Good morning! We’re getting some sun this afternoon, and the temps will get up into the 50s. I’m sure April will pull the rug out from under us soon, so enjoy it today!
It’s April 2: Did you fall for anything stupid yesterday? My local favorite was the NRDC’s “narwhal spotting.”
“I Rise”: Senator Cory Booker stood and spoke on the Senate floor from 7 p.m. on Monday to 8:05 Tuesday night. He held the floor for more than 25 hours—breaking the previous record held by Strom Thurmond, a segregationist who was filibustering against a civil rights bill (that was lost on absolutely no one in the chamber). Booker hadn’t eaten since Friday. He stopped drinking water on Sunday night. He never went to the bathroom or sat down for 25 hours. And he spent those hours demanding that the body see the harm the Trump administration is causing all of their scared constituents, and hundreds of thousands of people watched him do it. Technically, this speech did nothing. He wasn’t pushing against policy, just demanding attention and action and hope. But maybe for the first time since November 5, he gave hundreds of thousands of us something to collectively root for. I think that’s something we can build on, if we choose to.
A New Holiday: Trump is calling today “Liberation Day in America”: the day he’s announcing a heap of new “reciprocal” tariffs. He’s announcing the specifics at 4 p.m. ET today, but economists overwhelmingly agree that this is going to hit most Americans in the wallet. Trump, meanwhile, is using sizzle reels of Fox propaganda clips to insist that this is going to drive billions of dollars in investment in American business. As economist Paul Krugman put it: “I don’t see any thinking at all.”
Musk Loses in Wisconsin: In a victory for abortion and labor rights, Judge Susan Crawford won the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race, crushing anti-abortion Judge Brad Schimel. Schimel, best known for his charming parenting confessions (“I just psychologically beat the daylights out of an 8-year-old in the back seat”) was bankrolled by Elon Musk, another grade-A dad. Musk spent $20 million backing Schimel, and his super PAC offered $50 on Tuesday for Cheesehead selfies outside of polling sites. Super normal! The race shattered record spending as the most expensive judicial contest in US history, topping $100 million. “As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I’d be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin,” Crawford said at her election night watch party. “And we won!”—likely locking in liberal control for the next three years.
The GOP Won in Florida: But not by the margin they would have liked to. Two Trump-backed Republicans won their special congressional elections in Florida yesterday, solidifying the party’s majority in the House. For now, these wins will help President Trump’s domestic agenda, but the slim wins are giving Dems some hope for the midterms.
Batman Forever: Val Kilmer passed away yesterday at age 65. If you were an ’80s kid, you know him best as Iceman from Top Gun. If you’re a ’90s kid, you know him as Batman or Jim Morrison. If you’re younger than that, I’m just gonna assume your parents had the good sense to show you all three. In his NYT obit, they described him as “unpredictable,” “charismatic,” and “tall and handsome in a rock-star sort of way.” We hadn’t seen him much lately. He left the Hollywood spotlight around the 2010s, and when NYT asked him why, he told them that “he had other interests; he wanted to hang out with his kids.” But, he added: “Once you’re a star, you’re always a star.” To honor the star, enjoy this homoerotic masterpiece (The Stranger’s Marcus Harrison Green reminded me this morning that the phrase “mostly straight” didn’t exist in the American lexicon before Top Gun):
Luigi Faces the Death Penalty: Pam Bondi announced yesterday that the DOJ is calling for the death penalty in the Luigi Mangione case. In a statement, she wrote: “I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.” One of Bondi’s first acts as Attorney General was to release a memo announcing that she would be “reviving the federal death penalty and lifting the moratorium on federal executions.” In it, she called federal executions “critical work” that “undoubtedly” makes Americans safer. Doubt it. Studies have consistently shown that the death penalty isn’t a crime deterrent. You’re just killing people because you want to.
Karma’s a Bitch: Tesla sales fell 13 percent in the first three months of this year.
Local HHS Office Chopped: Remember the 10,000 jobs RFK Jr. cut yesterday? That included the entire Seattle regional office of HHS. Local officials say the closures will impact 15 million people across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska who rely on these services, and local tribes will be hit especially hard—in case there was any question that MAHA just means leaving vulnerable communities without critical support. Washington AG Nick Brown has joined a multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that the slashing of funding for health programs violate federal law and will harm communities already struggling with public health challenges.
Ferguson Says Nope to a Wealth Tax, Again: Did you think Bob Ferguson had a splinter of progressive backbone left? Cute. On Tuesday, he splashed cold water on Democrats’ proposal to fix our state budget deficit by taxing the ultra-rich. My guy says he won’t commit to the wealth tax, but nor will he commit to cutting everything, basically just leaving everyone on read like a bad Hinge date. So, we’re stuck in a Schrödinger’s budget crisis where the only certainty is that billionaires’ piles of dubiously concentrated cash will go untouched. Republicans are acting like this is some full-throated endorsement of trickle-down economics when, in reality, Ferguson is just ghosting both sides, hoping the budget magically balances itself. It won’t.
Why Aren’t We Taxing the Rich? Ferguson claims that he won’t sign a bill with a wealth tax because it’s “novel, untested, difficult to implement” and likely to face legal challenges. It’s true that it’s novel, and the WA Department of Revenue released a report at the end of last year laying out guidance for avoiding legal pitfalls, and warning that the revenue from the tax could be difficult to predict. But the alternative can’t be cutting essential services throughout the state, especially while we’re losing more support from the federal government every day. The reality is that we need a new, progressive tax model, and Ferguson is intentionally failing to use even an ounce of imagination to build something better. The silver lining? He left the door open for a payroll tax similar to our JumpStart tax. But he also said he wouldn’t pass a budget without $100 million over two years to hire cops.
For Your Wednesday: Doppelganger by the Montreal-based Japanese band TEKE:TEKE—a perfect song to commute to.
This Slog AM was a group project with Marcus Harrison Green.
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From the linked report on wealth taxes:
‘Over the last three decades, many countries have repealed their wealth taxes, including
Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Sweden.
‘Despite a trend of countries repealing their wealth taxes in recent years, some countries
have introduced, reintroduced, or introduced complementary wealth taxes during this
same time, including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Spain.
‘Many factors have been put forward to justify the repeal of net wealth taxes such as the
high administrative and compliance costs when compared to their relatively limited
revenues. More recent research has indicated that tax elasticity, avoidance, and evasion
may have played the most significant role in the “failure” of these wealth tax regimes.
‘Additionally, the revenues collected from net wealth taxes have, with few exceptions, been
low despite rising wealth levels.’
So, the tax willl be difficult to design, difficult to administrate, have revenue which is hard to predict, possibly bring in far less revenue than expected, and can be avoided entirely by moving out of state. It would also buck trend set by “Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Sweden.”
Other than all of that, though, it sounds like a great idea! 😉
New economic development and growth requires infusions of wealth. Taxing unrealized capital gains sends that wealth elsewhere, stifing growth and new jobs. Yay, Bob Ferguson!
wanna Know
WHY this Planet’s
so Totes Fucked Up?
“I just
psychologically
beat the daylights out
of an 8-year-old in the back seat!”
–Judge Brad Schimel, the Loser
in WI’s Supreme Court race
maybe His kids’ll
psychoogically
kick the Snot
outta Him
when he
cannot
Defend
Himself
Anymore.
‘Justice’?
meh.
Break the
Fucking
Cycle.
Fergie done good dismissing the wealth tax as pure lunacy. I never would have expected it a year ago.
I’ve got a few issues with the Trump administration today. I’m not keen on the death penalty and I sure as hell don’t want us bombing Iran. However, I’m still all-in on deportations, tariffs and cutting the Federal Government down to the bone.
4: Explain why are you all-in on tariffs.
Tariffs are stupid unless you are an emerging economy struggling to build nascent industries. Trump is a moron.
@6 FTW
The assumption that companies will relocate their manufacturing to the US is the kind of self-aggrandizing delusion only an America-firster is capable of. The US is not the center of the global economy anymore and that’s only going to get worse as Trump’s isolationism cuts us off from it. Even if there were a financial incentive to do so it would take a decade or more, but I can’t imagine companies will rush to invest in a dying empire when China and its market of 1.5 billion people are just sitting there.
@5 Reason 1: Protect American industries that are vital to our defense (Mining, Steel and other Metal Production, Automobile / Aircraft / Heavy Industrial Machinery, etc.)
Reason 2: To protest tariffs placed on American goods by other countries (looking at you Canada, Europe).
Heck, in an ideal world I would be a free trader. But we don’t live in an ideal world. China and others undercut us due to their lack of regulations, lack of labor laws, etc. And Canada / Europe flat out refuse to allow certain American imports.
@8 We remain the largest economy by GDP and are likely to do so for decades to come. We are the only true military superpower. We aren’t quite at the dying empire stage. In fact, we may be expanding into Canada and Greeland over the next few years. 😀
@9, So what, the US is only ~25% of the global gdp. Being “first” is not good enough when we’re standing alone against the rest of the world.
Corey Booker is a clout chaser. It’s peak modern Democrat that he intentionally did this when it would inconvenience nobody. If he has disrupted, say, Trump’s agency head nominations by speaking for 25 hours straight THAT could have been called badass.
@1: Yeah. “Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
At first, I thought Ferguson was a Democrat Yes-man. But now I’m beginning to suspect that he is at least pragmatic enough to live with.
RIP Val Kilmer. I remember him for the popcorn in Real Genius. And the reloading (still used as an example in US Marines training) in Heat.
@10 – don’t be ridiculous, we have strong alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, Britain, Israel and many others. And the Europeans are wholly dependent upon us for their defense. We aren’t going it alone.
Also, earlier you characterized me as an America Firster. In reality, I’m an America First, Second and Thirder.
@9 Biden did keep some of the Trump tariffs from Trump’s 1st administration. Paired with thoughtful investment in essential sectors (e.g. chip manufacturing in the Phoenix area) which Biden accomplished during his term makes sense.
But this across the board retaliatory nonsense (while tens of thousands of research and oversight jobs are being cut) has all the intelligence of a monkey flinging crap on the wall in anger. In no rational world would we make Canada into a trade enemy.
This has all the earmarks of economic contraction, while the billionaires get their tax cuts.
@11: There’s no drawbacks to giving voice to the passions and the truths for which he spoke. The optics were beneficial and motivating for democrats. Booker also broke Strom Thurmond’s record for the longest filibuster speech, which was against the civil rights bill – that made it very personal for Booker.
So Cory Booker wasted a lot of time for nothing.
So stunning
So brave
Wasn’t the esteemed Senator Booker one of the people calling for the elimination of the filibuster?
@14 – Canada simply need join the US to eliminate all trade barriers up to and including our Northern border. Make North America Great Again.
@16 – If Cory Booker was against the filibuster, that is something I can get behind. Ain’t nothing in our Constitution about 60 votes to pass a bill out of the Senate.
Number one thing Trump could do would be to guarantee the Canadians currency parity with the US dollar. Canadians would be tripping over themselves to vote to join the Union.
@17
I could get behind it as well, but he destroyed his credibility on the subject.
@19 not really because this wasn’t a filibuster, it was just an unprecedentedly long speech that served no legislative purpose.
@13, I didn’t characterize you as anything. Speaking of delusions of grandeur lol. My god, get over yourself.
Our allies are already pivoting to a post-US-centric world, both as a trade partner and military superpower. It’s Trump’s belief and guiding philosophy that Europe should be more responsible for its own protection. By your own admission these relationships are important for our standing in the world and he is actively surrendering them.
@21 – I don’t believe those relationships are important for our standing in the world. Europe should pay more, far more, for their defense. If I were President I would have already withdrawn from NATO and the UN. I was simply making the argument that presently, Europe is our bitch.
@21 – excuse me, I meant our relationship to Europe. Yes, I do appreciate our relationships with Japan, SK, etc.
Who gives a fuck what you think bTrump is actively diminishing our position as a global superpower and jeopardizing our economic relationships with the rest of the world with his reckless rhetoric, tariffs, and saber rattling.
@24 – we’ll continue to see things differently I suppose. I have no interest in selling you my vision of the world dude, I’m just here to vent (and occasionally gloat) like everyone else.
If you have no interest in selling your dogshit opinions then you can start by not elbowing your way into conversations that don’t include you.
Trump also announced today that he’s dumping his DJT shares. (Pam the Blond is also dumping her stake.) So long, suckers!
@12, the reason the Marines use “Heat” as a training tool is that Kilmer, Sizemore, et al., were taught reloading drills by SAS vets.
@12, @27: lol, real Marines speed reload faster than Val Kilmer does:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C2_qo5_wSa8
@12: “RIP Val Kilmer. I remember him for the popcorn in Real Genius.”
His performance really elevated that by-the-numbers college comedy. It’s still a legend to us geek types.
(And the part of burnt-out former student Lazlo was played by Jon Gries, who now plays Greg/Gary on White Lotus.)
The Saint was great.
I’m just here to give a shoutout to the usual pithy awesomeness of Swiftress. Appreciate the double shot today @2 and @6.
@9, …, @WereBackBaby – Sorry, I don’t buy it. I’ve searched in vain for just one reasonable economist to vouch for these tariffs and the arguments to de-globalize the economy. Tariffs are only applicable for targeted situations with specific countries. Not on this crazy scale and scope. It’s all bananas and so unnecessary.
@28: They’re not firing in that video. Reaching the end of a magazine requires an adjustment from a shooting position to an eject/reload one. And reaching the end of a magazine can catch even a more experienced soldier by surprise (nobody counts rounds). And they don’t have to duck under cover (well, Kilmer wasn’t under real fire).
@33: “Reaching the end of a magazine requires an adjustment from a shooting position to an eject/reload one.”
lol, no it doesn’t. You can eject, slap in a fresh mag, and hit the bolt catch, all with your non-shooting hand, all while remaining in the firing position. In fact, that’s one of the characteristics that distinguishes a speed reload from a tactical reload, ie the whole point of this drill. 😛
@33: “reaching the end of a magazine can catch even a more experienced soldier by surprise”
A soldier, maybe, but less so a Marine. 😉 You always can feel the bolt lock back on the empty because it hits different than normal recoil. Plus, when you are doing a mag dump (which is the main scenario when a speed reload would be employed IRL), it’s even easier to tell when you’re empty because the trigger locks and the boom-boom stops.
Surprise is provided in the video by the Marines not knowing when reload will be called. The timing of the call is more surprising to them than an actual mag dump would be because unlike a mag dump they have no control over when the call will come.
@33: “And they don’t have to duck under cover (well, Kilmer wasn’t under real fire).”
He also wasn’t wearing 40 pounds of armor and gear. 😆
“pithy awesomeness” = the tired and constant empty threat of “don’t tax their wealth or they’ll take it somewhere else” as if hoarding wealth and political power has ever delivered “economic development” i.e. the improving of the people’s income, health, lifespan, education and literacy,
sigh …
@35: Yeah, I agree it’s best for you to attack other commenters, than to read the linked report, because the report details many actual problems with the proposed taxation. (I copied the most immediately relevant @1, for your ease of avoidance.)
And yes, it’s generally easier for a taxpayer to leave one American state for another, than to leave one country for another.
@36 You mean that taxing wealth is not favored by politicians when wealth and political power are concentrated at the top? wow, how convincing
@37
fuking
BINGO.
wormmy
works For
the Oligarchy
yet pretends to
be “for the people.”
treat
Him the
same way
thedjt ‘treats’
the Rest of Us.
get it straight:
the Wormtongue’s
quick-as-a-wink to Protect
his AI Slambott. take note of it.
@37, @38, @39: Glad to see you guys agree: you should entirely avoid addressing any of the actual issues identified with such taxes, and should really stick exclusively to ad hominem attacks upon anyone who has indeed bothered to read that report (or has done any other research of any kind whatsoever).
The one thing you know about knowledge is that it’s not your friend.
but we
know You
Wormtongue
and your
constant drumbeat
for this Fascism gripping
the US, carefully disguised
the ‘concerned centrist’
okay on some issues
the GOP on others
fuck Off
I’m not talking
about taxes. I’m
talking about You.
@41: Again, great work on dodging any semblance of substance, and sticking with the ad hominems. You’re gonna be in fine form when all the issues I’ve here mentioned about ‘taxing the rich’ come up in civic dialog. Good luck with that.
“…the GOP on others…”
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Socialist Alternative Member of the Seattle City Council.
pay no
Nevermind
to the Wormtongue
Garbby with his incessant
attempts to Shame you for
having the temerity to call that
pos out — he’ll NEVER feel Any shame
he’s infucking capable
just an emotionally-
Abuse bully.
I for
one am
Glad You’re Here.
@43: “he’s infucking capable
just an emotionally-
Abuse bully.”
What’s the term again? Ah yes, “vile projections.”
(Although, TBF, can you really be considered a bully if you can’t ever actually get anyone to knuckle under to you?)
And, why your big showy pretense of emotionally protecting Garb from me? In this thread, we’ve agreed Val Kilmer put some enjoyable performances on film. That’s all.
@44
yeah
wormmy
that was, indeed,
Mrs. Catalina Val duRay’s
term for one of your “zingers”:
a “Vile
Projection.”
and
a most
excellent
Call it Was.
Is.
and Fuck Off
with your
‘on this
thread
we dis-
cussed’
Horse
Shite
no one carries
past comments
like the Wormtongue
springing
them up like
mummies from
Yesterfucking year.
see
you
back
here
at 4:30
AM sharp
for even
More of
your, Indeed,
Vile fucking Projections.
@45: “that was, indeed,
Mrs. Catalina Val duRay’s
term”
Quote and URL, please.
“no one carries
past comments
like…”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
@ Wormtongue
were it staring
you in your
Face you’d
Still deny
it – which
you ‘forgot’
to do~but What
Else may we Expect
from a Despicable, anyway?
@47: When I mention past comments, I can provide URLs to those comments. You can’t ever back up what you say. So, please leave our divine Mrs. Vel-DuRay out of your feeble fantasies.
Who has the “vile projections,” here, again?
Good night.
Jesus
wormmy
your
Narrative
Is Suffering:
speaking
of reciepts
URLs & taking
a Brutal beating
from
TODAY’S
Schlogg AM:
https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/04/04/79997827/slog-am-sdot-removes-guerilla-stop-signs-stock-market-keeps-sliding-laura-loomer-told-trump-to-fire-national-security-council-officials-and/comments
you’re
gonna Need a
whole Lot More
than a Handwave
wormmy
works For
the Oligarchy
yet pretends to
be “for the people.”
treat
Him the
same way
thedjt ‘treats’
the Rest of Us.
–@38, above
speaking of
a more
Intellectually
Dishonest ‘human
being’ you Will Not Find:
@39 “the Biden administration’s agenda,
which was apparently too
progressive for the
voters”
There is absolutely zero reason to believe this,
but Democrats will act as if it’s unassailably
true, which will cause them to alienate
progressive voters again, and then
blame said voters when they inevitably lose.
Only things that are certain in life are
death, taxes, and Dems running to
the right then blaming the
left for their failures.
thirteen12 on April 4, 2025 at 6:45 PM Report this
46
The thing with lying trolls like tensorna [aka the
Wormtongue*] is they keep spewing the same
garbage over and over again no matter
how many times it is shown …
to be garbage
Not only did I
always say that
people should vote
for Harris in any and
all battleground states
but it isn’t about me,
no matter how much lying
trolls [like wormmy] like to pretend
it is: it is about the many who are disen-
franchised from voting and all those voting
against their own interest because the party
of FDR has abandoned them.
averagebob on April 4, 2025 at 8:42 PM Report this
https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/04/04/79997827/slog-am-sdot-removes-guerilla-stop-signs-stock-market-keeps-sliding-laura-loomer-told-trump-to-fire-national-security-council-officials-and/comments
*thanks.
JRR!
“but it isn’t about me, no
matter how much lying trolls
[like wormmy] like to pretend it is”