The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Hannah Krieg Gloom: Good morning, Sloggers! Thanks for reading The Stranger, you are morally and intellectually superior. Despite the superiority, sadly, we all get the same weather, regardless of where we read it. This morning, expect cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid 40s. Around noon, things will warm up to the high 40s and showers should roll in around 1 pm. But don’t worry, the rain should subside by about 4 pm. Temperatures will drop slightly into the evening.  Cyclone: Western Washington is still recovering from the bomb cyclone Tuesday, which killed two people and left hundreds of thousands without power across the region. The Seattle Times will post live updates here as we gear up for round two Friday. However, Friday's windstorm won't get the "bomb cyclone" classification. Still, it should pack a wallop.  Hands where I can see them, Bibi: The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, making him the first-ever Israeli official in history summoned by the court for crimes against Palestinians. The ICC says it has “reasonable grounds” to believe he’s criminally responsible for war crimes such as “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” When will we see Netanyahu in cuffs? Well, the ICC doesn’t have cops to fulfill their warrants, rather, the court relies on its 124 member states to act if Netanyahu steps foot in their territory. This will severely limit Netanyahu’s ability to travel. The ICC also issued warrants for former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and surviving senior Hamas official, Mohammed Deif, after finding reasonable grounds he committed “crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other form of sexual violence” during the October 7 attack, CNN reports.  Arms embargo when? Well, it could be now, but the United States Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to reject three resolutions sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders that would block the sale of the deadliest offensive weapons to Israel, a move which would disempower Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. Only 18 senators voted to put any guardrails on Israel after 13 months of killing civilians with our tax dollars. AIPAC’s Darlings: Washington State’s two senators, Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell, joined the genocidal majority in rejecting Sanders’s tepid embargo on Israel. We shouldn’t be surprised. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gave Murray’s campaign more than $120,000 between 2019 and 2024, making the pro-Israel PAC her third-biggest contributor, according to Open Secrets. AIPAC also ranks as Cantwell’s number one campaign contributor, giving her nearly $200,000 in that same period, records show. When a majority of Democratic voters support a ceasefire—and have for many months—and Washington State saw a sizable turnout for “uncommitted” in the primary in protest of the Biden administration's response to the war, it is abundantly clear that Murray and Cantwell represent AIPAC, not the people of Washington.  Pissed? Tell them how you feel (via @JVPSeattle) pic.twitter.com/7I4JqvIjgM — Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) November 21, 2024 Speaking of ceasefire: The United States vetoed the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza despite 14 out of 15 members, including the United States’ closest allies Britain and France, voting in favor. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood tried to blame it on the other 14 members' stubbornness. He said, “We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages" and that it was unfortunate the compromise language did not make it into the final resolution. However, from my read, the resolution did demand Hamas release the hostages. Have a look yourself: “...demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.” Don’t stop believin’: Remember how the Seattle City Council voted against Council Member Cathy Moore’s capital gains tax on Tuesday? I tried to keep it positive on the blog, arguing that after Alexis Mercedes Rinck gets sworn in a few weeks, the council will have enough votes to pass the tax anyway. But Moore has outdone even me when it comes to optimism and political will. She thinks they can pass it today! Yesterday, Moore’s office put out an action alert calling on capital gains tax supporters to lobby Council Members Rob Saka and Tanya Woo to switch their votes in the final full council vote today at 2 pm. If you want to tax the rich to support programs that benefit the working people, contact Saka at [email protected] or 206-684-8801 and Woo at [email protected] or 206-684-8808. In my opinion, Saka's the more sympathetic of the two. He said earlier this week that Moore found the "right tax at the wrong time." Maybe if he understood that this tax wouldn't bring in revenue until the 2027 budget—when the City expects a $100 million shortfall—he would better appreciate the timing.  McBride responds: US Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, set to be the first trans member of Congress, said she would “follow” the Speaker of the House’s newly minted rules that ban her from the women’s bathroom, inspired by Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s recent transphobic crusade. A lot of people online are unhappy with her response, accusing her of capitulating to bigots. I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. pic.twitter.com/bCuv7pIZBY — Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) November 20, 2024 Falling in line: Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted not to release the findings of the investigation into Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Rep. Matt Gaetz. It's an early sign of the party’s loyalty to the man who just may be our final president!  Venmo privacy settings strike again! Speaking of Gaetz, newly-released Venmo records show Gaetz paid more than $10,000 to two women between July 2017 and January 2019 while he served in Congress. The women later testified as witnesses in sexual misconduct probes by the House and the Justice Department. The House Ethics Committee also obtained a check Gaetz made out to cash for one of the women for $750. On the check, he allegedly wrote it was for "tuition reimbursement."   Matt Gaetz paid young girls for "Being awesome and "Just because" pic.twitter.com/zNmWWGKQ1F — Liam Nissan™ (@theliamnissan) November 21, 2024 UPDATE: As of around 9:40 am, Gaetz said he is withdrawing from consideration for the attorney general post. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition," Gaetz wrote in a tweet. "There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General." Said like a man who would like his skeletons to remain inside his closet.  He sure knows how to pick 'em: New details emerged about Trump's secretary of defense pick Pete Hegseth's sexual assault allegation. According to police reports, Hegseth blocked a woman from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her even though she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot." The same police report says Hegseth denied the allegations, saying he repeatedly checked that the woman “was comfortable with what was going on between the two of them.” Inspired: Stranger reporter Ashley Nerbovig sang this song at karaoke earlier this week and I’ve been thinking about the genius of the selection ever since. Impeccable taste, radiating cool girl energy.