One of my favorite covers from before the pandemic. Remember the print paper? How I miss her!
One of my favorite covers from before the pandemic. Remember the print paper? How I miss her! Elaine Lin

Happy Valentine's Day, fuckers: It's a capitalist holiday blah blah blah invented to sell us shit blah blah blah it's time to decenter romantic love blah blah blah. Look, I get it and I agree with most of the critiques, but can we just, like, chill for a sec? J'adore seeing my friends and acquaintances post the people they love and care for and get freaky with. Let me revel in this positive feeling before it goes away...

What better way to celebrate love than filing for a union election to better the working conditions of your fellow barista? According to a press release, the Starbucks' Seattle Reserve Roastery on Pike Street filed a petition today with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election. The 90-worker store—which the release says is "known to be frequented by Howard Schultz" and is one of six Starbucks flagship locations in the United States—will join more than 80 stores across 24 states that have all joined up with the Starbucks Workers United movement.

And in other local barista news: Starbucks Workers United will hold a solidarity rally outside the Starbucks Global Headquarters tomorrow for the seven Memphis workers the company fired after they started organizing. The rally will kick off at 8 am and feature speeches from Starbucks Workers United, Seattle DSA spokespeople, and Councilmember Kshama Sawant. The momentum, it's percolating!

I draw the line at Public Health-Seattle & King County getting into the V-Day meme game: If I had to see it and cringe, then so do you. Swipe for a vintage J.Lo reference!:

Ye's album promo is going well: The rapper and much-hyped paramour Julia Fox have broken up. Now he's sent his estranged wife Kim Kardashian a truck full of roses with the message, "My vision is Krystal Klear." Perhaps not clear enough!

Sorry this is my last Valentine's Day-related blurb, then I promise to move on: Hat tip to Capitol Hill Seattle Blawg with the Carmen Best dunk. If you missed this weekend's news, new forensic analysis determined that someone "likely" manually set former Mayor Jenny Durkan's phone to auto-delete, and ex-Police Chief Best texts were "periodically deleted."

Mark your calendars: Tomorrow Mayor Bruce Harrell will give his State of the City address at 2 pm on Seattle Channel. According to the press release, Harrell "will give an update on the issues facing the City of Seattle, along with his early priorities and efforts to address them."

Another bummer: King County announced today that after February 28 they will stop accepting new applications to their pandemic rent assistance program as the fund$ are running out, reports Heidi Groover at the Seattle Times. The country has distributed over $200 million in rent aid since 2020, but officials estimate that 7,000-8,000 renters will not receive assistance based on January census data that showed 13% of Seattle-area renters—disproportionately renters of color—are behind on rent.

Microsoft calls the cattle home: The tech giant announced that they will reopen their Redmond and Bay Area offices on February 28 now that everyone is pretending that COVID isn't a problem anymore, CNBC reports. Microsoft said they will embrace "schedule flexibility as standard for most roles."

Shit is popping off north of the border: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a national public order emergency today in response to the trucker blockade protesting COVID restrictions that have raged for weeks in Ottawa, reports the New York Times. The order gives the government power to "do what is necessary, including overriding civil rights, to restore public order" but Trudeau says he will not limit people's free speech. Trudeau has been criticized for not acting sooner and comes after Albertan police said they seized a "large cache of weapons" and arrested 11 people. Meanwhile, a fundraising site assisting the truckers has been potentially hacked.

In New Zealand: Kiwi police apparently blasted a 15-minute loop of Barry Manilow songs to disperse hundreds of people protesting COVID restrictions at the country's parliament building. Those sick freaks!

Judge will dismiss Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times: According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff concluded "that an editorial in the newspaper did not maliciously link the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate to a mass murder." He made that ruling as jurors were still deliberating the case, but says he will make it formal once they have reached their own verdict. Palin is expected to appeal the decision.

God, when will it be our turn? Today, Oregon Psilocybin Services released draft rules for their first-of-a-kind legal magic mushroom treatment program approved by voters in November 2020, reports Oregon Live. Some interesting takeaways: manufacturers can only cultivate the psilocybe cubensis strain of fungi; manufacturers must not use anything that could be marketed to kids like "products in the shape of an animal, vehicle, person or character”; and all products must be created for oral consumption. Honestly, all very thrilling stuff. Washington legislators were considering a similar measure for our state based off of Oregon's program, but those squares couldn't pass it out of committee.

Spring is about to get sprangin': A little treat to look forward to.


Ok, I am going to talk about Valentine's Day one last time: But only to remind you that watching any entry of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy would be a great way to honor love and all that. A conversation can be so sexy. If you need any convincing:

For your listening pleasure: Beach House's "Hurt to Love."