No photos during nuclear dumping, plz & thx.
"No photos during nuclear dumping, plz & thx." Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

People have been talking about the firing of Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg all day: U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal said: "Holding corporate executives accountable is an important step toward rebuilding trust in Boeing." U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said: “Mr. Muilenburg should have gone long ago. It is right to remove a CEO who put profits above all else, but it won’t cure Boeing’s culture of safety secrecy." Stranger Philosopher-in-Residence Charles Mudede said: "The time for the nationalization of Boeing is now." More reactions via GeekWire here.

Disinformation campaigns are expected to be as rampant in 2020 as they were in 2016: Get off Facebook. Get your mom off Facebook. Get your grandma off Facebook. Just group chat and chill.

EARTHQUAKES!!!! Four of them struck off the coast of Vancouver Island Monday morning. They each measured between 5 and 6 magnitude. The quakes rose in magnitude as they progressed. No tsunami is expected.

We thought ancient Greece and Rome couldn't get any faggier: But those dead ass men were painted, honey. People have known this for a long time, but Vox published a nice reminder today:

What do you remember from this year? I blacked it out. As reporters take the week off and the news cycle dies down, publications are getting conveniently nostalgic. Crosscut published their year in photos this morning. Seattle Times published a feature about the 15 artists who defined Seattle music this decade. New York Times's podcast The Daily released its Year in Sound. The Guardian published a feature on America's year of extreme weather and natural disasters—in pictures. And we over here at The Stranger focused on man in tree. We're also re-upping some of our favorite Slogs from the year as most of the staff is away on holiday this week. What do you remember from Slog 2019? Refresh my memory in the comments.

Japan wants to dump Fukushima Nuclear Plant's tainted water into the sea: Fishermen are, uh, worried. In 2011, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant saw "a triple meltdown" that "led to the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl." The government is now deciding what to do with one million tons of contaminated water. Government officials have proposed slowly releasing it into the ocean. What could go wrong?

Tangential: I really want to go to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Look, we're all in agreement: Even the Seattle Times Editorial Board thinks we need to expel Matt Shea from the Legislature.

Russia's economy is smaller than Italy's: So why is it such a formidable adversary? "How has a country like Russia, huge in size—it has 11 time zones—but puny when measured by economic and other important metrics, become such a potent force?" asks a New York Times feature published this morning. The answer has a lot to do with Putin's playbook. "The question is not about having much power,” Putin once said. “It’s about using the power you have in the right way.”

Checking in on the Australian bushfires: Did you forget about those? They're still bad. Now that we're in the heat of summer, Australian fires continue to blaze across the continent. The Guardian maintains a good live blog dedicated to the fires here.


Meanwhile, take your vitamins in Seattle: Specifically D, because the "infernal darkness" has been wicked lately. Historically wicked. Friday was the darkest day in recorded Seattle history. And by "recorded Seattle history" I mean since 1996.

When will we get permanent daylight savings time? Today, KOMO highlighted a bill floating around the U.S. House that would allow states to determine whether they observe daylight savings time throughout the whole year. At the moment, time changes have to be approved by the U.S. Transportation Department. Trump, in case you were wondering, is fine with it:

The Seahawks are "broken": According to the Seattle Times, "As they head into their most important game of the season, a showdown with the 49ers for the NFC West title, the Seahawks are a broken team." None of us follow sports on this blog so just click the link if you like the ball games. I think Beast Mode is coming back.

Electrical drama in Ballard: Yesterday, a "power glitch" prevented the steel drawspan at Ballard Bridge, 102 years old, to descend all the way. The delay lasted four hours. Also, people paddling near the Ballard Locks fell in the water and "had to be retrieved." Speaking of the Ballard Locks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced yesterday that one of the Ballard Locks will be closed for a few days due to an electrical outage. More Ballard water-woes here.

ICYMI: Two Carnival cruise ships crashed into each other last week. I find the collision to be strangely erotic, but I love disaster.

Another, final ICYMI for the day: Did you catch the special Saturday Night Live Christmas episode with Eddie Murphy and Lizzo? It was cute. Murphy's opening monologue and Lizzo's second number were highlights.