Goooood morning: Ok so the government-provided weather says we will see a small chance of a drizzly morning before 8 am, but then kind of sunny day with a high of 57 degrees.
Washington loves a wealth tax: A new statewide poll shows that 66 percent of Washingtonians would support a property tax on financial assets of more than $250 million, according to the Seattle Times. The people polled said they’d support that money going to education spending, but then they also said they’d rather see state government spending cuts to pay for education more than a new tax. I’m kind of unclear on whether pollsters asked them, “But what if the new tax was still just that wealth tax?”
Teen arrested in relation to shooting deaths of five people: King County Sheriff’s deputies discovered the bodies of five people, two adults and three “young teens” at a house in Southeast Seattle early Monday morning. Deputies arrested one teen on the scene and took another to the hospital, according to the Associated Press.
Harrell’s friend uses a slur: Darrell Powell, a friend of Mayor Bruce Harrell, was dismissed as interim CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority after he called someone “an affirmative action retard hire,” according to KUOW. Records also show he may have made some homophobic and anti-trans comments as well.
Speaking of slurs: How did I miss Hannah Krieg’s third anniversary at The Stranger. Probably because I was deep in the depths of SECB hell. Happy three-years-and-one-month at The Stranger, Hannah. One of the hardest working people at this paper, she’s become an institution. She’s you. She’s me. She deserves your loyalty. She’s Hannah Krieg.
I only care about The Stranger because of you anyway
— 💔kat. (@popedelicious) September 27, 2024
WNBA demands higher pay: After a season of increased attendance and ratings, the WNBA has said it refuses to settle for its rookies making literally less than I do on average, according to NPR. A rookie’s minimum salary is about $64,000, and the highest a veteran player makes is about $241,000. Compare that to an NBA player who makes a minimum of more than a million dollars.
Israel’s attack plans for Iran: Some top secret documents got leaked or hacked, the Biden Administration still isn’t sure which, but those documents show Israels plans for an attack on Iran, according to the Associated Press. The documents spread around Telegram Channels. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes continue to pound Lebanon and Gaza.
Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris in Georgia: With the election just weeks away, the presidential election appears to be a toss up, but Trump has gained in the swing state of Georgia, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. President Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020 by about 12,000 votes, but a recent poll shows Trump up by four points, with a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
In his closing argument for the election, Donald Trump’s obsession with trans people has led him to focus on taking healthcare away from a small group of Americans.
This is in stark contrast to @KamalaHarris, whose focus has been on expanding healthcare access for all Americans. pic.twitter.com/yyrJtb4V9h
— Rep. Zooey Zephyr (@ZoAndBehold) October 21, 2024
FTC says no more fake reviews: A new FTC rule took effect Monday banning reviews attributed to fake people, created by artificial intelligence, people who have no actual experience with the product or service, and just general lies about a product, according to the Associated Press. Be prepared for some brutally honest reviews of your local coffee shops by me.
Nilüfer Yanya at the Crocodile: My friend and part-time Slog music consultant Kevin invited me to see Nilüfer Yanya at the Crocodile last weekend. Like halfway through the concert he pointed out that her saxophonist’s name is Jazzi Bobbi. Something so satisfying about that. Have a listen!
Not southeast Seattle. The shootings deaths happened in Fall City, some 25 miles east of Seattle. Please fix Ashley.
5 dead on a Monday morning, over what? Post-Covid school avoidance?
No guns in the home, no mass shootings in the home. Yes, it could have been done with a knife or a bomb. It wasn’t.
Denying climate change outright has become untenable now that it is in our face so deniers resort to several tactics to prevent the phasing out of fossil fuels and required government intervention: a) downplay the consequences of climate change and the urgency needed to phase out fossil fuels and decarbonize the economy, b) delay the energy transition by claiming that we can keep drilling because untested geoengineering fixes and very expensive carbon capture will solve everything or that we can wait for another 20-30 years for a new technology nuclear plant fleet to be operational, c) deflect from needed regulations and policies to push the conversation to the individual level, and occasionally d) doomerism by saying there is nothing we can do about it and the damage is already done.
Decarbonizing the economy is going to be a challenge and it will demand investments but investing is also usually key to successful economic development. The economic advantages accrued by the Clean Air Act outweigh its costs at least 10:1. By most measures and according to most models, investing early will be a lot cheaper than investing later and that is even before accounting for the economic impacts of climate change: heat and smoke related death, agricultural losses, decreasing labor productivity, property and infrastructure damage due to extreme climate events and sea level rise, mass migration away from the tropics and the resulting political instability, etc. The cost of climate change impacts incurred for 2C warming is likely several times greater than the investment required for mitigating warming to less than 2C.
The evidence is clear: the time for action is now. We can halve emissions by 2030.
Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
[..]
The report looks beyond technologies and demonstrates that while financial flows are a factor of three to six times lower than levels needed by 2030 to limit warming to below 2°C (3.6°F), there is sufficient global capital and liquidity to close investment gaps. However, it relies on clear signaling from governments and the international community, including a stronger alignment of public sector finance and policy.
“Without taking into account the economic benefits of reduced adaptation costs or avoided climate impacts, global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be just a few percentage points lower in 2050 if we take the actions necessary to limit warming to 2°C (3.6°F) or below, compared to maintaining current policies,” [..]
https://www.ipcc.ch/2022/04/04/ipcc-ar6-wgiii-pressrelease/
You make over $64,000 a year doing Slog? Wow…
Words fail me at this point.
Happy Anniversary,
Hannah! keep On
kickin’ Arse! You
TOO, Ashley!
and Vivian!
Natty!
Rich,
too!
Thank You
@ tS!
@4: She’s a full-fledged journalist, not just a Slog poster. And $64,000 is peanuts for a full-time professional, whether a journalist or a basketball player. I hope she’s not only making more than that, but a lot more.
@4 and yet here you are, reading her work and others for free. Maybe look into what people make nowadays…and what it costs to live here in this rich people’s theme park.
In the don’t blame 3rd parties for your party’s policies department:
Arab Americans slightly favor Trump over Harris, says new poll
Arab Americans are slightly more likely to vote for Donald Trump than Kamala Harris, according to a new poll, in a worrying sign for the Democratic nominee’s chances of carrying the battleground state of Michigan, which is home to a large Arab American population.
The survey, conducted by the Arab News Research and Studies Unit along with YouGov, shows 43% supporting Trump compared with 41% for Harris, and 4% backing the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.
The figures are broadly in line with a previous poll carried out this month by the Arab American Institute. Together they suggest that Harris’s support in the community has been undermined by the Biden administration’s backing for Israel’s year-long war against Hamas in Gaza.
[..]
while Harris had recovered some support ceded by Biden, she was still far behind the 59% of the Arab vote captured by the US president in his 2020 election win over Trump.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/22/arab-americans-poll-trump-harris-
@8:
I’m not disputing the poll numbers, but I just don’t understand why ANY minority group in this country thinks the Cheeto-skinned shit-gibbon will better represent their collective interests, whether in the domestic or foreign policy realms, than Harris would. He’s already expressed unwavering support for Netanyahu, and he’s ready to de-naturalize and mass-deport many of them back to their “home countries” – how could they possibly see that as a win for them?
@8: Threatening to throw the election to Trump is probably the best move the Palestine partisans can make. The threat might force the Dems to make concessions, and even if not and the partisans end up installing Trump in office, there’s a chance Trump will be better for Palestine than Harris. Trump is famous for leaving American allies in the lurch and weakening American stature abroad, all of which helps the Islamic resistance and hurts Israel.
@10 The only thing Il Douche getting back in will do is that the Arab-Americans who voted for him will be at best oppressed into silence, at worst expelled to the middle east.
@9
Have you ever considered sitting down with them to talk?
By talk I mean listen rather than barking at them about why you think they are wrong.
@11: Didn’t happen with Hispanics, won’t happen with Arabs. On the contrary, more Hispanics support him now than ever. No reason Arabs couldn’t go the same way. If I were an Arab who was pissed about Israel, I’d be tempted to go Trump, too.
(And yes, obviously, a large majority of POCs continue to support the Dems. But the Dems depend on truly landslide margins among POCs to win.)
Some people still see Trump as a wild card who could change course at any time, while Harris is far more apt to stick with the status quo. They might also see middle east policy as a wash between the two so they’re voting on some other issue(s) where they prefer Trump. Or they might just be really pissed off and ready to burn everything to the ground. I have a hard time understanding how Trump could appeal to anyone who isn’t a Christian nationalist so all of this is unchartable to me, but still I try.
@9 I am not entirely sure why they would see it as a win but we can ask the same question for the poor rural and rust belt voters for Trump. I tend to think the answer lies in the crisis of institutions whereas some voters don’t trust the political process because it has repeatedly failed to deliver and it is more and more broken (Citizens united, supreme court, corporatocracy, ..) so they want to blow up everything. These are very dangerous times in my opinion.
@10 you may be right for people who think Gaza is the main issue, and there are good reasons to believe that how one stands regarding genocide says everything there is to know about a candidate, but there are many very important issues in the balance for which Harris would be significantly better or at least would give us a fighting chance (climate, governance, women and minority rights, ..).
@15: They’re both in favor of bombing terrorists, it’s just one of them keeps her promises and the other one doesn’t. You can see how terrorist sympathizers might prefer the one who’s a flake.
Muslim ban – have folks forgotten it was one of Trumps first acts? Any voter who thinks a pro-Bibi candidate like Trump will make things better for Gazans is delusional to the highest degree (oh and say goodbye to the country formally known as Ukraine – it will be toast as well).
Enjoy life as a second class citizen (if you’re even allowed to stay in the country)!
@9, similar to @15, they are acting emotionally on social issues that are front and center in their minds as opposed to the more important macro view of threat to democracy, the importance of NATO, etc.
Maybe trying to empathize with their worries, misguided or not, and start listening to what they have to say rather than discounting them out-of-hand. The next Obama and Sanders like leader will be savvy enough to do that and make them feel like they’re being heard and that builds their trust for considering new ideas.
12, do you not understand what a poll is. No one has the capacity to sit down and talk with hundreds of people to understand their thinking, but we don’t need to because we have polling firms who conduct structured interviews then share the aggregated results and that’s what we’re talking about right now.
@16 You managed to use ‘terrorist’ twice in 2 lines to describe Arabs not voting for Harris and 10,000’s of dead civilian in Gaza. You should get your head examined.
Ah yes, the candidate who is a staunch Netanyahu stan who said that he envisioned Gaza being rebuilt into a Monaco like playground for rich people, will certainly be better for the Arab population. Not to mention that it is turning into a proxy conflict with Iran, which Trump hates and has actively plotted to assassinate him, so I’m sure he would take a harder line on Israel? The ability of this man to convince people to vote against their own interests is nearly unparalleled.
“The people polled said they’d support that money going to education spending, but then they also said they’d rather see state government spending cuts to pay for education more than a new tax.”
It’s almost like we expect the government to manage budgets the way that us ordinary citizens do. My employer won’t give me a substantial raise to pay for the things I want/close the gap on the increasing cost of living, so I have to cut my spending and manage with the money that I have. What a weird concept, eh?
@20: lol! read again, ha ha ha! But maybe instead of “terrorists,” I should have said “guerrillas hiding among the population,” isn’t that right, AverageBob? 😉
@19
So seek out some folks that might be able to help you understand.
Shouldn’t be too difficult if you actually have an interest in learning about perspectives that fall outside your norm.
Some of the best and most informative conversations I’ve had are with people whose beliefs are different than my own.
Not a lot of people are willing to venture outside of their bubble with an open mind. That’s as true of the right as it is the left.
Teen Demonstrates How To Get Taken Into Custody Without Getting Shot!
“There was no significant confrontation with the young man that was taken into custody.”
@15, War in Middle East:
“Amnesty said Tuesday the attack on al-Qard al-Hassan must be investigated as a war crime because financial institutions are considered civilian infrastructure under the laws of war unless they are being used for military purposes.” https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/middle-east-latest-over-a-dozen-killed-in-israeli-strikes-near-one-of-main-beirut-hospitals/
Even Amnesty International acknowledges civilian infrastructure may be bombed IF it is being used for military purposes.
@23 I can read perfectly well that you called Arabs voting Trump, ‘terrorist sympathizers’, because they oppose the massacre of Palestinians
“”UN-
Decided”!?
WHAT A JOKE!
Bomb Bomb Bomb
Bomb Palestine! GO
JOE! Send ’em to Smither-
EENS! You GOT THIS ONE, JOE !”
echoes of the Wormtongue
Cuntingent, writ LARGE, Well-
Knowing it’d Sink the Democrat
and getting
Precisely
what
they
wan-
ted
the
Fucking
Fascists.
@9 COMTE: While I don’t hold much stock in polls, +1 otherwise For the WIN!!
@27: I thought every Trump supporter was a terrorist sympathizer, ha ha!
@27, Did or did not Amnesty International state that civilian infrastructure is fair game if it is used for a military purpose under international human rights law? Are they wrong? If so, provide legal rulings to the contrary.
@28: Undecided? What a joke! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb Palestine! Go, Joe! Send ‘em to smithereens! You got this one, Joe! Echoes of the Wormtongue contingent writ large, well knowing it’d sink the Democrat and getting precisely what they wanted: the fucking fascists!
@20: You mangled to completely misinterpret a two-line comment. You should learn to read.
@30: Speaking of terrorists, Israel is finally claiming Hashim Safi-ad-Din! I think my final odds on this were 5:1 in favor, but we can now close it out! 😀 Congratulations to all who despise terrorism, oppression, and fanaticism, and condolences to any terrorist sympathizers out there, whether they be Trump supporters or no! 😉
24, that’s nice but you can get a much better sense of how people are thinking as a population by reading a poll than you ever could from talking to a few people individually
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/rudy-giuliani-ordered-to-turn-over-nyc-apartment-26-watches-to-georgia-election-workers/
Watch out for Rudy!
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Like others (including @1) pointed out, can an editor please fix this Ashley typo. The Fall City story should be something closer to the AP:
Law enforcement officials found five people killed in a shooting inside a home southeast of Seattle on Monday morning and took a teenager into custody, police said.
Not what Ashley wrote:
King County Sheriff’s deputies discovered the bodies of five people, two adults and three “young teens” at a house in Southeast Seattle early Monday morning.
The house in question is southeast of Seattle – not in southeast Seattle
@ 6 & 7 I’m not complaining. Actually, I’m impressed.
I don’t make that much, but what do I know? I’m just a 55 y.o. guy about to retire with a paid off house, a pension, and no debt. I might have been born in Seattle, but I’m sure glad I don’t live there now.
@32
why
that’s
Briliant!
do you also
do Cap- & De-
Capitalizations?
what about
Commas?
Colons?
do you
Clean Up
colons? how
’bout semi-colons?
wouldja Consider yourselve
a damn Fine colonizer?
maybe
toss in a
¶ or two, for
Balance where-
ever Appropriate
p.s. don’t trouble yourself
with the ‘spelling.’ it
Ain’t worth it.
B. are you also
a ChatterboX©? if so
you’re in good damn co.
also
fall city’s
about Due
East from Sea
on the map ESE of sea
pedantically-speaking
oh, can you Fix this
one too? THNX!
(omg~a fawking Helper!? are
you fucking Kidding ME?
I’ve wanted a pet Bot
for EVER someone to
do my Laundry clean
the Catbox* tend to
the Kitchen ~we’re
gonna Get Along
Fabulously.
welcome
Aboard!
*there’ll
be Plenty
Enough ‘writing.’
mostly just randomly
“quoting” whomsoever
we chooseth~just Enough
to keep the Opposition tied
up in Naughts for HOURs and
for our Amusementations as well
this
could get
Interesting)
Cheers!
Everything with the trump family is about money. Everything.
He’s getting huge amounts of money from a wealthy widow who wants Israel to annex the West Bank.
He has already said that he thinks Gaza would be a great place for resorts, and thinks his son-in-law would be the right guy to develop them.
Jared (the son-in-law) thinks that the Palestinians in Gaza could be accommodated in a huge camp in the desert.
Anyone who think that trump would be the better choice for the Palestinians (and don’t forget the Ukranians) is a fool. He would be the current disaster times five.
But by all means, the morally pure, should stay home and pout, or vote for trump, or vote for Jill Stein if that makes them feel superior. Because to them, it’s all about them.
@26 Indeed, Amnesty International is right. Israel, and apparently, the corporate Western press consider that Hezbollah and Hamas run civilian infrastructures are legitimate targets, which they aren’t. It is a war crime according to international law
“Even Amnesty International acknowledges civilian infrastructure may be bombed IF it is being used for military purposes.”
Nobody said the opposite, as long as there is conclusive evidence that said civilian infrastructure is used for military purpose. Israeli propaganda isn’t sufficient evidence despite what many media appear to believe. Even if confirmed by credible evidence, by international law everything possible has to be done to protect civilians, which includes not using indiscriminate weapons or disproportionate means like 2000lbs bombs to kill dozens of civilians in order to eliminate a couple of insurgents or using unguided missiles or phosphorus munitions, etc.
Despite Israeli claims that they don’t target civilians almost everything indicate they do: from the disproportionate number of civilian victims during the destruction of entire city blocks to the declaration of ministers calling for systematic destruction and murder passing by official military doctrine (Dahiya doctrine named for the South Beirut neighborhood they flattened during previous occupations) that essentially calls for obliterating everything with overwhelming force like what we see in Gaza today and are beginning to see in Lebanon
but all the above has been told several times already …
@42: Your evidence for civilian targeting is weak.
“disproportionate number of civilian victims.”
The figures in Gaza are something like 45,000 total dead, of which 18,000 dead insurgents. That leaves 27,000 dead civilians. A civilian-to-insurgent ratio of 1.5:1 doesn’t strike me disproportionate in urban combat. The ratio would be lower if the civilians could be evacuated out of Gaza, but any talk of civilian evacuation has been rejected by the Palestinians themselves, including Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. OK, fine then, you guys can stay on the battlefield if you want, but don’t be surprised if some of you get hurt.
“destruction of entire city blocks”
A normal and expected feature of urban combat. Even a platoon-sized echelon will easily occupy an entire city block. Hamas fights in echelons as large as a company. Lathe Hamas units occupy large physical areas. Attacking large Hamas units means destroying large physical areas. Sure enough, as the number of large Hamas units has been attrited over the past year, the number of city block-sized Israeli fires has decreased commensurately.
“declaration of ministers calling for systematic destruction and murder”
Ministerial speeches and tweets don’t set policy, neither in the US nor in Israel.
“Dahiya doctrine.”
Not actually a doctrine, not actually problematic. Targets dual-use infrastructure in areas controlled by insurgents, which is normal in warfare. Don’t want your people to get bombed? Don’t hide your weapons in their homes! 😀
I share your concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza. I would have supported, and still would support, a large-scale civilian evacuation of Gaza to keep those people safe during the fighting. Alas, Palestinians show no interest in such evacuations, so hey continue to die.
@43: “lathe Hamas units” should be large Hamas units.
“so hey continue to die” should be so they continue to die.
“Israel abandons precision bombing in favour of ‘damage and destruction’
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, has said that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy,” while an unnamed Israeli official told local media that Gaza would be reduced to a “city of tents” by the end of the campaign.”
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/10/23/the-telegraph-israel-abandons-precision-bombing-in-favour-of-damage-and-destruction/
“large-scale civilian evacuation of Gaza”
Right, evacuate but don’t expect to come back. Palestinians know that “evacuation” means ethnic cleansing, which is Israel’s goal.
“so hey continue to die.”
This is indeed the stark choice for Palestinians: give up your land or die. Thank you for putting it so succinctly.
In relation to incidents reviewed by the Commission (see section
“Attacks on civilians, civilian objects and objects indispensable to the survival
of the civilian population”) where large scale air strikes and the demolition of
buildings by the ISF caused the destruction of civilian objects (including
residential buildings, markets, hospitals, schools and universities, aid
organisations and UN facilities, the Commission finds that such conduct
constitutes the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civili an
objects that are not military objectives or justified by military necessity or not
imperatively demanded by the necessities of the conflict.
In most cases reviewed, the Commission did not receive any credible
evidence of the civilian object in question being a legitimate military target.
While the ISF has, in some instances, claimed that it was targeting military
objectives, the Commission finds that such claims nevertheless did not justify
the means and methods of the attacks launched against civilian objects, in
particular, the use of large explosive weapons with wide-area effect, and their
outcome – the near total destruction of civilian objects across the densely
populated Gaza Strip. Notwithstanding the presence of legitimate military
targets, the ISF is required to comply with all its obligations under international
humanitarian law. Furthermore, the ISF was obligated to take all feasible
precautions to avoid and minimize civilian harm, while continuing to adhere to
the principles of distinction and proportionality.
The Commission finds the very high number of civilian casualties and
almost complete destruction of civilian objects to be disproportionate to the
specified military advantages. The Commission notes reports that the ISF has
expanded its targeting systems to cause more widespread damage. It finds such
reports credible, taking into account ISF statements (see paras 154-156) and
considering effects of the attacks on civilians and civilian objects throughout
the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. This, together with the Israeli authorities’
characterization of Hamas, as a whole, as a terrorist organi sation (see paras 92,
105 and 157) and some Israeli policy makers attributing the actions of Hamas
to the entire population in the Gaza Strip (see section “Incitement by Israeli
political and military leaders to violence, vengeance and collective punishment
against the Palestinian population”), leads to a finding on reasonable grounds
that the ISF has employed a military policy that unlawfully expands the scope
of targetable persons under international humanitarian law.
Human Rights Council
Fifty-sixth session
Detailed findings on the military operations and attacks
carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 7
October to 31 December 2023
@45: “Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, has said that ‘the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.'”
You know he didn’t actually say that, right? 😂
@47
right?
your undying
quest for “The Truth!”
is most puzzling, elthumpfer
considering your proclivity (pro-
Pensity?) for just Making Shit Up
your Programmer’s
put more Holes than
Substance in your Pro-
gramming, so far, but at
Least he’s humoring hisself.