Harris at Washington's Ellipse, the same place Trump spoke before the insurrection. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Comments

1

Hmm. I wonder what happened to everyone? When Rich left, they went with him? Tired of politics? Tired of life? Getting ready for Halloween?

I wonder why the county just can't get rid of Curtice? I mean, druggie, right? Can't they fire him for cause?

2

Before Kristofarian gets in here to assert that Israel would behave differently but for the Netanyahu government, let us ponder this from Al Jezera:

"The first law, which bans UNRWA from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, passed 92-10 following a fiery debate between supporters of the bill and its opponents, primarily members of Arab parliamentary parties.

The second legislation, which declares UNRWA a “terror” group and bans Israeli officials from any contact with the agency, passed 87-9." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/28/israel-parliament-approves-bill-to-ban-unrwa

92-10 and 87-9 seems pretty multipartisan to me.

The opposition in Israel doesn't think Netanyahu has gone fare enough in responding to Iran:

"After Israeli strikes across Iran at the weekend, opposition figures are calling for further action against Iran, saying they did not go far enough." https://www.iranintl.com/en/202410292418

Netanyahu needs to go because he wants to be an authoritarian in Israel, not because it would make a lick of difference in Israel's conduct of the war post 10/7.

3

@1, He is elected, not appointed.

4

Is that Nazi boat photo for real? Don't get me wrong, I'm prepared to believe the worst about Trump's death cult, but there's an uncanny vibe to this image. In particular the light levels seem too uniform throughout.

5

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/16/donald-trump-boat-parade-swastika-flag/75683426007/

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/videos/news/2024/10/29/nazi-boaters-in-trump-boat-parade-in-jupiter-florida/75892437007/

6

@1 - Rich Smith showed how weak and immature he is to gaslighting after he got gaslighted by the Seattle Time's Opinion piece about Sawant where the Stranger got called out for their BS and their support for her. By publicly backing her up like that in a video, he basically said "The Stranger officially is a Sawantista and stand by whatever she will say or do". Also his message in that video basically alluded towards an unofficial endorsement of Jill Stein.

That's not a good look if the media revenue forecast for 2025 is questionable in this weird unstable environment. The chief editor shouldn't be pissing off current and any future media buyers.

7

@5 barth.
What is your relation to today's blogger Vivian? I know you first appear as a commentator shortly after they were hired. I know you constantly show up in the comments section clarifying whatever the daily blogger has usually sloppily strung together. However, boy oh boy are you there whenever Vivian's thoughts and blogs need straightening out. Pretty interesting, especially when you regularly call out other commentators as being previous troll accounts.

8

bummer jay johnston went crackers, but he's a homie of gavin mcinnes so no surprises i guess

9

The wolf killers are most likely cattle ranchers grazing on public lands. Fun fact: grazing rights on millions of acres of public lands, mostly federal, are heavily subsidized. Welfare ranchers pay pennies on the dollar to park their cows on YOUR land, with no obligation to pay for all their negative externalities (e.g., stream degradation and soil erosion). And they are pissed that wolves are screwing up their long-running scam against taxpayers.

10

5: Kamala says "says she strongly disagrees with criticism of people based on who they vote for"

Now that's one authentically progressive Democrat!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/kamala-harris-says-strongly-disagrees-criticism-people-based-vote-rcna178013

11

@7, Lol. I signed up earlier this year and by a cursory search I see Vivian’s byline dating back to early 2023. I comment on the news almost daily and call out the troll menagerie a lot because that’s the majority of what goes on here now. I’m flattered by the attention but you can do better than this.

12

@5 Thanks, Karl.
@6 I'm not sure I understand your first paragraph but I think you meant "provoked," not "gaslighted." (They're not synonyms.)

13

@10 It's smart politics when one is courting former Trump voters who were repulsed by his failed January 6 coup. She's also studied all the mistakes Hillary made in 2016, and she remembers what worked for her and Joe in 2020.

14

Why was Rich Smith fired? Speak up, Brady.

15

@14, Employees at The Stranger are "at will" employees. Unlike public employees, they can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all. "I chose to," is good enough.

It's odd how The Stranger and commenters insist public employees be fired because the public "feels" like it, when an objective reason and due process is required, but commenters demand a reason when one is not required because they are privately employed.

16

A lot of people think “public employees” should be fired if they fuck up at their job so bad that people die but they typically don’t because they have strong unions.

And everyone — well, almost everyone — knows there is always a reason someone is fired so it’s natural curiosity to ask why. No one is let go just because “I chose to”. They are just not required to disclose their reasoning.

17

A progressive case for a Trump win might be that it would activate a ton of democrats and give them permission to care about Gaza.

18

@17: And Trump might just arbitrarily decide to stop arming Israel for no discernible reason, just like he did the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds didn’t even do anything to piss him off. He just woke up one morning and felt like America was spending too much money in the Middle East so the Kurds got cut. The same thing could easily happen to the Israelis.

19

nekrasova @17, I'm worried. Why have you been so off your pro-Trump concern trolling game lately? This is only your second comment in over a month:
https://www.thestranger.com/users/54772714/nekrasova/comments

20

A majority of democrats already care about Gaza but it doesn’t matter because our government is not responsive to the will of the voters unless public opinion happens to align with their interests, particularly when it comes to foreign policy

21

@16, "fuck up at their job so bad that people die."

They followed policy, training, and the job description and somebody died. You can't fire someone for that scenario under the U.S. Constitution.

So should these public employees that caused deaths, and over $32 million in tax payouts be fired?

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/wa-to-pay-25-million-in-evergreen-students-carbon-monoxide-death/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/wa-to-pay-family-of-couple-killed-by-impaired-driver-leaving-ferry/

They weren't disciplined, let alone fired.

Assuming they violated policy in some fashion, and someone died, was it the first time? Was it the first time it resulted in a death, as opposed to other times when it did not? You have to punish the violation, not the consequence, of it under the 14th Amendment. Was the discipline progressive? Was there due process? Has some other public employee, somewhere else, who did, or didn't do, the same thing, disciplined with the punishment being proposed in a current case? (that pesky 14th Amendment again) All things the public sector must consider, even without a public employees union, that the private sector does not have to consider.

22

Idk man some “public employees” have lost their jobs for killing people and some of them are even in prison so you might want to brush up on your constitutional scholarship

23

@20: "Gaza Isn't Driving Votes." That's why the government isn't responding to pro-Palestinian demands from a noisy few.

24

Of course it’s not driving votes because the parties are virtually indistinguishable on the issue. Doesn’t change the fact that a majority of democratic voters wish that wasn’t true.

25

@22, I don't have a problem with it if there is a finding they "fucked up." AKA violated a policy.

But the complaints here are usually when someone died, but the Prosecutor and employer find the public employee acted within the law and within policy, or there was no applicable policy to apply for discipline. AKA the two examples I gave you.

26

What does this have to do with how the public “feels” as you put it. I am saying public opinion isn’t arbitrary and there are many cases where the public has good reason to “feel” like someone should be fired, and sometimes they are. Arguably the public sector has an incentive in honoring how the public “feels” because it corrodes faith in our institutions when public employees can fuck up with impunity, but they have strong unions so they often don’t, and this has fuck-all to do with the constitution.

At-will employees otoh can be fired for any reason including behavior outside of work that might give their employer a bad name, whether or not they even broke the law, and the employer doesn’t have to explain why. Whatever the case it’s normal human curiosity to wonder why someone was let go from a job, which is the thing you claimed to be puzzled by in your first comment.

27

@24: “Gaza Isn’t Driving Votes” refers explicitly to the Democratic primary elections’ results in August. So your claim of what a majority of Democrats care about wasn’t validated by the choices made by actual Democrats, in real Democratic primary elections.

(https://www.thestranger.com/elections-2024/2024/08/07/79637812/seven-takeaways-from-washingtons-2024-august-primary)

28

We didn’t really have primaries this year because we had an incumbent, so you can’t say how the issue would have driven votes. Regardless it remains true that a majority of democratic voters support a ceasefire in Gaza.

29

@28: Well then, you can take that to the Stranger, whose reporting on the Democratic primaries “[w]e didn’t really have” provided the source for my statements.

Meanwhile, if you just keep stating your unsourced opinion over and over and over, it will magically become more important than the actual facts you’re denying. (Trust you on this.) Because that’s the best way to make effective policy.

30

yeah, we can Always
trust ole Wormtongue
whenever it comes to 'policy.'
see: bibi nutnyahoo's Genocide*
& wormmy's Unwavering Support

moving On:

Far ‘right’ “comedian”
calls Puerto Rico ‘floating
Island of Garbage’; Biden (shakily)
calls Magats whateverthefucks, feeds
weird donold’s weird/bizarre ‘message’

and I’m reminded of ‘the SOCIALST!!!!’
whom the ‘democratic’ political party
Sunk in His bid for the Whitehouse
and Think of Things that Couldda
fucking Been and shake my head
in Dismay and in Wonder.

nyt:

‘Disgraceful’: A
Fiery Bernie Sanders
Courts Blue-Collar Voters

The Vermont senator’s
appearances on the trail to
support Vice President Kamala Harris
stand in stark contrast to her optimistic message.

At a rally in Erie, Pa., last weekend, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont laid out a bleak vision to voters.

“Working-class people are angry. And some of them are thinking about Trump,” he said, ticking off a litany of economic statistics. “The current system is broken!”

Mr. Sanders recounted tales of families living paycheck to paycheck, and described elites and the status quo as “disgraceful” and “disgusting.”

He grew louder as he talked about the ravages of addictions to alcohol and opioids, reaching a shout as he got to what he called the worst addiction of all: “It’s greed!”

The crowd roared in agreement.

On the campaign trail on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Sanders is embracing a dark tone in his outreach to frustrated working-class voters, giving voice to a grimly populist message that contrasts with her campaign’s upbeat optimism.

Mr. Sanders has stumped across swing states for months, and the 83-year-old independent [Jew!] said in an interview that with the campaign’s end in sight, he planned to hold rallies through Election Day.

His fiery speeches aim to win over voters leaning toward former President Donald J. Trump by acknowledging working-class anger over the economy. Short of that, he hopes to motivate reliable Democratic voters to turn out.

--by Simon J. Levien
Reporting from Erie, Pa.
Oct. 31, 2024, 5:04 a.m. ET

oodles fucking more
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/us/politics/bernie-sanders-kamala-harris.html

Ranked.
Choice.
Voting.
bitches.

*pls don't forget
your Grammar
Nazi Lecture,
wormmy!

31

in East* vs
West ‘news’

from The Athletic:
Dodgers Win World Series

Dodgers
beat Yankees to
win second World Series
of franchise’s new ‘golden era’

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5886987/2024/10/30/dodgers-win-world-series-yankees/

in Monday night’s
World Series game
I thought I caught a wee
Glimpse of the donold, sitting
alone or with one or two others
watching the ole ball game, Not
Drawing any Attention to himself, most
Uncharacteristically and wondered how the
donold Might spin a New York Victory into vin-
dication for a Failed NYC real estate barron, just
one Election away from the Slammer. & then them
danged Dodgers SWEPT THE YANKS in FOUR Games Straight.

so it's Not looking Good
mister Fake “president.”
Not. Looking. Good.

and
WAY to
GO, Dodgers!

that’s like
just my opinion.

32

@30: Ok, so I’ll ask you, yet again: was the 10/7 attack a “genocide”?

33

@32, oh,
Wormtongue
so poor dear Sad
Tedious excuse for a

@2 -- "Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice, the same guy police accused last month of stealing drugs off corpses and lying about it, refused to implicate the county in a controversial jail death, even after the pathologist reclassified the death from “natural” to “negligent homicide.” Hien Trung Hua, 41, died after a guard hit, shackled, and left him in a dangerous position during a mental health crisis. Yakima County’s elected commissioners, the sheriff, and the Yakima Herald-Republic’s ed board want Curtice to resign. He’s been on leave for weeks and didn’t return the Seattle Times’s request for comment. Idk, should we trust him?"

say
mister
Myopia
aren't You the
very same com-
mentator who used
to [before Banning] claim
the 'mentally-diseased' could
Just STOP 'Acting Crazy'? Yes, you are.

and I read just yesterday
(or twas it the day Before)
in the nyt that if bibi'd just
get has warmongering genocidal
Arserelieved of duty (and Pardoned)
his little Genocidal War on Palestinians
and now on the Lebanese Peoples'd End
Tomorow. are you saying we cannot Trust
whateverthefuck we Read in the New York
fucking Times (can we still Cuss here @tS)?

&
Bye,
Rich!
you surely
did Enrage
the Neolibs
(& Cons) here
at the Stranger.

Well fucking
Done. Happy
Trails & Via con
Diosa, mi Amigo!

34

@33: Yeah, your absolute certainty concerning the proper use of the word “genocide” has completely vanished, each and every time I’ve asked you whether it applies to 10/7. Kinda takes all the wind out of your thunderous insistence on applying it to Gaza, but that’s your problem, not mine.

35

Does anyone else's index finger get tired scrolling past Kristo? When reading the comments becomes more scrolling than reading, I guess it's time to find another diversion. Throw in a few posts from Auntie Griz and it tough to find anything worth reading with all that scrolling past.

36

@34

"Yeah, your absolute certainty concerning the proper use of the word 'genocide' has completely vanished, each and every time I’ve asked you whether it applies to 10/7."

nonsense
wormmy my
Clarity regarding
bibi's (and YOUR) little
fucking Genocide on the
Largest OPEN-AIR PRISON
holding Palestinians fucking
CAPTIVE, Starving them, DESTROYING
THEIR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, Well you Know

the rest. Cheers!

@35

damn -- now I feel Sorry
for your scrolling
index finger

but Thanks for the
Confirmation of
Wormtongue's
insidious Trol-
lings cum
vapidity,
Jeebs.

37

@36: “‘When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less. ' 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things. ' 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.”

(Note: no longer copyrighted. Perhaps I should start calling you “Humpty Dumpty”? Oh, wait — that would be name-calling. Oh well.)

Good luck with your whole ‘master of words’ thing. No doubt it will continue working for the Stranger, Johnstone, and you — every bit as well it has worked over the past year. Smell your accomplishment! (Or something, anyway
)

38

Uh-oh
TRIGGER WARNING
FOR WORMTONGUES

from Caitlin’s Newsletter

"Too Much Evidence" Of Genocide

South Africa’s legal team has submitted hundreds of documents containing what it calls “undeniable evidence” as part of its ongoing genocide case against the state of Israel, with the South African representative to The Hague telling Al Jazeera that “The problem we have is that we have too much evidence.”

The Israeli outlet Haaretz reports that IDF soldiers are actively blocking the return of Palestinians they have driven out of northern Gaza as part of the so-called “General’s Plan” — a land grab of Palestinian territory using ethnic cleansing by violent force.

Haaretz has been far more critical of Israel’s actions than western media outlets have been. It recently published an editorial titled “If It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing, It Probably Is”.

Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken is now publicly advocating international sanctions on the Israeli government for its apartheid abuses and opposition to a Palestinian state, drawing an outraged response from the Netanyahu regime.

Last week there was a two-day rally attended by multiple Israeli government officials called the “Preparing to Resettle Gaza Conference,” which was exactly what it sounds like: high-profile Israelis gathering to discuss the agenda to drive Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and replace their territory with Jewish settlements.

Humanitarian aid in Gaza has reportedly fallen to its lowest level since Israel’s genocidal onslaught began, with just a few hundred truckloads entering the enclave from October 1 to October 22 and nothing getting through to the north.

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs recently warned that “The entire population of North Gaza is at risk of dying,” a warning that was issued shortly before the Israeli Knesset voted to cut off UNRWA aid throughout all the territories it controls.

According to a new report from The Washington Post, the US State Department has been inundated with hundreds of reports of US-supplied weapons being used to needlessly kill and harm civilians in Gaza, but in violation of its own rules it has failed to take any action on a single one of them.

According to one WaPo source, investigations of these reports have tended to stall out at the “verification” stage, which consists of asking the Israeli government for its side of the story.

--by Caitlin Johnstone; Oct 31, 2024

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
and Oodles more:

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/too-much-evidence-of-genocide?

[gosh. looks like it’s gonna take
Longer than we’d thought but
we’ll get Back to you the Mo-
Ment we can determine
what the fuck you’re
even Talking about

it “shouldn’t”
take “too long”
but you’re Never
gonna hear about
it from Us, again. on
That we can Promise]

so Yeah
you can "believe"
Wormtongue if you
Wanna or

"South Africa’s legal team has submitted hundreds of documents containing what it calls 'undeniable evidence' [NOT
According to our Resident Genocide Booster cum Denialist] as part of its ongoing genocide case against the state of Israel, with the South African representative to The Hague telling Al Jazeera that 'The problem we have is that we have too much evidence.'"

damn.
don't let a
little thing like
THAT stop ya, wormmy!

you GO,
grrrrrrl!

TAKE 'EM
ON!!!!

I'll make
Popcorn.

39

@38: I consider Johnstone to be a reliable source of information on just how miserably impotent Johnstone feels, after a year of her screaming, "genocide," to no apparent effect. Any other topic? Not so much. So please, bring us more of her great whining about how useless she is!

40

@39

right.

'since Our
little War* on
Palestinians hasn't
Ended, you may as well
just shut the fuck up.' --@Wormtongue

*it's just
Genocide
on OUR Dime
no Big Deal. right?

& who on Earth
might mind
That?

41

@40: You might recall Johnstone bristling at the very idea she should go out and protest Hamas, because, in her words, Hamas wouldn't listen to her. Now that she has herself finally understood American and Israeli policymakers won't listen to her either, when can we expect her to start protesting the human-shield-using, misogynistic, anti-gay, jihadi theocrat terrorist organization known as Hamas?


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