Good morning! It’s a grey one again, but after the deep, moody fog over the weekend, today is comparatively pretty bright. High of 49 and rainy, but we should get a break from the wet for a few hours in the middle of the day.
Election Update: Every race in Seattle has now been called. We know what City Hall will look like next year. (We technically won’t have the final counts until the window to cure ballots is closed next Monday, November 24, but they won’t change anything dramatically.) So now seems like a great time to remind everyone that Seattle just passed a progressive tax with more than 70 percent of the vote. The Shield Tax, championed by the unlikely pairing of Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Mayor Bruce Harrell, cut taxes for thousands of small businesses and raised taxes for the city’s largest, increasing the city’s revenue by at least $80 million. It’s the second time we’ve voted to support progressive revenue this year (the first was Proposition 1A, to fund social housing). Now let’s do it again. And again. And again.
Speaking of the Election: We know that we at the SECB complained about how long the vote took. We might have made a couple jokes about King County Election doing the whole count on a single abacus. But let us take a moment to clarify that the time it took to tally the election results was totally normal. It was a tight race, and voters turned out late, which is typical for an odd-year election. Why are we telling you this? Because after Mayor Bruce Harrell’s concession speech, someone in the crowd asked if he planned to ask for a recount, and he replied that “a lot of people were saying that I shouldn’t concede and that there were anomalies, differences, and stuff,” before skating past that and saying he was conceding anyway. KCE says there were no anomalies in the count. And it’s massively irresponsible to imply otherwise. Where have we heard that before?
All Eyes on Seattle: The national media have all been weighing in on Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson’s win. Most recently, the Washington Post (owned by our hometown start-up founder Jeff Bezos), decided to say their piece: that Harrell was the best mayor we’ve had in decades, that “residents find the city unaffordable because it’s long been a petri dish of failed progressive social experiments and absurdly high taxes,” and that Wilson would run businesses like Amazon out of the city. Then they ended by vaguely making fun of queer people. Good one, Jeff.
Dear John: According to the Seattle Times, SPD sent 21 letters to the homes of people who paid for sex on Aurora last month. This is part of SPD’s new program to try to shame Johns out of buying sex by staking out sex workers, photographing the cars that they lean into, and then sending those photos to the address the car is registered to, paired with a letter describing the suspected crime. There’s basically no evidence that shame is an effective deterrent in the sex industry. But the Mayor’s Office told both Publicola and the Seattle Times that they back this tactic, saying that it’s supported by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a right-wing group that has spent the last 60 years campaigning against same-sex marriage, sex toys, and comprehensive sex ed.
ICYMI: Starbucks’ PSLs and caramel macchiatos are still across the picket line, which means today is a very good day to find your new favorite indie coffee shop. They probably won’t add protein to your coffee, but can we collectively decide that that’s a good thing?
The Mariners and Naylor Are Getting Back Together: After helping get the Mariners closer to the World Series than they’ve ever been, first baseman Josh Naylor’s contract ended, and he was suddenly a free agent. But it turns out, the Mariners wanted to keep him just about as badly as he wanted to stay. So Naylor, one of the few players in the American League who’s capable of fitting an entire pack of gum in his mouth when he’s at bat, will be with the Mariners for another five years.
SCOTUS Takes on Trans Sports Case: The court plans to hear oral arguments in Little v. Hecox, on January 13. The Idaho case will decide if trans women and girls can play sports. Lindsay Hecox, the trans student at Boise State University who filed the case against Governor Brad Little, tried to get the case dismissed before it went to the Supreme Court because she was concerned that she’d “personally be subjected to harassment that will negatively impact [her] mental health, [her] safety, and [her] ability to graduate as soon as possible.” A federal judge denied the request, so we’re full steam ahead next year.
Trump Addresses Groypergate: Weeks after Tucker Carlson invited Holocaust-denying white supremacist Nick Fuentes onto his podcast, Trump has finally weighed in: “You can’t tell him who to interview.” Trump really only talked about Carlson, but that was all Fuentes needed to imply that his views had the co-sign of the White House. Fuentes had already taken Trump’s weeks of silence as implied support, and he shouted his thanks on social media on Sunday for Trump’s stamp of approval. If you’re not familiar with him, here are some highlights of what Trump just co-signed: he has repeatedly praised Hitler; he said that Jim Crow was “better for them”; and he said that women should be subordinate to their husbands.
Epstein Flip Flop: After running a massive pressure campaign to convince the GOP to lay off the Epstein files, Trump has now turned on his heel. “We have nothing to hide,” he wrote on Truth Social. Sure, Jan. House republicans are expected to vote on the release this week, but it’s not clear how long it’ll take for the files to be released, considering that move lies with Pam Bondi.
Buh-Bye: The Pentagon is pulling the National Guard out of Portland and Chicago. The Guard, sent from Texas and California, had been stationed in both cities since October, but never deployed because every judge they asked said absolutely not. Apparently, they just couldn’t handle these shithole cities.
Good News! If you’re travelling for the holidays, you can unclench your cheeks just a little bit. The FAA has lifted all restrictions for commercial flights as of 6 a.m. on Monday. So now Thanksgiving travel will just be the normal amount of hell.
@49: I also enjoyed Kristo’s example of “military failure” in Iraq, a country that just completed a free, fair, peaceful, and democratic parliamentary election. 😄 This is what failure looks like to him! 🤣
read: “amazon cries wolf again. They’re really leavin this time fellas, if you don’t behave and elect who they say! I’m serious this time guys!”
Don’t threaten me with a good time, ya teases
@51: What would prevent Amazon from leaving?
I like the strikers staging their image in front of a Starbuck’s location, which the company had already closed before the strike even began. Are the strikers hoping to fool viewers into believing their strike closed the place?
Well, I guess that’s one sure way of having no one cross their picket line! 😀
@36
I don’t hear SB whining about paying their employees.
When you look at the wages and benefits package, they are extremely well compensated.
It’s honest work, but pouring hot water over coffee grounds and frothing milk isn’t rocket science.
@54 then you’re not paying attention. Even their investors are frustrated about Starbucks’ refusal to negotiate a contract with the union.
https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/starbucks-investors-urge-company-restart-union-talks-2025-10-17/
@45, 47, 49
always Nice to hear
from the AIPAC
contingent
here’s Another take:
Gaza is only the start.
The world is breaking down
under the onslaught of the climate crisis,
which is triggering mass migrations, failed states
and catastrophic wildfires, hurricanes, storms, flooding and droughts.
As global stability unravels, the terrifying
machine of indiscriminate industrial
violence and mass murder, so
familiar to Palestinians, will
become ubiquitous.
The militarized drones, helicopter gunships, walls
and barriers, checkpoints, coils of concertina wire,
watch towers, detention centers, deportations, brutality
and torture, denial of entry visas, apartheid existence that comes
with being undocumented, loss of individual rights and electronic surveillance,
are as familiar to the desperate migrants along the Mexican border
or attempting to enter Europe as they are to the Palestinians.
Soon, unchecked, these tools of state repression
will be used against us.
Israel embodies the ethnonationalist state
the far-right in the U.S. and Europe dreams of
creating for themselves, one that rejects political
and cultural pluralism, as well as legal, diplomatic
and ethical norms. Israel is admired by these proto-
fascists precisely because it is racist and lawless, be-
cause it uses indiscriminate lethal force to “cleanse”
its society of those branded as human contaminants.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/join-us-in-italy-to-support-the-nationwide
but
Yeah
the Peace
Plan’s coming
along pretty swell.
@56: lol in this tortured metaphor, America is Israel and Mexico is Gaza? 😜 Bruh you need to travel more, this doesn’t pass the laugh test 😂😂😂
Although, I suppose it might
Depend on how
one Defines
Swell:
At least 242 Palestinians in Gaza have been
killed by Israel since the “ceasefire” was announced.
The first major ceasefire breach
led to Israeli airstrikes that killed more than
100 Palestinians, including 46 children, and wounded 150 others.
Palestinians in Gaza continue to endure
daily bombings that obliterate homes.
Israel has destroyed more than 1,500
buildings since the ceasefire began,
often decimating entire neighbor-
hoods with demolition charges.
Shelling and gunfire continue to kill and wound civilians,
while drones continue to hover overhead, broadcasting
ominous threats or firing on civilians.
Essential food items, humanitarian aid and medical supplies
remain scarce because of the ongoing siege. And the
Israeli army controls more than half of the Gaza Strip,
shooting anyone, including families, who come
too close to its invisible border, known as
the yellow line.
Their offense?
Returning to the
ruins of their homes.
Israel has systematically made Gaza uninhabitable,
transforming it into the vast graveyard
of all concentration camps.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/join-us-in-italy-to-support-the-nationwide
@Wormtongue
you’ve taught your bott
to laugh in the face of genocide
Bravo,
kristoFARTian is Calvin Priest, Kshama Sawant’s beta cuck husband
@60
well
Goody
yet Another
angry young Troll
to darken derr Schlogg’s door
yo
wot
Up, Sharpie?
Thumpass @ 57…
I would consider it more an analogy, especially if you replace ‘Mexico’ with ‘Anyplace south of Brownsville’. We just haven’t gone full pedal to the metal. Yet.
I wish I could add a /s tag.
Hey Bi-pedo @ 60…
How you doing with your soon to be banned ‘nym?
Still pissed about the ‘moran’ joke? I know I’m still laughing.
@62 – WHO WAS “WILL IN SEATTLE”!!??!?!?!?! Answer me you poopoohead doodoobrain COWARD!
What happened to Will in Seattle? Is he dead? Did you kill him? ANSWER ME!!!!
Full. Stop.
You’ve never been to Brownsville and it shows.
ANSWER ME COWARD! WHO IS “WILL IN SEATTLE”???
Why aren’t you answering me, COWARD?
You have a poopoonose, Full Stop.
Oh you poor child… The Will in Seattle vs. Fnarf battles were legendary. You might have learned something from them (probably not…)
Brownsville, McAllen, Harlingen, Matamoros…
Good times.
Bi-pedo @ 63/64…
Actually I watched the ’97 Super Bowl at an old college buddy of mine’s house in McAllen. (He was a H.S. physics teacher down there.)
Never a fan of the Packers, but it sure was nice to see the Patriots lose. Then go drinking in Mexico…
I don’t care about your sportscuckoldry and I don’t believe that you’ve ever even been to Texas at all.
And yeah, you didn’t understand how I was mocking your meltdown about 5280 when I brought up Will in Seattle, and since you brought him up, Fnarf. Is he dead too? All that subtext of you being mocked just goes right over your head because you are so progressive.
Fuck if I know if they are dead or not… You tell me.
I’m curious how you think you are mocking me, do you care to explain? I hope it’s not the “I’m cwying so hard” stuff. That was pretty embarrassing for you.
My youngest niece and nephew, they grew out of that puerile (you do know what that word means, right?) shit over a decade ago.
You are still pissed that I nailed you with the ‘Moran’ joke, aren’t you.
And not that it matters, I may have been born in Seattle, But my mom’s side of the family were Texan cattle ranchers around the Hereford/Amarillo area, thank you very much. You ever work cattle ‘big’ boy? I have.
Oh, and again, calling me a progressive is not the sick burn you think it is. Just FYI.
You fucking ‘Moran’.
And @ Bi-pedo, here is a little bedtime story for you…
Growing up in lily-white N. Idaho, I went to elementary school with two kids who had the middle name ‘Coolidge’. The older one actually was ‘Calvin Coolidge *’.
A name he truly hated, so he called himself ‘Coolie’. The younger kid also wanted to be called ‘Coolie’, but in a small town, there can only be one.
Now we were ages 6-9, so we didn’t understand the racial aspect of that (also N. Idaho) but there you go.
Someone who wants to ‘nym themselves ‘Coolidge Dollar’, they are either going to get the nickname ‘Coolie’ or ‘Dolly’.
Now, given that I have been calling you ‘Bi-pedo’ for a while now, I am surprised that you are more offended by ‘Coolie’, and not by the fact that I am both inferring and implying that you are a bi-sexual pedophile, willing to molest both boys and girls, just as long as they are young.
Very interesting…
Of course, since you ARE a ‘moran’ maybe you never caught the insult. Or maybe like me with your ‘insult’ of saying that I am more ‘progressive’ than Kristo, you are thinking “Hmmm… Bi-pedo… I resemble that remark, the ‘nym fits.”
@69 – rent free, haw haw haw
@70…
More like free entertainment.