Bloglander

Gag Reflex
• In order to be able to be able to reveal what was said in the executive session the day before Police Chief Frank Straub's controversial firing, the city council voted 4-2 to waive the executive session's confidentiality in December. But now an assistant city attorney has been arguing that the council has no authority to waive the confidentiality of executive session, seemingly contradicting the city's own ethics code. City Council President Ben Stuckart sees that analysis as a threat — keep quiet or suffer the consequences. 

D'Souza D'Nied 
• Dinesh D'Souza, the conservative pundit turned conservative felon, is speaking at Gonzaga University, but Gonzaga is refusing to open the lecture to the public, citing D'Souza's controversial views. The Spokane County GOP, however, has no such limitations. When Whitworth brought Dinesh D'Souza, Whitworth let the public see him. Just sayin'. 

HERE

Sprinkler Laws Hate the Homeless 
• Years after killing the Empyrean, sprinkler laws continue to wreak havoc across the state of Washington. This time, the victims are churches that house the homeless. The quality of mercy is not strain'd, sprinkler laws! But the legislature may be on the case. (Spokesman-Review)

Killing the Golden, uh, Owl
• Killing a golden hawk owl has netted one Colville tribe member a $5,000 fine. (Spokesman-Review)

A Job is a Job
•The good news: Pitney Bowes, an e-commerce company, is looking to add 200 more jobs. The bad news: They're sales jobs at an e-commerce company. 

AWAY 

Tragedy of the Commons 
• Before Saturday, GOP moderates were pretty hopeful. Donald Trump had been dealt a major blow in Iowa, and it looked like an alliance of establishment conservatives was finally coalescing around the charismatic Marco Rubio — the guy consistently leading in head to head matchups against Hillary. Then the debate happened. And Chris Christie launched into a desperate, but effective, attempt to cause traffic problems on the bridge to Rubio's nomination. Rubio played it safe in the worst way, repeatedly repeating his talking points, word for word, right after being criticized for doing exactly that. The prospect of Rubio's electability, his best asset, had been tarnished. 

Today, the Republican establishment woke up to their worst case scenario. Trump, victorious. Kasich, who will never gain traction with conservatives, in second, and a massive 11-percent-tie pileup with Bush, Rubio, and Cruz. And then here comes Christie, at a paltry 7 percent. Bernie Sanders did quite well, though. 

This is the world of New Hampshire, folks. Socialist or crude reality show host — take your pick. 

College Debt
• It's not all good news for socialists, however. The University of California at Berkeley is facing major budget problems.

Once More Into the Breach 
• More U.S. troops are heading to Afghanistan.

Hazy Memories
• A new study suggests that longtime middle aged pot users have poor... uh... what's the uh.... word? Verbal memories.