Trump waffles on abortion: On Sunday's Meet the Press, Donald Trump said he thought the six-week abortion ban Florida Gov. Ron Desantis signed into law was "a terrible thing and a terrible mistake." To be clear, Trump isn't having some huge pro-life epiphany. He's just trying to distance himself from his significant role in overturning Roe v. Wade—he appointed three conservative, pro-life Supreme Court justices—because abortion hurt his party in the 2022 midterms. Trump refused to say whether he would implement a 15-week federal abortion ban if elected. He failed to say much of anything on the issue, which won't play well with the Bible thumpers in his base. 

Who the fuck is hosting private firework shows on Bainbridge? On Saturday night, booms and bangs rattled the sky at around 10 pm. It wasn't thunder, nor was it the police throwing flash-bangs down city streets. Nope, it was a private fireworks show off of Bainbridge Island in September. This happened last year around the same time, too, the Seattle Times found out. And 25 years ago. The fireworks company who enabled this skyward tragedy of the commons won't say who the show was for, just that they love fireworks. 

US and Iran swap prisoners: Five prisoners sought by the US flew out of Tehran on Monday. In return, the US will release five prisoners from Iran and unfreeze around $6 billion in Iranian assets. Tensions remain high between the two countries, especially because of concerns around Iran's nuclear program, however Iran says the program is peaceful.

And now, the weather: It'll be rainy Monday morning, but then the rain will taper off and the sun should shine through the clouds. Highs likely won't break 70 degrees today. 

New drive-thru dispensary: Well, at least technically. Five suspects reportedly rammed a stolen car through a Redmond weed shop. They snatched an unknown amount of products and then hightailed it out of there. If we had a functional federal government, then it could pass a law allowing weed shops to use banks like any other business; but we don't, so it won't.

Seattle Police Officers Guild responds: SPOG finally made a statement in response to the video of the union's vice president laughing and joking about a pedestrian his fellow officer struck and killed, calling her a "regular person" and saying the City should just "write a check." SPOG's statement essentially says that the public misinterpreted what was going on in the video because it "lacked context." Huh, I dunno, the context seems pretty clear to me. 

Seattle Homegrown workers strike continues: Sign the petition to give these workers a living wage and health care. 

Flight attendants could strike: Airlines are raking in record profits due to post-pandemic travel mania, yet flight attendant wages have stayed pretty much stagnate. Flight attendants at Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines are planning to strike if they don't see their demands met. For Alaska attendants, they only receive pay between the hours when the aircraft door closes to when it opens again. They aren't compensated for any work they do when people are boarding, or for their time getting to and from the airplane. Their base pay right now is also currently $24,000 to $27,000. Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines reported $2.8 billion in recorded revenue in just the second quarter of 2023. 

Suburban street racing rattles Tacoma: A suburban neighborhood in Tacoma had some unwanted visitors Saturday night when around 100 cars started street racing in a nearby quiet intersection. Residents placed over 56 calls to 911 to get police to stop these cars from doing donuts over and over and over. But, the cops just kinda sat in their cars and did nothing. They blamed a state law limiting police car pursuits for the reason they couldn't intervene. [Eds note: Lol they could have arrested for reckless driving. You don't have to engage in a high-speed pursuit to arrest people for doing donuts in an intersection, if you're into that sort of thing.]

MISSING: $80 million jet, if found please call the military: The US military misplaced its stealth-capable  F-35 fighter jet after it vanished during a flight. The pilot flying the jet through southeastern South Carolina encountered a "mishap" and ejected from the plane. Unfortunately, no one knows where the plane went. 

Russell Brand accused of rape: Four women, who have so far remained anonymous, accused Brand of sexual assault and abuse between 2006 and 2013, the height of his fame. One woman said Brand raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home. Another alleged physical and emotional abuse when Brand dated her while he was in his 30s and she was 16. Brand denied the allegations in a YouTube video he released as the story broke. 

Sea-ice loss in Antarctica is so bad it's "almost mind-blowing": Scientists are stunned. Sea-ice levels have never been this low, and it's unclear whether it will recover "to a significant degree." The BBC painted a picture of how much ice is missing by comparing the size of the gap to the size of the British Isles. The impacts of a British Isle-sized gap of sea-ice aren't clear, but they can't be good. Less ice means more warming, and more warming means an endless positive feedback loop of ice melt and warming. 

Doom and gloom break: The world isn't all bad. Watch this videos of sisters being sisters. 

Florida's coral reefs are dying: Sorry, the bad news doesn't stop for good. July's heatwave was devastating for Florida's reefs. Groups like Coral Restoration Foundation had been working in Florida for a decade replanting and reviving bleached coral reefs. Many of the 43,000 pieces of coral that CRF planted in 10 years died after the extreme heat in July. Scientists predict extreme warming could kill "70 to 90 percent of the tropical coral reefs worldwide."