The presidential debate: Following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, the nearly successful assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and the ecstatic ascendance of Kamala Harris, I expected a boring debate by comparison. But, like a bullfighter waving a red flag, Harris easily baited Trump on abortion, his crimes, his authoritarian tendencies, his rallies, the insurrection, and his racism. People will probably remember Harris laughing as Trump yelled, and perhaps forget her weak position on Israel’s killing of Palestinians and her commitment not to ban fracking.

Network pundits think she did well with voters: And so did a few voters. A CNN flash poll found that registered voters who watched the debate broadly agreed that Harris beat Trump. The Washington Post talked to 25 swing state voters, and they thought Harris did better, regardless of their voting plans this November. Even Fox News’ voter panel thought Harris won. Trump told Fox & Friends he won “by a lot,” and he won so hard that he was “less inclined” to face her again. These small snapshots are anything but conclusive. It’ll be a few days before we start to see the debate’s impact on polling, which currently shows a very tight race.

Taylor Swift is on board: In her endorsement posted to Instagram minutes after the debate, Swift said Harris was a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who fought for causes she believed in and smartly picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.” In reference to US Senator JD Vance’s jab at the “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” supposedly running this country, Swift signed her endorsement, “Childless Cat Lady.”

That other debate: Washington gubernatorial candidates Bob Ferguson and Dave Reichert duked it out on KING 5. If you didn't catch it, Ashley watched for you and offers a full report here.

Speaking of Ashley, here she is a with a brief council report: 

Conservatives lead Seattle: Yesterday, the Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee passed two bills out of committee. One created Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) zones and another revived the City's past prostitution loitering law and established a Stay Out of Area Prostitution (SOAP) zone. These zones effectively allow judges to banish people from certain parts of the City for being accused or convicted of having a substance abuse issue or for possible involvement in the sex trade, respectively. The committee amended the SODA bill to add additional areas around town, including one on Capitol Hill. The whole thing is a deeply NIMBY solution that even they admit will push people around, but beyond that it shows that the city council does not care to listen to leading experts on the topic. If Purpose Dignity Action (PDA), a nonprofit that runs nation-leading diversion programs, is PUBLICLY criticizing your idea, then you have a fucking problem. PDA isn't ever trying to make waves. 

On the SOAP and prostitution loitering bill: As groups such as Stripper Are Workers, the ACLU of Washington, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, and Harborview's Abuse & Trauma Center all stand against the bill, Council Member Cathy Moore has aligned herself with an outreach group called The More We Love, founded by Kristine Moreland, who supports Republican Dave Reichert for governor. In an initial draft of the bill, Moore tried to hook up the nonprofit with a city contract without going through a competitive bidding process. She later retracted that section of her amendment, but it showed how absolutely uninformed and out of her depth she is.  

Thank you, Ashley! Now back to me.

Word choice: This morning, Biden, Harris, Trump and Vance appeared at Ground Zero to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. When asked about his schedule yesterday, President Joe Biden said he was “going up to my granddaughter's birthday in New York, then we're gonna to watch the debate, and tomorrow I'm doing 9/11." Hm.

He should consider adding a phone call to his schedule: President Biden still hasn’t called the family of UW graduate Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the activist Israeli soldiers shot and killed last week. Her partner, Hamid Ali, said in a statement yesterday that they had waited days for Biden to “do the right thing: to call us, offer his condolences, and let us know that he is ordering an independent investigation” of her killing. “This was no accident, and her killers must be held accountable.”

Starbucks' new head said the vibes are off: On his second day as CEO, Brian Niccol told employees and customers in a letter that he wants to make the online-driven company a real coffee house again, which invites customers to hang out and sit down in comfortable chairs that don’t hurt their asses. He also wants to “empower” baristas to make great drinks. Very cool, I can think of another way to “empower” them.

:( The US Department of Fish and Wildlife will implement a plan to manage invasive barred owls in Washington, Oregon, and California to save native spotted owls. As soon as this fall, trained specialists will begin to lure barred owls with recorded owl calls and then blow them away with shotguns. Gnarly work, but the department said it’s either kill and have both owls, or do nothing and let spotted owls die off. The strategy, based on years of study, is not without its critics. One conservationist told KING 5 that we've made barred owls the villain, when we're the villains for destroying vital habitat.

Seattle Indian Health Board cuts ties with SPD: Board Executive Vice President Abigail Echo-Hawk said her organization broke the contract because the Seattle Police Department had repeatedly rejected its recommendations on how to improve tracking and handling cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. SPD and the board signed the contract in 2021, after the city council directed the City to work with the Native organization on data collection and training. SPD told the Seattle Times the two agencies struggled to collaborate. 

Groan: JD Vance said on a podcast that he would have directed states to submit new electors instead of certifying the election results so the country could have had a “debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election we had.” Once again, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and, crucially, the Constitution doesn’t permit the Vice President to reject the states’ electors. 

Dave Grohl has a confession to make: The Foo Fighters frontman announced on Instagram he fathered a baby girl with a woman who is not his wife. In his spare statement, Grohl said he was doing everything he could to be a loving and supportive parent to his new child while regaining the trust of his wife, Jordyn Blum, and their three children.

A trans woman could be elected to Congress: Sarah McBride, the country’s first transgender state senator, won the Democratic primary for Delaware's sole seat in the House, making her the likely favorite to win the election and become the first transgender member of Congress. Delaware is dependably blue, and Democrats have held the House seat for 14 years. If she wins, transgender people would have a voice in a chamber debating their legitimacy and rights.