A Wildfire Solution That Could Also Help Our Affordable Housing Crisis

News • Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: King County's Dump Gets an Expansion, People Keep Dying in the Grand Canyon but It's Chill, These Guys Had Sex with 9 Horses

by Nathalie Graham • Wednesday at 6:11 pm

That person is probably next.
That person is probably next. bluejayphoto/Getty Images

Boeing Field was used for deportation flights: King County International Airport, or Boeing Field, has seen 466 deportation flights since 2010. That adds up to roughly 34,400 detained immigrants, according to a report by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights. King County Executive Dow Constantine signed legislation to limit this practice Tuesday, the same day the report came out.

Breaking: Seattle's top municipal court judge, Ed McKenna, asked to step down: But wait. He was asked to step down in a letter co-authored by Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes and Director of the Department of Public Defense Anita Khandelwal. This is crazy for a lot of reasons but especially, according to David Kroman at Crosscut, because Holmes and Khandelwal represent opposing parties. They came together because they believe McKenna is not acting impartially or with integrity. Here's a copy of the letter plus some insightful tweets:



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Hump

The Only Film Festival with Humans Milking Human-Goats Is BACK!

by Jasmyne Keimig • Wednesday at 5:33 pm


Imagine this—you’re sitting in a theater with a bunch of queers and freaky straights. You're watching an amateur porn film festival. A milkmaid comes onto screen, milking actual goats. Your mind, of course, immediately jumps to, “I’m going to watch someone fuck a goat.” But then, in crawls a human-goat, tail buttplug and all, showing up to be milked. The milkmaid starts to finger the human-goat pretty sensually. Slowly the “baas” turn more ecstatic and even morph into “fuck yeah”s before this human-goat comes everywhere, resulting in tons of milk gushing into the bucket.

This is the HUMP! experience.

Of course, every film isn’t like this. There are sensuous neon paint parties, couples eating each other out in the woods, ball lickin’, fistin', dissections of the dynamics of rough sex, queer spin-the-bottle orgies, etc. It's a riot. And if you missed Dan Savage's boisterous festival of amateur porn back in November—no worries! The films are about to be re-screened in all their raunchy glory next weekend at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

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Transportation

Dedicating Seattle's Downtown Tunnel to Link Trains Appears to Have Underutilized It

by Charles Mudede • Wednesday at 5:00 pm

People around the Seattle, join hands. Get on the low-frequency train.
People around the Seattle, join hands. Get on the low-frequency train. Charles Mudede

No one was happier than me to see the removal of buses from the downtown tunnel and its entire dedication to Link trains, but I fear this wish-come-true has transformed the stops on this part of the line into ghost towns. There are just not enough trains in the downtown tunnel. And Sound Transit, to my surprise, never planned an increase in train frequency but was certain that a bus-free tunnel would make its trains more reliable.

Sound Transit in an email to me:

Link reliability will increase with buses no longer sharing stations in the tunnel. Trains will be more evenly spaced, and will adhere more closely to their peak schedule of arriving every six minutes. Frequency will not be increased.

And so they are, but there are not enough trains. This has resulted in considerable dead-spaces, stretches of time when nothing at all happens in this and that underground station. When the buses were in the tunnel, one could use them to just get to up and down downtown. This freedom is gone or, less dramatically, considerably restricted. The buses are now on Third Avenue, which is not in itself at all a bad thing. Not only do the buses have a street, Third Avenue, dedicated to them but they also recently obtained legal tools to keep cars and their insatiable hunger for space and a mobility that can never exist in reality but only car ads out of their way.

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Free Will Astrology: April 24–30

by Rob Brezsny • Wednesday at 4:50 pm

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ARIES (March 21–April 19): In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving typically features a spectacular shopping orgy. On "Black Friday," stores sell their products at steep discounts and consumers spend their money extravagantly. But the creators of the game Cards Against Humanity have consistently satirized the tradition. In 2013, for example, they staged a Black Friday "anti-sale," for which they raised their prices. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to try something similar. Is it possible you're undercharging for your products and services and skills? If so, consider asking for more. Reassess your true worth and seek appropriate rewards.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20): Whether or not you believe in magic, magic believes in you right now. Will you take advantage of the fancy gifts it has to offer? I guess it's possible that you're not interested in seeing deeper into the secret hearts of those you care for. Maybe you'll go "ho-hum" when shown how to recognize a half-hidden opportunity that could bring vitalizing changes. And you may think it's not very practical to romance the fire and the water at the same time. But if you're interested, all that good stuff will be available for you. P.S. To maximize the effects of the magic, believe in it.

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Theater

Erin Markey's Singlet Kicks Off WET's New Series of Cutting-Edge Theater

by Rich Smith • Wednesday at 4:29 pm

Playwright Erin Markey, screaming in a singlet. Like singlets themselves, their new play is funny.
Playwright and performer Erin Markey, screaming in a singlet. Like singlets themselves, their new play is funny. Sasha Arutyunova

Contrary to the playbill copy on The Bushwick Starr's website, there will be no "live sex" in WET's production of Erin Markey's new play, Singlet, which opens this Thursday at 12th Ave Arts.

"But it depends on what you think of as sex," said Markey over the phone last week. "I come from a really queer framework, and nobody ever thought any of the sex I had was sex, so that means anything can be sex—even just eating dinner."

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Savage Love

Hanging Out Pantsless With Your Ex—What Could Go Wrong?

by Dan Savage • Wednesday at 3:45 pm

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I would like your advice on a situation. I’m 35-year-old gay man. Last year, I dated a 22-year-old for six months. We broke up because of communication difficulties. He also violated my trust. We’ve remained friendly since then. I still have lingering feelings for him. I don’t know if I want to date him again, but I’d like to be sexually intimate again if possible. He identifies as poly and is very into casual sex, but is also very awkward and anxious—he often struggles with telling people what he wants. Casual sex seems to be his comfort zone.

When we had dinner last week, I leveled with him. I said, “I still have unresolved feelings for you, though I’m working through them. If you’d like to do something outside of friendship, we can talk about it some time. I’m also very happy with us remaining friends.” His response, “That’s something to think about.” Then he talked about guys he was fucking. And we had casual banter about our history together.

After dinner, We went back to his place to watch some TV. It was humid so he took of his pants. He said, “Well, you’ve seen me naked before,” and then he sat down next to me on the couch. I took of my pants, too.

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Weed

Trump Administration Will Deny Citizenship to Immigrants Working in Legal Cannabis Biz

by Josh Jardine • Wednesday at 3:10 pm

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OPENRANGESTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

Last year, I wrote a piece that looked at the perils of working in the cannabis industry, or using cannabis, for undocumented individuals, and even had in translated into several languages in the hope that it would reach the largest intended audience. Last week, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a statement reminding those applying for US citizenship that they must not consume nor work in the cannabis industry, even if it's in a state with a regulated cannabis program, medical or recreational.

Merry Jane covered this dire warning, sharing excerpts from the press release, which reminds readers, "We issued policy guidance clarifying that naturalization applicants must comply with federal controlled substance laws, including those pertaining to marijuana, to establish good moral character during the naturalization application process." (Certainly something the Trump administration can speak on with the utmost of authority is the establishment of good moral character. Truly they have the bigliest moral character, everyone says so.)

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Music

Gifted Gab Has a New Album For Ya Broke Ass, Baby!

by Jasmyne Keimig • Wednesday at 2:28 pm

Gifted Gabs Cause & Effect is out now, bitches
Gifted Gab's Cause & Effect is out now, bitches Courtesy of Crane City Music
Gifted Gab, "AND 1/Hurricane G" (Crane City Music)

Let's talk about a great local emcee: Gifted Gab. Cause and Effect, which came out on 4/20 (ayyyyyyyyy), is the Central District rapper's latest release. Gab sings a lot on this album and sings well. But I still gravitate towards one of her rap songs: "And 1/Hurricane G" is so fucking good—it's two songs in one. The first half, "And 1" is hectic, with Gab shooting lines over record scratching by Seattle DJ Vega. It has a '90's flavor to it, using words that I had to look up in the dictionary ("I'm from the city that gets busy with the hydroponics/Niggas been blowing major chronic since the Lakers beat the SuperSonics").

The second half of the track, "Hurricane G" slows things down a bit, bringing in a fat, bloated bass line and some smoky, sexy keyboard action. Even Gab's cadence eases up but is just as incisive, pointed, precise. She spits and weaves in and around the music so effortlessly, casually. It's almost like she's just talking to me over her shoulder. I'm sweating just listening to her.

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Economy

New Self-Monitoring Screens at QFC Push Yet Another Job onto Customers: Loss Prevention Officer

by Charles Mudede • Wednesday at 2:23 pm

Me policing me in Broadway QFC...
Me policing me in Broadway QFC... Charles Mudede

The responses to my recent post about the new me-monitoring-me monitors (what I will always call them) installed at the QFC on Pike and Broadway, and also the QFC in the Broadway Market (a once architecturally respectable place), revealed that many who live in the neighborhoods and cities surrounding Seattle are long accustomed to this bizarre form of surveillance. It's now a normal part of the shopping experience at, apparently, Walmart and Fred Meyer. Worst of all, many thought that the me-monitoring-me monitors were not all different from the black en-globed or hidden security cameras. My impression is that this kind of mis-recognition—the me-monitoring-me monitors seen as unexceptional—made it possible to easily assimilate them.

This technology does not, in the minds of many, constitute a rupture in the policing of consumer spaces. Instead, it forms a smooth continuum that begins with the raw eyes of the shop owner and/or a loss prevention officer. There is an infestation of thieves in this bad old world of ours; they were raised by people no better than snakes and raccoons; their crimes take a big bite out of hard-earned profits; therefore, a businessperson is totally justified in adding animal (dog, human) and technological (cameras, screens, detectors) shoplifting checks to their total costs. Sounds reasonable enough. But me-monitoring-me monitors are doing something radically new. They are, in essence (and an essence which can only be revealed by more than a few moments thought), transferring the job of a loss prevention officer to the customer.

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News

Cops Have Killed at Least 16 People in King County in the Last Two Years

by Lester Black • Wednesday at 1:56 pm

Inquest hearings were halted to update rules to strengthen victims’ rights.
Inquest hearings were halted to update rules to strengthen victims’ rights. GETTY IMAGES/WELLPHOTO

A pregnant woman shot seven times in her living room in front of her two children. A 20-year-old holding only an ink pen shot twice in the back outside his family's home. An unarmed 66-year-old man with dementia who died after his neck was broken in his own home.

What do all of these killings have in common? Each is the story of a cop in King County (whether from the Seattle Police Department, Bellevue Police Department, King County Sheriff's Office, etc.) being directly involved in someone's death over the last two years. These incidents would normally have already been investigated at inquest hearings, the public fact-finding tribunals held after a cop kills someone. But the county stopped holding these hearings more than a year ago to update the rules.

Now the hearings are returning. There's plenty to investigate. Law enforcement has shot or otherwise been involved in the deaths of at least 16 people in King County in the last two years.

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Blabbermouth

If Lizzo Tweets Like Trump, Is It an Impeachable Offense?

by The Stranger • Wednesday at 1:15 pm

Episode 195 talks about the Mueller report, impeachment, Elizbaeth Warrens plan to erase student debt, and whether calling Lizzo empowerment-core is a low blow.
Episode 195 talks about the Mueller report, impeachment, Elizbaeth Warren's plan to erase student debt, and whether calling Lizzo "empowerment-core" is a low blow. Emma McIntyre / Getty Images


Dan Savage, Eli Sanders, and Rich Smith discuss the Mueller report and then consider whether Democrats in Congress should impeach Trump right now or, per Nancy Pelosi’s suggestion, go slow and wait for more facts to come out.

After that, Katie Herzog talks about how the US Supreme Court is getting ready to green-light Trump’s plan to put a citizenship question on the census and then, at the urging of a Blabbermouth caller, Katie dives into Elizabeth Warren’s actual policy positions.

Finally, Lizzo: she overtook Beyonce on the pop charts recently but a) Who is Lizzo? and b) Why is Lizzo feuding on Twitter with a critic who calls her music “empowerment-core”?

Jasmyne Keimig and Chase Burns explain Lizzo’s appeal and argue about whether she’s been unfairly maligned. Plus...

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Things To Do

Today's the Day to Submit Your Events for the Summer 2019 Edition of Seattle Art and Performance!

by Stranger Things To Do Staff • Wednesday at 1:07 pm

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Winter is coming, but before that, we'll get summer, along with a new edition of Seattle Art and Performance, the city's most comprehensive seasonal arts guide. The deadline for submitting events you'd like to see included is today, April 24.

The new issue comes out on Wednesday, June 5, and covers visual art shows, readings, theater and dance performances, comedy sets, jazz and classical concerts, operas, and festivals between Monday, June 10, and Sunday, September 15.

All you have to do is fill out our event submission form with the details of your event, and we'll take it from there. We'll need the date (including running days each week and closing dates, if applicable), time, price, URL, a brief description, and the category. You can email calendar@seattleaandp.com instead if you'd prefer, but we'll get it either way—no need to do both.

In the meantime, you can check out our lists of the best things to do in Seattle this spring from our current issue of Seattle Art + Performance, or check out our complete Things To Do calendar.

Education • Labor

Free College Is Great. Free Job Training Is Better.

by Katie Herzog • Wednesday at 12:43 pm

Elizabeth Warren wants to erase your student debt.
Elizabeth Warren wants to erase your student debt. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY

Elizabeth Warren is truly lapping her opponents when it comes to releasing substantive policy proposals. While current media darlings like Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg are busy standing on cars and aw shucks-ing their way to the top of the polls, Sen. Warren is actually telling the voters exactly what she wants to accomplish as President. Her latest policy proposal is perhaps her most ambitious yet, and it would completely overhaul the way we fund higher education in the future.

In a Medium post published Monday, Warren outlined her plan for solving the student debt crisis, and it involves taxing the golden shower right out of the rich. Anyone with a fortune of $50 million or more will be levied an annual 2 percent tax. Those with fortunes of over a billion will pay an extra 1 percent surtax on top of that. This, she says, will impact around 75,000 very rich households in the U.S. and it will generate $2.75 trillion in government revenue over 10 years—revenue that will then be used to fund early childhood education, cancel the student debt of over 42 million Americans, and set aside $50 billion for historically black colleges and universities. But the most ambitious part of this already ambitious as hell plan is that she wants to make all public universities and community colleges free.

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Music • Visual Art • Politics

From Master Musicians of Jajouka to Pizzagate—an Interview with Old Time Relijun's Arrington de Dionyso

by Dave Segal • Wednesday at 12:10 pm

De Dionyso (front): At one time, all music was trance music in that it was used to map different states of awareness and bring people into mythic dimensions. So Im always working hard to find ways to translate that inherently psychedelic experience onto the unsuspecting contemporary listener.
De Dionyso (front): "At one time, all music was 'trance music' in that it was used to map different states of awareness and bring people into mythic dimensions. So I'm always working hard to find ways to translate that inherently psychedelic experience onto the unsuspecting contemporary listener." JASON QUIGLEY
Rare are the bands that makes their best record more than 20 years into their careers, but such is the case with Old Time Relijun, whose new full-length See Now and Know reveals a group hungrier and more adventurous than ever. To be frank, though, Arrington de Dionyso's OTR have always maintained high quality control (see especially 2001's Witchcraft Rebellion and 2007's Catharsis in Crisis), purveying feral rock animated by the more aggressive tendencies of jazz, funk, and post-punk, with de Dionyso's guttural vocals sparring spectacularly with Aaron Hartman's tensile stand-up bass lines and beats (now produced by Germaine Baca) that punch with the rugged grooviness of CAN, Pop Group, and Blurt. Permeating every second of OTR's music is de Dionyso's primal energy—a chaotic kundalini that coils through their songs like a python on amphetamines.

In advance of Old Time Relijun's show at Sunset Tavern Thursday, April 25, I interview de Dionyso, an accomplished visual artist whose work bizarrely entangled him in the Pizzagate conspiracy.

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Weed

Inside the Only Pot Research Farm in Washington State

by Lester Black • Wednesday at 11:26 am

Jessica Tonani, CEO of Verda Bio, inspecting plants in her breeding program.
Jessica Tonani, CEO of Verda Bio, inspecting plants in her breeding program. LESTER BLACK

I knew the minute I opened Verda Bio's door that this was not a typical pot farm. The aroma tipped me off. Most farms smell like someone just opened a 10,000-pound bag of pot. But when I walked into Verda Bio, I smelled nothing. The scent was sterile, like a disinfected doctor's office.

That's because Verda Bio is a unique pot farm. In fact, it's the only one of its kind in a state with more than a thousand licensed pot farms. Verda Bio won the state's first pot research license last November, giving the company special privileges to study cannabis and create new technology. The first goal is to grow new, more predictable strains of pot. And to do this, they are growing a bunch of male pot plants.

The male pot plants are why I didn't detect my favorite herb's smell when I entered this facility.

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