According to The Seattle Times a food bank in South Seattle, planned to provide storage and services for local farmers and hunger relief groups, has been canceled due to funding uncertainty at the federal level. The project, known as South Seattle Food Hub, has been funded by a $4 million reimbursement grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was expected to open in fall 2026. The cancellation comes as food aid groups brace for a potential spike in demand, highlighting the ongoing need for more storage facilities to address food insecurity in the region.

About the food hub

A battle over a discarded-lithium-battery repository is roiling residents in NW Nevada, we've learned from a correspondent. The repository is located near residential neighborhoods surrounding the small town of Fallon.

Reports indicate that the process of approval has neared its final stages. This moved us to examine where these batteries originate. We asked Perplexity.ai to search the web for answers with the query "What american companies' products generate large volumes of waste lithium batteries? If possible list the top 10."

Results suggest that recycling may in the long term be a better solution, leading to the conclusion that requiring interim storage by manufacturers might create a greater impetus for them to solve the problem without permanently contaminating anyone's back yard. Of course this would go against the common tendency of industry to externalize negative effects (dump the problem on the public; can you say Love Canal?) would lead to reduced profits for device makers and would be strongly resisted, which in the current political environment could bode ill for the natural environment.

Perplexity replied, with a bit of additional background:



Noting the presence of Tesla in the list of manufacturers, it seems unlikely that any role for the federal government in environmental protection for the affected area will be a factor, for reasons that will be clear to anyone currently drawing breath. —Ed.

Bite-sized chunks of salmon slathered in a balsamic butter sauce... need we say more?!

Ingredients
- 1 pound center-cut salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, divided
- 1/8 teaspoon salt plus 1/4 teaspoon, divided
- 5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- Chopped fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Position oven rack 4 inches from heat source; preheat broiler. Toss salmon pieces with butter, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Arrange the salmon pieces in an even layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Broil until lightly browned, 6 to 7 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, whisk vinegar, mustard, brown sugar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon each pepper and salt together in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, stirring occasionally, until a thick glaze forms, 6 to 7 minutes.

3. Brush the glaze evenly over the salmon bites. Broil for 2 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter; garnish with basil, if desired.

Leftovers (unlikely): Add to tomorrows salad, along with mixed microgreens. Omit the iceberg lettuce.

Credit: After some "influencer" on the 'net.

The increasingly incoherent ramblings of the "Get off my lawn!" candidate — are our current manifestation of "The Emperor's New Clothes" by H.C. Andersen. My guess is that virtually all of the US population has heard or read the story. How can it be that so many did not grasp the moral?

Someone has to come forward and speak the truth. It cannot be a political opponent; it must, as in the fable, be someone pure, innocent and without purpose or guile.

Brothers and sisters, if you need an excuse, vote for VP Harris and Gov. Walz as mere caretakers and earn another choice in 2028, proposed by an embarrassed but reawakened and honest (R) Party. The clearly unprepared JD Vance is not qualified to step into the presidency, and the likelihood of Tr*mp making it to 83 having resumed speaking in complete sentences are not great.

(Image: Former president D. Tr*mp, indicating to rally participants where to look at the Sun during an upcoming eclipse. Courtesy Smoldering Stump Gazette and Creative Commons.)

​Vice-president J.D. Vance told a whopper regarding alleged Social Security fraud, according to an article in the Washington Post.

Vance claimed that 40% of calls to Social Security (SS) are fraudulent, but the Social Security Administration stated that only 40% of direct deposit fraud is associated with calls to change bank information.

The administration is targeting Social Security, a beloved program, due to its significant portion of the federal budget. While the administration claims fraud is a concern, the actual percentage of fraudulent calls is minuscule compared to the total number of calls and benefits paid.

The actual numbers: SS receives about 80 million calls per year. Forty percent would be about 32,000,000 calls, which Vance claimed are fraudulent (actually echoing an earlier statement by Elon Musk).

About 18,000 of those calls are regarding changes to deposit routing, mainly about changes to recipients' bank accounts. Of those, 40% (around 7,000) were found to be attempted fraud, many of which resulted in no loss of money. Seven thousand is in fact 0.9% of all calls, or less than one fortieth of the number claimed by Vance.

Overall, SS estimates its losses to fraud at 0.0025 percent, or about the relative amount Americans toss into that jar of coins in the bedroom.

The article goes on to point out that the error originated with a careless estimate by one of Musk's young DOGE partisans, who, while no doubt very good at coding, is not so good at placing decimal points.

The Post gave Vance's claim Four Pinnochios (of 5) on its truth scale.

Read the original at Washington Post

A review of published sources indicates that attendance at Saturday's "Hands-off" rally at Seattle Center attracted a much larger crowd than had been expected.

According to one report compiled using an AI search, ​attendance estimates ranged from 18,000 to 25,000 participants. Seattle Center officials estimated a minimum of 18,000 attendees, while organizers' crowd counters estimated 25,000 people.

This event was part of a nationwide series of protests against the Trump administration's policies, with over 1,100 rallies held across all 50 states. ​

YouTube outtakes

Thousands of protesters in over 1,200 locations across the US rallied against Trump and Musk, criticizing their actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration, and human rights.

More photos

Last word on the subject of the week: If you're voting to put the fox in charge of the chicken coop, and if you're doing this to please a relative, spouse or friend who consistently tries to dominate your life, remember that you possess one of the world's greatest powers, the Secret Ballot. No matter what scoundrels trying to undo our civil rights and liberties may tell you, no one will ever know how you voted. This would be a good time to look into your own soul.

Let's suppose for a minute that a newly elected president of the US has been elected and is able to get Congress to
• pass legislation expanding health care, including confirming the principles and major provisions of Roe v Wade, rendering the Supreme Court irrelevant in the matter
• pass a plan for loans (or grants or tax offsets) for first-time home purchase and small business startup
• pass the border reform act that was both introduced by Republicans and then killed by that same party
and
• pass a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College in favor of direct popular vote for president and vide-president and sending it to the states
• letting justice take its course regardless of political considerations in the matter of persons who have conspired or acted against the Constitution or have been convicted of other crimes
• accepting blame and being willing nto change course when policies misfire.

Now let's suppose the other person is elected, whose program would include
• reducing benefits, excluding participants and transferring public funds from Medicare and Social Security, principally to reduce taxes, including creating laws on female health care that are solely pro-natal and assign all medical decisions to unelected, politically appointed bureaucrats with no scientific training
• using police and military power to round up people based on their appearance, accent or name
• separating families based on their ability to provide ad hoc documentation of their nationality notwithstanding that they had been seized without warrant
• deporting those who cannot satisfy politically appointed bureaucrats of their right of residence with consequent loss of property and civil rights
• attempt to manipulate voting rights and procedures to insure continued power of a minority
• pardoning persons based on political considerations of persons who have conspired or acted against the Constitution or have been convicted of other crimes
• blaming every misstep on the actions of others.

Which of those sets of policies is likely to harm you or your family, and how?

Which of those sets of policies is likely to benefit you or your family, and how?

Which set is most consistent with American values?

Which of those platforms are you going to vote for this fall?

Personalities are transient; policies affect generations.

By Edward Muguluma*, via Tom Herriman

Here's a Beautiful story from Edward Muguluma, School Director at Kisa Primary School in Nansana, Uganda:

In Nansana village, is where you find a resilient struggling mother named Sanyu nakasenge aged 53 years old who has been a resident for more than 18 years now. With three little ones Charles Luvumu (7), Divine Naluyombya (13) and Malcom Luzinda (10) all relying on her tender care, life's burdens have often weighed heavy upon her shoulders with no one to help her out as they divorced with the husband due to family mistreatment after the birth of their last born charles. So when hardship knocked relentlessly on her door, she turned to the beacon of hope in her community—Kisa Foundation Uganda.

Embraced by the warmth of the support by Richmond rotary club,Sanyu embarked on a journey of empowerment. Through the unwavering guidance at Kisa Foundation Uganda, she honed her skills in tailoring where she could stitch her dreams into reality with every thread she wove. Four months flew by and Sanyu had emerged not only a skilled seamstress but also a beacon of determination.

With a sewing machine gifted to her, Sanyu has transformed the humble veranda of her rented home into a sanctuary of craftsmanship where she has been living a quite long now.

Amidst the good and bad times with her beautiful children, she had stitched together a future brimming with promise.

Though the weight of school fees for her kids is very heavy on her, Sanyu can at least cater for her children's feeding on a daily through working on her veranda with her sewing machine.

With tearful gratitude, she has on and on whispered her thanks to Richmond rotary club through kisa foundation Uganda, for they had not only dressed her in skills but also adorned her life with a new found hope.
____________
* Edward Muguluma is school director at Kisa Primary School in Nansana, Uganda, a part of the Kampala metropolitan area. Tom Herriman is the former publisher of the Seattle Press and a community organizer.

More about Kisa Foundation

For the past ten years I've been working with a group that is seeking to help small, minority businesses to start farming enterprises. Our emphasis has been on indoor farming and lately on microgreens.

An associate of one of our members had acquired a substantial endowment of equipment for controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and recently moved it to a location on an island in Puget Sound. Much of the food produced was distributed via food banks in the northern part of the Seattle metropolitan area. Our group had previously provided a modest amount of fresh green produce to the distribution effort, and I can attest to the efficacy of their program.

Within a day of the delivery the equipment and before it could become operational it was set afire by person or persons unknown and totally destroyed with a loss of about $250,000. The non-profit was of course devastated.

Because the affected organization is related to a minority community, no one is seriously discounting the probability that the attack was racially or ethnically motivated.

Anyone wishing to know more or to help may find more information here
(https://www.kiro7.com/.../whi.../OTC2UZDOJFGY7KWGHQ46YJZZ5Q/)
plus a GoFundMe here (https://www.gofundme.com/.../support-blackseed-farms)

And if you live in the area and hear the inevitable whispers, the Island County sheriff wants to hear from you. Someone needs to go to jail.

The theme of this years gathering is Accelerating Inclusion.

All are welcome. Join your neighbors at Spruce Elementary 17405 42nd Ave W, Lynnwood from 5:30 to 7:30 PM March 8.

Sponsored by Edmonds Schools, City of Lynnwood, LETI.

Steve Pool was a reporter at Seattle's KOMO TV for about 40 years. He died recently from complications of Alzheimer's Disease after cementing a model legacy for the Northwest.

The video linked below is a tribute from his colleagues. (The source is YouTube, so of course there's an ad at the beginning; you can suppress it after a few seconds of really, really information about dog food, patent medicine, etc. Not our fault.)

View the video

County council member Jeanne Kohl-Welles gave us a heads-up on this story, reported by Seattle Times. (Follow link below to read the whole story.)

"A loose barge drifted through Elliott Bay on Thursday (2 November) afternoon, colliding with the marina near Pier 66 and briefly triggering calls for evacuation in nearby buildings.

The barge has been secured, no injuries have been reported and the evacuation was eventually called off, according to Seattle Fire Department spokesperson David Cuerpo.

The Coast Guard was notified at 1:25 p.m. that the floating platform was drifting from Terminal 18 toward Pier 66 in Elliott Bay.

The wayward barge could have caused more damage if not for quick thinking by Capt. Dan Krehbiel, who was manning the King County Water Taxi from West Seattle to Pier 50. Around 1 p.m., he noticed it floating without any tugboats, apparently heading toward the Great Wheel and the Seattle Aquarium, according to a spokesperson for King County Metro."

Our admiration goes to Capt. Krehbiel.

Original story

In the northwestern United States, lutefisk has risen to a standard of culinary preference matched only by Christmas fruitcake.

Good Recipes for Lutefisk

Note: This section was formerly subtitled Recipes for Good Lutefisk, but readers wrote in to say that was an oxymoron, so we changed it.

We've scoured the globe seeking recipes for lutefisk. To add your recipe for lutefisk, send it here.

Update, February 2004. Still waiting.
Update, April 2005. We've decided to accept Adequate Recipes...
Update, December 2005. This space for rent.

First submission received: The following seems to be the consensus approach to lutefisk.

• Place your lutefisk on the kitchen counter for approximately fifteen minutes.
• Season and cook your lutefisk according to any recipe of your choice.
• Wrap your lutefisk in ordinary newspaper.
• Throw it out!

About World Peace

We lied; if anything is antithetical to peace it is seeking consensus about lutefisk. (Originally published ca. 2002.)