Two Dead After Night Club Shooting: A security guard and another man were shot and killed outside Capri Bar and Restaurant, a hookah lounge in Rainier Beach. A different shooting occurred at this same lounge just a month ago. The recent violence draws fresh attention to new city council legislation that seeks to crack down on after-hours lounges that operate as private clubs, stay open past 2am, and aren’t regulated the same way as typical bars and restaurants. Several recent Seattle-area shootings like the December International District shooting have occurred outside similar establishments.
Shooting Near House Party: In the Tacoma area, two people are dead and four are injured after an early Saturday shooting near a house party. Multiple people called 911 when a fight broke out at the party. Police arrived about 30 seconds before the gunfire started. The victims were between 16 to 21 years old.
Local Jurisdictions Need New Revenue: That’s the subject line in the open letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson signed by 68 local officials across the Evergreen state. The letter calls on Ferguson to seek new progressive revenue options as budget deficits grow and federal cuts become imminent. Washington’s regressive tax code means there isn’t enough “funding for infrastructure, housing and human services, public health, and public safety” investments. The signers then list the measures they support including current bills in Olympia that would lift the 1 percent property tax cap, expand the sales tax to fund public safety programs, and more. Outgoing King County Executive Dow Constantine signed the letter, as did KC Exec hopeful Girmay Zahilay. King County Council Members Teresa Mosqueda, Rod Dembowski, and Jorge L. Barón also signed. The only Seattle City Council members to sign were Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dan Strauss. Mayor Bruce Harrell, unsurprisingly, did not sign on.
The Weather: I’ll wager it’ll rain today. And, you know what? I wager it’ll rain tomorrow, too. April showers and all that.
Must Be Nice: France’s far-right party leader, Marine Le Pen, was barred from seeking office by a court due to embezzlement. The judge ruled Le Pen, as well as eight other people in her party and 12 who served as parliamentary aides, were embezzling public funds. Le Pen, the judge said, was “at the heart of ‘a system’ that her party used to siphon off EU parliament money,” reports the Associated Press. Some worry this ruling is an overstep. I dunno, I think it’s a good thing to prevent criminals from taking political control of a country and burning it to the ground for their own gain.
France raises a fascinating hypothetical point: what if the law still exists even if people might get mad at you
— Ian Boudreau (@ianboudreau.com) March 31, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Musk Gives Out His Million Dollar Checks: Ahead of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which could change the makeup of the highest legal body in a battleground state, Elon Musk gave two $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters at a rally for the conservative candidate. Musk and groups he’s affiliated with have spent $20 million to get this guy elected ahead of a year where the Wisconsin Supreme Court—where liberals currently hold a 4-3 majority—will consider legislation on “abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power, and voting rules.” The current Supreme Court declined to hear a case that objected to Musk’s political interference ahead of the event.
Myanmar Quake Kills Over 1,700: Friday’s quake in Myanmar and neighboring Thailand caused devastation. Though the death tolls are already high, prediction models expect deaths could exceed 10,000. Buildings collapsed throughout Myanmar. Many people are believed to still be trapped under the rubble. A woman was pulled out from under a collapsed hotel after 60 hours. She was alive.
The Stock Market Hates Trump: Trump’s beloved stock market keeps on plummeting. In the wake of his recent announcement that he would level tariffs on imports from all countries, the stock market hit its lowest point since 2022. The value of the US dollar also decreased 3.5 percent this month thanks to Trump’s global trade buffoonery. Meanwhile, the value of gold keeps on climbing as investors look for something—anything—safe to invest in. Goldman Sachs believes there’s a 35 percent chance that the US enters a recession in the next 12 months.
See? You Don’t Need Musk’s Blood Money: All you need is 88 cents and a dream. Last week, a gambler at the Mardi Gras-themed Orleans Hotel & Casino about two miles off the Las Vegas Strip bet 88 cents on a slot machine and won $19,627.01.
Tensions are high: The Pistons and the Timberwolves got into a tussle last night. Five players and two coaches were ejected from the game. In case you want to watch seven minutes of grown men fighting each other, here you go:
International Students Asked to Self-Deport: An email from the Department of Defense to certain student-visa holders in the US notified them that their F-1 visa had been revoked and that they should voluntarily leave the country. Allegedly, the students getting these emails participated in campus activism or showed social media activity—things as small as liking a political post the Trump administration considers unsavory—critical of those in power. Immigration attorneys say impacted students should seek legal representation.
Aide Worker Mass Grave in Gaza: Last week, aide group Palestine Red Crescent Society said nine of its emergency medical technicians had been missing for days after Israeli forces opened fire on ambulances and fire trucks near southern Rafah. Israel said the ambulances and fire trucks were “being used as cover by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants.” The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs unearthed the missing humanitarian aides alongside their missing vehicles and six other aide workers using bulldozers and heavy machinery. They had been buried in what the UN called a mass grave.
Seems Like a Red Flag? Trump keeps refusing to say whether he’ll leave office after his second term—which, you know, is unconstitutional. He said he wasn’t joking about seeking a third term and that there are “methods” to make it happen.
I’m sorry to report we are actually not saving the bees. Honeybee deaths in the US have reached record highs. Scientists don’t know what’s causing it.
A Song for Your Monday: Do you like 1970s German electronic music? Good, I have just the ditty for you.
@50
no.
your
and his*
justifications
sophistries and
distractions gave to
us this nasty Mess we’re in
and’re
Keeping
us mired in
all the muckness
haven’t you got a
2nd amendment
to champion?
*the Wormtongue’s
@45
THNX
auntie Gee!
@49: They were repeatedly warned last year about their obsessive focus on Gaza, and how throwing around terms like “Genocide Joe” could only help Trump. Now that the president who restricted arms deliveries to Israel has been replaced with one openly advocating complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza, they dodge responsibility for their part in that replacement — even while continuing their obsessive focus on Gaza! See @47 and @50 for confirmation.
You may as well have told AM Talk Radio listeners in the ’90s about Limbaugh’s drug use.
Garb @43: Coming from someone who was actually banned from here, that’s hilarious! Please keep bringing the laughs.
tl;dr
your
tripe cum
justifications
Wormtongue.
a poison you are
to @tS’s Schlogg.
@52. Laugh like the clown you are, bootlicking trash.
@52 “the president who restricted arms deliveries to Israel”
As you put it: “Please keep bringing the laughs.”
@55: “The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations.”
(https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/07/us-concerns-over-israels-gaza-policy-led-to-weapons-holdup-00156528)
The choice was never between Biden, and someone who would order the arms embargo you wanted. The choice was between Harris, and someone who talks openly about driving the current population out of Gaza. That you guys all echo-chambered each other into believing an arms embargo was possible was always your problem, but you’ve successfully made the result into everyone else’s problem, too. (You really should take credit for it; it’s the closest to a political victory you’ll ever get.)
political wins for Our side:
Good for All of Us
political wins for the
Wormtongue’s side:
Excellent! for all the Mr. Burnses*
and, duh, (Doh!) for ‘the top’
5% and for our Silver-
tongued devil
*Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber “Monty” Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns or C. Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and antagonist in the animated television series The Simpsons
rich as Fuck
owns the local
Nukular power plant
Neverminds the ‘occasional’
radiation leaks – “helps to thin the Herd!”
@56 ya that one delayed shipment made a huge difference, really turned the tide of the assault on Gaza. Biden’s such a brave hero.
@58: Again, that was all you were going to get. You never had an option to get anything more, no matter how extravagantly vivid your fantasy life. Harris told you, very clearly, that an embargo was not a possibility:
‘Kamala Harris will not support an arms embargo on Israel, her national security adviser says, a day after the presidential candidate was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters at a rally in Detroit.
[…]
‘The statement came after leaders of the Uncommitted movement – which has urged Democrats to boycott the election over US support for Israel – said Ms Harris had “expressed an openness” to meeting with them to discuss an arms embargo.’
(https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg798l439ydo)
Oh, look: “…the Uncommitted movement – which has urged Democrats to boycott the election…”
Yeah, the all-Gaza-all-the-time crowd bears no responsibility for Trump. None whatsoever.
@the
Womtongue
your
Incessant
Deflections
show the world
your conscience
knows Better than
your words can conceal
the smarmiest
man in the
room?
Always.
@60: Adding “deflections” to the Great Big List of (Mostly Long) Words you have absolutely no idea how to use, eh?
Go argue with the BBC.
@60
oh, balls!
there I go
Again! that
Shouldda been
to:
“@the
WoRmtogue”
apologies!
@62
oh, ballses!
there I go, yet
fucking Again! that
Actually Shouldda been
to:
“@the
WoRmtoNgue”!
deeper
Apologies!
[hey, @tS:
sure could
use an Edit
Button here!
THNX! –@k]
@61 — thanks,
sliver-tongue! (the
List L e n g t h e n s)
also:
“the Smarmiest
dude in the Whole
mutha~fawkin’ Room.”
–Classic!
“…the Uncommitted movement – which has urged Democrats to boycott the election…”
And it worked! The 2024 electorate was millions of voters smaller than the 2020 electorate. And if the 2024 electorate had been the same size, and voted the same way, as the 2020 electorate, Harris would be president:
“Kamala Harris won 74,999,166 votes or 48.3 percent of the votes cast. That was 6,285,500 fewer popular votes than Biden won in 2020, but 774,847 more than Trump won in 2020.” (https://www.cfr.org/article/2024-election-numbers)
So the Uncommitted movement got what they’d wanted. Millions of persons boycotted the 2024 election, and Harris lost. Why they’re not taking credit for this now is beyond me; how many groups have swung a presidential election so decisively?
@62, @63:
“sure could
use an Edit
Button here!”
Well, we cannot reasonably expect that someone who has posted as infrequently as you have could use this system flawlessly, now can we?
Maybe after you’ve made several times as many posts, you’ll get better?
Good luck with that.
@64 damn sounds like Kamala was incredibly stupid to insist she’d never do what these Uncommitted folks wanted given that cost her the election. I guess unconditional support for Israel was more important to her than becoming President.
@65: Damn sounds like Uncommitted movement was incredibly stupid to insist on throwing the election to Trump, seeing as he wants to cleanse Gaza of Palestinians. Kinda the opposite of what they said they wanted, no?
How many votes would she have lost for promising an embargo? The Uncommitted folks never quite got around to answering that one, it seems.
But I’m glad you’re finally giving Uncommitted credit for helping to elect Trump.
@66 “How many votes would she have lost for promising an embargo? The Uncommitted folks never quite got around to answering that one, it seems.”
You think Pro-Israel people would have abandoned her campaign if she had stopped sending arms to Israel? So wait, let me get this straight, are you implying people on both sides of the issue would choose not to support a candidate who was explicitly on the opposite side? Like people choose whether to support a candidate based on whether or not that candidate aligns with them on the issues they consider most important? Mind blowing!
While we’re doing hypotheticals, if she had committed to an arms embargo and as a result American Jews refused to vote for her and Trump won, after Musk threw up the Nazi salute would you and your alter-ego thumpus have spent the past several months mocking them and their concerns like you’ve done Arab Americans?
“You think Pro-Israel people would have abandoned her campaign if she had stopped sending arms to Israel?”
Depends on the pro-Israel person in question. Trump had already taken money from someone who wanted Gaza razed and hotel-casinos built on the Med’ shoreline. Someone in favor of that outcome would definitely have preferred a Trump victory.
“Like people choose whether to support a candidate based on whether or not that candidate aligns with them on the issues they consider most important? Mind blowing!”
What the Uncommitted folks refused to understand was that their choice was only between Harris and Trump, and the latter has spoken in support of deporting all Palestinians from Gaza. There was no choice where an embargo would happen, as your very next point makes clear:
“While we’re doing hypotheticals, if she had committed to an arms embargo and as a result American Jews refused to vote for her and Trump won,”
So, in your hypothetical, she would have lost the election anyway, but from promising an illegal arms embargo. In my book, promising to break the law is the very best reason for a candidate to lose an election, so I would have been fine with that.
“…would you and your alter-ego thumpus have spent the past several months mocking them and their concerns like you’ve done Arab Americans?”
Quotes and URLs, please.
Again, thank you for recognizing Uncommitted and Abandon Harris helped Trump to win. That was all they accomplished, and it may yet get Palestinians deported from Gaza.