Good morning! We’ve got three more days of this perfect weather, and the universe very kindly made two of them a weekend. These are the days that out-of-towners don’t know exist here. Go hang out at a street-end park. Look for mushrooms in the arboretum. (But only eat them if you know what you’re doing!) Lock down a grill at Golden Gardens at an absurdly early hour, and text everyone you know.
But before all that, let’s stock up on the news so you can put it out of your mind for a few days.
Tesla Tax: We’re in the last few days of our state legislative session, and Dems came up with a delightful new way to help close our budget shortfall: a tax on Elon Musk. Oooobviously it doesn’t call him out by name. Instead, it specifically taxes the companies that made “windfall profits” from our state’s “cap and trade” style system for car manufacturers. (It’s way easier for companies to accrue emissions credit when they never made combustion engines in the first place.) State Republicans are calling it a targeted attack on Tesla; the bill’s sponsor, House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, said the data on our car-emission credits shows “one outlier” (Tesla) who is “very profitable,” and has built up most of the credits under the state’s program. “I don’t care who the CEO is,” Fitzgibbon said. I do. He’s been profiting off of American taxpayers for a decade, and he’s now literally the richest man in the world. Let’s get him.
Flip Flop: But in a good way. As of yesterday, eight international students at UW and Seattle U had gotten their legal status back. The reversals seemed to happen out of the blue—not as the result of a judge’s order. It’s a huge relief for the students, but one of the students’ lawyers reminded the Seattle Times that even though they’ve regained their status, there is “still plenty of damage” done by the administration to these students—including damage to their reputations and disruption of their studies. “[The government] might just be trying to brush it under the rug,” another lawyer warned. The Trump administration not taking responsibility for their actions? Never.
FBI Arrests Judge: This can’t be good. Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, tweeted and then deleted a post on X saying that they’d arrested Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan for obstructing the ICE arrest of an immigrant in her court (ally). According to local reports, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz was in Dugan’s courtroom for a pre-trial conference last week, for three misdemeanor counts of battery. When ICE arrived with an arrest warrant for him, Dugan took Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer to a side door in the courtroom, directed them down a private hallway, and into a public area. He didn’t evade arrest for long—ICE pursued him on foot and arrested him shortly after. CNN reports that Dugan’s in federal custody, waiting for her first appearance.
Target on ActBlue: Trump is siccing his administration on the main fundraising platform used by Democratic campaigns, and liberal and progressive orgs. In a memo to the AG and the treasury yesterday, he claimed that ActBlue is facilitating "illegal 'straw donor' and foreign contributions in American elections." This is all part of an explicit effort by Trump and Republicans in Congress to undermine Democrats’ and the left’s ability to campaign, and it’s already spooking organizations around the country that depend on this infrastructure.
LOL DOGE: Elon really is the punchline that keeps on giving. A new report from a nonprofit organization that studies the federal workforce called the Partnership for Public Service came up with a rough estimate of the cost of DOGE’s firings, re-hirings, lost productivity, and paid leave of thousands of workers. The total? Upward of $135 billion this fiscal year. What did Elon say he was ultimately saving the American taxpayers? $150 billion. Thanks for shaving that $15 billion off, bro. Looking forward to that $440 DOGE dividend check.
Superintendent Reykdal Showed the Fuck Up: Yesterday was the Trump administration’s deadline for K-12 schools to certify that they would not implement DEI programs, dangling the threat of their federal funding. In return, Washington state Superintendent Chris Reykdal told him where to shove it. “We will not sign additional certifications that lack authority, lack clarity, or are an assault on the autonomy of states and local school districts,” he wrote when the order first came down earlier this month. “We’re not going to walk away from teaching authentic history or supporting our students with disabilities or any of our DEI and equity work,” he told the Seattle Times yesterday. And we’re in good company: We’re joined by 18 other states who have refused to certify. Who’re the bootlickers? New Hampshire got an extra special shout-out from the Secretary of Ed for not just certifying that they wouldn’t do the “illegal DEI,” but building a whole website to tout each district’s certification. Ew.
Tomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day, and Seattle takes it seriously. Starting tomorrow, you’ve got 10 days to hit all 29 participating local lit shops. If you fill your passport, you get a 25 percent one-time discount at every store.
Parents Bill of Rights Heads to Ferg: The state Democrats’ version of the so-called Parents Bill of Rights is headed to the governor's desk. The new bill actually adheres to state law by eliminating language that grants parents access to their child's school-based medical and mental health records—protecting vulnerable kids like LGBTQ students. State Republicans threw a proper fit over the bill. One even delayed the vote by just standing up and yelling a lot. But it ultimately passed on party lines.
Remember George Santos? The 36-year-old gay Republican who lied his way to Congress and was then kicked out of it less than a year in? The disgraced New York representative and sunglass icon was sentenced today to 87 months in prison. Last year, he pleaded guilty to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his family members, to fund his (totally made up) winning campaign. At the time, he agreed to pay roughly $580,000 in penalties, and today, the judge decided what kind of prison time is going to be tacked onto that. His attorneys thought two years is reasonable, but prosecutors pushed for seven because he “remains unrepentant.” I’m guessing plugging his $100 Cameo profile right before sentencing probably didn’t help. Neither did calling them a “cabal of pedophiles.”
Festival News: It’s been a weird year for festivals. Capitol Hill Block Party is down to two days, and Day In Day Out announced that they’re taking 2025 off, but Modest Mouse won’t be deterred: they’re starting their very own music festival at Remlinger Farms. Called the Psychic Salamander Festival, it’s co-presented by the Seattle Theatre Group and will run on September 13 and 14. They even have a lineup already: Both nights will be headlined by Modest Mouse, but before that, you can see The Flaming Lips, Courtney Barnett, Built to Spill, the Vaudevillian and Mattress, Sleater-Kinney, Yo La Tengo, Friko, and Sun Atoms. Single-day tickets are $125, or you can go for the whole weekend for $225.
Here’s a little La Lom to ease you into Friday. And speaking of Remlinger Farms, they’ll be there next month!
