Greg Halling

YouTube video by Turner Classic Movies Cheers from THE THIN MAN ('34)

The Thin Man is my favorite Christmas movie.

YouTube video by Remember The 80s RY COODER - Get Rhythm (1988)

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Club El Mundo Elegante. It gives me great personal pride and pleasure in presenting to you — umm, the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces!

Wow, that’s late!

Bright yellow sunflower with a gold center and green heart.

Something beautiful for this day: Sunflower, Yakima, Washington (August 2025). #sunflowers

And no one is held accountable.

Spent most of my life in NE Kansas. Can relate.

And wishes he could sound like Cale.

YouTube video by 101.9 KINK.FM Justin Townes Earle - One More Night In Brooklyn (Bing Lounge)

Friday night Justin Townes Earle. Because he was too damned good to forget.

Me, too.

Deep purple pansy petals with a yellow eye.

Something beautiful for this day: Pansy, Yakima, Washington (December 2025). #flowers

Or Apple Music.

YouTube video by Veojam J. J. Cale - After Midinight - Paradise Studios Session

In memory of J.J. Cale, Dec. 5, 1938-July 26, 2013. Nobody ever sounded like him, and nobody ever will. Hero.

A new jaguar spotted in Arizona points to progress in the endangered species' recovery Researchers have confirmed a new jaguar in southern Arizona, marking what they say is the fifth big cat over the last 15 years to be spotted in there after crossing the U.S.

The animal was captured by the camera as it visited a watering hole in November, its distinctive spots setting it apart from previous sightings. (Susan Montoya Bryan / AP)

Yakima Valley Community Foundation launches effort to help food banks The Yakima Valley Community Foundation has set up a new fund to help food banks in Yakima and Kittitas counties. Here's how to contribute.

The fund was established as food insecurity reaches a crisis level in the region because of high food prices and federal government disruptions, said Sharon Miracle, president and CEO of the foundation. (Joel Donofrio / Yakima Herald-Republic)

Police are failing to solve most violent crimes in WA • Washington State Standard More than half of violent crimes in Washington state are going unsolved, including over over 49,000 such crimes since 2022.

Washington police solved 44% of reported violent crimes last year, said Marshall Clement, director of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center. That amounts to 62% of homicides, 51% of aggravated assaults, 31% of robberies and 25% of rapes. (Jake Goldstein-Street / Washington State Standard)

Suburban Chicago church’s Nativity depicts baby Jesus zip-tied by ICE agents EVANSTON, Ill. — Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminum foil. Masked centurions…

“Enforcement terror does not discriminate by documentation status,” the church wrote on its Facebook page on Nov. 25. (Richard Requena / Chicago Tribune)

US vaccine advisers say not all babies need a hepatitis B shot at birth A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government

A loud chorus of medical and public health leaders decried the actions of the panel, whose current members were all appointed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a leading anti-vaccine activist before this year becoming the nation’s top health official. (Mike Stobbe / AP)

The Supreme Court will decide whether Trump's birthright citizenship order violates the Constitution The Supreme Court has agreed to take up the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s order on birthright citizenship. The Republican president's order says children born to parents who are in

Every lower court that has looked at the issue has concluded that Trump’s order violates or likely violates the 14th Amendment, which was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship. (Mark Sherman / Associated Press)

Column: Now it's clear why Trump got rid of the top military lawyers People who know and enforce the law would have been inconvenient during the president's undeclared war in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

"Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Americans got news of two utterly contradictory actions that grotesquely captured Trump’s amoral and immoral instincts — one involving killings, the other a presidential pardon." Commentary from @jackiecalmes.bsky.social at the Los Angeles Times.

It’s an internment camp proposal for the homeless.

Adam Zyglis (@adamzyglis.bsky.social) Season of giving…

Fresh ink from Adam Zyglis.

Ivory globe center of a deep red flower bloom.

Something beautiful for this day: Black hollyhock, Yakima, Washington (August 2024). #flowers

Yakima Valley weekend picks: Christmas trolleys, toy trains and concert Visit the North Pole at the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, enjoy the Yakima Symphony Orchestra's annual Holiday Pops Spectacular or take a ride on the Yakima Valley Trolleys’

Your guide to weekend events in the Yakima Valley, courtesy of @sararae-yhr.bsky.social at the Yakima Herald-Republic.

WA man must relinquish 500-plus artifacts to NW tribe, judge says Washington state employee received a tip that a man was digging up artifacts in the northern part of the Umatilla National Forest.

The items were found when a search warrant was served at the home of Shane Dee Caldwell, 39, of Asotin, Asotin County, about 20 miles from the national forest boundary. (Annette Cary / Tri-City Herald)

Where the blame will fall if ACA subsidies expire, according to a new poll A new survey of Affordable Care Act health insurance enrollees finds that many are already struggling with the high cost of health care. Most of the more than 1,300 enrollees

KFF’s poll reveals that marketplace enrollees — most of whom say they would be directly impacted by the subsidies expiring — overwhelmingly support an extension. The survey found this group is more likely to blame Trump and Republicans in Congress than Democrats if the tax credits expire. (AP)

WA’s ban on assault weapon sales withstands another round in court A judge last month once again upheld Washington’s 2023 law banning the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms classified as assault weapons.

Washington’s law doesn’t prohibit owning assault weapons, just their manufacture, importation, distribution or sale. The term “assault weapon” is defined in the law, including with a list of specific firearm models, such as AR-15s. (Jake Goldstein-Street / Washington State Standard)

More industries want Trump’s help hiring immigrant labor after farms get a break • Washington State Standard As food prices remain high, the Trump administration has made it easier for farmers to hire foreign guest workers and to pay them less. Now, other industries with large immigrant workforces also are…

Restaurants, construction and landscaping businesses have lost a combined 315,000 immigrant workers through August this year, more than any other industries, according to a Stateline analysis of Current Population Survey data provided by the University of Minnesota. (Tim Henderson / Stateline)

High suicide rate among seniors is a tragedy for entire community | Editorial Grief doesn’t take a break during the holidays. Holidays are full of sights and sound and smells and rituals that awaken deep memories and emotional responses.

Check in (call) or check up on (visit) seniors in your life. A Seattle Times editorial.

Clay Bennett (@claybennett.bsky.social) 12/2/2025- Secretary Hegseth https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2025/dec/01/secretary-hegsth/

Fresh ink from Clay Bennett.

A list of my top 15 artists on Apple Music in 2025, starting with Warren Zevon, J.J. Cale and Justin Townes Earle.

Seems right.