First of all, a couple shoutouts, to
Will Nediger and
Christopher Adams for linking over here (and doubly so for Christopher, who helped out w/ a couple clues in this puzzle). You're probably already doing their puzzles, but if you're not, go do them!
PUZ
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Solution
tbh I'm still bummed about Tuesday and still don't feel like posting a bunch about the puzzle. I tried to make this one a bit more difficult - should be reasonable & fair though. Anyways, political rant below, feel free to skip (i guess you don't ever have to read anything I write, but typing it out Wednesday morning was very cathartic).
Weird how all the people who live near the homeless "problem" didn't vote for the person who wanted to round up the homeless.
Spokane had a mere 25% turnout, and we're rewarded with a mayor bought and paid for by real estate developers. Hooray for more strip malls and unwalkable neighborhoods! She ran a campaign entirely on dehumanizing the homeless, she denies climate change, has zero political experience and put out precisely one policy plan: treatment or jail for homeless folks (nevermind that 2/3 of the homeless aren't addicted to anything, and our jail is already overcrowded). Nadine didn't even show up at a candidate forum on homelessness before the election where she could have actually spoken to homeless folks on issues important to them. Everyone else managed to but not the one person who made it the singular issue of her campaign. Spokane's a cool little city and has been on an upswing the past 5 years, but no, let's not vote in the dude who's been council president for the past 8 years and has had a big hand in that turnaround. Let's elect a TV personality with no experience or ideas who's running on hatred. Sure is going well in the other Washington. Fuck.
Speaking of the homeless "problem", aka the only issue Nadine made her campaign about (while conveniently ignoring the fact that our homeless population has been steady over the past few years). The homeless "problem" isn't that poor people happen to exist in the same city as you. The homeless "problem" isn't that your suburban ass feels slightly uncomfortable when you step outside your picket fence and perfectly manicured lawn and see people that can't afford a place to sleep at night. The real homeless problem is that in the wealthiest nation in all of human history, we still have people who freeze to death because they don't have a place to sleep, who will go hungry because they can't afford food, who will get sick & die because they can't afford to go to the doctor. And they don't ever get a voice to do something about it because our society drops a big fat deuce on them every chance we get.
Don't worry though, we managed to be gigantic morons on a statewide scale too. Washington voted to gut our transportation budget by lowering car tab fees unilaterally to $30 (except electric cars, which cost $75 MORE). It's okay, the planet's not on fire or anything, we should totally be encouraging more 5,000 pound toxic murder machines on wheels all to lug a single person around from strip mall to strip mall. Oh, and we also will ban affirmative action, it's super close right now. Racism's over in America, didn't you hear? Never mind that there is a literal white supremacist in the state legislature (Matt Shea, look that fucker up if you haven't heard of him). We actually managed to erase centuries of oppression just by electing a black guy President a decade ago. Go us.
not bitter at all or anything. 25 fucking percent turnout.
