Slog AM: Woman Raped at UW Fraternity Sues University, Right-Wing Radio Unhappy About Yakima Judge’s Advice for Avoiding ICE, Trump Posts AI Video of Himself Playing With Tiger that Killed UK Man

Yesterday, it was reported that Cornell University suspended frat parties in response to the public’s outrage at its exposed attempt to sweep gang rape allegations under the rug. Today, KIRO reports that “a woman who was raped at a University of Washington fraternity house in 2022” is not only suing the university but also the man convicted of the rape. She alleges that UW knew that the rapist had a record in the form of a “restraining order involving alleged sexual misconduct” but failed to do anything meaningful about it, and so ultimately failed to protect her. What will not surprise anyone, is another report of this kind being filed tomorrow and the day after that.

Seattle’s top right-wing radio personality, Jason Rantz, is upset because Yakima Municipal Court Presiding Judge Aryn Masters “has found a way to help criminal defendants dodge federal immigration agents”: Just skip court; don’t show up; stay the hell away. Why? Because ICE does not play by the rules. Indeed, it is the grimy business of these hoodlums to break laws and needlessly cause, what Fela Kuti called, when describing the thugs the Nigerian government of his times employed: “Sorrow Tears and Blood.” That’s their “regular trademark.”

Now, how can a court do its work when ICE makes arrests at a justice center “without clearing it with the court first?” Where is the law and order in that? And what’s with the fucking masks? The unmarked cars?? The near lack of non-lethal equipment and training??? In the case of the Yakima Municipal Court, the law must protect itself from those that do not recognize and operate within the limits of the law. Even the defendant who shows up for a hearing is doing something ICE refuses to do: follow the law.

Sunworshipers, enjoy today and the rest of the week because starting this weekend warmth will bid farewell to you all and turn over the keys of the seasons to autumn. The Wednesday that appeared when you left the confounding region of dreams or the grinding region of insomnia will have some clouds, some wind, maybe a little light rain, and even clear skies here and there. Expect a high of 66.

I have nothing to say about Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia. Watch her first encounter with the press yesterday and you will see why nothing has to be said. Nothing can only be reflected by nothing, like a vampire looking into a mirror. But I much prefer those nocturnal and aristocratic bloodsuckers to this standard issued from the void of Trump’s political nothingness. Please vote in November.

Speaking of mirrors, according to a recent story filed by Abdul Moeed, “Ancient Greek and Roman Beliefs About the Evil Eye Reflected in Miniature Mirror,” back in the dusty pagan days near the beginning of the previous millennium, little mirrors were used to protect the living and the dead from the “evil eye.” These supernatural mirrors were worn, hung from candles, placed next to the bed or in graves to check bad luck and other misfortunes. Researchers Eli Buchman and Adi Erlich published their study of the pagan mirrors in Palestine Exploration Quarterly.

One more on mirrors. This is a passage in Stanisław Lem’s mid-century science fiction novel Solaris: “We head out into space, ready for anything, which is to say, for solitude, arduous work, self-sacrifice, and death. Out of modesty we don’t say it aloud, but from time to time we think about how magnificent we are… That’s another falsity. We’re not searching for anything except people. We don’t need other worlds. We need mirrors.”

Remember the young man who, on October 10, jumped into an enclosure at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which is on the outskirts of Doncaster, UK. Recall, if you saw the gruesome video, how he got mauled to death by a massive and very pissed tiger. Well, last night President Trump posted on Truth Social an AI video of himself in the Yorkshire enclosure confronting, then defeating, then becoming besties with the tiger that killed the 23-year-old Brit. Yes, there is lots of outrage about all of this. But, to be honest, I hope Trump sticks to posting this dumb, insensitive, crassly unfunny AI garbage and leaves the real world (Ilhan Omar, Oscar Belgal, and so on) alone.

As for Katie Miller, the wife of one of the most sadistic members of Trump’s administration, Stephen Miller, thank you for posting this on X right after thugs raided Ilhan Omar’s Washington, DC, home on Monday: “Promise made, promise kept.” The post was soon deleted, but not soon enough. Mere seconds (if not the very second) it entered cyberspace, it entered all of eternity. And if voters like myself “live through this,” as the title of Hole album puts it, we will surely be pleased to see the ghost of that post revived in court.

The 42-year-old man, Hassan Kariem, who, on Monday, died after being ejected from a Six Flags Over Georgia roller coaster called Goliath, had, according to his daughter, in the past defeated cancer (which is no joke when you’re young), won “a tough battle with COVID-19,” and “survived a car fire.” But the chances of Kariem beating a mean and faulty theme park machine with a 200-foot drop and a top speed of 70 mph was close to, if not exactly, zero.

Let’s end AM with a late-70s afrobeat (not to be confused with contemporary afrobeats) that accurately describes the sole function of the Trump/Miller Gang called ICE, Fela Kuti’s “Sorrow Tears and Blood.”