Good morning! Did you manage to get through the 4th of July without blowing anything (or anyone) up? Good for you. (The 47 people that were treated at Harborview for fireworks-related injuries weren’t so lucky.) Now that we’re officially in Seattle Summer, we’ve got two balmy, 80 degree days ahead of us before a little rain comes back on Wednesday. Enjoy ‘em while you got ‘em.
Until then, let’s do the news.
Flooding in Texas: At least 81 people died in central Texas when flash floods hit on the Fourth of July, and because the flooded area was full of summer camps, at least 28 of them children. At the current toll, it’s already one of the deadliest floods in the United States in the last century, and dozens of people (including 10 campers) are still missing three days later.
Placing Blame: The (understaffed) Weather Service says that it gave towns in the area enough time to warn residents, but flash flood warnings blasted from locals’ phones at 1:14 a.m.—so a lot of people never heard or saw them. Former Weather Service officials told the New York Times that the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight. But there’s enough blame to go around. Kerr County, one of the worst hit areas in the state, didn’t have a flood warning system set up, because apparently, according to the county’s most senior elected official (a judge), “Taxpayers won’t pay for it.” NYT asked if people might reconsider in light of the catastrophe, and he said, “I don’t know.”
A whole separate storm system hit North Carolina this morning, dumping 10 inches of rain on huge swathes of the state. Tens of thousands of people have lost power, and at least two tornadoes have been reported in the center of the state. But so far, no injuries or deaths have been reported.
Bibi Is Back in Washington: Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu today to talk about Iran and Gaza. The New York Times reported that Trump wants to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza, but “Netanyahu and Hamas have both thrown up obstacles.” Hamas’ “obstacle” is wanting a commitment that it could lead to an end in the war. Netanyahu’s “obstacle” is having absolutely no intention of ending said war. Meanwhile, an Israeli reservist admitted to NBC News that their troops arbitrarily open fire on civilians in Gaza.
The Drunk Uncles Are Fighting Again: The New York Times wrote an entire article based on Trump’s rant about Elon, as if it were a reasoned statement from the office of the president. To give you a sense of what they were working with, this is only about a third of Trump’s post about Elon trying to start a third party called the “America Party,” after the BBB passed:
I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely “off the rails,” essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The System seems not designed for them. The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds! Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running “machine,” that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country.
Mama Mia, Mioposto: On Friday night, an SUV blew through a red light, swerved, and crashed through the plate glass windows of the Ravenna location of the Mioposto pizzeria. Fortunately, because it was the Fourth of July, there were way fewer patrons in the restaurant than usual on a Friday night, so while three people were hospitalized (a lot of plate glass in people’s faces, they said), no one was killed. SPD told the Seattle Times that the driver wasn’t drunk, but didn’t say what caused the accident. The SUV destroyed some essential support beams, so the restaurant will have to be closed for months for repairs. If you want to show them a little love while they recover, go to their West Seattle and Mount Baker spots.
The Anti-Fourth of July Social Club: Dozens of local electeds signed a letter on Friday committing to taking significant local action to fight back against the severe impacts of Trumps Big Fucking Bill. “We write to you not in celebration, but with heavy hearts and urgent concern,” the letter read. “Washington leaders are now calling for measures to meet this moment. State lawmakers must urgently act to prepare for the harm done by the authoritarianism of the federal government. Local government leaders must enact progressive revenue, like the Seattle Shield Initiative, which can reduce harm to essential programs in major metropolitan areas from budget cuts.” The letter was signed by more than 70 state, county and city leaders, including City Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Rob Saka, Joy Hollingsworth, and Dan Strauss. Some notable names that were missing from the list? Mayor Bruce Harrell and Council President Sara Nelson. Maybe it’s time for a change.
Speaking of Deeply Disappointing Local Leaders: When Tuan Thanh Phan finished his 25-year sentence in Washington state prison, he wasn’t reunited with his wife and family. Instead, the Washington Department of Corrections handed him directly to ICE, who deported the Tacoma-raised Vietnamese national to Djibouti, where he’s been held in a shipping container with other deportees. And soon, he’s expected to be deported to South Sudan. Governor Ferguson had the chance to stop it by offering him a full pardon. He’s already served his time, and wiping his record would give him a chance to get out of ICE’s clutches. But on Friday, Ferguson declined to help. “With the governor, I feel betrayed,” said Phan’s wife, Ngoc Phan, to the Seattle Times. “He pretty much sided with Trump. He’s complicit in this administration’s relentless and vicious attacks on vulnerable and immigrant communities.” We’ll have more on this later in the week.
Did you hear the one about the guy trying to use pizza orders to track Pentagon activity? It’s called the Pentagon Pizza Report, and it kinda works?
Man of the Hour: After 27 years, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron is leaving the band. He hasn’t shared any details about why. To celebrate his three decades with them, here’s a little snapshot of Eddie Vedder’s liner notes from Lost Dogs: “Matt Cameron writes songs and we run to find step stools in order to reach his level, … what comes naturally to him leaves us with our heads cocked like the confused dogs that we are, … eventually getting it. Did we mention he’s the greatest drummer on the planet?”
In honor of Matt, here’s one of the tracks that made Eddie go try to find a step stool.
The Governor was put in a terrible position, but made the correct decision. Tuan Thanh Phan still took the life of another human being and to pardon that is wrong and Ferguson would have never heard the end of it.
Considering Tuan Phan was incarcerated for murder, I’m still not sure why anyone should care about his ultimate whereabouts.
There’s not a country in the world that won’t deport convicted murderers the moment their sentence is served.
Obviously Vietnam is unconcerned with his fate.
Democrats being perceived as being overly sympathetic to violent criminals like Tuan Phan is a major part of why voters in November chose Republicans to lead the House, the Senate, and the White House.
So tell me, are people like Tuan Phan worth the damage that the Trump administration is doing to the country?
@1 There was never a chance in hell that Ferguson would pardon Tuan Phan.
It was ridiculous to even suggest it.
What a horrible tragedy on the Guadalupe River. Those poor babies.
Even with a fully staffed NWS sending out evacuation warnings, there would have been lives lost. That was a biblical deluge.
Anthropogenic Climate Change is real, and Republican Pols know it. They just don’t believe the cost of change is worth it. Or that change is even possible.
Push the difficult choices into the future, just like their stupid Reconciliation Bill.
@4: A storm from non-anthropogenic climate change can be just as devastating.
@1/2 the guy already served his sentence, the pardon was purely bureaucratic at this point. The only question was: should this guy be deported to a war zone, to which he has no ties, for no apparent reason, or should he have the opportunity with his wife to return to Vietnam? You don’t have to condone murder to think the latter was more appropriate. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people” and all that.
“He’s complicit in this administration’s relentless and vicious attacks on vulnerable and immigrant communities.”
This comment is asinine – Phan took a plea deal he knew would end with his deportation upon completion of his sentence. And although I know the orange piece of shit is sending these folks to South Sudan as a publicity stunt / public flogging, a full pardon would have removed necessary community oversight post release (and given his less than stellar record while behind bars was too much of a risk).
His family should be focused on getting him on a flight out of Juba.
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/gaza/israeli-troops-arbitrarily-opened-fire-gazas-civilians-soldier-tells-s-rcna217181
I predict we start to see a lot more “good Germans” like this soldier come forward in the near future, and then One Day Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This
At least for now, the pre-Noisy Creek Stranger is back:
“On Friday night, an SUV blew through a red light, swerved, and crashed through the plate glass windows of the Ravenna location of the Mioposto pizzeria.”
What happened to the standard editorial policy of adding a snarky comment to the effect that if everyone went to the restaurant by transit, this could never have happened and calls to arrest the driver for assault, even though no crime was committed?
@6, There was not guarantee the guy would return with his wife to Vietnam.
He also would have had his civil right to carry a firearm restored by a pardon, among other consequences of a pardon.
See also @7, including the criticism of @ Trump. Deportation was a known consequence of the plea deal at the time it was taken.
@7 “His family should be focused on getting him on a flight out of Juba”
He’s detained in a government facility, how do you imagine they’ll be able to do this?
@6
Evidently Vietnam is none too eager to get him back, so what would you do with him? Just release him to Tacoma? Any immigration status he may have had was revoked when he was convicted.
So are you suggesting releasing an unskilled, undocumented individual into Tacoma?
He is a murderer, not even the French Foreign Legion will accept him.
It would have been more humane, 25 years ago, to give him a life sentence.
If this is the hill progressives are willing to die on it’s really no surprise the GOP trounced the Democrats in 2024.
If we want to avoid a similar fate in 2026 and 2028 it’s vital we disavow the ACAB criminals in the progressive left.
The armed resistance to the Border Patrol has begun. Border patrol post in McAllan, Texas, comes under assault rifle fire. One police officer wounded. Shooter killed.
https://apnews.com/article/mcallen-texas-border-patrol-shooting-8241ec60d26e54d7582a7e77f6ece01e
Mioposto Pizza is at an intersection that was designed to have traffic calming until Jenny Durkan pulled the plug on it under pressure from local businesses. Such a shame that this restaurant got destroyed by an out of control driver (who of course wasn’t arrested because CARS ARE AWESOME!!!).
@5: I didn’t attribute this flood to ACC. I’ve read enough Cliff Mass to know specific events can’t be directly attributed to Climate Change.
Anthropogenic Climate Change impacts the severity and frequency of weather events. For example, where there were once-in-a-100-years catastrophic flash floods, now they happen once every 20 years. Like that, but for every type of weather disaster: heat domes, forest fires, waves of invasive insects.
But you knew that.
@11 “Evidently Vietnam is none too eager to get him back”
Source? This UW website says he signed “deportation papers” (voluntary departure presumably) to Vietnam but DHS “never filed” them. Sounds like the feds didn’t even try to send him to Vietnam they just defaulted to South Sudan, which would be entirely consistent with what we’ve seen from this administration
https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/forced-disappearances-wa-state/tuan-phan/
@13, There was a traffic calming device called a red light. It was disregarded. So the evidence is that any other traffic calming device would have received the same treatment.
There was no arrest not because we love cars, but because of how Washington voters, via the legislators and judges, define crime. All murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murders (most aren’t). All assaults with injury are human caused injuries, but not all human caused injuries are assaults (most aren’t).
Try, try, try as you might, you can’t blame Trump for the flood. Warnings were issued as soon as reasonably possible and weren’t delayed by any recent NWS layoffs. My thoughts and prayers are with the families.
Why would Ferguson pardon a convicted gang murderer? He’s not that dumb. And even if he had been pardoned, that was no protection from deportation in Trump’s America. Sayonara Tuan. Hopefully you like South Sudan!
@14: Yes I do know all that, but “anthropogenic” is a just a guilt-tripping adjective used condescendingly by highbrow academia. You probably heard it at a cocktail party and were waiting for the chance to use it.
Unfortunately, it’s like salt in the wound for these poor victims in central Texas. Empathy for people first, admonishments for society later.
The pre-Noisy Creek Stranger would have been all over this:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/1-killed-5-injured-in-sedro-woolley-shooting-suspect-arrested/
18 the leading expert of big words and condescension has spoken
@16 That’s not how “evidence” works, dummy.
As far left as I am compared to the Fascists on this page, someone who served 25 years for murder is exactly the sort of person I want deported. Granted I want that deportation to be civilized, and not having them stuffed in aa shipping container in a 3rd country. So it’s still a case of fuck ICE!
@21 FTW
@18: Anthropogenic Climate Change is the technically accurate term – I’ve been using that term for well over a decade instead of “Global Warming”. Like I use Military-Style Semi-Automatic in place of “Assault Weapon”.
It’s not “guilt-tripping” to say iClimate Change is caused by Humans. We did it before we understood the impact we were having on the planet. Now we can’t stop because it’s too hard.
@18: and my 1st comment was empathetic. did you not read it?
let me repeat it: What a horrible tragedy on the Guadalupe River. Those poor babies.
@20: I suppose I had that coming.
@25: Pardon me, Max.
‘Hamas’ “obstacle” is wanting a commitment that it could lead to an end in the war.’
Wow, so perhaps maybe they might not have started said war in the first place? Or maybe Gaza’s supporters in Seattle should have demonstrated for peace, instead of demanding more war? Or maybe the Stranger should have advocated for peace, instead of for a cease-fire to allow Hamas to re-group for more war? Now, Hamas has been weakened to the point there are openly anti-Hamas demonstrations IN GAZA. (What’s next, a Gaza Pride Parade?!?)
And so, weakened Hamas has become very sincere about wanting “an end in the war.” They’re on their third leader in eight months, and the IDF’s rate of killing Hamas’ grunts may be even higher. Back when it was all about shooting from behind the last child in Gaza, even driving up the casualty rate so that folks in Western cities could blame Israel alone for the carnage, then a re-grouping cease-fire would have sufficed. But now they’re seriously looking at getting killed themselves, and so they want an end in the war they started. Well, in July 1944, some German generals wanted a negotiated peace to the war their country had started, too.
@15 “ Source?”
The complete lack of action by Vietnam about the treatment of one of their citizens.
Phan’s case is hardly a secret yet no media source from the left, center, or right is reporting their government claiming him.
If they don’t care about him why should you, or I?
The flood would have happened anyway (regardless of what idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene are saying), but the key was that the warnings didn’t go out in time to help. That was because of the gutting of the NWS by DOGE, so yes – trump and elon are partly responsible for the death toll. As are the local citizens, who voted that a warning system was too expensive.
And, as always, Republicans are hiding behind Jesus to deflect from their cheapskate nature when it comes to anything that they might have to spend money on.
On another note, the restaurant was not “destoryed” it needs repair, so put down the smelling salts. In a city of 800,000, there are going to be some bad drivers and all the “traffic calming” devices that the Bright Young Things in the Department of Transportation come up with won’t change that. About a year ago, one of Our Unhoused Neighbors drove an electric scooter into the back of our truck (which was in our driveway, minding its own business) and put a big dent in the fender. The Unhoused Neighbor was unfortunately unharmed, and decided to go through the bed of the truck, throwing stuff out onto the street (but thoughtfully leaving her pipe behind). Because of this, do I think all scooters should be eliminated? The answer is no. But I do wish we could do something productive with the addicts and mental cases that roam our streets.
@28 “The complete lack of action by Vietnam about the treatment of one of their citizens.”
Who said he’s still a Vietnamese citizen? Your whole argument depends on a series of dubious assumptions.
@30
So he’s stateless? And a murderer?
Why exactly do you give a shit what happens to him? Why should I or anyone else?
Even if you don’t agree with the “liberals/progressives support violent felons” narrative surely you see how this just fuels that and will make it harder to win any elections away from the MAGA crowd.
@31 it’s hard to believe I have to explain to you why you should care about the government violating due process and disregarding court orders. To be honest I’m not convinced you care about winning elections away from the MAGA crowd given you clearly have no problem with one of the worst current abuses of the Trump admin.
@32 you’re looking at the wrong case if you want to argue due process. From the Seattle Times
“Because of his criminal conviction, he lost his lawful permanent residence status and was issued a deportation order to Vietnam in 2009.”
He already had his due process back in 2009 (when Obama was president) and was issued a deportation order. In this case the administration is merely following through and since Vietnam hasn’t responded about accepting him they are sending him somewhere else. He won’t be imprisoned in Sudan merely sent there and then he can make his own way back to Vietnam if that is where he wants to end up.
Tuesday’s Slog AM is currently before this.
@33 “since Vietnam hasn’t responded about accepting him they are sending him somewhere else”
This is not accurate.
“He won’t be imprisoned in Sudan merely sent there”
You don’t know that.
It’s wild how uninformed and unconcerned some of you are about this situation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/us/trump-dhs-djibouti-deportees.html
“The case has implications that could extend beyond the due-process rights of immigrants, according to Sarah Sherman-Stokes, a professor at Boston University School of Law.
“President Trump has floated the idea of sending people convicted of crimes out of the U.S., including American citizens,” she said. “What he’s trying now with the least sympathetic people, noncitizens who have been convicted of crimes, is a test of how much deplorable treatment and erosion of due process voters will stomach.”
@35 I’m not going to discount your final point but that has nothing to with this case and is conjecture in itself. This guy has already served his time so he is not being sent to prison he is merely being removed from the country. He has a deportation order that was made before Trump took office so he had his due process and the court ordered him out of the country. The only question remaining is do we owe it to him to send him to a country of his choice and do we have to keep him until/if Vietnam responds? I googled around and could not find any country that allows someone to remains in those circumstances. They either deport them to their home country OR a third country.
@36 right but there’s no indication they ever even contacted Vietnam. It appears they went straight to third country, and a war torn one. It’s impossible to escape the similarity to deporting all those people to the El Salvador supermax. Trump seems to be intentionally sending people to fucked up places to be punitive, which is the problem. And as to whether we should care about Phan specifically, I’ll paraphrase the famous quote: “first they came for the Vietnamese immigrant convicted of murder…”
@37
You really seem to be glossing over the “convicted of murder” part.
Documented or undocumented, with residency status or on a tourist visa, there is not a country on the planet that won’t deport a convicted murderer without delay.
Trump’s not pushing boundaries to see what he can get away with, Trump’s trolling progressives like you, getting them on the record defending indefensible criminals.
The campaign ads almost write themselves.
The Federalist Society is successfully eliminating the federal regulatory system that started with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1908, and progressives are throwing fits because a handful of violent criminals are being deported.
Focus man, focus.
@38 you really seem not to understand the famous quote I paraphrased
@35: “President Trump has floated the idea of sending people convicted of crimes out of the U.S., including American citizens,” she said. “What he’s trying now with the least sympathetic people, noncitizens who have been convicted of crimes, is a test of how much deplorable treatment and erosion of due process voters will stomach.”
As has already been explained to you, there is no “erosion of due process” here. He lost his privilege of remaining in the United States when he killed someone. Having served his sentence, he’s being deported. Now, please answer the question(s) @36 asked:
“The only question remaining is do we owe it to him to send him to a country of his choice and do we have to keep him until/if Vietnam responds?”
Also, please answer @36’s implied question: is there any other country on the earth which does NOT deport a person in this situation?
@40 oh look another Trump move you support. You really love this guy huh?
@41 I always admire the way you dodge and duck questions/points you can’t argue and pretend they don’t exist. You’d make Patches O’Houlihan proud.
@42 I thought I was pretty clear when I wrote “there’s no indication they ever even contacted Vietnam. … Trump seems to be intentionally sending people to fucked up places to be punitive, which is the problem.”
In other words, yes, I think any country owes it to anyone to at least try to send them back to where they came from. If they just deported him to Vietnam nobody–not even him or his wife–would be complaining. To be honest I don’t really understand how you guys aren’t comprehending that.
@41: Well, apparently, on Middle East fopo, no matter what he does, he can’t ever be worse than Biden/Harris, so that’s something, I guess.
As @38 noted, there’s a whole lot of other bad things happening, and yet you’re spending multiple comments complaining Trump is being mean to a convicted killer who long ago was set for deportation. It’s almost like you want the rest of Trump’s agenda to succeed, while portraying Trump’s opponents as caring more about the comfort of a single criminal than about all the harm Trump is doing to innocent Americans.
@44 name one thing Trump’s doing you actually agree is bad then
Removing subsidies for alternative energy sources, so as to DRILL BABY DRILL.
Tariffs and rumors of tariffs.
Screwing with Ukraine to appease Russian Neo-Imperialism.
That’s at least three. How about you give us one thing he could do in the Middle East which would make him worse on that score than Biden/Harris?
@46 those are all legitimate actions of the President and well within his delegated authority. Name a country with a strong executive system like ours that denies the executive the ability to oversee domestic fiscal and environmental policy, foreign trade, and international diplomacy. Complaining about those things makes Democrats look ignorant and whiny and will cost them the next election.
Obnoxious ain’t it?
@47: You didn’t specify whether Trump’s actions were legal or not, just that they were “bad”. (Go ahead, read @45 — but you have to go all of the way to the end this time. Yes, for you, it’s an extremely long and excruciatingly convoluted comment, but we have time for all of the lip-moving and head-scratching you’ll need.)
I happen to think all of those actions @46 are bad, whether they are legal or not. You’re free to disagree with me all you like about whether any of them are “bad,” but again, that’s not the issue. I did, in fact, “name one thing Trump’s doing…” which I “…actually agree is bad.”
So, name one thing Trump could do to make him worse than Biden/Harris on Middle East fopo.
@48 woosh
“So, name one thing Trump could do to make him worse than Biden/Harris on Middle East fopo.”
Sure I’ll play along why not. Deploy American troops or conduct American strikes in Gaza. I don’t believe Biden or Harris would have done that.
@49: Look, I’m sorry the plain language of @45 is kicking your ass, but that’s not my problem. You asked, I answered. That you didn’t like/couldn’t argue with my answers is your problem.
“Sure I’ll play along why not.”
Took you long enough.
“Deploy American troops or conduct American strikes in Gaza.”
You may yet get your wish, sadly. (But we all know you’ll blame the Democrats for not stopping him.)
@37: “right but there’s no indication they ever even contacted Vietnam.”
Those of us with passports, and have used them to travel widely, know that many countries have laws barring entry to any person who has committed a serious crime in another country. Vietnam may have such a law, and it may even prevent repatriation. So if all of the above is true, and we did deport him to Vietnam, then the Vietnamese government could send him right back to the US. Maybe you should have asked about this before you championed the comfort of a violent felon who was going to get deported anyway?
@50 like I wrote, woosh. Think really really hard about why I may have written “obnoxious ain’t it” at the end of 47.
As to your other attempted point, Vietnam has a repatriation agreement with the US. Maybe you should have googled that before speculating what laws they may or may not have?
@51: There’s a difference between ‘not getting’ your alleged attempt at cleverness, and deliberately ignoring it. I do understand the point you completely failed to make in @47; as @38’s points all remain obviously correct, I simply don’t regard your feeble efforts to refute them as worthy of further attention.
As to my other point, there could be many reasons the Trump administration wanted to deport this person to somewhere other than his country of origin, and therefore, ‘boo hoo Trump’s just being soooooooooo mean to the violent felon’ might not have been the correct answer.
Speaking of “woosh,” you might want to exercise a bit more care with that. You never know what might happen:
“Whoosh!
“Never.
HAPPENED.”
kristofarian on May 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
@52 were you “ignoring it” when you tried to substantively argue with it in 48? No dude, you didn’t understand at all what I was doing because you’re an idiot and everyone knows it.
@53: Reading comprehension much? @48, I pointed out you’d immediately dragged the goalposts from “bad” @45 to “illegal” @47 when you couldn’t argue with the multiple examples of “bad” that I gave @46. (Yes, you were also trying to use a fictional example because none of the fact-based ones ever support your claims, but that’s another issue.)