A fresh orca has joined the pod!
A fresh orca has joined the pod! Hero Images

Slog PM today is brought to you by this glimpse of the far side of the moon: Thank you, China. The Chang’e 4 spacecraft is the first robot to land on that part of the moon. We're really broadening our horizons in 2019.

New orca calf born! Wow! There's a baby calf that's blessing our beleaguered southern resident orca pod. This is the first birth since the orca baby was born this July and only lived a half-hour. Does this mean there's hope for the survival of our orcas? Honestly, who's to say? Maybe all that salmon boycotting worked. Or, maybe not and everything we love is destined for the grave.

Come ups for Robby J: The Seattle District 4 city councilman is not running for re-election after his term is up this year. We're all sad (read: everyone that isn't yelling on the Wedgwood NextDoor page about bike lanes is sad) but Rob has another job lined up already. He's teaming up with the National Hockey League in Seattle to help them with transportation stuff in and around South Lake Union. Atta boy, Rob! Now, all he's got to do is make sure there are no conflicts of interest during his remaining time on the council.

Foundation Nightclub owner arrested: This summer the Foundation Nightclub was raided. It was the center of drug trafficking but also ongoing overdoses and sexual assaults. One dealer described to undercover officers how much of a drug to give women in order to make them incapacitated. That dealer said he was a close friend of the owner. The owner was booked into King County Jail today.

SPD Office of Police Accountability (OPA) recommends outside investigation: The SPD shot and killed a man on New Year's Eve. The footage of the shooting was released last week. It's hard to watch. SPD's OPA is conducting an internal investigation. But, in an atypical move, OPA is recommending an independent, outside law enforcement investigation.

If not dying matters to you, get your flu shot: We're not kidding around over here. Get your flu shot! Save a life! Maybe your own?


Alex Jones lost the lawsuit against him: The victors? The families of the murdered children at Sandy Hook. For years, Jones had spread false rumors about how the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the children who were killed were just "crisis actors." Six families sued Jones for defamation. Today, the families won a legal victory—a judge has allowed them access to InfoWars, Jones's propaganda machine's, internal marketing and financial documents.

Fuck your viaduct tears, the otters are happy: The Seattle Aquarium doesn't care that the viaduct is gone. In fact, they're relieved. For years, the wildlife—many of which have outdoor habitats—have had to deal with the loud noises of the viaduct just overhead. It'll be hella peaceful (technical term) now.

Welcome to the 2020 candidate pool: Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is 36, a veteran, and Hindi. Would she have your vote?


Congress approves bill to award federal workers back pay after shutdown ends: Nearly 800,000 federal workers missed out on another paycheck today because of the partial shutdown. It's tied with the longest government shutdown in history. It will surpass that come Monday. Congress approved a bill that would award federal workers back pay. Trump has to sign it. We'll see if that happens.

The shutdown strain is getting to TSA agent: And maybe impacting air travel. TSA agents aren't getting paid during the shutdown. Many haven't been showing up to work. Today marked the first missed paycheck since the shutdown started. A lot of agents work paycheck to paycheck and many are resigning amidst the shutdown. More are expected to resign after this missed paycheck. That may mean a tangible impact on air travel.

Logan Paul says he's going to do 'Male-Only March': Paul, the controversial YouTube star and professional dickwad, broke into the mainstream last year when he filmed and exploited a dead body he saw in Japan's suicide forest. This year, after all that blowback, Paul is keeping things low key. You know, by saying he's going to "try going gay" for a month.

GoFundMe for Trump's border wall reaches $20 million in donations: The wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for is being funded by a bunch of gullible idiots. This GoFundMe page is fishy and the man who runs it has a history of making fake crowdsourcing pages and keeping the funds. The payment information on the wall page has changed several times. Most recently, the guy who runs it said the money would be diverted to a nonprofit if the goal wasn't reached, so that he could build the wall himself. After that became public, GoFundMe stepped in and said that the money would be refunded if the goal wasn't met.

Don't Birdbox and drive: I still haven't seen this movie. But people are doing tasks blindfolded as part of a "Birdbox Challenge." Don't be a dolt.