So, is Twitter dead or nah? The Associated Press reports that Elon Musk's insistence on any remaining Twitter employees embracing an "extremely hardcore" work environment drove many to take the Chief Twit's offer of three months of severance pay. If the World Cup's quadrennial flood of shitposts breaks the platform over the weekend, then you'll just have to go back to reading the news on actual websites, where your clicks can help local journalism survive. What a shame. Or you can keep mooching our free news blurbs off of Instagram. Up to you! 

Pour one out for the tech bros: The Seattle Times reports that last month's state-level jobs report showed that 5,900 people in Washington's information sector lost their jobs. Because the report was based on a mid-month survey in October, it's likely that even more tech siblings are on the job hunt as the industry's leading monopolies firms reduce staff after a pandemic-driven hiring binge. On the bright side, smaller tech companies might finally be able to hire quality talent!

Fashionable Americans, it's time to care about soccer again: The World Cup is back starting on Sunday, and EverOut has a helpful list of all the places you can congregate to watch sports at increasingly unreasonable hours of the day. 

Oops: The King County Regional Homelessness Authority messed up its budget request to the City of Seattle this past summer when it failed to account for $9.4 million in expiring one-time federal funds, the Seattle Times reports. But don't worry, the Seattle City Council has scrounged around in the City's couch cushions to find enough money to keep the "core services" that depend on replacing that federal money in operation. Love the professionalism from the folks charged with solving a homelessness crisis that's been going on for more than seven years!

Brrrr: Time to break out those woolen socks and winter coats! 

Holy hell, the housing crisis has gotten insane: According to a new report from the real estate company Redfin, you better be bringing home fat stacks if you want to afford even a median-priced home in Seattle. They estimate the necessary income to afford a house at $204,000 per year, which is up from $141,000 last year. Time to finally nut up and go big on housing policy this year, Democrats in Olympia.

Democrats losing the House is ... good? New York Times reporter Blake Hounshell is out here trying to cast the GOP takeover of the House as a blessing in disguise for the Dems, since the Republican list of priorities for what to do with their subpoena power will make them look like FoxNews-pilled lunatics to the average voter. I mean, sure. That's probably true. But it'd sure be nice if the national media cared more about whether people actually get the help they need from the feds rather than immediately pivoting to the next horse race.

Turns out, election denial isn't a winning message: According to NBC News, nearly every candidate in swing states who ran on some version of election denialism lost their race. Before you get too excited, the Democrats who prevailed over these nincompoops warn that a single trouncing isn't likely enough to end the election denial movement. With their cult leader running for president in 2024, the MAGA dorks will likely stay on their bullshit for at least another election cycle. Fun times!

But maybe, just maybe, that's starting to backfire: The chair of Washington's Republican party is doing his level best to push back against widespread right-wing election conspiracies, but a disproportionately large drop in turnout in ruby red Eastern Washington could be a sign that Republican voters are more likely to trust Trump and his election-denying ilk.

Uvalde update: The acting police chief during the school shooting has now resigned. He was reportedly facing termination in a special meeting of city government tomorrow, so nice job taking proactive action for once!

Speaking of Texas: I legitimately don't know how any parent in the Lone Star state gets through the day after reading this headline from CBSNews: "Texas laws allow teachers to carry guns on school grounds with little regulation." I'm sure this will only end in kids being safer, and will certainly not create a subsequent headline involving a tragic loss of life when one of the "good guys" with a gun realizes their adrenaline makes them a horrible shot in a room full of nine-year-olds.

Happy holidays to the 40% of you who aren't living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent report. The rest of us send our regards. And if capitalism keeps fucking over increasingly large majorities of the country, we'll eventually send our pitchforks and torches as well. 

Swifties, we have a problem: Paying $28,000 for resale concert tickets is insane, I don't care who the act is or whether the ticket comes with a complimentary lifetime supply of puppies and rainbows. But after I joked about it on Wednesday, people really do seem to be taking this moment to think critically about the costs of handing our entire economy over to monopolistic overlords with no concern for our opportunities to experience joy, so maybe this is worth it?

I'll leave you with this ode to the source of human joy that resists all efforts at commodification.