Tomorrow begins the “Economic Blackout.” The idea is not to use credit or debit cards for 24 hours. The hope is that this disruption will send a strong signal to the masters of the universe. I have two criticisms of this approach. One, many Americans won’t find it that hard to not spend a dime on that day. They are already broke. Two: what doesn’t exist is a single part of our lives that can be separated from capitalism and its corporations. Those who are protesting Tesla dealerships or not drinking Starbucks seem to believe there are better ways to spend our money in a totalized economy. This is a fantasy. Because of exchange value, each commodity is connected to all other commodities. A chocolate chip cookie is no more innocent than a F-16 Fighting Falcon. You can’t slice this system into good and bad portions.
I believe the protests at town halls are far more effective than Boycotts. Indeed, the GOP is running away from them because they work. So, buy your latte, get into your Tesla, drive to a House Republican’s in-person town hall, and speak your mind.
Let’s go www.yahoo.com/news/no-amaz…
— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Spring, it seems, is already reaching out to us. Today’s highs will be around 60°. That’s the warmest it’s been here since the vampire-dark days of November. How depressing. Give us more time, Spring. It’s still February. We are the ones who want the longest winters. Like a star, we shine brightly when the night is very cold and dark. We miss you snow.
If you were in Kitsap County, you might have felt the 3.1 magnitude earthquake that happened at 5:16 am. If you were in King County, you felt nothing. I was awake at that time and was only moved by the melancholy music of Bill Evans, the jazz pianist I play while writing.
Earlier this week, a strange sailor walked onto the Jamie Marie, a commercial fishing vessel in Westport, WA, woke up the crew, and announced that now was the time to take to the sea. Though the crew did not recognize the captain, it was not out of the ordinary for an alternate captain to command the ship, which is valued at $8 million. The unknown captain started the ship and smoothly operated it out of the bay. Then something strange happened as the vessel was “about to cross into the ocean.” The unknown captain declared: “[We are going to meet] the Chinese Mothership.” At that point, the crew knew they had been had. This was not a real Captain, but a madman. The crew regained control of the Jamie Marie and returned to the port. Once on land, Sgt. Mathews of the Westport Police Department arrested the illusion of a captain. He also had “$4,000 in cash and a large amount of individually packaged marijuana in his possession.” We will call this episode of Pacific Northwest noir The Dark Passage.
A person was shot “in the stomach area” on “Wednesday night at the intersection of NE 47th Street and University Way.” There is no information about the suspect, but the victim will, it is expected, live to see another day.
The ceiling of Liberty Cinema, a theater in Wenatchee, collapsed during a screening of Captain America: Brave New World. That film features Harrison Ford as an American president who turns into a MAGA-looking Hulk. No kidding. After being injected with something wickedly powerful, Ford, the president, becomes a red (rather than green) Hulk. This MAGA Hulk then starts smashing the nation’s capital to bits. Only a black Captain America can stop him. Two people were in the Wenatchee cinema house when it became apparent that the strange, rumbling noises were not coming from the movie but reality itself. Neither of them were hurt.
It’s quite amazing to me that more Americans don’t see the deep cuts at USAID, CDC, and HHS as a real security threat. The whole world now knows our defenses are down. A disease could spread like wildfire. The French philosopher Michel Foucault made a big deal about this kind of thing. He saw it as a key component of biopolitics, the science of regulating a large population. The idea is this: A state needs to be concerned about the health of its population for its own good. A sick population will result in a vulnerable state. This understating emerged in 17th century Europe. Somehow 21st-century America has decided to abandon this wisdom.
The legendary actor Gene Hackman is with us no longer. Nor is his wife, Betsy Arakawa, or their dog. All were found dead in their New Mexico home. Police have yet to find evidence of foul play. Hackman, one of the great actors of the New Hollywood moment, exited at 95. His greatest moment on the screen is found at the end of The Conversation.
GOP states looking for ways to weaken the power of state judges. This was bound to happen sooner or later. All of that talk about the 10th Amendment (state rights) was never anything but a convenience. Now that the party controls all of the key federal institutions, the 10th Amendment can be treated like a burnt piece of bacon.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard gave the boot to 100 employees who, in the intelligence community, engaged in sexy-hot exchanges on “a secure government chat normally used to share sensitive information.” Gabbard is apparently looking for others who participated in “obscene, pornographic, and sexually explicit’ chatrooms.” But Gabbard is making a big mistake. She does not run the FBI. Those are the clean boys. Her employees are spies, secret agents, double agents, and the like. Their business is dirty to begin with. The best secrets are often found between the sheets.
With that, lets end with a sexy beat that has a secret agent feel to it: vibessmusic’s “Calling.”
Doesn’t saying “no Amazon, no Walmart, no fast food” just instill in consumers’ minds how essential these things are to their daily lives? “How can I live a single day without them??!!” Sounds like bullshit to me.
Ugh. No sympathy for Gene Hackman and rich celebrities taking the easy way out, even killing the poor dog. And now everyone oohs and ahhs over his iconic “art” and his legacy. He was just a B actor, nothing special.
“He was just a B actor, nothing special.”
–@Dwebee, now branching out
into Film Criticism, having
conquered most
everything
Else.
brava?
@2 Wild to assume it was intentional but saying things without any sort of proof or basic understanding continues to be very on brand for you, so congrats.
‘No foul play’. I suspect a carbon monoxide leak. Shame on @2 for jumping to a conclusion without evidence and kicking the dead for good measure.
@3: I’ll take that back.
@5: A gas leak would have been ascertained immediately.
@7, you think an invisible odorless gas is easier to ascertain than a bullet or blunt force trauma do you
@6 ~ sometimes
thy mouth doth Open
and thy fingers flail Away
beFore thy Brain doth Engage.
perhaps Next Time, pre-
Comment, try taking a
long. long Walk on a
Short fawking Pier
and see if
that may
Helpth?
International child sex predator Andrew Tate is probably chilling at mar a lago right now. I remember when self-confessed sex pest Donald Trump was supposedly heading a top secret global crime fighting ring to rid the world of pedophiles. I wonder how that’s going.
@2 He did a few A movies. Unforgiven and Mississippi Burning come to mind
Purportedly the 100 people fired by Gabbard are your usual type of Democrats:
https://www.city-journal.org/article/national-security-agency-internal-chatroom-transgender-surgeries-polyamory
@8: Not as it happens, but by the police and paramedics.
@12, Oh no, people with fulfilling sex lives chatting about it with their coworkers. The horror.
13, which cause of death do you think is ascertained sooner
@15: Why do you ask?
I’m trying to show you how incredibly ignorant you are in the nicest way possible. So much for that.
You’re dumb, Phoebe. In addition to being a smug, judgmental asshole. Dumb as a box of rocks.
“Distrupting”
Quality. Every day.
@10: Don’t worry, the Qanon-era certainty that groomers and predators are lurking behind every rock will pick up again just in time to see many prominent individuals critical of the Regime accused of unspeakable acts in short order. Curiously, those friendly to the Regime, no matter how credibly accused of crimes, will all be shown to be victims of “lawfare.”
Can Gabbard possibly have read le Carre? Seen Slow Horses? She should hope everyone has a bottle in their desks. If they don’t, they are suspect.
The Economic Boycott is screaming into the void. I’m going to do it anyway: it’s good discipline.
B Movie actor my ass, Phoebe. FFS.
Apparently, Hackman, Arakawa, and the dog had been dead “for some time” and were found by someone coming to do work at the house. Had to be a gas leak, but so far, they’re not seeing evidence of it. No carbon monoxide detectors?
F Gabbard. Who knew she was so uptight?
@17: Yes, I didn’t play your game and you’re obviously not taking it well.
You’re playing it perfectly, Phoebe. Zero notes.
@23: Clever out
@21: Hackman was the type of great actor who could elevate every scene (or even entire movie) he appeared in, even if it was already a great scene. In “Unforgiven,” the sheriff’s irreverent exchange with the writer would likely have come across as trite, corny, or annoying, but with Hackman as the sheriff, it shines. (Having Rubinek as the writer didn’t hurt, either.)
24, What makes you think I’m done
I like how you say awful things for attention then nurse your wounds when someone calls you out for being a pig. I imagine it’s a poor substitute for a hug from somebody who loves you but it probably helps fill the void.
Charles, this was an excellent Slog AM (at points it reminded me of your police beat days) – well done sir.
@25: so great at smiling menace.
I hadn’t realized his last credit was 20 years ago, when he was 75. Tempis fugit.
“So, buy your latte, get into your Tesla, drive to a House Republican’s in-person town hall, and speak your mind.” IDK Charles, that didn’t turn out too good for that doctor in Coeur D’Alene who got assaulted, zip-tied & dragged out of the town hall by plainclothes thugs who refused to identify themselves while the crowd looked on & didn’t do sh*t to help her… Yeah, I admit it, I’m afraid of the physical confrontation these days – my old bones can’t take much more 😞
Geez, have none of you kids ever seen “The French Connection”? He won an Oscar for that.
Or “Young Frankenstein”? “Wait! I was going to make espresso!”
and just to echo the other sentiments, a single day where you don’t spend is meaningless (similar to the single day gas boycotts – the spending still comes, it’s merely deferred).
If you want to scare the powers that be, everyone not make your mortgage / rent / car / etc. payments for a month (granted everyone’s credit score would take a hit).
A cascade of delinquencies would terrify the markets.
It’s not Hackman, it New Mexico:
4th Highest suicide rate in U.S. according to CDC.
Higest Medicaid rate at 40% of population.
Highest Poverty Rate.
Lowest performing public schools in US
Police, judge, or politician under arrest or in scandal per week.
It’s a fucked up petro-state (40% of state revenue from oil and gas) that drags down the people who live there. Even Oscar winning actors.
Its a backdrop for many films because of thr greatest corporate welfare giveaway in the US for the film industry.
Barth—Kristo!!! Like WOW!!! Fuck yeah! Givin it to Dwebee!!! Nice work.
Hey I’ll miss Hackman too. I stopped in his hometown of Danville, IL way back when and had breakfast at the local Dennys off the interstate. It was a huge tribute to Gene, lots of black and whites and autographed stuff. He obviously made it back there often enough to pay respect to his small hometown. Confirmed for me that he must be an alright guy. Which explains a lot for why Dweeebes doesn’t like him.
Love and respect to all the 2/28ers tomorrow. This is just one small part in the resistance, lets keep it rolling…. It can only get bigger like the four part harmonies of Alices Restaurant Massacre!!!
Highly enjoying that music!
@32: How dare you bash my home state, the Land of Enchantment. Shame on you.
32 what do any of those partially true things have to do with carbon monoxide poisoning
@12 Chris Rufo, always projecting. Is he still wandering around Gig Harbor looking up little girls’ skirts?
@32 Yeah, a 95 year old Oscar award winning actor who was worth 80 million dollars and could literally live anywhere in the world he wants totally killed himself because of the low performing public schools in a state he chose to live in. Makes perfect sense.
Wow… some of you are so ridiculously stupid.
@35,
Headline NYT. “No Signs Of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning….”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/gene-hackman-wife-dead-new-mexico.html.
ABC News cites warrants where pills were found by one of the victims.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/actor-gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-home-sheriff/story?id=119242578
The autopsies will tell, but its looking suspicious.
Meanwhile at a local federal agency;
Cleaning staff have been fired because they are probationary employees. But the silver lining is management, under the RTO pressure, actually moved some staff into a large custodial supply closet. Sadly, said staff are kinda grateful. It’s the closest thing to private office.
Just another day under the DODGEY regime.
@34, That is the tragedy of NM. So much unrealized potential.
@37, The malaise of the place knows no class distinction. A corrupt petro-state, with a suicide rate across the socioeconomic divide.
Make America Green Again—bring back the one true Hulk!
“It’s quite amazing to me that more Americans don’t see the deep cuts at USAID … as a real security threat”
Seattle leftists for the CIA. Wot a surprise.
@40: “knows no class distinction”
You say that like it’s a bad thing
Tulsi Gabbard is a horrible person. Truly dreadful. It will be a good day when we can refer to her in the past tense.