Oh, Hey: The Government is still shut down. I know that’s hard to believe since the Trump Administration is still doing daily damage to American institutions (literally!) and ICE agents are still abducting people off the streets, but today is Day 22. It’s possible SNAP benefits won’t be issued to several states in November if the government doesn’t reopen.

Portland Represent: Senator Jeff Merkley from Portland took to the Senate floor at 6:21 last night to condemn Trump and his authoritarian puppets, and his still at it this morning. He said, “President Trump wants us to believe that Portland, Oregon, is full of chaos and riots because if he can say to the American people that there are riots, he can say there’s a rebellion. And if there’s a rebellion, he can use that to strengthen his authoritarian grip on our nation.” He then praised Portlanders for not “taking the bait” and instead demonstrating with “joy and whimsy.” Stay inflated, frog friends. Watch Merkley live on C-SPAN.

Speaking of Portland: Do you follow our Portland Mercury pals on Bluesky and Instagram? They’re out there reporting on the front lines as federal agents are deployed to the city.

I Did Nazi This Coming (JK We All Did): Trump wanted Paul Igrassia to lead the Office of Special Counsel, but Igrassia had to withdraw himself from consideration after Politico uncovered racist texts he allegedly sent in a group chat. In one message he allegedly wrote, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” 

Weather’s Gonna Get Wild: The National Weather Service’s Dustin Guy says the PNW is gonna get “a bit of a roller coaster of weather” this week. It’ll be rainy and windy here, and the mountains might get some “significant” snow. I personally LOVED this morning’s thick fog. I stared out the window and took a sip of coffee like I was in a General Foods International Coffee commercial circa 1985. “Jean-Luc!”

Thanks, I Hate It: VP JD Vance met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem early this morning to “keep the truce on track,” according to NPR. The Israeli media is calling the Trump administration “Bibisitters.” Over the weekend, Israel claimed Hamas killed two of their soldiers so they launched airstrikes that reportedly killed 26 Palestinians. 

Arizona’s Suing Mike Johnson: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson still has not sworn in Adelita Grijalva, the Congresswoman who won the election in Arizona about a month ago. He keeps making excuses and sometimes even flat-out lies about why he’s not swearing her in. Arizona’s AG has had enough of Johnson’s dick behavior, so she’s suing him and the House. Why’s Johnson putting it off? Several outlets speculate that it could be because a petition to release the Epstein files needs just one more signature, and Grijalva has said she’ll sign it.

Speaking of Sex Criminals: In October, Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to 4 years in prison after being found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution but he’s going to appeal. His attorneys filed a notice of appeal on Monday. On Monday, TMZ claimed a White House official told them Trump was considering pardoning Diddy, but the White House has denied it. TMZ stands by its story.

Coe’s Moving Again: If you went to last night’s live taping of My Favorite Murder at the Paramount, you heard Karen Kilgariff tell the story of Spokane’s South Hill rapist Kevin Coe. Despite being sentenced to life (multiple times, actually!) and being “retained indefinitely” as a sexually violent predator under Washington’s Community Protection Act, Coe was released earlier this month due to his “deteriorating health” including severe depression, stroke, heart disease, and loss of mobility that required a walker. He was initially released to a home in Federal Way, but (shocking) they didn’t want him, so the State relocated him to Auburn, but the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe kicked him out, too. He’s back in Federal Way for now.

Harrell’s Scrambling to Appear Nice: On Monday, Mayor Harrell signed an executive order to fight food deserts and “ensure our children, older adults, people with mobility issues, and families have equitable access to fresh, local, affordable, and culturally relevant food and medicine.” The plan includes $12 million of food-related investments in next year’s budget. Sounds decent, right? Of course it does. The election is less than two weeks away. Just keep in mind that in July, KIRO 7 reported that the city spends an estimated $6 million on graffiti clean-up. That money could help a lot of people! If only Harrell wasn’t afraid of a friendly hot dog.

Sweater Weather: Yesterday PWHL Seattle (our brand new Professional Women’s Hockey League team) unveiled their inaugural jerseys and they’re great! Seattle is emblazoned across the front the way the original PWHL teams did for the league’s inaugural season. But what’s their name? Still TBA, actually! The franchise says they will announce the name ahead of their season—which starts November 21 in Vancouver—and a logo will be incorporated into next year’s sweaters. Weird, but okay! I’m just excited for more hockey. PWHL Seattle’s home opener is November 28 at Climate Pledge.

Things to BoOoOoOoO! Halloween is coming, and we have a list of creepy crawly events if you want to get into the, ahem, spirit of things. Get it? Spirit? Like a ghost! Boo! Nico Swenson also has a roundup of local haunted attractions if you like getting yelled at by strangers and screaming in public. 

Speaking of Screaming in Public: I am so stoked for Winona Fighter’s show in Seattle! December 8 at Showbox SoDo. I hope they play “I’m in the Market to Please No One,” which is really fun to scream at the top of your lungs.


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Megan Seling is The Stranger's managing editor. She mostly writes about hockey, snacks, and music. And sometimes her dog, Johnny Waffles.

77 replies on “Slog AM: Arizona’s Suing Mike Johnson, Harrell’s Fighting Hunger Kind of, and Portland’s Senator Is Still Holding the Floor”

  1. Coe’s Moving Again: If you went to last night’s live taping of My Favorite Murder at the Paramount, you heard Karen Kilgariff tell the story of Spokane’s South Hill rapist Kevin Coe. Despite being sentenced to life (multiple times, actually!) and being “retained indefinitely” as a sexually violent predator under Washington’s Community Protection Act, Coe was released earlier this month due to his “deteriorating health” including severe depression, stroke, heart disease, and loss of mobility that required a walker. He was initially released to a home in Federal Way, but (shocking) they didn’t want him, so the State relocated him to Auburn, but the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe kicked him out, too. He’s back in Federal Way for now.”

    I thought you libprogs wanted to “abolish prisons”

  2. @the bippie

    there’s

    a BIG Difference

    ‘twixt Restorative Justice

    and Incarceration as PUNISHMENT!

    tho our Neanderthals’s

    refuse to Accept that Anything

    Less than the Harshest of Abuse’re

    the onliest thing that’ll set

    the Guilty on the

    straight and

    narrow

    because

    That’s what

    it Takes for Them

    thinking

    we Must ALL

    be Just. Like. Them.

    I beg to Differ.

  3. Do better, SLOG. Latest updates on ICE from Qasim Rashid https://mastodon.social/@QasimRashid/115415909366139037

    CHICAGO: Federal Judge Jeffrey Cummings has found that ICE agents violated the terms of a consent decree by detaining people without proper warrants. He ruled that as of this week ICE must wear body cams at all times and can face arrest and contempt proceedings if they conduct unlawful, warrantless arrests.

    AGAIN, every judge nationwide should make this clear. ICE fascists must follow the law or they will face arrest. Period.

  4. @Kristo

    In the case of a rapist or a murder there is nothing left to restore.

    They have crossed the Rubicon and there is no turning back. The only appropriate sentence for any rapist or murderer is life in prison without parole. And if that means they spend their last feeble demented years drooling onto the concrete floor of their cell so be it. That’s still more life than their victims can hope for.

  5. @ kristofartian

    If you were responding to me, and you probably were, you should know that I do not read your stupid shit, just based on the idiotic formatting and random capitalization.

  6. Which one of you naive White-Guilt Seattle Libprogs wants to defend “abolish prisons”? “Abolish prisons” has literally been an ideology promoted by The Stranger, but now they are complaining that some rapist isn’t still imprisoned. Which is it? Pick a lane and stay in it.

  7. What happens to murderers and rapists when prisons are abolished?

    Who catches the murderers and rapists when the police are abolished?

    Is it just mob rule? You might be surprised that many on the “right” would be okay with that…

  8. restorative Justice

    doesn’t Begin with rape

    and murder — it eliminates

    the Causes. kinda like Blaming

    the Homeless for being Homeless

    and Never looking at

    WHY we even Have

    Homelessness

    as the World stratifies

    the punishments

    can Only get

    more harsh.

    see: ICE

    Cadet Bonespurs’

    own Personal Army

    as their decimation of

    Justice in America snowballs

    see also:

    ‘the Death

    of Stalin’ – it’s

    where We’re headed

  9. Cadet Bonespurs

    is making his absurd

    fantasy of becoming Emperor

    of the World into Reality — this Planet Can

    be Shaped by human beings howsoever we Choose

    right now we’re

    choosing Money

    over Life. Some’ll

    Die Rich as Fuck and

    everyone Else’ll just Die.

  10. @7 if that’s your position then what is the difference between you and a murderer, other than you want the state to do your dirty work for you? Neither of you have respect for the sanctity of life.

  11. @16 – sportscuck, what do YOU propose should be done with murderers and rapists, since according to your comment history you are totally ACAB and “abolish the police”?

    “Neither of you have respect for the sanctity of life”

    LOL

    Are you pro-abortion? I am. Because it kills tens of thousands of future black criminals every single year. “Fear of a Black Planet” indeed.

  12. you’d most

    Likely make a

    Great Candidate

    for a chief Enforcer in

    bibi’s “War” on Palestinians,

    bippie. in fact, you might be Overqualified.

  13. human

    nature has

    many iterations

    mister magoo – to

    allow the Worst of Us

    to dictate How We Live

    is a rapid race to extinction.

  14. Do any of you naive White-Guilt-ridden Seattle libprogs care to actually explain what it means to “abolish the police” and “abolish prisons”, and what would be done with rapists and murderers in the absence of police and prisons? Is it really just some naive idealistic pie-in-the-sky fantasy for you, like “communism” is?

    Go on, explain it, logically. I dare you.

  15. The Stranger, an entity that has literally advocated for the abolishing of the police and prisons, complained in this Slog post that a rapist is still not in prison.

    Somebody make it make sense lol

  16. “Israel claimed Hamas killed two of their soldiers so they launched airstrikes that reportedly killed 26 Palestinians.”

    So the fire that killed two soldiers comes from a building with Hamas fighters AND noncombatants. Under international treaties that makes the ENTIRE building and EVERYONE in it a lawful target.

    That is why the ratio of noncombatant to combatant casualties 10 to 1 or more in warfare.

    @16, In Ukraine the ratio is lower than average because both Russia and Ukraine evacuate noncombatants from areas where they have combatants and the fighting is largely outside dense urban areas. In Gaza its above the average because its a dense urban environment and Hamas intentionally fights amongst noncombatants.

    The irony is the noncombatant death toll is higher in Gaza where noncombatants are legal collateral damage than in Ukraine where noncombatants are unlawfully targeted where there are no troops, military supplies, or military fortifications.

  17. NotMyopic @18…

    That is one of the stupidest things I have read from you, and that’s saying a lot.

    Human nature IS changeable and has over the millennia. Humans can and do change the “contours” of the planet, but Mother Earth gets the last word. Buh-bye Florida…

  18. Some blue-hair septum-ring 20nothing is going to tell me to “eDuCaTe YoUrSelF” instead of logically explaining what should be done with rapists and murderers under the naive fantasy regime of “abolish the police and abolish the prisons”.

  19. @20, Why is extinction bad? By what absolute moral or value standard is existence better than non-existence? Since something can’t come from nothing, where did the standard come from, who created it? Who created the moral imperative to perpetuate the continued existence of anything or any species?’

  20. Hmmm, our resident douche uber-conservative commenter disappears earlier this year and Biped magically shows up? Something seems fishy. Like dude holy shit I would not consider myself anything remotely close to a progressive liberal and even I can see you are certifiably batshit crazy. Can’t afford your meds, or are you just this awful irl?

  21. If God doesn’t exist, and Evolution is true, then why is “racism” supposedly “bad” and “evil”?

    No Atheist White-Guilt Seattle libprog has ever been able to explain it to me logically.

  22. If turnips are purple and carlos santana’s 1999 hit “smooth” featuring rob thomas of matchbox 20 is the first billboard number one single of the 2000s, why do “toasters” only work when they’re “plugged” “in”? No one has been able to explain this to me logically

  23. @24, The archeological record shows war and murder 80,000 years ago.

    The historic record shows love, rape, murder, and war as a constant accross the millenia.

    The charactes and plots, human nobility, and human selfish are just as familiar and relatable themes in literature that is 4,500 years old as it is in modern literature. If our nature was improving, the plot lines and behavior of the 4,500 year old characters would be foreign and alien. It isn’t.

    So the evidence does show human nature is unchanging.

    Our tech changes, our weapons change, and our medicine and tech that benefit humanity change. The nature that chooses how we employ knowledge and tech does not.

  24. Nobody wants to even attempt to explain why The Stranger, an entity that promulgates the positions of “Abolish the Police” and “Abolish Prisons”, is mad that a rapist is not in prison anymore. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  25. @35: Where did you pick up this notion that the Stranger is “mad that a rapist is not in prison anymore?” The Slog item doesn’t express anger about the ex-con’s release to group homes. The articles linked in the Slog item don’t express anger about the ex-con’s release to group homes. The only one who seems angry is you, since you are repeatedly calling people names! 😂🤣😂🤣

  26. @35 you just haven’t asked enough, you gotta get to 75 comments singlehandedly before we answer your demands and you’re only at like 25 (rookie numbers)

  27. @36 – “@35: Where did you pick up this notion that the Stranger is “mad that a rapist is not in prison anymore?” The Slog item doesn’t express anger about the ex-con’s release to group homes. The articles linked in the Slog item don’t express anger about the ex-con’s release to group homes. The only one who seems angry is you, since you are repeatedly calling people names! “

    Do you have difficulty in discerning “tone” in writing? Are you autistic? Megan’s scorn for the rapist being released from prison is clear.

    So much of “leftist discourse” is just lefties pretending to not understand the most obvious things. Congrats, you did the meme.

  28. @41: “Do you have difficulty in discerning ‘tone’ in writing? Are you autistic? Megan’s scorn for the rapist being released from prison is clear.”

    lol, the article is not even about the rapist being released from prison, it is about the rapist being ejected from group homes. Seling’s scorn for the rapist is clear, but she does not express scorn (or any other opinion) regarding his release from prison—a release which occurred all the way back in 2008 and which Seling did not address at all in her piece. Seling’s piece is about his difficulties finding placement in group homes following his release from civil confinement, not his release from prison. 😄 Noting in the Seling piece is incompatible with any interest Seling may have in abolishing prisons. 😁

    Since you brought it up, I’ll ask you a related question: do you have difficulty discerning “substance” in writing? 😉 I ask because you are “discerning” things in this piece of writing that are not actually in it! 😅

  29. “… do

    you have

    difficulty discerning

    “substance” in writing? 😉

    I ask because you are “discerning”

    things in this piece of writing

    that are not actually

    in it!” 😅

    whoa,

    bippie

    looks like

    thumpfnsorna’s

    got You up a Tree!

  30. @39, Then it doesn’t matter if any individual, group of individuals, or whole species return to nothing tomorrow, 10 years from now, or 100 years from now. Its just evolution running its course. There is no significance to that outcome, no tragedy to that outcome, or triumph in that outcome. Its just the determinism of natural selection playing out.

    Our “choices” are just the deterministic outcome of how our neurocicuits have randomly evolved.

  31. “Over the weekend, Israel claimed Hamas killed two of their soldiers so they launched airstrikes that reportedly killed 26 Palestinians.”

    Let’s see, today is (checks iPhone) Wednesday, so “the weekend” was awhile ago. (This may well be the closest the Stranger gets to admitting the peace it detests continues to hold in Gaza — no reports of violence over the past few days.)

    Well, if the Stranger can simply repeat itself and call it “news,” then I can simply repeat my previous response, from back when it still was really news. This past weekend, Israeli soldiers may have worried about Hamas trying to kill them because Hamas had spent the week before that murdering Palestinians in broad daylight, literally lining them up and shooting them in premeditated mass murder. The Stranger has not issued even one tiny word of protest against Hamas, even after Hamas openly slaughtered Palestinians, by lining them up out in the open and shooting them in broad daylight.

    The Stranger, and supportive commenters, just spent two solid years demanding first a cease-fire by Israel, and later an arms embargo against Israel, ostensibly to force a cease-fire. Now this same crew silently walks around every opportunity to demand Hamas disarm, and pointedly ignores how Palestinians continue to die because Hamas remains armed.

    Two years of posturing, preening, posing and pretending they actually cared about Palestinian lives just got completely drowned by a week (and counting) of their thunderous silence.

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