Weather: The weather is one of my favorite topics. I’m a chit-chat, small-talk lover, so please indulge me! This morning you can expect full sunshine and temperatures that quickly rise from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. Clear skies will continue into the afternoon. Temperatures will climb to a high of 83 in the early evening, so dress accordingly!

No death penalty for 9/11 mastermind: According to the Defense Department, the US struck a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind 9/11, and two others who allegedly helped him plan the attacks. They will plead guilty to all their charges, including the murder of almost 3,000 people in their 2001 terror attacks, but CNN reports that the guilty plea will spare them from the death penalty. Experts said this was the “least bad deal” that they could have reached because it avoids a long, complicated death penalty trial.

Uh: Remember that time I said the city council was resting on its laurels? Yeah, I may have spoken too soon. Prepare for a million council (and City Attorney) updates in 3…2..1…

From Ashley:

So much for the “Do-Nothing” council: The Council Public Safety Committee advanced a bill to approve a contract with the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) in Des Moines, and the full Council plans to vote on the bill this coming Tuesday. This SCORE jail plan may be one of the dumbest things Mayor Bruce Harrell has ever come up with. The City plans to spend $2 million, and probably more, on a Seattle Police Department taxi service to jail people accused of low-level, nonviolent misdemeanor crimes for one to two days. The council has to rush it through before anyone can make any fuss about how absolutely stupid this bill is.

Retro! Republican City Attorney Ann Davison plans to propose a piece of legislation today to bring back a Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) law, which allows judges who put people into community custody (i.e. probation, or ankle monitoring) to also force those people to stay out of certain areas, such as downtown Seattle. Of course, this policy would also mean banning people from areas where most treatment options and services exist, but we don’t know Davison’s plan yet. She’ll announce it at 10 am today, along with Council Members Sara Nelson and Bob Kettle. 

Back to me:

Loitering: Council Member Cathy Moore will also announce new legislation today to “crack down” on “commercial sexual exploitation and associated gun violence,” as she called it in a press release sent late yesterday evening. I assume that means she’s undoing the previous council’s work to repeal the racist, classist anti-loitering laws in 2020. That council unanimously voted to repeal the laws, and conservative former Council Member Alex Pedersen, of all people, helped lead the way on it. Anyway, we’ll know more when she announces the idea at a presser at 12:30 pm.

But wait, there’s Moore: I may have jumped the gun on this, but the rumor mill believes Moore will soon unveil attacks on renters rights, which I hinted at a few times on the blog. Publicola said she will go after the eviction moratorium and the First-in-Time ordinance that requires landlords to accept the first qualified applicant.

Minimum wage, shminimum wage: You’ll also remember that Council Member Joy Hollingsworth is waging class war against tipped minimum wage workers. She didn’t respond to my request for comment, but here’s what she told Justin from Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. 

One last thing: Council Member Cathy Moore is considering proposing an alternative to I-137, which would fund social housing with a tax on businesses who pay any employee more than $1 million. Her alternative, which is supported by the most ad-hoc of "ad-hoc" advocates, would funnel that money into the Office of Housing instead of the newly created social housing agency. Now, according to screenshots shared with The Stranger, the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce is sending around a survey to test out another, more regressive alternative, which would raise the housing levy and allow it to fund some social housing. The whole debate makes me think council will not vote to put I-137 by Aug 6, the deadline to get it on the November ballot. 

Kamala Harris is Black, btw: The National Association of Black Journalists invited former President Donald Trump for an interview in Chicago yesterday, and damn did he make a fool of himself. He did his usual schtick of being really awful to one of the reporters, but, most notably, Trump falsely accused his presumptive opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, of misleading voters about her race. He said, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Harris is both Black and Indian as the daughter of her Jamaican father and Indian mother. She attended a historically Black college, pledged a Black sorority, and sat on the Congressional Black Caucus as a US Senator, the AP noted. 

Welcome back: Russia has agreed to a prisoner swap that will bring home Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan. The two got arrested for alleged espionage in 2023 and in 2018, respectively. The prisoners and the US government deny the charges. It is unclear who Russia will get in exchange. 

Sonya Massey’s mother’s haunting 911 call:

Mohammed Deif: Just after killing Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the Israeli military announced today that they killed the leader of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, in a July 13 attack on Khan Younis. At the time, Palestinian health officials called the attack a “massacre,” as Israel killed 90 people and injured hundreds more in its effort to take down two top Hamas leaders. 

Getting real: The Democratic National Convention will start its virtual roll call to pick the presidential nominee today. Spoilers, but VP Kamala Harris has it in the bag.

Hotties For Harris: