Crossing Lake Washington on a Link 2 train is one of the most magical experiences that North American public transportation has to offer. Its lake-level beauty and tranquility is, as far as I can tell, unmatched by any part of NYC’s subway, or even Vancouver BC’s Skytrain, which is the most developed light rail system on the West Coast. A big part of the Crosslake Connection’s magic or dreaminess can be attributed to the train’s glided motion, which presents something that the rough motion of a car could never capture: a live cinema of the cities, the lake, and the volcano that surrounds the floating bridge. Well done, Sound Transit.
During my second trip to the Bellevue area, which happened around 4 pm on March 30 (the first trip on March 28 happened at night and so the lake was in the dark), I had an epiphany about the role of technology in a post-capitalist society. This might surprise many, but a communist society, as conceived by Marx, is essentially science fictional, rather than pastoral or tribal. Meaning, it’s a society regulated and structured by advanced technologies. There is, of course, a problem here: The hyper-development of technology has its motive force in class struggle: the few capitalists versus the many workers. And it’s hard to see how technological development could achieve its furious pace except under conditions specified by the configuration space of surplus-value accumulation. Can machines become nice after capitalism is over and done with? What the Crosslake Connection made clear to me is the fact that technological developments are not unlimited. There is a point when they can achieve the best possible results and little more beyond that. Even in the 21st century, you can only make minor improvements to rail transportation, which has its birth in Victorian UK. Automobile transportation is, when compared to the train, actually primitive.
SDOT left this beg button in a black and blue bin after it completed road work on the intersection of Rainier Avenue and South Oregon Street a month ago. Two weeks later, a dog owner left poop in a compostable bag on the bin’s gnawed lid. It’s hard out here for a pedestrian.
Speaking of pedestrians, one was dispatched to the other side of eternity this morning by a car that hit them near Boeing Access Road. At present, Washington State Patrol recommends drivers avoid northbound 1-5.
April has arrived with Pacific Northwest type of rain, which is not heavy and so can be endured without an umbrella. But here is the bad news. We have three more days of temperatures in the 50s. By Saturday, we will enter the 60s and begin our inevitable climb to days that are ruined by a sun whose power has been inflated by the human liberation of carbon.
Just minutes before the end of yesterday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that officially made today April MAGA Day forever. Trump is also selling the sharpie he used to sign the EO for something like 10 million bucks.
Mein gott! What is the world coming to? The husband of the former Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, allegedly has a “bimbofication fetish.” Meaning, Byron Noem is into sharing pics of himself in a “hypersexual, exaggerated physical appearance” (hot-pants and huge fake boobs) with “fetish models”. Kristi Noem’s representative claims she and her family were blindsided by the images, first posted by The Daily Mail, and want the public to give them privacy and prayers as they process and investigate the revelation. The question is this: Can we expect Kristi Noem’s replacement at DHS, Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, to be more boring? You know how Republicans are; always got something going on in their closets. Happy April MAGA day.
What is the expression I’m looking for here? To have someone by the balls? Is that right? Does that accurately describe Iran’s position in the present conflict with Trump’s United States? If not, what other expression best captures yesterday’s huge stock market surge? The Dow up 2.5 percent (1000 points). S&P up by nearly 3 percent. Nasdaq Composite up nearly 4 percent? Why? Because “the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, signaled that the regime may be willing to negotiate toward an end to the war.” With just that one hint, Iran triggered the movement of billions, if not trillions, of dollars. This is extraordinary when you think about it. The US might have bigger bombs and ships but Iran appears to have its opponent by the… whatever it is, just say it like it is.
The lineup for Bumbershoot 2026? It’s the best one I’ve seen in a minute: Japanese Breakfast, Blood Orange, De La Soul, Death Cab for Cutie, Turnstile, Pixel Grip, and more. If you want the soul to meet the body on September 5 and 6, plan on spending $175.
Let’s conclude Slog AM with a track that Summer, a bartender at Capitol Hill’s Big Mario Pizza, played during their shift: Pixel Grip’s “Dancing on Your Grave.” Summer also told me that Pixel Grip, who will perform at Bumbershoot 2026, recently opened for Peaches at the Showbox.
