Two Towers in Bellevue: Amazon's going full-on Lord of the Rings. Through a public records request, GeekWire obtained the early plans submitted to the city of Bellevue for Amazon's planned million-square-foot tower that was revealed Tuesday. The plans indicate that Amazon could one day build more on the block, with a "Potential Phase II" for a second tower planned on the site. This "Phase II" tower would potentially replace the block's Bellevue Corporate Plaza. Amazon renewed the leases on the plaza, indicating that they will remain on the block for a while. GeekWire has the full pre-application packet submitted to the city of Bellevue on their site.
Social media was a mess today: It's always a mess, but Facebook, Instagram (Facebook, basically), and WhatsApp (Facebook, basically) have all been experiencing a worldwide photo glitch today. This shouldn't really be news, but Facebook and Instagram have devoured the media landscape—an issue with content distribution on those platforms means there's an issue with content distribution of news in general. Sad. Twitter was also experiencing problems today. Maybe Russia is getting back at us.
Me turning my wifi on and off 25 times in a row and suddenly opens twitter and realized... ohh! stop blaming your wifi Everytime😂🤣🤣🤣 #instagramdown #WhatsAppDown #facebookdown pic.twitter.com/s4KmaARNFm
— Anchal Jaiswal (@Anchal_jais) July 3, 2019
There's no longer a casting couch in Toy Story 2: Did you know there was a casting couch reference in Toy Story 2? There used to be! Not anymore!
Disney deletes "Toy Story 2" scene that jokes about casting couch sex https://t.co/kxPenHDeAQ pic.twitter.com/ShNTWVfjRE
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 3, 2019
More Disney news: We have a black Little Mermaid! Halle Bailey has been officially cast as Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Bailey is best known for acting in Grown-ish and singing in the band Chloe x Halle, which posted this today on Twitter:
dream come true... 🧜🏽♀️🌊 pic.twitter.com/sndjYUS6wO
— chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) July 3, 2019
Twitter has been the home for porn refugees: But maybe not for much longer? After Tumblr started banning adult content (which made up the lion's share of the content on the platform) users began migrating to Twitter. Not only fans and wankers, but also professional sex workers and amateurs just selling their nudes to pay the utility bills. However, a post on XBIZ (is this the first time we've ever linked to XBIZ?) has noted that Twitter's Terms of Service has been recently updated to be more hostile towards "sensitive content." An offending passage noted by XBIZ:
"Accounts dedicated to posting sensitive media [including all "adult content"]—your account may be permanently suspended if the majority of your activity on Twitter is sharing sensitive media," which puts all sex workers, adult companies and even sex educators on notice.
The head of the Department of Homeland Security says he's investigating Border Patrol personnel: Because of the "disturbing" and "inexcusable" social media posts allegedly made by Border Patrol personnel about lawmakers and immigrants in the U.S.
Reporting this week highlighted disturbing & inexcusable social media activity that allegedly includes active Border Patrol personnel. These statements are completely unacceptable, especially if made by those sworn to uphold the @DHSgov mission, our values & standards of conduct.
— Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan (@DHSMcAleenan) July 3, 2019
Republicans love Marianne Williamson: Oh gee. I wonder why. Here's Jeff Roe, the founder of Axiom Strategies, a GOP campaign firm, calling on Republicans to donate to her campaign.
Please, calling on all republicans to go to https://t.co/fFZ5mdLRRq and donate $1 to keep this vibrant democrat on the debate stage. One debate performance is not enough. #DemDebate2020 https://t.co/MFHWVfHXey
— Jeff Roe (@jeffroe) June 28, 2019
Buttigieg raised more than Biden last quarter: Joe Biden released his fundraising numbers today. They were good, but Buttigieg's were better.
NEW: Joe Biden raised $21.5 million in Q2, per @mikememoli
That's less than Pete Buttigieg's $24 million overall, but *more per day* since Biden entered the race almost a month into the 2nd quarter.
436k donations from 256k donors, for an avg. contribution of about $49.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) July 3, 2019
Megan Rapinoe is a proud American: In case you thought otherwise, she cleared it up today. “I think that I’m particularly, uniquely and very deeply American,” she said. But also, this is her message to her team's critics:
U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe on Alex Morgan's tea cup celebration: "I think I might have been upstaged. That was next-level."
And on English criticism of the tea cup celebration: "Wah, wah, wah... I don't think anyone truly believes we disrespect opponents."@sntvstory pic.twitter.com/XaCgGTsiKq
— Davidde Corran (@DaviddeCorran) July 3, 2019
Some feedback to yesterday's Slog PM headline: The offending headline was "Slog PM: Two Seattle City Council Members Are Pregnant, Amazon Expands Empire to the Shitty Side of Lake Washington." The offending email:
As a longtime Slog reader, I take personal offense at the title of today's Slog PM, which included the phrase "shitty side of Lake Wahington". This term lumps my beautiful hometown of Redmond in with pretentious, overpriced Bellevue, and fails to consider the greater levels of greenery and completed bike lanes found on our side of the Lake. I suggest, good sir, that you make use of the some of the many city-wide trails or the Lake to Lake path, and view our pleasant neighborhoods yourself before libeling them as "shitty".
Politely Outraged Eastsider
Look, POE, I've grown up in a lot of shitty places: Middleton, Idaho; St. Petersburg, Florida; Lodi, California. All of these places had their positives. Middleton was once visited by Ty Pennington and I thought that was really hot. It also has clogging. St. Petersburg is close to Clearwater, which has the best beach in America, apparently. Lodi has wine, I think. But these places were, on the whole, shitty. Just because Redmond has greater levels of greenery does not mean Redmond or Bellevue > Seattle. We have to be honest with ourselves, POE. The Stranger's Jasmyne Keimig, who was raised in Redmond, just commented over my shoulder, "Redmond made me want to leave Washington state and never come back." Sad!*
Boeing will pay 737 Max crash victims' families: $100 million, reports Seattle Times. Little information is available at the moment, but the company says the money is intended to “support education, hardship and living expenses for impacted families, community programs, and economic development in impacted communities.”
Happy Almost Independence Day: Here's the most American thing I can think of.
Also, enjoy the fireworks: There's a new shell this year! A "jellyfish"! From GeekWire:
*Keimig continued: "That person did bring up a good point about Redmond. It is quite lush. But Bellevue can suck my balls."