Microsoft Invents New State of Matter: What are they doing over there in Redmond? Apparently, fucking with the principles of physics and chemistry. Microsoft says it's added a new state of matter to the mix of the classics (solid, liquid, gas). They're calling it a "topological qubit." Catchy. The topological qubit will apparently help make quantum computers. If true, this will have quite the effect on the technological world. Also, with a juiced up machine that takes another state of matter to power, it will have a huge impact geopolitically, since a quantum computer could feasibly break any other kind of computer's encryptions.
Washington Schools Stand Tough: State Superintendent Chris Reykdal told Washington schools not to dismantle their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as ordered by the president. Last week, the Trump administration sent a letter threatening to pull federal funding from any K-12 institution that didn't dismantle its race-based programs. Reykdal said that letter did not hold "the power of law" and referenced how Washington state law has banned discrimination in education since 1998, according to KUOW. If federal funding disappears, Reykdal and the Attorney General Nick Brown are cooking up a plan. They're exploring legal options, but wouldn't it be crazy if the Donald Trump regime is what catalyzed Washington to fix its upside down tax system and implement progressive revenue to actually fund our schools?
Cool list, who's missing? Over 40 cities and counties are suing Trump because of his cuts to research funding. Have you noticed the glaring absence on this list of progressive cities? Yeah, Seattle isn't on there. That's because we have a bootlicking Trump fan as our city attorney. She's up for re-election this year. If you want a city attorney who will defend our city against authoritarianism, remember that when your ballot comes for the August primary.
The City of Boston is leading 40+ mayors, cities, and counties in an amicus brief against the Trump Administration's drastic and illegal cuts to federal research funding—cuts that will lead to immediate job losses nationwide.
— Office of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 (@mayorwu.boston.gov) February 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
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Amazon About to Ruin James Bond: Our neighborhood bookseller/tech overlords have inked a deal with longtime 007 producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli that will see Amazon MGM Studios take creative control of the IP. We're going to get so many horrible spinoffs, I just know it. Bond will receive all his new tools via Prime one-day delivery.
First, they came for our antidepressants: If RFK Jr.'s “Make America Healthy Again” Commission targets SSRIs, drugs used to treat anxiety and depression that he considers "highly addictive, potentially dangerous and overprescribed," then Seattle women will be pissed—or, well, depressed. According to the Seattle Times' FYI Guy, 33% of Seattle women ages 18 to 35 use these drugs. That amounts to about 205,000 sad gals. In total, 19% of Seattle adults (or, 847,000 people) are on SSRIs. Of that number, 25% are women. Don't fuck with our meds.
The Weather: Cloudy and wet today. Then, really wet over the weekend when the atmospheric river gushes all over us. Thank goodness for those SSRIs, huh?
Justice Department Not So Interested in This "Justice" Thing: The Justice Department just deleted a national database tracking federal police misconduct. Weirdly, the idea to make such a thing was proposed by Trump in 2020. However, it only came online in 2023. The database had disciplinary records dating back from 2017 from all 90 executive branch agencies with law enforcement officers. Experts believe the database had improved public safety by stopping bad cops from hopping to new agencies.
Trump Goes Postal: Trump is expected to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service, firing its board, and absorbing the independent mail agency into his administration under the Commerce Department. Seems like a bad idea for the guy who has created a bunch of suspicion around mail-in voting to now take control of the agency that makes vote-by-mail happen.
Probably Unrelated, Right? Trump again joked about running for a third term.
X Is State Media: Okay, so, last night there was a town hall in the city of Roswell, Georgia where angry voters questioned their congressman, Rep. Rich McCormick R-GA, about all these Department of Government Efficiency cuts and Trumps tyrannical actions. He, unsurprisingly, did a bad job handling this. The crowd booed and jeered. A reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution livetweeted it all on X/Twitter. His posts disappeared. They were blocked. You can watch the whole town hall here.
Over on X, simple tweets by my colleague Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal Constitution have been blocked. They were nothing but video of a town hall held by Rep. Rich McCormick R-GA where he was asked questions about DOGE
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM
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Keep Yelling at Your Lawmakers: Because they don't seem to care about you, only about toeing the line. Last night, Republican senators pushed through their $340 billion budget framework that will fund border security and deportations. Democrats tried to fight the budget, but the Senate majority won out again.
In Luigi news: The alleged killer of the United Healthcare CEO is set to appear in his first court appearance since his arraignment today. In Manhattan, this digitized billboard showed a "Free Luigi" image:
‘Free Luigi’ billboard has gone up in lower Manhattan the evening before his next court appearance. 🤭😁❤️
— burnt undertones (@burntundertones.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 7:30 PM
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Good Thing to Remember: Kings die! Archaeologists just discovered a new pharaoh tomb. It's the first pharaoh tomb anyone's found since excavators dug up Tutankhamen's burial suite in 1922. Egyptian and British researchers uncovered the tomb of Thutmose II, who probably reigned around 1480 B.C.
Canada beats USA: Canada beat the USA hockey team 3-2 in overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game. I don't know enough about hockey lore to know why this is such a big deal. It feels like a big deal because Canada rightfully keeps booing our national anthem at sporting events and because our president keeps saying he wants to acquire their country. Anyway, Justin Trudeau got a sassy little tweet out of the whole thing and I'm happy for him.
Holy cow. Dark Justin.
— Brent Toderian (@brenttoderian.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 11:07 PM
#ThisIsReal #CanadaWins
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Canada wins! #fournations
— Mark Carney For PM (@markcarneyforpm.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
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A song for your Friday: Of course, the Canadian win reminds me of the movie Miracle (except this time, when thinking of this game and that event, are... we the baddies?) which reminds me of the song from the end credits which my dad used to play to get me pumped up for soccer games.
