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Good morning! It’s a grey one again, but after the deep, moody fog over the weekend, today is comparatively pretty bright. High of 49 and rainy, but we should get a break from the wet for a few hours in the middle of the day.
Election Update: Every race in Seattle has now been called. We know what City Hall will look like next year. (We technically won’t have the final counts until the window to cure ballots is closed next Monday, November 24, but they won’t change anything dramatically.) So now seems like a great time to remind everyone that Seattle just passed a progressive tax with more than 70 percent of the vote. The Shield Tax, championed by the unlikely pairing of Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Mayor Bruce Harrell, cut taxes for thousands of small businesses and raised taxes for the city’s largest, increasing the city’s revenue by at least $80 million. It’s the second time we’ve voted to support progressive revenue this year (the first was Proposition 1A, to fund social housing). Now let’s do it again. And again. And again.
Speaking of the Election: We know that we at the SECB complained about how long the vote took. We might have made a couple jokes about King County Election doing the whole count on a single abacus. But let us take a moment to clarify that the time it took to tally the election results was totally normal. It was a tight race, and voters turned out late, which is typical for an odd-year election. Why are we telling you this? Because after Mayor Bruce Harrell’s concession speech, someone in the crowd asked if he planned to ask for a recount, and he replied that “a lot of people were saying that I shouldn’t concede and that there were anomalies, differences, and stuff,” before skating past that and saying he was conceding anyway. KCE says there were no anomalies in the count. And it’s massively irresponsible to imply otherwise. Where have we heard that before?
All Eyes on Seattle: The national media have all been weighing in on Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson’s win. Most recently, the Washington Post (owned by our hometown start-up founder Jeff Bezos), decided to say their piece: that Harrell was the best mayor we’ve had in decades, that “residents find the city unaffordable because it’s long been a petri dish of failed progressive social experiments and absurdly high taxes,” and that Wilson would run businesses like Amazon out of the city. Then they ended by vaguely making fun of queer people. Good one, Jeff.
Dear John: According to the Seattle Times, SPD sent 21 letters to the homes of people who paid for sex on Aurora last month. This is part of SPD’s new program to try to shame Johns out of buying sex by staking out sex workers, photographing the cars that they lean into, and then sending those photos to the address the car is registered to, paired with a letter describing the suspected crime. There’s basically no evidence that shame is an effective deterrent in the sex industry. But the Mayor’s Office told both Publicola and the Seattle Times that they back this tactic, saying that it’s supported by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a right-wing group that has spent the last 60 years campaigning against same-sex marriage, sex toys, and comprehensive sex ed.
ICYMI: Starbucks’ PSLs and caramel macchiatos are still across the picket line, which means today is a very good day to find your new favorite indie coffee shop. They probably won’t add protein to your coffee, but can we collectively decide that that’s a good thing?
The Mariners and Naylor Are Getting Back Together: After helping get the Mariners closer to the World Series than they’ve ever been, first baseman Josh Naylor’s contract ended, and he was suddenly a free agent. But it turns out, the Mariners wanted to keep him just about as badly as he wanted to stay. So Naylor, one of the few players in the American League who’s capable of fitting an entire pack of gum in his mouth when he’s at bat, will be with the Mariners for another five years.
SCOTUS Takes on Trans Sports Case: The court plans to hear oral arguments in Little v. Hecox, on January 13. The Idaho case will decide if trans women and girls can play sports. Lindsay Hecox, the trans student at Boise State University who filed the case against Governor Brad Little, tried to get the case dismissed before it went to the Supreme Court because she was concerned that she’d “personally be subjected to harassment that will negatively impact [her] mental health, [her] safety, and [her] ability to graduate as soon as possible.” A federal judge denied the request, so we’re full steam ahead next year.
Trump Addresses Groypergate: Weeks after Tucker Carlson invited Holocaust-denying white supremacist Nick Fuentes onto his podcast, Trump has finally weighed in: “You can’t tell him who to interview.” Trump really only talked about Carlson, but that was all Fuentes needed to imply that his views had the co-sign of the White House. Fuentes had already taken Trump’s weeks of silence as implied support, and he shouted his thanks on social media on Sunday for Trump’s stamp of approval. If you’re not familiar with him, here are some highlights of what Trump just co-signed: he has repeatedly praised Hitler; he said that Jim Crow was “better for them”; and he said that women should be subordinate to their husbands.
Epstein Flip Flop: After running a massive pressure campaign to convince the GOP to lay off the Epstein files, Trump has now turned on his heel. “We have nothing to hide,” he wrote on Truth Social. Sure, Jan. House republicans are expected to vote on the release this week, but it’s not clear how long it’ll take for the files to be released, considering that move lies with Pam Bondi.
Buh-Bye: The Pentagon is pulling the National Guard out of Portland and Chicago. The Guard, sent from Texas and California, had been stationed in both cities since October, but never deployed because every judge they asked said absolutely not. Apparently, they just couldn’t handle these shithole cities.
Good News! If you’re travelling for the holidays, you can unclench your cheeks just a little bit. The FAA has lifted all restrictions for commercial flights as of 6 a.m. on Monday. So now Thanksgiving travel will just be the normal amount of hell.
