Good Morning, Let’s Start with a Fun Headline: “Ancient three-eyed ‘sea moth’ used its butt to breathe.”
Trump Is in the Middle East: So far, he has received a “free” $400 million luxury jet, been greeted with red Cybertrucks and mounted camels, and signed a $200 billion Boeing deal. Lest you think this is all being done to secure investments for America or make a run for world peace, don’t forget: The Trump Organization, run by his idiot sons, announced in April and May that they plan to build “a Trump-branded luxury 18-hole golf course and a collection of luxury villas” near Doha, Qatar’s capital, and an 80-floor Trump International Hotel & Tower in “the heart of Dubai.” Funny timing.
Trump Is Also in Love with Syria’s President: After meeting Ahmed al-Sharaa on Tuesday, Trump beamed and called him a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past.” And then he kind of bit his lower lip and blushed a little as he twirled a few locks of his hair around his finger. “Very strong past. Fighter,” he added, before gazing out the window of Air Force One while his heart fluttered with anticipation at the thought of seeing him again.
About 1,000 Miles Away: An Indonesian hospital says Israel killed 50 people in an overnight attack on Gaza. They reported that “22 children and 15 women were among the dead.” Good thing Trump is in the Middle East right now to help mediate talks to end this continued onslaught that sure the fuck looks a lot like genocide! Oh, wait, that’s not right. He did start to talk to the Qatar Emir about how they could work together to stop Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, but then the dummy got distracted by “perfecto” marble.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Hates Fluoride: Last month, Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services directed the CDC to “make new recommendations on the addition of fluoride to U.S. water sources.” He wants them to ban it. He has called it “an industrial waste,” and said it causes “arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.” None of that is true. There are decades of scientific evidence to prove it. Now, Kennedy’s got his sights on fluoride supplements, which the CDC recommends for children who don’t have access to fluorinated water. How do we stop him? Impeachment? How does that work? Or, maybe we won’t have to! Maybe he’ll have to step down when he becomes debilitated by a rare bacterial infection.
Washington Joins More Federal Lawsuits Against Trump: On Tuesday, 20 states filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration for “claiming that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds unless states agree to certain immigration enforcement actions,” reports the AP. Among them? Washington! Woo! Add this to the list of other lawsuits the state has filed, including one against his threat to withhold funding from public schools with certain diversity programs and one for the dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services. KUOW has a tracker here. Take no shit, Nick Brown.
Speaking of Local Lawsuits: Washington’s case attempting to block Trump’s executive order revoking birthright citizenship arrives at the Supreme Court this week.
Microsoft Announces Layoffs: GeekWire reported yesterday that Microsoft “will lay off 1,985 workers in Washington state effective July 12.” GeekWire says 1,510 employees working in Microsoft offices will be impacted, along with 475 remote workers.
This Is Getting Depressing, Let’s Break for Another Fun Headline: “Ronan the Head-Bopping Sea Lion Proves Animals Can Keep A Beat.”
That Activist Is Still in That Tree: A Port Angeles resident who declined to be named climbed up 80 feet into a grand fir on May 8, hoping to “stop logging of an older forest on state lands in the Elwha watershed.” Dave Upthegrove is so mad. The tree sitter is posting updates on Instagram.
The Menendez Brothers Are Eligible for Parole: Yesterday, a Los Angeles judge resentenced Erik and Lyle Menendez to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility for parole. Judge Michael Jesic said he doesn’t think the brothers should be released immediately, but “one day they should get that chance,” reports CNN. The brothers have a parole board hearing scheduled for June 13.
Go See a Movie! The Seattle International Film Festival starts tomorrow, and we here at The Stranger watched literally ONE HUNDRED MOVIES that are scheduled to screen during the festival. Yay, us! Of the films we screened, we recommend 32 of them and insist you DO NOT MISS 18 of them. There is some really great shit showing this year! There’s a sweet documentary about an elderly cat sanctuary in Florida where the kitties get birthday parties; there’s a simultaneously enraging and inspiring documentary about the librarians fighting book bans in states like Texas, Florida, and Tennessee; and there’s a movie that starts with someone getting hit with a dirty 18-inch dildo, and it ends with a dance off, swords, and betrayal. Read it all here!
And Now, a Song: Earlier this month, Suzzalo released their debut album, The Quiet Year. I wrote a little bit about it in our Spring A&P issue in March. To quote myself: “The band came together in 2022 after vocalist/guitarist Rocky Votolato’s child unexpectedly died in a car accident. Music and loved ones being the balm that they are, Votolato channeled his grief into performing soaring, guitar-driven rock songs with old friends, including his Waxwing bandmate Rudy Gajadhar, Steve Bonnell of Schoolyard Heroes, and, for a few songs, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. You can almost hear the heart healing—or, at least, finding a sustainable balance of love and grief—within the melodies.” Their album release show is this Saturday at Madame Lous, and tickets are still available, and you should totally go.
My heart flutters with excitement at the thought of today’s amusing Slog.
Washington suing the Trump Administration? Say it ain’t so.
Funny how progressives have gone from screaming, ‘No one is above the law’ to flat out ignoring the law when it comes to illegal immigrants.
@2 “ignoring the law when it comes to illegal immigrants”
Like deporting people in violation of a court order? Oh wait you said “progressives” nevermind. You must be talking about states that refuse to allow their state and local law enforcement to be coopted into assisting civil legal efforts. I thought “states’ rights” was a conservative principle, is it not anymore?
I autoplay on for the music video? I heard it start but then stop.
“Microsoft Announces Layoffs:”
“This Is Getting Depressing,”
Why would that be depressing at a publication that promotes income equality at any price?
Some of the highest paid workers in the economy are getting their wages reduced to zero, while baristas and other low wage workers keep their jobs.
That reduces income inequality does it not?
Some of the laid off might even leave the area, reducing demand for housing and the cost of it.
Always refreshing to get the Megan Seling touch on a morning news roundup.
Heard a preview track from the new Suzzalo album a couple months ago on KEXP and was blown away. So I went on Bandcamp and pre-purchased the album, not knowing anything about the band or their tragic backstory. Since then I’d forgotten about the album. Looking forward to giving it a listen.
5 you are genuinely the dumbest person i have ever encountered online, just breathtakingly stupid
@3
And when did the left embrace states rights?
Illegal immigrants violated federal law when they entered the country.
The ones who say they are seeking asylum ignored international agreements by passing through a country that offered both asylum and jobs. So when I see all the homeless encampments around Seattle I can’t help but wonder why Washington has resources for illegals but not our own citizens.
Crossing the border is a misdemeanor. I’d say we’re enforcing the rule of law far more severely than speeding, wouldn’t you say?
@7. Actually, that award goes to 8, but notmyopic is in a league of his own in terms of vapidity.
@8 do I hear you say you support additional funding and resources for unhoused Washingtonians?
It’s always tough to get laid off, but Microsoft is following Meta and Amazon by trimming middle manager bloat. Take docs for example. A writer reports to Doc Manager who reports to a Sr. Doc Manager who reports to a Principal Doc Manager who reports to Senior Program Manager who reports to a few more up the chain to a Vice President and then to the CEO – Satya Nadella.
Moths breathing from their buttholes…. I guess we now know where the GOP evolved from.
@5 How exactly do you know it’s highly paid Microsoft workers getting laid off? They hire senior business admins for $23 an hour and they have “customer advisors” that work at the microsoft store on campus that make $19. Do you really think they’re getting rid of CEOs here? lol. doubtful.
@12 The majority of Microsoft’s layoffs are coming from LinkedIn (which they own), and a big chunk of which are their advertising and creative departments. It’s been all over the advertising publications. I haven’t heard that they’re culling middle management, but that would track if they’re following in Amazon’s footsteps.
@15: I didn’t know that. Now there’s no excuse for not revamping LinkedIn’s atrocious user interface.
14 he doesn’t think about anything, he is a sentient straw man who was brought to life by a witch’s curse
Sounds like this is just a small part of a huge layoff that includes 6000+ people in a variety of places.
“The job you’ve done is second to none. You look at this, it’s so beautiful. As a construction person, I’m seeing perfect marble. This is what they call perfecto.”
Gawd, let me have
these Artisans’s biz cards
so I can have ’em build Beautiful
Marblesworks over the Graves of Gazans
and then Stiff ’em.
the Contractors.
them Gazans’re
Already Dead.
@19: Despite Donald’s clumsy use of adjectives, if Biden or Harris had complimented their host’s palace, it wouldn’t have been a story. I loathe Donald and wish we had a different president, but this really is TDS nitpicking.
Speaking of the madness of RFK, I was genuinely surprised to see that when the FDA and CDC recently recommended suspending the use of Valneva’s chikungunya vaccine was both measured (only for those 60 and over) and supported by credible sources (the European Medicines Agency had already made a similar, temporary suspension).
Of course, this will probably be used as “proof” for measures in support of things like reintroducing measles and polio to North America.
@15 The lead paragraph of the ST story said that Microsoft was streamlining management. That sounds like code for middle management to me.
@14, The news article discusses laying off management roles as the primary, but not exclusive focus, of the reductions.
The largest share of the tech firms headcounts (I don’t count Amazon’s retail distribution centers as a tech firm, but a separate business) is computer scientists, engineers, and the like. So even across the board layoffs are going to hit the six-figure salaries the most.
The article mentions they want to scrape dollars from operating costs to fund capital investment in A.I., and A.I. cloud based server buildings and equipment in particular. Where do you get the biggest bang for the buck? Laying off the higher paid salaries.
@dwebee
Cadet Bonespurs,
‘a construction person’
has a Massive History of
Ripping Off Contractors; if
you did Work for him, he’d
Cheat your ass out of it for
fucking Sport. Like when the
commentariat rips You a New
One every single time you speak
in abject Ignorance. Ignorance Can
be Cured. there’s notalotta Hope for
the terminally stupid. have we Hope for you?
oh
and
I guess
my Point was
that he ‘Governs’
like he ‘Constructed’ —
Bankrupting every single thing
his teensie weensie phalanges grasp
live n’ learn.
or Don’t.
Man this comment section is lethargic, someone say “genocide” into a mirror five times so we can get thumpus’s dumb ass in here to spice things up
@13 Hayduke Forever!: +1 for the WIN!!!
@26: You’ll just have to accept that Gaza isn’t always the center of everyone’s world, not even here.
Meanwhile, if you feel the need for action, I’ll ask you again: how would UW divesting from Boeing help Gaza? You said it would, but you never explained how the causal links work:
“… UW administrators should divest from Boeing…” (https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/05/06/80044223/slog-am-spd-arrests-pro-palestine-protesters-who-occupied-uw-building-israel-says-it-will-conquer-gaza-canadian-pm-mark-carney-comes-to-d/comments/75)
See? Now you can verbally abuse me whilst you, once again, refuse to answer! 😉
@27: Sorry Auntie, the day’s FTW nominations must be submitted before midnight.
@28~Our Verbal Abuser
Cum Master Projector
aka the Wormtongue
strikes Again!
https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/05/14/80056668/slog-am-trump-is-in-the-middle-east-the-tree-sitter-is-still-in-the-tree-and-robert-f-kennedy-jr-is-insane/comments
bugger Off wormmy.
go back to promoting
bibi’s “little” Genocide.
@26 — @28
thought you were
talking to Him. hard
to keep one’s siksokbotts
and Oneself differentiated
sometimes.
@26: Thread don’t slap till Thump Dogg clap 🤣
@31: If there were multiple sock-puppets here, that might have been a valid excuse. As there are not, you’re just putting on-screen the ugly screaming match between the various voices in your head.
@32: Commenters sympathetic to the Stranger’s positions occasionally stop complaining about us evil right-wing conservatives (by which they mean exactly the type of bog-standard Seattle liberals who reliably comprise over two-thirds of the Seattle electorate) long enough to admit how luxuriously we live rent-free in their heads.
@33a — oh, they’re Here all
right, wormmy, they just
haven’t All reared their
Fugly mugs. yet.
b. URLs and Links,
please, or it’s
Yet Another
one of your
Insidious &
Vicious
Lies.
@34: “ oh, they’re Here all
right, [stolen IP redacted to protect the Stranger from liability], they just
haven’t All reared their
Fugly mugs. yet.”
So, you were hopelessly confused by a bevy of persons who have yet to appear. Got it.
Do tell us all about your upcoming joust with Sir Not Appearing In This Thread.
ok,
wormmy.
@29 : FFS–Who died and made you God, Phoebe? Stop mindlessly reading off raindrop’s cue cards and chill.
I can cast a FTW on SLOG any old time I want, with or without your “approval”.
If I am to worship anybody, I’d prefer it be those three lovely felines pictured above.
Certainly not a corrupt as fuck toddler-turned dick-tater wannabe.