It's that time of year again when the screeching sound of $70 million dollars of bomb-dropping, bone-crushing power buzzes the most expensive real estate in Seattle for an entire weekend. If you've lived in Seattle for a few years than you already know what's up and what Slog is about to complain about.
But if your journey from California to Seattle occurred less than 12 months ago let's get you up to mach speed: the U.S. Navy sends their Blue Angels team of F/A 18 fighter planes to Seattle every August for our Seafair festivities, a summer festival dedicated to large engines and fire. The military jets will temporarily shut down our freeways and cause Seattle's snowflake liberals to complain about loud noises and the excesses of the military.
The state will close the I-90 bridges between Seattle and Mercer Island for practice today and then three times this weekend. Here's the schedule, according to WSDOT:
Thursday, Aug. 2: 9:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; 1- 2:45 p.m. (practices)
Friday, Aug. 3: 12:55 - 2:45 p.m. (Seafair Air Show)
Saturday, Aug. 4 : 12:55 - 2:45 p.m. (Seafair Air Show)
Sunday, Aug. 5: 12:55 - 2:45 p.m. (Seafair Air Show)
Like your high school cheerleading team, the Blue Angels perform impressive aerial maneuvers and get to wear matching uniforms, only this cheerleading team isn't rooting for the home team as much as rooting for excessive military waste and the ability to drop thousands of pounds of bombs on humans the American government doesn't like.
The Blue Angels fly in F/A-18 Hornets, a plane that cost $70 million a piece and was used heavily by our county in 2003 when we invaded Iraq. That war killed over a hundred thousand civilians and destabilized the entire Middle East. Nearly 60 percent of civilian deaths in Iraq between 2003 and 2011 were caused by airstrikes, according to a Washington Post analysis of data collected by the Iraq Body County nonprofit website.
But the planes do the cool flips!
