Democrats say “peaceful protest,” Antifa hears “bring the matches.”
Summer of Thugs: When the Left Throws a Tantrum, Cities Burn
Another weekend, another left-wing cosplay convention disguised as a protest—complete with arson, smashed windows, pepper spray attacks, and media amnesia. The so-called “No Kings” rally turned into a roving Antifa riot from Tukwila to Seattle, but you’d never know it from watching KING 5 or reading The Seattle Times. As KTTH’s Jason Rantz points out, their coverage was – to say the least – sanitized.
In Tukwila, Antifa activists—armed and ready—assaulted police with frozen water bottles and maced journalists like Brandi Kruse. DHS had to deploy tear gas to push them back, while in downtown Seattle, black-bloc goons lit a Lime scooter on fire and screamed threats under the usual “abolish ICE” signage. Portland and LA joined the chaos for a national tour of leftist rage cosplay.
And of course, Democrats lined up to gaslight the public. Bob Ferguson called the protests “peaceful,” and Pramila Jayapal dusted off her tired tweet about the First Amendment—oddly forgetting that it doesn’t protect assault or arson. Then again, when your political strategy hinges on weaponized disorder, why stop the fun?
The media played along like trained seals. While MyNorthwest told the truth, The Seattle Times headlined the event like it was a bake sale disrupted by mean cops. KING 5 skipped the fires entirely. Journalistic malpractice or just another day ending in “y”?
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t protest—it was political theater with property damage. A reboot of the 2020 “Summer of Love,” except now with even more entitlement and fewer consequences. And as long as Democrats keep applauding the actors and silencing the critics, expect the curtain to rise again next weekend. Read more at KTTH.
Carbon Cash Grab: Ecology Swears Skyrocketing Gas Prices Are Just a Coincidence
Washington’s carbon auction just brought in another cool $322 million, pushing total revenue from the “Cap-and-Invest” scheme to nearly $3.2 billion—and somehow, Democrats still insist it’s not making gas more expensive. That’s right, according to the state Department of Ecology, the skyrocketing price of “emissions allowances” has nothing to do with why you’re paying nearly $4.36 a gallon for gas while the national average sits at $3.13. Just another day in denial for the climate crowd.
At the latest auction, carbon credits sold for a whopping $58.51 per metric ton, up more than $8 from the last round. That’s about 46 cents extra per gallon of gas—but Ecology’s spin team insists there’s “no clear relationship” between allowance prices and gas prices. Apparently, they think Washingtonians will believe that fuel prices rose and fell completely at random… while the state conveniently raked in billions off your pain.
Critics aren’t buying it. Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center called the state’s response “remarkably dishonest” and reminded everyone that even Jay Inslee’s own advisor admitted the Climate Commitment Act would jack up prices by 40 cents per gallon. Meanwhile, Brian Heywood of Let’s Go Washington just summed it up with sarcastic disbelief: “Who saw this coming?”
It’s not just conservatives crying foul—Canada scrapped its federal CO₂ tax to cut fuel prices, and even California admits its cap-and-trade system drives up gas costs. But in Washington, officials are too busy swimming in auction cash to come clean.
So let’s be real: this isn’t about saving the planet. It’s about extracting billions from working families, small businesses, and commuters while hiding behind buzzwords like “climate equity.” The Left gets its green slush fund, and you get stuck at the pump. Read more at Center Square.
Trump Dams Biden’s Agenda—Literally
In a win for energy reliability, science, and basic common sense, President Trump signed a memorandum today reversing Biden-era efforts to destroy the four lower Snake River dams—a move that would’ve nuked over 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power, jacked up energy prices, and flushed billions down the eco-activist drain.
Trump’s order, bluntly titled “Stops the Green Agenda in the Columbia River Basin,” dismantles the bureaucratic nonsense pushed by the Biden administration, which had been cozying up to dam-breaching activists through a secretive Memorandum of Understanding. That MOU—negotiated behind closed doors—laid the groundwork to rip out infrastructure that powers 2.5 million homes, all while pretending it was “for the fish.”
But the science was never on their side. Biden’s NOAA report? A politically branded fluff piece that explicitly admitted it had no regulatory weight and conveniently ignored the catastrophic economic and energy fallout. Meanwhile, real environmental data showed Chinook salmon returns are actually above average this year—so much for the doomsday predictions that they’d be extinct by now.
With Biden’s MOU now in the trash, the lawsuits from anti-dam activists will likely return, but at least Washington has a shot at fighting back with truth and data instead of green-group wishcasting.
Huge credit to Rep. Dan Newhouse for leading the charge in D.C. and standing up for the families and businesses who depend on clean, reliable hydro. While this doesn’t end the war over the dams, Trump’s move just flipped the momentum back to sanity—and gave both salmon and power customers a real reason to hope. Read more at the Washington Policy Center.
Spokane’s Homeless Plan: More Delays, More Loopholes, Less Clarity
After a year of dithering, Spokane’s City Council is finally set to vote on Mayor Lisa Brown’s new homelessness plan Monday night—and businesses and residents are bracing for more red tape than real relief.
The proposal, part of Brown’s “H.O.M.E.” package, would require police to post a full week’s notice before clearing out homeless encampments, even when they’re blocking sidewalks or threatening public safety. The plan replaces the city’s clearer sit-lie and obstruction rules with vague language and a laundry list of carve-outs so broad they may as well hang a welcome sign over downtown.
People resting on sidewalks, protesting, waiting for a bus, or “requesting aid” are now protected from enforcement under the proposed rules. There’s no camping ban near schools, parks, or daycares—even though 75% of voters backed one last year—because the state Supreme Court tossed it in April, calling it outside the scope of the initiative process. And while one ordinance up for vote claims to “reinstate” parts of Prop 1, there’s no clear mention of reinstating that crucial buffer zone around kids.
Meanwhile, Councilmembers Bingle and Cathcart, who’ve long pushed for stronger enforcement, see only scraps of their proposals included. One minor concession: new shelters would need to ink “good neighbor” agreements with residents—but the council still wouldn’t have to approve them.
In short, Spokane’s new plan buries enforcement in exemptions, waters down voter-backed rules, and still leaves downtown vulnerable to the chaos residents have warned about for years.
The 275 residents who signed a public letter opposing the ordinance put it plainly: “We risk losing the momentum we’ve worked so hard to gain over the last 25 years.” And with a downtown on the edge, Spokane can’t afford more feel-good policies that stall while the city slips. Read more at Center Square.
King County's Magical Growing Homeless Count: Just Add Gift Cards and Academic Jargon
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) has once again revised its 2024 homeless count—because apparently, even counting is now a fluid concept in Democrat-run King County. After initially claiming 16,385 people were homeless, they casually bumped that number up by another 483 once they finished processing their “cutting-edge” peer-to-peer flyer-and-gift-card campaign. Final tally? 16,868—and counting.
Unlike other counties that do the traditional overnight count, KCRHA prefers a method that would make a pyramid scheme jealous. It’s called “respondent-driven sampling,” which basically means they hand $20 gift cards to unhoused people to recruit their friends to take a survey. Bring a buddy, earn more cash. Who needs trained outreach workers when you can crowdsource your homeless census?
And of course, KCRHA insists their method is more “accurate”—which is convenient when your funding and political clout depend on ever-growing homelessness numbers. They even partnered with the University of Washington to hand out the flyers. Because if there’s one thing that fixes a housing crisis, it’s professors and posters.
Still, they admit their fancy survey undercounts homeless families and those living in cars. And rural areas? Too hard to reach. But don’t worry—they’re thinking of mobile data hubs next time. Because what King County really needs is more vans full of bureaucrats with clipboards.
In true progressive fashion, they’ve managed to turn a basic headcount into a convoluted academic experiment, complete with delayed results, snowball referrals, and a steady drumbeat of bad news they can leverage for more funding. It’s not about solutions—it’s about sustaining the narrative.
So if you’re wondering how things are going in King County: homelessness is up, accountability is down, and the only thing growing faster than tent encampments is the bureaucratic spin. Read more at Center Square.
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