The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham It's bad out there: European and Asian markets saw sharp declines Monday morning in response to Donald Trump's tariffs and the fear of the global economic slowdown they could inspire. Wall Street kept slumping as well. The Dow Jones dropped 1,200 points. The S&P 500 is in bear market territory. Goldman Sachs increased the probability of a US recession to 45% this year. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon penned his annual letter to shareholders and said the tariffs will hurt growth and drive up prices for consumers. Oil is down. Bitcoin is down. It's bad, bad, bad.  Good news. The American empire is falling. Bad news. I’m an American[image or embed] — Ahhhhh (@nerdjpg.com) April 7, 2025 at 6:39 AM Trump isn't budging: Despite everyone with a brain saying how bad these tariffs are for the US and the global economy, Trump isn't changing his mind yet. He equivocated the economic tailspin to the "medicine" we have to take to "fix" things. In a Monday Truth Social post, Trump wrote that other countries had been “taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA” on international trade and that “our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country." Quiet Quake in King County Mountains: On Sunday morning, a 3.7-magnitude earthquake shook the mountains northeast of Greenwater in King County. About 290 people felt the quake. No injuries. No damage. Just a reminder that the earth is moving and one day it could kill us all.  The Weather: Open your window. I don't think you need me to tell you it is rainy and wet.  Don't Worry: You can talk openly about the White Lotus finale. I watched it last night. Pretty disappointing, in my opinion. And in others' opinions.  New Frontier for Rocket Taco: In hyperlocal neighborhood news maybe only I care about, Rocket Taco on 19th Avenue E jumped ship from its old location and moved... across the street. Rocket Taco swiftly swept into the restaurant space that's seen turnover ever since Linda Derschang's venture Tallulah closed in 2019.  Did you say "Hands Off!" this weekend? Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Washington state on Saturday in demonstrations calling for President Donald Trump and his creep-in-chief Elon Musk to fuck off. Across all 50 states, an estimated 1,200 rallies took place. Millions of people turned out. All we have is our voices and our votes. Let's keep it up.  Scenes from today's Hands Off rally at the Seattle Center. 📷 @meganseling.bsky.social[image or embed] — The Stranger (@thestranger.com) April 5, 2025 at 3:24 PM Sue Bird selected for Basketball Hall of Fame: Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird will have her name enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year alongside the likes of NBA alums Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard and current NBA phenoms LeBron James and Chris Paul. WNBA stars Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles made the cut, too.  Doug the Diva: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is kind of high maintenance. He's making the political appointees in his office bake him chocolate-chip cookies regularly, ready fresh and warm on demand. They're the store-bought kind and must be "served to guests and staff in a basket." Other complaints allege Burgum made political appointees—the people meant to run the department—serve a multi-course meal and do the dishes afterward. They also, upon request, dispatched a US Park Police helicopter for Burgum's personal transportation. The White House maintains that Burgum is not a diva and is doing a stellar job.  Bruce Harrell Loves a Homeless Sweep: According to data compiled by Seattle reporter Guy Oron, Seattle conducted more than 2,000 homeless sweeps in 2024. The Unified Care Team which conducts the encampment removals was responsible for an average of 6.8 removals a day, Oron reports. Of these sweeps, over 84 percent were done with little or no warning. Sweeping homeless encampments is like Mayor Bruce Harrell's whole thing. He's the king of sweeps. In his three years in office, Harrell directed 5,633 sweeps, a number that dwarfs the sweeps conducted by Seattle mayors of the past. Jenny Durkan, for instance, swept 1,781 encampments. At that time that felt like a lot! People were protesting her regularly. Where is the outrage for Bruce the Sweep Freak?  The data reflects the priorities of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell over his first three years in office. In 2023 and 2024, the city spent a combined total of $52.5 million on the Unified Care Team, the interdepartmental agency that carries out Seattle’s encampment, tent and vehicle removals.[image or embed] — Guy Oron  (@guyoron.net) April 5, 2025 at 1:44 PM Israel's Gaza "kill zone:"Accounts from Israeli soldiers tell of a strategy to destroy all homes, factories, and farmland within 0.6 miles inside the perimeter of Gaza and turn the area into a "kill zone." Anyone who entered was killed. The purpose of "The Perimeter" plan was to create an environment where it was easy to identify and kill "militants." The zone encompasses Gaza's border with Israel "from the Mediterranean coast in the north to the strip’s south-east corner next to Egypt." Speaking of Killing with Abandon: The 15 rescuers, aid workers, and paramedics killed by Israeli forces in Rafah last month were shot in the upper body with "the intent to kill," according to The Palestine Red Crescent Society. Israel claimed the ambulances were "terrorists" in "suspicious vehicles." Video of the attack shows clearly marked ambulances with their lights flashing.  Great Country We've Got Here: Nothing cruel or unusual going on. Normal stuff. Feels good to be an American. Right? Well. Remember how Trump ordered 238 Venezuelan migrants to be sent from a Texas detention center to an El Salvador prison on the grounds that these people were allegedly gang members? Not that anyone believed Trump at the time, but now we know for sure that was all a big lie. According to a CBSNews investigation, many of the people who are now prisoners have no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.  RIP Jay North: The man who played Dennis in "Dennis the Menace" died at 73 from colon cancer.  Another Measles Death in Texas: In Texas, there are 481 cases associated with a measles outbreak. There have now been two deaths of school-age children. Both of the children who died were unvaccinated against measles. A Trump administration official said the latest death's cause was still being looked at. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a vaccine skeptic and who has gutted the Health and Human Services, will travel to Texas to console the families. What would actually help is if he stopped reversing all the progress we've made in public health in the last 100 years.  Music for your Monday: May this soothe you after all of that news.  ...read more read less