Good Morning! It’s still hot. Yesterday was the hottest June 8 we’ve had in 80 years, and the heatwave isn’t expected to break until 10 p.m. today. If you need a touch of cool air, libraries are the go-to cooling spots in King County. Otherwise, find a comically large sun hat, go to your nearest street end park, and get on the water.
Until then, while the temps are still bearable, let’s do the news.
Newsom Tells Federal Troops to GTFO: Remember on the campaign trail when Trump threatened to sic the National Guard on liberal cities? This weekend, Trump made good on that promise. If you’ve somehow missed it, protesters have been rallying against Trump’s deportations for four consecutive days now. On Saturday night, Trump bypassed Governor Gavin Newsom’s authority and deployed 2,000 federal troops to the protests. He wrote on Truth Social that Los Angeles was being “invaded and occupied” by “violent, insurrectionist mobs,” and told his administration to “liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion.” California Governor Gavin Newsom is pissed. He’s called it “purposefully inflammatory,” demanded Trump call them off, and is suing the administration.
The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers.
That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@governor.ca.gov) June 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Soooo is that legal? Good question! The last time a president went around a governor to summon the National Guard was during the Civil Rights movement, when Southern governors tried to defy court orders to desegregate public schools. Trump invoked a statute that allows him to call National Guard units into federal service during “rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” The order lasts for 60 days, but it’s not clear what Trump’s plan is here. The New York Times noted that the order isn’t limited to Los Angeles, or California—did you feel that chill too?
The “Moral Clarity” Brigade Is Back: And this time they’re coming for gay marriage. This week, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is meeting for their annual conference, and they’re voting on a resolution that would call on their 13 million members to try to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges and repeal laws “that defy God’s design for marriage and family.” Why? Apparently the SBC is feeling bold after their 50-year fight to overturn Roe v. Wade paid off, and according to the New York Times, they think they’re “called to play the long game” in the fight against the gays and our homo-sexy ways. The resolution, titled “On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family,” also goes after trans girls in sports, the abortion pill, surrogate pregnancies, trans kids healthcare, and Planned Parenthood. All the greatest hits, really. They expect the resolution to pass. What do you think the odds are for their resolutions to ban pornography and sports betting?
Greta’s Missing: Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg and her fellow flotilla activists were stopped by Israeli forces early this morning while trying to deliver baby formula, food, and medical supplies to Gaza. (It’s a small boat, so more of a symbolic amount.) The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said the activists were kidnapped by Israeli forces. Israel shrugged them off as a “selfie yacht” full of “celebrities” and posted a video that they claim is of the activists being handed food and water.
Check Your Eggs: There’s a Salmonella outbreak in eggs in seven states, and Washington is one of them. If you’re one of the rare ones that can afford eggs these days, use the CDC’s website to make sure yours are safe.
Here’s a real NYT headline to make you feel a little wiser than your fellow humans this morning: “Your Costco Membership Card? No, It Is Not a Replacement for Real ID.”
Uncle Sam Is Off the Market: The famous Chehalis billboard that bombarded drivers with messages like “How many Americans will we leave behind in Ukraine,” “No one died in WW2 so you could show papers to buy food,” and “Where’s the birth certificate?” has been up for sale since March, and this weekend, the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation announced that they’d snatched it up. The tribe plans to remove the loony (iconic) conservative messages, but hasn’t decided what they’re gonna do with it. If they want some suggestions, they know where to find us.
Local Proud Boy Cries “Abuse”: Ethan Nordean, one of our hometown Proud Boys, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in 2023 after January 6th. Trump commuted his sentence earlier this year, and now he’s joining a $100 million lawsuit in federal court in Florida claiming the government violated their constitutional rights when they charged them with violently trying to takeover the Capitol Building. Sure thing, bub.
This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: The Wildlife Center of the North Coast in Astoria has admitted three bald eagles with lead poisoning. How? They’re scavengers, and they’re snagging the guts of animals that hunters have shot and killed, leaving their bellies full of lead.
Looking for gay stuff to do this week? We got you. Wanna see some drag? Galleries? Ice skating? It’s all in The Stranger‘s comprehensive Pride listings. This week, I’m planning to go to “queer joy: A Sensory Indulgence Curated by the Ensemble” at the Slip Gallery. See you out there.
@34 I have no idea what you stand for. You pick the most random stuff to argue about. Half the time you come across like a Trump supporter and then you’ll say something negative about Trump and I remember you’re just really, really dumb.
@47: TBF, you did answer my question, albeit indirectly. As Bax noted @46, the Stranger did all of the damage it possibly could to the Democrats’ election chances, and you’re not accepting that as evidence. (Plus, it’s fun watching you, post facto, deride your own strident advocacy as merely irrelevant noise, producing nothing.)
@50: Like it or not, ICE was enforcing our laws as written. Some of the protestors were breaking the law. Again, that plays right into his hands, and that you’re unable or unwilling to see this just makes you part of the problem.
@52 “As Bax noted @46, the Stranger did all of the damage it possibly could to the Democrats’ election chances, and you’re not accepting that as evidence”
Correct, I do not accept you guys’ unsupported opinion statements as “evidence”
@53: And my point was, and remains, there is no such thing as evidence which you will accept. Just as there is no evidence you will accept of Sawant being a Trump supporter (and much of the evidence supports both points).
You have an unfalsifiable hypothesis, which you endlessly claim to be true, and you’ll simply hand-wave away any and all evidence which — in reality — completely invalidates it.
Max Solomon, COMTE, and CDizzle: +3 for the WIN!!!