This nurse has had it up to here with anti-vaxxers ruining everything
This nurse has had it up to here with anti-vaxxers ruining everything Drazen Zigic / Getty Images
Are you re-masking? I hate it, I absolutely hate it, but I’m doing it. Ugh. King County officials say we should wear masks again when indoors, whether vaccinated or not, after cases doubled over the last three weeks. Dr. Fauci says the US is headed in the “wrong direction” on new cases. Nationwide, less than half of the US population has been vaccinated. Just anecdotally, I saw a lot more people wearing masks at the grocery store than usual this weekend, so ... that's nice, thank you everyone, but geez I sure am sick of these things and we haven't even gotten all the way through wildfire season yet. (And oh, about that: Unhealthy air from fires in eastern Washington is drifting closer to Puget Sound. Get your home air filters ready.)

London is underwater. This weekend’s climate catastrophe was in London, where heavy rains filled roads and subway stations. Just as a reminder — when Seattle floods, which it certainly will at some point in the future, never ever ever ever walk or drive through flood water. If it doesn’t wash you away, it is almost certainly full of substances too disgusting to even contemplate.

Eight shot, three dead in various shootings across the city this weekend. All of the shootings appear unrelated; or maybe it would be more accurate to say that the only thing they have in common is that they stem from this country’s deranged worship of gun culture. The first shooting was on First Ave at 1:48 am Sunday morning, the second was at 2:32 am in Pioneer Square, and the third was at 4:40 am in Cal Anderson Park. There were 900 separate shootings across the country in just the last week, claiming 430 lives.

If only snake oil were an effective treatment. The NY Times ran a fascinating profile on who they say is one of the people spreading dubious health claims about COVID while also making a ton of money off of the gullible saps who believe him. Dr. Joseph Mercola looks at first like a credible medical professional, but he basically invents weird claims. In one instance, he told people that mattresses with springs amplify harmful radiation, and then he sold people miracle alternative cures.

Here comes more hot weather. This week's going to get up into the 80s, which is not miserably hot, but it's also not the weather I was promised when I moved here. I miss the PNW rainforest that's apparently been replaced by the PNW desert. As a reminder, Stranger readers determined that Seattle voters, who rejected sustainable transportation funding, are to blame for local heat waves.

A cigarette company wants to ban cigarettes. Just not here. A Philip Morris executive is calling on the government to ban cigarettes 
 in the UK. In the United States, Philip Morris is an entirely separate company, and there’s no sign that they plan to stop killing people.

How dare Kevin Smith violate the sanctity of these 30-year-old toy commercials? The reaction to the new He-Man series on Netflix appears to be that it is good, actually, unless you are the kind of person who thinks that adding more women characters to a franchise that you remember from your youth will destroy your childhood. If that is the kind of person you are, well, good, your childhood deserves to be destroyed.

So long, Jackie Mason. The last of the great borscht belt comics, “I think of the Talmud and build the joke from there.”

Do we really believe pot farms are to blame for drought? Cops are claiming that illegal pot farms are responsible for sucking lakes and rivers dry across the west, but honestly I’m not sure I buy it. For sure, water theft is a big issue, and illegal farms are an issue, too. But law enforcement seems awfully eager to conflate the two without providing any evidence that grow ops are having a significant impact on water levels. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says illegal marijuana farms have stolen 1.2 billion gallons of water in the last two years. Meanwhile, golf courses use 2.08 billion gallons of water a day.

Gonzo is a nonbinary icon. A new episode of Muppet Babies shows Gonzo wanting to dress as a princess for a party, and after some consternation from his friends they are all loving and accepting. It’s nice.

But what are the seal’s thoughts on private property ownership? The elephant seal that’s been hanging out on private beaches around West Seattle has been named “Ruckus” and he seems to be in fine condition. If you spot him, you’re asked to call the new Marine Mammal Hospital in Des Moines so they can keep tabs on him. Also, sidenote, it’s legally murky if private beach owners can actually prevent you from walking across their sand, but we can litigate that outrage after we’re done admiring these very handsome photos.

Sharks! Not every oceanic creature is having a pleasant time on local beaches; a shark washed up on Bainbridge last week. Cause of death: Humans, of course. It was killed after eating fishing equipment.

Netflix wants to be Netflix for games. The company plans to add games to its offerings sometime in 2022, which is 
 huh. This is already a pretty crowded marketplace, with Steam and Itch.io and GOG and a ton of other game services already well-established. But then again, they’re well-established with gamers. If Netflix can make it as easy to play a game as they’ve made it to watch Beastars, well, okay, I can see that working.

Mary Tyler Moore: Good. This isn’t exactly breaking news, but The Mary Tyler Moore Show is really really good, which is why I was so excited to hear that Lena Waithe is producing a documentary about the show. It’ll be out in 2022. In the meantime, please watch this, one of the funniest moments ever broadcast on television.