Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
Welcome to In Brief, the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog. In Brief provides a continuously curated collection of asides, recommended links, quotations, audio and video clips, still images, and transcribed dialogue. Click on a thumbnail to open an item.
“In phone calls to friends and relatives at home, Russian soldiers gave damning insider accounts of battlefield failures and civilian executions, excoriating their leaders just weeks into the campaign to take Kyiv.,” The New York Times reports.
Launch
This featured column from The New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg on the 3rd District contest between ultra MAGA Republican Joe Kent and Democratic hopeful Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — which cites NPI’s congressional district polling — is a must-read.
Launch
“Atlanta Vintage Books is one of hundreds of independent bookstores across the country that have celebrated the freedom to read this week at a time when schools, universities and public libraries face what experts say are unprecedented attempts to ban or restrict reading materials,” NPR reports.
Launch
The Association of Washington Business, the state’s best known business group, has thrown its backing behind Democratic incumbent Steve Hobbs to be retained as Washington’s Secretary of State, it announced today.
Launch
Eastside For All’s Debbie Lacy, Complete Streets Bellevue’s Chris Randels, and the Housing Development Consortium’s Patience Malaba joined NPI’s Andrew Villeneuve on Monday, September 12th to unveil the initial findings of the August 2022 Bellevue housing poll commissioned by NPI and the Bellevue Housing Research Coalition.
Launch
Today, during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union, Republican Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley refused to admit that President Joe Biden was legitimately selected. She chose instead to engage in false equivalency rhetoric.
Launch
“The only way out is through. Fear of what Trump and his supports might do cannot and should not stand in the way of what we must do to secure the Constitution from all its enemies, foreign and domestic,” writes Jamelle Bouie.
Launch
“This whole situation is red meat for their base. They use events like this to feed into this fantasy they’ve co-created with their supporters, and defusing the situation would require stepping out of that alternate reality,” said disinformation expert Orr Bueno.
Launch
“No one stormed into Trump’s home unannounced with guns blazing, awakening him from a sound sleep and scaring him into paralysis,” Robin Givhan points out.
Launch
Read Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat’s first take on the August 2022 Top Two election results, in which he credits NPI for having correctly assessed for months that the available data didn’t support Republicans’ claims that a red tsunami was on its way.
Launch
“Crude oil, wheat and lumber are among commodities that have tumbled recently. Shipping rates on major trade routes are sinking from record highs. And used-car prices, which surged during the past two years, are showing early signs of tailing off,” The Globe and Mail reports.
Launch
Watch a British humorist react to the news that Boris Johnson is resigning as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Launch
“Repealing capital gains tax would give King County’s uber wealthy a huge, unnecessary tax break,” explains Washington State Budget & Policy Center senior fellow Andy Nicholas.
Launch
“This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level,” the President said.
Launch
Refining oil is a dirty, dangerous business. Understandably, few private sector firms want to build, upgrade, or expand refineries at a time when the nation is trying to pivot to a renewable energy future.
Launch
“Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said authorities received a tip about a ‘little army’ loading into a U-Haul truck Saturday afternoon. Police later arrested thirty-nine people who had masks, white supremacist insignia and shields,” The Washington Post reported.
Launch
With Attorney General Bob Ferguson, State Senator Manka Dhingra, State Representative Jamila Taylor, State Senator Patty Kuderer, and Emily Cantrell of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
Launch
Senator Chris Murphy, who represents Newtown in the United States Senate along with Richard Blumenthal, delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate demanding that his Republican colleagues stop blocking gun safety bills from reaching the President’s desk.
Launch
Watch and listen to Steve Kerr’s call to action for gun safety following the horrific slaughter of schoolchildren and teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
Launch
The Commonwealth of Australia has a new leader: Anthony Albanese. Following Labor’s victory in the 2022 Australian federal election, Albanese has assumed office along with several top ministers. Watch the swearing-in ceremony and the press conference that followed.
Launch
“Australian voters have delivered a sharp rebuke to the center-right government, ending nine years of conservative rule, in favor of the center-left opposition that promised stronger action on climate change,” Hilary Whiteman writes in CNN’s assessment of the 2022 Australian federal election.
Launch