Today Is the Last Day of President Xi Jinping's Visit to Seattle: Seattle drivers—who were stuck in crazy traffic jams while his motorcade closed down freeways during rush hours—had a lot to say about the way he got around.
Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant Also Had a Lot to Say to the President of China: "We note that during your visit to the United States, starting here in Seattle, your itinerary is monopolized by discussions with representatives of big business such as Uber, Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Cisco, Dow Chemical, DuPont, GM, Pepsi and Berkshire Hathaway," Sawant wrote in an open letter to President Xi Jinping. "We believe the problems facing working people in both China and the US should be given attention, instead of being pushed to the side by politicians and corporate leaders, with their sole focus on maximizing profits."
What Got Accomplished During Xi Jinping's Visit? Among other things, China ordered 300 Boeing jets and Boeing decided to create a "jet-completion and delivery center" in China to do work that today is done in Washington State. "Advance reports of the deal prompted the Machinists union to organize protests outside the company’s plants Wednesday," the Seattle Times reports.
Now It's Off to Washington, DC: Where the Chinese President could be overshadowed by the Pope. "Xi Jinping may govern one-fifth of humanity, yet when the Chinese President arrives in Washington he risks being upstaged by the leader of another billion-strong flock: Pope Francis," Bloomberg reports.
Tim Burgess Thinks Kshama Sawant's Tally of Accomplishments Is Pretty Skimpy: "Burgess," Publicola reports, "was critical of Sawant’s legislative record as whole—which he characterized as 'rhetoric and slogans and rallies'—challenging us to enumerate her accomplishments. When we said she’d energized the council and created new progressive expectations, he shot back: 'How do you measure accomplishments and influence?' He explained: 'I would tend to look not at rhetoric and slogans and rallies, I would look at, "Well, what have you done?" What are the specific things that are going to impact the lives of people... that you’ve done? I think on that measure, the answer is no, she hasn’t. What would we point to as council member Sawant’s list of accomplishments?' $15, we said. 'I would say Mayor Murray did that,' Burgess said. 'And did that in a way that avoided lots of conflict... Anything else on your list?'"
Seattle's Community Police Commission Is Frustrated With the Reform Process: "Community police reformers are seizing upon the visit from U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to voice their frustrations with the Department of Justice's police reform process," KUOW reports. "The Community Police Commission said so far it’s been 'denied a seat at the table.'"
Seattle Schools Will No Longer Suspend Elementary Students: "The Seattle School Board has declared a one-year moratorium on out-of-school suspensions for elementary students who commit certain nonviolent offenses," writes Paige Cornwell. "As The Seattle Times has reported in several of its Education Lab stories this past school year, skewed suspension rates echo persistent gaps in academic performance between blacks and other student groups. Further, out-of-school suspension has negative effects on all students, according to new research."
University of Washington Scientists Have Figured Out How to Link Brains: "Brain scientists at the University of Washington have used an old-fashioned parlor game in a novel way to prove that two people’s brains can be linked across the Internet—an experiment that sounds like it was ripped from the pages of a science-fiction novel," the Seattle Times reports. "The experiment is believed to be the first one to demonstrate that two brains can be directly linked to allow one participant to correctly guess what the other is thinking."
How Tech Destroyed San Francisco: "Gone are many artists, artisans and tradespeople. Instead, the lofts, townhouses and studios are being populated with content curators, engineers and infrastructure architects," writes Adrian Weckler. "They're young, they're rich and they're dull as dishwater. San Francisco is starting to resemble a boring suburban place."
And the Pope Is Speaking to Congress: Right about now.