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topicnews · September 11, 2024

Slog AM: Harris and Trump debated, Taylor Swift endorsed Harris, Seattle City Council pushes war on drugs and sex workers

Slog AM: Harris and Trump debated, Taylor Swift endorsed Harris, Seattle City Council pushes war on drugs and sex workers

The presidential debate: After President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, the near-successful assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and the ecstatic rise of Kamala Harris, I expected a dull debate by comparison. Yet like a bullfighter waving a red flag, Harris was able to effortlessly provoke Trump with issues of abortion, his crimes, his authoritarian tendencies, his rallies, insurrection, and his racism. People will likely remember Harris laughing when Trump shouted, and perhaps forget her weak stance on Israel’s killing of Palestinians and her commitment not to ban fracking.

Network experts believe that she was well received by voters: And some voters did so. CNN A snap poll found that registered voters who watched the debate largely believed Harris beat Trump. The Washington Post I spoke to 25 voters from swing states and they felt Harris did better, regardless of their voting plans in November. Even Fox News’ The electoral college thought Harris won. Trump told Fox & Friends he won “by a wide margin,” so much so that he was “less inclined” to run against her again. These small snapshots are far from conclusive. It will be a few days before we see the impact of the debate on the polls, which currently show a very close race.

Taylor Swift is there: In her statement of support, posted on Instagram minutes after the debate, Swift said Harris is a “quiet, gifted leader” who fights for causes she believes in and wisely chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country when we are led by calm, not chaos.” Referring to U.S. Senator JD Vance’s jab at the “childless cat ladies who are unhappy with their own lives” who supposedly run this country, Swift signed her statement of support “Childless cat lady.”

This other debate: Washington gubernatorial candidates Bob Ferguson and Dave Reichert battled it out in a thrilling battle on KING 5. In case you missed it, Ashley was watching for you and will have more to say later.

Speaking of Ashley, here she is with a short council report:

Conservatives lead Seattle: Yesterday, the Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee passed two bills. One created Solicitation Zones (SODA), and another revived the city’s old law against loitering by prostitutes and established a Solicitation Zone (SOAP). These zones allow judges to ban people from certain parts of the city if they have been charged or convicted of drug abuse or possible involvement in the sex trade, respectively. The committee amended the SODA bill to add additional areas in the city, including one on Capitol Hill. The whole thing is a deeply NIMBY solution that even they admit will push people around, but more than that, it shows that the City Council doesn’t want to listen to leading experts on the subject. When Purpose Dignity Action (PDA), a nonprofit that runs leading diversion programs in the country, PUBLICLY criticizes your idea, you have a damn problem. PDA never tries to make waves.

On the bill on SOAP and loitering in prostitution: While groups like Strippers Are Workers, the ACLU of Washington, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility and the Harborview Abuse & Trauma Center all oppose the bill, Council Member Cathy Moore has joined a charity called The More We Love, founded by Kristine Moreland, who is supporting Republican Dave Reichert for governor. In an initial draft of the bill, Moore attempted to secure a city contract for the nonprofit without going through a competitive bidding process. She later withdrew that part of her amendment, but it showed how completely uninformed and out of her depth she is.

Thanks, Ashley! And now back to me.

Choice of words: This morning, Biden, Harris, Trump and Vance appeared at Ground Zero to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. When asked about his schedule yesterday, President Joe Biden said he was “going to New York for my granddaughter’s birthday, then we’ll watch the debate, and tomorrow I’ll do 9/11.” Hmm.

He should consider adding a phone call to his schedule: president Biden has still not called the family of UW graduate Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the activist shot dead by Israeli soldiers last week. Her partner, Hamid Ali, said in a statement yesterday that they had been waiting for days for Biden to “do the right thing: call us, offer his condolences and let us know he is ordering an independent investigation” into her killing. “This was not an accident, and her killers must be held accountable.”

Starbucks’ new boss said the mood was bad: On his second day as CEO, Brian Niccol told employees and customers in a letter that he wants to return the online-driven company to being a real coffeehouse that invites customers to hang out and sit in comfortable chairs that don’t hurt their butts. He also wants to “empower” baristas to make great drinks. Very cool, I can think of another way to “empower” them.

🙁 The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife will implement a plan to control invasive barred owls in Washington, Oregon and California in an effort to save the native spotted owls. As early as fall, trained specialists will begin luring barred owls with recorded owl calls and then blowing them away with shotguns. It’s a nasty job, but the department said either you kill and keep both owls or you do nothing and let the spotted owls die out. The strategy, based on years of study, is not without criticism. One conservationist told KING 5, we’ve made barred owls into villains, even though we are the villains because we destroy vital habitat.

Seattle Indian Health Board cuts ties with SPD: Board Vice Chair Abigail Echo-Hawk said her organization breached the contract because Seattle police repeatedly rejected its recommendations to improve the tracking and processing of missing and murdered Indigenous people cases. SPD and the board signed the contract in 2021 after the City Council directed the city to work with the Indigenous organization on data collection and training. SPD said The Seattle Newspaper The two agencies had difficulties working together.

Moan: JD Vance said in a podcast that he would have ordered states to nominate new electors rather than certify the election results so the country could have a “debate about what really matters and what kind of election we had.” Again, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and, crucially, the Constitution does not allow the vice president to reject states’ electors.

Dave Grohl has to confess something: The Foo Fighters frontman announced on Instagram that he has fathered a baby girl with a woman who is not his wife. In his brief statement, Grohl said he is doing everything he can to be a loving and supportive father to his new child while also regaining the trust of his wife, Jordyn Blum, and their three children.

A trans woman could be elected to Congress: Sarah McBride, the nation’s first transgender senator, won the Democratic primary for Delaware’s only House seat, making her the likely favorite to win the election and become the first transgender member of Congress. Delaware has historically been a conservative state, and Democrats have held the House seat for 14 years. If she wins, transgender people would have a voice in a chamber where their legitimacy and rights are debated.

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