Good morning! We have a break from all the weather today. Expect some sun. Temps in the 50s. Not a drop of rain. The works.
Speaking of Weather: I hope your power is on. After we got walloped by a rain and windstorm on Saturday night, trees came down and took powerlines with them. At its peak, more than 310,000 households lost power, and as of Sunday evening, more than 100,000 of them were still in the dark. Most of the Puget Sound region is back up and running this morning, but if you’re one of the unlucky ones, today should be your last day lighting candles and plugging your phone in at the local coffee shop.
Support Your Local Food Pantry: They’re gonna need it. The USDA announced over the weekend that SNAP benefits are officially halting on November 1, thanks to the government shutdown. The Trump administration had already announced that it wouldn’t dip into the $5 billion they have in backup funds to keep the SNAP program moving—a program that helps one in eight families in the US buy groceries. The party of family values, ladies and gents.
That Government Shutdown Is on Day 26: Want to know how I know that? Because Donald Trump put a Shutdown Clock on the White House’s website. Flights to LAX were temporarily halted yesterday because of staffing shortages with air traffic controllers, who have been working without pay for 26 days. O’Hare, Newark, Reagan, and Teteboro had similar staffing issues this weekend. Real World contestant, competitive lumberjack, and current US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it’s “a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.” Give us healthcare, and everyone gets their salaries back.
The ICE Crackdown in Chicago Keeps Getting Worse: And they’re crossing over into local politics. Last week, immigration officers pulled over a Democratic Illinois state lawmaker, tried to break his car window, and pulled a gun on him before letting him go with a warning for going door to door to alert residents that ICE was in the area. The next day, at least four US citizens were detained by ICE in the city’s largely Mexican neighborhood, Little Village, including two staffers for a city Alderman. And Trump is still threatening to jail the Illinois governor and Chicago’s mayor. They’re all scare tactics, but what Trump might not have considered? Illinois has an unusual number of congressional seats up for the election next year, and the state’s Dems are using this chaos in their campaigns to retake the House.
Freedom Wolves: After melting down over a Canadian ad over his tariffs, Trump now doesn’t want Colorado to import Canadian grey wolves into the state as part of their ongoing effort to repopulate the area with the apex predator. They now have to pull from wolf populations in the Northern Rockies, which isn’t a realistic option. But at least we won’t have any of those socialist wolves in our midst.
Trump 2028: To try to get around constitutional term limits, MAGA supporters have floated the idea that Trump could run as VP in 2028, with the understanding that the lead on the ticket would step down on day one. On Monday morning, Trump told reporters he doesn’t plan to try to run that gambit because that would be “too cute.” But he’d “love” to run for a third term.
In Probably Unrelated News: He’d really like to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while he’s in Asia this week.
Election Day Is Coming: And based on the polling that The Stranger conducted with DHM Research, we know that the mayor’s race is all about turnout. When we polled the general population, Katie Wilson had a 12-point lead, but when we asked only likely voters, that lead shrank down to a statistical tie (she was still four points ahead, but the margin of error was 4.9 percent). What does that mean? Everyone has to get out there and vote.
So have you voted? No? Go get your ballot right now. Dig it out of your pile of mail and vote. And if you’re not registered yet, here’s how you can vote anyway. Not sure who to vote for? We’ve got you: the version for people who like to read our funny but highly informed endorsements; and the version for people who just like to be told what to do. And remember, USPS has new postmarking rules that means you’re not guaranteed a day-of postmark, so put it in a ballot drop box, not in the mail.
Why Are You Still Reading? Go vote.
Okay, if you’re still here, I’m assuming your ballot is already safely in a ballot box. I’m trusting you.
Area Man Tries to Get Famous on the Back of a Woman’s Accomplishments: More than 88 years after Amelia Earhart and her plane went down somewhere over the Pacific, Oregon archeologist Richard Pettigrew thinks he knows where it is. “We have a lot of evidence to go on, and I believe the chances are 9 out of 10 that it’s Amelia’s plane, but we won’t know until we go in there and take a look at it,” he said. On November 4, his team of 14 explorers leave for a tiny, remote island halfway between Australia and Hawaii called Nikumaroro in hopes that they’ll be the ones to find her long-lost plane.
King County Drops the Ball on Housing: The County Council commissioned an analysis of their progress to reach their housing goal: 308,677 new homes between 2019 and 2044, half of which would be affordable housing. According to the report, the County would need to scrounge up another $4 billion a year to meet those goals. If it stays at the pace it’s going right now, we’ll only build about a third of it.
There’s New Evidence in the CHOP Shooting: The wrongful death lawsuit that Antonio Mays Jr.’s father filed against the City of Seattle is headed to trial next week, and new video contradicts the City’s prevailing narrative of what happened in the minutes before the Black 16-year-old from Los Angeles was shot. You can read the Seattle Times’s four-part breakdown of the evidence here.
KING 5 Can’t Handle the Spice: That’s the only reason we can think of that they spent a whole news segment on unpermitted pop-up food trucks. Like Micah mentioned on Friday, King County public health officials shut down 17 unpermitted food vendors selling around Lumen Field during the Seahawks game last week, and Snohomish County is juggling a wash of complaints as well. The only person complaining in the news segment? A food truck competitor who did pay for his permits, and he’s grumpy about it. It’s worth watching the news segment just for the comments, though.
Turns Out Some Food Can Hurt You: But it’s probably not from a food truck. Hormel had to recall almost 5 million pounds of frozen, boneless chicken because customers were finding metal in the meat. The chicken was sold to food service companies, not directly to consumers, so you don’t have to go digging in your freezer unless you own a restaurant, hotel, or cafeteria.
Louvre Robbers Roped: French officials announced that they’ve made arrests in the motorized ladder-based jewelry heist that shocked Paris and delighted everyone else. Details are light: officials haven’t said if they arrested all four of the people who escaped via scooter after the heist, nor did they say whether or not the jewels were on them when they were arrested. Experts say the investigators are racing to find the jewels before they remove the gems and melt down the precious metals.
A Song for Your Monday: For no particular reason.
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@39, @44: You can read it those ways if you like; the Stranger actually published this:
“KING 5 Can’t Handle the Spice: That’s the only reason we can think of that they spent a whole news segment on unpermitted pop-up food trucks.“
Or, perhaps because these trucks present a public health hazard? The very next sentence implies so:
“Like Micah mentioned on Friday, King County public health officials shut down 17 unpermitted food vendors selling around Lumen Field during the Seahawks game last week, and Snohomish County is juggling a wash of complaints as well.”
47, Yes tons. This country has a high demand for drug rehab facilities and there is a glut of them because they are money making machines and they are poorly regulated.
Where do you think the funding would come from if not taxes? If it’s a municipal program it would most likely come from property taxes but are you under the impression people would feel differently if it came from another public revenue source? Doesn’t seem likely to me.
I never assumed the cost would be the same. Doing the math, a typical 30 day inpatient stay would be about $15000-$20000, then people are presumably back on the streets. Just sounds like a huge waste of resources.
@39 these vendors are mostly “carts” not full fledged food trucks. But even if you’re advocating that our existing food safety permitting is overly complex, then either advocate for their abolition or embrace that they’re a necessary function of government.
But again, even if we agree on food permits “bad”, you still haven’t addressed the lost tax revenue, adherence to things like minimum wage, etc.
But I guess whatever
@52: No, not pricy Betty Ford clinics. Just places to dry out, get cleaned up, and go to AA meetings will be sufficient and cost effective.
@52 – “47, Yes tons. This country has a high demand for drug rehab facilities and there is a glut of them because they are money making machines and they are poorly regulated.”
Great argument against them! Sounds like you agree that taxpayer money is being stolen to fund them! Thanks!!!
That photo reminds me of a dive-y burger joint in Florida, where I grew up in the ’70s, called Royal Castle (a White Castle knockoff, naturally). When the “C” in the sign burned out they left it that way for years, despite (or more likely, because of) the resulting nickname.
@50 you’re right, those are all great things but you can only go to the well so many times before it runs dry. Our politicians default answer to everything is more taxes. It’s lazy. There are numerous examples of them pissing money away or losing it to outright fraud and the fact that voters let them get away with that is incredibly sad. We deserve better.
just so we’re clear this is the government entity you all want to provide with another $4B annually
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/king-county-audit-finds-unapproved-payments-possible-fraud/
@54 you think someone hooked on opiates just needs to “dry out” and go to a few meetings? You know less about this than anyone who’s watched the first 15 minutes of Trainspotting. It never ceases to amaze me how people who have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about nevertheless do not hesitate to express their strong opinions online.
@54: Yeah, more or less. It comes down to an addict’s willingness to change after hitting bottom. That includes me (alcohol) as matter of fact. So I followed Nancy Reagan’s advice and “just said no!” – that’s all that was needed nearly a decade ago. I know a hell of a lot more about this subject than you think I do.
@60
well
if it worked
for You it Oughtta
Work for everyone Else
unless,
Duh, they’re of
Poor Moral Character
then they
Deserve whatever-
the Fuck the good lord
Doles out to them. if only You’d
go down, there show ’em all How it’s Done
@60 ya quitting alcohol and quitting opiates are exactly the same degree of difficulty, great point you clearly do know a lot about this
@62
well
thirteen12
it’s just Pure
Moral Failure
and
Neocons’re,
unsurprisingly,
Immune to moral
failure, having None
to Begin With,
@35: “…if a few hundred dollars a year is going to put homeowners on the street they shouldn’t own a home in the first place…”
While I’m happy and relieved to read your brilliant erudition as a financial sage means you’d never, ever, not ever, not under any circumstances, EVER find yourself in a rough patch of a year or two where you might have to hang onto what’s both the roof over your head AND your largest asset with all of the virtual fingernails you have, please use just a tiny bit of your truly godlike financial perspicacity to understand that some mere mortals who bought houses when Seattle was affordable might now find themselves struggling to pay for those houses in a very expensive city.
Now, use your truly amazeballs financial abilities on the following: next month comes the 10th Anniversary of Seattle’s declaration of Homelessness Crisis. Since that date, Seattle has spent over $1B in inflation-adjusted dollars on homeless services. Looking around Seattle, do you see evidence that money has been well-spent? If you do, then, again, please have some sympathy for those persons hanging onto their homes in an expensive city, who may not see that $1B (and counting) as particularly well-spent, and might actually even be loathe to spend more on that issue.
@60: Good for you, Calvin. Now just say no to AI, too. You’ll sleep better.
YIKES about the eerily fitting photo, Hannah!
@65: Na, AI helps me with Kubernetes.
@64 “some mere mortals who bought houses when Seattle was affordable might now find themselves struggling to pay for those houses in a very expensive city.”
Won’t someone please think of the poor folks who bought an affordable asset and saw its value increase exponentially? It’s such a burden owning something valued at a million dollars that you bought for tens of thousands.
@36,
“Right, but the Bigfoot people always have a “ton of evidence” too!”
No, actually they don’t, certainly not anything credible.
And he contends that the reason the object hadn’t previously been thoroughly explored is because of shifting sediment brought on by more recent and severe weather events and activity. Additionally, there’s also a shitload of other evidence that you’ve not addressed. What of the various 1930’s era American artifacts that were discovered on the island? Do you think those Micronesian colonists were carrying around designer cosmetic cases in hopes of achieving a better base foundation?
I’ve no idea if it’s her plane or not, and neither do you. And the return expedition to the island just got delayed until next year, so we’ll not have anything further to go on for a while. Until they make that return trip though, I’m gonna go ahead and withhold judgment, and give at least as much credibility to the team of archaeologists and researchers who’re invested in the subject as I will to some anonymous, smiley face obsessed jagoff on the internet.
@69: lol, nope. The Nikumaroro expedition is a Bigfoot hunt. 😂
The Micronesian colonists weren’t the only inhabitants of the island. They were merely the inhabitants who would have discovered the plane if it were inside the lagoon, in shallow water, eight meters from shore. There were plenty of other inhabitants, both before and after the Micronesians, to say nothing of countless intermittent visitors throughout the centuries. The “1930s era American artifacts” are all traceable to these other inhabitants and visitors. This is no different than the Bigfoot people freaking out over mysterious hoots in the night. 😁
@68: You and barth really need to be the point persons for selling these higher taxes to voters who now struggle to pay their mortgages. Your empathy will really win them over, you’ll just have to trust me on that.
@71 you should be the point person for explaining to people who can’t afford their astronomical rent (median is now $2200/mo) that it would be really unfair to ask someone who owns a million dollar asset to pay ~$75 a month to help bring down housing costs for the whole region. I’m sure they’ll appreciate your empathy for the landed gentry.
@71 to elaborate, someone who bought a median priced home in Seattle in 2015, if they refinanced in 2021 when rates were around 2.9 (and if they didn’t they’re dumb), would currently have a lower mortgage payment than the median rent. They have a whole house for less per month than someone in a one bedroom apartment. And that’s who you believe we should feel bad for.
@73: “if they refinanced in 2021 when rates were around 2.9 (and if they didn’t they’re dumb) would currently have a lower mortgage payment than the median rent“
In this toy example, the real dumb ones are the renters because they should have bought back when money was free. If they didn’t they’re dumb! 🤣
you may be on to something though, because subjectively the median renter does “feel” dumber than the median owner, ime 😅
@72: “…you should be the point person for explaining to people who can’t afford their astronomical rent (median is now $2200/mo)…”
Yes, I should be, because when I rented in Seattle, EVERY notice of rental increase blamed it upon rising property taxes. Every last one. So I would take those renters very seriously when they received such notices. And I would agree it was unfair to raise their rents to pay for housing programs which have not alleviated homelessness. Thank you for considering me for such a task, and I promise I will do it well if I ever get the chance.
“…to help bring down housing costs for the whole region.”
Why would I make a claim which has absolutely no evidence of any kind whatsoever to support it? I’m not you.
@73: “And that’s who you believe we should feel bad for.”
Dialog works better when both parties understand the words. (Again, you’ll just have to trust me on that.) I wasn’t asking you to feel anything at all for another human being, any more than I would make such an outlandishly unreasonable request of barth. I was asking you to understand why such persons wouldn’t want to pay more in property tax, to fund programs which would neither alleviate homelessness, nor measurably lower the cost of living for anyone else.
@74: Self-described fiscal geniuses who spend much of their time giving out free financial advice on the internet are the best! 😉
@75 “when I rented in Seattle, EVERY notice of rental increase blamed it upon rising property taxes”
You probably also believed the $100 application fee was really what it cost for them to run your background check. Bless your heart.
@74 “the real dumb ones are the renters because they should have bought”
Thinking not-rich = dumb is pretty on brand for you and the other self-styled pragmatic centrists here. Or did you think down payments were “free” in 2021 also?
@77: lol its your example my dude, don’t blame me if it sounds dumb! 🤣
@78 I feel like you don’t know what it means to refinance a mortgage
@79: lol you can plug in variables to make your mortgage < rent equation true, but you can also plug in variables that make it not true. It depends on the terms of the financing agreement. As a universal proposition it’s untrue, a little bit reminiscent of your “bruises mean felonies” argument the other day 😂 But if you can invent fictional financial scenarios without supplying numbers, then so can thumpus! 🤣
@76: Yes, we know: to the absolute best of your economic knowledge, renters never pay more when property taxes rise.
This is another excellent reason why you should have nominated me, not you, to explain economic reality to renters.
reading the AP article linked it is pretty clear the wolf thing has nothing to do with Ontario’s ad, which makes me sad.
also I was worried the Trump admin would be adopting a genetic purity argument, so I am glad they are at least not doing that
@76: “You probably also believed the $100 application fee was really what it cost for them to run your background check.”
Please. Persons like me know most of it pays for the privilege of knowing, in advance, that we’ll never, ever face the horrors of sharing a wall with persons like you.
And it’s well worth every penny.
@84
“… we’ll never,
ever face the horrors
of sharing a wall with persons like you.”
–@thumpfnsorna on October 29, 2025 at 7:13 PM
NOT sharing this wee
Planet with folks like
thumpfnsorna?
fawking
Priceless.