Steve Banfield

Seattle

For decades Americans in Republican counties have died sooner than those living in Democratic ones Now they’re dying faster than they’re being born These are policy choices

Wilber’s attorney: “Wilber has a bullet lodged near his spine and is losing feeling on the left side of his body.” #AbolishICE @DoorDash

Fuck ICE. @govandybeshear.bsky.social needs to step up and make sure this young woman is treated humanely and released.

Surf safely y'all cause Musk's minions want to steal your data.

Everything he builds we will tear down. Everything. Nothing with his name will remain.

Federal corporate political spending has already reached nearly $650 MILLION ahead of the midterms, according to Public Citizen. That’s an all-time high — and we’re still months away from Election Day. Big Money is the real threat to “election integrity.”

Haha, a more fitting logo for Google.

As a Kentuckian I have an aversion to all things Tennessee Orange, but this is beautiful. #dollyparton

I was at an event in downtown Seattle yesterday evening attended by some folks visiting from Vancouver, BC. All I could say was "I'm sorry y'all are having to deal with this shit". They were gracious, as all Canadians are, but clearly concerned for how bad things might get.

GROUNDWORK: “.. After adjusting for inflation, corporate profits have grown 52% since 2019. Wages have grown just 12%.” @groundwork.bsky.social

via @wpln.bsky.social Dolly Parton’s death Tuesday marked the loss of not only an American country music legend, but, also, a major philanthropist.

Dolly Parton did all the good she could, for all the people she could, for as long as ever she could. From her legendary songwriting to the Imagination Library—which sent 1 million books a month to children across the country—she was the best of America. Dolly, we'll miss your great heart.

One way you know Dolly Parton lived life the right way: I don’t think anyone’s going to get fired for accurately quoting Dolly Parton today.

This is truly heartbreaking. Dolly Parton was an extraordinary person and an irreplaceable champion of the working class. We are a better country because of her.

I appreciate that Dolly Parton refused to participate in "dress respectability" and, by her own account, modeled her aesthetic after a town "tramp," who she thought was beautiful. She separated aesthetics from character and understood "classiness" to be about how you treat people, not how you dress.

Live your life as beautifully loud and unapologetically as Dolly did, leaving behind a legacy of love and joy that everyone speaks of with reverence. That was her gift to all of us.

Hey @nytimes.com, serious question— wtf is wrong with y’all?

So what's stopping the decent, hardworking people of the USPS from just delivering ballots and telling their bosses in DC to GTFO?

Data centers are noisy, harsh on the environment, and steal space that belongs to our communities. Fitting that the KY GOP is backing a project that is just as secretive and non-transparent as they are.

“.. Trump has leveraged his control of the federal government to instead escape the scrutiny that every other modern president, not to mention every other regular taxpayer, has been subject to.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/b...

Oh hell no.

Cobweb-Covered Skeleton Gripping Senate Desk Expected To Seek 15th Term

If Andy Beshear does not push this to a conclusion that either has him appointing McConnell's replacement, or McConnell reappearing, Beshear will be out of Democratic politics. We need rabble-rousers, not the same quiet, proper Dems who keep losing.

The same folks who are *obsessed* with banning gender affirming care in civilian life are going to provide gender affirming care in the military. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

JD Vance is unqualified to hold any office.

Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche, who is facing his Senate confirmation hearing, previously shut down DOJ crypto investigations while holding more than $150,000 in crypto investments. From our Dec. 2025 investigation:

“‘That is RIDICULOUS,’ one person with knowledge of the planned golf trip said in a message. ‘Pence and Harris never pulled anything like that.’” www.ms.now/news/veeps-s...

If the head of US intelligence isn't able to say who won the election in 2020, then maybe he shouldn't be head of US intelligence.

7/14/26 🎥 KING 5 Seattle youtu.be/IOd9w5IYHck?...

I'll specifically add my thoughts to this, so there's no confusion. Lindsey Graham was a terrible person who used his political power for evil. We should absolutely call that out. But don't be homophobic about it. We can criticize his hypocrisy without the punchline being, "Ha ha he was gay."

Iran and the Financial Times know TACO!

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was murdered by ICE. His three sons called him “El mundo entero” — the whole world. They watched as their whole world died in a video posted on Facebook. Lorenzo was our neighbor and fellow Texan. He deserves justice.

Demented old man has the power to launch a nuclear war. He is a raging threat to humankind. Please Congress- you must impeach him

An upcoming bill would require companies seeking to operate fully autonomous vehicles in New Jersey to use cameras plus two other sensing technologies, most commonly lidar and radar. This would effectively ban Tesla’s camera-only Robotaxi system in NJ unless the company changed its hardware.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon swears in new civil rights division lawyers at the DOJ. Because nothing says “we care about civil rights” quite like only hiring white people.

Jimmy Carter had to gave up his peanut farm to avoid any conflicts of interest while president. The Obamas were forbidden to refinance their home while he was in office. Donald Trump has made over 21,000 stock trades while in office, often using his office to manipulate markets.

I'm excited for today's USA vs Belgium match even though I'm not a football fan, but the whole thing just has a pall over it given Trump's dirty dealing and FIFA's corruption. I'd say "everything Trump touches turns to shit" but FIFA was already there.

Reported on the mixed economic results of the World Cup for local Seattle businesses: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

🇺🇸🇺🇸

Spot the difference

A few thoughts on why golf rangefinders slow down play and why most recreational olfers would play better and faster using just a simple GPS device with basic yardages. In golf as in business, more precise data is not always better data.

I hope he runs.

Just 10 days after the SpaceX IPO, the stock has plunged and the average investor has seen most of their initial gains disappear. And don't forget: rules protecting investors from volatile new stocks were gutted — at SpaceX's behest. The universe's largest Ponzi scheme?

“.. A trainee in his sixth week of basic training died after falling ill on Friday and being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, the Air Force said in a news release.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/u...

Reflections Follow my cartoons and accompanying written commentary on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com For @contrariannews.org

One of my cartoons for Monday's Metro

Corporations spend more than $1.5 billion a year on union-busting. That’s $1.5 billion they could have spent on higher wages, better benefits, and improving workplace safety. Remember: if they weren’t so scared of worker power, they wouldn’t fight so hard against unions.