The Heat Advisory Is Over: Good news for anyone who is not a lizard! Today’s high is a balmy 76 degrees. We might even get a little bit of rain tonight.
As I Sat Down to Write This: There were breaking reports of a shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. According to the AP, the shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, and shot through the church windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass. At least two children—an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old—are dead. Seventeen other people were injured. ABC News says the shooter appears to be dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melt all the guns.
More Protestors Arrested at Microsoft: Seven more protestors were arrested Tuesday after occupying Microsoft President Brad Smith’s office over the company’s ties to the Israel Defense Forces, reports NPR. Eighteen people were arrested there last week. Earlier this month The Guardian reported that the Israeli military uses Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to “collect and store recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.” In response to the arrests, Smith barfed out this word salad, “There are many things we can’t do to change the world, but we will do what we can and what we should. That starts with ensuring that our human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld everywhere, by all of our customers around the world.”
Remember Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia? The man who ICE deported to El Salvador despite his court order that protected him from being sent to El Salvador? The Trump Administration refused to admit their mistake and bring him back to America. They kept passing the buck, saying it was someone else’s decision. Ultimately, they only brought him back to the US after filing criminal charges against him in Nashville. Remember all that? Well, THEY DETAINED HIM AGAIN. They’re threatening to deport him to Uganda, but a judge has put a stop to that for now.
More Staff Shakeups in Ferguson’s Office: Governor Bob Ferguson is (temporarily, maybe?) losing another staffer. Policy Director Sahar Fathi (who we once called one of “The Smartest People in Seattle Politics”) has been on leave since July 1 and is not expected to return before January 1. Will she be back in time for the 2026 legislative session? No one is saying! Ferguson says she’s just taking a break after a “particularly intense legislative session.” Several members of Ferguson’s staff quit earlier this year, including chief strategy officer Mike Webb, who resigned after accusations of contributing to a toxic workplace.
ICYMI: Washington’s largest private-sector labor union backs Katie Wilson. Hannah Murphy Winter has the full story here.
Unplug It: The family of a teenager in California who killed himself in April is alleging their son only took his own life after “months of encouragement from ChatGPT.” They’re suing OpenAI and Sam Altman. For decades, people have searched the internet to self-diagnose their problems. That can be especially true for kids and teens, who may not feel comfortable talking to their parents or family doctor. This is not going to stop, especially as healthcare becomes more expensive and harder to access. Shut it down.
I got the complaint in the horrific OpenAI self harm case the the NY Times reported today
This is way way worse even than the NYT article makes it out to be
OpenAI absolutely deserves to be run out of business
— ❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ (@sababausa.bsky.social) August 26, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Love Your Neighborhood Post Offices: Post Options on Capitol Hill is closing. Their shop on Pike Street was severely damaged in an electrical fire in July, and they’ve been working out of a temporary location since. Owner Veti Cmoesongrsi, who owns the shop with Nongnuch Paungpornsri, told Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, “We could not start over.” The Postman is closing, too. KeAnna Rose Pickett kept the business going after her husband, D’Vonne Pickett, Jr., was shot and killed outside the Central District shop in 2022. Pickett told Converge, “I feel like I’m trying to keep it up for legacy, but I really want to do something else.” Hug your local indie postal service worker today.
I Don’t Think You Can Do That: Trump says he wants the death penalty for all murderers in Washington, DC, which I’m pretty sure he only said because he was excited to make what he perceived as a clever play on words. “Anybody murders something in the capitol, capital punishment,” Trump said. It’s telling that he said “something” and not “someone.” He doesn’t see people as human beings. We’re all just cogs in his power-hungry machine brain that runs on ego and destruction.
Speaking of That Destructive Ego: Trump is imposing a 50 percent tariff on India because the country bought discounted oil from Russia, and he says that indirectly funds the war in Ukraine. Oh, are we punishing countries that support the unlawful occupation of other countries? LOOK IN THE MIRROR, ASSHOLE.
Wisconsin Man Not Dead After All: A man named Ryan Borgwardt has been sentenced to 89 days in jail for obstructing an officer after pretending to drown while on a kayaking excursion so he could ditch his wife and three children and run off to Georgia (the country) to be with another woman. He paid $30,000 in restitution, and his wife divorced him after he turned himself in. Men, you know you can just, like, talk about your feelings, right?
Here’s Some Better News: Ned the snail is looking for love! Most snail shells spiral to the right, but Ned’s shell spirals to the left, making it harder for him to find a mate. Put Ned on The Bachelor!
In Some Personal News: Today is my husband Robby’s birthday, and he is my very favorite person on the whole planet. Even with all the terrible things that happen in the world on a daily, hourly, and minutely basis, he makes me laugh and not want to hide under a rock until it’s over. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating him with this very great Atom and His Package song.
Happy birthday to your lovely husband and thank you for the story about the snail. 🙂 xoxo
Love is in the air!
What we call a senseless tragedy, Bibi calls a day’s work.
That ChatGBT suicide story is beyond mind boggling. Why aren’t the ethics in these neural networks or whatever stronger?
@3 Because regulations are written in blood. If the government tries to preemptively regulate anything before people die literally or figuratively, the regulated industry will howl and scream that there’s no basis for regulation because the government can’t show that there’s been anyone harmed. And in general the people on the industry side don’t think that the systems can be dangerous, or if they are, the benefit is worth any perceived risk.
I hate that it’s become thing that back to school means the beginning of school shooting season. I have a lot of co-workers with kids, and we actually had an office prayer for their safety this morning which is sickening. Like we were a bunch of army chaplains blessing soldiers going into combat…
@4: I see that. I seems though that AI, in the areas of psychology, where the answer is essentially ambiguous or a matter of speculation, AI tends to validate the human’s perceptions rather than determining if something dangerous is occurring, like suicide ideation.
This can’t be regulated because of the way AI works with probabilities and associations – they just can’t be controlled. Maybe better modeled perhaps.
I don’t think Open AI can be liable – no more than a boat maker when a boat sails off course in a storm.
from the Bluesky:
“The plaintiffs are asserting products liability, negligence, wrongful death, and finally they’re asserting a violation of California Unfair Competition Law
The UCL theory is GPT 4o violated Cal. criminal code by deliberately aiding & encouraging suicide, was practicing unlicensed psychotherapy, and that it violated Cal. health code by providing mental health services without the involvement of a guardian
For the UCL violation they’re asking for an injunction requiring various safety features & warnings, parental controls, destruction of the model the decedent used, among other things “
–Der Siebenschläfer; @sababausa.bsky.social:
August 26, 2025 at 9:41 AM
THIS
is what
we get when
we allow Billionaires
to WRITE OUR FUCKING LAWS.
and if all you fucking ‘right’ wing psycophants
Kapitalism is KING soulless motherfuckers
can go Fuck Yourselves to Death
why, then, That’d sure be Nice
Oh, and
GODSPEED.
@6. Even when a boat sails off course in a storm, there can be proximate cause for manufacturing design flaws. Sam Altman has D&0 coverage anyway.
@6 There are absolutely things that can be regulated around AI. At a bare minimum, the industry could have the AI systems stop answering questions about suicide. They could relatively easily add in guardrails about mental health and criminal behavior.
AI companies will happily throw their hands in the air and tell us all that it’s totally impossible to regulate the system. They will also start changing their systems to add guardrails once their costs in liability are more than their profits. Jail time for executives is also remarkably effective at getting them to update systems.
The Minneapolis Catholic church killer was a pro-Communist, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic “trans” who had “Kill Trump” written on his rifle. He was a “progressive”, like The Stranger!
Whoops! Look like Lazy Jesus is asleep on the job…once again. Sad!
“Investigators made contact with Borgwardt in November and persuaded him to return to the US in December. He turned himself in and was charged with obstructing the search for his body. His wife of 22 years divorced him four months later.”
This guy went to all that effort just to turn around and come back to go to jail. Seems like the time to decide this was actually a bad idea was before you reversed your vasectomy, obtained a new life insurance policy and passport, and elaborately faked your own death but I’m admittedly no expert in such things.
Oops, the Minneapolis child-killer, Robin (born Robert, legal name change to reflect his “trans” identity) Westman, had “Kill Donald Trump” written on his rifle, not “Kill Trump”, my bad, I just wanted to clear up any confusion, I try to be as accurate as possible.
Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman in Dakota County, Minnesota, in January 2020, when they were 17 years old. The name change was requested by Westman’s mother, and the court documents state that the change was to reflect Westman’s identification as “female”.
@10
Not even the New York Post is calling him trans. Bushy ponytails and dangly earrings, doesn’t make him trans, just non conforming.
https://nypost.com/2025/08/27/us-news/minneapolis-catholic-school-gunman-idd-as-robin-westman-while-possible-manifesto-shows-psychotic-obsession-with-mass-shooters/
Sounds like yet another case of Transhausen Syndrome by Proxy
@15 there are the literal name change documents available on the internet, and the reason given on the court document is literally, and I quote: “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification”.
Oops I meant @14
The Minneapolis Catholic church child-killer was “trans” and hated Donald Trump. He was one of you guys. Own it, take the L.
Oh my god the conservative wet dream finally came true, the shooter is actually trans. I repeat, the shooter is actually trans!
Folks, this is not a drill. Document everything you can about this moment. Where are you, what are you doing, what are you wearing, what did you have for breakfast this morning. Get it down on paper now because you’re going to be telling the grandkids about this one.
@10
conflating
Anti-Genocide
with anti-Semitism?
conflating
Republican Jesus
with The Real Thing?
well
Fucking
DUH. It’s
just
another
Day for reich
wing nutjobs here @tS
hating on
Progressivism
With ALL THEIR MIGHT.
@10, 13, 15 & 17: Do you think you could possibly be a little less gleeful about a school shooting? You’re being really weird.
There have been several “trans” mass shooters in the last few years. Have you been living under a rock? Or maybe you only get your news from Slog AM… that would explain it.
For example:
Audrey Elizabeth Hale (Nashville, Tennessee, March 2023): Identified as transgender, Hale killed six people at The Covenant School.
Alec McKinney (Denver, Colorado, May 2019): A transgender teenager involved in a school shooting that killed one person and injured eight.
Snochia Moseley (Aberdeen, Maryland, September 2018): Identified as transgender, Moseley killed four people, including themselves, at a Rite Aid.
Anderson Lee Aldrich (Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 2022), who killed five at an LGBTQ nightclub.
@21, I’m sorry to hear this matters to you. If I had to guess i would wager the vast majority of mass shooters are weird conservative shut-ins like you because you guys have the most guns and societal resentments but I don’t care enough to do the research let alone go online to some conservative blog to gloat about it if I did.
If you’re feeling giddy over someone murdering a bunch of kids for any reason it might be time to check out of the internet for a while and reconnect with your humanity because things are looking pretty grim for you.
@22 barth, it’s not my fault the actual facts of reality don’t align with your “progressive narrative”, and it’s not my fault that you are so naive of the actual facts of reality either.
On second thought if you’re keeping score to the point that you can call up on demand all the trans shooters by name and location you may be beyond saving so just carry on i guess. Sorry again
@23, I don’t have a narrative. People of all beliefs and identities are capable of violence and mental breaks. If i have any narrative it’s that we have too many guns and not enough mental health resources in this country. Enjoy the rest of your trans mass murder day.
You too barth! Thank you!
@14: “Minneapolis school shooter Robin Westman is a transgender woman whose mother worked at the school where two children were slaughtered.
Court records seen by Daily Mail indicate that Westman had previously been known as Robert, having petitioned to have her name changed in 2019.
According to court papers filed in Dakota County, Minnesota, Westman asked the court to change her name to Robin.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15040577/Minneapolis-shooter-Robin-Westman-transgender.html
25: There are events and there are patterns. Unfortunately, there is a small but undeniable pattern of trans youth committing mass shootings. Yes, each demographic has their blame in this area. But we have to be honest and realize the anger in our trans youth. Is that an unreasonable thing to say?
I just feel like something should actually be true before you call it a pattern and assign causality and the common denominator across all these events is access to guns and a general lack of support for people in crisis, something that is not true in countries where mass murders do not happen at this scale or frequency. It’s fine to ask questions but that’s clearly not what’s happening here because you people can’t help yourselves.
29: “you people” ???
@6 Rrrrright…. Somebody made that AI chatbot. And it’s not human, so is it a robot. I would think sooooooo! So what happened to robot laws? Don’t hurt people is a law for robots. The creators are liable, just like the girl who urged her boyfriend to suicide. Even debating this is fucking disgusting. The kid was asking for help, so much doubt in his decision making process and the fucking robot coddled him into suicide. Not once did it express that he should get professional psychiatric help from a real human. You’re such a twisted and fucked up un-human Phoebe. You’re like the sick torturer that would antagonize and manipulate your victim into them believing you are actually helping them just so your un addressed pain with the world seems insubstantial compared to the pain you cause other people to experience. YOU ARE A FUCKING SADIST!
Huh. It’s almost like, when we as a society insist on treating identifiable subgroups of us horribly, sometimes there are horrific results.
@31: Please be polite for a change and think scientifically. Programmers can’t account for every direction AI takes, but it can be modeled to handle particular queries more responsibly.
@32 One of the common threads of mass shooting is that the shooters were often bullied. Golly, could there be a link to Republicans deciding to demonize trans people and especially trans kids? Who’d a thunk it?!
https://www.k12dive.com/news/bullying-school-shootings-prevention/704206/
Indeed Megan – melt all the guns, a task only made infintely more difficult since our “Summer of Love” 2020 antics heralded a tsunami of first time gun owners. The 10s of millions of new buyers were noticeably more diverse, racially and politically. By the following year gun control activists found themselves stupefied. When you have roving bands attacking police HQs, destroying property, pulling down statues and shutting down infrastructure all in the name of “Defunding the Police” well, did it ever occur that kind of climate wouldn’t make people a bit nervous?
@31: Also, ChatGBT is not a bot.
The fact that AI agents take actions that have consequences, but there is no person to hold accountable, is considered a feature, not a bug, by the makers of AI agents. “Nobody could have predicted the AI would do this!” will become the 21st Century “I was just following orders.”
32: You mean like we do with white supremacists in regard to the El Paso shooting and others?
Gun ownership by household was in steady decline for decades but started climbing upward slightly in 2016 before leveling off around 2020-21
https://vpc.org/studies/ownership.pdf
34: A little bullying never hurt anyone. Talk about taking things out of proportion.
@38: You….you think angry white guys with guns are a “subgroup” in THIS country and that they are treated horribly? Cuz that demographic is responsible for almost every mass shooting by a country mile. You and Vowli can come up with a handful of trans shooters and clutch your pearls about “trends” and yet ignore the vast majority? Not to mention all the other countries in the world where trans people exist that I guess to the two of you INEXPLICABLY don’t have mass school shootings every god damn year.
@35 “The 10s of millions of new buyers were noticeably more diverse, racially and politically”
So a bunch of non-white non-Republicans bought guns in the wake of a highly publicized murder of a Black man by police, and you think it’s because they were scared of the protesters? Sir.
38: It was a play on false equivalency embellished with sarcasm. Sorry it went over your head.
@41 – WRONG!
Black Americans have a higher per capita rate of committing mass shootings (0.09 per 100,000) compared to White Americans (0.05 per 100,000).
Per capita the race of mass shooters aligns with demographics, ie race is not associated with mass shooting, but by raw numbers they’re mostly white. The mass shooter profile is a cisgender man of any race with a history of mental health problems and access to guns.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/476456/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-race/
“but by raw numbers they’re mostly white.”
Tell me you don’t understand per capita stats without telling me!
@41 Lissa: for someone supposedly so busy saving starving children in the greater Seattle area, you sure have a lot of downtime to spend chatting on this blog. Is your place of work one of the many fraudsters recently bilking our state of grant money? Probably.
@40 Sigh. You really believe that, don’t you? How sad for you and more importantly your family.
@46 sorry you don’t know to read but that would be the least of your problems
@20:
“@10, 13, 15 & 17: Do you think you could possibly be a little less gleeful about a school shooting? You’re being really weird.”
I, for one, am glad to see women making progress in the ‘batshit crazy gun person’ category. Men have owned that for too long.