The Morning News: Activists Target Microsoft Shuttle, Plus Other Stuff

@jseattle Gentrification protestors blocking MS Connectors this AM on Bellevue pic.twitter.com/g3aINd1rF4

— Sean Maguire (@maguiresean) February 10, 2014

Activists Target the Shuttle Microsoft Employees Take to Get to Work: Masked protesters blocked a vehicle this morning and distributed literature that said: "In the past decade, well-paid tech industry employees have flooded Seattle's neighborhoods, driving up the cost of living. The Hill has borne the brunt of these changes; from giant holes filled with rubble rises the bland architecture of conspicuous consumption, surveillance, and uniformity. With the completion of each new development, the rents increase and more of us are forced to leave." Capitol Hill Seattle has the whole letter from protestors, plus more on the police reaction. Update! Local anarchist publication Tides of Flame just published an explanation of today's action with more photos and more anti-Microsoft rhetoric.

Speaking of Local Corporate Tech Giants: George Packer just published a long reported piece in The New Yorker about Amazon. "Amazon is a global superstore, like Walmart. It’s also a hardware manufacturer, like Apple, and a utility, like Con Edison, and a video distributor, like Netflix, and a book publisher, like Random House, and a production studio, like Paramount," he writes. "Amazon’s identity and goals are never clear and always fluid, which makes the company destabilizing and intimidating."

NFL Prospect Comes Out as Gay on Cover of New York Times: Dan Savage on the reaction from NFL execs and right-wing dopes.

Evil, Revolting Russians Who Kidnap and Torture Gays Caught on Video: "Channel 4 literally got inside an anti-gay Russian vigilante group, and filmed them planning and executing a kidnapping of a gay youth in St. Petersburg, Russia."

When Going to the Gorge to See a Show Leads to Going to the Hospital: "Gorge concertgoers seeking medical help have cost the Quincy Valley Medical Center more than $500,000 in 2013. The hospital is seeking financial help from Gorge operator Live Nation, but hospital officials say the company has not been responsive."

Suicide Bomb Instructor Accidentally Kills a Bunch of Would-Be Suicide Bombers: 22 "Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad" are dead today.

Speaking of Lunatics: "The Republican Party establishment, chastened by the realization that a string of unpredictable and unseasoned candidates cost them seats in Congress two elections in a row, is trying to head off potential political hazards wherever it can this year."

Snow's Out, Rain's Back: "This week should be typical for February with high temperatures in the 40s and a series of fronts bringing rain."