"Indeed, when Russel goes, yet another Seattle professional sports team will enter the wilderness."

and yet, that's Okay
'cause 'sports' is just another
name for Business and it's o-kay
to let Professional Sports go the way
ot the Dodo. give us our daily bread and circuses
no more Corps Americana. we're pretty Overly well-Stuffed
with Spectacle already. oh and you can keep trumpfy too. thnx!

yeah but, here's the Thing:
FOX is currently Undermining
the whole getchyer Vax campaign.

WHY THE F U C K
are they allowed
to so Poison
America?

revoke their
fucking Charter.

The genius of Nikkita Oliver is that she is the left-wing mirror image of Donald Trump. So many of the rhetorical tricks of polarization Trump perfected in 2016 she absorbed into her 2017 mayoral campaign. So now Brandi Kruse goes after Oliver for her batshitcrazy antics, and this conflict can be framed as, "Either you're with Kruse, or you're with Oliver." (Um, how about neither? No, not an option.)

One thing we can be sure of. Just as with Trump, Oliver's presence in the race will be driving heavy traffic for months to come on The Stranger and The Seattle Times. I mean, here I am commenting to try to push back against Charles Mudede's polarized view of the world, and hence just encouraging him and his own perverse incentives.

Maybe the question is, how can sane candidates in the field like Brianna Thomas generate media attention?

Aw, crap. A whole year of Nikita Oliver twice a day on Slog.

In the good news department, I hear one of Seattle's hardest of hard-luck public schools is being renamed for an eminent Black queer creative artist and social critic..

I wonder if Oliver paid Kruse to attack her. So far, it is the best thing that could happen to her campaign. Otherwise, why would anyone be talking about her?

Brianna Thomas has actually accomplished things. Oliver ... not so much. There are no major policy differences between those candidates, and yet Thomas is far more accomplished. Oliver should just endorse Thomas, and become an aid for her. I want people who can do shit, not just talk shit.

And in news not unlike Oliver's incessant demand for attention, Geraldo Rivera is talking about running for Senate.

RE: Georgia

For anyone who actually would visit Georgia, here's my take on the sights in Atlanta (I can't speak to other places much):

The heat and humidity in Jul, Aug, and Sep are unbearable. Visit in November. Sure the flowers and trees are in full bloom in spring, but so's the pollen. If you have allergies, avoid spring.

The aquarium downtown is expensive, but incredible. They've got whale sharks there. Only ones in any aquarium in the western hemisphere. The room you view them in is kinda like a darkened movie theater with the aquarium glass instead of a screen. Three whale sharks and a bunch of other sea life. I could sit and watch them swim around for hours.

Right next to the aquarium is the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and The World of Coke museum. I haven't been to either but have heard great things about both. Apparently World of Coke has all their discontinued flavors and all their experimental flavors for you to sample.

Centennial Olympic park is right next to all that. It's a nice place to sit in the sun. You can watch the kids and dogs play in the water jet area.

The Jimmy Carter presidential library is a short distance away. It's a cool place and I learned a lot about him, his family, his presidency, the state of the country and world at that time, and his remarkable post-presidency. That dude has won a shit ton of humanitarian awards.

If you want a laugh at redneck-ery at its finest, Stone Mountain is a half hour drive from downtown Atlanta. There's a monument to four Confederate War generals in the world's largest bas-relief carving in the side of the mountain (just a big hill). There's hiking trails and stuff, but the real show starts in the evening when all the local rednecks and their unwashed children gather with their pickup trucks and cheap beer and Confederate Flag hats and watch the laser and fireworks show set to all of your favorite god-fearin', all-American, patriotic music. It's a hoot.

Then there's all the brewpubs and wineries and the like. Plenty of soul food joints and other Southern restaurants. Mary Mac's tea room is great, don't bother with the menu, just get the fried chicken with Southern gravy, trust me.

You can also catch random TV shows and movies being shot there. Atlanta's a hotbed of Hollywood activity.

The whole elected city government of Seattle is a write-off.

@2:

If by "charter" you're referring to an FCC authorization, well, unfortunately that doesn't apply to cable television (or in the modern era digital media), because the Commission only has regulatory oversight of over-the-air broadcasts, since that's considered "the public spectrum", which cable, being a proprietary, pay-to-view service isn't.

"We live in a society that has more than enough wealth to render meaningless both policing and the mutterings of Kruse"

'More than enough wealth' to buy your own private army!

Be careful what you wish for Charles Mudede.

A better (admittedly whining) talking point for the GOP is inflation and higher interest rates, rather than federal deficits.

[Person you've never heard of] is the new [person you've never heard of].

thnx, COMTE
well if not the FCC
there's gotta be Somebuddy
somewhere can Cancel those COVID+Inflictors.

how many MILLIONS* will they cost US
till we're Dead fucking Broke

*of Lives
and TRILLION$
in Treasure etc.

@6 RonK, Seattle: Geraldo Rivera is thinking about running for the departing Ohio Senator Rob Portman's seat? Geraldo Rivera, the tabloid TV talk show host who got his nose broken by a hurled chair?
And the hits just keep on comin'!......

@7 Urgutha Forka: Thank you for the Atlanta, Georgia plug with highlights on best attractions to visit! I would love to some day explore the Aquarium and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library post-COVID pandemic and when travel is more doable. I still have my doubts, though, on ever flying in a commercial jet again, thanks to Boeing's currently abysmal corporate track record.

@11 Rhizome: "More than enough wealth to buy your own private army". BRRRRRRR!!!!
Shit--that's exactly how Trump illegally seized control of the White House for four years of self-serving Dark Ages until January 20, 2021, and en masse of QAnon thuggery on "standby".

@11 Rhizome: But I think that was your point.

Ask a domestic violence victim whether a society with no cops is "cuckoo". Or someone who's son/daughter ran away & got murdered. Or those who invested with Bernie Madoff. Or maybe a Congressman or two whose chamber got overrun with MAGAts.

I don't know where the fuck this idea that we need no police presence whatsoever came from. People just aren't that good and never will be. We're not really all that different from our primate ancestors. The very thing that people are protesting (cops beating people up) shows that there need to be some kind of guardrails, and a LCSW talking nicely is not going to make the domestic abuser or whoever stop.

Oliver sounded nuts when she argued for getting rid of all police and jails, and that is why she didn't get more votes.

Add to #8
The next best thing to do in Atlanta is GTFO! Drive 2 hours north to Franklin, NC and see the beauty of the Smoky Mountains, near the southern tip of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The highway takes you across Tallulah Gorge, one of the deepest east of the Mississippi, and the Appalachian Trail. Deviate slightly to the Highlands outside of Franklin and you'll find a beautiful mountain with fauna left over from the Ice Age. Time it right and hit the Dillard House Restaurant in the Georgia border town of Dillard and eat great food Family Style. Definitely an area which would be appreciated by even the most dedicated PNWer.
Got another day? Another beautiful 2 hour drive and you are at Rock City looking down on Chattanooga. See 7 States, wander through a grotto and squeeze through skinny boulder pathways in a bitchin rock garden.
Don't travel 2500 miles and miss out on what is just out of sight from the big city.

Maybe Brandi Kruse does inject a lot of poison into public discourse, but pointing out that a mayoral candidate supports completely defunding the police isn't a good example of this. This position will certainly be challenged (or attacked as Charles would call it) but this is and should be part of the campaign. Defunding the police by 100% is an extreme position, no scare quotes needed.

@21,
Absolutely agree! Atlanta's got stuff to do and all, but I more frequently go north to the Blue Ridge mountains than to the city. It's beautiful up there. Rent a little convertible roadster and just cruise around. Easy to get lost though so plot your route before you get out in the boonies.

Thank goodness for Biden-Pelosi-Schumer and their moxie for putting together another stimulus package. Needless to say, Trump, the hairy-orange orangutan was nibbling on cheeseburgers and playing with himself during the final days of his administration, so he was shown the door for not effectively handling the COVID debacle with proper public health measures and multiple stimulus payments. Thank you Mr. Biden for your generosity and intelligence. Wilson can go to Chicago, his reaction times are slowing and he's paunchy from all that steak and lobster. Carroll should have signed Kaepernick, who is taller and can see over the offensive line when he had the chance. Nikita Oliver's theory of police-defunding is tantalizing, as long as you counteract that policy with robust social services to aggressively reduce crime. Sawant should run for mayor so we can get a real socialist in the cockpit to address police defunding, homeless housing and progressive taxation.

@26 "Trump, the hairy-orange orangutan"

That is an insult to great apes everywhere.

The best thing I read about Oliver this week was the kid she personally vouched for in-front of a judge was arrested for shooting/carjacking while wearing a "No Youth Jail" t-shirt. Guess her little art program to keep kids out of jail is working wonders.
LOL, only in Seattle.

"Oliver supports an immediate halt to clearing homeless encampments, big increases in spending on affordable housing, and using more tiny house villages and hotels to house people in homelessness. They also called for a new fund inside the city parks department “to support people who use the parks for housing, enabling parks to help sustainably and humanely address the needs of unsheltered people.”

Oliver called for an end to Seattle’s contract with the King County Jail, free and universal public transit, mandating employers to allow employees to work from home, and for the city to pay reparations to Black residents, funded by cuts to the Police Department."

In other words, Oliver supports giving the parks to homeless people, and defunding the police department so that tax dollars can be given to Black people. (Why just Black people and not other minorities?) These positions are alarming, and also likely detached from what most people in Seattle want. People around here spend a lot of money on their parks. They'd like to use them. If we want to talk about actual solutions to the homeless problem that doesn't involve a tent in Seattle parks, or turning over downtown to criminals, then let's talk.

As someone above said, Oliver is the Donald Trump of the left. Only someone in an info bubble could have her positions.

Dirty Dick's. Don't call Saul!

Every time the extremist terrorist-supporting radical right wingers outside Seattle attack Seattle, it just increases the vote for both Socialists and Democrats.

Every single time.

If they were smart, they wouldn't be indicted by the FBI.

@33 I've talked to many friends across the country and every city has the same sort of panic piece on the their local network news or has run one. I think every region thinks it's unique to them and only them and the shortfalls of whoever they need to blame are all the same. The left.

"If crime is such a problem and we're sending MORE money that we ever have EVER then spending more money isn't helping, is it?"

What a wonderful sentence that sounds like a it makes perfect sense but then you look at it and realize you are being gaslight again by the Professor of personal attacks. Why don't we replace the word crime with homelessness then and see how it works? Same faulty logic.

Crime has been going down over the years mostly because it is harder and harder to not get caught and you know what the number one deterrent to crime is? The fear you'll get caught. That however has no bearing on the growth in the police budget for Seattle. As many here have pointed out numerous times when talking about the social ills Seattle is suffering from. We have seen a massive growth in population over the years so to provide even the same amount of police service you will have to GROW the budget Professor yet even with growing the budget the SPD has not been able to keep up. Good to know you are not an accounting Professor.

@35:

And I'll bet you dollars to donut holes everyone of those panic pieces ran on a Sinclair station.

@34 - Perhaps it was things like this that led me to believe that Olver wants to actually get rid of the police: https://twitter.com/nikkitaoliver/status/1278887245395529729?lang=en

I fully understand that most people who say "defund" actually mean REDUCE funding and pt the $$ into social services and other types of responses. Those are good ideas. Stupid phrasing of the idea, but still a good idea.

But I kinda suspect that when someone says "abolish" that is what they mean. And it would be insane. Also, leave my grandma (RIP) out of this, please.

Defunding SPD was such a miserable failure, even Black Lives Matter complained about it. Meanwhile, there are real alternatives to consider:

'In a nearly 100-page report obtained by GQ, Mayor Svante Myrick will propose replacing the city’s current 63-officer, $12.5 million a year department with a “Department of Community Solutions and Public Safety” which would include armed “public safety workers” and unarmed “community solution workers,” all of whom will report to a civilian director of public safety instead of a police chief. Under the proposal, all current officers would have to re-apply for a position with the new department.

'“IPD currently spends one third of its time responding to calls for service that essentially never lead to arrests,” Myrick writes in the report’s introduction. “Those calls, as well as a majority of patrol activity, can and should be handled by unarmed Community Solution Workers well trained in de-escalation and service delivery. This will allow our new Public Safety Workers to focus on preventing, interrupting and solving serious crime.”'

(https://www.gq.com/story/ithaca-mayor-svante-myrick-police-reform)

One might think, post-Trump, we should want to avoid giving another narcissistic demagogue a large platform upon which to bluster and preen. Instead of hoping Nikkita Oliver's divine presence will somehow bring serious dialog (It hasn't on previous matters), we can examine what other cities, like Ithaca, are doing right now to reduce police presence, and ensure public safety with less-confrontational means.

"The activists [sic] job is to constantly push society forward."

Well, no shit, Sherlock, but Nikkita Oliver claiming to be an activist does not, in fact, make Nikkita Oliver an activist. Claiming Oliver's run for citywide office will have any beneficial effect doesn't make that so, either. How about you describe the beneficial effects of Oliver's run for Mayor last time? Other than afterwards giving us the immortal phrase, "queer black woman of color," I can't think of one. Enlighten us, O great self-proclaimed perfesser!

But it's easier to say activists will save us, than to actually do the hard labors of research and thinking for yourself, isn't it?