Jeff’s Mom Is Dead: Jackie Bezos, 78, died in her Miami home on Thursday after “a long fight with Lewy body dementia,” as Jeff penned in his Instagram goodbye to mommy dearest. Alongside her husband Mike, Jackie wrote one of the two checks to support her son’s startup in 1995. That $245,573 investment spawned billions for the couple and, as we all know, even more for their son. Despite having all the money one could want, death still came for Jackie as it will come for us all.
My Step-Dad Predicted This: For years, my step-dad Ben has been convinced we will be able to upload our consciousnesses in our lifetimes. Good news, Ben. Tech start-up Nectome wants to preserve people’s brains and back-up their minds so one day the scientists of the future—hundreds of years from now, maybe even thousands of years from now—can upload those minds into computer simulations. Is that resurrection? Are you still the you that were uploaded? Not quite. Making everything even more complicated is the fact that in order to even get this procedure done, you’ll have to fucking die. Newcome founder Robert McIntyre said his “product” is “100 percent fatal.” If you want to kill yourself for the chance of an imprint of you to live forever as a computer simulation, you can sign up for the waitlist—it only costs $10,000.
I like this take on the whole thing: McGill University neuroscientist Michael Hendricks had this to say about preserving brains for future generations to deal with:
“Burdening future generations with our brain banks is just comically arrogant. Aren’t we leaving them with enough problems?” Hendricks told [MIT Technology Review] this week after reviewing Nectome’s website. “I hope future people are appalled that in the 21st century, the richest and most comfortable people in history spent their money and resources trying to live forever on the backs of their descendants. I mean, it’s a joke, right? They are cartoon bad guys.”
The Great West Seattle Jewelry Robbery: In broad daylight at around noon on Thursday, four masked thieves busted into Menashe and Sons Jewelers on California Avenue Southwest. They smashed and grabbed, breaking six different cases and snatching Rolexes, an emerald necklace, and gold jewelry. They made off with an estimated $2 million in merchandise. If you have any info on this group, the Seattle Police Department would appreciate the help.
The World Humanoid Robot Games is This Weekend: The first-of-its-kind event kicks off in Beijing on Friday with “500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan” competing—and showcasing their prowess in robotics, according to CTV News. The opening ceremony included a robot soccer match and it looked like shit.
Four teams competed in the inaugural RoBoLeague World Robot Soccer League in Beijing, ahead of the World Humanoid Robot Games in August. The robotic players all operated autonomously, with no humans directly to blame for the terrible defending on show.
— WIRED (@wired.com) July 1, 2025 at 6:24 AM
The Weather: This storm front of dreary, wet weather reeks of fall. It will deliver us all of August’s typical rainfall amount in just two days. Listen close. Beyond the pitter-pat of rain, you can hear it: Seattleites everywhere muttering, “We needed this. We needed this.” And when you think of the crab grass, the parched soil turning to dust in our parks, and the fires using it all as fuel across the state, you can’t help but think we did need this. The people who did not need this? Everyone who banked on Aug. 16 being a warm, dry Seattle Saturday to get married on. It’s good luck at least!
The Traffic: A complete closure of I-5 north from the I-90 interchange to Northeast 45th Street will snarl commutes this weekend. Plan accordingly. The good news is that after this weekend, the freeway should fully open—which means goodbye to the two-lanes the stretch has been reduced to for the past month.
Too Bad the Light Rail Isn’t Dependable: An issue with a “ventilation safety fault” has shut down Northgate, Roosevelt, U District, University of Washington and Capitol Hill stations. Riders will need to take shuttle buses if they are leaving from or heading to any of those stops.
If I Had a Nickel for Every Time This Happened… A group text called “Mass Text” between Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies accidentally added a random person to the thread. In it, they discussed an active search for a convicted murderer allegedly slated for deportation. Yep, that means they flung around a lot of sensitive information. According to 404 Media, this included “detailed information about the target they were looking for, and… ICE pulling data from a DMV and license plate readers.” And this was just a regular old text thread, not even an end-to-end encrypted chat like the Signal group a senior Trump administration official added the editor-in-chief from The Atlantic to.
Gerrymandering, But for the Good Guys: California Gov. Gavin Newsom and all of that hair of his announced the Golden State is moving forward with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led gerrymandering effort and to secure a House majority. Two can play at this game. “We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,” Newsom said. While Newsom spoke, armed and masked federal agents gathered, seemingly in a show of intimidation.
Border Patrol agents assembled outside a Los Angeles museum where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a rally and news conference on congressional redistricting. Local elected officials expressed outrage that the agents decided to stand there in a brazen show of force. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/u…
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) August 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
More Tech Layoffs: Texas-based cloud computing company Oracle is cutting 161 employees in Seattle.
JD Vance’s Humiliation Tour Continues: JD Vance, who is somehow still on vacation, couldn’t dine at The Bull in Charlbury, Oxfordshire because a staff mutiny made management turn him away.
DC Sues Trump Administration over Occupation: Washington D.C.’s local government has filed a federal suit against the Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “brazen usurpation of the District’s authority over its own government.” According to the suit, Trump’s federalization of D.C. police and Bondi’s installation of an emergency police commissioner “exceed the narrow delegation that Congress granted the President in Section 740,” or the DC Home Rule Act that gives the president a 30-day period to control the local police if he declares an emergency, according to The Guardian. So far, that safety emergency looks like arresting a justice department employee and charging him with a felony for throwing a sandwich at an ICE agent. They sent 20 officers to arrest this guy. They heard he had a pound of turkey, a loaf of white and some dangerously sharp cheddar.
The White House posted an insane video of the police arresting the sandwich guy in a safe and wealthy neighborhood.
— amanda moore 🐢 (@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social) August 14, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Meanwhile, Trump Meets with Putin: Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin are meeting face-to-face in Alaska to chat about Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s the first in-person meeting between American and Russian leaders since the Ukraine invasion happened in 2022. The meeting could determine the future of that conflict and Trump’s commitment to NATO.
Sports Betting Is Such an Ick: In a time of year where there aren’t a ton of professional sports to wager on, people who need to make a sports wager to feel are turning to betting on the Little League World Series. Yes, children playing baseball.
A Bullfighting Resurgence? Spanish bullfighting is seeing a complicated renaissance thanks to two popular matadors who fucking hate each other and who have been recently gored by bulls. Plus, the stigma associated with the sport—which is falling out of popularity especially with young and educated Spaniards—is increasing its appeal. Forbidden fruit and all that. Also, maybe society just thirsts for blood now more than it ever has.
A Song for Your Friday: You deserve a ballad today.
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Good roundup, NG. A fun and fascinating snapshot of an ever-more depressing and dystopian world. Hey, at least it looks like our prayers to the rain gods are about to pay off today.
As for this one line: “Despite having all the money one could want, death still came for Jackie as it will come for us all.” When I read this, I immediately did a double-take of the byline. “That sounds like something Mudede would write.”
“Lewy body dementia” is a dreadful affliction that I wouldn’t wish on almost anyone.
“Too Bad the Light Rail Isn’t Dependable”
This is a weird thing to say. Yes, there was a disruption between 5am and 8:30am this morning (maybe update the post that it’s been resolved?) but what level of uptime is required for you to call it “dependable”?
If there’s a wreck and a delay on i-5 will you declare that I-5 isn’t dependable?
Guy should have opened his apartment door armed with a PB&J and watched the cops flee in terror
Gotta agree with @1. This read exactly like a Mudede post.
I already spend way too much time wondering if we are living in a simulation. I absolutely will not be uploading my consciousness to the cloud. I am quite happy for my thoughts to die along with me.
Hopefully the jewelry thieves are arrested post haste. A $2 million theft in WA ALMOST guarantees jail time. Depends on the wokeness of the assigned judge.
The tunnel ventilation system is a critical safety system so there should be redundancy. Tens of thousands of commuters are once again reminded of Sound Transit’s incompetency.
Blue states nationwide are already gerrymandered to the hilt. Can the Dems pick up 5 more seats in CA? Sure, maybe. Meanwhile there are dozens of districts in Red States that could give Republicans 20 – 40 new seats through additional gerrymandering. In other words Mr. Newsom, Republicans say “bring it”.
Also, the ICE and Border Patrol weren’t there to intimidate Newsom, they were there to make immigration arrests. Who could have predicted illegal immigrants at a Newsom press conference?
Did you hear sandwich bro worked at the DOJ? Not anymore, LOL! Dude wasted a perfectly good sandwich and a perfectly good job because he wanted to cosplay hero to the downtrodden. Stay in your lane next time sandwich bro.
Best of luck to President Trump in his meeting with Vlad. Let’s hope for peace!
“I hope future people are appalled that in the 21st century, the richest and most comfortable people in history spent their money and resources trying to live forever on the backs of their descendants. I mean, it’s a joke, right? They are cartoon bad guys.” –McGill University neuroscientist Michael Hendricks, perfectly.
[‘7:39’? really? you mean
we gotta Search for it?
but that’s just SO
MUCH WORK!]
It’s appalling that this summit is even taking place, and the blase attitude toward it from Democrats and the media (even the Trump-critical media) is almost as scandalous as the event itself. Imagine the uproar that would have ensued if FDR had invited Hitler to the U.S. for a private fireside chat in 1940, without Churchill present and without any precondition that the Nazis halt their blitzkrieg. (I generally avoid Hitler analogies, but in this case I don’t see ANY qualitative difference between those two scenarios.) If hosting Putin without having him arrested on the spot isn’t the single worst thing Trump has done in his entire life, it’s very high on the list.
That gruesome Nectome startup got a federal grant. DOGE should have stopped that, or maybe Elon approved?
They need to include the heart to go with the brain, thoughts without a soul are meaningless.
“Gerrymandering, but for the good guys”? It never ceases to amaze me how easily Americans can forget that the DNC is one of two parties of neoliberalism, endless war, and post-industrial colonialism. It hasn’t been the party of the New Deal since FDR (and it was always overrated as such).
@4 If the guy was holding a PB&J, the feds would have shot him for threatening them with a deadly weapon.
@7: I understand your sentiments, but in this case the optics are secondary to a peace deal. Global diplomacy has always had a Machiavellian edge.
@8 someone should convince Elon that he owes it to future humanity to preserve his brain ASAP before cognitive decline sets in
@12: Yes – and Donald should too!
@9
Bingo
but you spel-
led “D”NC wrong.
“Phoebe” @11, very well said. This meeting in Alaska will surely be the greatest step towards peace in Europe since Hiitler and Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to bring peace to Poland. Hey Nobel Peace Prize committee, you’re on notice.
@7. Absolutely agree. Nevertheless it is happening, so it’s a Maalox day for those of us who deeply care about Ukraine and transatlantic security.
I’m sticking close to my top Ukraine channel today, the lovely chaps at Telegraph UKs “Ukraine the Latest,” currently holed up in a rental Winnibago near the base.
@7 But which one’s Hitler?
Can we upload Trump to the cloud today? Asking for a friend.
9: The DNC is worse. At least the RNC doesn’t short-circuit presidential primaries
@11 No “peace deal” with the likes of Putin will be possible until he’s forced to retreat from Ukraine entirely. Then, perhaps, a deal can be made over how much Russia owes in reparations. Most progressives agreed that Pramila Jayapal committed what was probably the worst blunder of her career in 2022 by calling on Biden to make a bilateral deal with Putin over Zelensky’s head. She was forced to walk it back (and then made matters worse for herself by absurdly blaming her staff). The political equation surrounding the war has not changed since then in any meaningful way. Negotiating with Putin alone and without preconditions would have been an outrage if Biden did it, and it’s just as wrong now.
@17 The modern-day scenario involves two little Hitlers (as Elvis Costello would call them) but I stand by the analogy.
Re: 16: Such a charming image comes to mind. thekossack gulping down Maalox like the fussy Karen we all imagine him (?) to be, in between completing his (?) life work’s manifest: “The Moral Imperative of Hate-Raping Transgendered Individuals.”
re: 15: “Phoebe” @11, very well said. This meeting in Alaska..” blat, blat, blat, blat.
This kind of snitty discourse carries a very strong whiff of Tensorna, methinks. I’ve noticed that “Cressona” and “Tensorna” very rarely make a SLOG appearance on the same day, and when they do, they tend to respond to comments directed at the other. To me this strongly indicates that the two monikers are being operated by the same ignorant and obsessive individual.
Libretto68 @23, and not only that but over the weekend that insufferable idiot cressona went after tensorna:
“I’ve steered clear of the rabbit hole that is the war in Gaza on these Slog comment threads, but I can’t help but remark that this is one particularly sickening comment by tensorna @28. That the UN ‘has withheld food aid from starving children in Gaza because of a political dispute with Israel.'”
https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/08/08/80185124/slog-am-landlords-fined-for-illegal-rent-increases-israel-plans-takeover-of-gaza-city-please-stop-throwing-green-dildos-at-wnba-games/comments/36
Clearly a desperate attempt to throw astute readers like you off the scent. 😉
P.S. Just curious, Libretto68. Does the Koch brothers org pay you by the comment?
The GRU must be collectively jerking off at the thought of getting some of their people on the ground at Elmendorf.
If Vlad invaded Alaska as part of his Greater Russia Restoration Scheme, our ace deal maker would likely offer up the Aleutians and some of the western Boroughs, in return for a vague promise to not go any further, and planning permission for a Trump Tower on Red Square.
@25 I don’t know about that but I can practically guarantee that Putin will make some ha-ha-funny remark at the post-summit presser about taking back Alaska, which the lamestream media will dismiss as a joke but which anyone with half a brain will recognize as a barely veiled threat.
@24: Circumstantial, rather than probative evidence. In any case, the only time “Cressona” contradicted “Tensorna” was after I began hassling “them” over their shared, behind the scenes identity. So yes, there is reason to believe that you were trying to throw people off the scent.
And accusing progressive commenters of being right-wing operatives as the ultimate put-down is soooo Tensorna. Unfortunately, Tennie – or Cressie, or whatever your real name is, you’re not fooling anyone.
Libretto68 @27, you sure do have me dead to rights. I see nothing gets past your astute powers of observation.
I understand you need to try to do something to discredit me considering the hard time you’re having pushing back against me on the substance. So sure, please do keep randomly calling me tensorna every time I post a comment that offends you–you know a comment like standing up for Ukraine and liberal democracy or pushing back against MAGA. Rest assured it will only enhance your reputation as a sane and sensible commenter.
@27, 28
same thing Cressy
did to me, ages ago
and I’d NEVER’ve
Believed they were the
one and same horrific commenter
but This comment
@28~that’s PURE
Wormtongue
@28 IS the Wormtongue
very Poorly disguising
itself. you gotta be
more Patient in
your Wrath’
wormmy:
you
Just
Outed
Yourself.
it’s
Good
wormmy
trying to Make
Up for Bad wormmy
so
Perhaps
there may
Still be Hope?
you
Can
DO IT
wormmy!
@7: “It’s appalling that this summit is even taking place, and the blase attitude toward it from Democrats…”
Aaaaand our resident sleeper-cell Sawantista dead-ender speaks! Of course the Democrats must always, always, always take the first (and largest) share of the blame, especially for an event over which they have absolutely no control of any kind whatsoever.
“Imagine the uproar that would have ensued if FDR had invited Hitler to the U.S. for a private fireside chat in 1940, without Churchill present and without any precondition that the Nazis halt their blitzkrieg.”
You’re just going for a extra-cheap Godwin here, of course, but the sheer historical ignorance of your analogy deserves some derisive dismantling.
First, the American public in 1940 was both deeply isolationist and nationalist, proudly refusing to get involved in another world war. FDR hosting a summit with ANY leader of a major combatant country would have caused an outrage, as it threatened isolationist neutrality.
Second, “The Blitz” and “blitzkrieg” were actually two very different things, and Churchill was already spinning the former into “the Battle of Britain,” his country’s heroic refusal to be cowed by the latter. A halt to the Blitz would have been the last thing Churchill would have wanted.
Third, one thing Churchill would very much have wanted was for Hitler to have traveled outside of Europe. Churchill LOVED secret commando operations, and the chance to kidnap or kill Hitler would have seemed like the ultimate prize.
@30
oh, Look!
it Panicked!
“Aaaaand our resident sleeper-cell Sawantista dead-ender speaks!”
attacking CKathes
as a Diversion! isn’t it
about Time to Deplatform
tS’s Resident AIAPC rep cum Thug
the Stranger?
or has this East
Coast Deadender
been Grandfathered on-
to these Pages for fucking EVER?
@31 — oops!
that Should’ve read:
tS’s Resident AIPAC rep cum Thug.
apologies.
@30 Notwithstanding the isolationist sentiments of the time and whatever Churchill’s reaction might have been, an FDR-Hitler summit sure wouldn’t look good in retrospect, now would it?
Trump greeted Putin like a long-lost college buddy, as expected. Democrats (and the remaining allegedly pro-Ukraine Republicans) should be screaming bloody murder right now, but of course few if any of them will.
That trump/Putin thing really was an embarrassment. Trump showed himself to be as big a beta cuck as any of his male supporters when in the presence of Putin.
@33: Notwithstanding the event in question could not have happened (Hitler was far too Euro-centric to care about what some faraway degenerate democracy said, especially one with an army the size of — not kidding here — Bulgaria’s), you keep prattling on as if you’ve really got something. Are you in some kind of a preening self-described-cleverness contest with Libretto68? Because if you are, then you’re really bringing it.
@34: Thanks for the bitingly-cogent summary, but I will confess a love of the long form:
“Trump Rolled Out the Red Carpet for Putin. He Got Little in Return.”
“President Trump welcomed his Russian counterpart to Alaska with the former showman’s signature extravagance: a red carpet, a military flyover and a ride in the presidential limousine.
“But Trump headed back to Washington with little to show for all the pageantry.”
[…]
“Both men staked their political reputations on a successful summit, and Putin appears to have gained the upper hand. The Russian president was treated as an equal on U.S. soil, managed to sidestep any potential American sanctions for now and announced no battlefield concessions. Trump, who vowed on the campaign trail to end the war on his first day in office, failed to secure even a temporary cease-fire.”
When the Wall Street Journal says you got played, then you got played. Ouch. (https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/trump-putin-summit-ends-without-breakthrough-7406d667)
34: I always wanted to see an example of “beta cuck” used in a sentence. Thanks.
I learned it from the Internet, dear. It’s a great way to get mediocre white men to completely lose it.
@35 Of course “the event in question could not have happened,” as FDR, unlike Trump, would never do such a despicable thing. You’re completely missing the point.
Don’t come here, Z. It’s a trap.
@38: Keep on digging that hole, you’ll get out of it someday if you just keep on digging, really you will…
Nobody here needs your silly fake analogy; we all see perfectly well just how badly Trump got played. If you’d read @34, and all the way to the end of @35, you could have learned that. Go find some MAGA site to lecture.
@22. “him (?)”
My PPs are “His Excellency.” As in “His Excellency would love to treat Libretto to a free sword swallowing lesson. Menu includes a pattern 1796 Prussian saber followed by a well oiled Colichemarde.
speaking of Trolling:
“Go find some MAGA site to lecture.”
–@tensorna on August 16, 2025 at 10:41 AM
our on-site AIPAC Rep
at your Service.
39: Calm down dude. You go from 0 to 60 in nastiness in two comments. Why tear CKathes a new pussy just because of a different perspective on presidential summit history? F**k your pseudo-intellectual immaturity.
Not f*k
FUCK!
@42: Sorry I offended your excruciatingly tender, delicate sensitivities re Slog discourse (e.g. @43). As I wrote, nobody here (with the possible exception of yourself?) needs a silly fake historical comparison to see Trump just got played.
I’m reading these comments by tensorna @30 @35 @39 @44. We just witnessed one of the most shameful days in American history, and this individual decides to go on the warpath over, of all things, a self-evident historical analogy. There’s a certain failure to see the forest for the trees or pick up on social cues. I’m sure I’ll regret my attempt at playing amateur psychologist, but I just wonder if this is symptomatic of someone who’s on the autism spectrum. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
@tensorna, a little advice. Please don’t take this the wrong way. How about showing these comments of yours to a responsible adult you interact with IRL and get their unvarnished opinion of how you come across to people?
I’d much rather focus my attention on pushing back against the unhinged individual in the White House.
gosh.
Constructive
Criticism. all the Best!
@45: “We just witnessed one of the most shameful days in American history,”
Slave trade protected in the Constitution
Constitution counts each slave as 3/5 of a person — but only for the purpose of giving slaveowners more power in Congress
Founding Fathers’ abject moral cowardice required to use “other persons” instead of “slaves” in the Constitution
No votes for women
Trail of Tears
Imperial seizure of Northern half of Mexico on flimsiest of pretenses
“No Irish Need Apply”
Know-Nothing Party
Emancipation Proclamation not valid in all slave-owning places
Klu Klux Klan
Former slaves sold out so loser of the 1876 election could become truly mediocre president
Jim Crow
Seizure of Cuba to become alcohol, gambling, and prostitution supplier for American criminals
Seizure of Philippines “to uplift, civilize, and Christianize our little brown brothers.” (Most of whom were already Catholic.)
Waterboarding of Filipinos who disagreed with McKinley on the whole civilizing thing
Still No Votes for Women
Klu Klux Klan II — Klanerrific Booglaoo
Passengers aboard Lusitania used as human shields for illegal international arms trafficking
Creel Committee weaponizes lies to support US entry into Great War
Eugene Debs convicted of Sedition
Sacco and Vanzetti
Prohibition makes organized crime permanent
LAPD Red Squad
Japanese Internment (Note 1: regiment recruited from the camps still holds the all-time record for medals awarded in American military history. Note 2: Regimental motto, chosen by the soldiers themselves, was “Remember Pearl Harbor.”)
Roosevelt abandons Central European democrats to Stalin at Malta
Good luck getting your families’ farms back, decorated Japanese veterans
Red Scare
US overthrows government of Nicaragua for United Fruit Company
State-sponsored terrorism against unarmed Civil Rights marchers
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
President Nixon
Iran-Contra
G. W. Bush becomes president (first time for loser of the popular vote since, yep, 1876)
Second Gulf War
Trump (THIRD time loser of the popular vote, etc.)
Trump II
(Everybody — please jump in with anything you believe I missed. I’m sure there’s a lot.)
the Resistance is
STRONG in
this ^ one
@37 Catalina Vel-DuRay: +1 For the WIN!!!!
Keep on rocking the house and don’t ever stop.