Tax the Rich Already! Gov. Bob Ferguson has joined the campaign to fight Initiative 645, which would repeal the Millionaires Tax that Ferguson signed into law in March. I-645 is Trump-loving millionaire Brian Heywood’s attempt to repeal the tax (and ban any other taxes on individual income). But here’s the bonkers thing: According to the New York Times, Heywood has spent $11 million since 2022 on pushing conservative policies (which have included everything from anti-climate to anti-trans legislature). Heywood is reportedly worth $10-25 million. The 9.9 percent tax on all income above one million bucks that the Millionaires Tax would take is likely less than he’s paid into these grossly regressive policies than he’d be taxed in recent years. Here’s a pro tip, Heywood: You’d actually save money if you stop being an asshole.
Clock Change Is Over (If You Want It): Yesterday, the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act 308-117. The legislation will now head to the Senate, where our own Sen. Patty Murray is very stoked to approve it. If passed, Daylight Saving Time would be permanent, and we’d no longer have to set our clocks back in the fall. I’m gonna be honest: I like setting my clock back in the fall. I like that it gets dark here at 4 p.m. in the winter. But I don’t care enough to have an opinion on this. Do whatever you want. Time is a social construct. Let’s stop all clocks forever.
New US Attorney Loading: This morning, Western Washington federal judges appointed Roger Rogoff as a new US Attorney in Seattle. Rogoff replaces the Trump-appointed Charles Neil Floyd. Stranger reporter Hunter Pauli wrote about this messy situation last month. Oh, and this just in from Pauli while I was writing the rest of this Slog AM post, “Rogoff has been fired, but it sounds like he is going to sue to keep the job, setting up a separation of powers battle between the federal judiciary and the executive branch.”
Speaking of Blanche: Jay Clayton and Todd Blanche, Trump’s picks for the director of national intelligence and Attorney General, respectively, are appearing before the Senate for confirmation hearings today. It’s going well! Just kidding. Clayton wouldn’t say who won the 2020 election.
My favorite part is when Sen. Ossoff asks, “Isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the President’s delusions?”
Something’s Killing Puffins in Tacoma: Three puffins have died at the Point Defiance Zoo, and the zoo has closed the birds’ habitat while they look for answers. They suspect the animals were infected with avian psittacosis, also known as parrot fever. Fun fact about puffins: They mate for life and have one chick a year, called a puffling. AHHH LOOK AT THEM!
Trump Was Just Kidding About Stopping ICE Traffic Stops: Just 24 hours ago, the Trump administration ordered ICE to cease conducting vehicle stops because ICE killed two men—Joan Sebastian Guerrero and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo—during traffic stops in one week. This morning, though, Trump posted on social media: “We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”
Need to Scream? Defund Musk is hosting a rally at University Village on Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon. (This was planned before ICE killed Joan Sebastian Guerrero on Monday. You know you’re on the most fucked of fucked timelines when the vigil you’ve planned for someone killed by ICE is out of date within days of organizing.)
Related: Today Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network is hosting their monthly virtual Know Your Rights workshop at 6 p.m.
Ebola Continues to Spread: A rare form of Ebola has been spreading in the Congo since May, and, according to NPR, it’s spreading faster than health officials can track. Nearly 2,000 people have contracted the disease, and more than 700 people have died. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of recent cases are “from unknown chains of transmission.”
Thanks for the Music, Dave: Dave Kendall, who created MTV’s 120 Minutes, the late-night alternative music video show that essentially made me who I am today, has died. Fellow MTV host Matt Pinfield (who hosted 120 Minutes after Kendall) wrote on Instagram, “He didn’t just host a show. He gave a home to music that deserved to be heard.”
With that, I leave you with a song that has been stuck in my head for more than 30 years, ever since I first saw it on 120 Minutes:
