Good morning: Some chance of rain during the day today, but big chance of rain tonight. My music suggestion today includes a recommendation about going to see Tkay Maidza at Neumos tonight. If you go, figure out an outfit that includes a rain jacket, especially if you plan to be out at midnight.
Excluding Trump from the ballot: A case before the US Supreme Court today asks the court to consider whether Colorado can exclude former President Donald Trump from its 2024 presidential ballot on the basis he did an insurrection, according to the Guardian. Given Trump nominated three of the judges on the court, it seems unlikely they’ll exclude him. If they do, it could set off a chain reaction as states across the country remove Trump from the ballot under the Fourteenth Amendment.
For shame, Washington State Senator Annette Cleveland: Rich wrote a cutting retort to Sen. Cleveland’s stated opposition to an anti rent-gouging bill that would have capped rent increases across the state at 15% a year. Cleveland argued that a 15% rent cap would leave renters vulnerable to unaffordable rent increases, but, as Rich pointed out, Washington has no rent cap right now, so we’re all vulnerable to 100% rent increases, or to whatever increases landlords want.
Anyway, Cleveland’s cowardice couldn’t come at a worse time. Seattle plans to allocate about a third of the dollars it allocated last year to pay for new affordable housing projects in the city, according to the Seattle Times. This means just four new affordable housing projects next year. In related news, housing advocates filed an initiative to impose an excess compensation tax on corporations that pay people more than $1 million to fund Seattle’s social housing authority. Hannah calls the tax JumpStart’s “Hot Younger Sister.” If you want more than four new affordable housing projects next year, keep your eye out for signature-gatherers.
Apodments: A bill in the Washington State Legislature could legalize “co-living housing,” which is the new phrase they’re using to describe apodments, or “microunits,” or whatever you want to call a 150 sq ft apartment with shared kitchens that rents for around $800 per month, according to the Urbanist. One of the bill’s sponsors, Representative Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac), said this type of housing creates an affordable option for people and could build community for those who may not otherwise have a lot of social interaction. Kind of cute.
PCC workers finalize a contract: With their new tentative agreement, PCC workers became some of the highest-paid grocery and meat workers in the area, according to United Food & Commercial Workers Local 3000. We love to see serious organizing pay off.
More Washington Legislature stuff: The alcohol-in-strip-clubs-and-nudity-in-gay-bars bill passed the Senate, and now it’s onto the House, where Speaker Laurie Jinkins will make or break the bill.
UPDATE: Bill to allow exposed nipples in gay bars and slippery nipples in strip clubs passes on the Senate floor. https://t.co/SqXi4BD5f3
— Ashley Nerbovig (@AshleyNerbovig) February 8, 2024
Howdy Bagel reopens: Daniel Blagovich has gone back to work after the tragic death of his husband, Jake Carter, who was shot and killed in New Orleans in January. Blagovich and Carter opened the all-ages queer spot and bagel shop, Howdy Bagel, in May of last year in Tacoma. KING 5 quoted Blagovich as saying he never imagined doing this work without Carter, but that he imagines Carter is proud of him for continuing. Show some love for someone going through something truly terrible and make it down to Tacoma for a bagel if you’re able. There will be a line.
Trouble in paradise: Rudy Giuliani needs Trump’s campaign to pay him $2 million as he looks to offset a nearly $148 million defamation judgement against him, according to the Independent. Though the case stems from Giuliani fighting a “spurious legal battle to overturn election results” on behalf of Trump, he doesn’t hold the former president personally responsible for the debt, so that’s nice. Glad to see a friendship stay strong through tough times.
Nikki Haley loses to “none of these candidates” in Nevada: Haley lost Nevada’s Republican primary this week, despite being the only candidate on the ballot. She secured just 31% of the vote, losing to the “none of these candidates” option, which won 63% of the vote. Reuters literally called the loss “mortifying.” Still, Haley plans to hang in there.
Solar eclipse coming in April: The eclipse should last almost twice as long as the one in 2017, and it will mostly pass through the eastern half of North America. Honestly, I started out excited to write about this because I managed to see the last one in a cool valley in the southernmost part of Montana last time, but now I’m realizing I probably won’t see this one. Still, for our East Coast readers, have a nice time.
Tonight at Neumos: Tkay Maidza will grace Neumos with her energy tonight. Some of my friends will be there, and I’m jealous because I’m unfortunately already booked for the evening. So go enjoy Maidza for me, unless you’re also booked for the evening, in which case watch her performance here on KEXP.
Capping rent increases at 15% helps no one – my property taxes went up 27% YoY because the county decided to change the land and improvements valuations across the board. And guess what? Landlords pass off any tax increases to their tenants because, duh, they’re not running a charity. What does that mean for the average non-apartment renter? The smaller, easier to work with mom & pop landlords sell, but inevitably to a corporate behemoth like Blackrock because the average non-tech worker doesn’t have $600k laying around to pay for a house.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/08/us/trump-supreme-court-colorado-ballot
fucking LIVE
yo,
Great and Free States of America—be like Texas—
ignore the corrupt federal government and its Obscene Court. Dump the Insurrectionist from all ballots and continue the experiment of democracy in the USA USA! 🇺🇸
“Given Trump nominated three of the judges on the court, it seems unlikely they’ll exclude him.”
This is a poorly informed opinion. Trump appointees rule against Trump all the time. See, e.g., numerous “stolen election” decisions, including those of the United States Supreme Court allowing lower court rulings unfavorable to Trump to stand.
I don’t know how many times I have to make this same comment: DO NOT USE PHOTOS OF HIS FUCKING CLOWN FACE ON SLOG. He is the worst person in America and we’ll all seen it enough.
housing as commodity
oughtta be an oddity
capitalism’s got
No bottom.
SCOTUS is just champing at the bit to create Law out of Whole Cloth and ignore the originalist interpretations of insurrection and what we do to them.
The 2017 eclipse’s path of totality didn’t pass through Montana, so you didn’t actually see it. And the 2024 eclipse won’t touch the East Coast of the United States, it’s largely Midwestern.
SROs disappeared from cities across the United States in previous waves of gentrification. Why are you so dismissive of something that gives people an affordable place to live? Would I want to live in an Apodment? No. Am I glad they exist for people who can’t afford to pay more than 50% of the median rental price in the city? Heck yes.
@5
Agreed!
I hope to live long enough to never have to see the face of that psycho Orange Jesus again!
@2,
NPR actually streamed the audio from the hearing live too.
Random question… I didn’t think they were able to do this, have they live-streamed other hearings in the past, or is there something unique about this one? I thought all SC audio/video feeds were prohibited?
@9: SROs declined and vanished in Seattle in the wake of the Ozark Hotel fire in 1970. 20 people died and 10 were injured. The city then required fire doors and sprinklers. The SROs were old, poorly maintained and owners closed them rather than meet new fire codes. I’m old enough to have been inside a number of the old SROs. Very few people living in Seattle today, at any income level, would tolerate the living conditions in those old buildings.
Just listened to the arguments today at SCOTUS – Trump v. Anderson, et al. Colorado, you best go ahead and put that monster back on the ballot.
Does Annette Cleveland own rental property is the first thing I want to know. Also, a 15% annual increase sounds excessive. After Prop 13 passed back in the 70s, which campaigned on promises of self-stabilizations for rent because landlords would pass their property tax savings (which were huge) on to renters, rents started skyrocketing. West Hollywood, which was then unincorporated, had to pass a 7% annual increase limit. Know what happened? Every year, more dependable than clockwork, rents went up 7%. You could set your watch to it. What makes more sense to me, and what is currently in place in the City of Los Angeles, is a range of allowable increases (3-8% annually). The Stabilization Board issues an annual percentage (this year it’s 4%), but owners can appeal and ask for more showing cause. Every renter in LA pays a rent stabilization fee to pay for administration. Mine’s $4.44 a month. Seems to work well, and there are no surprise 50% increases posted on your door when you come home from a hard day at the office.
Don’t know how big that check was, Ms. Cleveland, but may I suggest you use some of that money for a better salon and dentist. Meow.
I know it would work for some people, but the thought of a 150 sq. ft. apartment makes me break out in a cold, claustrophobic sweat.
Glad to hear that Mr. Blagovich is carrying on. Still heartbreaking. Fuck, you just don’t ever recover from something like that. Best wishes.
Now, Miss Nikki, you know it’s over. Stop spending campaign money on the campaign, girl! Time to do what every southern Republican lady (y’all) does when she’s lost an election but still has plenty of campaign dough. Use that money for a couple of $125 Chanel lipsticks, a stop at Dior for some resort wear, and then head on down to the Seychelles for a few weeks. Aren’t winter tans the best? You’re gonna need that rest for when you come back to kiss some T-ass. Ask Lindsey Graham. “Mmmm,” he says, “tastes like Gold Bond powder and expensive bronzer,” he adds, “and faintly like Halston Z-14.”
@ 12 – Mike, the Supreme Court streams all their hearings at their website. Audio only though. Cameras are still verboten. Hope you are well.
@15,
Thanks! Yeah I did a google search and apparently it was an accommodation made as a result of the pandemic and now they’re maybe just sticking with it. Pretty cool, though the brief portion I listened to this morning may as well have been in Klingon, given all the legalese jargon and obscure statutes they were referencing as precedent.
@13, the Ozark Hotel fire is still Seattle’s biggest unsolved murder, I believe.
I suspected the SC’s would rule to keep 45 on the ballot.
My bigger concern is whether the SC will or will not issue a stay on the immunity decision after the DC District Court and the DC Appeals Court (in a very well-written and objectively tight legal decision) said that Presidents aren’t entitled to immunity. If the SC issues a stay, I think that potentially we are looking at a possible abolishment of our present system of government. I’m pretty sure that Alito and Thomas are all in on fascism. Roberts strikes me as a pragmatist who may reject a stay. The other three are ? that could go either way.
These sites may help:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/
https://dictionary.law.com/
“Still, for our East Coast readers, have a nice time.”
The eclipse is mainly going through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania but you’re calling out “East Coast readers” because it’s going through upper New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine?
Ok then.
The PCC employee contract is garbage. Their union, local 3000 asshats, subdued and manipulated the information and communications between PCC workers themselves, and PCC management took full advantage.
This PCC no longer cares about the environment as all of its “made daily in house products” are no longer made in house, or daily, and in fact, come up in plastic bags from California.
The entire deli is being replaced like this and PCC corporate is hoping that on no one notices that the Tiger Mountain Chili that was made in house for decades now comes from California in a bag. A penny saver that massively expands PCCs carbon footprint and creates a mountain of plastic waste.
Shame on you PCC. What happened to your mission statement? Commitment to something about locally made products and protecting the environment? What a bunch of crap.
Goodbye PCC. I don’t see you long for this city.
With all due respect, co-living housing is not just “cute”. Co-living housing is absolutely vital to get more affordable housing in Seattle. According to Sightline Institute, co-living housing can be rented without subsidies down to 50% of AMI (area median income), taking pressure off the limited spots for subsidized housing.
@23, Absolutely not four years. You have to give Stephen Miller and Michael Flynn time to build “the camps” for those commie dems and street-agitating lefties.
@5 Max Solomon and @10 pat L +2 for the WIN!!!
@23 The Constitution makes the president the commander and chief of the entire military. Couple that with the Legislative branch continuously handing over law making to the Executive branch and add some court packing and it isn’t a stretch to imagine Orange Jesus deep sixing our representative democracy within 4 years. I have no understanding why people who are American, Christian, and hate pedophiles would support a man who constantly tries to subvert the Constitution, has no reasonable grasp of Christianity, and hung out with Jeffery Epstein.
@28: ANYONE still rabid for the Orange Turd should have his or her voting rights permanently suspended.
These clueless, willfully misinformed idiots have absolutely no ability to cast a ballot wisely. They’re voting against their own best interests. They’re sheeple. The Orange Turd is all about itself, neofascism, violence, and chaos. Don’t be one of them.
Stop chugging the FOX TeeVee Kool-Aid and gobbling up raindrop’s Wal*Mart supply of Twinkies, Cap’n Crunch.
@31: You and your equally clueless MAGA recruits are so thoroughly brainwashed, raindrop dear.
How much do you pay them to pass on willful misinformation, in addition to your free FOX TeeVee, Kool-Aid, and Twinkies? Do they get their own motorized wheelchairs, too, or is that what the GOP calls a “pre-existing condition”?
@33: Stop chasing your tail before you hurt yourself, raindrop dear.