Good Morning! We’re looking at the kind of spring weather that out-of-towners don’t believe exists here: Highs in the mid 60s, partly cloudy, small chance of rain. I’m guessing even Charles Mudede can’t find a way to complain about it today. But before you get out and enjoy this perfect walking weather, let’s do the news.
The GOP Wants Us Pregnant and Barefoot: We already knew that JD Vance and Elon Musk were obsessed with us having more (white) American babies. But it’s also become clear that they’re not willing to increase access to childcare to support that spike in baby-making. Why? Because they want parents (women) at home. According to the New York Times, the White House is workshopping ways to encourage parents to stay home, including “giving more money to families for each child they have, eliminating federal tax credits for daycare, and opening up federal lands for the construction of affordable single-family homes.” This, of course, comes at the expense of programs that do support actual working parents. Which will still be the majority of parents. Because it’s not the 1950s, and we’re in late-stage capitalism over here.
More Light Rail! The Two Line just got three and a half miles longer. Over the weekend, we got two new light rail stations, at Marymoor Park and downtown Redmond. But the connection between the One and Two lines is still a figment of Dow Constantine’s imagination right now. His best guess is that it’ll open in the summer of 2026.
Library Crisis: You know the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library in South Lake Union? That’s part of the Washington State Library system, and financially, they’re screwed. Trump has already yanked federal funding from library systems around the country, and now, according to the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, the state budget that’s sitting on Governor Ferguson’s desk doesn’t include any of the $6.7 million they asked for. Their office announced this morning that over the past two weeks, they delivered 47 at-risk-of layoff letters to Washington State Library (WSL) employees. The Talking Book & Braille Library, our state’s only accessible library service for people with print disabilities, faces some of the worst cuts—and may have to be closed to the public. Feeling good about not taxing the rich, Ferguson?
Tariff Update: Trump and China have finally gotten tired of their giant game of Uncle, and come to a temporary trade agreement. For the next 90 days, Trump is expected to lower the tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30, and China will lower tariffs on American goods to 10 percent from 125. Maybe we’ll start seeing more ships in the port again. The grasshoppers are lonely.
Flying’s About to Get Weird: Newark Airport, one of the busiest airports in the country, has had two radar outages in as many months. And on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the same thing is likely to happen at more US airports as we head into the summer travel season, and said he would make a plan with major airlines to scale back the number of flights going through Newark. This seems like a good time to remind everyone that DOGE cut 400 workers from the FAA this year.
Trump Wants a New Jet: And the royal family of Qatar wants to give it to him. Specifically, they want to give him a $400 million super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet that will serve as Air Force One during his presidency, and then be donated to his presidential library after his term. If (when) it goes through, it will be the largest gift ever given to the US from a foreign government. Is it legal to accept something so valuable from a foreign power? Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth say it is, but everyone else is pretty worried. “Even in a presidency defined by grift, this move is shocking,” Robert Weissman, a co-president of Public Citizen, told the New York Times. “It makes clear that US foreign policy under Donald Trump is up for sale.” Need something from Trump? Give him something shiny.
A New Kind of “Refugee”: Remember how Trump wiped out our entire refugee program and then doubled down by defying a court order to help resettle the 12,000 refugees who had flights booked to the US when the ban went into place? Well this morning, 49 white South Africans will land in DC as the first wave of Trump’s brand new Afrikaner refugee program. Just to make sure we’re all on the same page: Afrikaners are about 7 percent of the population in South Africa, but they own three quarters of the private land in the country; and they were the beneficiaries of a half-century long Apartheid system that allowed the white minority to dominate the country. Unsurprisingly, aid groups, immigrant rights activists, and the South African government have all called the initiative an absolute mockery of our refugee system (which it is). But the Trump administration just loves themselves a little “reverse racism.” So they’ll be throwing these white folks a little party on the tarmac later today.
Hostage to Be Released: Hamas announced yesterday that it’s going to release the last living American hostage in Gaza. The hostage, Edan Alexander, is an Israeli-American dual citizen who moved to Israel to serve in the military after high school, and he was captured from his military post during the October 7 attacks. This will be the first hostage release since Israel shattered the ceasefire in March. Trump will be in the Middle East on Tuesday, and Hamas hopes it’ll kickstart a new ceasefire before Israel makes good on its plans to seize the entire Gaza Strip. Israel, predictably, has no plans to stop bombarding Gaza during negotiations. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.
Time to Ring in the 2025 Election: The filing deadline was on Friday, which means our city election season has officially begun! This year, we’ll be voting for mayor, city attorney, and city council districts 2, 8, and 9. This election has everything you’d expect from a Seattle showdown, from progressive challengers to shitty ballot initiatives from Brian Heywood. Check back in throughout the week—we’ll give you the full rundown of the candidates, the initiatives, and the races we’re really excited about.
Republicans Are Still Trying to Cut Medicaid: They released a proposal late on Sunday that would take coverage away from 8.6 million Americans and hike the costs for millions more. It requires people to pay more fees, adds more paperwork, and includes a work requirement for childless adults. The GOP has never seen a poverty tax it doesn’t love.
Watch Your Fingers: Igloo had to recall 130,000 coolers because they were taking off people’s fingertips. Apparently the tow handle can pinch your hand against the cooler, and it’s literally resulted in several amputations. No matter how many times I read that, I’m still not sure how that’s possible. But if you bought an Igloo cooler between January 2019 and January 2025, do your poor fingers a favor and ask Igloo for a free replacement handle.
Hegseth Still an Idiot: Some of the passwords that Defense Secretary Pete “Wanna Join My Group Chat” Hegseth used to register for websites were exposed in cyberattacks on those sites and are readily available on the internet. If he was using normal, secure channels to discuss war plans, that’d be NBD—he’d just be getting a lot of spam calls on his personal phone. But because he’s failed to use the safeguards that are built into our NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEMS, there’s no telling what people can get access to.
Usually I want to give you something to ease into your Monday, it doesn’t feel like that kind of day. So here’s “Boss” by Little Simz, to get your energy up.
@31 necrophiliac: I don’t need “correcting”. You, on the other hand, need to wean yourself from raindrop’s pathetic MAGA cue cards before your head completely turns to mush.
But hey, thanks for playing!
@50 kristofarian: The usual MAGA trolls are such gullible little dumbasses, aren’t they?
Even when falling over the side into the abyss they keep asking for more, in their futile race to the bottom.
As Omega pledge Chip Diller once said, while getting his ass whacked again by Douglas C. Neidermeyer:
“Thank you, sir! May I have another?”
Garb @17: “If you want to espouse the tenets of progressivism in good faith, turn to Bernie Sanders and AOC, not your cherrypicked example of a canpus group hijacked by Hamas sympathizers.”
Sure. Bernie Sanders and AOC most definitely do not use the word, “genocide,” to describe the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Do you know who does use the word “genocide” to describe that situation? SUPER UW — and the Stranger.
Do you know of anyone ELSE who uses “genocide” to describe Gaza?
C’mon, think hard:
Garb @8: “…an accessory to genocide…”
So, I’m actually willing to take your excellent advice, but there’s a catch: you have to take it first.
Please let me know when you’ve done that, Garb.
@53 the United Nations and Amnesty International both refer to it as genocide. Is that who you’re thinking of? Must be.
@54: Look, I understand completely why you prefer whataboutism to addressing my point. I suggest you ask yourself exactly what using the term, “genocide,” has done to help folks in Gaza so far. (Hint: think of all it’s done for the users of that term. Like Garb.)
@43: While the number of frivolous accusations of sock-puppetry thrown around here has been unusually high of late, even from a crowd as famously intolerant toward dissent as are the Stranger’s sympathetic commenters, I’m not in fact Neale Frothingham. (Nor do I play him on Slog.) You can stop obsessing over me now.
But, since you want to play make-believe, then Let’s Pretend that Seattle’s City Council President had stumped for Trump last year. Now Let’s Pretend the Stranger had since — even once! — mentioned her, WITHOUT also reminding everyone she’d stumped for Trump. While even my poor little imagination can envision Johnson stumping for Trump, it fails completely at the Herculean task of seeing the Stranger ever letting anyone forget about it.
@54, 55:
@8
bears
repeating:
“Hey bro,
maybe YOU
should have spent
any and all of your posts
attacking Trump instead of always
ignoring the problem to attack Progressives.
Your posturing fools nobody,
and above all [you] are an accessory
to genocide[*] from deflecting from real
actual criticism to pain[t] all Progressives
as extremists who support Hamas instead
of demand that their tax dollars are spent re-
esponsibly in line with international law.” –@CD,
above,
Brilliantly.
*it’s one Hill wormmy’s willing to Die on
even if it takes a complete Massacre
a Slaughter an ethnic Cleansing (or
Two) and a Host of War Crimes.
it’ll Never be GENOCIDE to
the Wormtongue til Every
Last Gazan, Palestinian
and Hamas terrorist
are Dead, Buried
or Vamoosed.
gonna take quite a Bit
to pry “genocide”
outta wommy’s
cold clammy
deceased
piehole:
he’s got
Principles!
well,
One
anyway.
“Man, that guy sure is a legend in his own mind.”
B: “Yeah, I don’t think anyone loves him
as much as he loves himself.”
–from the Innernet
wormmy once argued on these pages
(‘twas one for the Ages!) argued
against Himself and he Won
(according to The Sages)
Both Sides!
Armed with a gift for prevarication and a knack for
nefarious explanation a lying affectation
a yearning for the Plantation, subju-
gation of a nation giving Himself
a standing ovation
wormmy’s narration
shalt Never
Unwind.
@52, indeed.
@43: Clearly Kamala Harris would be president today had not a radical city counselor in a solidly blue state hijacked the limelight to cast on a cause she thought was more important.
clearly!
@55 That’s not what whataboutism is, sweet pea. head pat
@61
it’s The
Wormtongue:
of COURSE he knows
that: it’s how he manipulates
readers of derr Schlogg. and Thanks
for pointing out yet Another of wormmy’s
sly, insidious and Nefarious rhetorical Tricksteries.
he’s
Slippery
like an Eel.
we must All
keep a jaundiced
eye upon the Wormtongue.
@59
bravissima.
@55
“While the number of frivolous accusations of sock-puppetry thrown around here has been unusually high of late, even from a crowd as famously intolerant toward dissent as are the Stranger’s sympathetic commenters . . . [blah blah blah oh, the Victimization blah blah blah, ad vomitosity]”
damn ,
wormmy,
NO One polishes
a Turd* quitle like The Wormtongue!
udder
fucking
Brilliance!
*if you had
Horses, you’d
be Richer than Bozoz.
@61: Garb’s topic was Progressives in the United States, especially Seattle. Your unsourced claims about the UN and Amnesty International were therefore the very definition of whataboutism. Glad to know I could help with your considerable confusion there.
Thanks for demonstrating again you have absolutely no interest in addressing the actual topic.
@wormmy
check out @57
I managed to get some
2-3 Syllable Words in
there. leave me know
when you wanna
Cipher ’em.
your
Welcome!
@67: Hard pass. Again.
Garb’ already posted a (feeble, late) response in the next Slog AM comment thread.
Please do try to keep up.
“@67 to @67”?
Speaking of
Feeble-min-
dead.
hey wormmy ~ I
reworked up a wee
chunck of @57 & just
Wanted to run it By you
see whatchya think:
you ready?
ok — here we go:
“wormmy, who once argued On These Pages!
(‘twas one for The Ages), Argued against
His own SELF and Won (so Sayeth
the Sages) BOTH Sides!”
that’s it!
Really Interested
in your Constructive
Feedback, which you’re
Always so Generous* in Providing
*to Say the
least~thnx
wormmy!
@68: Typo’s happen. They don’t mean anything.
(Unless, of course, you want to interpret that one as my paying even less attention to you than previously in this thread. Yeah, it might mean that.)
“Typo’s happen. They don’t
mean
anything.”
so Callous
your malice
so Serene when
wormmy Mean~some
might think~you Enjoy it:
“The
Cruelty
is the Point.”
oh, that’s right!
@64: “Victimization,” is your word, not mine; I would have used “validation,” had that not been implied by what I’d already written. The many false accusations of sock-puppetry here simply show how easily we critical commenters have intimidated the Stranger’s sympathetic commenters. If you felt secure in your beliefs, and in your ability to defend your beliefs, you would confidently defend your beliefs against all critics. Instead, you comfort yourself with a false claim, to reduce the number of critical commenters here. (Sad, really.) Again, thank you for this validation. It’s nice to know you consider me as effective as several sympathetic commenters here.
@43 mike blob, @59 Phoebe in Wallingford, and @63 kristofarian: Kshama Sawant has done our part of this Mu$k’$ Mein Trumpf benighted country no favors, that’s for damned sure.
That Sawant’s shamefully asinine “Stump for Trumpf” stunt was among the key factors in preventing Kamala Harris from becoming the first justly elected woman president is beyond sickening.
@68 kristofarian: +1 for the WIN!!!! Feebles fumbles but he won’t back down….
Sometimes I swear ol’ teenieweenie would fistfight with his own mom for wont of something substantial to say.
@72, continued: And had she been justly elected in 2017, Hillary Clinton would have rightfully become the first US woman president. We wouldn’t be in so deep a MAGA turd flushed shit hole we are in now.