WA State Senate passes police hog-tie ban: Hog-tying is already banned in most of Washington because it can suffocate people in custody. In 2020, 33-year-old Manuel Ellis died while hog-tied facedown on a Tacoma sidewalk as he told officers he could not breathe. In December, a jury acquitted the three officers charged with his death. Earlier this month, Ellis’s sister, Money Carter-Nixon, testified in support of the legislation. She called hog-tying “animalistic” and pointed to its use as a restraint for animals before branding or slaughter. While the Tacoma Police Department has banned the practice, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department was the only department statewide to defend it.
Update on the Liquor and Cannabis Board: Last week, angry gays lined up to chastise the Liquor and Cannabis Board for raiding four gay bars over antiquated regulations of nudity in spaces that sell alcohol. But by Thursday, the LCB relented. They paused enforcement of the lewd conduct law and promised to hear some sort of proposal from staff on Tuesday. Instead of proposing a concrete plan, the proposal amounted to more information about how the agency could initiate the rule-making process; it could accept or reject one of six petitions filed to repeal the law, or it could just start the process itself. One staff member briefing the board revealed that some of the law’s language dated back to at least 1975, and it sure reads that way. For example, it references “sodomy,” and it carved out some exceptions for “traditional ethnic dancing.” Yikes.
Time to end this stupid alcohol law: Last week, prominent members of the city’s queer community published a letter in support of legislation that would allow strip clubs to sell alcohol. It really shouldn’t be so controversial. Washington is the only state that doesn’t allow it, and we know people just get sloshed outside, where bartenders can’t monitor their intake. The biggest barrier to the law actually changing is House Speaker Laurie Jinkins and an unofficial temperance caucus in the House. Ashley wrote more about it here.
After WA paused enforcement of “lewd conduct” codes following raids on gay bars, Seattle’s LGBTQ communities put the state on notice: Don’t leave strippers behind.
It doesn’t make sense to allow nudity around alcohol but not alcohol around nudity. #waleghttps://t.co/hIpQaonthf
— The Stranger 🗞 (@TheStranger) February 6, 2024
Don’t forget your retention bolts, dear: When Boeing delivered that blowout jet to Alaska Airlines, it forgot four things. All of them were bolts. The ones that hold the mid-exit door in place. That’s according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators said Boeing mechanics in Redmond removed the plug so a team from Kansas could repair some shoddy rivet work next to the door. A photo taken by mechanics shows the door put back on the plane without the retention bolts, and the company hasn’t produced documentation showing they were ever put back on. Boeing CEO David Calhoun said in a statement that whatever conclusions the NTSB reached, the company would be accountable. Yeah, dude, we all agree. The head of the FAA said despite oversight from his agency, Boeing was still “not delivering safe aircraft.”
Man they underpay everyone in America . Even folks building planes like fuck this job smh .. how you forget a to put bolts on da door https://t.co/DdusKAwPSp
— COBIZZY (@blackcobain) February 7, 2024
Amazon lays off hundreds more employees: The company told employees Tuesday it would axe jobs from its “One Medical” chain of doctors offices. Since 2022, Amazon has laid off 27,000 people to cut costs after rapid expansion during COVID. Across the tech industry last year, at least 32,000 people lost their jobs.
Two young teens charged with Seattle hit-and-runs: Prosecutors say a 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl purposely hit two people with a stolen car on Aurora Avenue in November. Prosecutors charged the 15-year-old boy with two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of hit-and-run, and two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle. They charged the 13-year-old girl with two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of taking a motor vehicle without permission. They haven’t been charged as adults.
Draft plan of Gaza ceasefire from Hamas: Al Jazeera obtained a draft plan from Hamas that suggests a three-stage plan that includes withdrawal of Israeli forces and a phased-exchange of prisoners between Israel and Palestine. At least 27,708 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, while 1,139 Israelis have died in the conflict.
Not wearing a mask during COVID-19 health emergency isn’t a free speech right, appeals court says https://t.co/hNuayYeHSC
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 7, 2024
Not wearing a mask wasn’t free speech, an appeals court ruled: In a blow to annoying assholes everywhere, a federal court in New Jersey ruled against residents who refused to wear masks during school board meetings in early 2022, when masks were still required. The plaintiffs claim school boards retaliated against them, but in at least one case the litigant failed to produce any evidence of that. The court found that skeptics are free to “and did” (lol) voice their opposition to COVID policies, but disobeying mask requirements was not a protected right.
It’s getting weird in Texas: Last month, the Texas National Guard took control of a 2.5 mile stretch of a city park on the border after migrants had crossed there in December. They erected a barrier with anti-climb razor wire that keeps not only migrants out but also Border Patrol agents. Those agents took their shit and left; then Texas began arresting migrants there. The Biden Administration threatened to sue the state and Gov. Greg Abbott, but so far it hasn’t done anything to reclaim control of that area. Three Biden officials told NBC News that they didn’t want a standoff with the Texas National Guard, but they are still considering legal action.
Mom found guilty of son’s school shooting: Jennifer Crumley, whose son, Ethan, killed four students at an Oxford, Michigan high school in 2021, was found guilty of four counts of voluntary manslaughter. She could spend up to 15 years in prison, and her husband will face the same charges in March. The court found her “grossly negligent” for giving her then 15-year-old a gun and failing to get him proper mental health treatment. The prosecution made her out to be an inattentive mother more interested in her horses and an affair than in Ethan. Sure, she doesn’t seem like a very good mom. Her kid needed help, and she didn’t help, but the precedent is troubling. I’m skeptical that throwing jail sentences at this problem is going to do more than put more people in jail. Dead kids are the problem, and expanding criminal accountability won’t help.
NPR founding mother retires: 80-year-old Linda Wertheimer announced her retirement Tuesday after 50 years at NPR. She joined before national public radio was on air, when All Things Considered was barely an idea and women did not have much power in newsrooms. She was a congressional correspondent, a political correspondent, a co-anchor on national election coverage, and a 12-year host of All Things Considered. You can read her thoughtful retirement note here.
Waiting for The Stranger to blame roadway design an cars for those kids running down pedestrians.
“Dead kids are the problem, and expanding criminal accountability won’t help.”
I dunno, man. I guess 15 years might be a bit harsh, but I’m all for negligent parents who casually supply homicidal children with deadly weapons finally facing some consequences for their actions.
Tossing a few idiot parents who arm their teenagers and then completely fail to supervise them in jail for a few years should give future fuckup parents something to think about. I say it’s worth a shot.
Also, what is the LCB’s position on rum and the lash?
“Johnny, you’ve been such a good boy! Here’s an AR-15 that you can play with!”
In which universe does this make any sense?
@7 none, obviously, to anyone with half a brain. That’s why arguments like @4 that jailing these people is a valuable deterrent don’t make sense. No parent capable of rational thought was doing this to begin with
(Kids get shot up at school)
Society: Hey, we should do something about guns in schools.
Right wingnut: Noooooooo!!!!! Mah gunz! I need my gunz! Slippery slope! Freedumb!!!
Society: Sigh….okay, at least we can hold the shooter accountable.
Left wingnut: Noooooooo!!! That poor innocent child is a victim! A victim of bad parenting. Late-stage capitalism! Evil right wing agitprop! Hug that poor innocent victim, NOW!!!!
Society: Sigh…okay, so about the bad parents? We can hold them accountable, surely as they are adults and responsible?
Left wingnut #2 (aka: “Vivian”): Nooooooooo!!!! This could be an inequitably applied precedent! We can’t judge! No one should be judged…maybe they are victims too!
Society: Soooooo….we can’t hold the weapon designed exclusively to kill and injure or the manufacturer responsible in any way according to the rightwingnuts. Nor can the weapon owner at least we required to have liability insurance. And the leftwingnuts insist that no actual direct actor can be held responsible. So in effect, the default position is that your pet issues and how they trump the opposite wingnuts issues are more important than stopping this at all? Or am I missing something.
L&R Wingnuts (in unison): Stupid centrist sheeple. Piss off.
To recap: We shouldn’t be trying to solve the problem of mass murders by “throwing jail sentences at this problem.”
The item on the missing bolts was fine, without the incoherent Twit you tagged on to it.
Ahab is a shitty lawyer.
(I think Trump is hiring.)
“Dead kids are the problem, and expanding criminal accountability won’t help.”
What is expanding gun control laws but an expansion of criminal accountability? Who, then, should be held accountable if we’re trying to reduce gun deaths?
@3 Uh, you just can’t stop being wrong, can you? Parents can be held civilly liable for their children’s actions in every state except NY and NH. HI, FL, LA, MA, and NJ have no limits on the parental liability.
Further, 42 states have laws allowing parents to be criminally charged for their children being “delinquent.”
https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/pubs/reform2/ch2_d.html
So yeah, both civil and criminal liability for your children’s actions is absolutely possible, whether a firearm is involved or not.
If a child expressed a desire to run over a bunch of kids at school and the parents responded by giving them keys to a car, I wouldn’t be surprised to see charges of involuntary manslaughter brought against the parents.
@7 In this case, it was even worse. “Johnny, I know you’ve had a lot of mental health issues lately. Here’s a gun for an early Christmas present!”
@16
on what Planet
Wouldn’t handing
an emotionally-unstable
16 yo a weapon of maximal destruction*
put an Xmas Smile on the Whole damn fambly’s face?
thanks,
nra!
*try standing
in Front of one
@14 if he were
paid* by-the-word
be could hire 50 AIs
and Swamp this place out
you should Go
to mal-a-rago
post haste &
gawdspeed
el cap’n!
*ha!
you should Go
to mal-a-rago
post haste &
gawdspeed
el cap’n !!
*ha!
@11 perfect summary
@15 you are using too much logic for TS. It could be a micro aggression.
Sorry, Stranger.
You missed the mark on this one. Holding adults liable for not locking up their lethal weapons, thereby becoming accessories in the murder of innocent people, is exactly the deterrent needed.
She wasn’t found guilty for being a bad mom. She was found guilty for not keeping their weapon out of the hands of their child. Or more exactly, placing the gun in his hands, teaching him how to kill with it, then sending him out the door with the gun in his backpack. Hopefully she will serve real time, not probation.
@2 mike blob, @4 dvs99, and @15 Teslick +3 Agreed.
@21: Cap’n Crunch: You say you hate the Orange Turd. Why are you so quick to show how rabidly eager the clueless MAGA population is to shove that heartless white collar dictator wannabe back into the White House?
Are the free Kool-Aid and Twinkies at raindrop’s really worth spreading the FOX TeeVee misinformation? You have enough manure to fertilize the entire continent of Africa.
Boeing for Bankruptcy 2024!
@22
sure!
if they’re
Represented
on Boeing’s Board of Ds.
bean-counters
trumpfed the
Engineers yet
again & see
what hasta
Happen?
@25: Too much media hype (i.e,: Twitter / X, FOX TeeVee, Sinclair Broadcasting, etc.) is a caricature, Cap’n.
That’s why I take breaks from social media and come up for air as often as I can. It keeps me healthy and focused. You and raindrop should try it, especially on sunny days.
@27: What hostility, raindrop dear? I’m not among the party who rabidly and violently attempted to overthrow the U.S. Government on January 6, 2021, killing five people, threatening to murder House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and on a manhunt for exiting VP Mike Pence, all because a narcissistic dictator wannabe can’t handle losing a fair and just election. Nice try, Avis.
LIVE
Updated
Feb. 8, 2024, 11:10 a.m. Just now
Colorado Ballot
Supreme Court Hearing Case on Trump’s Eligibility for Another Term
The justices are considering whether the former president’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election disqualify him from again holding office. Mr. Trump’s lawyer has made his arguments, and now a lawyer arguing to disqualify him is making his case.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/08/us/trump-supreme-court-colorado-ballot
fucking LIVE
@29: You are the reigning SLOG champ of silliness, raindrop dear.
Do come up for air once in a while. You’ll thank me for it.
@30 Garb Garblar and @31 kristofarian +2 for the WIN!!!