The Weather: It’ll be cloudy and cooler for the most part with highs only reaching 60 degrees. No rain yet. Trust, it is coming.
Signature Stealers: Hedgefund manager Brian Heywood’s political group Let’s Go Washington is running into a few snags while signature gathering for their anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ initiative including a re-do of the misleadingly-named Parents Bill of Rights which would give parents access to student health records and give them undue influence. There’s also an anti-trans sports initiative, too. While on the signature-gathering job, people have been behaving badly. According to KUOW, there have been 31 incidents damaging, stealing, or destroying Let’s Go Washington initiative signatures. Someone straight up stole two decks of signatures in Covington, and, as KUOW reports, “in Federal Way, someone drove by in a car and threw ‘red liquid’ on signature pages, and in Yakima, a man told a signature-gatherer he was going home to grab a gun.” This is illegal and undemocratic. The initiative process as means of referendum to go against the will of the voters and prey on misinformation is not.
Transit Fan Bruce Harrell Killed Another Transportation Project: Remember last week’s big to-do over the Capitol Hill bus-only lane the mayor’s office killed because businesses complained? The bus lane was saved due to public outcry, but that’s not the only project Mayor Bruce Harrell has allegedly laid waste to, according to The Urbanist. A planned and in-progress Lake Washington Boulevard intersection redesign, which was improve pedestrian crossings and redirect traffic, was quietly killed and removed from plans. The intersection in question is mere blocks away from Harrell’s Seward Park home.
Bruce Hates Big Money in Politics: In a fundraising email yesterday evening, Bruce Harrell called on donors to help him because a PAC backing his opponent Katie Wilson “dropped another $75,000 into the race, bringing their total to nearly $200,000.” This is rich—emphasis on rich—coming from Harrell whose own PAC has raised over $1 million with upwards of $770,000 coming in the last two months. Pot? Meet kettle.
You Gotta Love These Guys: Hey, the Mariners beat those dreaded Detroit Tigers in a decisive 8-4 victory Tuesday after a hours-long rain delay. Personally, I think not having a roofed stadium in 2025 should result in an auto-loss for the host team. You live in Detroit. Weather happens there. Diatribe aside, the Ms looked good (so long as you scrub closer Caleb Ferguson’s bottom-of-the-ninth appearance). The whole city is abuzz with it. I like it.
If they win another game, the Mariners move onto the American League Championship Series. They haven’t been there since October 2001 when they faced off against the Yankees and the whole country rooted against the Mariners because, well, y’know. 9/11.
Dump Here: In a moment of serendipitous synchronicity, Cal Raleigh whacked his 61st home run of the season (though, I was informed last night the post-season stats don’t count) into the opposite field stands. Who caught it? The only guy in Mariners gear. Not only that, he was wearing a “DUMP 61 HERE” shirt. And Raleigh did. The cameras panned away and then panned back in time to catch the guy peeling of the 61 shirt to reveal another shirt that read “DUMP 62 HERE.” He knows something.
He is now wearing a Dump Here 62 shirt.
— Roger Cormier (@yayroger.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Many Rooms at the Inn, Actually: During the pandemic, Seattle successfully housed homeless people in vacant hotels. The 53-room Civic Hotel was one of these properties. After housing people for years, the city signed a $2.7 million lease extension in 2024 to keep operating the space through the year. As people moved out for permanent housing, their rooms went unfilled. Seattleites paid around $4,200 per empty room per month, according to a collaboration between KUOW and ProPublica. The city blamed the vacancies on budget deficits and a loss of COVID-era government funds. Meanwhile, shelter bed shortages continued to be an issue for Seattle’s growing homeless population. The whole drama contradicts the Harrell administration’s emphasis on tracking shelter capacity better, transparency, and doing away with government waste.
Is Climbing Mount Everest Even Cool Anymore? A snowstorm in the Himalayas stranded 900 hikers, guides, and staff on Mount Everest. Um, 900 people? Seems like too many. This is why that poor mountain is covered in shit and cadavers. Anyway, they’ve all descended safely by now and the mountain is closed while the storm rages on. Hopefully all these people can take time to find another hobby. Maybe they should read my column.
National Guard Comes to Chicago: Around 500 deployed National Guardsmen from Texas and Illinois are expected to enter the Chicago area today despite outrage from local and state leaders. The plan is for the troops to protect immigration officers and detention centers. On Wednesday, ahead of the troop invasion, Trump called for the arrest of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” he penned on Truth Social.
Freedom of Speech Abounds: Jimmy Kimmel will not go gentle into that good light. After being resurrected by the television gods, Kimmel aired this wild little clip as part of a segment on Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and claims he never sent Epstein that freaky birthday card.
Holy crap. Trump will make the FCC crucify Jimmy Kimmel for this.
— Sanho Tree (@sanho.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Chat, Is This Good Governance? Republican Florida state Rep. Kevin Steele filed legislation that would pull state funding from public universities if they refuse to rename certain streets around their campus after slain podcaster Charlie Kirk. If it’s passed, the bill will go into effect immediately and colleges will have 90 days to comply.
The War on Education: If it seems like this administration really hates public education, that’s because it does. The Department of Education under Trump is interested primarily in dismantling public schools and standing up an education diet of homeschool, virtual school, and religious schools. Read the full ProPublica story on this here.
Maybe This Is Good Governance? If Trump’s attacks on renewable energy, his undermining of climate science, and repeals of climate policy are surprising, just remember the Trump administration is full of people affiliated with fossil fuels including at least 40 people who have directly worked within the oil, gas, or coal industries.
Comey in Court: Former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty to charges that he made false statements to Congress and obstructed justice. The charges were brought by the Department of Justice. Comey’s trial will begin on Jan. 5. Ah, Insurrection Eve.
Dinosaur Snatched, Returned: Last week, a burglar nabbed the dinosaur mascot known as Claire from in front of the Brentwood Sinclair gas station in Los Angeles. Outrage followed. Scoldy Jamie Lee Curtis got extra sanctimonious about it online. On Monday, the thief returned Claire. She was wrapped in a cloth with a note attached that read, “I’m sorry for stealing. Please don’t charge me!”
A song for your Wednesday:
More in NEWS
Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.
Liberals behaving badly — let the initiatives fail on their merits, not because of undemocratic behavior.
I hope “DUMP 61 HERE” guy is cosmic proof that the fates are finally with the Mariners this year.
six little pigeons
Heavy on the ‘right’
landed on Bonespurs
Shat’n made day, Night
ah, Close
but No
C~gar
“Undue influence from parents.”
Yep, it can be a problem when the mother wants to trans the kid before puberty.
Ferguson isn’t the closer. He is a reliever who got asked to close a game with a 7-run lead and couldn’t manage to get 1 out. We’ll not see him again.
Another photo of trash.
Seattle looks like shit.
@6: Gloomy trumps cheerful
So I’m pro transit, but that “bus lane” on Union is actually only part of a block. Cars can drive onto the block, but only to turn into an apartment building garage, then it turns into the “bus lane.”
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mRdqjAoqWTQW7pFq5
There are a number of these one-block-or-less “bus lanes,” for example 4th between Pike and Pine, and they all seem equally pointless. If these are what pass for a transit solution in this town we’re screwed
@6: The real “art” of graffiti is not what they put on the walls, it’s what they put inside your head. 😄 They are playing your emotions like a Stradivarius, and the music it makes is beautiful. 😂😂😂
“The initiative process as means of referendum to go against the will of the voters and prey on misinformation is not.”
This statement makes no sense. If anything the legislature overturned the will of the voters last year when they approved and then immediately changed the parental notification initiative. The whole point of the process is to see what the voters want so I don’t see how that goes against the will of the voters?
Notice that the subject of the banner picture is the art of making the pigeons looking like our SCOTUS judges, but that art is corrupted by the tagging (big cartoon letters) over it.
Which just goes to show that whenever someone displays public profundity as art, it’s assaulted by taggers. In this case, we see an undemocratic response from the vengeful and anarchistic taggers to a lesson about democracy by artists.
@4:
Are you really so clinically delusional that you believe parents just wake up one morning and say to themselves, “you know, I think little Johnny would be so much better if they were Jane instead”? Seriously, you got something very, very wrong going on upstairs and you should probably have it looked at by a qualified professional.
12: If little Johnny is effeminate it might be topic of conversation.
@12 conservatives need to invent things to be mad about so they don’t have to face the fact that their policies are destroying the economy
@8 These short bus lanes can act as “modal filters” that direct cars to parallel streets (of which there are many in this part of Capitol Hill) and keep the roads they filter much less busy. The one on E Union is definitely in this class since it filters a road with a major crosstown bike route. It’s a clever piece of traffic engineering! There are also non-bus-lane modal filters on many of the neighborhood greenways and “Healthy Streets” in the form of signs that prohibit non-local traffic.
Also, this type of bus lane as a queue skip—on E Union, it stops the 2 from having to sit behind cars that are waiting to turn onto two busy streets through a complex intersection that has long cycle times (i.e., the bus might have to wait multiple long signal cycles if many cars were allowed to back up at the intersection.) That short bus lane on 4th also works well as a queue skip for a similar but slightly less complex intersection.
@15 – by the way, if you abolish the SPD, who is going to enforce your stupid traffic rules?
@15 “Also, this type of bus lane as a queue skip—on E Union, it stops the 2 from having to sit behind cars that are waiting to turn … That short bus lane on 4th also works well as a queue skip”
Do you have data to back this up? I don’t have any either way, but I don’t see how that can be true for the one on 4th at least since there’s no right turn there because Pine is one way westbound.
@16 It’s just too easy with the bait username isn’t it. Anyway, are you posting from out of town? I’d think you would know that SPD already doesn’t enforce any of my stupid traffic rules 😊
Well, unless you count the occasional parking ticket and footage review for those automated red light/bus lane cameras. I just don’t think we need militarized occupier-cops to be doing any of those jobs, sweetie.
@17 You’re totally right to point out that the lane on 4th feeds a less complicated intersection—I forgot that left turns onto Pike are prohibited there. It is still a queue skip in structure, even if the intersection is less complex and the time savings are more marginal, since cars can still back up at that intersection without turning (this definitely happens there in practice IME.) One thing I forgot about until now is that there’s a bus stop at Westlake Park; that’s a more likely reason for the short bus lane. I’m sure one could come up with a definitive answer by digging through SDOT planning documents.
SDOT probably has traffic modeling on the short E Union St bus lane as part of the RapidRide G restructure study, but there is no data real yet since they haven’t started running the 2 through that bus lane due to the lack of a pedestrian signal. There might be both modeling and real data for the 4th Ave bus lane.
@18 They also like to ticket cyclists for laws they didn’t break.
‘Hamas confirmed a broad deal had been reached to end the war, allow more humanitarian aid, and facilitate “a prisoner exchange”—a reference to the release of Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
‘Egyptian officials who mediated the talks said Hamas would let the remaining living hostages go as soon as Sunday morning.’
The faster this goes, the faster aid arrives. Let’s hope they’re quick about it!
(https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-travel-middle-east-gaza-peace-deal-81e18ccd?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_1)
I’m pretty far left, but I’m also a history geek. I’m also far left enough that I want results, not optics. We need to bring back residential hotels where you have a room with a sink, and toilets and showers charred communally, by gender expression. The most basic of which need to be funded by a tax on the top 10%!
@3 kristofarian: I like it. How’s this:
In the Extreme Court
Wanna make fascism
A Hegseth fueled sport
@4: Whoa. Down, Calvin, down. Take a few deep breaths and seek serious help.
@12 COMTE, re: @4: Calvin’s being tragically hypnotized by raindrop’s misinformative cue cards, cheap beer, stale Twinkies, and a glut of FOX TeeVee. His forehead should read “Space For Rent”.
Well, I’m looking forward to all of the huge demonstrations in Western capitals, demanding Hamas sign for peace. Hamas’ taking the peace deal pronto is the best way forward for Gaza, right? And those people all care deeply for peace in Gaza, right? Right? RIGHT!?!
And how about all of those local activists the Stranger lovingly portrayed last year, especially those folks who demanded an arms embargo against Israel? They’re getting ready for massive protests demanding peace right now, no doubt. Will the Stranger please tell us all about those preparations? They can even recycle and adjust their favorite slogan:
From the River to the Sea
Palestine Shall Be Free
Of Hamas’ Weaponry!
I’m eagerly anticipating all of the very public support, both worldwide and local, for this peace plan.
Fourth through downtown is a celebration of the idiocy of the Department of Transportation and the millions of tax dollars spent on trips to Europe and Asia to see how other countries handle……traffic.
The only saving grace is that the cops don’t enforce anything traffic-related, so people drive in the bus lane with impunity.
I’m curious about the hotel story. Did they stop putting people in it at about the same time one of Our Unhoused Neighbors set fire to the old Holiday Inn in Renton that thad been converted to housing? It’s empty as well?
@23
Gosh
auntie Gee
your wee poem:
fucking Kudos
Very well
Done.
@21, 24
ah
Yes, AIPAC/
Wormtongue
DEMANDING
Palestine TAKE
THE OFFER — or
just fucking Die?
Trump’s Plan to Deprive Palestinians Any Say in Their Future
This is not the time for supporters of Palestinian
self-determination to be quiet. It’s the
moment for us to demand more
For Everyone Horrified by Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, it is easy to be seduced by the latest headlines regarding President Donald Trump’s so-called peace plan.
Despite the headlines, there are some sobering realities to consider.
Israel is still bombing Gaza, regardless of Trump’s claims to the contrary.
And
Trump’s plan
for Gaza calls for
Israeli military withdrawal
based on “standards, milestones,
and timeframes” that would be decided
in the future, a day that may never come.
Israel has a decadeslong history
of violating agreements in order to con-
tinue stealing what is left of Palestinian land.
And the U.S. has a long history of sending Israel
billions of dollars in military funding, no matter
what Israel does or doesn’t do but it’s hard to
overstate the impact of public outrage.
Trump has never been subtle
about his narcissistic desire to be seen
as a peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Prize.
At the same time, anti-Israel sentiment is now negatively affecting Trump’s approval ratings, with only 35 percent of American voters approving of his handling of Gaza.
The Republican Party base is increasingly skeptical of the U.S.–Israel alliance, and Jewish Americans are demonstrating rising revulsion over Israel’s crimes against humanity.
And no one should be surprised if there has been private engagement by Israeli elites who are already fed up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and are seeking an off-ramp that enables them to escape global isolation — while preserving their domination over Palestinians.
The simple reality is that public opinion matters.
Even if political elites in the U.S. and Israel pretend otherwise, they are impacted in different ways by public opposition to their policy choices.
Though Trump’s long-term plan for Gaza is an ugly vision of neocolonial control, it can be bent and blocked by more of the global pressure that has made even this moment possible.
— by Sunjeev Bery; October 8 2025
https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/trump-netanyahu-peace-plan-gaza-protest
“Though Trump’s long-term plan for Gaza is an ugly vision of neocolonial control, it can be bent and blocked by more of the global pressure that has made even this moment possible.”
bingo.
Perhaps
the Genocide
may be Paused
if only for a
Moment.
Well, I’m looking forward to all of the huge demonstrations in Western capitals, demanding Hamas sign for peace. Hamas’ taking the peace deal pronto is the best way forward for Gaza, right? And those people all care deeply for peace in Gaza, right? Right? RIGHT!?!
@The Wormtongue on October 9, 2025 at 4:50 AM
our local AIPAC rep
Apparently.
@4 There was a pretty famous case of this in the 80s…. someone forced their male child to dress as a girl their entire life and wouldn’t allow them to be a boy and then one year they went to summer camp and ended up killing all the people there. So this totally IS a thing that can happen…
…in the fictional movie Sleepaway Camp.
and since
we Know how
Wormtongue works
it’s best to break this part down:
“Though Trump’s long-term plan for Gaza
is an ugly vision of neocolonial control,
it can be bent and blocked…”
fuck
YES — STOP
THE BOMBING
But Block
Neo-Colonial Control
and Fucking ALLOW PALESTINE
TO Fucking CONTROL Fucking PALESTINE.
now
There’s
a Peace Plan.
@27
THANKS
for the Context!
&
also
look for
‘Sleepaway Camp’
to be REQUIRED Viewing
in Cadet Bonespurs’s Dystopia at All
“Christian” Military Schools,* Kindergarten thru PHDs.
*ALL schools
will be djt
schools.
Got IT?
Peace in the Middle East!
@24 “I’m eagerly anticipating all of the very public support, both worldwide and local, for this peace plan.”
You know what you’re right. Massive credit where credit is due: to President Trump for fulfilling his campaign promise, doing what his predecessor couldn’t, and bringing peace to Gaza!
“But if Mr. Trump can hold this deal together, if Hamas gives up its last 20 living hostages this weekend and with them its negotiating leverage, that would be an extraordinary step toward the kind of peace plan Mr. Trump, and his predecessor, Joseph R. Biden Jr., have pressed to accomplish, despite many diversions down dark holes. And if Mr. Trump can get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw troops from Gaza City and give up on his plan to take control of the shattered remains of Gaza, if he can stop the carnage that has killed 1,200 people in Israel and more than 60,000 Palestinians, he will have done what many before him tried: outmaneuvered a difficult and now isolated ally.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/us/politics/trump-mideast-visit-israel-gaza.html
Never Harris voters are vindicated!
@32: “Never Harris voters are vindicated!”
lol, even the progressives are lining up to salute President Trump! 🤣 But at the risk of raining on the parade, this peace deal had less to do with the personal genius of Donald Trump and more to do with Israeli successes on the battlefield, including especially the dismemberment of Hizbollah, the collapse of the Baath Party in Syria, the Iran and Qatar airstrikes, and the killing of ca. 2/3 of Hamas’s military manpower. 💥 This is the Middle East, where peace is most possible after you flatten the other side, not before! 😄
“Never Harris voters are vindicated!”
Hahahahahahaha… yeah, make sure the most important thing for American voters is Gaza! So brilliant by the Never Harris voters!
Eh, so what if we have a fascist regime in D.C.? It’s all about Gaza!!!!
Good to know the Never Harris voters will now shut their mouths about everything else in this country because, after all, only Gaza matters!
Expanding on @33, Israelis, Gazans, and even Hamas have reached a state of such war-weariness as to make peace palatable to all but the most extreme fanatics in each group. Also, Israel has demonstrated they will finish the job one way or the other, so even (what’s left of) Hamas now starts to see the logic in getting out now, as the probability of each terrorist getting out alive declines with each day of conflict.
@35 why would the Israelis be war-weary when they’re having such great success? Could it be the growing international condemnation of their genocidal behavior?
@36: Yeah, it’s like wars can prove expensive and exhausting, even when they succeed. (Who could possibly have known such a thing? Not you!)
“.. many of its [Israel’s] own citizens no longer see the purpose of further fighting. Its military is facing serious challenges, with reservists exhausted from two years of fighting in Gaza and other places, such as Lebanon.”
(https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-gaza-hostage-ceasefire-deal-815d533f?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_2)
Speaking of “genocidal behavior,” in that part of the world, does that term describe the mass killings of Jews, for being Jews, on land the killers had vowed to cleanse of Jews? Please do let us know. (A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will suffice.)
Oh, and please enjoy a couple of captions, from photographs at that URL:
“A celebration in Tel Aviv following the announcement of a deal.”
“Palestinians in the Gaza Strip celebrating the peace agreement.”
“lol,
even the
progressives are
lining up to salute President Trump!”
–@thumpfsorna, above
stopping
the Hostilities
giving Palestinians
even a Brief Respite is
AGES Overdue tho if the
Past is any Portent for their Future
their/our
Joy is Destined
to be Brief as Fuck
Who
can Trust
either nutnyahoo
or cadet bonespurs?
I give it two weeks
or however ‘long’ it takes
for the Nobel Prizes to be handed out
AND
Mother
Fawker, I’d
LOVE to be Wrong.
“This is the Middle East,
where peace is most possible
after you flatten the other side, not before… “
–also@thumpfsorna
with
Our NO-HOLDS-
BARRED (AIPAC-Enforced!)
Blanque Fawking Cheques policy
concerning Israel, if you ain’t Nuking*
you Ain’t
Fucking
Playing.
*or just
Genociding
Remember:
bibi’s facing
Serious Jail Time
should his War on Palestinians
pause long enough for Israel’s (non-
fascist) Jews to catch their collective Breaths
and Remember
just Who’s
Been In
Charge
so his
Motivation
for Devastation
has Not Gone Away
@26 kristofarian: Aw shucks, kris—thanks. Every blue moon Griz manages to hit one out of the park.
You, Catalina Vel-DuRay, Lissa, and others continue to be wonderful inspirations. Keep it up. 😉
WOW—!!!!!! After 15 nail biting innings against Detroit in Game 5, GO, Mariners!!!!! 🙂