Today in the "raid": Former presidential candidate and one of the minds behind the doomed Forward Party, Andrew Yang, thinks the raid was "political." He also thinks it will "strengthen that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution." If you want know what the third way is about, now you know. White House claims it knew jack about the raid. “The president was not briefed, was not aware of it, no. No one at the White House was given a heads-up,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Lastly, there is not one cap-wearing head in MAGA country that does not feel as if the whole sky has fallen on it. All of them do not know what to do with their hands and mouths. Twitter has identified this frenzy as the MAGAMeltdown.

Speaking of MAGA country: Trump-endorsed candidate Joe Kent beat incumbent Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, according to the Seattle Times. The people in the southwestern part of this state voted her out for committing the sin of voting to impeach Donald Trump. Kent will face off against Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a local mechanic, in the general election.

The good news is Seattle City Councilmember Alex Pedersen has presented a law that would "phase out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in Seattle." The bad news is, if passed, the city government can continue using those awful, loud, and utterly useless machines until 2025, and residents and businesses can use them until 2027. We are in the year 2022. Autumn is around the corner. The leaves, red and gold, will soon start to fall. Why can't we just ban gas-powered leaf blowers right now? Rakes can do the job in October. Rakes can be great job creators.

Amazon really plans to test retail robots in the basement of the downtown building once occupied by Macy's. People used to work down there, which used to be the section for men's clothing. Now it will be occupied by human-displacing machines. This alone explains why robots are feared in so many science fiction films. Puget Sound Business Journal:

The [Amazon] document describes an automatic storage and retrieval system where clothing from various manufacturers is stored, rolled and hung in 9-foot storage towers called pods. When an item is ordered, autonomous robots will retrieve a pod containing the item from the storage field and carry it to picking stations where employees will grab the item. Employees would return the item using the same process in reverse.

For some context on this recent robot development, I really recommend you read my 2018 post, "Amazon Humiliates Downtown Macy's."

Why can't we have a thunderstorm tonight? Instead, we have to wait until tomorrow night to see the satanic cracks of light and to hear the rolls and rumble of thunder. By the way, I come from a country where, during the rainy season, the main newspaper keeps a count of the people killed by lightning. I do miss that deep-rooted fear of nature's raw power. When you saw dark clouds massing in the distance, you got on your bike and booked it. You didn't want to be number 119. ZimLive:

Zimbabwe is one of the world’s most lightning-prone countries: the holder of a world record in lightning-related fatalities. During the rainy season, lightning strikes normally kill up to 100 people, mostly rural children.

Will Casey, The Stranger's cops and courts reporter, writes that Mayor Harrell’s hiring incentives for cops inched closer to becoming law: At today’s Public Safety and Human Services committee meeting, Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Sara Nelson, Alex Pedersen, and Andrew Lewis voted to advance Herbold’s bill authorizing the money the Seattle Police Department needs to implement the Mayor’s plan to hire new officers and retain the cops we have.

Will Casey also reports that Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda was the lone “no” vote, saying that the frontline officers she’s spoken with told her “no amount of money” would make up for the frustration they feel when they have nowhere to take people in crisis once they pick them up off the street. Herbold and Lewis also expressed frustration at the lack of progress from SPD and the Mayor’s Office in developing alternative response programs that could take those calls off the cops’ plate, but they ended up voting to give the Mayor’s Office and SPD all the money they asked for anyway. The full council will vote on the bill next Tuesday.

A Seattle man is suspected of killing his older brother with an AR-15-style rifle. The incident happened near Diablo Lake, which is in North Cascades National Park. KIRO 7: "Rangers from the North Cascade National Park had responded to a report of a single shot, followed by several more shots in rapid succession." After a quick search, the rangers found lots of blood and bullet holes and a lifeless body. The younger brother was found, arrested, and later "confessed to shooting his brother... multiple times with the intent to kill him."

Damn! Facebook gave cops in Nebraska private chats that concerned a teenager's alleged abortion. The teenager was communicating with her mother. Now the mother and daughter are charged "with a series of felonies and misdemeanors." I remember when Apple wouldn't unlock the phones of terrorists who killed three people. Facebook does not give a fuck. In this case, it's fair to use the grim phrase "sold down the river."

Remember this warning made on the day Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court? 

It was only a matter of time before Elizabeth McLaughlin's prognostication of the post-Roe digital world materialized.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department suspects the Beast Mode was in a Drunk Mode while driving this morning. Put another way, "[f]ormer Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch has been arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of driving under the influence." 

Let's end with this classic by Canada's greatest ever rapper, Saukrates: