by Vivian McCall I’m Dreaming of a Wind Christmas: Break out the candles, Christmas fans. A windstorm could knock out the power around dinnertime tomorrow, the Seattle Times reported. Gusts could clock above 55 miles per hour. The storm could last a few hours. After all that rain, the soil is moist, so don’t hang out under any tree outside of the living room. They could fall. It’s Beginning to Not Look Like Not Christmas: Today will be cloudy with a high near 45. Tomorrow, expect rain in the daytime before the winds pick up. On Christmas Day, there’s a 30 percent chance of rain, mostly after 10 am. Rain is likely this Friday. Saturday should be partly sunny. Zahid Chaudhry Released from ICE Custody: After almost four months at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, the Pakistan-born US military veteran has returned to his family. As The Stranger reported yesterday, Chaudhry was taken into custody during a citizenship interview in August. He came to the country legally, but has faced deportation for years after allegedly omitting an Australian criminal conviction from his visa documents. Chaudhry denies misrepresenting himself. He’ll be free as his case proceeds in the Ninth Circuit. The family expects a final ruling in a month or so. Tainted Teriyaki: Seattle King County Public Heath are investigating a possible E. Coli outbreak at Tokyo Stop Teriyaki in Bellevue. After eating likely tainted food, five of its customers between November 24 and 26 became ill, and four of them landed in the hospital. The county closed the restaurant on the 12th, and in a health inspection the next day, saw kitchen staff washing raw meat and vegetables too close together. The restaurant reopened three days later. If you ate at this restaurant, and developed E. Coli-y symptoms like nausea, fever, vomiting, and the shits, the county wants to hear from you. Casino Death in Tacoma: Evan Potifara’s family want answers and accountability after the 37-year-old fell to his death from the upper level of the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma Saturday night. His grieving aunt told KING 5 that they’re “putting together some meetings with people” to make sure the casino fixes the structure. The family is raising money to ensure public safety, though it is unclear from KING 5’s reporting and the GoFundMe exactly what the casino has yet to do. Puyallup Tribal Police and Emerald Queen Casino did not respond to the station’s request for comment. Seattle Children’s Strike Vote: After seven months of stalled negotiations over pay, sick leave for injuries sustained in violent workplace incidents, and breaks, the hospital's 2,100 nurses voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. It could be the first in Seattle Children's 118 history. If an agreement can't be reached at the table, the nurses will issue a 10-day strike notice. Last week, Nathalie wrote more about why nurses may strike. He Did Not Have Sexual Relations, Apparently: Bill Clinton, who is in the Epstein files, wants more Epstein files. A spokesperson for the former President called on the Department of Justice to release all materials referencing, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton. “What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected,” the statement read. “We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection.”  One Thing in the Files: Jeffrey Epstein appears to have sent this letter to Larry Nassar, the US Gymnastics doctor convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of young gymnasts: “Dear L.N. as you know by now, I have taken the “short route” home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love caring for young ladies at the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to “grab snatch,” whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.” The letter was postmarked August 13, 2019, three days after Epstein was found hanging in his cell. C(Bari)S: On Sunday, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss spiked a 60 Minutes segment about the Venezuelan men the US deported to the brutal El Salvadoran mega prison CECOT. By Monday afternoon, people noticed the story was streaming on Canada’s Global TV app; and to watch, all one needed was a Canadian IP address or a VPN. Activists, archivists and journalists uploaded clips to a variety of social media and file sharing sites where they’ve propagated faster than they can be struck for copyright. It should not be this hard to watch the news. Like Ten Thousand Columnists When All You Need is a Journalist: The irony here is that by holding the story, Weiss drew attention to it. As Hannah wrote yesterday, Weiss claimed the story needed additional reporting. But it had gone through all the usual legal and fact checks, and in a private email to her colleagues, Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent who reported the story, said the decision was “political.” The story is not a bombshell. We’ve known the conditions at CECOT are abominable. But from a journalistic perspective, the story was totally unobjectionable. That’s exactly what stands out. I’d love an episode of 60 Minutes on this. Hi I’m Bari Weiss and Welcome To 60 Minutes *Corona by Minutemen starts playing*— metal dot txt  (@metaltxt.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM IDK, Seems Like a Relevant Story: On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must give due process to the Venezuelan migrants deported to CECOT. The men were removed with no notice and no opportunity to contest their removal. To send the men to the notorious prison, the Trump administration accused the men of being gang members and removed them under the 18th century Alien Enemies Act. Two planeloads of these men were flown to the prison, despite the judge’s verbal order to turn the plane around. Santa’s Milk <3: In the mid-300s, Christian pilgrims began to collect a mysterious liquid leaking from St. Nicholas’ tomb. They believed this “manna” had healing powers. They still extract it, mix it with holy water, and offer it to believers. There’s a claim circulating the internet that this font is seeping from Santa’s bones, but according to the killjoys at Snopes, we don’t actually know that. We only know it’s coming from his tomb, and also, it’s not so mysterious. In the 20’s, Italian scientists determined this “manna” was just water, quite possibly condensation from inside his tomb. That Christmas Spirit: Florida’s Catholic bishops asked President Trump Monday to pause raids and deportations during the Christmas holiday. “Such a pause would show a decent regard for the humanity of these families,” wrote Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski. The White House said Trump was elected to “deport criminal aliens,” and that’s exactly what he’d keep doing. Are Scrooge’s ghosts just … not interested in this guy, or is work on that lengthy chain behind schedule? What Santa Isn’t Doing: The Department of Homeland Security posted an AI video of Santa deporting people. A few problems: Santa is a charitable spirit. Even if he were evil, his December is simply too busy. He’s in his grave, secreting. I know these videos are not new. But let’s really appreciate how weird it is for a government agency to post like the uncle you’re planning to avoid this Thursday. This is just so freaking fascist. These people are unapologetic irredeemable Nazis.[image or embed]— David Neiwert (@davidneiwert.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 5:41 PM ...read more read less