“A Message to You Rudy.” That is the title of a tune I like. And with the riddim of that SKA basic in thoughts, I wish to name this entry of Slog AM: “Message to You, Dow Constantine.” It nothing however sucks that Hyperlink is just about out of order till April 24. This isn’t in any respect acceptable. You simply do not occur to search out cracks in your rails, conclude it’s what it’s, and produce a significant a part of the area’s public transportation system to a close to standstill prefer it ain’t no factor. Individuals who work on our roads are free to consider they’ve common jobs; this, nonetheless, is just not the case for these in public transportation. You might be on a mission to save lots of the world. So, the message to you Dow Constantine (the previous King County Government, and current CEO of Sound Transit), you will need to cease this “messing round” and “higher consider [our] future” as a result of it is “time you straighten [this shit] proper out” that is “creating issues on the town.”
Sound Transit to the Public: “Passengers could not know that the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel is a bit of legacy infrastructure that comes with some distinctive design constraints. The tunnel was designed for buses first and continued to help bus service for greater than a decade after mild rail service started. To help each automobile modes, rails within the downtown portion of the tunnel are embedded into the ground and… yada, yada, yada.” In Zimbabwe, we’d name this a narrative. It goes like this. Once you meet somebody who owes you cash and so they haven’t got it, they as a substitute inform you a narrative. “My mom obtained hit by a automobile, her legs are buggered, the payments are rising like that beanstalk, and yada, yada, yada.” And also you say: “A-a, if I wished a narrative, I’d have gone to the library. All I would like is my a reimbursement, chete.”
It appears I am not so loopy in spite of everything. In The Stranger‘s 2025 Local weather Problem, I analysed America’s renewed obsession with bunkers, and in addition confessed that preppers are sounding much less and fewer nuts to me within the devilishly dodgy age of DOGE and a dotty however fearless MAGA king. Had I misplaced it? Was I overreacting? Are you aware the historical past behind the phrase “hysteria”? Properly, Bethany Jean Clement, Seattle Occasions‘ prime meals critic, is feeling it too. In her publish “As Trump tariffs loom, our critic names her prime 10 Costco greatest buys,” she goes procuring in preparation for the approaching aftermath of the tariffs. Clement writes that America’s financial future is, at current, unknown. Even three months sooner or later is in a fog of uncertainty. What to do? Fill your Costco cart with “imported excellence” that is nonetheless reasonably priced. Bethany and I are of the identical thoughts. That is the zeitgeist. The aim is “to not simply survive the aftermath however to effectively wad it with the comforts to which I’m accustomed.”
Are you aware what we, urbanists, name them? Beg buttons. You press them and look ahead to the bloody lights to acknowledge you, a mere pedestrian. However the lights solely care about automobiles. So that you press once more—nonetheless nothing. You beg once more and at last the lights turns inexperienced and the button instructions you to cross the rattling road. Properly yesterday, unknown hackivists took management of some beg buttons across the metropolis and made them say, when you may lastly cross a road, “That is Jeff Bezos. This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime.” Hackivists, I see the place you might be coming from, however beware. You simply may be placing some concepts into that billionaire’s head. (Extra on this from Nathalie Graham right here.)
And that is what the hacked beg buttons are actually speaking about: “WA Democrats again off wealth tax whereas pushing $12 billion tax improve.” Because the saying goes: When you’ve associates like these, who wants enemies?
All I can say in regards to the climate, which is unfortunately getting hotter, is that this weekend it is going to be like that Scottish pop band from the 80s: moist, moist, moist.
So it appears we now have discovered life on one other planet. In keeping with NPR, the James Webb House Telescope just lately noticed a planet with the chemical indicators of matter that is behaving bizarrely. We—you and I and cats and ants and micro organism—are similar to that: matter doing very unusual issues. A lot of the planets we have discovered circling stars do not act like us; they act like unusual matter. This planet, K2-18b, appears completely different. NPR: “K2-18b’s environment has both dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, or some mixture of the 2. On Earth, these are solely produced by life, notably by marine microbes.”
Why is it vital to look at distant planets at a time like this? Should not we be centered on the shit popping out of the White Home? My reply is that this: Wanting on the stars, or at planets, or at nature right here on earth, such because the Nice Moose Migration Hannah Murphy Winter described in yesterday’s AM. It is of significant significance as a result of it places us in our place, which may be very small certainly. And there may be greatness in figuring out that you’re not the middle of the universe; greatness in figuring out how small you might be within the organic and cosmic drama. Why? Exactly as a result of you already know you might be small. That is the best understanding the universe has to supply. Do you suppose Musk is aware of how small he’s? Mr. Massive Stuff. Who do you suppose are in a universe with way more galaxies and planets than all your desires and schemes.
Talking of Elon Musk, his firm, with a few companions, will doubtless win the contract to construct Donald Trump’s model of Ronald Reagan’s expensive however by no means realized Star Wars, also called Strategic Defence Initiative. Trump calls his missile protection protect the “Golden Dome.” It’s going to require launching “400 to greater than 1,000 satellites [that can] sense missiles and monitor their motion.” So, the US is gutting social companies to pay a billionaire billions for a pipe dream.
Sure, Trump’s tariffs are crashing the economic system, however count on MAGA to now blame Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for this mess. Yesterday, he introduced that rates of interest will stay excessive as a result of he fears the excessive tariffs will trigger inflation. At the moment, predictably, Trump went on and on about how Powell’s “termination can not come quick sufficient.”
Prepare for a Trump rage publish about Powell. Or worse. bsky.app/profile/acyn…
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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) April 16, 2025 at 10:55 AM
A Port Angeles boy who was reported lacking on Tuesday, April 16, was discovered yesterday afternoon in a “dollhouse on the entrance porch of [a] residence.” Clallam County’s law enforcement officials and a search crew with 44 volunteers initially thought “the [10-year-old] boy ran off into the woods.” Additionally, a cougar lurking within the space was delivered to their consideration. However there he was, all protected and sound in a dollhouse.
I do know issues are actually unhealthy however please remember to have a look at the celebs, to marvel at Moose migrations, and to get right down to 70s disco from Tunisia.
