THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS – CAN LIBERALS GRASP IT?
THIS WEEK'S NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW...
King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn joined us for this week’s Newsmaker Interview. Dunn discusses why he believes taxpayers should cease funding the three-year-old agency, which is supported by various government entities. He shares his thoughts on the “Housing First” policies favored by liberals, stating that they have been unsuccessful and that KCRHA’s growing bureaucracy has yielded poor results. Dunn also expresses his disappointment in the failure of the liberal establishment to recognize the flaws in their approach and suggested alternative solutions. Read more.
LONGSHOREMEN SLOWING DOWN TO SHOW VALUE, OR JUST SENDING WORK AWAY FOR GOOD?
As Shift has covered, the labor unions which control West Coast dock work are up to their old “slowdown” tricks. Now, reports the Seattle Times, the Puget Sound ports are more of a target, as the trade group negotiating a new labor contract “claimed in a tweet Friday that the union’s ‘repeated disruptive work actions at strategic ports along the West Coast are increasingly causing companies to divert cargo.’”
You can read more about how “ships are sitting idle without being able to move cargo and causing a backlog of incoming vessels” here… Shift, Seattle Times.
GOVERNMENT AT ITS BEST – FORM A STUDY GROUP, MEET FOR TWO YEARS, DISPAND IN DISARRAY, FORM NEW STUDY GROUP
A colossal example of government waste and inefficiency drew to a close with the final meeting of the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC), reports the Tacoma News Tribune, as the group voted to submit “a report to the state that will simply highlight a recent survey that showed most members preferred a yet-to-be-identified greenfield site to house any new aviation facility.” That’s all, because “(A)fter more than three years of investigating potential locations for Washington’s next major airport,” the group came up with nothing.
State Senator Karen Keiser, the person “credited” with launching the CACC with legislation in 2019, understated her opposition to the failure by saying “Obviously, I am disappointed in the final outcome here.” You can read how nothing is ever really “final” however, now that Governor Jay Inslee has weighed in by “effectively putting the prospect of building from scratch on the back burner” here… Tacoma News Tribune.
LOOKS LIKE SPECULATORS CROWDED OUT WA BUSINESSES IN LAST CARBON AUCTION – TRIGGERING EMERGENCY VALVE
The latest negative fact about the state’s recently completed carbon auction (which Shift has highlighted has already jacked up fuel prices) comes from Capital Press pointing out that “Washington’s carbon fee rose by 15% at the state’s second cap-and-trade auction, the Department of Ecology reported Wednesday, and is high enough to turn on an emergency valve to contain energy costs.” It seems the this “emergency valve” kicked in because “(I)nvestors bought more than 10% of the allowances,” seemingly crowding out Washington businesses.
The Democrats’ costly new energy scheme has already entered uncharted territory, as “Washington’s allowance price exceeds California’s all-time high of $30.85. California has held 35 cap-and-trade auctions since 2012, but has never had to resort to a special auction to hold down costs.” You can read more about how one state senator finds it “shocking how Democrats actually seem to be proud about taking so much money away from citizens” here… Shift, Capital Press.
PRO-CHAZ, ANTI-COP BUSINESS OWNER DECIDES TO CASH IN WITH LAWSUIT AGAINST TAXPAYERS
Hypocrisy, thy name is Molly Moon. At least that’s what can be taken from this KIRO 7 report about the latest lawsuit filed against the city of Seattle for allowing the CHAZ (or CHOP) to exist back in 2020, by one very loud critic of the police back in 2020. But now that there is a chance to cash in with a lawsuit, “A Molly Moon’s spokesperson released a statement, saying that they supported the protests and their goals but were looking to make up for what they call a significant loss of revenue caused by the city’s actions.”
That’s right, it’s the city’s action that Molly Moon has a problem with, not the rioters who closed off access to their store. But hey, it’s only progressive to grab taxpayer money when you can, and as one far-Left legal observer said “(T)he City of Seattle screwed this up so bad that the plaintiffs are certain to win this lawsuit despite some weaknesses.” More scoops of hypocrisy can be found here… KIRO 7.
REPEAT AFTER ME DEMOCRATS – MORE TAXES WON’T SOLVE PROBLEM
An early look at the Sunday Seattle Times yields this gem about the greed of Seattle’s liberal politicians that “City Hall’s tax receipts have increased 94% during the past decade, much higher than employment, population growth or inflation. Taxes imposed on businesses totaled $700 million since 2018.” And yet, Seattle’s elected leaders continue to search for new taxes to raise.
Times’ business columnist Jon Talton looks suspiciously at the new group formed by Mayor Bruce Harrell to study the city’s finances, as it “seems that this group was formed with a predetermined outcome of finding new tax streams or expanding them, rather than examining spending and where record revenues are being directed.” You can read more about how Seattle has no intention of stopping how it wastes taxpayer money here… Seattle Times.
OVERHEARD ON THE INTERWEBS...
STAYING SILENT IS THE HARRELL BRAND
CAMP ‘HOPE’ CLOSES – WILL LIBERAL ACTIVISTS TAKE OVER NEW LOCATION TO KEEP MONEY FLOWING?
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