This time of year, we're inundated by MONEY REQUESTS from people we like, groups we consider noble, asshats who don't remember they bullied us in grade school, and organizations where we're like... wait... what DO YOU DO?—maybe I even asked you for money. DO WHAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU, but if you appreciate the Mercury's interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team.

Good Morning, Portland: I don't know if you've noticed that writing the morning news this time of year turns it into a sort of shipwrecker's diary. It's dark out, and we keep forgetting to make time to see the sun. It'll be a little rainy today and REALLY RAINY TOMORROW. Watch a movie, see a show, do something fucking nice for yourself because we are entering the holiday crevasse.

IN LOCAL NEWS:
Oregon's population grew this year (and also last year).

• This is sort of what Dan Rayfield said on election night, but he apparently is formally announcing that he’s "creating a new Federal Oversight and Accountability Cabinet" to support advocacy groups, unions and others and help the state react to potential federal overreach. OPB has more.

• Also from OPB:

Wild. The federal government is now suing PacifiCorp for its role in devastating 2020 wildfires in Oregon.

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— Ryan Haas (@ryanjhaas.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 4:20 PM

• Portland Police say they found the guy that wandered off yesterday, so stop accosting the older gentlemen, you samaritans.

• The Merc has some tickets up for grabs. Enter our Free Ticket Thursday drawing, and get in the pot for tix to Murder City Devils at Rev Hall on January 4.

• Mississippi Records is known for deep dive vinyl compilations, but the label / shop's co-founder Eric Isaacson has also curated (with the rest of the Mississippi crew) some of Portland's most inspiring music events. He's talking a step back, but he has one more epic celebration in the pipe.

"To make good art or to do good community work, often a gauntlet is thrown down: You either don't concern yourself with money and do good work, or you do shitty work and you're interested in money. I just felt like I had to stop in order to avoid burnout..."

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— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 1:52 PM

• Most dim sum places feature frozen premade rice rolls with shrimp, at Steam Rice Roll King the menu contains a panoply of cheung fun adventures, each freshly steamed in a square pan and served piping hot. Local critic Andrea Damewood clues us in to the wonders of Portland's new Cantonese rice roll spot.

• The weekly Pop Quiz PDX dropped yesterday. Do you KNOW?

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Thank you for joining me at the intersection of a government shutdown and an Amazon union strike. After impending President Trump trashed a bi-partisan bill on Wednesday—to make it look like Elon Musk's shadow presidency was less of a thing—he backed a hastily proposed rehash which also failed to pass on Thursday. The New York Times reports that 38 Republicans joined almost every Democrat in voting against. Those rogue Repubs weren't even the "moderate" reps that Trump has clashed with in the past. Instead, they seemed to be overwhelmingly right-wing lawmakers, upset that the new proposal would push another debt ceiling vote down the road by two years. Will the House reach an agreement to keep funding the US government by midnight tonight? Oh, IDK but there's undoubtably something better on.

• On the other hand, we shouldn't be blasé about this thing that happens with regular frequency. Because as we head into the holiday season a government shutdown could disrupt air travel at one of its annual peaks. Trains are fine though.

• Speaking of holiday trouble, Amazon workers at seven of the company’s delivery hubs—three in Southern California, and one each in San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, and Skokie, Illinois—are on strike as of Thursday. The warehouses, who are all affiliated with the Teamsters Union, voted to picket after Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline the union set for contract negotiations, Associated Press reports. You could say that's not related to the piles of Amazon packages on your porch, but you'd just be lying to yourself. If you are a cool person who—for whatever reason connoting a stark lack of empathy—still uses Amazon, get your act together, show solidarity, and go to the store.

• The courtship of impending President Trump continues this week, as NYT reports he had dinner with billo bois Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday. On this morning's episode of the Daily, political correspondent Maggie Haberman called the fawning attention Trump is getting from the world's smol and vulnerable caché of wealthy men, "the purest form of delight that Trump could have." The show's host Michael Barbaro mused: "Are we now witnessing the risk of empowering whimsical billionaires?" Wait, I'm sorry. Now? Now we are witnessing it? No, been witnessing it. Done witnessing it.

• I think it's fair to ask film director James Gunn just what kind of Superman movie he is trying to make? The hair is KDrama heartthrob, Pa Kent is looking sickly on the sun-dappled Kansas porch, the Kryptonian dog is back? This... looks like a fucking mess. But I suppose they need to make this movie again for boomers before they die. Some will allege that Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy succeeded at the intertwining of cheesy comedy, nostalgia, and drama—into a pile of nostalgic trash with fleetingly likable characters. To those people I say: We have talked about this before and agreed to disagree that you don't require enough from cinema. Anyway, here's the teaser trailer for what looks to be the worst of all worlds.

• This could have gone in local news because of overhyped local coverage was of "UFOS" was last week, but in honesty it was happening on a national level. NYT reports "Many Videos That Purport to Show Drones in New Jersey Likely Show Planes, Visual Analysis Finds."

• Now I leave you with a clip so bizarre that I would believe you, if you said it was AI-generated. NEVER FORGET