Macklemore Robbed: Seattle police say the rapper’s Capitol Hill home was burglarized early Saturday morning, The Seattle Times reports. His nanny told police she’d just put Macklemore’s three children to bed when two men came in through the patio door. They doused her with bear spray. One of the men, who looked fearful, began helping the woman clean her eyes. The other asked where the “jewels” were. The men took jewelry, watches, and shoes worth thousands of dollars. To escape, the woman bit one of the men and ran outside to pound on doors until a neighbor answered. Police say the men were caught on video fleeing the home.
Washington Has New Secretary of Health: Dennis Worsham, all tan and gleaming teeth in his photo in The Seattle Times, will take over the state Department of Health this July. Worsham currently leads the Snohomish County Health Department and brings 32 years of experience.
Hot! It's sunny with a high near 81. We’ll start to cool back down tomorrow. I recommend a street end park.
Fire Evacuations Near Cle Elum: King 5 reports dozens of firefighters are battling a wildfire 7 miles outside the small central Washington city in Kittitas County. People in the immediate vicinity of the fire are under Level 2 (“be ready”) and Level 3 (“go”) evacuations. Crews worked through the night to contain the blaze, which has burned 60 acres and two buildings as of early this morning. The fire broke around 4 pm Monday. It's a person's fault, but the US Forest Service said it is still investigating.
Feds Take Over Search for Travis Decker: The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office still leads the criminal investigation into Decker, charged with allegedly killing his daughters. The search for Decker, 32, began after he fled with his three girls during a planned visitation. On June 2, Paityn Decker, 9, Evelyn Decker, 8, and Olivia Decker, 5, were found dead in an abandoned campsite not far from their father’s white pickup. They had zip ties on their wrists and plastic bags over their heads. They suffocated, an autopsy found.
A Memorial Concert for Michael Hurley: Hurley, a lesser-known but venerated folk musician, died in Portland, Oregon this April at 83. To honor his legacy, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie, Rachel Blumberg of Decemberists fame, and composer Robin Holcomb will pay tribute June 15 at Tractor Tavern. Here’s my forever favorite:
Speaking of greats: Sly Stone (of Sly and The Family Stone) died of lung disease Monday. He was 82. I like There’s a Riot Goin’ On best.
Trump Sent Marines to Los Angeles: After spreading the lie that Los Angeles would be in ruins if he hadn’t sent the California National Guard (without California’s permission) to stifle mostly peaceful protests against his administration’s immigration raids, President Donald Trump deployed 700 Marines to the city.
Is this all legal? California Governor Gavin Newsom doesn’t think so. He’s already sued Trump for deploying the National Guard without the state’s permission. He says he’ll do the same about the Marines. Trump says he has the authority under Title 10 of the United States Code to federalize the National Guard when the US is invaded or there is “rebellion or danger of rebellion.” Generally, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the US military for civilian law enforcement. But Title 10 - Section 12406 allows for the National Guard to protect federal agents and property as long as they’re not arresting anyone. Newsom’s lawsuit argues deploying the Guard without his permission in the first place violates federal law and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which protects states’ rights. There was no “invasion” or “rebellion” to quell in Los Angeles, the suit says.
What’s the history here? According to Reuters, Richard Nixon is the only president to invoke Section 12406. He directed the National Guard to deliver mail during a Postal strike in 1970. A state National Guard hasn’t been federalized since 1965. But that was to protect civil rights protesters marching from Selma, Alabama. This is different.
What about the Insurrection Act? Trump could also invoke the Insurrection Act, an emergency power that allows a President to use the military against civilians on domestic soil, whether or not a state consents. The Insurrection Act was last activated in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush sent troops to LA after four white police officers were acquitted for beating Rodney King, a Black man. In 2020, Trump sent National Guard troops from 11 states to Washington DC during the George Floyd protests against racist policing.
Don't Be Surprised: After leaving office, Trump regretted his “restraint” in 2020. He wanted to use the military to quash Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and even asked about shooting protesters. At one point, the 82nd Airborne was waiting on high alert outside of Washington DC. They were never deployed. The Pentagon fought Trump then, but Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a loyalist. Suppressing protest with military force has been on Trump’s mind. Back in 2023, the Washington Post reported Trump and his advisors began drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act to squash protests on his first day of office. Trump hates protest and challenges to his power. He’s already gone after foreign students who support Palestine. This is just another boot heel on Democracy.
RFK Jr. “Retires” All 17 Vaccine Experts on CDC Panel: Kennedy says the move, which he announced in the Wall Street Journal for some reason, would restore the public trust in vaccines the vast majority of the public already trusts and weed out “special interests.” Kennedy, who is an idiot as well as a conspiracy theorist, claims 97 percent of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had financial conflicts of interest. This lie is based on a 2009 report that found 97 percent of the disclosure forms had errors such as missing dates or information. Cutting experts out from decisions about who receives vaccines is an obvious attempt to supplant basic, proven vaccine science with crank ideas about vaccine safety and their non-existent link to autism.
Waymo-Whamo: The self-driving taxi company “limited” service in San Francisco after protesters in Los Angeles set a few of their robot taxis on fire. Waymo didn’t say where it would limit service or for how long.
Get in Winners, It’s Time to Read: Adult Book Bingo, the hottest collab of the summer from The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures, is here. If you need help filling out your bingo card before September, Julianne and Audrey have suggestions. I’ll add my own for the “monsters” space: Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. It’s about a diary found in a wall written by a Lutheran preacher in 1912 who took the confession of Good Stab, a Blackfeet vampire.
