A New Chief for SPD: The Seattle Police Department’s new boss will be sworn into the role Friday. Shon Barnes is the former chief in Madison, Wisconsin, a much smaller city than Seattle with a police department half as big. He worked in Greensboro, N.C. as an officer and commander before that. Barnes, who has a doctorate in management and used to be a history teacher, could be a much-needed fresh perspective for our pals over at SPD. Or, at least that’s what the public relations messaging says. As long as he doesn’t allegedly harass women and have a secret affair with one of his underlings or bungle an entire protest response as his most recent predecessors did, Barnes may already be a step ahead. 

Count Your Days, Tipsy Drivers: The bill that would lower the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit from .08 to .05 and reduce impaired driving deaths advanced out of Olympia’s Senate Law & Justice Committee into the Senate Transportation Committee where lawmakers heard testimony Thursday. Next week the House Committee on Community Safety will vote on it. This is the third year the bill has been put forward. Each year, it dies. Will that happen this year? Stay tuned. 

Snow???? According to KING5 the chances for lowland snow are growing. It seems like Sunday will be the best bet for any sort of Seattle snow. This won’t be a legendary storm, but there should be some accumulation. Yesterday, Mudede told you about the poem Seattle snow reminds him of. It’s not so highbrow for me. Snow in Seattle—like proper “strap your skis on and shred Queen Anne Hill” snow—feels like a Dr. Seuss book. 

If You’re a Visual Learner: Here’s what the snow system looks like.

 

 

Possible Filicide in Beacon Hill: Police have arrested a 29-year-old mother over suspicions she may have killed her 14-year-old son. Officers responded to a domestic violence call and found the boy with multiple injuries and unresponsive. 

Light Rail Comes to Redmond: On May 10, downtown Redmond’s two-station light rail segment will open. The stations mark the eastern terminus of Sound Transit’s 2 line and the first completed part of ST3, the ballot measure passed nine years ago. As The Urbanist points out, the opening of these stations “sets the stage for the full extension of the 2 Line across Lake Washington into Seattle and up to Lynnwood.” Sound Transit is still planning for that to happen in 2025, a timeline pushed back after construction issues led to delays. 

The D.C. Plane Crash Dead: All 67 aboard both the American Airlines flight and the Army helicopter that collided Wednesday are dead. Among the passengers of the plane were 14 members of the figure skating community including two teenage skaters, their mothers, and their coaches. A group of hunters returning from a hunting trip perished as well. Parents, students, a group of union members, and two Chinese nationals were also killed. Here is footage of now-deceased 13-year-old Jinna Han skating,

 

 

Meanwhile: Without a shred of evidence, Donald Trump blamed the crash on diversity initiatives. He then signed an executive order after the crash to “stop woke policies in federal aviation.”

This is Journalism: Reporters pushed back on Trump’s claims that diversity was to blame. You can read the full transcript here. Trump is a blowhard and his rhetoric, talking about how diversity inhibits “superior brainpower,” is dangerous. It must be pushed back on, even if the people who most need to think critically about Trump and his actions, the Fox News acolytes, never will. 

 

 

Gird Yourself for Higher Prices: Trump said he will impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico starting Saturday. 

Leadership Purge at FBI: Six senior FBI leaders were ordered to “retire, resign, or be fired.” They must do so by Monday. The leaders ranked at the executive assistant director level or special agent in charge level. They oversee cyber, national security, and criminal investigations. The move caused consternation inside the bureau since none of these leaders were involved in investigating Trump for any of his various crimes. However, the ousting is part of a Trump plan to push out leaders promoted by the former FBI director, Christopher Way. The hundreds of agents who did investigate Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection remain fearful that they will be next as Trump continues to deliver retribution to an organization that attempted to hold him accountable to the law. 

Again, No Choice but to Stan: Costco, proving yet again it is a store for the people, will raise its wages for hourly workers in most US stores to $30. I say we should all have Costco hot dogs for lunch today. 

Welsh Woman Harasses Boyfriend’s Ex via Fart: A 25-year-old woman in Wales was sentenced to12 months of community service and a £100 fine after she sent multiple videos of herself smirking and farting—panning the camera down to her butt for the fart—to her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. 

A Nirvana Reunion for Your Friday: Well, as much of a reunion as we’ll ever get. The band played to raise money for Los Angeles fire relief. 

 

Nathalie Graham covers anything she finds fun, weird, or interesting. You can find a lot of that in her column, Play Date. Her work has also appeared around town in The Seattle Times, GeekWire, and the...

92 replies on “Slog AM: New Chief for SPD, Leadership Ousted at FBI, A Nirvana Reunion”

  1. Link missing to Welch fart story.

    More importantly, this underscores how awful the UK and Canada have become. In the US that woman would just be kicked off a platform, in the Commonwealth – the government comes after you.

  3. A lesson learned from working in food service: when it’s discovered that money has been going missing from the till on a nightly basis, and there’s a manager who immediately accuses, without evidence, a black dishwasher of taking it? That manager is the one stealing from the till.

    In related news, I’m sure this midair collision has nothing to do with the fact that the political party that brags about its plans to eliminate the federal government is midway through the process of firing all the people who prevent midair collisions.

  4. @3

    you

    and your

    “Conspiracy Theories”!

    here’s another:

    Thedonolde

    releasing all the J/6ers

    removing all restraints on

    violent abortion clinic protesters

    but Why? you may inquire

    if Violence is rampant

    Guess Who’s gonna

    declare Martial Law

    djt our Day

    One Dictator.

  7. Trump claims without evidence DEI caused the plane crash, WA electeds claim without evidence people driving with .05 BAC cause car crashes. A lot of unsupported claims happening today apparently.

  8. @3: As much as I loathe Republicans, I don’t think there’s a direct link.

    It sounds more like the Blackhawk pilot fucked up and the plane wasn’t where they expected a plane to be.

  9. There isn’t a direct link between the crash and the government hiring more black people but that didn’t stop trump from signing an EO declaring it did.

    This particular instance might not be his fault but his plan for federal lay offs and hiring freezes will mean more air traffic controllers taking on more work than they can handle, and more opportunities for plane crashes. We would be better off not politicizing tragedies but if that’s the game they want to play then fight back and make them eat it.

  10. @6:

    Maybe they don’t teach it in school anymore, but we DID ban alcohol in this country for nearly 13 years and all it did was drive the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages underground, resulting in the meteoric rise in organized crime. Probably not a good idea to repeat that particular mistake.

    @7:

    There’s plenty of evidence that lowering BAL reduces DUI-caused traffic accidents. You can start with this and go from there:

    https://wtsc.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/01/WTSC_.05-BAC-fact-sheet_Dec-2022.pdf

  12. I’m OK with lowering the BAC standard but what we really need to do is, make the penalty for a first time DUI conviction, a one year mandatory jail sentence.

    No more ignition interlocks, no more temporary licenses for “work”, no more DUI panels. Those are all worthless. Just jail and lots of it. (And immediate deportation for those who are here illegally, of course.)

  15. @11 (#2): and chemical castration!

    JFC. there are 1.5 million DUI arrests every year. the total US prison population is less than that: 1.2 million.

    @10: thanks for the history lesson! guess i missed all that.

  16. @7 that “oh yeah, well what about you?” comment was lame. Drumpf’s life is inexcusable. I haven’t heard one thing from that fuck in my entire life that resonates as him being a good human being. Lowering the BAC to .05% does have evidence in some states that bad stuff on the roads has gone down. Utah had a study, but I think there were a lot of questions about how trustworthy it was. Besides, drinking and driving is stupid. It should be 0.0 BAC is the only acceptable level. Too many people risk it, get caught and then bitch about the laws. If it is 0.0% then no questions asked about if a person is sober enough to drive. Simple enough: If you drink, no driving. But they won’t do that because all the bars and restaurants would go out of business? Whatever, I quit drinking almost a decade ago and I spend way more money going out for food than I did when I was drinking. It probably has more to do with accidental pregnancies and when they make abortion illegal nationwide, then forcing women to have babies they don’t need/want. But that’s okay…. why? oh because God. Yeah well that’s bullshit too. In this wide-wide world of how extremely fucked up everything is, I don’t see God fixing it any time soon. Maybe logic, love, common sense, compassion, honesty, hard work, sacrifice, generosity, selflessness and patience would be a better set of beliefs to get us in the right direction. But the great all knowing bull shit that they peddle to kids to behave or believe in Santa is not going to get us back on track. Got to be specific, simple good old fashioned principles, words that are precise and clear in their meaning. Not five years of bible study and you might be a good person one day. Fuck that. But yay! Happy Fri-yay… Don’t drink & drive. Don’t drink if you can help it too, it’s better for everyone if you don’t. Fuck Trump and FUCK the GOP.

  17. @10 I couldn’t find substantiation for their 7x risk claim in any of their footnotes, but I separately found a study that concluded the risk is 2x higher at .05 than .00 so you’re right anyway

    @11 “No more ignition interlocks”

    Actually we should go the opposite direction and require installation of interlocks in all vehicles. Deterrence only works if the person is thinking at all rationally which is not the drunk person’s strong suit. I say take the decision out of the hands of a drunk and leave it to the machine to determine whether someone can safely drive. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of [punishment].

  18. @16: Imagine you live in Southern California and a fire breaks out, your house is on fire, and you must evacuate. You’re the only adult around at the time, you grab the baby, a few critical things, and rush out the door to the car. But because you had a couple of bourbons before the ignition won’t turn.

    Plus a zillion other scenarios underscore what a ridiculous suggestion that is.

  20. @17 why are you drinking bourbons with a wildfire rapidly approaching your home? No neighbors or first responders can help? Seems like an unlikely fringe case. What are some of the zillion other scenarios?

  22. All these efforts to eliminate DEI programs are just to protect mediocre white men like trump and all the white men who voted for him from having to compete with anyone other than their fellow white men.

  27. @22 no @20 was talking to you because people convicted of DUI already have to install interlocks, so if the person in your hypothetical had a prior DUI they’d be dead under current law

  31. Catalina @29, I think “Phoebe” took your call-out of “mediocre white men” personally.

    Disclaimer. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a mediocre white man.

  32. @26: You’re stance is that all cars must have them. So if it a person with no prior DUI at .05% alcohol level is driving away from a fire, or to the hospital for some reason, and the ignition is blocked you would be okay with them perishing – even if it was your own mother. Now we’re clear.

    @29: The word you’re looking for is merit. If it was DEIM there wouldn’t be a fuss.

  33. @29 but Trump’s only electoral loss was to a mediocre white man

    @31 I don’t believe anyone would be completely without options and die because of an ignition interlock, but you apparently sincerely do so presumably you’re ok with DUI offenders dying for lack of any possible alternative transportation

  35. The interesting caveat to the .05 BAC bill is that while the legislature is busy cranking up the ability to punish people who imbibe and drive they are also working on lowering the penalties for those caught in online sex stings. You really have wonder about priorities where on one hand they’ll throw the book at you for driving after drinking one beer and on the other hand if you are engaging in underage solicitation online they think it’s not so bad. I really don’t know what to say about stuff like that.

    https://mynorthwest.com/mynorthwest-politics/online-sting-operation/4036955

  36. @31 FFS, Pheebs! Generally speaking corporate DEI is like when the MLB started seriously scouting in South America, then hiring interpreters and telling the white players, especially those knocked back to the Minors to be welcoming to this new talent. Play got better

    So, that’s a concrete example of how DEI raises the merit bar by working to include talent that was previously overlooked or excluded.

  40. “Merit”? Oh Phoebe dear, you slay me, you really do. I almost split my body stocking laughing at that comment.

    Many white men skate through life based on connections. They fail upwards. They hinder progress and innovation through their vanity and insecurity.

    They know that their time in power is coming to an end, and they are freaking out. They gather around their leader – the ultimate mediocre white man, who is basically a cuck for an immigrant from South Africa.

  41. @36 who here fits that description? I’m arguing for interlocks in every car on the road. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can think of better public safety solutions than “have police show up after harm occurs and be really mean to the culpable party (if they actually find them)”

  43. @39: That’s cute cocktail party talk, but I wish you would think more maturely.

    For example (and for @35), once groups A, B, and C in an organization are balanced in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion, what’s the deciding factor if there are more applicants than jobs? Obviously it’s merit.

  44. @40: I argue that interlocks (aside from those who have DUIs) on every car is excessive government intrusion. You disagree. That’s how it stands.

  46. @43 you and me are having a reasonable disagreement which I appreciate, this other goof just wants to bash a “progressive” strawman. And I also lol’d at 41 well played kristo

  47. I loves seeing the Nirvana video. I grew up in Aberdeen, Krist was in my class and Kurt was the year behind me through school. I live in LA now, so seeing the main band of my 20’s perform was great and brought back many memories.

  49. @42 Umm… I believe you should have phrased the part you aimed in my direction in the future perfect tense; there’s a huge difference between the C-suite and janitors (or even engineers, for that matter). A quick perusal of Fortune 500 companies’ leadership indicates that, in aggregate, we’re far from tapping talent pools equally.

  50. @48: Centralized planning to tap talent pools “equally” vs people from talent pools competing for a job based on their merit. What’s your choice?

  51. Thirteen12 dear, just because you didn’t like President Biden, that doesn’t make him mediocre.

    Phoebe dear, do you think I just fell off the turnip truck? The only people who talk about “merit” are mediocre white men who are threatened by people who are different than them.

  52. dynomite comments,

    Catalina — it has nothing

    to Do with ‘merit’ it’s all about

    monopolizing the fucking Patriarchy

    off-Whites

    Not welcome

    the irreligious soon

    to be cast onto the Pyre

    with the Womenfolk

    as Just Rewards:

    oodles of ’em

    for Mr. Right.

    one big fucking

    Jonestown,

    USofA:

    Velkommen to

    trumpftopia.

  55. @50: If you can’t talk about a subject without interjecting disparaging stereotypes, you’re just being unserious and snarky. I thought you had more depth. Sad.

  56. “Phoebe” @54, trying to discredit Catalina for not giving you a serious response suggests your relentless, juvenile trolling merits a serious response. Oh gee, there’s that word again, “merit.” Come to think of it, I’m sure I could give a serious response about how under the right circumstances DEI actually fosters a meritocracy, but for me to do so here, in response to characters like you, would be beneath me and a waste of my time.

    If you want to have a serious discussion, retire the “Phoebe” character and create some other persona that can be taken seriously. But I know that, with whatever is going on with you (“you” being the actual person behind the sock puppet), you are incapable of that. Just as you’ll be incapable of letting someone else have the last word in this discussion, which I will now let you have.

    Wishing myself a good weekend.

  57. @50 “Thirteen12 dear, just because you didn’t like President Biden, that doesn’t make him mediocre.”

    The guy who had almost as many plagiarism scandals as failed runs for the Dem nomination, whose only claim to fame was Obama plucking him off the back bench to be VP, whose ego wouldn’t let him step aside gracefully and therefore all but guaranteed Trump would win? You’re right my opinion is not at all what makes him mediocre.

    @55 that was a lot of words just to say “I don’t like Phoebe.”

  59. DEI is an effort to expand the talent pool by ensuring qualified women and minorities are not being overlooked or excluded, which can happen in fields that are dominated by straight white male culture. The objective is to foster a working environment where everyone feels safe and welcome.

    For those bleating about merit being taken out of the equation — the accusation is a confession. They hate DEI because they want to perpetuate a workplace culture where straight white men reign supreme, because they know they can’t compete on merit alone. If they were confident in their own abilities they wouldn’t be threatened by the competition.

  60. Now, now, everyone. Our Dear Phoebe has been a member of Slog for almost as long as I have. They and their alter ego Raindrop (RIP) are/were the conservative moral scolds of our community.

  61. bingo & bravo barth!

    e pluribus unum

    bitches* or

    Bust.

    knowingly Weak men

    bullying Their Way

    thru the fucking

    china shoppe

    our toxic

    ‘masculinity’

    at its Finest’s

    just gotta Go

    perhaps it’ll

    Die along with

    the Reign of the djt.

    *like ALL dogs’re

    Mutts, we’re

    All bitches

  62. @58 that is the theory and if that were true it would be great. What has happened though in many areas is minority communities are not as qualified (some of this is due to the fact that these communities have less educational opportunities but that’s another issue) so what happens is someone is selected that has less qualifications to mainly meet a quota. I worked at a local tech company a few years ago and whenever there was an open position we had to interview either an african american or native american for the position. Asians didn’t count as minority candidates. Make of that what you will but if you look at the statistics Asian men and women are far outpacing whites in earnings so the white supremacy claims are dog whistles in their own right.

  63. @61: And ditto for Indian workers. In terms of merit, they’re outpacing whites as software engineers. Certainly the tech industry is well balanced for diversity, equity, and inclusion (save some exceptions I suppose).

    DEI would have survived if they hadn’t kick the M off the train.

  64. A private company is certainly allowed to set rigid hiring quotas if they’re so inclined but not workable if you’re in a field that requires specialized expertise because the talent pool is already highly limited. At my company we have a really hard time finding qualified applicants of any race or identity, let alone restricting to demographics that represent less than 10% of the entire population.

    I imagine it’s very jarring for applicants to be asked to report their race. Also sounds like an easy way to open yourself up to a lawsuit, but maybe your company thought it was worth the risk and the hassle. At my company DEI is just part of the internal culture, not a barrier to entry for new hires.

  65. @62

    “Certainly the tech

    industry is well balanced

    for diversity, equity, and inclusion … “

    another

    Weapon

    for Bannon to

    Wield against djt and

    his MAGAts aint gonna Like

    it when Thedonolde’s tax hikes aka

    “tarrifs” hit ’em square in their pocketbooks

    and his new hi-Tech

    brotrumpfsters’re Stealing

    AMERICAN TAXPAYERS’ JOBS!

    our

    Sole

    Hope

    may be

    for djt to

    go Full-On

    Fascist way too

    Quickly~Overreaching

    as is the ‘republican’ way

  66. @63

    he’ll likely toss

    out~with Roberts’

    kangaroo ct complicit ~

    laws enshrined for inclusivity

    those olde rules?

    adiosa, Amarossa

  70. @66

    Trump Knifes Steve Bannon, Sides

    with Elon Musk in MAGA War

    Over Foreign Work Permits:

    ‘I’ve Always Liked the Visas’

    President-elect Donald Trump came out in favor of visas for skilled foreign workers on Saturday, siding with Elon Musk against Steve Bannon and much of the MAGA base in a raging battle over the issue.

    In an exclusive with Jon Levine with The New York Post, Trump bragged he employed foreign nationals at many of his properties.

    He also praised programs that allow foreign workers to travel to the US for jobs – jobs that many on the far-right have spent days arguing are being stolen out from underneath American citizens.

    Bannon was among those to take a side on the visas this week when he scorched Musk as a “toddler” amid the legal immigration GOP civil war.

    –by Kipp Jones; Dec 28th, 2024

    https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-knifes-steve-bannon-sides-with-elon-musk-in-maga-war-over-foreign-work-permits-ive-always-liked-the-visas/

    nothing like a little

    Internal Dissension

    to Brighten even the

    Darkest of one’s days

  71. @67, I wouldn’t know because I’ve never been asked to report my race for a job application but “decline” wouldn’t work at @61’s company because they required black and native interviews for every open position.

    The problem isn’t whether you can decline but that they’re asking in the first place. It’s really problematic for a whole host of reasons.

  72. @62,

    I’ve no idea if it’d have survived if merit was included as part of the movement, but I’m quite certain that Trump and his racist sycophantic lackeys would still be using it as a crutch to blame all of our societal ills on minorities.

  74. @49 I’m not familiar with any supposed “reality” where either of those options is widely implemented. Feel free to re-read #35, extrapolate into whatever mythos you’re bloviating from, and let me know what I answered.

  76. good ole*

    dewey usta chastise

    my ‘the fascists’re coming!’

    spiels as over-the-top! but first

    it was ‘X’ and

    now it’s

    nyt::

    Elon Musk’s Team

    Now Has Access to

    Treasury’s Payments System

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-federal-payments-system.html

    giving the South African

    nazi the Keys to the

    Vault seems Like

    a very piss poor

    cum VERY Bad

    Idea at Least

    it is to me

    *lots of tS’s

    commentariat

    joined in as well

    and yet

    her we

    ARE

  80. @77. Phoebe, you may have encountered a kind of social critique that reminds one of Samuel Huntingtons remark,

    “Critics say that America is a lie because its reality falls so short of its ideals. They are wrong. America is not a lie; it is a disappointment. But it can be a disappointment only because it is also a hope.”

    Indeed. For those who do believe America writ large is “a lie,” or rigged, or hopelessly unjust will logically tend to favor radical discourses and measures. In the context of regarding whether meritocracy is merely a smokescreen to maintain “white” male mediocraties, well, I must say, they’ve done a terrible job. In the decades since affirmative action was struck down in what, 78, and the Sisyphean phenomenon of DEI (2020?!) racial diversity among the professional labor force in the US has dramatically increased. Are the numbers completely equal? No. Again, Huntington.

    When people defend DEI, they usually fall into Huntingtons “lie” camp, then conflate dei with diversity. But they are different things. And fortunately, if Ron Sanders is correct, even with Trumps executive actions, diversity work should continue absent Bidens federal DEI initiative.

    Anyone interested in reading a senior research fellow and former longtime civil servants thoughts on these matters will find his observations worthy.

    DEI & Diversity; Is there a difference?

    Ron Sanders

    https://www.govexec.com/transition/2025/01/dei-and-diversity-there-difference/402569/

  84. Catalina Vel-DuRay and kristofarian +2 for the WIN!!!

    Keep on rocking the house.

    Prohibition is making a Mein Trumpfian comeback?

    Hooboy. The return and sharp rise of speakeasies, here we come.

    What next—flappers come back in style, too?

    Some Like it Hot!

  88. “In the context of regarding whether meritocracy is merely a smokescreen to maintain “white” male mediocraties, well, I must say, they’ve done a terrible job.”

    Why yes thekossack dear. That’s because they’re mediocre.

    “racial diversity among the professional labor force in the US has dramatically increased.”

    How much of that labor force is composed of professionals who have come over from Asia or India? Why, even when I was a wee thing – and I am very old – the leading doctor in our town (who was not mediocre) recognized that the people coming out of the American medical schools were not particularly noteworthy, and the good ones would never want to come to someplace like Iowa, so he started sponsoring physicians from overseas. My pediatrician was from Turkey, my parents doctors were from overseas as well. These physicians served our community well, they made good lives for themselves and their families, and added to the diversity of the community (which was white, white, white, white, and even more white). Were some of the white doctors and people in town against it? Very much so, but they’re all dead now. Probably from going to those mediocre white doctors.

    So yes, the mediocrity now in power is trying to kill diversity in government in the name of “merit”, but they’ll fail. Men like Robby Starbucks will continue to threaten corporations, but I am willing to bet that in ten years, we will see that those programs that are getting such high-profile deaths will have quietly resurrected themselves.

    The country is changing. They can’t stop that.

  89. @86: So you think merit is and diversity can’t work together? Your Turkish pediatrician had merit. Diversity opens the door to the lobby, merit takes you up the elevator.

    “Probably from going to those mediocre white doctors.”

    Depressingly racist thing to say for someone champoining diversity.

  90. “Diversity opens the door to the lobby, merit takes you up the elevator.”

    As long as the owner of the elevator is not a mediocre white man.

    “Depressingly racist thing to say for someone championing diversity.”

    You need to brush up on your definitions and reading comprehension, Raindrop dear (oops, Silly me. Of course I meant Phoebe). I did not say that all white doctors are mediocre. That would be racist. I said, mediocre white doctors. Or don’t you think there’s a difference?

    You must strive to not be so emotionally fragile, Phoebe.

  91. @88: Yes you always, pathetically, give yourself an out with the defense that you didn’t say “all”.

    “probably from going to those mediocre white doctors.”

    Not emotionally fragile, just gently calling out your slips in integrity.

Comments are closed.