Good morning! We’ve got a damp one, probably. There’s a good chance of rain this morning, and then we’ll be overcast for most of the day. We’re just barely going to hit 60 degrees, which means it might finally be time to break out your fall boots and jackets. It’s leather weather, baby.
Peace Deal in Gaza: It may have finally happened. Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace deal. The truce would take place on Friday, starting a 72-hour window when they are expected to exchange hostages and prisoners. UN Secretary General António Guterres said the UN is ready to scale up food, water, shelter, and medical assistance in long-starving Gaza once a cease-fire goes into effect. The whole agreement is still on a razor’s edge, but today, Palestinians and Israelis are celebrating in the streets.
Higher Education’s Situationship: Since Trump took aim at most of our higher education system at the top of his term, our major universities have been trying to figure out how to coexist with this administration—and most of them are deciding that a lil’ acquiescence is worth the hundreds of millions of dollars they want to keep from the federal government. Last week, the Trump administration sent letters to nine universities offering to put them at the front of the line for federal research funding if they align their campus with his administration. Instead of telling Trump where to shove it, according to the New York Times, Harvard officials are weighing their options—what’s a liiiittle authoritarianism, if they get to keep their funding?
If everything you just read made you a little queasy, I recommend this guest essay in NYT by a professor of democracy at Johns Hopkins. The attack on the university system is part of “Trump’s bigger agenda to remake American politics so that everyone wants to be his friend and no one dares to be his enemy,” he writes. “If the administration can reshape politics in such a way, it can create an enduring advantage for itself, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey have done.” They win when society cracks, he writes. So it’s on universities to find solidarity with other institutions, not Trump. “Those who oppose authoritarianism have to play a different game, creating solidarity among an unwieldy coalition, which knows that if everyone holds together, they will surely succeed.”
Seattle’s Trolls Go to the White House: On Wednesday, Trump held an “Antifa Roundtable” and invited the internet’s worst people. The PNW’s far-right media contingent was well represented: Brandi Kruse told Trump that she used to suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” but now that she’s on board, she’s “happier,” “more healthy,” and “I think I’m even a little more attractive.” Jonathan Choe, who was there on behalf of Charlie Kirk’s TurningPoint USA, told Trump that he should be keeping an eye on Seattle’s Democratic Socialists of America, because their “research” says the DSA is “behind antifa.” Andy Ngo, Katie Daviscourt, and Nick Sortor all told their horror stories of their fight against antifa, and Trump told them they were very pretty.
The Ruse: The Roundtable was all part of Trump’s attempt to validate his belief that we’re in a civil war. Turns out, not even federal law enforcement believe that. Before Trump said he was going to send the National Guard to Portland, federal law enforcement reported that the protests were “low energy.” (Rude.) NYT reports that the on-the-ground info from the feds “offered no indication of a dangerous escalation of tensions, or unusual levels of protest activity that would prompt the level of alarm expressed by Mr. Trump.”
The Government Is Still Shutdown. That’s it. That’s the tweet.
Trump Bombed Colombian Citizens: Remember when Trump attacked an alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean? The president of Colombia says the boat was Colombian, and carrying Colombian citizens. “A new war zone has opened up,” he tweeted, without elaboration.
How are you coping with all this? We all have our vices, but don’t do it with 7 pounds of gummy cola bottles, okay? A man in the UK put himself in the hospital after scoring a bulk bag of the gummies for just 22 bucks, and housing them in three days. Don’t do that.
But What About the Big One?? Last night we had our last major, televised debate in the race for the mayor’s office, moderated by KOMO’s Chris Daniels, Seattle U’s professional-in-residence Joni Balter, and Seattle U student Diego Borromeo. We saw a lot of the same: Harrell insisting that Wilson doesn’t have the experience necessary to run the city; Wilson touting 14 years of coalition building that says otherwise. The vibes were… off. Doing her best Sara Nelson impression, Balter scolded the crowd of students any time they cheered for Wilson—claiming that it was eating into time for more questions. And the moderators threw in some of the weirdest “gotchas” I’ve seen yet. They asked Wilson what she would do if an earthquake hit the region, a non-political emergency prep question that was really just a thinly veiled attempt at taking their own dig at her experience. And then gave her a series of “yes/no” questions about whether or not she’s a Sawant-style socialist (which they then posed to Harrell, and allowed him to ramble on and on and on…). Can we go back to boycotting Sinclair media?
Balter’s got a round of gotcha questions! WHAT KIND OF A SOCIALIST ARE YOU KATIE?? Do you support decriminalizing prostitution? A rent freeze? A $30 minimum wage in five years? ARE YOU KSHAMA, KATIE???
— Erica C. Barnett (@ericacbarnett.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
For SOME reason, they’re giving the same are-you-a-socialist questions to Harrell, and they’re giving Harrell tons and tons of time to answer each yes/no question. How about some rapidfire gotcha questions aimed at him? No?
— Erica C. Barnett (@ericacbarnett.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Speaking of Experience: Seattleites have a lot of experience with Harrell now (and Sara Nelson and Ann Davison) and it turns out we simply didn’t like that experience very much. The Northwest Progressive Institute, which does regular “Civic Heartbeat” polling in Seattle, found that since 2021, Harrell, Nelson, and Davison’s approval ratings have consistently plummeted. The primary election wasn’t a fluke. It showed the incumbents what many of us already knew: their records suck, and it’s time for something new. Bye, Felicia.
The Egyptian Goes Dark: SIFF announced on Thursday morning that they’re ending their lease with the Egyptian. The movie theater has been closed since a pipe burst and flooded the building in 2024, and in a press release, the nonprofit said that reopening “would not have contributed to SIFF’s long-term organizational stability.” Seattle Central still owns the building, but it’s not clear what’ll happen to it yet.
Some Vibes for Your Morning: Sometimes you need a song to shake off the cobwebs and get you moving. And sometimes you need a soundtrack that makes you feel like you’re inside Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is the latter. And if you want more of it, Patricia Wolf will be at the Chapel Performance Space this Saturday.
More in NEWS
Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.
Remember:
bibi’s facing
Serious Jail Time
should his War on Palestinians
pause long enough for Israel’s (non-
fascist) Jews to catch their collective Breaths
and Remember
just Who’s
Been In
Charge
so his
Motivation
for Devastation
has Not Gone Away
Nothing more despicable than someone who wants more bloodshed just so that he can say “I told you so”.
confusing
/conflating
fascist Reality
with Bloodlust?
just
Another
koolie’s dollar day!
bugger
Off bitch
correction:
confusing
/conflating
condemning
fascist Reality
with Bloodlust?
it’s
just
Another
kkkoolie’s dollar day!
where Projection
is De Rigueur
now back
to your regularly
scheduled Progrom!
@54: Gotcha! I wasn’t specifically referring to you, but since you responded I guess I hit the nail on the head!
Oh, this is delicious. Talk about projection! LOL!
@52, @55: For the past two years, the Stranger and supportive commenters have been completely, utterly, totally wrong about everything and anything concerning Israel and war. The point on which they most achingly wanted to be proven right was the war in Gaza going badly — and ending worse — for Israel. Every other military action in the region already ended favorably for Israel, and now the war in Gaza is ending favorably for Israel as well. Our friends here just can’t take it. If even one little thing had gone their way, they might have some tiny consolation — but they have nothing. Nothing. (It’s not even the “genocide” they won’t stop proclaiming, either.)
So, having been proven completely wrong in every last one of their previous predictions, they immediately respond with very confident predictions about what will happen next. And what do they predict — IOW, what do they most desperately crave? — a resumption of the very bloodletting they previously claimed to oppose. If only the war would start again, then maybe this time, it wouldn’t end well for Israel! When it comes to all of those civilians they supposedly cared about, our friends here would rather watch more of them die, than accept a reality wherein Israel wins. That’s the type of people the Stranger and supportive commenters truly are, and they’re not happy in finally getting exposed as such.
“If only the war would start again… “
–thumpfnsorna on October 10, 2025 at 12:20 PM
the Wormtongue
projecting his
Desires out.
fucking.
LOUD.
@57: Every time you hurl a PROECT barb, it boomerangs on you. Let that sink in.
@58: Gawd, it’s hilarious, watching this crowd become ever-more bitter as the peace deal moves slowly forward, crushing their hopes, without regard as about how THEY feel. Having accidentally admitted how much they hate any peace which contains favorable terms for Israel, they’re left flailing around, ever-more-desperately trying to point their fingers at everyone else.
A truly pathetic end to a truly pathetic performance.
“A truly pathetic end to a truly pathetic performance.”
–@thumpfnsorna on October 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
@the Wormtongue
perpetually pushing
AIPAC, rubbing our Noses
in his/its Pro-Israeli Propaganda
their reichwing Narrative reaffixing Blame
to Any Where But Themselves
making it all about Opponents
of Genocide’s Feelings. ok. how about
a Different, NON-AIPAC Approved take you ask*
“A truly pathetic end to a truly pathetic performance.”
because, if You were the Wormtongue, the
Projecter, it’d Be Nothing more
than Performative
*ok, kristo, Thanks! — Allow me:
Trump’s Sham Peace Plan
There will be no peace in Gaza.
Only the temporary absence of war.
There is no shortage of failed peace plans in occupied Palestine,
all of them incorporating detailed phases and timelines,
going back to the presidency of Jimmy Carter. They
end the same way. Israel gets what it wants initially
~in the latest case the release of the remaining
Israeli hostages!while it ignores and violates
every other phase until it resumes its
attacks on the Palestinian people.
It is a sadistic game.
A merry-go-round of death.
This ceasefire, like those of the past,
is a commercial break. A moment when the
condemned man is allowed to smoke a cigarette
before being gunned down in a fusillade of bullets.
Once Israeli hostages are released,
the genocide will continue. I do not know
how soon. Let’s hope the mass slaughter is delayed
for at least a few weeks. But a pause in the genocide
is the best we can anticipate. Israel is on the cusp of em-
ptying Gaza, which has been all but obliterated under two
years of relentless bombing. It is not about to be stopped.
This is the culmination of the Zionist dream.
The United States, which has given Israel
a staggering $22 billion in military aid
since Oct, 7, 2023, will not shut
down its pipeline, the only
tool that might halt
the genocide.
Israel,
as it always does,
will blame Hamas and
the Palestinians for failing
to abide by the agreement,
most probably a refusal~true
or not~to disarm, as the proposal
demands. Washington, condemning
Hamas’s supposed violation, will give
Israel the green light to continue its genocide
to create Trump’s fantasy of a Gaza Riviera and
“special economic zone” with its “voluntary” relo-
cation of Palestinians in exchange for digital tokens.
–by Chris Hedges; October 10, 2025
from The Chris Hedges Report
oodles:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/trumps-sham-peace-plan
speaking of Wormtongues
and Performative “art.”
continued from above:
Of the myriads of peace plans over the decades,
the current one is the least serious. Aside from
a demand that Hamas release the hostages
within 72-hours after the ceasefire begins,
it lacks specifics and imposed timetables.
It is filled with caveats that allow
Israel to abrogate the agreement.
And that is the point.
It is not designed to be a viable path to peace,
which most Israeli leaders understand.
Israel’s largest-circulation newspaper,
Israel Hayom, established by the late
casino magnate Sheldon Adelson
to serve as a mouthpiece for
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and champ-
ion messianic Zionism,
instructed its readers
not to be concerned about the
Trump plan because it is only “rhetoric.”
oodles:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/trumps-sham-peace-plan
speaking of thumpfnsorna
and Empty rhetoric but
I repeat myself: They-
re the One and
the Same.
a slight correction of a typo made in the pasting:
“They end the same way. Israel gets what it wants initially
~in the latest case the release of the remaining
Israeli hostages~while it ignores and violates
every other phase until it resumes its
attacks on the Palestinian people.”
fixed.
apologies!
oh
and
regardless
of what tS’s
reichwing contingent
Claims, I get no Joy out of
Israel resuming its Lopsided War
on Palestine — that’s how THEY feel.
but Not those of Us Opposed
to Israel’s Ongoing
Genocidal
Massacre
cum Landgrab
cum Forced Starvation
“Gawd,
it’s hilarious,
watching this crowd
become ever-more bitter
as the peace deal moves slowly forward,
crushing their hopes, without regard as about how THEY feel.
A truly pathetic end to a truly pathetic performance.”
–@thumpfnsorna on October 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
“Why aren’t the Free Palestine people cheering about the ceasefire?”
If you saw a man beating a child into a coma, would you cheer after the beating stopped? No, your first reaction would be horror at what happened and your second would be fear that he’ll attack the kid again.
–@Caitlin Johnstone; @caitoz.bsky.social
·
but they’re not Cheering!
but they’re not Cheering!
but they’re not Cheering!
yeah
we Heard ya
the First Time, wormmy:
“A truly pathetic end to a truly pathetic performance.”
Promise us there’ll
be More, worm-
my?
“Even if the ceasefire holds,
we’re still going to see the results
of months of starvation conditions,
which means more death caused by the
country that now wants us to applaud their restraint.”
–jACAB; @jacabovermyhead.bsky.social
‘SIFF announced on Thursday morning that they’re ending their lease with the Egyptian. The movie theater has been closed since a pipe burst and flooded the building in 2024, and in a press release, the nonprofit said that reopening “would not have contributed to SIFF’s long-term organizational stability.” Seattle Central still owns the building, but it’s not clear what’ll happen to it yet.’
Sadly, this may well be the end of the line for that fine old movie palace. The land is certainly worth more than the building, and the repair cost for an unreinforced masonry structure in an earthquake zone would be prohibitive anyway.
But what memories! The packed house rising as one to our feet at the end of “Ghost World,” with Daniel Clowes and Thora Birch in attendance. Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” had the Seattle premiere there. The Midnight Film Fest, the Secret Film Fest, all that SIFF brought. SIFF extended the Egyptian’s service life, first by providing excellent programming when the Egyptian was externally owned, then by taking over operations directly.
Another great piece of Seattle slides into memory, never to be experienced by anyone growing up there now.
A truly pathetic end to a truly great performance.