Welcome to hell week: Somehow, it’s here. The 2024 election is tomorrow. If you haven’t mailed yours in yet, do it today. Better yet, drop your ballot in a ballot box. Please do not drop any incendiary devices in ballot boxes. Tell your friends to vote. Tell your enemies to vote. Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like someone else’s life depends on it. Then, take a nap or something. 

Scene setting: Wind and weather are turbulent today. Everything is astir. 

To make everything worse: The sun is dead. It isn’t coming back until spring. Say goodbye to long days. Go to an antique store and buy a lamp. I went to the Antique Mall of West Seattle this weekend and bought myself one. It’s saving me. We all deserve soft, buttery warm light this winter. 

Iowaaaaat? Cross your fingers and hold your breath for this next part. The poll by respected pollster and possible soothsayer Ann Selzer commissioned by the Des Moines Register/Mediacom shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump 47% to 44% in Iowa. The state has voted staunchly red and resolutely for Trump. Back in June, Trump led President Joe Biden (before he decided he should lay down and take a nap instead of running for re-election) by 18 points. Even as recently as September, Trump led Harris in Iowa by 4 points. Apparently, the tables are turning and women are the ones doing the spinning. Particularly, older and independent women voters. Abortion is soooo on the ballot and Iowan women are not taking their futures lightly. If this poll is right, Harris wouldn’t just win Iowa, she’d win it in a landslide. 

Trump says “actually, no:” Famous fact-lover Donald Trump says the Iowa poll is wrong and we are all mistaken. According to Trump, the truly accurate poll is the one from Emerson College that shows him up 53% to Harris’ 43%. 

Someone who will not get to see if the Iowa poll is accurate: Music legend Quincy Jones died on Sunday. He was 91. 

Don’t look a gift poll in the mouth: The knock-on-wood-worthy polling isn’t just for national politics. In local news, a Northwest Progressive Institute poll found that in the Seattle City Council Position 8 race, Alexis Mercedes Rink leads incumbent Tanya Woo 52% to 28%. Remember how U2 slipped its album “Songs of Innocence” into everyone’s iTunes libraries back in 2014? That’s basically how it feels having the council-selected Woo, who knows nothing about anything, in a position of power. Seems as though Seattle is rejecting Woo the same way everyone rejected “Songs of Innocence”—moving her straight to the trash where we hopefully will never have to listen to her again. 

Not worried about the election? Must be nice. But, also maybe you should be. Gov. Jay Inslee clearly is. He signed a letter activating the National Guard in the event of civil unrest after the election.

Bad news for Peanut: Tragedy struck the squirrelly saga of Peanut, the social media sensation plucked from his owner’s care last week by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Apparently, after removing Peanut, the DEC then euthanized him to “test for rabies.” The squirrel who often donned tiny cowboy hats will only do so now from heaven. Rest easy, Peanut. 

Roaming police: City officials mysteriously placed Tacoma’s police chief on a brief administrative leave back in September. Now, we know why. Chief Avery Moore was gabbing too much while on vacation. Moore racked up a $1,082 bill on his city-issued cellphone while he was in Sweden. Most of the charges appear to be international usage charges, but I like to imagine Moore couldn’t stop gossiping on the phone while touring fjords. 

Work stoppage for NYT tech guild: The “over 600 software engineers, product managers, data analysts, and designers” keeping the New York Times website up and running went on strike at 12:01 this morning, in the latest attempt to win a union contract with the media company. The work stoppage comes at a pivotal time for the NYT; Election Day coverage on the ~newspaper of record~ requires a lot of tech. Maybe this squeeze will give these workers the contract they’re asking for. In the meantime, don’t cross the digital picket line. No Wordle. No Connections. Just solidarity. 

Have you seen this prayer wheel? Capitol Hill Himalayan restaurant Annapurna needs helping finding the handmade Tibetan prayer wheel that normally sits outside its front entrance. Someone nabbed the prayer wheel last week. Last time a business’s prayer wheel went missing, someone found it in Lake Washington. 

WA GOP’s sexist, racist, anti-LGBTQ text campaign: In Washington’s 14th legislative district, the texts are getting out of hand. The Spanish texts spread lies about Latina Democratic candidates, saying they “support chemical castration of children at school,” they want to “eliminate the Spanish language,” and they “hate your family, they hate God, and they hate the truth.” Washington GOP chair Jim Walsh confirmed the organization footed the bill for these texts. The Democrats are pissed and believe these texts are defamatory and broke campaign finance laws. They’ll be taking legal action.  

Volcanic eruptions in Indonesia: Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupted at around midnight Monday. The hot ash shot as high as 6,500 feet into the air and hit several villages, burning down several houses, including a convent of Catholic nuns. Ten people are dead so far. 

South Africa’s Steve Irwin died: Dingo Dinkelman, 44, was a wildlife content creator and a conservationist. Dinkelman died from a venomous snake bite after spending a month in an induced coma. 

Something to take your mind off the election: Make this chili. 

 

Nathalie Graham covers anything she finds fun, weird, or interesting. You can find a lot of that in her column, Play Date. Her work has also appeared around town in The Seattle Times, GeekWire, and the...

46 replies on “Slog AM: Election Day Is Tomorrow, Hope for Harris in Iowa, Washington GOP’s Racist Campaign Texts”

  2. For decades now, there has been a rumor that Garfield High School would be renamed for Quincy Jones.

    If this ever comes to pass, I dearly wish that Seattle would have done this when he was alive. At least he could have seen this public honor for his immensely successful career

  4. “Gov. Jay Inslee clearly is. He signed a letter activating the National Guard in the event of civil unrest after the election.”

    Does anyone believe he’ll actually follow through with this if Trump wins and the black bloc cosplayers start torching cars again? I sure don’t.

  5. @4: We’ll, Inslee’s not running for re-election, and BLM has entirely run out of steam. Those two developments create a much easier path for a national guard deployment in the face of lefty civil unrest this time around. But I suspect Inslee is more concerned about takeover tactics by the armed right in the event of a Trump loss, and he’s not wrong to worry.

  8. @2 and 3: No. We should never name anything in honor of a living person, cause you never know when they’ll turn around and do something hideous.

    Bill Cosby was a role-model… til he wasn’t. OJ Simpson too. I’m a Democrat, and I never want to see anything named after Bill Clinton…

    Wait at least a decade after someone is gone for their lives to be reviewed through then lens of time…

  9. All the political violence and vandalism since 2020 has been driven by conservatives and there is no reason to think they won’t throw another tantrum when Trump loses again, after years of being told the entire system is rigged against them. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another Timothy McVeigh type situation considering how radicalized the mainstream republican party has become lately.

  12. @7 there is one group who creates disorder whenever they are upset something doesn’t go their way around here and it’s not conservatives.

    @9 what have conservatives done in WA?

  14. I have hopes for Iowa. That pollster is quite respected, and she knows the state well. And if there is one thing Iowa has no shortage of it’s “Older, independent women”.

    Iowa voted for Clinton twice and Obama twice. It’s lost its mind in recent years, but it was once a bastion of liberal Republicanism (yes, that was a thing at one time).

    I can’t believe it went from leaders like Governor Robert Ray(R) and Senator Tom Harkin(D) to weirdos like Governor Kim Reynolds and Senator Joni Ernst. Of course the constant has been Grassley, but he’s a cockroach.

  15. @13 thank you. A lot of people have completely memory-holed the fascist rallies that antifascist groups like black bloc were fighting against. Patriot prayer is even based out of Washington.

  19. @13 did you understand the question? The link you posted is about a far right group but the violence mentioned was one of their members who was killed by an antifa guy. It also took place in Portland not WA state.

    @15 what facist rallies has black bloc fought against in WA state?

  20. @19, I remember a protester getting shot at a milo event on the UW campus. I’m sure there were other events too because the PNW is a hotbed for separatists and weird white christian politics but it’s not like I’m keeping a spreadsheet. Patriot Prayer was one of the most active fascist groups at that time and they are based in Vancouver WA.

    Regardless I am talking about nationally and ever since Trump lost the far-right has been the greatest source of political violence. Hell even during the Trump admin there were right wing whackjobs putting explosives in the mail, and of course they have been bombing abortion clinics for decades, but that’s just ambient rightwing terrorism that we’ve all become accustomed to. I guess the antifa types get the most attention because leftwing violence is relatively rare compared to the far right.

  21. @20: “I remember a protester getting shot at a milo event on the UW campus”

    Yeah, but that was a self-defensive shooting. The jury deadlocked five years ago, and the shooter was never re-tried.

    Your larger point about right-wing violence nationally is correct, and so is your point about the potential for right-wing violence in Washington. Just the UW shooting maybe isn’t the best example of it, since those particular right-wingers were defending themselves against violence by a lefty.

  23. @21, Fair enough but he asked for an example of a far-right rally that black bloc fought against and that one was memorable because someone was shot. I’m also not sure whether the protesters were black bloc because even normie libs were protesting far-right hate rallies at the time but I feel like anybody on the left was labeled “antifa” if they showed up to counter-protest.

    Regardless there is no reason to assume Washington state is immune to the nationwide political violence that will likely erupt after Trump loses tomorrow because he has spent the last 4 years coaching his followers to do so. The left simply does not have the same mainstream support for political violence the way conservatives do but people will swear up and down that the “radical left” is always on the brink of burning the whole country to the ground.

  24. @23: “I feel like anybody on the left was labeled ‘antifa’ if they showed up to counter-protest.”

    In this case, the shooting victim, despite the severity of his wounds, refused to cooperate with the police or testify at the trial of the shooters because he did not trust the American justice system. I think it’s fair to call him antifa! 😄

  25. I thought yesterday’s news story was that those assholes took away the squirrel “for his own safety”? I suppose he’s technically in no danger now.

  31. @21/23/28 you all have cited specific instances that were isolated to a single individual. While some of that may occur that is nothing you are going to bring on the National Guard to address. If Inslee is putting the guard on notice it would be for wide spread rioting. I have lived in this state for 25 years and I have yet to see an instance of “right wing” rioting. The best case you had was when those people broke into the governor’s mansion (when he wasn’t there) milled around and left. On the other hand you’ve had attempted arson’s of both business and government buildings, private and city vehicles destroyed, stores looted and people actually killed when the far left was “protesting” something they didn’t like. Which one would you use the Guard on? I know the answer but I also don’t think Isleee has the actual balls to do it. Its essentially what Trump himself threatened when he labeled us an anarchist jurisdiction back in 2020. The far left gets a free pass to do whatever they want around here because they have “justifiable anger” so no matter what happens I don’t expect the Guard will actually be deployed and what Inslee actions are strictly performative.

  32. Listen. We all watched an angry mob storm the capitol in 2021, leading to multiple fatalities, vandalism of government buildings, and pipe bombs strewn about, all from conservatives who were mad because they lost an election. Whether it’s -likely- to happen in Washington state is debatable but it is -possible- that it could happen anywhere because these people have been stewing for years, at the encouragement of the republican nominee.

    It is simply responsible leadership for the governor to make it known that this won’t be tolerated. And seeing how conservatives would rather whatabout BLM than acknowledge the violence that is actively promoted by the mainstream republican party, this message needs to be made abundantly clear, because republican voters have been led to believe their country is being stolen from them and they have nothing to lose.

  33. Honest question, who was killed by BLM protesters? Or any left-wing protests? The only protest fatalities I can recall are Heather Heyer from Charlottesville and the lady who was shot on January 6, also (arguably) the cops who died in the days following. I’m blanking on BLM fatalities but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.

  34. eltrumpfsters’

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    the one who COUNTS THE MOTHERFUCKERS

    and with dread pirate roberts at The Helm of

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    donold’s a Shoo-In for a quick

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    2025 Goes Down as

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  35. @33: It happens. Just off the top, there were those five cops shot to death in Dallas. And that dude who shot up the Northwest Immigration Center in Tacoma and got bodied by the cops. You can probably No True Scotsman any particular example, but the idea that left-wing activists never kill anyone is false.

    There’s no doubt right-wing terrorism and Islamic terrorism are both larger threats than left-wing terrorism. But that doesn’t mean there’s no such thing as left-wing terrorism.

  36. I’m not denying left wingers have killed people as a political act. I am asking whether anyone has been killed during/because of left-wing protests, BLM in particular, because that was the insinuation. I can’t think of any but I’m open to being proven wrong.

  37. The Dallas guy doesn’t count? Literally shooting cops as payback for cops killing black men?

    Or the Tacoma guy? Arrested at a protest at the immigration detention center, then returning with a gun to that same center and opening fire? These examples don’t count? I mean, I understand wanting to disown these people, but to not perceive any connection whatsoever…man, I dunno what to tell ya, lol!

    Shit, even Rittenhouse. BLM fired the first shot in that incident, you can see the muzzle flash in the NYTimes video mashup. Rittenhouse shot better, but he didn’t shoot first. That was BLM.

  38. @30, “Live (and let live),” are not at stake any other race other than the national race. That was the reason given by @6 imploring the audience to vote.

    So how many EC votes would getting more people to vote here get Harris?

  41. @32/33. I’m with you. If there is a mob of angry conservatives that assemble to storm Olympia than I’m all for the guard being deployed. As you note though that is extremely unlikely in WA state. What I think is far more likely is far left rioting and damage. As for people killed during BLM there are the two kids in CHOP but again those were isolated cases and not something you would use the guard to prevent. If Inslee calls up the guard it will be because there is widespread rioting, looting and/or public disorder that is creating a dangerous situation for the people of this state. It doesn’t take people getting killed to make it dangerous. My point is that typically there is one group of people that fit that mold and for what its worth they equally hate moderate dems as much as they hate conservatives. There is already a picture of a flyer floating around social media asking for people to “bloc” up election night and meet in Cal Anderson regardless of who wins. That is probably who you would call the guard on if you are in charge but like I said I doubt Inslee has the where where all to actually follow through on that.

  42. @41 “If Inslee calls up the guard it will be because there is widespread rioting … that is creating a dangerous situation for the people of this state. It doesn’t take people getting killed to make it dangerous. My point is that typically there is one group of people that fit that mold”

    Ya, SPD

  43. Rest in peace, music legend Quincy Jones. Not bad making it to 91.

    And bless you, Jimmy Carter, for reaching 100 on October 1st and voting for Kamala Harris / Tim Walz!

    @14 Catalina Vel-DuRay and @25, & @26 dvs99: +3 Thank you both for being so consistently spot on and among the sanest of commenters.

  46. @45 — “unwanted Presidency’?

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