RantWoman notes, according to local public radio, a new ordinance in Bellevue prohibiting more than 4 people at once from protesting outside individual homes.
Rep. Adam Smith lives in Bellevue. His house has been targeted by protestors, possibly protestors collaborating with Kshama Sawant, his opponent in this election cycle.
In RantWoman's view, Rep. Smith does a decent job about reflecting his constituents' diversity in programs he supports, in staffing his offices, and bringing money back to the district.
Rep. Smith is the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee and is getting a LOT of face time in various news outlets. RantWoman definitely wishes he would take stronger positions on some topics and completely different positions on other topics.
Rep. Smith receives millions of dollars in campaign contributions from AIPAC.
Twitter / X is the social media platform besides YouTube that RantWoman is most familiar with so RantWoman has dabbled in Saturday Night sleuthing.
A review of Rep. Smith's Twitter / X posts over the last 10 days shows:
1 post thanking interns in his office
A number of posts about the costs of the Iran war and defense issues
posts about how "complex" it is to investigate the bombing of the Iranian girls school at the beginning of the US attack.
Posts about the housing crisis including critique of private equity.
posts in support of transgender people
posts about economic development in the 9th district.
A post recognizing a Jewish holiday RantWoman is unfamiliar with
Posts about the #TrumpCrimeFamily, though he is too polite to refer to President #StableGenius that way.
Absent, among other topics: ANY mention of the DISGUSTING video made by Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir gloating over treatment of participants in the humanitarian effort to deliver aid to Gaza.
Just sayin'
For comparison, RantWoman looked at the Twitter / X feed of Jewish Voice for Peace. Not surprisingly, there are posts about multiple disgraceful Israeli actions. To be fair, RantWoman also did not find anything yet about Mr. Ben Gvir's disgusting video. Maybe the video will be a topic for the Sunday morning talkies.
RantWoman is having trouble getting past Ms. Sawant's reputation for stridency and irritating protests to evaluate what she is actually basing her campaign on but RantWoman did notice:
A site called the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights has endorsed a number of candidates who have pledged to oppose aid to Israel. Ms. Sawant is not listed--yet?
Ms Sawant's Twitter / X feed mostly includes campaign events and links to other progressive thinkers. ALice Walker has endorsed her campaign. The King County labor council has not. And so far, no mention of Mr. Ben Gvir's video or a lot of other relatable policy points.
Here are links to two videos RantWoman has not yet taken time to pick through.
Back to the new ordinance. RantWoman is not a lawyer. The ordinance sounds dubious on first amendment grounds but public radio reports that similar ordinances have survived in other jurisdictions.
RantWoman appreciates CREATIVE protests. For example, people placed bottles of fake urine strategically around the Met Gala to remind celebrants that workers at Amazon warehouse pee into soda bottles because they are penalized for taking breaks. Say what you will about worker rights--and there is a LOT to say. But robots do not need bathroom breaks.
RantWoman thinks different things on different days about protests directly at someone's home. That said, RantWoman is having NO trouble thinking of protests that would comply with the letter of the law, share protest with the entire neighborhood and regularly leave other evidence of all the things to protest about Israeli behavior.
Round the clock silent vigil up and down the entire street?
Random dumping of rubble reminiscent of Gaza bombing rubble?
RantWoman HAS OPINIONS about many issues in the 9th district campaign. RantWoman also considers it very important to uphold freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Enough said?
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