14 more months of Flake.
Fourteen more months of Flake. McNamee/Getty Images

THE FOUR HORSESHITTERS OF THE APOCALYPSE: "4 Republicans Sound an Alarm on Trump. Will Others Follow?" the top headline at the New York Times asks this morning. George W. Bush, John McCain, Bob Corker, and Jeff Flake have all spoken out against Trump, with Flake delivering a blistering speech in the Senate yesterday and publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday with a one-word headline: "Enough." Flake had some questions too: "How many more disgraceful public feuds with Gold Star families can we witness in silence before we ourselves are disgraced? How many more times will we see moral ambiguity in the face of shocking bigotry and shrug it off? How many more childish insults do we need to see hurled at a hostile foreign power before we acknowledge the senseless danger of it?" But as Reihan Salam pointed out at Slate earlier this week... no George W. Bush, no Trump. (And there never should have been a George W. Bush.) And McCain, Corker, and Flake all strolled into the Senate yesterday and voted to kill a rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that made it easier for consumers to sue banks for fraud—a major win for Trump and for Wall Street, says CNN. Condemning Trump after paving the way for him (Bush, 40 years of the Southern Strategy, racist dog whistles, and obstructionist politics) or condemning Trump and then voting with Trump 95 percent of the time, backing all of his awful cabinet picks, aiding and abetting the theft of a seat on the Supreme Court—yeah, spare us. Back up those fine condemnatory words with actions designed to stop Trump and/or remove him from office, gentleman, or STFU. (Oh, and remember how Jill Stein said we shouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton because she'd give Wall Street whatever it wanted?)

I MEAN, COME ON:


REQUIRED VIEWING: Seth Meyers rips into Jeff Flake...

OPPOSITION RESEARCH: Everyone does it, but it's not okay for her to do it—or for her campaign to be involved, even tangentially, in it having been done—at least according to Republicans who want us to believe that the real scandal is the existence of the Steele Dossier, not what's contained in it, and the media, who are always ready to enforce sexist double standards where Hillary Clinton is concerned. "The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee paid for research that was included in a dossier made public in January that contained salacious claims about connections between Donald J. Trump, his associates and Russia," reports the New York Times. The Trumpsters claim this proves the dossier is a politically motivated attack and therefore we shouldn't pay attention to what's in it—never mind that Steele's work was first funded by Republicans (who have yet to be named) during the 2016 GOP primary, and never mind that more and more of what's in the dossier has been proven to be true. (There may be a Donald Trump pee tape in our future.)

JOSH BREAKS IT DOWN: "In other words, we now know what we knew literally a year ago," writes Josh Marshal at Talking Points Memo. "Or to put it differently, Democrats agreed to fund continued research into Russia possibly owning Donald Trump after Republicans decided they didn’t care anymore."


ET TU, H.W.? "George H.W. Bush has reportedly apologized after an actor accused him of sexual assault," the Guardian reports. "Heather Lind, 34, alleged that the former US president 'sexually assaulted' her when they posed for a photograph several years ago, according to a since deleted Instagram post... A spokesman for the former president, who is 93, [said]: 'President Bush would never—under any circumstance—intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humour offended Ms Lind.'" Those who are old enough and gay enough to remember the AIDS Crisis during the 1980s and early 1990s—and the indifference and contempt shown to the sick, dying, and terrified by the Reagan and Bush administrations—know for a fact that H.W. is capable of intentionally causing distress.

THE ECOPOCALYPSE WON'T COME CHEAP: "The Trump administration’s reluctance to confront climate change threatens to create a massive burden on taxpayers, as a lack of planning by federal agencies leaves the government ill-equipped to deal with the fallout from rising temperatures, according to independent congressional investigators," reports the Los Angeles Times. "The report released Tuesday from the Government Accountability Office presents a bleak picture in which the economic costs of climate change spiral ever further upward in the coming decades."

FLYING WHILE BLACK: The NAACP issues a travel warning. Black Americans who fly on American Airlines should “exercise caution, in that booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them disrespectful, discriminatory, or unsafe conditions.” The NAACP press release cites "a series of recent incidents involve troublesome conduct by American Airlines and they suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines."

AMAZON IN THE HOUSE: Your house, to be specific: "The online retailer on Wednesday introduced Amazon Key, a program for Amazon Prime members that, when linked to an internet-connected door lock, grants entry to delivery people or other authorized folks," reports the Seattle Times. The program is meant to combat the theft of Amazon packages from front porches. Walmart started doing the same thing last month.

GRIFFIN VS. COOPER: It's ugly.

AIN'T THAT A SHAME: "Fats Domino, one of the architects of rock 'n' roll, died yesterday at 89 years old at his daughter's suburban New Orleans home," reports NPR.

DEVELOPERS: DURKAN WILL BE TOUGH ON DEVELOPERS! Developers are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into an independent expenditure committee supporting Seattle mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan, reports the Seattle Weekly, and their money is financing ads that claim Durkan will “hold developers accountable." Uh-huh.

ARMPIT OF THE DAY: A classic.

MAYORAL DEBATE: We had another one last night, this time hosted by KING 5. KUOW watched the debate with a crowd of mostly decided voters. Durkan and Moon were both asked which of their opponents they would hire to work in their administrations. Durkan said she would hire Bob Hasegawa, Jessyn Farrell, and Cary Moon. Moon said she would hire Jessyn Farrell and Nikkita Oliver. There's another mayoral debate coming up on October 29: Nikkita Oliver's Peoples Party is hosting the debate and the Peoples Party's Nikkita Oliver will be moderating. Oliver accused Moon and Durkan of employing racist "debate tactics" after a debate in Columbia City last week. Both candidates made the mistake of mentioning Oliver after being asked by Oliver why Oliver should endorse either one of them. This was "incredibly racist," Oliver explained on Facebook, because...

Neither supported my candidacy (though both had the opportunity to). Instead of sticking to points about wealth and corporate donations Durkan states, "If Cary had not used her own wealth to run for office, it would have been Nikkita Oliver and I sitting up here." Reality is both women entered the race after me and had equal opportunity to support the candidacy of a qualified woman of color. For Durkan to utilize me in front of a fairly POC heavy audience as a "low blow" is a very racist thing. For Cary to give me the opportunity to respond, but not call out the racism herself is to be a poor ally.

Have fun tiptoeing through that minefield on October 29, Jenny & Cary. Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda will also be debating.

ANOTHER POT SHOP COMING TO CAPITOL HILL: Longtime marijuana advocate John Davis is partnering with Seattle pot entrepreneur Ian Eisenberg on a new shop, reports Capitol Hill Seattle. The new pot shop will be located on Olive Way, next door to the Crescent Tavern, in an old office building.