As he approached, the police officer sped up, as if trying to hit the pedestrian.

Ahab's a shitty lawyer.

I don't know that anyone will necessarily deserve any "credit" for it, but the Sonics return is inevitable. The NBA absolutely wants to be there, and the biggest obstacle to hosting a team, a fancy new arena to play in, is already in place. There's no teams currently looking to relocate though and so we're now just waiting on the league to expand, which they've already announced an intention to do. I guess whoever's mayor at the time of the announcement will be able to claim victory, though it's not really gonna require much effort on their part to achieve.

@2 I think the complaint is more that while driving in a Priority 1 call manner (high speed, running red lights, not yielding to pedestrians, etc.), he didn't have his siren on to alert everyone in the area that he was driving in a Priority 1 manner.

Yes, Hamas should agree to a ceasefire now, yesterday, fucking months ago. A good proposal has been on the table for weeks. Why don't they take it?

@7: we've been without the NBA for so long now I'm back to where I started growing up in an NBA-less town: I don't give a fuck about the NBA.

@10 FFS. Do you even read what I wrote before going into full-on 'splaining mode? Yes, respond to Priority 1 calls in a timely manner. Yes, turn on lights and siren when you do it so that everyone in the vicinity knows that the cop isn't stopping for them. That even addresses the distraction issue you raised at the beginning. Problem solved and nobody needs to get killed or fired.

Not much of a pro-sports fan - certainly not in comparison to some - but even stupid ol' me knows how important the Sonics were to Seattle. Question is: Have we learned our lesson? Will we believe the next forked-tongue Oklahoma Republican who tells us, "Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. I'm definitely keeping the Sonics in Sealle," all the while packing their fucking bags. I'm still kind of furious at the whole industry over that.

I realize life must go on, but we must learn out lesson, no? BTW, Los Angeles, you may remember, went through a football drought for nearly a decade when the Rams went to St. Louis(?). Now, we have two teams. I guess you can call it two teams. The Rams came back after the city promised them a brand new zillion dollar stadium where on one level you can watch the game in a heated, glass-enclosed Jacuzzi. And of course, once the Rams got their stadium - which is shared with the Chargers, they started losing, losing, losing. Does that sound vaguely familiar?

@13: i'm surprised (ok, not surprised) so many are unaware the conditions in Hamas' counterproposal, even though the no-withdrawal deal the US/Egypt/Qatar have set up would likely lead to a permanent ceasefire, if all the stages of hostage/prisoner exchanges are completed.

@15 Which is exactly why high speeds are limited to Priority 1 calls. And also why there's SPD policy that officers turn on sirens when doing high speed maneuvers. To, you know, minimize the risk to other people on the road. You're doing a Matrix-level duck and weave to avoid acknowledging the real issue--the officer didn't turn on his siren.

SFD can do this. They manage not to mow down pedestrians. Are they just a lot smarter than SPD?

@18 Naw, I'm just playing to the sometimes-friendly rivalry between cops and firefighters. But my general point stands. If SFD can manage to drive trucks and aid cars at high speed around Seattle without hitting anyone, why can't SPD? And just maybe there's a clue in the fact that SFD virtually always turns on the siren when they're responding at speed and SPD doesn't.

look both ways before you cross the street

I'm surprised the Stranger hasn't made an endorsement in the presidential primary (or really even mentioned it). Ballots have gone out and I received mine today.

Biden's two listed challengers are not serious about it. But there is an option to vote for an uncommitted slate of delegates -- and thereby tell the Democrats you want an open convention (unlikely, yes, but not unimaginable). That's how I'm voting, anyway.

BBC's Panorama did a piece this week on Hamas's funding. Those tunnels? Build with London Underground tube technology requiring workers who knew what they were doing, experienced designers, plumbers, civil engineers and other professions one wouldn't assume were widelly available inside Gaza (I mean, for heaven's sake, when they had to evacuate their communities, they had to do so on foot or in donkey carts.) Billons poured in from some of the Arab states, Iran. but I did not know that Hamas charged a 30% sales tax on everything sold in Gaza and were ruthless in collecting it.

Recommeded viewing, if you can get it.