MONDAY 6/8

Bleak Week: Dancer in the Dark

(FILM) At the heart of Bleak Week, a weeklong film fest that, the Beacon says, “spotlights some of the greatest films from around the world that explore the darkest sides of humanity, as well as some of the bleakest points in human history,” is Dancer in the Dark, a movie by Lars von Trier, the modern master of melancholy cinema. Starring Iceland’s pop icon Björk and featuring a Bernard Hermann-esque score by the star, Dancer in the Dark is something like the point at which Douglas Sirk meets Edvard Munch. Trier’s film is unremittingly dark. Things go from worse to worse. And its ending enters a world that can only be described as hell, which is not a place but, instead, the total absence of hope or, put another way, despair. The Bleak Week series, which also includes Gus Van Sant’s Elephant (screening on Tuesday), might mark the stage when our society transitions from sadness to depression. (The Beacon, 7:30 pm) CHARLES MUDEDE

TUESDAY 6/9

Channel One Sound System feat. Ras Sherby, Kid Hops, DJ Cray

(MUSIC) Here is what you must do right now. Go to Instagram and request videos of Channel One Sound System. The evidence of what I have to say in this preview will be provided. Indeed, some of the videos, such as the one of a Channel One set at London’s Notting Hill Carnival, are viral. That said, this sound system is operated by Mikey Dread (not to be confused with other reggae legend, the late Mikey Dread­—“I was walking down the street in the afternoon, when I saw a natty dread in a barber saloon—he cut off all his locks… he was an idiot”). These days, it’s hard to find a deeper dub, which can only be spiritual, than the one Channel One rocks. You are a fool to miss this show. (Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+) CHARLES MUDEDE

WEDNESDAY 6/10

lowercase, Thrones, Caustic Resin

(MUSIC) Who remembers the important indie-rock band lowercase? They released three strong albums in the ’90s on Amphetamine Reptile and Vern Rumsey’s Punk in My Vitamins label in the vein of methodical quiet-loud slowcore groups such as Codeine and Seam, with hints of Slint’s tumultuous, brooding rock. On LPs such as All Destructive Urges…Seem So Perfect and Kill the Lights, Imaad Wasif’s hoarse, distressed vocals rumble over nuanced yet noisy rock, reflecting the over-the-top emotions of youth. The title “Rare Anger” perfectly encapsulates lowercase’s sound and vision. Surprisingly, lowercase reunited last year to do some shows with Unwound, Brainiac, and others. Drummer Brian Girgus tells me that “the reception has been awesome and we can’t wait to take the show up to the Pacific Northwest.” For this tour with bassist Bobb Bruno (the For Carnation, Best Coast, etc.) replacing Tiber Scheer, lowercase will play a couple of new songs and also be selling vinyl reissues of Kill the Lights and The Going Away Present. (Barboza, 7 pm, 21+) DAVE SEGAL

THURSDAY 6/11

Capitol Hill Art Walk at The Stranger

(VISUAL ART) This Thursday, come visit us at The Stranger’s office for our second ever Capitol Hill Art Walk event, featuring work by Timothy White Eagle in collaboration with Adrain Chesser and Steven Miller. We’ll be exhibiting a selection of video and photographic works from Once Wild River (on view at Mini Mart City Park through June 20) and Beaster & Bear, an ongoing collaborative exploration of the artists’ trickster alter egos and complex narratives that explore the politics of gay culture, spirituality, and man’s relationship to nature. (The Stranger, 5–8 pm, free) AMANDA MANITACH

FRIDAY 6/12

Onda Nova

(FILM) In 1941, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas signed a stupid and sexist law that banned women and girls from playing sports such as soccer and rugby because they were “incompatible with the conditions of their nature.” That ban was lifted in 1979, but women weren’t allowed to form official teams until 1983, two years before the collapse of the country’s conservative military dictatorship. This is the setting for Ícaro (Francisco C) Martins’s and José Antonio García’s “erotic” and “anarchic” comedy about a group of young women in São Paulo forming the Gaivotas Football Club amid a media circus. Naturally, it’s gay, and until now, it has never been released outside of Brazil. (Northwest Film Forum, 7 pm) VIVIAN McCALL

SATURDAY 6/13

ONCE REMOVED 02

(VISUAL ART) It’s the second installment of ONCE REMOVED, a curatorial stroke of genius that softens the blow of gentrification, just a little. The first event happened in February in a little bungalow in Greenwood, where a group of artists were given the keys to a house slated for demolition and had five days to race the excavators and transform the place into a piece of temporary poetry. This time, the artists (Julia Monté, Michael Higgins, Chloe King, Hannah Simmons, Isabella Rinald, and Beni McAllister) have a longer runway and an even bigger house to fill with installation, sculpture, video, music, and DJs. Sofiiak will be on decks for the night, with a performance by atm/overdraft. For the address, message ONCE REMOVED on Instagram or email them at hello@onceremoved.org. (A House in West Seattle, 6–10 pm, all ages, free) AMANDA MANITACH

SUNDAY 6/14

TsuShiMaMiRe, Brute!

(MUSIC) Legendary Japanese all-female rock trio TsuShiMaMiRe comes to Ballard touring in support of their 27th anniversary and new digital single “Oversized American Dreams.” Big in Japan since 1999, their musical style ranges from art punk to indie pop, with concerts featuring noisy distortion and high kicks throughout. If you caught Otoboke Beaver at the Pier last year, you’ll definitely love this band. The Sunset is Seattle’s most reasonably sized room, and without a doubt the ideal place to discover for yourself this criminally underrated band. And $20 certainly ain’t bad. With local punks Brute! opening, it’s sure to be an exciting evening—check out TsuShiMaMiRe’s KEXP in-studio session from 2024 if you don’t believe me. (Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+) DYLAN BUECHE

The post Stranger Suggests: Your Agenda This Week, June 8–14 appeared first on The Stranger.

Good morning! Did you go to Pride in the Park this weekend? Or the Bigelow Block Sale? Or the Jeff Rosenstock show at Neumos? Or MapleFest 2026? Or one of the predictably shaky Bob Dylan shows at Chateau Ste. Michelle? It was a busy weekend in the city, and it feels like even the weather is taking a breather today. It’s cool(er) and rainy, and it plans to stay like that for most of the day.  

But first, the news. 

Let’s Start With the War in Iran: It heated back up this weekend. On Sunday, Israel bombed the outskirts of Beirut, claiming that Hezbollah had attacked Israel. In response, Iran launched missiles on Israel, the first since the ceasefire was established back in April. Then on Monday, Israel bombed Iran, and claimed they hit a petrochemical plant and some military sites. And Israel says that Yemen got into the mix, launching missiles at them on Monday as well. 

What Now? As of Monday morning Pacific time, it looks like everyone involved is trying to take a breath. Trump actually did something useful and asked Netanyahu to halt any new strikes, and it seems to have stopped any immediate plans to continue the bombing. In a short video, he said that “fire is on hold,” but he promised to change that if Iran attacks Israel again. 

Meanwhile: Trump insisted in an interview with Meet the Press over the weekend that his “No News Wars” messaging in his campaign for a Trump Presidency 2.0 didn’t mean he wouldn’t start any wars. “Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” he asked NBC’s Kristen Welker. His distinction? Apparently this isn’t one of those “endless wars” he hates so much. When Welker pushed Trump on other issues—like his claims of election fraud and his $1.776 billion slush fund—Trump called her “darling” and abruptly ended the interview. 

Criminally Tacky: Have you seen the 600-ton steel arch on the South Lawn of the White House? That’s part of the setup for Trump’s birthday party on June 14—the $60 million “night of cage fights” from UFC. But the party has run into some snags. First, A-List celebrities have largely refused to show up. And then, two activists, represented by the Public Integrity Project, filed a lawsuit against the Feds arguing that the transformation of the grounds wasn’t authorized by Congress, and that the event uses government space to benefit UFC’s CEO Dana White and Mr. Trump, who is invested in UFC’s parent company.

Palisades Fire Trial: The federal arson trial starts Monday for Jonathan Rinderknecht, who’s accused of sparking last year’s Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes, the AP reports. His defense attorney says there simply isn’t enough evidence tying him to the fire. They also want to argue that Rinderknecht is a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department after they failed to respond to the fire. But the judge has ruled that the defense can’t introduce evidence or arguments about alleged negligence by the fire department, saying it was irrelevant and might confuse the jury.

The Kids Are Alright: Last week, Kameirah Johnson, a senior at Lakeside School, won the national Doodle for Google contest, and with it, a $55,000 scholarship and a $50,000 tech package for her school. But rather than giving the $50k to Lakeside—Bill Gates’s alma mater with a $307 million endowment—Johnson decided to donate the package to Rainier Beach High School. “I’m very proud of the fact that I’m Black. … Knowing that I have a lot of family there, knowing that there’s so much history at that school, it just felt right to give it to Rainier Beach and to a school full of kids who look like me,” she told the Seattle Times.

Hotel Workers Find Leverage: On Friday, hotel workers at Hilton’s Embassy Suites in Pioneer Square voted to authorize a strike, which means they could strike at any time, including during the World Cup. The contract between management and the 113 unionized Embassy Suites employees expired on May 31, and they’re still fighting about health insurance, pay, and a proposal that management tell employees when ICE or DHS is on the property (Hilton has refused to consider it). The hotel is spitting distance from Lumen Field, so I’d guess, even with the lower-than-expected attendance for the World Cup, management is sweating. 

ICYMI: The Denny Blaine trial is happening right now! And Stranger contributor Guy Oron has been haunting the halls. Last week, Stuart Sloan—U Village owner, multimillionaire, and habitual filmer of naked queer people—took the stand to share chilling tales of seeing naked paddleboarders out on the lake through his mansion windows (no one tell him what happens later this month in Fremont). His wife, Molly Nordstrom (yes, those Nordstroms), complained that even with the hideous fence the city put up, she can still see naked people from the highest levels of his mansion. This week, the City of Seattle takes the stand. 

Wilson Caves on Cameras: On Friday, Mayor Katie Wilson announced that she will turn on the cameras in SoDo during the World Cup, which starts in Seattle next week. In a statement, Wilson said that she’d received intel from SPD and the FBI showing “general but credible threats to safety and security during the games.” This is exactly what she said she’d do when she first announced her CCTV plan earlier this year, but it’s absolutely a reversal from her opposition to the surveillance program during her campaign. The Stranger has asked her office when they plan to turn them on, and when they plan to shut them off, but did not get an immediate response. We’ll update when we do.

The Croc Has New Owners: The Crocodile in Belltown was scooped up by Comedy Tent, a group led by talent manager Jimmy Miller and former Onion CEO Mike McAvoy. They already own the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade, a film and TV company called Abso Lutely Productions, and Pittsburgh’s Bottlerock Social Hall. They bought the venue through a receivership process (like bankruptcy, but nicer), after the Croc built up $1.6 million in debt. 

A Song for Your Monday: Sometimes living with the algorithm is hell. And sometimes it shows you an incredible cover of “Jolene” by Iranian singer Leila Forouhar. 

The post Slog AM: Iran War Heats Back Up, Trump Says ‘No New Wars’ Didn’t Mean He Wouldn’t Start Wars, and Katie Wilson Caves on Surveillance Cameras  appeared first on The Stranger.

UPDATE: 94 percent of the union voted to authorize a strike. The union could now call a strike at any time.

Call it labor unrest summer? Unionized journalists across the Northwest at McClatchy Media went on a one-day strike over AI policy, union employees at acclaimed restaurant the Walrus and the Carpenter are willing to strike, and today unionized hotel workers at the Hilton’s Embassy Suites in Pioneer Square are voting to authorize a strike. The union is collecting votes until 6 p.m. this evening.

The contract between management and the 113 unionized Embassy Suites employees expired on May 31. Today, workers—represented by Unite Here Local 8, a hospitality union—are expected to vote to authorize a work stoppage, and give leadership the ability to call a strike at any time. Seattle’s World Cup games kick off at Lumen Field in less than two weeks, steps away from Embassy Suites. 

The main issues at play are health insurance, pay—Hilton’s current offer amounts to a less than $1 per hour raise on average over the next five years—and a proposal, so far rejected by Hilton, that management tell employees when ICE or DHS is on the property. 

“As a brown woman, I know ICE does not care whether you are a US citizen,” Dom Kaur, a front desk agent, said in a press release. “What they are doing goes against my core moral beliefs. My dad needed asylum and as a lawyer now helps others. It is wrong for our bosses to sit there and say they cannot do anything about it.” 

ICE concerns are heightened because the agency may be on hand at Lumen during the World Cup. A majority of the staff are people of color or immigrants, says Victoria Davidson, a public area attendant at Embassy Suites. “ICE will have a presence because of FIFA, and it’s not OK for people to be afraid to come to work,” Davidson says.

Hilton did not respond before press time. An automatic email from the US press office said that it was “currently closed” on Friday afternoon.

If the union strikes, Davidson anticipates that managers would initially do the jobs of unionized workers, and then Hilton would turn to temp staffing agencies to recruit scabs. Even though the hotel would remain open, the union believes that a strike during the World Cup would cause enough problems for hotel operations that workers have a lot of leverage at this moment. 

“This is not going to happen again for at least 25 to 30 years,” Davidson says of the World Cup matches, “and we’re the only hotel that’s right here.” 

The post Seattle Hotel Workers Are on the Verge of Striking Ahead of the World Cup  appeared first on The Stranger.

The first week of the Denny Blaine Park trial has concluded, and it was spent on neighbors and their lawyers making the case that the nude beach is an out-of-control public nuisance.

The trial is existential for a legendary, decades-old queer hangout. If neighbors get their way, the city could be forced to ban nudity at the beach or even close it.

Understanding what is going on here requires a preamble: The trial is really the culmination of a years-long battle over a 200-foot-wide, three-level waterfront park where people, many of them gay and trans, have enjoyed taking their clothes off. That park is at the end of a cul-de-sac/roundabout in one of the city’s wealthiest Lake Washington neighborhoods. In 2023, the beach’s millionaire next door neighbor and U Village owner Stuart Sloan anonymously pledged $1 million to build a playground on the beach, and officials in Bruce Harrell’s administration, as well as the former mayor himself, met with Sloan multiple times to discuss plans later foiled by an outraged queer community. For a time, that seemed like the end of the conflict, but no. 

There were disagreements between beachgoers and neighbors about where nudity should be allowed at the nude beach, and how much lewd behavior is going on. Neighbors posted private security at the beach, and after they sued the city, alleging the beach was a public nuisance, King County Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung ordered the city to come up with a plan to curb urination and masturbation at Denny Blaine. The city settled on a big ugly fence that blocks the view from the parking lot, but interestingly enough, it was the first time Seattle had explicitly allowed nudity in a public park. Washington State law explicitly allows topless nudity for the breasted and the flat-chested, a fact Judge Chung reiterated in court last month after the neighbors’ private security told topless people perceived as women to go into the clothing optional area. The legality of full-frontal is more nuanced because while nudity in and of itself is not criminalized, it can be deemed indecent exposure if it is “open and obscene,” intended to cause alarm to others and likely to cause a reasonable affront to someone else. That is why some public nudity, such as during Fremont’s solstice parade, is considered legally protected. 

Dissatisfied with the fence, which they say does nothing at all to stop masturbation, neighbors group Denny Blaine Park for All pushed for a bench trial. Judge Chung granted the petition, and allowed Friends of Denny Blaine, the beachgoers group, to become a third party in the case. 

So the weeks-long trial is broken into three segments, with plaintiffs speaking first this week, then the city, respondents, and then Friends of Denny Blaine.

The trial began on May 27 with the plaintiffs’ arguments and witness testimony. Lawyers for Denny Blaine Park for All showed Judge Chung videos and photos of naked people at Denny Blaine, including evidence of masturbation and oral sex acts. The videos were recorded from next door, where Sloan, who seldom has his picture taken, and his wife Molly Nordstrom live.

Sloan had a lot to say on the stand. 

He was questioned by his lawyers about the purchase and construction of his house as well as his lobbying efforts against nudity at Denny Blaine. Sloan described an instance of trespassing by park users in which he later discovered they had used his jacuzzi all night. That case occurred before the abatement fence was installed, and Sloan did not recall if the man he saw was naked or just in a speedo. He also said that on nice days, he regularly sees naked people paddle or float by his house, which looks over the water.

Sloan said shortly after the public learned of the $1 million pledge for the playground, someone had spray painted “Kill Stuart Sloan” near his home, and that protesters have chanted “Fuck Stuart Sloan” outside his gate. After Sloan and his neighbors sued the city, he hired 24-hour security for his mansion.

Nordstrom claimed seeing public sex and nudity have taken a toll on her. Whenever she has people over, there is a chance they will be exposed, she said. Portions of the fenced off area can be seen from the top floors of their mansion, she said, and it is impossible to leave their house without passing by the park.

“I’m so sick and tired of this,” Nordstrom said. “I can’t have my grandkids over.” 

Many of the photos presented by the plaintiffs were taken by Sloan, Nordstrom, and their house manager Carrie Christensen.

Park users say the videos are isolated incidents of bad behavior. In a pre-trial brief, Friends of Denny Blaine argued that masturbation and urination happen all over Seattle and that “there is no evidence supporting the assumption that the presence of simple nudity increases this activity.” The group also called Denny Blaine Park heavily surveilled because neighbors on both sides of the park have installed cameras pointed toward the beach. They’re plainly visible.

Neighbors testified that the popularity of the nude beach had decreased their quality of life. 

Sarah Richmond, a mother of a teenager who lives just north of Denny Blaine, said beachgoers park in front of her driveway, and that naked people often walk around the neighborhood. 

Richmond and others suggested Denny Blaine was a low-profile destination for topless sunbathing, and it has spun out of control. Friends of Denny Blaine say the nudity is not new, and neighbors should’ve been aware of that naked truth. 

Real estate agent Betsy Losh, who has brokered the sales of several multi-million dollar properties adjacent to the park, said Denny Blaine has become “a Mecca for people who want to have and do lewd behaviors.”

The plaintiffs also called several outside witnesses to the stand. These included Jeff Darrow, an employee of the King County Assessor’s office, who explained that 12 properties in the area had been given 10 percent reductions on their valuations due to their proximity to the park and one property that was granted a 20 percent discount. Dr. Stephanie Wolf, a licensed psychologist and expert witness for the plaintiffs, discussed the potential impacts witnessing nudity could have on a bystander. She said that for some people with past trauma, seeing unexpected nudity could be shocking or even triggering.

The plaintiffs also argued that the fence at Denny Blaine violated the guidelines of Seattle’s Shoreline Master Program, which say development near the coast must preserve a view corridor from public streets to the water. 

However, during cross examination, the Parks employee who submitted the permit for the fence, David Graves, said that permit has not yet been approved by Seattle’s Department of Constructions and Inspections—and any appeal would be premature. If the fence was replaced with greenery, or hedges, the stipulations about lake view would not apply.

Next week, the City of Seattle will defend its abatement plan and say that it is working to reduce bad behavior at the park. It will also seek to brand the plaintiffs as unreasonable, uncollaborative and unwilling to accept “anything short of eliminating the lawful and longstanding nude use of the Park.”

The post Property Owners Around Denny Blaine Took the Stand This Week appeared first on The Stranger.

Covid cautious cutie at the movies
We both saw a movie solo at southcenter wearing masks. You held the door for me & I should have said hi. Let’s sit together next time?

Spilling apples at trader joes
You:looking cute whilst spilling apples 
Me:pink haired guy trying to find an excuse to talk to you (I didn’t)
Lets go on a date 
Apple picking maybe?

Can’t Hardly Wait
To say thank you to you for the DVD you unexpectedly gave me on the light rail at 9:30 AM. Watched it with my friends and had a blast. You rock!

Blue eyes and hibiscus on the 2 line
We sat next to each other earlier when the 2 line went down and there were delays. We talked about teas, soccer and moving, eyes that matched the lake

Le Labo by Cal
You: Working the closing shift on 5/4 Me: Yellow shorts, rainbow tote, mesmerized by your eyes and smile. Let’s get drinks and nerd out on fragrances?

sprinting for the Lynwood line
both of us barely made it to the train from seatac. we both kept stealing looks. u: yellow shirt me: tattoos. we have the same curls. boyfriend twins?

Cake and a blender
You saw me smoking in an alley while you and your friend were looking for a cake pop up. You told me I looked “picturesque.” Coffee?

Is it a match? Leave a comment here or on our Instagram post to connect!

Did you see someone? Say something! Submit your own I Saw U message here and maybe we’ll include it in the next roundup!

The post I Saw U: Avoiding COVID at the Movies, Dropping Apples at Trader Joe’s, and Running for the Light Rail in Lynnwood appeared first on The Stranger.

The first wave of Pride events goes down this weekend, with celebrations from Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park and Seattle Pride in the Park to the White Center Pride Street Festival. We’re also suggesting you make time for Maple Fest, the Kenmore Community Rowing Club’s open house and National Learn to Row Day, and other options below. For more ideas, check out our top picks of the week.

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Bus Bash Summer Concert
Youth-driven organization the Washington Bus helps the next generation learn how to harness their political power—and boy do we need their energy right now. The nonprofit throws a summer concert bash this Friday to raise money for its programs and share how to get involved, opening the doors of the all-ages Vera Project for free to those 18-and-under and just five bucks for anyone else. Between moments of civic “enragement,” you can get your groove on to sets from local bands like pop-rockers Hot Stepmom, nostalgic pop-punk group Midnight Parkway, and indie pop project Hollow Daze, who recently released their first two songs on streaming platforms. SHANNON LUBETICH
(Vera Project, Uptown, $0-$5)

Read more on EverOut!

The post The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Seattle This Weekend: June 5–7, 2026 appeared first on The Stranger.

On a languid spring evening in South Seattle, the wind ruffled through a web of fabric strung across the courtyard of Mini Mart City Park. Long, ripped strips of red, black, marigold, and white twisted, braided, and tangled overhead. They were anchored at points along the building’s roof and converged around a pole that rose, treelike, from the center of a 12-foot-diameter base of charred plywood. Around the perimeter of the base, large chunks of diatomite—a chalky rock composed of fossilized aquatic organisms—were placed at intervals.

Viewers tightened around the makeshift medicine wheel as Timothy White Eagle, chanting, dipped the ends of fresh cedar fronds into a pail of river water, which he splashed across the ground. He picked up a piece of diatomite. With the stone in one trembling hand and a spoon in the other, he began to scrape at it, the blunt curve of the utensil shattering the stone’s softness. As the incantatory drone of White Eagle’s vocables melted into the sound of rushing river water mixing through speakers, the diatomite diminished, stroke after stroke, scattering and exploding into a fine, particulate ash that dusted everyone and everything—the backs of hands, phones, clothes, the burnt black wood.

It was a ritual to manifest healing at the opening of Once Wild River,the culmination of a yearlong artist-in-residence initiative piloted by the Environmental Protection Agency. Six estuary watersheds across the US were selected; the Green-Duwamish Watershed was one, and White Eagle was the artist selected for it. His task: spend an entire year with the river and relay to us what he found.

To understand the exhibition, one must first understand the Duwamish River, which—like many rivers in the US—has been altered beyond recognition. The original estuarine mudflats and marshes were filled and replaced by a deep, straight, industrialized channel to allow ships passage. The last remaining undeveloped meander is a tiny bend that curls around Kellogg Island, salvaged only because the remains of an ancestral Duwamish village were discovered there in 1977. A century of industrial dumping by shipping, aviation, and manufacturing companies left the river so contaminated that in 2001, the lower five miles were named an EPA Superfund Site—a designation given to the most hazardous waste sites in the US. At the mouth of the river, where the brackish river water meets the bay, the bottom is so thick with heavy metals and toxic waste that bottom feeders like flounder and crabs are unsuitable to eat.

In some ways, it seems White Eagle was made for the work of listening to a river. The 59-year-old artist, half white and half Indigenous, is descended from the Mohave tribe, “the People of the River.” At three days old, he was adopted into a white Mormon family in Montesano, Washington. He was one of the only children of color at his school, and one of the only Mormons. He was nerdy and artsy, but couldn’t draw to save his life, so he was never the star pupil in any art class. He was always a bit of a class clown, but never over-the-top. He took eighth grade algebra with Kurt Cobain—his brush with PNW fame, he notes, wryly. He was also gay. “I was a big screaming queen trying not to be screaming,” he says with a smile. “I was not quite like the other boys.”

White Eagle’s father was very strict and very Mormon, but also had an independent streak. “He had an idea that God understood him,” he says. “Even if he wasn’t doing things right according to Mormonism—having a beer with the loggers in town or not tithing so he could pay off his house—he just knew that God gets who I am, and it’s okay.”

That unorthodox spirituality set the tone for White Eagle’s own emergent, very nontraditional relationship to the divine. He doesn’t recall how or when it started, but his early 20s became a testing ground for experimenting with ritual as he sought to develop his spirituality. “Nobody taught me how to do it. Nobody said, ‘You should go do this,’” he says. “Some early attempts with art friends out at the beach were really wonky and didn’t work.”

After earning a theater degree from University of Utah, Salt Lake City, he moved to Seattle for an internship at Seattle Rep. The opportunity fell through due to a misunderstanding—he was underqualified—but he stayed anyway, working at small black-box theaters and restaurant jobs. He also discovered the Radical Faeries at Wolf Creek Sanctuary in Southern Oregon. “That’s where I started learning about traditional pagan ritual structure,” he says, “how to hold space for a community, how to state intention, how to make public prayer.”

After scraping a few years at an Italian restaurant in Pioneer Square called Umberto’s (plus a small influx of cash from a death in the family), he’d saved enough to open his own cafe and “home for freaks”—the Coffee Messiah. Located off John Street and Denny Way on Capitol Hill, the Coffee Messiah opened during Gay Pride of 1995, complete with a Jesus photo op (White Eagle dressed as Christ) and a coin-operated discotheque bathroom. Soon after, cafe regular Marcus Wilson—who would go on to open Pony—conceived the Cabaret of Despair, a Berlin Stories–inspired, drag-studded open mic that ran nightly from 2 a.m. to dawn. Fueled by risk, chaos, inclusivity, and fun, the Coffee Messiah thrived for five years, until the arrival of a Starbucks up the street brought revenue to a dribble, and White Eagle sold the shop in 2000.

Over the next decade, he traveled, cleaned houses, and refined his wonky beach rituals. Through the Radical Faeries, he connected with Shoshone and Paiute mentors who introduced him to traditional native practices. Though he had long believed he was White Mountain Apache—a mistake tied to his adoption records—he only recently discovered through DNA research that his lineage is Mohave.

Over time, threads of tribal tradition, theater, pagan ritual, queerness, and Mormonism fused into the immersive ceremonial works that define his practice and emerge in projects like The Red Room, The White Room, and The Indigo Room,which all reimagine sacred space. Modeled after the Celestial Rooms of the Mormon temple—accessible only to the “pure of heart”—The White Room functioned as a public space for healing ceremonies, drum circles, themed dinners, and even birthday parties. Even at its most serious, White Eagle’s work has a side of humor that reveals his trickster streak. He was always a bit of a class clown, after all.

When White Eagle was awarded the Green-Duwamish Watershed residency, he spent the first three months researching the river’s geologic history. He and his longtime collaborator, photographer Adrain Chesser, walked along the upper parts of the watershed inaccessible to the public, accompanied by geologists and hydrologists. “We walked the river taking photos for three months,” says White Eagle. “We were still trying to figure out our way into the project. Then I got sick.”

It was a fluke they caught it so early: a stubborn double gastrointestinal infection kept sending White Eagle to the hospital. While there, doctors discovered stage one cancer of the pancreas. “It was really, really lucky,” he says. “And so it happened that in the middle of this consideration of a toxic river, I get this toxic diagnosis.”

As chemo treatments ensued and he wrestled with this new, unexpected component of his residency, White Eagle gathered a team of additional artists to help realize the project—artists whose work already centered on the Duwamish, or connected in some way to water and restoration. The exhibition would be mounted at Mini Mart City Park, a gas-station-turned-art-venue that is also an active subsurface soil remediation site.

Each of the artists pulls on a different thread tethered to the river: Laura Wright created wallpaper using pigments derived from foraged hyperaccumulator plants—species used in the EPA’s restoration efforts for their ability to absorb heavy metals from contaminated soil. Crystal Cortez’s immersive audio compositions are made from field recordings of the river overlaid with oral histories by Native elders. Tapestry-like images by Epiphany Couch are assembled from photographs mounted to birch panels, encased by weavings made from reclaimed river trash, like tarp and caution tape. Sarah Kavage’s sculptures are made with wild harvested willow and found Douglas fir branch.

Anchoring the exhibit are Chesser’s photographs, conducted during their long walks. Images like the one of three cranes arched against a silver sky hover somewhere between documentary and dream. “They’re these static, stiff material forms that, when looked at from the right perspective, take on a kind of archetypal presence,” says White Eagle. “We’re playing with bringing in that industrial spirit energy.”

Over the past two decades working together, Chesser and White Eagle’s approach to photography has become a ritual of its own. “A physical object, like a photograph, can carry medicine,” says White Eagle. “These objects, these photographs, have the capacity to transmit energy. If we start our creation process with the intention of making a medicine object, a photograph can heal.”

Chesser’s photos are typically drenched in color. These are a departure: not quite black-and-white, the deep darks of the images shift toward tints of ochre and red cedar—both traditional healing medicines that are a recurring theme through both the artwork and site. (Cedar branches line the edges of the exhibition floor, extending outside into the court.)

Chesser also documented White Eagle’s physical transformation during the course of the residency. A video captures the moment he takes shears to his long, flowing hair, bent over a table, as a black cat slinks in and out of the frame. When done, he carefully wraps the bundle in a piece of cloth, secured with ribbons. On a footbridge over the river, he drops it in—a prayer, a gift.

After a year with the river, what did White Eagle find? Not answers. “I know less than I did when I started,” he says, “because I’m aware of the questions. Part of my approach has been learning how to be in a reciprocal relationship with the river. It’s a foreign concept to colonizing minds. How do you give back? It seems almost impossible, but one place to start is gratitude, even if it’s just for the tranquility you experience when you’re sitting by it, hearing it.”

Alongside photographs of the river itself are a series of Chesser’s portraits documenting the dxwdəwabš (Duwamish) Canoe Family, a group representing the Duwamish Tribe of Seattle, dedicated to preserving Coast Salish traditions, including annual tribal journeys across the water.

“For me, the healing is present in those pictures,” says White Eagle. “Or in the incredible portrait of a Duwamish tribal member who is 2 years old. It feels so optimistic. For me, the whole reason for the show is the optimism contained in these images. One of the most important things is to recognize that the river’s original caretakers are still here, still trying to carve out a toehold of culture and space. We need to listen to what Native people have to say. Had we listened from the beginning, we’d be in a very different place.”

 

The Stranger’s office will be open for our second Capitol Hill Art Walk event on June 11 (6–8 p.m.) and will feature work by Timothy White Eagle in collaboration with Adrain Chesser and Steven Miller. Attend the closing reception for Once Wild River at Mini Mart City Park on June 20, from 3–5 p.m.

The post A River Runs Through Us appeared first on The Stranger.

Lawyers for Suspect in Juniper Blessing Murder Say Their Client is Not Competent to Stand Trial: Christopher Leahy has been in pre-trial detention since surrendering to police after Blessing’s killing, but has yet to enter a plea. He was supposed to be formally arraigned on murder charges yesterday, but this was postponed as the judge ordered Leahy committed to the Western State Hospital where staff will determine whether he is able to stand trial. The Seattle Times has the details.

Pacific Northwest Newspaper Unions Call for Advertisers to Boycott Their Papers: Fresh off a one-day strike meant to bring management to the negotiating table, union journalists for McClatchy-owned newspapers represented by the Idaho and Washington NewsGuilds are asking advertisers to hit ownership in the pocket. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199NW said it paused a $25,000 ad buy with McClatchy Media until ownership makes a deal with workers at The Tacoma News Tribune, The Olympian, Tri-City Herald, Bellingham Herald and Idaho Statesman. SEIU and the NewsGuilds are asking other advertisers to join the boycott. 

Seattle’s Waterfront Parks Have Finally Reopened: Closed by the billionaire class for a year for redevelopment, Myrtle Edwards Park and Centennial Park have reopened in time for throngs of World Cup fans to wander north from the waterfront and end up lost in Interbay’s railyards. There’s still some grass left to grow, but most of the waterfront is now accessible, including several new beaches, a “Scandinavian” cafe, and new bathrooms. The public fishing pier is still abandoned, yet not demolished, and stands as a monument to the civics of Seattle past.

Here’s a Massive Guide to all 1,248 World Cup Players: Greedy FIFA officials have expanded the World Cup into a bigger tournament than ever: more teams, more matches, more host countries, and more cities, including Seattle. That’s great for advertisers like Coca-Cola and Adidas, but less ideal for casual sports fans trying to parse the pathos and tactics on the field. The Guardian took a crack at simplifying that with this guide to every player in the tournament broken down by team and group.

Cattle Rustlers Back on the Prowl in Washington Territory: In a scene I choose to imagine in the vein of The Fast and The Furious, police say last month a Pasco man ran a semitruck hauling cattle off the road last week in Eastern Washington, hijacked it, and then sent the driver a ransom video. He allegedly cut in front of him and then brake-checked him repeatedly, not unlike Vin Diesel. The man in question claims the truck cab belongs to his wife, and is now facing a variety of criminal charges, the Tri-City Herald reports.

Idaho Flag Ban Mars Boise Pride Celebrations: The reason the Idaho legislature banned cities from flying anything other than government flags on government buildings is clear to Republicans and the queer population alike. The law is working exactly as intended, with organizers for Boise’s Pride celebrations, the largest in the state, blocked from adorning a local boulevard with Pride flags as they have in Junes past. A compromise with the parks department will allow for rainbow ribbons instead, but city government dodged the Idaho Statesman’s inquiry as to why they didn’t use a loophole allowing temporary flag displays to get around the ban.

Most Democrats Join Republicans to Reject Lebanon War Powers Resolution: Rep. Rashida Tlaib forced a vote Thursday on removing US troops from Lebanon, where the Israeli Defense Force is conducting ethnic cleansing operations against the Shia population. Democratic leadership support the war, as was made clear for all to see when Tlaib’s  bill failed 91-324, Politico reports. Among the 117 House Democrats who voted against the war powers resolution were Washington representatives Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Kim Schrier and Adam Smith.

Polish Government Retaliates Against Ukraine for Repatriating Remains of Notorious Nazi Collaborator: Andriy Melnyk was a top leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, a fascist cult in the early 20th century that collaborated with the Nazis to commit the Holocaust in Eastern Europe and murdered over 100,000 Poles during a wartime ethnic cleansing campaign behind German lines. Melnyk escaped West with the Nazis with other OUN leaders after the war, but was recently reburied in Ukraine with full military honors courtesy of Volodymyr Zelensky (whose presidential campaign previously opposed such Nazi glorification). Zelensky’s decision is now facing blowback from Poland, whose own nationalist administration has been anti-Melnyk for over a century. Le Monde has details.

Beloved Seattle Historian Paul Dorpat Dies: The Seattle Times has a touching tribute to Dorpat, whose friends are asking for donations in his memory to HistoryLink, the free online Washington state history encyclopedia he co-founded. Dorpat’s regular Seattle Now & Then entries for the Times brought local history to life through the recreation of archival photographs in modern light, and, like most of his work, they’re accessible on his website.

We’ll Have to Make Our Own Seattle Now & Then Collages Now: I stopped by Interbay yesterday to recreate one of my favorite local historical photos: Seattle police officers perched atop the brand new Magnolia Bridge aiming machine guns at striking longshoremen during the Battle of Smith Cove in 1934. Things have changed a little since then, but not much.

The post Slog AM: The Waterfront Parks are Open, Washington Democrats Support War in Lebanon, and Pacific Northwest Journalists Call for Advertisers to Boycott Their Papers appeared first on The Stranger.

This story originally appeared in The Stranger’s 2026 Queer Issue.

On April 19, 2026, Russell Johnson, the founder and lead pastor of the right-wing megachurch Pursuit NW, took to Instagram, as he often does, to deliver two important messages to his congregation.

He told them the church needed $52 million to purchase a building and parking lot, and that two luminaries in the Christian supremacist movement, Ross Johnston and Jay Koopman, would be joining as pastors.

To those of us who watch the world of the lanky man on screen—a Ballard boy reared on conservative Christianity who has not so jokingly likened his stringy, youth pastor appearance to the Waco cultist David Koresh—it made sense.

Johnson has a taste for prestige. For designer labels—particularly Louis Vuitton and Gucci—and, in a way, designer people. People whose names open doors on the extreme, grandiose, and chronically online side of the Christian right he is fast ascending. Both Johnston and Koopman are rising stars in this space—figures whose names function as currency, whose presence signals that something important is happening here. Their hires were strategic consolidations of power, experts say. Experts warn it is exactly the kind of consolidation of power that, in the current political climate, could invite police state overreach to anyone who opposes the church.

Pursuit is the Pacific Northwest’s fastest-growing evangelical empire, with campuses spanning from Seattle’s University District to Kirkland, Snohomish, and Spokane, 279 miles away; it also has a preschool, two elementary schools, and a ministry college.

Johnson runs in elite circles. In December 2024, John Hagee—a pastor who once claimed God sent Hitler to trigger the creation of Israel—flew in especially to name Johnson the Washington State director of his organization, Christians United for Israel. Johnson’s White House ties are equally tight. Paula White-Cain, Senior Advisor in the White House Faith Office, called Pursuit “the tip of the spear” in spiritual warfare when she spoke there in August of 2025. A month earlier Johnson was invited to attend a worship event at the White House.

Similarly, Johnston and Koopman are not mere peripheral figures on the religious right. They’re two of the most active street-level operatives in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), an enormous and highly influential evangelical movement led by self-appointed Apostles and Prophets who claim to receive fresh, divine revelation directly from God. These leaders teach that powerful demonic spirits control governments, media, education, and other key institutions, and that these spirits must be cast out of those institutions before Christians can seize control and remake nations under biblical rule. I reached out to Johnson for comment over social media. He responded, “HAHAHAHAHAHA” then posted the request and response to his Instagram Stories.

Johnston has built a rapidly growing ministry around California Will Be Saved (CAWBS), a Gen-Z-branded anti-LGBTQ organization he cofounded in 2020, which tries to make young people not gay or trans through Jesus. The group hosts pop-up-style worship events across California that regularly feature water baptisms in plastic tubs and makes claims of “miracle healings.” He also co-led Mayday USA revival events last year, including a Seattle stop at Cal Anderson Park on May 24, 2025, that resulted in mass arrests and prompted a federal investigation.

Koopman is leaving his job as associate pastor at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, where he is directly subordinate to one of the most powerful hard-right evangelical figures in the world, Ché Ahn, a key leader within NAR. He has also spent the last few years touring the country with Sean Feucht, a worship musician and self-described Christian nationalist who believes God should be in charge of writing the laws of the land, and has brought his deliberately confrontational “Let Us Worship” events to cities around the country, including to Gas Works Park last summer.

Both have taken spiritual warfare from the pulpits and into the streets, confronting LGBTQ-friendly and minority communities in a deliberate effort to claim public spaces for Christian dominionism, the belief that Christians are called to seize control of secular institutions and cities, or as the movement puts it, “take territory.”

As the old guards of the NAR and charismatic movements age, experts believe both Koopman and Johnston are reading the room and see Pursuit as the best place to grow their profiles and careers. It also signals that both men see opportunity in Seattle, one of the most secular cities in America. That may seem puzzling from the outside, but to those familiar with their tactics, it makes perfect sense: Successful Christian supremacists live oppositional lives. They are not simply building their reputations, or a church. They are preparing for “spiritual warfare.”

Their movement is built on provoking their “enemies” and filming their reactions for viral proof that the anti-Christian world is laying siege to them, the soldiers of God. In the face of this so-called persecution, they must rise up and fight in a “spiritual war.” They preach that, in an invisible world all around us, angels and demons are locked in constant battle over the earth. And, of course, living close to the enemy you can actually see—liberals, queer people, and anyone who does not subscribe to a version of Christianity most of the faithful could not recongize—saves gas.

Katherine Stewart, Author of Money, Lies, and God and The Power Worshippers, says, “Many charismatic churches and pastors at least implicitly promote a dualistic mindset that says there are two forces at work in the world: the force of good and the force of evil.” What makes this different, or dangerous, is how charismatics apply this concept to the political and culture sphere. “They may literally demonize political enemies, opposition political parties, or those who fail to conform in some way, and they see themselves as participating on the side of good in a spiritual battle, taking God’s side against demonic forces.”

The Draw of Pursuit

Pursuit’s theology is rooted in two overlapping traditions: the prosperity gospel and the independent charismatic movement.

The prosperity gospel, promoted by figures like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland, teaches that strong faith and generous tithing will bring wealth, health, and success, as a sign of God’s favor. It allows pastors like Johnson to draw large salaries, wear designer clothes, and—as seen in recent months—hopscotch between four Sunday campuses by helicopter across King County and by chartered plane from Snohomish to Spokane.

The charismatic movement emphasizes the active presence of the Holy Spirit through intangible “spiritual gifts” such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, and miracles. A decade ago, this movement was on the fringe. Today it’s one of the fastest growing movements in America with leaders positioned in the White House.

This is best represented by a belief common in both spaces: the “7 Mountain Mandate,” a theology that teaches Christians are called to take influence—or outright control—over seven major spheres of society: religion, family, education, government, media, entertainment, and business.

 “The ideology is antithetical to the values of pluralism and equality that represent the best of the American promise. It’s very much an us-versus-them mentality, one that says ‘us’ should rule,” Stewart says.

Pursuit and its leadership are already deeply connected to the broader NAR and charismatic networks Koopman and Johnston come from, and these men have worked together many times before.

In March 2024, Johnson and Pursuit hosted the inaugural “Let Us Worship Firestarters Conference.” Co-led by Feucht, Koopman, and Johnston, the conference was designed to push Christianity toward a more radical, activist posture focused on youth mobilization and what organizers called “infiltrating culture,” or mobilizing young believers to embed themselves in those seven major spheres of society.

Matthew Taylor, visiting scholar at the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University and the author of The Violent Take It by Force, sees Pursuit’s new leadership as deliberately choosing the Pacific Northwest for its oppositional potential, comparing their strategy directly to Mark Driscoll’s at Mars Hill, who relished in his opposition to Seattle culture.

In Taylor’s view, the region’s progressive, secular identity is uniquely appealing to leaders who thrive on conflict. “From their perspective, it is the most popular, most liberal, LGBTQ-friendly, and therefore the most spiritually bereft and even ‘dark’ place they can go to,” he says.

Taylor says he “would not be surprised to see [Johnson, Johnston, and Koopman] ramp up their oppositional stance and be hailed as heroes” by the right as a whole.

An Antigay Crusader from a Gay Family

Ross Johnston’s origin story, which you will hear if you ever see him holding a microphone, is the cornerstone of his entire brand. He was born by artificial insemination, raised in a lesbian household, and says he never heard the name of Jesus until he was invited to church at 15, and was born again shortly after.

In a July 2023 interview with the right-wing podcast Red Liberty, he said that during a crisis of faith in 2019 and 2020, God told him directly: “If you don’t stand with me now, you never will.” He broke into tears, began repenting, and prayed, “Whatever you want to do with my life, use it, give me people.” Shortly after, he walked into a revival tent in Orange County, California, saw a worshiping Joel Mott, a Christian worship leader with deep ties to NAR, and knew immediately they needed to connect. The two then attended one of Feucht’s “Let Us Worship” events—a traveling charismatic revival that emerged during the early COVID-19 lockdowns as a response to restrictions on church gatherings in 2020—and the youth-focused California Will Be Saved (CAWBS) was born.

Mott serves as the musical lead while Johnston functions as hype man, crowd-worker, and public face, always centering his personal origin story. He’s been known to get the crowd going with a take on Digital Underground’s “Thuglife Party” replacing the words “thug life” in “Ain’t no party like a thug life party” with “holy ghost.”

Johnston uses his upbringing in a queer household to build credibility and trust with LGBTQ audiences before delivering the conclusion that homosexuality is “a sin and not the design of God,” but one that Johnston and Jesus can “save and heal.”

As he outlined in an 2023 YouTube video, he befriends queer people, earns their trust, and then convinces them they can be redeemed through Christ. “Does sin separate us from God? Absolutely. Is living in an LGBTQ lifestyle a sin? Absolutely,” he said.

His YouTube channel reinforces the message, with titles such as “Transgender man surrenders to Jesus,” “Does my lesbian mom support me as a Christian?” and “Can I be gay and Christian?” the answer to the last one, per Johnston, being a firm no.

Although affirming and queer-friendly ministry has grown steadily more mainstream over the years, with hundreds of congregations across nearly every major denomination now openly welcoming LGBTQ members and clergy, Johnston and co. radically oppose them and regularly call them out, which, in some cases, has resulted in harassment on social media.

His rhetoric extends well into politics. In one video on his YouTube channel, Johnston declared that since they couldn’t vote for Jesus himself, the only candidate aligned with “biblical design” and “God’s own law” was Donald Trump. In April of 2026, Johnston was invited to the White House to attend a worship event put on by the National Faith Advisory Board. He has also enthusiastically spread QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories, framing the “LGBTQ agenda” as a demonic force targeting children.

Johnston’s institutional standing received a major boost in April 2024 when NAR Apostle, and write-in candidate for Governor of California, Ché Ahn officially recognized him as an Evangelist, a title in the NAR world, at Harvest International Ministry’s global summit, unlocking access to a network of over 25,000 ministries across 65 countries. Ahn praised Johnston specifically because he “can speak to transgenderism” and “the gay community” as someone raised in that environment.

“He didn’t know a dad, and God radically saved him for such a time as this,” Ahn said.

By early 2025, Johnston had partnered with anti-LGBTQ activist and former multilevel marketer Jenny Donnelly for the multi-city “Mayday USA” tour, framed explicitly as spiritual warfare against queer people and abortion rights. The Seattle stop of Mayday resulted in mass arrests of counterprotesters and the so-called “Rattle in Seattle,” where Pursuit and Mayday claimed they were being persecuted by city leadership for being Christian while in Seattle and have since sued the cities of Seattle and Los Angeles.

At a February stop at Portland’s Collective Church to promote Mayday, he told the crowd, “You’re already known as a Christian white nationalist, so you might as well act like one and get out onto the streets with us.” Johnston has also begun targeting public high schools, boasting that thousands of students have come to Jesus through his school gym sessions. “We’ve prayed for decades to get into public schools,” he said, “and now we’re in them.”

I contacted Johnston for comment via social media for this piece—he responded by taking a dig at the pronouns in my bio and encouraged me to “figure out who you are first” before requesting an interview.

From Addict to Champion of Men’s Ministry

Jay Koopman’s relationship with NAR Apostle Ché Ahn is the defining fact of Koopman’s ministry, and he is deeply embedded in the NAR’s dominionist project to establish a theocratic takeover of American culture, politics, and institutions.

Ahn himself was active in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, taking the main stage on January 5, 2021, at the “Stop the Steal” rally in Freedom Plaza, Washington, DC. As associate pastor at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, Ahn’s flagship congregation, Koopman was his direct subordinate.

Koopman’s testimony, his redemption from addiction, is key in his work today, where he regularly does altar calls, asking people to surrender their cigarettes, vapes, and drugs in exchange for God’s approval.

Koopman rose through his partnership with Feucht, and joined his “Let Us Worship” tour in 2020. He was Feucht’s hype man—a crowd-energizing counterpart to Feucht’s musical lead, and a role he reprised on Feucht’s 2024 election-focused “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour. That working relationship continued through to 2025, just before a group of Feucht’s former staff launched a website alleging spiritual and financial abuse within his ministries.

Koopman’s activities extend beyond small local revival events. He was present at the NAR’s Hope Fest LA alongside Johnston and other key NAR figures, where Ahn led the crowd in reciting what he called the “Family First Pledge”—a public commitment to vote only for candidates who oppose abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Ahn framed it plainly: “We are calling this the Family First Pledge and that you would vote righteously for family first candidates.”

I contacted Koopman for comment for this piece, again via social media. He did not respond—however, he posted my request to his Instagram stories with a joke about not being a “stranger.”

Why Seattle?

Taylor, the religious scholar, emphasizes that the legal landscape in this country has fundamentally changed, pointing to the Task Force for the Eradication of Anti-Christian Bias hosted at the DOJ, and a National Security Memo identifying anti-Christianity as a marker of domestic terrorism, noting that Pursuit’s leaders have “direct channels to DOJ, the FBI, and to the White House.”

He draws a parallel to the DOJ’s fraud investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center, the civil rights organization that monitors extremist groups. The DOJ indicted the SPLC on 11 counts including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, alleging SPLC defrauded donors. The SPLC has pushed back against the charges, stating, “We will not be intimidated” and framing the indictment as politically motivated. Taylor described it as “a completely concocted prosecution” that nonetheless has “real impact,” and warns that a provocative event that turns violent could “be leveraged into a new round of DOJ prosecutions of activist groups.”

Most sobering is his point that even dismissed cases carry a lasting cost: “It doesn’t have to be a really well-laid trap, either, because people would still be known as this anti-Christian domestic terrorist.” He urges extreme caution, stressing that Pursuit’s new leadership “are desperate for attention, that’s what they live off, it’s the playbook, that’s their lifeblood,” and that Johnson’s close ties to the Trump administration mean that “Todd Blanche or Kash Patel could be reached on the phone within an hour or two.”

Both Johnston and Koopman have already commenced their new Pursuit NW roles, leading worship at several campuses. Johnston has been seen traveling via helicopter in between campuses while Koopman has been building out Pursuit’s men’s ministry.

On Monday, May 18, two teenagers opened fire at the San Diego Islamic Center, killing three people before turning the guns on themselves. The attackers had glorified neo-Nazis and espoused antigay and anti-trans ideology.

The following day, Johnson and Pursuit’s official Instagram page collaborated on a post with the headline “Islam isn’t taking over WA state,” a direct reference to the Muslim Association of Puget Sound’s purchase of an eight-acre property for $45 million, located just two miles from Pursuit’s Kirkland campus. Johnson accused Muslims of following a false God and stated that the region belongs to “one true God” alone.

Three men. One organization. A post staking Christian territorial claim the morning after three Muslims were shot dead. This is not just poor judgment—it’s the playbook, executed in real time, at the intersection of grief and power, and their flock loved it. 

Got something to say? Email us at letters@thestranger.com.

Want to support this journalism? You can subscribe to The Stranger and get it delivered to your actual, physical mailbox. Or you can donate here!

The post God’s Army Is Hiring appeared first on The Stranger.

Ready to click “add to cart” on these concert tix? Daughter from Hell singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams looks at her life on an upcoming tour. Multi-platinum rapper Bryson Tiller presents the Neo Trapsoul Tour with special guests Maijd Jordan and Ty Dolla $ign. Plus, reggae band Stick Figure brings new music to the Gorge next summer. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

Tickets go on sale at 10 am unless otherwise noted.

ON SALE FRIDAY, JUNE 5

MUSIC

Bear Ghost
El Corazon (Tues Oct 20)

Bryson Tiller Presents: The Neo Trapsoul Tour
Climate Pledge Arena (Sun Nov 1)
On sale at noon

Castle Rat: Summon The Beasts Tour 2026
The Showbox (Wed Oct 7)

See more on EverOut!

The post Ticket Alert: Gracie Abrams, Bryson Tiller, and More Seattle Events Going On Sale This Week appeared first on The Stranger.