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Comments

1

Props for leading off with the SNL "Celebrity Jeopardy!" reference.

Also, because it's lava and not ice, the word you're looking for is "flows."

2

Somehow we need to provide for the common defense. Our police forces were established on white supremacy and serving property owners over the poor, but that doesn't mean that the entire establishment of the police should be demonized as a rule. I happen to think that we should expand the role of and scope of police to include non-lethal-force personnel and those who can respond to psychological crises with the appropriate tools and training. If we keep defunding police departments without a suitable replacement, then we can only ask for self-policing at best with all the challenges that entails. I know there is a clear and present history of COINTELPRO and police gangish warfare in this country, particularly against the Black Panther party and to suppress minorities, but the other extreme is what happens in countries like Haiti where every day you are at the mercy of gang warlord supremacy.

The police as they are now are an unacceptable institution, but we need to invest in our common defense forces like any other technology in order to scientifically secure the best outcomes in lives lost and crime reduced for all. That doesn't have to involve policing people and arresting them en masse like China and Iran. Maybe we just need to reimagine our entire social services in general, but not in the way they are doing it in San Francisco with armed robot police. I mean who the fuck is programming robots to shoot people?! Horrible fucking idea, absolute disgrace. If we are humans, surely we can do better without giving in to self-fulling prophecies of antagonism and binary thinking that cops bad because cops bad and people good.

News flash: people regularly do unpredictable and crazy shit that endangers their neighbors. It is a feature of the human race and one we have not resolved. All I know is, we're not going to get any better at tackling this issue by taking a laissez faire approach to our common security. Freedom requires an equilibrium with responsibility to yield the greatest common good.

3

"President Xi Jinping, who’s moved increasingly towards seizing lifetime dictatorial power, has instituted policies that have seen people locked in their homes for months at a time"

Just like King Inslee!

4

"Why are cops?"
"Okay, cool!"
"Do they know anyone who can do something about that?"

What exactly are you trying to troll/say Matt?

5

As an addendum, that also doesn't mean giving a bunch of disgraceful bigots a fucking arsenal of military grade weapons and shit either to play god and pay back their bullies! We can't settle for the lowest common denominator by ensuring that only a bunch of fucks take up arms against the people they are supposed to protect through sanctioned resentment.

6

I love the progressive narratives on public safety. In the Friday Slog AM Will reminds us there are no issues with public safety and it's all "pearl clutching" while simultaneously linking to a Times article noting many businesses are hoping for a robust holiday season so they can hang on. Now we get Matt actually admitting there is a problem with asshats ramming cars into businesses but then using it to further throw shade at SPD. It's completely lost on him that TS plays a large part in our current situation due to its anti cop rhetoric that has made the job so toxic while gaslighting readers that the increase in property crime were simply crimes of poverty.

7

grouse grouse grouse

9

"The only American citizen
more important than a car is a gun."

well soulless Corps are peeps too just
Richer & can truly AFFORD all the "Free
Speech" required to Steal America's Hope
& they can kill you just as Dead but slower

"… Council Chair Claudia Balducci . . . wants staff to look into improving the safety of their 1,400 vehicles by installing tech that can better manage driving speed."

let's hope they Monitor
Following Distances too
some peeps just LOVE
sucking on other's
Tailpipes.

'give me Bollards
or give me Death'

impale or high-center
Scofflaws -- they'll be
Highly Amusing on
the Vids.

10

Appreciate that well reasoned commentary @Garb. Lordy, here's more about those killer cop robots:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/24/san-francisco-police-propose-using-robots-capable-of-deadly-force

This is a B-movie science fiction nightmare that should never materialize. Conservatives as well as liberals should deem this as excessive government.

11

fuck me.
robo-cops?

with Deepfakes just
Around the Corner
What-ever could
go Wrong?

13

Every day comments on SLOG turn more and more into the drek that Twitter is becoming and FB already is.

Sigh

14

Also, odd that this (@10) is coming from San Francisco police and not Dallas or Miami.

15

No one should be surprised about robot police. When we can't find people to do a certain job, we design machines to replace them.

16

@15: True, but that doesn't negate our better judgement.

18

@17 this is a 100% more effective solution than whining to I Anonymous. +1

19

If anyone ever calls you identifying themselves as any way connected to LE and asking for money, hang up...or fuck with them, but do not give them money. It's a scam. The vast majority of LE agencies and their employees will not call anyone soliciting money. I'm sure Seattle PD is among that "vast majority."

@14 - Please, Dallas PD is far more, I hate to say "progressive," so instead I'll go with far less reactionary than Seattle PD. That's weird when one considers that Texas is a pink state and Washington is true blue, but that's the way it is nonetheless.

21

Brett_Gumbo dear, you sound like one of my neighbors in Eastern WA. There's actually a "recall Inslee" movement over that that, like most conservative movements, exists to separate stupid people from their government provided money.

Fun Fact: I can't think of a business over there that was closed because of COVID. All were deemed "essential" by "King Inslee's decree." Yet they all bitch about it. Rural folks bitch about everything.

BannedBefore, I think it might be time to go see nurse for your medicine. It's good for you, that medicine. And it tastes just like candy! You like candy.

22

“FIFA has said that rainbows are allowed, but apparently word hasn’t trickled down to the goons at the gates.”

FIFA knew the score (ha!) when it sold the big prize to a hereditary dictatorship with a poor human rights record. FIFA, as always, cared about FIFA’s money and prestige far more than it ever has about any pesky so-called human rights of players or fans. Qatar gave plenty of money, and also provided an environment where the threat of FIFA getting embarrassed by striking workers, or threats thereof, was simply not real:

“The initiative fell far short of the fundamental right of workers to form and join trade unions.” (https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/qatar/report-qatar/)

@6: “Now we get Matt actually admitting there is a problem with asshats ramming cars into businesses but then using it to further throw shade at SPD.”

And we got this mention of brazen thefts against BIPOC-owned businesses in Seattle only after commenter Park Place noted the Stranger had been completely ignoring this crime wave:

“In the last 48 hours, two black owned groceries in Madrona were robbed by perps in stolen vans who backed into the doors and caused 5 figure damages to each. The largely white Stranger Reading literati are likely not suffering such insults and threats to their, safety, livelihoods and lifework!”

(https://www.thestranger.com/news/2022/11/23/78738303/the-starbucks-union-busting-playbook/comments/6)

A cynic might note that the Stranger’s commitment to gay rights begins and ends where threats thereto might affect the Stranger’s writers personally; that the Stranger’s commitment to labor rights begins (if not ends) with causing as much trouble as it can for Seattle corporations the Stranger already happens not to like (Amazon, Starbucks); that any commitment to BIPOC equity is performative drivel — in the last case, the Stranger couldn’t wait to call working-class immigrant protesters in the CID a bunch of Republican NIMBYs. (https://www.thestranger.com/news/2022/09/15/78483102/chinatown-protests-homelessness-megaplex)

23

"I kept the call going for as long as I could, feeding them inactive credit card numbers used for testing financial systems until finally they got frustrated and asked for my address so they could send me a donation form. I gave them a PO box that I monitor, so we’ll see what shows up.": Thank you for your service! Seriously, clowns like that deserve to be endlessly punk'd, but most of the time, I'm too lazy to bother. Also, if they send their stuff to a PO box, that could open them up to a charge of mail fraud.

26

@13: Yes, we yearn for the glory days of SLOG comments, when respect for the choices made by our fellow citizens was paramount here. (RECALL DURKAN!)

27

@12 Oh Hai dumb dumb.

This is one of those antivax comments that gives me the giggles. This is from notorious antivax dipshit Ryan Cole. Who has been wrong about everything.

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2022/05/06/idaho-doctor-who-falsely-links-covid-19-vaccine-to-cancer-has-misdiagnosed-patients/

Like. Do you know there has been an "uptick" in nearly EVERY kind of diagnosis? And EVERYWHERE. Including places that low vaccination rates? If your neurons were not so preoccupied with fighting off the obvious case of advanced syphilis you might figure out why that is.

Okay. I will tell you. Because DIAGNOSIS' were delayed due to the pandemic. A whole bunch of people were not going to the doctor for anything BUT Covid19. Hospitals and Labs were swamped with dealing with Covid19 cases. Every facility in the nation was dealing with Covid19.

And now suddenly after a near three year layoff people are going to the doctor all at once and allayed treatments, testings and diagnosis' are piling up and creating a statistical bubble of so-called "upticks."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/09/27/fact-check-false-claim-cancer-rise-since-vaccine-rollout/8348140002/

The funny thing about this little pernicious antivax lie is that they claim it's due to the spike proteins in the mRNA vaccine. However if this was true then covid19 would be causing cancer at much higher rates wince the virus uses much lager amounts of activated spike proteins. While the vaccine has the body produce it's own version that break down by liver enzymes almost immediately.

https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaccine-safe/fact-check-no-evidence-spike-proteins-from-covid-19-vaccines-are-toxic-idUSL2N2NX1J6

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-deadly-coronavirus-spike-protein/

12.99 billion doses of the vaccine administered — again 12.99 BILLION — and yet no commiserate Armageddon these anti-tax trolls keep claiming was going to happen.

And ironically cancer death rates are DOWN if you look at the 5-10 year numbers.

28

excellent Rant perfessor

29

The human rights of homeless persons are violated everyday here because they are easy targets by the brutal police campaign initiated by a mayor and his wealthy allies etc.

Throwing away their belongings and destroying their tents is standard procedure while viable options are not on the table.

We are not happy with a government regime run by psychos who have the audacity to spend our taxes on these human rights crimes.

Think this language is too strong?? Start counting the deaths caused by these inhumane practices. Seattle authorities except for a few have no shame.

The intense homophobia caused by the utter hate speech of wealthy bigots is another cause of deaths of innocents. Hate speech is hate speech whether the homeless, gay, trans, people of color, women, poor are the targets.

And defunding the police and providing decent social services in its place is the beginning. Responsible people must take up the challenge of violent crimes and crimes that do community harm. This cannot be left alone.

32

Be careful when venturing out, folks--winter's nastiest, Brought to You By Whatever Alaska and Canada Don't Want is here! Stay warm, dry, and safe.

@3, and @18 Brent Gumbo: You'd prefer Brad Little? I think Catalina (see @21) nailed it. You are from Eastern Washington, aren't you? Or even further east, like the Midwest? Are you among motorists used to dry powder on frequently plowed paved surfaces? How often is your car in the shop during icy road conditions around here?

@12 MAGABurnedBefore: So, how long have you been snorting Jim Jones' Kool Aid, listening to KVI, and watching too much FOX TeeVee? Isn't it getting tiresome having to change account names more often than you change your socks?

@13 Will in Seattle: I feel your pain.

@17 Yeshua: "If you legally carry a concealed knife then slash one tire for the Gipper"? Committing random acts of vandalism is your idea of a solution?

@18 Brent Gumbo: Et tu, Brent? I'm glad my car and I aren't anywhere near where you guys live.

@19 Morty: Texas is actually pink? Not blood red? Being a police officer from the Lone Star State you'd know, of course (and to be fair, I've never actually been there). I understand Austin is fairly progressive (open minded?). I would never have guessed that the Dallas PD is more humane (less reactionary?) than the Seattle PD. And as you aptly pointed out, Washington is a blue state.
Maybe there is hope, then, that enough people are fighting Greg Abbott's neofascist wet dream of Texas becoming a totally blood red hellhole for anyone who isn't white supremacist RepubliKKKan male. How many women and girls down there are pining for the good old days of Ann Richards in the Governor's mansion (back in 1991 to 1995), and her daughter, Cecile Richards overseeing Planned Parenthood?

@20 Scottie Soft 'n' Brown: We know you don't know anything. Being a MAGAt has been known to cause cancer. Stop binge watching FOX TeeVee, and rabidly following Twitter.

@27: Roger for the WIN! Over and out, good buddy.

@28 kristofarian: I second that.

@29 Ivy R. Nightscales: I'm for defunding the NRA and reeducating the police, particularly the SPD and SPOG.
Otherwise I hear you.

33

@29: “Start counting the deaths caused by these inhumane practices.”

Let’s do it!

Lisa Vach, although co-signed with a friend for a Tacoma apartment, continued camping in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park, where she was beaten so savagely by her domestic partner that she died from her wounds in their tent.

Said partner, Travis Berge, had lived homeless in Seattle’s Pike-Pine Corridor for five consecutive years, ignoring pleas from his mother to live with her, in her house in Texas. During those five years, meth-happy Berge had compiled a criminal record sufficient to make him one of the Seattle homeless population’s most prolific repeat offenders. After he beat Vach for the last time, he committed his last crime: breaking into the Pump House at Cal Anderson Park as he fled pursuit by officers of the SPD. Overcome by fumes from a vat of bleach, he fell into it and died.

Imagine if he’d been arrested for the felony DV he’d already committed before he’d finally killed Vach? Imagine if their tents had been rousted repeatedly, until their offers of housing looked good by comparison? What if Seattle had not been so progressively tolerant of illegal encampments? Maybe, just maybe, Vach at least might still be alive?

Aaahhh, who cares? She’s just a dead homeless woman, right?

34

I use precisely the same sourced, cited, fact based analysis to my comments on economics and often even my comments on politics. I cannot count the times I have cited for instance crime statistics to counter the pervasive “Seattle Is Dying” propaganda here. And have just as often proven the Slog Trolls wrong on those topics as they have been on the vaccines.

The complaining slog trolls confuse my vocal contempt for their lack of principles and integrity for subjectivity.

Perhaps learn to admit you are wrong. But that is what makes you trolls.

35

@34: The problem with citing ‘crime statistics to counter the pervasive “Seattle Is Dying”’ is that after years of reporting the same population for the same crimes, law-abiding citizens stop bothering to report crimes, thus making your statistics unrepresentative of the actual situation:

“Uwajimaya management states they have seen a significant increase in theft/security incidents in the past six years, with a major impact on business, employees and customers. 10-20 incidents per day, but reporting an average of less than 1 per day to police, and with a meaningful resolution of only four percent of the total reported.

“A major national retailer stated that they experienced on average about 15 security incidents per day, but reported only 30 in all of 2018.

“Most organizations stated that they only reported extraordinary incidents to the police, less than five percent of overall crime.

“The under-reporting of chronic criminal activity can significantly impact neighborhood crime statistics.”

(https://www.speakoutseattle.com/system-failure-2-city-attorneys-office-is-not-protecting-people-and-businesses-from-misdemeanor-criminals/)

36

Nonsense

37

@36: Still wondering why your comments tend to receive such negative responses, are you?

Try multiplying your precious crime statistics by the factors suggested in the examples I cited — you know, 10, 20, maybe even 180 — and then tell us how fit & healthy Seattle looks to you.

38

Look. No I do not wonder why people I have nothing but contempt for don't ike being proven wrong. I forget you exist five seconds after hitting the submit button.You may have time to reflexively hit refresh 24/7 but I have a life.

I have no interest in this festival of compulsive grudges you indulge in here every day. But I have proven you wrong on this topic countless times. And had you an ounce of integrity you could admit it.

I mean the idea that crimes like homicides go unreported somehow is so laughable (invisible bodies!) I don't even know where to start; or that come statisticians don't understand crime fatigue; or that every city in the nation see's pretty much the same spikes; or that many red cities have higher crime rates and more policing; blah blah blah...

... You and I both know you are wrong and this is just who you are now and has nothing to do with reality.

39

@38:

“ I mean the idea that crimes like homicides go unreported somehow is so laughable (invisible bodies!)…”

Which is why I never made it. You seem to have confused my account of Lisa Vach’s death in a Seattle homeless encampment with my comment recounting the chronic and severe under-reporting of misdemeanors in Seattle. The latter completely invalidates the statistics you’ve cited in your furious shadowboxing with the “Seattle is Dying” crowd — a crowd of which I’m not even a member.

“I forget you exist five seconds after hitting the submit button.”

Suuuuure you do. In another one of your recent rants against me, you mentioned unspecified comments I’d made during l’affaire Meinert, which had happened years ago — a bit longer than the five minutes you here foolishly claim.


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