Also remember that if a protestor picks up one of these “non-lethal crowd control measures” and throws it back at the police, they get charged with Assault With a Deadly Weapon.

Even writing in the dirt on a new car can fuck up the clear coat.

What? You’re saying if America becomes less accepting of gay people, Russia will become more accepting? Like, having a pride parade in retaliation?

Hate to say it, but I don’t think that the downfall of the American hegemony would go well for queer folks, even a fucked up as it is. To a certain extent, global power IS a zero sum game. Especially in the context of Tulsi Gabbard, who seems to be aligned with Russian interests. If American influence wanes, that vacuum will get filled by soft power coming from Russia, China, or some combination thereof. Neither of them are huge fans of the queers.

Harambee was our anchor being. Everything’s been fraying at the edges since that day.

That’s a big chunk of it, yes. KOMO is owned by Sinclair media, KIRO isn’t much better. Fox13 is fucking fox, so I won’t even bother. The Times is Hearst Corporation. So the vast majority of media sources here are directly owned by institutions that have a vested interest in maintaining status quo.

The Stranger is still independent, but the quality has suffered greatly over the last 10+ years.

Also, this is partly a natural pendulum swing back to the right. A lot of people were upset after the Sawant experiment (debacle?), but instead of finding better leftist politicians, we just fled back to the centrist, corporate bullshit that led us down the Sawant path in the first place.

Agreed, and the appointment of Mark Solomon kind of solidifies that. I’m hoping that we pass 1A, and by the time we actually get to work on it we’ll have voted in a council that actually does the shit we want.

Let’s go, Seattle. Put our money where our mouths are. Tax the rich to help the poor, invest in infrastructure, be a sanctuary to the needy, all the good shit.

As a lower-upper-lower-middle-class DINK, I am more than willing to give up some more tax money to help. People making more than 10x what I do should feel the fucking same.