Obligatory snow update: Earlier birds caught the return of snowfall in some parts of Seattle this morning at around 5:30 am. According to Weather.com and a bunch of beloved weather nerds on Twitter, the snow should peter out by about 10 am, or maybe even earlier. I donā€™t know, look out a window, god dammit. It looks pretty clear from my place.

Hereā€™s a visual:

For the girlies who drive: The Weather People expect a short-lived snowfall this morning, but more importantly they expect slippery roads. Since temperatures dipped below freezing, the leftover snow on the roads froze. Nick Allard of KIRO 7 hopped on Twitter (and probably the TV, because thatā€™s his job) and said that people are spinning out on the road.

Personally, I donā€™t want to hear any discourse about how Seattleites canā€™t drive in the snow. We donā€™t need to make it an ego thingā€“that's how you get dorks in Priuses trying to prove a point. I will only accept discourse about unmanaged road conditions, or the nuclear take that our City has failed to build public transit that connects every corner of town, particularly via underground rail that can operate through the sucky conditions, and so it has failed to eradicate cars.Ā Whatever. Stay home when possible today.Ā 

On the bright side: Ski season! According to KOMO, thereā€™s enough snow now. Stevens Pass and Summit at Snoqualmie are both expected to open tomorrow.Ā 

sOcIaLiSm: The Washington Supreme Court said ā€œfuck the hatersā€ when it decided yesterday to allow the state to go ahead and start collecting the new capital gains tax, even though in two months judges will hear a challenge from some right-wingers who think it amounts to an unconstitutional income tax. A weird hill to die on considering it only affects 7,000 Washingtonians and raises $440 million a year, mostly for child care and early education.Ā 

Good year for Northwest Abortion Access Fund: After the Supreme Court's vile ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, Northwest Abortion Access Fund (NWAAF) saw a surge in donations to fund abortion care for people who need assistance. NWAAF tweeted last night that it has helped pay for more than 1,000 abortions for people from 38 states. But those will be rookie numbers when the City hands the nonprofit the $1.25 million that Council Member Tammy Morales won for abortion access in the City budget.

Barber shooting: Cops are on the lookout for the suspect who shot and killed a barber in Puyallup while he was giving an 8-year-old kid a haircut yesterday in the early evening.Ā 

Portland anti-camping saga continues: Yesterday, the Portland City Council approved a measure that will ban sleeping outside and allocate $27 million to build six designated campsites to serve up to 150 people with 24 hour management. The camps will not allow walk-ins, so unhoused people will have to be referred by an outreach worker. If unhoused people refuse, they'll get cited.Ā 

Iā€™ll go out on a limb: Thatā€™s a terrible fucking idea. First of all, you can't offer shelter as a threat, especially when that shelter fills up because the City doesn't have enough affordable housing to actually reduce homelessness. Second, if Portlandā€™s shelter referral system is anything like Seattleā€™s, then itā€™s going to be impossible to get in. And third, 24-hour management does not work for everyone. This is far from a solution. As one council member said, the City is ā€œputting money into internment camps under the guise of support for our most marginalized community members.ā€ Fuck this shit. Decomodify housing, you lazy fucking liberals.Ā 

Cops take it back: Since the quadruple homicide of four University of Idaho students, the cops have been characterizing the attacks as ā€œtargetedā€:

We've told the public very clearly from the beginning that we believe it was a targeted attack, A Moscow Police Captain told the public last month.Ā  To be honest, you're going to have to trust us on that at this point, because we're not going to release why we think that.

Turns out, they are full of shit. Last night, when Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson repeated the cops messaging, Moscow Police Department backpedaled, saying investigators donā€™t actually know.Ā 

Lava alert: Over on Hawaiiā€™s big island, lava from the Mauna Loa eruption has crept closer to a crucial roadway. As of 6 am, officials said the lava is less than 4 miles away from the road. Officials plan to give residents a six-hour notice before shutting down the route, CNN reports.Ā 

Protesters stay winning: After a week of historic protests, the Chinese government will soften its COVID-19 quarantine protocols, though officials havenā€™t acknowledged the civil disobedience while announcing the huge change. The changes include easing up on mass testing and allowing positive cases to isolate at home under some conditions.Ā 

Presidential playdate: President Joe Biden will meet with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House today. Even though France and the US go wayyy back, Politico said that Biden needs to repair the relationship because France is frustrated with Russiaā€™s war in Ukraine and how it has affected Europeā€™s economic relationship with the US.

Speaking of Biden: If you can even keep up with all the headache surrounding the Presidentā€™s plan to forgive student debt, hereā€™s the latest update from Reuters. Yesterday, a federal Court of Appeals rained on the borrower parade once again by declining to ā€œput on holdā€ on a previous ruling that said the President's plan was unlawful.Ā 

This is the only Chr*stmas song I will put on the blog, I promise:Ā