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Dinosaurs Deserve So Much Better Than Jurassic World Rebirth
At the end of my screening for Rebirth, a movie that sucked shit, the audience clapped. by Dom Sinacola Jurassic World Rebirth will bring in a billion dollars at the box office. Which makes this review mostly inconsequential. Look in your heart; you know this to be the case. Despite unanimous critical consensus that the franchise's previous film Jurassic World Dominion (2022) is execrable, it still made somewhere around $1.4 billion. You don’t need me to tell you whether or not to pay for a ticket to Jurassic World Rebirth; you statistically will anyway. Maybe this is just another sign that critics are meaningless vestiges of the movie industry. As some folks on the internet like to say: Facts don’t care about your feelings. In the place of discerning taste and nuanced discourse, there is only the knowledge that there will always be another Jurassic movie, another summer blockbuster overrun by more immense and scarier monsters than the last one, motivated by one more fictional rich asshole ignoring history to spit in God’s face, accompanied by one more A-list actor with an eight-figure price attached to their dignity. At the end of my screening for Rebirth, a movie that sucked shit, the audience clapped. Oh well. This is the march of progress unabated, manifest in franchises that never end, in successive features with titles that become more and more interchangeable and sometimes use colons like gateways to subterranean barrel bottoms heretofore unscraped by directors who are more project managers than anything. Except Jurassic World Rebirth, like Dominion, doesn’t have a colon in its title (ironic, because it’s so full of shit, etc.), and, like Dominion, isn’t even really a dinosaur movie anyway. Rebooting three years after the “events” of Dominion, Rebirth uses overly expository TV news coverage to catch us up on the prehistoric creatures who, following the disasters of Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, broke free of containment—nature “found a way” as franchise philosopher Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) opined—and, for a short time, coexisted with humans. Now, the remaining dinos who weren’t wiped out by climate change and disease have congregated along the equator, mostly on small tropical islands where we’re told that the hot, “oxygen-rich” environs best match that of the Cretaceous period, or something. We’re also told that public interest in dinosaurs is waning, that people just aren’t romanced by the same old spectacles anymore. As the world moves on from getting gobsmacked over what was once a technological miracle, uber-wealthy wads like pharmaceutical exec Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) must find new ways to exploit the creatures. Luring her in with the promise of a small fortune, Krebs convinces Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a mercenary riddled with PTSD, to accompany a small team into the equatorial Dino-Zone—no humans allowed, according to “every” country on Earth, a collaborative international decree that is a more fantastical concept than dinosaurs coming back to life—and retrieve some samples of dino DNA for the purposes of pharmaceutical research. Zora knows the trip is a huge risk, especially because the dinosaurs whose DNA they must extract are supposedly the largest animals to ever exist on the planet, a statement the audience just sort of accepts because every new Jurassic film introduces the newest, worst, and/or best dinosaur varietal. Hyperbole has lost all meaning when the same shit just keeps happening. Every attempt to harness genetic power, to build one more bigger and assuredly better theme park attraction, has been met with mass death and generational punishment. But also: That money’s just too good. Archetypes aggregate. Krebs talks the obligatory self-righteous paleontologist, Dr. Henry Something (Jonathan Bailey), into joining the expedition, providing a beautiful nerd to conjure up the basest unrequited sexual tension with ScarJo’s ceaselessly competent soldier. Soon, Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), an old mercenary cohort of Zora’s with comparable trauma, signs on as well, because a broken man must nobly sacrifice himself at some point in these films. And he has a boat they can use. Completing the crew are a smug hot-shot (Ed Skrein), a quiet and helpful French-speaking man (Bechir Sylvain), and a woman whose personality swaps between Dancing and Murdered (Philippine Velge), all requisite dinosaur fodder. Thusly, we embark on a jungle cruise, vaguely reminiscent of Apocalypse Now, into the heart of darkness, i.e., an unnamed island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of French Guiana. Meanwhile, a father (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), adorable young daughter (Audrina Miranda), college-bound daughter (Luna Blaise), and the oldest daughter’s dipshit boyfriend (David Iacono) use that same summer to sail across the Pacific Ocean on a 40-ft sailboat, because that’s a reasonable thing to do. The family inevitably crosses paths with Zora’s team, the cast ballooning to more paper-thin characters than any brain can conceivably care about. So when they make it to the island and discover that it’s teeming with genetically cross-bred dinosaur mutants and everyone starts dying at the jaws of hyper-real digital freakazoids, you may also feel dead inside. Director Gareth Edwards has proven capable of spectacle, especially in conveying an upsetting sense of scale in something like 2014’s Godzilla, but in Rebirth, every incomprehensibly huge beast is immersed in a surreal melange of uncanny environments. Edwards affords a few fleeting moments for characters to soak in what they’re witnessing with astonishment—refuting the film’s earlier claim that people can’t feel much for these dinosaurs anymore—but then pulls the frame back to a giant vista covered with giant dinosaurs, and suddenly the weightlessness of the vision takes over. The magic’s extinguished. Completely gone is the awe of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Jurassic Park—gone is the cosmic terror and jubilation of seeing a dinosaur. Maybe that seems quaint in retrospect, now that we have the power to “see” anything we can ostensibly imagine. But if that first film is about the visceral power, and irrevocable cost, of creating such a momentous spectacle, then every sequel since has been about what a bad idea it is to make sequels. Because sequels are inherently evil. I’m sorry to put this so bluntly, but it’s true. The Jurassic World movies act as if they are warning against our idiotic nature to take everything good about popular art and grind it down to the nub, but that’s exactly what those films and those filmmakers are doing, giving into the loudest morons and the elemental forces of capital to ruin all beloved cultural artifacts via lifeless, juiceless rebirths. We cannot leave anything well enough alone. Toward the beginning of Jurassic World Rebirth, Dr. Henry sighs, "Nobody cares about these animals anymore. They deserve better." It's hard to disagree. Dinosaurs—the real creatures who represent so much fascination and curiosity and wonder that we’ve pretty much ejected from our collective dreams—deserve so much better than this. In fact, you deserve so much better than this. Jurassic World Rebirth opens in wide release Fri July 4.
All the headlines you may have missed in June. by The Stranger's Slog AM™️ Specialists Last Month This Month is a recap of all the previous month's news, featuring headlines from Slog AM. Find it in every issue of The Stranger! Subscribe to our daily Slog AM newsletter here. This story originally appeared in our Primary Endorsements Issue on July 2, 2025. June was full of ups and downs. Donald Trump threw a $45 million birthday party; no one came to Donald Trump’s $45 million birthday party. Greta Thunberg went to Gaza; Greta Thunberg was detained in Gaza. A war between Israel and Iran began; a war between Israel and Iran ended. Here’s what else happened last month: * * * The Navy, which isn’t gay at all, started the month by announcing plans to take gay civil rights hero Harvey Milk’s name off a ship. The Pentagon said in a statement that all Department of Defense names should reflect three things: Trump’s priorities, US history, and the “warrior ethos.” So butch. The Navy is also considering new names for the USNS Thurgood Marshall (too Black), the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg (too woman), the USNS Harriet Tubman (too Black and too woman), who literally fought in the US Civil War. * * * The same week that the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that bans puberty blockers, hormones and (the rare) surgery for minors, the Trump Administration announced they would be cutting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ Youth Specialized Service, effective July 17. As Abe Asher wrote in our Queer Issue in June, the Trevor Project saw a “700-percent increase in young people reaching out to crisis services” the day after November’s election. How nice of the feds to take our calls through Pride Month. The Trevor Project will continue to offer 24/7 help 365 days a year to folks 24 and younger, via text, phone, and online chat, and the Trans Lifeline is also available by calling 877-565-8860 or visiting translifeline.org. If you want to really piss Trump and RFK Jr. off, you can also donate to both organizations online. Fuck your conditional federal funding, assholes. * * * In other wrinkly old dickbag news, Amsterdam’s national Rijksmuseum is displaying what is believed to be the world’s oldest condom. Historians say it was fashioned from a sheep’s appendix sometime around 1830, which hits so right for Shepherd/Flock play. The 200-year-old prophylactic even has a kinky little illustration showing a nun with her habit hiked up (with no underwear in sight) and three clergymen who’ve lifted their robes to present three rock-hard erections, in case its use wasn’t clear. Unrelated, remember when people used to draw dicks in text like this? 8==D * * * The Seattle City Council almost voted to toss our ethics code in the wastebasket. If their “reform” passed, it would have allowed councilmembers to vote on issues that benefited them, so long as they disclosed conflicts to the public. After weeks of protests and thousands of emails and public comments opposing the change, Councilmember Cathy Moore withdrew the bill before the vote could happen. The people were heard! Immediately afterwards, Moore also announced she would be stepping down just a year and a half into her four-year term, citing health issues. Moore is the second councilmember to leave her position early this year—Tammy Morales vacated her seat in January. Confidential to all CMs we endorse in this month’s issue: If you win, DON’T FUCKING QUIT. * * * While Moore’s quitting, Rob Saka’s yelling at clouds curbs. Again. In a 2,100-word email newsletter, Saka lost his ever-loving mind about the people who opposed his pet curb project. He accused the people who opposed removing an eight-inch curb that blocks illegal left turns into his kids’ preschool of, somehow, simultaneously: supporting Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, being part of the “Defund the Police” movement, and partaking in “White Saviorism” (capitalization his). Someone take his computer away and give him a paper bag to breathe into. * * * When they weren’t quitting or screaming at concrete, the Seattle City Council was productive. Some good moves, some bad. In the bad column: they voted 8-1 to approve SPD’s use of StarChase’s GPS launcher and passed a bill to install privately owned 8-foot-tall digital advertising kiosks throughout the city. In the good column, they voted unanimously to pass a ban on rent-setting software like RealPage. * * * There were No Kings protests in all 50 states, and the ACLU estimates that at least 5 million people hit the streets. They were largely peaceful rallies, with the exception of Salt Lake City’s. There, according to police, 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa had an AR-15-style rifle in his backpack. Two armed, non-police “peacekeepers” saw Gamboa lift the gun as if to shoot it, and one of them shot him, also accidentally shooting and killing a fashion designer named Arthur “Afa” Folasa Ah Loo in the process. Everyone involved is in custody, and everyone would be better off if we had better gun-control laws. * * * The US has detained a record-breaking number of immigrants. By the end of June, more than 56,000 people were locked up in ICE facilities, and, according to one Syracuse professor, more than a third have zero criminal records. This is fucked. The ICE arrests are so rampant that organizers cancelled this year’s Duwamish River Festival because participants are concerned about being targeted by immigration enforcement. A glimmer of good in the nightmare: Lewelyn Dixon, a Filipino green-card holder who worked at the University of Washington, was able to go home after a judge ruled she doesn’t qualify for deportation. * * * Leopards are eating faces over there in Redmond. Microsoft is planning to lay off thousands of employees in July as it funnels spending into artificial intelligence (John Connor, where are you?). This news comes after the company already axed 6,000 jobs in May. Washington State University also announced layoffs—the school plans to cut “a little over 4 percent (more than $17 million)” from its budget. And SIFF’s struggling, too; the org laid off nine full-time workers across multiple departments. SIFF Executive Director Tom Mara wrote the 21-percent reduction in administrative staff was “necessary” during a “financially challenging time for SIFF and for arts nonprofits across the country.” Oh, and Din Tai Fung did wage theft and everyone who works at the Louvre fucking hates the Mona Lisa. * * * Too on the nose? On June 18, while Trump weighed the pros and cons of getting involved in the Israel–Iran conflict (which he eventually did, without talking to Congress, which is illegal), an unmanned SpaceX spaceship blew the fuck up. This is not supposed to happen in rocket science, we’re told. * * * Jeffrey Bezos and his alive girl Lauren Sanchez are finally tying the knot. They are doing so by—checks notes—renting out the entire island of Venice? Protesters chased the billionaires from their original venue by threatening to fill the canals with inflatable crocodiles. (Or was it alligators? None of us are from Florida and we do not know the difference.) Too bad the foam party on Bezos’s $500 million superyacht off the coast of Europe couldn’t be stopped. Those grainy images of a shirtless, foamy Bezos in a bucket hat need to be scrubbed from our minds.
New Music You Shouldn't Miss
The best new music to hit Dave Segal's inbox this week. by Dave Segal Every day, I sift through the hundreds of tracks that bombard my inbox. On a biweekly basis, I tell you about the two artists whose music most impressed me. This time, it's the late Cameroonian electronic-music innovator Francis Bebey, who has a fantastic new archival comp out, and Seattle synth duo Ambient Sundays, whose name hints at their aim to chill you the eff out. Francis Bebey, “Forest Nativity (extended version)” (Africa Seven)Most people in the West learned about the late Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey through excellent collections such as African Electronic Music 1975-1982 and Psychedelic Zanzu 1982-1984, released by the French label Born Bad. A segment of the population also may have discovered him via mid indie rockers Arcade Fire's "Everything Now," on which Patrick Bebey played the flute motif from his father's supremely infectious "The Coffee-Cola Song." (Good luck finding affordable original copies of Francis's studio LPs in the US. However, many of them are on streaming platforms.) Bebey (1929-2001) augmented his warm, conversational vocals in Duala, French, and English with kalimba, percussion, flute, and guitar; on the latter he was influenced by Spanish classical master Andrés Segovia. The pervasive vibe on these records is low-key, fluid, and seductive. The songs are sparsely constructed and slyly inviting, a subtle combination of organic and electronic elements. Especially on Psychedelic Zanzu, the sound is slinky and chill, and if you're into tantric sex, you could find a worse way to soundtrack that activity than this LP. The new Trésor Magnetique comp gathers 20 "unreleased tracks, alternate versions, archival recordings, and neglected gems from Bebey’s legendary vault." I'm a fan of the aforementioned collections, but Trésor Magnetique might even surpass those in quality and consistency—remarkable for an odds-and-ends release. One of the most prominent sounds in Bebey's wonderful songs is the kalimba (aka thumb piano), which produces resonant metallic tones that are as spine-tingling as those generated by the vibraphone. The kalimba inevitably makes me think of gently flowing water and the concomitant calmness that springs from it. Case in point is "Forest Nativity (extended version)." Its undulating kalimba and forlornly beautiful flute, embellished by understatedly soulful backing vocals, is trés hypnotique. Yet it could easily be retrofitted into an experimental techno banger. In a sagacious voice, Bebey recites, "Life is good, you'll see / Come into the world, my child." Those were different times... "Ganvie" is another proto-experimental-techno banger with keening flute and resonantly clanking kalimba. "Le Grand Soleil De Dieu" sashays in a nonchalantly funky manner, with a stately synth melody for which OMD would kill. I can imagine this cut animating legendary cosmic-disco DJ Daniele Baldelli's '70s sets. "Agatha (alternate version)" boasts an incredible corkscrewing bassline by Jean-Claude Ebongue that anchors an ebullient funk jam, while the care-free pop-funk "L' Amour Malade Petit Francais" sways like a tropical Serge Gainsbourg joint. "Funky Maringa" is not quite on the explosive level of funkiness of fellow Cameroonian Manu Dibango, but it does have a sassily bumping groove and celebratory air. If sociopolitical lyrics matter to you, you'll revel in majestic synth- and drum-machine-powered slow-roller "La Condition Masculine (English version)," which spoofs patriarchal attitudes, and "Dash, Baksheesh & Matabish," a sweet denunciation of corruption. Admittedly, Bebey was not a conventionally great singer, but he wrung poignancy, wit, and wisdom from his limited pipes. Francis Bebey's music isn't so much ahead of its time as it is outside of time altogether. With his unique combination of instruments and timbres, he was in his own bold lane, making specious categories such as "world music" seem glaringly insufficient. Ambient Sundays, "sunday morning" (We Coast Records)Ambient Sundays' name is almost too on the nose—especially if you regularly listen to Alex Ruder's Pacific Notions show on KEXP, which airs on the alleged Lord's day. Maybe it's a coincidence that Ambient Sundays member Diana Ratsamee also DJs on that radio station (check out her Thursday night show, Eastern Echoes), but whatever the case, the Lao-American musician/producer and bandmate and We Coast Records boss Anthony Warner have hit upon a winning sound with their self-titled debut album. Using all analog synthesizers (various Rolands, Oberheims, and Sequentials), Ambient Sundays get down to the important business of chilling out listeners with their emotive minimalism. "Lullaby sunrise" conjures a deeply moving and sonorous synthscape of chakra-opening tones à la New Age savant Steven Halpern and the late, great Ariel Kalma. "The final call of opportunity" presents a series of heartbreaking melody modules in the vein of Hans-Joachim Roedelius. The cutely titled "this is you as a baby" offers a gentle, amniotic tone bath that'll drop your pulse rate by 33 percent while "yellow cabin by the sea" creates a feeling of poignant desolation, with tranquil tidal flow in the background. Diverging from the rest of the album, "a place to call home" features Ratsamee's delicate, mysterious vocals on this low-key, glowing orb of a track that made tears well up in your blogger's eyes. "Sunday morning" is not a Velvet Underground cover, but rather a sublime upswell of becalming, ice-blue synth textures. With the Israel-Iran conflict escalating by the hour, the odds are stacked against any musicians attempting to soothe anxious doom-scrollers, but Ambient Sundays succeed with this glimmering soul balm.
Quickies
Got a relationship problem? A burning sex question? A burning… sensation? by Dan Savage 1. What advice do you have for young people who want to have an open conversation with their partners about changing aspects of their sex life to make it more pleasurable without hurt feelings or awkwardness? What’s more likely to lead to major hurt: A few awkward conversations now that (hopefully) lead to better conversations (and sex) in the future? Or… avoiding awkwardness and eventually reaching a point down the road where the sex isn’t that great so you have it less and less until one of you cheats or leaves? Your choice. 2. Dealing with cultural differences: My boyfriend is Italian and weirdly superstitious; at times, it’s anti-science. Not sure what to do here. Keep your mouth shut, your legs open, and get that EU passport. 3. Do you like tighty-whities? What’s not to like? 4. We’re two late-blooming bi people in a monogamous relationship. We have small children.… [ Read more ]
The Best Things To Do in Seattle This Month: July 2025
Capitol Hill Block Party, Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire, and More by EverOut Staff Whether July makes you think of hot dogs and fireworks, air-conditioned movie theaters, outdoor concerts and performances, or ice-cold beverages, you'll find tons of things to do this month that will allow you to soak up that coveted Seattle sunshine now that summer is in full effect. As we do every month, we've compiled the biggest events you need to know about in every genre, from Capitol Hill Block Party to The Weeknd: After Hours Til Dawn and from the Seattle Art Fair to The Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire. FESTIVALS Seafair 4th of JulyThough I'm firmly in the drones > fireworks camp, I hear some people out there still like their big, fiery booms. If that's you, find a spot with a view of Lake Union and prepare for quite the spectacle. Both Gas Works and Lake Union Park host food vendors and an All-American games competition with classics like sack racing, tug-of-war, water balloon toss, and a pie eating contest. You'll find live bands like high-energy ensemble Lindstrom & The Limit at Gas Works and a long putt challenge and coloring wall in SLU. Though the event is generally free, you can pay to reserve a seat in a gated-off section with security. While this might be good for safety, it's a bummer for those who want to BYOB. Plan accordingly! (Godspeed to anyone crossing a bridge after the fireworks end; traffic's a nightmare.) SHANNON LUBETICH Gas Works Park & Lake Union Park (Fri July 4)
Slog AM: We’re Paying More for Gas (Good), Worms Are Eating the Trees (Bad), Senate Passes Trump's Budget Bill (Ugly)
The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Vivian McCall Pride Month Is Over: Time to re-paint the rainbow crosswalks, get back in the closet, throw that #Pride merch into a landfill, and finally force those gay penguins into divorce. Anyway, we’re tired of rainbows. It’s America month, where at least you know you’re free unless you’re most people. Come claw or beak, we will hug a bald eagle in a metaphysical way. And on Saturday, the sun will rise over a great nation. One that listened to “Born In The U.S.A.” approximately one-hundred billion times and didn’t understand a word. If everything is just right, we’ll end the week with fewer uncle fingers than we started with. (Edit: Okay, the original gay penguins broke up in 2005, and they’re bisexual. People also say they’re dead, but that’s unclear. I’ve reached out to Central Park Zoo for confirmation. Here’s another dead gay penguin from Australia whose partner Magic “seemed relatively normal since his loss.” Diego and Zorro are about to celebrate 10 years and they loved our fisting piece.) Jag skrattar till lite varje gång den dyker upp i flödet.[image or embed] — Niclas (@ebmgubben.bsky.social) May 5, 2025 at 11:59 AM The Mariners Beat the Kansas City Royals at T-Mobile Park: And Randy Arozarena hit his 100th home run. Arozarena, if you’re reading, I know only one way to congratulate you (I lack baseball knowledge). Enjoy: On the Up and Up? The fuel tax rose 6 cents ($0.494 per gallon to $0.554) today. To keep pace with inflation, it’ll go up an additional 2% per year, generating about $1.4 billion in revenue over the next six years. Cool! But also federal cuts. And that $16 billion budget shortfall. When you wake up in the middle of the night for a glass of water, expect Gov. Ferguson hunched over your kitchen table in a hushed conversation with Mom. Avoid the squeaky floorboard when you tiptoe back to bed! Time Is Running Out for Tuan Phan: Born in Vietnam, Tuan Phan served 25 years for murder in Washington. When he finished serving his sentence in March, the Washington Department of Corrections handed him over to ICE, and sent to Djibouti, where he’s been held in a shipping container for months. And now he’ll be deported to South Sudan unless Governor Ferguson pardons him. His lawyer Angélica Cházaro told KUOW Ferguson better do it while Tuan Phan is still at the US military base in Djibouti because his return is not guaranteed if he’s sent to South Sudan. A Hairless Eastern Washington Pest Is in the North Cascades: Not your ex from Spokane on a hike. The western spruce budworm. We don’t love this worm (even if it were a worm). It loves to eat the new growth on fire trees. You’ll see its wrath in the trail of orange trees along Highway 20. By August, they may turn brown and dead-looking. It’s a young, modestly-sized (63,000 acres) outbreak, and not unheard of, but an entomologist told The Seattle Times it's odd to see them outside the Cascade Crest. More About Fireworks: SeaTac cancelled their show. City officials say they didn’t have enough cops. (Last year, they had ten cops for the 10,000 people in a park made for 3,200 max.) Or maybe that’s a cover and they’re still embarrassed about the 55 drones that fell into Angle Lake during the performance. “The drone mishap is not the reason for the cancellation,” said SeaTac’s comms person, not defensively at all. Weather? Sorry rain-enjoyers, but it’s nice and hot and sunny today. Perfect weather … perfect weather … until a scream echoes across the lake. Your uncle is clutching his wrist, what's left of his hand. Crazily, you think about the dream guitar he bought last month, hanging on the wall in his den. Just like the Stratocaster he had in high school. The one he sold for a wedding ring, but she turned him down. He’ll never play “Smoke On The Water” again. So … Back To Fireworks: There’s absolutely nothing funny about blowing off your hand with an illegal bomb you bought on the side of the road from a man named Moustache Pete. How could something like that happen? “Having fingers” is not a radical ideology (yet) so, as usual, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission posted its excellent anti-commercial for fireworks. Watch these mannequins blow up instead of your intoxicated or foolish loved ones! I know it’s a few days early and the national mood is low but … blowing shit up is bipartisan. Don't do any of this.[image or embed] — U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (@cpsc.gov) June 27, 2025 at 11:28 AM The Law: Personal fireworks are illegal in Seattle and King County … much of Snohomish County most of the time … and unincorporated Kittitas County … and in Olympia, Tumwater, and Lacey … but I just know you some of you sick lawbreaking fucks will blow them up anyway. So I’ll play the mother who prefers you drink in the house: Have a fucking bucket handy so we have an environment. Or, test your empathy. When you feel an irrepressible urge for powpow to go boom-boom, imagine a dog’s sad, scared eyes. Also, picture your dumbest friend. Now please share this fire danger map with said dumbest friend. Then show them the aforementioned mannequin movie. Make sure to tell them the people are not real. He Did It: Brian Kohberger, the most obvious murderer since O…uh, Oswald—Lee Harvery Oswald—pleaded guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students. He took the deal to avoid the death penalty. Capital punishment disgusts me, and I don’t find breathless coverage of a real murder of real people entertaining, but watching the evidence pile up in this case has been something else. His defense sucked. Democrats Lay Groundwork for “Project 2029”: Naming the Save Democracy Plan after the Destroy Democracy Plan is ridiculous. And since Dems at a liberal policy journal put it together, it’s not actually a plan yet. It’s a publicly announced plan to have a plan. Know that friend who is always getting his shit together and never does? At least he’s listening to the shitty voice inside his head and not … the shitty voice inside everyone else’s (read: polls). Hint: Dem strategists think they have a style problem, not substance problem. Double dog dare y’all to have a single idea, or God forbid, propose a popular economic policy instead of hand wringing over who first to throw under the big blue bus. Since We’re on the Subject: Democrats can’t tell what is and what is not an extreme anymore. A problem with an autocrat in the White House and perhaps more on the way, or just more “four more years” until the autocrats is fresh out of “four more years.” Institutional Dems are freaking out about Mamdani. They should be freaking about ICE breaking the law, basic morality, and expectations that law enforcement identify themselves with a fucking uniform. Charles wrote about it here. Dems should also be freaking out about… The Republican Denaturalization Plan: The Justice Department wants to strip Americans of their citizenship and is prioritizing cases involving certain crimes—including fraud, threats to national security, and in one case, distributing child porn. Child porn is obviously a serious offense. So serious that the Trump administration can plausibly deny what it’s doing. Don’t be fooled. According to a memo, Trump’s DOJ is pursuing denaturalization via civil litigation. One attorney told NPR that’s especially concerning. The people in those cases have no right to an attorney. No right! Another attorney told NPR—whose funding is being targeted by the federal government for accurately reporting the news—that the DOJ is expanding which crimes threaten a person’s citizenship. What’s next? And what if the accused is innocent? Hell, what if they’re guilty? Does this sound like justice? Musk Threatens New Political Party if Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Passes: It’s called the Apartheid Party Rocket Blow Up Party Blow Up My Car Party Grimes Take Me Back Party America Party. Uh oh! A third party? Republicans are probably scared. Third parties always move the needle. BREAKING: After a session that lasted more than 24 hours, the Senate just passed Trump's very ugly Big Beautiful (budget) Bill. VP JD Vance broke a 50/50 tie. Now it's headed back to the House. Trump To Visit New, Remote Detention Center in the Everglades: Will he feed the alligators little meat cubes on a stick (Floridians know), or is he just visiting to savor impending human misery? Deerhoof will remove its music from Spotify over CEO Daniel Ek’s $700 million investment in an AI company making military tech. We need a new law to strap tech moguls to a chair and make them watch Terminator and Terminator 2 until they get it. Here’s Deerhoof’s bandcamp. Start with The Magic. More Terrible, But Trivial News: They’re making a Project Hail Mary movie, an airport bookstore buy so bad I’d have raw-dogged the flight if I hadn’t had a Kobo handy. Normally, I give a book at least 45 pages. But I stopped on page 4, right around the fourth paragraph of the narrator sardonically pulling a space tube out of his ass. But I guess we get to see Ryan Gosling do it. And you thought Pride was over! Gee, I Sure Am Fun Today: Sorry for the bummers. I’m usually all business and skip the song. No longer! Here’s R.E.M. on the Old Grey Whistle test playing “Pretty Persuasion,” an early banger off Reckoning, when you still couldn’t tell what the hell Michael Stipe was singing about. I prefer my R.E.M. incomprehensible, but am down with everything from Murmur to Monster (and, why not, a little New Adventures in Hi-Fi). Bonus: My friend shared this great Dougie Poole song with me over the weekend. It’s called “Nothing on This Earth Can Make Me Smile.” It should be “Nothing on This Earth Can Make Me Smile, Except Dougie Pool Playing ‘Nothing on This Earth Can Make Me Smile.’”
Dems, Mamdani Is Not Extreme
Our values are being bombarded daily. How are we going to respond? by Charles Mudede At this point, we must conclude that the principal function of ICE isn’t the enforcement of immigration laws, but the occupation and policing of cities. “[We] must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” Trump posted on TruthSocial, not long after the rain fell, in every way, on his June 14 military parade, and, more significantly, while millions of Americans protested his brazen “will to [authoritarian] power.” Trump then described “Radical Left Democrats” as “sick in the mind,” unpatriotic, and so on and so forth. And then Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary in New York City on Tuesday, June 24. He is an immigrant, a socialist, and a Muslim. He is the embodiment of all that is considered wicked in our hyper-MAGA times. The message issued from a stunning victory against America's increasingly and frustratingly milquetoast center-left—a center-left whose leading strategy for Trump’s authoritarianism is to do nothing and let it somehow burn out on its own—is that something must be done. Our values, which are under attack, must be asserted, even if that means imprisonment. It is illegal to kidnap brown (or any kind of) people from the streets or our cities. The US is, and has always been, a multicultural society. This assertion is at the heart of the protests on the streets of LA and the ballots in NYC. But first, we must understand the core of the developments that led us to where we are now. The line in Trump’s June 14 post that requires our attention is found here: “[City people] believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s sports.” When you identify cosmopolitan values with lawbreaking, then those values are, in this interpretation, criminal. And so you have crime in the streets, and crime in Pride parades, and crime even in City Hall. On Tuesday, June 17, Brad Lander—New York City’s comptroller, a progressive, and candidate in the recent NYC primary that saw Andrew Cuomo and the Dems’ conservatives go down in flames—was manhandled and arrested by ICE thugs for doing his job in a court of law. Before that, the thugs did pretty much the same thing to a California senator for legally participating in a Homeland Security press conference. And before that, it was the mayor of Newark, who, again, was doing nothing more than following the law. The appearance of ICE in blue states—blue because they are dominated by their urban centers—doesn’t explain, of course, the essence of this appearance, which has its source in the GOP’s long and steady project of repressing the Black vote. With ICE, voter repression leaves the judiciary apparatus and enters the US’s repressive apparatus, which includes the conventional police (by means of compliance), immigration enforcement, and the army, as demonstrated by the National Guard’s current and ever-expanding occupation of Los Angeles. This occupation, which will eventually expand to all major metropolitan areas, has as its mission the enervation of the blue voters. Why? The GOP, which first lost command of the white vote in cities and, gradually, the suburbs, is in actuality the minority party. Without certain institutional (and therefore structural) advantages, the country should have long accepted the obvious fact of its multiculturalness and been organized by a politics that spanned from the likes of Joe Biden (conservative) to the likes of Mamdani (progressive). Trump would be unelectable if our national democracy were as robustly representative as in states such as California, New York, and, of course, Washington. The urban values supported by the Democratic Party should be regarded as conventional, as the usual, as the everyday. What must be registered as bizarre is not Mamdani, but Stephen Miller. The former actually represents, like the current composition of the Supreme Court, a small segment of America, but is, instead, the expression of a larger political structure that artificially amplifies his voice and views. If the left does not grasp the fact that what is at stake is our lopsided democracy, then we will continue fighting against apparitions (“more should be done to attract MAGA voters,” “Mamdani is a radical,” and so on), but not the real stuff of American life. During his first term in office, Trump continued the GOP’s repression of the Black vote but left urban white voters, who over the past 30 years moved from the graveyard of the right to the spectrum on the left, unbothered. Not so with his second term. He is going after them with the hope of grinding what’s left of American democracy into the dust. This is where ICE comes into the picture. It’s not really about brown people (who, nevertheless, pay the traumatic price of ICE’s brazen lawbreaking); it’s about the white voters who, through urban processes, became not so much liberated from racism (we still have lots of that, even in progressive Seattle) but from the hot, anti-immigrant stuff of Trump’s rallies. Stephen Miller Invokes Racist Conspiracy Theory To Dismiss Mamdani newrepublic.com/post/197219/...[image or embed] — Ray Beckerman (@raybeckerman.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM And so, this is where things presently stand, Seattle. Los Angeles is coming our way, and it will definitely be a time of trouble, a time when our values are bombarded daily, when America’s white nationalist minority oppresses its multicultural majority. So, how are we going to come? Let’s turn to New York City for an answer.
Stranger Suggests: Tender and Strange Art, Soft Serve That’ll Make You Scream, and an Anti-Fourth of July Celebration
One really good thing to do every day of the week. by Audrey Vann MONDAY 6/30 ‘Pride: The Ric Weiland Collection’ (VISUAL ART) If you didn’t know already, Ric Weiland was a software developer and programmer who was hired as the second employee for a little company called Microsoft. Given his early involvement at the tech giant, Weiland was able to retire at the young age of 35 to dedicate his life to philanthropy and LGBTQ advocacy. Sadly, Weiland died at just 53, but his legacy lives on through the $65 million he left to queer rights organizations (such as the Pride Foundation). The MOHAI will honor Pride Month with a small-scale exhibit of photographs, letters, ephemera, and artifacts from Weiland’s estate that reflect his enduring fight for equality. While you’re there, be sure to check out the Collections Spotlight: Denim, which showcases artifacts from the MOHAI collection that tell the history of your ol’ blue jeans. (Museum of History & Industry, through Oct 5, all ages) AUDREY VANN TUESDAY 7/1 Nina Katchadourian: ‘Origin Stories’ Nina Katchadourian's show 'Origin Stories' is on display through October 26. PHOTO BY DAMIEN GIFFITHS, COURTESY OF NATIONAL NORDIC MUSEUM (VISUAL ART) In Origin Stories, artist Nina Katchadourian unpacks the quirks, rituals, and memories that shaped her creative world, from family summers in Finland to shipwreck obsessions and childhood games gone existential. Installed across the National Nordic Museum, the show blends humor, nostalgia, and tender strangeness. (For instance, there's a bronze sculpture of a stick-cow in the mix, as well as a six-channel video about her parents’ accents.) Go forth for a reminder that personal history is messy, mythic, and often hiding in plain sight. (National Nordic Museum, through Oct 26, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO WEDNESDAY 7/2 Ballard FC vs. Tacoma Stars View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Stranger 🗞 (@thestrangerseattle) (SPORTS) USL League Two champions Ballard FC are back this season to defend their title as NW division champs. The team returns to Interbay Stadium this year, bringing them closer to their namesake and adoring fans. Fanfare at the games includes Dick's burgers thrown into the crowd after every goal, half-time shenanigans, and high school bands. Even without all that hullabaloo, I would recommend a game to anyone as cheap, entertaining, family-friendly fun. It doesn't get much more local than being sponsored by Reuben's Brews and having "Up the bridges!" as the team’s main chant. (Interbay Stadium, 7 pm, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH THURSDAY 7/3 Humaira Abid "Shape of War: First Series - 1 (Story of Rasha and Ahmed, Gaza)," by Humaira Abid, 2025. COURTESY OF GREG KUCERA GALLERY (VISUAL ART) Each time I walk into the Greg Kucera Gallery, I stumble upon a crowd around Humaira Abid’s wood-carved blouses, oohing and aahing at their delicacy and realism. Through her sculptures and paintings, the Lahore-born, Pakistani American artist depicts ordinary objects like clothing, shoes, purses, and letters in an extraordinary way—by meticulously carving them out of pinewood and often adorning them with exquisite miniature paintings. The pieces don’t just display jaw-dropping craftsmanship, but also share powerful stories related to violence against women, refugees, and displacement. (Opening reception. July 3, 6–8 pm; artist’s talk, July 5, noon, Greg Kucera Gallery, free) AUDREY VANN FRIDAY 7/4 F#CK the Fourth! Bring snacks to share! (COMMUNITY) Predictably, I am not feeling very patriotic this Fourth of July. I think many of us are in the same boat, sneering at American flags and scoffing when we hear “God Bless America.” Well, fear not! There’s an event for you and other skeptics, and it’s one that encourages you to DO SOMETHING on a local level for your community and your country. Take the time to register to vote and help others do the same, write postcards to government officials, create zines, and have a little catharsis with your fellow firework-hating neighbors. Organizers are inviting folks to “hang out among us, your local artists that support trans rights, immigrants, rights to protest, bodily autonomy, and all the good stuff.” Hell yeah, pals. That’s what I call America. (Push/Pull, 1–4 pm, free, all ages) BRI BREY SATURDAY 7/5 TARBOO (MUSIC) Back for its second year, TARBOO returns to the Olympic Peninsula on Fourth of July weekend with three days of top quality music at Quilcene Lantern, which has become a hub for live music and community in recent years. The fun kicks off Thursday with an evening show featuring three local artists that's totally free and open to the public, followed by two ticketed days with a stellar lineup. Two of my top Pacific Northwest music-makers headline: Seattleite Chong the Nomad crafts the most danceable beats, and Portland-based Blind Pilot has been one of my favorite indie folk bands for over 15 years. Other standouts include Seattle grunge pop bands Great Grandpa and Mt. Fog, and California-based soulful folk songstress Uwade (she's toured with Fleet Foxes). I recommend grabbing a camping pass and staying onsite at their 53 acres of "rolling farm fields" for maximum granola vibes. (Quilcene Lantern, July 3–5, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH SUNDAY 7/6 View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Stranger 🗞 (@thestrangerseattle) Pastry Project’s Soft Serve Window (FOOD) The Pastry Project’s soft-serve window is only open for the summer, and it offers three flavors—purple vanilla, chocolate, and twist. While the ice cream is decadent enough to enjoy on its own—no cheap, icy mix here—the true magic is in the toppings. The aforementioned hard shell dip is available in butterscotch, chocolate, and strawberry passionfruit, and you’re gonna definitely want to add their rainbow peanut crunch. That’s housemade honeycomb-esque peanut brittle that has been smashed to bits and mixed with chopped peanuts and rainbow sprinkles. Nut-Blasting Crispy Magic Rainbow Crunch Fuck Yeah is what they should call it. That on a twist cone with the strawberry passionfruit dip tastes like a PB&J turned up to 11. (The Pastry Project, Thurs–Fri, 3–8 pm; Sat–Sun, noon–8 pm) MEGAN SELING
Slog AM: Senate Votes on the Big Beautiful Bill, Gunman Ambushes Firefighters, Democrats Aren't Proud to Be American
The Stranger's morning news roundup by Hannah Murphy Winter Good morning! It’s the hottest day of the week already. Highs in the mid-80s without a cloud in the sky. So consider this your monthly reminder that street end parks are open to the public. Go find one. Until then, let’s do the news. Here’s What’s Getting More Expensive Tomorrow: Heads up, drivers. Both the gas tax and the toll rate on the State Route 99 tunnel are going up tomorrow. Toll rates are increasing five and ten cents for off-peak morning and peak evening hours, respectively, and the gas tax is going up six cents per gallon. Remember the Tree Protestors? Back in May, environmentalists moved into a big ol’ fir tree to block an old forest near Port Angeles from being logged. Well, ICYMI (like we did), the protestors were forced out of the tree on the 40th night of their protest when two people began to dismantle parts of the protestors’ platform. “One activist present said the driver of the Jeep screamed death threats at him, including vowing to gut him like an animal. He and another activist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid legal consequences, said they did not know who the people were in the Jeep.” Seattle 1, NIMBYs 0: Starting today, a new state law allows developers to build up to four homes on city lots that are zoned for single family housing. The Seattle Times reported that generally, new construction is lagging, so we’re not likely to see a huge boom in new housing immediately, but we’ll take the W. Shooting in Idaho: A gunman set a brush fire to lure first responders to Canfield Mountain in Northern Idaho, and then shot at them when they arrived at the scene. Two firefighters were killed and one was seriously injured. The standoff lasted several hours, until authorities were able to use cellphone signals to track the shooter. He was dead when they found him. BBB Marathon: After fighting about it all weekend, the Senate is set to vote on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill today. There are a huge slate of amendments to consider, so it’s expected to be a long one, and it’s definitely not guaranteed to make it through. Republicans only need a simple majority, but that still means they can only afford to lose three votes. Two GOP senators have already said they won’t vote for it (including Senator Thom Tillis, who said he wouldn’t run for reelection after he announced his opposition to the bill, because that’s the sign of a healthy democracy). In case you’ve forgotten amongst all the other chaos, this bill sucks. It extends $4 trillion in tax cuts, and to pay for them, includes almost $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, defunds federal nutrition programs, and restricts trans healthcare. It’s such trash even Republicans hate it. When ordinary Republicans understand how Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would affect the after-tax incomes of American families, it turns out they don’t find it beautiful at all. “I was really shocked."[image or embed] — Mother Jones (@motherjones.com) June 29, 2025 at 3:32 AM Housing Not Handcuffs: In legislative news that doesn’t make you want to scratch your eyes out, Representative Pramila Jayapal introduced a bill that would make it illegal for federal agencies to remove homeless people from federal land if they don’t have another place to go. She introduced the bill just before the anniversary of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court decision that said it was constitutional to criminalize camping—which some South King County cities have really run with. Immediately after the decision, Auburn eliminated the need to offer people overnight shelter before charging them with a misdemeanor for sleeping on public land. And Burien enacted an outright ban on living outside. Tariff Threats, Again: Trump’s back on his geopolitical nonsense. Apparently our negotiator-in-chief is sick and tired of negotiating trade deals, and he told Fox News yesterday that he’d prefer to just send every country a letter. "We made deals, but I'd rather just send them a letter, a very fair letter, saying 'congratulations, we're going to allow you to trade in the United States of America, you're going to pay a 25 percent tariff, or 20 percent, or 40 or 50,'" Trump said, like someone who totally understands how trade deals work. He’s made the same threat twice before and never followed through. Let’s see if he does this time! Gallup Figures Out What We Already Knew: A new Gallup poll found that Democrats aren’t proud to be American. Unsurprisingly, 92 percent of Republicans are “very” or “extremely” proud to be from the US, but Democrats come in at a cool 36 percent. No one asked that 36 percent what they found to be proud of. The Fuck? Police are investigating performances by Bob Vylan and Kneecap from this weekend’s Glastonbury festival. They must’ve done something super fucked up, right? Like, sacrificed a sheep or kicked a baby or something? Bob Vylan allegedly criticized the Israel Defense Forces by chanting "death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces],” and Kneecap allegedly called Israel war criminals and led a “Free Palestine” chant. Glastonbury organizers have said they were "appalled.” Both groups have a history of political, and pro-Palestine commentary, so we’re not sure what they expected? Unclutch your pearls, Glastonbury. It’s the Last Day of Pride Month: And we had 30 days of recommendations for Big Gay Shit to do all month. But today? Today is for a big, gay nap. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Stranger 🗞 (@thestrangerseattle)
Progressive Revenue Is Not Dead in Seattle
And the Business Associations Are Pissed by Nathalie Graham Seattle electeds have finally realized that they can’t simply rely on the Jumpstart Tax, a progressive (but fluctuating) payroll tax, to backfill budget shortfalls in perpetuity, and they are pursuing new progressive revenue options. I know, I know, this city council and this mayor finding new revenue methods? Our financial outlook is that bad. The Seattle Shield Initiative united an odd duo, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Mayor Bruce Harrell. Together, they proposed the initiative to help alleviate the financial stress that a $251 million deficit across all fund balances—and Trump in the White House—will put on the city. The initiative will temporarily raise business and occupation (B&O) taxes to fund programs threatened by the Donald Trump administration such as investments in housing vouchers, shelters, food and nutrition access, resources for survivors of gender-based violence, and affordable housing. But it gets better. The initiative doesn’t raise the B&O tax for all businesses, only some. Under the initiative, to help bolster struggling mom and pop shops, many small businesses which actually stop paying B&O tax. Sounds pretty good, right? Not if you’re part of a big business organization. The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA, but not the cool one) and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce have already poo-poo’d the proposed initiative. Jon Scholes, the president and CEO of the DSA (derogatory) and frequent bad-opinion columnist at the Seattle Times, said in a statement that the Trump tariffs are already bad for business and city leaders are about to “make things worse on local companies” with this new tax. “This proposal is a tax on downtown Seattle’s revitalization and a self-inflicted wound to the progress we’ve been making to attract more businesses downtown and strengthen the city’s tax base. It will make it harder to fill empty tall office buildings and storefronts with companies, which will threaten the commercial tax base and shift more of the tax burden to residents,” Scholes wrote. The Seattle Shield Initiative will raise the B&O tax threshold exemption from $100,000 to $2,000,000 in gross revenue, which means 76 percent of small businesses won’t pay any B&O tax at all. Meanwhile, only businesses earning more than $2 million in revenue will have to pay a higher tax than they did before. According to a press release from the city, “approximately 90% of businesses would owe less than they do today.” Of course, that means those high-earners would shoulder the B&O tax. This is unfair, according to Scholes. “City leaders should heed the lessons from the past and reject boneheaded ideas solely concocted in the name of fighting President Trump,” Scholes wrote. “This rushed tax proposal is bad fiscal policy that will set Seattle back and raise costs for residents.” He had some big, weird feelings (“It’s the fiscal policy version of Seattle’s defund the police movement and if passed will ultimately result in Seattle defunding its tax base,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “This idea should be thrown in the trash bin next to the remnants of defund the police, CHOP/CHAZ, legalizing drugs, etc”) and I’m sure we’ll hear more from him in a forthcoming Seattle Times editorial. But, I must say, this is pretty funny outrage coming from the organization that just pushed policy through the Seattle City Council to put eyesore digital advertising kiosks on Seattle streets. The money earned from those kiosks will go right back into DSA coffers. Maybe they can use some of that money to help their struggling big businesses pay the B&O tax increase. In response to these comments, at a press conference, Harrell said, “We think it’s good policy, and we would disagree [with the DSA].” Remember, this is from longtime DSA (again, not the socialist one) ally Harrell. Do we… gotta hand it to him? “We are not trying to run business out of Seattle, we are open for business,” Harrell, newly anointed fan of progressive revenue (or just a man worried about being another one-term mayor) continued. “So as we look at dealing with a $250 million deficit… The fact is that the state legislature only gives us so many tools, and this is a tool we think along the lines of progressive revenue that is a smart policy to adopt...We will do everything possible to continue to have a healthy business environment, but we stand behind this policy.” In a statement to The Stranger, Mercedes Rinck said, "It’s true. This proposal progressively shifts B&O tax burden to the largest businesses in Seattle. The top 10 percent will pay more, and the bottom and middle will pay less. I think we can all see that as a worthwhile investment in the local community, workforce, and economy. What will actually set Seattle back is doing nothing while thousands in our community are on the brink of food insecurity and homelessness due to draconian federal cuts." Wealthy business owner grips aside, this initiative is a boon for small businesses, according to Jeanie Chunn, community activist, longtime small business advocate, and current candidate for City Council District 2. Chunn, who helped engage small business owners on this initiative for Rinck's office, described how paying fewer B&O taxes will make a huge difference. Especially for businesses operating on the margins like restaurants, having extra funds could pay for much-needed new equipment, new benefits for employees, or repairs. The initiative will provide “much welcomed relief,” she wrote in an email. According to Chunn, most restaurants fall under the $2 million revenue threshold. Even for those who rake in over $2 million annually, they’ll still pay less in local B&O taxes than they do currently because “it's only on sales over $2M.” The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce jumped to its usual excuses for the reasons we can’t raise taxes: it has some “interesting ideas,” but it’s “rushed,” and companies just can’t afford it right now. “I think the Chamber of Commerce's outrage over this initiative shows that they have and will always represent the interests of large corporations and not locally-owned businesses, small business owners, or the workers of Seattle,” Chunn wrote. "If the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce only wants to advocate for the preferences of their Emerald and Platinum members, that is their prerogative," Mercedes Rinck told The Stranger. "Local government has responsibility to step up in this moment, and our proposal gives Seattle residents that choice." However, the Seattle Shield Initiative is not law yet. Rinck will need to curry favor with the other members of the council. They will have to vote on the initiative by Aug. 5. If approved, we the people will get to have our say in the November election. Editor's Note: This story has been updated since it's original publication to include comments from City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck.
Aegis Fires Two Workers for Sharing Stranger Article, Union and Employees Say
Aegis Living fired two two staffers after sharing a Stranger article about their business practices. by Conor Kelley Imagine getting fired for sharing an article with your co-workers. Not porn, not political commentary, not raunchy jokes. A news article, just like this one. According to two employees at Aegis Living, it just happened in King County twice. Jason Bova-Havers says that on their day off on May 27th, a former co-worker sent him something to read: a story published last month in The Stranger titled, “What’s Behind the Gilded Doors of Aegis Living?” The article contained allegations against the senior living chain Aegis Living from employees, former employees, and families of residents, ranging from shady business practices to illegal anti-union actions, discrimination, elder neglect, and more. Bova-Havers had worked for Aegis for the past five years, so naturally they were curious. They told The Stranger that they weren't all that surprised about what was reported in the article, but still felt like it was worth passing along. Maybe this is something my boss should see, they remember thinking, and dropped a link to the story in a group chat he had going with a co-worker and his immediate boss. Two days later, during their shift as a line cook at Aegis Living Shoreline, Bova-Havers was called into the General Manager’s office, their boss’ boss. “You’re going to want to sit down,” Bova-Havers says a Human Resources rep told them. “You recently sent a text message to your coworkers that was seen as ‘below board.’ So we’re letting you go.” That was it. Will Hudson read that same article, also passed to him by a friend. It was about the company he’d worked for the past two and a half years, first as care staff then recently as a member of the maintenance team at Aegis Living Madison. While he was at work the next day he printed the article off in the employee break room so his co-workers could read it, too. “I just wanted to inform them, see what their opinions and takes around it were,” Hudson says. Then he went back to work. “Didn’t think nothing of it.” When Hudson came into work on June 9th, he was called into his boss’s office and questioned. He says they’d interviewed a couple of his co-workers already before he was called in to his boss’s office. “Are you the one who printed off this paper?” he says he was asked. “Yes,” Hudson says he replied. “We don’t allow that here. We have to let you go,” he says he was told. Aegis did not respond to The Stranger’s request for comment about the two fired workers. They also did not respond to repeated requests for comment over months of reporting for the original article, and in the month since publication has not issued any public statement refuting the article’s wide-ranging allegations. Since these firings, SEIU 775 has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Aegis Living, alleging the company “unlawfully terminated” the two workers for “concerted, protected activities” covered by the National Labor Relations Act. The complaint states “due to the egregious and hallmark nature of this violation” the union is seeking injunctive relief that would allow these workers to be reinstated with back pay. Even though Bova-Havers and Hudson weren’t members of the union, SEIU sees their firings as an attempt by Aegis to cool pro-union activity. “We're going to push as hard as we can to get them to take action on these complaints,” says Adam Glickman, the Secretary Treasurer of SEIU 775. He sees this as a first-amendment fight, made even more important in the current political climate. “It's just outrageous that in the middle of a workforce crisis where long-term care facilities are struggling to hire caregivers, particularly this company Aegis that pays less than most other employers, that they would fire workers for sharing newspaper articles,” Glickman says. “It seems like a slap in the face to their residents that they care so little about their care that they would fire workers for such an absurd reason. They're so afraid, so anti-union, so afraid of their workers organizing, that they would endanger the care of their residents by firing people for sharing a news article. It's just shocking.” But no matter how it happened, Bova-Havers and Hudson are out of their jobs. Luckily, both Bova-Havers and Hudson have been able to find work since. Bova-Havers is happy at his new full-time job as a pastry chef, which was his original job at Aegis. “I do miss my crew in the kitchen,” he says. “I worry about them. I hope they get better pay and protections. Or, hell, just jobs that appreciate them.” Will has found some work dog sitting and dog walking, but he’s still looking for something long-term. And he’s still upset about what happened. “After being fired, I was devastated,” Will says. “The residents that’d see me every day, now I don’t get to see them anymore. All because Aegis doesn’t want people to know the truth: that Aegis is corrupt.” Have a tip about Aegis Living? Reach out at editor@thestranger.com.
I, Anonymous: Ice Scream
Do you need to get something off your chest? Submit an I, Anonymous and we'll illustrate it! by Anonymous As a cis woman living in post-Roe America, I didn’t think my feelings of patriotism had any farther to fall, but your latest “loss prevention” measure has surprised me by alienating me yet further from the AmeriCone Dream®️. Yesterday I swung by your store on my way home, hoping to pick up fixings for a quick dinner and ice cream for dessert. Imagine my confusion when I tried the handle on the freezer case door only to find it locked—and taped to the door beside it, a sign instructing me to push a red button for assistance accessing the ice cream pints within. I dutifully pushed the button and waited for about ten minutes, shivering in the cold of the frozen aisle, before finally shaking the icicles from my nose hairs and accepting that nobody in your chronically understaffed store was coming to help me. I proceeded to check out without the Cherry Garcia I had come for. You successfully deterred an ice cream seeker, but not the one you probably wanted to deter. As I understand it, the cost to you of the predicted rate of shoplifting is already factored into the prices your customers pay. I can imagine why ice cream might be one of the most pilfered items—it’s calorically dense, sweet enough to take the edge off for someone who’s withdrawing from an illicit substance, and refreshingly cool. So, as far as I’m concerned, just let the poor people and the addicts steal the ice cream. In fact, you sort of already do: one cold case out of eight was left unlocked, the one containing the larger quantities of ice cream. A few pints could even be accessed by reaching one’s arm into the next case over via the opening for the 1.5-quart and 1-gallon tubs. So those least able to afford to be sticklers for specific brands and flavors—i.e., those not planning to stop by the register on the way out—can still grab a good-enough option to fulfill their needs. It’s only customers like me—people with the intention of paying and the privilege of pickiness—who are likely to be meaningfully deterred from leaving your stores with ice cream. What a stupid, annoying self-own! Get it together. Do you need to get something off your chest? Submit an I, Anonymous and we'll illustrate it! Send your unsigned rant, love letter, confession, or accusation to ianonymous@thestranger.com. Please remember to change the names of the innocent and the guilty.
The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Seattle This Weekend: June 27–29, 2025
Seattle Pride Parade, Trans Pride, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15 by EverOut Staff Gear up for a gorgeous Pride Weekend with our cheap and easy guide, which features events from Seattle PrideFest and the Pride Parade to the Indigiqueer Festival and Trans Pride Seattle. If you're looking to escape the city this weekend, we're also pointing you toward the evo Trailgate Festival and Bremerton's Bridge Blast. For more suggestions, check out our top event picks of the week. FRIDAY PRIDE Indigiqueer FestivalQuileute drag artist Hailey Tayathy co-founded the Indigiqueer Festival in 2022 because they felt that "a gay-friendly city named for a Suquamish and Duwamish Chief deserved the big Indigenous Pride event it didn’t have." Taking place at Pier 62 against the backdrop of the Salish Sea, this fest marks the start of Pride weekend with a stacked lineup of performers including rocking drag queen Holli B. Sinclair, food from traditional Indigenous chef Natoncks Metsu, and a host of art vendors and community workshops. SHANNON LUBETICH (Pier 62, Downtown, free)
Slog AM: Supreme Court Bans National Injunctions, SeaTac Cancels Fourth of July, Bezos and Bride Ready to Tie the Knot
The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham SCOTUS Rules on Birthright Citizenship Case: But not on birthright citizenship. The six hollowed out corpses of the nine-justice Supreme Court ruled that federal judges had overstepped when temporarily pausing the enforcement of Trump's executive order. The court will allow Trump's executive order restricting birthright citizenship can go into effect in 30 days. BUT, they did not rule on the constitutionality of upending birthright citizenship... which seems like an important thing to do, especially in this context. But what do I know? I'm no ghoul in a black robe with unfettered power. Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the decision, “a travesty for the rule of law.” Sotomayor issues a blistering dissent that states plainly that this decision renders constitutional protections meaningless.[image or embed] — Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) June 27, 2025 at 7:14 AM This Is a Huge Deal: No more nationwide injunctions? This SCOTUS ruling limits the main legal tool judges had to resist Trump and stall executive orders. Now, only class action lawsuits can challenge these orders. all of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence about executive power - all of it - can be replaced with a simple flow chart. is the president a Republican? if so it’s ok. if not, it’s presumptively not ok. — Peter (@notalawyer.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 7:18 AM In Other SCOTUS News: A 4-4 decision upheld a block prohibiting Oklahoma from using government money for a religious charter school, but they did allow parents to pull their children from classes that teach LGBTQ books. And in the usual 6-3 split, they ruled that Planned Parenthood can't use Medicaid laws to fight state-level efforts to defund them. In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote: “Today’s decision is likely to result in tangible harm to real people... At a minimum, it will deprive Medicaid recipients in South Carolina of their only meaningful way of enforcing a right that Congress has expressly granted to them. And, more concretely, it will strip those South Carolinians—and countless other Medicaid recipients around the country—of a deeply personal freedom: the ‘ability to decide who treats us at our most vulnerable.’” Fourth of July Cancelled in SeaTac: No, no, this isn't some commentary on the state of the world. The city is cancelling any and all festivities at Angle Lake Park due to public safety concerns. Last year, Angle Lake's Fourth of July shindig drew more than 10,000 people. That's three times the capacity than the park should safely hold. And, only 10 officers were on duty. This year, the threat of overcrowding complicated by understaffing of first responders means no party. Officials say last year's drone show debacle, where 55 of 200 drones dropped like stones into the lake, is not the reason for the cancellation. You can swim at the lake on Independence Day this year, but that's it. More Measles in King County: Public Health – Seattle & King County identified two more measles cases in the region, this time in an adult and child. Washington has now seen 10 confirmed cases of measles this year. Get vaccinated, guys. The Weather: Another day of clouds and then the sun and summer returns. Not for good, though. Never for good. Grocery Workers Might Strike: A few weeks ago, 97 percent of the union representing 30,000 grocery employees from stores like QFC, Fred Meyer, and Safeway voted to authorize a strike due to dissatisfaction with wages, working conditions, and staffing. The threat of such a massive strike seems to have been a wakeup call for the companies, because this week, they're voting on their latest contract proposal and the union is recommending that their members vote "yes." We'll see! The final tally should be in late tonight. It's Supervillain Wedding Weekend: Ah, look, St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy is already celebrating Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's cursed wedding. Celebrities like "Tom Brady, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Oprah Winfrey, Usher Raymond, and a raft of Kardashians" according to the New York Times, have already arrived. The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy. For now. Meanwhile auf dem Markusplatz in Venedig.[image or embed] — DennisKBerlin (@denniskberlin.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 5:52 AM Looking for a new place to bike ride? Try under the freeway! No, really. The Seattle Parks Department just unveiled its $314,000 overhaul of the mountain bike skills park underneath the I-5 colonnade on the downslope between Capitol Hill and Eastlake. Sore Loser Alert: You already conceded, Andrew Cuomo, just go away. If only it were that simple. Giant sore loser Cuomo will register as an independent and run against democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the general election for mayor of New York. Does he have a humiliation kink? What's even funnier is incumbent NYC mayor and friend of Turkey Eric Adams is also running in the general as an independent. These two will surely split the clown vote and hurt their chances of winning even more. Meanwhile, Mamdani Keeps Inspiring a Movement: The young people are inspired. Generational change is coming: Since Zohran Mamdani won on Tuesday night, more than 1100 young people have reached out to @runforsomething.net to explore a run for local office — one of our biggest spikes of the year yet. — Amanda Litman (@amandalitman.bsky.social) June 26, 2025 at 7:32 AM Another Bling Ring Is Definitely a Recession Indicator: Brad Pitt is the latest in the string of celebrity robberies around Los Angeles. This week burglars broke into his $5 million Los Feliz home and ransacked it. He's been off in Europe promoting some movie I won't see. In recent months, burglars have hit the LA homes of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Austin Butler, and Olivier Giroud of the Los Angeles Football Club. Death for Blue Screen of Death: Microsoft will discontinue the "blue screen of death" its used for error messages for 40 years. Instead, it will now use a "black screen of death." Revolutionary. A song for your Friday: It's Pride weekend! Shake off the bad news for a few days and also shake your ass.
Ticket Alert: Maroon 5, Adam Sandler, and More Seattle Events Going On Sale This Week
Plus, Burna Boy and More Event Updates for June 26 by EverOut Staff Get your credit cards ready ’cause these tickets are comin’ in hot. Frontman Adam Levine and the Maroon 5 crew will return to Seattle on the heels of their eighth studio album, Love Is Like. Basketball shorts enthusiast and comedy icon Adam Sandler embarks on a new tour this fall. “African Giant” Burna Boy will show no sign of weakness when he stops by Climate Pledge in November. Plus, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts have been added to Chateau Ste. Michelle’s summer concert series. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use. ON SALE FRIDAY, JUNE 27 MUSIC Between the Buried and Me & Hail The SunThe Crocodile (Mon Oct 13) Boris: Pink 20th Anniversary TourThe Crocodile (Mon Nov 17) Burna Boy: No Sign Of Weakness TourClimate Pledge Arena (Sun Nov 16)