Back to Bobness: Bob Ferguson issued three executive orders on his first day as governor. The first directed the Department of Health to gather experts, doctors, and policymakers and come up with a plan to strengthen our strong reproductive health laws. The second told state agencies to examine, streamline, defer, or eliminate various regulations on housing, permitting and new construction. The third directs the state to speed up the permitting process and will refund application fees when the state misses deadlines. The Seattle Times reports Ferguson reiterated his three top priorities during his inauguration speech, which are housing affordability, universal free lunch, and public safety.
Not for you: After growing the power and size of the state attorney general’s office for 12 years, Ferguson wants to take away tens of millions of dollars from the office to cover the state’s budget gap. New Attorney General Nick Brown says that would directly impact the office’s ability to take on civil rights and antitrust cases. As AG, Ferguson aggressively fought the Trump administration. With Trump coming into office with more power, and serious threats of mass deportation, it seems counterintuitive to dull the state’s best defensive weapon. Republicans liked what they heard in Ferguson’s inaugural speech. Ferguson didn’t mention climate once and said he wasn’t there to “defend government. I’m here to reform it.”
Governor Ferguson’s Inaugural Ball tonight is hosted by the Chamber of Commerce; with a swearing-in speech that made no mention of taxing the rich to fund services we all use, many Washingtonians may wonder whether his economic agenda is as well.
— Shaun Scott 🌹🤝 (@eyesonthestorm) January 15, 2025
Military doctor sentenced for sexually abusing patients at JBLM: Maj. Michael Stockin, an anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison Wednesday. Last week, he pleaded guilty to 36 counts of abusive sexual contact and five counts of indecent viewing. Between 2019 and 2022, 41 patients accused Stockin of fondling or staring at their genitals for no medical reason. Stockin faced a 330-year sentence before taking the plea deal.
Bus $$$: The federal government granted King County $79.7 million to launch the Metro RapidRide I Line to expand speedy service to Renton, Kent and Auburn. Officials say we’ll be able to hop on in 2027.
Weather: Nothing exciting. Expect temperatures in the mid 30s, low 40s and showers.
Ceasefire: Israel’s 15-month assault on Gaza, which killed at least 46,000 Palestinians—and possibly as many as 64,000—since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, could stop this week. Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to stop the war and exchange hostages. It’s expected to begin Sunday, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a last-minute “crisis” is holding up Israel’s approval. Since the deal’s announcement, Israel has killed at least 72 people in Gaza. President-elect Donald Trump and Biden both claim credit for the deal. They shouldn’t be so proud. The United States supplied money and weapons that made Israel’s war possible and has always had outsized power and influence over the destruction and indiscriminate killing. The timing, so close to Trump’s inauguration, is interesting. Someday, we’ll know who did what and why. If the ceasefire holds, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank will still live in a fundamentally-unequal state.
LA fires update: Firefighters there still contend with “extreme hazards and the potential for fire growth,” as one Cal Fire official told CNN. Particularly dangerous conditions have waned, but forecasters said the Santa Ana winds could pick up next week. FOX11 Los Angeles reported this morning that the combined efforts of fire crews from California, the country, Canada, and Mexico have not yet contained the massive and destructive Palisades (22% contained) and Eaton (55% contained) fires that have killed 25 people and left thousands more homeless. LA landlords have done their part by jacking up the price of rent.
How do the LA fires compare to the great Seattle fire? KUOW mapped it out. TL;DR: way, way bigger, and our fire destroyed much of old Seattle. Los Angeles is so sprawling that maps can distort our perception of how much has burned.
Send in the clowns: Our senators are evaluating Donald Trump’s picks to lead federal agencies. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general who held the position in Florida. Bondi wouldn’t say if Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, or rule out probes of Trump’s political enemies. Trump’s CIA nominee John Ratcliffe told senators he wouldn’t fire people based on their perceived political beliefs or let politics skew the agency’s findings. (If Ratcliffe means that, he may not be around for long).
Speaking of politics and intelligence: Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson removed Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner as chair of the powerful House Intelligence Committee. Turner supported Ukraine and disagreed with Trump’s stances on foreign policy, and pissed off the right when he voted to reauthorize a surveillance bill last year (bad, to be clear). Johnson said the “intelligence community and everything related to [the committee] needs a fresh start.” The Mar-a-Lago-friendly Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas is expected to replace Turner, according to CNN, but it’s not official.
Senate confirmation hearings continue today for Scott Bessent, the billionaire who may become treasury secretary, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to dismantle lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Committees will also question former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior and Scott Turner for Housing Secretary. Outside witnesses will speak on Bondi.
So long, Joe: In a farewell address to the country, President Joe Biden warned the concentrated economic power of oligarchs and the emerging “tech-industrial complex” threatens democracy in America. This much is clear, but what has his administration done to curb these dangerous and powerful forces, which prolonged economic pain, class resentment, and political instability have in part enabled? Biden failed to deliver on his central promise that his presidency would return the country to normalcy and end the chaos of the first Trump administration, which quieted only for a moment. Oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos will have prime seats for Trump’s inauguration.
President Joe Biden used his farewell address to the nation Wednesday to warn of an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy taking root in the country and of a “tech-industrial complex” that is infringing on Americans’ rights and the future of democracy. pic.twitter.com/O1UfbOKaQB
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 16, 2025
The other President: Poor Steve Bannon. He won’t kick “evil” Elon Musk out of the Trump administration before Inauguration Day after all. The New York Times reports Musk, the richest man in the world who makes billions from federal contracts, is expected to have office space in the White House to run his and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It’s unclear if Ramaswamy will have office space or the same privilege and remarkable access to the president. We should probably stop calling DOGE a department. Departments are congressionally-authorized parts of the government. DOGE is an advisory commission. We still do not know exactly how it will work, what it will do, how much it may cut, what authority it will have to make cuts, and so, so much else. As the Times noted, it’s unclear how Musk’s position will interact with our criminal conflict of interest laws and government transparency laws. But maybe we’re entering our “it-doesn’t-matter-actually” era.
@41. Average Bob.
I don’t quite understand your obsession with describing the P cause as a slam dunk political winner. There are many concerns and causes that are not politically popular (say robust policies to address climate change) that simply have inherent merit.
Then there is the voter trade off lens. Let’s say Harris did pivot to uh, your satisfaction, or those who said they withheld their vote. Who is say another population of voters would have themselves stayed home or voted the other way?
In fact, Harris lost considerable ground among Jewish voters despite not pivoting on the issue. We do not know the aggregate motivations here, but we do know that the protest movements conduct was becoming a liability among the general public. It is easy to conclude many Jewish voters being rather horrified by campus escspades.
IMHO, I believe popular support for policies to support Palestine is achievable, but not under the current circumstances, not least the appalling conduct and sloganeering of its western activists.
@48: lol, it’s also “nearly identical” to the Israeli proposal put forward in May, which Hamas refused at that time to accept. 😉
@51 The linked article @15 claims the data shows otherwise: “Of course, diverging from Biden on Gaza risked losing voters who supported his policy. But a close look at the survey suggests that risk was low compared to the potential reward. Voters who were with Biden in 2020 and stuck with Harris in 2024 were asked if breaking with him on Gaza would make them more or less enthusiastic about voting for Harris. By a 35 to 5 margin, they said doing so would have made them more enthusiastic to vote for her, with the remainder saying it would have made no difference.”
So, the above, and very importantly Trump wouldn’t have been able to somehow pose as antiwar, in comparison to Democrats, with some voters
All of this is just basic stuff considering Democrats and independents were overwhelmingly opposed to the conduct of the war if not the war itself. Once again Democrats chose to ignore their constituencies and WE pay the price (DNC consultants won’t pay the price).
the ‘d’nc*
wouldn’t even
Allow ANY Palestinians
to Speak at the ‘Democratic’
National Convention. I wonder
if That may’ve had Anything to Do
with 10M
Dems Just
Staying Home.
just
Kidding ~
of Course it did.
*LLC
bitches!
@53: lol, it’s amazing how progressives persuade themselves their policies are so popular nationwide, yet actual progressive candidates get shellacked in national elections. There are a handful of voting districts that go for this stuff, but popular it ain’t.
@49 Putin is a dictator and a war criminal who should be frog marched to the Hague. Now, the best way to shield oneself from Putin using the hypocrisy of Biden and DNC Democrats is to not be a fucking hypocrite condoning genocide in Gaza while wanting Putin to face an international crimes’ court.
@55 “polling data is antisemitic too!”
as if the monopoly of the party duopoly wasn’t a major issue
@57: lol, polling data isn’t, but you sure are! 😂🤣😂🤣
Progressives, they win every poll except for, you know, the polls. 😂
lol a cease fire. can’t wait til jews and arabs unpause the game after going to the kitchen to microwave a hot pocket
Vivian is correct: DOGE (pronounced “doggie”? just a guess) should never be referred to even implicitly as an actual federal agency. “Department of Government Efficiency” should always, always, be in quotes or preceded by “so-called”. The NY Times and the Amazon Post both routinely mischaracterize it as a real government entity in headlines and ledes — sometimes with a clarification far down in the story, sometimes not at all — and of course the rest of the MSM generally follows suit. It’s a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but maddening nonetheless to see it happen over and over. (Does anyone even hire copy editors anymore?)
@58 Don’t blame me because political institutions don’t represent the will of the people, but then do not be surprised when the people are disenfranchised and end up electing demagogues
and no, I am not antisemitic even when you run out of factual arguments to support Israel’s genocidal policies.
@60 — ‘the Amazon Post’
Bless you.
& Remember:
Jeffrey’s
ALWAYS
Listening!
also:
if you tell a Lie
Often Enough
it becomes
Fact. that’s
a Fact.
especially
when YOU
Control the Message
and the Messengers and if
they don’t Play, they be Gone.
sayonara
come
Monday
we got US
a new King.
Day
fucking
One.*
~
*thanks,
Wormtongue!
never couldda done it
sans Y O U.
‘if you tell a Lie
Often Enough
it becomes
Fact. that’s
a Fact.’
and
when
you OWN
All THREE Branches
of your gubbermental Tree
new
Facts
make for
Great Laws.
maga,
baby.
ma-
ga.
@60 I concur that framing issues in the proper light is very important. In the same vein, I listened to a Dean Baker podcast in which he argues that we should talk about ‘import tax’ rather than “tariff”.
@56, What army is going to forcibly march Putin to the Hague? What army does any of your feckless international courts have?
Netanyahu
Faces a Political Crisis
Over the Gaza Cease-Fire Deal
With his far-right coalition partners
opposing an end to the war and
threatening to quit, the Israeli
prime minister may have
to choose: them or
the agreement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-cease-fire.html
my money’s
on his coalition
of far-right warrior
wannabees. Sorry, Gaza.
it’s nothing
Personal.
speaking of Feckless:
@65: do you Prefer:
mister maga
mister magoo
mister magagoo or
mister magagoo-goo?
I’m partial
to the Latter,
Nihil, but that’s just Me.
OK, I said I wasn’t going to comment again on this thread, but I see that @49 I blindly pasted the wrong quote from Nancy Pelosi. That was about seeking a ceasefire at that time, and actually a reasonable case could have been made then for a ceasefire. I should have used this one from the same story:
“I think … some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere,” Pelosi said. “Some, I think, are connected to Russia. And I say that having looked at this for a long time now, as you know.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/pelosi-criticism-palestinian-gaza-protests-russia/index.html
Apologies for putting something confusing out there.
@65 hopefully Russia will turn him in but, even though Putin is a repeat offender (Chechnya, Ukraine, ..), it’s not critical as long as Russians get the message that not breaking international law is necessary to be fully accepted among the community of nations, which includes trade and collaboration, etc… Of course, that also entirely depends on Western nations stopping to undermine international law themselves (i.e. unconditional support for Israel’s actions for example) or even gaslighting the public regarding climate change mitigation and remediation so that the global South stops giving us the finger regarding sanction enforcement
@67 Democrats such as Pelosi like to think that Russian trolls creating division among the US public gives them a pass for pushing neoliberal and neoconservative policies for the last 40 years because they don’t want to take responsibility for the disastrous policies that hollowed out middle America. She couldn’t be more wrong as shown by the 2016 and 2022 election results when Trump successfully conned some workers into believing he was their preferred candidate. He even conned some people into believing he was a peace candidate for Christ sake.
@52 “lol, it’s also “nearly identical” to the Israeli proposal put forward in May, which Hamas refused at that time to accept. 😉”
Per usual you’re full of shit.
From June 1 2024:
“Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted there will be no permanent ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are destroyed and all hostages are released.
His statement comes after US President Joe Biden announced Israel had proposed a three-stage plan to Hamas aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire.
A senior Hamas politician has told the BBC it “will go for this deal” if Israel does.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c888p5p2zvxo
From this past Tuesday:
“The deal that may – and still may not – be agreed and signed on Tuesday or Wednesday was on the table last May, again in July and practically ever since. But Mr. Netanyahu, in the name of “an existential war” that will produce a “total victory,” waited for the U.S. election and then for the presidential inauguration before agreeing to a deal.”
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-01-14/ty-article/.premium/the-gaza-cease-fire-deal-hasnt-changed-in-eight-months-why-did-netanyahu-accept-it-now/00000194-649e-d2ad-a19d-76df0cf80000
The fact is Netanyahu was the impediment to a ceasefire all along.
@69: Here, I’ll do your googling for you, lol.
“WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal from Israel to Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to end the war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
…
A senior U.S. official said the four-and-a-half page plan had been sent to Hamas for review on Thursday, and that it was “almost identical” to a proposal the militant group had already accepted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that it backed the plan.”
It’s literally the Israeli proposal, lol. Hamas tried to tack on conditions like they always do, which scotched the deal. Watch for more of their bullshit when it comes to the hostage releases. There’s still a lot of hunger in Gaza for more Israeli bombs. 😉
“There’s
still a lot of hunger
in Gaza for more Israeli bombs.”
your hammering
sociopathic sockbott’s
what’s hungering for a damn
good Bombing, Wormtongue
it’s Good
you’ve got
an Outlet wormmy
to say the things you
Know shouldn’t Be said
but your Sickness is Too much
even for the Stranger’s left coast pages
hey
mods
can you re-
move the insidious
Pestilence, si vous plait?
gracias.