Good morning! It’s grey, and the rain is waking up all of the green stuff: the moss, the grass, even the trees look happier. The drizzle is only supposed to last through the morning. After that, we’ll have a low-70s, partly cloudy day.
Let’s do the news.
The election results are still rolling in, and they just keep getting better. In yesterday’s 4:30 p.m. ballot drop, everyone who could help pull our city out of this logjam was moving on up. With 23 percent of the vote counted, City Attorney candidate Erika Evans is now a full 17 points ahead of republican City Attorney Ann Davison, City Council candidate Dionne Foster has an almost 18-point lead on Council President Sara Nelson, and mayoral candidate Katie Wilson is 4.5 points ahead of Mayor Bruce Harrell. We’ve seen some incredible comebacks in our days in local politics, but Davison and Nelson look like they’re cooked. And Harrell? Parboiled, at least. We’ll do another ballot drop analysis after 4:30 today, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, Harrell is being really normal about this. In his first fundraising email after his devastating primary night, Harrell warned supporters that “this race is close, and if we don’t act immediately, we risk losing this campaign and the progress we’ve made together for Seattle.” He made a half-assed attempt at calling Wilson disingenuous, and then took a wild swing and tried to blame the democracy voucher program for his performance: “Unfortunately, while we were capped at raising $450,000 in the primary until the final week, our opponent was able to stock up on Democracy Vouchers for the General Election,” the campaign wrote. “Due to that fact, we start this race with a fundraising deficit of almost $62,000.” Boo hoo.
No idea what I’m talking about? Catch up! You can read our real-time reporting on election night here, and our next-day analysis here.
ICYMI: The day before the election, Seattle City Council passed the Shield Tax—Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck’s plan to bring some progressive revenue into the city, and Harrell’s panicked attempt at looking progressive before the election. The council voted on it just in time, so it’ll be headed to the November ballot. Stranger Staff Writer Nathalie Graham explained what it all means.
Our newest issue is on the streets! Our beautiful, blue Transit Issue is making its way to your local coffee shop or newsstand as you read this. In this issue, we answer some key questions: What is the culture of our light rail system? (Our writers spent 20 consecutive hours on the 1 Line to find out.) What’s the difference between 0.08% blood alcohol content and 0.05%? (We turned ourselves into lab rats for an unscientific science experiment that includes Mario Kart, breathalyzers, and too much booze.) Why don’t we use more of our waterways for public transit? (It’s complicated, but Nathalie Graham is your guide.) There’s something for everyone.
SPD Pays Out: The City is settling a lawsuit brought by Deanna Nollette, a nearly 30-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department, who says she experienced discrimination under then-Chief Adrian Diaz. She’ll get $3 million. And that’s not the only case against the department because of Diaz: four female officers, two Black officers, a lieutenant, a veteran detective, and a former candidate for chief have all filed discrimination suits after working under him. Tell me again why we need a bigger police budget?
The Data Is In: And we can now confidently say that ICE arrests are up in Washington state. The Seattle Times crunched the numbers, and while our immigration enforcement didn’t match the nationwide escalation, we’ve definitely seen an increase. And worse, all of the people who’ve been arrested are being held in detention, which wasn’t typical before Trump.
No One Likes a Rat: Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said that the FBI has agreed to his request to help track down the dozens of Democratic Texas state lawmakers who left the state to prevent a vote on Trump’s election-rigging redistricting plan. Most of the lawmakers have taken shelter in Illinois, where they plan to hide out until the end of the session. The senator argues that by soliciting funds while they’re trying to protect their state (and the country) from electoral corruption, they could be participating in “bribery.” You know this, dear reader, but let’s say it again. This shit doesn’t happen in a healthy democracy. This is authoritarianism.
Speaking of the FBI and the Fall of Democracy: The administration just announced that it’s pushing out two more FBI agents: one who was involved in investigations into Trump, and one who defended the agency from Trump’s attacks early in his term.
A New Census? In This Autocracy? This morning, Trump ordered a new census that doesn’t include undocumented immigrants which, by all accounts, is unconstitutional. He already tried this in his first term, and a judge found that it was illegal. Because it is. Illegal.
Remember when Trump shuttered USAID to save money? The shutdown left a stockpile of contraceptives in Belgium with no place to go. The agency supposedly considered trying to sell the pills, IUDs, and hormonal implants to other organizations, but decided to go a way more unhinged route: burning them. The department claims that the contraceptives are “abortifacients,” meaning that they work by inducing abortion. Which they don’t. Because science says so.
Tariff Time: Trump’s tariffs took effect today for 90 countries—some as high as 50 percent. The New York Times called it an “audacious gamble” and says that his ego-driven trade war is “without parallel in modern history.”
With Friends Like These…: Speaking of junk science, assimilationist gay Pete Buttigieg doubled down on his claims that trans women in sports introduce “serious fairness issues. He first said it last week on NPR, and then this week, he went on Substack Live with Aaron Parnas, and parroted the same thing. He told Parnas that he had compassion for trans people and their families, who he said are “being used as a political football,” before using them as a political football. “[People are] wondering, ‘Wait a minute. I got a daughter in a sports league. Is she going to be competing with boys right now?’” Buttigieg told NPR. “Just taking everybody seriously.” As a reminder: the NCAA president testified in December 2024 that he knows of fewer than 10 transgender college student-athletes among 510,000 athletes total. And there’s no evidence that trans athletes introduce any fairness issues in athletics.
In Other Gay News: “JD Vance’s Leaked Spotify Playlist Is Bafflingly Full of Gay Anthems.”
I’ll send you off with a taste of the weekend. Lucy Dacus will be at Remlinger Farms on Sunday, so let’s start the day with this celebration of masc dykes (and Cara Delavingne, for some reason).
@49: Typically said about those brave enough to take the heat.
@19
“More generally: progressives want to make the economy, and society in general, more fair for working people. Moderates want to protect the capitalist status quo, but since that’s not popular they–like Republicans–have to hide behind culture war issues. Progressives want health care and a living wage for everyone,”
Then why does poll after poll show the working class becoming more and more Republican and why do polls show the Democrats net favorability rating at 3 decade low.
If you ask an average working-class person in the TX-15th what the Democratic Party stands for you aren’t going to hear anything about economics. You will hear that Democrats want to abolish the police, they want to let criminals out of jail, they want to forgive student loans (in a nation were only about 34% of the population has a college degree, even lower among the working class). You aren’t going to hear a peep about economic issues but you will hear that the Democrats, are for open borders and are too invested in identity politics. Which is why the working class, majority Latino voters of the Rio Grande Valley elected a Republican for the first time ever in 2022, re-elected that Republican in 2024, and that district, like so many others nationwide, is not a swing district. Democrats have lost these voters, who live on the border, for at least a generation.
Pete Buttigieg is one of the strongest Democratic leaders with a bright future. He presents the progressive economic argument quite effectively. But since he doesn’t agree 100% with all of the Progressive Dogma, Hannah Murphy Winter and the rest of the Progressive Inquisition are ready to burn him at the stake for heresy!
Sure it might make a few places like Seattle even more progressive, but it’s going to cost us places like the TX-15, WA-03, CO-3, CO-8.
Whatever though, enjoy your Dogma.
@51 of hell yes, you should hope so, but you’re a horrible person. 😉
@50: And compassion, impartiality, and humanity also applies to those who run into problems as well, right?
It never cease to amaze me how the trans activists put people who have a hard time with it or detrans in the back seat, e.g. the flippant “only 1%” retort. The detrans Reddit group has 58K members. Why wouldn’t WPATH and other groups cultivate a dialog with those who have been harmed one way or another and learn from them to elevate and broaden the science? Especially important given hormonal, urinary, and dialation issues – to name a few.
Not that this detracts from the joy of gender affirming care for adults in our constitutional right for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But kids are not mature enough for this, I think. Leave the adults decisions for future adults.
And compassion, impartiality, and humanity also applies to those who run into problems as well, right?
Correct.
So again I don’t think you are understanding the meaning of the concept of what humanitarianism means based on what you said immediately following you asking that question. Haha
“Assimilationist Gay”? Where is The Stranger finding their writers these days? High School Freshman AP Political Science Classes?
On the one hand, I think that the “spectre” of trans athletes in high school and college sports is one of the stupidest moral panics in the history of a country that loves its stupid moral panics, but on the other hand, the topic keeps getting bought up, so we have to address it like it is actually a thing, because there’s a whole portion of the media and clergy who keep telling people it is.
I wish Buttigieg had opened with the stat from the NCAA, but beyond that, there is the question of “fairness” in competition that they keep harping on. In a world where widespread trans sports participation was actually a thing, there would be so many nuances to it – what sport, what age are the competitors, what level of competition, etc. We actually already have accommodations in the cis sports world: Wrestling, for instance, is by weight class, and there is the division of Junior Varsity vs Varsity. Isn’t there also similar accommodations for golf and tennis to allow the genders to compete?
One thing they ignore – I suppose because it’s not sensational enough, and doesn’t have quite the smutty connotations to the Republicans (who are, by and large, perverts) is FTM athletes and the challenges and threats they may face. Where’s the concern for them in the locker room, where they could be victims of sexual assault? Crickets.
So yes, it’s sometlhing we have to address. Just like we had to explain that you couldn’t get HIV from shaking hands or sharing public restroom facilities, or any number of stupid rumors that were propagated by anti-gay activists. People like Gavin Newsom and Pete Buttigieg may not get all of the approved purity voter talking points right, but at least they aren’t dismissing it, because we dismiss those concerns at our own peril.
fuck damn, let’s get back to gaza threads
57
bingo.
Depose
nutnyahoo
set the ME FREE
& Jews Planetwide
58: Did ya know Michael Flynn is saying that Israeli forces were told to hold back on Oct 7th, 2023?
How Machiavellian has Netanyahu been all along?
Rabin would be appalled.
Meir would be appalled.
Reagan would be appalled.
Biden would have been appalled.
scotus will define the term woman soon enough. anyone care to guess how that will turn out? (Chuckle-Chuckle)
@59
Kudos
& Bingo:
bibi like
Kommandant
Bonespurs had to
keep tf outta Jail and
what Better Way to Do so
than a Wee Little Land Grab
cum motherfucking Genocide?
wow.
you’re
on My Side
who tf even knew
@52 “If you ask an average working-class person in the TX-15th what the Democratic Party stands for you aren’t going to hear anything about economics.”
I agree that’s the problem.
“Pete Buttigieg is one of the strongest Democratic leaders with a bright future. He presents the progressive economic argument quite effectively.”
No, Buttigieg is a boardroom approved chameleon. Watch him trying to defend his Canadian bread price fixing in his endorsement interview with the NY Times from 2020. Him taking this brave stance on trans athletes is equivalent to Newsom hosting Charlie Kirk et al on his podcast. Both are classic idiot Democrat egotists who throw bones to conservatives to try to capture suburban white women with college degrees because consultants told them that’s key to winning the White House.
“Then why does poll after poll show the working class becoming more and more Republican and why do polls show the Democrats net favorability rating at 3 decade low.”
Because the party is run by soulless corporatists like Buttigieg.
I’m glad that OurDear thirteen12 is here to explain the purity voter’s position on Pete Buttigieg. Marianne Williamson in 2028!!!
jfc
cvdr
random
CAPPING
what’s Become
of derr Schlogg?
far Far FAR fucking
tighty-righties dumping
on fawking AIPAC? what’s
Next? Wormtongue becoming
humorous? Human? HUMANE!?
gawd works in
mysterious
ways:
Stay
F’ing
Tuned.
@63 let me just say that, regardless where they fall on the political spectrum, if our best choice for 2028 is another failed 2020 primary candidate we’re in big trouble
We’ll never win if we keep expecting our elected officials to be absolutely perfect on every single issue while the other side is over there buying golden bibles from a lying traitorous child molester.
We’ll never win if we keep getting outflanked on working class economic issues
Nor if ‘our’ party
is centrist pro-corporate
feckless slaves to citizens united
@67: From the guy who was All Gaza, All The Time in 2024, even demanding from the Democrats an illegal arms embargo on Israel. Priceless.
@69
an ‘illegal
arms embargo’?
lots Less “illegal”
than Committing
fucking WAR CRIMES with
OUR motherfucking Weaponry
but you do AIPAC,
wormmy. you
do You.
Fucking
beyond
sadistic
oh, that’s Right:
“The
Cruelty
is the Point. (**)/ “
–@the Wormtongue