The sun is not setting on our dependence on oil. Credit: mantaphoto/Getty Images
The sun is not setting on our dependence on oil.
The sun is not setting on our dependence on oil. mantaphoto/Getty Images

The Trump administration rolls back restrictions put in place after the Deepwater Horizon calamity: The totally preventable 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest in American history, spurred new regulations to be put in place to make sure that oil rigs are built and secured, as the NYTimes puts it, “to function in [the] “most extreme” scenarios involving weather, high heat, strong winds or high pressure from within the undersea oil wells.” Before the massive oil spill, companies were allowed to police their own operations, and were responsible for maintaining their rigs up to reasonable safety standards. They were absolutely not able to do so and 11 people were killed and more than 200 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the gulf of Mexico. We made a teeny bit of progress, minimally regulating a business that is designed to destroy the Earth, and now we are taking a giant step backwards.

A word on Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s (non) drinking game: Christopher Frizzelle and Katie Herzog covered yesterday’s nine-hour hearing, in which Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. There’s one discrepancy Christopher pointed out regarding the claim Kavanaugh made during his testimony about a drinking game. As Christopher explains, “Oh yeah, and Kavanaugh lied to senators about what a Devil’s Triangle is. It’s not a drinking game, as he said under oath. It’s a threesome with two men and one woman.” I know, I know, the Urban Dictionary is not a fully vested or trusted source. But if the Urban Dictionary entry perked your curiosity, but was too unreliable of a reference a to convince you, how do you feel about this?:

Crowdfunding at its best: KING5 reports that a Bainbridge Island woman used GoFundMe to raise over $47,000 to buy a full page ad in the USA Today in support of Christine Blasey Ford, amid her hearing in front of the Senate Committee. The ad read, “We believed Dr. Anita Hill in 1991 and we believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford now.” The woman who orchestrated the crowdfunding and ad is Ashley Horvat, and I think she speaks for all of us when she says, “I’m just tired of women being diminished in their opinions or their stories or whatever the case may be.” Amen to that!

This should not surprise anyone: Despite Senator Jeff Flake’s manicured image as the Republican who always seems like he may be willing to look at things from a non-partisan perspective, this:

This “yes” from Flake is what spurred what is happening live, right now.

Republicans are trying to push through a vote on Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh TODAY: With Flake’s confirmed yes, Senate Republicans have enough votes to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. This is breaking news, so it is difficult to know what will happen today, exactly, but Senator Chuck Grassley initiated a vote this morning to set a 1:30 p.m. deadline. Just now, Senator Kamala Harris tweeted this:

Moments after Senator Flake announced he was a “yes,” this happened:

Trump accuses Google of suppressing conservative views, CEO flies out to calm him down: Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, will meet with Trump administration economic advisor Larry Kudlow on a trip to D.C. He also plans to meet the House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy among other House Republicans. Trump essentially has a magical power, where he can spin and point his accusatory finger, and summon anyone he chooses, and they seemingly, through forces unknown, are obligatorily summoned. Word has it this power is called, “being a troll,” and may be one of the strongest forces known to man.

Is it really called landing if it’s in the ocean?: A Boeing 737 pulled a Sully-on-the-Hudson in the water near Micronesia yesterday evening, and fortunately nobody was seriously injured.

You can’t play the “it’s my only sin” card if your only sin is this fucking horrible: The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte confessed his “only sin,” as letting extrajudicial killings happen on his watch.

I’m pretty sure the only time the “only sin” card can be played appropriately is in the sentence, “my only sin was loving you too much,” and even then it’s probably inaccurate.

E. Coli on lettuce caused by dirty farm water, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. Basically, animal feces (wild animals and livestock) gets into the water source for a farm’s irrigation and then inadvertently seeps or is sprayed onto the produce. This was the case for the contaminated lettuce from Yuma, Arizona, which caused “at least 210 people in 36 states [to be] sickened. Five died and 27 suffered kidney failure.” The FDA has essentially shown no urgency in trying to solve this problem. As the article reads, “While postponing the water-testing rules would save growers $12 million per year, it also would cost consumers $108 million per year in medical expenses, according to an FDA analysis.”

This week has been tough: And this morning was full of particularly shitty news. But we can not wallow in the horror of our current reality. We don’t have to accept it either. It seems Dan Savage has come up with a new slogan to go along with his ITMFA (Impeach the Motherfucker Already)


Amen Dan. Let’s hope there’s still a chance Kavanaugh won’t be confirmed. But if he is? IBTMF.

More in NEWS

Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.

The AI Wars Come to Ravenna

There’s a contentious election in a normally sleepy North Seattle legislative district, with out-of-state money pouring in. Blame the robots.