Slog AM: A Bitter Bruce Harrell Supporter Wants Katie Wilson Out, the Government Is Monitoring Anti-Flock Social Media Posts, and ICE Is Getting Electrocution Gloves

A Bruce Harrell supporter has filed a recall petition against Mayor Katie Wilson. Married couple Melinda Jacobson and Dale Osterud allege in the petition that Wilson is “derelict in her duties for public safety of the city of Seattle.” Jacobson told KUOW that she voted for Harrell last year and she believes Wilson is in “way above her head.” Will this petition go anywhere? KUOW says it’s unlikely. First it’d have to get past a Superior Court judge, and then they’d have to collect 70,000 signatures from a little less than 10 percent of the city’s population to get the recall on the ballot.

Somewhat related: You may have noticed that our city council is also very mad at Mayor Wilson right now. Well, Erica C. Barnett’s Bluesky thread about how members of the city council are absurdly dragging Wilson for the lack of information from the Seattle Police Department following the deadly shooting at the Seattle Center is worth a read for Barnett’s opening line alone, which I would like to cross-stitch and hang above my desk: “Rob Saka, please be serious.”

At least the City Council has stopped being ridiculous long enough to give kids free lunch! On Tuesday, they voted unanimously to approve the $3.6 million budget that will provide universal free meals at Seattle Public Schools next year. Guy Oron has been covering the story for us, including how some councilmembers got scared by public backlash and reversed their votes on the matter.  The money comes from “the budget surplus of Northgate Commons, an affordable housing complex that aims to add up to 1,400 new homes,” according to the Seattle Times.

Wildfire watch: The aptly named Big Grass fire in Oregon is now the largest in the state’s history, having burned more than 575,000 acres. It’s 35 percent contained. Yesterday, Governor Bob Ferguson issued an emergency declaration for victims of Spokane and eastern Washington fires. All three main fires—Autumn Lane, Old Trails, and Fairview—are mostly contained. Over on the peninsula, the National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for Thursday, due to expected scattered thunderstorms and this year’s low snowpack. A meteorologist explained, “Any lightning that happens can start new, additional fires,” and stormy wind can carry them. 

Flock off: According to independent journalist Dan Boguslaw and 404 Media, the government is “monitoring viral anti-Flock Instagram posts,” and has told local law enforcement about future DeFlock events, going so far as to encourage cops to “increase patrols” near the cameras. DeFlock, an open-source app that maps automatic license plate readers around the US, is organizing a national week of action against ALPRs August 16–22. 404 Media writes, “the documents show that local, state, and federal law enforcement are monitoring anti-Flock activists and are trying to tie together people who politically oppose mass surveillance with vigilantes who destroy Flock cameras.”

Well, this is fucking harrowing: There appears to be an “intensifying mental health crisis onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln,” says the Guardian. More than 5,000 sailors and Marines are currently on the vessel, which has not made land for 250 days. The Navy Times has reported multiple suicide attempts and accounts of suicidal ideation, as well as deteriorating resources, including rationed food and water shortages. The deployment was supposed to end in May. Military families and members of Congress have spoken out, but defense secretary Pete Hegseth has called it “fake news.” It is very literally real news.

More military excellence: Two US military pilots died on Wednesday when the Apache helicopter they were flying crashed into a field in Salado, Texas. An official told AP the pilots were on a routine training flight at the time. They’re still investigating the cause of the crash, and the pilots’ names have not yet been released.

Love it or Leavitt: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving her post at the end of August to spend more time with her family. Honestly, she lasted longer than I thought*, given that Trump went through four press secretaries his first go ’round, with only Sarah Huckabee Sanders lasting longer than a year. But, as this Daily Beast takedown points out, Leavitt was very, very good at chugging Trump’s Kool-Aid and barfing it all over the American people. They haven’t announced the replacement bootlicker. Editor’s note: Vivian believed Leavitt was the only one who’d stick it out to the very end, though, in this case, being wrong is a blessing.

This can only end badly: “ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks,” the AP is exclusively reporting. The gloves are called G.L.O.V.E., Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, said, “For smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers, I think it has a great advantage.”

First they came for the iceberg lettuce, and I did not speak out, because I was not an iceberg lettuce. Then they came for the Taylor Farms jalapeños, which “have been linked to 345 cases of salmonella nationwide.” The recall notice, issued by the US Food and Drug Administration, says the tainted peppers “had been shipped to more than half the states in the country, and were used in prepared foods sold at retailers including Kroger, Target and Whole Foods.”

Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma are executing inmates today. This will be the first lethal injection in Tennessee since the state’s botched execution of Tony Carruthers in May. Carruthers’ execution was called off, and he was given a one-year reprieve after the IV team failed to insert a required backup line.

What are you doing tonight? Coming to The Stranger offices during Capitol Hill Art Walk, I hope! On display will be Madison Kirkman’s photo essay Good Grief: Living With Loss in Seattle, which is also featured in our August issue. We’ll be here from 5–8 p.m. See you there!

And now, one of my favorite songs about dying: 

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