Weather: Sorta obsessed with the fall weather right now. I love when outside is room temperature. If you’ve also been enjoying the vibes, today should be another nice one for ya! Expect a cloudy start with temperatures in the low 60s. Those clouds should let in some sunshine around 1 pm, and temperatures will peak at 65 degrees in the late afternoon and early evening. 

Dave Reichert is a bigot: If you watched the gubernatorial debate last night or caught Ashley’s live tweets, then you already got your initial gasps out of the way. Last night, in a debate between Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Bob Ferguson, Reichert referred to trans women as “men using the women’s bathroom” and said he believes marriage is between a man and a woman. Ashley will have a post about the debate soon, but allow me to weigh in. From the bottom of my heart, fuck this fucking bigot. We shouldn’t give him an ounce of charity. I hope Reichert loses miserably, and I hope queer people point and laugh at him. I look forward to counting myself among them. 

Today’s the day: Later today, the Seattle City Council will finally vote to put I-137 on the ballot. I-137, a citizen-run initiative that attracted 26,000 verified signatures, would levy a new tax on businesses for every dollar they pay an employee over $1 million. The revenue would pay for social housing. The council has another idea—something that neither taxes big business nor adequately pays for social housing! It seems as if they have the votes to put their own initiative on the ballot next to I-137. Read about it here, and I’ll have more on Twitter and the blog later today.

Gone too soon: Seattle politicos had a little fun last night when a Twitter user with Council Member Tanya Woo's name, profile, total access to the Louisa Hotel (which Woo's family owns), distaste for graffiti, personal photos, and exact positions on social housing started beefing with constituents online about social housing. No one really followed this user on Twitter—it had been inactive for years before returning a few months ago to level zero-like subtweets at The Stranger and to post Tanya Woo campaign videos. But the resurrection of this user's account did not last long. After it got into an argument with former council candidate Ron Davis, Davis reposted a tweet where the user said she “broke up a fight” with her car. Davis argued the tweet amounted to a confession to assault with a deadly weapon. The account was deleted shortly afterwards. I've texted Woo and council comms for comment and will update if I hear back.  

What MAGA money? US Representative Adam Smith sent an email to supporters that his pro-ceasefire challenger Melissa Chaudhry says mischaracterized her as a MAGA extremist backed by wealthy donors. Smith wrote, “As you know, we have an opponent who will stop at nothing to unseat us. And we’re up against big-money interests and MAGA extremists who are determined to reverse the progress we’ve made in Congress. The most charitable read is that Smith really meant those as two separate thoughts—Chaudhry wants to unseat him and, in other races, rich Republicans are fighting for majority in Congress. But a quick read does make it look like he’s up against a MAGA candidate, so Chaudhry set the record straight. She argued that if anyone’s backed by big money, it's Smith, who has received almost $200,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in 2023-2024. Chaudhry also rebuked the MAGA allegation. She said she canvassed for Senator Bernie Sanders when he ran for President and voted for Hilary Clinton. “I detest every bit of violent, virulent, lying vitriol that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth,” she wrote. 

Uncommitted remains uncommitted: The Uncommitted movement organized a protest vote in the Democratic primary to pressure former nominee Joe Biden to get him to stop being such a simp for Israel. His successor, Kamala Harris, has not impressed the group, either. This morning, the movement announced they will not endorse Harris, but they also won’t support former President Donald Trump or a third-party candidate.

Speaking of Trump: House Republicans failed to pass their six-month spending plan yesterday, which included the controversial, anti-immigrant SAVE Act that the former President is pushing for. If they want to avoid a government shutdown, Republicans have to ditch the anti-immigrant provision, but Trump argues that the Republicans should use a shutdown as leverage to pass the policy. Speaker Mike Johnson did not say much to CNN about the caucus’ next move. 

ICYMI: The owner of Cherry Street Coffee House said he’s closing down the Capitol Hill location permanently. Earlier this summer, his workers walked out, quit, and shut down stores as leverage for him to meet their demands after he publicly advocated for a policy to undermine the minimum wage. 

Live free, ride free: New Yorkers pulled a mass fare evasion stunt amid protests over NYPD shooting up a subway station earlier this week. NYPD was going after someone for fare evasion, the suspect pulled out a knife, and the cops fired 38 times, striking a cop, critically injuring the suspect, grazing one bystander, and shooting another bystander in the head.

Will this ever end? This morning, Hezbollah fired drones at Israel, who is likely responsible for blowing up hundreds of pagers and killing at least 37 people and injuring 3,000 more earlier this week. According to the AP, there’s a sense that greater war is on the way.

Remember this song? Idk why it's in my head this morning. Now I want to put it in yours!