Goood morning: I took a walk last night, because I’m on that steps grind, and goddamn it’s a beautiful time of year. It might rain today, but if it does it’ll be a sprinkle. The temperature will rise to 55 degrees. The sun will set at 6:20 pm. I hit 10,109 steps yesterday.
And now to other weather “news”: A Republican Washington State House candidate appears to believe the government can control the weather. Carrie R. Kennedy, who’s challenging Democratic State Representative Clyde Shavers up in the 10th Legislative District, which covers the islands, reposted a Bikers for America Facebook post about weather manipulation on October 13, which basically peddled the conspiracy theory that the US Government caused the recent East Coast hurricanes as part of an attempt to depopulate the country. None of that is true. She has posted similar conspiracies before on her Facebook and her X account. Keep in mind, this isn’t some kooky challenger way behind in the polls. Shavers only won the primary with 52 percent of the vote share. She’s got some juice.
After I reached out to Kennedy last night to ask about several of her weather manipulation posts, the Bikers for America post now no longer appears on her Facebook. Luckily we grabbed some screenshots.
Also missing from her feed is an October 8 repost of a post she wrote in 2020, which said, “If ‘they’ can create a virus, can ‘they’ control the weather?!!! Just sayin'”. She captioned it, “From 2020…” with a scratching chin emoji and a woman crossing her arms in front of her. The repost no longer appears on her page, but the original post remains. She did not respond to my request for comment. I hate fact-checking this shit, but, just a heads up, the government cannot control hurricanes, and just because the government can do one kind of science does not mean it can do another.
Boeing plans to cut white collar workers: Boeing machinist jobs remain safe for now as the aerospace company plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce. The cuts appear mostly focused on white collar employees, such as engineers, and other non-union staff “at all levels up to vice presidents,” according to the Seattle Times. Boeing plans to notify the first wave of employees about the lay offs mid-November, with their final days planned for January 17.
The year without a Hilloween: The Broadway Business Improvement Area has cancelled the kids carnival on Broadway this Halloween, according to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. Apparently, funding and sponsorship just failed to pan out this year. But there’s still plenty of other good stuff to come for Hilloween this year, including a Haunted Soiree at the DAR Rainier Chapter House. I’m so mad I missed the pet costume parade—goddamn I love those.
Work from the waterfront: There is lots of open office space along the waterfront, according the Seattle Times. With the opening of the Overlook Walk, which connects Pike Place with the waterfront, real estate interests in the area hope to see a resurgence in businesses moving into the open commercial spaces. I’m not much of a back-to-the-office stan, but I went to the Overlook Walk over the weekend, and honestly I’d work from the office two days a week if I could eat lunch there.
Jill Stein comes to town tonight: The anti-war Green Party candidate plans to speak tonight alongside former Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant. The event starts at 5 pm at Washington Hall on 14th Avenue in Seattle. If you can’t be there in person, it’s going to be live-streamed. For any of you ready to complain about Sawant supporting someone other than Vice President Kamala Harris for President, be cool and watch Rich tell you why that’s dumb. [Eds note: To be clear, he also thinks it’s dumb for Sawant to support Stein.]
Trump does something silly: Two medical incidents at a Trump town hall derailed the event, and Trump played some music and “bopped and shimmied,” as the Associated Press put it, to a really strange mix of songs, including Rufus Wainwright’s cover of “Hallelujah” and “Ave Maria.”
Hope he’s okay. https://t.co/WGhGteFpjm
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 15, 2024
We need a shorter election cycle: The polls are tight. I’m depressed all the time, and, tbh, I’m one of those people who quits when shit gets tough. Good luck to everyone else. I’m following up on that promise from the Irish government that they’ll pay you to take over a sheep farm or whatever. Shit looks dark. If y’all mount a resistance movement I’ll send wool. [Eds note: Other options include spending some time phone-banking for Harris in battleground states, calling friends and family in battleground states to convince them to vote for Harris or to convince them to get off their asses and knock doors. But Ireland does sound nice.]
The geopolitical equivalent of blocking someone: North Korea blew up the some of the unused road and rail routes that used to connect it to South Korea, according to the Associated Press. Tensions rose a few days ago after North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the two countries are never, ever, getting back together.
I’m on a music strike until my computer speakers get better. Listening to anything on this laptop makes my teeth hurt.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correctly reflect the results in 10th Legislative District’s 2024 state house primary race.
Congrats on missing the best part of the Trump dancing story: the first song that played after he called for music was “Time to Say Goodbye.”
Unfortunately, if people believe in the great replacement (“elites are working to replace the white population with immigrants”), they’ll probably also believe that government is sending hurricanes their way to “depopulate the country”. The details, like the science behind it, don’t really matter once you have gone that far down the rabbit hole of finding scapegoats for problems one has, which shouldn’t be denied.
@1,
I’ve always thought it funny that so many of his rallies are nothing more than 2 solid hours of him whining about not getting to serve another term, then to close it out you always hear the Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want come blaring out over the PA.
Let’s say the government can control the weather. What do they gain from causing billions of dollars in economic loss and rendering thousands of miles of highly valuable, highly taxable land uninsurable?
Seems like the better option would be great weather so people can buy oceanfront properties and go to the beach and do other things that generate taxable economic activity, but instead they’re destroying infrastructure and killing random people? You are more valuable to the government as a living, breathing, financially solvent taxpayer than a hurricane victim. What is so hard to understand about this?
@4: You can’t expect conspiracy theorists to have reasoned through their theories. The whole point of conspiracy thinking is that you don’t need to exercise reason, you just instinctively know. You see the same thing with those people who think some combination of AIPAC/Israel/The Jews control the United States government. Well, why doesn’t our supposedly Zionist Occupied Government bomb Hamas? There’s no point in asking, because the only answer is more conspiracy theories! 😃
“You are more valuable to the government as a living, breathing, financially solvent taxpayer than a hurricane victim. What is so hard to understand about this?”
Limbaugh
Murdoch
Gingrich
& now
MUX.*
they’re Domionizing the Planet
& weaponizing our Humanity
so that a very very Very teeny
tiny Small faction might
Kontrol the Planet &
they are VERY VERY
Good at getting
their insidious
Message
across.
thee Best
Propaganda
is totes INVISIBLE to a
Population otherwise preoccupied.
and just Look at how Far we’ve Come
or
Fallen.
*not to Mention:
Wholly-CORPORATE-
Owned Mass fucking Media
4: Yes, and we all are in a desperate quest to “control the weather” by limiting carbon emissions so we all don’t burn up.
I must resuscitate my 2016-2021 request that Slog not post pictures of his stupid orange clown face, stupid clown bleached combover pompadour, and stupid clown outfit.
Conversely, thank you for excluding I/P from the roundup this morning.
@5 thumpus: “The whole point of conspiracy thinking is that you don’t need to exercise reason, you just instinctively know”
@6 Kristofarian, less than 1 minute later: “they’re Domionizing the Planet & weaponizing our Humanity so that a very very Very teeny tiny Small faction might Kontrol the Planet & they are VERY VERY Good at getting their insidious Message across. thee Best Propaganda is totes INVISIBLE to a Population otherwise preoccupied.”
Ha ha ha, the timing on that could not have been more perfect! 🤣🤣🤣
Steps grind? You should try the Boston St. steps off Lakeview. After a couple of trips up them, you’ll give up counting your steps.
@3, I think Trump quit using the Stones’ music at his rallies after receiving a cease’n’desist letter from the band. His campaign must have a filing cabinet full of those at this point.
I’m not a Sawant hater, but what she said in Michigan was fucking stupid. So I watched Rich’s defense of it, which was even stupider. I hope he didn’t hurt himself getting all twisted and salty with his pretzel logic.
“For any of you ready to complain about Sawant supporting someone other than Vice President Kamala Harris for President”
Supporting anyone else besides Harris in a place like Michigan is supporting Donald Trump, no matter how you try to spin it. Getting Trump elected will see the genocide of the Palestinians that you’re supposedly so concerned about.
I wish whoever controled the weather would bring Raindrop back. He was the droplet around which coalesced your vitriol, which was always amusing and a distraction from your drab, wretched lives.
@1 PNWZebra and @3 mike blob: What do you expect from a mentally unhinged, self-serving convicted felon and global terrorist madly in love with Vladimir Putin? And whose rabid RepubliKKKan fan base solely consists of fellow white collar criminals, easily misled MAGA morons, violent thugs, and right-wing nut jobs?
@8 Max Solomon: +1 For the WIN!!! Agreed and seconded.
@13, He’s still here if you know where to look.
@13: Raindrop is still here, Swifty, and senselessly trolling as usual. He likes to go by NotMyopic and / or Ron and Nancy.
@10 Around half of the playlist at his rallies are songs where he’s ignoring a cease and desist letter. Maybe he follows the Stones one because they can afford better lawyers?
@16 NotMyopic is the reincarnation of Ahab.
@15 barth: BINGO. And thank you for beating me to it.
Hard pass on Kshama Sawant and Jill Stein. I don’t give a fuck how good the margaritas are.
A vote for either one is a tragic waste, and only another highly publicized vote for Trump.
Anyone who STILL doesn’t get that after eight years deserves to get his or her right to cast a ballot
permanently yanked.
@17 boatgeek: (re: the reincarnation of raindrop): Thank you for the clarification. I wondered what happened to Ahab. NotMyopic’s Energizer Bunny word salad run-ons have, at times, sounded a lot like ol’ rainy to me, though.
Supporting Jill Stein is the Progressive Left arranging their firing squad in a circle.
They shoot their own anti-Trump cause.
Four more years of him may be the end of the Republic.
@5 It’s a terrible analogy because AIPAC is de facto allied with GOP billionaires to buy elections to defeat progressives opposed to Israel’s colonialism, and Biden declares to be a Zionist despite his pro-Israel policies being widely thought to be detrimental to US interests among several other salient examples, so, “AIPAC controls government” has some objective basis in reality unlike “government fabricates hurricane to kill people”. I understand that you’ll declare any criticism of Israel is a conspiracy theory but don’t go overboard or it’ll be too obvious.
Stein is only capitalizing on Harris’ self-own regarding Palestine, just like Trump is benefiting from Democrats’ insistence that the economy is great when so many can’t make ends meet
@5 thumpus: “Conspiracy theories are dumb and no one should believe them.”
@21 averagebob: “My conspiracy theory is true! It was the Jews all along!!!”
thumpus the thug has nothing but slander to defend the indefensible
“your drab, wretched lives.”
At least we don’t spend half our lives stuck in jams on 405 and the other half in front of FOX (or it equivalent)
@21 now please elaborate on your theories about banking and the media it’s really fascinating stuff
@26 Do you have a factual rebuttal addressing AIPAC buying elections and otherwise funding many congress critters? What about Biden declaring he is a Zionist while conducting pro-Israel policies that are widely thought to be detrimental to our interests?
I didn’t think so. Also note I didn’t say that Israel “controlled the USA”, although it clearly influences policies.
As for your innuendos, my thoughts about banks and media don’t especially involve Jews.
@11 I don’t see how Rich’s logic is twisted. He points out that if Harris were to be more even handed regarding Palestine, Stein wouldn’t be a special threat in MI that has a large Muslim population, which seems to be confirmed by polling and much investigating. Rich also says that without some people making such a big deal about Sawant’s speech almost nobody would have heard of it beside the people attending that rally, i.e. the already converted. What else?
I’m reading this comment @22 by averagebob: “Stein is only capitalizing on Harris’ self-own regarding Palestine, just like Trump is benefiting from Democrats’ insistence that the economy is great when so many can’t make ends meet”. And to me, this is a bit of a tell.
I’m reminded of a comment the same averagebob wrote last week: “@13 Their mindset is a rightwing one and many appear to be here to push back against the Stranger writers views, i.e. to wage some kind of propaganda war. Many are likely political junkies but also note that paid commenters in news media comment pages is a much more common practice than one would expect. I am not pointing at anyone in particular but The Stranger would be a logical target of such effort considering its positioning in the media spectrum (or lack thereof) so it’s worthwhile to be aware.”
https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2024/10/10/79732961/slog-am-big-newsoffering-housing-helps-end-homelessness-scarecrow-saved-for-two-years-hurricane-milton-makes-landfall/comments/18
Paid commenters in news comment sections, you don’t say? Perhaps it takes one to know one?
My hypothesis is that averagebob is a getting paid by the comment by some shadowy right-wing organization to present the most unappealing caricature of a doctrinaire progressive and to provide oxygen for the right-wingers and for the Middle East rabbit hole on these threads. Of course, who knows? But this would explain why averagebob emerged fully formed only in (what was it?) May of this year. It would also suggest that we are likely to no longer be graced by averagebob’s presence after November 5.
Enjoy the disinformation campaign while you can. Hey, who am I to question the motives of any other anonymous commenters?
@27: COME HERE, BOB! I’M GOING TO TICKLE YOU WITH MY BIG SOFT FURRY PAWS!
“Rich tell you why that’s dumb. [Eds note: To be clear, he also thinks it’s dumb for Sawant to support Stein.]”
Sawant made it clear at that Michigan rally appearance that Jill cannot win (be that Michigan or any other state) – victory for Sawant is another Trump presidency (simple logic being if it ain’t Harris and it ain’t Stein, then who’s left – only Trump).
The TS could call out Comrade Sawant on this BS but they won’t (they’ll simply put out factually inaccurate crap like Rich’s Insta post). At least Rich kept his spin off of the cesspool that is zombie twitter.
Fuck Sawant – Fuck Jill Stein
“Rich also says that without some people making such a big deal about Sawant’s speech almost nobody would have heard of it beside the people attending that rally, i.e. the already converted.”
So, she’s totally ineffectual as a political leader? Years and years of commenters pointing this out to the Stranger, complete with examples (SHOWBOX!!), utterly failed to move that needle. Once Sawant started talking about “punishing” VP Harris by preventing her election, thus re-electing Trump, the Stranger finally figured out that no one should be listening to her. Glad to see you finally agree with your commenters.
@12 I agree that not voting for Harris in Michigan helps Trump; however, I suspect that people not voting for Harris would say that genocide is already happening in Palestine and that it’s unclear how Trump could make it worse.
Trump is much worse in many other ways like regarding governance and oligarchy, climate change, the rights of racial, sexual and ethnic minorities, inequality, etc .. so objectively even staunch pro-Palestinians should vote against Trump , and most will vote against Trump but condoning genocide is a very big deal. The people closest to Palestinians have a very hard time getting over it and vote for Harris. It shouldn’t surprise us.
@29 You have not commented about anything else but me in how many weeks now? or is it months? Are you in love with me, Cressona?
So, your new thing is since I mentioned paid commenters on social media, I must be one of them? what a genius you are.
@21 averagebob: “‘AIPAC controls government’ has some objective basis in reality”
@27 averagebob: “Also note I didn’t say that Israel ‘controlled the USA’, although it clearly influences policies.”
Ha ha ha, it’s motte-and-bailey anti-semitism! 😂
Current Repugnican City Attorney Ann Davison is voting for Dumbp, right? Why aren’t the folks freaking out about Sawant freaking out about Davison? Probably because they voted for Davison!
34: “… that it’s unclear how Trump could make it worse.”
Oh, come now, you do make cogent arguments here (although I don’t agree with you much of the time). You honestly think he’s not going to give his good friend Bibi even more of a free pass? Do you honestly see something like today’s letter from the Biden Administration about allowing more aid into Gaza ever coming from Trump?
This is like arguing Trump vs. Clinton all over again. Did we all collectively forget 2017-2021?
@36 I don’t see the contradiction and you are intellectually lazy. There is some objective basis for saying it although it is not what I would say
The part you “forgot” to discuss is how you claimed it was logically the same as “government makes hurricanes to kill people”. Laughably stupid.
38, I’ve seen people on both sides of Israel-Gaza argue that Trump could be better for Palestine because he’s unpredictable and favor-seeking and could pivot to a more aggressive stance towards Israel if the calculus changes. I think this is bananas but it’s indisputable that he is a skilled con artist who will say anything because he stands for nothing, and if it’s the right message for the right audience at the right time, they might actually believe him.
@37 Nobody is “freaking out” that Sawant is voting for Trump, which by her own account she isn’t. They’re pointing out that Sawant is in the swing state of Michigan campaigning for a spoiler candidate and openly saying this is an effort to sabotage Harris’ campaign in order to “punish” her. If Davison were to do that, the Stranger would waste no time reporting on it.
The reason they don’t report on their special favorite progressive champion Sawant crowing about she’s rat-fucking the Harris campaign is because it is embarrassing to them that they have carried water for this nutter for over a decade now, and now she is actively campaigning to elect Trump. So instead of saying she’s dumb for doing that, or that they were dumb to endorse her and repeatedly defend her, Rich Smith is telling readers they’re dumb for caring.
In a week where Donald Trump talked about using the military on those he considers his internal enemies, his former Defense Secretary said he wasn’t joking, and and where his rally rhetoric is now just nakedly xenophobic and racist (they’re bringing in immigrants to commit crimes against white people), paying ANY ATTENTION to the Jill Stein’s of the world isn’t just dumb and self-defeating, it’s dangerous. If we have an election again with two run of the mill corporate center-right and center-left candidates again, feel free to explore third parties, but this is not the one where we have an openly aspiring autocrat consolidating a powerbase and cracking away at any guardrails to stop him.
@38 “You honestly think he’s not going to give his good friend Bibi even more of a free pass? “
He will, as he already said but if one thinks that Bibi is already getting everything he needs (weapons, intelligence, diplomatic cover) as many pro-Palestinians do, he doesn’t need more of a free reign. In fact, having the bull in the China shop Trump declare to the world that Bibi should “finish the job” as Bibi tries to expulse/kill more Gazans could well result into greater isolation on the international stage and trigger forthcoming arrest warrant in front of the ICC. Having a friendly US government that also tries to keep up appearances of balance with words and letters has its value for Israel and the US. Many neocons oppose Trump not because they don’t appreciate his belligerence but because our allies also need to manage their public opinion (as we do) and to maintain the appearance of supporting international order. Anyway, I am only saying that the preceding arguments should not be dismissed outright because I am not really sure what to think.
@19 Raindrop is distinguishable by ineffectual appeals for common decency and an end to profanity. Ahab is easy to spot by his rambling spiels about mens rea and whether it’s possible to ever hold any war criminal to account. (Hint: no, unless they record themselves saying “I am war criming right now and I mean to do it!”)
@41 What’s even more amazing is that her former party (Socialist Alternative) even came out and stated her views do not align with theirs and that her comments should not way be construed to represent Social Alternative. Even with the socialists now washing their hands of her Rich can’t crawl out of her butt long enough to see the sun and realize what a tool he has been all these years for supporting her. Of course TS is going right down the same road by support Shaun Scott in the 43rd who will attempt to enact many of her awful policies on the rest of the state. Rinse and repeat.
I hope someone asks Jill Stein about her endorsement from KKK grand wizard David Duke. https://democrats.org/news/former-kkk-leader-david-duke-endorses-jill-stein/
Never mind Trump
6 short months from now, JD Vance could be President, and Peter Thiel and Elon Musk will be in charge, making the USA safe for the tech bros.
@13 — ah
channeling your
Inner birchsteen I Like that
but dewey could be a Royal pita
disingenuous to a fucking fine fault
more fractious than the day is long
with a surprisingly dull ax to grind
contentious just to be contentious
& purveyor of Big Words apropos
or otherwise ten-dollar wordiness
for a two-bit dog & pony show
where you’re just as likely to
Get bit or kicked Upside
de headbone for your
Heartfelt troubles
an imitator
of Wormtongue tho
vastl;y less skilled with a most
Viscious Case of the dunning/krogers
likely incurable ~ & with a PHuD in
Human Psychology yet somehow
Never in possession of a mirror
(possible vampire warning)
I miss ’em Both.
well, one more
Oodles more
than the
other.
@47
that’s a Fucking BINGO &
on Day Two it’s JRR Vancelot atop
the gilded Throne* with eltrumpfster sailing off
scot-fucking free with a Pension that’d make a pharaoh blush
and then
VD Dancelot’ll
get Down-To-Business
separating the Wheats from
the chaffs riff raffs and democrat
communiss socialistics & trades unionists
look for God to make an Appearance
possibly around Armageddon but
it’ll all be Up to the Networks.
oh and fuck off thumpfy.
your trolling lame your
lols’re Brilliant keep
’em up too!
@44, The track record of International Courts has proven Ahab to be correct. They haven’t ended a single conflict with a ruling or saved a single-life.
The isolated cases of holding a very SELECT FEW on the losing side of overwhelming military force, but never the winning side, are the exceptions that prove the rule.
The U.N. writes reports, but never initiates cases. Why is that? If their reports have such overwhelming evidence, that can prevail in an international court, why not bring it?
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter is a defense. So is the fact that Hamas and Hezbollah are putting command and control and ammunition storage under and in civilian structures, making them military structures under International Law.
Hell, even South Africa appears to have thrown up their hands and sent their lawyers home.