I’m sorry, Rich, but there’s simply no defense for the pseudo-woke/white gatekeeping that led this school to cancel a goddamn Halloween parade. If it has not been inclusive in the past, then fucking make it more inclusive. This kind of performative crap turns off reasonable people whom progressivism requires to make systemic change.

@1 Yes. Thank you! This is the shit liberals worry about while RWNJs continue to take over local school boards, county commissions and state legislatures. It's fucking wearing costumes and eating candy. Get a grip people. Our country is burning down a little more each day. There's not going to be any inclusiveness when we're all living in Gilead.

The problem for right-wingers in trying to gin up a culture war by defending Halloween is that there are quite a few conservative Christians who viscerally dislike it, regarding the costumes, scary imagery, etc., as demonic (let alone the adult debauchery that has characterized the holiday in recent decades). I'm sure some youth pastor will clue Rantz in to that fact pretty soon if he keeps going on about it.

@6 "so we wait out these root cause solutions for a generation or two to see if they work?"

That's what we've been doing with our current penal system...and trickle down economics...and the war on drugs..and the war on terror, and defunding social safety nets. It's time for something different.

These motherfuckers get paid with taxpayer money. No vaccination, no job. Period, full stop. no exceptions. And all those cops dead from COVID because they refused to get vaccinated who have families getting their pensions? End that shit NOW.

Fuck them. They don't want to do what needs to be done, they deserve nothing and neither do their families. There is NO right to spread to disease. There is NO right to refuse to get vaccinated. The Supreme Court ruled on this in 1905 and it is why smallpox got eradicated.

Why the fuck are we allowing antivaxxers to continue with this bullshit?

@12 over 10 million people kidnapped by the State and locking in filthy cages over the past decade for the terrible crime of ingesting a plant disagree with you, but when has civil rights or evidence ever been your thing?

We tried the war on drugs for 50 years now and it only made things worse. How many more decades to do propose we waste in this failed policy until we "get it right?" More importantly, what job do you currently have that you profit off us continuing to get it wrong?

@13: However there is a right for unvaccinated to spread the disease? I agree that antivaxxers are out of their minds, but let's keep the science in check.

C'mon Rich, blaming Reagan? Cities like Houston, Cleveland, and Salt Lake City have reduced their homeless populations significantly in the past few years. Bakersfield was the first city in California to eliminate chronic homelessness. The US as a whole saw an almost 15% reduction in homelessness between 2007 and 2018. Did these places somehow escape Reagan's policies from 40 years ago? If only we had some politicians who were in a position to do something about Reagan's policies like the politicians in Cleveland, Houston, Salt Lake City, and, well, the rest of the US that isn't New York or the West Coast. Oh, New York at least shelters almost all of their homeless, which is something the West Coast cities are trying to do but failing... because Reagan no doubt.

In the past few decades, homelessness has become more and more concentrated into just a few places in the US, and it isn't because of what those places are doing right. When you are failing where others are succeeding, it's time to look seriously at what you're doing.

@16 circular firing squads are super helpful

I watched the debate between Harrell and Gonzalez. Gonzalez got creamed. The Stranger has lost it's way.

@4 -- Total bullshit. You are totally wrong. Of course getting vaccinated stops the spread -- if you get enough people vaccinated. The problem is, we don't have enough people vaccinated for the Delta variant, which is far more transmissible. The more infectious a disease, the more people need to be vaccinated. For example, to keep measles from spreading experts advise about 95 percent of the population be vaccinated. For polio, that threshold is reached at about 80 percent of the population. We don't really know the number for the Delta variant, but it clearly higher than the original variant.

The efficacy of the vaccine matters as well. No vaccine is 100% effective. Fortunately, these vaccines are quite effective (similar to MMR). The big problem is we have way to many idiots in this country who can't understand ideas like herd immunity, and so they ignore the main reason for getting vaccinated: to reduce the spread of the disease. These are the same idiots who refused to wear a mask -- for the same reason. Yes, wearing a mask helps protect you, but the big benefit is that it protects everyone.

That doesn't mean we can completely wipe it out. Maybe we will, like smallpox, or maybe we won't, like just about every other disease out there (including polio). But with polio, it has been wiped out in most of the world, even though it is endemic in several areas. We dramatically reduced the number of cases via vaccines. We had enough people vaccinated to stop the spread (in those areas).

Spreading bullshit like this only perpetuates this horrible disease. Fuck you, and ignorant motherfuckers like you. If you don't know shit, feel free to ask. Don't jump to idiotic conclusions that can literally kill people. Asshole.

@20 -- You never addressed the argument, which is that public servants that refuse to get vaccinated should be fired. Of course they should. They are public servants! They are supposed to serve the public. By failing to get vaccinated, they are hurting the public. They are ignoring the biggest health crisis, which has ramifications well beyond those individuals. It has lead to problems in every facet of society. Crime is up. Hospitals are overwhelmed, turning away patients. Even some fire departments can't put out fires because they are too busy shuttling people to the hospital (https://www.opb.org/article/2021/09/22/trickle-down-effects-from-overcrowded-hospitals-ambulances-scarce-and-a-house-burns/). The economy is fucked as well, which effects physical and mental health. All of this is because of Covid. If you are too stupid to understand this, and too stupid to get vaccinated, then you shouldn't be a public servant.

Homelessness is a national problem, and Rich mentioned the main causes. But it does vary from city to city. While some cities do a better job in handling the problem, there is a big correspondence between the cost of housing and homelessness. The big reason Seattle has a relatively big homeless problem is the rapid increase in the cost of housing.

There are couple reasons for that. First, the huge increase in employment (lead largely by Amazon). Second, the housing supply hasn't kept up.

The big reason the housing supply hasn't kept up is because of our antiquated zoning rules. The "urban village" concept has lead to much higher housing costs, as it has in other cities. It is a failed policy. We need to change the zoning, and only one candidate for mayor proposed that: Gonzalez. That is why we are far more likely to see a major reduction in homelessness with her as mayor.

I have references for all of these points, by you can look them up yourself if you are unsure.

@22: "By failing to get vaccinated, they are hurting the public."

Only by filling up ICUs if they get sick. They are not spreading infection any more than unvaccinated people are. That's a Fauci fact.

@23 no comment on drug addiction huh?

@24: I know that's the right wing talking point on this, but it misses the point.

If total immunizations drop below a certain level everyone can get infected, which is not the same as claiming everyone can be a spreader. That second part is important and it's something we simply don't have much data on.

What we do know is that above a certain immunization level we are all protected from infection and below a certain level none of us are. It's why when it comes to everything from measles to polio we don't just immunize the people we think will be at risk.

Case in point, measles can cause birth defects for pregnant women in the 3rd trimester. When we discovered a vaccine for measles in the US in the 1960's we immunized everyone. The British only immunized pregnant mothers.

Fast forward 3 years and birth defects related to measles in the US had dropped to 0, but were still in the hundreds in Britain. What they found was that children were getting it at school and infecting their mothers, who went on to have a mild infection, but remained at risk of birth defects. They moved to a 100% vaccination rate goal for the entire population after that and birth defects related to measles dropped to 0.

There's a self fulfilling prophecy in the those who do not get immunized. They not only keep the virus alive, but go on to spread it to people who are immunized and than claim immunization does not work without admitting they are the reason immunization doesn't work.

I do find it odd you are on that side of this issue. I can't think of a single authoritarian over reach or mandate you have not supported without question in the past. What is it about this issue, more than say police violence or corruption that has you suddenly challenging whatever narrative the state gives you?

@28; The Trolly-trolls will never understand what you are saying, they are simple easily led sheep, they simply repeat what Hannity or Carlson tell them, attempting to educate them is pointless.

raindop keeps saying unvaccinated when i don't think that's what he means. freudian slip? said it TWICE in both of his idiotic comments.

vaccinated people do not spread the disease to the extent unvaccinated spread it (fact). it's easy to prove. it's reported over and over and over. vaccinated people do not spread the disease as easily as the unvaccinated.

90,000 deaths since the vaccine came out (49,000 in september alone) were preventable! how is that acceptable to anyone? every year people cry like they lived in NYC on 9/11 because 3000 people died. we're nearing one million dead in this country and people still believe they have some sort of right to remain unvaccinated and spread disease and kill people (or die themselves to own the libs)!!!??? it's stupid and pointless and if it only killed the death cult members that would be one thing but it's not - it's killing children who can't be vaccinated, it's killing front line medical workers who have to care for these fucktards while they die because they refused to get vaccinated, it's killing teachers and school administrators, it's killing "essential workers" (while the entire country complains no one wants to work while ignoring the fact that people don't want to DIE working some shitty underpaid job serving assholes food for minimum wage).

and @22 is right. public servants who refuse to get vaccinated need to be fired because they are hurting the public. don't want to be a public servant? find a new job. it's really quite simple.

we have allowed the insane and illogical and unvaxxed masses to perpetuate this pandemic far too long. it's time to bring the hammer down. fire their asses. make them pay financially for the destruction they have brought on the country (for example all of the medical costs incurred by WA state because IDAHO won't vaccinate its population and has shipped its COVID patients to WA - why on earth is WA required to bear the cost of all of that)? and force them into a self-imposed segregation from society. do not allow them anywhere. they can stay at home and be unvaccinated assholes. the rest of us want to get on with our lives.

the vaccinated in this country are tired of being held hostage and the states that have the balls to fire the motherfuckers who aren't actively killing people are the states that are going to achieve economic and social recovery.

enough bullshit.

Hundreds of Police Officers Have Died From Covid. Vaccines Remain a Hard Sell.

Far more law enforcement officers in the U.S. have died from Covid-19 than from any other work-related cause in 2020 and 2021. Even so, police unions are fighting vaccine mandates.

“If this was cops getting shot on the streets of America today at this number, there would be outrage,” Mr. Wexler said of Covid-19’s toll among officers. “This is an issue that begs for leadership and putting politics aside. And that’s exactly the opposite of what’s happening right now.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/us/police-covid-vaccines.html

just one of thousands of articles on the matter:

No, Vaccinated People Are Not ‘Just as Likely’ to Spread the Coronavirus as Unvaccinated People

This has become a common refrain among the cautious—and it’s wrong.

Vaccinated people are not as likely to spread the coronavirus as the unvaccinated. Even in the United States, where more than half of the population is fully vaccinated, the unvaccinated are responsible for the overwhelming majority of transmission.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/the-vaccinated-arent-just-as-likely-to-spread-covid/620161/

Vaccinated people are less likely to spread Covid, new research finds

People who are vaccinated against Covid-19 are less likely to spread the virus even if they become infected, a new study finds, adding to a growing body of evidence that vaccines can reduce transmission of the delta variant.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/vaccinated-people-are-less-likely-spread-covid-new-research-finds-n1280583

The city is not playing around with the “religious exemption” nonsense. I know someone who tried that, and she’s basically on unpaid leave until they “get it sorted out” - and they’re in no hurry to do that.

Oh, and she’s lost her insurance for now, and is going to miss an interview for a job she really wanted.

@28: I appreciate the correction on transmission rates. The inherent problems with mandates is simply the contrarian and defiant nature of the human condition. I'm not saying they're not needed, but let's stop the insanity of expecting people to always do what is best for them.

Right now, the Seattle SPD chief is calling in detectives and all personnel to handle 911 calls. Good luck getting a Ferry to Whidbey, truckers walking off, firefighters, even nurses. All because of their vaccine defiance.

At some point the chaos and harm to public safety by mandates could be worse than the level of transmission. Are we self aware enough to admit that?

@xina: Simply screaming about being held hostage and saying enough bulls*t is bullsh*t in itself.

@36: The question about a mandate is separate and more nuanced than the conversation around if a vaccine is effective or not. Whether you support a mandate or not, it's worth asking how if 76 years we went from 8 million New Yorkers voluntarily getting the smallpox vaccine in 1945 because Mayor LaGuardia said it was important (this included people who did not vote for him) to half the population openly defying a similar request.

Something else to think about. The police mandate people to follow their orders on threat of violence if they do not. You can be 100% legally in the right, but if an officer asks you to do something and you do not you will be the one who faces punishment.

What are we to think if those people who demand under threat of State sanctioned violence that everyone follow their order who themselves refuse to follow a lawful order? I have some sympathy for civilians who are against a mandate, but what are we do think of people to spend their entire career mandating others to do things who themselves openly defy a mandate?

Please, when I was a cop, cops...especially the more militant ones...were always threatening to quit or walk off the job en masse over some policy dispute or another. Spoiler: They never did.

Cops are like toddlers who don't get their way, a lot of hysterical temper tantrums that make a lot of noise but no real intention of running away from home.

Most of these cops have families to support or have some seniority in their jobs...and they treasure their pensions, especially once fully vested. They are not going to give up their incomes, their salaries and their pensions over getting the jab. None of those things are transferrable to another department...say, a freedumb-loving one in Idaho...if they resign or get fired. They must start from scratch, no matter their seniority in their previous department, and they must start their pension over.

Also, most cannot conceive of doing anything else other than cop work, and they aren't usually qualified to do much else with their mostly limited education levels.

Call their fucking bluff and start firing their asses. I guarantee far less than 10% of the current vaccine hold-outs will be willing to take their fight to the end. They'll meekly give in and get the shot.

Shorter (albeit typical) Conservative status-quo thinking: "if we can't solve 100% of a problem in less time than it takes to run a handful of commercials during half-time, then clearly the problem is too intractable to ever be solved, so we shouldn't even bother to try."

@41: You act as if we have a Bill of Rights that protects more than just the police, the rich and politicians.

Your analogy makes little sense in a 21st century where very few of us have 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, and most recently 1st amendment rights. That is all very 20th century.

To put this in terms you can understand, will the police face stacked charges from a prosecutor acting with no oversight prior to trial if they don't agree to get the jab? Will they be under the type of constant surveillance and court allowed exceptions to the 4th amendment through things like 3rd party doctrine that has rendered the 4th amendment meaningless to anyone outside the protected classes? Will the police be incarcerated pre-trial with steep bail for speech a prosecutor finds upsetting so has decided to treat as criminal?

A translation would be a prosecutor telling a cop he could either get the jab, or face 100 years in jail for questioning his authority. That if he chooses a trial they will use every email and other electronic comment he has made over his entire lifetime to matter how irrelevant to invent the narrative they want.

America is all about political prisoners. How do you think we got to 2.5 million per year without the criminal system even breaking a threat?

Perhaps as a police officer you will be able to assert the Bill of Rights and the prosecutor and judge will honor then due to the power of your union to vote them from office. There is no comparison for the rest of us who are never offered such niceties as due process or the rule of law.

Raindrop, stop being such a hysteric. It's most unbecoming.

The vaccination rate for the SPD is (as of Friday) 82%. The notices went out yesterday, and I have a feeling that percentage is going to suddenly skyrocket.

The whole thing about nurses walking off the job is over-hyped. Any nurse who rejects the vaccine should lose their accreditation, because they are not intellectually capable of performing the duties of a nurse.

And ironically, one of the reasons why WSF is cancelling runs is because many of their employees currently either have Covid, or are in Quarantine. Surely even you can make the connection here.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2021-08-20/vaccine-rule-comes-as-wa-state-ferries-face-staffing-crunch

@46: Well then, given @42's comments as well lets hope altruism and common sense surpasses defiance! I'd hate to think of myself getting as jaded as a leftie.

@1 Shmacky, @2, Brent Gumbo, @13, @30, @31, @32, and @33 xina, @29 Merchant Seaman, @42 Morty, and Catalina Vel-DuRay @46 for the group WIN! Thank you all for beating me to it.

@15, @24, @36, and @47: Wow, Elmer. And you call ME hysterically unhinged.
Sleep it off, ya ultra maroon, before you totally go Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

@18 Brent Gumbo: Especially when aimed at RepubliKKKans.

@42: I wish there were more police officers like you, Morty.

@46 Catalina Vel-DuRay: So spot on! Agreed and seconded. I had a feeling that WSF cancellations were due too COVID-related under-staffing. Thank you for so consistently being among the lost level headed of commenters.

@1, @2 - exactly right. And @8 - that is all the more reason to allow kids to celebrate. It shows that we won't let the far-right wacko "Christian" fringe push us around in at least one small way.

Grizzled old bat wants Republicans to be shot yet praises others as being level headed.

Canceling festivities due to inclusivity concerns around a holiday that's literally all about pretending to be something you're not. What the hell kind of nonsense is that?

@50: It's possible - even a sign of maturity - to praise others for exhibiting admirable traits you don't possess.

@50: I don't see any RepubliKKKans who are level-headed, Elmer.
Stop if it starts to hurt.

I don't have a problem with a school not having a halloween parade. It should be about learning. The problem I have is how they describe why they are cancelling it. It sounds like utter non-sense. Traditionally marginalized. What BS. Once again, the liberals and conservatives are playing completely different games and the conservatives are going to win it all because of stupid stuff like this making news. And Rich being raised a Jehovah's witness, it all makes sense now.

@56: Can you enumerate the "idiots" at the 1774 Continental Congress in Philadelphia (where the designing started)? Or is it just casual disparagement?

@53 skidmark: Like Jaime Herrera-Beutler, R---Battleground, WA representing Clark County, WA Secretary of State Kim Wyman is indeed, a shining rarity. They have since the 2020 election amazed me, gaining my respect for standing up to the dystopian Trump Death Cult. It is my view that both women are RINOs: Republican In Name Only. They are rightfully ashamed right now to be affiliated with so draconian a political party of lies, corruption, and abuse of power. I am surprised that they haven't become Independents.

Notice, too, that these brave women are only two out of a cesspool of MILLIONS of red-blooded, hatefully misogynist, racist, homophobic RepubliKKKans nationwide. And they have risked death threats by white male supremacist members of the GOP for their commendable acts of courage for doing the right thing, only to be ordered to resign.
Meanwhile, I have no sympathy for the news that Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Spokane's 5th District now tests positive for COVID.

My view still stands pat: I don't see any RepubliKKKans who are level-headed.

@58 blip(re @57): Ignore him. Elmer's been sniffing rubber cement again and now his brain is permanently nuked. Buying too much of the Orange Turd's smoke and mirrors act must have finally caught up with him.