The Weather: Friday could be the last sunny-ish day for a spell. You never know, of course, but soak it in while you can. Personally, I am ready for gray and wet.
Rabid Bat Alert: On Sept. 23, two people found a sick bat on a residential road near the arboretum. They gave the little guy some water. He seemed thirsty. Well, they shouldn’t have done that, according to Public Health—Seattle & King County. The bat had rabies, and anyone who touched the bat or its saliva could have contracted the disease. Hopefully none of those do-gooders gave it a smooch on the lips. Public Health hasn’t been able to identify the bat helpers yet. They have euthanized the bat, however.
Seven Freeway Closures: Happy last weekend of September! Sports reign supreme this weekend with a sold-out regular season finale between the play-off-bound Mariners and Dodgers and University of Washington football game against those dreaded Ohio State Buckeyes. Complicating what will already be a congested weekend is all this construction. Here’s what will suck this weekend thanks to road and bridge repairs.
Good Riddance: The bones (feet, femur, ribs, part of a finger, part of a spinal column) found in the wilderness outside Leavenworth officially belong to Travis Decker, the man who killed his three daughters in June and inspired a four-month-long manhunt. DNA evidence confirmed Decker is dead and long-decomposed (the announcement that the remains were Decker’s initially came without DNA confirmation). The Chelan coroner has yet to determine cause of death.
Comey Indicted: Former FBI Director and longtime Donald Trump enemy James Comey was accused of making a false statement to Congress in an indictment filed Thursday by US District Attorney Pam Bondi. The charges revolve around his testimony in the investigation into whether Trump and Russia colluded to interfere with the 2016 election. Comey testified in 2020 (after Trump fired him and Robert Mueller was leading the investigation) that “he never authorized anyone to serve as an anonymous source to a reporter about an investigation.” The indictment says this was a lie. Comey, in responding to the news of his indictment, maintained his innocence. “Let’s have a trial,” he said. Trump called him a “bad person.”
Let’s be Clear about What This Is: Sorry to give Mayor Pete the mic, but he’s making sense in this case. A president weaponizing federal forces to go after political enemies is not something that happens in a democracy. The ACLU called the indictment “a grotesque abuse of presidential power.”
When the President uses federal law enforcement for his personal revenge, it puts all of us in danger.
— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) September 26, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Seattle Start-Up Invents Landline: But this isn’t your parent’s landline—it’s for the kids. Tin Can allows kids to stay connected with their peers and make plans without smartphones. It’s really just a landline, but it’s connected to the internet, not a phone jack. Will returning to a childhood of yore save the kids?
Oh Boy, More Tariffs! Trump announced he’s issuing new tariffs ranging from 25 percent to 100 percent on pharmaceuticals, semi trucks, kitchen cabinets, and furniture. He’s issuing the tariffs under Section 232, a provision of national security law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that allowed him to slap tariffs on steel, aluminum, cars, and copper earlier this year. The Supreme Court will hear a case about the law this month and the legality of Trump’s tariffs issued under it. In the meantime, no one buy a foreign semi-truck. Or, sigh, a new couch.
Being a War Criminal Is Embarrassing: Before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in front of the United Nations General Assembly, dozens of delegates walked out of the room. The US delegation stayed. The US and United Kingdom only sent low-level diplomats, no one senior. During his speech, Netanyahu attempted to push back on the laundry list of actions taken against him which include the International Criminal Court’s warrant for his arrest, the European Union considering tariffs and sanctions against Israel, and the recognition of an independent Palestine state from countries like Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. In his speech, Netanyahu maintained Israel “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Dozens of delegates from multiple nations walk out of UN hall as Israeli prime minister prepares to speak.
— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) September 26, 2025 at 6:15 AM
The Ladies Love It: Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones sported a new facial hair style on InfoWars this week. You may recognize it—Hitler rocked the stache back in the day. Jones said his Hitler stache was a “social experiment” to see how much the world has changed. He opined about how people should use “Nazi” as an insult and then said women were going gaga over his Hitler stache. “I thought they were about to start throwing their panties at me,” he said. “And they didn’t know why… Lex-Luthor-meets-Adolf-Hitler looks with blue eyes, and they just didn’t know what to do. They’re like, melting.”
A TikTok Deal: Trump signed an executive order Thursday paving a way to pass majority control of the app to American investors. The current framework of the deal gives Chinese parent company, ByteDance, only 20 percent ownership in the app. The other 80 percent will be American entities. So far, Trump has identified tech company Oracle as a player in this deal as well as tech entrepreneur Michael Dell and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Trump maintained the algorithm on the app with this new ownership would “treat everyone fairly,” but if he had his druthers everything would be “100 percent MAGA.” With 1 in 5 Americans now getting their news from TikTok, any sort of conservative takeover of the app a la Musk and Twitter could be detrimental.
China AIs the Gay Away: A Chinese film studio was accused of using artificial intelligence to change a gay wedding scene in the American body horror film Together. Allegedly, when distributing the film to Chinese audiences, the studio used AI to change one of the men in the gay wedding scene into a woman.
Ground Squirrels Take Over North Dakota Town: The Richardson’s ground squirrel is small but mighty. The species, native to the Northern Plains, has exploded in population, turning the town of Minot, North Dakota into Swiss cheese with its ferocious tunneling. The pest control guy trying to fix the problem described the squirrel situation as, “one guy standing against a massive storm.” At least he’ll stay booked and busy forever.
A long read for you: Social media health and wellness influencers broadcast enviable lifestyles—and dangerous misinformation, especially for people already struggling with eating disorders. That’s what happened to 27-year-old Karolina Krzyzak who adopted a raw vegan fruit-only diet after seeing people she admired online live that way. The diet killed her.
A song for your Friday: I can just tell you’re suffering from a trumpet deficiency.
