in before people who were not victims of the British Empire comment on how rude the tweet was

cIViLiTY!

"but I wonder what the man who's hoarding more money than virtually all of humanity thinks people will have to say when the time comes to write his obit."

No Matt, Bezos doesn't hoard money, he creates wealth. After all, where was all that money was before Bezos started Amazon?

If you smoke weed every day as much of The Stranger staff apparently does, wildfire smoke isn't the issue.

Welp, there's no afterlife and no Hell, so Elizabeth Windsor's pain is over. It didn't seem to last that long, either. I hope 2 days of excruciating works!

@1: Empire victims? Let's at least start with the Ottoman Empire.

Matt it never quite seems to sink in so let's say it again, wealth does not equal income/assets. Wealth only exists on paper and as @2 noted it can disappear tomorrow and it would have zero impact on the monetary supply. If you have a problem with Bezos wealth stop making Amazon stock so valuable and that wealth will go elsewhere.

Uja Anya is entitled to her opinion of the queen but wishing someone an "excruciating death" says a lot more about Anya's character than it does the Queen.

I think you stranger weirdos secretly wish for wildfire smoke each year just so you can get your whine on.

"No Matt, Bezos doesn't hoard money, he creates wealth. After all, where was all that money was before Bezos started Amazon?"

Bookstores?

@8: No, that money wasn't "there" either. It simply didn't exist yet.

Henry Ford didn't hoard money from the buggy manufacturers either.

@5 I'll never forgive its cruelty to dick van dyke

@13: The trivial business details you're lamenting over having nothing to do with the inherent laws of supply and demand.

Amazon created a market that brick and mortar doesn't have. Convenience and access to goods and services without having go leave your home.

so fucking Glad
you're Here
blip.

why's the trumpfster in
D.C.? the Feds're Wondering
if Fake 'prez' may have Buried
a little Incriminating Evidence along
with an Ex-wife who was Pushed -- or
Not -- down a stairway which ended her.

Hell after the former Fucker
even dick Nixon* looks
like a fucking Saint.

*the shitty 'prez'
who Quit rather than
be Impeached. unlike
ole Fuckface who's Still
trying to promote Fascism

or
if you
Prefer
Nazism.

you dont understand though. bezos built amazon all by himself with nothing but grit, determination, and hundreds of thousands of dollars from his parents.

@13/14 this is all true but they do have competition from the likes of Walmart, Target and other retailers. The difference with Amazon is they use revenue from AWS to subsidize their retail business. Kevin Schofield at SCC Insight used to do a great write up on Amazon's earnings. Here is what he wrote back in 2020 when he was still running his blog:

"Its enormous retail (aka “consumer”) business continues to suck, with only a 1.4% operating margin worldwide — worse than Kroger, and much worse than Wal-Mart. The saving grace for Amazon continues to be Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is now generating 77% of the company’s operating income with an operating margin of 30% — on par with Facebook, better than Google, and slowly catching up to Microsoft."

Remember earlier this year Amazon posted a loss on the retail side. If they were forced to unwind the retail business from AWS I think you would see a lot of the value of their stock move to other investments as the true performance of their retail business becomes reflected in their financials.

thanks for that Crucial
Air Quality Report
from WA Dept
of Ecology
Matt!

https://t.co/e9qxc8QFzW

@15: If you want to quibble about the use of "market", fine. The point is that Amazon created revenue where it wasn't before solely because it created a demand for its technological offerings.

Same with other techs. Microsoft created a market/revenue for personal computing, DocuSign created a market/revenue for electronic agreements.

Same with distributed ledger and bitcoin.

Regarding your "concentrating existing wealth into the hands of a much smaller share of people" is a separate argument than correcting the notion that wealth is not created, but only a pie that gets cut up into slices.

@17: Well then, Paris Hilton could have started Amazon for that matter.

Freeways are not always deadly, there are ways to make them safer, and reckless/distracted drivers (and the occasional pedestrian who doesn't belong there) are the ones you should be going after. But why am I saying any of this to a brick wall?

@12 Accent coaches are worth their weight in gold.

@25: I think we better start with the basics. When a consumer buys a book from a brick and mortar store, is the store creating wealth? Or is the store just doing the redistributing, as would be with the text online or in an audiobook? Perhaps the creator of the wealth lies solely with the author if we want to weed out "redistributing upward".

At some point the nuances between created and redistributed sabotage both arguments. There are better ways of evaluating economics and financials than these two words. I suggest purchasing power, liquidity, access and opportunities.

The difference with Amazon is they use revenue from AWS to subsidize their retail business.

I love pointing this out to purists that won't buy from Amazon, but use other online retailers that run all their data through AWS.

War criminal Condoleezza Rice is a co-owner of the Broncos as well. She seems a more legit target of protest than some random Starbucks board member. (Maybe also Google the Walton family).

"Seattle had the worst air quality of any "major city" on the planet this weekend."
That may be strictly true, but at least ours is not self inflicted like, say Beijing.....other than the fact that we choose to live close to woodsy places. (Yes, I know that in general we're all responsible for climate change. I just mean that the Sound isn't surrounded by metal smelters & burning garbage dumps. That couldn't be because of prudent use of tax dollars, could it?)

"Freeways will always be deadly, there is no way to make them safe,...."
Absolutely, positively NOT TRUE. That's as big a lie as Trump saying he really won the election. The only thing required to make ALL roads safer is for people to quit driving HUA. The plate glass window in their stomach is too low to see out the windshield. When he taught me to drive, my old man was fanatical about me not even glancing over at my rider. In fact he even discouraged any unnecessary conversation with the driver....good advice. Driving is NOT a time for rest, relaxation, & day dreaming.

"Trump's in DC today. Nobody's quite sure why,....."
If you have some actual, substantive news about this absolute horror of a human being, THEN publish it. Otherwise PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do NOT rot our minds with useless, fan trash about Trumpenstein. Keep it out of print!!

...Queen Elizabeth’s death by writing “may her pain be excruciating.”"
The point about bad mouthing the dead is well taken. I don't know if Bezos is the one to make it.

@2, actually that's NOT true, esp in Bezos' case. For most of it's history Amazon never turned a profit. What Bezos has done is borrow scads of cash, spend most of it stealing business from other companies, putting those people out of work & destroying THEIR wealth, in a most Rockefeller/Getty-esk sort of Robber Baron way, and enslave people to use them as machines where he can't use robots......just so you can get your toilet paper next day without leaving your desk. Read the info at Booklocker.com about their lawsuits against Amazon when Bezos was destroying the publishing & book writing industry.

@6, "...wishing someone an "excruciating death" says a lot more about Anya's character..."
What YOU said.

@8, "where was all that money was before Bezos started Amazon?" Bookstores?"
Actually, yes. And in the family bank accounts of small to large publishing houses, & writers from one book writers like me to Guys like Steven king. (Just to see, I once bought a copy of my own book on Amazon. The royalty never showed up in my account. IMHO, Bezos & Amazon are nothing but thieves.)

@11, Now you're all catching on. Reparations are nonsense.

@13, you don't know how wrong you are. IMHO, Amazon destroyed small publishers & stole billions. See Booklocker.com mentioned above.

@15, "Amazon did not create a market, it consumed a bunch of smaller markets."
Yes. Amazon gutted the publishing industry the same way Walmart gutted the town square of every small town in America.

Yeah, I was getting a bit nostalgic seeing the orange-pink skies over the weekend, as I remembered he worst fires a couple years ago.
Not that I like smokey skies, but so much has happened since then!

@35: "Yes. Amazon gutted the publishing industry the same way Walmart gutted the town square of every small town in America."

I suppose so. It's hard to imagine the Byzantine network of laws that would have prevented it, or even whether it would have resulted in a better outcome. At some point however, such pouting gives way to opportunities for wealth creation that may not have presented themselves otherwise.

God, these comments are unreadable.

Oh well.

Remember, the thing that helps clear the air locally and hurts Russia the most is quadrupling renewable energy, so think about using your new federal and state tax credits to buy an electric heat pump to replace your gas or oil heater and water heater, and install or purchase (as in City Light) renewable energy. Every bit helps!

"… I wonder what the man who's hoarding more money than virtually all of humanity thinks people will have to say when the time comes to write his obit."
--@Matt

Why
did it
Take so
fucking L O N G
for the man who
Cornered the Market
on Humanity to fuckiing Die

pretty sure
that's what ole
Bozo's thinking.

that'd be a
BINGO
Bopsie.

There are a lot of problems with freeways, but if you compare them to other types of roadway in terms of deaths per VMT, they're pretty much the safest place to drive.

@43 I think it’s admirable you expect the level of discourse in the comments to exceed the drek that passes for content pushed out by TS.

so how might one Know
if the comments are Unreadable?

you need
Darker glasses

Nah. We just expect people to read an outlet they generally enjoy reading. And not just to come and screech about how much they hate it, hate its writers, hate the subject, and hate it's politics —tens times a day every god damned day.

I mean, it's fucking pathological.

@52 says the writer who was kicked off for being too verbally abusive to other commenters (eye roll)

WOW!!!! Holy fucking SHIT! And people wonder why I don't drive my beloved VW up or down I-5 anymore? Even SR 20 between Burlington and Anacortes is getting insane these days. Sharpe's Corner (at the Y on SR 20 spur heading west to Whidbey Island connecting to east-west SR 20) was always a bad spot even before all the traffic lights and roundabout were installed. I have not been driving anywhere since the onset of haze and wildfire smoke. I rode the bus on Sunday to the local community food co-op for essentials, wearing my mask to & from. I'll be grateful when the haze and smoke finally dissipate and air quality improves. I have been keeping windows closed and don't plan on going anywhere until skies clear.
I feel sorry for anyone not living where there is good alternative public transportation or grocery stores within walking distance (i.e.: "unincorporated" a.k.a. out in the county).

The Orange Turd's running loose in D.C. ???? No wonder we're on smog alert!
Why is that piece of shit even free to roam the streets?? Arrest the Pigfucker,
convict it, and sentence it to a firing squad, all-fucking-ready. Enough is enough!
Any further media hype is only fueling the Orange Turd's fire.

@3: I'm surprised you even bother to read The Stranger anymore, Swifty. Are your BVDs still in a wad over Kshama Sawant's recall election results? Poorly thought out bets have consequences, dude. Be careful who you choose for a roommate.

blip and kristofarian for the WIN, especially comments @10, @15, @16 and @45!!! Glad you're both here among the commenters. Bravo and well said! :)

@33 DOUG: I knew Condoleezza Rice was bad news ever since her public gloating over having a $1,000.00 pair of alligator shoes in her $$$$$$$$ wardrobe during Dubya's Reign of Terror. She's the U.S. version of Imelda Marcos.

@35: Agreed about the Orange Turd. I feel your pain, Bugs. Enough bloated Trumpian press already! The only DJT-related news I want to hear and read about is when the Orange Turd gets convicted and sentenced to death by a firing squad or finally drops dead. I don't even want to see its ugly face anymore.

@39: shoobop: Elmer (@2, @5, @9, @14, @20, @21, @29, and @41) wrote the book on stupid.

@43 Will in Seattle: Thank you for sharing good and sound suggestions on renewable energy.

@49 STII: We need Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders in the Senate.
What we REALLY need to do is get rid of Mitch McConnell and his RepubliKKKan sock puppets, Mr. Pro-Coal Obstructionist Joe Manchin and real estate profiteer, Krysten Sinema!

@56 STII: Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema are allies, all right---they're sock puppets of Mitch McConnell and the Party of Orange Turd! Did you not see a clip of a House session regarding the January 6, 2021 attack on D.C., in which Sinema got up, and while passing McConnell, PATTED HIM ON THE BACK, WHILE SMILING AND WINKING?
These three voted against the Orange Turd's impeachment while DEFENDING the insurrectionists of the Capitol riots in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021! What part didn't you understand, Toby? Did you just fall and hit your head on a rock? I can't believe you are lauding these obstructionist tools on a high pedestal when they have STALLED AND UNDERMINED EVERYTHING THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION HAS TRIED TO ENACT IN REPAIRING DECADES' WORTH OF TRUMP-PENCE INDUCED DAMAGE IN FOUR YEARS. Get it now?
None of them has my best interests at heart, as I am certain they don't for anyone non-MAGA in the confused states of Kentucky, Arizona, or West Virginia, either. If Manchin and Sinema are the best Democratic senatorial candidates coal-blinded West Virginia and blood red Arizona can offer---and I really doubt that either one truly is a Democrat other then DINO at best--I say they're really RepubliKKKans posing in Democrats' clothing---then we're all fucked. What you are saying is that NOBODY from Arizona, West Virginia, or Kentucky running for the Senate can be trusted by the People of the United States. All they are doing by serving their own self interests is divide us even as a nation even further, eroding our democracy down to zero.

Like it or not, it's the current track record, and THAT'S the truth.

It's fucking Monday and Griz's back is up.

@56: What next, Toby? Are you going to run to Elmer's defense, too?

@60 STII: I still don't trust Sinema or Manchin. I can't unsee that image of Sinema giving Mitch McConnell a pat on the back and a wink-wink caught on film [in a previous Stranger SLOG article back in 2021]. If they're really Democrats and among our allies, then what was that for? I suspect a GOP payoff of some kind.
All 50 RepubliKKKan Senators voted to acquit the Orange Turd, despite its long list of glaring criminal actions, including committing high treason. Vice President Kamala Harris had to cast the tie-breaking vote. And you're telling me that Sinema and Manchin are the best Democratic Senators--provided that they really are Democrats---out of Arizona and West Virginia that we'll ever get? We're so fucked if our democracy hangs on the balance of two red states!
RepubliKKKans are already threatening retribution on the White House Investigation Committee on the January 6, 2021 coup attempt if they take back the House.
Is it because you were assigned male Caucasian at birth that you don't get or care about what OVER HALF OF THE POPULATION OF THE U.S. HAS TO LOSE BY A HOSTILE GOP MIDTERM ELECTION TAKEOVER?
If I nailed it you are just simply MAGA blindsided.

@41, I've resigned myself to the march of time & the change of things. But I don't have to tell myself that a thief is a hero. The world was built & formed by a lot of thieves & bad guys. I just don't believe in worshiping them like they were Mother Teresa's little helpers.

@42, hard to argue with that. I feel for the truly insane. And I do think that we need to provide mental health services to people who haven't had parents or mentors to teach them how to cope with life. But, yeah, once someone decides to rape or murder someone, or pick up a knife & run at a police with it, they've sort of lost my vote.

@55, @56, That's Mitchio McConnellshus. His wife's family made him change it because they couldn't face the relatives in Beijing about having an American in the family.
I said something you agree with, Auntie?? Beelzebub must be breaking out his winter long johns. (I'm trying to make you laugh. But doing two things right in one day is probably too much to hope for.)

@56, "Do you really think anyone to the left of Joe Manchin stands a chance in hell of winning a state-wide race in West Virginia?"
That's the REAL Inconvenient Truth.

@57, "....they're sock puppets of Mitch McConnell and the Party of Orange Turd!"
I feel you, Auntie. But his point is, Manchin's really just doing a good job of representing his constituents. They WANT him to do what he's doing. Toby's point is simply that no one more 'liberal' than Manchin is likely to get elected in his state. All Fucked is what we might just be.
"...you don't get or care about what OVER HALF OF THE POPULATION OF THE U.S. HAS TO LOSE BY A HOSTILE GOP MIDTERM ELECTION TAKEOVER?"
It's not that we don't get it or don't care. We just don't know what to do about it. What can I do to change the mind of a voter in Manchin's state????????

God bless Joe Manchin, seriously. Saved our republic from the overwhelmingly ill-conceived and inflation fanning Build Back Better bill from passing.

@63, Whoa!!!!!!!!!! "...chapeau feuille d'étain..."
Quelle bon mot!

@64, "...the overwhelmingly ill-conceived and inflation fanning Build Back Better bill...."
Again I write: The Republicans have been screaming INFLATION at the Dems since Clinton & there's been NO INFLATION!!!
Today's inflation has NOTHING to do with Govt Spending. 2 years ago, what's been called inflation WAS NOT INFLATION. We had a mild form of price gouging & just price increases due to supply chain disruptions. Republicans & other idiots like Jamie Dimon & Mohamed El-Erian started screaming INFLATION & sure enough, as inflation is mainly caused by EXPECTATIONS of inflation (people running out to buy before the price goes up), we got real inflation, which we've only had for barely a year or less. Then Dimon & El-Erian made it worse by screaming that the Fed wasn't raising interest rates fast enough. (The Fed learned in the 70s-80s that raising rates too fast can cause worse problems. So they were being ultra cautious because THEY KNEW that we were actually having supply chain problems rather than inflation. My bet is that Dimon, El-Erian & all the other screaming Republican businessmen were screaming for rate increases because they're BOND TRADERS who profit handsomely from interest rate fluctuations, WHICH WE HAVEN'T HAD FOR DECADES BECAUSE THERE'S BEEN NO INFLATION BECAUSE THE FED HAS BEEN DOING IT'S JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

@66: Too much demand chasing too few goods and services creates higher prices and that's what's going on right now.

@67, "...Too much demand chasing too few goods...."
But ONLY this last year and only because of supply chain dislocations & expectations of inflation. Remember, we had NO INFLATION before Covid. In fact the Fed has been desperately trying to artificially push the inflation rate up to 2% for almost 10 years now.....with NO SUCCESS. Clinton was elected in 1993. We had almost 30 years of Democrat spending & Quantative Easing with NO INFLATION.....until the Republicans began calling the price increases caused by supply chain dislocations (a structural issue) inflation (a currency issue)...again, all so bond traders can profit from interest rate fluctuations.
Yesterday I went to Safeway and looked at the meat counter. Beef was $8-14/#. Chicken was $6/# for crissakes. I bought some down market Country Style Ribs, which is a bullshit name for a cheap cut that's great if you cook it right for $4.29/#. If everyone started just buying what they need rather than insisting on Ribeye, inflation soon goes away.

whenever I Insist on Ribeye
they chuckle and hand me
another can of Cat Food

seafood Medley
gotta be my Fave

oh and let's not
Forget Big Oil's
Price Gougings
aiding Inflation

and for that we
Tip 'em fifteen
BILLION $ in
taxes. Quite
the Gig, eh:

burn it Dowm
whilst Profiteering
shouldda bought 500K Shares
instead of all those damn yachts

live and learn

What a lot of billionaire worshiping on this thread. How do the boots taste???

Are you millionaires living by the lake?

I am just a humble, working class, old woman and beat poet who cannot even afford a car. Half the people in this country are poor and yes brother writer I have never received royalties from Amazon for my book either. Its standard in this system to rip off artists and our ideas by big business. Cannot afford a lawyer to straighten it out.

The legal system is set up for the rich and us folks only have one chance or we go to jail.

If you hate the Stranger, the writers and us real lefties then what in hell are you doing on this thread??

Go home and drink your martinis and get off us working class peoples' backs.

Workers have died working for Jeffie’s wealth or sustained injuries in his warehouses and he is ok about that. I think, just maybe, that greed is an addiction. It looks like an insatiable craving that should end like a vampire with a silver sword through the heart.

People like Bezos have/do cause poverty, desperation and ruination and turn communities into sacrifice zones for that all mighty profit. Bezos and his ilk would not be so crazy rich if they had not exploited workers, got all the tax breaks by corrupt politicians and been permitted to ruin the environment.

Helped cause high rents that cause homelessness and a high incarceration rate larger than the rest of the world’s. So to annoy you centrists we/I will continue to speak up about it. While I breathe. While my 80 something body still functions.

So bring on your hate, I relish it, even though I still want you to go home and drink your martinis and get off our backs as well.

"People like Bezos have/do cause poverty, desperation and ruination and turn communities into sacrifice zones for that all mighty profit." --@Ivy

speaking of Sacrifice Zones, like someone pointed out here I think the other day just like when Walmart moved/moves into a million little towns then Adios goes the pharmacy, the shoe store, the fucking Hardware Store and Hospital (no not from Amazon) but the Po-po's stiil there protecting and serving (see: To Serve Man on either the Outer Limits or maybe the Twilight Zone with Rod Serling -- that fucker could Sober one up) so yeah the Commodifaction cum Strip-Mining of America's just getting Warmed Up.

"Bezos and his ilk would not be so crazy rich if they had not exploited workers, got all the tax breaks by corrupt politicians and been permitted to ruin the environment."

gonna be a Billionaire
ya gotta Break a Few eggs
and peeps is just here for MY
profiteerings. but they're Citizens
you Cry. sorry -- MY Wealth Trumps
your humanity [I don't Make The Rules].

life in a re-
publican
Utopia.

"If you hate the Stranger, the writers
and us real lefties then what in hell
are you doing on this thread??"
--@Ivy too

'tiz a Puzzler to be sure
a think a few may work
for Putin though

not too certain
about the
rest of
'em

there's some might say they've
turned this Place into a
wretched Hive of
Scum and
Villainy

but not me.

@70: I'm just a humble, working class, old guy. We're in the same boat.

@70, From the reference, I guess you're talking to me. Please check your reading comprehension. My sole point was that inflation is NOT caused by Democrats spending money on poor people. I'm in favor (extremely in favor) of raising taxes on the rich. (If you've never done the math for Trump's tax cut, a tax cut from 35% to 21% is NOT a 14% tax cut. The math is NOT 35-21=14% The math IS (35-21)/35=40% Trump cut the wealthy's taxes almost in half!!!!!!!!!!) So I feel for you. While I'm fortunate that at 73 I'm doing well & relatively healthy, my income, including Soc Sec is about $25K/yr. And worship of celebrities, athletes, or billionaires is not one of my problems.

"If you hate the Stranger, the writers and us real lefties then what in hell are you doing on this thread??"
I don't know where this idea came from that honest evaluation, constructive criticism, or expressing an opposing opinion is 'hate'. But it's certainly a misconception. If I hated the other people on this thread, I wouldn't spend so much time trying to offer information which I believe could help us all to develop better political & life strategies. It's really funny thinking I hate lefties. There was an incident in my life where someone said to me, "You don't want to vote for him. He's a communist!" And in my mind I answered, "But I thought WE were the communists."

@63 Toby and @66 Bugs: If Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema are working for Mitch McConnell, serving their own self interests, and not the people of the United States who elected them into the Senate they may as well be called Nazis. And you're both white men, clueless about the devastating consequences of the Orange Turd's Extreme Court's overturning of Roe, are you not? Basically because it doesn't effect you, so why should you care?
Spoken liike true cochons males machistes.
Je parle Francais, aussi.

And by the way....

@63: I did not call Manchin and Sinema Nazis, YOU did, Wolfgang Putz. If anyone is howling at the moon, it is you and Bugs. Why don't you both remove your tin foil hats now before you get electrocuted and end up in a wheel chair, babbling senselessly like Elmer.

@63 & @66: Seriously, you two clowns do enough gaslighting to blow up the White House without any help from the Orange Turd's bootlicking Patriot Players, QANON, Proud Boys, or Oath Keepers. Give it a rest.