Good morning! Don those ThunderShirts my bitches, today's going to be a stormy one. Chance of showers, with a high of 71. [Editor's note: I had to Google it; I think it's a dog joke.]
Asylum-seekers march on county council: The 200 asylum-seekers who have camped next to an Econo Lodge in Kent since June plan to march to the King County Council meeting today. A release from one of the mutual aid groups supporting the migrants said that King County has slowly allowed the services at the camp, including showers, to deteriorate. The group plans to confront the council over "its hostile neglect of asylum-seeker housing." The march starts from Goat Hill Park at 12:45 pm, and the King County Council meeting starts at 1:30 pm.
ICYMI: Hannah covered a protest at Cal Anderson Park on Sunday, where demonstrators demanded that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris publicly support a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel when she speaks at the Democratic National Convention this week. The Biden-Harris Administration has supported a ceasefire plan, but it has not implemented an arms embargo "to actually stifle the carnage in Gaza," Hannah wrote.
And that carnage has wiped out entire families: The Guardian has a piece this week about eighteen members of the same family killed in an Israeli airstrike. The official estimate for the number of people killed in Gaza hovers at about 40,000, but government officials estimate thousands more bodies lay buried under the rubble.
For those of you who tap your ORCA cards: The fare system changes in 10 days. Starting August 30, Sound Transit plans to switch to a flat rate for the Link, rather than imposing a fare range of $2.50 to $3.50 depending on your destination. It's not a crazy change up, but it's good to know for those of us who forget to tap on the way out. (And also on the way in. Haven't caught me yet, Mr. Ambassador.) No, actually, I'm not that cool, I always tap. Also, Sound Transit, where the hell are my Boop toys? You create this little ORCA mascot, put out a bid for someone to make them, and yet, I've heard nothing. Where. Is. Boop?
The Sound Transit Uncertainty Principle states that "you can either know where the trains are going, or when the trains are going, but never both" pic.twitter.com/EqUmZXpWgf
— Skyhawk (@Skyhawkson) August 11, 2024
The Seattle Times fear-mongers about sex offender island: Real quick, we're going to take a second look at The Times piece about McNeil Island, a place where Washington sends people for sex offender treatment after they finish their criminal sentences. Based on the Times' framing, you'd think they discovered a huge number of people committing new sex offenses after the state released them from the island. What they actually found was that out of 179 people released over the past decade, 13 committed a new sexual offense. But, unshockingly the Times led the piece with a heinous example of one person who went on to commit a rape after release. An interesting tidbit buried in the piece is that the state released a record number of people from McNeil Island last year in part because the state had been "inflating the degree of dangerousness" of the residents "particularly after age 60." If you want to read a less biased reporting on civil commitment for sex offenders, check out The Marshall Project.
Former Seattle Police Department (SPD) Officer Daniel Auderer gives interview: Sad boy Auderer, who was fired from SPD after the department found he mocked the death of 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula, told Jason Rantz he never thought he'd be terminated from SPD. Honestly, me neither, Auderer. A good thing to remember about Auderer as he laments his forced departure from SPD is that even prior to his body camera catching him laughing at the death of Kandula, he already had a major disciplinary history. In 2015, he punched and choked a homeless man, twice in 2016 the department investigated him for punching women, including one who was handcuffed at the time, and in 2010 he and a group of officers nearly beat to death a schizophrenic man.
Speaking of cops: DivestSPD has a short piece today on SPD Officer Ernest Cleaves, who drove three times the speed limit without emergency lights while chasing an SUV. The department reprimanded Cleaves for the unauthorized pursuit, which Cleaves justified because the SUV had backed into his patrol car, which he considered an intentional assault on him.
George Santos pleads guilty: The downed diva pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the Associated Press. Basically, he stole identities to make donations to his campaign and deceived donors, but he also admitted in court to duping voters. He has to serve six years in prison.
When it’s all over I think history will confirm that the only person who actually had a brat summer was George Santos
— 🕳️ (@orinanne) August 19, 2024
Biden's bye-bye: President Joe Biden gave the closing remarks at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last night. He lauded his many accomplishments during his time in office and promised he wasn't angry at all about those backstabbing, two-faced, bastards who kicked him off the ticket. My favorite thing was that throughout the speech Biden kept correcting the crowd on their response to his speech, saying stuff like, "I'm not trying to be funny," and "That was a joke."
Notice me https://t.co/w4IHjZ2QHc
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) August 20, 2024
The room (and the internet) also loved AOC's speech: The Congresswoman from New York delivered a speech lauding Harris as a champion of the middle class, was one of two speakers who mentioned a ceasefire, framed Trump as slimy salesman who would "sell this country for a dollar," and said she'd gladly go back to bartending "because there's nothing wrong with working for a living."
AOC’s full DNC speech pic.twitter.com/4jHnHEl0mo
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 20, 2024
Next up tonight on the DNC: Vice President Kamala Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, takes the stage. Vox already called him a Zaddy, but anyone else who does it will face instant banishment. NPR has a little profile on the Second Husband and the potential first First Husband.
A little bit bouncy: I'm taking off this week Wednesday through Friday, and I kind of expect to be listening to this as I leave the city and hit some open road. Here's Pixey's "Million Dollar Baby."