Da weather: I’m loving the fall leaves and hating the leaf blowers. I support clearing sidewalks for safety and accessibility—I’ve slipped on dead leaves, too, no shame—but lawn owners should embrace the beauty of decay! The National Weather Service says there is a 100 percent chance of rain today. On Halloween, rain is somewhat likely in the daylight and most likely in the evening. 

Another person dies at ICE facility in Tacoma: Tacoma and Pierce County officials have not said who died at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma this Sunday or how they died, but we know they are the second person to die there this year. The first, 61-year-old Charles Leo Daniel, died of cardiovascular disease in March. From what activists and people on the inside say, the center is a terrible place. Detainees have complained of harsh treatment and inadequate food for years and have launched hunger strikes. At least six have attempted suicide this year. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is concerned about a lack of transparency and oversight. La Resistencia will hold vigils outside the center this week.

Fort Knox or Clark County? After someone lit ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver, Washington on fire Monday, destroying hundreds of ballots in an apparent attempt to disrupt the election, Clark County officials decided to post contracted workers at all 22 drop boxes 24 hours a day from now to Election Day. They won’t confront anyone, but they will keep their eyes peeled. Police will presumably confront people and have stepped up patrols. The FBI said it has linked a vehicle to both fires, as well as a third arson in the area three weeks ago. 

Put your hands on your head and back away from the wolves: This month, US wildlife officials have found two dead adult gray wolves in Washington, a species protected under federal and state law. US Fish and Wildlife is not messing around. They’re offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest or conviction in either case.

Can’t say he’s boring: Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice, the same guy police accused last month of stealing drugs off corpses and lying about it, refused to implicate the county in a controversial jail death, even after the pathologist reclassified the death from “natural” to “negligent homicide.” Hien Trung Hua, 41, died after a guard hit, shackled, and left him in a dangerous position during a mental health crisis. Yakima County’s elected commissioners, the sheriff, and the Yakima Herald-Republic’s ed board want Curtice to resign. He’s been on leave for weeks and didn’t return the Seattle Times’s request for comment. Idk, should we trust him?

Kamala Harris speaks in DC: More than 75,000 people attended the Vice President’s last major speech of the campaign, where she called Trump a “petty tyrant” out for “unchecked power.” From Washington’s Ellipse, the same place Trump spoke before the insurrection on January 6, 2021, she delivered the plain speech that ultimately called for unity.

Speaking of January 6th: Actor Jay Johnston of Mr. Show and Bob’s Burgers was convicted of a felony for participating in the insurrection. A judge sentenced him to one year and one day in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 18 months, citing his clear lack of remorse. Lawyer’s presented a photo of Johnston’s recent “QAnon Shaman” Halloween costume as evidence.

Supreme Court denies RFK Jr. appeal: He’ll stay on the ballot in crucial battlegrounds Michigan and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court didn’t explain its decision, but state officials essentially told the Court and RFK Jr. it was too late because people are literally voting. He says leaving his name on the ballot is a violation of his First Amendment rights because it’s essentially compelling him to mislead voters into thinking he still wants to be President. Honestly, I would not put it past his supporters to vote for him fully unaware that he dropped out and backed Trump. This race will be extraordinarily tight. I’m curious if this will affect the outcome. 

Just when I thought we’ve run out of things to pollute: One hundred space researchers sent a letter imploring the Federal Communications Commission to pause new launches of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites because we don’t know the long-term environmental implications of sending thousands of satellites to space each year. Even if wifi IS cool, the introduction of all these gasses and metals into the atmosphere deserves environmental review, they say. FCC, wield your power for the people! Save space!

Where in the world is Ivanka Trump? Surfing. Paris. Watching Formula 1 Racing. Chilling in the hot tub. Hanging with Kim Kardashian in Malibu. Anywhere but with her dad, basically. She and her husband Jared Kushner told The New York Times whatever happens, they’re staying out of politics. Good for you guys. It would have been cool if you figured that one out in like 2015 or something.

Vivian McCall is The Stranger's interim Editor-in-Chief. In her private life, she is a musician and Wii U apologist. If you’re reading this, you either love her or hate her.

41 replies on “Slog AM: Kamala Harris Speaks at DC’s Ellipse, Clark County Steps Up Ballot Box Security, Do You Know Who Killed These Wolves?”

  1. Hmm. I wonder what happened to everyone? When Rich left, they went with him? Tired of politics? Tired of life? Getting ready for Halloween?

    I wonder why the county just can’t get rid of Curtice? I mean, druggie, right? Can’t they fire him for cause?

  2. Before Kristofarian gets in here to assert that Israel would behave differently but for the Netanyahu government, let us ponder this from Al Jezera:

    “The first law, which bans UNRWA from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, passed 92-10 following a fiery debate between supporters of the bill and its opponents, primarily members of Arab parliamentary parties.

    The second legislation, which declares UNRWA a “terror” group and bans Israeli officials from any contact with the agency, passed 87-9.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/28/israel-parliament-approves-bill-to-ban-unrwa

    92-10 and 87-9 seems pretty multipartisan to me.

    The opposition in Israel doesn’t think Netanyahu has gone fare enough in responding to Iran:

    “After Israeli strikes across Iran at the weekend, opposition figures are calling for further action against Iran, saying they did not go far enough.” https://www.iranintl.com/en/202410292418

    Netanyahu needs to go because he wants to be an authoritarian in Israel, not because it would make a lick of difference in Israel’s conduct of the war post 10/7.

  4. Is that Nazi boat photo for real? Don’t get me wrong, I’m prepared to believe the worst about Trump’s death cult, but there’s an uncanny vibe to this image. In particular the light levels seem too uniform throughout.

  6. @1 – Rich Smith showed how weak and immature he is to gaslighting after he got gaslighted by the Seattle Time’s Opinion piece about Sawant where the Stranger got called out for their BS and their support for her. By publicly backing her up like that in a video, he basically said “The Stranger officially is a Sawantista and stand by whatever she will say or do”. Also his message in that video basically alluded towards an unofficial endorsement of Jill Stein.

    That’s not a good look if the media revenue forecast for 2025 is questionable in this weird unstable environment. The chief editor shouldn’t be pissing off current and any future media buyers.

  7. @5 barth.

    What is your relation to today’s blogger Vivian? I know you first appear as a commentator shortly after they were hired. I know you constantly show up in the comments section clarifying whatever the daily blogger has usually sloppily strung together. However, boy oh boy are you there whenever Vivian’s thoughts and blogs need straightening out. Pretty interesting, especially when you regularly call out other commentators as being previous troll accounts.

  9. The wolf killers are most likely cattle ranchers grazing on public lands. Fun fact: grazing rights on millions of acres of public lands, mostly federal, are heavily subsidized. Welfare ranchers pay pennies on the dollar to park their cows on YOUR land, with no obligation to pay for all their negative externalities (e.g., stream degradation and soil erosion). And they are pissed that wolves are screwing up their long-running scam against taxpayers.

  11. @7, Lol. I signed up earlier this year and by a cursory search I see Vivian’s byline dating back to early 2023. I comment on the news almost daily and call out the troll menagerie a lot because that’s the majority of what goes on here now. I’m flattered by the attention but you can do better than this.

  12. @5 Thanks, Karl.

    @6 I’m not sure I understand your first paragraph but I think you meant “provoked,” not “gaslighted.” (They’re not synonyms.)

  13. @10 It’s smart politics when one is courting former Trump voters who were repulsed by his failed January 6 coup. She’s also studied all the mistakes Hillary made in 2016, and she remembers what worked for her and Joe in 2020.

  15. @14, Employees at The Stranger are “at will” employees. Unlike public employees, they can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all. “I chose to,” is good enough.

    It’s odd how The Stranger and commenters insist public employees be fired because the public “feels” like it, when an objective reason and due process is required, but commenters demand a reason when one is not required because they are privately employed.

  16. A lot of people think “public employees” should be fired if they fuck up at their job so bad that people die but they typically don’t because they have strong unions.

    And everyone — well, almost everyone — knows there is always a reason someone is fired so it’s natural curiosity to ask why. No one is let go just because “I chose to”. They are just not required to disclose their reasoning.

  18. @17: And Trump might just arbitrarily decide to stop arming Israel for no discernible reason, just like he did the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds didn’t even do anything to piss him off. He just woke up one morning and felt like America was spending too much money in the Middle East so the Kurds got cut. The same thing could easily happen to the Israelis.

  20. A majority of democrats already care about Gaza but it doesn’t matter because our government is not responsive to the will of the voters unless public opinion happens to align with their interests, particularly when it comes to foreign policy

  21. @16, “fuck up at their job so bad that people die.”

    They followed policy, training, and the job description and somebody died. You can’t fire someone for that scenario under the U.S. Constitution.

    So should these public employees that caused deaths, and over $32 million in tax payouts be fired?

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/wa-to-pay-25-million-in-evergreen-students-carbon-monoxide-death/

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/wa-to-pay-family-of-couple-killed-by-impaired-driver-leaving-ferry/

    They weren’t disciplined, let alone fired.

    Assuming they violated policy in some fashion, and someone died, was it the first time? Was it the first time it resulted in a death, as opposed to other times when it did not? You have to punish the violation, not the consequence, of it under the 14th Amendment. Was the discipline progressive? Was there due process? Has some other public employee, somewhere else, who did, or didn’t do, the same thing, disciplined with the punishment being proposed in a current case? (that pesky 14th Amendment again) All things the public sector must consider, even without a public employees union, that the private sector does not have to consider.

  22. Idk man some “public employees” have lost their jobs for killing people and some of them are even in prison so you might want to brush up on your constitutional scholarship

  24. Of course it’s not driving votes because the parties are virtually indistinguishable on the issue. Doesn’t change the fact that a majority of democratic voters wish that wasn’t true.

  25. @22, I don’t have a problem with it if there is a finding they “fucked up.” AKA violated a policy.

    But the complaints here are usually when someone died, but the Prosecutor and employer find the public employee acted within the law and within policy, or there was no applicable policy to apply for discipline. AKA the two examples I gave you.

  26. What does this have to do with how the public “feels” as you put it. I am saying public opinion isn’t arbitrary and there are many cases where the public has good reason to “feel” like someone should be fired, and sometimes they are. Arguably the public sector has an incentive in honoring how the public “feels” because it corrodes faith in our institutions when public employees can fuck up with impunity, but they have strong unions so they often don’t, and this has fuck-all to do with the constitution.

    At-will employees otoh can be fired for any reason including behavior outside of work that might give their employer a bad name, whether or not they even broke the law, and the employer doesn’t have to explain why. Whatever the case it’s normal human curiosity to wonder why someone was let go from a job, which is the thing you claimed to be puzzled by in your first comment.

  28. We didn’t really have primaries this year because we had an incumbent, so you can’t say how the issue would have driven votes. Regardless it remains true that a majority of democratic voters support a ceasefire in Gaza.

  29. @28: Well then, you can take that to the Stranger, whose reporting on the Democratic primaries “[w]e didn’t really have” provided the source for my statements.

    Meanwhile, if you just keep stating your unsourced opinion over and over and over, it will magically become more important than the actual facts you’re denying. (Trust you on this.) Because that’s the best way to make effective policy.

  30. yeah, we can Always

    trust ole Wormtongue

    whenever it comes to ‘policy.’

    see: bibi nutnyahoo’s Genocide*

    & wormmy’s Unwavering Support

    moving On:

    Far ‘right’ “comedian”

    calls Puerto Rico ‘floating

    Island of Garbage’; Biden (shakily)

    calls Magats whateverthefucks, feeds

    weird donold’s weird/bizarre ‘message’

    and I’m reminded of ‘the SOCIALST!!!!’

    whom the ‘democratic’ political party

    Sunk in His bid for the Whitehouse

    and Think of Things that Couldda

    fucking Been and shake my head

    in Dismay and in Wonder.

    nyt:

    ‘Disgraceful’: A

    Fiery Bernie Sanders

    Courts Blue-Collar Voters

    The Vermont senator’s

    appearances on the trail to

    support Vice President Kamala Harris

    stand in stark contrast to her optimistic message.

    At a rally in Erie, Pa., last weekend, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont laid out a bleak vision to voters.

    “Working-class people are angry. And some of them are thinking about Trump,” he said, ticking off a litany of economic statistics. “The current system is broken!”

    Mr. Sanders recounted tales of families living paycheck to paycheck, and described elites and the status quo as “disgraceful” and “disgusting.”

    He grew louder as he talked about the ravages of addictions to alcohol and opioids, reaching a shout as he got to what he called the worst addiction of all: “It’s greed!”

    The crowd roared in agreement.

    On the campaign trail on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Sanders is embracing a dark tone in his outreach to frustrated working-class voters, giving voice to a grimly populist message that contrasts with her campaign’s upbeat optimism.

    Mr. Sanders has stumped across swing states for months, and the 83-year-old independent [Jew!] said in an interview that with the campaign’s end in sight, he planned to hold rallies through Election Day.

    His fiery speeches aim to win over voters leaning toward former President Donald J. Trump by acknowledging working-class anger over the economy. Short of that, he hopes to motivate reliable Democratic voters to turn out.

    –by Simon J. Levien

    Reporting from Erie, Pa.

    Oct. 31, 2024, 5:04 a.m. ET

    oodles fucking more

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/us/politics/bernie-sanders-kamala-harris.html

    Ranked.

    Choice.

    Voting.

    bitches.

    *pls don’t forget

    your Grammar

    Nazi Lecture,

    wormmy!

  31. in East* vs

    West ‘news’

    from The Athletic:

    Dodgers Win World Series

    Dodgers

    beat Yankees to

    win second World Series

    of franchise’s new ‘golden era’

    https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5886987/2024/10/30/dodgers-win-world-series-yankees/

    in Monday night’s

    World Series game

    I thought I caught a wee

    Glimpse of the donold, sitting

    alone or with one or two others

    watching the ole ball game, Not

    Drawing any Attention to himself, most

    Uncharacteristically and wondered how the

    donold Might spin a New York Victory into vin-

    dication for a Failed NYC real estate barron, just

    one Election away from the Slammer. & then them

    danged Dodgers SWEPT THE YANKS in FOUR Games Straight.

    so it’s Not looking Good

    mister Fake “president.”

    Not. Looking. Good.

    and

    WAY to

    GO, Dodgers!

    that’s like

    just my opinion.

  33. @32, oh,

    Wormtongue

    so poor dear Sad

    Tedious excuse for a

    @2 — “Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice, the same guy police accused last month of stealing drugs off corpses and lying about it, refused to implicate the county in a controversial jail death, even after the pathologist reclassified the death from “natural” to “negligent homicide.” Hien Trung Hua, 41, died after a guard hit, shackled, and left him in a dangerous position during a mental health crisis. Yakima County’s elected commissioners, the sheriff, and the Yakima Herald-Republic’s ed board want Curtice to resign. He’s been on leave for weeks and didn’t return the Seattle Times’s request for comment. Idk, should we trust him?”

    say

    mister

    Myopia

    aren’t You the

    very same com-

    mentator who used

    to [before Banning] claim

    the ‘mentally-diseased’ could

    Just STOP ‘Acting Crazy’? Yes, you are.

    and I read just yesterday

    (or twas it the day Before)

    in the nyt that if bibi’d just

    get has warmongering genocidal

    Arserelieved of duty (and Pardoned)

    his little Genocidal War on Palestinians

    and now on the Lebanese Peoples’d End

    Tomorow. are you saying we cannot Trust

    whateverthefuck we Read in the New York

    fucking Times (can we still Cuss here @tS)?

    &

    Bye,

    Rich!

    you surely

    did Enrage

    the Neolibs

    (& Cons) here

    at the Stranger.

    Well fucking

    Done. Happy

    Trails & Via con

    Diosa, mi Amigo!

  34. @33: Yeah, your absolute certainty concerning the proper use of the word “genocide” has completely vanished, each and every time I’ve asked you whether it applies to 10/7. Kinda takes all the wind out of your thunderous insistence on applying it to Gaza, but that’s your problem, not mine.

  35. Does anyone else’s index finger get tired scrolling past Kristo? When reading the comments becomes more scrolling than reading, I guess it’s time to find another diversion. Throw in a few posts from Auntie Griz and it tough to find anything worth reading with all that scrolling past.

  36. @34

    “Yeah, your absolute certainty concerning the proper use of the word ‘genocide’ has completely vanished, each and every time I’ve asked you whether it applies to 10/7.”

    nonsense

    wormmy my

    Clarity regarding

    bibi’s (and YOUR) little

    fucking Genocide on the

    Largest OPEN-AIR PRISON

    holding Palestinians fucking

    CAPTIVE, Starving them, DESTROYING

    THEIR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, Well you Know

    the rest. Cheers!

    @35

    damn — now I feel Sorry

    for your scrolling

    index finger

    but Thanks for the

    Confirmation of

    Wormtongue’s

    insidious Trol-

    lings cum

    vapidity,

    Jeebs.

  37. @36: “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less. ‘ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things. ‘ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

    (Note: no longer copyrighted. Perhaps I should start calling you “Humpty Dumpty”? Oh, wait — that would be name-calling. Oh well.)

    Good luck with your whole ‘master of words’ thing. No doubt it will continue working for the Stranger, Johnstone, and you — every bit as well it has worked over the past year. Smell your accomplishment! (Or something, anyway…)

  38. Uh-oh

    TRIGGER WARNING

    FOR WORMTONGUES

    from Caitlin’s Newsletter

    “Too Much Evidence” Of Genocide

    South Africa’s legal team has submitted hundreds of documents containing what it calls “undeniable evidence” as part of its ongoing genocide case against the state of Israel, with the South African representative to The Hague telling Al Jazeera that “The problem we have is that we have too much evidence.”

    The Israeli outlet Haaretz reports that IDF soldiers are actively blocking the return of Palestinians they have driven out of northern Gaza as part of the so-called “General’s Plan” — a land grab of Palestinian territory using ethnic cleansing by violent force.

    Haaretz has been far more critical of Israel’s actions than western media outlets have been. It recently published an editorial titled “If It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing, It Probably Is”.

    Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken is now publicly advocating international sanctions on the Israeli government for its apartheid abuses and opposition to a Palestinian state, drawing an outraged response from the Netanyahu regime.

    Last week there was a two-day rally attended by multiple Israeli government officials called the “Preparing to Resettle Gaza Conference,” which was exactly what it sounds like: high-profile Israelis gathering to discuss the agenda to drive Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and replace their territory with Jewish settlements.

    Humanitarian aid in Gaza has reportedly fallen to its lowest level since Israel’s genocidal onslaught began, with just a few hundred truckloads entering the enclave from October 1 to October 22 and nothing getting through to the north.

    The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs recently warned that “The entire population of North Gaza is at risk of dying,” a warning that was issued shortly before the Israeli Knesset voted to cut off UNRWA aid throughout all the territories it controls.

    According to a new report from The Washington Post, the US State Department has been inundated with hundreds of reports of US-supplied weapons being used to needlessly kill and harm civilians in Gaza, but in violation of its own rules it has failed to take any action on a single one of them.

    According to one WaPo source, investigations of these reports have tended to stall out at the “verification” stage, which consists of asking the Israeli government for its side of the story.

    –by Caitlin Johnstone; Oct 31, 2024

    Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

    and Oodles more:

    https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/too-much-evidence-of-genocide?

    [gosh. looks like it’s gonna take

    Longer than we’d thought but

    we’ll get Back to you the Mo-

    Ment we can determine

    what the fuck you’re

    even Talking about

    it “shouldn’t”

    take “too long”

    but you’re Never

    gonna hear about

    it from Us, again. on

    That we can Promise]

    so Yeah

    you can “believe”

    Wormtongue if you

    Wanna or

    “South Africa’s legal team has submitted hundreds of documents containing what it calls ‘undeniable evidence’ [NOT

    According to our Resident Genocide Booster cum Denialist] as part of its ongoing genocide case against the state of Israel, with the South African representative to The Hague telling Al Jazeera that ‘The problem we have is that we have too much evidence.'”

    damn.

    don’t let a

    little thing like

    THAT stop ya, wormmy!

    you GO,

    grrrrrrl!

    TAKE ‘EM

    ON!!!!

    I’ll make

    Popcorn.

  39. @38: I consider Johnstone to be a reliable source of information on just how miserably impotent Johnstone feels, after a year of her screaming, “genocide,” to no apparent effect. Any other topic? Not so much. So please, bring us more of her great whining about how useless she is!

  40. @39

    right.

    ‘since Our

    little War* on

    Palestinians hasn’t

    Ended, you may as well

    just shut the fuck up.’ –@Wormtongue

    *it’s just

    Genocide

    on OUR Dime

    no Big Deal. right?

    & who on Earth

    might mind

    That?

  41. @40: You might recall Johnstone bristling at the very idea she should go out and protest Hamas, because, in her words, Hamas wouldn’t listen to her. Now that she has herself finally understood American and Israeli policymakers won’t listen to her either, when can we expect her to start protesting the human-shield-using, misogynistic, anti-gay, jihadi theocrat terrorist organization known as Hamas?

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