It's bad in principle because he obviously engaged in insurrection and is ineligible but from a practical standpoint it's great news for democracy. A toxic Republican candidate who by the election will most likely be a convicted felon and quite possibly already in prison is pretty much a best-case scenario for the country. Turnout matters and nothing is going to dampen Republican turnout like the top of their ticket being a convicted loser. We could very well be looking at a historic blue wave this year.
I'm not sure I can agree that ignoring the Constitution is good for democracy. Especially when it comes to disqualifying insurrectionists. But hopefully you're right about the outcome.
I'm sympathetic to the goal of trying to recycle more bottles but here's my problem: Like more than 10% of the population of the state, I live in Seattle. I have a giant blue recycle bin that's included for free with garbage service. The cheapest, laziest thing I can do with a plastic bottle is throw it in my recycling bin for efficient, high-volume pickup and recycling. The proposed deposit system adds a lot of administrative hassle, inconvenience, and waste (in the form of recycling return bags). Or I do what's easiest and the most environmentally friendly but accept an extra expense. Would our resources not be better spent encouraging or subsidizing recycling programs in communities with difficult, expensive, or non-existent recycling programs? We don't even have to hit every tiny town in the middle of nowhere to make a big difference. There has to be a good amount of low-hanging fruit out there where we could get a lot more recycling done, without making recycling worse in the places where it already has high participation.
A good move that is in pretty stark contrast to the current Seattle leadership’s goals. Glad people on the state level are trying something here though
Harrell is super anti-homeless. Sadly that sentiment is spilling over into neighboring cities. I am in Burien and it is the same here. They hired a encampment sweeping company with some sketchy contracts and everything
Hello fellow Burienite! Don’t forget they also made a second dog park to retroactively justify sweeping the encampment. “We would like, totally help you by offering resources, but we really need a place for our dogs to shit. Sorry about not having a roof over your head or whatever…” And in the next breath “hey everyone, we need this park sooooo bad but we can’t afford to build it. Can you spare some change?” Fucking disgusting.
well, these aren’t mutually exclusive—and anti-homeless architecture is very harmful to everyone, not just the homeless. it often strips public spaces of amenities like benches, bathrooms, or even just any space in which you could conceivably loiter for fear that that they’ll be used by the “undeserving”
Can we ban ‘skate stoppers’ intended to physically injure skaters who attempt the feature too?
Like, if it’s designed from the start to not be super skateable that’s fine. But adding things after the spot is already established that will cause people to ‘catch’ and fall seems a bit messed up.
I think they’re trying to say that the language in reference is just pandering.
In my experience, a homeless guy doesn’t give a single fuck if you call him homeless, unhoused, temporarily displaced, or a person experiencing homelessness. The bill itself is also quite tepid. While it does address some of the resultant effects of cruelty to the homeless, the actual cruelty itself remains, as well as the system that produced and perpetuates the conditions of homelessness in the first place.
Some will say “take wins where you can get them,” but I would not call this a win at all. Might actually cause a backlash against the homeless population over there.
Edit: I no longer think my anxiety about backlash was justified in this instance. Abhorrent > Tepid
Some will say “take wins where you can get them,” but I would not call this a win at all. Might actually cause a backlash against the homeless population over there.
being homeless is criminalized de facto in most Washington cities and if you polled the public on Hitlerite solutions to the problem a majority would likely agree with them. taking “this might cause a backlash” into consideration here is accordingly pointless; the backlash already exists and already actively informs policy for the worse. it’s incumbent on people to fight back against that by pursuing better policy, of which this is one.
the backlash already exists and already informs policy
I think you and I agree on this point, this is pretty much what I was saying with “the actual cruelty itself remains, as well as the system that produced and perpetuates the conditions of homelessness in the first place.” I also re-read the bill to find “owned/operated by the city/county” where I previously misread something to the effect “within the city/county,” and the correct reading does reduce my anxiety about backlash. And you’re right, this would improve the sort-of “right to exist” in public spaces. Abhorrent was much too strong a word… More like… tepid.
I maintain the bill does not go nearly far enough, doing precisely nothing to address fundamental causes, but it might relieve some of the immense stress on those poor bastards, which is incontestably a good thing. I was wrong a moment ago, this is a “take your wins where you can get them” moment.
“No, your honor, we weren’t trying to stop anyone from sitting or lying at street level, we have just become infatuated with neoarchitectural design, including spikes, cemented rocks, barbed wire, and other very-legitimate hyper-modern artistic design elements. We even paid an artist. The internal emails you subpoenaed will confirm all of this.”
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