I will support the striking Starbucks coffee workers by continuing my lifelong boycott of Starbucks coffee. Solidarity! 😄

@2: “every time The Stranger writes ‘progressive’ just swap that out with ‘stupid and naive’”

That’s not as good a slam as you think it is, certainly not worth repeating every day like you do 😛

Remember kids, every time you see the name Biped, just swap it out with "racist piece of shit."

No Sonics fan should ever step foot into a Starbucks. Right, Mayor Harrell?

Well, let me grab my copy of Ben Lewis's "Hammer & Tickle," and get this party started!

A Communist, Socialist and Capitalist all agree to meet at a cafe. The Communist and the Capitalist arrive on time but the Socialist is late. An hour later, the Socialist rushes in. Sorry I'm late guys' he said, 'I had to wait in line for a sausage'. 'What's a line?' asked the Capitalist. 'What's a sausage?' asked the Communist.

A Socialist, a Marxist, and a Postmodernist walk into a strip club. The bouncer checks their ID's and says "sorry guys, come back when you're 21."

A young, ruthless executive died and went to hell. When he got there, he saw one sign that said Capitalist Hell, and another that said Socialist Hell. In front of the Socialist Hell was an incredibly long line, while there was no-one in front of the Capitalist Hell. So the executive asked the guard, "What do they do to you in Socialist Hell?" "They boil you in oil, whip you, and then put you on the rack," the guard replied. "And what do they do to you in Capitalist Hell?" "The same exact thing," the guard answered. "Then why is everybody in line for Socialist Hell?" "Because in Socialist Hell, they're always out of oil, whips, and racks!"

@8 Is this some Lets Go Brandon thing where you think you're cooking up something special but it actually makes zero sense and you're still just a child-molester-worshipping racist at the end of the day. Might as well call us all "woke" like it's somehow a negative thing. You have become the snowflakes.

@9 this hits hard with all those people waiting in line to be fed via snap benefits because of arguments over whether or not poor people getting help accessing healthcare is worth cutting into privatized insurance profit margins. Also faint memories of how well capitalism handled emergency situations like pandemics. Good read.

"["Democratic"] National
Committee head Ken Martin
suggested that people who were un-
happy with the decision were welcome to find other jobs...

and
that Yes,
the "d"nc IS
gonna "Go Wit JOE!"or maybe
Kamala, he hadn't Quite Decided, as of Yet."

where Else
they gonna
fucking GO?!
he added wit a
Very Wry, shit-eatin' Grin

oh
And
pay no
Nevermind to
bipps "Buggers" bippie*

starve him for Attention
watch him go
MADD.

*paid Troll?
pro-fucking Bono?
it Don't make no fucking Dif

@9 You should visit Denmark. It's terrible.

@13 Doug was being sarcastic but I appreciate your ability to be racist and gross about absolutely everything.

@18 No shit. You were saying that Denmark isn't terrible because everyone is white. That's the blatantly racist part I was talking about, ya fuckin idiot.

The only Starbucks coffee I drink is from the free Starbucks machines on the Microsoft campus. It's good. It's free. It's in Bellevue.

@11: Minor nit:

"arguments over whether or not poor people getting help accessing healthcare is worth cutting into privatized insurance profit margins."

Better as:

"arguments over whether or not poor people getting help accessing healthcare is worth renewing the ACA subsidies."

Without the subsides, the insurance companies have to make up the difference that the subsides were paying for.

@20: Microsoft offices are everywhere, but the campus in is Redmond.

fuk the aca
let's DO
M4A

and Join the
Civilized
World

@Biped (too many rants to number)
Calm down. I know you’re upset that things aren’t going the way you would like what with the dreaded Dems and progressives gaining ground and the anti immigrant shit show becoming more and more unpopular and people in red states stating to feel the ill effects of their votes but just take a breath.

@23 They are all over the Eastside. Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland. I am currently in Bellevue, but if I cross the street I am in Redmond. If I ride my bike 2 miles, I am in Kirkland.

Hannah, didn't something else get voted on at the catholic bishop summit? Oh yes, no more transgender affirming care at any catholic hospital. So your weird religious flex about immigration, is asinine at best.

The insurance companies will make up the difference by passing the cost onto consumers and restricting coverage. For-profit companies aren’t going to eat billions of dollars for the benefit of the public good. They are going to figure out how to remain profitable.

The reason we have this system in the first place is because this country has an aversion to public programs. If the republicans have an idea of how to lower costs with a purely market-based approach they should put it into action asap but we have yet to see the concepts of a plan we’ve been promised for over a decade now.

@29 The Republicans' problem is that they did have a plan. It was taken up and rebranded as Obamacare. Now that their only plan has been cruelly taken away from them, they've got nothing. Lord knows they can't support the thing that they previously supported because it has the wrong name on it.

@9 your comment is proof market economics works because those jokes were worth exactly what I paid to read them

@30, Right. From what I’ve seen online their plan is to give the subsidies to consumers to purchase the plan instead of going directly to the insurance companies, so… obamacare with extra steps that will be rife with fraud and inefficiencies. But they get to play populist by demonizing insurance companies, even though their plan does nothing to fix the problems with the health care system.

Look, I get all the knee-jerky hand-wringing over the alleged "defection" of the Democrats who voted to re-open the government, but from a strategic perspective it may in fact be more more effective in the long-term than many people seem willing to acknowledge.

The ACA extension is scheduled to expire at the end of next month; nothing, not continuing the shutdown OR re-opening the federal government changes that deadline, and the GQP on-the-whole seems to have no inclination to save it, regardless of whether or not the Democrats voted to continue keeping things closed. BUT, with the government now open again and the House back in-session AND Speaker Johnson having publicly committed to putting it to a floor vote, the GQP will now have to go on-record as opposing it; something they would have avoided had the shutdown lasted until the end of the year. It's also entirely possible some Republicans will have been pressured by their own constituents to vote for an extension; a Petition of Discharge is now being drawn up, just as was done with regard to opening the Epstein Files (more on that in a moment) and requires the same simple majority of 218 members signing it to force a floor vote, which Johnson will not be able to avoid in that circumstance. So, the Republicans are in the hot-seat either way: if Johnson renegs on his "promise" (and I don't think anyone is under the false impression that's not entirely likely), they own this; if the PoD gets enough signatures to force a vote and the GOP rejects it en-masse, they still own it, thus throwing literally tens of millions of their own supporters under the proverbial bus. That's not going to put them in a very good position come the 2026 mid-terms.

Now, the other thing I mentioned above is that, re-opening the government puts the Epstein Files back in-play: Johnson had to reconvene the House and by doing so had no choice but to swear in AZ Rep Adelita Grijalva, who, literally as soon as the last words of the oath of office left her mouth, signed the PoD, becoming the 218th and final signature needed to force a floor vote on making the files held by the DOJ public. We all already know this issue has split the GQP base with many MAGA's demanding their publication. So, again, if it gets voted down in either the House or Senate, the Repubs own that as well, and even if it passes both and is inevitably vetoed by Lord Dampnuts, they still shoulder that. It's not going away no matter what happens, as yesterday's publication of some 20,000 documents provided to the House Oversight Committee by the Epstein Estate made abundantly clear.

Finally, re-opening the government means: 1. SNAP payments start flowing back to some 42,000,000 U.S. citizens who were on the verge of losing these desperately-needed benefits; 2. the roughly 1,500,000 government employees, who have either been fired, furloughed or forced to work without pay, will once again have their jobs and income restored - and right before the Holidays. National Parks will once again be staffed; Social Security offices will be able to see clients; our military and air traffic controllers and all the other "essential workers" who have been effectively reduced to the level of indentured servitude during the shutdown will receive back-pay and benefits.

Some may call what happend "capitulation", even "betrayal", but looking at this from a higher perspective it appears to be a political analog to a strategic military retreat (search for "Dunkirk" to see how this has played out historically), which, while requiring one side to suffer a defeat, nevertheless sets the stage for a larger victory. "Lose the battle, win the war" seems to be the operative expression here, and all of this puts the Democrats in a much more favorable position in the long-run than they would have been had they allowed the shutdown to continue to adversely affect tens of millions of people.

There isn’t anything dishonorable about working as a barista, but it isn’t rocket science. I can make my own for a lot less and don’t have to deal with the attitude of a person who has made it clear that they don’t want to be there.

“I hope our friends in southern Washington remember this when she runs for reelection.”

I hope so as well - I would much prefer her over any Republican!

@28

I wonder how that will shake out at Swedish (under the heel of Providence) for their adult gender-affirming care. It will probably go the way of the abortion services they used to have, which are now only for emergencies.

@33 "the GQP will now have to go on-record as opposing it; something they would have avoided had the shutdown lasted until the end of the year"

How would they have avoided being on record opposing extension of the subsidies when the exclusion of an extension of the subsidies in the budget was the reason for the shutdown? As I see it they were already actively opposing the extension of the subsidies, but maybe I'm missing something.

@36
Not sure what that has to do with my comment, but good effort.

@17 So you're in agreement that socialism works?

@37,

There are two 33's dingbat.

Humans that believe themselves to be capitalists, when they are actually just labor capital in an actual capitalist's portfolio, are the easiest to manipulate.

@40. Wait a minute! I don't know about the capitalist thing, because I always considered myself a Sergio Tacchini man. Sergio Tacchini men have no need for socialism because the confidence and swagger these tracksuits imbue make us veritable wolves on the prowl!

Don't believe me? Let Fabrizio Brienza explain;
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQhX6_KkqoW/?l=1

Fabrizio also reminds us that there are only two kinds of men - those who wear Tacchini and those who don't, and the consequences of that choice are dire!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ-XYypklxe/

@36:

It may be somewhat a matter of semantics, but if the ACA extension had simply been allowed to lapse without a vote, Republican members of Congress would have had been able to use the shutdown as a fallback in order to claim THEY didn't kill it, it was those evil Democrats keeping the government closed that caused it. With the government re-opened that particular bit of rhetorical obfuscation has effectively been taken off the board and they will now be forced to actively vote against the extension and risk the wrath of the millions of their own constituents who depend on it for health coverage.

@42 ok I get what you're saying but still disagree with your main point (largely because, as you conceded was possible, I don't think Senate Republicans will actually hold a vote). The discharge petition was a good move by House Dems though.

I just want to say, excellent comment by COMTE @33 making the case that this shutdown played out in the best--or at least the least bad way--it could have. I say this as someone who:
A. Thought that shutdown was a stupid idea when they were considering it. My thinking was, by forcing the shutdown, the Democrats were trying to play King Solomon and order the baby to be cut in half when all along they were the baby's actual mother.
B. Was bitterly disappointed when I heard that the eight Senate Dems had worked out the deal to end the shutdown. It took me until the next day to make my peace with the deal.

Apparently, David Horsey has a similar perspective to COMTE. File this under a political cartoon is worth a thousand words:
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/democrats-made-their-point-and-the-shutdown-needed-to-end/

P.S. Oh wow. Katie Wilson just did her first post-victory national TV interview on CNN. And gotta say, I was not embarrassed.

@41: Nam, zaydi! Traczoot! [Fires PK wildly into the air] 😁

@40

ready to die
on the dull sword
of Capitalism believing
themselves just a couple good
breaks from the Top o' the food Chain

when
in Reality
a couple Bad
Breaks from the Pin-
nacle o' the Food pyramid

and No one
Defends their
Oppressors Better

Noses of brown
shirts Soon
enough
Too

King County has multiple mental health options. Of course they could always be better but there are a lot of things in the works. There is already the Crisis Solutions Center. People can be referred by 1st responders and Mobile Crisis Team. Connections Kirkland is available for walk in treatment. They have 23 hour observation and different levels of mental health care in the same building. Other sites are in different parts of the county. "The Crisis Care Centers Initiative, approved by King County voters in April 2023, began implementation in 2024 to create a countywide network of five crisis care centers, restore and expand mental health residential treatment beds, and strengthen the community behavioral health workforce.

The first Crisis Care Center, Connections Kirkland, is now open. A Crisis Care Center is a place anyone can walk in 24/7 to get urgent care for a wide range of mental health or substance use challenges, regardless of insurance. In the coming years, the county plans to open four more centers in Central (Seattle/Vashon), South and East King County, plus one for youth.

The nine-year levy is helping make crisis care easier than ever to get by linking the 988 crisis line, mobile crisis teams, and other behavioral health resources to support people’s recovery. "
https://connectionshs.com/kirkland
Multiple jurisdictions have Co-responders that go out with fire/police to assist with mental health needs.

Bi-pedo @ 48...
I'm assuming you are too young to remember 5280...

@26 Lissa: Methinks Bioopsie, along with his trolling pals Calvin and Trumpfus are all ~ 40 going on 14, using their mom's account to log in to spew their senseless word salad, and have their tighty whities in a schweaty* wad because Seattle elected Katie Wilson as mayor over Bruce Harrell.
(* Thank you, Alec Baldwin, on SNL :D)

@33 COMTE: Thank you. You and Dave Horsey are spot on. I'm curious to see how the 2026 midterm elections turn out. Agreed, too, with Catalina Vel-DuRay: Republicans are horrible people.

@48: Down, Bioopsie, down. Just eat your kerfuffle paste, crawl back into your dark little MAGA cave, and chill out already. Too much FOX TeeVee is gonna kill ya, and not in a nice way.

@49 drewl2: Bioopsie's too clueless to know anything. I wouldn't count on his short term memory. He's got the attention span of the average five year old.

can
One
rotten
Buggers
spoil the
Whole damn
Bunch? it's Trying!

@50: For every one of Alec Baldwin's minds-of-mush fans out there, just remember: RIP Halyna Hutchins

Coolie @52...
Ok, I'm not a fan of Baldwin, but how was he at fault?
He didn't load the gun, it was handed to him by prop directors, and the director of the film told him to fire at Hutchins.

But, yeah... because he made fun of Trump, he is a murderer.

What do you put in your Cheerios in the morning? Christ, I was waiting for you to bring Biden into this.
Pathetic.

@53: Yes, there are those who will claim he's not at fault because of protocols meant that he didn't have to check the chamber. Remember the crew was constantly worried about safety violations, and he knew about those complaints. And with that knowledge he still didn't put safety first and assumed there was not a live round.

Let him be tormented for the rest of his days in unrelenting guilt and sadness. May he never know joy again, and with that new wife of his, that's a given. Also, he's a lousy Trump on SNL.

But yeah, he was acquitted in a Santa Fe court, so be it.

@53: “Ok, I'm not a fan of Baldwin, but how was he at fault? He didn't load the gun, it was handed to him by prop directors, and the director of the film told him to fire at Hutchins.”

Well, good old “negligence” would be the theory of fault for Baldwin. Even if someone else swears to you that a gun is harmless, you probably should check it out yourself before you point it at someone and pull the trigger. 😄

@54: Not acquitted, dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct I believe 😝

Bi-pedo @ 53...
You have a problem with 'Coolie' but not 'Bi-pedo'?
Very interesting.
My question is more why is there not more focus on the other people in the chain that caused this tragedy to happen.
Oh, right... Alec made fun of Trump.

Thumper @56...
For once, I agree with you. I never trust any firearm that I have not inspected myself. He (Baldwin) fucked up big-time there. But don't gloss over the failures that allowed this to happen.

@53

A. KkKool-Aide.

KkKoolie put the
Jim Jones KkKoolaide on-
to his ChchCheerios this AM

it's the only
Way he can
ChchChoke
them down.

and
thedjt
LOVES
him for it!

trolls
and their
trollings're
kicking the Shit
outta this forum

hmmmmm

Bi-pedo@ 60...
Duh... of course I have used those names for you two. Is this too early in the morning for you?
Answer my question:

Do you remember 5280?

@63: snicker

@59 kristofarian: BINGO. The usual trolling gang of idiots are chugging waaaay too much of Felon Mu$k's Mein Trumpf's KKKool Aid these days. It's all they have left to hold onto when they go over the deep end into the black hole their Orange Geezer created with a Sharpie.
The 2026 midterms should be interesting, however dystopian the politiKKKs.

@63 & @64: Don't you have some 7th grade Remedial to catch up on?
Get off the hydroxychloroquine already.

"I've never written "Bi-pedo"."
--@Biped on November 14,
2025 at 9:56 AM
Report this

you
Can-
Not make
this Shite Up.

and
Why
would
one even
f'g Want To?

@65

bingo
Right
Back
Atchya
auntie Gee!

it's Gotta be
all that Paste!

or, maybe, it's the
KkKoolie-Aide®?