Gooood morning. Today will be very hot and could top out at 97 degrees, according to Seattle Weather Blog, though National Weather Service predicts closer to 88 degrees. I’m writing this at 4:50 am, and it’s already 70 degrees. Monday tied with the hottest July 8 on record. The heat has killed at least four people in Oregon so far. The only thing driving me to return to in person work is the AC.
Smith speaks: Washington’s longest-serving Congressman, Adam Smith, called the White House after Biden’s disastrous debate and told them he needed to step aside, according to the Seattle Times. He also said Biden has seemed “‘frail and struggled’ to communicate.” Other Washington Democrats continue to back Biden’s run, including US Senator Patty Murray and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, though Murray acknowledged that the President needed to make a comeback soon. Congressional Democrats plan to meet in Washington Tuesday to discuss Biden’s future, according to the BBC.
Meanwhile, in an obvious effort to grab a headline after the Seattle Times endorsed Bob Ferguson for governor, State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Mark Mullet has thrown his inconsequential weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
ICYMI: The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) transferred a transgender woman to a men’s prison after a single infraction. The woman, Amber Kim launched a hunger strike in protest of the transfer and said she fears for her safety in a men’s prison. Vivian has more on Kim’s transfer.
Two Washington youth detention centers suspend intakes: Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie and Green Hill School in Chehalis plan to stop accepting new kids from county facilities due to overcrowding, according to KOMO. The Department of Children, Youth, and Families said kids expected to go to the state institutions will instead remain at county facilities.
This will certainly have impacts on the King County youth jail, which is already understaffed and using solitary confinement more than it’s supposed to. It also wasn’t designed for long term stays. https://t.co/I3AZufF71h
— Amy Sundberg (@amysundberg) July 8, 2024
Cherries flood the market: A delayed cherry crop in California and an early crop in Washington has resulted in cheaper cherries this summer, costing Washington farmers millions, according to the Seattle Times. Weird harvest glitches like this, driven by climate change, combined with other market pressures have started to squeeze smaller farmers out of the market. Meanwhile, the farmers that remain have to struggle with unpredictable harvest seasons for their sensitive little cherries.
Fire breaks out at Odesza concert: During a performance at the Gorge Amphitheatre, a fire broke out not far from the stage where Odesza had started performing their last song. Some people on TikTok and Reddit pointed to the fireworks that had exploded from the stage earlier in the performance and said the Gorge should maybe ban fireworks during summer shows around dry, grassy areas. The Gorge released a statement on Twitter about the fire but did not speculate as to the cause.
Hey @odesza fans. Please read above for an update. pic.twitter.com/gqjKQjOpel
— The Gorge Amphitheatre (@thegorgeamp) July 7, 2024
Biden heads to NATO summit: Washington DC hosts NATO’s 75th anniversary summit this week, which CNBC and other outlets have called a “crucial test” for Biden’s mental fitness. Because the debate performance, combined with his canned statement after the US Supreme Court decision about Trump’s criminal liability, followed by the George Stephanopoulos interview, where Biden said it didn’t matter if he won so long as he tried his best, all weren’t enough to tell us that we’ve got a sundowning old fool in office who won’t release his grip on power until he’s literally dead or constitutionally forced to let go.
New York enters the 19th century: New York City has discovered a groundbreaking and dare I say bold, new technology: trash cans. Instead of dumping trash in bags on the curb, New Yorkers can now place their loads of refuse into trash cans like the rest of the US, according to the New York Daily News. The rats of New York did not immediately return a request for comment, but I’m sure they’re cooking up a retaliatory plague in response to the city making it harder to access food scraps. Also, Mayor Eric Adams loves a demonstration.
New York learning about trash cans in 2024 is an insane flex. https://t.co/SBaxvoylAH
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) July 8, 2024
Hurricane Beryl kills seven in the South: Beryl swept through Texas and Louisiana Monday, killing six in Texas and one in Louisiana. While the storm has downgraded to a Tropical Depression, 21 million remain under a flood watch, according to NBC News.
Meanwhile, France’s left has a moment: As Nathalie mentioned yesterday, France’s newly formed left-wing party, the New Popular Front (NFP), managed to win the majority of seats in parliament, beating back Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, according to CNN. Macron and his neoliberal backers must now work with the left wing of the country to govern and to stave off France’s RN, which has continued to gain in popularity.
Julia Fox comes out: According to Page Six, Fox said her ex-boyfriends weren’t wrong for “‘calling me a lesbian and complaining that I never wanted to have sex with them.'” Fox most recently joined Charli XCX in her 360 music video. IDK. Lesbians also having a moment.
Im really happy for lesbians and the whole chapell roan thing i feel like they haven’t had a moment since ellen
— tyler (@tyler02020202) July 8, 2024
Alright, stay cool out there: In the words of the cat psychologist who has started popping up in my TikTok algorithm, do something to make your cat’s life a little different today. Also, check out Towa Bird’s new album American Hero.
“Biden said
it didn’t matter
if he won so long
as he tried his best”
well
good
on You
Joe! keeping
America’s (and
DEMOCRACY’s)
Priorities Straight
looks Good on you.
no,
Joe,
over
Here!
Hey Joe! where
ya Goin’? come Back!
you’re (Still)
President!
I had to google Julia Fox.
I still have no idea who she is.
Overcrowding in prison could be seen as incentive to not engage in behavior that lands one in prison.
If the Stranger is going to do Raindrop like that, might as well take the Sean “no comments” Nelson approach and disable them on some articles. Probably lost the sticky note with the instructions for that when they moved offices.
I mentioned it late in yesterday’s thread, but it looks like raindrop got himself permanently banned last night, apparently owing to offensive shit within the trans prisoner thread. I know he was an idiot, and fairly often a complete ass on these pages, but I always think it’s a bummer when a long time commenter gets themself yoinked. Be pretty great if he resurrected the (still active!) Gay Dude for Romney profile he created back in the slog’s heyday. For anyone bored enough to dig into some (at least occasionally) entertaining archives.
https://www.thestranger.com/users/13339106/gay-dude-for-romney
@4 OTOH is a complete ass who can’t get banned often or frequently enough.
sorry, didn’t see @3 prior to posting 5.
Wait, Raindrip finally went and got his little self booted? I killfiled his account years ago – one of the best things I ever did.
It could happen to you!
@6 — fucking (Ten
Thousand words
Later) BINGO.
dew[drop]ey’s
passing will leave
Large Hole in tS’s
self-hating humans
dept. I Expect a Swift
(& self-effacing, tho Not
for Long) return to these Pages.
@4 Yes, you’re absolutely right. However, its most obvious application is to Trump as he’s the only one gleefully and openly committing felonies. At least Nixon had the decency to pretend to be ashamed, even after he got his pardon.
And if you think that this ruling would have been exactly the same if it was Biden up in front of the Supremes instead of Trump, I’ve got a lovely piece of seafront property in Arizona to sell you.
I’m cheerful over cheaper cherries!
This is not a public square. Bad-faith trolling is not a protected right here. So long, Raindrop. Long live civil discourse.
Civil discourse to raindrop meant not swearing in his comments, meanwhile his response to people harassing and threatening Target employees over Pride merchandise was live and let live. I can’t believe it took this long for him to get the boot but I guess he flew a little too close to the sun.
The NP in France got the most seats. It did not, however, get a majority. Big difference.
“Democrats’ Effort to Push Biden Off Ticket Loses Steam
‘Right now, President Biden is the nominee, and we support the Democratic nominee,’ says a top House Democrat”
(https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/democrats-huddle-in-washington-as-biden-teeters-at-top-of-ticket-831991f8?page=1)
Well, playing Imaginary Kingmaker in the Slog comments was fun while it lasted, eh gang?
Next time, try listening to Mrs. Vel-DuRay. She could’ve saved you plenty of time:
“I do not think President Biden is incapacitated. I, unlike others, understand that I am not a physician, and even physicians are not allowed to diagnose someone they’ve never met a la distance.”
(https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2024/07/08/79593735/slog-am-boeing-pleads-guilty-biden-doubles-down-on-staying-in-french-cyclist-fined-for-kissing-wife/comments/32)
The only thing that matters is what voters think and supermajority of them think Biden is too cognitively impaired to do the job. This is not good in any election, but it’s a 12 alarm fire for this one in particular.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/06/30/poll-biden-mental-age-debate/74262195007/
The party leadership should have stepped in last year and took grandpa’s keys from him so we didn’t end up at this point just over a month out from the convention. Either option is a gamble but we don’t have much of a choice. It’s too late to change course now.
@17 “The only thing that matters is what voters think and supermajority of them think Biden is too cognitively impaired to do the job.”
Indeed, on top of a historically low approval rating, only delusion could make one think he still has significant probability of winning this election. And no, doing the best he can do is just not good enough.
“It’s too late to change course now”
One could say there is no harm in changing course now given your first statement.
Anyhow, all of this points again to major dysfunction within the Democratic party. It’s like being part of a slow moving inevitable crash where nobody can take the wheel away from the old man.
if only the
“Democratic”
partay Lived Up
to its Name. but Here
we Are. yet fucking AGAIN.
thanks
Wormtongue et al.
@18, I don’t disagree about changing the nominee but they would need to act fast and decisively, but all the messaging I’ve been hearing over the past week is that Joe’s not going anywhere. I don’t get the sense that they gave any consideration to the alternative.
‘“Like I said before, I’m with Joe,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) repeated multiple times in response to questions at his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon.’
Why, it’s almost like a powerful Senator, from a populous and wealthy state, doesn’t read Slog comments!
Of course, one need not go that far to find someone Who Just Doesn’t Read Slog on Biden:
‘Members of the Black and progressive caucuses have been among his fiercest defenders.
“I think the conversation is important to have right now, because people do have concerns,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), head of the progressive caucus. “I just don’t think it should be in public. And I think at the end of the day, he is our nominee right now till he’s not our nominee.”’
(https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/democrats-huddle-in-washington-as-biden-teeters-at-top-of-ticket-831991f8?mod=mhp)
@19 Biden won all the primaries. Convincingly. Sure, against a woo-woo who’s never held elected office and a US Rep nobody outside of MN had heard of, but every other major potential candidate had the option to get into the race and they declined. It’s not like Biden’s age was a secret. Biden is the small-d democratic choice in the sense of being chosen by voters.
@20 They have this week to convince Biden to bail. His performance at the NATO summit is the last look we’ll get. And IMHO, if Biden does bail, the Democratic Party needs to coalesce around a single candidate essentially immediately. Which probably means Harris is the nominee. As with Biden, she’s about 5th on my list of 5 preferred candidates, except that it’s legally easier, it’s easier to explain to voters, and it’s the obvious succession path. And I’ll fight like hell for her. Or for Biden if he stays in. .
@13 there’s no way you believe that crap – with classic rants from Xina you can’t possibly believe these comment sections are bastions of civil discourse.
it’s a trap… Don’t listen to the NYT’s, CNN’s, WaPo’s barrage of hack pieces. It’s too late to change the ticket, now! Even if Joe had an actual heart attack the GOP would try to litigate their way into presidency… They don’t have the numbers, that’s why they are trying to force Biden out and get SCOTUS to pick the president! Like in France, UK, Poland, and Spain the fascists will be defeated by large voter turn outs. Nobody, except for christo-fascist, white supremacists, and Oil&Gas billionaires want to live under a Trump presidency. The Dems simply have hammer home the project 2025 agenda and that Trump isn’t fit for office … They really don’t need a perfect candidate. Joe Biden can do it!
Anyone changed their mind about voting after the debate, because Trump ‘spoke’ more loudly? Of course not … A felon, who speaks loudly is still a felon! People will crawl over hot coals to prevent Trump fascism …
after his Disatrous
‘debate’ joe doubles down
tells the Left “he’s got this!” &
‘you can count on ME, I’m JOE!’
& we’ll let Joe Gamble Away
our Democracy just to suit/
salve his gargantuan Ego
whilst the Electorate
recoils in horror at
the thought of an
Eltrumpfster Dy-
Nasty replete
w/ a magatty
Congress &
Billionaires
hunting
Progressives
LGBTQs and
Naysayers
for Sport
and our Womenfolk
Fair Game for what-
ever the fuck —
they’re just
WOMEN
fffs.
looks like it just
may be up to
Kamala
Lord knows
the “D”NC’ll
Always Fail US
I hope Dow abandons his plans to close KC Juvenile detention centers. We’re already seeing a sudden increase of juvenile criminals.
@ “Civil discourse to raindrop meant not swearing in his comments”
anyone clamoring about “what happened to civility” is guaranteed to have some of the most vile worldviews possible
@ 24 ” It’s too late to change the ticket, now!”
ridiculous. most other countries manage to have federal elections in a matter of weeks. but that’s too complicated for the greatest nation on earth. we must have a protracted years-long freak show of the worst our government has to offer
Looks like Ahab got the boot, too.
That prison swap article is a honeypot for transphobes who can’t help themselves. Be careful out there, dipshits.
that
White
Whale
Finally got
our cap’n Ahab?
Verbose beyond
measure it’ll likely take
Multiple meals to consume him.
good luck
Mr Whale!