*Yawns* And we're back: Morning, hope your long weekend was relaxing, and welcome back to the grind. Watch the roads this morning. The National Weather Service put out a coastal flood advisory for Seattle and all the areas surrounding Puget Sound. But it's only from 4 am until 8 am during high tide, so by the time you're reading this most of the water has likely receded. In other weather-related news, expect some isolated showers today, but then partly sunny with a high of 50 degrees. 

Seattle Police Department prefers to question kids without attorneys: Seattle's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report on how the Seattle Police Department (SPD) has failed to follow a new law requiring officers to provide children with lawyers before questioning them after arrest. In 50 cases where SPD arrested and questioned kids between 2021 and 2022, cops provided the child with an attorney only twice, as the Seattle Times highlighted. I recently wrote about cops trying to bully a 13-year-old kid into confessing to a burglary, despite the kid not matching the description of the person seen committing the crime. Read the full OIG report here. I imagine the OIG wanted everybody to read it, so that's why they released it the Friday before Christmas.

Attacks on Gaza continue through Christmas Day: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 241 people in the past 24 hours, hitting 100 targets in southern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. The total death toll in Gaza since October 7 is nearing 21,000. In the West Bank, Christmas Day started with raids on a refugee camp and other towns, including Bethlehem. As Hannah wrote about on Friday, pro-Palestine marchers made a point of reminding holiday consumers last week that "while you're shopping, bombs are dropping." 

University of Washington ordered to pay $16 million for racist police department: On Thursday, a King County jury found in favor of five Black university police officers who sued the department over years of "racist comments and discrimination" by their white colleagues, according to the Seattle Times. UW's white cops apparently drove out the department's first Black police chief, "openly complaining that he was hiring too many Black officers."

Man killed in U-District shooting: Seattle police arrested a man after a shooting in an apartment building near UW left one man dead. The shooting happened Christmas Day, according to KING 5. 

Russian opposition leader writes letter from Arctic prison colony: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny calls himself "your new Santa" in a series of statements he released Tuesday after the Russian government sent him to a prison in Kharp, Russia, according to the Associated Press. The article calls Navalny's statement "sardonic" but it also seems a little flirty, like toward the end he says, "I'm a special-regime Santa Claus, so only those who have behaved badly get presents," with a winky face. Like, goddamn, don't threaten Vladimir Putin with a good time, Navalny.

US airstrikes in Iraq: In response to an attack on US troops, leaving three injured with one in critical condition, the US military struck three locations in Iraq, claiming them to be Kataib Hezbollah facilities, according to CNN. Kataib Hezbollah is a Shia militant group. The Iraqi government said the US airstrikes killed one and injured 18 others, including civilians, though US Central Command denied this.

All I want for Christmas is some mother-f*cking peace: I know we're done with Christmas music as of yesterday, but Flyana Boss managed to make a year-round yuletide banger with "Jingle Dem Bells." Enjoy.