Let's torpedo that battleship idea right now! Where would we float a maritime hulk in District 3? Volunteer park reservoir?

Anyone who thinks housing people on an old battleship is a good idea should first have to enlist and do a stint in the Navy.

Go ahead - sleep on an 18-inch wide bunk for a while… live in those confined spaces with no natural light… go to the bathroom and shower with your one-hundred closest neighbors…

why aren't you reporting on SIFF workers unionizing?

A pet peeve and a small dose of reality. First of all, can we get away from calling any ship painted gray a battleship? It's as bad as calling any cargo ship a barge. There's a difference, and it makes a difference to how hard it is to do the conversion to housing. I don't exactly blame Ry Armstrong for this, but media folks really ought to be smarter than this.

Second, living on a Navy ship isn't luxurious unless you manage to score one of the four or so senior officer's staterooms. It's no cruise ship. Low ranking crew live in cattle cars with a gym locker for all of your belongings. Mid-ranking people live in more private shoeboxes with a small closet for each person. You get to your stateroom on a steep stairway, and you have to step over a 6" high door sill/shin bruiser every 50-100 feet of corridor.

re Do it Yourself
Drug Testing Kits:

"why are these
[equipment used
to test drug purity*]
illegal in the first place?"

well it's a War on
Drug Users so
why not Let
'em Gam-
ble?

sometimes
the Cruelty
IS the Point.

*and for Fentanyl
an EXTREMELY
DEADLY
drug.

@7 why would they need food pantries if it was just pcc that they couldn't afford to shop at...? do you think the employees are unaware other grocery stores exist?

an aside but Seattle Safeways are some of the most expensive and poorly stocked stores here

'Safeway'?
Ouch AND yech!

One Word:
WINCO,
baby.

Employee-owned!

@3 Lake Washington. Or Lake Union. I'd park it where the seaplanes take off and say "not on my watch".

Instead of a battleship, how about an aircraft carrier? Considerably larger with significantly more potential space for housing and it'd be legitimately fun as shit to take those fighter jets out for the occasional spin around town.

PCC used to be one of the best places to work in the grocery industry in terms of pay and benefits. Then, they hired the corporates (looking at you Jennifer) around 2000, and it has been a slow death ever since, all while talking about community, local, and we care BS (BTW - no one knows what the new CEO is paid apparently). Food pantries were never needed at PCC because employees were paid a living wage. Not any more. I talked to an employee at a store the other day that has worked for PCC for five years AND STILL ONLY MAKES $17/hr.

I was told PCC stoped valuing long-term employees (really all employees). Those remaining have not had a pay raise in a more than a decade - HELLO UFCW 3000 - DO YOUR FUCKING JOB?? To deal with this they created a 'steward' position. These stewards are 'yes' people attempting to fill positions with skills they do not have. It's a shit show. Middle management is bloated and everywhere now. Everyone in the stores is burned out. Recently, corporate cut employee hours, but at least the corporate office has that beautiful un-obstructed waterfront view and their (unknown) salaries.

PCC workers are just over 2 years into a 3 year contract, with a collective bargaining for the next contract scheduled to start in a few months. They are getting exactly what UFCW 3000 negotiated on their behalf, so I have to admit I am a bit confused over the picketing. I mean, I understand what they want, but they already agreed to a process, and it doesn't seem like picketing is likely to change that process.

"Because—and let's all say it together this time—drug addition. Cannot. Be punished. Out of. Someone."

Great job proofreading, Ashely! You'll fit right in at the Stranger.

Twenty is not plenty. It's actually difficult to drive at 20 mph. Even 25 feels ridiculous on most arterials.

Here's the thing: it's possible to drive 35 mph and not hit pedestrians. All you have to do is pay attention at intersections and note when you see crazy fucks getting ready to dart into traffic.

I love how this country is going to force every fertilized egg to be carried full term and born, only to to starve the babies and children. 40 million children in this country live in poverty and Republicans have made it worse (with the tax credits expired) and insist on making it even worse (by cutting school lunch programs and SNAP and any other way children might get some food in their bellies).

"most drug addicts
are indeed criminals that
steal anything and everything"
--@swampy

Unlikely unless
by Criminals
you Mean
Capital-
ists.*

oh & Thank Gawd
alcohol's not
a Drug
eh?

*cunning
enough to buy
off Lawmakers - they
call it 'the Art of the Steal.'

@13 - Lake Washington or Lake Union won’t work - a battleship (or any other sizable decommissioned Navy vessel) probably won’t fit through the Ballard Locks, Fremont portion of the Ship Canal, or the Montlake Cut.

Then there’s the issue of moorage - virtually every foot of shoreline on Lake Washington and Lake Union is taken.

And then there’s the fact that this is a stupid fucking idea to begin with…

@9 and why do you think the Seattle Safeway's are both expensive and barely stocked? Are they trying to create a poor shopping experience or could there be external factors at play? That's a rhetorical question of course.

@1, fantastic point.

Didn’t it used to be that co-ops were volunteer run (ie all members pick up a shift) and THAT’S what lowered food prices? Grocery is infamously a low margin industry and so higher wages would correlate with higher cost of food. Wish we would get back to truly alternative ways of doing things instead of plugging ideals into the standard market system - it doesn’t work.

'Safeway''s plenty well-stocked
elsewhere but their Prices are
ASTRONOMICAL Employees
seemingingly Indifferent &
yet a Joy to those who just
Cannot seem to get their
Fill of Queuing up.

hard Pass.
I'll take WINCO
for four hundred Bob.

That judge who is hearing tomorrow (3/15) and ruling on the abortion pill case in Amarillo is (ready?): A Trump appointee, has written extensively arguing against Roe v. Wade, and before his judgy-wudgy days was a lawyer for a conservative Christian organization.

Let’s not pretend we don’t know what the decision will be. Then, it’s off to the Supreme Court where six devout, Flying Nuns will be asking, “You want a pill for WHAT??!!

Women of the United States, again I apologize.

I absolute hate that mashed-lipped frown that politicians pull out of their toolboxes at press conferences whenever they are nailed and have to feign regret and admit to a some kind of moral failing. Not surprised to see that Zuckerberg has one in his as well.

Here’s some wasted breath: Kids, stop using TikTok. Please. You don’t know what you are giving over. You don’t know how that shit will follow you around forever like a butt-ugly tattoo.

I've never really spent time on battleship (do we even have those anymore?) or a carrier but I spent some time on one of the Navy's big transport boats (Fast Sealift Ship) in port in Ad Dammam in 1990 I can't imagine living on something like that. I imagine whatever ship the are fantasizing about can't be any better. I never met a squid that was happy about racking in those humid stinking death traps. A terrible, terrible idea. Just build fucking housing already.

all this Grocery
Talk seems to have left
me with an irrational Craving:

who's Ready
for pi?

There's no point in taking that stupid battleship suggestion seriously. It's based on nothing more than the candidate having visited the USS INTREPID museum in New York.

If the candidate had instead visited South Dakota, they'd be suggesting we build a giant corn palace to house the homeless.

30: Agreed. Trying to convert any Navy ship (which were built to help blow up things) is an incredibly dumb idea. If you’re so wedded to the ship idea, why not an actual surplus (Google it!) cruise ship that were built to house people?

But, yes, build a damn building.

I don’t know why PCC even exists except that its customers 1) would like to shop at Whole Foods but think their prices are too low and 2) want a place where they can be safe from Birkenstock mocking.

@34 Unfortunately it's turning out Neal Stephenson was a prophet.

I’ve got a PCC story to share, but I wanted to chime in on the Albertsons-Safeway thing. Vons was purchased by Safeway several years ago. Now, Vons was always a pretty excellent experience in its day. Affordable. Splendid produce. Well-stocked. But since the takeover, while the produce remains good, grocery items are at a premium. You wouldn’t be shocked to see a $3 can of tomato soup. And Vons slightly richer sister, Pavilions, is a great store that has everything you need, from fabulous produce to garam masala, but an apple is $3, a banana, $2.50. And really, Pavilions is what all good stores used to be only way less affordable. Some of this I blame on Whole Foods and the crap it got away with on pricing. Other stores, particularly corporate stores, went hmmm.

Ralphs, like QFC, is owned by Kroger now. It’s unrecognizable from twenty years ago. Cheaper than Vons, maybe, but is often unstocked, has some employees with attitude, seeminglty entirely devoted to the ready-to-eat crowd. Customer service is mostly in the toilet, and who can blame them, really, after a couple of ugly, fruitless strikes.

My takeaway is that acquisitions and mergers are not a good thing for the most part, This upcoming proposed blending of Albertsons and Kroger will, they say, help the supply chain. I see $10 eggs and a $9 loaf of bread.

I got turned off of PCC early after my arrival in Seattle way back in the mid-eighties. I knew it was a co-op, but big deal. I’d shopped at the Harvard Coop without ever joining. Same with the Berkeley Co-op in its day. An acquaintance had suggested I try it. I went to the one in West Seattle. I really didn’t see much in the way of savings, but I picked out a few items and headed to the cashier whereupon I was informed that since I was not a member, I’d have to pay full price. What did that mean? Well, it meant a frozen entrée that sold for $3.00 if I was a member would cost me more than ten dollars if I wasn't. How is that possible? BTW, $3 for a frozen entrée in 1988 was absolutely no bargain. Anyway, I got a lecture that I didn’t ask for or require. She was this tall, urban hippie with chopped hair. That’s fine, but she was also imperious and condescending in her indications of how stupid I was in not knowing that I wasn't welcome. I left the groceries for her snide ass to return to the shelves. That’s all it took to cook me on PCC forever. Why do that to an innocent paying customer?

how 'bout a Cruise Ship
on DRY Land? who
needs any stinkin'
H2O? park that
puppy and for-
Get about it.

Amusing how many of the right wing interlopers defending unbridled capitalism seem never to have heard of Henry Ford, who famously set the trend by lifting employees wages so that they could afford to buy his cars.

@22 xina: I share your frustration. I can't imagine being a girl or woman from birth to age 45 right now.
We should be able to annihilate RWNJs and the entire GOP--especially men who have absolutely no clue what goes on inside a woman's body and only act out of spite and cruelty. We shoot rabid dogs, don't we? These pigfuckers don't know and don't care because they'll never experience pregnancy, childbirth, labor & delivery, missed periods, and breast lumps. Oh, if only they DID! RepubliKKKan males act like some weird sort of gawd's gift when they're nothing but bad booby prizes at the expense of half the U.S. population.

@28 Bauhaus I: Is that Trump appointed "judge" in Texas Leonard Leo by any chance? Guess who helped the Orange Turd and Mitch McConnell shove Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett into what is now the Neofascist Extreme Court? All too happy to overturn Roe after nearly 50 years of safe, legal abortions nationwide!
Every member of the GOP deserves to be rounded up and face a federal firing squad. They love their guns. Let's call the pigfuckers on it and see how they like being on the receiving end. Like I said to xina in my above comment, we shoot rabid dogs, don't we? I really do think RepubliKKKans want Civil War II, the Sequel and WWIII before any of the orange Turd's loyalists and sock puppets will ever pull their heads out and see reason.

@32 kristofarian: I see what you did there, kris. Clever! Happy March 14, 2023--Pi Day!!

@38 Bauhaus I: I'm sorry you had a terrible experience at a Community Food Co-op. I am fortunate where I live that service is good, and while prices often are indeed high for most food and houseware items, after a little shopping around in some cases they're not as bad as other stores. The exact same bag of frozen gluten free chicken strips I can get at my local Co-op with my membership routinely costs, by comparison, a whopping $3.50 less per 1 lb. package than at the Kroger-owned major grocery store chain, regardless of the neighborhood location. I have saved as much as $5.00 on the same item when it's on sale at the local Co-op. What Kroger is doing is blatantly price gouging and that's beyond shameful--especially when their own employees can't afford to buy groceries at the stores where they work!
I agree that the Albertsons / Kroger / Vons / Safeway / Pavilions merger has proven economically disastrous.
Monopolies only hurt the majority of citizens--especially the working poor. It's extortion to serve only the richest .00000000001%.

Good grief, Charlie Brown! I can't imagine a decommissioned U.S. Naval vessel being permanently moored in either Lake Union or Lake Washington. That's just beyond insane. And I'm a Gulf War U.S. Navy veteran.

@4 NoSpin and @6 boatgeek: Yep. That is indeed, U.S. Navy shipboard life at sea--especially if you're an enlistee. And if your think that's confining, try serving a stint onboard a submarine and have to live for six months at a time underwater with no sunlight.

Many Fentanyl (and even stronger synthetic drug) addicts who've used over 2-3 years can NEVER be rehabilitated. They can only be warehoused in mental institutions.

These synth opiates are not drugs that should be tolerated. Don't need to jail for possession, need to set a state police task force to take DOWN ALL THE DEALERS, SOME OF WHOM you probably defend. America is done, thanks to the religion and guns on the right, and the impractical stupid and fluff idiocy of the left. Guess who wins in a civil war for personal security caused by your hatred of the police and desire to rewrite history, however unjust?

No one would like living on a ship permanently tied to a pier. Naval ships have very few windows and generally they don't open up to the out side. That would require constant forced air ventilation; if the HVAC system breaks down living conditions would be miserable. It would be like living in an oven in the summer and living in an icebox in the winter. Sewage tanks would have to be constantly pumped and general plumbing is know to frequently break down. Just imagine if people wanted to bring pets on board and having to deal with rats. Not a good idea at all.

@7 NWZ: I agree with you to a point. I'm on a fixed income and live on a budget. However, because I have dietary restrictions (I must avoid gluten due to Celiac, cut my sugar intake, and watch carbohydrates) stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, and Grocery Outlet have a lot of processed foods high in carbs, offering few, if any, healthy alternatives. If they offer gluten free options at all, it's highly processed convenience foods like white bread, pasta (i.e.: boxed mac & cheese), cookies, brownies, pastries, and pizza which is unacceptably unhealthy for me. I may as well be going through the drive thru at McDonald's for the lack of nutritional value.
I am unimpressed by Grocery Outlet. Be careful when shopping at stores with a "dented can" reputation, and check the expiration date as well as the ingredients. While their selling point is for the consumers to save money, I have a number of reasons to offer as to why their foods and housewares are so cheap. A lot of items at Grocery Outlet come from other stores (i.e.: Haggen, Fred Meyer, et al) getting rid of overstocked items at reduced prices. The produce wasn't fresh the last time I shopped there. The packaged lettuce was brown and slimy, and I ended up having to throw out 2/3 of a jar of mayonnaise, along with the bad lettuce because the freshness date had expired within two weeks after the purchase. Off brand GF pasta became tasteless, sticky glop when prepared to package instructions.
I have several reasons why I shop at my local Community Food Co-op instead:
1. It's close by. It's right on my bus route and I could walk to the Co-op on nice days. By comparison, I would have to take two or even three cross town buses to get to Fred Meyer, Grocery Outlet, Trader Joe's, WinCo, or--parish the thought!!---Wal*Mart, the McDonald's of all food stores.
2. The Co-op has by far the best and healthiest organic, gluten free, and sugar alternative food options in my entire city. Housewares are eco-friendly.
3. With my membership I can save on a lot of items that would usually cost a lot more in other stores.
4. Employees are friendly and helpful.
5. The Co-op's shopping bags are among the most durable I have ever used and can hold just about anything, making carrying on public transportation easier. I only drive during the spring and summer months, so this is a plus.

I'm fully aware that not everybody has the options I have. My point is that we all have monthly expense allowances we're willing to make. If I have to pay a little more for fresh, delicious and nutritious food---a lot of which is grown locally and regionally--in order remain healthy, I will.

@51 Oooh!
What is the way to "perfectly possible to use this drug in a responsible manner"?
Just asking for a friend...

What is "perfectly possible"? What the fuck does that even mean? Isn't that kind of an oxymoron (conga-rats on your promotion from sub-moron!)

But I'm sure you have an explanation! (Invoking Nancy Reagan doesn't count, BTW).

I initially read that as "...the Senate's drag possession bill..."

@52 drewl2: When Herr Boob offers his latest ultra right wing wack MAGA theory on how it's "perfectly possible to use this drug in a responsible manner", let me know. This SLOG comment thread could use some laughs.

@51: So MAGAts flagrantly overuse fentanyl, too, as well as other prescription or OTC opiates. That explains a lot. Inbred MAGAt stupidity certainly is responsible for shoving an unscrupulous Orange Turd, a proven white collar criminal and Putin sock puppet unfit to govern into the White House. I'm still waiting for proof of "responsible" drug use.
I can't wait to hear your theory on "responsible" crystal meth use! How many cars do you and your ilk vandalize to steal car stereos, hubcaps, and catalytic converters in order to "responsibly" pay for it?

@11 and @27 kristofarian: It's nice to know that WinCo is employee owned.

That really sucks about PCC. They should really be getting at least $22/hour. Still, I have a hard time believing that QFC or Safeway are any better, and I have to buy food from somewhere. People keep praising WinCo but there are none near me. =(

@1 Seventiesrocked I completely agree that consumers (and consumerist culture more generally) are part of the problem. However, your other claims are simply not factual. PCC makes profit - they discuss profit-sharing with members on their website (https://www.pccmarkets.com/about/membership-faq/). Additionally, this membership requires a capital investment - a $60 membership fee. Pretty much the whole reason I'm not a member is because it's distributed capitalism, not anti-capitalism.

@7 NoWokeZone There are certainly brands which exploit the desire for ethical products to scam people out of money. I am highly skeptical of anything that's labelled "direct trade". Having a rep from your company visit a farm one time is pretty much meaningless. I have some trust in the fair trade certification, just like I have some trust in certified humane. Following Seventiesrocked's comment, I want to be part of the solution, not the problem. PCC seems like a step in the right direction, although @16 Magical Destroyer's comment about their history. It is a pattern in capitalism that a company will start off doing the right thing which will capture value because people don't like evil, and then capitalists consume the company and use brand loyalty to increase exploitation while insisting that they're still good.

@18 hbb Picketing can influence the outcome of that process.

@20 SwampThing For the sake of argument I'll just go along with a high correlation between drug use and theft, and the idea that throwing people in jail is a reasonable solution to theft. Even in that case, you punish the theft, not some other factor that happens to correlate with theft.

@30 RogerTheShrubber We gotta protect the carriers somehow. =)