Regarding this late-in-the-ballgame demands by Amazon and Vulcan to move the SLU station to a location less suited to serving the purpose of a light rail station...

This light rail system is, and has always been, under constant pressure to avoid suffering a death by a thousand cuts. If every powerful special interest group got its way about every station location and every alignment, you would have a light rail map that looked like the worst gerrymandered Congressional map in the Deep South, and you would have light rail stations that looked like the most ridiculous Rube Goldberg contraptions.

Otherwise, I agree with the most recommended comment on Mike Lindblom's Seattle Times story, by one oogliemooglie:
"Ignore the NIMBYs and build the original alignment. Traffic delays are temporary, rail tunnels are permanent."

@2, excellent suggestion.

Hannah "Dont Look East" forgot to recommend an excellent SIFF entry (now available to stream)

Porcelain War

As the Russia-Ukraine war rages on, Kharkiv-based Slava Leontyev and Anya Stasenko make tiny porcelain figurines. What does it mean to continue with their artistic passions as the world crumbles around them? Winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2024.

“Ukraine is like porcelain, easy to break, but impossible to destroy.” —Co-director, Brendan Bellomo

I had never heard of the Appeal to Heaven flag until Vivian brought it up in an article a while back. Looking into it it comes from Locke and a ballpark paraphrase would be "everything can be taken from me except my appeal to heaven" so in a way its an admission that they lost the election and all they have is thoughts and prayers. I'm still not sure what meaning it would have to its flag wavers other than thoughts and prayers actually do get answered all the while ignoring the lost bigly and it wasn't stolen context.

Per the KUOW article, the Eid is "expected to start" (does it start then or not?) on Sunday the 16th and run through Tuesday.

I'd wager that most of the SPS HS graduations are going to be on Saturday the 15th. It's not going to be the onerous, discriminatory problem being imagined here.

Maybe just suck it up and do both things? God will get over it.

“Later today, Sound Transit's governing board is expected to decide where to put the SLU light rail station.” And odds are, there won’t actually be a station IN South Lake Union by the time this process plays out.

A station on 5th Avenue is in no way SLU, since Dexter is SLUs most reasonable western-most boundary. 5th Ave is more like Seattle Center adjacent / far eastern LQA if anything…

Meanwhile, Sound Transit is also considering a different location for the Denny/Westlake station, which is ideally located to connect with multiple other transit stops. Instead, they’re considering moving that stop somewhere ‘further west on Denny’ because of the temporary congestion that construction would cause on Westlake (including temporary halting of the SLUT).

Look forward to Sound Transit making the worst possible decisions here, and following that up with illogical station names that confuse infrequent riders.

Israel has no problem with a ceasefire and hostages-for-prisoners exchange, even one that leaves some Israelis in captivity. What they rejected in the last round was Egypt blindsiding the other partners in the negotiations with revised conditions, which Hamas then accepted and announced to make Israel appear the intransigent party.

The sticking point is what constitutes a "ceasefire". Hamas doesn't want a ceasefire, which is a temporary pause; they stipulated the return of hostages on an armistice. They want the IDF to permanently withdraw from Gaza and leave them wounded but still in charge. They've been intransigent on this point, because they don't give a flying fuck how many Gazans die - the bigger the death toll, the more it helps their cause.

You should know these facts if you're going to broad-brush with crap like "annihilation of the Palestinian people for the sake of conquest".

"Harvard University will deny 13 students their degrees at commencement today" Good. Considering they denied some of the Jewish students their ability to access their education as part of their protest (not to mention having entire graduation ceremonies be cancelled at some schools like USC) it seems just that they are now being denied a rite of passage. As has been noted before you are free to protest in the US but it's not consequence free if you cross the line.

Hamas is a distraction to you genociders because you refuse to tell the truth.

Zionist lies are not working because the majority of people do not buy it. Any excuse to continue mass murder that has been going on on stolen land for at least 75 years. MASS MURDER. Genocide committed by the terrorist racist state of Israel.

How disgusting that you attempt to justify the murder, torture, injuries of babies, children, women and unarmed people many of them buried alive under the rubble that the USA and Israel war and finance by our stolen tax dollars against the Palestinian people. Stolen tax dollars because the majority of people have made it clear that they do not want their tax dollars spent on mass murder. We will never stop speaking out and protesting and we will win.

@13: think Hannah's aware of any of that nuance?

If the IDF doesn't have the "ass", then there isn't going to be any "annihilation and conquest" of Gaza.

@13: When and where did the majority of people make it clear that they do not want their tax dollars spent on mass murder? I missed that.

The "majority of people" in this country don't even know where Gaza is.

@1 Once again, you post articles without reading them.

"Although the government is intent on continuing its military assault, the latest Peace Index shows that almost half of the Israeli public (49.8%) thinks that doing so “very greatly harms” Israel. Additionally, 33.1% think it “harms” Israel. (The numbers for the Jewish populace are 51% and 33.4%, respectively.)"

So 80%+ of Israelis think that continuing the military action in Gaza harms or greatly harms Israel. So much for your argument that public opinion is squarely behind the war.

As for the effect of the proposed ICC warrant?

"It is too soon to know the full effect of the specter of the ICC arrest warrants. It is possible that the threat itself will spur more opposition to Netanyahu and the way he has guided the Israeli military response. Whether it does or not, historical patterns suggest that both the Netanyahu government and a majority of Israelis will harden their views about the war – and about a postwar settlement or negotiations with the Palestinians. And it’s likely Israelis will feel an even greater sense of international isolation."

So it's too early to tell what the impact is, but historical trends show that Israelis will feel a greater sense of international isolation, which they think is a /bad thing/. Which is exactly what I suggested would happen. And exactly what you say this article disproves.

Are you just bad at reading?

@8 Most Islamic holidays are based on sighting the waxing crescent moon after sunset, so it isn't 100% certain when that will happen. Expected is the best they can do.

And you'd be wrong about that speculation about graduation dates. Most SPS high schools use Memorial Stadium for graduation because they don't have a big enough auditorium/stadium to hold graduation at their site. Center School, Cleveland, Garfield, Hale*, Ingraham*, Nova*, Chief Sealth, and West Seattle high schools are scheduled for June 16-18. Only the starred schools are at their home stadiums or auditoriums.

Of course, you could have taken 2 minutes to search instead of speculating. Maybe try that?

At 14, I meant @12.

@17: Point taken. I admit I didn't want to do 2 minutes of research.

I still don't think it's that big of a deal - sounds like the main concern is that Eid travel plans will be impacted.

To add onto @8, when did a secular entity like SPS need to work around a religious holiday. And as for the proposed accommodation:

“The school board suggested hosting a separate graduation for students celebrating the holiday, but the kids say that feels exclusionary, and I totally agree”

So would Hannah agree to move graduation for any other Abrahamic religion or is Islam special (pretty sure we all know the answer).

It’s bad enough we have to deal with religious nut jobs in DC (see the mention of the flag), the solution is not further eroding the separation of church and state locally.

@5 The problem with turnstiles is they only work for the able-bodied. Many disabled people can not use turnstiles, so that means you now need at least Sound Transit employee at every entrance because there has to be handicapped access. There is always a trade-off between the revenue fare enforcement generates and what it costs. A far better solution is to toll all roads, and provide state of the are public transportation from that revenue. Tolls being set by what is necessary to fund that transit.

@13: "Stolen tax dollars because the majority of people have made it clear that they do not want their tax dollars spent on mass murder."

'Three-quarters of respondents [Americans registered to vote] said Israel should move forward “with an operation in Rafah to finish the war with Hamas, doing its best to avoid casualties even though there will be casualties.” A quarter picked the other option — that Israel should “back off now and allow Hamas to continue running Gaza.”'

(https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4675669-joe-biden-israel-approval-lowest-mark-new-poll/#:~:text=Three%2Dquarters%20of%20respondents%20said,Hamas%20to%20continue%20running%20Gaza.”)

That's after a month of student protests. Care to give another issue on which 75% of American voters agree? Name one, any one. Take as much time as you like.

"We will never stop speaking out and protesting and we will win."

Good luck with that.

@20 Meanwhile, Jared Kushner is fantasizing about what kinds of seaside resorts he could build in Gaza once the entire population of Gaza is shipped off to the middle of the Negev Desert. Should Trump be re-elected, that's a serious possibility. It's one that would be popular with substantial parts of Israel's right wing.

Israel isn't going to line up the entire population of Gaza and shoot them. So let's dispense with that straw man. They certainly may find a way to do a little ethnic cleansing of the neighborhood though.

@24 The key phrase that most likely yielded that polling result was "finish the war." I have no doubt that three-quarters of Americans (probably more) want to "finish the war." But most of us recognize that no matter what Israel does in Rafah, it will not finish the war. And Netanyahu has no interest in finishing the war anyway, as doing so would finish him.

It never ceases to amaze me who many RepubliKKKan women who turn Trump ho think the Orange Turd is actually going to save their pathetic asses.

I'm glad I have no need for Amazon or Boeing. Build the light rail station where it benefits the majority of riders, fer chissakes! Fuck Jeff Bezos! It really is a shame that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Sara Nelson mismanaged City Council serve only corrupt billionaires anymore.

14, Depends on the survey questions but most show public opinion moving towards disapproval of our involvement even if they find majority/plurality support for Israel.

Majority disapprove of our role:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx

Favorability for both PA and Israel in decline:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/611375/americans-views-israel-palestinian-authority-down.aspx

Majority say Israel has valid reasons for fighting:
https://www.pewresearch.org/2024/03/21/majority-in-u-s-say-israel-has-valid-reasons-for-fighting-fewer-say-the-same-about-hamas/

Growing numbers say we’re doing too much:
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/americans-views-divided-us-policy-israel-hamas-war/story?id=109879453

Growing numbers want Biden to pressure Israel to stop:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-israel-gaza-poll-cbs-news/

@25: “ Israel isn't going to line up the entire population of Gaza and shoot them. So let's dispense with that straw man.”

You might want to tell that to the folks who’ve been screaming “genocide” at Israel for most of a year now. They seem not to have quite your nuanced understanding on the point of it being a “straw man.”

“They certainly may find a way to do a little ethnic cleansing of the neighborhood though.”

Israel already did “a little ethnic cleansing” of Gaza, though: in 2005, they removed all Jewish settlers from there.

@27: Purely for the sake of argument, let’s assume you’re correct on all points. I’m wondering what your source of certainty is for saying Israel cannot “finish the war.”

@26 And you grossly misrepresented the conclusions of the article in your description of it in @1. So if you're willing to misrepresent one survey, why would anyone here believe what you say about any of the other surveys you report on?

Since you love the Latin, Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus. It's even applicable in the 9th Circuit!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsus_in_uno,falsusin_omnibus

@29: The poll I cited was conducted in mid-May; only one of your citations came from May; the rest were from earlier in the year.

The “Growing numbers say we’re doing too much” poll showed a 40-40-20 split between “too much,” “just enough,” and “too little.”

Raindrop, I don't foresee ST adding turnstiles anytime soon. Besides the initial cost (including fortifying the above-ground stops, most of which have a small footprint to start with) there's also ongoing maintenance - imagine if the turnstiles broke down as often as the escalators. There's also be additional personnel required at each station to deal with the inevitable turnstile-jumpers. TfL manages to pull it off (including wheelchair-accessible turnstiles, which I use all the time when I have luggage), but it moves 7 million passengers a day, with fare income to match.

@33, “Growing numbers” (their words, not mine) refers to the directionality of the responses moving towards disapproval in those polls, because they have been asking the same questions/phrasing over time, which is pretty typical historically. The public tends to grow weary of war as they drag on and there is no reason to assume this one would be any different than Iraq, et al. 40-40-20 isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement and it’s even worse when you consider 31% said we were doing too much just a few months prior.

@31 I know this is extremely hard for you to grasp, but a state or organization can commit genocide and not kill every person in the affected group. I mean, you ought to be able to figure this out since you claim that Hamas committed genocide with the 10/7 attacks and they killed a tiny percentage of Israel's population. But somehow that seems to slip your grasp the moment anyone talks about Gaza.

Hint 1: In the Bosnian genocide, approximately 1% of the Bosnian Muslim population was killed by the Serbs. The remainder were subject to any number of privations including rape, torture, forced displacement, etc. Note that the Bosnian genocide was found to be a genocide by the relevant UN courts. Trials were held, people were convicted and sent to prison, etc.

Hint 2: The percentage of the Bosnian Muslim population killed and the percentage of the Gazan population killed (so far) are remarkably similar.

And before you go off on a rant about intent, recall that there are plenty of public statements by senior Israeli officials (including ministers in the War Cabinet) that indicate genocidal intent.

@36 Normally I'd agree with you that removing everyone from Gaza is a ridiculous hypothetical. Then various Israeli ministers start saying the quiet part out loud. Including our favorite ethnic-cleansing-planner Belazel Smotrich, who thinks that after the war the Gazan population should be reduced to 100-200K. And Netanyahu is also talking about expulsion of Palestinians in only slightly more nuanced words.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793673

@39: As the very article you cited starts by pointing out, in most other situations, much of the civilian population would already have fled, not merely moved within the territory. In the case of Gaza, this is not possible, because Gaza’s only non-Israeli land border is with Egypt, and Egypt has adamantly refused to let them in. Hence your reference to an article advocating the very idea @36 had already mocked.

@29, @35: In the order you listed the surveys, the respondents were: "U.S. adults" for the first four, "U.S. adult residents" for the CBS News Poll. By contrast, the poll numbers I cited were from a survey of American registered voters. Which group is most likely to influence the outcomes of elections?

"The public tends to grow weary of war as they drag on and there is no reason to assume this one would be any different than Iraq, et al."

That's another difference between the poll results you cited, and the ones I cited. In the poll of registered voters, there has been no reduction in support for Israel in the war. Polls of American registered voters were conducted in April (during the height of the protests, but before the start of IDF operations in Rafah) and May (during the IDF operation into Rafah, and as the protests were fizzling out). From the April results:

"More than 70 percent of respondents said Israel should move forward with the operation [into Rafah], including 57 percent of those 18 to 24 and increasing percentages with each older age group."

As I quoted @24, that number has stayed steady in May, now expressed as three-quarters. Neither the protesters nor the ongoing military operation in Rafah seem to have made any difference.