Somehow, I completely missed the bomb cyclone's strong winds last night. It's also possible that this had something to do with Columbia City, my neighborhood. Even at 3 am, when I haunted my house for 2 hours after sleeping for 4 hours, the wind was more soothing than concerning. No trees fell. The rubbish bins still stood. Power ran. At around 5 am, I opened the bedroom window and, as the sound of fake ocean waves rose from my virtual assistant, enjoyed the fast-moving air that entered my room. Moments later, I was back in Harare having dinner with my dead parents.

KIRO 7:

The Eastside was hit particularly hard [by the bomb cyclone from California]. Transformers blew out in Bellevue, and trees fell on vehicles in Redmond on Wednesday. One tree landed on top of a car... A tree also hit a UPS truck in Redmond, going right through its roof. Luckily, the driver was not inside the truck when the tree fell.

The thing that must be understood from the get-go is there is no pleasing these people. They own a home. They only want to be with others who are exactly like them, small-time homeowners. This kind of citizen is so unhappy. They can do nothing but accept a system that gives them no other certainty than that presented by uninterrupted payments made on a 30-year home loan. This has become the only truth/faith for them. Even God has less value than the value of their small property. Jesus can walk on water all He wants; but is His house underwater? This is why they so much hate renters, the homeless, freaks, junkiesā€”in short, anything that just might comprise their one and only middle-class "asset."Ā 

MyNorthwest: "Lynnwood residents protest location of opioid treatment center"

ā€œI want the facility to be closer to where the addicts are and not closer to my home,ā€ said one resident on a video report by the Lynnwood Times. Another resident said, ā€œIt is not good for the addicts to be in a residential area. My son is an addict and had he been close to his friends and not in a treatment center farther away from the city, he would not be in recovery today.ā€

Those who read, with alarm, this story in Puget Sound Business Journal, "Zillow, biotech company shed space as region's office market continues to fray," I recommend you read my post "Sodomizing Might Save Seattle." Downtown does not have to be about business all of the time. This is why we should not freak out upon reading that the "amount of office space available for sublease in the Puget Sound region continued to swell in the fourth quarter, with Zillow Group offering up a large chunk of space."

As the great political economist Noam Yuran points out in work after work, capitalist development has two traditions. One is all about work (or productivity); the other is all about the live wire of erotic desire. Downtown could look to the past and wait for the former to recover or look to the future and embrace the other side of capitalism, which is, of course, less respectable.

Do you have an ear? If so, Hannah Krieg has a rumor to put into it: State Rep. Gerry Pollet is considering running for the District 4 Seattle City Council seat that Alex Pedersen plans to vacate at the end of this year, according to sources close to him. The district covers the University District, Roosevelt, Fremont, and Magnuson Park. This news might dash the dreams (or spark the electric engines) of density advocates who rejoiced when noted NIMBY Pedersen announced he would not seek re-election in 2023. After all, Pollet used his power as chair of the State House Local Government Committee to absolutely mangle the missing middle housing bill, which sought to increase housing density around transit stops across the state.

If he runs, heā€™ll stand in stark contrast to UW grad student and Democratic Socialist Matthew Mitnick, who does not shy away from his aggressive housing policy proposals: End single-family zoning, pass a rent control trigger law, and build a shitton of affordable housing. But the two might find common ground on vaping. Pollet championed efforts to reduce teen vaping and Mitnick, not so long ago a teen himself, told The Stranger he has never vaped.

Kevin McCarthy is making history.

Kevin McCarthy made history. The tenth vote wasn't unlike those before it. It produced almost exactly the same results. How long can this go on? McCarthy will not budge; the same goes for those who who are so insane they make him (also insane) look like a moderate.Ā Ā 

By nominating Donald Trump as Speaker of the House, Rep. Matt Gaetz attempted to become a member of that race called "wanna be startinā€™ somethinā€™." But that something has yet to happen. Maybe tomorrow?

Oh shit. New York Times right now (5 pm):Ā "McCarthy Lost 11th Speaker Vote"Ā 

After spending two days in the vast known unknown, the twilight zone between life and death, Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety who suffered a serious cardiac event after a blow to the chest, opened his eyes ("world without end"), and asked (on paper) if the Bills had beaten the team that almost killed him, Cincinnati Bengals. Is it possible to make the gladiators of old more proud? Indeed, all of this recalls on the most brutal scenes in Blade Runner.

Let's end PM with a Lovejoys/Basic Channel collaboration, "Best Friend."Ā 

Ā