Listen to the Evacuation Orders! Around 78,000 people live in the Skagit River’s flood plain. While the rain has lessened, flood waters are still accumulating. The water level is rising in the river and testing the limits of a series of dikes and levees. The crest of the water should arrive in Mount Vernon this morning, a foot higher than normal. Despite officials issuing evacuation orders, many haven’t left. Not to get all Led Zeppelin about it, but… some of that infrastructure is over 100 years old. The National Weather Service even issued a flash flood watch in the event the levees fail. Get outta there!
Won’t Anyone Think of These 68 Miniature Donkeys? A Mount Vernon woman owns a farm of 68 miniature donkeys. They’re only three-feet tall and would not fare well in a flood. She posted on Facebook asking her community for help getting all 68 donkeys out of harm’s way. It is hard to evacuate with 68 miniature donkeys. The Seattle Times does not currently have an update on if she found a solution and it is, frankly, killing me.
More to Come: The rain has stopped for now, but more is on the way. Another wet storm will hit Washington on Monday.
What’s next for the Pacific Northwest?
Unfortunately, another big rainstorm, fueled by an atmospheric river targeting British Columbia this weekend before it dips toward Washington by Monday. The orientation of the moisture plume will be different, putting new rivers in the crosshairs.
— Anthony Edwards (@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Stay Away from Snoqualmie Falls: All that rain water has made Snoqualmie Falls a roaring, thundering, spectacle. But the Snoqualmie Tribe wants people to stay away until it calms down.
An Omen? You best start believing in ghost stories, Washington State Ferries. You’re in one. An unlit “ghost boat” drifted through the Washington State Ferries’ Mukilteo docking as a ferry was coming in. Nobody was hurt by the wayward vessel.
Indiana Breaks with Trump: Republican state senators in Indiana broke with their party and voted down a new, redrawn congressional map that would win them more seats in the US House of Representatives. The 19 to 31 was a shocking rebuke of Donald Trump and his priorities. In recent weeks, Trump had put serious pressure (blasting them on social media) on these state senators to vote the way he wanted them to. While Trump failed here, the fact that the Indiana Senate even held a vote at all is evidence of the power Trump still holds. Many senators didn’t want to discuss it since the redistricting came “outside the usual once-a-decade redistricting cycle,” according to the New York Times.
Undetainable: A federal judge has ruled that immigration officials cannot detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the US citizen mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison earlier this year. The Trump administration begrudgingly brought Abrego Garcia back to the US in June, but arrested him on trafficking charges later in the summer. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to those charges. This newest ruling released Abrego Garcia from detention. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement agents cannot detain him again until a court conducts a hearing on the motion. He’s a free man for now.
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year Sucks: The coveted honor for 2025 went to… “The Architects of AI.” To that I say: boo, hiss. The stock market agrees. On the same day of Time‘s announcement, AI-company Oracle’s shares were down by 14 percent. Additionally, amid fear that the AI bubble is going to burst, “Chip makers Nvidia and AMD, as well as tech conglomerates Microsoft and Meta all fell Thursday,” reports CNN. In hindsight, these gooners perfectly exemplify the year 2025.
I guess it’s fitting that it’s a reimagined, worse version of someone else’s artwork
— Thor Benson (@thorbenson.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM
No Corruption Here: Trump signed an executive order that blocks any state laws that limit AI and prevents states from limiting its use. Don’t worry, the executive order also establishes a federal task force with the sole purpose of fighting any state AI regulations. Hell is empty and the devils are here.
Arkansas Sends Sesame Street Packing: The state is the first to sever ties with PBS after the eight-member Arkansas Educational Television Commission staffed entirely from governor appointees decided the annual $2.5 million membership dues were “not feasible.” (In previous years, the state has gotten about that much funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but Trump took care of that.) No more Sesame Street or Antiques Roadshow for people in Arkansas. I’m sure they will become worse people because of this.
Self-Plug: Nothing to do tonight? How about you come to a science-themed improv show at the soon-to-be-dead Here-After in Belltown? Full disclosure: I’ll be in it. Will I be funny? TBD. But, maybe you’ll learn something from our scientist presenter who is an expert in landslides. Topical!
A Big Wall: French marine archaeologists (a real job!) found a massive undersea wall they think dates back to 5,000 BC and might have belonged to a sunken stone age city that was overtaken by rising seas. The 394-foot-long wall is off the coast of Brittany and is the biggest underwater construction ever found in the area. The marine archaeologists believe it was used as “a fish-trap or a dyke for protection against rising sea-levels.” Hm, guess that didn’t work out.
A Song for your Friday: I’ve finally gotten around to listening to Rosalía’s new album “LUX.” And it’s a masterpiece.
The ghost ship is the 100′ F/V Mary B, last I knew she was owned by Deep Sea Fisheries in Everett and normally moored in the Snohomish River.
A reporter could reach out for a comment
“AI-company Oracle”. Kind of like “emoji keyboard company Apple”.
The Lodge is open, go up and have a spectacular breakfast overlooking the falls!
that Time cover
with the Trillionaires
and Trillionaire Wannabees
reminiscent of Iron Workers
lunching on a Beam,
30 stories Up
IS A.I. in a pic
and US, sans any
Safety Net, which
“Republicans” HATE
as ai unchained
(how they Demand! it be)
having Zero fealty to Honesty
and Solely to its Own Invincibility
will soon
Rule US
All.
No adult and child T-rex in the hold of the abandoned boat. 0/10 video. Needs more hubris.
@1 If only the Stranger had reporters and conducted Journalism.
Seems the writers are only required to write at most one story a week. Nice work if you can get it.
@6
The Stranger does employ reporters and conduct journalism.
It is just that maritime issues aren’t really well covered.
I would wager that most of the people reading this have no idea what the F/V in the boats name means
For that matter I would also wager that most of the people reading this have no idea what the Merchant Marine is or how dependent they are on it.
@7: Fishing vessel!
@3 Considering a mudslide took out three cars only moments after I left North Bend on Wednesday and caused traffic to be backed up for hours for hundreds of people… that’s really terrible advice. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.
@7: No need to disparage us laymen for not being versed in the nomenclature of your vocation. But that doesn’t mean we’re not interested. Instead, celebrate your profession by indulging us in one of your favorite anecdotes.
@7
fishing vessel
and Yeah, I didn’t
know but, in context,
might’ve figured out the v
the guy who wrote the
‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’
also wrote ‘the Ghost Ship,’ the lat-
ter ‘a scathing criticism of bureaucratic
authority, nationalism, and abusive labor prac-
tices, and is often described as an anarchist novel’
this was Not that same vessel.
@11:
B. Traven
https://regularanimals.ai/
The “Architechts of AI” in their true form.
“They’re only three-feet tall and would not fare well in a flood.”
As long as it doesn’t get more than 2 feet 9 inches over flood stage, the miniature donkeys will be fine.
Meanwhile Progressives line up against educational reform to close achievement gaps of the poor and people of color.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-are-leftists-so-pessimistic-about-school-reform/ar-AA1RXEmW
@mister magoo
you Failed to Factor in
‘Current,’ fool, but how Typical
speaking of fools
@11 –‘the DEATH Ship’!
ffs. apologies. @12:
required reading
for MMs?
Wait, sea levels rose back in 5000 BC? I guess if only they had the climate commitment act back then it could have been prevented.
“Time Magazine’s Person of the Year Sucks: The coveted honor for 2025 went to… “The Architects of AI.” To that I say: boo, hiss.”
I do believe “the architects of AI” are a fitting choice for Time Person of the way–in the same way Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin were fitting choices back when they won.
Discuss…
@17. The question isn’t whether ice ages and cataclysms occur due to geophysical processes but how often and to what extent the additional variables of human activy have accelerated those timelines beyond the sustainability of modern civilization.
Without sustainability, all our conveniences come on borrowed time and rob the future. AI datacenters today, sand, dust, and thirst tomorrow.
@19: Accelerated those “processes”, not “timelines”.
@21
much like that
underwater retaining wall
dwebee, you’re in over your head
those
BigWords’re
much Bigger than
you Believe they are
toss Away
that Thesaurus
get a Good Dictionary
and report back here in 5 years.
@21. Thanks for your suppor!
@19 which then begs the question how is the CCA impacting those timelines. Short answer is not at all. We continue to give the state gobs of money to use as a slush fund with no accountability or oversight. But at least we can all feel good about doing our part! Carry on.
@20, If humanity goes extinct, would that not just be the completely deterministic process of natural selection playing out?
In naturalism, our thoughts and actions are merely, and completely, the product of how are neurological systems have developed through random DNA mutation over time.
@22: See 23. Or one could say, “those accelerated processes shortened the timelines of crushing and devastating climate change”.
Also, wouldn’t really call those people the “Architects of AI”. They’re CEOs. A little more like the “Buyers of GPUs”.
John Campbell When The Levee Breaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMj3E6csfbQ
@27: Absolutely, and the cover looks like a Photo Shop from 2007 – as Jimmy Kimmel said last night.
@27. That’s fair.
The Time cover suggests we should let them all fall off the ledge. They are expendable and more vulnerable than they think.
The Snoqualmie Tribe? I thought the Muckleshoots bought it. Back in 2007.
“The Seattle Times does not currently have an update”
Don’t hold your breath. I glanced at today’s Times in the news stand. They had a picture of the flooding on “Toll Hill Road.”
“78,000 people live in the Skagit River’s flood plain…”
Stupid people live in stupid places. People have been living in these flood plains for 50+ years and every few years people lose their homes and infrastructure and every year they whine for other people’s money to pay for them to rebuild. If your house is on a flood plain, you need to move and stay moved. The fed flood insurance needs to stop paying to re-build in these flood plains. The state needs to stop treating people who make very poor housing choices as victims. The county needs to stop issuing building permits for these flood-prone areas. This repetition is asinine.
Meanwhile, in Lacey…
Washington State authorities REFUSED to honor an ICE detainer on Juan Hernandez-Santos, a Mexican illegal alien accused of driving an 18-wheeler WITHOUT a license that slammed into another vehicle, causing a six-car pile-up that included a school bus on the morning of December 4, 2025, in Lacey, Washington – and he has now been released from custody, according to DHS.
DHS: “According to local reports, state authorities say Hernandez-Santos did not possess a commercial driver’s license, yet was operating a semi-truck when he caused the pile-up.”
The crash reportedly sent four people to the hospital.
Officials identified the driver as Juan Hernandez-Santos, 40, of Huentitlan, Mexico. Hernandez-Santos was booked into the Thurston County Jail for a gross misdemeanor charge of operating a commercial vehicle without a valid license.
https://komonews.com/news/local/crash-between-semi-truck-school-bus-snarls-traffic-down-nb-i-5-near-lacey-wsdot-commute-road-conditions-alternate-route-children-safety-accident-injuries-update-washington
One correction, Nathalie. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a legal resident, not a US citizen. His lawyers won their case by proving the inconvenient fact that DHS never really had an order for his deportation.
@10 I have a number of sea stories about Deep Sea Fisheries. Unfortunately, they were my client at the time so I can’t tell them, at least not in writing. So I’ll just be a tease and say that my gob remains unsmacked that it was one of their boats drifting by.
JMath dear, My family on my mom’s side had a summer shanty on the Platte River in Nebraska. And by “shanty”, I mean shanty: It was built on pilings, designed to let water run through it during the river’s frequent floods, and furnished with the cheapest furniture, straight from St. Vinnies, and with a genuine outhouse (although it did have a nod to modern living in that it had electricity. I honestly don’t remember what the potable water situation was). But it was on the river, and had a beautiful view. The Platte, while lovely, is sort of the Republican of rivers: Neurotic, temperamental, and an all-around horrible entity in many ways. We used to go there for picnics and look for snapping turtles.
In the late 70’s, people from Omaha started building “cabins” (large homes) along that same stretch of river, and regarded us as hillbillies with an eyesore of shack – until the flood of 1981(?) happened, and of those houses were inundated and ended up having to be demolished. Our shanty just had to have the old furniture tossed out and a new trip to St. Vinnies.
Sometime in the 90’s, the river finally got the best of the shanty and floated it off to points unknown, and nothing was built to replace it. I believe that the state of Nebraska paid whoever had the title to it the value of the land and made the whole area a nature preserve.
Which is all to say, don’t build on floodplains. Or at least don’t build anything valuable on floodplains. Riparian living is wonderful, but Mother Nature has the last say.
@33: “Stupid people live in stupid places. “
No, they’re your fellow citizens who are living at a location that you weren’t complaining about last week. Who are you to say they aren’t aware the geology they’re living in and are taking risks like everyone else on this planet to some degree or another? Maybe they don’t have the money to move? Maybe they love their home anyway regardless.
Shame on your elitist condescending attitude. These people are going through really tough times. Show a little compassion.
@14: “As long as it doesn’t get more than 2 feet 9 inches over flood stage, the miniature donkeys will be fine.”
I doubt you’d be fine trying to stand upright in 2 feet 9 inches of fast moving water.
@33
I guess 64 million people are stupid for living along the Gulf Coast where they are repeatedly hit by hurricanes.
Another 52 million stupid people are living in Earthquake zones along the US West Coast.
Then of course there’s the 17 million stupid people living in Tornado Alley.
According to FEMA Detroit Michigan is the American city least at risk of natural disasters. Sure they have extreme winters but are not subject to earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, drought, or forest fires. I guess to not be stupid people the entire population of America needs to relocate to Detroit.
I like Detroit style pizza, how about you?
Snoqualmie
is Smart for putting
Homes on Stilts & allowing
the Snoqualmie River to reclaim
its Floodplain from our Arrogance
which is Nice
as we allow BIG OIL
nay, SUBSIDIZE Big Oil
to Toast Planet Earth
and turn it into
a Flooding
Hellscape.
we’re
Stupid
as Fuck
for allowing
this to Happen
to our OWN
Home so that
a Few may Live
like fucking Kings.
and
Cadet
Bonespurs
is about to Invade
Venezuela for their . . . Fentanyl?
@41: Oil had nothing to do with it.
I kkknow
KkKoolie — like
your Hero, Cadet Bonespurs
always Say, Catastrophic Biospheric
Meltdown tain’t Nuthiin’ but a Left-Wing KkKomminist Hoax!
well put.
watch more FOX:
it’ll make ya even Less unignorant.
@44: I just watch Greg Gutfeld. He’s a treasure.
@39, It may, or may not be fast moving water at that point, depending on how far the farm is from the main river channel.
@46
too Late, Magoo!
they’re Halfway to
Puget Sound! Oh,
Magoo, You’ve
Done` It.
Again!
and distance From
Dictateth NOT
thy Speed of
thy Current.
have your monkeys
Stolen your
Laptop, A-
gain?
@45
A. it shows. also, Catastrophic
Biospheric Meltdown’ll be coming
for him too. B. Gutty’s ‘a Treasure’ you say?
he’d Better keep an Eye out for pirates, bearing Shovels.
@48: Na, you’re the one manning the battle stations for all things catastrophic so the rest of us don’t worry and for that we’re so sincerely grateful. Really.
head in sand
make one a
Contented
man. well
Played.