Heyoo, good morning. Damn, the National Weather Service says maybe some thunderstorms today with a high near 63 degrees, with winds reaching 25 miles per hour. Make sure your smols stay indoors today, or else the winds could lift them away.
Vacant building fire: One person is dead and another is in critical condition this morning after an apartment building on Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 63rd Street caught fire. Fire crews treated two other people found in the building. A fire last month had led the City to condemn the building, according to KING 5. Three people died in vacant building fires last year. The Mayor introduced legislation to demolish these buildings faster. Of course, the Mayor could instead provide housing to people who are forced to live in condemned buildings.
Roosevelt Way NE & NE 63rd St.: One of the patients that was in critical condition has succumbed to their injuries and was declared deceased at the scene.
— Seattle Fire Dept. (@SeattleFire) June 4, 2024
Kent Police scheduled to sweep migrants Tuesday: The Kent Police Department plans to crack down on 200 asylum-seekers who city governments keep shooing from place to place. The asylum-seekers have camped right next door to an Econo Lodge that King County owns and could open as a temporary shelter for the migrants, but they won’t due to some dispute with the city. Hannah has more.
King County Superior Court changes rules around evictions: King County Superior Court has adopted an emergency court room that allows some eviction cases to go before civil court judges instead of King County’s three commissioners. The cases must involve some sort of public health or safety risk. Housing Justice Project’s Edmund Witter said he doesn’t have a problem with the court revisiting the rules around evictions to allow more access to the legal system. However, the court made the change without stakeholder feedback and created a “messy” system for tenants to navigate, which could result in people losing housing, even if they have strong cases against eviction. Witter also has concerns about how the new system can be weaponized against people with behavioral health problems, who have the most trouble navigating these systems and who are the most likely to end up homeless.
INBOX: In an emergency rule amendment, King County Superior Court will allow some eviction cases to go before judges instead of commissioners. Landlords will first need to prove a health or safety risk. Seems targeted to allow evictions to go more quickly in some cases. pic.twitter.com/gEPuMGexoA
— Ashley Nerbovig (@AshleyNerbovig) June 3, 2024
Seattle assistant chief back to work: Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr has reinstated SPD Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis as the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) investigates a complaint brought against him by the Community Police Commission, according to the Seattle Times. The details of the complaint have yet to be made public.
Lawsuit over pet pig slaughter: Some guy sent to kill some pigs in Port Orchard last month took a wrong turn and ended up killing a family’s pet pigs. Now the owners of the pigs have filed a lawsuit against the 29-year-old who killed the wrong animals, according to the Washington Post. Crazy that I have to sign for packages, but not one for someone to come shoot an animal in my backyard. That should probably be a policy. When I open my butcher shop, I’m going to make that a policy.
SPD officers disciplined for delayed response to domestic violence call: The OPA has finished its investigation into a complaint against two officers who sat at a Starbucks for about 40 minutes while a domestic violence suspect attempted to enter a victim’s house, which I reported on back in September. DivestSPD has the full update on the investigation, but OPA basically said that even if the officers involved considered the call to be a low priority, “it was higher than socializing at Starbucks.”
Biden plans to close border to asylum-seekers: The president plans to sign an executive order that allows the US to shut down the border after the number of crossings exceeds a daily threshold, according to the Guardian. Biden plans to hold a press conference at 11 am PDT. He must be trying to save gas with the way he’s taking all these right turns.
Also, according to the Guardian, at a campaign event in New York Biden called out Trump for the whole becoming a convicted felon thing. Voters who decide to choose Biden over Trump because of this annoy me. People who let the legal system decide for them who to trust have a fucked up sense of the world.
breaking news reports lost no time amplifying the stigma of a criminal record pic.twitter.com/1bEcaAVYoq
— jon ben-menachem (@jbenmenachem) May 30, 2024
But maybe Biden has a messaging plan: Hunter Biden’s own felony trial began Tuesday. The poor guy had to give up his plea agreement deal after Republicans decried it as special treatment. He tried to make it his choice by saying he was mad about the Justice Department targeting him. Maybe if the case ends in Hunter Biden’s conviction, Joe Biden will be like, “See, some people with felonies should be president, like my second-favorite son.” I’m not hopeful.
Another good one from The Number Ones: One of my top music columns from Stereogum dropped a new good column last week reviewing “Fancy,” the 2014 hit by Iggy Azalea, “a white Australian woman who rapped in a Black American accent.” Give it a scroll as you listen to a song that will not leave your brain for hours afterward.
well
Well
WELL
speakiing of
smoulderin’ Joe:
Biden
Suggests
Israeli Prime Minister
Is Prolonging War to Stay in Power
Asked if Benjamin Netanyahu was prolonging the war, President Biden said he believed “there is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
Both in Jerusalem and Washington, Mr. Netanyahu is widely seen as highly aware that an end to the conflict could easily result in his being swept from office — especially once investigations began into how Israel ignored evidence of the Oct. 7 terror attack that killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, and how slowly Israel’s defense forces responded.
Street protests against him have begun to gather momentum again, seven months after the attack.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/04/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas#biden-says-there-is-every-reason-to-believe-netanyahu-is-prolonging-the-war-for-political-reasons
oh bibi
mass Slaughter
just to keep your ample ass
Outta Prison? what Are you some type
of Reich-winger!? and yep, we’re Infested right here, too.
and
thanks!
‘averagebob’*
for calling them Out.
*et al!
nyt:
Israel
confirms
deaths of four
more hostages in Gaza
Israel’s military says UK-Israeli Nadav Popplewell and three others “were killed while together in the area of Khan Younis during our operation there”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrrng3l6jro
it ain’t about
the Hostages
tho its another
Excuse to Hide
behind “Hamas!”
it IS
about
Retribution
Land Theft &
bibi’s Freedom
From Prosecution.
@moi
no,
silly
NOT nyt:
BBC! oh and
bugger Off dewey.
To summarize:
Felonies, including those that harm others, up to and including murder: the real crime would “stigmatizing” (i.e. remembering) such actions.
Skinny Australian blondes having a rap hit: Unforgivable. Hound them till the end of their days.
“Of course, the Mayor could instead provide housing to people who are forced to live in condemned buildings.”
He could? Where? You know there is a shortage of subsidized housing of all kinds, right? That the need far exceeds the supply? And that creating new housing is a long and costly process, right?
Here’s the crazy thing about “Biden plans to close border to asylum-seekers” — An actual law implementing such a plan, vs. through executive authority, could not pass the House or Senate right now. To think, bipartisan border justice solutions were within reach just a few months ago. It may not be popular to say in this forum, but it was a good bill, and a rare example of compromise and cooperation to address a serious problem. We know who killed it. Transactionalists like Trump view every decision as a zero-sum game, even the biggest crises. So while Biden considers bipartisan wins to be the sweetest, Trump simply views them as a loss.
Amazing odds that a guy sent to slaughter pigs at a residential address went to a wrong address… that just happened to also have pigs at home?
That probably tells you everything you need to know about Port Orchard.
“Of course, the Mayor could instead provide housing to people who are forced to live in condemned buildings.”
I’m not sure why The Stranger is assuming this fire was caused by homeless persons. The Stranger’s own Charles Mudede recently claimed the homeless only get blamed for starting fires in abandoned buildings because “it’s far easier to hate those who have nothing than those who have everything.”*
To be fair, I may have misunderstood Charles because his theory was predicated on “sociobiology, a scientific discipline that evolutionary psychology corrupted,” as well as “a famous poem by the 17th-century English poet John Donne.”
*https://www.thestranger.com/housing/2023/11/29/79284147/many-blame-last-nights-rainier-mall-fire-on-the-homeless
@10 While I can’t read Kristofarian’s mind, I can read what he wrote and gather a more reasonable opinion than you have. Yes, the rabid Zionists in Israel, especially those who immigrated from the totalitarian states of the former Soviet Union, strongly support the war. What Kristofarian is getting to is that for many of that group, the only reason they still support Netanyahu is because they see him as defending Israel. Once a peace comes, many in that group are very likely to turn on Netanyahu for both being incompetent enough to have been completely surprised by Hamas, as well as not more effectively prosecuting the war.
@12
maybe so
cap’n Ahabby
but you Oughtta
See the tears of Joy
when they discover they’ve
been Obliterated by one of Boeing’s
Finest Weapons of Massive fucking Destruction
never have Martyrs, the Dismembered, newborn
Babies women, children the aged the Infirm
been Happier than to Die from one of
Our WMDs — and I know, I Know,
our Grammar nazis’ll have you
believe they’re not all That
Massive Destroyers of
all things Human but
that just seems a Lot
like Quibbling After
the Massacring.
but that’s just Me.
thnx, GB.
OUR Tax Dollars at Work?
more on The Gang
that just can’t say
NO! to Genocide:
nyt
Israel
Secretly
Targets U.S. Lawmakers
With Influence Campaign on Gaza War
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs
ordered the operation, which used
fake social media accounts, ac-
cording to officials and doc-
uments about the effort.
Israel organized and paid for an influence campaign last year targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging, as it aimed to foster support for its actions in the war with Gaza, according to officials involved in the effort and documents related to the operation.
The covert campaign was commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a government body that connects Jews around the world with the State of Israel, four Israeli officials said.
The ministry allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out, according to the officials and the documents.
The campaign began in October and remains active on the platform X. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans on X, Facebook and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments.
The accounts focused on U.S. lawmakers, particularly ones who are Black and Democrats, such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader from New York, and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, with posts urging them to continue funding Israel’s military.
ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, was used to generate many of the posts. The campaign also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles.
–by Sheera Frenkel; reporting from Tel Aviv
June 5, 2024
more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/technology/israel-campaign-gaza-social-media.html
‘so when your Cause
ain’t no longer Just
you just Gotta do
whatever it Is you
just gotta Do.’
-bibi nutnyahoo
speaking from
the heart, pur-
portedly.
oh, well
at Least
we don’t
gottta Pay
for his Prison
Cell ~ not as of Yet.
let the
War Crimes
Tribunals begin.
And keep your
Bloody Hands
OFF our Law-
Makers you
Yahoos.
say
and
BTW
are the
Pro-Genociders
here @ tS on the
Payroll too? That’d
explain quite the lot.
how Much,
wormmy?
Ahab,
what’re
You raking in?
are the rest of you
all working Pro
Bono? if So
you’re get-
ting Scr-
ewed:
just like
American
Taxpayers.
END
the fuckin’
GENOCIDE.
Wall Street Journal
runs stunning hit piece on Biden
The Wall Street Journal published a seemingly damning story on Tuesday night about President Joe Biden’s diminishing mental acuity, with a headline guaranteed to cause panic: “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping.”
With a header like that, you might think the Journal really has the goods on Biden this time, with quotes from dozens of sources within the White House, likely speaking anonymously for fear of appearing to betray their boss with the damaging confessions about how he, in fact, is too old and unfit to be president for another term.
But no. Who does the Journal have? Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. And former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And Idaho Sen. James Risch, who is—as you might have guessed—a Republican.
Contrary to its terrifying headline, what the Journal has is a blatant hit piece from Republicans who are shamelessly pushing the Republican talking point that Biden—who is only four years older than Donald Trump—is oh so very, very old. Concerningly so.
Let’s take a closer look at this smear masquerading as reporting.
–by Kaili Joy Gray, Daily Kos Staff
Tuesday, June 04, 2024
more:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/4/2244815/-Wall-Street-Journal-runs-stunning-hit-piece-on-Biden?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web
let’s see
now Whom
OWNS the WSJ?
Seattle’s
RICHEST;
Good ole Jef-
Fry Bezos who
Never met an Authoritarian
he didn’t wish to Become someday.
wanna be one too?
Buy yourself a
Newspaper
or two and
you’re 1/2
Way there
baby.
oops!
not Bezos!
sorry, Jeffery!
the Wall Street Urinal
is actually a Different reich-winger’s:
rupert stinkin’ mudroach’s.
apologies!
from Dan Rather
formerly from
CBS News:
Jon Stewart Would Like A Word
Good advice for young voters feeling election anxiety
The youth vote saved this country in 2020. And if I may be so bold … we need young people and first-time voters to step up again.
This is a heartfelt request from a man who dearly loves his country and deeply fears where we are heading. I would also ask that if you know a young voter, please forward this to them.
In the last presidential election, 50 percent — yes, half — of Americans aged 18-29 cast ballots. That’s a huge increase from 2016, when only 39 percent voted.
The youth of this country quite literally saved us from four more years of Trump.
In the upcoming election, 41 million members of Gen Z (those born 1995-2012) will be eligible to vote, 8 million for the first time.
A survey from Harvard found that the majority support President Biden, though that support isn’t as strong as it was in 2020. When you break it down by gender, Biden leads by 6 points among young men and 30 points among young women.
Recently my friend Jon Stewart posted an illuminating discussion he had with a young voter. First, let me say how pleased I am that he has returned to “The Daily Show,” even if only once a week.
Stewart’s mix of news and humor is a powerful force in politics. Stewart also posts pre-show clips from what’s called “After the Cut,” an online segment in which Stewart takes questions from the audience.
In this particular clip, an audience member told Stewart she thinks a lot of people her age (she’s 22), are “not happy with the choice of candidates we have in November.” She went on to explain, “We feel like our vote, our voice doesn’t matter.”
We here at Steady have discussed the importance of the youth vote and young people’s dissatisfaction with their choices in November.
What we haven’t delved into is her second point: that members of Gen Z do not believe their voices are being heard.
Stewart emphatically told her that her voice counts. “Oh, it so matters,” he assured her. “Advertisers look at demographics, but the largest demographic that they look at is 18-24.
That’s the one that means everything to them — use that power. I’m 61, I’m not even listed anymore.
Don’t discount the power that you guys have.
This is the fight.
No generation
ever feels empowered,
or seen, or any of those things.”
I think Stewart hit the proverbial nail, hard.
by Dan Rather & ‘Team Steady’
June 04, 2024
much, much More:
https://steady.substack.com/p/jon-stewart-would-like-a-word?
so Vote!
& let’s Bend
the Great Arc of Justice.