"Housey The House" about to beat the shit out of a landlord piñata at a House Our Neighbors/Seattle Democratic Socialists of America event. HK

Comments

1

Pinkertons still exist. It's only a matter of time.

2

Where does one even sign the social housing measure? I haven't encountered a single signature-gatherer in West Seattle.

3

Bigfoot does not exist.

4

Not saying the Democrats don’t deserve criticism, FSM knows, however they’re the only party standing between us and all-out Republinazi fascism.

People under 40 generally don’t vote, and now women have lost their rights to control their own bodies. The Republinazis aren’t going to stop either. They’re going to criminalize women for abortion and birth control in order to take away their rights to vote and hold office.

We’ve got to get progressive Democrats elected and sack the ones that suck.

5

@4: Aren't we at the stage where any D will do? Doesn't have to be the progressive variety.

6

"Typically, campaigns bleed about 20% of signatures. Despite submitting only signatures organizers felt confident about, HON lost about 30% of its signatures,"

The 20% figure applies to campaigns which do not employ paid signature-gatherers. As the Stranger itself had noted in a previous story on this topic (which is linked in this story!), campaigns which do employ paid signature-gatherers tend to suffer higher invalidation rates. Toward the end of the gathering phase, HON employed paid signature-gatherers, and the resultant 30% rate (after some unknown amount of vetting by HON) indicates HON's paid effort suffered an even larger invalidation rate (if we assume many signatures had already been collected by volunteers at the 20% invalidation rate).

"...and now signature gatherers have 20 days to scrounge up about 6,000 valid signatures. But if they don’t want to risk getting boned during certification, the math would suggest they should aim for about 8,000."

They just suffered a 30% rate of invalidation. 70% of 8,000 is 5,600. They'd better collect more than 8,000 -- significantly more, if they pay signature-gatherers again. If they're aiming for 10,000, then they must collect 500 signatures per day for each of those 20 days. (And even that might not be enough. As recounted in the linked story, Compassion Seattle paid for all of their signatures, and suffered an invalidation rate of nearly 50% : 34,000 of ~64,000 signatures were deemed invalid. If that is the rate HON expects for any paid effort over the next 20 days, then they should target at least 12,000 signatures.)

7

"The CDC put out a guide for having safer social gatherings and sex [is there a Difference?] during the monkeypox outbreak! Enjoy [will Do. thnx, H!]."

"What if Bigfoot were a lesbian?"!
whoa! i might hafta consider
switching Teams

and picking up
a six-pack of
Norelcos

Gonna Get Better
Gonna Get Better
thanks for the Tune
& HAPPY Weekend!

9

At the very least, the mask and distancing requirements on public transit need to be restored immediately. I caught the 'rona last week (or I should say it caught me) on a bus full of construction workers in Bellevue, all unmasked and holding loud conversations, some of them coughing. Thought I'd be OK as I was masked and near an open window, but the latest variants are so transmissible that those measures (essential as they still are, to be sure) were no longer sufficient.

I can generally protect myself while shopping, etc., by avoiding places when they're busy (and I never eat in sit-down restaurants anymore), but I can't always avoid crowded transit vehicles. If you're not a car owner, chances are neither can you. Contact Metro and Sound Transit and add your voice to mine.

11

For god's sake, Stranger, hire people who are 1) better writers, 2) post stuff that is fact/correct/whatever you want to call it, and 3) don't do stupid stuff like post a link to a local news outlet that is pay-walled. In other words, hire people who know what they're doing.

12

@5 Indeed, for most people at The Stranger, any "D" will do.

13

“Democrats may suck but vote blue no matter who because Republicans” isn’t the rallying cry you think it is

14

Shouldn’t it be obvious by now that if the initiative is struggling to get enough signatures to even qualify for the ballot it has no chance of actually winning? This sounds like a giant waste of time and resources for the organizers.

15

but it's the rallying cry
of the Geriatrics, Missa!
and if its 'good enough'
for them it Oughtta be 'ok'

remember Hillary!
and Al!

forget Bill!

(& esp. triangulation)

16

say that reminds me
Remember FDR!*
elected FOUR
FUCKING
Times!

*fucking
SOCIALISTs

17

Vote for me, and I’ll set you free!

18

@13,

Why not? I agree with that sentiment pretty unequivocally.

I'd further note that it's critical and perhaps just as important to also advocate for larger and more far-reaching systemic reforms that could render said systems actually democratic in their make-up and function, but given the constraints we're currently burdened with, your rallying cry strikes me as pretty unassailable.

20

@3. Wow. OK. Well at least you're totally upfront with your Bigfoot erasure.

21

@18: That's what's wrong with political extremists, they don't equivocate.

22

speaking of
Equivocators

who's
gonna feed
Trolly This time?

24

Yo mama!

25

Thank you Hannah for your reportage and keep on keeping on.

When any kind of system targets any particular group of people i.e. color, ethnic, class, sex etc. to abuse them, discriminate against them, jail them, cause their deaths, mistreat them in any way it is called genocide. This is what this city administration has been and is doing to people that are unsheltered. A country that is so unfree it has the largest percentage of people incarcerated in the prison industrial complex per capita in the world. This is largely based on class and color. Around 20% of the prison population are completely innocent of the charges against them and many others have very minimal charges.

We have thousands of military bases installed around the world yet they (this government) cannot provide us with universal health care and housing people can afford.

Profit is more important than human lives in this system.

The truth shocks people when we speak out. I prefer not to go back to sleep.

26

2l The left is varied and fluid. The far right and far left are not the same at all.

The far right wants control over our very lives. The far left wants the resources to serve the people and for the people to actually make the decisions over their lives and to eliminate poverty generally speaking. People are greatly misinformed to serve the status quo.

27

@26, na - it's like choosing between whether you want to burn to death or freeze to death. The vast majority prefer the temperate middle.

28

This is basically how it all went down (so far):

President Biden: Let's avoid going off the cliff. Let's head towards the meadow instead, and build something nice for a change.
Most of the Democrats in the House: Yes!
Most of the Democrats in the Senate: Yes!
All of the Republicans: Fuck no! Drive off the cliff! Yee Haw!
Manchin and Sinema: Hold on, let's not be hasty. Turning around might be hard.
Left Wing Columnists like Hannah: Fuck the Democrats!

Holy shit, we get zero cooperation from Republicans, and the focus is entirely on two conservative Democratics. Worse yet, idiots blame all the Democrats, ignoring the fact that these Democrats represent only 2% of the U S. Senate, and 4% of the Democratic Senators.

There are plenty of times in the past when we could easily say "Fuck the Democrats". 21 Democratic Senators voted against the Civil Right Act. 17 Democratic Senators voted against the Voting Rights Act. 7 Democrats voted against the Medicare and Medicaid Act. But in all cases, there were plenty of Republicans that voted to support that legislation. Much publicity is given to the fact that LBJ strong-armed southern Democrats to get civil rights legislation passed, but it wouldn't have meant shit without strong Republican support.

The problem is not that a couple Democratic Senators have misgivings about Biden's agenda, it is that not a single Republican is willing to meet him half way. The same thing happened with Obamacare. Every single Republican voted against a proposal that was essentially the same as that proposed by Nixon. Every single one! This is the era we live in. Republicans -- even so called moderate ones -- walk in lockstep with their party. Not only does this mean we can't pass legislation, but it means they actively try to make what is passed fail, so they can say "I told you so".

Fuck the Republicans.

30

not only Uncouth
but Lawyerly
as well

mama
MAGAt
gotta be
right Proud

31

I'm a LONG time reader and, well, I'm bored and annoyed by the current SLOG posts. No complaints about any one contributor (the Expired Bottom aside - it's too much) but it's a lot of repetition and, as a result, I have been reading less.

With Hope and Respect,
ShanJe

32

As MLK said, the great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom and progress is the White moderate more devoted to arbitrary 'order' than justice. It's an idiotic place to set as a matter of identity as if that makes you any more than a fence sitting indecisive obstructionist twit. Those that survive are those most adaptable to change. Those who choose to kneecap themselves when running away from a tornado because it takes too much effort are doomed to be swept up in the chaos.

And you're not moderate, Raindrop, despite your attempts to portray yourself as such. You don't keep the focus on the enemy, that is, the Trump cult and the far right obstructionist activists on the far white taking our rights away. You have a divide and conquer agenda against the left in all its incarnations. You portray false binaries in order to undermine morale and try to ensure nothing helpful ever gets done, whether or not you're aware of it or it's on purpose. But that is what's happening here, which is the part to remember; it's subtle manipulation whether it's conscious or not, and ultimately benefits the agenda of the far right far more than any moderate Democrats besides those bought out by the oil and gas lobby.

Progressives are not merely on a spectrum arbitrarily. We're up against these boomers in Congress who think they can keep doing the same thing and it will work. It's as tone deaf as your grandfather telling you that you can just pay for college by getting a summer job when tuition has gone up like 2,600% since the 70s. It's okay to be mad at the Democrats because they're supposed to be batting for our team, not embracing the fuckers on the right when they sign away our rights with a twisted smile.

33

@28 - EXACTLY. The problem is the fact that the Republicans have the discipline to act together in service of what ever the fuck it is that they think they are doing, which mainly means killing anything Dems try to do. As long as that remains the case, the only thing that will help is voting their sorry asses out. And that means we stop bitching about the differences among Dems and just get a bunch more of hem elected.

34

@32 Order won’t look so “arbitrary” when the Rightwing succeeds in their next coup and out institutions collapse.

Manchin and Senima are traitorous DINO’s, they are not “centrists,” and are only in the democratic caucus out of personal expedience. But because no progressive is going to get close in their districts we are stuck.

Being critical of the democrats is one thing. Lord knows I am. But the petulant bashing of them severs no purpose but fuel the Rightwing.

Obama got the same shit from the left. And he saved this fucking country from ruin. And because the left continued to shit on him and by extension the mean lady, Trump won.

And the consequences of the Trump disaster is this insane SCOTUS. And that is squarely on people who did not vote Clinton. End of story. Maintaining congress and the presidency was the only realistic way you extended the lease on your rights. There was no other magic trick that was going to make the lease in reproductive rights or gay rights or civil rights permanent. Outside of constitutional amendments (which can largely be misinterpreted or ignored as well), the system was never designed that way. Ever. So shut your stupid faces squealing about “why didn’t the democrats make this permanent!” Because that only underscores what an idiot you are and how your civics teachers failed you.

Biden has brought unemployment down from 6.4% to about 3.3%. He has gotten over 40 federal judges appointed. Corporate profits have never been higher. He added more jobs in a single quarter than any president many years. The US recovered from the pandemic at a record rate compared to Europe where I am now. And that was Biden’s stimulus. It was a huge success.

The republicans HAVE to attack success. Thanks for making their idiotic talking points for them. So they blame the stimulus for inflation (even though hypocritically they had passed $2.5 trillion dollar stimulus before that).

At at best it might be a factor in 1.5-2.5% of the 8.5% inflation. Because stimulus heats the economy and returns more power to labor and capital under our insane system has to recoup that somehow so they raise prices.

So. Either you kept unemployment high and the labor market favoring the shit bags or you heat the economy and have a labor market that favors workers.

But the supply chain and Russia’s war was the wild card and perfect storm.

And I might add the GOPutin we’re either 100% in favor or denial of Putin’s invasion so that inflation would have happened regardless. And been worse since Putin would use that spigot as blackmail. So because of Ukraines strategic importance to supply chain or wheat, phosphate, oil and gas, etc, etc we are stuck in this inflationary cycle.

In conclusion: Fuck you Hanna and anyone falling for Rightwing talking points. When democrats lose in the fall and in 2024, thanks to dipshits like you, you’re going to see how bad it’s going to get. Because it’s going to get much worse.

35

@34. I never advocated for not voting for Democrats, I advocated for the Democrats we do have growing a pair and putting the fire under the asses of their non-compliant members who won't budge from carrots or sticks. Obviously we need to continue to gain power, but the Democrats have continually shown they are unwilling to use their power to either make significant changes that address the tidal wave of fuckery that is upon, or to stop the Republicans from abusing their power to legislate (from the bench or otherwise) extremely unpopular and harmful policies, even when they get miraculous advanced notice. Obama had a 60 member majority, and he could have spent all his political capital refusing to compromise with the fucking fascist party and still have been just as vilified by the right who portrayed him as the worst possible anything you can imagine because he was a black man in power. If you the right has shown us anything it's that they don't give a fuck about upholding traditions or rules when it suits them and we let our passive and meek bitches get stomped on again and again and again because they don't have to deal with the ACTUAL consequences of their ineptitude. I'm not sure what talking point you think I'm making for the Republicans while firing off your own circular firing squad against your allies who demand their elected officials reflect their policy priorities in equal measure.

I want Democrats but not a bunch of feckless bums filling seats, they have to stand up for the future and fight for it too. There's a reason your laundry list of Biden's achievements ring hollow with nearly 70% of the electorate, and it's not because the Progressives are poisoning the well. It's because we need to not only elect Democrats but reign them in and make them walk the fucking walk that they talk.

Also, your rant sounds like you just had a bunch of spam to get off your chest from which you launched your tirade without really responding to me. I've been living back and forth in Europe over the past two years as well, with the US being more negligent in its response and fewer cases reported due to at-home testing. I'm not shitting on Biden, and I'm not blaming his ratings on Ukraine, inflation, nor supply chain issues, but on the need for us to step the fuck up and fight because that's what it's going to take to stop another whirlwind of shit come 2024. People need an energizing and charismatic leader on the left to harbor the frustrations of the electorate and inspire them to show up deliver more than tepid promises that get watered down into stagnation through infinite compromise with obstructionists.

36

There is not going to be a “charismatic leader” on left, what ever that means, for a long time.

Those are generally populists anyway. And you’re not going to get one electable or worth a shit. They usually don’t get shit done. Except take things apart. They rarely build anything. Enough of fucking populists.

You’re going to get milt toast Democrats for another decade or more. That’s all there is. So just fucking forget about it. You want radical changers and firebrands? You can elect them locally. But you won’t get them nationally.

If you try? Say hello to a decade or more of proto-fascist Republican rule. And may not EVER dig them out. America could very well be done for a few decades as a (barely) functioning democracy.

So who is there? Sanders is way too old now, and like it or not will not get the necessary votes in primaries and will never, ever, breach the establishment. He’s done as a presidential candidate. As much as I admire him, he should go the fuck away. He was a failure.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez? A firebrand and while smart and a great rep who might excite the Identity Caucus of the base, will probably not get past the primaries machines either. Not yet. She might by 2028. I hope. But if she does? Great. She’ll be eaten alive of course.

And if the republicans win in November you won’t even get that. Who else is there? They are all extreme long shots.

You are probably going to get Harris, Roy Cooper or Gretchen Whitmer. And choke it down, smile, and say you love it.

37

@36. So why is it okay for the right wing to elect a bunch of populist fuckheads who commit crimes and sabotage the entire Constituon in exchange for shameless power grabs so long as they can reign in their mad dog when the time is right? Trump is losing popularity, but his base is as energized as ever and they are actively fucking shit up left and right with all the time bombs they set that we can't defuse because nobody can hold Manchin accountable. What, there are enough Democratic voters in West VA to elect him every single time but they won't show up for literally anyone else who votes with their own fucking party on the goddamn President's agenda and we are content to scream at the Progressives because they demand action! You gotta get fucking mad god damnit! The future doesn't have time or room for a bunch of milquetoast tap dancing twats to do fuckall yet again until the bottom falls the fuck out.

38

And quit bitching about the righetous anger the electorate feels at being the generation, progressives included, that showed up more than any other fucking electorate in history to put Biden in the hot seat just to be stunted by this shitbag Manchin and his pathetic kowtowing to oil and gas because 80 MILLION OTHER VOTES DONT MATTER FOR SOME REASON. How the actual fuck does that make sense and do you justify that other than calling them DINOs? Whip their goddamn asses into shape. Too much is at stake to bow down to these extinction mongers while kicking the can down the road off a fucking cliff.

39

@14, @19: I agree "struggling" is exactly the correct word, and the Stranger's posts about HON have shown why:

"With only two weeks remaining, HON said it had only collected 15,000 signatures, meaning gatherers needed to drum up over 1,000 signatures a day to meet their 35,000-signature goal by the deadline. In response, HON began paying signature gatherers. The signatures came flooding in, and though the organizers did not meet their goal of 35,000 signatures, I-135 could still prove the naysayers wrong – but it’ll be close. " (https://www.thestranger.com/news/2022/06/22/75442679/a-photo-finish-for-seattles-social-housing-initiative)

So, they were scrambling for signatures until the deadline, missed their target of 35,000 by more than 5,000, and thus de facto hoped for a 10% invalidation rate, when their real rate was 30%. There's no indication they'll be able to make up their resultant shortfall in just two weeks. (Note that 35,000 was already an optimistically low goal, as a 23% invalidation rate would have left HON short of signatures.)

Should it actually make it onto the ballot somehow (maybe the City Council will just put it there for HON?) the argument against would note it provides no actual money to build any housing. Both for-profit developers and housing levy supporters will advocate against it for that very reason alone.


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