Seattle’s higher minimum wage: Boon or Bust? Depends on whose research study you read, and how they set up their criteria. MISCmedia MAIL today also covers a possible state budget breakthrough; reactions to the partial, provisional travel-ban reinstatement; and pictures of the hard-working, often world-weary people harvesting our state’s farm bounty.

The big-big-big Pride Parade couldn’t be stopped by heat, but was briefly paused by an unofficial “entrant,” a Charleena Lyles remembrance. In other MISCmedia MAIL subjects: Another needless shooting death, this time in the suburbs; the days still tick down toward a state-budget crisis; and 70 years since the first “flying saucer” sighting, right here in Wash. State.

The Pride Parade and rally have a different mission this year, as you probably expect. Your big weekend MISCmedia MAIL briefly mentions this, and also touches on still more Charleena Lyles fallout; local reactions to the deliberate disaster that is the health-care repeal plan; the men from our state who helped the CIA craft its torture techniques; and who a Seattle mini-park near a “dump” should be named after (one guess).

With summer finally, officially, among us, the hot-hot-hotness is due to arrive. And MISCmedia MAIL discusses more fallout from the Charleena Lyles shooting; the anniversary of the first foreign attack on the US mainland in WWII (in our state); still no progress in the state-budget stalemate; and what it means to be “Seattle-ready.”

Multiple vigils and marches called for justice for Charleena Lyles. Also in MISCmedia MAIL: a labor victory for strippers (that could set a precedent for other “independent contractors”); Teatro ZinZanni redux; another ICE-jail hunger strike; and the long, drawn-out demise of a great local product.

MISCmedia MAIL’s not the first to note that the police slaying of Charleena Lyles came the day after the dedication of Jimi Hendrix Park. In other topics: some Wall Streeters think Amazon/Whole Foods means trouble for Costco; little to no progress toward a state budget; and the sudden revival of Tonya Harding media mania.

Another week, another police shooting of an innocent African-American. This time, it was a pregnant mother shot in her home, in front of the children. And somebody thought a “mammy” mascot costume would be perfect for the Solstice Parade. In less horrific news, Amazon dives deep into “brick and mortar” retail; electric conservation leads to higher rates; and a Pioneer Square rebuild gets stalled.

The Fremont Solstice Parade, even more than last year, was essentially an anticlimactic epilogue to the hundreds of body-paint bicyclists.

Even the arrival this year of “The Resistance,” a single overriding topic of protest in all its branches and aspects and sub-topics, as the right wing sleaze machine takes near complete control and rushes out an all-fronts attack against literally every good thing in our society (from government aid programs to social civility itself), failed to bring out more volunteer street-theater performers, marchers, musicians, etc.

Last year, there was talk that parade organizers would crack down on the nudes in hopes of attracting more participants in the parade itself, participants who might not want to be part of the same spectacle as all the poons and peens on public pubic display.

That didn’t happen. But the underlying issue remains.

The parade could fade out and die along with the original hippie generation out from which its aesthetic was formed.

•

Oh, and the parade got “trolled” by an entrant who showed up with a seven-foot costume puppet of a stereotype black “mammy” figure in a rasta hat.

According to some social-media commenters, the (apparently white) guy who performed in the costume was asked to leave the parade’s Friday-evening prep session. He then crashed the Saturday-afternoon event after it had already started, before again being shooed away.

Still, the Solstice Parade’s organizers have managed for almost three decades to keep motor vehicles, corporations, politicians, and even written signs out of the spectacle. But this thing looked just enough like a regular Solstice giant mascot costume that the guy got to strut it down a large segment of the parade route.

(After all, hippie graphic aesthetics used to include plenty of one-dimensional “ethnic characterizations.”)

•

Also troublesome for the parade’s future, it can’t store its floats and costumes in a city-owned warehouse space any more. (Slog) (PI.com)

Friday’s MISCmedia MAIL ponders the Fremont Solstice Parade’s meaning in a year when just about every public act has political import. Also: a beloved fabric-arts store closes; the co-owner of Seattle’s coolest hardware store dies; alt-right dorks come to Evergreen; and a strange floating mega-balloon appears on the Tacoma waterfront.

Is Ed Murray’s legal peril over, or just on hiatus? MISCmedia MAIL also discusses the real (and predictable) spark behind the Evergreen State turmoil; more hollowing-out at Boeing; alleged coded racism in a newspaper column; and a big “Tax the Rich” turnout.

The Mariners’ stadium’s getting a new name. We can’t choose it, but we can sure think up fun suggestions. Other topics at MISCmedia MAIL today: an exhibit on third-world women’s progress; racial disparities in health care; widely differing views on the homeless-voucher plan; and a key downtown building’s finally getting redone.

Tuesday’s MISCmedia MAIL reveals the latest Seattle fashion icon (and, frankly, we haven’t had many), and it may be a surprise to a lot of you. Plus: The Space Needle’s extreme makeover; the first official steps toward a city income tax; the state budget crisis getting ever-closer to breakdown; and locals remembering the Pulse shootings.

MISCmedia MAIL remembers the great Adam West, the local guy who became an icon of ’60s “camp” culture by playing it completely “straight.” We also honor the pro-Muslim counter-demonstrators; tick down the days toward a state-govt. shutdown; and mourn F.X. McRory’s.

The third year of MISCmedia MAIL begins with a few random memories of my time on this earth. It goes on to discuss an historic big painting you’ve got to see; Boeing’s research into pilot-free planes; an Islamophobic rally moved from Portland to Seattle; and the usual zillion event listings.

MISCmedia MAIL today discusses the mayor’s big (albeit still tentative) arena deal; attempts to reach common ground with local Muslims and/or Republicans; non-techbro reasons for the housing crisis; and the Mariners’ comeback all the way to .500! But these are all minor stories compared to the big event of the day, our own spectacular b-day party for both the newsletter and for myself, 6:30 p.m. tonight at the tenacious Two Bells in bountiful Belltown.