Comments

1

"Amazon is scared of the problem it helped to create"

How was Amazon promoting violent crime on Third Avenue?

2

The only reason we wore masks was to prevent too many people from getting COVID fast enough to fill the hospitals. As an official policy that is all we were ever doing. All evidence is that the risk has now passed. COVID is endemic, that means we will nearly all be exposed, if we haven’t been already. Avoiding low risk exposures to healthy and vaccinated people is pointless in the face of endemicity. Wearing a mask, especially a cloth one, no longer serves any useful public health purpose. It may still be appropriate to encourage N95 masks in specific circumstances, but it is correct for any wider mandates to end; especially where there other competing interests to consider like the effectiveness of instruction.

It would be far better to channel these mask efforts into advocating something that will make a lasting difference: strong indoor air quality monitoring and improved guidelines. Robust air purifying systems can help with all respiratory illnesses as well as asthma and allergies. A cloth mask in a closed stale room is just a superstitious talisman.

9

I wonder what Eli Sanders thinks of Slog these days.

10

Daylight Saving Time might become permanent, and the paycheck equality bill died? Breaking news, that means the Senate did two terrible things in one day.

11

So the overachievers discussed in the article are averaging almost 4 assaults apiece, and close to a weapons charge per capita. Even allowing for the fact that trespassing charges are often bullshit, and that the thefts were of course "survival crimes" in which only sandwiches were taken, these are not good people. Having them out of circulation for a while might not be such a bad idea, no?

12

Also, if Bella had a giant schnozz, chances are that we would never have heard of her.

14

I can't get too worked up about permanent DST (or any time change issue). The people who care about such things are neurotics, and the politicians who pander to them.

What irritates me is that this is the best thing the United States Senate can come up with, and that Patty Murray - a long-time Senator - feels the need to pimp this piece of completely ineffectual legislation.

15

@14: We haven't seen Patty so upbeat in years!

18

I stated this previously but it bears repeating. Assuming Hannah or any other of the SLOG contributors actually believe the bullshit they push in these pages is probably giving them way too much credit. It’s clear SLOG has foremost become a forum to generate clicks by throwing out absurd takes that they know will generate outrage in order to drive clicks. It’s literally clickbait journalism and should be viewed as entertainment. There are of course a few true believers that actually think Amazon caused all the meth addicts downtown or that the teachers unions complaint has anything to do with public safety but that’s because these takes fit their warped world view already. As @9 stated, previous Stranger writers are probably sad about what has become of their former publisher but it’s been trending this way for a while now.

19

Idaho, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida lawmen can eat my shit, choke on it, and get cornholed in Hell by Rush Limbaugh and Doug Ericksen.

@14 Catalina Vel-DuRay: You make some valid points. Here's my take on the Senate move to make DST permanently year-round:

To commenters unimpressed by our Washington State Senators, let's stop shitting on Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. Tiffany Smiley is Senator Murray's latest GOP challenger, and her name alone makes her sound like a ditzy game show hostess. Puh-LEASE. Meanwhile, Senator Murray has done a tremendous lot on behalf of the people of Washington State. Wasn't Loren Culp bad enough in the gubernatorial race against thrice legitimately elected Governor Jay Inslee?
The United States Senate needs to get rid of coal magnate Joe Manchin and real estate developer Krysten Sinema, who have only proven themselves to be no Democrats but Mitch McConnell's eager sock puppets. While we're at it, let's also get rid of a lot of inactive, grossly overpaid RepubliKKKan Senators and Congress members.
Then inarguably, a SHITLOAD more in D.C. would get done for the good of everybody, not just the .0000000000000001%.

I have been diagnosed with seasonal depression. Seeing only nine hours of daylight on December 21st, the Winter Solstice, under the traditional Standard Time followed by three months of darkness before 5 pm for me is a bit rough, and I'm a Washington State native in my late 50s. I'm not outside screaming, yelling, and dancing for joy, but the idea of having more daylight and not having to adjust my watch and clocks is, for me a blessed relief.

@17: I'm not voting for Tiffany Smiley any time soon.

20

Patty Murray confirming her dingdongery. If any time is made permanent, it should be standard time. It's dark enough on winter mornings for school kids, for teenagers in school, for everyone.

A poster child for the type of "Democrat" who should be retired. Go pick up some more BigPharma contributions and rep it in your legislative bad deeds, Patty.

21

Auntie Dear, you do realize that we're not getting "more sunlight", don't you? That nine hours of winter sunshine is permanent, until our sun blows up in a billion years or so.

I really don't understand what going to permanent DST will do. Mornings will be darker longer, - which will be nice for the people who don't have to get up in the morning and presumably can't afford draperies - and there will be a little more sun in the afternoon, but we're just stealing that from the morning. (Where, in my opinion, we need it more)

I don't buy the line about how the time change causes extra deaths and various maladys. If that were true, the death rate from jet lag would be significant.

But, as trump says, we'll see what happens.

23

the stranger: pay people a liveable wage!!!! 1!1!!!@1!!
also the stranger: Amazon paying a good wage causes homelessness, crime, and addiction!!! 1!!!!1!1!

PICK A FUCKING LANE

24

Haha, Stranger writer outrage about things she doesn't understand.

25

Daylight Shifting Time started as a compromise between the farm workers in the country, who have to get up early to start working, and the office workers in the city, who like to party in the evenings. The only reason they had for caring about each other's work habits was the railroad schedules, which tied country time to city time. Back then, there were about equal numbers of each type of worker, so a classic democratic compromise was struck: office workers could party in the Summer evenings if farmers could get up after dawn on Winter mornings.

Now, the number of farm workers is tiny compared to urban workers, and our country no longer depends as much on railroads, so the entire reason for changing our clocks has long since faded into history. It's confusing and serves no modern purpose, so we're eliminating it. Laugh at Senator Murray if you like, but this is a federal matter and therefore her responsibility. Good work, Senator.

@17: She didn't run against being a "senator for life," but rather against being what then-Sen. Brock Adams was: a rapist who abused his power, position, and authority to escape consequences for his predatory acts. She has succeeded in not abusing her authority (at least in those ways) and so she's still doing what she ran for office to do.

26

LOL at "9 to 5 workday".

27

@22 is exactly right. It's dark here in the AM regardless. Might as well see the sun in the evenings.

28

@1: "How was Amazon promoting violent crime on Third Avenue?"

She 'explains' this in the next line: "Maybe if we could just tax the absolute shit out of them, we could address poverty, homelessness, and crime." As @18 noted, this is clickbait entertainment, not journalism; the latter would ask what happens to the $100+M Seattle already spends annually on services for the homeless, and why this longstanding annual expenditure has failed so miserably, it cannot even prevent the problem from getting worse.

29

“why the fuck
should we allow
work to take up all
of our sunlit hours?”

Indeed – capitalists are
Totally Missing out
on the other Half
of the Day too

see to it
Wouldja?

30

@29: The sentiment is shared among communists and socialists as well.

32

30 Oh that old sock puppet response. Come on - is that not way too old for the 21st century - ?????

The lovers of Amazon have chimed in. Maybe some of them are on the payroll??? Not concerned about the numerous deaths and injuries of workers that the giant predator is responsible for are you??????

Speaking of the police. The police have descended from the slave patrols and have gone on to kill and injure many poor people a majority of them Black. They are infiltrated with proud boy lovers and white nationalists so that bothers many with a conscience. Sure there are some bad people that do not have the luxury of expensive lawyers but that does not address the evil of this prison industrial complex.

An estimated 10% of prisoners are INNOCENT. But due to rulings by politicians which includes Biden they will be stuck in prison for years. News flash - Both parties are corrupt. Trump just happens to be worse than Biden. Since a large percent of prisoners are Black and poor that kind of shines the light on you police lovers as racist and classist doesn't it????

33

28 Because homelessness has not been seriously addressed by politicians by not making the Housing First program a number one practice to eliminate homelessness.

This program and similar programs have been widely successful in Utah and Europe. Austria is one such example with numerous other places. It just takes a little research.

34

26 Agreed. It is a bad joke. Many people have to work three jobs just to survive.

35

Thank you Stranger staff for all your work.

36

Sir Toby dear, as a Municipal Travelling Electrical Hostess, I am at my desk by six am sharp. I often have field work to accomplish, and I have a team of field people that I supervise. I do not allow them to be out before the sun rises, as they often have to be in people's yards, and many people in Seattle are weird, violent, and racist.

(The same is true of our meter readers and line crews. We respond to emergencies after dark or before the sun rises, but not regular service work. )

Since I get up at 5, it won't really have an impact on me either way - except for less time for field work, but most things can wait a few days.

As I said before, we'll see how it goes. I think it's a silly gesture to assuage neurotics who have underlying undiagnosed mental health issue, but isn't that why we do most things in this country?

38

Thank you for that utopian ideal, Sir Toby. Did you grow up in an Agrarian Society? Because that's about the only place that idea might work.

Actually, REAL farmers (not owners of acreages who have few novelty animals and a satellite dish) start work before the sun rises. You have to feed the animals, feed the people, milk the cows, etc, before you can even think of going to the fields.

(When I was in college and working at the Iowa City Howard Johnson's, our housekeeping staff was composed of farm wives who came in to clean rooms while their husbands were in the fields and the kids were in school. They sprayed every surface with either bleach water or lysol, but you knew you had a clean room at that motel. )

39

@33: "Because homelessness has not been seriously addressed by politicians by not making the Housing First program a number one practice to eliminate homelessness."

Before you rip into CM Sawant for not supporting Housing First, please consider this recent article in the Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2022/03/04/67776468/the-people-of-3rd-and-pine

"Andre said little has changed about the area in fifteen years – some of the same people are still selling [stolen property]. One thing that has changed, he said, is that he doesn’t sell drugs anymore. He laughed and said he’d rather do them.

"Andre lives in an apartment thanks to a city-run housing program, but he doesn’t have a job other than selling flipped merchandise."

[...]

"Nicole grew up in Seattle. She said she’s been homeless on and off since she was 17, and her struggles with psychosis keep her from holding down a job. She’s a mother, a survivor of domestic violence, and sometimes she likes to get a good deal at the corner of 3rd and Pine.

"Nicole used to have an apartment through a city-run housing voucher program, but she got evicted last month."

Housing First got each of them off the street, but the problems which had put/kept them on the street were not addressed. So Housing First might be a good start, but the gains will not last without additional costly interventions. Seattle, led by CM Sawant and the Stranger, will not even talk about these non-economic issues at the root of homelessness, so Seattle's civic dialog on the real costs of ending homelessness has not yet begun. After half a billion dollars (!) of expensive failure, I would not expect Seattle's voters are eager to pony up even more money, when simply sweeping encampments is less expensive and faster.

40

DST savings time all year round would SUCK. Full Stop.

Sleep scientists agree that it’s Standard Time that should be year round if we stop the clock changing. Sunlight in the morning is essential for good sleep hygiene.
Kids and adults have a hard time waking up without the sun. It’s depressing!!

41

Sleep experts on why daylight saving time is dangerous for health. Especially teen health:

https://apple.news/Alwxus9ivRfu-ykN8v6768A

42

@21 Catalina Vel-DuRay: Yes. I am fully aware that we're not getting "more sunlight" by the Senate decision. Admittedly, I was just happy at the idea of no longer having to adjust my clocks and wristwatch seasonally.

@21 Catalina Vel-DuRay and @40 & @41 SecretBYUBottomBoy:
I actually agree with both of you. Scientists, psychotherapists, medical
researchers et al are saying that if the U.S. changes ANYTHING regarding
our time zone system, it should remain permanently on Standard Time, not on
Daylight Savings Time.
Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat would most likely be saying the
same thing. Actually, I like his idea the best: if changing to permanent
Standard Time, why do so at 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Why not on
Friday afternoon, instead, at 4 pm?
{America is finally united on what to do about daylight savings time----except me,
Danny Westneat, The Seattle Times, Wednesday, March 16, 2022]

43

@25 tensor: Well said and summarized. Thank you.

44

@20: Where are you from, originally? Obviously you have no idea of what Senator Patty Murray has done and continues to do for the people of Washington State whom she diligently represents.

@24: Down, Muffy, down.


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