Cascadia today: wildfires burn across PNW + BC Conservatives go full MAGA + bands doing DIY shows with no venue

More than 100 wildfires burning in BC

CBC reports that more than 34,000 lightning strikes started more than 100 wildfires in British Columbia, with the east BC town of Kimberley, home to 9,000, under an evacuation alert. Temperatures today and tomorrow are expected to climb as high as 36 degrees C (97 degrees F) in Washington state with smoke expected to cloud skies. In Oregon more than 37,000 acres are burning, and a new round of thunderstorms is expected to spark even more. The increased lightning strikes are part of a "Super El Niño hitting Cascadia, one of only three since 1980.

If you haven't already, create a DIY air filter from a box fan. In Washington, if you're a renter, a new law gives you the right to install a box AC unit.

To help those without shelter in Seattle living through high temperature and poor air quality, Cascadia Democratic Action is organizing a water bottle and N-95 mask drive at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle on Saturday August 1. More details to come!

OR pushes back on Trump's war on democracy

After US president Donald Trump gave a rambling, defensive speech last week making unproven assertions about the 2020 election and calling for restrictive rules that benefit Republicans, Oregon's secretary of state, Tobias Reed, pushed back on the proposals, Oregon Capital Chronicle reports. Reed said the proposed prosecution of election officials and attacks on vote-by-mail were not about election fraud (which is extremely rare) but about reducing turnout. Washington secretary of state Steve Hobbs also issued a statement opposing Trump's direct attack on democracy in Cascadia.

"This is about making it harder for American citizens to vote, and it’s about casting doubt on any election results that the president doesn’t like.” --Oregon secretary of state Tobias Reed

Amid ICE kidnapping surge, tactics have injured many

The Guardian reports that ICE detained a record number of immigrants across the US in June – more than 43,000 – during a quiet surge. The majority of those kidnapped have no criminal convictions, making it clear this a cruel attack on immigrants who are solid members of our communities. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports on a new academic study that finds ICE misused crowd control weapons and caused many injuries that could have been avoided. OPB reports that Portland was among the cities where ICE misused non-lethal weapons.

Now is the time to help defend your neighbors. Sign up for an online rapid response class. Talk to your neighbors and find a local community defense group. Join a whistle-making party. Speak out against any new ICE facilities in Cascadia. The time to act is now.

Why is Seattle cutting funds to gun violence prevention?

The South Seattle Emerald reports on a tense public meeting in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle addressing cuts to Community Passageways, a youth gun violence prevention organization in the city's south end. Seattle is opening up grants to other orgs, and so Community Passageways, which has proven success, is seeing its grants cut. Also at the Emerald, Marcus Harrison Green looks at the first homicide-free June in Seattle in over five decades – but warns this isn't an excuse to hire even more cops. In related news, Washington State Standard reports on a new study that finds Washington's juvenile detention facilities are overcrowded and substandard.

BC Conservatives go full MAGA

The Tyee looks at new hires within the BC Conservative party under the new leadership of MAGA-style right-winger Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Among her new hires is someone with deep ties to the right-wing Alberta separatist movement, and a right wing influencer who's promoted the views of racist Canadian activist Daniel Tyrie. Tyrie is known for promoting "re-migration" of non-white immigrants (ie ethnic cleansing) through his Nazi group Dominion Society of Canada.

BC folks – stop this garbage early, or soon enough you'll be fighting fascism at the highest levels of government just like we have to here in Washington and Oregon.

No venue? No problem, just DIY

Real Change profiles scrappy hip-hop and punk bands from Bellingham to Tacoma who don't have access to a venue – so have been staging DIY shows in parks, abandoned buildings, and even a cave.

"In DIY, nobody really gives a fuck about taking a loss. You find more fire bands in the DIY scene because it’s like, “Bro, I don’t give a fuck. You don’t got no streams? I don’t give a fuck. You don’t even got music out? I fuck with your band — come play my shit, come join.” There’s so many more genuine connections."" --Xay, from the band Casi

Thanks for reading. Keep loving, and keep fighting. --Andy