The whole idea of a Government Shutdown seems a bit absurd at this point. Where is this government that’s been shut down? Do we even still have something that can be called, without triggering a chuckle, a government? Do you call a government a single man who, at his desk in the White House, pumps out executive orders and repeatedly claims the country’s major cities, which account for the main part of its population, are the military’s new enemy, the enemy within? How do you shut down something that has, by all appearances, already been shut down? And yet the mainstream press continues to float in the dream of a world that is no longer with us in reality. In the manner of someone mumbling in their sleep, our popular commenters ask: Who will be hurt more by the shut down? The Dems? The GOP?

NBC News: “The government shut down last night, and the blame game started before the clock struck midnight. In the final hours, the two parties traded insults rather than serious proposals. It’s unclear where they go from here.” Sorry, but we are not in 2024 anymore. Indeed, federal workers have been ordered by the president to blame this mess on the Dems.

 

Congressional Democrats, known for their pro-government posture and defense of the federal workforce, have rallied around a strategy of refusing to fund the government unless GOP leaders grant concessions on health care spending.

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— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) October 1, 2025 at 6:30 AM

 

I’m sitting here at The Stranger office.  It’s 4 pm and the last day of September. We are making plans for future issues and posts. The editor, the news editor, the arts editor, the raw-dog joke about five pumps. But  my mind is not here with them and the other writers around the crowded, third-floor table but outside in the sky, which has lots of huge and dark clouds gathering from the west. I have not seen clouds like this in forever. They have about them the air of an army that’s arriving with fresh reserves and supplies to a long and brutal battle that the opposing side was on the verge of claiming victory. Summer is finally done, these mighty and darkish clouds say to me. We are here now. You are safe now. The rain began falling when I left the office.

Real rain promises to rule today. It’s 7 am and I can see, here in Columbia City, rain falling on the planes headed to the airport in SeaTac, on the trains heading to Lynnwood,  and on the heads of people walking their dogs or walking to their jobs. The experts expect not only a very wet middle of the work week, but also “gusty winds and isolated lightning.” Temperatures will not rise above 66. Seems like a mighty long time since we experienced a day like this. Hello stranger.

This is from a recent email sent from Sara Nelson’s headquarters. “Dear Friend: I need your help to tell voters the truth about this race. I’ve delivered results on Seattleites’ top concerns—affordability, public safety, and moving the needle on homelessness — and my opponent will take us backward.” Move the needle? Does Nelson see homelessness as a broken record? These broken people? These skipping people? Or maybe this is a reference to the cover for Sir Mix-a-lot’s debut album Swass:

Last Friday, a 70-year-old woman found herself “pinned between an elevator and the floor inside a Chinatown-International District apartment building.” This nightmare did not end until firefighters arrived and disassembled the elevator car. The elderly woman is presently recovering from what nearly became the last moments of her life.

I mean, think about this. Right now, for the first time in my life, I have no idea what the employment numbers are in the United States. No idea what the inflation rate is. No idea of the GDP.  The government under Trump is no longer providing real numbers.  “U.S. GDP expanded at a strong 3.8% pace in second-quarter revision,” reports Market Watch. 3.8 percent is a pure fantasy. They have just said 2.8 percent percent for a sprinkle of realism. One thing I was told about lying is to always put the spice of some truth in it, but no such effort is being made here. “Trump touts $9 trillion in new U.S. investment. The numbers don’t add up.” No kidding. That is the GDP of Germany and Japan combined. And so, at present, the state of the US’s economy is completely in the dark.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake that violently shook Cebu, Philippines on Tuesday at 10:50 pm our time has so far claimed 69 lives. The officials in that region have “declared a state of calamity,” and expect to find more and more dead people in the rubble.

 

At least 69 people were killed in Cebu Province by the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in the Philippines — including 10 in a village built as a haven for survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan more than a decade ago.

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— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) October 1, 2025 at 6:40 AM

 

Let’s return to the warzone that is Portland, Oregon. There, military helicopters are rattling the nerves of ordinary people who are just trying to tend their gardens or visit a highly recommended taco truck or play video poker in a dive bar. They are forced to hear, according to The Oregonian, “the droning hum and vibrations… generated [by] aircraft noise.” A noise that can rattle windows for hours. A Portlander on Reddit: “10pm on the South Waterfront. These helicopters are driving me crazy; they’re [fucking] loud!”

What Portland must know is that this is a distraction, and a negative one. Portland is, however, famous for its positive distractions (also called quirkiness or keeping things weird). I never thought I would ever say this, but now is the time for Portland to confront negative distractions with its distracting mastery of the positively weird. This is finally the time for a politics of “put a bird on it.”

Look, America is a very sad place but we must, nevertheless, keep in sight the things that are meaningful to us urban beings. And these things have nothing to do with the Kirks, or the Hegseths, or the Millers. But what is in them is the will to claim everything they can of American life, even the enchantment of this part of a sidewalk on Capitol Hill (it’s on 13th Avenue, between Olive and Pine).

No, they can’t take that away from me.

On that note, let’s end AM with “Xtal,” an uplifting track by Aphex Twin:

More in NEWS

Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

52 replies on “Slog AM: The Government Is Shut Down, Portlanders Are Rattled by Military Helicopters, It Really Rained Last Night”

  2. @1,

    Is there a commenting glitch or something? I’d expect biped to be ranting furiously about all the stickers affixed to the various poles and other miscellaneous objects in the header pic that are so obviously a clear metaphor for the downfall and degradation of civilized society.

  5. “America is a very sad place”

    Oh really, we’re nowhere near the speech policing and imprisoning and dystopian Islamic control sweeping the United Kingdom. It’s ultra sad. London isn’t worth visiting. Blast King Charles for being so mum about it.

  6. You just know Biped was furious that he couldn’t comment on those “trashy stickers” all morning… probably worked himself up into a frenzy and had to go find some brown people to call the cops on.

  8. @4 “Calvin Priest, 54, was arrested and booked into jail on Aug. 4 after Renton police alleged he assaulted a 22-year-old woman at a town hall for Congressman Adam Smith.”

    Is today August 4th?!

  9. re: 4. Not only is the alleged assault old news, it wasn’t even an assault. It was alleged that Ms. Sawant’s husband shoved an Adam Smith staffer as she attempted to block his entrance to one of Mr. Smith’s press conference. I’m going to bet that these “assault charges” never went anywhere because blocking another individual’s free movement can be considered harassment under law. The putative assault claims merely demonstrate how desperate the Smith campaign is deflect any spotlight from their support for genocide in the developing world.

  10. I am so thrilled that we made it through the summer and the decent weather is back! Now I can finally relax and enjoy windows and outside again!

  12. @9: You didn’t cite any sources for your version of events. The KOMO story clearly stated Priest was arrested for trespassing, which would seem to contradict your claim of his innocence. Also,

    ‘I’m going to bet that these “assault charges” never went anywhere because blocking another individual’s free movement can be considered harassment under law.’

    Well, then, you’re going to lose, as he avoided charges by improving his behavior:

    ‘…Priest agreed to a stipulated order of continuance that “means the City will defer pursuing the charges if conditions are met over a certain period of time. If conditions are not met, the defendant agrees to allow the judge to render a verdict using the contents of the police report.”

    ‘That can also mean a defendant agrees to community service in exchange for avoiding charges or further jail time. Priest was credited for time served, according to a transcript of the court proceedings.’

    But you’re still free to claim otherwise, of course. (Good luck with that.)

  13. @2: Yeah they got banned again. And I really wanted to ask them if they might consider that TS was putting up pictures of stickers and graffiti specifically to troll them, cuz it was kind of starting to feel that way.

  14. @5. Careful, I saw a man facing Mecca and saying a prayer! Oh my sweet Jesus, save us! Muslims, in my freedom of religion loving country? Next thing you know they will be putting copies of the Quran in school!

  15. Re: Since the version of events you cite is consistent with “agreed to a bogus probation to avoid dealing with bogus charges” – something that occurs constantly in our legal system – I’m still going to claim that the alleged assault wasn’t an assault. If it were, it would have gone a lot further than the scenario you describe. The reasons Mr. Priest would do so are obvious – the campaign resources need to go to the campaign, not fighting trumped up assault charges.

    Also – blocking someone’s free movement is harassment. Again, it’s obvious why Mr. Priest wouldn’t choose to file counter-charges.

    Progressive activists are constantly under threat from false arrest and imprisonment. It goes with the territory of speaking truth to power. The Smith campaign is desperate, and it knows it – Mr. Smith’s support for genocide, like yours, is under constant attack these days.

    So, your “rebuttal” doesn’t change much, although I appreciate the update in the story – despite all your genocide-cucking, you do present with useful info every now and then.

  18. @15: “I’m still going to claim that the alleged assault wasn’t an assault. If it were, it would have gone a lot further than the scenario you describe.”

    You’re the one stumbling over the details now. 😄 Unless the bruising on the staffer’s arm was so severe as to constitute a “substantial disfigurement,” shoving the staffer would not rise above the level of misdemeanor assault. Further reason to believe this was a misdemeanor assault is that Sawant’s husband was charged by the Renton city attorney, who does not have the power to charge felonies. For a first-time offender who expresses contrition and has good community support, probation would be an appropriate sentence for misdemeanor assault. Contrary to what you may think, there is no reason it “would have gone a lot further” than that.

    But Sawant’s husband wasn’t even sentenced to probation! Instead, he entered a stipulated continuance, which is a pretrial disposition, not a criminal sentence like probation. He probably does check in with a probation officer, since I doubt Renton has separate departments for pre-trial and post-trial community supervision, but he is not actually “on probation.” It just looks that way from the outside. Confusing, I know! 😃 But these details will matter a lot later in life, when he may be asked questions such as “Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Have you ever been sentenced to confinement or probation?” and so forth. 😁

    One other little thing you’re getting wrong is calling people “cuck.” 😆 That came out of the gamergate/manosphere world. Don’t be that dude. 🤣 I know, I know, you’re like very ironic, but guess what, so are they! 😅

  23. @8 The original incident apparently occurred Aug 4th, but the news report on the incident and subsequent adjudication didn’t show up until yesterday.

    @9, 15 According to the report, it wasn’t a “press conference”, it was an invitation only event that Mr Priest and his band of screaming goons had no invitations to. And the woman he assaulted had bruises on her arm. I don’t know how you get those if it never really happened. The notion that Priest is somehow the real victim is ridiculous.

  24. @23: It was “an invitation only event” for a politician using our national budget to give handouts to genocidal maniacs. The notion that he wasn’t a target for malicious, anti-left charges is ridiculous.

  25. @21 no i would ask if you need to see a dr because your what-abouting doesn’t make any sense, you’re supposed to deflect not restate the problem

  27. @24: Ha ha ha, I highly doubt that the Renton city attorney, of all office-holders, is running around filing “malicious, anti-left charges” on the basis of the offender’s politics. 😂 Your boy got charged with misdemeanor assault because he low-key assaulted someone! And he got a pre-trial diversion because he knew he messed up! What kind of kooky world do you live in, man! 😅

  28. Oh god, thumpus is back. Well, what must be, must be. Mr. Thumpus is entitled to his opinion – but I’d appreciate some corrections that would lead me to change my mind. The fact that a known war criminal who uses public funds to create the wars & enrich himself was in a “private only” venue is all the more reason to stage some civil disobedience at that site. And why wouldn’t the city attorney file charges? Civil disobedience means breaking the law. Hence, people who engage in it get arrested & charged.

    Rule of thumb: progressives use civil disobedience, right-wing hooligans use vandalism and violence. That’s not a putdown: those are the techniques which work to get them what they want.

    And we have plenty of reason already to suspect that anyone connected with Adam Smith would file malicious charges against anti-genocide protestors. Functional looks weird to the dysfunctional, I get it – but mr. thumpus & I have been through that before. It ended with him posting a crying-face emoji over the prospect of a world without Zionism.

  29. @28: “Rule of thumb: progressives use civil disobedience, right-wing hooligans use vandalism and violence.”

    Well, you’re half right. This progressive’s “civil disobedience” put bruises on a 22-year-old woman’s arm! 😃

    also @28: “And we have plenty of reason already to suspect that anyone connected with Adam Smith would file malicious charges against anti-genocide protestors.”

    lol, the only “connection” that the Renton city attorney has with Adam Smith is that they both have offices in Renton. Too much lefty conspiracy theorizing has scrambled your brains, you’re jumping at shadows! 🤪

  30. Re: 29. Adam Smith was hosting the event at which the alleged assault took place. He’s intimately connected to this event. But I realize that putting the dots together looks like conspiracy theorizing – to the ignorant.👻

  31. @30: Wait you think a US congressman has the power to file criminal charges in Renton?! Ha ha ha you’re even more far gone than I realized! This is approaching NotMyopic levels of confusion when it comes to civics! 😆

  32. @27 “he got a pre-trial diversion because he knew he messed up”

    People get an SOC when the prosecutor knows the charge isn’t worth pursuing. They take a plea when they know they “messed up”

  34. @32: lol no, not even close. They get their charges dismissed when the prosecutor knows the charges aren’t worth pursuing. They take deferred prosecution agreements when they’re basically decent people who fucked up once in a minor way. They take a plea deal when they are habitual fuckups. Next time Sawant’s husband decides to “civil disobedience” a college girl, for example, he’ll be taking a plea deal! 😁 (And also eating the stipulated police report from this first incident! 😂 “Deferred prosecution,” not “no prosecution!”)

  36. @29: “Rule of thumb: progressives use civil disobedience, right-wing hooligans use vandalism and violence.”

    Of course! If Calvin Priest been a right-winger (like, say, if he was happily married to a known Trump supporter), then his attempt to force his way into the meeting, and bruising her arm, would’ve been “vandalism and violence.” But (as he’s in no way, shape or form married to a known Trump supporter) he’s a progressive, and so the very same actions were “civil disobedience.” Simple as that, really.

    Now, for your proper edification on the use of non-violent civil disobedience, please see Libretto68’s favorite Civil Rights text, “Letter ‘Cos I Be Beatin’ Bitches in Birmingham.”

    😉

  37. @34 “They get their charges dismissed when the prosecutor knows the charges aren’t worth pursuing”

    Right, like happens at the end of an SOC. Just because you got one yourself after you got too drunk at a frat party but your IR prof wrote you a letter of support doesn’t make you an expert.

  38. @37: Sorry, that’s still a no. 😄 If someone completed an SOC, then the charges they faced were very much worth the prosecutor’s time to pursue, and the person remained in serious legal jeopardy during the term of the SOC. I think you have confused “no prosecution” with “deferred prosecution.” They are actually more different than they are similar.

    Libretto @15 confused pre-trial supervision with post-conviction supervision (as Professor Thumpus helpfully explained @18), but you are actually making a bigger and stupider mistake than he was, so congratulations on that accomplishment! 😄

  41. @drew

    wormmy

    thought it

    Important that

    his sokbott be present

    for the final nail in Palestine’s

    coffin to give “moral” support for

    the morally Unsupportable as only

    Elthumpf You! could deliver. along with Emoticons.

    and we’re equally Sorry the Rapture

    was Insufficiently Effective and’re

    Certain (for the most part) that

    Gawd’ll ‘Try to do Better,

    Next time.’ let us

    Prey, it’s what

    we do Best.

  42. @40: If Sawant’s husband messes up the terms of his SOC, he’ll be going to trial where the police account of his assaulting that young woman will be a stipulated fact. He can’t win that trial, no one can. Dude needs to stay on the straight and narrow for the duration, or he’ll be going to jail. 😃

    The legal jeopardy from these SOCs is real, dude, you only reveal your ignorance when you scoff at it. In fact, the official progressive line on deferred prosecutions is that they are just another trap set by The System to ensnare defendants, because they leave defendants with no defense when they inevitably screw up the terms of the SOC. Sawant’s husband is probably a stable enough dude that he won’t fall into that trap, but it’s there if he wants it, lol! Hopefully no other college girl will sass him until after he’s out of the danger zone! 😆

  43. Holy shit, Calvin Priest is ONLY 54? He looks as old as my 81-year old father.

    Does he do meth? On a somewhat related note, I suspect that kristofartian is really Calvin Priest.

  44. HAHAHA I live in you libprogs’ heads rent-free. I didn’t get banned.

    I had stuff to do yesterday and didn’t bother to look at Slog.

    But since several of you mentioned it, those stickers are an eyesore.

  45. @9: ‘Not only is the alleged assault old news, it wasn’t even an assault… I’m going to bet that these “assault charges” never went anywhere because blocking another individual’s free movement can be considered harassment under law.‘

    What did you bet, with whom, and by when must you pay up? Just curious.

  47. @46: Sorry but someone who wrote “People get an SOC when the prosecutor knows the charge isn’t worth pursuing” does not get to accuse anyone else of not knowing what they’re talking about! 😂

  49. @48

    bots &

    siksokbotts

    take Time to Train

    thirteen12 — & if they Must

    Train off the public Teat* we must

    Expect many many flaws plus the Voice

    of their Master to creep thru at Least occasionally.

    *hence their Admonishments toward others

    they (mis-) perceive as having STOLEN

    from Artists’ troughs, whilst they

    Themselves gorge un-

    Abashedly.

  50. @48: Um, yes? Who do you imagine monitors the defendants’ compliance with the conditions of their SOCs? The honor system? 😄

    Larger jurisdictions will have different officers to monitor the pre-trial and post-conviction defendants, but in a small system like Renton, I can almost guarantee you it’s the same officers. So, no, Sawant’s husband is not on probation, but yes, he probably does check in with a probation officer. Super confusing, I know! 😄

    I think you are somehow, even now, even after all my help, still failing to grasp the distinction between “no prosecution” and “deferred prosecution.” Deferred prosecution is not a get-out-of-jail free card! They make you check in and take classes and everything! If you screw up, you get mainstreamed! It’s a whole thing, dude! 😂 Come on now, progressives are supposed to be all over this criminal justice stuff, you’re making the team look bad! 😉

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