The Stranger

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 21

Marcus Harrison Green — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 12:12:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Marcus Harrison Green

After nearly four decades of life on this dreary blue marble spent dodging mounting idiocy, there’s no mystery more perplexing than this: Why in the holy hell would anyone willingly choose to stuff cookies into their mouth?

They are hands down the most overrated dessert in the history of human creation, and it’s not even close. These little sugar bombs are nothing more than edible shame discs, consisting of sugar, flour, butter, and regret. As a snack, they’re the equivalent of Ed Sheeran: All the charisma of a dried wet nap but inexplicably able to attract a zealous flock of followers.

There should be a stronger word than hatred for my feelings about these Type 2 diabetes catalyzers. If we’re living in a computer simulation, then cookies are our petty programmer's way of doling out karmic justice for all my unpunished misdeeds, transgressions, and times I wished ill on every single one of my exes’ spouses on their wedding day.

I was of the belief that being assigned this cookie countdown was itself a punishment for all those little moments of spite.

But then—boom—a glitch in the matrix. Lo and behold, the shock and sheer mind-bending disbelief I experienced when I bit into a Hood Famous Ube cookie. Hand on heart, for a moment, I thought I’d died and gone to some alternate universe where cookies are actually worth eating. What the hell was this? Flavor? Joy? A cookie that didn’t taste like a lie besieged by sugar? I was floored.

Repeat after me: There is no other cookie other than the Ube cookie. This little purple confection isn’t just a dessert—it’s the color of royalty, nodding to the fact that it is the apex, the pinnacle, the final form of what a cookie was meant to be.

It’s not too sweet, not some sugary, soul-sucking mess. No, this cookie knows balance; call it the Buddha of baked goods. Added bonus? Your body won’t be feeling that slow, creeping death toward a future filled with daily insulin shots.

Ube is the closest approximation of heaven that a non-practicing atheist like myself will ever experience. Do yourself a favor, wander down to Hood Famous, and load up on what is quite literally the world’s only cookie. FACTS. Ube is the bear hug for your soul and taste buds so desperately needed in this current hellscape we call life. Get yourself one, and bite into some salvation.

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! Because life is hard, and sugar helps. Will things get weird? Maybe! There may have been a small fire during the first photo shoot! But hopefully, you'll also discover some new favorite treats to enjoy this season. Track our daily recommendations here! 🍪

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 20

Megan Seling — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:27:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling Soft Ginger Spice Cookie

The Pastry Project’s Pastry Kit Subscription

So far in this countdown, we’ve highlighted 19 cookies, and each one of them is a treasure. But something is missing. With the exception of Lindsay’s adorable gingerbread people from Post Punk Kitchen, all of our suggestions lack a significant piece of the holiday cookie experience: A home filled with the smell of fresh-baked cookies.

Which is why I’m suggesting today’s cookies, the Soft Ginger Spice Cookies from the Pastry Project. They look fussier and more time-consuming than they are. (Anything with icing looks fussy to me, tbh, because post-bake decoration often requires the very important step of waiting for the cookies to cool, and Jesus Christ who has the time or attention span for that?) The Pastry Project makes it easy.

When you subscribe to Pastry Project’s monthly pastry kit, you get in return a recipe and all the dry ingredients you need to make something delicious. For December’s installment, they sent me a cute box full of pre-measured sugar, flour, and spices, and all I needed was a stick of butter, an egg, and minimal effort. And I do mean minimal. I mixed the dough in under 10 minutes! Once the dough was chilled, I shaped it into balls and baked the cookies in under 15 minutes. I mixed the icing while they cooled and boom. Cookies. With very little mess and barely 30 minutes of effort.

I made these in the middle of a busy workday, that's how quick and easy they are! MEGAN SELING

What’s more, they’re actually really, very good cookies. So much better than the slice-and-bake shit at the store. They’re soft and cakey, with a crispy edge, and the icing adds a bright sweetness to balance out the spices. I baked them an hour ago and have eaten four already. (Even though the recipe card told me to wait until the icing hardens… I didn’t. No regerts.)

The best part? My husband walked into the kitchen just as I was pulling them out of the oven, and he exclaimed, “Holy fuck, it smells like Christmas in here.” Success!

This month’s box is available to order until Saturday, December 21. Hurry!

This Week in Seattle Food News

EverOut Staff — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:02:00 -0800

A New Thai Restaurant, Live-Fire Cooking, and Flemish Beef Sandwiches

by EverOut Staff This week, we're scoping out two new Ballard spots: the fancy, fire-fueled Eldr and the cozy new Thai destination Nua Thai Restaurant and Bar. Plus, find out where to acquire spicy seafood ramen and matcha cranberry bûches de Noël. For more ideas, check out our favorite Chinese restaurants in Seattle, our Christmas food guide, and our food and drink guide.

NEW OPENINGS & RETURNS

Eldr
Chef Brian Clevenger's General Harvest restaurant group opened this new live-fire cooking restaurant, named for the Old Norse word for "fire," in the former Samara space on December 10. A peek at the menu reveals dishes like beef tartare, grilled cabbage, black cod, and aged ribeye with chimichurri. A four-course chef's tasting menu is also available for $89 per person (minimum two guests).
Ballard

The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Seattle This Weekend: Dec 20–22, 2024

EverOut Staff — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:09:00 -0800

Trollstice Holiday Night Market, 11th Annual Dark Beer Fest, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15

by EverOut Staff

The "shortest day" of the year has arrived, which means we will slowly but surely start to gain back daylight time. Celebrate winter solstice at spirit-brightening events from Trollstice Holiday Night Market to a Winter Solstice Community Bike Ride and from A Very Seattle Christmas with Travis Thompson, charlieonnafriday to Flying Lion Brewing's 11th Annual Dark Beer Fest. Looking for even more things to do? Check out our guide to the top events of the week and our holiday guide.

FRIDAY LIVE MUSIC

A Holiday Benefit Show for The Skylark: Tomo Nakayama, Radon Radar, and The Loveless Building
In case you didn't hear, beloved West Seattle club the Skylark is being forced to relocate due to the expansion of the Sound Transit light rail. In the giving spirit of the holidays, local bands including electronic indie pop favorite Tomo Nakayama, power pop outfit the Loveless Building, and Radon Radar will rock the house to raise funds for the upcoming move. AUDREY VANN
(Skylark Cafe & Club, West Seattle, $10)

Ten Times Sara Nelson Engaged In The “Performative, Ideological” “Political Theater” She Decries

Hannah Krieg — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0800

Nelson’s Up For Reelection — Don’t Buy Her “Pragmatic Progressive” Schtick

by Hannah Krieg

Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson announced Wednesday morning her bid for re-election to the citywide Position 9 seat on Council. In her own self-mythos, Nelson portrays herself as a departure from “[y]ears of performative, ideological decisions” to “delivering real results – prioritizing safety, livability, and a city that works for everyone, not just political theater,” as she said in a press release. That schtick worked for her in 2021 when she ran as a referendum to the previous City Council, which had earned a reputation for taxing big business, protecting tenants, expanding workers' rights, and somewhat addressing the concerns raised by the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

But in just three years, Nelson transformed from the council’s political outsider to its ring leader. Now, after the reactive voting public overwhelmingly rejected her protégé, Tanya Woo, in favor of progressive Council Member Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Nelson now faces the challenge of defending numerous instances of her own “performative, ideological decisions” and “political theater” against an inevitable backlash candidate. That candidate has yet to emerge, but when they do, they’re welcome to reference this incomplete list of times Nelson made a little song and dance of her pro-cop, pro-business ideology.

Who needs a study when you have vibes: In her first months on the City Council, Nelson introduced a resolution “supporting the development” of an incentives program that aimed to attract new officers to the Seattle Police Department (SPD). A resolution —or a non-binding action by the council—is by definition “performative.” And, in true “ideological” fashion, she didn’t let inconvenient information slow her largely symbolic crusade. The Seattle Department of Human Resources (SDHR) found inconclusive results regarding the efficacy of hiring bonuses. In particular, SPD did not see an increase in applicants even with the City dangling thousands in front of them at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. The department even appeared to caution against hiring bonuses as it could make current employees feel undervalued, leading to more departures. In an April 2022 committee meeting, Nelson encouraged her colleagues to dismiss the City’s findings — “This is one area where we don't need a consultant, really, to study the benefit of incentives,” she said. Instead, she pushed for immediate implementation of the policy, despite lacking evidence that it would effectively boost staffing levels.

With little influence on the body, she couldn’t do much more than that. But lucky for her, she had a powerful ally in Mayor Bruce Harrell — at least when it came to cops. In July 2022, Harrell announced his plan to allow SPD to dole out hiring bonuses of up to $30,000 for lateral hires and $7,500 for new recruits. Later that summer, the City Council approved a hiring incentives pilot program. More than two years later, the City remains about 500 officers short of their decidedly unpragmatic goal of a force of 1,400 during a national staffing shortage. According to KOMO, despite the hiring bonuses, SPD lost 40 officers and gained only 15 in the first six months of 2024. Nonetheless, the council renewed the incentive program this year, even increasing the bonuses for lateral hires to $50,000.

Nelson does a little interference as a treat: In July 2022, Nelson took a firm stance against former Council Member Andrew Lewis’s move to put Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) on the ballot next to an initiative for approval voting —a relatively untested system that seemed designed to favor moderates and establishment normies. Nelson, in a written statement and on the dais, accused the council of “interfering” with the will of the people in a rushed, opaque process. At the time, one could speculate that she made such a scene because she supported approval voting over RCV, but she insisted her vote against adding RCV to the ballot actually symbolized a vote for “good governance.” That principled stance crumbled when earlier this year lefties gathered enough signatures to put a tax on corporations to fund social housing on the ballot. Nelson folded, joining her council colleagues in supporting a pro-business alternative, drafted up in a suspicious process that could leave the council vulnerable to recalls. The curtain closed on Nelson’s outrage about good governance over council interference — No encore.

An unsupportive supporting character: During budget negotiations in 2022, Nelson misrepresented the opinion of LaNesha DeBardelaben, the then president and CEO of Northwest African American Museum (NAAM), in order to further her own agenda. Nelson argued against an amendment to reroute $500,000 from the SPD advertising budget to NAAM for desperately needed repairs, claiming the DeBardelaben told her in a phone call that she was “disappointed” the funding would come at the expense of the cops. DeBardelaben told The Stranger that Nelson “egregiously misconstrued” their conversation. “I would never go against any amendment that invests $500,000 into the Northwest African American Museum,” DeBardelaben told The Stranger at the time. “... NAAM is a cultural gem for children, for elders, for families, for artists, for the constituents of all city council members, and for everyone.” And why would she misrepresent DeBardelaben? Nelson never answered The Stranger’s request for comment, but it seems pretty clear she used DeBardelaben to bolster a defense around her police maximalist agenda. Seems ideological to me!

Grandstand: In the world of political theater, Nelson might deserve a Tony nomination for the following performance. In 2022, Nelson joined with former Council Member Alex Pedersen, another conservative outlier, in a symbolic vote against the 2023-2024 budget. This was despite the fact that the two received basically everything they wanted in the package, especially when it came to cops. The budget increased police funding from $355 million to $370 million, fully funded the Mayor’s ambition to hire 120 additional officers, and allocated $4 million in hiring bonuses. Since the budget’s passage was already assured,, “performative” seems an apt description of their little stunt. It drips with irony when you consider how conservatives like Nelson accused former Council Member Kshama Sawant of epitomizing “performative” and “ideological,” stances yet both Nelson and Pederson mirrored Sawant’s long standing practice of casting symbolic votes against the budget —something Pedersen himself had previously criticized.

This one’s dedicated to the Downtown Seattle Association: After the State moved to recriminalize drugs in 2023, the City Council had no obligation to enshrine such a law on the City level, but Nelson, in partnership with Republican City Attorney Ann Davison, decided to anyway. She forced – and rushed – a mostly redundant virtual signal to carceral interests such as the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), which was hungry to put drug users in jail where they would be, temporarily, out of sight and out of mind. The dramatic affair became a wedge issue in the 2023 campaign and may have been the nail in the coffin for Lewis’s re-election campaign. But did it solve so-called “street disorder?” Apparently not to the council’s own standard.his year, the new conservative majority marked new Stay Out Of Drug Area (SODA) zones to banish those charged with drug crimes in an effort to spread street disorder around so as not to offend Seattlites and tourists with the jarring sight of poverty and the public health crisis.

Ritual sacrifice: In her first two years, Nelson had limited ability to do anything beyond the symbolic without help from the Mayor. But the tables turned after the 2023 election filled City Hall with her political allies who elected her council president over two more experienced members, Council Members Dan Strauss and Tammy Morales. Despite running in 2021 as a “pragmatic progressive” and leaning on similar branding in her re-election launch, Nelson’s first move as Council President did not fit the criteria for either “pragmatic” or “progressive.” She fired head of central staff Esther Handy, a highly unusual and shocking move that, while within her purview as president, flew in the face of pragmatism, according to City Hall insiders. And, those insiders couldn’t help but see a political motive in the firing. Handy, who served effectively under both progressive and conservative council presidents, still carried progressive stink on her from her time working at Progress Alliance and Puget Sound Sage. Nelson then replaced Handy with then Director of the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts (OERF), Ben Noble, who seemed to better align with her ideology as a proponent of fiscal austerity.

Grab the popcorn: When conservatives bemoan “political theater,” they're often calling for civility, which usually boils down to keeping your volume down and avoiding personal attacks on colleagues. However, Nelson took part in one of the most scandalous personal attacks on Morales, which eventually led to her resignation. The council had to fill an open seat when former Council Member Teresa Mosqueda left the body for the County Council earlier this year. Disregarding the will of the voters, the council voted to appoint Tanya Woo, immediately following her loss to Morales. Morales took offense to the appointment, viewing it as a decision influenced by the majority’s corporate donors. She called the appointment a “foregone conclusion,” reducing the public process to little more than a puppet show. Adding to the insult, the council’s choice of someone who had actively campaigned against Morales felt like a deliberate slight—especially as Morales was already isolated as the sole member outside the conservative bloc.

How I wish we had the full footage: Nelson's flair for the dramatic resurfaced in February 2024 when she couldn't help but accuse left-leaning public comment regulars, namely Stop The Sweeps, of exploiting the plight of refugee families to advance their own anti-surveillance agenda, as if the two issues couldn’t be directly and clearly connected. Her evidence? A few Instagram infographics urging people to sign up for public comment on Tuesday to support demands for housing and to oppose ShotSpotter. She called the show of solidarity “craven political opportunism” and limited public comment to just 20 minutes as punishment for the behavior. Surprise, the move backfired. Public commenters got pissed and staged an impromptu protest since Nelson denied them the official channels through which to levy concerns. The ordeal ended in six arrests and an hour and a half delay, meaning it would have actually saved time and some heat from the press to listen to her constituents rather than silence them. But the spectacle of publicly airing your personal beef with activists and eventually throwing them in jail is probably more satisfying.

Cliffhanger: Despite her new power, Nelson’s biggest political endeavor of the year petered out without explanation, calling into question her characterization as a politician who “delivers real results” instead of engaging in virtue signals to her corporate overlords. Nelson embarked on a dramatic crusade against the newly established gig worker minimum wage earlier this year. But after a huge backlash from organized labor and ethical concerns that jeopardized her anti-worker majority, she gave up the fight and we haven’t heard a peep since. One might also characterize the ordeal as theater because she claimed to have conducted stakeholding with both sides of the debate. However, the group she cited as representing workers' interests was, in reality, an organization aligned with Uber's agenda.

Cyberbully (2011) starring Emily Osment City Council: Most recently, her council came under fire after Morales announced her upcoming resignation in a scathing press release that accused her colleagues of bullying her, undermining her legislation, and eroding the institution as a whole. Addressing cultural issues like these are all of the council members’ responsibility, especially the council president. Although Nelson denies it, she failed to create an environment where everyone could reasonably do their job for their constituents. Instead, she allowed, without public pushback or apology, the City Council to openly scold Morales on the dais, stunts that reinforced to both Morales and the public the new power dynamics on the council.

I’m sure I missed some of Nelson’s not-so-pragmatic and not-so-progressive moments during her tenure on the council and I’m almost positive we’ll see more theatrics before election day, but 10 examples seem like a good enough counter argument to her self-branding.

Behind the scenes, politicos speculate Nelson will struggle to win this election. According to a poll by Northwest Progressive Institute conducted earlier this year, only 22% of likely voters approve of Nelson’s job performance and 32% said they disapproved. Her disapproval rate ranks even higher than Woo’s, who lost spectacularly to newcomer Rinck. As I reported following Rinck’s blowout win, Washington Community Alliance (WCA) data analyst Andrew Hong chalks up the pendulum swing to Rinck to a uniquely reactionary voting public that holds an anti-incumbent bias rather than progressive ideals newly awoken between the 2023 election and the 2024 election.

Nelson’s consultant, Ben Anderstone, echoed Hong’s analysis in November, arguing voters who went center in 2023 picked Rinck in 2024 for “not-especially-ideological reasons.”

“Seattle City Council never really stopped being unpopular,” Anderstone said previously.

Anderstone, who did not want to speak directly about his client, said incumbents are not destined to lose, “but any incumbents need to effectively message around [voter’s] frustrations.”

Nelson, in her press release announcement, acknowledged there’s still work for the council to do.

"Seattle isn’t where it needs to be yet, but we’ve come a long way. We’ve shifted from failed policies to approaches that are starting to work, and I’m committed to seeing those efforts through,” she said. "By the end of this next term, I want our residents and people nationwide to know Seattle turned an impossible situation around by tackling tough issues and playing to its strengths.”

Slog AM: Starbucks on Strike, ICE Complies in Advance, Harrell's War on Graffiti Continues

Hannah Murphy Winter — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 08:46:00 -0800

Seattle's only news roundup. by Hannah Murphy Winter

Happy Solstice! And welcome to the longest night. The sun will set at 4:20 pm today, and won’t come back until 7:55 am tomorrow morning. Solstice “day” is officially tomorrow. Build a bonfire, light candles, get witchy. (The Seattle Times has a roundup of nighttime walks in the woods). And after we celebrate our longest night, the days start getting longer again.

Harrell’s war on taggers: Lol. King County prosecutors filed more than 30 criminal cases against 16 taggers around Seattle. Most of the charges are for first- and second-degree malicious mischief (which all sounds very festive). The charges focused mostly on two big crews that you’ve probably seen on onramps around town: MSP, or “Making Suckas Panic” and BTM, “Big Time Mobb.” DOTCOM also got a shoutout. At a press conference, Prosecutor Leesa Manion called it “felony-level behavior,” and Seattle police Detective Robert Belshay called it “basically organized crime.” Prosecutors said that they’re only looking for restitution in these cases, so at least they admit that they’re in it for the cash.

Update from Ashley at 9:15 am!

Seattle's new top hog: Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Shon Barnes as Seattle's new chief of police Friday. Barnes currently leads the police department in Madison, Wisconsin. Unlike in Harrell's last police chief search, he held absolutely zero public forums to solicit public input. If Harrell had, people might have brought up accusations that Barnes mishandled police accountability cases and asked an officer about her sexual orientation in their exit interview. I'd want to avoid that if I was Harrell. Barnes still needs to be confirmed by City Council.

Obeying (and profiting) in advance: The ACLU announced yesterday that through a FOIA request, they obtained records that revealed that “ICE is actively considering proposals to expand immigration detention in California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington state.” One of the proposals is from GEO Group Inc., which already operates Washington’s only for-profit prison: the Northwest ICE Processing Center, which according to La Resistencia, has seen 13 hunger strikes this year alone.

Get your flu shots, kids: Vaccination rates are down across the country, but we’re really taking the cake here in Washington. Child flu vaccination rates are down 15.9 percentage points—more than double the nationwide decline. King County’s mostly keeping it together (we only dipped by a few percentage points) but the state numbers are concerning: So far this flu season, the CDC has reported 200 pediatric flu deaths, a record high for a non-pandemic flu year. I know it sucks for like, a second, but get your shot.

Birds and Cows and Cougars, Oh My: Farmers are calling the bird flu “Covid for Cows.” The virus has hit California dairy farms hard—impacting more than 600 of them in the last four months. Meanwhile here in Washington, two wild cougars died of the same flu. (TIL that our cougar population is small and pretty inbred, so they’re especially vulnerable to disease. The more you know!) So far we’ve had 14 confirmed and probable cases in humans in the state. The CDC still maintains that the risk to humans is low, but cougars and California dairy farmers are feeling anxious.

Justice for Ayşenur: The family of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Seattlite who was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, met with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week to demand a U.S. investigation into her killing. Eygi’s widower, Hamid Ali, told the Seattle Times that even their “low expectations were not met.” Her sister told the paper that Blinken “essentially said he wouldn’t be doing anything.” The family is trying to talk to members of Congress who might be willing to put pressure on the administration.

ICYMI: Got a uterus? Got good news for you. Yesterday, Stranger contributor Megan Burbank reported on a new bill that was introduced into the Washington state legislature that would require medical professionals to discuss pain management options before inserting an IUD. From Megan: “If you’ve ever gotten an IUD—or talked to a fellow drunk girl in a bathroom line for just a little too long—the pain that can accompany an insertion is not new information. When I surveyed IUD users—or would-be users—about their experiences most recently, I was immediately flooded with responses describing ‘mind-bending pain,’ prolonged failed insertion attempts, repeated uses of the word ‘brutal,’ and comparisons to things like ‘a small dragon … trying to claw out of my body for 24-36 hours.’” The cervixes of Washington state thank you, Rep. Amy Walen.

The Strike Before Christmas: Get your peppermint mocha somewhere else, Starbucks is going on strike today. Stranger Contributor Conor Kelley reported that their bitter negotiations have reached a breaking point. Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) said that the company has failed to bargain in earnest, so they’re launching 5 days of escalating walkouts, starting today. Read more about it here.

We did it! Remember when murder hornets were one of the seven plagues visited upon us in 2020? Well officials announced that we’ve eradicated them from the United States. "It is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects," said Sven Spichiger, an entomologist with the Washington state Department of Agriculture, to KUOW.

Keeping the lights on? For the 20-somethingth time since 1976, the government could shutdown tonight. Looming shutdowns always feel like political theater, but this time, the President-elect is trying to swing his dick around before he’s even in office, attempting to shoehorn in a two-year suspension of the federal debt limit. House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected that proposal, but now we’re back to where we started. If the government shuts down, a reminder that it’s a huge worker issue. Many will be furloughed, and their work will halt (which already sucks) but workers that are considered “essential”—including 59,000 TSA workers—will be forced to work through the shutdown without pay.

Mangione could face the death penalty: Luigi Mangione, who’s charged with the fatal shooting of the UHC CEO, was already charged in New York, where the death penalty is illegal—meaning the most severe punishment he could receive would be life without parole. But yesterday, prosecutors added four federal charges for stalking across state lines and murder. The majority of states (27 of ‘em) have stopped using the death penalty, including New York and Washington state. Cuz maybe the government shouldn’t kill people.

A little treat: A touch of very lesbian country for your morning. Julien Baker (who, at the very least, you know as one third of boygenius) and indie singer-songwriter TORRES teamed up for the queer country album of your dreams, and “Sugar in the Tank” is their first single. It’s been stuck in my head for days and I’m not mad at it.

Seattle's Only News Quiz

Sally Neumann & Leah Caglio — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 08:15:00 -0800

Seattle's Only News Quiz by Sally Neumann & Leah Caglio

Create your own user feedback survey

Starbucks Workers Union Launch “Strike Before Christmas”

Conor Kelley — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 08:05:00 -0800

Bitter negotiations between Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) have reached a breaking point. On Thursday night, SBWU announced that in response to the company’s failure to bargain in earnest, they will launch five days of escalating walkouts starting Friday, December 20. These strikes could potentially include hundreds of stores nationwide—just in time for Christmas. by Conor Kelley

SBWU says the walkouts, which they’ve dubbed The Strike Before Christmas, are in response to the company’s refusal to honor their public commitment in February to finalize a framework contract with their unionized workers before the end of the year.

Three contentious years since the first Starbucks store voted to organize, SBWU was hoping the company would come to the table this week with a final proposal the two sides could agree on. Instead, in their final bargaining meeting, Starbucks offered no new wage increases, only a 1.5% increase in future years, and no resolution to the hundreds of Unfair Labor Practice charges lodged against the company by its workers.

This is in sharp contrast to the contract Starbucks recently offered their new CEO. “In September, Brian Niccol became CEO with a compensation package worth at least $113 million. It’s worth a shocking 10,000 times the median hourly wage for a barista,” said Michelle Eisen, a 14-year Buffalo Starbucks barista and bargaining delegate.

On December 17, 98 percent of union partners voted to authorize the strike if necessary.

“Nobody wants to strike. It’s a last resort, but Starbucks has broken its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no choice,” said Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a bargaining delegate and Starbucks barista from Texas who has been with the company for five years.

As I reported last month, Starbucks’ newfound civility with the union was hard to believe given the company’s history and its close relationship with notoriously vicious union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson. Nevertheless, SBWU representatives swore the talks were collaborative.

Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee agreed at the time, stating, “Workers United and Starbucks continue to make considerable progress on the framework intended to be the basis of each single-store contract. We look forward to making additional progress in future sessions, remaining steadfast in our goal to reach ratified contracts for partners in represented stores by the end of this year.”

But even as they publicly made statements like these, their representatives at Littler Mendelson were filing statements in court on their behalf attacking the National Labor Relations Board as an illegitimate government body, even claiming, “the National Labor Relations Act is unconstitutional.”

According to Starbucks Workers United bargaining delegate Michelle Eisen, the company shifted its bargaining strategy this fall, pumping the brakes on any progress toward a deal with the union.

“In October, November, and December, Starbucks failed to bring viable economic proposals to the table that included real investment in baristas,” she says. “This is backtracking on months and months of progress and promises from the company to work toward an end-of-year framework ratification.”

Ironically, Starbucks’ animosity toward its workers actually seems to have fueled SBWU’s recruiting efforts. The union has grown to represent 11,000 workers over 535 stores, adding more than 100 new stores this year alone. This week they even added the Reserve location inside of Starbucks Headquarters in SoDo.

The walkouts will begin later this morning, in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Unless the company comes back to the table with a “serious economic proposal,” the strike will grow to include hundreds of stores nationwide right before Christmas—one of Starbucks’ busiest times of the year.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Starbucks said, “Workers United delegates prematurely ended our bargaining session this week. It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date.”

Those seeking to support these workers in their fight for a fair contract can join them on the picket line at the Pike Street Starbucks Reserve Roastery at 1124 Pike Street on Friday, December 20 at 3 PM PT.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include comment from Starbucks.

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 19

Megan Seling — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:18:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwich

Temple Pastries’ Ice Cream & Sandwich Window

Earlier this year, Temple Pastries launched their Ice Cream & Sandwich Window, a walk-up window next to the Central District bakery that offered summery lunch items like sandwiches, ice cream, and housemade chips. It was a godsend during the warmer months—their ice cream menu included soft serve in flavors like pandan, mango, strawberry sumac, and cherry vanilla, but, as is the case for so much of summer’s bounty, they suspended the ice cream program after Labor Day.

But this month they’ve broken their own “no ice cream in the winter” rule, at least temporarily, to introduce the gingerbread ice cream sandwich.

A thick and creamy puck of Gingerbread-spiced ice cream is tucked between two soft gingerbread cookies, and because that’s not enough ginger, they’ve dipped it in ginger-y coating. While it may look like a creamy ice cream sandwich, it should come with a warning because the ginger kick is not at all subtle. The cookies are almost hot, with enough ginger that a slow burn started to build up in the back of my throat that thankfully got extinguished with each bite of ice cream. The ginger burns so brightly, in fact, our social media manager Christian Parracco says he’d classify it as a Not for Kids cookie and I’m inclined to agree. (Though I know several kids who love Flamin’ Cheetos and Takis so maybe they’d be into it.)

If you want something more traditional (and shelf-stable) for your holiday cookie platter, you can grab one of Temple’s cookie tins, or build your own selection, like I did, with their current selection that includes plum linzer, chocolate-dipped mint cookies, cardamom sugar cookies.

More of Temple's holiday offerings. BILLIE WINTER

I Saw U: Wearing Elf Ears, Shopping With Your French Bulldog, and Waving in the U-Haul Parking Lot

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 15:30:00 -0800

See someone? Say something! by Anonymous

Leather Jacket Neighbors Trolley Stop Hottie

You: Leather jacket with a cute grin with a chin scar leaning against the rail Me: short guy trying to nervously move around you to tap my orca card

cute and funny (beanie wearing) cinema seat-neighbor ⭐️

lost you in the crowd but if you watched interstellar on 12/17 at the regal theater on thornton pl. seat j8? hmu! let’s watch mission impossible next~

French Bull Dog at PetSmart

In line buying dog food at a PetSmart in Renton. You came in and let me pet your Black Frenchie named Biggie smalls. Want a doggie play date?

Cute blond guy on 8 bus

We caught each other’s eyes and smiled - you on the Seattle Center-bound 8 bus at 2:30 PM; me, a redhead in a green coat.

Blonde Christmas elf with a great laugh

You: Cute blonde wearing elf ears working the Miracle Christmas pop-up Me: Wishing I knew how to make drinking eggnog sexier Dinner date?

Queers in the Ballard U-Haul parking lot

My partner and I pulled out of the parking lot at the same time as the two of you. You waved at us knowingly and we laughed. Completely made our day.

Home Depot on Lander

Me-hunting for incandescent bulbs with my dog You-tall, handsome, and helpful Wish-that I would’ve given you my number

Mac from Lex

you posted about homophobia & it was the realest thing i’ve read in a while, but then you deactivated :( are you out there? can we be friends

Say Goodbye to 2024 at These New Year's Eve Events in Seattle

EverOut Staff — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 15:00:00 -0800

Our Top 10 Picks for Events to Welcome 2025 in Style

by EverOut Staff

In the spirit of the countdown to 2025, we've picked 10...9...8...you get it... of the best ways to send 2024 off with a bang. Whether you want to dance the night (and year) away or spend the final moments of the year in a more lowkey setting, read on for options including New Year's at the Needle, Pink Martini's 30th Anniversary Tour, and New Year's Eve A Go-Go! For more ideas, peruse our full New Year's Eve calendar.

Artist Home's 11th Annual New Year's Eve Bash
For the eleventh year running, the Seattle-based talent-acquiring, event-promoting, and artist-consulting collective Artist Home will host a New Year's Eve bash featuring artists they've worked with. Dance your way into 2025 to holiday-appropriate covers from Seattle musicians like Smokey Brights, Black Ends, Wild Powwers, BYLAND, Midnight High, Tomo Nakayama, Mikey Moo, and many others. AUDREY VANN
(Tractor Tavern, Ballard)

Having an IUD is Great. Getting One Can Be Terrible

Megan Burbank — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 14:17:00 -0800

When Rep. Amy Walen (D-48) accompanied a young woman to an insertion appointment, she found this lack of pain control horrifying. So horrifying that she’s prefiled a bill for the upcoming 2025 legislative session addressing it. House Bill 1077 would require clinicians to discuss pain management with patients before IUD insertions. by Megan Burbank

The appeal of the IUD is undeniable: When you can get pregnant and don’t want to, 10 baby-free years feels like a miracle, something you’d be willing to suffer for at least a little. But for a lot of patients, the pain that comes with an IUD insertion is way more than “a little.” And worse, the pain is often downplayed by providers—if it’s even addressed at all. When Rep. Amy Walen (D-48) accompanied a young woman to an insertion appointment, she found this lack of pain control horrifying. So horrifying that she’s prefiled a bill for the upcoming 2025 legislative session addressing it. House Bill 1077 would require clinicians to discuss pain management with patients before IUD insertions.

Walen hopes her bill will raise awareness about the very real pain that can accompany this extremely routine procedure: IUDs are one of the most popular forms of long-acting birth control on the market. She wants to keep other people from experiencing the intense pain she witnessed in the patient she accompanied, whose pain was intense and unrelenting. “It was really, really upsetting how painful it was for her,” said Walen.

With state legislatures across the country understandably focused on abortion access since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, it’s unusual to see policies like Walen’s, which specifically focus on IUDs.

But maybe it shouldn’t be.

If you’ve ever gotten an IUD—or talked to a fellow drunk girl in a bathroom line for just a little too long—the pain that can accompany an insertion is not new information. When I surveyed IUD users—or would-be users—about their experiences most recently, I was immediately flooded with responses describing “mind-bending pain,” prolonged failed insertion attempts, repeated uses of the word “brutal,” and comparisons to things like “a small dragon … trying to claw out of my body for 24-36 hours.” These were concerning, but they were also deeply familiar.

Stories like these are the subject of casual conversations over brunch or a beer. One friend of mine described pain that lingered for days after her insertion. Another, who fainted during her appointment, attempted to put a positive spin on things: “One shining silver lining was my nurse was a hot dyke and caught me when I fell off the table and I woke up in her arms,” she said. Removal was memorably bad, too, for a former colleague of mine. “When having it extracted, my doctor (and an intern) couldn’t get it out,” she said. “He spent 30 or 45 minutes yanking on it from various angles as I tried not to scream.”

My editor knows a woman whose first IUD insertion was so painful that years later, when she returned to get it replaced, she had a full-blown panic attack. Her body was so tense that they weren't able to safely complete the procedure.

Even women who’ve given birth describe the pain of IUD insertion on particularly gnarly terms. Elinor Jones, better known as the celebrity gossip columnist at our sister paper the Mercury, described an insertion attempt that had to be stopped because it was so painful it was “like knives.” Annie Jurrens, who’s been through two unmedicated births, described her IUD insertion as one of “acute pain, like being stabbed in an internal organ.”

Given the grim state of reproductive health care in America, stories like these—where things really devolved, but no one died or was permanently injured—might seem like minor inconveniences, hot nurse or not. And juxtaposed with the horrors visited upon people who had first-generation IUDs like the infamous Dalkon Shield, perhaps they are. A claw-like device with a sci-fi name, the Dalkon Shield’s design led so many users to develop pelvic inflammatory disease that it became the subject of one of the largest tort liability cases in history.

It’s an unqualified good thing that the Dalkon Shield is off the market, but its existence seems to have set the bar in hell for future IUD experiences. You wouldn’t know this from the next-gen IUDs’ branding, ensconced in the soft focus of marketplace feminism, with imaginary girls’ names that sound like they’re written in cursive on a wooden sign inside HomeGoods: Skyla, Mirena, Kyleena. (The eminently practical ParaGard is the only exception to this: As the oldest and only non-hormonal option in the gang, the copper T is like the used Subaru hatchback of IUDs, and I mean that as the highest praise.)

Despite this rosy marketing—and the very real pain they felt—the IUD users I spoke to said they received little or no advance warning that their procedures might be painful. Some were told just to take ibuprofen beforehand, others weren’t even given that advice. One was told scheduling the insertion during her period would make it easier, “but it just resulted in the whole fiasco being an absolute bloodbath,” she said.

There’s a reason for this bizarro dissonance between brutal patient experiences and provider attitudes toward pain management and support: Research suggests that patients and providers perceive the pain of IUD insertion differently. A 2015 study published in The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care found that while most IUD insertions “appeared acceptable to most patients,” providers “tended to underestimate the degree of pain experienced by their patients during IUD insertion procedures.”

That could be changing. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines for clinicians inserting IUDs to encourage conversations about pain management with patients before the speculum comes out. The CDC now recommends the use of topical or injected lidocaine, which numbs the cervix. Misoprostol, also used in medication abortions, may be helpful for some patients, but it’s not suggested for typical use.

It’s not clear what role, if any, legislative policies like Walen’s will have in advancing these updated clinical guidelines, beyond drawing attention to them. Sarah Prager, an abortion provider in Seattle, was skeptical of the approach. “There already exists a lot of guidance around offering/providing pain management for IUD insertions (including newer advice from the CDC within the Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraception Use (published updates this year),” she said. “I 100% agree expanded options for pain management should be offered/available, but I disagree that legislation is the appropriate vehicle for achieving this.”

But one thing is always worth remembering: A good doctor (the kind you deserve) will realize you’re in pain, and do something about it. “I was ready to power through,” said Jones. “I am grateful for my (female) doctor being like ‘You are in too much pain and I don’t recommend continuing.’” But if you’re at the doctor’s office and something is painful, you’re allowed to speak up.

Ticket Alert: Nate Bargatze, Sarah Millican, and More Seattle Events Going On Sale This Week

EverOut Staff — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 13:46:00 -0800

Plus, They Might Be Giants and More Event Updates for December 19

by EverOut Staff

Nate Bargatze, “the nicest man in stand-up,” has added a second show to his Big Dumb Eyes tour. British comedian Sarah Millican will pop across the pond for her bawdy Late Bloomer tour. Plus, alt-rock funnymen They Might Be Giants have added a third show to their stint at the Neptune next June. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

ON SALE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20

MUSIC

Arch Enemy: Blood Dynasty 2025 Tour
The Showbox (Apr 19, 2025)

Cavalera – Third World Trilogy Tour
El Corazón (Feb 26, 2025)

The Cave Singers
Tractor Tavern (Apr 26, 2025)

Our Favorite Chinese Restaurants in Seattle

EverOut Staff — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 12:05:00 -0800

Dim Sum, Dumplings, and More

by EverOut Staff Eating Chinese food on or around Christmas is a beautiful and time-honored tradition. In the past, Chinese restaurants were the only businesses open on Christmas Day, so Jews and other non-Christian immigrants often sought refuge there during the holiday. (My dad's side of the family has Chinese and Jewish ancestry, so I'm extra tickled by this melding of cultures—we usually dine at the iconic Tai Tung sometime between Christmas and New Year's.) Whether you're accustomed to ordering egg foo young every Yuletide or would just like to try something new this year, we've gathered our favorite Chinese restaurants in the city for your consideration.

CANTONESE

A+ Hong Kong Kitchen
This lively Chinatown fixture is one of the best places in the city to avail yourself of a comforting Hong Kong-style meal. I'm particularly fond of the salty-sweet peanut butter French toast, the tingly beef malatang, and the cheesy, melty baked pork chop with rice, but you really can't go wrong. Pair the rich food with a refreshing mango pomelo sago drink or iced Ribena (a blackcurrant beverage popular in Hong Kong) with lemon.
Chinatown-International District

Video Premiere: “Sweetie Pie” by Mikey Moo

Megan Seling — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:00:00 -0800

To mark the release of Fresh Idiot on vinyl, Lee is also releasing a new video for the song “Sweetie Pie.” by Megan Seling

This year, long-time friend of The Stranger and Saint John’s co-owner Mikey Moo (aka Michael Lee) released his debut full-length, Fresh Idiot. I had to do a double take when I read that this was his debut—Lee has been playing around town for years in the Young Evils, the Unfit, and the joke-loving jingle duo Heavy Metal Marching Band. But Fresh Idiot is the first album of Lee’s own material. It’s a fun, experimental pop journey through the decades, with songs that analyze where relationships went wrong and figuring out how to keep moving forward. (I swear I hear some late-’90s NSYNC in “Skip the Pretend,” please tell me I’m not crazy, Mikey.)

To mark the release of Fresh Idiot on vinyl, Lee is also releasing a new video for the song “Sweetie Pie.” It’s a smooth, funk-ridden pop number that sounds a little ’70s, a little ’80s, but also somehow contemporary. Local artist and filmmaker Tara Thomas, who has her own iconic colorful, mixed-medium aesthetic, directed the video in her home with Heavy Metal Marching Band, making for the perfect era-clashing, art-filled, slightly surreal backdrop.

Along with the video premiere, Lee was nice enough to answer some questions about butts, presents, and his plans for the new year.

First of all, the album is covered in butts. WHOSE BUTTS ARE THOSE???

I don't know if I could actually match the butts to their respective owners, but I do know that they are the work of local genius Mary Anne Carter. Probably a decade ago, I went to Pony (the best bar that ever barred) and they were hosting a kind of swap meet where all the patrons made and sold their own Pony merch. Mary Anne had this T-shirt with all these amazing tushies on it, and I loved it so much I got my favorite one tattooed on my arm. So when it was time to figure out artwork for the album, they butted their way to the front of the line, and Mary Anne was kind enough to grant permission.

How is Mikey Moo different from your previous projects? What have you been able to do anything differently, creatively speaking, that you’re especially excited about?

Mikey Moo is my "debut" in the sense that it's the first album I've ever released of my own songs, and it's been pretty magical to bring them to life with my buds Nicki Danger (Pink Parts, Glitterbang) on bass/vocals and Scott Helgason (Young Evils, Frond, Final Body) on drums. Heavy Metal Marching Band is a songwriting/production partnership with my buddy Troy Nelson that's focused on comedy and jingles for local businesses. I play guitar in the Unfit, which has a new album out on Share It Music. Young Evils are just about to start maybe thinking about considering toying with the possibility of conceivably releasing some new stuff. [Editor’s note: OMG YES PLEASE!!!]

I love how there’s some pop, disco, dance vibes in “Sweetie Pie”—it’s a journey through the genres. It feels kind of vintage but also contemporary (or maybe it’s just the suit you’re wearing in the video that reminds me of the ‘70s, haha). Did any specific musical era inspire you while writing and recording?

That era of the Jacksons in the late-’70s/early-’80s, where the albums have ridiculous names like Triumph and Destiny, informed the groove, but when I recorded the demo, I was basically trying to write a Brittany Howard song. Alex Robert (producer) and I started playing with synthesizers and it kept mutating until it was so sonically all over the place I had no choice but to make a music video with the eyeball-searing art direction of Tara Thomas.

The holidays are right around the corner, and obviously, a Mikey Moo record makes a great gift. Do you have a go-to last-minute holiday present for anyone panicking about what to get someone right now? (My go-to is scratch tickets and candy. People LOVE scratch tickets and candy.)

Megan, it's so funny you should ask because starting today, you can now pre-order Fresh Idiot on vinyl via Killroom Records. Since the pressing will be coming in early 2025, we'll be sending holiday cards to everyone who pre-orders.

What does 2025 look like for Mikey Moo?

I'm gonna sing a couple tunes at the always-amazing Artist Home NYE Bash at the Tractor Tavern. Then on New Year's Day, my husband and I will stay in bed and watch an Unsolved Mysteries marathon and binge Taco Bell delivery. But after that, we'll be writing and recording new music, throwing a big vinyl release party in early 2025, and taking this show on the road.

Pre-order Fresh Idiot on vinyl via Bandcamp here. Follow Mikey Moo on Instagram here.

Slog AM: Former Police Chief's Love Letter Revealed, California Declares State Of Emergency Over Bird Flu, Trump Risks Government Shutdown To Own The Libs

Hannah Krieg — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 08:30:00 -0800

Seattle's only news roundup. by Hannah Krieg

Good morning, Slog: If you haven’t had a chance to look out your window this morning, let me save you the effort—clouds. Clouds in the morning, clouds in the afternoon, clouds (and some rain) when you get off work, clouds when you go to sleep. As for temperature, you can basically count on 50 degrees all day long too. Weather forecasts of course are subject to change and I will not be held personally responsible if you dress for the weather as I described it and not the actual conditions.

Before we go any further, we really must hear from cops and courts reporter Ashley Nerbovig:

Adrian Diaz’s love note: The Office of Inspector General released its investigation into former Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz and included in the materials a copy of the note that revealed a romantic relationship between him and a subordinate. And let me tell you, it's some tame boring stuff. What's not boring? The fact that his employees were clearly obsessed with him and tracking where he was parking and when he was near this woman's apartment. Isn't there a staffing shortage?

Meanwhile: Don't let this love affair distract from the fact that SPD Officer Kevin Dave, a cop SPD hired despite a sketchy driving history who later hit-and-killed Jaahnavi Kandula, finally faced his court penalties yesterday. The City Attorney's Office settled on a $5,000 fine and driving school. The judge added an additional 40 hours of community service. With all his court stuff wrapped up the only remaining consequences for Dave could come from SPD. The Office of Police Accountability already found Dave violated driving policy and broke the law. Let's see if the department takes it seriously when their employees kill someone with their patrol car.

The judge added 40 hours of community service to Dave's penalties saying that as a cop Dave already serves the city but "I do want to recognize the impact this offense has had on the community."https://t.co/IWzfalH3EA
— Ashley Nerbovig (@AshleyNerbovig) December 18, 2024

Back on my beat: Yesterday, Council President Sara Nelson announced she will run for re-election. No surprise there, but she did irk me in her press release. But let’s be real—when does she not irk me? Anyway, she said that she represents a shift from ““[y]ears of performative, ideological decisions” to “delivering real results—prioritizing safety, livability, and a city that works for everyone, not just political theater.” I can think of a whole list of “performative, ideological decisions” Nelson’s made over the last three years. In fact, I will make that list and I’ll have it on the blog later today. See ya there!

*Gulp* Okay, I’m trying not to panic, but this did not make me feel great. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency yesterday over an outbreak of bird flu that’s infected at least 34 Californians so far. Bird Flu—or as the white coats call it, H5N1—has spread across 16 states, infecting more than 60 people since its first detection in March. The U.S. Center For Disease Control And Prevention provided some guidance to keep yourself safe: Avoid direct contact with sick or dead wild birds, poultry, and other animals, use personal protective equipment if you must come in direct contact with these animals, don’t touch surfaces or materials contaminated with saliva, mucous, or feces from animals that may have the virus, and don’t drink raw milk, an evergreen rule in my humble opinion.

Trump’s already president, I guess: President-elect Donald Trump undermined the bipartisan spending plan Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson negotiated to stave off shutdown until March. In a joint statement between Trump and his Vice President, the incoming administration wrote, “Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.” Within hours congress scrapped the plan altogether. This massive derailment increases the likelihood of a government shutdown if they can’t figure something out before Saturday. The only way to appease their overlord may be to abolish the debt ceiling altogether, NBC News reported.

Or maybe Elon Musk's President: It seems unelected bureaucrat and evil billionaire Elon Musk put the pressure on Trump and the Republicans to kill the spending bill, and won.

And just like that, Republican Unelected Co-President Elon Musk has killed the bill to keep the government from shutting down on Friday. All he had to do was make a few social media posts.

Trump said he’d empower working people, all he’s done is empower the ultra wealthy. pic.twitter.com/dx96y6VLVw
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) December 18, 2024

In other Trump news: This morning, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants in the case over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election in the state of Georgia. This marks a partial win for Trump who tried to get Willis booted over her relationship with fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade, but unfortunately for Trump, the court did not find enough evidence to justify "the extreme sanction" of tossing the entire indictment.

Get his ass: The US House Ethics Committee voted to release its report on former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, a report thought to be so damaging, Gaetz had to forfeit his chance to get appointed to Trump’s administration. That report should drop in the next few days, according to the BBC.

For your ears: This songs been in my head for the past few days and I want to pass it along to someone else.

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 18

Megan Seling — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 15:50:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling

I love tiny food. Not so much those videos of miniature kitchens where fingertips cook a centimeter of pasta in a drop of water, but actual scaled-down and edible versions of real food. So many foods taste better when tiny! Sliders? Better than a burger! Mini Junior Mints? So much more fun to eat than regular-size Junior Mints (especially when frozen)! Mrs. Flax had the right idea—bite size is the right size.

Now that you’re aware of my deep, unflinching love for mini meals, you will better understand my reaction the first time I laid eyes on Puffy Pandy’s tiny macarons. I screamed. I squealed. I started taking pictures of them through the glass with my phone as though they were a bushel of week-old kittens just starting to open their eyes. They are TOO CUTE.

Scaling down food can be tricky—things bake differently, the ratio of ingredients can get thrown off—and macaron recipes rightfully have the reputation for being especially fussy. Texture is everything.

But these coin-sized cookies maintain that iconic crisp macaron exterior with the chewy center, and the flavorful ganache filling gives them an even softer, chewier bite. It’s almost like they pop in your mouth. When I brought a box to the office for a taste test, people’s eyes literally widened the moment they bit down on one of the itty bitty cookies for the first time. They were all surprised by the impeccable texture and flood of flavor. And let’s talk about these flavors because Puffy Pandy doesn’t stick to a traditional macaron menu. Right now, their mini macaron flavors—available in a rainbow of colors and sold in boxes of 20, 30, and 60—include pandan latte, White Rabbit, ube, mango, Trix, peanut butter cup, and pink Starburst (my favorite).

This year, let’s skip the New Year’s Eve balloon drops. Let’s throw Puffy Pandy’s mini macarons into the air—and into each other’s mouths—like delicious confetti when the clock strikes midnight.

City Attorney Ann Davison’s Office Strikes Deal with SPD Officer who Killed Jaahnavi Kandula

Ashley Nerbovig — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 15:17:00 -0800

On Wednesday, Seattle Police Officer Kevin Dave admitted to driving negligently when he struck and killed 23-year-old college student Jaahnavi Kandula in a crosswalk last year. In exchange for Dave admitting to the citation, agreeing to pay a $5,000 fine, and attending driving school, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office (CAO) asked the court to waive a 90-day license suspension for Dave. by Ashley Nerbovig

The killing of Kandula garnered international headlines after the body-cam video of Seattle Police Officer and police union Vice President Daniel Auderer cackling at her death became public. The Seattle Police Department has since fired Auderer, and Dave’s discipline for his involvement in Kandula’s death is pending. Auderer has since filed a $20 million lawsuit against the city.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Seattle Municipal Court (SMC) Judge Noah Weil accepted the negotiated settlement between the City and Dave, but added a condition for Dave to complete 40 hours of community service. The penalty guidelines for negligent driving allow for a judge to require up to 100 hours of community service, but Weil noted that as a law enforcement officer Dave “does contribute to the community.”

“But I do want to recognize the impact this offense has had on the community as well, and so I’m going to require 40 hours of community service,” Weil said.

Dave has 30 days to pay his $5,000 fine and about nine months to fulfill the court-ordered conditions of his sentence. Under the agreement with prosecutors, he can avoid a license suspension as long as he commits no new criminal traffic offenses over the next year and complies with all his other sentencing conditions.

Dave’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. CAO spokesperson Tim Robinson pointed The Stranger to the court records and said the CAO's office handled Dave's case like any other charge of negligent driving in the second degree with a vulnerable person. Robinson is correct that similar charges often result in no license suspension and, in some cases, the CAO may dismiss the ticket, even when a pedestrian’s death is involved. However, Dave’s position as a police officer shielded him from facing more serious charges, as state law permits officers to exceed the speed limit while responding to emergency calls.

Earlier this year, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) declined to charge Dave with a felony vehicular homicide in the death of Kandula. Their investigation determined that on January 23, 2023, Dave hit Kandula while traveling at about 63 miles per hour as she crossed in a crosswalk at the intersection of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street in South Lake Union. Seconds before Dave saw her crossing, he hit speeds of up to 74 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone. Dave attempted to break a second before hitting her. Investigators concluded that had Dave traveled at speeds closer to 50 miles per hour, he could have avoided hitting Kandula. After hitting her, Dave began CPR.

The KCPAO found they could not charge Dave as they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he “consciously” drove with “reckless disregard for the safety of others.” After the KCPAO declined to prosecute, they bounced the case back to the Seattle Police Department, who referred the case to the CAO’s office as a citation.

With Dave’s court penalties basically wrapped up, he still awaits a disciplinary decision from SPD connected to the killing of Kandula. In early November, the Office of Police Accountability concluded its investigation into Dave, finding he violated SPD’s policies around driving and not breaking the law, but Interim Chief of Police Sue Rahr has yet to decide on final discipline for Dave. Since Kandula’s death, Publicola has uncovered extensive examples of Dave’s poor driving history and a previous firing from another police department, all of which SPD knew prior to hiring him.

Ballet Behavior

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:00:00 -0800

I know Covid turned our brains into scrambled eggs. by Anonymous

I spent the majority of the PNW Ballet’s performance of The Nutcracker shocked by the behavior around me. Constant whisper-talking, water bottles crinkling, children screaming. At one point, the woman in front of me OPENED HER PHONE, searched “Nutcracker Act 2,” and then scrolled along as the performance was happening right in front of her!

Hey, this is not your mom’s house! You don’t get to play Wordle while the Sugar Plum Fairy is doing her twirls! Maybe we don’t bring our 3-week-old baby to the theater! What if we all shut the fuck up for 2 hours and 3 minutes and appreciated the artistry we paid to see and hear?

I know COVID turned our brains into scrambled eggs. For years we absorbed entertainment at home, where we were free to stare at our phones and make as much noise as we wanted. But we’re back out there again, and I am BEGGING you to act like you are part of a society.

Do you need to get something off your chest? Submit an I, Anonymous and we'll illustrate it! Send your unsigned rant, love letter, confession, or accusation to ianonymous@thestranger.com. Please remember to change the names of the innocent and the guilty.

Stranger Suggests: Kimya Dawson, Thunderpussy, David Benoit Christmas Tribute to Charlie Brown, the Dina Martina Christmas Show, the Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show

Megan Seling — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 13:40:00 -0800

One really great thing to do every day of the week! by Megan Seling WEDNESDAY 12/18

A Very Die Hard Christmas

(PERFORMANCE) My expectations were very high the first time I saw A Very Die Hard Christmas at the Seattle Public Theater. Like, blow-the-roof-off-the-top-of-Nakatomi-Plaza-with-a-shitload-of-C-4 big. Watching the 1988 action movie is my dearest Christmas tradition—I have seen it hundreds of times, and I am delighted to report that this locally produced musical interpretation of Die Hard, written by Jeff Shell and the Habit and directed by Mark Siano, was beyond my wildest imagination. It has everything! Fist toes! A white tank top decaying at a hilariously unrealistic pace! I felt like I was watching all the best parts of the movie—with all my favorite lines appropriately exaggerated in the same way I hear them in my head—with 160 of my closest, most Die Hard-obsessed best friends. Ellis’s big cocaine-fueled musical number is worth the price of admission alone. That said, all the shows are sold out. But Christmas is a time for miracles! The theater is offering $20 rush tickets to all performances through December 22. Just show up an hour before showtime, get your name on the rush list, and they'll do their best to squeeze you in. I promise it's worth the hassle. (Seattle Public Theater, 7312 W Green Lake Dr N, multiple performances through Dec 22) MEGAN SELING

THURSDAY 12/19

Kimya Dawson with Blotto the Clown and Crazy Harold

(MUSIC) Kimya Dawson's sound as a solo artist and as a member of the DIY punk duo Moldy Peaches ranges from indie folk to noise, but the common thread is that her work always makes you feel like the main character in a movie. As a teenager, I walked down the halls of my high school with the Moldy Peaches' "Lucky Number Nine" blaring through my earbuds. I pictured myself as the leading outcast from my favorite TV shows and films (Ghost World, Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life) and romanticized my sadness to make it feel more manageable. I wandered around my neighborhood listening to Dawson's solo track "I Like Giants" and gazed at the stars, putting the size of my body in perspective ("All girls feel too big sometimes regardless of their size," she coos). The PNW legend will return to the stage with special guests, clown wrestlers Blotto the Clown and Crazy Harold (unclear how they'll fit into the show, but I can't wait to see.) Local art rockers Scott Yoder and Mold Mom will open. (Neumos, 925 E Pike St, 7 pm, $20, all ages) AUDREY VANN

FRIDAY 12/20

Thunderpussy: The Breast Is Yet to Come Tour

(MUSIC) Stanger contributor Nathalie Graham writes: "Thunderpussy almost didn’t make it. The future looked bright for the band when they released their debut full-length Thunderpussy in 2018. They earned critical acclaim for their riff-filled brand of ’70s-inspired rock, got featured in Rolling Stone as Mike McCready’s 'favorite new band,' and ended the year signing to a major label, Republic Records’s subsidiary Stardog. In the years that followed, though, things took a turn. It wasn’t clear whether the band would ever release a second record, let alone exist. But, after years full of heartbreak, loss, and uncomfortable but necessary metamorphosis, Thunderpussy are back, and they’re stronger than ever." The quartet's hometown show, the last date of their December West Coast tour, will feature tracks off their celebrated 2024 full-length West. Don't miss an opening set from British rockers James and the Cold Gun, whose name is derived from my favorite Kate Bush song. (The Crocodile, 2505 First Ave, 6 pm, $30, 21+) AUDREY VANN

SATURDAY 12/21

David Benoit Christmas Tribute to Charlie Brown feat. Courtney Fortune

(MUSIC) When the winter blues cover the windows of my mind in heaps of snow, there is one thing that can shovel me out: Vince Guaraldi's score to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Similar to the way a string of Christmas lights can transform a cold, dark city street into a twinkling cinematic setting, the opening piano chords of "O Tannenbaum" can instantly uncover the fruits of the season; evoking flannel PJs and hot cocoa with big squishy marshmallows. When I hear the children's choir coo "Christmas Time Is Here," it truly makes me believe that there is "beauty everywhere." Guaraldi died nearly 50 years ago, but there are plenty of saints carrying on his legacy. Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist David Benoit, who is best known as the musical director of 2015’s Peanuts Movie, will return to Jazz Alley with vocalist Courtney Fortune for a tribute to Guaraldi's beloved score. (Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, multiple performances Dec 19–22, $55.50, all ages) AUDREY VANN

SUNDAY 12/22

Oh, Canada

(FILM) Say what you will about Paul Schrader (and there's, uh, a lot to say—I'm a diehard fan of this Twitter account that tracks the cinema auteur's batshit Facebook posts), but the dude knows how to tell a story in an unflinching, precise, and maybe even transcendental style. If you saw Schrader's god-tier film First Reformed, you're already familiar with his austere brand of spiritualism. Hopefully, Oh, Canada continues the thread. The film follows Richard Gere as Leonard Fife, an aging leftist filmmaker who dodged Vietnam service by fleeing to Canada decades earlier. When his former student (Michael Imperioli) sits him down for an interview, Fife shares myth-busting stories of his younger self (Jacob Elordi) and his wife/artistic partner (Uma Thurman). I'd be seated for the cast alone, but Schrader's direction makes this one a solid bet. (Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, multiple showtimes through Dec 22, $9–$12) LINDSAY COSTELLO

MONDAY 12/23

The Dina Martina Christmas Show

See Dina Martina's surreal Christmas comedy show through December 24. DAVID BELISLE

(PERFORMANCE) Seattle's own "Second Lady of Entertainment" will return to the stage in December with some Christmassy razzle-dazzle. Alongside Stranger Genius Award-winning composer and musician Chris Jeffries, Dina Martina will deliver the surreal comedy and festive tunes for which she's been known and loved for over 25 years. Buckle in for a holiday fever dream: Martina's show was described by former Stranger editor Chase Burns as "cozy but disorienting," and John Waters calls her act "some new kind of twisted art." (ACT Theatre, 700 Union St, multiple performances through Dec 24, $46–$60) LINDSAY COSTELLO

TUESDAY 12/24

The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show

See Jinkx and BenDeLaCreme's dragstavaganza December 21–24. Jacob Ritts

(PERFORMANCE) Jinkx Monsoon, the "internationally tolerated Jewish narcoleptic drag queen," and BenDeLaCreme, the sugary sweet RuPaul's Drag Race icon, will bring their unique blend of bubbly effervescence and quirky realness to the stage for this holiday dragstravaganza. The pair plan to maximize their joint sleigh and share why they're the true queens of Christmas cheer, which already seems undebatable. The show will return to town after a wildly successful run last year; expect brand-new songs and a healthy dash of spectacle, plus "adult themes and language." (Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave, multiple performances Dec 21–24, $30–$295, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

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Slog AM: King County Metro Bus Driver Fatally Stabbed, Luigi Mangione Charged with Terrorism over UHC CEO Killing, The Government Could Shut Down

Vivian McCall — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 07:23:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news round up. by Vivian McCall

That “lovely” weather we’re having: The rain from that dang atmospheric river crept into the morning, so stay alert if you’re driving in west central Washington. The National Weather Service in Seattle issued a flood advisory due to excessive rainfall. The clouds should clear after mid-morning, with rain possible again this afternoon. Rain is likely Thursday, less likely Friday, and very likely Saturday through next Tuesday. I’d get those steps in now unless you’re a little freak who enjoys walking in the cold wet.

King County Metro driver killed: Police said the driver was stabbed to death after some kind of fight near the University of Washington’s campus this morning. Paramedics rendered first aid, but police say the driver was pronounced dead at the scene at Northeast 41st Street and 15th Avenue Northeast. A UW alert on X said the suspect, 6-foot-1 and wearing a blue jacket, tore northbound down an alley after the stabbing. Police have not yet identified the suspect, but have reopened the area.

Adrien Diaz fired: In a letter this Monday, Mayor Bruce Harrell told the Council he’d fired the former Seattle Police Department chief because the Office of the Inspector General’s report supported the accusations that Diaz and a high-ranking employee had a romantic relationship that Diaz continuously denied. Ashley has more here.

ICMYI: The ACLU of Washington sued the Washington Department of Corrections for allegedly violating a transgender woman’s rights under the Washington State constitution by keeping her confined to a men’s prison. I started following Kim’s story this summer, when she became the first trans woman to be removed from gender-affirming housing in Washington State.

First severe US bird flu in Louisiana: Health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the patient had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a barnyard flock. The CDC did not detail the patient's symptoms. There have been 60 reported cases of bird flu in the US this year, all mild until now, and mostly among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or cows. In two cases of a Missouri adult and a California child, the CDC still isn't sure how they got sick.

Two Irish brothers sentenced for scamming old people: Patrick and Matthew McDonaugh of Ireland pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for posing as contractors and swindling elderly homeowners in Shoreline and Oregon into paying for unnecessary home repairs as part of a scheme that stretched from here to the Midwest, according to records filed in US District Court in Seattle. (In one instance, a homeowner paid $29,000 for a $2,000 dollar repair). A judge sentenced them to 18 months in federal prison and ordered them to pay $1 million in restitution. The US is likely to deport the men after their sentences.

General Secretary Jay Inslee says tax the rich: To close a $12 to $16 million state budget gap, Gov. Inslee proposed a first-in-the-nation 1% wealth tax on Washington’s 3,400 wealthiest folks (over $100 million, so probably not you) and a 20% surcharge on businesses making more than $1 million a year, which the state would later swap for business and occupation tax hike. The wealth tax alone could generate an estimated $3.4 billion over the next two years, and more than $10 billion in four years. Inslee urged lawmakers to minimize the impact on the state’s poorest residents when they’re looking for places to cut. “This is not the time to retreat from our efforts – it’s time to be resolute in our commitment to moving forward,” he wrote. A spokesperson for Bob Ferguson said the incoming governor's transition team is reviewing the budget, which increases state spending overall.

Where’s the beef (education funding)? Inslee’s final budget doesn’t throw Superintendent Chris Reykdal that $3 billion bone he requested to pay for special education, school transport, and salary bumps for staff. Chris Reykdal said in a statement to the Washington State Standard that a budget that maintains current service will “result in more cuts at the local level.” The statewide teacher’s union, the Washington Education Association, isn’t happy either.

Teens only! Seattle’s Department of Parks and Recreation has extended hours at its three Teen Life Centers to offer more “secure and supervised spaces for teens” as a part of a pilot program from now to April. If you’re a teen, or know a teen, or have a teen, The Seattle Times has the new hours here.

Luigi Mangione charged with terrorism: It sounds wacky, but according to New York law, prosecutors can bring terrorism charges if the act is intended to influence government policy by intimidation or coercion. It’s up to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to prove that was precisely Mangione’s intention when he allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Manhattan’s former Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Saland told CNN he thought the terrorism charges were “a bit of a stretch,” and questioned why a CEO’s murder should be treated differently. It’s not the first terrorism charge connected to the killing. Florida charged a woman with terrorism for allegedly threatening her insurance company with the words “delay, deny, depose,” which were allegedly etched into bullet casings found at the scene. She reportedly told an insurance agent they were next. Seems extreme to me.

They hit Luigi Mangione with a terrorism charge pic.twitter.com/lXBgXdmDt8
— Sopranos World (@SopranosWorld) December 17, 2024

Donald Trump sues Des Moines Register: After the Disney-owned ABC News rolled over for Trump and paid $16 million to settle a defamation suit last week, our Great Leader ascendant is taking his hate for the press to court again. On Monday, he filed suit against the Register, and its parent company Gannett, for publicizing a poll from Ann Selzer that showed Kamala Harris leading by three points in Iowa. Selzer was wildly off, Trump won by 13 points, and the President-elect says that’s evidence not of bad polling, but election interference in violation of consumer protection laws. This ridiculous suit probably won’t go anywhere, but he might be betting on this scaring corporate media into favorable coverage. (Trump has also sued Selzer and her polling firm. Lucky for her, even shoddy polls from respected pollsters aren’t defamatory.)

I'm at the Honda, I'm at the Nissan, I'm at the combination Honda Nissan: Honda and Nissan are in talks for possible merger, but have no timeline or details to share. Earlier this year, the two Japanese automakers announced collaborations on electric cars and battery technology. Both companies are struggling in China, the largest automobile market in the world, where consumers are loving domestic cars.

No, Biden can’t just certify the ERA: The archivist and deputy archivist of the US said Joe Biden can’t unilaterally adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, no matter how many Democrats beg him to. The amendment, which Congress sent to the states with a seven (later extended to ten year) ratification deadline in 1972, would've guaranteed legal equality between women and men if three-quarters of the states voted to adopt it. It came up short, until Virginia lawmakers voted to ratify in 2020. But that initial congressional deadline legally meant something. Nothing can be done without congressional or court action to lift it, the archivists said.

Working hard, or hardly working? Congress unveiled a bill to narrowly avoid a government shutdown with a bipartisan (???) deal to kick the can down the road to March, when the Trump administration can make all the really important decisions. The stopgap bill includes $110 billion for disaster relief across federal agencies, and approved a couple of local measures to move along negotiations between Washington DC and the Washington Commanders over a possible stadium. It also allows the feds to pay the full cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore. We’re not totally out of the breach. House Republicans infighting could still kill the bill; without one, the government shuts down at 12:01 am Saturday morning.

It's Miser time:

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 17

Lindsay Costello — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 14:36:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Lindsay Costello Gingerbread People

Post Punk Kitchen

Post Punk Kitchen’s vegan gingerbread recipe might seem an unlikely candidate for a “classic” designation, but it tastes traditional—the kind of gingerbread you’d expect from a passed-down recipe.

My friend Rose is a prolific baker, churning out frankly astonishing treats for the fundraisers and gigs she organizes in Portland. When she recommended this recipe to me, she advised the following: “I deviate from script by making them into stained glass cookies, cutting out circles, and melting hard candy into the gaps while they bake.” Melting hard candy into dough gaps sounded almost comically overwhelming to my non-Rose experience level, but I was keen to try the base recipe.

Lindsay Costello

The foundation of this recipe is pretty simple. Nondairy milk (I used soy) is the only distinctly “vegan” ingredient here. Beyond that, Post Punk Kitchen’s Isa Chandra Moskowitz relies on baking soda and powder for leavening and oil to replace butter. (By the way, she calls for canola, but the avocado oil I had on hand worked just fine.)

One strategy seemed to work in my favor here: I decided to follow all the instructions. Correctly. Like, I made the dough, and then I chilled it for one hour. Then I baked the dough for the amount of time the recipe suggested. Then I made the decorative icing and let it “set” for 30 minutes. During that time, the cookies cooled, leaving them ready to decorate. Revolutionary, I know.

Lindsay Costello Lindsay Costello

Speaking of decoration, this recipe includes guidance for making colorful decorative icings with natural ingredients. After accidentally spending $52 on spices—ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg (“I’ll have these forever now,” I rationalized)—I wasn’t about to spring for “dragonfruit powder.” Instead, I improvised with what I had: butterfly pea flower powder from a summer party and matcha from my fridge, which yielded lovely, slightly muted purple and green hues without that plasticky, “I am highly processed” food coloring look.

I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve piped decorations on a cookie, so I’m pretty pleased with how cute these gingerbread girlies came out. (Yes, they are all women. Fight me.) My cat also sniffed one and wasn’t immediately disgusted, which is always a victory.

The cat's name is Spaghetti! Lindsay Costello

Once the cookies were cooled and decorated, I tested them out on another human being—my partner Jeremy. “If I were at a Christmas party, I would compulsively eat some of these, enjoy them, and go about my business,” he said.

Translation: These taste exactly like gingerbread cookies. Not overly “vegan” or health-conscious; not cakey; not too hard or too soft. Firm, yet chewy. The spice level is pleasant, and the lemon-vanilla decorative icing puts bright, zesty pep in each cookie’s step. My advice? Bake these if you want to bake gingerbread cookies, even if you’re not quite ready to attempt a stained glass technique.

ACLU Sues Washington DOC for Confining Trans Woman to Men’s Prison

Vivian McCall — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 14:31:00 -0800

The ACLU of Washington is suing the Washington Department of Corrections, alleging it violated a transgender woman’s constitutional rights under state law by forcibly transferring her from a women’s prison to confine her in a men’s prison. The transfer occurred after a guard discovered her engaging in consensual sex with her roommate. by Vivian McCall

On Tuesday, the organization filed a Personal Restraint Petition on behalf of Amber Kim, arguing that placing her in a men’s prison, where she is more likely to experience harassment and sexual violence is cruel under state constitutional standards. The petition requests that the state transfer her back to the Washington Corrections Center for Women.

"DOC has stripped her of her humanity by taking her from the women's prison, where she was really, truly excelling, and put her in a place that we know will harm her, both physically and emotionally," says ACLU of Washington staff attorney Adrien Leavitt. "She has a history of physical abuse, sexual abuse, harassment, and emotional abuse in the men's prisons. We know that from studies that trans people are at huge risk of all of those things. It's not, sadly, like we're not guessing about whether that will happen to Amber, because we know it's already happened to her."

The Washington DOC said that they do not comment on pending litigation.

This March, an officer at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) in Gig Harbor discovered Kim and her roommate having consensual sex in their cell, which is against prison rules. The women were removed from their cell, separated, and placed in restrictive housing. At a disciplinary hearing, both Kim and her roommate were found guilty of a “504 Infraction,” a prison ban on intimacy. As punishment, both women were placed in closed custody, adding supervision and confining them to cells for longer than usual.

Then, someone at the DOC leaked Kim’s disciplinary report to the conservative National Review, which published an account that played on sensational, right-wing tropes of trans women using their identity to get into bathrooms, changing rooms, and prisons for sexual gratification. (In March, the DOC said it was trying to find the leaker).

Her life was less salacious. The infraction was her first and only write-up in the three-and-a-half years she lived at WCCW, where she attended college and tutored other inmates. Documents show Kim’s mental health improved after her transfer, and she reported other inmates treated her like any other woman. She told counselors she no longer wanted to give up on life.

Here the women’s punishments diverged. Months after her roommate left closed custody, Amber remained anxiously waiting without explanation. Her fears were realized when a DOC counselor allegedly told her the DOC was considering transferring her back to a men’s prison, a move the department had never made before.

DOC policy allows it to remove inmates from gender-affirming housing if there are “documented, objective safety concerns.” After the infraction, a multidisciplinary team at WCCW reviewed Kim’s housing placement. WCCW Superintendent Charlotte Headley and others determined Kim should remain at the women’s facility, finding she was neither abused or an abuser in her time there.

Five weeks later, the DOC reversed its decision. The DOC only adopted its trans housing policy in 2020, and since then only 11 out of the roughly 250 trans people in the system had entered gender-affirming housing. The DOC allows trans people to stay where they are if they want to—some have communities and relationships worth keeping—but the transfers are not a given, and granted on a case-by-case basis with fuzzy parameters. 504 Infractions are not uncommon, and sex is a reality of prison life. The DOC recorded 33 in the years Kim lived at WCCW, but she remains the only person transferred for one, and the only trans person in Washington removed from gender-affirming housing.

On June 21, when corrections officers restrained Kim with a seatbelt-like device for a two-hour ride to Monroe Correctional Complex, where she arrived exhausted and unable to stand. According to the lawsuit, officers claimed Kim had tried to bite them, but rescinded the allegation after video evidence obtained by Disability Rights Washington showed she hadn’t.

When Kim arrived at Monroe, she learned the DOC planned to place her in TRU, a unit of primarily sex offenders, former gang members, and a small number of transgender women. Fearing for her safety, Kim went on a 17-day hunger strike, only suspending it for a gender-affirming tracheal shave.

How the DOC May Have Violated Kim’s Rights

The ACLU’s case draws from Robert Rufus Williams’s 2021 case before the Washington State Supreme Court, which sought relief from cruel conditions in the height of COVID.

Leavitt says the Williams case in particular set an important precedent when it found that Washington’s State Constitution provides greater protections than the United States Constitution. In this case, Kim is sentenced to life without parole for murdering her parents. The ACLU argues that when statistics and Kim’s life experience shows harassment and the threat of sexual violence are omnipresent in male prisons, confining her to one violates her state constitutional right, without a valid penalogical reason to do so. Leavitt says the DOC may have a goal of tightening prison security, but housing Kim with men does not accomplish that.

Statistics support Amber’s own documented history, showing the elevated risk for trans women in men’s prisons and jails. The Bureau of Justice’s 2015 National Inmate Survey found 35 percent of trans people in prison, and 34 percent of trans people in jail had been sexually assaulted within a year of their incarceration. It also found transgender inmates were nine times more likely to experience sexual harassment and assault than cis inmates. The US Trans Survey, the largest dataset of trans people in the US available, found trans inmates were five times more likely to be sexually assaulted by prison staff, and nine times more likely to be sexually assaulted by inmates. Thirty-seven percent of incarcerated trans people self-reported that they were assaulted in prison, compared with 3.4 percent of the cis population. The Prison Rape Elimiation Act even contains specific protections for gay and trans people.

These statistics are not hypothetical for Kim, who has been incarcerated since she was a senior in high school. Even before her transition, Kim was slim and feminine. Men taunted her with slurs. After her transition, they propositioned her. At one point, she says men had passed her enough notes asking for sex to fill a brown paper lunch bag. Most of these notes included a time the men would be waiting for Kim in the showers. She kept track of these times to avoid running into them.

When Kim complained to a job supervisor in prison that a coworker, convicted of sex offense, was aggressively pressuring her for sex, she was fired, according to the lawsuit. Male corrections officers allegedly inappropriately touched her breasts during pat downs. According to the suit, she eventually reported her experiences saying that she did not “feel safe” in a men’s prison.

She still doesn’t. In August, during a transfer from Monroe Correctional Complex to Airway Heights for a gender-affirming procedure, male inmates yelled sexual comments and slurs from the seats behind her. Others debated the existence of trans people. Upon her return to Monroe, Kim told DOC she would not enter the general population, where she would face a Catch-22. Hormones alleviate her debilitating gender dysphoria, but the more feminine she becomes, the more unwanted attention men would give her.

Years before the Williams case, the US Supreme Court found that the Eighth Amendment protects incarcerated people from cruel and unusual punishment.

In 1989, Dee Farmer, a Black trans woman imprisoned in Terre Haute, Indiana was brutally beaten and raped in her cell. She sued prison officials for mental anguish, psychological damage, and humiliation. The justices ruled unanimously in Farmer’s favor, finding prison officials created an “objectively intolerable risk of harm” and acted with “deliberate indifference to this harm.” In Farmer’s case, officials knowingly placed a young, non-violent trans woman to a maximum security prison, and disregarded that risk. According to the ACLU, tens of thousands of cases have cited Farmer. But “deliberate indifference” is hard to prove in court.

In Washington, you don’t have to because this federal standard falls short of our state protections.

The court decided this when Robert Rufus Williams brought his Personal Restraint Petition at the height of COVID, seeking relief from cruel conditions under the state constitution. Williams, a 77-year-old Black man with diabetes, hypertension, and complications from a stroke that immobilized his right side, had been kept in a “dry” cell without a toilet or sink. When waiting for staff to wheel him to an accessible bathroom, Williams urinated in bottles. He struggled to keep himself clean.

This State Supreme Court found failing to meet Williams’s basic sanitary needs did not meet penological goals of retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation in violation of Article 1, section 14 of the Washington State Constitution. The justices also concluded that the “deliberate indifference” standard assumed that poor conditions can only be considered punishment if a prison official subjectively intended them as punishment, or that cruel conditions can arise from “institutional policies and practices just as readily as from intentional acts by individual prison officials.”

This established a subjective, two-part inquiry for inmates challenging their conditions in Washington far more protective than the federal precedent set in Farmer v. Brennan. To be granted relief, the decision found, inmates must prove “(1) those conditions create an objectively significant risk of serious harm or otherwise deprive the petitioner of the basic necessities of human dignity and (2) those conditions are not reasonably necessary to accomplish any penological goal.”

Since Williams, no one has been granted relief based on cruel conditions of confinement, and Kim’s case is likely the first to challenge how the DOC houses trans people on that standard.

“What we can infer from the Washington State Supreme Court’s discussion of Dee Farmer’s case is that Washington State would not tolerate Dee Farmer’s conditions of confinement,” Leavitt says. “Our state would be more protective of her, and I think that’s profound, especially as we compare that with Amber’s case right now.”

Kim’s Life in Isolation

The degree to which Kim’s life has worsened can be measured in absolute terms: She’s gone from being a full-time college student with friends to sitting in solitary confinement.

But it’s clearest in her voice. Her affect is flat over the phone in Leavitt’s office. She’s calling on a tablet from her cell. Every few sentences, the signal fizzles to an electronic garble.

“I’m definitely feeling the weight of isolation,” she says. “I will not even pretend to be psychologically okay.”

She can’t hug friends because she’s not allowed contact visits. She has three books and video games on her tablet, but lives mostly in isolation, cycling from her cell, to the shower, to the unit yard—a small concrete room with a chin-up bar. She believes other prisoners don’t know she’s there, as they’ve taken to harassing another trans woman in her cell block who catches “no end of shit.”

As Kim told The Stranger this summer, the irony of forcing a trans woman into a men’s prison, supposedly to stop sex from happening, is that the life of a trans woman in a men’s prison is a barrage of sexual harassment and slurs. The abuse worsened as her transition progressed, and only wavered when she had a boyfriend, a calculated trade of sex for safety.

This time, she’s traded freedom for safety. As she wrote in an affidavit, “If I am eventually placed in men’s general population, I will live in constant fear.”

Crop Top

Dan Savage — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 14:30:00 -0800

Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! by Dan Savage My boobs began to get bigger — apropos of nothing — in my early thirties. A lot bigger. No weight gain, they just started growing and didn’t stop. I hated it. I’m very active, and they were heavy and miserable and got in the way. So, I had a breast reduction and had never been happier. It was freedom… for three years. Then my breasts started growing again. I’m five years out from the reduction and it’s only getting worse. I hate it. I cannot abide it. I want to fix the problem. Repeated breast reductions aren’t an option. It’s an expensive major surgery with a long recovery time, and if there’s breast tissue remaining there’s no reason to expect it won’t just grow back again. Top surgery isn’t my favorite solution — I would much rather have the small, perfect tits I had post-reduction — but my realistic options…

[ Read more ]

Mayor Bruce Harrell Fires Former Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz

Ashley Nerbovig — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 13:17:00 -0800

On Monday, Mayor Bruce Harrell wrote a letter to the Seattle City Council informing them of his decision to fire former Seattle Police Department (SPD) Chief of Police Adrian Diaz. Harrell told the Council that an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report supported accusations that Diaz had a romantic relationship with an employee who he hired for a top position at SPD, and then continuously lied about the relationship. by Ashley Nerbovig

In the letter—which Harrell also sent to the City’s police accountability departments, and City Attorney Ann Davison—the mayor said that the OIG report showed Diaz had a romantic relationship with the employee, who he hired through an informal process for a position that had not existed at SPD for sometime, promoted the employee, discussed his sexual relationship with her with other members of SPD, and when confronted about it, denied the relationship existed.

Harrell said in the letter that he discussed the findings of the report with Diaz on December 12. Diaz continued to deny a romantic relationship with the employee, but Harrell wrote that he found Diaz’s arguments unpersuasive against the evidence from the OIG: In addition to statements from other SPD employees who said Diaz had told them directly about his romantic relationship with the employee, the OIG investigation turned up a handwritten note from the employee that talked about their romantic relationship. A member of Diaz’s executive protection detail found the note while cleaning a car Diaz used, and the OIG brought in a handwriting expert who said, “it was highly probable,” the note was written by the employee.

Given the evidence a romantic relationship between Diaz and the employee had taken place, Harrell found that Diaz’s statements denying the relationship to the Mayor, the public, and SPD command staff violated the department’s policies around dishonesty.

Harrell also said that the OIG report found behavior that violated the department’s policies on professionalism, including making “crass and personal statements” about the employee while discussing the intimate relationship with other SPD employees. Harrell called the comments especially “egregious” because Diaz made these statements to his subordinates. Harrell further found Diaz violated policies around conflicts of interest and avoiding improper relationships between supervisors and their subordinates.

In the December 12 conversation with Harrell, Diaz maintained that he’d only ever had a platonic relationship with the employee. He also attacked the credibility of witnesses as well as the thoroughness and objectivity of the investigation into his behavior. In particular, Diaz said investigators never reviewed his personal phone records. However, Harrell found Diaz’s arguments unconvincing and pointed out that Diaz had failed to turn over his phone records when an OIG investigator requested them.

Diaz’s final departure from SPD comes after a drawn out process that started in May when Harrell demoted Diaz from his position as Chief of Police, leaving him in an amorphous special assignment while allowing him to keep his $370,000 salary. The demotion came amid a smattering of lawsuits accusing Diaz of a culture of racism and sexism at SPD, as well as rumors about his romantic relationship with a subordinate. About a month after his demotion, Diaz went on Jason Rantz’s conservative talk radio show and came out as gay, saying that, if he’d revealed his identity sooner, it might have helped him save his job. OIG opened an investigation into the hiring of the top aide around the time of Diaz stepping down as chief. Then in October, Diaz was placed on administrative leave. Shortly after that he filed a $10 million tort claim against the City.

An attorney for Diaz did not immediately return a request for comment. In an email to staff Tuesday, Interim Chief of Police Sue Rahr said Harrell had handled the termination of Diaz and she had no other information to share about it. SPD directed all requests for information about the firing to the Mayor’s Office.

In Harrell’s statement regarding the firing of Diaz, he acknowledged the lengthy investigation and called it “robust and thorough." He added that he looked forward to announcing the City’s next police chief in the near future.

Landlord Lobby Wishlist Leaked

Hannah Krieg — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 12:39:00 -0800

The Housing Development Consortium (HDC), a powerful landlord lobby of united nonprofit and for-profit developers, is working with Mayor Bruce Harrell and the City Council on their legislative wishlist, according to a slide deck sent to The Stranger. The landlord lobby’s long-rumored “policy matrix,” seeks to significantly limit the protection of the winter and school year eviction moratoriums, raise the $10 late fee cap to $50, repeal the 2019 roommate law, cut the six-month rental increase notice requirement to four months and just two in some cases, and implement other policies that favor landlords. by Hannah Krieg

The Housing Development Consortium (HDC), a powerful landlord lobby of united nonprofit and for-profit developers, is working with Mayor Bruce Harrell and the City Council on their legislative wishlist, according to a slide deck sent to The Stranger. The landlord lobby’s long-rumored “policy matrix,” seeks to significantly limit the protection of the winter and school year eviction moratoriums, raise the $10 late fee cap to $50, repeal the 2019 roommate law, cut the six-month rental increase notice requirement to four months and just two in some cases, and implement other policies that favor landlords.

“Here in Seattle, providers are grappling with escalating operational costs, rising insurance premiums, and mounting arrears from the pandemic’s lingering economic impacts,” says HDC Executive Director Patience Malaba. “These challenges are not confined to subsidized housing providers; they affect the entire housing ecosystem. Without bold actions to stabilize and sustain the sector, the risk of further destabilization is high, and tenants will ultimately bear the brunt of this collapse.

Malaba continues, “The policy changes we propose aim to strike a careful balance between supporting providers’ ability to sustain housing operations while protecting renters and addressing systemic inequities. We will alongside reform be advocating for targeted rental assistance, reforming legislation to improve housing stability, and ensuring practical solutions that serve the entire housing ecosystem.”

Housing advocates, who did not wish to go on the record at this time, warn not to be suckered by the “kinder face” of nonprofit landlords in HDC — they are aligned with for-profit landlords to make it easier to make people homeless.

The Seattle City Council, which lurched rightward after the 2023 election, first hinted at repealing tenants' rights this summer when Community Roots Housing and Southeast Effective Development (SEED) gave a presentation about the woes of affordable housing developers. As I reported in July, the nonprofit developers did not explicitly call for rollbacks to any of the City’s modest protections. Instead, the nonprofits complained about the eviction backlog and asked for more resources for the tenant to pay their overdue rent or for courts to expedite the eviction of problematic tenants, potentially leading to homelessness.

At the time, The Stranger clowned on Council President Sara Nelson for hearing what she wanted to hear from the presentation and from private landlords at public comment — repeal renters rights. And at the time, Nelson had been presumptuous based on the public conversations with HDC members. But now, according to the slide deck from last week, the nonprofit developers appear to have drunk the Kool-Aid, advocating with for-profit developers to implement policies that simply punish tenants without actually unclogging the eviction backlog.

Even if you accept the premise that the government should make it easier for landlords to make people homeless, these reforms do not achieve that end.

HDC wants the moratoriums to only cover evictions for non-payment for tenants who can prove they lost their income. “Rather than blanket moratoria,” HDC wrote, “the city should invest in a robust rental assistance program for tenants without income, experiencing financial hardship, or are cost burdened.”

As I previously reported, the winter and school year evictions do not bottleneck the eviction process. The Housing Justice Project (HJP), which represents low-income tenants in court as part of the right-to-counsel law, does not use these defenses very often, rather finding errors in landlord paperwork. Skill issue.

HDC’s proposal to price late fees at 3% of rent with a cap at $50 might put a few extra dollars in a landlord’s wallet, but renters overwhelmingly pay their rent in full and on time anyway. HDC claimed in their slide deck that “reasonable late fees foster timely payment habits and incentivize for tenants to stay current on rent.” Citations needed.

HDC is also pushing to shorten the notice landlords must provide before raising rents. As it stands, landlords must give tenants six months’ notice before increasing the rent. HDC’s landlord wishlist would shorten that to 2 months or 4 months for increases above 8%. In the case of an 8% increase, HDC would allow tenants to break their lease with a 30 day notice. How generous!

It is unclear how giving tenants less notice for price hikes would ease the eviction backlog unless the landlords also allowed greater flexibility for breaking leases. Sticking tenants with higher rent and less time to find a better paying job or rework their budget seems like a recipe for eviction.

But what’s their answer for preventing evictions? A cash grab. HDC wrote, “The city should establish a rental assistance program for tenants without income. Funding could come from the Housing Levy homelessness prevention program which was allocated $30 million, targeted to the [Office of Housing] portfolio.”

So, the City, already strapped for cash, should let landlords nickel and dime their tenants with late fees, increase rent with less notice, and, to add insult to injury, punch holes in the last line of defense tenants have between the warmth of their apartment and the cold, cold streets. Cool!

According to the slide deck, HDC is expected to “move forward” legislation this month. That seems like too quick of a turn around — the year’s basically over, the council will likely focus on appointing a new member, and Nelson may seek to weaken the Ethics Code first, which could hamper the landed council members' ability to vote against the interest of renters.

Council Member Cathy Moore, the Chair of the Homelessness and Human Services Committee, says she plans to meet with HDC to hear more about these proposals and will have more to share after that meeting. For now, her offices says, "she believes changes are needed in order to ensure housing providers, across the spectrum, are able to continue to offer safe housing."

Harrell's office says he is "interested in working with affordable housing providers on commonsense solutions to ensure their long-term stability and the health and safety of their residents."

Slog AM: School Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, Trump's Felony Conviction Upheld, Seattle Parking Fines to Increase Next Year

Ashley Nerbovig — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 08:45:00 -0800

Seattle's only news roundup. by Ashley Nerbovig

Good morninggggg. After a full week and a day of vacation I'm back. The time away dulled my memory of how truly terrible it is to wake up and write Slog AM. But, you know, it is what it is. C'est comme ça.

Now the weather: The weather gods promise rain today, with a high of 53 degrees. We're talking lots of rain. Seattle Weather Blog predicted today would be the "Wettest day of the year." Nice.

Parking fines increasing: Seattle Municipal Court plans to increase parking fines next year from a range of between $29 to $53 depending on the fine, to between $43 to $78. A huge chunk of fines will increase from $47 to $69. Normally I'd say, nice, but this is not nice.

Shake up at Seattle Police Department: As the City prepares to potentially announce a new police chief before the end of the year, Seattle Police Department Interim Chief Sue Rahr has made some changes to leadership at the department. Deputy Chief Eric Barden announced his plans to retire, and Rahr will elevate Assistant Chief Yvonne Underwood to acting deputy chief and Capt. Lori Aagard to acting assistant chief over professional standards. Underwood's most recently handled use-of-force investigations and made some pretty good calls in that role. Recently, her analysis helped sustain findings against a detective who shot at a stolen car.

Meanwhile, the choice for SPD's permanent chief continues to happen mostly behind closed doors. As KUOW pointed out, the last time Mayor Bruce Harrell picked a chief of police, he announced three finalists before making his final selection in former Chief of Police Adrian Diaz. He also held public forums to discuss the potential finalists and what people wanted to see in a new chief. Harrell's done none of that this time around.

But, Harrell may be considering Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin. All eyes were on Barnes this week when a shooting Monday killed at least three people, including the gunman, and left more wounded. That story got out through Jason Rantz, a Seattle conservative radio host and the Seattle Police Officer's Guild's (SPOG) go-to person to leak stories to. It seems the cops' union may already want to undermine Barnes, by leaking his name and some of the controversy that followed him. In Madison, Barnes was accused of asking an officer about her sexual orientation in an exit interview, and mishandling police accountability cases.

On that shooting: On Monday, a shooter walked into Abundant Life Christian School and shot and killed two people, a student and a teacher, before turning the gun on themselves. Barnes identified the shooter as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, a student at the school who went by the name Samantha, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. The shooting injured at least six other people, leaving two students with life threatening injuries, as of 8:30 pm Monday. An unverified manifesto, supposedly belonging to the shooter, has circulated online. However, law enforcement officials have not confirmed that Rupnow actually wrote it.

The apps: Seattle rose to the number two spot for singles using dating apps, right under Washington DC, according to FYI Guy. A higher percentage of people using the apps are men, both single and married.

Bus stops close at 12th and Jackson: King County Metro has suspended service to 12th Avenue and Jackson Street, citing concerns for passenger and driver safety, according to KOMO. Affected bus routes include 1, 7, 9, 14, 36, 60 and 106, and King County Metro has listed alternative stops for these routes.

Official vs unofficial felonies: A New York judge upheld Trump's convictions on multiple felony charges Monday, despite the U.S. Supreme Court saying earlier this year that presidents had almost total immunity to do crimes while in office. The judge reasoned that when Trump tried to secretly arrange and cover up a payment to his former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen in 2017, he wasn't performing his official presidential duties. He called it logical to assume when a president is falsifying business records to cover up payments to keep the public in the dark, a president is probably acting unofficially.

Drone spotting: The US Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Defense, and the Federal Aviation Administration all say that these drones people keep spotting across the US all appear to be totally normal. The agencies reported receiving more than 5,000 tips about drone sightings in the last few weeks. Of the tips the agencies have been able to investigate, most involve either "lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars." None so far have presented a national security or public safety risk.

Fundraiser for Luigi Mangione hits six figures: A fundraiser for Mangione—who law enforcement officials charged with the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson—has raised more than $120,000, according to the Guardian. The fundraiser had to be held on GiveSendGo, because GoFundMe refused to host the campaign, despite it being specifically for Mangione's legal defense.

Ok that's it for today: Honestly, that wasn't that bad, I was being a baby at the start of the Slog. I guess its nice to wake up informed about the world around me. It is what it is.

It's Time to Burst the PNW Weather Bubble

Ashley Braun — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:30:00 -0800

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we live in a bubble. No, not the political bubble, or even the tech bro bubble (though anyone who’s ever spent time on dating apps seeking viable men knows what that’s like). I’m talking about the blissful temperate climate bubble—the illusion that this region has two weather modes: drizzly winter depression and sunny summer euphoria. by Ashley Braun

For a long time, the thinking seemed to go: We barely deal with snow here. We spend our long wet winters covered in moss and Goretex, and our glorious two months of summer absorbing a year’s worth of Vitamin D at exactly 75 degrees. The big thing we worry about regarding environmental disasters is “The Big One,” which constantly occupies our regional imagination. Yet far from mild-mannered, our region experiences a range of extreme weather such as floods, snow, ice, heat waves, wind storms, and, of course, cyclones.

But how does that stack up against our low-key seismic panic? In Washington, we’re getting more serious about prepping for the next big earthquake. For instance, the state added seismic updates to building codes for new construction, runs 1.4 million person statewide earthquake safety drills each year, and is working with coastal communities on plans to build artificial higher ground as refuges from tsunamis spurred by a major quake. There’s now a West Coast early-warning system that can send alerts to people and automatically slow trains or open fire station doors before strong shaking starts.

Meanwhile, last month’s bomb cyclone, which left more than half a million people without power, some for more than a week, serves as the latest reminder that the Pacific Northwest actually has complicated, diverse weather. With East and Southeast King County especially hard hit, the King County Council approved legislation last week to help affected residents clean up, rebuild, and recover costs, such as short-term hotel charges and replacing spoiled food for those in financial need, after the storm. It also suggests, ahem, creating a report card to evaluate the response and identify ways to better prepare the county for future storms and power outages.

While cities in the Pacific Northwest consistently rank high on lists for climate resilience, we shouldn’t get too comfortable about our little climate refuge. Those rankings are based on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency index, which highlights that King County, for instance, “has been impacted by extreme heat, extreme rainfall, flooding, erosion, infrastructure damage, and sea level rise.” So it’s all relative—we just aren’t sinking into the ocean as quickly as Florida.

Kirby Cook, Science and Operations Officer with the National Weather Service in Seattle, says that climate projections for our region indicate that “extreme weather events will become more frequent, stronger, and more extreme.” So buckle up. It’s time to burst the Pacific Northwest weather bubble.

After decades of prepping for The Big One, what are we doing to prepare for what’s right in front of us?

It Was the Bomb … Cyclone

Because the November 19 bomb cyclone stayed offshore, its powerful winds ended up coming from the east, instead of the south like usual, instead funneling through gaps like Snoqualmie Pass in the wall that is the Cascade Mountains. The result is like putting your thumb over a garden hose, says Cook. Trees weren’t prepared for high winds from this direction.

“It was an absolutely devastating storm,” says Robert Ezelle, Washington Emergency Management Division Director. At least two people died. At its peak, the storm left 700,000 homes and businesses without power, according to Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Andrew Padula.

The outages were a massive disruption to the region. “People’s lives stand still when they unplug,” says Sheri Badger, King County Emergency Management Public Information Officer. She noted that the City of Issaquah reported 300 to 500 people arriving at their community center on November 21 to charge electronic devices, while others went to hospitals to charge medical devices.

In contrast, during heat waves, only a handful of people typically visit cooling centers, she said.

“Nationally, and here in the Northwest, heat is the biggest threat to life,” says Cook, in terms of severe weather. “That’s surprising to a lot of folks.”

“The heat dome was a wake-up call for us because the mild weather that we do experience, I think has lulled us into complacency,” says Badger, referring to the deadly 2021 heat wave which brought back-to-back days of triple-digit heat and killed an estimated 700 people from the U.S. West Coast to British Columbia.

She says the high number of people relying on community charging stations indicated they didn’t have battery packs or power banks on hand. “We aren’t used to having power out for long periods of time,” she says.

Badger describes a different mindset from her time working in emergency management in hurricane-prone North Carolina: “You don’t need to remind people to be prepared, because they’re constantly exposed to it. Here, people get complacent because our emergencies happen sporadically, and people have short memories.”

Even a goldfish could remember the series of extreme weather events piling up in recent years: the devastating November 2021 flooding in northwest Washington, the record-setting summer 2021 heat dome that killed hundreds across the Pacific Northwest, and the December 2022 ice storm that sent cars sliding (and smashing) across Seattle streets—an event that the more topographically challenged parts of the nation found hilarious.

Climate scientists expect our region to see stronger storms, warmer average temperatures, and more precipitation, according to Cook. “If I could boil it down, it would be more extreme of everything.”

Ask Not What Your Country Can Do to Prep For You—Actually, You Should

Emergency managers often talk about an “all-hazards approach,” which is jargon for preparing for every terrible disaster you can imagine—and some you can’t. This ranges from floods, heat waves, and winter storms to earthquakes, tsunamis, and lahars (massive debris flows that can move like “rivers of concrete” after rushing down volcanoes like Mt. Rainier…shudders).

But preparing for extreme weather and other disasters does require resources. “It's kind of a mixed bag,” Ezelle says. Some people are very well prepared for disaster while others are not at all. For a large family living paycheck to paycheck, he says, “It may be very tough for them to stockpile the food and supplies that they need.”

However, the burden can’t be entirely on individuals to go into full-on prepper mode. Nor should it be, given that the bulk of the impacts disproportionately affect the communities least able to cope.

That’s where public leaders come in, says Tania Busch Isaksen, a public health researcher with the University of Washington’s Center for Disaster Resilient Communities. “Policies that are effective in minimizing extreme weather-related impacts to unhoused, low-income, and historically marginalized communities are also beneficial for everyday healthy living.”

King County has been incorporating that ethos into its broader hazard reduction planning, says Badger, and is the first in the nation to add equity and social justice determinants—think “affordable, safe, quality housing” and “access to affordable, healthy food”—to such plans.

Both King County and the City of Seattle point to efforts to adapt the built environment to better withstand extreme heat, cold, and precipitation, and help the most vulnerable populations prepare their own homes and communities. For instance, the county is adding more bus shelters in the hottest urban spots and planting and protecting millions more trees—because according to a 2020 heat mapping study by the County and City, residents can experience a 23-degree difference depending on where they live thanks to considerations like vegetation and land use. Seattle offers rebates (or an entirely free program) for low and moderate income households to switch from heating oil or gas to energy-efficient heat pumps that also serve as air conditioning during heat waves. This year the County received $1.5 million from the Climate Commitment Act to install heat pumps in 50-60 adult family homes, which care for seniors and those with developmental disabilities, for instance.

Additional steps for Washington came in 2023 when the state passed a (by some counts imperfect) law preventing utilities from turning off power and water for nonpayment during extreme heat and when it updated its labor standards for employers during extreme heat, setting requirements around basic human decency—aka offering shade, water, rest, and acclimation—for outdoor workers when the mercury rises above certain temps. And Badger says that King County has an extreme weather planner who works with the cities within the county and the Regional Homelessness Authority to help people who are unhoused access shelters and warming or cooling centers.

Coming soon to Seattle: the City is funding the development of year-round, community-managed “resilience hubs,” which put decision-making power in local people’s hands and double as communal spaces between disruptions. “These hubs will ensure our most-impacted communities are prepared for climate-related emergencies by offering shelter, communications lines, education, heating and cooling during extreme weather events like extreme heat and wildfire smoke, supporting increased resiliency year-round,” says Callie Craighead, City of Seattle Press Secretary, who says a citywide resilience hub strategic plan will come next year.

“Involving communities in the development/design of resilience hubs and other resilience enhancing strategies is essential,” says Nicole Errett, director of UW’s Center for Disaster Resilient Communities and Busch Isaksen’s colleague. In 2022, they partnered with community groups, city, county, and state agencies to survey residents in the Duwamish Valley in Seattle about their top issues of concern. The results, which found air pollution, extreme heat, and wildfires among the top environmental impacts of concern, are meant to give rise to climate and disaster resilience strategies centered on local communities’ needs and conditions. Community members there showed strong interest in resilience hubs.

That kind of community-first program dovetails with the attitudes of emergency managers. We want people to feel empowered to take care of themselves and their neighbors, and not wait around to call 911, says Badger. That means before severe weather strikes, Seattleites need to start talking to their neighbors (oh, the horror). Don’t worry, we’ve got a discussion guide for organizing neighborhoods and other community resources to help you do this. Neighbors are already helping neighbors, and you can either plug into existing efforts, or start something new in your own neighborhood.

How Not to Die, or at Least How to Be Less Stressed in a Disaster

While the region gets its act together, there are some things that individuals can do to prep for the next disaster, whatever it may be.

“Our mantra is: make a plan, build a kit, and stay informed,” says Badger. She recommends having a portable go bag with essential supplies, like medications and extra glasses, and important documentation—things you can grab quickly if you need to evacuate. She also suggests building a home emergency supply kit with food, water, first aid, clothing, and other supplies to sustain you, your family, and any pets for up to two weeks. And if that New Yorker article on our impending seismic doom scared you into creating a go bag, congratulations, it’s now old enough to attend fourth grade. Time to refresh those supplies.

And don’t forget about a kit for your car or workplace, in case you get stranded overnight. Badger also recommends talking through how you would communicate with your family, where you would meet, and how you would handle expectations around work, school, or daycare during a disaster. Then do practice runs.

King County has created an emergency planning workbook to guide you through this process. You can start by building an emergency kit gradually, adding items as you go until you feel ready. Then update it annually, swapping out expired items. Residents can also sign up for emergency alerts through Alert King County, which are available in 27 other languages.

When a bomb cyclone takes your power out for a week, having a pantry full of canned goods only goes so far. “The impact is going to be frustrating. It's going to be disruptive,” recognizes Ezelle. But he adds that having a plan and supplies can help reduce both the impact and stress. “Be prepared to have the food, the water, the medical supplies, and things that you can survive on your own until that power is restored, or until the help that you need is able to get there to you.”

Ezelle realizes the challenges of getting ready are different for each family but says everyone should understand, “This really could happen to them.”

Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I’m off to restock my supply of energy gummies and finally learn the real name of my neighbor who uses a leaf blower 8 hours a day.

Ashley Braun is an award-winning science and environmental journalist based in Seattle. You can find more of her work at ashleybraun.com. When she's not at her computer, she's probably trying to figure out how to fit even more plants into one of her already-full-thanks urban gardens.

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 16

Megan Seling — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:40:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling Miso Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookie

Bake Shop

Last week I told you about Dahlia Bakery’s Hudda's Butterscotch Smoked Oat & Sea Salt Cookie and praised it for being an Adult Cookie. After all, the last thing you want to do at a holiday party or cookie exchange is fight off a gaggle of sticky-fingered babies for dessert.

Another confection that falls firmly in that kid-deterring column is the Miso Buckwheat Chocolate Chip cookie from Bake Shop. It defies all cookie expectations. Children will definitely think they want it. It’s the size of a baby’s head, and the edges crinkle and cackle while the center is soft and chewy, baked until just set. It looks like a chocolatey, chewy, melty, messy, picture-perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Then comes the miso. The first bite is unexpected—the miso delivers this deep salty flavor that hits first but is quickly rounded out by the buckwheat flour’s earthy nuttiness and pockets of smooth dark chocolate. The second bite is transformative—your brain begins to rewire itself to redefine everything you thought a cookie could be. This is a cookie for people who claim to not like sweet things. This is a cookie for people whose teeth ache at the sight of, say, Treat Cookie’s Annabelle (with caramel drizzled to order!) or the beloved PacNW legend, the Big Pink Cookie. (It’s also gluten-free and vegan, fwiw.)

It pairs perfectly with the shop’s seasonal black sesame caramel latte, which comes topped with a cloud of salted whipped cream. Dip your cookie in it! In fact, here's a free suggestion for Bake Shop: Serve this cookie with an optional side of the salted whipped cream—the cold, tangy cream is the perfect accompaniment to the cookie’s richness. I’d pay an extra buck for that for sure.

Bake Shop also has holiday treats available for pre-order for Christmas and Hannukah (tahini challah and chocolate babka!), as well as cookie decorating kits that come with plain sugar cookies and three pastry bags of icing.

The First Trans Rights Case of the Next Trump Era

Vivian McCall — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 13:47:00 -0800

Earlier this month, one of those bills from Tennessee, SB1, came before the Supreme Court. And next June, the Justices will determine whether the law violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection clause. US v. Skrmetti is the first case before the court to directly consider this question for trans youth, but it's not as straightforward as determining if this law discriminates against them. by Vivian McCall

There is a widespread political fantasy that transgender people are so central to American life that they swayed the outcome of a US Presidential election and turned millions into authoritarian apologists. The most obsessive rightwingers believe trans people control American universities, corporations and language itself, justifying the more than 1,000 bills to restrict trans health care and civil rights as retribution for an imagined social hijacking.

US v. Skrmetti is the first case before the court to directly consider this question for trans youth, but it's not as straightforward as determining if this law discriminates against them.

SB1, passed in March 2023, prohibits doctors from prescribing trans children puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), or gender-affirming surgery, while allowing those same treatments for intersex children, children starting puberty early or late, and medical conditions other than gender dysphoria. The state argued it had a compelling interest in “encouraging minors to appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty.”

The petitioners—trans children, their parents, their doctors, the American Civil Liberties Union and the federal government—contend transgender people fall into a quasi-suspect class. They allege the state ignored the proven benefits of gender-affirming care and that the law itself is making a distinction on the basis of those who “appreciate” and disdain their sex.

A lower district court sided with them, and granted a preliminary injunction temporarily preventing the law from taking effect. The conservative Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this decision, and an appeal brought the case before the court last Wednesday.

The most important question the Justices must answer is what the “standard of review” should be in this case, a legal term for how skeptical courts should be when evaluating laws that treat and classify groups differently. Tennessee draws the line between kids who take hormones and puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria and those prescribed the same drugs for reasons including early puberty and intersex conditions.

Imara Jones, creator of the nonprofit multimedia publication Translash, was in the courtroom last Wednesday. Not one to sugarcoat, she still emerged hopeful.

“Every time they tested various arguments, they quickly realized they were in a cul-de-sac that always brought them back to sex,” she says. “And I think it reinforced the main argument from the Solicitor General and ACLU.”

Choosing the Arena

Courts evaluate Equal Protection cases on three levels of judicial scrutiny: “Suspect,” or strict scrutiny for cases involving race, religion, national origin, and lack of citizenship, “quasi-suspect” or middle-tier scrutiny in gender and sex-based cases, and “rational basis” or minimum scrutiny, when no “suspect” class applies. The higher the level of scrutiny, the more a government must do to prove its law is both necessary and in the interest of the state. Conversely, under “rational basis” review, a state just needs to prove the government’s action is rationally related to a legitimate interest. That’s the reason this question of “tier” matters. Under heightened scrutiny, Tennessee has more to prove, and their body of evidence is lacking.

Tennessee argues SB1 does not make a sex classification; instead, they argue, they’re making an age distinction unrelated to sex. Earlier this month, Justice Samuel Alito seemed swayed by this argument, recalling his statements in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 case that overturned Roe v. Wade, and the 1974 case, Geduldig v. Aiello, which found that states could regulate medical procedures related to biological sex.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the official who represents the federal government before the Supreme Court, held that while those cases only implicated sex, Tennessee’s law made explicit distinctions.

“That doesn’t apply in any relevant respect here,” she said. “These aren’t drugs that are limited to one sex or another. Both males and females alike have been prescribed puberty blockers, hormones, testosterone, estrogen. They produce the same physical characteristics … no matter if your sex is male or female.”

Elana Redfield is a Federal Policy Director at the Williams Institute, a LGBTQ public-policy research center at the University of California, Los Angeles. She says Prelogar’s point could potentially resonate with Justice Neil Gorsuch. But it’s hard to know for sure. The normally chatty justice didn’t ask a single question during oral arguments.

There’s hope for a repeat of the unexpected 5-4 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, the first and only Supreme Court case to consider transgender rights, where Gorsuch sided with the liberals and authored a majority opinion about employment discrimination that grounded trans-friendly policy in Joe Biden’s federal agencies. “An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions,” he wrote. “That’s because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.”

However, Bostock can’t be treated as a bellwether: Skrmetti is not a Title VII case; The court that delivered the narrow ruling on employment discrimination is a shade redder than it was in 2019; And Gorsuch has not tucked a trans flag under his robes.

In Bostock, Gorsuch addressed employers worried the court’s decision would sweep “beyond Title VII to other federal or state laws that prohibit sex discrimination,” including sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms and dress codes. “But none of those other laws are before us today,” he wrote. That limited ruling frees Gorsuch and the rest of the conservative bench to rule differently here. Whatever Gorsuch comes to will be rigid and textualist. While his logic in past cases would suggest applying heightened scrutiny, there’s no evidence he is sympathetic to the petitioners.

Meanwhile, Justice Amy Coney Barrett addressed the unlikely possibility of creating a new suspect class for trans people, but said to her knowledge, before the laws of the last three years, and Trump’s military ban during his first term, there was no history of discrimination under government-enacted laws.

But modern concepts of transness do not always apply to a historical framework. Chase Strangio, a staff attorney at the ACLU and the first trans person to argue before the Supreme Court, mentioned a history of laws forbidding cross dressing, and a number of old statutes that lumped gay and trans people together. Even recent historical figures from early in the gay rights movement we’d think of as transgender today wouldn’t have described themselves as such. Even if the evidence of de jure discrimination convinces Barrett, a new suspect class has not been named in decades. It’s unlikely she’d rule in favor of creating it.

The 1 Percent

D Dangaran, a board member of the National Trans Bar Association, has faith that the court will apply intermediate scrutiny in this case, but worries the conservative Justices will throw their weight behind the argument that gender-affirming care harms people who later detransition, which Justice Kavanugh didn’t think the court could ignore.

Children and adults who seek trans healthcare want trans healthcare, and study after study shows it improves their general well-being. For this reason, few change their minds. However, detransition is a real, and deeply personal experience the right misrepresents as a singular political argument against trans healthcare. While a small percentage of people detransition because they regret taking hormones or undergoing surgery, many stop transitioning because they lack social support, simply experience a shift in their self-conception, or are pausing before re-transitioning later.

The right—and a minority of vocal detrans people who claim to speak for the community—have worked to draw a false equivalence between their experiences and the experiences of many more people who benefit from trans care (gender-affirming surgeries, for example, have extremely low regret rates of about 1%.) Republicans have not scrambled to ban similar procedures such as elective, risk-reducing mastectomies for cis people, although regret rates are five to 14 times higher, or breast augmentations, which between 5% and 9% of patients regret, according to a literature review in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Surgery. The same study found regret rates for body contouring dance between 10% and 33%. Other studies show up to 30% of patients regret knee surgeries and prostatectomies. About 19% of people regret bariatric surgery for weight loss.

But here we are: Supreme Court justices and the journalists sculpting their views are circling the wagons over a 1% regret rate. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has gone as far to say that the medical consensus on gender affirming care is “fake.” None of them are doctors, so it’s not surprising they’d take medical information out of context. Anti-trans bills reinforce this bias by making it easier for former patients to sue doctors who provided gender-affirming care.

What is it about this small risk that induces the urge to slam the brakes on medical care that works for the vast majority of people who receive it? The news media seem to see the narratives around abortion regret, a real experience, as the anti-abortion propaganda that it is. Mainstream news organizations are not devoting limited resources to investigate how those experiences might inform the legitimacy of a procedure that has medical consensus. But many do spend an unusual amount of time and effort questioning gender-affirming care. The specter of gender regret haunts differently. Ironically, the focus suggests living in a body intolerably marred by gendered characteristics is a unique horror. The very thing gender-affirming care seeks to remedy.

“When the facts are truly weighed, that should not be an exceedingly persuasive justification for this broad categorical ban that covers both those who want it, and that small percentage of people who may actually feel harmed by the care they receive,” Dangaran said.

Similarly, Tennessee is relying on bunk scientific claims to discredit gender affirming care that would crumple under examination. Totally circumventing questions about suspect classes and equal protection,

Kavanaugh argued that it’s not the court’s job to evaluate the evidence or resolve medical and policy questions. (As Strangio pointed out, the court didn’t hesitate to apply heightened scrutiny in a case involving medical judgements when it ruled churches’s right to freely practice religion superseded the public health risk of spreading COVID-19 at large gatherings.)

The Swing(ish) Votes

Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice John Roberts seemed most sympathetic to Tennessee's arguments, while questions from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated they saw the connection between the precedent established in Bostock, and the dangerous precedent the court could set in this case. Brown Jackson noted a parallel to the “scientific” arguments made in Loving v. Virginia, in which the court evaluated if Virginia’s “anti-miscegenation” laws banning interracial marriage had any rational basis.

If the court approaches this case by saying “there are lots of good reasons for this policy and who are we as the Court to say otherwise,” Jackson said, “I'm worried that we're undermining the foundations of some of our bedrock equal protection cases.”

Barrett and Gorsuch are the wildcards, and only one has to side with the conservatives for majority. This could come down to an ideological decision that sides with the state over the precedent of sex discrimination and what many would see as an objective reading of the Constitution.

The court could conservatively kick it back to the lower court, or determine the reasoning in Bostock applies. That would be strong support for liberal interpretations of Section 1557, the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination statute, cases on sports and other cases on gender-affirming care.

Those cases are coming. A victory for the petitioners in this case would be narrow at best, and nobody should expect Obergefell, when people married hours after the decision ran down the courthouse steps. These laws are scattershot across the country, with different technicalities built into each one. Twenty-six states have restricted gender-affirming care for minors. While most are roughly similar to Tennessee, and this case has the potential to invalidate them, there are other ways of limiting care, like cutting funding and increasing liability. On the other hand, the petitioners did not take up a number of other related legal claims, including a parent’s right to choose the best care for their child and first amendment claims.

Win or lose, this ain’t over yet.

The Top 41 Events in Seattle This Week: Dec 16–22, 2024

EverOut Staff — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:00:00 -0800

Thunderpussy, The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, and More

by EverOut Staff

The countdown to Christmas continues with this week delivering top-tier events from Thunderpussy's The Breast Is Yet to Come Tour to Thievery Corporation and from The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show to Pete Holmes: The Feelin’ It Tour.

TUESDAY SPORTS & RECREATION

Seattle Kraken 2024-25 Home Games
Kraken hockey is back, and while the team seems to alternate winning and losing on a consistent basis, we're still watching to see how this season's player additions and staffing changes (a new head coach and the NHL's first woman assistant coach) play out. If you need a little extra incentive to attend this game against the Ottawa Senators, the first 10,000 fans to arrive will score a fuzztastic Kraken trapper hat. SHANNON LUBETICH
(Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown)

Slog AM: Sara Nelson Fires Back, News Outlets Fawn Over CEOs, and Coyotes Are Everywhere

Hannah Murphy Winter — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 08:41:00 -0800

Seattle's Only News Roundup by Hannah Murphy Winter

I’m writing this at 7 am and there’s still no sign of sunlight. We’re officially in the deepest of the Big Dark—five days away from our shortest day. Behind today’s rain clouds, we get less than eight and a half hours of sunlight today. It’s gonna be raining and in the 40s, but when the sun is up, go outside anyway.

Speaking of weather: Who kept their lights on this weekend? Saturday’s windstorm knocked out power for about 78,000 people. The worst of it was on Bainbridge, Whidbey, and Camano islands, but as of Sunday, most people had their power back. Now we just have to get ready for the incoming atmospheric river. Climate change is fun.

Sara Nelson fires back: The Council president was on KUOW on Friday to respond to Council Member Tammy Morales’ description of the council as “toxic.” Nelson claimed she wanted to “stay above the tit for tat allegations” but that she “had a responsibility” to “respond to the attacks on the integrity of the body.” She defended the body, denying Morales’s claims about bullying, and her worries that the council "is sliding towards really undemocratic behavior." Sounds to me like she’s worried no one will want to work with them after Morales shared her experience: "One of the reasons that I wanted to be on this show is because I don't want anybody who is interested in serving District 2 to be discouraged from applying because of how the Council dynamics have been characterized by Councilmember Morales," she insisted. "This is a positive work environment." And of course, she still skirted the question of whether she’s going to try to appoint Tanya Woo again.

Let the D2 appointment race begin: Randy Engstrom, a 20-year Beacon Hill resident and former head of Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture, has officially announced he’s going for the District 2 City Council seat Tammy Morales is stepping down from. In an email to supporters over the weekend, Engstrom touted his decades of civic work focused on equity, and creativity, as opposed to the typical political tap dance. He says he aims to protect vulnerable communities while giving Seattle a shot at being a true cultural and progressive trailblazer. Though he's the first to toss his hat in the ring, the D2 appointee race is likely to get crowded before the January 9 deadline.

People keep clocking an extra-fluffy coyote in Capitol Hill. But it turns out that coyote sightings are on the rise in general, which is unusual this time of year. If you want to see where they’re popping up, the Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle University provide a Carnivore Spotter map. (Though it does show one sighting in the middle of Elliott Bay, which I have…questions about.) And remember, coyotes are cute but they probably don’t want to be your friend. Leave them be, and keep your cats inside.

Years in the making: The Highway 520 bike-and-pedestrian bridge opened this weekend! It connects Washington Park Arboretum trails with Montlake and the University District. The city also opened the 3-acre Montlake Lid. Maybe we’ll lid I-5 next!

Separate but equal: Adding to our early-season anti-trans Christmas presents, several Washington school districts are pushing the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) to implement rules about how trans athletes can participate in school sports. Currently, the WIAA allows athletes to participate on teams that align with their gender identity, but Amendment No. 7 would specifically ban transgender girls from participating in girls' sports, or girls' sports divisions with athletes assigned female at birth. Instead, they would make a separate, third division that trans athletes could compete in. On top of the fact that checking kids' genitals before they compete in school sports introduces a whole mess of privacy issues, this all sounds a little Plessy v. Ferguson to me.

Washington gets a brand news Superfund site! For almost 100 years, a Canadian smelting company called Teck Metals dumped toxic “slag” into the Upper Columbia River, and last week the EPA officially named it a Superfund site. By making it a Superfund listing, the EPA can use federal funding to clean up the river. But even better, it also allows the agency to compel polluters (in this case, Teck) to pay for the clean up (like how Boeing, King County, and the Port of Seattle are paying about $1 billion to clean up the Duwamish.) Boeing fought tooth and nail to avoid paying their fair share, so we’ll see what kind of fight Teck puts up!

More things to be proud of: Washington is home to one of the first sexual harassment convictions since the military reclassified it as a criminal offense. Lt. Col. Herman West of Joint Base Lewis-McChord was found guilty of repeatedly sexually harassing a female officer in his command. It's considered a felony-level offense.

Ho ho ho: SantaCon was this weekend. To all those who celebrate, I wish you much Gatorade. I’m happy to report that all of my favorite bars had “No Santa-Con” signs on the door.

The wrong kind of zoning: Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported that the Seattle chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression was planning a protest and flyering rally on Saturday at Cal Anderson Park to protest against the neighborhood’s new SODA zone. D3’s Joy Hollingsworth led the effort to add a Capitol Hill SODA zone to the list in September, even though SPD Chief Sue Rahr has explicitly said that the zones are “not ideal” for treating a “medical problem.” Cool.

Back to Basics: Washington has a new guaranteed basic income program, targeting indigenous parents. Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services will give 150 pregnant people who identify as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander $1,250 a month, no strings attached. “This program is going to build Indigenous generational wealth,” Tia Yazzie, Hummingbird’s Abundance Auntie, told the Seattle Times. “It’s not just money wealth, but cultural wealth, healing wealth.” Research overwhelmingly shows that UBI works, and we recently had a successful pilot program down in Tacoma. Plus, the Heritage Foundation thinks UBI is BS, which just makes me want it more.

McConnell does something we don’t hate: Senator Mitch McConnell is a polio survivor, so RFK Jr.’s petition to withdraw the polio vaccine from the market didn’t sit well with him. He teeeechnically didn’t name names, but he issued a thinly veiled threat to incoming Trump admin members who might be, shall we say, science-hostile: “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they’re dangerous,” said McConnell. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”

Major news outlets fawn over CEOs: This weekend, the Seattle Times published a syndicated Washington Post article about the late UnitedHealth CEO, Brian Thompson. (They literally used the word “bootstrapped” to describe Thompson’s background.) Apparently, he was aware that the company had a serious PR problem before he was killed. “He was actively articulating a vision that helped better educate and help people better understand what the company is doing,” one source told the paper, which sounds an awful lot like corporate PR spin to us. Meanwhile, the New York Times published an OpEd by the company’s new CEO, saying: “We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it.” But they didn’t design the system, and healthcare is hard, so don’t blame them, he said. Tell that to the $23 billion UnitedHealthcare netted last year.

Meanwhile: ProPublica found that UnitedHealthcare had a “playbook for limiting mental health coverage,” which impacted the treatment of children with autism on Medicaid. Cool.

Same playbook, just more of it: We’re weeks away from the new Trump administration, and he’s already threatening the press. The New York Times called it a “small flurry” of defamation lawsuits, aimed at news outlets that dared to criticize him or his cabinet picks. ABC News has already been cowed, coughing up $15 million to Trump's presidential library fund to settle a defamation suit—meaning some in the Fourth Estate are now sponsors of the MAGA empire’s greatest hits collection.

What we’ve been waiting for: Texas Attorney General and all-around garbage pile Ken Paxton is suing a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas. It’s one of the first challenges to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed after Roe v. Wade was overturned. There are countless ways to work around state laws and get abortion pills by mail. Because abortion is community care.

A tune for your Monday: My new favorite, if kinda unsettling, cover of Black Hole Sun.

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 15

Audrey Vann — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 10:49:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Audrey Vann Cracker Jack Cookie

Little Jaye

I initially walked into the South Park bakery and cafe Little Jaye to snag one of their famous marshmallow cereal treats. Unfortunately, it was too late in the day, and the sticky confections were sold out. But then I saw it—staring at me through the glass case with its surface bursting with polka dots of popcorn.

The Cracker Jack cookie is a giant, chewy, buttery cookie with swirls of butterscotch dancing around whole pieces of caramel popcorn. When I selected the cookie, my first thought was: Will there be peanuts? You know what I’m talking about. Every box of Cracker Jacks includes 1-3 candied peanuts. There are always enough to fill your palate with salty, nutty, sugary delight while leaving you wanting more. I’ve always considered them to be the real prize inside.

As far as I could tell, my cookie did not have a peanut in it. But, upon further investigation, it appears that the cookie typically does include nuts. In fact, the bakers at Little Jaye seem to be far more generous with the peanuts than the Cracker Jack company (I see AT LEAST four peanuts in this photo). It’s entirely possible that I consumed my Cracker Jack cookie so quickly and ravenously that I just didn’t notice a nut.

Speaking of prizes, this cookie does not have a little toy inside because, obviously, that would be a choking hazard. However, the rich, perfectly salted brown butter base is better than any paper “toy” they are putting in the boxes these days.

Got Questions About the Golden Bachelor-verse?

Megan Burbank — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 13:46:00 -0800

At the end of this season of The Golden Bachelorette, like a tradwife mom hawking raw milk on TikTok during an avian flu outbreak, I Just Had Questions: Can we get a better tailor on this show? Why was Guy forced to stand sadly in the rain in the season finale, getting his nice blue shirt all speckled? Are we going to get some more comprehensive background checks next time around? Is Charles L. going to be the next Golden Bachelor? And if not, why not? by Megan Burbank

As we waved Joan Vassos and Chock Chapple off on their journey to the real world at the end of the very first Golden Bachelorette, I was left with an unsettled feeling, and it wasn’t just frustration at Jesse Palmer’s college football sponcon, or because this season’s drama quotient was uncharacteristically low. Like a tradwife mom hawking raw milk on TikTok during an avian flu outbreak, I Just Had Questions: Can we get a better tailor on this show? Why was Guy forced to stand sadly in the rain in the season finale, getting his nice blue shirt all speckled? Are we going to get some more comprehensive background checks next time around? Is Charles L. going to be the next Golden Bachelor? And if not, why not?

I hoped this season’s PNW representation, Captain Kim Buike of Mountlake Terrace, would be able to answer some of them. But like many a seafaring legend (or a person under contract with ABC—more on that soon!), Captain Kim proved elusive. (Captain Kim: If you are reading this, it’s not too late to reach out! Though we suspect you might be bound by the Bachelor-verse’s notorious, ironclad contracts.) Instead, I’ve enlisted another Northwest Bachelor franchise icon to give us some insight into the machinations of The Golden Bachelorette: Faith Martin.

Martin is a musician, radio host, and equestrian enthusiast who lives over the mountains in Benton City. If you, too, enjoy corroding your brain by watching these shows, you’ll remember Martin as the second runner-up on Gerry’s (pronounced like “Gary’s”) season of The Golden Bachelor. Martin stood out from the beginning for her musical talent (she sang to Gerry with an acoustic guitar; it was the only time an original performance on this show has been enjoyable), her soothing radio voice, and her strong self-identification as an REI person—a true deviation for this show, whose contestants often show up with perfectly Dysoned hair extensions (how), a suitcase of eveningwear I wouldn’t break out even for the ballet (the only time I dress up), and that thing where they put an entire new face of makeup on top of their original face. Good for them, but I don’t have the skill for that, so it was refreshing to see someone on the show who I know would never judge me for my Blundstones and Patagonia puffy. Faith Martin is one of us!

Like Kim, Martin was outspoken about her Northwest way of life while on the show. On a show that requires full glam contestants have to do themselves (an act of cruelty if there ever was one), “I kept saying ‘I’m more REI than Nordstrom,’” said Martin, “because all those gals were like Neiman Marcus, not that I haven’t ever shopped at those big department stores. But living in the Pacific Northwest, REI and outdoor clothing, that’s what we’re all about here.” It is!

Unlike some other horror stories I’ve encountered, Martin’s experience with the franchise was largely positive, she said. But it also imbued her with certain insights into the show’s most recent season. Why does no one eat their food? Are they starving? How long do the rose ceremonies actually take to film? And does it get tiring wearing stilettos for hours?

I asked, and Martin answered.

Never-Ending Rose Ceremonies

Rose ceremonies, which are always shot after dark, take “forever” to film, she said, possibly because the camera operators need to get footage of specific contestants’ facial reactions depending on who’s being sent home. “They can’t be whipping cameras back and forth, so I think that’s probably why it takes so long,” she said. “That was grueling, for sure. We’re all standing there in our high heels going ‘Please!’”

On her season, Martin said contestants lobbied the producers to let them be seated during the rose ceremony—a reasonable request on the Golden shows, with cast members in their sixties and seventies. But this attempt at commonsense policy change was denied. “We gave them a pretty hard time about it,” Martin recalled.

She sees it as one of many elements the show, which has been airing since 2002, is particularly attached to and unlikely to change. The same goes for the bunk beds in the mansion, which I’d argue no one over age 30 should have to sleep on ever, much less people old enough to be the 30-year-olds’ parents. “I remember when they showed us to our room, the first thing I did was run over to the bed that I wanted so I didn’t have to have a bunk bed,” said Martin. “And I noticed that on The Golden Bachelorette, too.”

The bunk beds do save space in a crowded mansion, she said, and the disruption they cause also seems to serve a practical purpose. “Just my own intuitive sense is that they liked us to feel a little bit off our kilter, so that we were more sensitive, we were more in touch with our feelings,” she said. “I think that probably makes good TV.”

My Kingdom for a Dinner Date

As for the many full dinner plates abandoned on one-on-one dates? “We don’t eat,” said Martin. On a date on her season with Gerry (pronounced like “Gary”), she remembered actually eating a particularly impressive charcuterie spread after taking a helicopter to a yacht (see also: Facing Your Fear of Heights™). “But generally speaking, that’s always kind of an inside joke on the show: They bring out these fabulous things, and nobody eats,” she said. “They never said ‘Don’t eat.’ It’s just this unspoken thing.”

But don’t worry! Martin assured me that everyone is well fed when not filming, and while Pascal’s enjoyment of the other men’s cooking on The Golden Bachelorette was played for laughs in the show’s edit, Martin said it’s normal for the contestants to cook for each other. On The Golden Bachelor, she said, Edith and Susan were known for their cooking, and runner-up Leslie Fima for her baking. Honestly, under these circumstances, I would probably be a “gazer and grazer,” too, after a few insincere offers to help. Justice pour Pascal!

While I complained bitterly about the lack of drama at the end of this season, Martin sees it from a more reasonable perspective. She found it thoughtful that Joan chose to break up with Guy before the final rose ceremony. “I was so glad that Joan handled it that way,” said Martin. Not all leads operate with such grace, and plenty of rose ceremonies resemble endurance tests for the heartbroken.. “I had seen other shows where it was really awkward for the people that were going home, myself included,” said Martin.

Miracles of Modern Chemistry

She sees Chock as “a good match” for Joan, she said, “So, you know, crossed fingers. I know that they’re not jumping into marriage. They’re waiting so that they are really sure. And I think that's a smart thing to do.”

It’s especially smart given that despite its compulsory heterosexuality and obsession with lasting romantic partnerships, the Bachelor franchise has a very underwhelming success rate: Only four Bachelors are still in relationships with women they met on the show, and again, it’s been airing for over twenty years. The franchise is much better at producing deep friendships like the ones between the men on The Golden Bachelorette, something not lost on Martin.

“With The Golden Bachelorette, it seemed like the men just got along fabulously well,” she said. “And with The Golden Bachelor, the women, all of us on the show have a camaraderie … we will always have shared experiences that are unlike any other.”

For Martin, being on the show was a way to commit to being open to love during a phase of life when that can be difficult to prioritize. “I think, like a lot of people my age, we get in kind of a rut,” she said. “We’re working really hard. I happened to be working really hard. I had a lot of forks in a lot of fires.” She was hosting three radio shows, teaching radio broadcasting, and performing with her band. “I was working 16-hour days for a long time, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll never date anybody if I’m going to just work all the time.’”

In the mansion, Martin said, contestants have no access to their phones, TV, or radio. For the men on The Golden Bachelorette, this fostered a warm, very Fellowship of the Ring vibe: a community of men being kind to each other in a way that’s not often modeled on TV, whether it took of the form of Charles and Guy processing Charles’ grief over the death of his wife, Gregg gamely doing Pascal’s laundry, Kim fixing appliances in the mansion’s kitchen, or Charles and Gary buying melatonin for their insomniac housemates. As a person, I’m glad there wasn’t much interpersonal drama throughout the season. But as a recapper, there wasn’t much to write about. The kindness the Mansion Men showed each other made it worth watching anyway.

“I think that it was probably really good for those men to be able to emotionally connect like that, because women have a little easier time doing that than men,” said Martin of this dynamic. It’s true! Men need more socially acceptable ways to make new friends! Especially when they are old enough to be on The Golden Bachelorette! A friend-meeting app for men! Immediately!

The lack of access to the outside world is one of many ways the show tries to get contestants and leads to open up. Another approach is more obvious and infamous: There’s an open bar the whole time, Martin said, although the Golden contestants get less messy than their younger counterparts. Also, not all of that champagne is cold. “There was a lot of warm champagne,” she said. “So when you did get an ice cold one, it was like, ‘Woo-hoo. I’m gonna drink this!’”

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 14

Shannon Lubetich — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 11:21:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Shannon Lubetich Peanut Butter Malt Cookie

Salmonberry

This cookie is perfect. Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle, it breaks evenly in half and scatters sesame seeds. It tastes like peanut butter, yes, but the malt brings a depth reminiscent of warm butter on a toasted slice of hearty bread. The sesame seeds add a fun crunch, richness, and aesthetic like the cookie’s just been snowed on. It's vegan and gluten-free, but it lacks nothing. It is 100% delicious, and dairy and gluten enthusiasts cannot tell it’s been made without them. [Dairy and wheat-loving editor's note: It's true! I never would've guessed it's gluten-free—it's so soft!]

I started eating the Peanut Butter Malt Cookie from Salmonberry at the Ballard Sunday Farmers’ Market (where they still have a booth), but Salmonberry recently opened a permanent spot in Sunset Hill, so you don’t have to wait a week to get another one of these delicious morsels. Their shop is currently open from 9 am to 6 pm Thursday through Saturday and sells the most delightful goods, including local produce, take-and-bake pizzas, handmade dry pasta, a curated wine selection, and spices and sauces galore. They also make a variety of tasty breads and pastries, including a vegan onion cookie akin to a slightly more savory Snickerdoodle. Grab one of those while you're there, too.

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 13

Megan Seling — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 14:53:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling Sarah Bernhardts

Nielsen's Pastries

The Mackles'more isn't (wasn't) the only celebrity cookie in town. A menu mainstay at Nielsen's Pastries on Lower Queen Anne is the Sarah Bernhardt, a tender, bite-sized almond macaroon topped with a cloud of chocolate mousse and encased in chocolate. It's named after the iconic French stage actress from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Nielsen's version of the Bernhardt looks like it'd be an intense cookie, perhaps a dessert best eaten with a fork, but don't let that mountainous chocolate shell fool you—this cookie is light, almost ethereal, and each delicate component instantly melts in your mouth.

The Bernhardts are just one component of Nielsen's annual holiday menu—right now, you can also get kringle, marzipan pigs, julekage (hot tip: make French toast with it on Christmas morning), potatoes (cream puffs with custard and marzipan made to look like potatoes!), and a whole mess of adorable Christmas cookies, including gingerbread teddy bears, sprinkle-covered sugar cookies, chocolate peppermint shortbread, and Russian tea cakes. Just a dollar a pop!

The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Seattle This Weekend: Dec 13–15, 2024

EverOut Staff — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:00:00 -0800

Christmas Ship Parade of Boats, Wintry Weekend Ice Skating Rink, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15

by EverOut Staff

There's only three weekends left in 2024! Make the most of this one at cheap and cheerful events from the Christmas Ship Parade of Boats to Wintry Weekend Ice Skating Rink and from Black Artists Market to Candy Cane Lane. For more ideas, check out our guide to this week's top events.

FRIDAY WINTER HOLIDAYS

Christmas Ship Parade of Boats
We love that Seattle's unique geography lends itself to unique Christmas celebrations, including a parade of sparkly boats. You can grab a spot on the lead boat, follow along in your own decked-out boat, or stake out one of the many excellent shoreside viewpoints. The parade will gather in Lake Union and head westward through the Fremont Cut, where a free viewing party will be held at Evanston Plaza. SHANNON LUBETICH
(Gas Works Park & Lake Union Park, $0-$76)

Slog AM: Spooky Road Signs, Possible Giant Drones in New Jersey, and RFK’s Lawyer Trying to Recall the Polio Vaccine

Hannah Murphy Winter — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 09:54:00 -0800

Seattle's only news roundup. by Hannah Murphy Winter

Happy Friday the 13th! Go cast some spells or buy a lotto ticket.

Sign of the times: Yesterday morning, someone reprogrammed a lighted road sign near the Aurora bridge. Typically, it’s the type of sign that would read something like “Right lane closed.” But yesterday, it read: “One less CEO. Many more to go.” It was gone by the time the sun came up.

🚧✨ A striking construction sign in East Queen Anne, Seattle, reads: “One less CEO, Many more to go.” We’re asking local authorities how this could happen. What are your thoughts? @komonews pic.twitter.com/M5fZC24djs
— KOMO PHOTOG OLEN (@olenhogenson) December 12, 2024

Insurers are spooked: Floridian Briana Boston, frustrated after a denied medical claim, allegedly dropped the phrase “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next” on a call with Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also just happens to match the exact words inscribed on the bullets that killed a certain health insurance CEO. Authorities swooped in, charging her with threats of terrorism, though Boston insists she owns no weapons and was just venting about, you know, the usual for-profit healthcare nonsense.

Weather (and space): Still wet, though it looks like we might get some sun on Sunday. If we get a break in the weather, though, don’t forget to look up. Tonight and early Saturday morning, we’ll be in the peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower. NASA recommends that we find an area with less light pollution so we can watch the greenish streaks across the sky. There should be about one every minute, so get thee to the woods.

Tis the Season: We have our first anti-trans legislation out of Olympia, just in time for the holidays. Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen previewed two bills this week: one to ban gender-affirming care for kids, and one to keep trans inmates convicted of a sex offenses out of gender-affirming housing. You can read more about it from Vivian here.

The last initiative standing: Remember the four initiatives on November’s ballot that were all paid for by wealthy anti-tax bro Brian Heywood? We voted most of them down (yay!), but I-2066—an electrification ban that they claimed was a repeal of a non-existent gas ban—made it through by a narrow margin (boo). Now, King County, the City of Seattle, and a group of climate activists are suing the State of Washington, saying the initiative is unconstitutional.

Misconduct and scandal at youth facility: At Green Hill School in Chehalis (“school,” of course, being a euphemism for a maximum-security facility for people ages 17 to 25), police are seeking charges against two employees accused of sending “suggestive” selfies and smuggling contraband for inmates with cell phones, adding to a whopping 21 criminal referrals this year (up from just one last year). The facility’s woes include drug overdoses, overcrowding, and a growing list of misconduct allegations, prompting Gov. Inslee to pitch opening a new facility for older youth. Meanwhile, Chehalis Police Chief Randy Kaut says he’s concerned that Green Hill administrators have simply stopped reporting crimes to his department, while the DCYF who runs the facility, insists its “extra resources” for investigations are working—we’re gonna call bullshit on that.

Gentle Giant: Over in Oak Harbor, Jeff Pangburn, a 6-foot-10 "gentle giant" who’s been living in the woods for 15 years, is known as the friendliest face with the biggest feet in town. Recently, when a car crashed near his makeshift home, he tried—and heartbreakingly failed—to save a young driver from a fiery wreck. The community is now rallying to help Jeff trade his forest digs for an RV while he’s out here asking, “Can we fix the crash-prone intersection already?”

Maybe it’s Santa’s surveillance? CNN reports: “[New Jersey] residents have reported seeing drones the size of small cars flying around at night; officials are unsure if they’re seeing anything unusual, or if these are drones at all.” John Kirby, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security and White House security said many of the sightings are actually “manned aircraft” and that there is “no evidence at this time” that the mysterious sightings “pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” Sure!

Vaccines, who needs ‘em? RKF’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, is petitioning the government to revoke FDA approval of the Polio vaccine. Siri has been a key player in helping ol’ Bob pick health officials for the incoming Trump administration. In his free time, he’s been waging a war against, well, science. He’s filed a petition to halt the distribution of 13 other vaccines, challenged Covid vax mandates around the country, and deposed some of our most prominent vaccine scientists.

Speaking of RFK: In October, he threatened to fire FDA employees for “aggressive suppression” of products such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, “sunshine” (lol what), and raw milk. Raw milk is especially risky right now. This week two cats in Los Angeles died “from consuming recalled raw milk,” according to Los Angeles TV news station KTLA. Public officials suspect H5 bird flu was present in the milk. RFK is gonna get us all killed, isn’t he.

More lawsuits for Diddy: On Thursday, three men filed complaints alleging that Diddy “‘personally offered’ them alcoholic drinks which made them unconscious, before they say he raped them,” reports the BBC. Diddy’s lawyers said the suits are “full of lies.” More than 30 civil cases have been filed against Diddy, and Thomas Giuffra, the lawyer who filed yesterday’s complaints, says “more than 60 people have reached out to his office with claims.” Another lawyer representing some of Diddy’s alleged victims says the potential number of cases “is probably in the 300 range.”

Cruelty Can’t Wait: Republicans have already announced plans to take a big slice out of social safety-net programs, targeting Medicaid, food stamps, and cash assistance, which disproportionately support women and children. Their pitch? Cutting these programs promotes "family values" and "self-sufficiency"—because nothing says empowerment like fewer groceries and unaffordable healthcare. Advocates argue these cuts will trap women in poverty, dangerous situations, and worse, while research shows work requirements and forced "family values" do little to solve systemic issues. Meanwhile, states will be left holding the bag, and spoiler alert: it’s empty.

Daniel Penny’s first public appearance: Proving yet again that he claims G.O.A.T status amongst assholes, J.D. Vance is bringing Daniel Penny, freshly acquitted for the killing of Jordan Neely on a NYC subway, as his VIP guest to the Army-Navy game, joining President-elect Trump and other members of his soon-to-be cabinet. Vance celebrated Penny for his “backbone.”

A treat for your morning: I heard Aldous Harding for the first time on a live KEXP performance that’s also 100% worth your time. I’ve never seen someone who can be so perfectly unsettling and so charming at the same time. Every six months, I remember this video exists and I watch it on repeat.

Seattle's Only News Quiz

Sally Neumann & Leah Caglio — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:57:00 -0800

Happy Friday, sweet babies! First off, as an update on last week’s quiz, the security workers at SAM successfully negotiated their contract! You can go see pretty stuff and not touch it again! by Sally Neumann & Leah Caglio

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State Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen’s Early Christmas Present for Trans People

Vivian McCall — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:57:00 -0800

State Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen’s House Bill 1038 to ban gender-affirming care for kids and House Bill 1027 to keep trans inmates convicted of a sex offenses out of gender-affirming housing, will die on the vine, just like they did last year. by Vivian McCall

As I wrote in this grave-dancing report in February, a “Don’t Say Gay” copycat from State Sen. Phil Fortunato and State Sen. Mike Padden’s bill to force deadnaming in schools—inspired by the lovely folks at the anti-LGBTQ Heritage Foundation—didn’t even get Senate hearings. Neither did three House bills, including “The Protecting Children’s Bodies Act,” banning gender-affirming procedures and punishing doctors who performed them, and two Jacobsen-sponsored bills (HB 2241 and HB 1233) that were identical to the two she pre-filed this Tuesday and Wednesday.

Third time’s the charmless? With that flawless record, it’s likely that every lawmaker in the Legislature knows that these bills will not become law. But they will rile up the conservative base, and keep the conversation alive and draw new converts.

House Bill 1038

HB 1038 prohibits puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries for minors, while still allowing doctors to perform the same treatments on intersex children with “medically verifiable disorders of sex development” born with bodies that are not conventionally male or female.

For the umpteenth time—the requisite paragraph—this evidence-based care is not fringe or experimental medicine. It’s supported by every major medical organization in the United States for its documented benefits for a child’s overall health and well-being and doctors who know more than you and me.

Moreover, it may seem counterintuitive, but banning gender-affirming care for trans kids and allowing doctors to perform the same procedures on intersex children to “fix” a person’s gender serves the same goals of restricting bodily autonomy, and normalizing gender as much as possible, regardless of a person’s feelings on the matter or the consequences. Even the meaning of “irreversible changes” depends on how or why a drug or a knife alters the human body. So do the rights of parents, apparently, as gender-affirming care for youth generally does not exist in Washington without the consent of a legal parent or guardian.

Like gender, sex lies on a biological spectrum, and while intersex people are common as redheads, making up about 1.7% of the population, many conditions are invisible even to people born with them. Someone can go a whole life without themselves or anyone else knowing that chromosomally, they are not strictly male or female, or that an intersexual difference explains that persistent hormonal imbalance. It’s not uncommon for intersex people to identify as trans or nonbinary if they don’t identify with the gender they were raised as, but it’s not a given. They’re distinct identities and experiences.

A smaller number are born with genitalia that aren’t conventionally male or female, either. Historically, doctors have convinced parents that to dodge a life of stigma, they should surgically “correct” children so young they couldn’t possibly know or consent to what’s being done to them. Doctors have also lied to teens and young adults about the medical necessity of these treatments. In 2017, Human Rights Watch published a report on the irreversible damage and trauma from intersex surgeries in the US. “The results are often catastrophic, the supposed benefits are largely unproven, and there are generally no urgent health considerations at stake.”

In the past decade or so, intersex activists have successfully pushed doctors and hospitals to leave these decisions to intersex people themselves, and to stop performing unnecessary procedures. In 2017, the American Academy of Family Physicians condemned such procedures, and in 2020, Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago became the first to publicly apologize for harming intersex people.

Doctors can responsibly, and consensually, provide hormones and perform surgery on intersex people, sometimes for medically necessary reasons. Jacobsen’s bill does not make that distinction, and that’s common in bans on gender-affirming care for youth.

House Bill 1027

HB 1027 bans the Washington Department of Corrections from placing trans inmates in gender-affirming housing if they’ve been convicted of a sex offense against someone of the same gender. So trans women who’ve sexually assaulted cis women would be kept in men’s prisons, and trans men who’ve sexually assaulted cis men would be put into women’s prisons.

Last year, Rep. Jacobsen told conservative radio host Jason Rantz that her bill protects women and people who’ve committed sex crimes, and doesn’t “reference anyone, transgender anything,” but the law couldn’t apply to anyone else.

People who’ve committed sex crimes sometimes go to state prison. But states don’t assign women into men’s prisons, and men in women’s prisons, if they’ve sexually assaulted someone of the same gender as a preventative measure. That would be ridiculous. Then the only way to interpret the bill is it views trans women as men and trans men as women, and puts them right where they belong by applying a new standard to trans people over “reasonable safety concerns,” which everyone knows is shorthand for penis and a record. Obviously, trans women can have vaginas, but they too would be sent to a men’s prison if they’d been convicted of a sex crime. Sex crimes are just what this bill would likely facilitate, rather than prevent.

Outside of prison, trans people are four times more likely to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault and aggravated assault, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. That trend is worse inside. The 2015 National Inmate Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found trans inmates were nine times more likely to be sexually harassed and assaulted within a year of their arrival. Thirty-five percent of trans people in prison and 34 percent in jails were sexually assaulted by staff or inmates. The 2015 US Trans Survey, the largest dataset on trans people in the US currently available, found trans inmates were five times more likely to be assaulted by facility staff than the average prisoner and over nine times more likely to be sexually assaulted by other inmates. While the US Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that failing to protect trans people in custody is unconstitutional, it’s still common practice to jail trans women with men and trans men with women.

Americans value the innocents. We don’t care much for the rights of criminals. If we did, I don’t think we’d lock up a fourth of the world’s incarcerated people, or feel content disenfranchising them or exploiting their labor in prison. But guilt is not an excuse to make someone suffer.

Working the Base

Rep. Jacobsen likely knows her bills aren’t going anywhere. She did not respond to a request for comment, but when she introduced her gender-affirming last year, she said in a press release that her bill would start a conversation, hearing or no hearing.

It usually does. Any bill to restrict the rights of trans people generates buzz on local conservative media about out of control wokeness, and the lack of common sense from Democrats running Washington State like an insane asylum. Or something like that. It’s a great distraction from the issues that affect people in this state at the expense of a tiny minority.

Ticket Alert: Rauw Alejandro, Empire of the Sun, and More Seattle Events Going On Sale This Week

EverOut Staff — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 14:59:00 -0800

Plus, Ziwe and More Event Updates for December 12

by EverOut Staff

Puerto Rican singer and rapper Rauw Alejandro is bringing his Cosa Nuestra world tour to Seattle next spring. Aussie electronic music duo Empire of the Sun has also dropped dates for their Ask That God tour. Plus, snazzy satirist Ziwe will bring her pink-hued, confrontation-as-comedy style to the city. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

ON SALE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13

MUSIC

Ben Kweller – Cover The Mirrors Tour
Neumos (July 17, 2025)

Bien
Neumos (Feb 9, 2025)

Brit Floyd – Wish You Were Here 50th Anniversary
Marymoor Park (July 23, 2025)

I Saw U: Wearing a Green Jacket at Trader Joe’s, Exchanging Art at Corvus, and Catching a Flight from Denver

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 14:00:00 -0800

See someone? Say something! by Anonymous

Fisting at Miro cafe

You were the mustached queer babe in a scarf being friendly and I was double fisting two laptops at the only dry table🫣 See u next Thurs?

Exchanged ART but not numbers

At Corvus in Cap Hill—You were tattooed and talented and handsome/I was drawing and a bit drunk—we exchanged pictures, but not contact info. Find me.

Kufiyyeh Cutie

You were wearing a red kufiyyeh and I was flustered by your sweet smile. I'll try and say hi next time either on campus or at a demonstration.

seat 28D, flight from Denver to Seattle

You were standing behind me in line, and kindly watched my luggage. We talked about our trips, acting, movies vs shows. I think you're cute :)

Dance Church Edgy Katy Perry Sorry I’m Awkward!

Brunette cutie w insane blue eyes, Karl’s class. We both had a hummingbird tat & I joked they were meant to hang out. Eye contact don’t lie babe.

Complimenting my sweater at Punk Rock Flea Market

You: pretty redhead at the Punk Rock Flea Market. You saw me in my new outer space sweater and said it was "out of this world." Wanna borrow it? :)

Fellow tall yogi @ Grinning Yogi on 15th

It was Tuesday night and we stood for mountain pose. You (blond man w friend) were taller than me! Was too in shock to say hi. Coffee before class?

Tall dark and handsome at TJs

Thursday pm at QA TJs. You in a green jacket & clear glasses. Me post-workout. We locked eyes and smiled. Really wish I’d started a convo.

Is it a match? Leave a comment here or on our Instagram post to connect!

Did you see someone? Say something! Submit your own I Saw U message here and maybe we'll include it in the next roundup!

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 12

Megan Seling — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 13:15:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling Everything but the Popcorn Cookie

Dahlia Bakery

Smoked is the keyword in Dahlia Bakery’s Hudda's Butterscotch Smoked Oat & Sea Salt Cookie. Dahlia does not use the label lightly. It’s not a gimmick. The cookie is dense but still soft enough to give way to a good chewy texture and generously dotted with butterscotch chips and, as the name suggests, it tastes like it sat next to a campfire during a long weekend in the woods. It is an Adult Cookie. A cookie a kid might wince at. A cookie a younger palate might decide, “Tastes funny,” and abandon on the counter after one bite. (Good. Not all cookies are for you, kid.)

You might have noticed, though, that this butterscotch treat isn’t the cookie on today’s countdown. I fully intended to feature the smoky delight as an option for anyone who finds the average holiday cookie to be “too sweet.” (Amateurs.) But on a recent trip to Dahlia to grab a snack and jog my memory, I was quickly distracted by their seasonal offering. “What’s THAT??” I exclaimed in the middle of the bakery without realizing how loudly I was talking. The Everything but the Popcorn Cookie is loaded with potato chips, pretzels, M&Ms, and toffee, and it is incredible. I mean, of course it is. Sorry to pull a Joey from Friends, but potato chips? Good. Pretzels? Good. M&Ms? Good. And the toffee is the pièce de résistance—it bubbles up and melts into crispy, delicate sugar adornments at the cookie’s edge. It’s those pockets of extra caramelized goodness that elevate this cookie above the rest. Sorry, Smoked Oat, I got a new Christmas crush.

Slog AM: Donald Trump Is Person of the Year, SAM Workers Reach Contract Deal, A CEO Hitlist

Nathalie Graham — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 08:03:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham

Carbon market is open for business: Well, Washington's carbon market has been open, but it's now bustling. With the Climate Commitment Act intact after a failed repeal effort on the November ballot, prices for carbon allowances have shot up. Polluting companies must reduce their emissions or buy carbon allowances if reduction isn't in the cards. At the first allowance auction after the election, the state raked in nearly $272 million. According to the Seattle Times, the state sold "5.3 million 2023 and 2024 allowances at $40.26 each and 2.2 million 2027 allowances at $26 each." An allowance accounts for one metric ton of emissions from a respective year. Polluting should be costly. Reduce your emissions or pay the price before the planet makes us reap all that we've sown.

This about sums up the state of things: Donald Trump was named Time's Person of the Year for 2024. Sigh. I'd seen a lot of people rooting for France's Gisèle Pelicot for Person of the Year. Pelicot discovered her husband had been drugging her and inviting strangers to rape her for years. Instead of keeping the case and her privacy under wraps, Pelicot made her trial public. She did so to shift the shame from her to her rapists. But how could a woman's standards-altering bravery triumph when we could heap a convicted rapist in more laurels?

President-elect Donald Trump has been named Time magazine's "2024 Person of the Year," the magazine announced Thursday. https://t.co/rbBIbYRzrB pic.twitter.com/41XLmP1BDS
— ABC News (@ABC) December 12, 2024

Biden goes big: On Thursday, Biden commuted the sentences of around 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others of non-violent crimes. The 1,500 commuted sentences were all prisoners who were sent home during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of the virus and made to serve the rest of their time at home. Republicans in Congress have threatened to send those on home release back to prison.

It's a deal! Seattle Art Museum's security guard union reached a deal with the museum on Wednesday after more than two years of negotiating and striking for 12 days. The contract sees wages increase from $21.68 to $23.25 per hour plus 4% wage increases from 2025 through 2027. Yay! Go kiss someone next to a Thaddeus Mosley sculpture.

BREAKING: After 28 months of contract negotiations and a 12 day strike, the Seattle Art Museum and @samvsounion have reached a tentative agreement pic.twitter.com/w2NPcFIayv
— Guy Oron (@GuyOron) December 11, 2024

Sex trafficking sting ensnares assistant principal: Yuck. The Renton Police Department conducted a sting operation in September where they posed as 14- and 15-year-olds and connected with potential offenders on social media. One of the seven men arrested in the sting was Alex Diaz Rios, an assistant principal at Seattle Public Schools' TOPS K-8 school. SPS placed him on leave when they learned of his charge. Diaz Rios has since resigned.

Hold on to your panniers: There's a new bike bridge in town, baby. The new bike bridge in Montlake that crosses Highway 520 will open on Saturday. With the bike bridge comes a pedestrian pathway, too, and the 3-acre Montlake lid. Years of construction and congestion in that hellscape of an intersection may finally pay off. There will be opening ceremonies on Saturday at 11 am.

The weather will be wet.

Yeah, okay, buddy: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol defended his decision to declare martial law last week, saying he was trying to "prevent the collapse" of democracy. He said he won't resign, vowing to "fight to the end." Critics want Yoon impeached; they say his martial law order was a sign of insurrection.

Shocker: 2024 will likely be the hottest year on record, continuing the trend of every year becoming the hottest year on record.

CEO hit list: The New York Police Department warned US healthcare CEOs about a heightened risk to their lives in the wake of the killing of UnitedHealthcare's top executive. As suspected killer Luigi Mangione wrote in a notebook seized by police, "What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.'" The NYPD's bulletin warned of copycat attacks, citing social media posts highlighting the names of CEOs and their salaries. Additionally, physical "wanted" posters featuring information about different healthcare CEOs have been spotted around New York. Since the killing, corporations have been beefing up security for their top dogs. Critics have suggested that if they wanted to really be safe they'd stop the predatory practices which have enraged the public.

Inbox: ‘Wanted’ posters of healthcare CEOs wheatpasted around lower Manhattan ahead of today’s Goldman Sachs Financial Services conference.

“Those who would steal from us have names, faces, and addresses. Justice will only come from the working class,” per anon communique. pic.twitter.com/vPZCanaPx7
— Talia Jane ❤️‍🔥 (@taliaotg) December 11, 2024

Overdose deaths are down: Overdose deaths in the United States fell by 17% between July 2023 and July 2024 according to the Centers for Disease Control. White House Domestic Policy Council Advisor Neera Tanden said that "it's the largest decrease in deaths ever seen in the United States," according to CBS News. Many moves by the Biden administration have played a role in the decrease such as "making treatment more accessible... cracking down on drug cartels and drug production" and expanding access to naloxone, the medication that reverses opioid overdoses. While this is progress, there will still be around 100,000 overdose deaths this year.

Drugs and CEOs: “I want to experience ego death.” “I want to get my company through a public offering.” “I want to find God.” Read all about the CEOs paying for a guided shroom trip to make them better executives and, maybe, better people. The guy who runs the retreat, a former oil and gas CEO, has rebranded his personal definition of CEO to mean "conscious, empathetic, and open."

Something for your Thursday: Hey, why don't you chill out and watch the Grateful Dead Yule Log for an hour or seven?

Where to Eat and Drink for Christmas 2024 in Seattle

EverOut Staff — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:47:00 -0800

Buffets, Feast of the Seven Fishes, and More

by EverOut Staff We all know the real reason for the season is holiday feasts, so here's our guide to where to find nourishment this Nöel season. You'll find everything you need to make your plans, plus places to pick up food if you're staying in this year. Be sure to hurry and make your reservations before these restaurants fill up. For more inspiration, check out our food and drink guide.

CHRISTMAS MEALS

Carrello
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian American supper featuring seven kinds of fish or seafood, usually served before midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. (You might be familiar with it via the star-studded Christmas episode in season two of The Bear.) Chef Nathan Lockwood will pay tribute to the tradition with "seven offerings of seafood embracing the bounty of seafood in the Puget Sound, as has been done along the Mediterranean for hundreds of years." There's also a vegetarian menu.
Capitol Hill

Stranger Suggests: Betty Wetter's Blue Xmas, A Massive Seance, Green Lake Pathway of Lights, Emmett Montgomery's Sugar Plum Gary, Eggnog

Megan Seling — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 15:30:00 -0800

One really great thing to do every day of the week. by Megan Seling WEDNESDAY 12/11

You're Wrong About and American Hysteria present A MASSIVE SEANCE

(PERFORMANCE) Host Sarah Marshall's incisive hit podcast You're Wrong About challenges audience beliefs and illuminates forgotten history. (How much do you really know about the Tonya Harding scandal?) The podcast tackles everything from the Enron collapse to serial killers, and it was named the Podcast of the Year at the 2022 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards. Marshall will join forces with American Hysteria host Chelsey Weber-Smith for this live show, which will offer up comedy, witchy rock and roll by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, and a massive séance to shake off the 365-day hex that was 2024. (Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave, 8 pm, $31.50-$36, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

THURSDAY 12/12

Next Fest NW: Total Chaos

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A post shared by Velocity Dance Center (@velocity_seattle)

(PERFORMANCE) Spotlighting up-and-coming choreographers in Seattle, Velocity's experimental new works festival, Next Fest NW, continues celebrating contemporary movement art this year. Inspired by this year's theme of "TOTAL CHAOS," artistic movers and shakers will "investigate cacophony" in a series of forward-thinking new pieces. I love mess! I'm excited to see Hannah Krafcik and Emily Jones on this year's lineup—the duo's experimental performance was one of my favorites at the 2021 Time-Based Arts Festival. (12th Avenue Arts, 1620 12th Ave, multiple performances Dec 12–14, $20–$50) LINDSAY COSTELLO

FRIDAY 12/13

Clock-Out Lounge Presents: Betty Wetter's Blue Xmas

(PERFORMANCE) Grab yourself a slice of Stevie’s Famous pizza, and pull up a chair for my favorite Christmas show so far this year. Seattle’s own Betty Wetter returns to Clock-Out Lounge for the second holiday season in a row with a brand new Blue Xmas drag show. The show only runs for two weekends, so I went to last Saturday’s performance. That night I learned three important things: 1) It’s possible to make a life-sized game of Operation. 2) The creators of Dr. Pepper tried to convince people to drink the soda hot in the winter. 3) Betty Wetter can SING. Between the Delilah mashup you never knew you needed and the Weezer performance with a breakaway Christmas sweater, this is the best two hours I’ve spent in a room full of queer found family in a long time. There are two shows left this season—one on Friday, December 13, and a “masks encouraged” matinee on Sunday, December 15. Tickets are still available, don’t miss it. (Clock-Out Lounge, 4864 Beacon Ave S, $30–$150, 21+) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

SATURDAY 12/14

Green Lake Pathway of Lights

(COMMUNITY) Grab your gloves, earmuffs, and maybe a rain jacket; this annual illuminated stroll around Green Lake happens rain or shine. The holiday spirit will be in the air as you walk along a path lit by thousands of candles, enjoy complimentary refreshments, and turn your ear to holiday music performed by local schools and community groups on three stages. (Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates so we can see some magnificently lit hot air balloons.) The event is free, but be a good neighbor and bring a non-perishable food donation for local food bank FamilyWorks. (Green Lake Park, 7201 East Green Lake Dr N, 4:30 pm, free, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH

SUNDAY 12/15

Emmett Montgomery's Sugar Plum Gary

(PERFORMANCE) Christmas is full of mysteries. How does Santa visit every child in just one night? What makes Rudolph fly? And who the fuck is Sugar Plum Gary?? He may not be a household name (yet), but Sugar Plum Gary is a bearded, red-pajama-wearing self-proclaimed "Santanist" looking to spread "twisted holiday glee" far and wide. What does that mean exactly? Well, much like Montgomery's other comedy shows, the bi-weekly Joketellers Union at Clock-Out and the monthly-ish Friendship Dungeon at Comedy/Bar, you never really know. Montgomery's brain is a maze of creative wonders, with stories, jokes, and characters all getting a turn to shine—the results are always unpredictable, hilarious, and surprisingly tender. (Annex Theatre, 1100 E Pike St, multiple performances through Dec 24, sliding scale starting at $15, livestream tickets available for all shows, all ages) MEGAN SELING

MONDAY 12/16

Holiday Afternoon Tea

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A post shared by Cafe Flora (@cafefloraveg)

(FOOD & DRINK) No matter how old you are, nothing will stoke your sense of holiday spirit quite like a proper afternoon tea with tiers upon tiers of dainty treats. Dress up in your flounciest ensemble and hoist your pinky firmly in the air as you sip tea and snack on sweet and savory bites like ras el hanout curried egg salad on Flora Bakehouse milk bread, gingerbread scones, butternut squash and Rogue blue cheese quiches, and pear cranberry hand pies. Vegan, gluten-free, and kid options are available, so everyone can partake in the festive fun. (Cafe Flora, multiple times through Dec 20, $25–$55, all ages) JULIANNE BELL

TUESDAY 12/17

Drink Eggnog

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A post shared by Baker’s - Sunset Hill, Seattle (@bakers.seattle)

(FOOD & DRINK) Whether you love it or hate it, it's likely you have strong feelings regarding eggnog. The rich, sweet holiday drink takes many forms, but usually contains some combination of milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, whipped egg whites, and optional booze. It's only here for a limited time, so to help you make the most of 'nog season, we've gathered a selection of options around town—including variations with espresso, ube, oat milk, and various types of alcohol. (The "eggnog riot" at Baker's, for example, includes Urupan rum, Lustau Oloroso sherry, and Pierre Ferrand 1840 cognac for a truly heady, aromatic blend.) See the full list here! JULIANNE BELL

Donut Forget That I Love You

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 15:23:00 -0800

I just love you so much, Top Pot, and want it to be known in a way that's not just a big tip and a smile. by Anonymous

Dear Capitol Hill Top Pot guys,

Yes, your coffee is not as good as Analog's down the street. Yes, you believe that old-fashioned doughnuts are as good as yeast ones (wrong, boo, hiss, cheesy, etc). But I just love you so much and want it to be known in a way that's not just a big tip and a smile.

First, my boyfriend and I refer to your shop as the Hot Man Depot. There's Not Karamo, the beautiful man who looks and has the warm voice of Karamo from Queer Eye. There's the ginger sweetheart, the peaceable butch dyke barista. The music isn't capital C cool—(“Roar” by Katy Perry? Okay, 2012), but who cares? There's always a seat at the table, you don't mind when I work here all day, the light is always cozy, the neighborhood dogs are always on parade outside your windfront. It's a good place to be.

Older gay men make up a good chunk of your customer base, including the saint of a leather daddy who talked to me on the street as I cried over missing my first-ever Thanksgiving because of family conflict and hurt. You told me I am wonderful as I am, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. I think about you all the time. I love seeing the older neighbor in micro skirts and pleasers getting her coffee. I love the goths in full regalia, I love the parents that come by after soccer on weekends with their kids, I love the guy who once chased his shiba inu who escaped from being tied up outside, and I love his standard poodles who were so upset by this chase that they had to have a lil stress barf. Top Pot guys are gracious and humane about homeless neighbors who come by to warm up and use the bathroom.

Top Pot guys, you make me feel known and seen and like a part of a neighborhood of humans. Capitol Hill can sometimes feel like a playground for cuttingly hip young people who are in town for a few years to make a fortune in tech. Your place brings out the people who have made a home in our neighborhood, and you have made it a magical, human-scale third place. Thank you.

(Also, to the Powers That Be at Top Pot: Please include a monthly yeast doughnut in your specials. I'm still dreaming about the bismark doughnut with sprinkles in the filling you did for an anniversary celebration years back.)

The Stranger’s Cookie Countdown: Day 11

Megan Seling — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 13:57:00 -0800

We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! by Megan Seling The Mackles’more S’mores

Hello Robin

One of my favorite cookies in Seattle is the Mackles’more at Hello Robin. To make it, they press a golf ball-sized glob of chocolate chip cookie dough onto a graham cracker square, top it with a marshmallow, and bake until it’s ooey gooey glorious. Then, right out of the oven, while the cookie dough is still warm and soft, they top it with a little Theo chocolate hat, which melts into a silky pool of decadence with the roasted marshmallow and elevates the treat into a whole new category of cookie. It is perfection.

I’m not the only one who loves it. The cookie’s creator, Robin Wehl Martin, put the Mackles’more on the menu at her bakery Hello Robin when it opened on Capitol Hill in 2013. Since then, both she and the treat have collected numerous accolades, with praise from local and national outlets, including Time Out, Cosmopolitan, and Business Insider. What’s more, Martin’s Mackles’more recipe is featured in Theo Chocolate’s cookbook, Theo Chocolate: Recipes & Sweet Secrets from Seattle's Favorite Chocolate Maker, as well as Allyson Reedy’s cookbook 50 Things to Bake Before You Die, which lists Martin among other pastry world luminaries such as Christina Tosi, Dominique Ansel, and Joanne Chang. Kind of a big deal! Macklemore has also approved (or, at least, politely held one and smiled for a photo).

Which is why it was surprising to see, during a recent visit to Hello Robin while picking up cookies for this month’s cookie countdown, that their arguably most famous cookie had been downgraded to, simply, the S’mores cookie.

I joked with the store’s employee when I noticed the change. “Why the name change? Did Macklemore finally threaten to sue?” The employee kindly laughed at my dumb joke and said the name was changed when the bakery started using Spinnaker chocolate instead of Theo. They switched to Spinnaker since Theo was no longer producing its chocolate in Seattle, they said, the result of the company being sold to American Licorice Company in 2023. Since Theo Chocolate was synonymous with the Mackles’more, a new chocolate meant a new name.

But the timing is curious. After a little more digging, it appears the name change happened around the same time Macklemore was receiving criticism for saying “Fuck America” during his performance at the Palestine Will Love Forever benefit concert on September 21 at the Seward Park Amphitheater.

In a statement published a few days later on Instagram, he explained, “The ‘Palestine Will Live Forever’ festival I performed at was rooted in peace, love and solidarity. Unfortunately, the historic event in my hometown that brought thousands of people together to raise awareness and money for the people of Palestine has become overshadowed by two words. … I wish I had been in a better place with my grief and anger. But the truth is I’m not ok. I haven’t been. The last 11.5 months of watching a genocide unfold in front of us has been excruciating on a spiritual, emotional and human level. I have been in utter disbelief with how our government is showing up at this moment in history. I don’t think I’m alone.”

Still, Macklemore pissed some people off. That week the Mariners and the Kraken released a joint statement saying, “We believe that sports bring people together and unite us. We are aware of Macklemore’s increasingly divisive comments, and they do not reflect the values of our respective ownership groups, leagues, or organizations. We are currently evaluating our collective options on this matter.” The Mariners didn’t play “Can’t Hold Us” during the seventh-inning stretch, which they had done since 2022, and Macklemore was dropped as a headliner at the Neon City Festival in Las Vegas less than a week after being announced. (Festival organizers cited “unforeseen circumstances.”)

Did Macklemore’s comments also cost him a cookie? Hello Robin didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment to clarify when the name was changed and if it had anything to do with Macklemore’s comments at the festival. Macklemore’s PR also didn’t respond to our email. So it’s difficult to pin down exactly when the switch happened and why, but it’s clear that the Mackles’more still existed in early September, and ceased to exist later in the month.

Without concrete answers from the bakery, we did a little social media sleuthing. There are multiple user-submitted photos on Yelp, posted in the first half of September, where Hello Robin’s menu still lists the cookie as the Mackle’smore. The former name also appears in this video, published on Instagram on September 16, with Hello Robin listed as a collaborator. That same day, Hello Robin announced on Instagram that they’ve switched from Theo to Spinnaker, and while the post’s caption currently refers to the cookie as the S’mores cookie, Instagram indicated that the caption was edited after posting. It’s not possible to tell exactly when or what was changed (damn you, Instagram), but, according to Instagram’s edit time stamp, the edits happened 11 weeks from the time of this writing, while the first comments on the post showed up 12 weeks ago.

Seven weeks ago, on that same post, a commenter asked, “When did the name change from macklesmore happen??” and Hello Robin replied that it happened when they stopped using Theo and switched to Spinnaker. That same person then wrote, “it’s concerning you keep deleting comments about people asking more questions.”

It’s Hello Robin’s prerogative to drop Macklemore’s name from their cookie. But this cookie, and its memorable name, had become a notable part of Hello Robin’s brand. Using Macklemore’s name no doubt benefited the bakery in its very early days. When the cookie was introduced in 2013, Macklemore was huge! His album with Ryan Lewis, The Heist, had been released the previous year, and the duo was selling millions of records, racking up billions of YouTube and Spotify plays, and winning practically every major music award available. Macklemore didn’t invent the Mackles’more, or put in the hard work required to successfully grow a small business, but name recognition goes a long way.

Hello Robin didn’t reply to any of our questions to try to contextualize all of this, and the company doesn’t have to make any kind of statement on what’s happening in Gaza right now—many businesses aren’t. But removing Macklemore’s name from the menu after more than 10 years, coincidentally at a time when he was already receiving very public criticism from other business partnerships for speaking out against people and entities who are actively funding the attack on Palestine, well, that does appear to be a stance: A stance that says that Macklemore went too far; that criticism of our country’s continued support of the attacks in Gaza is a line that shouldn’t be crossed. And that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The Abortion Haven in the Mountain West

Kathleen McLaughlin — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 13:26:00 -0800

What if I told you there’s an island of abortion rights in the Mountain West, born of a state constitution so forward-looking that it started out by enshrining abortion rights a full year before the US Supreme Court’s landmark abortion decision Roe V. Wade in 1973? by Kathleen McLaughlin

Hey from Montana, a strange, gigantic state that people have all kinds of ideas about. When I travel, which is often, telling someone I’m from Montana typically elicits one of two responses: The first is, “Oh, Trump Country!” I’ve had this one blurted at me from Mongolia to Michigan, no matter that Montana barely has a million people and almost no say in presidential electoral politics. The second tends along the lines of, “Oh I’m obsessed with Montana and I want to move there/vacation there/buy a fourth home there.” Okay.

What I’ve never heard in response is anything about the strange political nuances of this place, or its wild history. Yes, my home state is admittedly, somewhat recently, deep “red,” with uber-conservative Republicans winning election to nearly every major office this year. But what’s also true is that with the fall of Roe in 2022, Montana has become a regional haven for abortion rights. Across much of the Mountain West, abortion rights are under attack and driving a wider loss of health-care options. Idaho in particular has enacted some of the most extreme anti-abortion laws in the country, driving out its own doctors and forcing its own residents to cross state lines for essential health care.

But while anti-abortion Republicans swept political offices in Montana again this year, voters also overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment—one of eight states across the country seeking to protect abortion rights—further strengthening the power of pregnant people to make their own health-care decisions without political meddling. Fifty-eight percent of Montana voters supported the measure, the same percentage that voted for Donald Trump as president.

It’s a puzzle how voters can elect candidates who work to overturn essential human rights, while voting for a measure to protect this one specific right. Montana clings to its identity as a place that, until recently, had made a big deal of living by the ethos of “do whatever the fuck you want, as long as it’s not harming someone else.” This spirit has been challenged repeatedly since the GOP took super-majority power in the state just a few years ago, leading to vicious attacks on trans Montanans, women, public education, and those seen as threats to the notion of a white, Christian cowboy landscape . But if you go back 50-plus years, things were very different in Montana. Labor unions held immense political power, as grassroots feminists and champions of citizen’s rights and environmental protection helped to write the state’s remarkably progressive constitution. Today those deep progressive political roots are proving stubborn and hard to plow under.

In 1972, the League of Women Voters led a group writing a new state constitution. They agreed that privacy deserved a prime spot in the governing document, and as a result, article 2, section 10 of the Montana constitution reads, “The right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”

There was never much mystery that the section was intended to protect the right to abortion as a medical decision. By setting down the “leave me alone” ethos in the constitution, Montana set itself apart.

When the US Supreme Court two years ago ended Roe’s protections and set back human rights for women by decades, states across this region fell under immediate trigger laws—legislation established to ban abortion as soon as the high court made such a decision. Nowhere imposed more restrictive laws than Idaho, from attempting to hold doctors criminally liable for abortion services, to outright banning abortion at all stages of pregnancy. The result has been a mass outward departure from the state by doctors, especially OB-GYNs, and families who don’t want to raise children under laws that harken back to darker, even more dangerous times for women.

Today, with the far-right-wing in charge of the state, attacks on abortion rights have quickened and been repeatedly struck down by state courts, leaning on those five-decade-old constitutional protections. Yes, Republicans took control of every statewide elected office, but they did so in part by concealing and obfuscating their plans to ban abortion, ignore the state constitution, and systematically attack the judicial branch that has stood in the way of unconstitutional abortion bans. And yet we again preserved the right to abortion, approved even in deep red counties.

Maybe the old “leave us alone” ethos isn’t dead after all. Maybe it’s still lurking under the wave of disinformation and national political identity that has washed over us..

So when you look to red states, red counties, red regions, consider this. We have complex political histories and the Trump-era attacks on civil liberties that are washing over us now just might not be strong enough to erase where we came from.

The women of Montana who fought to have our medical privacy protected decades ago likely saw this moment coming. Political extremism and disinformation are eroding our history and our rights, but our backbone isn’t yet broken.

Slog AM: Edmonds School District Cancels Immigrant Rights Event after Threats, Pete Hegseth Could Still Become Defense Secretary, Boneless Wings Can Stay Boned in Ohio

Vivian McCall — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:38:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Vivian McCall

I miss the sun: Expect a cloudy day with a high near 50 degrees. There’s a 40 percent chance of rain near midnight, which will likely carry into tomorrow morning until around 10 am. Take that midday walk if you can. The sun sets around 4:18 pm tonight.

Watch out for your immigrant neighbors: The Edmonds School District cancelled an immigrant know-your-rights event with the Mexican Consulate of Washington after receiving a flood of threats and hostility inspired by a post from the far-right account Libs of TikTok. The school wanted to help prepare immigrant families with children for Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan, but cancelled for safety reasons. Libs of TikTok has been linked to threats of violence before, including bomb threats against gyms, children’s hospitals, doctors, drag shows and more. The district says it remained committed to helping families prepare for enforcement. It didn't say how, but the district encourages undocumented parents to submit up-to-date emergency contacts to care for their children if Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detains them.

Bye, bye Spotts: Seattle’s head of transportation, Greg Spotts, resigned yesterday, announcing his last day will be February 12. Spotts took the job a little over two years ago, promising to review the City’s safety policies, passing a new property tax, and speeding along department projects. He got a $1.55 billion levy, streamlined some projects, banned right on red at many intersections, but couldn’t revive a now dead dream: the First Avenue Streetcar. He loves buses, too.

Seattle is Beautiful pic.twitter.com/4c1qBBlmn2
— Greg Spotts (@Spottnik) September 14, 2024

Alaska Airlines to add direct flights from Seattle to Tokyo and Seoul: This rocks if you’re planning a trip to Tokyo or Seoul, and maybe sucks if you’ve already booked your connecting Alaska flights. (Alas, poor moneyrichbags. A fellow of infinite flights, of most inconvenienced vacations). Flights will run daily starting May 12.

Strange car: A “suspicious” vehicle parked at the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue prompted a bomb squad investigation that closed a few stores yesterday. Police say mall security called them around 8 am Tuesday to report an odd abandoned car with notes on the dashboard and cameras mounted inside and out. The investigation found no threat, but Bellevue police say they’re looking for the Colorado man who owns the car.

$$$: Sonic Guild dropped ten $10,000 no-strings-attached grants on ten lucky Seattle-area musical artists as part of its Tour Support grant program I wrote about in September. Sonic Guild will celebrate this year’s recipients at an award ceremony at The Triple Door on Saturday, February 22nd.

Israeli strikes on Syria: Israel has struck Syria more than 350 times since Bashar Al-Assad fled the country Sunday, and encroached on the demilitarized zone along the Golan Heights that’s separated the countries since 1974. Israel claims it is destroying military infrastructure to keep it from “falling into the hands of extremists.” In a video message, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main rebel group that ousted Assad, it would “respond forcefully” if they allowed Iran to “re-establish itself in Syria.”

The man on everyone’s mind: Police dragged Luigi Mangione into a courthouse in Altoona, Pennsylvania yesterday, where the folk hero/heartthrob/back pain sufferer/Goodreads user suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is fighting extradition to New York. According to the Associated Press, Mangione was carrying a short handwritten note expressing his anger toward “parasitic” insurance companies and corporate greed. “Delay, Deny, Defend,” the name of a 2010 book which inspired the inscription on three of Mangione’s bullets ("deny," "defend," "depose"), soared to number two on Amazon’s nonfiction bestsellers list so fast it ran out of copies.

officer frye patrolling the mcdonalds. was deputy mcnugget there https://t.co/KQiWAM7umO
— adam’s ribs (@dirkdelacroix) December 10, 2024

Eye roll: A few of Mangione’s friends told NBC that it was ironic that the guy they played the video game “Among Us,” with during the pandemic turned out to be a killer among them. The reporter described Mangione as belonging to a group of “Ivy League gamers who played assassins.” Other outlets copied this framing, as if a popular, cartoon-y spin on the Thing many guys his age played during lockdown means anything when it’s barely a coincidence and certainly not ironic. Ironic would be Mangione and his friends being super into “Assassin’s Creed” or “Hitman.”

um
— Among Us 🚀 (@AmongUsGame) December 10, 2024

Monarch butterflies may be listed as threatened species: US Fish and Wildlife says it plans to put this gorgeous bug on the threatened list after a lengthy public comment period next year. The proposed listing would ban purposely killing a monarch and designate more than 4,000 acres across seven coastal California counties as critical habitat.

Pete Hegseth’s chances looking better: Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, a former Fox News host and current liar accused of sexual assault who promises to stop drinking if the Senate just lets him control the world’s most powerful military, seemed a long shot nominee a week ago but now appears to be back in the game after key Republican senators have indicated they will endorse him. Past his fetish for the crusades, it’s hard to emphasize how unqualified and dangerous Hegseth is.

“How do you like that, business dorks?” is what I would say if I were the Oregon federal judge who blocked the $25 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons, the fifth and tenth largest retailers in the country. It’s not a great comeback, but is a victory for people who don’t want a hypothetical “Krogersons” jacking up prices and lowering wages. The companies claimed the deal was an attempt to merge their mostly-unionized workforces to beat back non-union companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Costco. Nice try, suits, but unions didn’t want this, and neither did Lina Khan’s merge-blocking, big tech-suing Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In a twist ending, Albertsons pulled out of the deal and sued Kroger.

Speaking of Khan: President-elect Donald Trump wants to replace her with FTC member Andrew Ferguson. Former solicitor general of Virginia, and chief counsel for long-running worst guy in America contenders Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ferguson is popular with Republicans. Unlike Hegseth or RFK Jr., Trump can appoint him without a Senate confirmation because he’s already part of the FTC.

Speaking of McConnell, too: He tripped and fell during a Senate Republican lunch yesterday, cutting his face and spraining his wrist when he hit the ground. He’s “fine,” but he doesn’t seem fine, generally speaking. Last year, McConnell was out for six weeks after a fall at a Washington DC hotel. A couples months later, he twice froze in front of television cameras. As a reminder, McConnell is 82 years old.

Leader McConnell’s injuries after his fall earlier today. (AP Photo/ J. Scott Applewhite) https://t.co/G0VMkVMP2y pic.twitter.com/1K0SyrVF9X
— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) December 10, 2024

2+2=chicken: The Ohio Supreme Court denied a request to reconsider its bold ruling that "boneless" chicken wings can have bones. In so many words, the court told a man who could have died after the long thin bone in his boneless wings tore his esophagus that his dumb ass should have known chicken has bones in it "just as a person eating 'chicken fingers' would know that he had not been served fingers."

Get ready to rock, folks:

For $1 billion, Trump says you can avoid environmental regulations pic.twitter.com/1fo795a0I5
— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 10, 2024