Trumpâs acting Attorney General sucks: A coalition of 18 attorneys general are urging Trumpâs pick to recuse himself from the investigation because he's obviously biased. Over 900 protests nationwide are happening right now to that same effect:
Inbox: @AGOWA and 17 other state attorneys general urge Acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker to recuse himself from the special counselâs Russia investigation.
Here is our editorial today on similar topic: https://t.co/2VqmEIuJ8I #RussiaInvestigation pic.twitter.com/9WckMwCUr6
â Melissa Santos (@MelissaSantos1) November 9, 2018
Speaking of the protestâŚ:
We were there! So was Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal:
.@RepJayapal: "Are you ready to stand up? What do we do when our democracy is under attack? Stand up, fight back!" https://t.co/eQ9aANAbPs
â The Stranger đ (@TheStranger) November 9, 2018
Dow Constantine also had some inspiring words:
Dow Constantine speaking to the still-growing crowd at Cal Anderson Park.
âLet us be motivated like we have never been motivated before.â pic.twitter.com/p9igzs5ia8
â nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) November 9, 2018
Look at all these impassioned Seattleites:
aaaaand the march begins pic.twitter.com/cjkAHv3leN
â nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) November 9, 2018
Chase Burns, up in Stranger World Headquarters, got that bird's eye view: WHO NEEDS A DRONE WHEN WE HAVE CHASE
As @RepJayapal said: âAre you ready to stand up? What do we do when our democracy is under attack? Stand up, fight back!â đşđ¸ #protectmueller pic.twitter.com/wbL005qRWa
â Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) November 9, 2018
Essentially what's going onâfor the uninitiatedâis that Sessions's resignation allowed Trump to appoint an acting AG without Senate approval, which would have been needed if Sessions were fired. Since the new acting AG hasnât recused himself from the Russia stuff like Sessions did, oversight of the investigation switched from assistant AG Rod Rosensteinâs hands to Matthew Whitakerâs, the new acting AG. It seems to basically be a move to take over the investigation while circumventing the need to fire Rosenstein. So now, Whitaker, a man who has penned many a negative opinion piece on the Russian investigation and who is friends with Donald Trump, is in charge of the investigation into Trump's collusion with Russia. That's no good.
In other, less protest-y news:
Active pipe bomb found in Thurston County: A public works employee found the pipe bomb in the middle of the road and alerted the Washington State Patrol bomb squad. The road was closed. The bomb was found to be volatile. The bomb squad detonated it. Everything IS FINE.
Social media shooting threat shuts down Tacoma high school: Lincoln High School in Tacoma was on a modified lockdown today after a parent notified the school about a suspicious social media threat. Disturbingly, the Tacoma News Tribune received this anonymous tip: âSomebody has written on bathroom wall at Lincoln HS in Tacoma that there will be a mass shooting at 1030.â Everything IS STILL FINE.
Western State Hospital nurse sues state: A patient bit off part of her ear, so I canât blame her. Sheâs suing for $5 million and says officials didnât adequately staff shifts and put high-risk patients in less-secure wards. She was the only registered nurse on duty at the time of the attack.
You wanna read Paul Allenâs will, you nosey fuck? Me too. Itâs only 6 pages long and kinda vague, according to GeekWire. Take a crack at it, you crazy sonuvabitch.
Hey! They're going to investigate Sen. Joe Fain: Fain was accused of rape by Candice Faber. A month later, and two days after the electionâwhere Fain is now trailing Mona Das by 206 votesâthe Washington State Senate announced they will hire a third-party investigator to look into the allegation. Rich Smith has more here.
More on the Thousand Oaks shooting: Thereâs not much new information except that the shooter was a former Marine, that there are rumors he suffered from post-traumatic stress, and that the body count has risen to 13 and there are 18 people injured. I donât have much information to offer. I grew up 20 minutes away from Thousand Oaks, or TO as we knew it. The Strangerâs Christopher Frizzelle and Sean Nelson lived even closer. Thereâs an uncomfortable solemnity reading about a place you know in such gruesome headlines. Thatâs nothing super important, just a feeling I thought Iâd share.
Meet the new boss: Robyn Denholm has taken over for Elon Musk over at Tesla. Musk was asked to step down from his post as chairman after he made some stupid decisions on Twitter. She's been on Tesla's board since 2014. Musk is still the chief executive.
The real fake news: That whole thing where CNN's Jim Acosta was banned from the White House has blown up today. That's because the White House is spreading a doctored video of footage of Acosta at the press conference where he continued asking questions after Trump was done answering. The doctored footage speeds up Acosta's arm, making it look like he jerks the microphone out of a White House aide's grasp. It's propaganda and it's spreading like wildfire.
Shit, there's actual wildfire spreading like wildfire: Northern California is under siege again. Flames are lickin' landscapes and eating up acres at breakneck speed. Powerful winds and dry conditions are fueling this beast. It's burning 80 acres of land a minute.
And here's where Washington's midterm election results stand: An update.