Windy in Washington: High winds swept across the Olympic Peninsula overnight. The gustiest gales reached nearly 70 miles per hour in Hoquiam. Winds remain higher than normal and Washington State Ferries says it could impact ferry rides today. If anything, the ferry rides will be bumpier than normal.
Rain, rain, rain: Soggy conditions continue to saturate Seattle. Don’t think about when you will see a clear day again—it’s not worth it.
Moderate to heavy rain will continue to move into the region this morning as a strong system moves across W WA. Have a morning commute? Best to slow down and give yourself a little extra time to get to your destination. Rain will transition to showers through the day. #wawx pic.twitter.com/k2PrlLJE5Z
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 13, 2024
Ashley’s got some news you can use.
We’ll miss you, Dow: King County Executive Dow Constantine announced last night he would not seek a fifth term in 2025. It’s the end of an era for the county, which Constantine has helmed since 2010. During that time he’s championed funding transit, early childhood education, and housing. He also promised to end youth detention and close the child jail, which he’s kind of skipping out on. But all in all, Constantine pushed for pretty progressive policies and deserves a solid pat on the back for consistency and knowing that when you have power, you can just do stuff and make people accept the results. And you can get lots of haircuts. That’s cool, Constantine. Grab drinks with me and Hannah soon.
But, onward: King County Council Member Claudia Balducci announced Wednesday she planned to run for Constantine’s seat. I rode around with Balducci ahead of her announcement on a little tour of everything she’s done for the Eastside, from her years as a Bellevue City Council Member to her time as Mayor and finally to her time on the King County Council. Balducci, a transit buff, plans to ride a train straight through King County’s glass ceiling and become the first woman to earn the title of King County Executive.
Thanks, Ashley! Back to the rest of the news.
Low voter turnout: Washington state had the lowest voter turnout this election since 2000. According to the Seattle Times, fewer than 78% of the state’s registered voters cast a ballot. That’s down significantly from the 84% of people who voted in 2020.
Kum & Go? More like Kum & Gone: The midwestern gas station chain is changing its name after 49 years of cum jokes.
Oh, we are so cooked: President-elect Donald Trump is in the midst of hand-picking his cabinet in a process that feels like the Avengers assembling except instead of superheroes these Avengers are the worst people you’ve ever heard of. On that list now is our new defense secretary. The person Trump picked to lead the world’s biggest and most powerful military is, you guessed it, Fox News host Pete Hegseth. The move stunned the Pentagon. The Fox & Friends Weekend co-host is a National Guard officer. He is against “woke” diversity and inclusion programs, is skeptical about women in combat, and has spoken about pardoning war crimes.
Trump apparently just named Fox News host Pete Hegseth his secretary of defense?
— Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com) November 12, 2024 at 4:11 PM
Dog killer at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who infamously shot her dog instead of training it after it misbehaved, to lead the DHS. The role should be important in an administration that wants to conduct mass deportations and clamp down on border security.
The Department of Government Efficiency: Trump announced the creation of a new government office designed to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Elon Musk and failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the office. During his campaign, Ramaswamy said he wanted to cut down on government spending and discussed eliminating the FBI, the Department of Education, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do that. Musk, meanwhile, wants to just meme about it all. The acronym for the department is DOGE, Musk’s favorite meme. Will the two be able to keep the posts despite clear conflicts of interest? We’ll see. Please, someone stop the edge lords.
wait why does the dept of government efficiency have two co-chairs
— Caitlin Gilbert (@caitlingilbert.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 6:15 PM
So much for justice: Special counsel Jack Smith, the guy in charge of the Justice Department cases against Trump, announced he will resign before the beginning of Trump’s term. During his campaign, Trump promised to fire Smith within “two seconds” of taking office. Smith has two outstanding cases against Trump, and he plans to write a final report on both before stepping down.
Hell is empty and the devils are here: A Michigan community theater put on a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Several Nazis gathered outside waving swastika flags and shouting racist and antisemitic slurs.
Something to listen to: A friend recently turned me onto this radio drama about a space mission. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the series, but so far it’s a nice escape.
The word you’re looking for is Kakistocracy.
Sure, everyone like Dow, but he’s kind of dropped the ball on Metro funding this past decade. Style over substance.
The fleecing of America has begun. Trump was right about one thing; you’re not going to have a country anymore. We’re serving it on a silver platter to the global fascist fossil fuel oligarchy. Americans’ tax dollars will be siphoned to enrich the global elite. Russia has engaged in a war against public health, national security, and our very way of life in order to revive the worst tendencies of human nature. All philosophy, history, and good science is not exchanged for skin-deep identity politics and demagoguery. This will not be over quickly. We will not enjoy this.
https://youtu.be/-TUkxrrDiUc?feature=shared
is now exchanged*
“He also promised to end youth detention and close the child jail, which he’s kind of skipping out on.”
He failed at this because he aimed too low — we will accept nothing less than candidates who promises to eliminate the Root Causes of violence, once and for all. Shouldn’t take longer than a year or two to accomplish.
I could be wrong, but I suspect Nathalie got a desperate call this morning from Viv or Hannah to do Slog AM.
“Hell is empty and the devils are here: A Michigan community theater put on a production of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank.’ Several Nazis gathered outside waving swastika flags and shouting racist and antisemitic slurs.”
Jesus.
now Everyone
wants to be in djt’s Cabinet.
Expect this to Multiply like sex-crazed vermin.
@5
it’s easier
to just say
it’s too fuck-
ing Late by now:
the ‘American Dream’ has
become the Nightmare on Main St.
so just Get
Over it.
thnxs!
did Constantine actually PROMISE end youth detention and close “child jail”, or did he say he’d look at it, it was a good goal, blah blah? You know, prevaricate like a good politician should when confronted with absurd idealist demands?
what’s next for him – take over for Patty Murray? Ferguson’s got the Gubnerz office locked up for a good while.
I’m glad Trump is giving First Lady Elon Musk something important to do.
when Elon gets too
Big for his Britches
etrumpfster’ll have
him shipped off to
Mars. there’s only
Room for ONE
Mister Big and
djt’s got an
Article II.
8 according to a bunch of articles I found when I googled his name and youth jail it’s explicitly clear that he promised to do it and was actively working on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUTS5zWVtSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcvVSG0V41g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLan0PQjlkg
Confederacy of Dunces it is then, except the person they are all gathered around is also a dunce? An unruly puppet at the very least.
@8 He promised to close the facility in June 2020 during his state of the county speech. It was a foolish promise to make and as has been noted the entire council has now backed away from that commitment including Girmay. When you have things like this (https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/teens-flee-police-then-crash-killing-3-homeless-people-in-everett) the idea that you can eliminate the need for a youth detention facility is clearly not realistic.
The good thing about Jack Smith resigning before he gets fired is that he can write up reports before he’s canned. At least it’ll be in the historical record, not that it will slow Trump down. I’m not optimistic that it will actually /change/ anything mind you, just that we’ll know for the future.
Biden is a cross breed between a wet blanket and a doormat.
@16: That’s not being very charitable to the Trump sandwich president.
The country has bigger problems than a fucking youth jail.
@16. He’s being too charitable to Trump. When they go low, we go high? No, Biden enables everyone who negotiates with him in bad faith. Like Charlie Brown trying to punt the football, he never learns.
I was joking with friends that Trump would nominate Janine Pirro for AG. It’s worse than that, he just nominated Matt Gaetz!
I wonder if the TS will finally kick their zombie Twitter habit (1 million plus has joined Bluesky since election night)?
@19
I concur.
dfg wouldda
had smokin’ Joe
executed, but Joe’s
happy just to get the
Fuck outta there. he Missed
his Pull-date by about 1.5 yrs
& likely cost us The Election.
couldda had Better Legacy
mr President! + Statues!
@21
Bluesky.
hmmm ~ you don’t Say
will MUX buy it? get
a Buzz and end
up Owning it?
@21 Maybe Nathalie saw the article this morning about The Guardian not posting on x.com. I hope it’s the beginning of the end of x.com here on SLOG
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/13/why-the-guardian-is-no-longer-posting-on-x
@20 Janine’s intravenous boxwine did not pass Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy’s budget survey
For now twitter is still the best source for fast news because all the reporters and legacy media outlets are still there, but now that people seem to have agreed on Bluesky as the new microblog social app, it’s only a matter of time before the media catches on and Twitter will become an even sadder, angrier husk of its former self. Musk’s nazification is almost complete but he got the president he wanted so I suppose it was worth $44 billion dollars only to burn it all to the ground.
@25
plenty More
where that pittance
came from. our 1st Trillionaire
should he
Survive
tng.
where tf’s
Sean Connery
When we NEED him?
@15, Judging by the evidence of the historical and archeological record, what makes you think this knowledge will change future decisions by humanity? Rinse, wash, repeat.
28 your failure to understand literally everything you read should be studied in a lab
@24: I imagine she goes for the rosés. So convenient for her.
@25 all the MAGAs are already on the ironically named “Truth Social,” if all the libs go to Bluesky the echo chamber-ification of social media will be complete. The only question (for me at least) will be which app has the breaking sports news.
@15 – time for some SERIOUS leaks. Reports, the investigation files, evidence, etc. could easily fall out of a briefcase somewhere. It’d be a damn shame, but hey, shit happens. And the House report on AG-nominee Quagmire should be next.
Who knows – if the kompromat pix that Fat Donald has on half of Congress get leaked, maybe they will lose their incentive to go along with him? Sure, the photos of Lindsey doing whatever he does for fun (live boy? dead girl?) will be nauseating but once its out he’s a free man (unless, of course, the boy or corpse is underage).