Seattle's Only News Roundup by Hannah Murphy Winter It’s inauguration day, and Trump is officially the 47th president of the United States. The theme was “enduring democracy,” led by Senator Amy Klobuchar, which felt entirely absurd when they were swearing in a criminal who tried to overturn an election. On the bright side, it’s cold enough in DC that they had to move the inauguration indoors, which means Trump doesn’t get to gloat about throngs of people in the mall watching him get sworn on. On the downside, he’ll probably make up some enormous number of people they had to turn away. We have some suggestions for how to cope with today below. But first, speaking of the cold: It’s icy out there, especially at night. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority has activated Tier 3 severe weather response protocols over the weekend, and they’ll last until tomorrow. What does that mean? The KCRHA coordinates with transit and transportation partners to help transport vulnerable populations to shelter sites. They open emergency daytime and overnight warming centers and day centers, including libraries. They coordinate with cities to open local city halls and other city-owned properties for warming centers and/or 24/7 emergency shelters. For more info, check the KCRHA site. Okay back to Trump: It looks like today won’t be all ceremony. According to the New York Times: “President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to sign as many as 100 executive orders within hours of taking office Monday afternoon, a flurry of activity that will begin near where he is set to be sworn in at the Capitol. The orders are set to address a broad swath of American life, touching on immigration, climate and energy policy, and diversity initiatives in the federal government.” National Emergency: Trump made a lot of promises about “mass deportations” on Day One, and he’s doing his best to keep that promise. Among the executive orders we’re expecting are several that would attempt to end birthright citizenship, shut down the border to asylum seekers, and declare border crossings from Mexico as a national emergency. Chicago is bracing to be “ground zero” for Trump’s mass deportations after a document leaked that showed that ICE officials were planning a major enforcement operation targeting immigrants in Chicago for several days after Trump’s inauguration. Believe them when they tell you who they are: According to NYT, Trump’s first round of executive orders is also expected to undermine most federal protections for trans people in the US. According to “top advisors,” he plans to remove protections for trans people in federal prisons and trans migrants in US custody, and establish “biological sex” definitions both for federal workers and as part of revised Title IX guidance to schools. In the lead-up to the inauguration, we’ve published guides for updating your gender marker on federal documents. We’ll keep those updated as the landscape shifts. Dear Leader: TikTok went dark on Saturday night, with a pop-up that read: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!” Then on Sunday, the app was back with a new announcement: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” This is obviously theater. Biden had already said that he wouldn’t enforce the ban on his last day in office, and we know that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew visited Mar-a-Lago in December, and he was in the crowd today at the inauguration (yes, that should feel as dystopian as it does). So what new information came out of this? To keep TikTok live in the US, Trump wants the US government to own 50 percent of the app. Speaking of Executive Orders: In his last hours as president, Biden preemptively pardoned five members of his family, and other officials that Trump considers his “enemies.” This is an unprecedented flex of executive power. We’ll add it to the list. Coping Mechanisms: The way I see it, there are three ways to cope with today: community, distraction, or plain o’ rage. Between the EverOut Seattle team and The Stranger, we have suggestions for all three. Community: In a gross twist of the Gregorian calendar, today is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Seattle MLK Jr. Coalition’s events have already started, but you can make it in time for the rally at Garfield High School at 11 am and the march at 12:30 pm. (We’ll be there, so if you can’t get to it, check in later for photo and video updates). United Way of King County has also organized volunteer opportunities around the city. Distraction: Today is a good day to walk into the woods and never come back, and our parks system knows it. Today, you can get into Washington State parks AND National Parks for free, and you should. If nature’s not your bag, go sit in a dark room at the Beacon and watch Potentially Ill-Advised: Films About Assassinating Your Political Leaders (emphasis on the ill-advised). Or reinstall that Chrome extension that turns every image of Trump into cats. Rage: Doom scroll. Watch CNN. Read every reactionary article that tries to contextualize the looming executive orders before we have any real context. Take a deep dive on TikTok to try to figure out what deal they may struck with the Trump administration. This is what I’ll be doing, but only because it’s my job. I don’t recommend it. But if you choose this route, I do recommend keeping your fists far away from drywall. Hand injuries suck. City Hall Update: In local news, the pool is down to six finalists for city council’s district 2 seat. As you all remember, progressive councilmember Tammy Morales announced she’d be stepping down from her seat just one year into her term. We gave you a rundown of the 20 “qualified applicants” last week, and on Friday, the council narrowed it down to six finalists. They are: Mark Solomon, Chukundi Salisbury, Adonis Ducksworth, Thaddaeus Gregory, Edward Lin, and Hong Chhuor. Next step is a public forum, which will happen this week, before the council chooses their appointee next Monday. Stay tuned.  Headline of the week: “I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down. I just didn’t expect them to be such losers.” Just days left to declare your love in The Stranger: All month long we've been collecting hundreds of Valentine's Day messages from readers, and we're going to cram them all into our Love and Sex issue, which will hit stands on February 5. So far, we've received messages for "Huckleberry," "Sweet Pisces Boy," "Space Mate," "Cuddle Kitten," "Boner Monkey," "Slurpee," "Bubbarooni," "Bananaboy," "Chocobo," "Cool Bean," "Wormy," and so many more. It’s free, it’s adorable, it’s a little filthy. Get on it. A Song for Today: I listen to this whenever I need to cry, but I'm to mad or frustrated or rage-y to actually make tears happen. So it's my gift to you today.