deadryn.

if you've been following the whole Denny Blaine saga here in seattle, you've probably seen the texts where our mayor agrees with his millionaire friend that the nude bathers at the historic gay beach are "disgusting". here's the Stranger's most recent coverage of this outrageous bullshit:

great news though! the Friends of Denny Blaine are running a funding campaign for things like a bike rack and, in the long term, full bathroom facilities, and if you donate $25 they will send a postcard to the mayor to remind him that "This member of a disgusting subgroup votes."

there's a lot of causes that need attention in Seattle due to our feckless, dysfunctional city government, but this is one way to send a message about whether this city exists to serve all of the people or just the bourgeoisie.

(tried to post this yesterday but my internet briefly died just long enough for cohost to crash destroying the post, which I can only assume was Stuart Sloan trying to cut the cable to prevent me posting this, getting cartoonishly zapped so his whole skeleton flashes in the process)

Obviously, we must linger a bit and talk about the elephant in the room: Sean O'Brien's speech at the RNC, his endorsement of an abysmal Josh Hawley article, and the resultant backlash to both.

Let's be clear: the Teamsters have not covered themselves in particular glory this year, and it would not be serious to argue otherwise. Although they've been at the head of a number of important struggles in the past year or so, it is simply impossible to ignore the increasing chumminess its leadership has with scabs and far-right politics.

That started with O'Brien's meeting with Donald Trump—and has continued through the union's donations to the Republican Party and specifically to self-avowed Christian nationalist Josh Hawley. Literally none of this is politically defensible: Trump is a scab and a fascist, the Republican Party is categorically anti-working class, and Hawley's "pro-labor" shtick is kayfabe. But you could begrudgingly let this slide, I guess, as just ordinary access politicking.

What you cannot let slide, however, is showing up at the RNC for any reason.¹ Or giving a major speech that legitimizes Trump as a populist who cares about working people, just days before he denounces the UAW's efforts to rebuild the labor movement. Or effectively touting J.D. Vance² as a tribune of the working class who has "been right there on all our issues." Or praising Josh Hawley—the self-professed Christian nationalist who, again, is not seriously "pro-labor"—for really any reason.³

Nor can O'Brien skate on politicking as an excuse for de facto endorsing Hawley's vehemently racist and transphobic op-ed, in which he argues working class people have been sold out in favor of “diversity, equity, and inclusion and the religion of the trans flag.” O'Brien's claim that he merely "channel[s] the response from many of his members" when speaking highly of people like Hawley is at best embarrassing (and a total abdication of his responsibility); and at worst a complete lie to conceal his own reactionary politics.

Luckily, it's clear that many within the Teamsters and the labor movement as a whole see this for what it is and do not stand for it. From Labor Notes and DSA members; to the internals of the Teamsters; to the vice president of the Teamsters and the president of the AFL-CIO, O'Brien's actions are getting the reception they should here. It is unfortunately true that many people will still agree with O'Brien (for one reason or another), but the response has been heartening overall. Optimistically? It'll make O'Brien rethink the course he's steering the Teamsters on. If need be? This should serve as the base from which to oust him.

1. Which for instance officially printed signs demanding MASS DEPORTATION NOW! during its third day.

2. Who has voted with the AFL-CIO's priorities literally never

3. Who has voted with the AFL-CIO's priorities a whole 11% of the time.

Via the Teamsters International Facebook page. Transcribed below the cut:

Talk to any westerner long enough and you'll find most of them are wholly disinterested in learning where their food comes from, and are often oblivious to the legacy of violent colonialism inherent to the modern food industry.

there's a lot that these articles about Red Lobster skip over because the truth is embarrassing: it's all private equity shenanigans again

• to start with, there was the usual bullshit with private equity buying the company with its own assets, saddling it with immense debt right off the bat
• Red Lobster's new owners forced the company to sell the buildings to a separate holding company (also owned by the private equity firm, naturally) and pay them rent instead, leeching even more profitability from the chain. that's what the "above-market rates for rent" line actually means; before the purchase, most Red Lobster locations owned their buildings
• Red Lobster was also forced by the new owners to buy all its shrimp from a specific provider (also owned by the private equity firm, naturally), who made an enormous amount of money from the endless shrimp promotion, and the new owners insisted on keeping the promotion going even when it was draining the company dry

nearly every bankruptcy of a long-running company you see in the news these days is actually the result of private equity buying it up and sucking all the blood out of it. and you rarely get a real explanation in the regular news for reasons I shouldn't have to explain