9 years ago today, the gays married.
9 years ago today, the gays married. Kelly O

Did you get a freaky-ass 911 alert on your phone? Same. No, it's not Armageddon, just the 911 lines are down. No biggie...



The cops say they fixed the problem and restored service. Cue the conspiracy theories that it broke because Sawant recallers all called 911 right as they saw this news...

A photo finish: As conventional wisdom expected, the ballots in Councilmember Kshama Sawant's recall election continue to skew progressive. On Wednesday Sawant claimed just over 62% of the 7,000 vote drop, which tightened election night's initial 5% gap between recall and retain to just 0.62%, a margin of 246 votes. Today, King County Elections counted nearly all the remaining votes, 1,355 to be specific, and the trend continued. In the latest drop, 68.48% voted to retain Sawant. That means 50.29% of D3 voters want to keep Sawant and 49.71% want to give her the boot. Great. What a big waste of time and money. When can we get back to holiday dabbing and turning our office into an abortion pill factory?


So far, neither side has declared a victory: On election night, the Seattle Times reported that Recall Sawant campaign manager and chair Henry Bridger II was not worried about a Sawant comeback as the county added the last of the ballots. The Times wrote, “he believed the initial results are the sentiment of the district.” That sentiment has changed.

Sawant’s campaign continues on its hunt for a small but potentially pivotal pot of votes the campaign can win, or rather, prove they already won. As of this Thursday, KCE reported over 700 challenged ballots—591 of those ballots are “curable.”

I (meaning Hannah, there are four of us writing this today—because teamwork!!!) write more about it here.

I (meaning Chase) would like to point you in the direction of Matt and Rich and Colleen and Sarah and Jas: They wrote Slog stuff today, too. Pick a topic: Do you want to read about our favorite gripe or faking it til you're feeling it or Seattle's 50 hottest portals?

Understandably, this bit of news got lost in the afternoon shuffle:


Tell a 16- or 17-year-old in your life they can get a booster shot, too. Today, the FDA granted emergency authorization for the older teens to get a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine once it's six months after the teen's second shot. Soon after, the CDC formally recommend the boosters. Get boosted!

Sundance is coming! Sundance is coming! The beloved film festival, which will run from January 20-30, just dropped its lineup for the 2022 edition of the fest. And lucky for us, Northwest Film Forum is serving as a satellite location for Sundance for the second year in a row and will host several in-person screenings of films from the fest. If you're still wary of theaters, you can nab a ticket to the virtual version of the festival. Read more Sundance fest highlights here. Me (Jas) and me (Chase) will cover the fest again this year for Slog.

Today in "Officer Whoopsy!": "Oregon Department of Corrections SWAT team tear-gassed own coworkers during training."

So long, Mia's Off Broadway: The fifteen-year-old tiny Capitol Hill joint just off Seattle Central is permanently closed, reports Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. "Korn Dog" will replace them—the "K" is for "Korea," not the band Korn. It'll serve Korean-style corn dogs. Across the street, the newly opened Pelicana serves Korean-style fried chicken.

This guy: An appeals court has ruled that Trump's White House records can be released to the congressional panel investigating the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the nation's capitol. Naturally, he will make a last ditch effort to hide his shit by appealing to... who else? The Trump Supreme Court.

Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Lattes with a side of workers' rights: After a squeaker of a 19-18 vote, Starbucks workers at a location in Buffalo, New York have become the first employees of the worldwide chain to successfully unionize. One other Starbucks decided against it, and the vote of another is under review.

Somewhere out there, snow:


Jussie jury: A jury has found former Empire actor Jussie Smollett guilty of staging a "making a false report to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019," reports CNN. He's charged on five out of six felony counts of disorderly conduct. Smollett—who is Black and gay—staged a racist and homophobic attack near his Chicago apartment in an apparent bid for media attention. The actor is still facing a civil suit from the city of Chicago to recoup the cost of investigating the attack. Legal experts say he will most likely be put on probation and sentenced to community service.

The Metropolitan Museum in New York will remove the Sackler name from various places in the museum, following the outcry over the links the family has to the opioid crisis, reports the New York Times. The Sackler name will be nixed from seven exhibition spaces in total, including the wing home to the Temple of Dendur. However, in a move they have not explained, the Met will keep "Sackler" on two galleries which the Times believes is due to their association with Arthur Sackler, "who died in 1987 before OxyContin's creation." Can't ever expect a museum to develop too much of a backbone!

Something sweet to close the day:



I (Chase) came out at 14 while going to high school in rural Idaho: I accidentally came out on Day of Silence, and I remember the day inspired our Spanish teacher to be the opposite of silent. She went on a long rant about how gay people were hellish, then our principal tried to shut down Day of Silence activities. 14-year-old me couldn't have imagined gay marriage ever being legal. We've come so far so quickly, so take some time to remember these tender photos from Kelly O:

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Kelly O

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Kelly O

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Kelly O

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Kelly O

More here.