1. For a glimpse into the internal battle that’s wracking the Republican Party over Donald Trump—sparked by Republican U.S. senate candidate Chris Vance’s announcement last week that he doesn’t support Trump—check out yesterday’s John Carlson talk radio show on KVI[1].
“You kick your base in the face, you lose the race,” one caller, who like most, thought Vance was a losing establishment RINO, told Carlson.
Interestingly, Vance’s consultant, Patrick Davis, told me last week that Vance’s strategy about Trump was to “say it now and say it loud, and move on, and get back to focusing on Patty Murray.”
You kick your base in the face, you lose the race.
Unfortunately for Vance, when he went on Carlson’s show to talk about his campaign against Murray, he got bogged down in fight with Carlson over the merits or not of endorsing Trump.
Of course, the GOP is so divided that even Vance’s own campaign consultant, Davis, is working for Trump and is an alternate Trump delegate (from Colorado) to the GOP convention in Cleveland[2].
2. That increase in light rail ridership[3] during the Viaduct closure was not a one-day fluke; when ST CEO Peter Rogoff had initially announced the spike in ridership, he added that he was simply citing the first day of the closure with the footnote that there was a sold out Mariners game that day.
But after a full week with the Viaduct out of commission, ST reports that they had a consistent 13 percent increase in ridership above the new normal (since U. Link opened in March) of about 55,000 riders a day to about 62,000 riders a day.
The project is still two years behind schedule. I’d play it a little cooler guys.
And a quick note on all the boasting about the Viaduct coming back online five days early after some successful tunneling: The project is still two years behind schedule. I’d play it a little cooler guys.
3. Starbucks policy is to post schedules for its store employees two weeks in advance. But Working Washington, the labor group that’s campaigning for stricter labor regulations around service economy scheduling practices (such as mandating advance scheduling and compensation for schedules that come with surprise changes that cut hours), posted a picture [4]on its website from an employee room scheduling board at a local Starbucks that shows management there doesn’t appear to be scheduling beyond the current week.
I have a message in to Starbucks.
I wrote an article on the secured scheduling issue for the magazine last month, and indeed, Strabucks told me their policy is to provide schedules two weeks out[5].
4. Huge news yesterday: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ruled in favor of the Lummi Nation against SSA Marine’s bid to open a controversial coal shipping terminal at Cherry Point[6] outside of Bellingham.
The Cherry Point coal terminal was already facing serious opposition in Seattle because of the projected 18 coal train trips a day, with a 7,000 foot train arriving every 1.3 hours blocking major freight intersections. That opposition campaign got a serious boost when the Lummi Nation weighed in saying the proposed plant would violate its fishing rights[7].
References
- ^ yesterday’s John Carlson talk radio show on KVI (kvi.com)
- ^ Davis, is working for Trump and is an alternate Trump delegate (from Colorado) to the GOP convention in Cleveland (www.seattlemet.com)
- ^ That increase in light rail ridership (www.seattlemet.com)
- ^ posted a picture (www.workingwa.org)
- ^ their policy is to provide schedules two weeks out (www.seattlemet.com)
- ^ a controversial coal shipping terminal at Cherry Point (www.seattlemet.com)
- ^ the Lummi Nation weighed in saying the proposed plant would violate its fishing rights (www.seattlemet.com)
- ^ The Bellingham Herald has the news (www.bellinghamherald.com)
