I was on vacation the last three weeks—life is hard (see: Exhibit A below)—so I missed all sorts of awful news: Michael Brown, James Foley, Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall.

But I also missed one piece of excellent news.

Harry Bailey—the interim police chief appointed by Mayor Ed Murray who played a role in fucking up the SPD harder than any one person has fucked up the SPD in contemporary times while sending reform backwards by years, making statements that appeared to misrepresent the facts, and exonerating officers for misconduct while also making a mockery of the department's accountability program and scandalizing City Hall officials responsible for him—has officially retired. (See Exhibit B.)

Chief Kathleen O'Toole announced Bailey retirement in a warm, fuzzy blog post. But Seattle should not have warm and fuzzy memories.

Bailey was a civic embarrassment. Full stop. It's nice to return to a city that's better than when I left.