Is this... Crosscuts David Kroman?
Is this... Crosscut's David Kroman? Deklofenak/Getty Images

Welcome to the dystopia: Amazon's newest technology is… grim. The bookseller has filed a patent for a doorbell camera—okay, not great, but hey maybe it's still good?—that uses face recognition to scan everybody that passes. Ah, yes, you're waiting for the kicker. Anyone can upload pictures of people they deem suspicious and if the camera matches any people passing by with the scan it will send the picture to the cops.

We got a bomb threat today: It was a phishing scam mixed with a bomb threat, really. There was an email that demanded The Stranger hand over "20.000 dollars" or else a bomb that was placed in our building would be exploded. The email-sender assured us that this was "nothing personal this is just a business." Other papers, businesses, and schools received the same message today. Hopefully it really was a hoax or else this bomb is going to go off any minute.

Trump's in with Big Oil: Trump is working to roll back fuel efficiency standards for America's cars. The reasoning? There's so much oil to go around that we don't need to worry about energy conservation. And, who do you think benefits from these regulation easements? Could it be the same interests that paid to kill our carbon fee this midterm election season? Yeah, I'd hazard a guess that they're one and the same.

No aggravated murder charges for driver who aided 2009 cop killer: The killer was driven to the scene where he shot four Lakewood police officers. He was driven away. That driver was sentenced to 420 years in prison initially in 2011 on first-degree murder charges. But, a retrial was ordered because of a potentially prejudiced jury. Now, he can't be retried for aggravated murder again because of double jeopardy.

Mysteries of the heart solved: Not the heart as an abstract subject but the heart that was left on a plane at Sea-Tac airport. A heart no hospital in the area had any record of (who would fly a transplant heart commercial anyway?). The heart, the Seattle Times found, was "being sent to an area tissue processor to recover a valve." That valve will go inside someone at some point in a transplant. No word on who the lucky bastard is, though.

This video made me laugh today:



El Niño is late, but he's coming: The weather system expected to develop this winter hasn't officially arrived. Scientists give it a strong 90 percent chance of occurring. It's what's making our lives so dry. It may even continue into spring. If it does, I'm going to riot. I like my Seattle wet.

Speaking of wet: It's a wet and windy time right now. Well, I think it may have stopped raining. But, it'll come back at some point. In the meantime—wind:


Should I get this radar graphic tattooed?


A capital gains tax? I'm all ears, Jay. Today Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled his new budget. It includes $1.1 billion for orca recovery efforts. Part of the funding for the proposed $54.4 billion state budget could come from a potential capital gains tax. Lester Black has more here.

Crosscut found out who the candidates for SDOT director are: Oh boy, oh boy. Who's going to be the director? It's going to be a man, I can tell you that. The top three choices are a guy from District Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., a fella from right here at Sound Transit, and a retired Air Force Major.

Maria Butina pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent: The Russian 30-year-old was involved with a Russian-backed effort to win over conservative Americans and the NRA by convincing them that Russia was a friend, not a foe. She wasn't exactly a Russian spy. But she wasn't exactly not a Russian spy. I'm confused about the whole thing. She's guilty, though.

Lester was on TV today: A new low for New Day Northwest??


According to Christian Bale: Trump thought he was actually Bruce Wayne when the two met.