The coldest of takes: Shocker! If you offer people housing instead of just sweeping them, sometimes you might actually be able to help people escape the cycle of homelessness! The Seattle Times wrote about Washington’s Encampment Resolution Program, a strategy where the state offers subsidized housing to the people they’re sweeping from highways. Of the 18 encampments the state closed in King County under this program since 2022, 90 percent of the people moved inside, which amounts to about 420 people, and 74 percent have remained housed. Now, of course, the program’s funding is potentially in danger. Seattle sees less success with its strategy of declaring an encampment an “obstruction” and offering people an overcrowded shelter that may not meet their needs.
Scarecrow stays open another two years: The beloved video store, Scarecrow Video, raised more than $600,000 from community donations since announcing earlier this year that it was in danger of shutting down. The money should be enough to keep it in business for another two years, according to KING 5. More people keep turning up to rent videos as well. Scarecrow Executive Director Kate Barr said she hopes that the store manages to raise a total of $1.8 million to stay in business longer than just the two years.
Speaking of Scarecrow: If you haven’t checked out our Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge series yet, you should. Every October, Scarecrow compiles a list of some scary stuff for the Halloween season. This year, in solidarity with the video store, our staff has started watching the movies and sharing daily recommendations.
Pissing off the trash pandas: A woman in Washington had to call the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office after the family of raccoons she’d started feeding became aggressive and turned up in a horde of 50-100 hungry little beasts, according to the Associated Press. Great follow-up to If You Give a Moose a Muffin. The video is incredible. They must talk to each other.
she knows what she did https://t.co/DsH6kwZJVs
— Brett Hamil (@BrettHamil) October 10, 2024
Ok, what’s up with the Northern Lights? We’re supposed to be able to see them again tonight, and now the National Weather Service has a Northern Lights forecast page. I’m not going to look up whats going on with them, and neither should you. But can we just talk about it? Is it that we’ve always been able to see them from here, or … Okay, I couldn’t help it, I just went and looked it up. Apparently the sun’s magnetic field reaches its peak every 11 years, and that makes the Northern Lights more visible. Is that OK? Are we OK?
Oh, speaking of the Weather Service: High of 60 today, mostly sunny, the perfect Fall day.
Consent Decree might end: The US Department of Justice predicts an end to federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department in the next few months, according to the Seattle Times. If true, that would release the City from spending literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on monitoring fees and return more power over the police department to the people. On the other hand, it could potentially mean that the one thing semi keeping the City barely paying lip service to accountability finally ends. Federal Judge James Robart said he would not lift the decree unless the City made serious progress to implement accountability measures in the new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract. The City made some measly improvements to accountability in the new contract, but not much. The City’s scheduled to appear before Robart next week to plead their case.
Hurricane Milton makes landfall: Milton hit Florida last night, causing more than two million homes to lose power and ravaging the coastal state as a Category 3 storm, according to the Associated Press. At least four people died, and the storm caused more than 100 tornados.
The right-wing really loses it: These kooks. Marjorie Taylor Greene is out here claiming the government controls the weather, according to the Associated Press. President Joe Biden’s trying to clamp down on this, but honestly how do you stop people from believing what they want to believe? Meanwhile, Biden’s administration has prepared millions of meals and liters of water as well as prepped military search and rescue teams in anticipation of the storm.
Inflation deflates: The Consumer Price Index shows inflation has dropped to its lowest level since 2021. Good for the economy! Benefits everybody! Remember that? It’s at three percent now, which is close to the Federal Reserve’s ideal inflation rate of two percent. Good job everybody on going so broke again that we can’t all just be at home, ordering food from restaurants, and eagerly searching out suppliers of different-colored masks.
Israel and Iran: Israel’s security cabinet meets Thursday evening to figure out their response to a missile attack from Iran on October 1, according to the Washington Post. Israel has continued to pepper Iran with airstrikes.
My computer speakers continue to be totally fucked: Someone let me know if this song is any good.
@28
Q. “Don’t you have
any other left wing news
rag to rage at in Boston? How
many more years after you thankfully
moved away are you going to continue to
vent your sour disposition in these pages?”
A. the Joke’s on YOU:
I don’t live in Boston!
haw ha. ha ha. ha ha
repeat, ad infinitium
b. but if I can just
sour these pages
Long enough tS-
‘ll Likely Lose its
stomach for this
sorta thing and
stupid Progres-
sives’ll have No
place to vent
spleen! See
what I Can
DO? ha
ha. ha
ha ha
ha ha
ha ha
ha ha
ha ha.
Jihad.
so what Else’s
the reich wing upta?
from the Chris Hedges Report:
Burn
the Planet and
Lock Up the Dissidents
The fossil fuel industry, and the politician class they own, have no intention of halting the ecocide. As the climate crisis worsens, so do the laws and security measures to keep us in bondage.
tonnes more:
ttps://chrishedges.substack.com/p/burn-the-planet-and-lock-up-the-dissidents
good ole
‘Citizens United’:
when the reichwing
Won the Battle
for Dominionism
Over Everyone Else
And OUR fucking Biosphere.
drill,
bitches.
Just drill.
@18: “Their mindset is a rightwing one and many appear to be here to push back against the Stranger writers views, i.e. to wage some kind of propaganda war.”
Or, it’s just providing the missing facts, which the Stranger reliably omits whenever said facts contradict the Stranger’s narratives. Case in point, former CM Sawant stumping in Michigan to prevent the election of VP Harris, and therefore to get Trump elected. She provides a living, breathing example of Horseshoe Theory in action: a far-left female BIPOC former office-holder, trying to prevent the election of a liberal female BIPOC office-holder, in favor of electing a hard-core reactionary white male privileged authoritarian Republican. Although the Stranger spent a full decade amplifying almost everything Sawant said, they have refused to repeat her words from the campaign in Michigan. Therefore, we commenters have provided her words.
Another case, the bloodthirsty warmongering rhetoric of Seattle’s pro-Palestinian demonstrators, which the Stranger now carefully sanitizes with euphemisms, lest it expose not only the vile nature of those protestors, but also the hollow nature of the Stranger’s stated concern for the innocent victims of the war those protestors continue to demand.
You can say we commenters shouldn’t do this, or that we’re paid stooges, or whatever makes you feel better, but I happen to believe more facts are better than less, and the behaviors of persons the Stranger has praised should be examined, especially when those behaviors could cause an immense amount of harm to a large number of innocent persons worldwide. You’re free to argue against my positions if you like.
‘bloodthirsty’?
speaking of keeping
bibi nutnyahoo the
FUCKOUTTAPRISON
How
the Push
to Avert a Broader
War in Lebanon Fell Apart
Diplomats
thought both
Israel and Hezbollah
supported a call for a temporary
cease-fire. Then Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/world/middleeast/israel-hezbollah-ceasefire-talks.html
speaking
of bloodlust:
nutnyahoo’s
keep-outta-Prison
gambit’s focusing ire*
onto those not necessarily
supporting his little Genocide
yet endangering his fellow Jews
Planet-wide. failing to see this is a
recipe for fucking Disaster. but sure
blame tS.
*wrongly
Wrongly
wrongly
@51: ‘bloodthirsty’?
Yes, and very consistently, too. From a year ago:
‘The protesters made their demands clear in their rallying chants: … “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” and, “We don’t want two states, we want 1948,”’ (https://www.thestranger.com/news/2023/10/16/79212000/as-a-ground-invasion-looms-thousands-in-seattle-protest-for-a-free-palestine)
Now carefully sanitized, lest the Stranger’s stated concern for innocent civilian victims of war be revealed as mere hollow virtue signaling:
“Nearby, a pro-Palestine rally of more than 400 people marched from the waterfront to the Space Needle to call for a ceasefire, a call-to-action more than a commemoration, one that acknowledged all the death and devastation that came on and after last October 7.” (https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2024/10/07/79729008/slog-am-flooding-at-easy-street-records-mount-rainier-loses-some-height-another-hurricane-heads-for-florida)
As this video shows (h/t thumpus), the speakers had actually PRAISED the “death and devastation that came on … last October 7.”
https://x.com/EFischberger/status/1843334106249044428
Speaker describes the October 7 attack as the “birth of a miracle.” Says the attack exhibited “courage like no other … to lead us, to lead this broken world of ours, in a march of freedom unlike any other.”
end bibi’s rain of terror
end the madness end
bibi’s destruction of
Israel its neighbors
its Values its moral
Compass not to
mention Free
Palestine:
Amnesty
for bibi
& NO
more Politics
for the world’s
corruptedest man
or it’s Nuremberg, baby
bibi
rather.
@47 “leaders are always supposedly “right on the verge of a ceasefire” whenever they get killed. They said the same thing about Hassan Nasrallah after he got killed. “
Diplomats thought both Israel and Hezbollah supported a call for a temporary cease-fire. Then Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader.
Everything appeared to be heading in the right direction for a breakthrough in Middle East peacemaking, to avert a spiraling war that would embroil the region.
Officials from the United Nations, France and the United States had drafted a statement calling for a three-week cease-fire aimed at preventing a broader conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, and shared it with the two sides to consider.
Amos Hochstein, a White House envoy, told United Nations and Lebanese officials that Israel was ready to endorse the statement, according to four Western diplomats and three Lebanese officials who were involved in or briefed on the talks. The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, also sent word through an intermediary that his powerful militia supported the call for a cease-fire, the officials said.
So on Sept. 25, as world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, President Biden and President Emmanuel Macron of France announced the plan and released the statement, expecting the warring parties to publicly embrace it.
But two days later, before diplomats could draw up a detailed cease-fire proposal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declared at the United Nations that Israel must “defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon.” Soon after, huge bombs fell on Beirut’s southern outskirts, killing Mr. Nasrallah and extinguishing any immediate prospect of a cease-fire. […]
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/world/middleeast/israel-hezbollah-ceasefire-talks.html
@50 ” the Stranger reliably omits whenever said facts “
Get out of here. Whatever Sawant is saying in MI is certainly not important enough to be among the very few facts reported in Slog AM.
If anything Harris’ lurch to the right will have a much much greater impact on not getting youth and progressives off the couch and The Stranger is not even reporting on that. Neither are the Sawant obsessed right wing trolls like yourself.
Fucking adverbs, how do they work?
@57
well
CD when
Two adverbs Love
each other VERY MUCH
sorry!
it’s just
Too fucking
Embarrassing
@56
“If anything
Harris’ lurch to
the right will have
a much much greater
impact on not getting youth
and progressives off the couch
and The Stranger is not even reporting
on that. Neither are the Sawant obsessed
right wing trolls like yourself.” here to obscure
obfuscate and hide the Empire’s many insidious
Deceptions they are. at least the
bloodthirsty reich-wing
propagandists
Surely are.
fucking
Bingo.
@56: “Whatever Sawant is saying in MI is certainly not important enough to be among the very few facts reported in Slog AM.”
Hahahahahahaha … “Whatever she’s saying” is that she wants to defeat Harris, that she knows this will not get Stein elected. Therefore, she’s working to elect Trump. Full Stop. That’s not “important enough” for you? Especially after she did the exact same thing in 2016 (minus the admission Stein could not win, of course).
Horseshoe Theory in action. It never ends. We liberals constantly have to fight both left-wing and right-wing extremists. (At least the righties don’t then whine at us about how progress isn’t fast enough.)
@55: If Hezbollah wants to demonstrate their sincerity in wanting a cease-fire with Israel, then they can obey United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, and withdraw from the south of Lebanon. This will be a precursor to another provision in that Resolution, “…the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so there will be no weapons or authority in country other than that of the Lebanese State.” (https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155221)
That will count for one whole heck of a lot more than paraphrased statements from various unnamed persons — even in the New York Times.
@55: Right, right, Hassan Nasrallah was THIS CLOSE to declaring a ceasefire! He had the ceasefire papers RIGHT THERE in his hand! Oh what a tragedy that his life was cut short before he could implement the ceasefire that he was SO EXCITED to declare! 😂😂😂
“If anything
Harris’ lurch to
the right will have
a much much greater
impact on not getting youth
and progressives off the couch
and The Stranger is not even reporting
on that. Neither are the Sawant obsessed right-
wing trolls like yourself.” see: @59, @60, and @61
for All the
“Proof” of That
you’ll EVER Need.
well-
Played!
@62: That’s all you have? Full-out Horseshoe Theory from Sawant to elect Trump, and a mythical “lurch to the right” (from someone who would always denounce Harris as a right-winger, no matter what) is the strongest sauce you guys could muster in response? Weak.
wormmy
working his
magic words
helping bibi help-
ing elfuckingtrumpfster
helping
helping
helping
let the right-
ward lurch Alone!
he’ll be Against it after
donold steals the next one
proving once Again their infallibility
@64: “wormmy
working his
magic words
helping bibi help-
ing elfuckingtrumpfster
“helping
helping
helping”
That’s “HER magic words,” dear. Misgendering her won’t help you:
“The election has already started. Absentee ballots have been sent. We need to catch up rapidly. We need everyone here to get active. We need to be clear about what our goals are. We are not in a position to win the White House, but we do have a real opportunity to win something historic, we could deny Kamala Harris the state of Michigan. And the polls show that most likely Harris cannot win the election without Michigan.”
https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/10/harris-vs-trump-spoiler-says-the-quiet-part-out-loud.html
@59, 60, 63 & @65:
“If anything
Harris’ lurch to
the right will have
a much much greater
impact on not getting youth
and progressives off the couch
and The Stranger is not even reporting
on that. Neither are the Sawant obsessed right-
wing trolls like yourself.” sorry — What was it you
was jess sayin’?
@67: You may have heard of Kshama Sawant? She’s out helping ol’ trumpfster:
“We are not in a position to win the White House, but we do have a real opportunity to win something historic, we could deny Kamala Harris the state of Michigan.”
As your own deep personal knowledge of history will inform you, putting a reactionary white male with inherited wealth into the White House is to “win something historic.”
Let us know if you have any problem with Sawant’s actions. So far, you’ve said nothing.
@59, 60, 63, 65 & now @67:
“If anything
Harris’ lurch to
the right will have
a much much greater
impact on not getting youth
and progressives off the couch
and The Stranger is not even reporting
on that. Neither are the Sawant obsessed right-
wing trolls like yourself.” right. Sawant. got it, wormmy.
and now you’re
replying to Yourself?
“@67 — blah blah blah blah”
–@Wormtongue on October
12, 2024 at 4:15 AM
& then, what they call
the Money Shot:
“So far, you’ve said nothing.”
why you workin’ for
Far “right” causes,
wormmy?
you
Rich?
@kristo: You haven’t been this much fun since you loudly refused to read the New York Times. (Or maybe, when you persistently avoided acknowledging the student group you were praising had a violently eliminationist position against Israel.)
Enjoy your carefully-maintained ignorance. It suits you very, very well.
@59, 60, 63, 65, 67 & now @69:
“If anything
Harris’ lurch to
the right will have
a much much greater
impact on not getting youth
and progressives off the couch
and The Stranger is not even reporting
on that. Neither are the Sawant obsessed right-
wing trolls like yourself.” stay Blind, Wormtongue.
stay
Blind.
speaking of Projections!
(it doesn’t Get any
Better than THIS!):
“Staying
a mere five
comments and
six hours behind me
must have been a painful effort for you.”
tensorna on October 14, 2024 at 8:12 AM
oh, wormmy©!
you’ve Done
it Again!
fucking
Bravissimo.
Hat’s Doft, gleefully!
Gloatingly! cheerleadingly.