It’s been an ugly week for the City Council.

Seattle is well below the average for officer coverage among large cities, and has a officer/resident ratio just slightly above the average for all cities with over 100,000 population.

“Well, so, what do we know?” It was Monday morning. Sun poured through the penthouse office windows, burnishing the bamboo floors and varnished fir window and door frames. They were drinking coffee, Falconer, elbows on the small conference table, holding a large ceramic Starbucks mug imprinted in green with the Seattle skyline.

“The two grew close while fighting to take on the banking industry. Through her friendship with Beau, she got to know Joe Biden. From hearing about Kamala from Beau, to seeing her fight for others directly, Joe has long been impressed by how tough Kamala is.”

The Republican base has been fully Trumpified. They seek out the most conservative candidates and reject anyone who defies Trumpist orthodoxy. There is no real battle now within the GOP.

From where he was parked across Point Gray Road from the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Falconer could see through the gate and across the parking lot to the club’s porte cochere and make out anyone coming or going. He’d been there since six, only a little after he’d spotted Victor Wallingford’s classic 85-foot motor yacht, unmistakable with its deep green hull, from a viewpoint at Jericho Beach a few miles to the west along the route all incoming boats would use. His location gave him a good chance that he could spot Wallingford and his buddies as they came out to catch a ride or a cab and follow them into town. Sitting in his car in the lot for a closer look would only get him rousted by the doorman or some heavier security. Falconer mused: boom in that business everywhere thanks to real and imagined terrorist threats. He nibbled on a cold piroshky, one of several he’d bought – always the tourist – from a stall at the Granville Island Market.

Looking at the primary results, there's at least some reason to think that the Republicans are strengthening their holds on the regions not directly visible from atop the Space Needle.

Seattle was seeing a softening in its apartment rental market before the pandemic made the prospect of living in a dense neighborhood with a mandatory elevator ride daunting. Conditions can only get worse for building owners, at least in the near and mid-term.

Think about renaming public squares, with fine statues of King Don in the middle (renaming Lafayette Square across from the White House is an obvious first choice).

Falconer had just finished updating the blog for Friday, eating cold pizza at his desk, washing it down with Redhook when the phone rang.

Bavarian Meats in the Pike Place Market has never been “just another deli”; it was a living time-capsule, a place where one could be certain of finding an astonishing array of basics from the Central European gastrosphere: hundreds of years worth of traditional Feinkostmetzgerei

There's one big hitch, however. Will Durkan stick around and run for (or be elected to) a second term in 2021? Many are betting that she wants out. If so, does the long game last enough to pay off? Or just long enough to elect a more radical mayor in 2021?

“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice.” With a plastic fork Falconer stirred globs of blue cheese dressing into a sizeable pile of greens, tomato wedges, onions, bean sprouts, red beans, garbanzo beans and a few other things scooped from the salad bar. Lunch by the pound.

We lumbered toward shore on a rising tide, taking forever to make any progress. Gradually we emerged, presenting the primitive spectacle of fish-things on stumpy fins dragging themselves gasping onto dry land. But not quite yet. There was still the menacing sea lettuce.

“That wasn’t cool, Eric, you being at Barclay’s this morning when our people arrived.” Bobby Harms’ bright white smile was hidden behind tight lips. They were on the Starlight deck, the space between Falconer’s penthouse and his office, open beers on the food-stained wooden table between them, the evening sun still warm, but the mood was not genial.

The history of Frangos may explain our odd taste in ice cream. Speaking of history, did Lewis and Clark, er, borrow some lines?

“Lotsa people know this guy. Sorta,” said Danny. “They’ve heard of him because he’s some kind of dealer, or they remember talking to him in a bar. They remember the snake tattoo. No one I talked to remembers a name. Some of them called him The Snake or Snake like that was his name. Seems to be what he goes by.”

Omari Salisbury, Marcus Green and Kevin Schofield discuss the origins of the 50% target, the politics that led to this point, and the deep, often acrimonious divisions in City Hall over the wisdom of moving quickly to cut SPD’s budget.

There’s a way in which Critical Theory and the Movement it has spawned have become so rigid, in the name of Social Justice, that it is itself oppressive.

Falconer followed Bobby Harms’ directions and took the ramp off U.S. 2 onto Ebey Island. Barely a mile east of I-5 and not twice that from downtown Everett, a left turn under the causeway and he was on a two-lane leading back in time to a place the suburbs passed by. Weedy horse pastures, mostly empty, sometimes home to a few sheep, and abandoned orchards were scattered on either side of the road. Gravel drives led back to small houses cloaked by the trees, thick moss on the roofs. The area hid from prosperity. “No Trespassing” signs on the fences advertised the locals’ views. These were independent people who could of necessity make do with an old farmhouse or moss-stained trailer on an island in the Snohomish River delta. The inevitable floods turned away the reasonable.

The results were unsettling, to say the least: “Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed cardiac involvement in 78 patients (78%) and ongoing myocardial inflammation in 60 patients (60%), which was independent of preexisting conditions, severity and overall course of the acute illness, and the time from the original diagnosis.”

Both held pints of Manny’s and drank in silence. On Luna Park’s rainbow-lit Wurlitzer Falconer had Janis Joplin’s “Bobby McGee” playing for the second time.

The Asteroid issue failed to take off for one “Berniecrat” challenging a down-to-earth Washington congressman, as insurgencies from the left continued to fizzle in races for Congress.

Because life is not “normal,” we don’t have to do what we’ve always done. The quarantine is an opportunity to have more intentional social gatherings, which can only enhance our interactions, regardless if they take place virtually or in-person.

“He wasn’t there. Hadn’t shown up and that surprised them all. I sat next to a woman, Rosalyn something or other, from his office, receptionist-administrative assistant, majordomo, sounds like. Going to these fundraisers and rubbing shoulders with political types at the boss’s expense seems to be a perk of the job at Carl Barclay Associates. Rosalyn said she’d talked to him before lunch and he was planning to be there.”

We want to trust the news media, but a new study finds we often don't.

The Quinault Nation is “geographically classified now as living below sea level” as stated in testimony to Congress by President Fawn Sharp . The tribe’s forced relocation due to rising sea level is eerily parallel with the legend of the Flood Tide Woman, who lead the First Nations Haida people to higher, safer ground.

Falconer pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Carl Barclay who was eating lunch by himself. “Mind if I join you? I thought we could talk about a few things. You maybe could help me out.”

One vice presidential prospect who didn’t get too much attention early on but remains in contention is Susan Rice – the only one of those in serious consideration who has never run for office. But I don’t see that as a disqualification.

Washington’s Third Congressional District reflects a political re-alignment that’s occurring nationwide. Those disgruntled mill workers and older Joe Sixpack former Dems in rural areas are now Trump loyalists. The offset is the suburban areas where professional, upper-middle-class Republicans no longer can stomach or vote for Donald Trump.