Jim Brunner

Public records fight over what WA lawmakers can withhold continues in court The battle over whether Washington lawmakers are entitled to shield certain records from the public using “legislative privilege” continued Thursday as oral arguments in the case were delivered at the...

Lawyers for the WA Legislature are continuing to argue for a broad "privilege" asserted by Democratic legislative leaders to hide records from the public. @ssowersby.bsky.social covers the latest court developments.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

A scene from WTO/99, playing at Northwest Film Forum starting Dec. 5, where a group of riot police stand in front of nonviolent protestors (many of whom are kneeling) who are speaking out against the meeting of the World Trade Organization in 1999 Seattle (Rustin Thompson).

For @seattletimes.com, got more into the process of making WTO/99 with director Ian Bell who I'm going to now call the master of the match cut as there are so many moments in this documentary that completely blew me away. Go see it @nwfilmforum.bsky.social Fri.📽️

www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

A FOIA search - not even a release - for a single document will take nearly a year.

It's hard to think of a more clear example of WHY whistleblowers, leakers, and journalists are essential for the public's right to know.

On the day that @opb.org CEO Rachel Smolkin posted this video, saying OPB’s funding gap of $5 million was closed, I was also told by the Chief Content Officer that Hush was canceled. Eighty percent of my income, and my health insurance - gone. I was given no reason for the cancellation. 1/x

The best way to read a book is to have all your friends and groupchats send screenshots and posts of the dumbest pages

"She can be heard screaming as agents attempt to handcuff her. 'I’m a U.S. citizen, please help me,' she shouted after agents forced her to the ground. 'This is unfair. Why are you doing this to me?'”

Gift link:
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

DOJ demands information on all Washington voters The Department of Justice sued Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs over his refusal to turn over personal information on all state voters.

ICYMI- Trump’s DOJ sued WA & five other states Tuesday over refusal to turn over private voter info. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs rejected earlier DOJ request. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

“.. A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds of the meeting Tuesday showed that during nine separate instances, Trump’s eyes were closed for extended periods or he appeared to struggle to keep them open, amounting cumulatively to nearly six minutes.”

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Woah. Newsmax’s legal analyst just said Pete Hegseth and everyone involved in the illegal boat strike should be “prosecuted for a war crime.”

They’ve even lost Newsmax on this one.

Photo of print version of The Onion. Headline: “White House Denies Flickering Green Trump a Hologram”

Print is back baby! @theonion.com

Polling rule of thumb: roughly 20% of people will claim to believe just about *anything* you ask them.

Town's Huge Christmas Mural Was Generated Using AI, Resulting in Ghastly Chthonic Horrors An enormous new mural near London, depicting a crowded Christmas scene, has drawn outrage and mockery from passersby.

Credit where it's due: AI has shown us a better Christmas.
futurism.com/artificial-i...

X added account location — and turned it off hours later. A window onto what is most broken about the internet.

X turned on account location, and immediately turned it off again--because it showed that your "farmer in Michigan" is really a paid troll in Bangladesh. We need a social network that shows where content is from.
asbruckman.medium.com/x-added-acco...

With cites to @katestarbird.bsky.social

A month of Elon Musk on X: Conspiracy theories, fringe politics and self-promotion An NBC News analysis of one month of Musk’s social media posts shows what’s been on his mind, including a broad cross-section of fringe political topics.

NEW: I did a very deep dive into one month's worth of Elon Musk's posts on X so I could understand the breadth and depth of what he is posting about these days. In a word: fringe. www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-mu... 🧵

Source please! Screenshots and no links drives me nuts.

Year after bomb cyclone, FEMA denial stings WA as Trump touts red-state aid A year after Washington's bomb cyclone, the Trump administration has withheld aid even as the president has bragged about awards to states that voted for him.

New: A year after WA's destructive bomb cyclone, Trump admin has stiffed the state on FEMA aid, even though six counties qualified under FEMA standards. Meanwhile, Trump has openly bragged about awarding FEMA $$ to states that voted for him.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

'HANG THEM': Trump Boosts Message Calling For Executing Democrats In Congress In a series of unhinged social media posts, he also called it “punishable by DEATH” that lawmakers released a video urging military service members to disobey unlawful orders.

'HANG THEM': Trump Boosts Message Calling For Executing Democrats In Congress www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Sara Nelson wants to restrict political consultants at Seattle City Hall Outgoing Seattle Council President Sara Nelson is proposing a bill that would restrict access to City Hall.

The tenuous decorum between Bruce Harrell’s office and Sara Nelson is evaporating, as Nelson goes after Harrell’s political consultant with new proposed legislation. Harrell’s team and consultant Christian Sinderman call it a misguided priority by a sore loser

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

I'm very sorry to report that the great alt-country singer-songwriter Todd Snider has died at 59 of undiagnosed walking pneumonia. I stick by what I wrote about him in 2012. www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bn/2012-0... Here's Rolling Stone's coverage. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Aw hell. Glad I got to see him play in Seattle.

Not Sure How They Deal With Criminals In Your Town, But ’Round Here We Use A Restorative Justice Process Well, well, well. What have we got here? Another city slicker who thinks he can waltz into my town and start causin’ all sorts of trouble. I’d be careful if I was you, fella. Because however they do t...

"Mark my words, one wrong step in this town’ll land you in a whole heap of social services."

Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, expresses regret TOPEKA — A handful of county-level officials who were involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor.In two of the…

A handful of county-level officials who were involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor.

via @kansasreflector.com

Chart showing Dow Constantine 30-member transition team vs Girmay Zahilay's just announced 100 member team.

Analysis: King County executive transition team inflation 2009-2025. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Why the Democrats Finally Folded This is how the government shutdown was always going to end.

"For the past 30 years, the party that has forced federal agencies to close their doors in a funding fight has never actually achieved the policy outcome it was demanding." www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Katie Wilson takes lead over Bruce Harrell in Seattle mayor race Katie Wilson, a progressive challenger to the incumbent mayor, is benefiting from the leftward trend of voters who send or drop ballots close to or on election day.

In Seattle, the progressive late vote count surge has put challenger Katie Wilson ahead of Mayor Bruce Harrell - by just 91 votes. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news... via @kromandavid.bsky.social

Democrats reveal whistleblower details of Ghislaine Maxwell prison ‘luxuries’ In a letter to the president, House Democrats say Maxwell’s treatment as she prepares a clemency request makes the convicted sex offender look like a “guest at a Trump hotel.”

"Maxwell has received custom meals personally delivered to her cell, after-hours time in a private exercise area, access to a service puppy, and private meetings with visitors arranged by the warden, complete with snacks. Visitors were allowed to bring computers..."

www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/d...

Meant so much to this city!

Lenny Wilkens, godfather of Seattle basketball, dies at 88 Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, who led the Sonics to their only NBA title and was an ambassador of Seattle basketball for more than 50 years, has died at 88.

RIP Lenny Wilkens www.seattletimes.com/sports/sonic...

Top Republicans back Trump’s efforts to challenge election results Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP officials offered support for the president’s attempts to undermine faith in the outcome, despite the lack of any evidence of widespread fraud.

Did anyone ever figure out who said it?
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tru...