Olympia liquor store doubles as a gun club: Take a trip to T Brothers Liquor and Wine for all your beverage and trigger-happy needs. In the back, perplexingly, thereâs a secret, private, membership-only gun club. It includes a cigar room and a six-lane shooting range. Donât worry, you canât drink and shoot. You also have to pass a background check to join. This just proves that the ultimate secret society isnât the Freemasons or the Illuminati.
The Mariners are really gunning for these stadium repairs: They want that $180 million in public funding to fix the movable roof and probably do some other stuff, too. The stadium was built in 1999 through public funding. The Mariners want the public to foot the bill again with the stadium repairs. The money would come from hotel-motel taxes. If that goes to plan, then our boys in blue (not the police) will sign a 25-year lease. Thatâs all well and good, except no thank you very much. Spend that money elsewhere.
Some Twitter drama between Washingtonâs elected officials: It started when Washington State Democrats chair Tina Podlodowski responded to yesterdayâs report about Representative Matt Shea hating the press:
@RepMattShea an embarrassment @wagop.Wouln't you agree @washdems? Shea, and harassers Matt Manweller and Jesse Young = #WAGOP silence @washdems https://t.co/GKPIPGOWUf
â Tina Podlodowski (@Tinapo) August 21, 2018
Not to be outdone, the Twitter account for all of the Washington GOP tweeted back. The GOP used a foolproof strategy of bringing this whole thing back to sexual assault:
.@Tinapo your silence is whatâs embarrassing. Not one word from you on @cyrushabibâs involvement in the alleged sexual assault by @davidmeinert or @keithellison being accused of domestic abuse. What happened to always believe the victim? #waelex #waleg #VoteGOP https://t.co/LXuLedbwqR
â Washington State GOP (@WAGOP) August 22, 2018
Tips for a solid defense? Donât bring up things you donât know anything about, especially when they are about assault! Because the woman from the Meinert story responded:
Hey @WAGOP this is completely incorrect & irresponsibleâ@cyrushabib STOPPED my assault by Dave Meinert. Your social media staffer owes me & the Lt. Gov. an apology.
â m a r i a (@MariaLeininger) August 22, 2018
The activism we need: Seattle chef Renee Erickson is taking Chinook salmon off the menu. Orcas need that, she reasoned. The orca mom pushing her dead calf around for 17 days really moved Erickson.
Seattle ramps up homeless sweeps: There have been double the amount of encampment sweeps this year than any other year. The majority of those sweeps all happened in June (46 removals) and July (85 removals). The Seattle Navigation Team, the team responsible for the sweeps, referred 675 people to shelter in 2017. So far this year, 474 have been referred.
Auburn apartment fire kills 2-year-old girl: The fire originated in the girlâs bedroom. Officials donât know how the fire started. This is sad:
Antoine Jones lives in the apartment complex and tried running in to save the two year old who died in the overnight fire. You can see and hear him hold back tears in our interview while talking about his daughter who would play with the girl outside. #KOMOnews pic.twitter.com/enJGw1WqfK
â Jordan Treece (@JTreece406) August 22, 2018
Amazon funds voice technology research: It has expanded the Alexa Fund Fellowship from 4 universities to 18. The University of Washington will be receiving the fellowship. The universities arenât limited to the United States. Other fellowship recipients are in the UK, India, and Canada. Amazon really wants to make artificial intelligence. I saw Ex Machina last week. I donât know if itâs a good move, Amazon.
The National Weather Service better not be lying to us: According to them, tomorrow is the day weâll be able to breathe again. The smoke will begin subsiding around 9 p.m. tonight. If theyâre wrong about this, I donât know what Iâm going to do. Probably nothing, but I sure will be unhappy.
"Hey You". "One of These Days" we'll be able to "Breathe" in the air. That day is tomorrow. There's a "Great Gig In the Sky" called a weather pattern change. In "Time", we won't be "Marooned" in a smoky abyss. You might say it will be one of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" #wawx pic.twitter.com/urx9iGBKEb
â NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) August 22, 2018
At least weâve all had a good sense of humor about this:
Seen (through dense air particulate matter) in South Lake Union pic.twitter.com/sy8HRG78OR
â Lewis Kamb (@lewiskamb) August 21, 2018
Fucking lol at this: This guy, our president, is a real smooth operator.
If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you donât retain the services of Michael Cohen!
â Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
Michael Cohen has flipped completely, has valuable information: Says his lawyer, Lanny Davis. Yesterday, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including campaign finance violations. He said he made those on behalf of Trump. He apparently has evidence that Trump worked with Russia.
An Oregon quake: There was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Bandon, Oregon. No tsunami, though.
Headline of the week: Saudi Arabia, which has been calling out Canada over women's rights, may soon behead a female activist for the first time.
Headline that deserves an honorable mention: Spokane residents launch campaign to blow smoke back to Canada.
HIRING ANNOUNCEMENT: The Stranger is looking for an intern to try their hand at Slog AM. If you know anyone who could do this job better than me (ha), please encourage them to apply. They have big shoes to fill, obviously, but we'll be expanding my role in the news aggregation scene. (Maybeâshhâa Slog PM...) Unless you hate that idea, and then we might have to reconsider.
Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: Your last chance to see the vibrant and immersive Summer Dreams: Works by Electric Coffin, Peter Gronquist, Neon Saltwater, and Jennifer Zwick, a "slinky yet robust, fluffy, and flamboyant" jazz show with Pink Martini, and Amy Bhatt's reading of her new book about the unpaid and unacknowledged domestic work undergirding the transnational tech world, High-Tech Housewives.
Now, what you're eating for breakfast:
From Lissa: "Apple breakfast cake from Deep Sea Sugar and Salt in Georgetown with a side of banana."
From DeeDee: "Leftover prime rib burger patty with...some kind of sliced cheese and a curlicue of Dijon. Feta and olive salad. Marinated artichoke hearts. Some new ginger tea we have at work that Iâm not sure I like but is growing on me because Iâm too lazy to buy my own. Throw off the shackles of acceptable breakfast foods and eat what you want. Or whatâs left from the night before. Whichever."
These are wise words. My brother has been eating ramen for breakfast recently. I don't know how I feel about it, but I guess nontraditional breakfast is "in" these days.
Jim sent me two this morning.
Here is his process: "Under construction - fried egg (double yoke!) with vindaloo curry powder, peppered Spam, red bell pepper and onion, to be topped with Swiss cheese, put on English muffin, avocado on top."
Here is his product: "Constructed."
Jim you are a breakfast god and hero.
Our other friend Jim, equally talented at breakfast, sent this: "This cocktail bun will be part of my breakfast. Did you know that in Chinese the name for a cocktail bun is pretty much a literal translation? It comes out to "chicken tail bun," which once made me think there was a chicken butt in it. But there are no chickens involved, unless they use eggs. I bet they use eggs."