On Other Blogs Today: Pot, Peter Steinbrueck, Amazon's "Chick Magnet," and More
1. Four people have been shot, one fatally, at Seattle Pacific University. The SPD has the suspect in custody.
KIRO 7 has live coverage of the story.
3. File this one under Jolt: KING 5 reports that a Washington state company plans to market a Frankenstein's monster of a stimulant: Pot-laced coffee, which the founder of the company, Mirth Provisions, says will give the consumer "more of a head high, more energizing" than other pot edibles.
Each serving will contain 20 mg of THC. Just keep it away from Maureen Dowd; apparently, she doesn't know how to follow instructions.
4. Seattlish has what has to be the definitive piece on the sorry saga behind the Great Hempfest Doritos Incident, in which one media relations officer, Jeff Kappel, filed a hostile work environment complaint against media relations chief Sean Whitcomb and a civilian employee, Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, apparently because Kappel objected to their efforts to spread the word about the legalization of recreational pot via stickers on Doritos bags during Hempfest. (Full disclosure: Jonah and I were longtime colleagues.) Whitcomb was temporarily removed from his position.
In the complaint, Kappel alleged that Whitcomb had expressed views that were "attacks on Christians and Homosexuals." However, Seattlish writes, "the investigation found that while testimony “paint[s] a picture of spirited political conversation as a matter of course,” that “no parties have witnessed negative name calling” and “this conversation [about handing out the Doritos] does not appear to be unwelcome conduct.”
6. Tech consultant Jeff Reifman reports that while Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gives a lot of money to political causes (including $2.5 million for marriage equality; the $100,000 against an income tax on the rich; and $100,000 in support of charter schools), he rarely bothers to vote—casting ballots in just four out of the last 27 elections, according to King County records.
"Amazon’s PR team is known for rarely responding on the record but I’m guessing it might say –like every other Fortune 100 CEO, Jeff knows that voting’s for the little people," Reifman writes. "Writing checks may be easier for Bezos than Washington State’s vote by mail ballots.
