Good Morning! It’s winter once more, however the regular Seattle-y winter we’re used to. Excessive round 50, rain within the night. It’s the form of climate you will get used to. Which is nice—we’ve received the identical forecast for no less than the following 10 days. Settle in!
Faculty Crackdown: Yesterday, the Division of Training despatched warning letters to 60 US schools and universities, letting them know that they may face repercussions in the event that they don’t “fulfill their obligations…to guard Jewish college students on campus, together with uninterrupted entry to campus services and academic alternatives.” Our personal UW was a type of faculties. UW has already been by a DOE investigation for anti-semitism after the pro-Palestinian protests final yr. The investigations discovered no wrongdoing on UW’s half, however did discover gaps in how the college responded to bias incident complaints—which they dedicated to handle. Why doesn’t that matter to the Trump admin? As a result of this isn’t about Jewish college students, or antisemitism, or defending actually anybody. That is about suppressing dissent on school campuses, the place that dissent is almost certainly to construct energy.
Good Karen Vitality: Want slightly dose of hope? The AP profiled one of many rank and file federal staff who’s pushing again on the Trump agenda. Karen Ortiz is an administrative choose on the Equal Employment Alternative Fee, which has been completely rocked by new Trump insurance policies. The final straw for Ortiz was when her supervisor directed administrative judges to pause all their present LGBTQ instances and ship them to DC to adjust to Trump’s anti-trans government order. She despatched an electronic mail to virtually 200 colleagues encouraging them to withstand, however that electronic mail “mysteriously” disappeared. So she leaned in, and cc’d 1,000 of her colleagues in an electronic mail to the EEOC’s appearing chair, questioning her health to serve within the function, “a lot much less maintain a license to observe regulation.” That’s the form of Karen power we prefer to see.
The Tariff Practice Continues: I’m nonetheless not satisfied Trump is aware of what a tariff is. This morning, he introduced on Reality Social (in VERY RESPECTABLE CAPITAL LETTERS) that he plans to lift the tariffs on Canadian aluminum and metal to 50 %. He mentioned they’d go into impact on Wednesday. How can Canada keep away from these tariffs? In response to Trump: Change into our 51st state. Child, Canada doesn’t wanna go on a date with you. Negging them isn’t gonna assist. (Individually, I’d actually prefer to cease studying main geo-political updates within the type of shitposts on Reality Social.)
Pure Nonsense: In an interview on Fox, RFK Jr. (who, bafflingly, remains to be our well being and human providers secretary), outlined his technique for holding the measles outbreak in West Texas. It included: exaggerating the danger of “vaccine harm” from the measles vaccine, insisting that “pure immunity” to measles from an infection protects in opposition to most cancers and coronary heart illness (it doesn’t), and inspiring remedies like cod liver oil (which the NYT referred to as “questionable.”)
Hometown Pleasure: Washington AG Nick Brown sued Adams County on Monday, accusing it of breaking state regulation by aiding ICE enforcement. In response to Brown, the county in Japanese Washington is being Trump’s dream narc: illegally holding folks primarily based solely on their immigration standing, serving to federal immigration brokers query folks in custody, and sharing confidential private info, like birthdates, addresses, driver’s license numbers and fingerprints. The county is being represented by Stephen Miller’s very personal authorized outfit, America First Authorized. Eww.
Democracy Vouchers Are Again on the Desk: Funding for Seattle’s democracy voucher program expires on the finish of the yr, however Mayor Bruce Harrell is hoping to maintain them alive. Yesterday, he proposed a 10-year, $45 million property tax to maintain it afloat. (That comes out to about $12 a yr for the common house owner, so you may unclench your butthole, Karen.)
On the lookout for a Little Tradition? The Stranger’s Spring Arts problem is in print in all places. Can’t wait to seize your copy? It’s also possible to learn plenty of it right here! Together with this superb preview of “arists & poets” on the Jacob Lawrence Gallery at UW, by Rachael Kessler, our Nice Bagel Throwdown, Eva Walker’s column in regards to the day her daughter was born (and why she’ll be an solely youngster), and Michael Wong’s elbow-deep exploration of Viet-Cajun delicacies.
Like Horror or Thriller Films? However do you all the time must test DoesTheDogDie.com? I do. Each rattling time. However! Just a few weeks in the past, I used to be watching The Meg, an extremely, completely silly shark assault film about discovering a Megaladon within the depths of the Mariana Trench. There’s no canine loss of life, and whereas we lose a couple of first rate people and one whale that can completely hang-out our asses to the tip of time, we additionally get to look at a Megaladon eat a billionaire. And that received us considering: When else can we watch the shitty, manipulative billionaire get what’s coming? And so we made: DoesTheBillionaireDie.com. Have a favourite fictional billionaire loss of life? Ship it to us at billionaires@thestranger.com
Tanya Woo Is Again: It seems just like the twice-failed metropolis council candidate simply refuses to take the L. Yesterday, we observed that Tanya Woo was registered to obtain democracy vouchers, however not registered as a candidate with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Fee. Then, a couple of hours after we reached out to her, she appeared on the SEEC web site. She nonetheless hasn’t formally acknowledged she’s working (she advised The Stranger that she was merely exploring the choice). However this positive seems like the start of a run to us. Learn extra about it right here.
Seahawks Switchup: In some native sports activities information, the Seahawks pulled a basic “we completely meant to do this” transfer this week, delivery off former beginning QB Geno Smith to the Raiders after contract talks fizzled, and betting on Sam Darnold to interchange him with a $100.5 million deal. Positive, Darnold is youthful and had a stable yr with the Vikings, however given his playoff faceplant, Seahawks followers most likely need to preserve the receipt on this one.
ICYMI: Metropolis Corridor is again on their Denny Blaine nonsense. Keep in mind 2023, after we realized that the millionaire proprietor of College Village lives subsequent to Denny Blaine Park, which has been a queer, nude seashore for no less than 4 many years? And the way he was bored with the bare folks exterior his mansion, so he donated $1 million to the town in 2023 to construct a youngsters’s playground at Denny Blaine? After some main group organizing, the playground is off the desk. Now, neighbors desire a ranger on the park. The park’s stewardship group actually doesn’t. Learn all about this saga’s subsequent chapter from The Stranger’s Vivian McCall right here.
Transfer Over Moo-deng. Have you ever met Ume? She’s a one-month-old endangered spot-covered tapir calf, and she or he lives simply down the practice tracks at Level Defiance Zoo.
