As the end of the year approaches, we here at Shift would like to share the Top 10 most absurd things Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant—who it’s often hard to distinguish from the typical liberal Democrat but is a self-proclaimed socialist—has done and/or said in 2014. Though, it was rather difficult to keep the list to just 10 moments… Enjoy!
- Sawant’s arrest at a protest in SeaTac over Alaska Airline’s push to block the $15 minimum wage. Sawant compared her “life-threatening” situation to “all the best activists in the past and in the present.”
- Sawant’s attempt, after being charged with disorderly conduct, to deflect blame. Rather than accept responsibility for breaking the law, the socialist claimed the “justice system is broken.” She said, “Why do workers face charges when they peacefully campaign for their rights, while corporate criminals go free? Our justice system is broken. As long as their movement continues, I will stand with workers in Sea-Tac.”
- Sawant’s call for a “militant” movement to stop global warming. Her words, “And what we were talking about last night was that this collective action needs to be channeled into a really radical, militant, nonviolent mass movement that will raise concrete political demands.”
- Sawant’s demand that the Seattle City Council send a letter to President Barack Obama demanding that the U.S. cut off military aid to Israel. When the Council refused, Sawant said the letter would only be from her.
- Sawant’s insistence that she is receiving media attention not because of the economic absurdity that is a $15 minimum wage, but because of the energy and passion exhibited by the movement she helped start…. And because “people everywhere are questioning the capitalist system.” According to Sawant, the Cold War gave Communism a bad name, but “a lot of people are rational today, especially the ones who weren’t around in the Cold War.”
- Sawant’s failure to understand how providing tax rebates to private developers who build apartment complexes affordable to lower-middle-class residents helps create more low-income housing options in Seattle. The rebate program produced 2,563 affordable units over the past 12 years, compared with Sawant’s preferred fee program’s 616. Yet, Sawant claimed that the tax rebate program meant that “the working people are paying while the developers are getting a [giveaway].”
- Sawant’s objection to Kathleen O’Toole’s appointment as Seattle’s police chief (Sawant cast the lone “NO” vote). Why? Because O’Toole dared to say she intended to run the police department like an efficient business. Sawant said, “Ms. O’Toole has said that she would like to run SPD like a business. By that she means she wants SPD to be efficient and accountable. While I don’t doubt her sincerity at all, that is troubling to me…”
- Sawant’s sponsorship of a measure to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day in Seattle. Her resolution stated, “The City of Seattle has a responsibility to oppose the systematic racism towards Indigenous people in the United States, which perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality, exacerbating disproportionate health, education, and social crises.” The City Council passed the resolution unanimously.
- Sawant’s highly inflammatory statements that perpetuated the general feeling of animosity toward Seattle’s police and businesses prior to the annual May Day protests. She said, “The corporations and the super-wealthy are celebrating billions in profits while the rest of us face skyrocketing poverty and inequality…And we are fighting back… We must rely on our own strength. The Seattle Police have an unfortunate track record of violence and cracking down on activists and using pepper spray indiscriminately…”
- Sawant’s failure to win the support of the King County Labor Council (KCLC) for her employee head and parking tax proposal. Why? Sawant passed out fliers supporting her new tax that were not made by a union printer, a strict requirement of the KCLC. Instead, in a lapse of socialist judgment, she went with the most cost-effective option.
BONUS: Though not a 2014 event, any list of the absurd things Sawant has done or said would not be complete without her call for machinists to take over Boeing after the union rejected a new contract deal. She said,
“The executives don’t do the work, the machinists do… We can re-tool the machines to produce mass transit like buses, instead of destructive, you know, war machines…We don’t need the executives; we need Boeing to be under democratic, public ownership by workers, by the community…Let’s redo the machines to build mass transit and help society.”
You dumb phucks in Seattle who elected this commie deserve her!
I would propose that stupid acts in Seattle be considered a “Sawantism”. Defined as a mental disability involving a lack of logic.
You guys here at shiftwa.org do seem to be bit, um, obsessed with our young lady Councilmember. For a blog whose stated purpose is “…for shifting the debate in Olympia”, the activities of a Seattle *city* politician certainly command a lot of your attention. Maybe because she is heard, and you are not?
First off shift washington realize’s how
The seattle population has a huge voting block! It’s difficult at best for the rest of the state to share our commen sense value’s.secondly. Us commen sense voter’s see the ridiculous antic’s she display’s. We just pray she doesn’t infect the rest of government!
First off shift washington realize’s how The seattle population has a huge voting block!
Seattle has nine percent of Washington state’s population, down from ten percent twenty years ago. You’re telling me ninety-plus percent of the state’s population can’t make their influence felt? Really?
It’s difficult at best for the rest of the state to share our commen sense value’s [sic]
Seattle and “the rest of the state” voted overwhelmingly to pass I-594, after all of our elected representatives in Olympia refused to do so. It seems we share “common sense values” well enough. (Why has this site not yet published a story on this huge “shift” in Olympia’s politics, which we voters collectively brought?)
We just pray she doesn’t infect the rest of government!
She ran for state legislature from a district in Seattle, and was trounced. I doubt you have much to worry about there.
I-594 is not exactly going to be enforceable. People that supported it admitted that enforcement would be the same as enforcing the seatbelt law. Laughable at best.
Since you brought up initiatives, why
Is there no requirement to include how these are to be funded? (Ie. The recent class size initiative). If you want to circumvent the legislative process, tell us how it will be funded for Christ sake. The legislature needs to include funding sources, so why not???
People that supported it admitted…
You just got caught flat-out fabricating the only example you had to support whatever point you thought you were making, and, having totally failed to provide the other examples of which you so proudly boasted, you’re now back with more complete fabrications. Priceless!
Have you yet comprehended why we in Seattle don’t heed your unsolicited advice?
Nope, didn’t think so.
“(Why has this site not yet published a story on this huge “shift” in Olympia’s politics, which we voters collectively bought?) There, I fixed your misspelling.
Well, I guess that’s another way of putting it, if votes are indeed the currency most respected in Olympia. However you want to phrase it, we voters did indeed “shift” the debate in Olympia on I-594, from “no” to “yes” — the most complete and decisive shift made there on any issue of late. And yet, a web site supposedly dedicated to just such action has completely failed to take any notice of our shift, preferring instead to keep obsessively posting about the youngest woman on the Seattle City Council.
“However you want to phrase it, carpetbagger Bloomberg’s millions did indeed “shift” the debate in Olympia on I-594, from “no” to “yes”” There, fixed that for you, too
Bill Gates was born and raised in Washington state. Do you even know what the term “carpetbagger” means?
So, when is shiftwa.org going to write about our huge shift in Olympia’s political debate? I’d like to have an on-topic dialog here about it.
I know exactly what carpetbagger means. It means Michael Bloomberg coming in as the #1 donor to purchase a gun registry in our state. I didn’t mention Bill Gates in my post. If you saw him there, maybe you should get your special “liberal vision glasses” checked.
It means Michael Bloomberg coming in as the #1 donor to purchase a gun registry in our state.
If by “gun registry,” you meant I-594, you’re not even close. The PDC database shows Michael Bloomberg giving $285,000 toward I-594’s passage, while Paul Allen gave half a million dollars, Bill and Melinda Gates gave a total of a million dollars, Nick Hanauer gave a million dollars, and Steve Ballmer and his wife gave over a total of a million dollars (in multiple smaller donations). If you want to accuse Gates, Allen, Ballmer, and Hanauer of being “carpetbaggers,” please go right ahead.
Meanwhile, most of the money to oppose I-594 came from the National Rifle Association of Fairfax, Virginia, so if you want to use the term “carpetbagger” correctly, you can start by targeting them.
Silly communist. Bloomberg personally gave $285,000. Moms demand a gun registry and Everytown for gun registries are both founded and funded by the carpetbagger and bring his total purchase price to around $4 million. #1 with a bullet
[citation needed]
Biff, tensor is a walking encyclopedia what he says is the truth. You need to learn from this person. Tensor is highly educated and will ask for citation when someone speaks, and he will politely tell you that you are not worthy of his status as the most intelligent person known to men. He is a member of Mensa. Tensor’s IQ score is 230. He definetely doesn’t need to cite his comments at all.
Ben, if you look up-thread, you can read the links I provided to substantiate my claims; if you have a problem with any of them, please so describe. Biff has made a claim as to the origin and funding of certain political-action groups, and I have asked him to provide the basis or bases for his claim; he may do so, or not, as he pleases.
Plus, it’s more than a bit silly for you to go on about what anyone else knows. You have yet to provide any evidence for your repeated claims that I smoke marijuana, or for your assertions here that I am a member of Mensa, or what my IQ score might be. (On that last point, I can’t recall ever having had my IQ tested.)
As for my supposed belief in my “status as the most intelligent person known to men,” at least I don’t yell that anyone who disagrees with me is a “sheep”.
Wow, tensor you need to calm down with that sheep and marijuana use or you will stroke out. Let the past go. It is time for you to look into the future.
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I am telling everyone how the superiority of your ego is making you better than others in your mind?
Sheep, dope-smoker, Mensa member, lord of the 1% — you make this guy tensor sound like a very interesting fellow, much more so than little ol’ me. Any chance I might get to meet him sometime?
Well tensor. You are playing dumb now. Correction lord of the 89%.
Tensor, next time I get a chance to go to Seattle we really should meet. I will bend you over and ram a tube stake in you. I know you will enjoy it.
I’ll laugh this one off, but threats of personal violence, however ridiculously cartoonish, have no place in mature political discourse between adults. I hope the moderator(s) at this site have taken notice of your abusive antics.
Interesting. When you go to your PDC database, out-of-state contributions, you can hover over each state and see the contributions for and against. When you hover over New York, you see “for” garnered $3,578,431.15 or 31.3% of the total raised. Hmm…Those are some pretty stout grassroots, comrade. Growing 3000 miles across country. Why would some carpetbagger in New York contribute such a sum (almost 1/3 of the total) to a Washington State election? Maybe to buy the result they wanted? The “for” total from Washington, D.C. alone is not far from the total raised “against”. When you total up Bloomberg, Gates, Allen, Ballmer and Hanauer you find they gave 62% of the total raised. Of this crew, only Allen gave less alone than the total raised against. Da, I understand you’re cool with a handful of people buying an election, as long as it’s something you like.
We’ll take seriously your opposition to out-of-state money after you condemn the carpetbaggers from Fairfax, Virginia, for providing the majority of the funds to oppose I-594.
Once you’ve done that, you can direct your argument to the Supreme Court; in “Citizens United”, they ruled that money is speech and therefore can’t be restricted.
Meanwhile, any word on when a blog dedicated to “shifting the debate in Olympia” will notice we citizens already did so?
@tensor, you are the best person in the world. We all know what you utter is the truth nothing but the truth so help you science. You always counter what others say and ask for citation however, you always stand by what you say and it is the truth.
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You are highly educated with an IQ of 230 how can you stoop at our level and talk to us. We are not worthy of your au courant and presence. We shall not look you in the eyes for we are lower than you.
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We understand that you are the 99% and execrate the 1% whom provide jobs to the 99%. Although, you think that you are for the 99% that is not factual. The 10% of Americans are in fact self reliant and don’t need to be babysitting from the 99% and big daddy government. In actuality you are the 89%.
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“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.” – Thomas Jefferson
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“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
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The 89% were bamboozled by Pres. Bush after the 9/11 with the Patriot Act which destroyed our freedom and privacy, spent money on 2 wars. When Pres. Obama came in with “Yes, We can” and “Change” the 89% were bamboozled once again. Pres. Obama brought bigger government, the US Debt was double during his first 4 years tenure, higher taxes, and financially jostled middle class.
This is why that I am not a Liberal or Conservative and refuse to label myself like the 90% (including the 1%) like cattles. This remindes me of a story that you might find interesting.
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Once upon a time there were 2 types of herd which lived their lives as they saw fit. One was the domesticated cows which had a home, healthcare, food all provided by their government, care taker. They never knew what life is like outside the fence. They would eat, give birth to calfs, paid their dues daily with producing milk, and if the weather was not so nice they would go to their nifty homes and found food there as well. Life is so great for these cows that all is provided without worrying about their future. Cows were thinking what a great life of equality and freedom, where everyone gets their fair share.
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One day a deer stumbled upon the fenced area of the farm and with curiosity smelled the fence and tried to figure out what is going on the other side. The deer noticed a cow happy-go-lucky grazing through the farm. The deer called on the cow and asked what is this place? The cow looked at the deer with startled stare and responded – “This is our country Liquidation House”. The cow now curious of why this deer is the other side of the fence asked – “Where do you sleep?”. The deer answered, – “I sleep anywhere there is a shade at night.” – The cow was surprised of the answer and started to laugh. Once the cow ended laughing she asked – “Where is your care taker?” The deer answered we don’t need care takers we are self reliant, eventhough that our life may be harder than yours, but we have freedom to roam around and be treated like an adults.” The deer went on saying “We may not have all your equality but our freedom is more important that is what make us stronger and not easily fooled by the so called care takers. Our lives are not controlled or chosen when to die by the care takers” The cow felt shook-up and did not know what to say and returned to the rest of the herd. The cow told the story to a group of her friends and they rediculed and laugh at her.
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Later that night the cow started to reflect on the deers comments and wanted to taste that freedom and thought about how to obtain it. The next morning the cow spoke up again about the deer’s life, but the majority dismissed her as crazy. A few did like the idea and planned to escape to freedom, when the care taker noticed what the cows were about to do, he felt sorry for them and said “Would you like that freedom?” The cows said yes. The care taker said okay line-up here by this other house and move right in and I will give you the freedom. Once they were in the door behind them closed and the care taker slaughtered the leader and the rest realized that their freedom was an illusion under the care taker.
Last time I checked Sawant was on the Seattle City Council…. But she is committed to the workers of Sea Tac?? The scary thing is she is using the Alinsky playbook and pulling the wool over the eyes of the Seattle liberal voting block who don’t know any better!
And you Capitol Hill liberals seem to be bit (sic), um, obsessed with shiftwa.org. For somebody that holds this website in such disdain, it certainly command (sic) a lot of your attention. Maybe because it’s heard, and you’re desperately trying to make it seem like it’s not?
Here’s a hint, Biff: there are a few nyms in the comment threads here which also appear in the comments of the late and unlamented (un)SoundPolitics site. If you want to claim (u)SP was greatly influential over, say, the final nine years of its existence, go right ahead — just be careful not to compare the positions and candidates endorsed there with the actual results of our real elections.
The actions taken in the Socialist Republic of Seattle unfortunately bleed into the real world surrounding itself. We in the outskirts do not care for that kind of insane desire to ruin our economies.
Seattle has seen large job and population growth over the past several years:
Last year [2013], Seattle grew faster than any other major American city, according to population estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau.
From July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013, Seattle grew by 2.8 percent — the highest rate among the 50 most-populous U.S. cities. Seattle added nearly 18,000 residents in the one-year period, bringing its population to about 652,000.
[…]
According to Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, the city added nearly 15,000 new jobs between 2012 and 2013.
So, Seattle is attracting fresh blood and putting it to work. What part of that do you find objectionable?
Yet the City Council irrationally raises the City minimum wage to $15 per hour regardless of testimony from some me highly regarded business owners or the fact that not one of them have EVER owned a business.
Want more examples, cuz I can keep going
“…not one of them have EVER owned a business.”
Seattle City Council Member Tim Burgess:
A Seattle native, Tim has been involved in local community and government matters for the past 45 years. He brings a diversity of experience to the City Council, having worked as a journalist, Seattle police officer and detective, global anti-poverty worker and small business owner.
Seattle City Council Member Mike O’Brien:
He served for 10 years as the chief financial officer at the local law firm of Stokes Lawrence, where he oversaw budgeting, financial reporting, and forecasting.
“Want more examples, cuz I can keep going”
I’m sure they’re every bit as fictional as the one you just gave.
“He served for 10 years as the chief financial officer at the local law firm of Stokes Lawrence, where he oversaw budgeting, financial reporting, and forecasting”
Being a CFO at a law firm is not quite the same thing as owning a business.
“A Seattle native, Tim has been involved in local community and government matters for the past 45 years. He brings a diversity of experience to the City Council, having worked as a journalist, Seattle police officer and detective, global anti-poverty worker and small business owner”
When the vague “small business owner” comes at the end of a packed bio, it means fluff thrown in because it sounds good or Tim was a Fuller Brush Man when he was 20. It doesn’t mean he has ever owned and ran a business so without more specificity, nice try but no, none of them has owned a viable business, least of all your commie queen.
Thanks for the support. I am a Democrat, but I understand Finance and business as well having been a CPA for 35 years and a business owner (restaurant) for the past ten years. Being a centrist, I love debating with the entitlement generation. Thinking of changing parties if the representation of my kindergarten party keep going in the same direction to the far left. Granted appeasing socialists is much like the GOP pandering to the Tea Party, but the Seattle City Council seems to have it down to a science.
Despite your taunting boast, you’ve given no non-fictional examples. Thank you for validating my point.
Speaking of examples — fictional or otherwise — do you have any for your original whine, about Seattle’s policies “ruin[ing] the economies” of the surrounding area? For example, if policies are driving businesses out of Seattle, that would benefit the places where those businesses relocate, wouldn’t it?
Being a CFO at a law firm is not quite the same thing as owning a business.
No, but it does involve making payroll for a business, and the point was about private-sector experience with wages and compensation.
It doesn’t mean he has ever owned and ran a business…
Of course not. That’s clearly not what “small business owner” means. (**Snicker**)
Look, we know the facts are, yet again, totally against you, and so you must base your point on nothing but blather. Since this is hardly a novel situation for you, you could at least make your pure speculation sound less painfully contrived.
…none of them has owned a viable business,
The original claim says nothing about a “viable” business. (Reading comprehension, how does it work???)
Given your admiration and support of the last brutal Stalinist dictator in the western hemisphere, I completely understand your crush on Kommiescam Sawrant.
Since you wouldn’t provide any of the examples you boasted of having, I have a couple of recent newspaper articles for you, showing the long-term economic effects of Seattle’s electing of people like Sawant.
From The Everett Herald, 18 December 2014: “The national unemployment rate for November was 5.8 percent, and the unemployment rate in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area dropped slightly to 4.7 percent from October’s 4.8 percent.” (The same article gave the Washington State unemployment rate as 6.2 percent.)
Also, yesterday’s (7 Jan. 2015) edition of the Puget Sound Business Journal had the front-page headline, “Seattle Best Place to Look for Work.”
Obviously, Seattle and the immediate area are suffering severe economic problems from our “Socialist” policies.
I get it that you were obsessed with SoundPolitics before you became obsessed with ShiftWA. Are there any other conservative sites that you’re obsessively stalking? You must be lonely and friendless due to your loony liberal loser lifestyle.
This is a rather poor choice of thread for accusing anyone of obsession. This site’s stated reason for existence is, “shifting the debate in Olympia.” The only known connection between Ms. Sawant and Olympia was when we voters in Seattle refused to send her there, yet a search for her name on this site yields no less than ten posts with her name in their titles! Focusing so much time and effort upon a young woman seems more than a little … creepy, wouldn’t you say?
I understand your crush on Kommiescam. Fidel probably thinks she’s hot, too. It’s that birds of a feather thing
It’s the authors of the posts here who have a “crush on Kommiescam.” They are constantly writing and posting about her every move, even though she is tangential (at best) to their self-proclaimed mission in Olympia.
As a financial contributor to this site, do you consider their repeated postings about her to be a valid use of your funds?
The purview of the Seattle silly clowncil starts and ends at the Seattle city limits. It doesn’t include Sea-Tac, Boeing or foreign aid to Israel. When your adored communist agitator opens her yap on those subjects, she does so as a private citizen and is richly deserving of all the criticism that comes her way. I do consider ShiftWA’s shining a light on communists good, you’d certainly never hear it from leftist MSM
The purview of the Seattle silly clowncil starts and ends at the Seattle city limits.
How much of the city’s watershed is within the city limits?
It doesn’t include Sea-Tac, Boeing or foreign aid to Israel.
Boeing had to obey the sick-leave law the city passed, for all of its employees within the city limits, anyway.
When your adored communist agitator opens her yap on those subjects, she does so as a private citizen and is richly deserving of all the criticism that comes her way.
Sure, but that’s not the stated purpose of this site.
I do consider ShiftWA’s shining a light on communists good, you’d certainly never hear it from leftist MSM.
The Stranger, 30 October 2013: “Kshama Sawant: Return of the Alternative
“Why You Must Vote for a Real, Genuine Socialist”
Don’t get out much, do you?
Comrade, Do you really consider an extreme left fringe rag like The Stranger to be mainstream? You never disappoint by constantly using the most obscure tidbits to prop up your failed case. Maybe you get out too much.
OK, here’s the Seattle Times, endorsing incumbent Richard Conlin over challenger Kshama Sawant: Conlin’s challenger, Kshama Sawant, is an Occupy activist and socialist who advocates a $15 minimum wage and “taxing the rich.” She has accused Conlin of supporting corporate interests over the working class, a charge that has not convinced most of the unions, more of which back Conlin.
Since the Seattle Times agrees with shiftwa.org on Sawant, why not just pay for a subscription to the Times? At least you’d get cartoons and the Sunday magazine.
What is going on tensor? I thought you were the grammar, proper punctuation, proper spelling, proper sentences Nazi. Do you see what happens when your ego is bigger than your head? You trip and fall just like the others.
If I made errors, please do describe them.
Activities command. Activities do not commands. If you’re going to nitpick grammar you should learn some.
Really? Ten months after the fact? And you still didn’t see it? Yeah, there needs to be some learning going on. Judging by your other comment today (only 9 months after the fact this time), there needs to be some serious learning of his-to-ry in your future. Show me a source that says anybody, anywhere, anytime claimed Hitler was a brave anti-soviet fighter. Where are you getting this stuff, The Stoner’s Guide to History? I’ll clue you in: USSR stands for the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Nazi is a German acronym for the National Socialist Party. FDR thought government could take care of everybody, also known as a socialist. Ya see any common word there? Yep, all hard-core Leftists. What a lame attempt to smear conservatives.
She is heard at what cost?
Whether the cost is worth it is something for we voters in Seattle to decide. I doubt very much the obsession the anonymous posters at this hard-partisan Republican web site have shown about her will count against her in Seattle’s elections.
I agree that Seattle should decide if the cost is worthed, but if it costs liberty there is no way to get it back.
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You guys should vote for her as the Senator or Governor and see what she does. She is power hungry, watch out!
Proof provided by Sawant that liberalism in its extreme form is not a political philosophy, it is a mental disorder.
Throughout this thread, there are numerous comments by Tensor. Debating him is like fishing with dynamite, and is entertaining to a point, but you will soon find that his sole purpose here is to insult and cajole you without a modicum of logic. I personally am done with senseless counterpoint. His defense of Sawant leads me to believe that he is just another minimum wage employee looking to her as a savior rather than the nut job she truly is. Have fun challenging him, but don’t expect any substance
Speaking of “substance,” we still see exactly zero of the “more examples” of which you so recently boasted. Sad, but also sadly predictable, especially at a site like this one.
What, exactly, was the relevance of the one (fictional) example you *did* give? Is there indeed a connection between administering a small business, and legislating for a big city? If so, you need to demonstrate it with (non-fictional) examples, not just assume the truth of it. In any case, our new $15/hour minimum wage policy will succeed or fail on its own merits, without any regard to the identities of the Council Members who approved it.
… just another minimum wage employee looking to her as a savior …
We can confidently add me to the long and growing list of topics of which you know nothing.
tensor, are you offended?
“In any case, our new $15/hour minimum wage policy will succeed or fail on its own merits, without any regard to the identities of the Council Members who approved it.”
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The joke is on you and the people who voted this totalitarian as a Council Member. The one that is voted in the government reflects the voters of Seattle. The 15/hour minimum wage policy will fail on the people of Seattle merits not on its own. Everyone outside of King Country knows that is a bad deal for the people, but since everyone in King County are the most educated the rest of us are dismissed as crazy.
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You need to blame where it all started from, you and the people of Seattle. You are so book smart that common sense is not part of your vocabulary.
We liberals have a political joke: the only thing right-wingers ever recycle are smears. Fifty years ago, Rev. King was smeared as a Communist by Jesse Helms.
If you have any answer to the economic data I’ve cited in this thread, please cite it. Compared to the rest of the country and state, Seattle has higher wages, lower unemployment, and greater opportunity. If you don’t approve of those things, just say so.
Or, you can go to this thread and answer my question there: “Given both the size of our state’s minimum-wage, and the duration under which it has been in effect, you should have no problem showing the tremendous economic damage it has caused to our state. If you do not, then why should we take seriously your groundless assertion about Seattle’s minimum wage?”
Good night, and good luck!
Idiot
… but you will soon find that his sole purpose here is to insult and cajole you without a modicum of logic.
Don’t need logic. Just read the dribble
Have fun challenging him, but don’t expect any substance
You can go to this thread and answer my question there: “Given both the size of our state’s minimum-wage, and the duration under which it has been in effect, you should have no problem showing the tremendous economic damage it has caused to our state. If you do not, then why should we take seriously your groundless assertion about Seattle’s minimum wage?”
Don’t worry — we don’t expect any such substantiative answer from you.
I’d love to continue debating you Tensor, but it would continue as a unilateral debate. All you do is lamely attempt to add what you consider an argument, only resulting in a senseless diatribe. It’s getting boring for myself be I am sure the others reading it, so I will leave you to torment others. To those reading this, have fun trying to apply any form of logic. He won’t get it!
I’d love to continue debating you Tensor,
I’d love to have you start. How about those “more examples” of which you bragged? How about an example of how the “insane desire” of the “Socialist Republic of Seattle” works “to ruin our economies”? Here in this very thread, I’ve quoted the economic data, showing the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett region having a lower unemployment rate than the rest of the state and country. The Puget Sound Business Journal has called Seattle the best place to look for work. Washington state’s high minimum wage has done little to handicap our economic performance when compared to neighboring states.
No, it’s far easier for you to engage in name-calling and self-righteous condemnations; facts just don’t agree with your claims, and I believe even you know this very well.
All that Seattle is experiencing right now is smoke and mirrors. All will fall and you shall see that the government that you voted and trust is a fake.
* Roughly 75% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, with essentially zero savings, according to a recent study by Bankrate.
* The “labor force participation rate” (basically the percentage of able-bodied people who are actually working) has fallen every year since 2007 and is at its lowest level since the 1970s. (Source: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
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* The number of people on food stamps has basically doubled since Barack Obama took office. (Source: Census Bureau)
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* 49% of Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program EVERY SINGLE month. (Source: Census Bureau)
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* Money supply has increased by 400% since 2006—all just printed out of thin air. Watch what will happen to the $15 per hour minimum wages, Seattle Utopia, and your wages with that money making machine that the FEDS print out of. Our dollar is something straight out of Weimar Germany or the last 20 years in Zimbabwe. Look what happened to them.
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* National debt doubled since 2006. You would think with budget cuts and stopping the war on terror that Pres. Bush started, you would imagine the national debt would not double.
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Stop bragging about the smoke and mirrors that the government of WA and the feds show you. You will be the first one to cry over spilled milk, when you lose your savings dollar value, and you will not able to buy a loaf of bread at today’s price. I bet you will regret to disregard the information that I am providing you today. It is up to you to stop living as if nothing will happen illusions. It will not matter if you are a liberal or conservative you will be hurting for a long time.
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Don’t worry Communisim will take root in the US vacuum power, after our government fails, and they will feed, cloth, and provide shelter for you for free. They will show to the people a new set of smoke and mirrors which people will believe or have no choice because of their empty stomach, homelessness, and unclothed bodies. This is what you and the suppose 99% want, actual 89% (minus 10% self reliant and 1 % wealthy). The 11% will not be affected by the pain and tears that you will encounter after those mirrors come down. Believe it or not there is a safety net that will catch all when our US Constitution crumbles, it is called Socialism/Communism. Yes, the wealthy 1%, the elite, and the politicians will run the show with a new constitution. It is out there secretly stashed awaiting for the government to collapse. Do you remember FDR and his wife wrote a “new constitution”? Shhh, we are not suppose to know that it will take effect. I think FDR knew where our country was heading.
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Here are some fun facts for you to enjoy:
GOLD RESERVE facts. Look, we are ranking #4 as of Year 2013. Switzerland ranked in #2 as of 2013. (Is WA the best state with low unemployement still?)
1. China – Year 2010 – $2,913,711,653,594 / Year 2011 – $3,254,674,122,432 / Year 2012 – $3,387,512,975,177 / Year 2013 – $3,880,368,275,099 (China has the most gold in the world)
2. Switzerland – Year 2010 – $270,479,800,683 / Year 2011 – $330,585,901,719 / Year 2012 $531,302,253,382 / Year 2013 – $536,235,292,234 (almost doubled based on 2010)
3. Russian Federation – Year 2010 – $479,222,291,459 / Year 2011 – $497,410,247,573 / Year 2012 – $537,816,373,775 / Year 2013 – $509,692,081,493 (about 1% increase based on 2010)
4. United States of America – Year 2010 – $488,928,295,253 / Year 2011 – $537,267,272,428 Year 2012 – $574,268,090,541 / Year 2013 $448,508,967,142 (pretty much we are at tbased on 2010).
Here is Saudi Arabia gold reserve. Since they are the world oil exporters I did not rank with the above countries because they are not big oil exporters.
Year 2010 – $459,313,156,024 / Year 2011 – $556,570,991,484 / Year 2012 $673,739,617,131 / Year 2013 – $737,796,506,890
“If the currency collapses, everything else goes with it… stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.” – James Rickards ( financial lawyer and consultant for the U.S. government)
DO YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION HOW YOUR STATE AND THE FEDS ARE SHOWING YOU SMOKE AND MIRRORS? Keep bragging and you and your ego will crash right at the same time those mirrors will come down. Think of the Deer and the Cow story that I told you, I will be talking with you outside that fence that the government has put you and the 89% in.
DO YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION HOW YOUR STATE AND THE FEDS ARE SHOWING YOU SMOKE AND MIRRORS?
No, Ben, as I’ve already written, I want you to answer the following: if Seattle and King County have followed liberal policies for decades, then why, right now, is the unemployment rate in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area lower than the overall unemployment rate in Washington State — and lower than the national unemployment rate? Why does the Puget Sound Business Journal say Seattle is the best place to look for work?
I couldn’t possibly care less about your dystopian futures which never seem to arrive . I want to know why decades of liberal policies have left Seattle in such good economic shape right now.
Sorry for answering late but I had another business meeting in IL.
1. Smoke and Mirrors my friend. You need to get the actual unemployed numbers not what the Dept. of Labor is saying. Once someone has reached the maximum amount of benefits that they can receive, the Dept. of Labor no longer accounts for those numbers, because there is no way for the Department to know if those unemployed ever got a job after their unemployment benefits stops. So, the numbers that Dept of Labor are not exact.
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2. “I couldn’t possibly care less about your dystopian futures which never seem to arrive .” If you feel that way it is your prerogative, however the fact that you think that way it doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Make sure you keep the blinders on and live a life of smoke and mirrors.
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3. If that was true that Seattle is in in economic shape there wouldn’t be homeless, hungry children, and families barely making it paycheck to paycheck. The government of WA would have a community center to get these folks off the streets, but since the State of Washington is on the red there is no way to help those folks.
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4. Almost 8 years of Liberal ruling in this country and what we have is higher taxes, Obamacare promises lower rates and keep your insurance deal broken, the national debt has doubled since 2006. We have the highest debt in the world, $18T USD. Watch when the other countries (China, Russia, Japan to name a few) will stop purchasing bonds and cash in the rest. Tell me what will happen to this nice Liberals & Conservatives Utopia frame of mind.
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5. China has surpassed us as far as gold reserve. Now we are ranking #4 after Switzerland and Russia.
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6. “If the currency collapses, everything else goes with it… stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.” – James Rickards ( financial lawyer and consultant for the U.S. government)
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It is a matter of time, what you call my dystopian future, will come and bite the people’s rump. I would love to see how you and the 89% reactions when the government collapses. Tell me something, is it a constitutional right to live in a home? Own a car? Have a high paying job no matter what level of education one might have? Have an education after high school? Wealthy should have a cap of how much thay make? Companies should be owned by the government? Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A should not open, according to folks commenting in the Stranger a while back, in Olympia and Tacoma respectively. That The propaganda paper smells like ultra left wing fish. Everytime I travel to Seattle I read the Stranger and the only thing I can do is chuckle of the absudity and asinine information the readers and supporters of the Stranger believe in and stave off reality and call it illusions.
Last, is it true that Seattle 89% and hippies are anti-military? I heard this story since after the 9/11. Since you live there I was hopping that you have a good answer for me. Did you know that the military personnel invest money and keep part of your State economy running as well?
Sorry for answering late but I had another business meeting in IL.
1. Smoke and Mirrors my friend. You need to get the actual unemployed numbers not what the Dept. of Labor is saying. Once someone has reached the maximum amount of benefits that they can receive, the Dept. of Labor no longer accounts for those numbers, because there is no way for the Department to know if those unemployed ever got a job after their unemployment benefits stops. So, the numbers that Dept of Labor are not exact.
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2. “I couldn’t possibly care less about your dystopian futures which never seem to arrive .” If you feel that way it is your prerogative, however the fact that you think that way it doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Make sure you keep the blinders on and live a life of smoke and mirrors.
.
3. If that was true that Seattle is in in economic shape there wouldn’t be homeless, hungry children, and families barely making it paycheck to paycheck. The government of WA would have a community center to get these folks off the streets, but since the State of Washington is on the red there is no way to help those folks.
.
4. Almost 8 years of Liberal ruling in this country and what we have is higher taxes, Obamacare promises lower rates and keep your insurance deal broken, the national debt has doubled since 2006. We have the highest debt in the world, $18T USD. Watch when the other countries (China, Russia, Japan to name a few) will stop purchasing bonds and cash in the rest. Tell me what will happen to this nice Liberals & Conservatives Utopia frame of mind.
.
5. China has surpassed us as far as gold reserve. Now we are ranking #4 after Switzerland and Russia.
.
6. “If the currency collapses, everything else goes with it… stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.” – James Rickards ( financial lawyer and consultant for the U.S. government)
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It is a matter of time, what you call my dystopian future, will come and bite the people’s rump. I would love to see how you and the 89% reactions when the government collapses. Tell me something, is it a constitutional right to live in a home? Own a car? Have a high paying job no matter what level of education one might have? Have an education after high school? Wealthy should have a cap of how much thay make? Companies should be owned by the government? Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A should not open, according to folks commenting in the Stranger a while back, in Olympia and Tacoma respectively. That The propaganda paper smells like ultra left wing fish. Everytime I travel to Seattle I read the Stranger and the only thing I can do is chuckle of the absudity and asinine information the readers and supporters of the Stranger believe in and stave off reality and call it illusions.
Last, is it true that Seattle 89% and hippies are anti-military? I heard this story since after the 9/11. Since you live there I was hopping that you have a good answer for me. Did you know that the military personnel invest money and keep part of your State economy running as well?
Our dollar is something straight out of Weimar Germany or the last 20 years in Zimbabwe.
Here is the graph of the dollar:euro exchange rate. Please note the dollar is at a decade-long high against the euro.
May I see the graph? it did not show. Send link.
tensor, what if Kshama become the governor or senator do you think she will make great changes to make Boeing and Microsoft and Bank of America government owned? I think that would be great thing for WA if that happened it will be a great cost for the people of WA.
Hi tensor, check the graph of the dollar, euro exchange rate now. I can’t wait when Queen Hillary becomes president. She will spend more money and will triple the debt, meanwhile China buys more gold. I will give another 8 year whether a rep or dem will be in the white house the economy will collapse.
” Do you remember FDR and his wife wrote a “new constitution”? Shhh, we are not suppose to know that it will take effect.” I point to this to show how the right-wing opposition, when challenged rationally, has nothing to fall back on but conspiracy theories. You conservatives objected to FDR at the time too. You objected to his anti-Naziism on the grounds that you thought Hitler was a brave anti-soviet fighter.
You are confused liberal sheep. Please wear your blinders and follow your shepherd.
You are brainwashed. You need to research in history books, not the revised ones that conforms to your brainwashed ideologies.
Hitler was a POS just like the Soviets. I bet that you wish to live in a Soviet Socialist Liberal utopia world.
Tensor, did you read the information that I wrote for you and the rest to see? I guess you have nothing to say about it, I am surprised. You wanted substance and evidence of what will happen to Seattle “higher minimum-wage and low employment” along with the rest of the country’s smoke and mirrors, I hope this helps.
I know those racist REP always oppressing people, including Pres Lincoln (REP) outlawed slavery and the liberals were against it fought tooth and nails, but of course that is not mentioned on history books written after 1970’s.
“The workingmen of Europe feel sure that, as the American War of Independence initiated a new era of ascendancy for the middle class, so the American Antislavery War will do for the working classes. They consider it an earnest of the epoch to come that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln, the single-minded son of the working class, to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world. —Karl Marx and …the First International Workingmen’s Association to Lincoln, 1864”
“There has never been but one question in all civilization-how to keep a few men from saying to many men: You work and earn bread and we will eat it.” —Abraham lincoln
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
—Abraham lincoln
“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.” —Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was an avid admirer of socialism and the Republican party platform had the abolition of wage slavery as one of its founding planks. He was pen pals with Robert Owen, whom he thought brilliant. The parties switched Liberal/Conservative after Taft ran as a Republican and then governed from the right to environmentalist Teddy Roosevelt’s shock and horror, although in much of the south the switch came later due to conservative hostility toward Lincoln. The Republican party in Lincoln’s day was well known to be the Liberal party, the party of big government and social justice opposed to the pro states rights and tradition Democrats
…and now the liberals are the Republicans of yesterday .
“radical, militant, nonviolent mass movement ”
Dumb broad doesn’t know what militant means.
She NEEDS to take her ass back to India, we have quite enough liberal foreign-trash here already!!!
Foreign-trash like Kshama move here, get elected to local government to change what’s here and what works for the US to what socialists, communists, and others have tried before.
Why do you have to make it racial? Oh, maybe it’s because you ARE a racist!! Why don’t you go back to the set of Deliverance and shove that racist banjo up your arse?
How did I make it racial, shit for brains? Me, racist? I think not butt-rammer, being a White man, I try verrry hard NOT to be racist specifically for situations such as this.
Also being mildly psychic and empathic, I can see both sides, MY side and the wrong side.
Julian I can assure you I was not part of that fiasco. I live about 45 miles away from that F-ed up City of Seattle. Who in their right mind would vote for this crazy, messed up in the head women!
I am beside myself as to who thinks she is doing a good job? Are they that messed up in Seattle?!
Read her body language, gestures and statements. She suffers from megalomania. All her efforts are not for the people but to ruthlessly push her brand as far to the top as she can.
If Seattle would pass a stupidity tax. The city council would be working for free.