Slog AM: Less Rain in Seattle Than LA, Brazil Rejects Far-Right in Election, Snohomish Mama Bear on the Run

Seattle just got some rain, breaking an odd drought. We’ve been getting less rain than Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada. These are the first fingerprints of El Niño, which disrupts moisture and temperature patterns around the Pacific, the Emerald City Weather Blog’s Scott Sistek reports. 

Wrong kind of woke: A shootout involving five different firearms emptying at least 80 rounds woke up a sleeping woman at her home off Aurora, KIRO reports. The woman told reporters the gunfire jolted her out of and then under her bed on Saturday morning. A bullet hole landed above her bed. “It was the scariest moment of my life,” Hannah, who used only her first name, told the station.

Give me a “U”! The NFL has its first cheerleaders union, NBC reports. According to WFFA, the Dallas Cowboys voluntarily recognized the freshly formed Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association, clearing the way for a collective bargaining agreement. The squad’s three dozen cheerleaders have at times made less than minimum wage, but won pay increases thanks to a Netflix documentary. Hopefully the dominoes will begin to fall on unpaid and underpaid entertaining across professional sports. 

Five new murals are finished around Capitol Hill. The murals created  by On the Block and the Seattle Artist Coalition for Equitable Development are supported by city funding , Capitol Hill Seattle reports. Backers of the project are also arguing that $8 million of the Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposed $556 million police budget should be diverted to artists.

🗺️ I made a map of the murals for you. 

BRAZIL ELECTION YESTERDAY: WORKERS PARTY BEAT ULTRA-RIGHT, AGAIN. Geriatric union leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat authoritarian nepo baby Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s election by a solid 10 million votes, Folha de S.Paulo reports. There are many, many, many takes as to what happened and what it means for the Western Hemisphere’s second-largest country and the guardian of the world’s oxygen factory.

As I posted on BlueSky last night, Lula’s victory is good for the Amazon, good for public health, and good for secularism in a country of 220 million people. Like his coup-attempting dad, Flávio is a Trumpian, corrupt, election-denying mess. Donald Trump Jr. is already complaining about the election results, so look for hot takes on MAGA TikTok. Lula has now hit his term limit, giving the Brazilian left four years to find a proper replacement.

🗺️Reddit made a map of how Brazil’s election would have gone if it had an electoral college like the U. instead of the popular vote. Yes, R/MAPPORN is the best.

ISRAEL ELECTION TOMORROW: A BATTLE OF MID VS EVIL. Israel will decide between center-right former military chief Gadi Eisenkot or ultra-right Benjamin Netanyahu, shunned for his complicity in a predecessor’s assasination, wanted for alleged genocide against Gazans, and lampooned for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas despite multiple warnings. Netanyahu, who came to power thanks to the death of his war hero brother, is so desperate to win—and stay out of jail—that he has pleaded on the phone with Trump twice in 3 days, Axios reports, earning him another Truth Social post. Eisenkot opposes a Palestinian state, but supports an impartial investigation into leaders (including himself) who failed to prevent Oct. 7. He also supports cracking down on Israeli settler violence.

Snohomish woman seriously injured by mother bear. The woman apparently found herself near the mama bear’s cub while trying to take out her trash, KING 5 reports. Reports of her injuries varied over the weekend but involved her being clawed, knocked over, and possibly bitten. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials failed in their initial attempts to locate and trap the mother bear. WDFW wouldn’t rule out executing the bear telling KING 5 that “decisions to lethally remove wildlife are never easy and many factors are taken into consideration when determining next steps.” I am rooting for the injured woman’s speedy and full recovery, and the Wanted Mama Bear’s clean escape into Mount Pilchuck.

Another DNA clue leads to murder charges in a cold case: Spokane police found the suspect in the 1986 murder of Mary Ann Turner by matching semen and other DNA from under her fingernails to a family genealogy database, the Spokesman-Review reports.

The West Seattle Blog did a nice profile of their tool lending library. Tool lending libraries are awesome. If you’re not sure where the nearest one is, King County has a list.

AMERICAN ELECTIONS IN 8 DAYS: If you are missing your ballot, or your cat ate it, you can get a replacement ballot at votewa.gov or go to any county election office. There’s still time to register to vote online ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election.    

PNW takes center stage in MAGA’s election interference. The Department of Justice filed a baseless lawsuit in Alaska that would seek to interfere with the state’s election certification only if the Republican incumbent loses. The DOJ is currently run by Trump’s personal lawyer. Trump said he directed the DOJ to file the suit. “President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape, or form,” US Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN, according to NPR. 

The lawsuit argues that voters will be confused about two similar names on the ballot: “Dan S. Sullivan” and “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” Two problems with the lawsuit: First, Voters are unlikely to be confused—Dan S is marked on the ballot as a registered Republican and the incumbent. Even Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski—who is endorsing Dan S. —says the suit should not have been filed. Second,there’s no federal law giving the White House a say. The DOJ’s lawsuit is so off base legal experts are calling it an embarrassment, CNN reports.

Campaign finance laws are apparently useless in WA. Washington state’s campaign finance watchdog, the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), won’t try to enforce a $75,000 cap on issue contributions, the Seattle Times reports. Speaking out of both sides of the mouth, the PDC said that it can’t determine the constitutionality of the law, but has directed staff to not enforce it. Political action committee leaders from the right and left denounced the move, which could affect races for the state Supreme Court and the shitty statewide ballot initiatives. The only real winners in the PDC’s decision appear to be the rich.

Protesters took to a SeaTac parking lot to speak out against ICE and Palantir. Protesters rallied Sunday calling for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to cut ties with Palantir, Fox 13 reported. The protest was a lot more tame than the civil disobedience that happened two years ago protesting the genocide in Gaza.

Who controls US foreign policy? Elon Musk admitted he throttled the Ukrainian military’s Starlink internet service, disrupting capabilities it relies on to defend against Russia, the Associated Press Reports. The acknowledgement oozed out after a long blame game between the Pentagon, the White House, and Starbase. Even conservative pundit Ramesh Ponnuru, editor of the National Review, saw through this bullshit.

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