Good morning! The rain pushed back some of the smoke from the six wildfires burning around us, so we get a little bit of that dreamy, pre-fire season September weather today: highs in the mid-70s with some breaks in the clouds here and there. Take a nice, deep breath while you can.
Alright, let’s do the news.
Bruce Cosplays as a Progressive: General election season has started, and last week, at a Haller Lake community center in North Seattle, the candidates got on stage together for the first time. The biggest surprise of the night? Mayor Bruce Harrell tried to insist that he is to the left of his opponent, Katie Wilson, who trounced him by almost nine points in the primary, taking home more than 50 percent of the vote. The Stranger’s Marcus Harrison Green was there for all the shenanigans. Read about it here.
Where Wilson Leads, Harrell Will Follow: To try to establish his lefty bona fides, Harrell is chasing Wilson’s heels like an Australian shepherd puppy, and last week was a perfect example. Wilson has made affordable childcare a pillar of her campaign since day one. She talks about childcare as a public good, like schooling and libraries, which has, unsurprisingly, resonated with voters. So last week, in a fundraising email, Harrell promised to “expand free childcare and preschool, offering fully subsidized care for infants and toddlers while increasing capacity for 3-5 year olds, giving thousands of families the support they deserve.” Just like how, after Wilson announced that she was exploring a public option for grocery stores to combat food deserts, Harrell suddenly had a plan for food access in the city. He thinks he’s showing voters that he’s progressive. He’s actually showing us that he has no vision for this city.
An “Unusual Arrangement”: You may not know Christian Sinderman’s name, but you know his work. He’s one of the most sought-after political strategists in Washington state politics. And over the weekend, the Seattle Times reported that Sinderman, who was Harrell’s strategist for his 2021 campaign, was paid by the city for three years during Harrell’s term. He was given a City of Seattle email address, got regular invitations to executive team meetings and retreats, and made almost a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer-funded consulting fees in the process. To be clear, it’s not unusual for campaign staff to work on a winning candidate’s transition team for a few months. And it’s not even unusual for them to move into government jobs when their candidate wins. It is unusual for that person to stay on contract at their consulting rates, while maintaining their consulting firm, and working with other clients running for city office. Bruce insists it’s totally fine, but even City Council President Sara Nelson doesn’t think this passes the sniff test.
Electric Car Manspreads on Car-Free Day: Sunday was supposed to be the second-to-last open streets event on Lake Washington Boulevard, where the streets are shut down to let cyclists enjoy the lakefront without risking getting rundown by a lead foot in a minivan running late for lacrosse practice. Instead, the city granted a permit for a Rivian TV commercial shoot on that same stretch.
Seattle permitted a car commercial shoot in the middle of Bicycle Weekends and an accessible cycling event #SEAbikes #Seattle
— Seattle Bike Blog (@seattlebikeblog.com) September 7, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Queen Anne NIMBYs Are Freaking Out: The Comprehensive Plan has some plans for upper Queen Anne. It’ll add about 40 blocks of multi-family housing around Queen Anne Avenue in an area that surrounds two major grocery stores, a middle school, a community center, a public pool, and two public parks. It’s the dream of the 15-minute city. So why don’t they like that? Not because they’re obsessed with white, affluent “character” of their neighborhood, they say. But because Queen Anne is a hill, they say. And hills just aren’t suitable for density, they say. Sure, Jan.
Let’s take a look at the hilliest neighborhood in Paris—home to Montmartre—and see how their topographical constraints have impacted population density.
— Qagggy! (@qagggy.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 7:43 PM
100 Days of Solitude (Maybe): The search for Travis Decker, the man accused of killing his three young daughters in Eastern Washington, hit the 100-day mark over the weekend. The FBI is having a rough time with it. They’ve chased down a series of false sightings, had no success with a two-day, 250-mile grid search of the woods outside of Leavenworth, and found bones that turned out to be, well, animal bones.
No Apocalypse Yet: Trump insists that he’s not declaring war on Chicago. He just wants to send the National Guard there, rename the DoD the “Department of War,” and repost memes about “Chipocalypes Now” with his face horrifically plastered onto Martin Sheen’s body. That’s all.
Trump’s “Chipocalypse Now” meme appears to have come from conspiracy theory channel Next News Network. The channel has pushed conspiracy theories like claiming Biden wore a wire during the 2020 debate & Obama admin officials killed Osama bin Laden’s body double. www.mediamatters.org/google/youtu…
— Alex Kaplan (@alkapdc.bsky.social) September 8, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Make Racial Profiling Legal Again: In a brief, unsigned order, SCOTUS lifted a federal judge’s order blocking government agents from making indiscriminate immigration-related stops in the LA area on Monday. The order had been blocked because it clearly led to racial profiling—stopping people because of the color of their skin or because they spoke Spanish. In the new tradition of our Supreme Court, they gave no reason for why they thought racial profiling was okay now.
A Little Good News for Ya: Turns out, there’s still a little bit of justice in the world. On Monday morning, an appeals court upheld the $83.3 million jury award that Trump has to pay for defaming E. Jean Carroll in 2019, after she accused him of rape in a Manhattan department store (which he was separately found liable for sexual abuse, lest we forget).
A Song for Your Morning: This groove by the lovely, Welch Cate Le Bon has been stuck in my head all weekend. So now it must be stuck in yours.
67, No it’s just a boring semantic debate that you can find all over the internet if you care this much. I don’t care either way how people use the word, I just think it’s funny when morons like you get angry because you think the academic definition of racism means minorities can’t be bigots. You’re just dumb, that’s all.
@68 – okay then, complain about tbass1981’s comment at the second #3. That’s who brought up the whole stupid issue in the first place. I’m just one of those people who absolutely despises that nonsense dogma because it has severely negatively affected me in real life, so I responded to it. Deal with it.
“when morons like you get angry because you think the academic definition of racism means minorities can’t be bigots”
I notice you used the word “bigots” instead of “racists”. Seems like you believe in that bullshit after all!
@70, Using “racist” in that instance would make no sense. The sticking point for you is the false belief that when people say “minorities can’t be racist” they mean “minorities can’t be bigots” when they just mean there is more to racism than bigotry alone.
You’re an even worse reader than coolidge i fear. Cry even harder, you’re doing great.
Get ready for the bad news coming out today that the multiple-felon Black guy who murdered the beautiful Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska on the train in Charlotte NC, by stabbing her to death, from behind, totally unprovoked, which was all caught on the train’s surveillance camera, can be heard on the video literally saying “I got that White girl” after he murdered her.
But hey according to “progressives” he can’t possibly qualify as being “racist” towards Whites because he was totally powerless.
@71, – : Using “racist” in that instance would make no sense. The sticking point for you is the false belief that when people say “minorities can’t be racist” they mean “minorities can’t be bigots” when they just mean there is more to racism than bigotry alone.”
By your own “logic”, it’s now impossible for a poor White South African to be “racist” towards Julius Malema.
No, by the logic of the academic definition of racism the exact opposite of that would be true. You’re getting dumber by the comment.
@56 Fair enough question, I suppose. The difference is that the real goals of the Black separatist group appear (to me, at least) to be primarily non-race-specific: i.e., money and sexual exploitation. The real goal of the Klan, as their actions (not just their words) have made clear for a century and a half, is the ongoing subjugation of another race and the preservation of institutional structures that protect and preserve racial inequality. (And for what it’s worth, unlike Black supremacists the Klan and their ilk have legions of fellow-travelers and centuries of philosophical and theological tradition to draw on.) For those reasons I don’t hesitate to call the Klan racist, no matter what its individual members may believe. Hope that helps.
@74 – explain your nonsense. By the “logic” of the academic definition of racism, “racism = power + prejudice”, and disempowered minorities can’t be racist towards the powerful majority. Julius Malema is a powerful millionaire and a Black man in the Black-majority government of South Africa, a Black-majority country. Malema has vastly much more power than a poor White South African, who is in the minority in South Africa (Whites make up approximately 7.3% of the country’s population. Whites are also a global minority too, but that’s a different issue).
Therefore, according to the “logic” of the “academic definition of racism”, it is impossible for a poor White South African to be “racist” towards Julius Malema.
@64: I have literally zero opinion about this story, or any other “news” story like it. I just thought your perp language was…how shall I put this?…striking? It certainly makes one think.
“You see what you believe, and believe what you see.”
That’s the teaser promo for the upcoming film “Mistakhan,” and you all can be in this film as extras by simply showing up at the Coupeville waterfront Wednesday morning. Your job will be playing art festival goers fleeing a perp donning an explosive vest. Whether you are a Wokus Erectus or a Cromagaman, running away from the actual villain will be ideologically affirming.
The film, an effort of Vashon denizen Van Allen Cooper, bills itself as a “social thriller,” though the title gives away too much. As a tranquil island town hosts an art festival, someone is caught attempting to detonate themselves. Who is that someone? Well, in the pandemonium, the one “middle eastern” looking chap captures all the suspicion. But it turns out the terrorist is…wait for it…a white blonde women.
When I first heard of this I thought huhh, why choose a white girl? What white girl would blow herself up with an explosive vest? Then I thought, well, some of those liberal arts students were pretty worked up about Palestine, and well, though a stretch, it’s at least minimally plausible. Indeed, among the few cases of white gals blowing themselves to atoms (which of course are social constructions according to Barth Vader) converting to Islam and then radicalising for some cause seem to be the necessary steps before selecting the proper sports bra to wear beneath plastic explosives.
But no, according to available character sketch material, our girl simply developed early, becoming the envy of her girlfriends and object of the “male gaze.” So the plot is totally insane outside of a few blocks along Leary or Broadway. Or Vashon Island, apparently.
Anyway, my friends who are Critical Drinker fans will be showing up because “why not?” It’s an opportunity to run screaming in a silly film ,from a silly film at the same time. And for those of you who still get that thrill up your leg from virtual signaling on post 911 stereotypes for what will be almost a quarter century as the film goes to shoot, well, here’s another opportunity. Just imagine crowing about it at Westward this weekend, and upon receiving a lagniappe from the oyster bar you are so overcome with self satisfaction, that you will temporarily convince yourself that if indeed you heard a bomb threat at a festival, the first thing you would do is throw the nearest white woman to the ground and inspect her yoga class netted gear bag. Ahh…
Extras Look See begins at 8:30 am last I checked.
@30: “I’m amazed at how badly Harrell is campaigning (trying to run to the left of Wilson is insane / ineffective).”
Agreed in full. One might expect he and his campaign staff would simply take and defend the position of “Mayor Harrell, reasonable and experienced liberal,” over what he’s actually doing. Even continually referring to her by the full title of her fake job would itself make for a more effective campaign activity than everything he’s now doing. (For very good historical reasons, the term, “General Secretary,” almost by itself implies great hostility towards actual democracy, and the tag, “Transit Rider’s Union,” absolutely screams “not a real job,” in the long-time union town of Seattle.)
@6 two things about your comment. One, no one has mentioned all immigrants merely those who cut the line or those who violate our laws. Unsurprisingly most countries operate in this manner. Second, if your argument for undocumented immigration is that we need to have a slave labor force you might want to rethink it.
@80 You don’t seem to have noticed but for at least a decade now there has been a very strong element on the right — at first the province of the Ann Coulter fringe (remember her?) but now clearly dominant under Trump — which simply wants all non-European immigration ended and all nonwhite immigrants gone, regardless of how they got here. Hence their insistence that ICE should, for instance, be able to detain someone simply for speaking Spanish with no other cause for suspicion. We now have a country where native-born Hispanic citizens feel compelled to carry their passport card with them every time they leave their house. Immigrant rights advocates who refuse to play the “documented vs. undocumented” game are simply recognizing this reality. In the white supremacist minds of Trump, Vance, and Stephen Miller, they’re all hostile invaders who will never be “Real Americans” no matter what they do.
Anyone can be racist. What is at stake is the United States’s systemic and institionalized racism that is white supremacist and Christian (in name only) Nationalist by design.
The Tuba Man sends his regards… oh wait, he can’t, because he’s dead, and the longest that any of his killers were jailed for was 16 months, and then they went on to continue being criminal pieces of shit after they got out, including committing (another) murder. So progressive! So Seattle! Restorative Justice!
@83 — Brilliant Pivot!
(or was that a Pirouette)
[gotta be at Least an 11.2]
apologies — my
‘detective’ skills’re
a little sleepy: Who
did you Usta be @tS?
your Zest & Zeal’re
OFF the Charts!
[like that Pirouette]
fucking
Kudos!
@81 & 82
Brava and
Bravo!
Great Work
@derr Schlogg!
82: What’s at stake is Christianity and our western culture for the evils of Islam. Look at UK, look at Sweden, all over Europe. Raping of kids by Muslims ok, flying the English flag not. Now on America there are loudspeaker calling to prayers in Minneapolis starting at 3:30 am. Sharia law. This is what we’re in for.
Has nothing to do with white supremacy.
@69
you
Misspelled
XIAN-Sharia
Law but it Is hard
“69”?
WTF?
@86.
sorry!
Coolidge dear, As far as I’m concerned Christianity can disappear down the rabbit hole of history, along with large swathes of “our western culture”.
But you really should unclench about Islam. There are 151 mosques in the Twin Cities, and they seem like they’re concentrated in Southeast Minneapolis. They can broadcast the call to prayer between 3:00am and 11:00pm, but they don’t have to.
By comparison, there are hundreds of Christian churches, many of which have steeples with bells. They are welcome to ring their bells, but hardly any of them do that.
And as Americans abandon Christianity, They’re not flocking to Islam. You’re just being a big old pantywaist about your religious bigotry.
@86. You intentionally misunderstand. Since Reconstruction, the tenets of white supremacy have been institutionalized into the legal process, affecting everything from the judicial system to voting to fair housing and civil rights. The abolitionist to solid south Dixiecrats made sure to preseve the legacy of slavery to benefit White Americans over minorities. This is what being “woke” is really about, which is leveling the playing field by fixing these inequitable loopholes in our laws and institutions. Because they are made to be invisible but still impactful on the macro scale.
Christian Nationalism is not Christian at all but a front for modern day fascism to take root using obedience and imparting the principles of white supremacy into corrupted Christianity, completely disregarding one’s immortal soul which has no race in order to serve a material agenda. No theocracy should take root in this country, our Constitution guarantees us this right due to how abusive the governments of Europe were with their corruption under it, what with Henry VIII and the Church of England, the War of the Roses, the Spanish Inquisiton, the colonization and extermination of the Americas with missions, etc. etc. etc. And of course, slavery was defended as pro-Christian as well by the South.
That collective legacy endures today, and just because it was constructed to benefit racist white folks doesn’t mean you need to deflect with false guilt and thereby enable it; you need to understand it and ensure that our justice system is blind as the Constitution guarantees. That is what America is all about, full stop. The rule of law must be applied fairly, else we fail our founders and every soldier that gave the ultimate sacrifice to uphold the spirit of the Constitution they all swear an oath to defend from all enemies foreign and domestic. Today’s domestic enemies occupy the White House and patrol our city streets to sell out the blessings of liberty for false profits.
@86. This comment is profoundly ignorant of Islam. You take the evil extremists example and scaremonger about the entirety of a worldwide religion. As if the disruptive Christian Nationalists blasting cloy pseudo-religious pop songs on megaphones and loudspeakers are any different. Extremism is the enemy, not the religion. And, unfortunately, the difference in America is that our extremists have hundreds of billions of dollars backing up their insane worldview they are all too happy to force on the rest of us.
@90. Er, the pro-slavery southerners, in opposition to the abolitionists**
In other words, taking issue with institutional white supremacy because you are white and reflexively feel compelled to disregard or dismiss those claims as woke is inane; you are not as a white person to blame for that legacy today, nor is it your responsibility for it, unless you take proactive action to enable it. It is designed to make you take issue with it because it has the word white in it, but it doesn’t apply to all white people just because of their race no more than Wahhabists represent all Muslims. Nobody is blaming you or taking anything from you by resolving the inequities of our past, simply pursuing a more perfect perfect nation with liberty and justice for all. This should be your concern as an American first.
Those guys that killed the Tuba Man were just trying to help him become more Progressive, by Dismantling his White Privilege, but his White Fragility got in the way.
The Tuba Man’s killers were still Progressive though, because they Abolished the Tuba Man’s Whiteness.
“BE THE CRIME” indeed!
Decarlos Brown Jr. was just trying to help Iryna Zarutska become more Progressive, by Dismantling her White Privilege, but her White Fragility got in the way. The outcome was still Progressive though, because he Abolished her Whiteness.
@90 thru 93
Brilliant
Comments
CDizzle. Thank you.
@76 bioopsy: Oh, I get it. Which troll are you replacing—Babybarf, Valvoline, or MAGA Yella Fool?
I’ll just scroll past your latest screen name, thanks.
@90—@93 CDizzle +4 For the WIN!!!!
So well said and summarized. Thank you.
@98 kristofarian: Agreed.
“Not because they’re obsessed with white, affluent “character” of their neighborhood, they say.”
The Stranger’s impotent performative White Guilt is fucking cringe
@90 – “Christian Nationalism is not Christian at all”
I give less than one shit about Christianity. Christianity is a slave morality for weaklings and white-guilt “Christians” like you.
Christianity denies human evolution. The only way that all the “races” or “population groups” could possibly be “equal”, under any logical standard, is if there was a “Creator God”, which there isn’t. All men are not created equal.
White
people
being White’re
just Obviously More
Highly Evolved since White
is the “color” of Purity or is it
just having Less Melanin make US
thee GREATEST of “Races” or is it our
innate ability to Enslave other “Races”
or is there some Special Quality
that makes Us White People
the Greatest of ALL?
you seem quite
‘well-informed’
bipedal. Tell
Us if you
Please:
what make US Superior
or, what makes
NON-Whites
LESS Su-
perior?
I wanna
grab them
Bragging Rights
too! can You Help?
@103 – kristofartian, nobody reads your stupid unreadable shit. I didn’t even read your shit, even though I know it was directed at me.
@104
didn’t know
you could
even Read
tho you’re
“good” with
the Invectives
just like the
Wormtongue!
bipedal
That.
Admit it
Bipe, you
Had to “look
up” ‘Invective’
didn’tchya?
oh
and give
my sincerest
Apologies to your Willage:
“By attempting to educate you,
we run the risk of depriving
a village of its idiot.”
pls:
give
my Regards
to Bumfuk, Bipe?
did not read