The way things are looking now in two important congressional races? Kim Schrier's lead over Matt Larkin is stable. But Marie Gluesenkamp Perez over MAGA Joe Kent is losing steam, and quickly. He is now only behind by 6,600 votes. Perez was ahead by 10,000 points yesterday. In short, this is not good news because only 70% of the votes have been counted. This race is very much in the air, but the trend for Schrier is certainly much better. I will be sad if we get that Kent. The Clark County drop will make it clear the direction this race is going. 

Thank God the Seahawks are in some German city this weekend. A clusterfuck was avoided because Link will not have meaningful train service this weekend because the line between the stations at Capitol Hill and SODO will be down. If you can't drive like me, then use Metro and stay away from Link.

Tiffany should consider moving to Idaho. Her people are there.

A lesbian governor? Did I live long enough to live through this in Oregon? Damn! It's time to bite that bit called: Joining Idaho. What should Dems say about this? Sure. You can become Idaho only if DC becomes a state. Idaho is all yours.

The typewriter eraser sculpture thingy that was once in Olympic Sculpture Park, and once again at Paul Allen's Museum of Pop Art? It sold for [a cool] $8.4 million... at Christie’s New York." It was part of what is now the "biggest [sale] in auction history" ($1.6 billion). The money, it is said, will go to that institution that billionaires love way too much: charity.

A piece of mediocre art now worth $8.4 million? Let's read David Ricardo, the 19th century British economist and gentleman on this matter:

Some commodities [have a value] determined by their scarcity alone. No labour can increase the quantity of such goods, and therefore their value cannot be lowered by an increased supply. Some rare statues and pictures, scarce books and coins, wines of a peculiar quality, which can be made only from grapes grown on a particular soil, of which there is a very limited quantity, are all of this description. Their value is wholly independent of the quantity of labour originally necessary to produce them, and varies with the varying wealth and inclinations of those who are desirous to possess them.

While our mayor is all worried about graffiti, yet another Seattle pedestrian was killed by a car. This loss of life happened while I was gathering the PM you are reading now. Will there be another pedestrian hit before I finish writing? 

Arizona now:

And:

This was the mainstream media for the past 6 months (if not longer). It just did not stop. It was RED WAVE this. RED WAVE that. RED WAVE everywhere. And it didn't happen. Nothing like it. Not even close. But the blasting of this nonsense certainly had an emotional impact. My feeling is that the advantage the American right has over the American left is you can only be the former if you are sensitive to the suffering of others. This means you are sensitive to your social surroundings. This means blasting about all manner of nonsense (CRT, caravans, red waves—in short, the harming of others) comes from a segment of society that has the sensitivity of an alligator and impacts (with considerable force) a segment that has the sensitivity of a human being.

GOP, say goodbye to Michigan: "For the first time in four decades, Democrats are waking up to a state in which their party controls the House and Senate—a feat not done since the early 1980s."

GOP, get ready to say goodbye to Pennsylvania: 

 And:

The GOP flavor of the day? Blame Trump for their poor midterm performance. It had nothing to do with abortion rights activism, the push for college debt forgiveness, or low employment. No. It was all Trump. Just him and nothing else. WSJ: Trump Is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser. 

American innocence:

I just learned a few days ago that Erik Blood's masterpiece Touch Screens was released 10 years ago. This is what I wrote about the work in 2012:

I have listened to Touch Screens a hundred times. I know the record inside and out. I love it when an album seduces me so completely. The utter weakness of my lines of defense against the force of Touch Screens' 12 tightly packed tracks is a source of continuous pleasure for me. Something that approximates Barthian jouissance is felt when one surrenders to the erotic sounds and the vaporous mind of Touch Screens' maker, Erik Blood. Blood is a local musician/producer/sound engineer who has released two solo albums (one of which is a soundtrack for the Brazilian film Center of Gravity) and worked with Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, and the Moondoggies.

Yes, Erik Blood now lives in LA (sad emoji), but let's not get into all of that and just listen to my favorite tune from Touch Screens, "Luther."