I definitely agree with that. You’re right. However it is also frustrating on our small instance to have a user repeat the same talking points in multiple threads time and again, and when pointed out that what is being said is a misrepresentation of the facts, not respond and pick up with it again later in another thread

A supporter who introduced Jill Stein at an event and is a notable member of the party (my former councilwoman actually)

It’s extremely telling that whenever they are presented with these facts they refuse to respond

In the past you have stated that the Democrats had control of Congress and the presidency under Biden and Obama, yet they were unable to do things like get a public option in the ACA or codify roe v Wade. However this continues to be a misunderstanding of the situation.

https://19thnews.org/2022/01/congress-codify-abortion-roe/

While I can agree I am disappointed in the inability to get these things done, and Obama saying it was no longer a priority, I don’t see how you can pin this all on the Democrats as some kind of monolithic entity.

The fact of the matter is during Obama’s terms, there were anti abortion Democrats. These Democrats were enough to keep abortion access out of the ACA and prevent roe being codified.

Fast forward to Bidens terms, and we now have a filibuster rule that requires 60 senators in order to pass stuff in the Senate. There were not 60 senators who supported roe codification when the Democrats “controlled” the Senate.

People who support abortion access are going to vote for Democrats because as time has gone on, the Democratic party has rallied around abortion rights, while Republicans have rallied against it. Opinions changed, and the Democrats are now the party of abortion access. Blaming the current state of things on a monolithic democratic party is in my opinion a bad faith warping of the situation

Dang I never noticed that! My partner has an iPad we use in the kitchen when cooking and that has a really nice landscape mode thankfully… It should exist on phones too though that’s unfortunate

Not open source but figured I’d shout out paprika anyway since that’s what my partner and I use. It’s really handy for us since it syncs between our phones and we can add stuff to the grocery list from either device and it also has meal planning stuff. It’s also super easy to import recipes from websites using a built in tool they have

https://www.paprikaapp.com/

I mean I suppose you can look at it that way. We can’t really prove one way or another what he actually wanted. But if we’re basing what he wanted on his actions, I don’t see how you can pin that one on him. Like he tried to get a public option, the president can’t just make universal healthcare. It needs to pass the house and Senate.

Idk about the others in your original comment and I won’t pretend to, but it’s pretty well documented that he would not have been able to get even a public option. How would he have been able to get universal healthcare if he couldn’t even do this?

http://www.politico.com/story/2009/10/lieberman-ill-block-vote-on-reid-plan-028788

I won’t pretend to be an expert on much of this, but I feel it’s wrong to say that he had the power to enact universal healthcare? Obama couldn’t even get a public option (which he wanted) because he had to make concessions to get a veto proof majority. I don’t see if this was the case that he had the power to enact full blown universal healthcare

“Lesser evil” shit is something everyone has to unlearn if they are ever going to help anyone.

I don’t agree with the assertions you put forward here, but this one in particular I feel strongly about.

I feel this implies there are other better options available. And this is not always the case.

Harm reduction is something I believe in. Picture a person who is currently addicted to drugs. Their options in life have led them to a crossroads. They need to take something, otherwise risk having painful and potentially deadly withdrawal symptoms. However they know if they keep using, death is likely at the other end as well at some point in the future. In front of them they have 2 choices. A person offering needles. They know this person has been known to provide unclean needles, and using one could have dire consequences. The other choice is using a safe injection site that has been set up. One that can ensure they get as safe and clean of an injection as they can get right now.

While you never explicitly mention the presidential election that is looming, I would like to bring it to that as I feel that is the most relevant application to “lesser of two evils” that we are facing at the moment.

I agree that capitalism is a drug that will eventually get us all killed. The desire to squeeze everything out of something with no regard to how it ends up is where capitalism will get us to. However in this situation, I feel Harris/Walz is the safe injection site. I know I won’t immediately get a disease / be labeled a child predator and be given the death penalty. Trump / Vance is the other option. They are the dirty diseased needle that will accelerate death and pain greatly. You may say you can just not pick either, but I disagree with this. Withdrawal will kill us. With the election we don’t get the benefit of not choosing either. One of the choices will be made whether we like it or not.

The part you may disagree with the most and where I make my own assertions: I feel the general presidential election is not the place for the withdrawal option. This election is always such a focus, for obvious reasons tbf. But there is so much more than that. Withholding support at this level will not help things. It is so much bigger than us. Why not focus on local level things that can actually make an impact. Get socialists elected to local positions. A thing you can have a tangible effect on.

Focusing on the things you can change is what will get us out of this drug addiction that will one day kill us. Withdrawal and the dirty needle will kill us right now. But the safe injection site will give us the time we need to keep living and try and get out of the situation we’re in.

I don’t usually write long messages like this so I apologize if it comes off incoherent. I have ideas in my head but have trouble expressing them occasionally

Really great piece. Thanks for sharing!

Afaik he’s always been independent. I think he ran with the democratic party for the presidency, but unless I missed something he’s always been independent with his senate position

Yep!!! This provision was added in response to the raids so a huge win indeed!!

The alcohol sales part of this is really big. WA was the last state in the country afaik that didn’t allow strip clubs to sell alcohol. This rule change could have a huge impact on the money strippers make in a positive way.

Because clubs couldn’t sell alcohol, they tried to make their money by taking part of the stripper’s tips at the end of each day. Strippers wouldn’t be employed by clubs, but instead would be independent contractors the clubs would use. The strippers used to have to pay a set amount of money at the end of their shift no matter what they made in tips. This could lead to them losing money on the day if it was a bad day. The bill addresses this directly by making it the lesser of 2 options between a set amount or a percentage of their tips. But the alcohol rule could also see this done away with entirely now that alcohol sales will be part of the equation. Although I doubt the tip percentage collection will go away entirely anytime soon, it’s a step in the right direction.

The lewd conduct part of this is also a big win for the queer community at large, as it changes the rules that was allowing cops to raid queer bars in Seattle for bar tenders having a nipple out.

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

I feel like the unhoused are just so demonized here (and everywhere) and the rhetoric works. So people vote for people who say they’ll literally sweep the problem under the rug so they don’t have to look at it anymore. Instead of working towards things that could actually help. Social housing passing was a great boon and I hope to see that progressing in the future

Very happy Tammy was able to keep her seat given how close it was. Other results are extremely disappointing. Very bummed Ron Davis wasn’t able to make the comeback. Given how election night went elsewhere in the country, Seattle’s turnout is quite depressing

Update. Things are not looking good here :(

7 of the nine Seattle city council seats are up for election, which should make for an interesting election. Hoping the union supported candidates fair better

Yeah it was paid. Unfortunately it was a while ago so I can’t quite remember how it was set up, but I believe it’s only a single $5 purchase, no recurring fees. And we just made one account and have it logged in on each of our devices. So in total I think it was just $5

Covid for us just meant more time at home to try new things mostly. It was also partially spurred on by a doctor’s visit for me where I had slightly high cholesterol and was told to cut back on frozen foods. So the combination of the two got us into cooking more and it cleared all that up thankfully

My gf and I got a little magnetic whiteboard with each day of the week on it. We split the work up a bit. On Sundays I plan out the week’s meals, and check if we have all the ingredients for them. I’ll write it out on the white board, and put a star next to an entry if we need to get something from the store for it.

We both use the app paprika to manage our grocery list and recipes.

She will do the shopping usually, and then I am the cook throughout the week.

We both used to be way more chill about things and ate a lot of frozen food but changed a lot when covid started