Hello up there! Build me affordable housing! Thanks!
Hello up there! Build me affordable housing! Thanks! Timothy Kenney

Time to start applying to Amazon: The Seattle area's brief reduction in rents between June 2017 and June 2018 is over, reports the Seattle Times. The median rental price in June was up 3.3% year over year, according to Zillow. The rising trend continues in Bellevue and across King Country, where that percentage is even higher.

Say what?: Back on his bullshit today.


I guess we have to jump into this Mueller drama: Let's hit up the major points. First, the Republicans are basically doing a victory lap.

Which is weird, considering: Trump was not exonerated.

Mueller also confirmed that Trump asked staff to falsify records: Which sounds... y'know, bad?

One of the big takeaways was Mueller's warning of Russia already meddling in our 2020 election: “They’re doing it as we sit here,” he said today. As the New York Times concluded: "The Russian government orchestrated the effort [to interfere in the 2016 election], and many of Mr. Trump’s aides welcomed it, even if they did not actively coordinate with Moscow."

There were plenty of other takeaways from today's hearing: And every outlet has a round-up. Here's one from CNN. Another from NBC. And New York Times. Vox. Politico. Read away!

Pelosi still isn't ready to #ITMFA: In today's most unsurprising news, Pelosi says Democrats need to wait longer before starting an impeachment inquiry. "My position has always been, whatever decision we made [regarding an impeachment inquiry] would have to be with our strongest possible hand, and we still have some matters outstanding in the courts," said Pelosi.

Mueller deflected questions 198 times today: Reports NBC News. His reasons include: "He didn’t want to speculate, couldn’t get into internal deliberations, had answered the question in his report, or was under orders not to answer a particular question."

What's going on with Puerto Rico?: Puerto Rico's governor Ricardo A. RossellĂł has appeared to be issuing his "imminent resignation" any moment today, reports the New York Times. As of writing this, that hasn't happened. This afternoon, the governor's spokesperson said RossellĂł would be issuing a statement by nightfall. It's now nightfall, and nothing has been said from the governor. While RossellĂł appears to be digging in his heels, his staff has been resigning left and right. (TBH, sounds like Trump.)

In-house news round-up: From your Favorite Aggregation Blog:

  • Facebook continues to take large amounts of $$$ for political ads in local elections despite saying they don't sell political ads in Washington state.
  • Amanda Knox told us that not a single Seattle news source talked to her before writing their latest screeds against her.
  • Jenny Durkan called D2 candidate Tammy Morales a "divisive" "socialist" Monday night in an email to voters. Morales told us, again, she's not a socialist—at best, she's a fair-weather friend of the DSA—and that "it’s ridiculous for someone to try to use [socialism] as a scare tactic."
  • We met Buttigieg and have thoughts.

    • Seattle Times ranked the Seahawks' "90-man roster top to bottom": I'm only including this because I thought ranking the 90-man roster's tops and bottoms was porn. Anyhow, the bottomest bottom is Marcelias Sutton and the toppest top is Russell Wilson. Send me your fan erotica, thanks.

    North Korea just launched "two unidentified projectiles": They traveled 267 miles into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korean officials. U.S. officials confirmed at least one of those projectiles.

    Despite record-breaking fines from the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook's profits soar: Writes GeekWire's Monica Nickelsburg. Facebook upended expectations and posted a revenue of $16.9 billion in the last quarter, largely due to its daily active users count increasing 8 percent. And yet, they can't be bothered to properly disclose how they're getting all that cash.

    More bad news for Boeing: The company's "best estimate" is that the homicidal 737 MAX will return to service in October, but the Seattle Times's aerospace reporter Dominic Gates (who's been doing great coverage of the Boeing fiasco) reported that the Renton 737 production line could temporarily shut down if that "optimistic timeline" doesn't go down perfectly. The plant employs more than 10,000 people.

    Stranger's Nathalie Graham met Megan Rapinoe today: More on that tomorrow. For now, her shoes: