Weather, baby: Hello and good morning, Seattle. If you’ve been awake for a little while already this morning then you may have seen some showers. Post-10 am, we’re over that. For the rest of the day, you can expect clouds, but leave the umbrella at home—if you swing that way. The temperature should hold steady in the mid-40s throughout the day, too. But don’t take my word for it. Check out the weather forecast right here

Manuel Ellis: KING 5 reports that the jury is expected to start deliberations today in the trial of three Tacoma police officers charged with killing Manuel Ellis. Back in March 2020, Tacoma cops in a car stopped Ellis on his way home. When he started to walk away, the cops got out of the car and knocked Ellis down to his knees. Video footage shows the cops hitting Ellis over and over again. One cop put him in a choke hold while the other tased his chest. Ellis told the cops he couldn’t breathe before they eventually killed him. The cops’ attorneys gave their final arguments yesterday, trying to get their clients out of trouble. KING 5 broke it down here

War on drugs: So far, Seattle cops arrest about one person a day under the recently passed ban against public drug use. Even still, officials said Seattle Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program told the City Council that it will reach its limit for serving new diversion cases by May of next year. Hard to pretend this law is about treatment and not throwing people into jail when the diversion program says we are totally boned in six months. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog has more here.

Impeachment time: Republicans in the House passed a bill to formalize their impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. Until now, House Republicans failed to get the numbers needed to get the inquiry off the ground since, for those of you who don’t know, the Republicans have literally no dirt on Biden, just vibes. Personally, I get it. I’m a hateful, spiteful bitch. And I would love to launch a congressional impeachment inquiry against this one girl who texts my boyfriend to ask if he has eaten, but until she or Biden actually commits an impeachable offense, the Republicans and I will just have to cope and seethe.

The US war machine: Yesterday the Senate passed a big ol' defense bill, authorizing $886 billion in national defense spending, which could literally solve homelessness in King County 80 times, but who's counting? Most notably, the bill will give military peeps a 5.2% raise and it will extend the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

Give it a rest, man: After almost two years of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that he’s gonna keep terrorizing Ukraine until Russia achieves its goals of “de-Nazification, de-militarization and a neutral status” of Ukraine.

Yep, this is totally about Hamas: On Tuesday, Israel started raiding Jenin in the West Bank, the region of Palestine controlled not by Israel's supposed target Hamas, but by the Palestinian Authority. In the last two days, Israel has killed at least 8 Palestinians in a refugee camp and 58 people in the West Bank since October 7. So, no. Israel’s attacks are not just about Hamas' attack. It’s about ethnic cleansing

Bu-bu-bu-budget: Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled his proposal for a $70.9 billion operating budget yesterday. The budget would bump paraeducators’ wages, allocate half a billion to behavioral health services, and pay for 1,350 new housing units for the target of Inslee’s sweeps, the people living on state rights of way. 

Show me the money: Okay, take a really quick guess where the richest and poorest neighborhoods are in King County.

You’ll like this one: Remember how the City Council just narrowly passed a tiny increase on a tax on the biggest of big businesses to fund mental health counselors for Seattle Public Schools? The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce revealed that it tried to get Mayor Bruce Harrell to veto the measure. In a letter published after the Mayor already approved the budget, the supervillains at the Chamber tattled on themselves, referring to funding mental health services for children as “the ugly” in “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of the budget. Council Member Lisa Herbold has explained time and time again that no, this increase will not put the City’s 500 largest businesses in the red. The council’s move increased the tax one-twentieth of a percent for the smallest big businesses—and make no mistake, those are big businesses, not mom-and-pop shops operating on a shoestring budget. Maybe this is old news, but my bitter, bitter self needed to let it out. What’s more important? Children’s mental health or $20 million in profit spread across 500 of the largest businesses in Seattle? I have my answer!

Daily reminder to decline to sign: A conservative billionaire wants to make Washington’s tax structure even more hostile to working families (if you can believe it). Brian Heywood, some rich dude from Redmond, launched six very bad initiatives, which I broke down here. He and his well-paid signature gatherers have collected enough signatures to qualify two measures for the ballot—a measure to repeal the carbon tax and, most recently, a super redundant parental notification law that basically functions as bait for Christians to GOTV for all six. With a few days left until deadline, rumor has it the campaign will track down enough signatures for all six of the nightmare proposals.

WYD: If you’re fiending for festivities and fun this week, my comrades at The Stranger made an excellent list of shit to do every single day this week. Tonight, Charles Mudede recommends you visit the theater previously known as the Cinerama as it comes back from the dead as SIFF Cinema Downtown. IDK if Wonka is THE movie to welcome the cultural gem back, but hey, it kinda goes nicely with the return of the theater’s iconic chocolate popcorn. 

The Hunger Games broke my brain: I saw the new Hunger Games movie and now all I think about is Rachel Zegler. She lives in my walls.