Sounds about right! This summer, the Washington State Republican Party hired a white nationalist podcaster as a field organizer. According to the Seattle Times, the dude didnā€™t last long, only cashing out a little over $800 before the party gave him the boot for his extremist values, they say. Good for them! Must have been hard to identify the racist with a fancy podcast mic out of all the other racists in their party!Ā 

ICYMI: Will Casey, the dedicated cops and courts reporter he is, spent his evening live-tweeting a comprehensive breakdown of the Hacks & Wonks Seattle Municipal Court Judge Candidate Forum. If youā€™re a Seattle voter and that all sounded like a bunch of jumbled up words, I recommend you skim Willā€™s thread so you donā€™t accidentally vote for someone who thinks jail is a viable solution to crime.

Streateries for life: With the Mayorā€™s civil emergency coming to an end later this month, many temporary pandemic-era laws will lapse, including the Seattle Mandate that adds $2 to your food deliveries, the design review exemptions for affordable housing, some small business protections, etc. But donā€™t worry, Council Member Dan Strauss didnā€™t waste any time announcing that he will save the most important pandemic policy of them all: streateries. You can think of him while youā€™re waiting 45 minutes for an outdoor table at Matador. I know I do. Anyway, sounds great, man. Letā€™s get on design review shit too, though.Ā 

STRIKE: UW librarians will strike today, unable to come to a fair contract with the University after over a year of negotiations. You can catch the main rally at Suzzallo Library (thatā€™s the one in all the UW promo pics) at noon. From there, the librarians will march to Gerberding Hall and deliver the strike petition to the University president, according to The Daily UW.Ā 

PROTEST: Today at 3 pm, Iranian-Americans and supporters will gather outside of Meta Seattle to protest the companyā€™s censorship of content related to the Iranian protest movement on Facebook and Instagram. Here's the details.

Well, shit: For a moment, Seattle was a sports town. Like, a sports town with teams that win. The Ms left some of yā€™all pretty disappointed this week, and the Seattle Kraken did not make up for it on the ice last night. The Kraken blew its two-point lead, handing a victory to the Anaheim Ducks in overtime. Damn.Ā 

Mariners' bar: I know weā€™re all excited about that time people put shoes on their head at the Marinerā€™s game, but is anyone excited about the Mariners' new Hatback Sports Bar and Grille? This Seattle Refined post invited me to ā€œsee the vibeā€ of the place, and I really donā€™t like being a hater, but I must hate. The bar looks like a cross between a Red Robin and the Starbucks Reserve. On the RARE occasion I watch a game at a bar, I donā€™t want to sit on a shiplap booth seat.Ā 

Okay, sorry: To make up for my hater tendencies, hereā€™s a very sweet Mariners story that has great vibes. Crosscut interviewed the teamā€™s original mascot, Tiger Budbill. Budbill, who made his debut as Mariner Moose in 1990, is now 53 and lives in Bothell. Seems like heā€™s had a full life between the 1990s and now. Heā€™s a singer, DJ, actor, and even a former contestant on The X Factor.

Weather update: Look! The rain is coming! I wonā€™t fuss. Weā€™ve had plenty of summer, and yā€™all get feisty when I talk about enjoying the sun. I get it, 70 degree weather in the middle of October is probably not a great sign for the future of our planet. Iā€™m vegetarian. I compost. I shop second hand. I donā€™t have a car. I rarely fly. Iā€™m doing what I can do for the environment. But, yes, I like the sun. Happy for yā€™all though!

Jan 6: Some Washington dude and his stepson got charged for breaking into the U.S. Capitol and assaulting a cop during the Jan. 6 insurrection. They are among 14 Washington residents charged with crimes related to the riot.Ā 

Personal fascination: Almost 200 people are currently frozen inside a cryogenic freezing lab in Arizona in hopes that one day they can be thawed out and live in the future. Many of the patients opted to freeze themselves after a terminal diagnosis to ā€œpauseā€ their life while doctors worked to find a cure. Thereā€™s actually a Netflix documentary called Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice, which is about two parents who freeze their terminally ill daughter in the Arizona facility for this very reason.Ā 

Darren Aronofsky answers for his sins: While new psychological drama ā€œThe Whaleā€ received an impressively long standing ovation at the London Film Festival, it has also come under fire for spreading fatphobic messages.

The cherry on the sundae, though, is the fact that the movie didnā€™t even use fat people to tell the story. (Why a fat person would want to be in a movie based on a fatphobic stage play, Iā€™m not sure, but a check's a check.) They put some dude in a fat suit in the year of our Lord 2022. Now, director Darren Aronofsky is out defending his choice, claiming that he couldnā€™t find a fat actor who could pull off the emotions in the movie. You know, the emotions associated with being fat. Aronofsky also worried that working with an actually fat actor would be too hard because of anticipated health issues. Canā€™t wait until the Maintenance Phase podcast does an episode on this movie.

Whatā€™s the move: If you want to go out and do something tonight, but you donā€™t wanna go to the same bar you always go to, then check out the latest Stranger Suggests. The arts and culture team (and Rich, who is kind of a switch-hitter) put together a list of things to do every night this week. Check it out!

Because Iā€™m feeling autumnal: