Upthegrove is speaking for the trees: On day one as the new public lands commissioner, Dave Upthegrove made good on one of his campaign promises. He announced he’ll put a pause on logging sales in some old-growth forests. Conservationists are pleased Upthegrove is protecting dwindling and environmentally important mature forests. The logging industry is ruffled. Old trees are necessary for things we rely on, like utility poles and engineered wood, according to the Washington State Standard. Additionally, logging revenue supports school and county government budgets. So, it’s complicated.
The legislature wants to lower the legal alcohol limit: Once again, lawmakers in Olympia have proposed a bill to lower the legal blood alcohol level for drunk driving from 0.08% to 0.05%. Over 100 countries in the world have a 0.05% legal limit or lower. The only other US state with a limit that low is Utah. After the limit was lowered there, the state saw a 20% drop in fatal crashes. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, is a former Washington State Patrol officer who believes “drunk drivers have made our communities unsafe.” Lovick has tried this bill before, and always—thanks partly to large hospitality industry pressure—it’s failed.
Burrrrrito: Winter is so here, Seattle. Now, we simply need a snowstorm or two.
🥶CHILLY WEEKEND AHEAD🥶
Cool, dry air will overtake the region this weekend, dropping temps into the 20s at night.
Daytime highs will continue to be nippy, too—topping out near 40°
— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) January 17, 2025
See?
A colder air mass will settle into western Washington over the weekend, and combined with northerly winds, temperatures will feel very cold! 🧊 Be sure to bundle up and dress in layers. #WAwx pic.twitter.com/mVbwgCVcJK
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) January 16, 2025
Still no arrests in ballot box blazes: Police may have determined the profession of the individual who set three ballot boxes on fire across Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, during the lead-up to the contentious election. The incendiary devices used in the attacks contained thermite. They have no identified suspects, but police still think they’re looking for a welder since the suspect “welded the outer casings of the incendiary devices using scrap metal and then inserted what was likely a ‘coffee-cup-sized portion’ of thermite into each device,” according to KING5.
Bad time for light rail closures: Heads up to any People’s March-goers, the light rail will close Westlake, Symphony, Pioneer Square, International District/Chinatown, and Stadium stations from 10 pm Friday, Jan. 17 until 5 am Monday, Jan. 20. That could interfere with the participants’ ability to easily get to and from the re-branded Women’s March which starts at Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park on Saturday and ends at the Seattle Center. I gotta imagine this march happening right before Donald Trump’s impending presidency of doom kicks off will draw a lot of people. The good news is the light rail will be back in action in time for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day action at Garfield High School on Monday—also known as Inauguration Day. The bad news is the light rail does not go anywhere close to Garfield High School.
RIP David Lynch: The visionary director known for creating the Americana-surrealism infused worlds of “Twin Peaks,” “Mulholland Drive,” and “Lost Highway,” is dead at 78. The film world is mourning Lynch and the loss of an artistic powerhouse who still had stories to tell. I’ll spare you my eulogy so you can read what longtime-Lynch star and collaborator Kyle MacLachlan had to say. Take it away, Coop:
Kyle Maclachlan’s tribute to David Lynch🕊️ pic.twitter.com/b74gynz6Yt
— cinesthetic. (@TheCinesthetic) January 16, 2025
Don’t be too sad: Listen to the Log Lady.
“You know about death; that it’s just a change, not an end.” pic.twitter.com/KKSCjuVaTG
— PoorQuentyn (@PoorQuentyn) January 16, 2025
Israel security cabinet approves cease-fire: The forum of senior ministers gave the cease-fire and hostage release agreement a thumbs up. Now, the 30-minister full Israel cabinet must approve the deal. Hamas said it had no more barriers to approving the deal. If it goes through, the ceasefire could lay the groundwork for the end of the 15-month war. First, though, the cease-fire will mandate a six-week truce, Israel will take its troops out of populated areas, Hamas will release 33 hostages, and Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The clock is ticking for Tik Tok: On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously voted to uphold banning Tik Tok if Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the app. No sales seem imminent, so the Tik Tok ban will take effect on Jan. 19. However, President Joe Biden signaled he wouldn’t enforce the ban that starts on his last full day in office, leaving it up to Trump to decide TikTok’s fate on American phones.
Oh no: A federal Texas judge ruled a lawsuit restricting access to abortion pills can go forward. The attack on mifepristone fizzled last year when the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the anti-abortion activists who sued the Federal Drug Administration over the drug “did not have standing” to do so. Not ready to let turning our country fully into The Handmaid’s Tale slip through their fingers, the attorneys general of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri have since joined the case to give it new life. Despite Biden’s justice department asking for this case’s dismissal, it can now proceed. A renewed attack on the pill under a Trump justice department and a Trump FDA cannot mean anything good.
I hope this is foreshadowing: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship launch did not go swimmingly. An explosion destroyed the craft, but the ship’s booster was recovered. This marks Starship’s seventh failed launch.
BREAKING: Debris seen over the Caribbean after SpaceX’s Starship falls apart during test flight pic.twitter.com/wVgGW2k98Z
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 16, 2025
You deserve space more than Elon Musk: So, look skyward this weekend. You may be able to see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus on Saturday. If you’re really serious about it, make a trip to the coast. Of course, cloud cover could upend any celestial spectating.
Music for your Friday: Pretty jazzy, huh?
The bad news is the light rail does not go anywhere close to Garfield High School.
No, but Garfield has pretty good bus service. The 3 and 4 combine to run every 7.5 minutes from downtown/First Hill. You can also take the 8 (from Uptown or Capitol Hill) but it is less frequent. Same goes for the 48 (down 23rd).
banning Tik Tok
“Civil liberties groups warned that the TikTok ban cannot be squared with the First Amendment, and that the lower court that upheld the ban in December improperly deferred to the government’s speculative arguments about the app’s potential national security risks.
“Although the government invokes ‘national security’ to justify its sweeping ban, that does not alter the applicable First Amendment standards,” argued a civil liberties coalition, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in a brief supporting TikTok and a group of TikTok creators suing to block the law. “In fact, the judiciary has an especially critical role to play in ensuring that the government meets its burden when the government invokes national security.”
The TikTok ban case pits free speech against the specter of foreign threats. And many fear the Supreme Court will tip the balance against the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s millions of American users and creators.”
https://theintercept.com/2025/01/08/tiktok-ban-supreme-court-first-amendment/
averagebob @2, really nice to see you and The Intercept and Donald Trump and the Chinese government are in alignment. Kinda par for the course. Tough for us concerned citizens with day jobs to keep up with you right-wing influencers.
Of course, I’m sure your sincere and genuine concern for free speech ranks right up there with your sincere and genuine concerns for the welfare of the Palestinian people.
our reichwing
in action:
“A renewed attack on the pill
[mifepristone] under a Trump
justice department and a Trump
FDA cannot mean anything good.”
if your goal
is the Subjugation
of one-Half the population
keeping our womenfolk
at Home to clean Men’s
Castles, make More babies
(fun!) Watch them babies and
run all necesssary Errands, not
to mention making the Stockholm
Syndrome ubiquitously omnipresent
then it’s a “good thing.”
perhaps incels may
even have a little
better luck get-
ting Laid there
being so Few
options for
all those
‘Uppity’
Wom-
en.
“[former Washington State Patrol officer Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek] has tried this [dropping the BA legal limit from 0.08 to 0.05] bill before, and always—thanks partly to large hospitality industry pressure—it’s failed.”
the ‘Hospitality’ Industry:
“Have another Drink!”
“Please get drunk
Responsibly!”
and My perennial fave:
“If ya don’t Drink,
Don’t Drive!”
from hospitality
to the Hospital
it’s a very short
trip. Buckle up
road warriors.
The claimed 20% drop in fatal crashes in Utah is the result of comparing 2019 numbers to (inexplicably) 2016’s. Fatal crashes were steadily decreasing for years prior to the new law. And, since the law was implemented, they’ve steadily increased. Utah’s experience indicates lowering the BAC expands the police state without actually improving public safety.
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/60427
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/2023/06/14/utah-set-new-record-dui-deaths/
“Tough
for us concerned
citizens with day jobs to
keep up with you right-wing influencers.”
–@pissonya
when you side with
reichwingnutjobs
like Wormtongue
his🔨🛴 d13r et
al it appears your
problem’s merely
dyslexia~you’ve
conflated the
“right” with
the Left
the Bernie Sanders wing
with Putin Pinochet
Hitler Mussolini
Victor Orban
et al. an ez
mistake.
Don’t worry, TikTok addicts — all signs indicate that Trump has received the necessary bribes to allow the app to continue operating, so you will continue to be able to get your daily dose of the sweet, sweet CCP-approved content you literally can’t get enough of. America’s children will continue to be able access the beloved app, which helps to give them ADHD and then provides helpful videos on how to self-diagnose their ADHD! They will also continue to be able to engage in un-monitored monetized interactions with helpful adult strangers through this revolutionary platform.
Not Chinese children, though. The CCP knows better than to expose their own citizenry to TikTok.
@3: Cressona, averagebob exists here to validate Horseshoe Theory. Hence his big wet sloppy kiss for the voluntary data-collection site run by one of the world’s largest remaining authoritarian regimes.
@6:
“when you side with
reichwingnutjobs
like Wormtongue
his🔨🛴 d13r et al…”
This from the commenter who was just cupping Trump’s balls. Priceless!
Keep on bringing the laffs!
@8
well
wormmy
when you said
Thedonolde had
“More than a Mouthful!”
I was a little
curious.
Eraserhead really put the zap on my 15-year-old brain back in ’78.
Snowstorm? No, thank you.
Let’s play the horseshoe “theory” claptrap
Who’s more closely aligned with the far right on homelessness ….. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on crime …. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on Israel …. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on tiktok …. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on how to deal with China …. tensorna
shall I go on?
tensorna @6: “@3: Cressona, averagebob exists here to validate Horseshoe Theory.”
Ultimately, it’s on The Stranger for allowing its comments forums to be abused and manipulated by coordinated right-wing disinformation campaigns. Granted, it’s not easy to police these things. What we’re seeing now is what things almost inevitably devolve to when you have a barebones anonymous, unverified commenting platform like this.
what tS’s
reichwing
commentariat’re
Hoping to Do it to
be Rid of tS’s left-leaning
commentariat and in fact be
Rid of ALL left-leaning publications.
it’s
not
Hard
to see.
There is no Horseshoe “theory”
It’s just a slur invented by a right wing novel writer to demonize the left.
By all standards the right wing is more closely aligned with the far right than the left ever will be.
@11, The daily snow-job attempted by The Stranger is quite enough.
@13 didja
Quit your Dayjob
just to try n’ sink tS?
your
Boss’s
gonna be
so Pissed, pissonya!
& now you’ve got Me doing it.
@12: Who’s been repeating Trump’s version of how the ceasefire happened?
Who’s been denying Sawant stumped for Trump?
Oh, and by the way — in case you don’t read the Stranger much — one of Seattle’s self-proclaimed abolitionists just filed a police report against her alleged rapist. I fully support her doing that, so yes, she and I are indeed closer to the right wing on crime than Seattle’s left is.
(https://www.thestranger.com/news/2025/01/16/79875811/seeking-justice-in-a-system-she-seeks-to-abolish)
@5 Love it when “progressives” argue against a law to be less tolerant of drunk driving because of “police state.” Holy shit… you guys have lost the plot.
“I’m okay with people driving at a higher BAC without getting in trouble because…. ACAB!!!!”
Let me guess, you think it’s okay to cover your license plate, too, right?
speaking of Far
right wing nutjobs:
from Democracy Now:
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a long-awaited ceasefire deal with Hamas. If finalized, the ceasefire is expected to go into effect on Sunday.
“The main challenge will be the second phase, and here there are many, many problems on the horizon,” says Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who stresses the importance of also freeing the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel.
“Again and again, Israelis always
think that they are the only victims.”
The announcement comes in the final week of U.S. President Joe Biden’s term as Israel prepares for the incoming Trump administration.
“The only reason that Israel did not agree to this text until this week is because it didn’t have to worry about U.S. pressure,” says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani, who explains why the limited agreement will not shift politics in Israel and Palestine.
“I believe Netanyahu will do everything possible, with the collusion of certain Trump officials, to try to scuttle it after the first phase.”
oodles:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/17/israel_ceasefire_gideon_levy_mouin_rabbani
bibi’s
Freedom
DEPENDS
on his ‘liitle
Genocide.” obv.
he’s Gotta scuttle
any permanent Ceasefire.
@18 “Who’s been repeating Trump’s version of how the ceasefire happened?”
Liar. Provide a citation.
“Who’s been denying Sawant stumped for Trump?”
Sawant didn’t “stump for Trump”. She stumped for Stein however misguided it was to do it in a swing state.
Anyhow, I made my point: YOU (and the other right wing trolls here) are my more closely aligned with the far right on all aspect of policy than a left winger will be. You keep invoking the Horseshoe claptrap to demonize your opponents. That’s all you know how to do anyway so no big surprise.
@19 I just think if the state is going to criminalize behavior it should be because doing so will improve public safety. Others believe the state should be able to restrict behaviors whenever they feel like. For example, prohibiting distribution of medications important for women’s health. Sounds like you lean more toward the latter position. That’s your prerogative.
@13 how long ago was it that you commented on anything other than your favorite conspiracy theory about right wing influencers masquerading as left wingers?
I thought for a while that you were some kind of Clinton groupie but I downgraded you to the crank folder
The only real reason TikTok is about to be banned is that it pulled millions of subscribers away from “the platform formerly known as Twitter” and from Facebook. This is ‘Murca, the land where “competition” only exists for those who reach the very tippy-top of the corporate food chain. I mean, it’s not like those other platforms, along with Instagram and scores of other social media sites, aren’t collecting exactly the same data; but they’re OUR data-collection, utilization and dispersal companies, so we gotta protect their market share – calling TikTok a “potential national security threat” is simply the thinly disguised rationalization they’re using to squash the competition.
Re: David Lynch: I had the honor of meeting him a couple of times while he was filming Season 3 of “Twin Peaks” back in the fall of 2015, and he was exactly as described: affable yet intense, with a laser-like focus on what was in front of him, but at the same time this nearly cosmic-level awareness of what was all around. We only chatted for a couple of minutes, but it’s an encounter I’ll cherish; he was one of my artistic heroes and left an indelible mark on just about everyone with whom he interacted. There are a lot of people in the local film community who I’m sure are deeply mourning his passing. He was truly one of us, a Pacific Northwest native who, more than any other “local” filmmaker (with the possible exception of Gus Van Zandt) really understood our peculiarly provincial dichotomy: picture perfect ticky-tacky houses hiding deeply disturbing undercurrents, as dark as our perpetually grey skies and concealing drizzle.
He’ll be missed.
@19: I guess I’m not a progressive. I don’t have the data, obviously, but I doubt there’s a surfeit of traffic deaths caused by shit drivers blowing .05, .06, .07 to justify lowering the BAC limit.
.05 feels arbitrary, and on a slippery slope to .01. it’s the kind of bill that gets introduced by crusaders and is politically difficult to vote against.
Anyone want to go in with me on the purchase of a big, flat, disk-shaped rock? I’m gonna hide under it for a while and could use some good company. Bring your books, we could read to each other to pass some time.
@21: “Provide a citation.”
From two days ago:
https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/01/15/79874140/slog-am-blast-ball-ban-repeal-moves-forward-to-full-council-auburn-cop-kills-man-in-traffic-stop-house-passes-bill-barring-trans-athletes-f/comments/14
(And it’s not the only leftie comment in that thread which praises Trump for the cease-fire, either.)
‘Sawant didn’t “stump for Trump”. She stumped for Stein however misguided it was to do it in a swing state.’
Hahahahaha — Sawant explicitly recognized Stein could not win, and explicitly stated her campaign’s purpose was to defeat Harris. That implies Sawant knew the only possible beneficiary of her campaigning could be Trump. Hence, stumping for Trump.
averagebob @23: “@13 how long ago was it that you commented on anything other than your favorite conspiracy theory about right wing influencers masquerading as left wingers?”
Sure, every anonymous commenter on the Internet is just a concerned citizen sharing their sincere beliefs using the time they’re able to carve out of their jobs and their family and their life. We need to take that at face value as an article of faith in reading these forums, and to do otherwise is out of bounds.
As usual, I invite people to look at averagebob’s comment history–now approaching a thousand comments in eight months–and ask yourself, “What’s going on there?”
https://www.thestranger.com/users/79529046/averagebob
You also have to ask yourself, what is the next bit of radioactive material “average” “bob” is going to present as a self-appointed spokesperson for the progressive movement?
Anyway, as someone who is just a concerned citizen, I’ll have to let this be my last comment on this thread. Probably my first comment on this thread was already one comment too many. What’s that old quote about trying to wrestle with a pig?
@26 I just finished Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point.
It details how outdated institutions combined with modern demographic distribution (cities versus rural) resulted in entrenching the political power of a minority. It’s one of the best books I have read in a while. I highly recommend it although it probably won’t make you feel coming out from under your flat rock.
@13: “The Stranger for allowing its comments forums to be abused and manipulated by coordinated right-wing disinformation campaigns”
Makes you wonder where their command centers are located.
No, we’re all just a bunch of individual neurotics babbling in the comments section. Occam’s Razor applies.
@27 I am not going to play your twisted word games today but instead
Let’s play the horseshoe “theory” claptrap
Who’s more closely aligned with the far right on homelessness ….. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on crime …. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on Israel …. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on tiktok …. tensorna
who’s more closely aligned with the far right on how to deal with China …. tensorna
shall I go on?
@24 (b) — nyt:
In His Dark,
Disturbing Visions, David
Lynch Showed Us Who We Are
The director himself came off as almost performatively normal. Masterpieces like “Eraserhead” and “Mulholland Drive” said otherwise.
oodles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/movies/david-lynch-eraserhead-mulholland-drive.html
a couple readers’ comments:
David Lynch was a dreamer who painted in the colours of the subconscious, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary and the beautiful into the bizarre.
He taught us that art doesn’t need to explain itself, and that the darkest corners of our minds are often where the light of truth shines brightest.
The world will miss his courage
to create without
compromise.
RIP.
–@Andrew Melchior; United Kingdom
@Andrew Melchior absolutely spot on. Art doesn’t need to explain itself. Art speaks for Itself. If we don’t get It, it doesn’t matter. It’s just art.
–@aKing; Columbus OH
more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/movies/david-lynch-eraserhead-mulholland-drive.html#commentsContainer
@29
we’ve been Overcome
by a wealthy right-wing Propaganda
Machine this Planet’s never before encounterd
and we’re mostly
Helpless against it.
THANK YOU for your
dedication in exposing
the RWNJ’s hypocrisy absurdity
& Propaganda that afflicts even these pages.
@28 Who exactly started slinging mud with their batshit obsessions about rightwing influencers masquerading as progressive? Yes it is you so quit your whining
As for number of comments: thumpus has 727 comments in less than 4 month yet I don’t see you being suspicious of him even though he clearly spends his time here regurgitating Israeli propaganda. Do you complain about tensorna who comments at least as much as the most prolific people here? No of course. It’s pretty clear that you object only to left wingers who don’t toe the corporate Democrat party line. Your game is up. Now please, fuck off.
david lynch did more for the mythos of the pacific northwest with twin peaks, then nirvana/grunge or microsoft/amazon/tech will ever achieve within the realm of culture.
@31: You forgot my support of a woman filing a police report against her alleged rapist. My resulting support of the carceral state puts me very much at odds with Seattle’s left on the issue of abolition, now doesn’t it?
“Upthegrove is protecting dwindling and environmentally important mature forests”
No what he is doing is preventing the management of our forest land which will in turn set the stage for a massive wildfire at some point in the future and then he’ll cry about climate change. Forests need to be managed and if people won’t do it then Mother Nature will by literally burning it all down. That’s the life cycle.
@29 not allowing the majority mob to dictate the direction of the country is a feature of our government not a bug. Go back in time and think about how the “majority” would have ruled on issues of civil rights and freedoms. You support it now because you think you are in the majority but that could quickly turn on you,
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/seattle-officer-who-fatally-struck-woman-in-crosswalk-appeals-firing/
Any bets on whether he wins or loses?
Old trees also contribute mucho O2 for human & other lungs!
I will be reading mostly fictions. And Bob…. I rarely ever agree with you. I don’t think we would make it under the rock together.
Kristo I agree with you. We are fucked so far as the right wing buying up all the media outlets. They are well on their way to controlling the news to a point where after the weather on the evening news we will have father “loves the children” giving a bull shit sermon from their book of fairy tales on why the world is on fire before the news moves onto sports.
The problem with the tyranny of the majority is the tyranny, not the majority, and it is mediated by the courts, not empowering the minority. Those checks and balances are a feature of our government, but the problem described in @29 is an electoral bug that republicans have successfully exploited many times over to take power despite representing a smaller percentage of the population.
There is no country on earth where you win an election by losing it as a way of curtailing mob rule. It’s still mob rule, just with a smaller mob.
@37 the cop who punched a handcuffed young woman in the face won his job back (temporarily)
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/arbitrator-reinstates-seattle-police-officer-fired-in-2016-for-punching-intoxicated-handcuffed-woman/
Granted, I am old, but I’ve never seen the appeal of TikTok. I have an account, and all it shows me are dachshund puppies and impossibly beautiful men doing stupid things. I’ve got nothing against dachshund puppies or beautful men, but even that gets old after awhile. It basically seems like a short form youtube.
Oh & fuck off with that
‘You gave us Thedonolde’
YOU gifted us with a Centrist
who Sold Out the Workiing Class
then his Wife
who Sold Out to
Wall Street leaving
so many Abandoned
then
we got
J.Biden
Who pulled
an RBG giving
us the eltrumpfster
AGAIN.
This Shit’s on YOU
Wormtongue.
your distract-
ions Not w/
standiing
@39
cannot Wait
for the Day (Two?)
when we’re REQUIRED
to ‘invite’ ALEXA or SIRI or
wtf into our Homes – our Smart*
Speakers – it’ll be Fun (+ Mandatory)
to wake up with a nice long Prayer and
the Pledge of Allegiance and go to Bed at 9pm
Sharpe with a Prayer and maybe another Pledge.
4:15 am
comes
Awful
Early!
*the new
Cameras’re
sposed to be
State of the Art
I hear we’ll soon
Have Drones!
Homedrones!
speak to them
Respectfully, mind you
and Mind your Manners if
you know what’s Good for you.
@36 Despite your inference climate change like forest management is an important component of forest fires today
It is insightful about your ideology that you describe democratic (majority) rule as “mob” rule. I can tell that you haven’t read the book I mentioned: Tyranny of the minority.
Countermajoritarian institutions (especially the senate and electoral college) result from the compromise reached with slave holding and low population density states at the writing of constitution but many of the notable figures of the time like Hamilton and Madison were opposed to the form of said compromise. Also the filibuster is not in the constitution so no cookie for you there. In any case all countries have updated their constitution and we have the most conservative threshold for updating it and consequently one of the most undemocratic democracy in the world.
You are also wrong: if the majority had decided we currently would have a much more modern and adapted form of government and I wouldn’t have opposed it.
@40 “tyranny of the majority” is mostly an oxymoron as long as it is understood that the majority cannot fix the rules of the game to prevent transfer of power
@45 — “We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons.
If democracy is so stupid
as to give us free tickets
and salaries for this
bear’s work, that
is its affair.
We do not come as friends,
nor even as neutrals.
We come as enemies.
As the wolf bursts into
the flock, so we come.”
–Joseph Goebbels
what has
Thedonolde
Promised to Us?
Day One’s
in 2 1/4
days
@31: “I am not going to play your twisted word games today…”
They’re not my words, ‘bob, they’re hers:
“We need to be clear about what our goals are. We are not in a position to win the White House, but we do have a real opportunity to win something historic, we could deny Kamala Harris the state of Michigan. And the polls show that most likely Harris cannot win the election without Michigan.”
(https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/10/harris-vs-trump-spoiler-says-the-quiet-part-out-loud.html?outputType=amp)
So, if Stein could not win, but the purpose of Stein’s campaign (as Sawant declared it) was to make Harris lose, then which other candidate benefited the most from Sawant’s campaigning?
C’mon, ‘bob, you can fail basic logic! We know you can!
As to the rest of your “gonna win by sheer repetition” claims, you make an excellent point — just not the one you thought you were making. The Stranger has spent years refusing to consider any factual criticism of failed progressive policies, instead smearing all critics as conservatives, right-wingers, tools of business interests, etc. Seattle’s electorate has remained unchanged — liberal Democrats still receive upwards of 70% of the vote — but the Stranger now refers to those liberal voters as right-wingers, etc. So merely stating facts makes one “conservative,” per the Stranger.
Ironically, the Stranger’s relentless left-wing extremism (which they seem to have taken from Sawant’s example), coupled with Horseshoe Theory, has now created the very examples you demanded, then ignored: supportive commenters here singing Trump’s praises.
@47
yeah and you can
just fuck off with that
‘You gave us Thedonolde!’
YOU gifted us with a Centrist
who Sold Out the Workiing Class
then his Wife
who Sold Out to
Wall Street leaving
so many Abandoned
then
we got
J.Biden
Who pulled
an RBG giving
us the eltrumpfster
AGAIN.
This Shit’s on YOU
Wormtongue:
your Distractions
and Blame Games
Not with-Standiing.
@47 No, no. As seen by your failure to cogently rebut any of the points raised in the Horseshoe “theory” claptrap game, you and other right wingers are much closer to the far right than a left winger. None of your diversions and other twisted plausible denial garbage will change anything to the point made that the so-called horseshoe “theory” simply doesn’t exist, except as a slur to demonize the left, which again puts into perspective the level of your commentary (garbage)
Horseshoe Theory is how imagined liberals who think Democrats should adopt Republican-lite policies resolve their cognitive dissonance. To paraphrase a famous quote: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his [self image] depends on his not understanding it.”
@22 Reducing drinking and driving doesn’t improve the public safety? Sure, buddy. How very libertarian of you. Can’t have The Man spoiling your good time, can we?
There is no evidence that lowering the legal limit improves public safety, but more people will be doing time, paying fines, and having a permanent criminal record for activities that were once legal and still are in other states
Horseshoe Theory isn’t so much a proper theory as an ad hoc, informal observation that morons of any political stripe tend to rush headlong to the extremes, like the way both co-op shopping crunchy granola hippies and compound-dwelling Seven Mountains dominionists are now vaccine “skeptics.”
Monday
being Day One
I do Hope we’re Prepared
for the Onslaught that is MAGAVile
here’s a Taste:
[RF]Kennedy[jr]
Sought to Stop Covid
Vaccinations 6 Months After Rollout
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned the F.D.A. to revoke authorization of the shots at a time when they were in high demand and considered life-saving.
ooodles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/health/rfk-jr-covid-vaccines.html
the
Abyss
beckons
see
You
on the
Other Side?
@51 if that’s your logic why stop at .05? The limit should be .00, or actually sale and consumption of alcohol should be outlawed to prevent any possibility of anyone driving drunk. Maybe cars too.
A five year old can understand “drunk driving bad” but ideally the people making laws put a little more nuanced thought into it.
perhaps they might take a gander
at MUX’s “self-driving” auto-
piloted mobile Infernos
put ’em up, head-to-
head against the
Inebriated see
who comes
out on Top.
@49: ‘As seen by your failure to cogently rebut any of the points raised in the Horseshoe “theory” claptrap game,’
Hold onto your tinfoil hat, but repeating something over and over and over doesn’t actually prove it. The Stranger uses a simple logic: as citing facts shows progressive policies have all failed, anyone who cites facts is therefore a right-winger. For example, the Stranger never admits that homeless persons are dying of overdoses on Seattle’s streets; therefore, anyone who notices dead homeless overdose cases must be a right-winger. That’s the logic behind your list.
As for Horseshoe Theory, well, both Sawant and Republicans worked to defeat Harris, and just a few days ago, progressives at this very site repeated Trump’s self-praise over the ceasefire, while also despising the Biden Administration’s efforts. Theory validated, thank you very much.
Averagebob seems just kind of, well, average progressive. Is that why he triggers the closet right wingers here?
Maybe his facts and reasoning are too intelllectual and fact based for those who need to resort immediately to slandering anyone they are paid to disagree with?
@43: Well, if you don’t like getting the blame for Trump, you might want to stop repeating his loud self-praises. (There’s nothing you can do about your constant repetitions of “Genocide Joe” than to pretend they don’t exist, and then scream your hateful abuse at anyone who dares notice they do.)
As for your loud claims to care about the working class, well, Sawant talked a big game about that too. Then she stumped for Trump — which you still won’t criticize.
So maybe you’re the one who needs to “fuck off” for awhile, while we liberals fix the messes you’ve done everything you possibly could to exacerbate?
@59
is Wormtongue
Paid by AIPAC? his
Dedication to bibi’s
Genocide surely make
it seem so. specially his
little hammering sockbott.
Good call.
like averagebob says
No One here is more pro-
reich wing than ‘our’ Wormtongue
@57 You are correct that repeating something over and over, like you do all the time, doesn’t prove anything. What shows that a statement has some viability is the (your) failure to provide a cogent rebuttal showing that said statement is wrong. Distracting the gallery by taking tangents, twisting the meaning of words like you do about Sawant unfortunately stumping for Stein in swing states, arguing that Trump, ever the opportunist that he is, said something (and weeks later saying the opposite), etc .. do not constitute sufficient arguments negating the fact that you essentially spout opinions on most topics that would warm the heart of many far right wingers when compared to opinions put forth by progressives.
@59 Objectively, according to the available data, enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza was a significant factor in Harris’ loss despite your repeating dozens of time for a whole year that “Gaza doesn’t drive votes” even though you were provided with tons of evidence suggesting the opposite. Objectively, according to the data, refusing to acknowledge that over 1/2 of Americans do not strive in this economy was a significant factor in Harris’ loss. Progressives repeatedly told conservatives like you that not addressing economic inequalities unseen in a century and promoting genocide would depress the vote AND you refused to listen. Like in 2016, conservatives like you who claim to oppose Trump but hate progressive ideas OWN that loss fair and square and no pointing the finger at others on your part is going to change that,
No one
was a Bigger
Cheerleader for
for nutnyahoo’s ‘little’
Genocide than You Wormtongue
well your sockbottt
and ‘our’ $upport
For that ‘little’ War
on Palestinians was
the most Undemocratic
of all of jbiden’s many foibles
he also gave us
Clarence “Uncle”
Thomas tho I’m sure
you’ve got one of your
patented wormmessages
Justifying that one as well
Corporate
Dems like You
gave us Hillary Joe
and the elrumpfster.
“thanks,”
wormmy.
@62 Dude, take the “L”… Sawant betrayed your “cause”…. it’s okay to admit you were duped. Sawant is a charlatan, just like Trump.
@62: “…essentially spout opinions on most topics that would warm the heart of many far right wingers when compared to opinions put forth by progressives.”
What you’re missing here is that I’m not disputing your point. I am in fact fully agreeing with you, as I explicitly stated @18: “…one of Seattle’s self-proclaimed abolitionists just filed a police report against her alleged rapist. I fully support her doing that, so yes, she and I are indeed closer to the right wing on crime than Seattle’s left is.” Please feel free to excoriate me for my complete rejection of the progressive, abolitionist position, and instead having a position which is far, far closer to a “lock’em up” right-wing position. Have at it!
‘…significant factor in Harris’ loss despite your repeating dozens of time for a whole year that “Gaza doesn’t drive votes”…’
If the 2020 electorate had voted in 2024, Harris would have won. Gaza didn’t drive votes against her, your long hateful smear campaign of her being “pro-genocide” caused persons who had voted in 2020 not to vote in 2024. That is how negative campaigning works: not by driving votes to an opponent, but rather by driving away votes generally, by driving down turnout. Both “Gaza Isn’t Driving Votes” (you got the quote wrong, of course) and Harris losing because of your long, hateful smear campaign against her are both true.
Congratulations again on helping elect Trump. Sawant appreciates your help. Horesehoes all around!
Uh oh, looks like Hannah and Ashley (and Rich) are in a bit of hot water. High ethical standards, indeed.
If the allegations prove true, many will not be surprised the least little bit.
@65 Total nonsense. Your continual campaigning with the far right on many issues in these very pages is prima facie evidence your horseshoe “theory” claptrap is garbage yet you keep making that same argument. Biden and Harris had plenty of opportunity to correct course about Gaza like the overwhelming number of Democrats and independents told them to do but somehow their failure to listen is the fault of the people who turned out to be right: “Screw your base, then claim it their fault for not falling in line after you lost”
Per usual, your mind is immune to the most elementary logic. You are a total loss
@62 “over 1/2 of Americans do not strive in this economy”
correction: over 1/2 of Americans do not thrive in this economy
Looks like Hamas is trying to last minute sabotage the cease fire again.
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-hamas-ceasefire-war-palestine-01-18-25/index.html
@67: You’re very accurately describing how the liberal position is closer to the right-wing position (e.g. women should file police reports against men who allegedly rape them) than to the progressive position (e.g. abolition). That’s not in any way a refutation of Horseshoe Theory. It just so happens progressives have gone so far crazy left (e.g abolition), progressives are now farther from liberals, than liberals are from right-wingers. Neither liberals nor right-wingers need have moved for that to become true.
Horseshoe Theory has been validated here many times: Sawant stumping for Trump, hard-left progressives vilifying Harris and trying (successfully) to make her lose, commenters here uncritically repeating Trump’s self-praise. Progressives driving ever further from liberals won’t change that; rather, it will tend to make Horseshoe Theory ever more pronounced. (And, when you get to the far right position on rape, you’ll find some of those persons agreeing, in part, with the progressive abolitionist position: women should not file police reports for rape. Another triumph of Horseshoe Theory.)
yeah
wormmy
blame Progressives
for the “d”nc’s far-right Drift
the Partry of FDR* & LBJ reduced to
sucking Bankster dick & pronoun prediciments
*ELECTED PRESIDENT
F O U R FUCKING TIMES
I bet you Hated that
too
say that Reminds me:
here’s one that’s
Certain to warm
your icy cockles
Wormmy:
LAPD Arrests
Everyone Who
Lost Home In Fire
oodles:
https://theonion.com/lapd-arrests-everyone-who-lost-home-in-fire/
no Schweeping!
right up Your
Alleyway
@69 Nonsensical drivel no matter how many times you repeat it
Theodon’s
gonna have you
Ex-communicated
wormmy . . sad
oh & jrr tole me to
tell You hell-
oh. so hi
jrr even Said he
“Liked your
Style”
from theduckduck:
“How Italy’s Post-Fascists Fell in Love With J. R. R. Tolkien – Jacobin
Feb 25, 2024. All winter, in a room of Rome’s National Gallery of Art, a flatscreen TV was playing the Lord of the Rings movies on repeat. Nearby was a Lord of the Rings pinball machine, and an LP called ‘J. R. R. Tolkien reads and sings his Lord of’ ”
oodles, fascistically:
https://jacobin.com › 2024 › 02 › giorgia-meloni-tolkien-fascism-fantasy
Day One
Soon Come
(1.5 days)
(On MLK DAY no
Less! Coincidence? Ha!)
[look for mlk day to go Away in ’26]
nyt:
A List of Those
Who Could Be in
Line for Trump’s ‘Retribution’
President-elect
Donald J. Trump believes
he has been wronged by current and
former officials, members of the media and more.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/us/politics/trump-retribution-list.html
perfect.
let the Witch Hunts
begin ~ ‘specially with kavanaughtius
maximus awaiting in the wings with a little
Retribution of his Own. Thedonolde’ll likely make him
Chief
Justice
Expanding
the court probably
seems like a Good Idea
Now, to the eltrumpfster always
Looking out for an angle or an Edge
why not make it an
even Sixteen with
djt the Deciding
Vote as is his
Wont. de-
Mand.
make it
Too Big
To Add
To. bril-
iant.
@68
“again”?
it’s been
bibi’s Way
or the fucking
Highway, so far.
his love for Goalposts repostioning
Qualifies nutnyahoo for the
Special Olympics — the
Ball stays in One place
and they just move
the fucking
goalposts
it’s kept him
Well Outta
Prison so
fucking
far
whew!
that’s a Stemwinder!
it’s like one of Yours nihil
only with Space
@74 oh.
I thought
a stem-winder
had to do with Time &
or ink spilled. ok. nevermind.
@69 “liberals”
You are no liberal. A liberal would never agree to internet censorship (Tiktok). The liberal consensus ultimately derived from the progressive era and FDR’s New Deal; it involves both progressive taxation and the welfare state. Everything points to your disagreeing with it. A liberal also definitely believes that all men are created equal, which you don’t (Palestinians).
@76: “A liberal would never agree to internet censorship…”
TikTok is a creation of the Chinese Communist Party. It collects user data. There is no need to allow a foreign power to spy on American citizens. American internet users have plenty of platforms upon which they can express themselves — platforms which do not collect user data for a totalitarian one-party state.
Luckily, you now have a chance, right here, to take your own brave and vocal stand against internet censorship. You can tell this person to stop demanding censorship of dissenting voices, right here at Slog:
“…but your Sickness is Too much
even for the Stranger’s left coast pages
“hey
mods
can you re-
move the insidious
Pestilence, si vous plait?”
(https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/01/16/79875643/slog-am-gov-ferguson-takes-office-ceasefire-in-gaza-even-more-senate-confirmation-hearings/comments/71)
Now, I understand identifying this censorious commenter may tax your cognitive powers to far beyond their limits, so please let me know if you need help in sending your anti-censorship message.
“The liberal consensus ultimately derived from the progressive era and FDR’s New Deal; it involves both progressive taxation and the welfare state. Everything points to your disagreeing with it.”
Except, of course, any statement from me actually opposing either progressive taxation and/or the welfare state. Go ahead, provide quotes from me, with URLs. We’ll wait.
“A liberal also definitely believes that all men are created equal, which you don’t (Palestinians).”
They chose war, so they must now live with the consequences of having chosen war. Those UNRES 181 boundaries must look pretty good right now, hm? Maybe those boundaries were not quite the excellent reason for shooting at their neighbors which you’ve made it out to be?
(And before you talk about someone else’s attitude toward the Palestinian Arabs, you might want to check on your claims they once rode dinosaurs or whatever.)
@77
your sociopathic
sockpuppet’s insidiously
poisonous rhetoric/AIPAC-spouting
Death-to-Palestinians propaganda IS a
Pestilence* Wormtongue the Liar. thanks
for reminding us.
and yes China’s a dictatorship
likely harvesting tik-tok’s
user’s data but is it any
better when American
Tech Collects the
same info and in
MUX’ and ZUK’s
cases, nefarious
usage is to be
Expected?
What we Need
Is the kind of
Security the
EU Affords
its citizens
but this is the Land of the
Profiteers Free to Har-
vest the Citizenry at
Every Fucking Turn
right in Line
with your
neocon
values
see also: John Oliver’s
brilliant take on the tiktok:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZNlaeZAtw
*mods?
oh and Palestinains
didn’t “choose war”: that
was Hamas — didja Forget Already?
Hamas
who hasn’t
Held an Election
since two-thousand
fucking Ought Seven
Solidly kept in Power
by far rwnj nutnyahoo to
keep Palestine under theirs
& bibi’s collective iron thumbs
& oh so Conveniently giving Israel
“license” to kill every last Palestinian
within a Block of Hamas — thanks to OUR
VERY OWN 2,000lb BUNKER-BUSTIN’ BOMBS
each with an American Flag upon them!
so pledge Allegiance to OUR Bombs
bitches or Else~’And when the band
plays Hail to the Chief, oooh they’re
Pointin’ the Cannon at Yoooooooooooooooou”
but I
digress.
speaking of (insidious reich wing) insidious corporate rule:
from ‘Letters from an American’:
January 18, 2025
Shortly before midnight last night, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its initial findings from a study it undertook last July when it asked eight large companies to turn over information about the data they collect about consumers, product sales, and how the surveillance the companies used affected consumer prices.
The FTC focused on the middlemen hired by retailers. Those middlemen use algorithms to tweak and target prices to different markets.
The initial findings of the FTC using data from six of the eight companies show that those prices are not static. Middlemen can target prices to individuals using their location, browsing patterns, shopping history, and even the way they move a mouse over a webpage.
They can also use that information to show higher-priced products first in web searches. The FTC found that the intermediaries—the middlemen—worked with at least 250 retailers.
“Initial staff findings show that retailers frequently use people’s personal information to set targeted, tailored prices for goods and services—from a person’s location and demographics, down to their mouse movements on a webpage,” said FTC chair Lina Khan.
“The FTC should continue to investigate surveillance pricing practices because Americans deserve to know how their private data is being used to set the prices they pay and whether firms are charging different people different prices for the same good or service.”
The FTC has asked for public comment on consumers’ experience with surveillance pricing.
FTC commissioner Andrew N. Ferguson, whom Trump has tapped to chair the commission in his incoming administration, dissented from the report.
Matt Stoller of the nonprofit American Economic Liberties Project, which is working “to address today’s crisis of concentrated economic power,” wrote that “[t]he antitrust enforcers (Lina Khan et al) went full Tony Montana on big business this week before Trump people took over.”
Stoller made a list. The FTC sued John Deere “for generating $6 billion by prohibiting farmers from being able to repair their own equipment,” released a report showing that pharmacy benefit managers had “inflated prices for specialty pharmaceuticals by more than $7 billion,” “sued corporate landlord Greystar, which owns 800,000 apartments, for misleading renters on junk fees,” and “forced health care private equity powerhouse Welsh Carson to stop monopolization of the anesthesia market.”
–by Heather Cox Richardson; Jan 18, 2025
America’s Premier Historian
oodles:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-18-2025
thank you jesus
nyt:
As Truce Takes Hold,
Gazans and Israelis
Express Elation Tin-
ged With Doubt
After 470 days of death, a tentative cease-fire began on Sunday in Gaza. But Palestinians could not be sure that the war had ended, and Israelis fear that many hostages will still remain in Gaza.
As a truce took hold on Sunday in Gaza, potentially ending the longest and deadliest war in a century of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two men used the same metaphor to describe how they felt.
“The weight on my chest has lifted,” said Ziad Obeid, a Gazan civil servant displaced several times during the war. “We have survived.”
“The rock lying on my heart has been removed,” said Dov Weissglas, a former Israeli politician. “We want to see the hostages home, period.”
But — both men also had a “but” — Mr. Obeid has not seen his damaged house in northern Gaza for more than a year. How bad, he wondered, is the damage? And who will rebuild a decimated Gaza?
[EIGHTY PERCENT of Gazan Homes
Reduced to Rubble, replete with
tonnes of Unexploded (Ameri-
can!) Ordinance not to men-
tion the THOUSANDS STILL
BURIED UNDER Gaza’s
Ubiquitous fucking
Rubble]
Mr. Weissglas worried about the condition of the hostages set to be freed gradually over the next few weeks from dank quarters in the territory.
And he grimaced about exchanging them for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom are serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis. “There is relief,” he said, “wrapped in caution, fears and concern.”
–by Patrick Kingsley
reporting from Jerusalem
Jan. 19, 2025, 7:15 a.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/world/middleeast/gaza-israel-mood.html
“Palestinian detainees,
many of whom are
serving life sen-
tences… “
can We Trust Israeli Courts?
can WE trust our Own
(formerly-) Supreme
Court, well-stacked
by the McMitch
“Stoneman”
KkKonnell?
stay fucking tuned.
[huh.
wormmy
must Still be
Sleeping in. I
spose it Is Sunday…
AIPAC’s
def Not getting
its Money’s Worth today.
wormmy’s🛴🔨’s gonna
hafta work Overtime.
Good thing A ‘I”s
Non-union, eh]?
@79: My comment @77 referred to UN Res’ 181, which in 1947 proposed a two-state solution in the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palestinian Jews accepted this, and declared the State of Israel on the land UN Res’ 181 had demarcated for a Jewish State. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the UN plan, and tried to push the Jews into the sea. I was referring to that choice of war. (How’s that worked out for them?)
I understand anything other than your pitiably abject ignorance of the subjects upon which you freely choose to comment will forever remain an unrealistic hope, but try not to waste everyone’s time with silly attempts at cheap “gotchas,” which only expose more ignorance than even you’d previously displayed, ‘k?
(And no, your raging demands for blanket censorship of commenters who actually know things won’t make you look any less ignorant.)
omg!
There you
Are, wormmy!
we was
so Worried!
Loved this:
“commenters
who actually
know things”
sure. take a
Good Look at
your sockingbott’s
comment history chock-
full of Facts and sociopathic
pleas for murdering evermore
innocents and leaving them to
perish the War Crimes continuing
Gleefully.
“Wormtongue
the Wise”?
you are
Not.
oh, well.
no one reads
this rag anyway.
@71: Correct. No amount of your branding liberals as extreme right-wingers will discredit Horseshoe Theory, because we liberals are just the messengers. It is you lefties who keep right on agreeing with Trump:
“President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order on Monday to reinstate TikTok in the U.S. …”
@83: Finally understand the difference between 1948 and 2025, eh?
Probably not.
Here’s a quiz to check:
“… sociopathic
pleas for murdering evermore
innocents…”
How many attacks has Hamas launched against Israeli civilians after 10/8? How many times have you condemned Hamas for widespread use of human shields whilst so doing?
Sociopathy, indeed…
right wormmy.
how many Times
have I called Hamas
a Terrorist Organization,
terrorizing even Gazans?
half a dozen
at Least I’d wager
but in your bloody
history-revising hands
that
amounts
to Zero. just
like your ‘credibility.’
Wormtogue:
the handle
fits like a
Glove.
and if you’re
a Liberal
Jesus
was
def
a
Progressive.
@85
oops!
a loophole so
Large even wormmy
could drive a battleship thru:
how many Times
on these tS’s pages
have I called Hamas
a Terrorist Organization,
terrorizing even Gazans?
half a dozen
at Least I’d wager
but in your bloody
history-revising hands
that
amounts
to Zero. just
like your ‘credibility.'”
Fixed.
@77 Yours is a really pathetic answer, which in no way establishes liberal credential.
There is no factual evidence of anything you accuse TikTok of being beyond what is the common practice of other social media giants. TikTok is obviously collecting user data and compromising user privacy but so are all other platforms. As judiciously pointed out by Kristo, the liberal position is an overall ban on collecting user data to maintain privacy and solve the potential national security risk rather than illiberal internet censorship like you advocate. Strike 1.
As for your comparing someone wanting your ass canned to banning a social media used by 170 million Americans spare us the laugh. You are a liar and can’t be trusted to tell the facts, you mostly argue in bad faith, your rhetoric is clearly twisted to fit your predetermined goals, you are impervious to any logic beyond that of the propaganda you spew 24/7 pretty much like a robot, your vacuous posturing is as obnoxious as it is misguided, and on. Although I have never asked for you being banned, I can perfectly understand how anyone could say they want to see you gone from this space.
Your lack of a record advocating for progressive taxation and welfare in this age of neoliberalism is damning enough to indicate that you are no liberal. Moreover, your constant support for closet conservatives at Seattle city council who battle against any attempts at taxing their sponsors (in particular, remember your cheerleading against the corporate head tax) speaks volume since said attempts are needed to make up for the disappearance of federal funding for social welfare. Strike 2.
Some Palestinian having chosen armed resistance when denied the right to self-determination is not only not a valid excuse to deny them equal rights but claiming that armed resistance justifies further land grabs is definitely not a liberal position. Strike 3.
Not a liberal by any stretch of the imagination.
oh and just to be Clear
my memo to the Mods
was Not for banning the
Wormtongue — it’s his A
‘I’ commentariat-hammering
Sockpuppet and its relentless Re-
joicing in the Blood of Palestinians
needs be made Gone.
wormmy
cannot Be
Banned. he’s
somehow been
Grandfathered in
more’s
The pity.
Great Comment
ab. Thank You.
@84 “”President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order on Monday to reinstate TikTok in the U.S. …”
Which explains how Trump the opportunist will keep dancing in circles around you when you adopt the censorship methods used by China in banning TikTok. You are a chump for letting Trump do this to you and other closet authoritarians. What determines the liberal position is being a liberal in the tradition of the progressive era and the New Deal, not take the opposite of what Trump said (this week)
@89: I love how you switch instantaneously from whining about Horseshoe Theory to praising Trump.
Here’s what will happen. For jobs involving any amount of national-security component, public trust, or even significant responsibility at large corporations without security-related contracts, background screenings will include past TikTok usage. Persons deemed compromised will find themselves rendered ineligible for such jobs. Because no amount of your wishing Tiktok was a free speech issue will change TikTok’s ownership from a totalitarian one-party state.
Aside from the humor value of quoting Kristof’ as a reliable source of something other than ignorance and failed insults, you’re both missing the point. The federal government can regulate data collection and use of commercial sites for platforms owned here. It can’t do that for a site owned by a totalitarian one-party state.
I don’t have any problem with you logging onto any site you want. There’s gonna be a lot of “TikTok have-nots” in future, and some of them will get there by taking advice such as you and the Stranger have here provided. I feel sorry for them, but of course you won’t take any responsibility for their foolishly short-sighted choices, now will you?
@77, 88
here’s the
‘Inconvenient’ Part
the Wormtongue some-
how insidiously “forgot” to include
“There’s
still a lot of hunger
in Gaza for more Israeli bombs.
thumpus on January 16, 2025 at 8:35 PM “
and my Response
directly below
🛴🔨’s:
“your hammering
sociopathic sockbott’s
what’s hungering for a damn
good Bombing, Wormtongue
it’s Good
you’ve got
an Outlet wormmy
to say the things you
Know shouldn’t Be said
but your Sickness is Too much
even for the Stranger’s left coast pages
hey
mods
can you re-
move the insidious
Pestilence, si vous plait?
gracias.
kristofarian on January 17, 2025 at 3:57 AM “
oh well
wormmy.
at least you
come by your
Nickname “honestly.”
@90, in response to ab’s
“Which explains how Trump the opportunist will keep dancing in circles around you when you adopt the censorship methods used by China in banning TikTok.”
Wormtongue:
“I love how you switch instantaneously
from whining about Horseshoe
Theory to praising
Trump.”
oh
wormmy!
you just simply
Cannot tell the Truth!
you must
be A Whole
Lotta Fun irl.
hard
Pass.
Hostages are being freed. Good job Biden, Bibi, and the Trump team.
@93
aka the Carnage
for Now takes
a Pause.
Fucking
BRAVO.
@94: Yes, you’d like that because you’d a get a fix of a perverse sense of vindication. Am I right?
@91: The thing you ‘forgot to include’ was the grinning Smiley which thumpus put at the end of his statement, which changed the meaning completely. Thank you for demonstrating, yet again, how you can ‘win’ arguments only through deceit and censorship, which is why you keep demanding the latter from the mods here.
@95 — ‘vindication’?*
All signs point to a
bibi nutnyahoo
sabotage – his
Sole option
is most
Likely
jail.
his Career
gone.
but tomorrow’s
Day One. our
soon-to-be
Dictator’s
about to
go Wild
all
bets’re
Off. I wouldn’t
feel vindicated.~I’d
feel Betrayed that this
Planet’d Allow this Devilry.
but HELL
YES !!!:
NO More
CARNAGE
2/3 of whom’re
Women & Children
on YOUR
tax dollar$.
& a
lotta
people
don’t happen
to Like the Inhumanity.
most Gazans
hadn’t been Borne
when Hamas Took Over Gaza
and they
COULDN”TA
DONE IT sans
the bibi’s Help
AND
who oh so
Conveiently
needed to Keep
the Fuck outta Prison
still
Does.
we’re
about to Live
in Interesting Times.
you
Might
wanna
Buckle Up.
you’ve
a little Less
Than 12 Hours.
good
luck!
Oh
and
HAPPY
MARTIN LUTHER
KING DAY (rumor
has it, it’l be the last)!
@96
fucking bravo,
Wormtongue
you’ve just
Orwellianed
your self into
his Hall of Shame
“the smiley faces
meant 🛴🔨 was
JOKING! he was just
Kidding! can’t you See that?”
and
NOT
Mocking!
my
Gawd
are you
truly That
dumb? or just
think We are? nevermind.
If you’ve had a stroke I’d suggest you see your Doctor. Post Haste. Strokes are nothing to Trifle about. Good luck!
In the continued debate of the Mideast conflict no one has commented on the news over the weekend reported by Erica Barnett that both Ashley and Hannah are apparently suspended for lying to cover for Rich. If true and they get terminated TS’s propaganda quotient will vastly diminish.
@100
That PubliCola report is Hilarious! All 4 of them including Rinck, should be mocked unmercively forever more. Hilarious. They are all trash.
@100: And accused of not merely lying, but of orchestrating a cover-up, and attempting to use local political folks to do it. The story was mentioned yesterday in this thread, up @66. Barnett’s story is here, https://publicola.com/2025/01/17/two-stranger-reporters-put-on-leave-for-investigation-into-potential-ethical-violations/
You’re right, they’ve been two of the loudest voices here shouting “genocide,” so our pro-Hamas commentariat may well have a sad, real soon.
And on the topic of TikTok, this may be Ashley’s swan song here, which mentions Hannah, appropriately enough:
‘With the US government threatening to unalive TikTok to “protect” Americans’ data from China, Americans have unilaterally said, “No, actually, bring China in,” and started downloading RedNote, which is basically a Chinese Instagram-TikTok hybrid, according to USA Today. Everyone is making the jump, including Hannah and my sister’s fav TikToker, Dr. Bryanlicious2. We’re all downloading RedNote now. This time next year we’re all going to be speaking Putonghua.’
(https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/01/14/79871719/slog-am-blast-ball-debate-resumes-were-all-switching-to-rednote-starbucks-launches-closed-door-policy)
@102 isn’t the red note thing kinda crazy? We have suspicions about tik tok but let’s move to something even more in control by a foreign power who wants to destabilize our country. I think it says a lot about how much progressives detest the US that they would willingly support such a platform.
@102 what’s even funnier is all their activist buds losing their shit on Twitter and saying this is some giant conspiracy to get rid of them rather than acknowledging they violated journalistic integrity and also lied to their employer which usually results in termination. What a joke.
@103: I think you’re reading too much into it. It’s more of a toddler’s reaction to having a favorite toy taken away for good reason. The smartass toddler will come up with something worse, that mocks the reason.
If you want a slightly deeper reason, then at that thread, I’d commented, “RedNote is just the modern version of owning a Che poster, or carrying Mao’s book.” As I’ve already noted, above, it could cause a similar red flag (ha!) on future job applications.
Thanks for the tip about Twitter. I might actually read the thing now. 😉
today
Bernie
Sent ME
Another Missive!
“A day
that many of
us have dreaded
Dear kristo,
Inauguration day is approaching,
a day that many of us have dreaded.
Our opposition to Trump is based not only on our profound disagreement with him on most of the important issues facing our country but, even more importantly, the lies, fear mongering, bigotry and xenophobia which underlay those policies.
Democracy flourishes where differences of opinion are respected and debated. Democracy is severely undermined under the barrage of bigotry, hate and disinformation that Trump and many of his acolytes propagate.
Further, as Trump returns to the presidency, there is deep frustration with the inability of the Democratic Party to provide a clear alternative to Trumpism.
It appears that most Democrats have learned little or nothing from the recent disastrous elections. It’s just not good enough to critique Trump and right-wing Republicans. Th
at’s been done for the last 10 years. You have to stand FOR something. You have to provide an alternative to a status quo economy and political system which is just not working for the average American.
This is the wealthiest country in the history of the world and major advances in technology can make us even wealthier.
There is no rational reason why 60 percent of Americans should live paycheck to paycheck or why we have massive and growing income and wealth inequality.
There is no rational reason why we are the only major country not to guarantee health care for all, and why we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
There is no rational reason as to why 800,000 Americans are homeless and millions of others spend more than half of their limited,income to put a roof over their heads.
There is no rational reason why 25 percent of seniors in America are trying to survive on $15,000 a year or less, why we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any wealthy nation, why young people leave college deeply in debt, or why childcare is unaffordable for millions of families.
We can do better. We must do better. But, in order to effectively move forward, we need to explain to the American people the role that Oligarchy and corporate greed have played in destroying working class lives in this country.
We need a progressive agenda that addresses the many crises that working families face and points us forward to a better life for all.
Short-term, as Trump comes into office, we must call his bluff. In the recent campaign he ran as an anti-establishment populist prepared to take on the political class and act on behalf of working families.
Well, let us hold him to his words and demand that he do just that. If not, we must expose him for the fraud that he is.
During his campaigns Trump has said that the pharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder” and that he wanted to lower the cost of prescription drugs in this country.
If that is true, we
should be willing to work
with him to make that happen.
We have made some good progress under Biden in this area but much more needs to be done. If Trump is unwilling to stand up to the power of the pharmaceutical industry, we must make that clear.
At a time when many financially strapped Americans are paying 20 or 30 percent interest rates on their credit cards, President Trump stated that he wants to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent.
I agree and will soon be introducing legislation to do just that. Let’s see if he supports that bill.
Trump has rightfully pointed out that disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA and PNTR with China have cost us millions of good-paying American jobs as corporations shut down manufacturing in this country and moved abroad to find cheap labor.
As someone who strongly opposed those agreements I look forward to working with him on new trade policies that will protect American workers and create good paying jobs in our country. Is he serious about this issue? Let’s find out.
Some of Trump’s nominees have also made important points. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says that food corporations are “poisoning” our young people with highly processed foods that are causing obesity, heart disease and other serious health problems.
Is Trump willing to take on the greed of major food corporations that are making record breaking profits? I doubt it, but let’s give him the opportunity.
Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer has been supportive of the PRO Act, which would protect a worker’s right to join a union and bargain for better pay, benefits and working conditions.
She is right. Workers must have the right to join a union without illegal interference by their bosses. Will the Trump Administration stand up to corporate interests and work with us to pass the PRO Act into law. Stay tuned.
No one denies that we must end waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Elon Musk, for example, is correct when he points out that the Pentagon has failed seven audits and cannot fully account for its budget of over $800 billion.
We must make the Defense Department far more efficient. If we do that we can save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year and cut Defense spending.
While we should be prepared to work with the Trump administration in areas where we can find agreement, we must also be prepared to vigorously oppose them in the many areas where they are not only wrong, but are bringing forth extremely dangerous policy.
We must vigorously oppose Trump, his multi-billionaire cabinet and Republicans in Congress when they try to pass massive tax breaks for the rich while cutting Medicaid and other public health benefits desperately needed by working families.
We will oppose them when they try to privatize or cut Social Security, the Veterans Administration, Medicare, public education, the postal service and other important public agencies.
We will oppose them why they try to repeal the Affordable Care Act and take away health care from millions of Americans.
We will oppose them when they represent the needs of the fossil fuel industry and try to rollback climate protections that put at risk the very habitability of our planet for future generations.
We will oppose them when they try to further take away the rights of women to make health care decisions about their own bodies.
If there were ever a time when progressives need to make their voices heard, this is that time.
We must oppose them as if we were fighting for our children, for future generations, for democracy and for the very well-being of our planet — because that is precisely what is at stake.
Let us not forget that Republican margins in the House and Senate are very slim. If we mobilize effectively we CAN stop some of their worst proposals.
It was not that long ago, for example, that people making their vwoices heard all across the country saved the Affordable Care Act from Trump and a Republican majority.
It is also critically important that we never stop fighting for our vision for the future — one in which we have a government that works for all of its people, and not just a wealthy few.
Can we, one day, create an economic system based on the principles of justice, not greed? Yes, we can.
Can we transform a rigged and corrupt political system and create a vibrant democracy based on one person, one vote? Yes, we can.
Can we make health care a human right as we establish a system designed to keep us healthy and extend our life-expectancy, not one based on the profit needs of insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry? Yes, we can.
Can we, in the wealthiest country on earth, provide free quality public education and job training for all from child care to graduate school? Yes, we can.
Can we combat climate change and protect the very habitability of our planet for future generations, and create millions of jobs in the process? Yes, we can.
Can we make certain that artificial intelligence and other exploding technologies are used to improve the quality of life for working people, and not just make the billionaire class even richer. Yes, we can.
And even though we are not going to succeed in achieving that vision in the immediate future with Trump as president and Republicans controlling Congress, it is imperative that vision be maintained and that we continue to fight for it.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This is one of the most pivotal and difficult moments in the history of our country. What happens in the next few years will impact this country and the world for decades. Despair is not an option. We must aggressively educate and organize and go forward together.
Thank you for standing with me in that fight.
In solidarity,
–Bernie Sanders”
the Reason we
cannot have
Nice things?
The
Wormtongues
of the World. giving us
a Gazillion Reasons why
all backed up with thee Most
Reasonable Sounding Words
That add up to Gaslighting we
The Peeps in Service to our Bil-
Lionaires who’ll NEVER HAVE E-
NOUGH until we’re ALL Homeless
& Fighting each other in the Streets
all’s they Want
is EVERYTHING
& the wormmys’re
here to make Sure
we’re Not trying to
get a Slice of the Pie
ourselves.
Wormtongue
iIs the Reason
We cannot have
Nice things. Him
and his Oligarchial
Overlords. & they’ll
Just as Easily Lie To Us
as they’d eat our Lunches
look no further
then wormmy’s
dispciable Perform-
ance on just this thread.
and now the
Distractions over
two Reporters fucking
up as if tomorrow was
just another fucking Day
in
Paradise.
the Status
Quo is fucking
Perfect as far as
wormmy & d13r’re
concerned and they’d
Prefer it if you’d Concur
Ensuring us of a
Thousand year
eltrumpfian
Reich.
@108:
“the Status
Quo is fucking
Perfect as far as
wormmy & d13r’re
concerned and they’d
Prefer it if you’d Concur
“Ensuring us of a
Thousand year
eltrumpfian
Reich.”
And yet, somehow, neither D13 nor I have praised Trump, whilst you and ‘bob have each done so, at least once in just the last few days (!) — and he’s not even President yet (!!).
It’s gonna be a long, hard four years for you guys, with folks like me constantly pointing out how much folks like you constantly praise Trump.
Enjoy!
page two has one
comment on it
currently.
So was Rich (a much older male coworker/boss), bragging to his much younger female subordinates about his sexual conquests?
Hey third wave feminists (Han and Ash), that’s called sexual harassment.
@94, 95
Gosh! well, That
didn’t take
long:
“Ceasefire”?
looks like
Nutnyahoo’s
“heart” just isn’t innit.
nyt:
West Bank Settlers
Attack Palestinian Villages,
Angry About Prisoner Releases
In a video taken from a CCTV camera
in Turmus Aya, at least 20 masked
men can be seen throwing stones
and entering the village, as Israeli
police cars appear in the distance.
Villagers said
the officers stayed clear
of the violence and did not try to stop it.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/20/world/israel-hamas-cease-fire#west-bank-settlers-attack-palestinian-villages-angry-about-prisoner-releases
ya don’t gotta be
a Weatherman
to know it’s
a Piss not
fucking
rain.
it’s not sexual harassment to talk about your sex life with your friends
@113: What planet are you on? Interactions with co-workers are covered by employment code requirements, and one of those requirements drives this investigation. Rich had an inappropriate personal contact with a subject of the Stranger’s stories, content of which he edited. Once his subordinates learned of this contact, they should have reported it to the Stranger. A good HR department would then have investigated whether the manner in which they learned this information itself constituted sexual harassment. By not informing their employer, they prevented their employer from performing due diligence. (Just because they might not have personally considered it to have been sexual harassment does not mean the Stranger’s code of conduct agreed.)
Nothing you’ve just described constitutes sexual harassment. The lying and conflict of interest are obvious ethical violations but my god, grow up. People talk about their sex lives with their friends and coworkers all the time.
@95, 97 here’s my “vindication”:
Israeli Military Begins West Bank Raids
Israeli troops embarked on what Israel described as a counterterrorism operation. It came hours after Jewish extremists attacked Palestinian villages.
The announcement came shortly after President Trump rescinded Biden-era sanctions on Israeli settlers and Jewish extremists raided Palestinian villages in protest against the cease-fire in Gaza.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/world/middleeast/israel-trump-settlers-west-bank-gaza.html
More
Genocide
On OUR Tax Dollars
keep
Gloating
Wormtongue:
On
You
it looks
Good. somehow
@115: “Nothing you’ve just described constitutes sexual harassment.”
No, because the writers’ failure to report Rich’s relationship with Rinck prevented an investigation. It’s entirely possible Rich’s chosen method of informing them violated the Stranger’s code of conduct against sexual harassment, just as @111 described.
“People talk about their sex lives with their friends and coworkers all the time.”
What has “friends” to do with this topic? This is an employment matter. And a person can get into a lot of trouble by making unwanted sexual remarks in a workplace. You may choose not to believe that, but it remains reality.
‘ceasefire’?
from the Intercept:
Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio
Get a Pass on Suffering in Gaza
The secretaries of defense and state will play key roles in U.S. policy on Israel, but they faced little scrutiny on Palestinian suffering.
… [brand spankin’ New* Sec of State lil’ Marco] Rubio criticized the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
El-Tayyab, who helped rally support for the trio of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., last year to block shipments of weapons to Israel, said it was not surprising that longtime, staunch supporter of Israel would adopt such a stance.
Still, the very ceasefire agreement blessed by Rubio could live or die on whether the U.S. is willing to police Israeli violations of the pact, he said.
“I didn’t see anything by Rubio in that hearing that said he is willing to exert any amount of leverage with the Israel government should this go sideways,” El-Tayyab said, “which I think is going to be really important, because there are so many things that could go wrong here.”
https://theintercept.com/2025/01/17/pete-hegseth-marco-rubio-israel-gaza/
so Many
Loose Cannons
so much Land to steal
so Many Palestinians to Remove
Every.
Last.
Hamas.
not to mention a millon
dead Gazans and
West Bankers
OUR Tax $$$
working Ove-
rtime Geno-
ciding their
way OUR
way to
Peace
*or
Soon-to-be
speaking of going Wild
Wild Cards & stupid
fucking Jokers
from the Intercept
Trump Halts Sanctions on Israeli Settlers,
Threatens to Seize Assets of
War Crimes Investigators
NO One
couldda Seen
This One cumming
all over Palestine
& salivating on
all that LAND
Grab. can
You say
Golf re-
Sorts?!
omg
baby.