The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Nathalie Graham

Did you have a nice atmospheric river? Sunday’s rain broke June rainfall records in Seattle, Olympia, and Hoquiam, but the system isn’t done. Precipitation should return Monday evening. Western Washington could see its typical amount of total rainfall in June across just three days. As for Monday in Seattle, it’ll be gusty, one of those days that makes your blinds snap if you leave the windows open.

With 0.65” of rain, yesterday was Seattle’s wettest June 2 on record.

Previous mark was 0.48” from 2001

— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) June 3, 2024

Okay, maybe you didn’t have a nice atmospheric river: Thousands of people were without power Monday morning. Seattle City Light registered 28 active power outages. 

And, yet, drought: Even though summer is still weeks away, drought has already set in across much of Washington. Suboptimal snow pack means abnormally dry conditions, and farmers are already feeling the thirst as they’re struggling to keep their crops sufficiently irrigated. The Roza Irrigation District in the Yakima River Basin drained its irrigation canal for 10 days last month in an effort to preserve water for the driest months ahead, but in doing so the basin shut off water access for farmers. The likely impact of this will be smaller harvests as farmers cut back their production acreage. 

Big weekend for car crashes: During the Gig Harbor Maritime Parade on Saturday, a van in the parade suddenly accelerated and mowed down several people before crashing into a different van. Five people sustained injuries and four of them were taken to the hospital. It’s unclear what caused the driver to accelerate like that. 

Clusterfuck on I-5 kills one: At around 4 am on Sunday morning, a motorhome hit and killed a 26-year-old woman near the West Seattle Bridge after a different car collided with her and she stepped out of her car to investigate. A passing ambulance stopped to help, but then a different car slammed into the ambulance, flipping it and striking the woman again. The 33-year-old driver who struck the ambulance is under investigation for driving under the influence. 

Multiple wrong-way drivers cause crashes: On Sunday morning at around 2:15 am, a 23-year-old woman driving the wrong way on State Route 512 struck and killed two people. The suspect, who is suspected of drinking and driving, had an infant in her car. A different person crashed into two different cars while driving the wrong way on Interstate 705 near Tacoma. The victims of the crashes sustained non-life threatening injuries. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Please, stop drinking and driving! I promise it will be way easier to go the right direction on the freeway and also not murder people if you aren’t driving drunk. 

Hundreds line up to vote for Mexican president: Mexico held its national election on Sunday, and 1.4 million of its citizens abroad were eligible to vote. Hundreds of those citizens lined up in Capitol Hill at the Consulado de México en Seattle, which runs out of the old Harvard Exit building. People waited hours, some an entire day. The consulate only had four voting booths despite expecting a huge crowd of voters from Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. The Portland consulate wasn’t open for voting. 

Hundreds wait for an opportunity to vote at the Mexican Consulate. 4 voting machines for thousands of people from WA, OR, ID, and AK. People are angry and a gathering is planned at 530 when voting ends. Blame being placed on EINE, the voting organization in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/yiL4ZRLAiu

— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) June 2, 2024

Mexico elects first woman president: Based on the election’s preliminary returns, Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and Mexico City’s former mayor, is expected to become Mexico’s first woman president. Sheinbaum, a leftist, is a member of the current ruling party in Mexico, the Morena party. She is expected to receive up to 60% of the vote. I’m jealous of Mexico. 

Cop shoots blind Shih Tzu named Teddy: A tiny Missouri town was just radicalized. Sturgeon, Missouri residents are up in arms after a police officer from its two-officer police department shot and killed a missing dog. The officer shot it because he believed it had rabies. In fact, the dog, Teddy, was blind. Now, the mayor has resigned for initially defending the offending cop, the new mayor suspended the cop, Teddy’s owner has filed a civil rights lawsuit seeking over $1 million in damages, and the many town residents are ready to dismantle their police department. 

Sort of a Footloose situation: The Gila River Indian Community in Arizona issued a ban on dances after a tribal police officer was fatally shot while responding to a disturbance at a residence holding a teenager’s birthday party. Another responding officer was wounded. 

Atlanta’s main issue: On Friday, several of Atlanta’s primary water mains experienced a break, causing a large portion of the city to go without water. To make matters worse, several other water mains started experiencing breaks across the city during the weekend. While crews are patching up the mains, thousands of Atlantans remain under a boil-water advisory. 

A sea-level eviction: Around 300 families who have spent their lives on the small Panamanian Island of Gardi Sugdub are packing up and moving to the mainland as sea-level rise makes life on the island harder and harder. Every November and December, ocean water floods the streets. Stronger storms buffet the island. The heat is unbearable. The families will move to a government-developed site on mainland Panama. Some have chosen to remain on the island, their home, until it’s no longer safe. 

The rankings are out! The United States Postal Service released its rankings for cities where its mail carriers were bitten by dogs the most. Top of the list is Los Angeles, with 65 mail carrier dog bites in 2023. Seattle isn’t on the list, but Portland ranked with 19 dog bites. Keep your dogs inside and train them not to fucking bite people, especially not our heroes at the USPS. 

It’s USPS National Dog Bite Awareness Week! Did you know incidents involving dog attacks on Postal Service employees rose to more than 5,800 cases last year? Help keep your letter carrier safe by securing your dog before the carrier approaches your property. #dogbiteawareness pic.twitter.com/ZiFiEQm2yS

— National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (@NRLCA) June 3, 2024

Ugh, this shit again: Hunter Biden is in court today for jury selection in his federal gun trial, a case that stems from three felonies he incurred when purchasing a gun in 2018 while on crack. Here are the charges, according to the Associated Press: “He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application used to screen firearms applicants when he said he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.” Biden has pleaded not guilty. Daddy Biden, the president, issued a statement saying he has “boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.”

The judge in the trial dealt a few blows to Biden’s defense when she blocked an expert witness meant to poke holes in the claims of Biden’s addiction in 2018. The judge also blocked a piece of evidence that was “an altered version of the federal firearms form he filled out when he bought the gun in 2018 that was tweaked in 2021 by the gun store employees,” CNN reports. The defense wanted to use that evidence to undermine the gun store employees’ credibility. 

No Israelis in the Maldives: The president of the Maldives made the move to ban Israeli passport holders from entering his island paradise of a country due to the ongoing war in Gaza.

A song for a windy day: Is this too on the nose? Here’s a link to a live version, too. 

The Stranger

Eight Weeks Are Up, but Hours Are Still Down

by Hannah Krieg

The Seattle Public Library (SPL) did not bounce back after its planned eight weeks of rolling closures from April 12 to June 2. With significantly less fanfare than their announcement in April, SPL unveiled new summer hours starting June 20 that reshuffle the closures but cut an additional 11 hours of service per week across its 27 locations. SPL did not give The Stranger a clear end date to the service cuts, but it doesn’t seem as if the Library wants to get patrons’ hopes up for much to change until budget season this fall. And that’s assuming the anti-tax corporatists who run this City feel compelled in any way to choose public goods over austerity. 

Eight Weeks 

On April 11, The Stranger broke the news that SPL would cut nearly 1,500 service hours over eight weeks because they did not have the staffing necessary to keep libraries open. Chief Librarian Tom Fay and Mayor Bruce Harrell struck a deal, granting SPL limited exemptions from his hiring freeze on all departments except for cops, fire, and the new dual dispatch program. Technically, SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview and they don’t have to adhere to the freeze, but he signs the budget, so there’s a strategy to playing nice with him. #OneSeattle. 

SPL spokesperson Laura Gentry said they would use the eight weeks to hire 12 more mostly temporary staff members, but she made no guarantees that they would restore service hours at the end of that period or after hiring the new workers. The Stranger asked Gentry how many people SPL hired since the reductions took effect, but she said she’s having difficulty accessing that information after the recent ransomware event. The ransomware event “complicated [SPL’s] onboarding process, along with a whole lot of other processes, but [SPL’s] HR team is looking for creative ways to welcome new hires despite the technology outage,” she wrote in an email. 

Regardless of how many people SPL hired in the last eight weeks, it’s not enough to fully restore hours for summer when more school-age kids and those seeking refuge from the heat will seek their facilities. 

New Hours, Same Sadness

According to the new hours posted on SPL’s blog, Capitol Hill and High Point will reopen on Sundays, South Park will reopen on Mondays, Montlake will reopen for a partial day on Tuesdays, and Douglass-Truth will reopen on Saturdays. According to SPL’s blog, the new schedule increases hours at larger, heavily used locations with air conditioning in anticipation of a hot, dry summer ahead.

On the other hand, SLP announced new closures for Deldrige, Chinatown International District (CID), New Holly, and Northgate on Sundays, and the University Branch on Saturdays. That puts CID, New Holly, Northgate, and University branches at two closures per week. Fremont and High Point will close two hours earlier on Tuesday and Wednesday. University Branch’s hours will shift two hours early on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the branch will still be open eight hours both days. 

Your Move, Mayor

Gentry did not have a lot of information about the future of the libraries—”The short answer is: We are still waiting to learn more about our financial situation in 2025, and we should have a better understanding of our staffing capacity once the Mayor announces his proposed budget this fall. We have hired a few new staff and continue to work on hiring, but those positions are helping to create more stability rather than to expand hours.”

The Mayor’s Office did not respond to a question about the future SPL’s budget. Instead, mayoral spokesperson Karissa Braxton said, “The ongoing budget process has no impact on the summer hours announced by the Libraries last week.”

But that statement ignores the reality that the new schedule continues service cuts brought on by a staffing shortage that SPL cannot address until they see how austere the Mayor goes with his budget proposal. Braxton did not respond to my follow-up questions. 

SPL’s staffing capacity will be but one line item in the Mayor’s and the city council’s budget, which they will endeavor to balance either by raising revenue or by cutting programs and staff in the face of a $250 million shortfall. Council Member Tammy Morales came out in immediate support of pumping new revenue into the libraries to increase capacity.

“This is a wake-up call for our city,” Morales said in an April 11 press release. “Without urgent action, things will get so much worse than this.”

Other council members have not taken strong stances in support of new progressive revenue to restore service at the libraries. 

The council does not have a clear progressive-revenue-supporting majority—likely because most of them have corporate donors to please. Budget Chair Dan Strauss supported new revenue during his campaign, but he is holding off on implementing any until the fall. The council member who should care the most, Chair of the Libraries, Education, and Neighborhoods Committee Martiza Rivera, didn’t jump to throw money at SPL but rather blamed the Library’s budget issues on e-books and the union. I asked Rivera (again) if the recent closures have inspired her to support new revenue and she did not respond. 

The Stranger

A New Yakitori Joint Opens, Bar Bayonne Is Named One of America’s Best Bars, and Brouwer’s Cafe Says Goodbye

by EverOut Staff

This week, we’re scoping out skewered meats and sushi at the new spot Ooshiba Yakitori & Sushi, mourning the loss of the pioneering craft beer favorite Brouwer’s Cafe, and getting excited about Jollibee‘s upcoming opening. Plus, Bar Bayonne has been proclaimed one of the nation’s best bars by Esquire. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide.
NEW OPENINGS 

Ooshiba Yakitori & Sushi
Japanese chefs Hirotaka Muramtsu and Hiroshi Kakuta, the team behind the pop-up Ooshiba, recently launched this permanent location in the same building as Figurehead Brewing in Fremont. The restaurant offers a range of sushi rolls and sashimi, as well as yakitori and kushiyaki.
Fremont

The Stranger

4 Ways Marijuana Can Help In A Messy Break Up

Medical marijuana is about to have a big positive change with rescheduling. And it could benefit millions.

The post 4 Ways Marijuana Can Help In A Messy Break Up appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

The Fresh Toast

Medical Marijuana Is About To Have A Big Positive Change

Medical marijuana is about to have a big positive change with rescheduling. And it could benefit millions.

The post Medical Marijuana Is About To Have A Big Positive Change appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

The Fresh Toast

Your Zodiac Sign And Marijuana

Watching Yellowstone and wondering about the American Frontier?  Like, was there marijuana in the old west?

The post Your Zodiac Sign And Marijuana appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

The Fresh Toast

“The growth potential is endless, endless, endless.”

by Charles Mudede

The word on the (virtual) street is that AI has transformed the science fiction of digital ghosts into a reality. The technology can, it is claimed, convincingly imitate those who are no longer with us, the living. Their afterlife is provided by “re-creation services.” They are called deadbots (or griefbots). They can interact with and send emails to those who are stuck in the time of the departed, which is, of course, the past. Though the deadbot is “definitely not a conscious entity,” they do use huge amounts of “[personal data] to simulate language patterns and personality traits.”    

But there is a problem with this technology that researchers and “technology ethicists,” who seem preoccupied with the question of adaptability—meaning, with how “AI technology [might] be racing ahead of respect for human dignity”—seem to miss. This, of course, is the old problem of “adaptive lag.” As evolutionary anthropologists (particularly in the niche construction school) point out, humans are at once biological and hyper-cultural. The former evolves slowly, the latter rapidly. This gap presents risks that have biological consequences that the 1970s described as “future shock.” But the bigger and maybe fatal problem with deadbots is not adaptability, but their immortality. 

Science News:

The companies Silicon Intelligence and Super Brain already offer this [afterlife] service. Both rely on generative AI, including large language models similar to the one behind ChatGPT, to sift through snippets of text, photos, audio recordings, video and other data. They use this information to create digital “ghosts” of the dead to [re-]visit the living.

However, the deadbot of your mother/father/brother/partner/what-have-you will not imitate the key feature of life, which is novelty. In this way, AI imitates a soul, which, to use the words of the under-appreciated 20th-century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, has “permanent characteristics” and so is “exactly the irrelevant answer to the problem which life presents” because “the soul need be no more original than a rock.” To be more than a photo, a text message, or an audio recording, the trick AI has to perform to produce the optimal visitation is the illusion of impermanence. The deadbot can only be convincing if it is mortal. As consequence, the realism of a digital ghost requires that it be born again only to face death again. (From this requirement emerges contradictions that are as insoluble as those found in time-travel films and literature.)

Life cannot be dynamic or have a future if it is immortal. It can’t be in heaven, where nothing happens forever; it must be in and move through the heat of time and its vicissitudes, its ups and downs. This kind of deadbot, which might recognize the Tamagotchi pet as a kind of primitive ancestor, has to eat, sleep, worry, cry, laugh, lose its marbles, obfuscate, be direct, get sick now and then, and so on and so on. It can’t just give the quick good news all of the time—”I’m loving the sunset right now…” “This Willamette Valley pinot blanc is just perfect…” “Walking through the park and looking at the clouds over Lake Washington.” Bad things must happen to it—”I got into an accident…” “I’m in an ambulance…” “Call me back as soon as you get this message.” The virtual ghost also has to age, grow old, and complain about how its time-worn knees aren’t what they used to be. And, finally, it must return to the death from which it was digitally resurrected. (But only to die again? Is that really death? Death is only death if it’s forever… right?) Whatever the case might be, there is certainly no future, no time, no being here without mortality.  

If a deadbot can’t imitate life in any real sense, then what can it do? Make money. “Our concern is that griefbots might become a new space for a very sneaky product placement,” explained Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska, “a researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge.” Why end with advertising? Why not go all the way with this new profit-making opportunity? 

Now, picture this (which, as a capitalist subject, shouldn’t be hard to do): When you agree to borrow money, you must also permit the bank to use your AI-generated ghost to recover what you still owe if you die. In this world, debts don’t go with you to the grave. The stay here, in the world where money is time. The deadbot of you could continue repaying a debt by working at a call center, demanding a communication fee from your relatives and friends, promoting products on the radio or social media, or being bank-pimped for virtual sex. As a sampled robot in a drum-and-bass track put it: “The growth potential is endless, endless, endless.”

The Stranger

The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Nathalie Graham

You’ve already heard this news: The 45th president of the United States is now a convicted felon, found guilty on all 34 charges in the hush-money case, actions that influenced the outcome of the 2016 election and altered the trajectory of our cursed little country forever. By now, your liberal family members have finished their gleeful texts, your conservative family members have exhausted their fingers from all their furious Facebooking, and you’ve already scoured the internet for analysis—like the post Rich Smith wrote yesterday—about whether this means Donald Trump can still be president. To recap everything: Yes, he can still be president, sentencing will occur on July 11, Trump could face up to four years in prison, he plans to appeal the verdict, and being a convicted felon is unlikely to sway Trump voters against voting for him. Since there’s not much else for me to add, I’ll share some fun tweets:

when the jury convicts you pic.twitter.com/umEmXFmY67

— ishmael n. daro (@iD4RO) May 30, 2024

This shank is Donald Trump’s 35th felony
pic.twitter.com/TkieC2I5DZ

— W (@ZitiDoggsGolf) May 30, 2024

“mother teresa could not beat these charges” is entering my lexicon for all eternity i fear https://t.co/ZFMkJGa5Qr

— chuck (@tenetyaoi) May 30, 2024

A great sitcom premise. pic.twitter.com/wYTC1XZxmW

— Lee Konstantinou (@LKonstan) May 30, 2024

so is trump cooked now? or is it like Air Bud logic where it’s like “there ain’t no rule says a man with 34 criminal convictions can’t be president”

— zach silberberg (@zachsilberberg) May 30, 2024

This is exactly like when they found Laura Palmer pic.twitter.com/BLrIGe43gV

— White Guy Fieri (@whiteguyfieri) May 31, 2024

Trump announced he’s holding a press conference this morning: It’s being broadcast from Trump Tower. I’m sure it will be completely sane. 

Pedestrian-killing SPD cop’s past checkered with collisions: Kevin Dave, the cop who hit 23-year-old pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula in 2023 while going 74 miles per hour, was fired from his previous gig at the Tucson Police Department after five internal investigations, according to PubliCola. Part of his bad behavior in Tucson included two car collisions. In one instance, Dave failed to yield to another car while turning in his patrol vehicle and ripped off the cop car’s bumper. In the second collision, Dave was driving his personal vehicle when he rear-ended another car, an accident he didn’t promptly report to his superiors. The driver of that car reported Dave to the police department for not having proper insurance. The department later found Dave had been driving with expired registration for seven months. The Seattle Police Department hired Dave despite this record. 

Seattle Public Schools feels the heat from parents: Look, if your school district announces it’s closing down 20 elementary schools due to budget cuts, then you’re going to have some thoughts. Seattle parents this week flocked to two SPS meetings on the impending elementary school closures. Tuesday’s meeting at Roosevelt High School was an emotional cluster fuck. Thursday’s meeting at Garfield High School was more organized. Parents questioned the district and the district provided little information. One of the main questions was whether there was an alternative to these school closures. Superintendent Brent Jones answered: “That’s a great question. We don’t have a comprehensive alternative model. If there is a set of strategies that’s comprehensive, that recognizes our current state, our current instability, we are very interested.” So, not only will the closures go forward, but so will further budget cuts, since SPS faces a $105 million budget deficit for the next school year and a $129 million shortfall for the year after that. 

Dave Reichert came packing to a Seattle Times interview: Gubernatorial candidate and former King County Sheriff brought a gun to the Seattle Times offices. He reportedly told them he had a gun on his hip because “he didn’t like the Seattle Times.” He mentioned this tidbit after saying how big a fan he was of the Second Amendment. 

Oh! pic.twitter.com/sHHhxDFCC5

— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) May 30, 2024

Israel is in central Rafah: Despite international backlash from allies and critics alike, Israel announced its forces had pushed deeper into Rafah, the southern Gaza enclave where many Palestinians sought refuge. Now, with a ground offensive complete with tanks and heavy artillery, Israel is displacing civilians again, as many flee for the second or third time in the span of this conflict. 

Atmospheric river ahead: Friday will be nice, mostly sunny, and warm enough. Come Sunday, a deluge of rain will return. Soak up the sun before you get actually soaked. Even more disappointing than the rain is that cloud cover will obscure another chance to see the Northern Lights this weekend. 

It’s not often we get to say this, but …

A rare June super-soaker is on tap for Sunday. Up to an inch of rain could fall in Seattle proper.

June 2 rainfall record of 0.48 inches is likely toast 🥂

— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) May 31, 2024

Here is a look at the period of heaviest rainfall with the upcoming atmospheric river pattern Sunday night through Monday. Generally, most locations have at least a 50% chance for seeing rainfall totals of at least 1 inch Sunday evening through Monday afternoon. 🌧️ #WAwx pic.twitter.com/pRiIJFQXdJ

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) May 31, 2024

Another weekend update: Vice President Kamala Harris is coming to town on Saturday. It likely won’t impact you unless you have millions of dollars to give to the Biden re-election campaign. Well, it will impact you if you’re traversing the roads. Check those traffic maps if you want to avoid a snarled commute.

Vermont tells oil companies to pay up: Vermont became the first state to require fossil fuel companies to pay for a share of damage caused by climate change-fueled extreme weather events. The legislation became law on Thursday, though Republican Gov. Phil Scott did not sign it. The funds paid by these polluters will go to beefing up state infrastructure. This is landmark legislation in a world where we are seeing the impacts of climate change every day. But, what’s striking me the most about this news is that Vermont has a Republican governor. How did that happen? 

A brief rabbit hole: So, I guess Vermonters really like people over politics, and they value “balance,” so the governor’s office tends to change party hands “every time since 1961.” Republican Gov. Phil Scott is seen as a “brake on a big leftward lurch” since Vermont has such strong Dem presence in both chambers of the legislature. Okay, that’s enough of that. Strange place, Vermont. 

Boeing coughs up record amount of back pay: In a record-breaking settlement for the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, Boeing paid $11.5 million in wrongfully withheld travel pay to 500 workers. The workers are part of Boeing’s Aircraft-on-Ground team of traveling technical experts who help fix up grounded planes and get them back into the air. Boeing didn’t compensate these workers’ travel fees from October 2019 and August 2023. The publicity hits keep coming for our neighborhood plane maker. 

Spelling Bee champ crowned: Florida’s Bruhat Soma, 12, won the 96th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in a lightning-round tie-breaker. The spell-off is only the second ever spell-off in Bee history. Soman spelled 29 words in 90 seconds. I love sports! 

This is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.

29 words in 90 seconds to win the Spelling Bee!

pic.twitter.com/k3a7gMPUaA

— Jake Marsh (@PMTsportsbiz) May 31, 2024

See ya, styrofoam: Kiss your packing peanuts goodbye. Well, technically, packing peanuts were banned as part of this legislation last June. So, continue to mourn your packing peanuts and kiss any other styrofoam products you covet goodbye because the next phase of the styrofoam ban goes into effect on Saturday. As of June 1, Washington is banning “the sale or distribution of Styrofoam coolers, plates, cups, bowls, and similar items.” 

I hate it when my loved ones fight: Wordle, the New York Times-acquired word game, is suing Worldle, a geography-themed spin-off, for “creating confusion” and capitalizing on Wordle’s brand. Let all the silly brain-itching phone games you haven’t acquired yet be, New York Times. Okay? Great. Now, it’s time for me to play Connections and Strands. 

A collection for your Friday: You ever think about how having kids in a world riddled by climate change feels not only kind of wrong, but also impossible? The teams over at Vox, Grist, and The 19th put together a collection of stories all about pregnancy and climate change. They’re worth your time. 

A song for your Friday: This song is so funky.

The Stranger

While it does not appear Cauce will retract her accusations against the protesters, this latest episode shows students will continue to push back on UW administration with or without tents on the ground.

by Hannah Krieg

Protesters from the recently disbanded Liberated Zone call on University of Washington (UW) President Ana Mari Cauce to retract her statement describing their chants and signs “vile and antisemitic” after she used photos that appear to be from Florida and California as proof of her claim. 

In a public letter released Friday morning, a group of people affiliated with the Liberated Zone accused Cauce of acting either in malice, incompetence, or both. “What is truly vile,” they wrote, borrowing Cauce’s words, “is the way proponents of Zionism have falsely and maliciously tried to discredit a movement protesting documented human rights violations. It is shameful and embarrassing that the administration of the UW became the driving force of this malice.” 

United Front for Palestinian Liberation (UF) set up their tents in the quad on May 1, joining college students across the country in pressuring their universities to divest from Israel and weapon manufacturers amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Unlike at other schools, UW did not sicc the cops on protesters but rather negotiated, albeit not very generously. 

Then, on May 15, as UW administration appeared more and more impatient at negotiations, Cauce released a public statement in which she accused protesters of “vile and antisemitic” rhetoric and redoubled her call for a voluntary end to the encampment. However, as her critics quickly noticed, Cauce did not provide any examples of the “vile and antisemitic” rhetoric. UF assumed Cauce referred to the maligned phrase “from the river to the sea,” but after multiple email requests, Cauce finally clarified. 

In a May 30 email exchange between Cauce and UW graduate student and encampment participant Juliette Majid, Cauce sent five images others had sent to her that she used to justify her accusations against her students. She attached a photo of a bench with the words “MUG ZIONISTS ONLY” written on it, a corner of a brick building with the phrases “FREE PALESTINE” and “FUCK OFF ZIONISTS” spray painted on it, and the statute of George Washington tagged with “SAVE A LIFE… KILL YOUR LOCAL COLONIZER.” 

In the letter, Liberated Zone participants argued only two images Cauce sent qualified as antisemitism rather than anti-Zionism—a picture of a swastika followed by the words “ThE Jews,” and a bit of sidewalk with “Kill Jews” painted on it. But neither of those images came from their protest. 

Majid told Cauce that the last two pictures were not captured at UW, in the state of Washington, or even in the year 2024. The swastika image appeared in a 2021 news story about an antisemitic rally at the Florida Holocaust Museum, and the “Kill Jews” image appeared in a tweet posted by the Anti-Defamation League of Los Angeles in 2019.

Cauce emailed back, “I do believe there is another ‘Kill Jews’ that I will look for.” 

Still, Cauce said even if those last two images did not come from UW, “reasonable people who not believe [sic] that criticism of Israel or its policies is antisemitic, would still believe that the the [sic] ones saying F*ck Zionists or Death to Zionists or Kill Colonizers or the Mugging bench for Zionists are anti-Semitic. And they all fit the Department of Education’s definition of anti-semitism.” 

In a later message, Cauce apologized that false images “got mixed in” and that in trying to respond quickly she did not verify their origin. But she said she made her assessment “primarily based on the images we all agree were from the camp.” She stands by what she says and continues to believe other instances of graffiti qualifies as antisemitism because it crosses a line between “criticism of the Israeli government and the specific targeting of ‘Zionists’.”

Still, the Liberated Zone protesters said using the easily disprovable pictures suggests UW and Cauce acted either “with malicious intent or are fully incompetent.” Either way, they wrote that Cauce’s accusations, still not substantiated to their standards, “tainted the reputation of activists and granted Zionists false legitimacy to berate any pro-Palestine people at the UW,” putting students in “physical, academic, and social danger.” The Liberated Zone protesters claimed the night following Cauce’s statement, a drone crashed into the Quad and someone “intentionally” launched a firework from a surrounding building. They said those events felt parallel to those that preceded attacks at other schools. 

“If you truly cared about student safety, these would have been investigated before being used to perpetuate false and unfounded accusations against the Liberated Zone and its members,” Majid wrote to Cauce in the email exchange.

Cauce wrote to Majid that she sees “no evidence” of harm from her statement. She wrote, “…when individuals participate or justify vandalism and the use of that sort of vile and violent rhetoric toward others… they, in fact, do damage to their cause. And that is exactly what happened. It was not my email that did this.” 

While it does not appear Cauce will retract her accusations against the protesters, this latest episode shows students will continue to push back on UW administration with or without tents on the ground. The students will keep advocating for their demands: Academically and financially divest from Israel, cut ties with Boeing, and end the repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus.

The Stranger

The best new music to hit Dave Segal’s inbox this week.

by Dave Segal

TV Star, “Ride” (KR Records)

Supercrush, “Lost My Head” (KR Records)

The desire to curate scene-defining compilations has existed in Seattle since at least 1988’s Sub Pop 200. Nearly 30 years later in 2017, Crane City Music spotlighted the Emerald City’s underground hip-hop movement with Solar Power: New Sounds in Seattle Hip-Hop. Now, Supercrush member Mark Palm’s KR label is releasing From Far It All Seems Small, a 14-track comp that captures some of the exciting studio action generated by the town’s subterranean rock groups. 

On first listen, I almost thought that From Far It All Seems Small was the handiwork of one or two artists, such was the unified aesthetic of the songs pounding through the headphones. Ordinarily, that might seem like a complaint, but overall, the quality of the music here attains a high level of sonic pleasure. Palm has selected the acts for this comp to create optimal continuity, and he possesses a keen ear for noisy, tuneful rock pumped out in concise chunks (the longest track is 3:46).

Palm and his Supercrush bandmates conceived the collection’s concept while on a national tour, using the marathon drives to ponder the bounty of excellent Seattle-area bands. “We realized the scene here is the best it’s been in a long, long time,” Palm said in a press release. “There was a good feeling of camaraderie developing between many of the groups from playing shows together and working alongside each other on various projects. The comp is an opportunity to celebrate the music from our extended circle of friends here in town, and hopefully to galvanize the scene and contribute further to that sense of camaraderie.” 

While that’s a lovely idea, it’s indicative of a mindset that realizes achieving global renown in the manner that ’90s local grunge bands experienced is hopelessly quixotic. But within this realm of diminished expectations, From Far It All Seems Small stands as a civic-pride monument to rock that punches above its weight, and with efficiency. No, it’s not trail-blazing, but it is fun.

Sun Spots open proceedings with “Hole One,” which exudes youthful exuberance and meaty tunefulness, proving that brutes can pull heartstrings, too. Spiral XP’s “Awake (Spring Version)” purveys uplifting, doleful rock in the Jesus and Mary Chain/Pastels vein while Dead Family Dog’s “Crispin Glover” doles out aggressive shoegaze à la Swervedriver. More Scottish ’80s influence surfaces on Star Party’s “Old as the Sun,” which recalls Shop Assistants’ ramalama pop punk, enhanced by alluringly defiant, distant vocals.

The title of Versing’s “Skin (Kirby’s Dream Debased)” may reference the Fall, but the music’s more in the wrenching shoegaze steez somewhere between My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything and Failure. Speaking of which, Shine‘s “Happy Diving” has that woozy euphoria and benumbed male/female vocal interplay that have made MBV such a luscious listening experience. I even hear a (probably unintentional) homage to the wah-wah guitar from Chapterhouse’s “Falling Down.” This is one of the album’s peaks. Kennero’s “Sunlight” evokes classic ’90s loud-quiet-loud indie rock with earnest white-boy vocals. You may detect faint echoes of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” 

<a href=”https://supercrush.bandcamp.com/album/from-far-it-all-seems-small”>From Far It All Seems Small by A Compilation From Seattle’s Underground</a>

Supercrush deliver the comp’s first single with “Lost My Head,” a soaring, yearning rock gem with masterly dynamics and shockingly wonky keyboard tones that rarely appear, but make the most of their brief time. It’s a crafty mini-masterpiece that sounds destined to score a quirky montage in a rom-com movie ca. 2031. 

The album’s second single, TV Star‘s “Ride,” is understatedly buoyant rock with a melody that entwines itself around your brain with indestructible tendrils. It contains one of the most enrapturing brain-worm hooks of the decade. When I think back to spring of 2024, I’m going to flash upon “Ride” as one of the era’s definitive cuts. And at 126 seconds long, it leaves you gagging for more. 

Release parties for From Far It All Seems Small take place May 31 (w/ TV Star, Supercrush, Versing, Prim, Kennero) and June 1 at Black Lodge (w/ Sun Spots, Dead Family Dog, Shook Ones, Fluung, Fell Off). The compilation is available digitally and at Seattle and Tacoma record stores, with an exclusive, limited-edition “Emerald City green” colored vinyl release available only at Sonic Boom. The record will be available in stores throughout America on June 28.

The Stranger