or the anti-war faction of this nation. In fact there are principled Democrats and Independents whom liberals should celebrate on these issues instead — after all, they aren’t going to vote against NSA spying with one breath while cutting Social Security and Medicare the next. They’re not going to demand that the government get out of our lives today and then vote to restrict a woman’s right to control her own reproduction tomorrow. They won’t rail about liberty even as they fight to ensure that gay people don’t have the freedom to marry. You can’t have it all, none of these people are perfect. But you can have everything Rand Paul is offering — and a whole lot more common human decency.

– As important as it is to call out Mars Hill, how churches avoid becoming the next Mars Hill is probably more important going forward.

– Wasteful as it would be, I would dig the hell out of flame decals on Metro.

Sure the headline merely asks the question—”What would 15% cut mean for state colleges?”—but why is this even a conversation?

Double-digit tuition increases. Class cuts that would make it harder to finish a degree in four years. Enrollment cutbacks that would make it more difficult to get admitted to a state university.

Washington’s public college and university presidents, warning that a hypothetical 15 percent cut to higher education would be devastating to public colleges and universities, are in a standoff with the state Office of Financial Management (OFM) over fiscal planning for the next two years.

Washington’s state colleges and universities have had their funding cut for years. Tuition has skyrocketed. We’re having trouble retaining top professors. We’re already 25,000 degrees a year short of demand. I mean, we either want a state college and university system or we don’t. If we do want a state college and university system then we need to fund it at a level sufficient to support quality, access, and capacity. If we don’t want a state college and university system, then we should just stop pretending, and shut it down already.

But hypothetical conversations about hypothetical 15 percent cuts achieve nothing except making a smaller, say, 5 percent cut more likely. So shut up already about further cuts to higher education, and instead shift the conversation to something useful, like making the case to voters for raising taxes.

Please join us tonight for the start of fall and some politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out another Washington state DL over the next week. The Tri-Cities chapter also meets tonight and every Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the Bellingham and Burien chapters meet. And on Thursday, the Woodinville chapter meets.

With 203 chapters of Living Liberally, including seventeen in Washington state, three in Oregon and three in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Honestly, what a bunch of assholes:

Unfortunately for King County taxpayers, Metro’s focus on efficiency has also been like a teenager’s — wavering.

Until now.

Voters’ rejection of the $1.6 billion, 10-year King County Proposition 1 in April has forced Metro to do some soul-searching. Rather than cutting 600,000 hours of bus service, as was initially threatened if Proposition 1 failed, Metro this week said the real number is now 400,000 hours, due, in part, to suddenly found efficiencies.

It’s amazing that after a few months of budget-scrubbing, the agency can find $123 million in savings within its two-year, $1.4 billion operating budget.

Are you fucking kidding me? Do they honestly believe that these sort of savings happen overnight? The bulk of the savings in this budget come from cost-cutting efforts that have been ongoing for years—and take years to pay off. Other savings aren’t really savings at all, but rather shifts from capital spending to operations—shifts that will accumulate their own costs over time.

But even with these savings, a 400,000-hour cut in bus service is nothing to celebrate when it comes at a time when we should be adding 500,000 hours of service just to meet current demand! That’s a 900,000-hour shortfall! Almost a third of total bus service!

This is an austerity budget, pure and simple, and it is strangling our region’s ability to sustain economic growth.

Fuck the Seattle Times editorial board and its dishonest efforts to dis any proposed tax increase at any time for any purpose under any circumstances.

– I don’t care. I’m still linking to those silly lists of cities when Seattle tops them.

– The Seattle Women’s Commission is looking for new people. If you know someone who would be good, including yourself the info is here. [h/t]

– When I was growing up, I remember wondering why my grandma always insisted on walking and busing to get around, even when others were willing—would, in fact, have preferred—to give her a ride. Now, I am in her shoes: trying to explain that yes, I really do want to take the bus, and no, it’s not (usually) a hardship or an inconvenience; it is part of who I am.

– A Feel Good War

– A 15 cent minimum wage increase is better than nothing, Oregon. Still not great.

– Being the specific type of nerd I am, I’m surprised it took me as long as it did to check out the Pink Elephant’s Graveyard podcast, the K Records podcast. Quite great if you’re into that sort of thing.

Last week’s contest was won by worf. It was the home of the Toledo Mud Hens.

This week’s is a random location somewhere in the state of Iowa, good luck!

Exodus 32:24-29
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

Discuss.

Maddow: New polls show mid-term elections tilting toward Democrats.

White House: West Wing Week.

Scotland Votes to Remain in UK:

• Sam Seder: No
• Thom: What America can learn from the Scotland independence vote
• Young Turks: Scotland votes “No”.

Ann Telnaes: Hillary’s back.

Thom: GOPer admits that Obamacare is working.

Mental Floss: 35 jobs that no longer exist.

Drums of War:

• Obama: Congressional authorization to train Syrian opposition
• Jimmy Dore chats with Obama about his military plans.
• Puppet Nation: Bombs Away

• Ann Telnaes: It’s a war, Mr. Kerry.
• Jimmy Dore chats with Ron Paul about Rand’s flip floppery.
• Bill Maher rips war hawks for breathlessly hyping ISIS threats.
• Maddow: Under your beds!
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Lindsey Graham nearly shits his pants on national TV over his fear of ISIS

James Rustad: What would Richard Nixon Do?

WaPo: Rick Perry 2.0.

Debate: Rand Paul v. Rand Paul.:

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Bush League:

• Late night laughs: Red Skins Edition.
• Sam Seder: Adrian Peterson, child abuse, and the NFL
• Young Turks: Vikings finally bar Peterson after sponsors threaten to withdraw.
• Olbermann: On Roger Goodell’s appearance
• Jon: The Fault in Our Star (player’s league).
• Young Turks: Sean Hannity LOSES IT over corporal punishment
• Stephen: All Hannity is saying is that some children deserve to be punched in the face
• David Pakman: Adrian Peterson arrested on brutal child abuse charges
• PsychoSuperMom: Take the Stairs (ladies).
• Ed, Pap, and Terrance Moore: NFL turns blind eye to child abuse

Bill Maher’s dirty little secret.

Thom: Both the evangelical movement and ISIS are anti-evolution extremists.

Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot:

• Sam Seder: Rush Limbaugh…”hey fellas, sometimes ‘no’ means ‘yes’ if you can ‘spot it'”
• Young Turks: Sex tourist Rush Limbaugh unclear on meaning of consensual sex
• Ed: Seduction master, Rush Limbaugh, and his romance by sexual assault
• Sam Seder: How much time is left for Rush?

Sam Seder: School privatization leads to rats and feces.

Maddow: Mid-term troubles. Republicans panic as Senate candidates slip.

Liberal Viewer: James Baker admits George W Bush caused chaos in Middle East.

#Wasillabillies:

• James Rustad: #PalinBrawl song
• Sam Seder: The Palin family brawl
• Young Turks: Arizona Cardinals Jonathan Dwyer suspended for domestic violence
• Thom: “Mamma Grizzly’s” drunken brawl
• Bill Maher: Palin should be embarassed of her mom genes
• Puppet Nation: Brawl in the Family.
• David Pakman: Palin apologizes to America…for the wrong thing.

Sam Seder: Chris Hayes BUSTED for un-PC talk.

Thom with more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

“No Evidence of Wrongdoing”:

• Young Turks: Federal Investigation clears Chris Christie of playing a role in Bridgegate.
• Bill Maher on Chris Chrstie’s exoneration.

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

Always thought the whole Scottish thing was a little silly, but perhaps if King George had offered us an independence vote 238 years ago, we’d all be British today, and we could have avoided that messy war?

Well, good news.

Yesterday Metro announced a series of new savings that will reduce the overall service cut from 550,000 annual service hours to 400,000, or about 11%.

That’s still going to be a tough hit. It also won’t save the cuts coming later this month. But that combined with if Seattle votes yes on Prop 1 in November maybe within Seattle city limits, we’ll still be able to get around OK. And it’s sad that OK in the places we need it most is the best we can hope for, but I guess that’s what happens when the voters reject transit.

In the long run, trying to fill the gap with more and more concessions from transit workers is not going to work. The more you go the less fat there is to cut. These big important things are expensive and we can’t do them on the cheap. If we want good transit, we have to pay for good transit.

I genuinely feel sorry for Republican King County Council member Reagan Dunn. He’s had a couple tough years. His political ambitions suffered a major blow when he lost his race for Attorney General. He’s recently divorced with two young children, and that totally sucks. And now we learn of his struggle with alcohol addiction and his guilty plea to a drunk driving charge.

I feel for him. And I sincerely hope he manages to stay dry and get everything but his political ambitions back on track. But I gotta say, I’m pretty stunned by this admission from the Seattle Times:

In discussing the plea, Dunn said he had voluntarily completed an inpatient alcohol-treatment program in the Los Angeles area in 2011.

(The Times learned of the treatment just before the August 2013 primary race for his seat, but after investigating it chose not to publish the information because it was two years old, Dunn had not committed a crime and there was no evidence that alcohol was affecting his job.)

So, I’ve got two problems with that decision. First, I think it’s just plain wrong. Voters deserved to know that Dunn had an alcohol problem so severe that it drove him to seek treatment (and anybody who has dealt with alcoholism and/or alcoholics knows how severe the problem must get before an alcoholic is generally willing to take that step). Maybe there was no evidence that Dunn had committed a crime or that his drinking was affecting his job, but drunks with cars tend to drive drunk. They just usually don’t get caught. And it’s hard to believe that an addiction so severe that it drove Dunn to seek treatment, hadn’t affected his job. So yeah, voters deserved to know.

And I gotta wonder if the editors would have been so protective had they possessed such devastating information about Dunn’s Democratic opponent?

But my second problem is: Who the fuck do they think they are to take it upon themselves to make this decision in the first place? The only daily newspaper in town, that’s who. And so they play the role of gatekeeper, however poorly, just because they can.

I’ve raked my fair share of mud over the years. And I don’t always enjoy it. But this was legitimate news, goddammit, and as a newspaper, the Seattle Times had an obligation to report it.

Looks like my new boss’s “middle out” message is beginning to gain traction with political candidates:

That’s former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter, running for governor of Georgia: “The best way to have a strong economy is to have middle class people with money in their pockets.”

And the other day, an AP news report made this matter of fact statement: “That report ties the slowed [sales tax revenue] growth to rising income inequality, which appears to stunt overall economic growth.”

This is the new conventional wisdom (as it should be) that income inequality is bad for the economy. Welcome to the dawning of the post-Trickle Down era.

– Even when Rand Paul is probably right on policy and making fun of John McCain, he’s still such a problem.

– It was pretty nice out last week, but still no surprise that better biking infrastructure brings out more bikes.

– You cannot defend abusing a child just because you like to cosplay on Sundays and eat yourself into a nacho coma

– We have the power to shape our online experiences, and this is my vote for yours to be beautiful. Have a wonderful day.

– Wait, am I going to have to start reading GQ?

– 70 years is pretty great.

– Random fact that I learned from too much Wikipeding instead of actually writing: Ambrose Bierce’s middle name was Gwinnett.