XPost: seattle.politics, alt.law-enforcement, or.politics   
   XPost: fl.politics, alt.economics   
   From: maximusheadroom@gmx.com   
      
   In news:ToY1Q.1142986$6%s6.46202@fx12.iad, a425couple    
   typed:   
      
   > Another signpost showing that turning your downtown into   
   > a liberal paradise of open drug use and tolerance of homeless   
   > living and criminal acts, is bad for business.   
      
   > from   
   > https://mynorthwest.com/ktth/rantz-opinion/microsoft-seattle-homeless/4097380   
      
   > Rantz: Microsoft Build conference ditches Seattle over homelessness,   
   > open-air drug use   
   > Jun 9, 2025, 5:30 AM   
      
      
   Wow: Microsoft Bails on Doom-Looped Seattle   
   Ed Morrissey   
      
   Los Angeles' current doom loop led by radical Marxist Karen Bass may grab more   
   headlines, but other Democrat-run cities have been doom looping for longer and   
   more persistently. Seattle has done more to damage itself than most and for   
   longer as well, stretching back at least a decade as radicals seized control of   
   the city, both on streets and in City Hall. Remember the CHAZ/CHOP insurrection   
   zone that the city allowed to operate for months in 2020? The "serial pooper"   
   of   
   2018? The head tax that was supposed to solve the city's homeless problems that   
   same year?   
      
   To quote election analyst Dan Wasserman, Microsoft has seen enough. The tech   
   giant has partnered with the city for its annual spotlight conference, Build,   
   the latest of which just finished a short while ago. Next year Microsoft plans   
   to take the conference to another city, however, and at least internally,   
   they're not shy about explaining why:   
      
     #BREAKING: I have obtained the internal memo outlining reasons behind   
   Microsoft Build's(@Microsoft) exit from Seattle. This is an absolute indictment   
   on Mayor Bruce Harrell's(@MayorofSeattle) administration and shows his failure   
   to get the homeless drug crisis under control. ???? https://t.co/T5P4wyNrv0   
   pic.twitter.com/aI50Nnkza2   
     - Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) June 7, 2025   
      
     According to an internal email obtained by journalist Jonathan Choe of the   
   Discovery Institute, Visit Seattle-the city's official tourism and marketing   
   organization-was informed that Microsoft will cancel its 2026 event and release   
   all future holds for the conference in Seattle. The email, titled "DEFINITE   
   BOOKING CANCELLATION NOTICE," said the decision was heavily influenced   
   by the experience of company leadership and attendees walking the downtown core   
   between the Hyatt Regency and the Arch Building on 8th Street.   
      
     "The customers cited the general uncleanliness of the street scene,   
   visibility   
   of individuals engaging in drug use, and unhoused individuals, including the   
   recurring tent in the Arch Tunnel," the email stated. "Microsoft has previously   
   addressed these concerns and Visit Seattle has been working actively with SPD,   
   DSA [Downtown Seattle Association], the Care team, and others... Unfortunately   
   for Build, it was a contributing factor to their final decision to move out of   
   Seattle."   
      
     Microsoft's Build conference has long served as a showcase of Seattle's   
   innovation and global tech prominence. It typically brings in thousands of   
   developers and tech insiders from around the world and has been a signature   
   event for the city's economy. Its departure is a major blow to Seattle's   
   struggling tourism and convention business, especially as downtown continues to   
   battle the aftermath of the pandemic, rising crime, and a homelessness crisis   
   that city officials have so far failed to contain.   
      
   So where will Microsoft go? Choe notes that the company already has a couple of   
   options on the table:   
      
     But here's the real kicker. Redmond, WA based Microsoft is done walking   
   around   
   tents, urban filth, and open-air drug use in Seattle's downtown core. Mayor   
   Harrell had nearly four years in office to handle this problem but has failed   
   to   
   do so. pic.twitter.com/2p5tMSO5c2   
     - Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) June 7, 2025   
      
   Ahem. If Microsoft is tired of "tents, urban filth, and open-air drug use,"   
   then   
   might I suggest leaving San Francisco off the list of alternates? North Seattle   
   might have had one "serial pooper" in 2018, but San Francisco has been   
   practically the home office for serial poopers. Las Vegas might be more   
   expensive -- maybe -- but the Strip and Downtown areas get much better   
   enforcement against those urban blights. If you're even in those areas and not   
   dropping at least $20 an hour in a casino, they ship you to Searchlight and   
   detain you in the Harry Reid Shelter for Freeloaders. (A new policy forcing   
   freeloaders to watch the As will be in place soon, I hear.)   
      
   In fact, perhaps Microsoft should look to venues where rational government and   
   law enforcement policies exist, rather than the blue-state nightmares that its   
   founder helped establish. Even the blue cities in red states such as Texas,   
   Florida, Tennessee, and the Carolinas are forced to deal rationally with drugs   
   and homelessness, not to mention literal s*** on the streets, euphemistically   
   known as "urban filth." Why reward bad government with such investment,   
   especially in cities like Seattle and states like Washington and California   
   that   
   punish companies with extra taxes while doing nothing about public order?   
      
   The blow to Seattle goes beyond economics, too. Microsoft has practically   
   branded itself as a Washington State company for decades. They established   
   their   
   500-acre Redmond campus nearly 40 years ago after moving from Bellevue, both   
   suburbs in the Seattle area. Seattle is their home turf and has been since the   
   company's founding. Abandoning Seattle is more than just a business decision --   
   it is a political statement as well, and one that the company isn't doing much   
   to hide, either.   
      
   One has to wonder just how attached Microsoft will be to King County and   
   Washington in the long run now, especially with the high taxes and the   
   spreading   
   urban blight that the radicals in charge of Seattle are either refusing or   
   unable to address. The city seems far more interested in redistributing wealth   
   from companies like Amazon and Microsoft, and if that spreads to King County,   
   Microsoft has the resources and portability to relocate to greener pastures. Or   
   redder pastures, as it were.   
      
   Addendum: One has to wonder whether this nonsense played a role in that   
   decision   
   as well:   
      
     Demonstrators opposed to Microsoft's work for the Israeli government   
   attempted   
   to push their way into the tech giant's annual software conference on Monday in   
   Seattle.   
      
     Seattle police arrested one demonstrator after a crowd of dozens tried to   
   push   
   into the Seattle Convention Center, where hundreds had gathered for Microsoft   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)