Lil Nas X at the VMAs this weekend, shoving homosexuality down our throats like we deserve.
Lil Nas X at the VMAs this weekend, shoving homosexuality down our throats like we deserve. Theo Wargo / Staff / Getty Images

White Center is on fire again. This morning a fire broke out at the old Locker Room Tavern in White Center — just a few doors down from where a fire gutted The Lumberyard and several other businesses in July (caused by arson, investigators say). There was also a fire at the same address back in April (the result, investigators said, of smoking materials discarded in a planter). It’s also just a few feet away from the old Atlas Electrical building, which was being used as a squat and has caught fire twice recently; once in October of 2019 and again this month. No word yet on the condition of the old Locker Room’s neighbors, the Bizzarro Italian Cafe, the Huong Xua Restaurant, and Full Tilt Ice Cream. West Seattle Blog is on the scene:

Idaho’s sending us their worst. Idaho’s Republican Governor Brad Little has refused to implement basic protections against COVID — no mask requirements, and he’s exploring ways to stop people from getting vaccinated. As a result, Idahoans are dying at an alarming rate, hospitals just authorized the rationing of care, and they’re sending lots of Infected Idahoans to Washington. That’s forcing some Washington hospitals to postpone procedures, and many Washington healthcare workers are simply quitting after more than a year of working double shifts.

This weekend was the anniversary of 9/11. Let’s see what Caitlin Jenner has had to say about the occasion.

The gay agenda is proceeding according to plan. Lil Nas X took home a VMA award this weekend for Video of the Year; other winners include John Mayer, Billie Eilish and RosalĂ­a, Harry Styles, and Olivia Rodrigo.

Californians! Vote right this fucking second! Tuesday is the last day to vote in the bananas recall that, if successful, would replace Gavin Newsom (no prize peach, I know) with Larry Elder (a colossal garbage disaster). Elder is, of course, the worst: A Trump supporter who says the minimum wage should be zero and that California should reduce its teaching workforce by thousands, Elder has questioned whether PMS exists (it does), whether secondhand smoke is dangerous (it is), and promoted anti-vax misinformation. California Republicans are already revving up their propaganda machine to cast doubt on the election if it doesn’t go their way.

Well, that’s enough Rose McGowan for today. Former Seattleite Rose McGowan appeared at a press conference to endorse Larry Elder, to accuse Democrats of some kind of conspiracy against her, and to claim that Gavin’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, tried to suppress rape claims against Harvey Weinstein. (In fact, Newsom herself leveled sexual misconduct charges against Weinstein.) Please replace McGowan with Alyssa Milano on your list of favorite Charmed cast members. (Sorry to inform you that Shannen Doherty is also a Republican.)

A rough weekend for vehicular violence. Early on Saturday, a driver killed two people while fleeing from a shooting in Auburn. Later that afternoon, an unrelated driver shot at another on Capitol Hill near Volunteer Park. Also that afternoon, a driver near Ocean Shores fell asleep and crashed into a 25-year-old Seattle woman, who was seriously injured and airlifted to Harborview. Globally, guns kill on average 500 people a day, while car crashes kill 3,700 people per day and car pollution kills even more.

Happy anniversary to the sinking (update: rebuilding!) of I-90. It was this past weekend back in 1993 that the old Lacey V. Murrow Bridge blooped into Lake Washington was reopened, following some faulty construction and heavy rains. We sure do have bad luck with bridges here, don’t we?

The iPhone 13 will be unveiled tomorrow at an Apple event. Probably. Who knows with Apple? If it does turn out to be an iPhone unveiling, as everyone expects, the new phones will probably be just slightly better versions of the old phones, nothing too exciting: Slightly faster chips, slightly crisper cameras, slightly smoother frame rate. Or maybe the whole thing will be an employee talent show.

Congrats, Schmemmy-winners. The Emmys are next weekend, which means that this past weekend the Television Academy handed out awards in The Boring Categories. Ted Lasso won for best casting in a comedy series, Saturday Night Live picked up an award for lighting, The Flight Attendant won for best theme song, and if “game show host who deserves better than this shit” was a category then the winner would be Levar Burton. Also, Wandavision got a win for “Agatha All Along,” which is all the excuse you need to listen to this utter banger one more time.

Heaven’s getting harder and harder to get into. Honolulu will probably dismantle the “Stairway to Heaven,” aka the Haiku Stairs. Built decades ago by the Army, they’ve been closed to the public since the 1980s, but that hasn’t stopped the public from using them, clogging local streets, and leaving trash everywhere. A handful of stair fans wants to keep them around because they’re very pretty, but there’s no clear plan for managing access, which is currently rather hazardous and destructive.

Honestly he’s lucky nobody tossed him overboard. Some guy got mad about being asked to wear a mask on a Fauntleroy ferry this weekend and got threatening enough that they had to call the state patrol. He’s been issued an order to stay off of ferries for 60 days, which is enough time to listen to this song 86,400 times.

Back in the '80s, there was a brief moment of celebrity for a chonky remote-control robot named Sico. This isn’t breaking news, but I just found out about it and I can’t stop thinking about this queer icon.

Here’s a new animated superhero thing. You may be interested in this cartoon drag queen movie, now in crowdfunding mode (full disclosure: It’s voice-directed by a friend of mine).