Slog AM: Stranger Endorsements Drop, City Light Rate Hikes Coming, Trump Picks JD Vance as VP

The Stranger’s primary election endorsements have dropped: After months of grilling candidates, yelling at the ones who refused to show up, scrutinizing public and private statements, and bickering with ourselves over who to endorse, the Stranger Election Control Board’s picks for the August, 6, 2024 primary election are here. King County Elections will start mailing ballots on Thursday, so yours should be in your mailbox by Monday. Until then, read up and tell us how you feel. If you’re not into reading, then bookmark the Cheat Sheet. 

Seattle City Light rate hikes coming: The utility estimates electricity customers will see their costs climb by 5.4% per year for the next two years and by 5% per year through 2030, according to the Seattle Times. That’s higher than City Light previously predicted because of a combination of population growth, our growing reliance on electricity for cars and buildings, droughts, and higher costs of labor and materials. 

SPD deputy chief won’t face DV charges: After an investigation by a Pierce County sheriff’s detective, prosecutors in Pierce County will not charge Seattle Police Deputy Chief Eric Barden, whose former partner said he slapped and pushed her last year. The Seattle Times reports that court records “reveal a bitter back-and-forth breakup between Barden and the woman, with allegations of abuse on both sides,” and that prosecutors suggest the woman made the particular allegations in question this spring “in order to damage his career and get even for being jilted.” The detective who investigated reported no witnesses or physical evidence of injury. A Seattle Office of Police Accountability investigation remains open involving allegations that Barden asked a Pierce County deputy to lie on a police report and not arrest the woman.

Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy fatally shoots man: The sheriff’s office says at least one deputy shot a man in Graham following a vehicle pursuit. The department says deputies identified the man as a “suspect of interest” in an unspecified case and tried to stop his vehicle before “shots were fired” and the man hit a deputy with his vehicle, causing minor injuries. A chase ensued, the man got out of his car and ran, and deputies shot and killed him, Q13 reports.

Shooting.

On July 15th at 2:45pm, officer’s attempted to make contact with a person of interest from a previous crime in a vehicle. Deputies reported shots fired and a pursuit followed.

Visit the Pierce County Sheriff’s Blotter for full story. https://t.co/qCN8ZkcT7m pic.twitter.com/8r7TX5kvcv

— Pierce Co Sheriff (@PierceSheriff) July 16, 2024

Former SPD chief threatened to sue Publicola: Erica C. Barnett reports that former SPD Chief Adrian Diaz threatened to sue the local news website (and Barnett herself) after a post regarding Diaz’s interview with Jason Rantz in which the former chief came out as gay following allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination. Diaz claimed defamation; Publicola called bullshit but made some minor changes to the post. Barnett says the whole thing forced the site to “spend many thousands of dollars on attorneys’ fees.” 

DeSantis is coming to WA: The nation’s most socially awkward bigot will speak in Clyde Hill early next month for a Trump fundraiser. Who’s leading fundraising for Trump in our state? An apartment developer. 

Day 1 of the Republican National Convention: You will be shocked to learn that the loudest applause lines on the first day of the RNC in Milwaukee came not from criticism of high inflation (which is down) but from “harsh criticisms of transgender people,” particularly surrounding the “issue” of Transgender Visibility Day falling on Easter this year, the Associated Press reports. Though the day aimed to focus on economic policy, nothing quite unites the GOP like bigotry. That said, you may be genuinely shocked to learn that Teamsters President Sean O’Brien closed out the convention with a speech about labor unions not being “beholden to any party.” That may be true of members who like voting against their economic interests, but the Republican party is certainly not beholden to unions, and trying to appeal to them is plainly fucking stupid. 

Trump picks Vance for Vice President: The first-term US Senator from Ohio will become the first and worst millennial to run as VP with a major party. Vance rose to fame with the publication of 2016’s Hillbilly Elegy, a poorly written libertarian manifesto disguised as a memoir about growing up in Appalachia that played on the sympathies of urban liberals looking for an explanation behind Trump’s political success. He rode that Never Trump wave, hurling dozens of insults at the former president. In a conversation with a former roommate, he even compared Trump to Hitler. Vance changed his tune when he reportedly apologized to Trump for buying into “media lies” as he sought the former President’s endorsement for his senate race. Trump’s decision to pick Vance suggests that he’s feeling good about his chances of winning and wants to double-down on the racist, xenophobic revanchism that unites the party: 

“Are YOU a racist? Do YOU hate Mexicans?”

– your 2024 GOP vice presidential nomineepic.twitter.com/wFNDC8oENx

— Lakshya Jain (@lxeagle17) July 15, 2024

Three thousand people protested the convention: Despite the lack of any evidence that mean political rhetoric or protests meaningfully contributed to the failed attempt on Trump’s life, the Washington Post used that premise to frame their entire write-up of the long-planned Republican National Convention protest, wherein, like most protests, no violence occurred. As many at the protest pointed out with their signs and in interviews with the Post, it is not “heated rhetoric” or an “opinion,” it is a matter of fact that Donald Trump is an “existential threat to democracy,” and that the election is a “matter of life and death for working people.” The three reporters who contributed to the story did include a funny exchange between a religious protester who held a sign reading, “Homo Sex is a sin,” and another protester who replied, “It’s fun, you should try it!” So, kudos there. 

At the RNC protest march. A mix of groups here, some pretty mainstream feminist, LGBT, unions, along with some fringier groups. Loud speeches but the people I spoke to are not very concerned about unrest today – they are very concerned about Donald Trump’s plans though. pic.twitter.com/P7ese18QMV

— Mike Wendling (@mwendling) July 15, 2024

Elon Musk pledges $45 million a month to Trump PAC: The richest man on the planet plans to spend big on the dumbest man on the planet. Other tech vampires, including the Winklevoss twins and Peter Thiel’s Palantir, also plan to spend big on Trump, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

Nothing to see here: President Joe Biden continues to wave off concerns about his age, telling NBC’s Lester Holt Monday that the race between him and former president Donald Trump is “essentially a toss-up” and that his mental acuity “has been pretty damn good.” The interview amounted to Biden’s latest attempt to quiet concerns about his age following his terrible debate performance last month. Although he defended his fitness, Biden also struggled at some points in the discussion, including not remembering whether he spoke to former President Barack Obama before or after the debate, Politico reports.

Holt: You appeared to be confused.

Biden: Lester, look. Why don’t you guys ever talk about the lies that he told. Where are you on this? pic.twitter.com/hhC2HWyr7m

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 16, 2024

The interview was also a chance for Biden to respond to right-wing attacks claiming his criticism of Trump has heightened the risk of political violence, like the attempted assassination of the former president over the weekend. Biden told Holt: “It matters whether or not you accept the outcome of elections, it matters whether or not you, for example, talk about how you’re going to deal with the border instead of talking about people being vermin. That’s the kind of language that is inflammatory.”

Trump assassination attempt update: People “frantically” warned law enforcement about a shooter on the roof of a building two minutes before Thomas Matthew Crooks fired off his shots, according to video analyzed by the New York Times. That video also shows police officers parked near the building, walking around the building, and also one cop turning his back after the first gunshot rang out. CBS reports that someone “hoisted” a cop onto the roof, but then “the shooter pointed his rifle toward the officer, who let go and fell off.” The Feds unlocked Crooks’s phone, but they found nothing telling. They already knew he was in a gun club, and that a high school rifle club rejected him. Transnational investment firm BlackRock briefly featured Crooks in a 2022 commercial. The company decided to pull the ad Monday, CNN reports. 

Noticing that local Pittsburg media has repeatedly found former classmates confirming the shooter was a right-winger and obviously a loner and for some reason national media keeps omitting this. pic.twitter.com/sDXe9TkE9e

— Darrell Owens (@IDoTheThinking) July 15, 2024

Aberdeen mayor apologizes for wondering if Trump shooting was staged: Douglas Orr, the city’s mayor, wrote on Facebook after the shooting that he hoped “they check to make sure it wasn’t just a self inflicted scratch.” Orr later deleted the post and told KOMO his comment was “really stupid.” 

First the hospitals, now the schools: In the last eight days, Israel has bombed five schools, killing “dozens,” Al Jazeera reports. Since Oct 7, Israel has attacked “more than 400 schools in Gaza, which are among the few places displaced Palestinians can turn to for shelter, destroying 88 percent of all educational facilities.” In addition to 38,600 lives, the total destruction includes “60 percent of the enclave’s homes, 80 percent of its commercial shops, and 60 percent of its roads,” according to the outlet. 

Brazilian influencer accused of human trafficking: Tapping into the explosion of wellness influencers online, self-proclaimed “guru” Kat Torres built a large following of young women, promising “love, money and self-esteem that you always dreamed of.” But some of those women say Torres isolated them, forced them to work without pay, or pressured them into sex work. More than 20 women say they were “scammed or exploited,” the BBC reports. A Brazilian judge recently sentenced Torres to eight years in prison for allegedly subjecting one of the women to human trafficking and slavery. Torres has appealed.

I figured out where we can all go: Scientists have found evidence of a “sizable cave” on the moon and “suspect there are hundreds more that could house future astronauts,” according to the Associated Press. Sounds like PLENTY of coze zones.

I leave you with ML Buch’s “High speed calm air tonight”: If you like, they’re playing Madam Lou’s on Sunday.