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Get his ass.
Get his ass. SAMUEL CORUM / GETTY IMAGES

Washington Employment Security Department duped by fraudulent claims: The fact that our employment department's fraud detection software was weak as hell at the beginning of the pandemic isn't news now. What is news is that it was so weak that the ESD couldn't even detect fraudulent claims that were filed in the names of people who worked within its own agency. An employee told KING5: “How does our own agency not know that we’re not unemployed? How did our own system not catch it?”

Four people sue Facebook over Kenosha, Wisconsin protests: The civil complaint alleges that Facebook gave a platform for groups to recruit and “empowered right wing militias to inflict extreme violence and deprive Plaintiffs and protesters of their rights,” according to BuzzFeedNews. The suit centers around the Aug. 25 protest that divolved into violence. Two protesters were shot and killed allegedly by 17-year-old shooter Kyle Rittenhouse. One of the plaintiffs in the case is the girlfriend of one of the protesters who was killed.

Want to feel like shit?: Read this Atlantic article about how Trump could contest, subvert, and overthrow election results. Here's a line: "Unless he wins a bona fide victory in the Electoral College, Trump’s refusal to concede—his mere denial of defeat—will have cascading effects."

Bezos Academy opens next month: Jeff Bezos's top-of-the-line Montessori-type preschools are here. The first one opens in Des Moines, Washington on Oct. 19. Bezos set aside $2 billion for the Day 1 Fund to pay for fancy preschool for low-income families and the Day 1 Families Fund, which helps combats homelessness. Anyway. More on the school: It uses “the same set of principles that have driven Amazon,” GeekWire writes. Here's a description from the website: “Most important among those will be genuine, intense customer obsession,” the website reads. “The child will be the customer. ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ And lighting that fire early is a giant leg up for any child.”

RBG lies in repose: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the person at the center of the will-they-won't-they Supreme Court decision is now just a body. While Democrats and Republicans play tug-of-war to fill her seat, Ginsburg is lying in repose at the Supreme Court. A private ceremony was held this morning at the Court. Later this week, Ginsburg will become the first woman to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is being a cock: Sen. Cruz blocked a resolution in the Senate that would honor Ginsburg. His reasoning is that a "partisan amendment" included the language that Ginsburg's dying wish was to be replaced before next year's presidential inauguration. The resolution didn't pass.

A bad year for Tasmanian whales: A large group of whales was beached on Tasmania's West Coast. Around 380 whales died.

It's freshman move-in day at the University of Washington: Welcome, new Huskies, sorry the world is a bit broken right now. Just around 4,000 kids are moving into their dorms this week. Usually, there are around 8,000. But, because of COVID-19, most classes are online, anyway. Only 2,000 of UW's 7,000 classes will be offered in-person this quarter.

Good morning! Are you caught in the deluge? It's wet, wet, wet out there, Western Washington. An early fall storm rolled its way in during the early hours of the morning. We could see up around 0.6 to 2 inches of rain today. Isn't this a sight for sore eyes?

Eastlake Starbucks catches fire: Just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, an Eastlake Starbucks' water heater caught fire. It spread to the roof. No one was injured, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

Mike Bloomberg gets felons registered to vote: Billionaire and failed presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is sticking to his promise to use his obscene wealth to elect a new, non-Trump president. So far, Bloomberg has raised $16 million to get Florida felons registered to vote. He's paid off the monetary obligations for 32,000 felons. A 2018 Florida law gave felons their voting rights back so long as they paid off all their debts to the government.

University of California admitted under-qualified, well-connected students: Over the past six years, a California state audit found, the University of California "wrongly admitted at least 64 wealthy students as favors to donors, families, and friends," according to ABC7.

Biggest wave surfed this year: It was in Portugal and it was surfed by Maya Gabeira, a 33-year-old Brazilian surfer.

Ironic: "Turkey sentences female politician to prison for calling Erdogan ‘enemy of women.’"

Johnson & Johnson make vaccine progress: The company is in its final stage of testing its in-the-works coronavirus vaccine. Around 60,000 people will participate in the trial. One of the other positives of this vaccine (aside from "it might work") is that it only requires one dose, not two.

Music venues are dying: Without COVID-19 relief, independent music venues are fucked. A bunch of venues banded together this year to lobby for federal aid. That group, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), said that 90% of its members would have to shutter businesses by the end of the year without financial help. According to NIVA, there could be just one live music venue left in Nashville within 13 weeks.

A quick moment of catharsis: Hey, buddy, you okay? We are all dying inside, don't worry.

Putin told France's Macron that maybe the poisoned Kremlin critic poisoned himself: Russia's Vladimir Putin was gabbing with French President Emmanuel Macron on the phone. Putin suggested that Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin critic who just woke up from a two-week coma after allegedly being poisoned, was an “internet troublemaker who has simulated illnesses in the past.”

Weird poll: 40% would give up their dog for a month to keep their smartphone.

Happy fall:

A crossword for your Wednesday: Do this for four hours this morning instead of checking your email.