Weather: Good morning, Seattle! By the time you read this, the major showers should be just about wrapped up. For the rest of the day, I’d recommend wearing a hood just in case, but it should stay relatively dry with temperatures in the low 50s and cloudy skies. For the hour-by-hour breakdown, click here or check whatever weather website you have pledged allegiance to.

RIP BLMG: Yesterday morning, Seattle Parks and Recreation stomped into Cal Anderson Park and ripped out the community-stewarded Black Lives Memorial Garden, which served as one of the last enduring monuments to the historic 2020 protests, particularly CHOP/CHAZ. The street mural is all that remains. I’ll have more details for you later, so make sure you check the blog again, but for now, I’ll just say the City sorta came for blood in their press release yesterday by minimizing the garden and including pointed quotes that accuse the gardeners of co-opting the movement against police brutality. Here’s a taste:

Babe, wake up. New orca just dropped: Earlier this week, researchers spotted a new baby orca in the J pod. Everyone should throw a fucking party because it's a miracle when orcas reproduce considering how hostile manmade climate change has made their homes in the ocean. It doesn’t look like scientists have named the new whale, according to the Seattle Times — any suggestions?

Pics or it didn’t happen: Look at that lil baby. 

Republicans call BS: The Colorado Republican Party appealed the state supreme court's decision to boot former president Donald Trump from the primary ballot. This will bring the debate of the 14th amendment, which bans those who engage in insurrection from running for office, to the highest court in the land. Really sounds like that would apply to Trump, but I’m not a lawyer! 

It’s giving “War of Northern Aggression”: GOP nomination hopeful Nikki Haley may have fucked up with the all-important “cares about slavery” demographic of the Republican Party when, in a town hall yesterday, she failed to name slavery as a reason for the Civil War. When asked why the North and the South fought, she said, “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how the government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.” The voter said, “In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you’d answer that question without mentioning the word slavery.”And then, sassy, sassy Haley asked the voter, “What do you want me to say about slavery?” Girl, even Genocide Joe clapped back on Twitter. 

Aftermath: It's unclear if this bad answer will hurt Haley’s chances at the presidency or if she even had a shot to take down Trump in the first place. This morning, Politico reported that Haley tried to do damage control on the radio, saying, "Well, two things on this track. I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that, that’s the easy part of it. What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That’s what that was all about. It was about individual freedom. It was about economic freedom. It was about individual rights. Our goal is to make sure, no, we never go back to the stain of slavery.” She also said the unnamed voter who asked the question was a "plant" from the Democrats. I don't really know why that would matter. Like, you can't answer a Democrat's question? You get so triggered by the presence of someone from the other party that you forget all about slavery? Get a fucking grip, Nikki. 

Ceasefire now: After killing more than 20,000 Palestinians since October 7, Israel's genocidal campaign against Gaza continues. Last night, Israel bombed cities and refugee camps, killing dozens more Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the AP wrote.

Free my girl: Happy Gypsy Rose Blanchard release day to those who celebrate. Blanchard, who has spent eight years in prison for successfully conspiring with her boyfriend to kill her horribly abusive mom, left prison today. Blanchard’s mom tricked her daughter into believing she had multiple illnesses, making Blanchard a victim of a gnarly case of what experts call “Munchausen by proxy.” Still, in a recent, exclusive interview with People, Blanchard said she regrets asking her boyfriend to kill her mom. It must have been a traumatizing experience to plot your mother's death and then go to jail, but girl, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. Seriously. May Blanchard find peace in her new life as a free woman.

Kraken: The Kraken beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 last night. Good for them!

New Year’s Eve babyyyyy: Still don’t have NYE plans? You’re in luck. Here’s a whole list of fun shit to do, provided by our calendar EverOut. I took their recommendation and decided to go to Neumos, but my friend accidentally bought tickets for the wrong night. So, if you’re looking to spend New Year's Eve eve at Neumos, hit me up and take these off my hands. For real. I can’t waste $17 that I could spend on getting wasted on the last night of the year!

Music: I usually ask a friend what song to put at the end of Slog AM since I don’t have much range when it comes to music taste. Last night, my friend suggested I add some Steely Dan. I said, “What Steely Dan song?” And he said “Only A Fool Would Ask That,” which sounded super rude until I realized that’s a play on a song title not an insult to my lack of Steely Dan knowledge. LOL. Enjoy.