What really happened?
What really happened? San Diego COunty Sheriff's Department

Trump’s Attorney General testifies that a Justice Department boss tried to undermine the election. According to acting AG Jeffrey Rosen, the head of the DOJ’s civil division pushed conspiracy theories about Biden’s win, and had inappropriate communications with the White House. Interviews with involved parties continued over the weekend, with Democrats calling the information “frightening.” Could this be the smoking gun that finally puts Trump behind bars? (No, it never is.)

San Diego cops have a fentanyl problem. But the nature of the problem is a bit murky. San Diego County Sheriff’s Department put out a video that they claim shows a cop falling over after touching what they say was fentanyl. But experts say you can’t overdose from just touching it, so… what actually happened? Who knows — the sheriff’s department seems to have stepped away from social media over the weekend, which is probably wise. At least it’s instructive to see which news sources just repeated the cops’ claims without asking any questions.

Happy birthday, Barack. President Obama celebrated his birthday with a great big party this weekend on Martha’s Vineyard. Looks like a lot of fun! Glad to see the rich and powerful won’t let anything stop them from having a good time, it’s truly inspiring.

A TERF conference is coming. Organized by April Morrow, it’s called “Sovereign Women Speak,” and it’ll be held in Lakewood, just south of Tacoma, August 20 to 23. According to the website: “It is our sovereign right to single sex prisons, shelters, sports teams, locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms.”

The Duwamish River Festival is back! Some lovely activity down by the future South Park Plaza park, thanks to the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition. Check out the planning process to turn this former empty lot into a nice green community gathering space.

Wyoming police handcuffed a realtor who was showing a house to a Black family. In news that will disappoint but absolutely not surprise you, cops in Wyoming drew their guns and handcuffed a group of Black men who were reported to have broken into a home… only to learn that they were a realtor and a prospective buyer. (A neighbor had called the police to report them.) Fortunately the police didn’t shoot anyone. I guess if there’s any silver lining here it’s that the family learned exactly what kind of neighborhood it was before moving in.

Infrastructure week, part ten thousand. The slow slog on the congressional infrastructure bill continues, with a preliminary vote this weekend and Senate passage expected on Tuesday. The deal is “bipartisan,” which is another way of saying that it is disappointing to everyone — particularly after Republicans slashed a ton of vital services — but it seems to have enough support now to overcome a filibuster.

Smoke’s still bad in eastern Washington. In fact, it’s some of the worst in the world. Over a hundred fires are burning across the west, and poor air quality may reach Seattle later this week — just in time for another heat wave.

But don’t let that stop you… from filling out the city’s survey about outdoor dining. Yes, the air is a little smoky right now, but it won’t last forever, and we’ve got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reclaim the streets from private car storage.

San Francisco museums declare war on neighbors. The millionaires who run the museums in Golden Gate Park want to convert bike/pedestrian paths into car lanes, and this weekend the NY Times uncritically repeated their talking points that this is some kind of “bikes versus museums” battle. But that’s dumb: Prior to the bike and ped paths, the overwhelming majority of car traffic through the park was just using it to avoid traffic lights; when the lanes were closed to cars, foot traffic near the museums increased by five times; and the claim that opening streets to pedestrians is a form of “recreational redlining” isn’t worthy of a response beyond “how dare you.” If you’re not done feeling irritated by the Times, they also ran a profile on Andrew Sullivan, who we’re apparently still paying attention to for some reason.

We’re going to run out of Greek letters at this rate. Of course there’s a lambda COVID virus. It’s nowhere near as widespread as the delta mutation, but it’s easier to transmit than the original version. Existing vaccines are effective against it (though that may not hold true for future mutations). I have very unhappily stopped going out to large indoor gatherings — I’m feeling particularly sad about missing fetish night at CC’s this weekend — but I just can’t in good conscience. Ugh.

Remembering Markie Post. The actress you might know for Night Court or The Fall Guy or maybe Buck Rogers in the 25th Century passed away this weekend. Here she is absolutely crushing it on Pyramid.

Apparently those big windowed penthouses over the Capitol Hill station are “lanterns.” Here’s a pleasant exploration of some architectural features of the new development over the light rail station on Capitol Hill, with a special emphasis on the chunky all-windowed bits on the corners, which were designed to guide pedestrians toward the entrances. Huh! Who knew. Mainly they just make me wonder how whatever rich person lives there can expect to have any privacy, but it’s nice to know the thinking behind them.

Well, it's all over for me. This weekend someone called me an "expired bottom" in a YouTube comment and I don't think there's any recovering from that.