Teachers held the line for special education, pressuring the district to make some concessions. HK

Comments

4

@2: You shouldn't need a foil to provide commentary.

6

@3 -- So to you public safety means occasionally catching a murderer and making sure they rot in prison for the rest of their life. What are you, eight? Is this from reading comic books?

Public safety is complex, and involves a lot of different issues. But it largely means preventing crime in the first place, not punishing the hell out of people after they commit it. If you think that the fear of spending life in prison (or in some states, being executed) is all it takes to prevent crime and make people safe, you don't know shit. There is a reason why we have really high incarceration rates and really high crime rates compared to other, more advanced countries.

8

@6: Maybe we should see what a relatively demographically static and homogeneous kingdom like Norway does with prison alternatives and see if we can tailor it to fit our polarized, systemically violent, nation from coast-to-coast?

10

I wrote that sarcastically, but on second thought...

11

Someone give Hannah some free rent so she can stop vilifying landlords. If you can't afford to live somewhere, that's because (clears throat) NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO LIVE WHEREVER THEY WANT! You have the freedom to go anywhere in the US, not set up residence and bitch because it's expensive.

17

My memory can play tricks on me these days, but trying to recall, I don't think I've ever enjoyed or appreciated anything for which I've had to stand in line any length of time. And if my parents were to drag me to attend a queue of 30 hours for historical significance, all I would have wanted to do would have been to throw a really ugly fit.

Maybe the Queen lying-in-state is rather like some NFL games; they're just so much better on television.

Very glad the rail strike has been averted. Empty shelves are so depressing.

Renter for life, indeed. Maybe not such a bad thing. When something goes awry or breaks in your house, you have to fix it. Like an old car that keeps breaking down, it's always something, But because the mortgage industry and the real estate lobby knows how to give good head in Washington, DC, owning a home builds wealth and provides many, many tax breaks - while renting to occupy a space someone else owns is financially zero-sum, or if you are living on popcorn to pay rent, net loss. Mortgage rates just went north of 6% which is still below the historical average of 8%, but higher than it has been in a long time. So that's going to kill home-owning aspirations even further.

You know, I can't go back farther than the 60s with my knowledge of mortgages. My parents bought a $21K home in 1962 at 8 percent. They bought it to be a home, not a short-term investment to flip, or as a way to shield money from taxes. Back then the average home price was 1.5-2.0 times the average yearly income. Now? You couldn't get an abandoned barn in upstate Minnesota for that.

Times change, of course, and so maybe renting isn't the stupid disadvantage it used to be seen as. But like energy costs, it's beginning to look like we can no longer trust a dependable free market vis-à-vis housing. It's already priced too high, and corporate owners are getting greedier than ever.

19

our Middle Class used to be
65% of America now it's 45%

This is how the Rich are
Socially Engineering
America

and if they can
Keep it Up it'll
go down to
Zero. but
Not for a
While so

What're
you even
Worried about?

Housing as Commodity?
NO Big Deal! Harvesting
the Citizenry? Bring it On!

Profiteering -- it's what
Makes US GREAT.

20

"It should go without saying that this dynamic [Market-Rate Housing] is also bad for people who can afford housing because you’re also being financially squeezed by the same structural failures that make it much harder for others

but
otoh
you get
the thrill of insulting
someone for acknowledging this
problem exists so idk maybe it’s a wash for you."

--@blip

it's all About
the Emotions

and being Better
than THEY Are

and don't Worry
when you're Evicted:

there'll Always be dif-
ferent Classes of Homeless

-plus!-

YOU'll NEVER get Addicted to
any Drugs of Despair cuz you're lots

Better Than That.

@18 -- but why be Pragmatic?

it's sure not very
instantaneously
Satisfying is it?

21

I would wait 29 hours to see the Queen's coffin, but I draw the line at 30.
That's ridiculous!

22

I'd wait 30 Hours
to see trumpf's
ashes dumped
into Anything

but Not for a Queen.
not even a Dead one.

long Live the King!

23

Boy there are some real fascist wackos in the comments today. Nothing in Zahilay’s piece should be the last bit controversial.

24

is it in The Luster
of the Jackboots?
the depth of the
Deep-Throating?

how does one Tell
the Diff 'twixt the
Fascists and the
Nazis? just
Asking for
a friendo.

26

Thank heavens the railroad strike has been averted for hauling essentials (i.e., grain, produce, etc). Now if we could have less noisy, dangerous oil bomb trains and coal cars, and resume Amtrak passenger train service north of Everett, BNSF, please.

People in Great Britain are lining up in droves to get a look at their late Queen Elizabeth II? I know for many it's paying last heartfelt respects to Her Majesty, but it's still sad. Decades ago I attended the funeral of a great uncle who died of a heart attack. Although I was grateful that my older relative was out of his misery I could not handle viewing his dead body, no matter how well dressed and made up in a casket at final rest by the undertaker.

@17 Bauhaus I: Ain't THAT the truth! My parents bought a two-story fixer-upper beach house with a basement, attic, and multi carport for $16,500.00 in 1966, five miles west of La Conner overlooking the northeastern tip of Whidbey Island, Hope and Skagit Islands, and Kiket Island (then a manmade peninsula) with beach and forest land on 84 acres. They worked their asses off and by 1969 it was fully paid for, and became our family home for nearly three decades. My maternal grandmother helped pay the closing costs. If currently on the market it would most likely go for a couple million at least. I wouldn't want to know what the property taxes are like out there now.

Despite ongoing environmental struggles with the Shell Oil Refinery and an outrageous proposal by Seattle City Light to develop Kiket Island, nearby Samish Island, and Backus Hill off I-5 in Burlington into nuclear power plants back in 1969, my family was among many who fought to preserve the area. Thankfully the hideous power plant proposal never materialized. If the project had been green-lighted for construction it would most likely have become another disastrous Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or Fukushima equivalent (Washington Public Power Supply, or WPPSS--as in WHOOPS--indeed!). Successful preservation instead was largely due to overwhelming public outcry, findings from environmental studies, and finally a judge's ruling that the proposed sites were (and still are) unsuitable for such development, and would become irreparably hazardous environmentally. It was a wonderful place to grow up, otherwise, and remains a pristine wildlife haven thanks to the Swinomish Tribe and Washington State Parks Administration. Kiket Island (also known as Kukutali Preserve) is part of Deception Pass State Park and is open to visitors. Discover Passes are required and parking is minimal, but it is a lovely place to reconnect with nature.

28

@21 Morty: Welcome back, Morty! You were missed. I hope you're enjoying a wonderful and well-deserved retirement.

@22 kristofarian: I'd wait in line to see the Orange Turd's putrid remains dropped into a MAGA dumpster, especially if it was being hauled away, kicking and screaming on the way to the rendering plant. At this point in modern history, whoever slays the beast will become a world hero / heroine.
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing environmental activist Greta Thunberg get the last laugh. I can just hear Wagner's Ride of the Valkeries playing. There would be ceremonious rejoicing in the streets worldwide.
Greta would look perfect in braids and a Viking helmet.

29

@22: OMG, kris---I just had a film scene flashback of The Blues Brothers (1980) and can't stop laughing.
Jake and Elwood Blues are being tailed by Nazis in a high speed car chase on an unfinished overpass.
The Blues Brothers manage to flip their squad car backwards and are headed down the off-ramp.
For the Nazis? I can see Mike Pence, at the wheel of the green station wagon, to the Orange Turd as the car flies over the side of the bridge upon crashing through road barriers into the depths below, as Ride of the Valkeries is blaring:
"I have always loved you."
Mike Pence, whose Gropenfuhrer-in-Chief ordered to have its 2nd in Command hung by neofascist whacko insurrectionists in a violent takeover attempt in our nation's capitol.
OH, the irony!

30

And finally, before all the resident trolling incels rear their ugly heads and start senselessly dribbling as usual:
Elmer, District 13, and anyone else MAGAt dumb enough to have voted twice for the Orange Turd and STILL would in 2024: YOU'RE the mental cases, not I. Seek serious help.

31

@30 I appreciate the mention in your latest ramble but I never voted for Trump and never will. just because I oppose coddling criminals, giving the city/state gobs of money to piss away and don’t think people have a right to be an asshole just because they are poor does not make me a MAGA member.


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