Good morning! We’re shifting into fall mode: lows in the 50s, high of 64. If you leave the house this morning, expect to take off your two light layers by 2 p.m. Happy Libra Season to all who celebrate.
Let’s do the news.
Who Needs Federal Workers? Not the Trump administration, apparently. Once again, the government is looking at a possible shutdown if Congress can’t push a budget through by September 30. This time, it’s healthcare on the line. Democrats are refusing to vote for a Republican stopgap that doesn’t continue Obamacare subsidies that would end in December. They’re also demanding that the budget reverse cuts to Medicaid and other health programs that Republicans made over the summer. Trump clearly felt like there wasn’t enough tension in the room, so his Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies late on Wednesday night to use the looming shutdown “to consider Reduction in Force” notices to lay off more federal employees. He also told agencies to eliminate positions that had been deemed “not consistent” with President Trump’s political agenda. Which is, for the most part, anyone that keeps the government running.
But He Also Kind of Does: The AP reported yesterday that hundreds of DOGE’d federal employees are being asked to return to work. Employees have until the end of the week to decide if they want to climb back down to hell.
Violent Left-Wing Extremist Until Proven Otherwise: The Trump administration wants to own the narrative of the shooting at a Dallas ICE facility that, to be absolutely clear, did not shoot ICE agents. He shot three detainees, killing one and injuring the other two. But Trump & friends are not letting their lack of information get in the way. VP JD Vance called the shooter a “violent left-wing extremist,” with no information to indicate that that’s true, which devolved into a Twitter slap fight with Pod Saves America’s Jon Favreau. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “our ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them,” about a shooting that didn’t injure any ICE law enforcement.
The President Directs the DOJ Now: The Trump administration has warped all of our sense of reality, so let’s start with a reminder. For decades, the Justice Department has been intentionally insulated from the executive branch to avoid politicizing our justice system. On Friday morning, Trump went onto Fox & Friends and told his Fox Friends that George Soros, a billionaire who, through a grant network called the Open Society Foundation, funds Democratic candidates and left-leaning causes, should be “put in jail.” This week, the president appears to have directed the DOJ to investigate Soros, and the department directed a team to explore possible criminal cases. The New York Times reported that “possible charges included racketeering, arson, wire fraud and material support for terrorism, according to a copy of the directive,” but all of their intel appears to be from a report from a far-right group called Capital Research Center.
Starbucks Is on the Rocks: Our hometown burnt coffee purveyor is laying off about 900 non-retail workers and closing more than 100 of their stores (many of which are unionized). One of those stores is the Capitol Hill Reserve Roastery, one of its busiest stores and to my knowledge, the only place in the world that serves a pumpkin spice flight.
Might As Well Go Win the Whole Fucking Thing: The Mariners are officially Division Champs, and for the first time since 2022, they’re headed to the postseason.
Cal Raleigh:
“Might as well go win the whole fucking thing” 🔱 pic.twitter.com/mRhAhDYV1N
— Seattle Mariners ON Tap (@MarinersONTap) September 24, 2025
ICE Releases One Fire Fighter: After arresting Rigoberto Hernandez Hernandez while he was helping to fight the Bear Gulch Fire, and holding him in detention for almost a month, immigration authorities unceremoniously released him without an order from a judge. It’s rare that immigration’s unpredictable nature works in an immigrant’s favor.
Build That Wall: Earlier this month, the Seattle Times reported that Christian Sinderman, one of Seattle’s most sought-after political consultants and Mayor Bruce Harrell’s top political strategist, has had unusual access to City Hall during Harrell’s term as mayor. Harrell insisted that he’d ended Sinderman’s contract at the beginning of 2025 to “put up a big wall” and avoid any blurred lines between his reelection campaign and the happenings in City Hall. “Turns out that wall was not so tall,” the Seattle Times reported. Sinderman continued to use his city-issued key card to get into City Hall, including to Harrell’s office, 33 separate times this year. And in August, he was awarded a new contract working with the city’s Department of Transportation. Time to install an electric fence.
Single Malt Caper: This summer, a freight truck pulled up to the Westland Distillery warehouse in Skagit County. The driver showed warehouse workers a document saying that he was there to pick up 12,000 bottles of whiskey. He was, but he wasn’t supposed to be. They were never seen again. According to the Seattle Times’s Tan Vinh, among the haul were $150 bottles of their award-winning 10th anniversary Garryana whiskey, which the distillery said is irreplaceable. In total, the stolen bottles are worth almost $1 million. Or one really hazy long weekend.
And don’t forget that even while democracy crumbles, we’re still doing Fat Bear Week.
And for Our PNW Version: The Woodland park zoo has a new wolf pack. They’re brothers, they’re six-years-old, and there are four of them. They’re awesome. According to the zoo, the wolves are a subspecies of gray wolf, known as the Mexican gray wolf. They’re obviously not from here, but they’re related to native wolves! And they’re critically endangered. These (not so) little dudes are part of a recovery initiative called SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction).
48 looks like a Rorschach test
@49 release the hostages and admit Israel has a right to exist and then we can talk. I’d be curious to know though why Gaza is so special. There are many conflicts around the world that are lopsided (some are legitimate genocide) and yet there are no flotillas and protests for them. Why Palestine?
@49: I care enough about Gazans to want Hamas to lay down arms to end Gaza’s misery — you know, exactly as Arab governments told them to do? (Oh, wait, if you get your all your Gaza news from headline posts here at the Stranger, then you cannot reasonably be expected to know anything about that, now can you?)
Would you describe less than 1/5 of 1% as “an enormous chunk” of something?
@52
why NOT
Palestine?
@51~ it looks like a map
of C. Bonespurs’
synapses
Oh, I see now, Libretto68 dear. You’re one of those emotionally fragile types who get miffed when someone criticizes or questions you. One usually sees them on the right, but the left has its share of them as well. I’m guessing you’re a man of a certain age?
In my opinion, the tired Vietnam War era tactics impress no one but the protesters themselves, and the purity candidates helped get us where we are. If that makes me a “cuck” or a “centrist” in your mind, so be it.
@52
Remove the settlements, stop the bombardment, remove the IDF from Palestine and the hostages are home.
It is amazing, Israel is losing the PR war to the worst guys in the world. So let’s blame anti-semites or something… because Israel can do no wrong, or something.
I wish all the hostages were home alive. But bombing them is not a good way to keep them alive.
Lets forget the past. Forget the grab em by the pussy stuff. All the felonies. All the accusations of rape and child molestation. All the bankruptcies and stealing money from fake colleges. All the terrible stuff he’s said and done in the past…
How are you right wingers not embarrassed by him now? The escalator? The teleprompter. Telling the UN to go to hell? Saying he hates his enemies at someones funeral? It’s absolutely fucking wild and all well documented and all within the last 2 weeks. How are you still behind this person?
@21 These are the people that believe that the very clearly MS Painted gang tattoos on the one guys hand are actually tattooed on his hand… remember that.
@57 “It is amazing, Israel is losing the PR war to the worst guys in the world.”
It’s just like how after 9/11 this country largely pissed away the world’s sympathy by starting an unnecessary war in Iraq. I’m convinced the people who never stop supporting Israel just have permanent George W brain when it comes to foreign policy.
58: Donald Trump hasn’t been accused of child molestation.
@54 Great question. Aside from being a repressive, theocratic culture that practices an extreme and dogmatic version of Islam that has human rights violations as one of its core tenets I can’t think of any reason. Oh maybe the government that was elected by the people has killing all Jews as a key component of it’s platform.
@57 Israel did all that back in 2005. They pulled out of Gaza and removed thousands of settlers. The Palestinians went about electing a government hellbent on destroying Israel, they dismantled all infrastructure and used it to make weapons and basically went about trying to kill Jews.
@61 Tell that to the women who have accused him of raping them when they were 12 and 13 years old…
63: I may have missed something. We know accusations about Jefferey Epstein. But I don’t recall a personal account against Donald. Do fill me in.
@61 Also dodged the actual question… as usual.
@65: No credible, verified firsthand accusations of child molestation against Donald Trump have been substantiated in court or through independent investigation.
@58 – “tbass1981 is a rapist and a child molester.”
There, now you too are an accused rapist and child molester.
@59 – “These are the people that believe that the very clearly MS Painted gang tattoos on the one guys hand are actually tattooed on his hand… remember that.”
It’s amazing how much of Leftist discourse is just them pretending not to understand things, making discourse impossible.
The tattoos were genuine, and the photo was indeed edited to put “M S 1 3” by the tattoos on 4 of the fingers, in order to explain their supposed meanings. Only an idiot wouldn’t be able to understand that. Whether or not it was true that the tattooed symbols on the fingers actually mean “M S 1 3” is a matter of debate. The original photo of the tattoos itself was real.
You people spew and/or swallow dishonest narratives so much, it makes me wonder if you’re really that stupid/naive, or if you are just being disingenuous for propaganda purposes, and hoping nobody will notice and just blindly swallow your loads.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-ms13-photo-abrego-garcia/
“What’s True
Although the original image held by Trump in the photo was genuine, it had been edited to insert the text “MS-13″ above the symbols tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s hand.”
@62 “Oh maybe the government that was elected by the people has killing all Jews as a key component of it’s platform.”
Weird that Bibi pumped them then. Oh wait it’s not because his only goal was to prevent the establishment of any Palestinian state. The terrorism isn’t a bug it’s a feature.
@69 I’m sure all that excuses everything they do and if only Israel would give them some space they would renounce their extremist views and live in peace with their neighbors. What is happening is a tragedy but 90% of the blame falls on Hamas and the Palestinians themselves.
@70 sarcastic comment about something “excusing everything (Hamas) do” one sentence before asserting that 90% of the blame for Israel bombing and starving them falls on the Palestinians themselves, you can’t make this up. Heads Israel wins tails Palestine loses.
@71 release the hostages and accept that Israel has a right to exist and everyone wins. Continue with genocidal polices of the “river to the sea” and no one wins. It’s really that simple.
@72 Jews fuck off from the Levant and everyone wins. Continue to occupy the territory and commit genocide and no one wins. It’s really that simple.
That’s how unhinged you sound.
thank you
thirteen
12!
these AIPAC
co-spokespeeps
are as Asinine as
they are Complicit.
@72 as Dr Phil would say. How’s that working out for them? Going back to 1947 and wiping Israel is not an option in any scenario so Palestinians can accept that fact, live in peace and probably build a virtual paradise along the Mediterranean coast (this would also require rejecting their extremist interpretation of religion) or they can continue to hang onto this notion of “river to the sea” and reap what they themselves are sowing. You still never answered my question as to why they are so special considering the many similar conflicts around the world. Do you not think the Darfuris are worthy of such support?
@75 how’s it working out for the Israelis? And I ignored your question because it’s an obvious deflection, but if there were people in this country constantly insisting the RSF bombing mosques was justified by their “right to exist,” and 90% of the blame falls on Sudanese civilians themselves, I’d push back on that too.
@76: Oh, puh-leez. On one of the occasions when the Stranger was rightly criticized for obsessing over Gaza whilst ignoring Russia’s naked imperialism in Ukraine, you declared Gaza was of greater importance, via the simple expedient of not counting any combatant deaths in Ukraine. (And “ignoring,” is generous; this headline post accepted Russia’s justification for the war, and urged Ukraine to accept Russian terms: https://www.thestranger.com/news/2022/08/15/77807239/new-poll-shows-majority-support-in-seattle-area-for-speedy-diplomatic-solution-in-ukraine)
So, you can stop pretending civilian deaths in an unjust war direct your own obsession on Gaza. Something else does, and that you dodge admitting what that something is suggests even you know it does not flatter you.
@77 huh
“if there were people in this country constantly insisting (Russia) bombing (Ukrainian cities) was justified by their “right to exist,” and 90% of the blame falls on (Ukrainian) civilians themselves, I’d push back on that too”
Dummy.
@78: Other than that you didn’t, actually, “push back on that too,” you’re right on the mark there.
@2 Catalina Vel-DuRay: +1 For the WIN!!!