Seattle Halts Mail Delivery to Southside

Mail theft has gotten so bad.

At Instapundit, "GOODER AND HARDER: Mail Delivery Halted for an Entire Zip Code in Seattle."

West Coast Cities Are Letting Drug Addicts Kill Themselves

At the Washington Examiner, "Liberals in the biggest cities on the West Coast have made it easier for drug addicts to die from overdoses based on the fallacy that letting drug addicts destroy their own lives is some form of compassion."

Kyle Seager's Last Game With the Mariners

Very emotional.

Background at the Seattle Times, "With everything on the line, is this the end for Kyle Seager and the Mariners?"

And from just a little while ago, "Mariners’ playoff push comes up short in loss to Angels; Kyle Seager leaves field to ovation from crowd."

An emotional Kyle Seager gets a standing ovation from Mariners fans 🙏

(via @mlb)pic.twitter.com/9boCtbYJcc

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 3, 2021

'Largely Peaceful,' Translated to English, Means Violent

It's Michael Barone, at the Washington Examiner, "Intensifying Into Violence":

60 days of demonstrations in cities like Oakland, Portland, and Seattle are described as “largely peaceful."

Any “peaceful demonstration” capable of “intensifying” into setting fire to a courthouse was never really “peaceful," writes @MichaelBarone.

https://t.co/Xk11wTy3R8

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 30, 2020

"Protestors in California," tweeted ABC News, about an incident in Oakland, "set fire to a courthouse, damaged a police station and assaulted officers after a peaceful demonstration intensified."

If you'd presented your ninth-grade teacher with that sentence in your weekly writing assignment, she might have taken out her red pen and asked you, "How does a peaceful demonstration intensify?"

This sentence, however, was written not by a ninth-grader but by an adult, a professional journalist working for one of the world's major television news organizations. It was not an accident. As Modern Age editor Daniel McCarthy noted, "George Orwell could not improve on this."

Any "peaceful demonstration" capable of "intensifying" into setting fire to a courthouse, damaging a police station and assaulting law enforcement personnel was never really "peaceful" in the first place.

As The New Criterion editor Roger Kimball wrote, "the overriding criterion for choosing which narrative to plug" is which "will do the most damage to Donald Trump and Republican prospects in the November election."

The narrative that serves that purpose is that the demonstrations that broke out after the May 25 death of George Floyd are peaceful, and the demands of many demonstrators to "defund" the police are a reasonable response with no downside risk. Video footage suggesting the contrary has appeared sparingly, if at all, on broadcast news, CNN and MSNBC...

More.

Decriminalizing Hard Drugs

It's Nicholas Kristof, with a long piece at NYT, FWIW:

Seattle is in effect decriminalizing the use of hard drugs, @NickKristof writes. It is relying less on the criminal justice toolbox to deal with drug abuse and more on the public health toolbox. https://t.co/3YvnxDaxAM

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) August 23, 2019

3 Killed as Amtrak Train Derails Over I-5 in Washington State (VIDEO)

At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "NTSB: Train was traveling twice the speed limit before derailment: 3 confirmed dead after incident near DuPont; National Transportation Safety Board investigating":

DUPONT, Wash. -- An Amtrak passenger train that derailed with deadly results Monday morning was traveling at more than twice the speed limit of the track, the National Transportation Safety Board reported later that night.

Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National Transportation Safety Board member speaking to reporters before midnight Monday night upon her arrival at the Sea-Tac International Airport, reported that data from the train's rear engine marked the train's speed at 80 mph. Sound Transit confirmed to SeattlePI that the Interstate 5 overpass south of Tacoma where the crash occurred carries a 30 mph speed limit.

Amtrak president Richard Anderson told reporters that positive train control — the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train — wasn't in use on the stretch of track in Washington state where the deadly derailment occurred.

Anderson spoke on a conference call with reporters and said he was "deeply saddened by all that has happened today."

NTSB crew members arrived in Seattle shortly before midnight and said their first full day of investigation would begin Tuesday.

They had yet to interview any of the train's personnel. Investigators planned to collect on-scene information preserved by local authorities for the next seven to 10 days and issue a report with their findings, possibly up to a year or more from now...

Keep reading.

Punch a Nazi in Seattle

Hey, it's the in thing.

See some idiot riding public transportation with a swastika armband and mobilize your social media army to track him down and knock him out cold.

I hate Nazis, obviously.

But I hate radical leftist antifa ghouls even more.

At BuzzFeed, of all places, "Anti-Fascists Used Twitter to Find a Neo-Nazi Walking Around Seattle and Beat Him Up." (Via Memeorandum.)

Seattle's Lesson on the the $15 Minimum Wage - #FightFor15

From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg, "Seattle's Painful Lesson on the Road to a $15 Minimum Wage: The experiment has hurt low-wage workers, cutting their earnings by $125 a month."

Leftist economists were naturally shooting down the new report, which says low-income workers are harmed by the minimum wage hikes.

ADDED: At Legal Insurrection, "Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Backfires Hurting Low Income Workers."

Seattle to Create Government-Financed 'Heroin-Injection Clinics', 'Safe Sites' for Junkies to Shoot Up

It's a terrible idea, but then, this is Seattle, the far-left freakazoid enclave on Puget Sound.

At LAT, "Seattle's new war on drugs: Giving heroin addicts 'safe sites' to shoot up":

Seattle officials are moving forward with a controversial plan for what would be the nation’s first supervised heroin-injection clinics — government-financed shooting galleries that supporters say can save lives but that critics say will only enable drug users.

A new 99-page task force study envisions at least two safe-use facilities — one in Seattle, another in the suburbs — where heroin addicts can legally take narcotics while being monitored by medical personnel who can administer aid or call 911 if needed.

The project is modeled after North America’s first supervised heroin haven, InSite, a government-funded injection facility 140 miles north in Vancouver, B.C., which in 13 years of operation has never had an overdose fatality, officials there say.

That success has inspired other cities — including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland — to consider government-approved safe sites for addicts to inject heroin. But Seattle is moving fastest, convinced there is “urgent need for action,” as the new study puts it.

“For me personally, what has worked,” says Seattle social worker Thea Oliphant-Wells, a task force member and recovering heroin addict for 11 years, “was to have harm-reduction folks engaging me long before I was ready to change my drug-abuse behavior. I promise you, when you give people the opportunity to get better, they will.”

Jeff Duchin, head of Seattle-King County Public Health, said the safe sites — officially known as Community Health Engagement Locations — will increase the odds for drug users to return to healthy lives by reducing overdoses, preventing HIV and other infections and cutting down on other drug-related medical problems.

The proposal has the support of King County’s chief executive and the mayor of Seattle, a city once dubbed by Rolling Stone as “Junkie Town.” Heroin use here and across the U.S. dripped, then spiked in the last decade as Americans addicted to pain killers such as OxyContin and Percocet looked to the streets for cheaper alternatives.

A United Nations study released this summer found that use of heroin has soared in the last two decades. U.S. deaths related to the narcotic have increased fivefold since 2000 and the number of U.S. users has tripled to one million in that time.

In King County, with good Samaritan laws that prevent prosecution of anyone who, in good faith, aids an overdose victim, and with wider use of the recovery drug Naloxone by first responders, overdose deaths actually dropped last year — 132, compared with 156 in 2014.

But from 2010 to 2014, the number of users seeking treatment here doubled from 1,439 to 2,886, and the death toll in 2015 was a third higher than two years ago.

With no apparent end to the upward trend, local officials say safe-use sites are a worthy intervention...

Sorry. I'm not convinced giving addicts a government-sponsored heroin safe space is the path to creating drug-free lives. The article needed to cite addiction experts who provide evidence why this isn't a great idea. It's still experimental at this point. My hunch is that enabling addicts to shoot up only legitimizes hardcore drug dependency. If you want to help people, get them into treatment. Drug use will continue to spike as long as government-financed bleeding-heart leftists enable drug addicts to get high.

Seattle University Dean Placed on Administrative Leave Amid Student Protests

This is actually horrifying to me.

And from a personal standpoint, I'm lucky I'm teaching at the community college level. Some, but not too much, of the radical campaign activism has seeped down to the two-year colleges. If I was at a university I'd have been hounded out by now, or I'd have self-censored my classes so much I'd by now be a shamed, fading hulk of a man. It's a terrible prospect.

At the Seattle Times, "Student protest: SU president says some in faculty also wanted dean to resign":

The sit-in started in mid-May with a group of students who demanded changes to a curriculum that emphasizes Western history and philosophy, and a climate they describe as hostile and condescending to students of color. They say they were influenced by alumni who graduated nearly a decade ago who told them they also tried to make changes to the school, to no effect...

And at Heat Street, "University Puts Dean on Leave Over ‘Too Western’ Curriculum":

Seattle University student occupiers: "We want a liberatory education" https://t.co/wl1GADVzQo pic.twitter.com/JNlNO3SfZZ

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) May 22, 2016

For more than three weeks, a group of students have staged a sit-in at Seattle University’s Matteo Ricci College. One student complained to the Seattle Times that “the only thing they’re teaching us is dead white dudes.” They have demanded the resignation of Dean Jodi Kelly.

In a written statement, the protestors said that “dissatisfaction, traumatization and boredom” have characterized their time as students, “as well as being ridiculed, traumatized, othered, tokenized and pathologized.” They claim “these experiences have been profoundly damaging and erasing, with lasting effects on our mental and emotional well-being.” 

The protestors, who call themselves the MRC Coalition and say they’re “led by queer folx, womxn of color, and people of color,” issued a lengthy list of demands, including an overhaul of the college’s curriculum that “decentralizes whiteness and has a critical focus on the evolution of systems of oppression.”

Still more.

Violent May Day Clash in Seattle (VIDEO)

Gotta love the headline here, "anti-capitalists," heh.

At the Seattle PI, "Anti-capitalists clash with Seattle police on May Day."

They're communists. Is that so hard? They're freakin' communists.

'Transgender and unisex bathroom regulations empower terrible people...'

They do.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "DISPATCHES FROM THE LEFT’S WAR ON BATHROOMS."

Also, at KING 5 News Seattle, "Man in women's locker room cites gender rule."

Seattle Bernie Sanders 'Black Lives Matter' Protester Interview on MSNBC: 'Blacks are in a state of emergency...'

Race-baiter Tamron Hall's got the interview.

The protester, Marissa Johnson, apparently took a lot of flak for shutting down Sanders.

Watch: "Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was upstaged at his rally in Seattle by “Black Lives Matter” protesters for not taking action to save black lives, they say. Co-Founder of the Seattle chapter Marissa Johnson explains on NewsNation."

#FeeltheBern in Los Angeles: Bernie Sanders Draws 27,000 in Campaign Rally at Sports Arena (VIDEO)

Well, I'm obviously getting a kick out of this, heh.

At Gateway Pundit, "Bernie Sanders Draws FIVE TIMES As Many at Monday Rally as Hillary’s Largest Crowd" (via Memeorandum).



More at the Los Angeles Times, "Why a huge Los Angeles crowd turned out for Bernie Sanders."

PREVIOUSLY: "Bernie Sanders Draws 28,000 People at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon," and "Bernie Sanders Draws 15,000 People at University of Washington."

Bernie Sanders Draws 28,000 People at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon

Damn, he's packing 'em in like a rock star.

At the Portland Oregonian, "Bernie Sanders speaks to packed crowd at Portland's Moda Center."

And at KOIN News 6 Portland:



PREVIOUSLY: "Bernie Sanders Draws 15,000 People at University of Washington."

Bernie Sanders Draws 15,000 People at University of Washington

Hillary Clinton's not drawing anywhere near these kinds of crowds.

At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Bernie Sanders draws 15,000 people at UW, state’s biggest political crowd since 2010 Obama visit":

The cheering for Sen. Bernie Sanders began outside the UW’s Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Saturday night, as Sanders talked to the 3,000 supporters who couldn’t get in, before giving a rip roaring populist speech to the 12,000 supporters inside the basketball arena.

Sanders was blocked from speaking at a Social Security anniversary celebration earlier in the day at Westlake Center, due to a disruption by Black Lives Matter protesters similar to one that greeted him at NetRoots Nation in Phoenix three weeks ago.

If the boorish, disjointed protest had not blocked him, the Westlake crowd would have heard Sanders talk knowledgeably about unemployment among African American youth, raising wages for the working poor, America’s high incarceration rate and the need for prison reform. He held forth later at the UW

“Too many young lives are being destroyed by the so-called ‘War on Drugs’,” the Democratic presidential candidate declared.  “Too many lives are being destroyed by our system of incarceration.” And, pledged Sanders, “No President will fight harder to end the stain of racism and reform our criminal justice system. Period.”

President Sanders?  The East Coast pundit class cannot grasp that a self-identified “democratic socialist,” from a tiny state, who has been preaching against corporate power in his Brooklyn accents for 50 years, could possibly mount a credible bid for the White House.  Tens of thousands of people, turning out at rallies across the country, beg to disagree...

Sanders is a buffoon, but his campaign's good for democracy, frankly. He's providing a real and significantly credible alternative to Clinton, and he's campaigning the old-fashioned way, exactly the opposite of what stage-managed Clinton's doing.

PREVIOUSLY: "Bernie Sanders Shut Down by #BlackLivesMatter Protesters (VIDEO)."

Bernie Sanders Shut Down by #BlackLivesMatter Protesters (VIDEO)

At the Hill.

And video from KIRO News 7 Seattle, "VIDEO: Rally featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders cut short due to activists."



And from the Sanders Campaign, "Sanders Statement on Seattle Protesters":

SEATTLE – Sen. Bernie Sanders issued the following statement today after two demonstrators blocked him from addressing an event hosted by an organization supporting Social Security and Medicare:

“I am disappointed that two people disrupted a rally attended by thousands at which I was invited to speak about fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare. I was especially disappointed because on criminal justice reform and the need to fight racism there is no other candidate for president who will fight harder than me.”

Still more, in an ironically titled piece, at WaPo, "Protesters drove Bernie Sanders from one Seattle stage. At his next stop, 15,000 people showed."

Also at BuzzFeed, "Bernie Sanders’ Campaign Adds Young Black Woman as New Public Face."

CEO Who Gave Employees $70,000 Minimum Wage Faces Massive Backlash and Financial Ruin

Well, he's already being sued by his brother. At the Seattle Times, "Gravity Payments CEO, who set $70K minimum pay, sued by brother."

And now the dude's business is collapsing amid the onslaught of media fame and customer revolt.

It's practically a far-left workshop on how to kill a successful business.

At the New York Times, "A Company Copes With Backlash Against the Raise That Roared":

There are times when Dan Price feels as if he stumbled into the middle of the street with a flag and found himself at the head of a parade.

Three months ago, Mr. Price, 31, announced he was setting a new minimum salary of $70,000 at his Seattle credit card processing firm, Gravity Payments, and slashing his own million-dollar pay package to do it. He wasn’t thinking about the current political clamor over low wages or the growing gap between rich and poor, he said. He was just thinking of the 120 people who worked for him and, let’s be honest, a bit of free publicity. The idea struck him when a friend shared her worries about paying both her rent and student loans on a $40,000 salary. He realized a lot of his own employees earned that or less.

Yet almost overnight, a decision by one small-business man in the northwestern corner of the country became a swashbuckling blow against income inequality.

The move drew attention from around the world — including from some outspoken skeptics and conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who smelled a socialist agenda — but most were enthusiastic. Talk show hosts lined up to interview Mr. Price. Job seekers by the thousands sent in résumés. He was called a “thought leader.” Harvard business professors flew out to conduct a case study. Third graders wrote him thank-you notes. Single women wanted to date him.

What few outsiders realized, however, was how much turmoil all the hoopla was causing at the company itself. To begin with, Gravity was simply unprepared for the onslaught of emails, Facebook posts and phone calls. The attention was thrilling, but it was also exhausting and distracting. And with so many eyes focused on the firm, some hoping to witness failure, the pressure has been intense.

More troubling, a few customers, dismayed by what they viewed as a political statement, withdrew their business. Others, anticipating a fee increase — despite repeated assurances to the contrary — also left. While dozens of new clients, inspired by Mr. Price’s announcement, were signing up, those accounts will not start paying off for at least another year. To handle the flood, he has already had to hire a dozen additional employees — now at a significantly higher cost — and is struggling to figure out whether more are needed without knowing for certain how long the bonanza will last.

Two of Mr. Price’s most valued employees quit, spurred in part by their view it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises. Some friends and associates in Seattle’s close-knit entrepreneurial network were also piqued that Mr. Price’s action made them look stingy in front of their own employees.

Then potentially the worst blow of all: Less than two weeks after the announcement, Mr. Price’s older brother and Gravity co-founder, Lucas Price, citing longstanding differences, filed a lawsuit that potentially threatened the company’s very existence. With legal bills quickly mounting and most of his own paycheck and last year’s $2.2 million in profits plowed into the salary increases, Dan Price said, “We don’t have a margin of error to pay those legal fees.”

As Mr. Price spoke in the Gravity conference room, he could see a handful of employees setting up beach chairs in the parking lot for an impromptu meeting. The office is in Ballard, a fast-gentrifying neighborhood of Seattle that reflects the wealth gap that Mr. Price says he wants to address. Downstairs is a yoga studio, and across the street is a coffee bar where customers can sip velvet soy lattes on Adirondack-style chairs. But around the corner, beneath the elevated roadway, a homeless woman silently appeals to drivers stopped at the red light with a cardboard sign: “Plz Help.”

In his own way, Mr. Price is trying to respond to that request.

“Income inequality has been racing in the wrong direction,” he said. “I want to fight for the idea that if someone is intelligent, hard-working and does a good job, then they are entitled to live a middle-class lifestyle.”

The reaction to his salary pledge has led him to think that if his business continues to prosper, his actions could have far-reaching consequences. “The cause has expanded,” he said. “Whether I like it or not, the stakes are higher.”

Corporate socialism doesn't work, obviously, to say nothing of state socialism.

Let this be a lesson to the collectivist left: More of these minimum wage disasters are coming down the pike. It's only a matter of time.

Still more.

ADDED: Now a Memeorandum thread.

Gravity Payments CEO to Boost Entire Company's 'Minimum Wage' to $70,000 (VIDEO)

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Most business owners don't take $930,000 pay cuts to help their employees.

There's something else going on with this dude. Strange.

At KIRO 7 Seattle, "Seattle CEO to cut his pay so every worker earns $70,000."



Better private sector charity like this than statist collectivist redistribution schemes by corrupt Democrat Party cadres, in any case.

'This is what happens when you let people who think that *capitalism* is a dirty word run economic policy...'

Heh, from Moe Lane, "The fascinating thing about these stories of Seattle restaurant closings…"

BONUS: At Legal Insurrection, "Seattle Restaurants Struggle With New Minimum Wage," and Hot Air, "Seattle eateries closing as $15 minimum wage approaches."