Trump Lies: Well, President Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday was a real doozy. He attacked elections. Citing heavily redacted intelligence documents out of context, Trump claimed that China interfered in the 2020 election by stealing millions of voter files on behalf of famed Chinese communist Joe Biden. According to The New York Times, “the documents outline some nascent interest by Chinese officials in influence operations; they concede Beijing never endorsed any broad-based effort to undercut Mr. Trump.” Trump also alleged Venezuela can tamper with voting machines and claimed the Department of Homeland Security had found “approximately 278,000 noncitizens who are registered to vote in federal elections” in California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania but did not have any proof to back up those claims, especially since those states don’t use a DHS tool, known as the SAVE system, to check citizenship status.
With all of these “threats” to our elections, Trump urged Congress to pass his SAVE America Act which would curtail voting by mail and require stringent voter identification and registration requirements. He’s also clearly setting the stage to question the outcomes of the midterm elections this fall. US elections are secure because they are complicated and decentralized. He’s beat the “Biden stole the election” horse for six years now; it is simply not true.
CNN, ABC, and NBC Didn’t Air The Speech: The TV news networks didn’t air Trump’s primetime speech live. This angered Trump, who called for ABC and NBC to have their licenses revoked for “covering up” election fraud. CBS and MS NOW aired parts of the speech, but not the whole thing. CBS cut away to do “fact-checking” on some of Trump’s claims after he attacked the media. Fox News seemingly aired the whole thing with Trump buddy Sean Hannity calling Trump’s claims “pretty remarkable,” but hosts were careful to note they were not in a position to verify those claims. The last time the network promoted lies about the 2020 election, they paid out $787 million to a voting machine company.
This Does Not Bode Well: At a press conference Friday morning, US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said states that choose not to “participate in the SAVE program” and “do not participate in secure elections” will be scrutinized. The administration will hold the election officials “accountable,” Mullins said, “by fines, by penalties, and even… prison time.”
ICE in Seattle: During the first week of July, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained two people in Seattle according to the Washington Immigration Solidarity Network (WISN). Witnesses saw ICE agents in tactical gear detain at least one person in Maple Leaf. Overall, ICE presence is up in Washington state this summer, with 42 immigration arrests reported in June, according to WISN, a 45 percent increase over the 29 WISN recorded in January.
Yikes, Embarrassing: The Seattle Sounders were humiliated by the Portland Timbers on Thursday when they lost 5-1. Devastating.
Madison Square Garden Sues Wired: Madison Square Garden didn’t take kindly to Wired reporting the data they’ve collected on VIPs, including a list of celebrities they’ve logged and listed as “LGBTQIA.” Keep good journalism alive and subscribe.
The Weather: It won’t be nearly as interesting as yesterday’s thunderstorms that grounded planes at SeaTac Airport (and soaked Terminal B through a ceiling leak). The storm also stirred a little homesickness in every Midwestern, Southern, or East Coast transplant. No more of that. Rejoice in Seattle. It’ll be in the 70s and sunny today.
Actually, Forget How I Romanticized That Storm: It turns out hundreds of lightning strikes mixing with a region mired in drought is not a good mix. Firefighters in Washington are bracing for fires as soon as the moisture from the storm evaporates. This fire season has already been more active than usual. “State firefighting aircraft have already logged 20% more flight time hours than at this point last year,” reports KING5.
Canada Burns: The entirety of the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation in northwestern Ontario burned to the ground this week in a fire that was 350,000 hectares large as of Thursday. The community survived, but now they have nothing. The fire that took their homes is one of more than 175 wildfires burning across the region.
Here Is a Train Crew Getting Caught in an Ontario Blaze: What’s that climatepasta again? “Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you’re the one filming.”
Air Quality Is Bad: The Midwest and Northeast are choking on all that Canadian wildfire smoke.
Think Outside the Bun: If you don’t want to shit your pants with explosive, watery, forever diarrhea, the Centers for Disease Control suggests not eating Taco Bell in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. You may be thinking you knew that already. But the CDC has identified Taco Bell lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms as one of the big sources of cyclospora, the parasite turning everyone into upside-down volcanoes. However, with cases reported in 30 states including Washington, it’s important to remember the poop parasite isn’t coming from one single source. Cook your greens! Hot salad.
Men Are Back: Japan’s parliament revised a 19th-century Imperial House Law and now only men can become emperor of Japan. Conservatives in Japan’s parliament insist the male bloodline is “the only source of the emperor’s authority and legitimacy.” This move to enshrine male-only succession comes after public calls to change the rules so the emperor’s only child, the beloved Princess Aiko, could take the throne. Welp, no throne for Aiko. Looks like the next emperor will be the emperor’s 60-year-old younger brother and then, after that, his 19-year-old nephew.
It’s The Odyssey Time: If you want to see Christopher Nolan’s new flick, why not watch it in glorious 70mm at The Cinerama SIFF Cinema Downtown? But maybe sit tight for a sec, the SIFF Cinema Workers Union voted to authorize a strike over management’s “bad faith bargaining in their negotiations” with the union.
