For a second time, Governor Jay Inslee has contracted the COVID virus, which is the latest evidence of how illogical and unscientific his vaccine mandate for state employees truly is and why it should be lifted.  We assume the governor is fully vaccinated and has all of the booster shots, and that he has followed all of his guidelines to prevent being infected and spreading the virus to others.

In keeping with his administration’s penchant for secrecy, there are no reports on how many people Governor Inslee might have risked infecting since he himself became infected. A press release from the governor’s office stated he will maintain his normally very light workload and attend his very few scheduled meetings virtually.

Representative Cyndy Jacobsen last week informed Shift that she introduced legislation (HB 1029) to end the governor’s “unfair and unwise” vaccine mandate to “allow a path back to re-employment for these valued workers (who were fired by Inslee’s hyper-partisan mandate) who want to come back and encourage municipalities and the private sector to do the same.” (MyNorthwest, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Shift Newsmaker Interview)

Liberal and extremely partisan Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal posted a tweet yesterday in which he degraded parents who are pursuing more educational options for their children or who are seeking to improve the state’s failing public education system.  SPI Reykdal’s tweet proclaimed, “The history of education in the 21st Century will begin with “reformers” privatizing public schools for profit; followed by right-wing extremists dehumanizing teachers; followed by the re-segregation of schools in the name of “choice”. If public education falls, democracy fails.”

Where do we start in describing the many faults with his inflammatory demagoguery?  Remember, SPI Reykdal is not a stranger with making embarrassingly divisive tweets, as he did with this one on 2019 election night that rightfully caused such an uproar that he was forced to delete it (not before we grabbed a screenshot, of course).

Evidently, the SPI is not concerned about the massive taxpayer-funded “profits” obtained by teachers’ unions.  The unions’ continue to use illegal strikes to obtain even more taxpayer money, more compulsory dues-paying members, and more platinum-level insurance and retirement benefits which have caused school districts to run massive deficits and forced them to cut educational programs to feed the unions.

The SPI himself practices a “dehumanizing” strategy by labeling all parents who simply want more choices and a better public school system as “right-wing extremists.” It is very sad SPI Reykdal refuses to work with all parents, even those with different sets of beliefs, and instead he chooses to insult their viewpoints.

Finally, the SPI should be very familiar with the failings of the public education system he oversees. During his reign, the state’s school system was embarrassingly unprepared to meet the needs of students at the start of the pandemic. Student test scores have plummeted and the state’s public school enrollment has sharply declined under his style of “leadership”. Maybe if the SPI was less worried about partisan politics and more concerned with making education his primary responsibility, our state’s education system would actually be educating our children so they can be productive members of our society. (Reykdal twitter, Shift article, CNN, KING5 News, The Center Square, and KIRO News)

While SPI Reykdal is concerned about companies making a profit by improving the state’s education system, neither he nor other liberals make any mention of the liberal corporations which will profit from Governor Inslee negatively impacting lower-income households by dramatically increasing the price of gas in Washington State.  Capital Press reports that the Sacramento- and Quebec- based company Western Climate initiative Inc. will make an incredible $2.9 million dollars to run the online auctions for the governor’s Cap and Trade policies.  Last week it was reported that the policy has already raised the price for a gallon of gas by 25 cents over the price paid in neighboring western states. This occurred despite Democrat lawmakers lying that the policy would only increase the price of gas by “less than 1 cent per gallon.”   These false Democrat promises will no doubt bring much comfort to lower-waged workers as they pay much more to fill up their gas tanks to get to their job, as will knowing that they are giving some of their wages to wealthy California and Canadian environmentalists who will undoubtedly find a way to send some of that taxpayer money back to Democrat political campaigns. (Capitol Press, Western Climate initiative Inc.,  Washington Policy Center, and Shift)

[un]Divided’s Brandi Kruse continues to lead the attack on liberal politicians who consistently attempt to impede the work of journalists who have the gall to ask them tough questions.  Kruse obtained through public record requests the internal emails of some communications staff members of liberal politicians.  After reviewing these communications, Kruse reports, “Taken together, they paint a troubling narrative of how Democratic leaders are seeking to crush independent media dissent through rules that seem nearly impossible to apply consistently.“

Kruse details internal conversations of Democrat staffers attempting to figure out ways to avoid providing information to independent journalists and to those who work for moderate or conservative organizations or media companies.  Taxpayer-funded staff members from Governor Inslee, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell have all attempted to prevent non-liberal journalists from obtaining information about what government is doing – or not doing. As we note in the story below, many liberals are seeking deny the constitutionally protected freedom of speech to some people while liberal politicians attack the constitutional right of freedom of the press.  Makes one wonder what are the secrets the liberals are trying to protect. ([un]Divided Patreon account)

University of Washington’s Atmospheric Science Professor Cliff Mass wrote a very insightful blog post on the UW administration’s latest attempts to limit free speech on campus.  Professor Mass reports that an extensive national survey from the non-partisan group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ranked the UW dead last of all public universities in the country for allowing and promoting free speech on campus.  The professor describes many of his free speech battles against environmental extremists (who hate when Professor Mass introduces science into climate discussions, especially science they disagree with) and the region’s liberal establishment who believe their “woke” mentality allows them to squelch the free speech of others.

Along with providing some of the latest incidents where the UW Administration has sought to limit the free exchange of ideas, Professor Mass reports on groups which are organizing on campus to fight back against those who want to limit free speech.  Huskies for Liberty is a growing nonpartisan student organization providing a voice to those who are being attacked by anti-free speech liberal professors and students when they express ideas that do not toe the line with liberal doctrine.

Many UW faculty members are joining the national nonpartisan organization Heterodox Academy  (HxA) which defines its mission “To improve the quality of research and education in universities by increasing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement.” The local members of HxA have been at the forefront in successfully fighting many of the anti-free speech mandates the UW administration has sought to impose on faculty members and students. (Cliff Mass blog, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey of universities’, Shift Newsmaker Interview, and Heterodox Academy website)

Representative Joel Kretz (R – Wauconda) has introduced legislation to improve the quality of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Commissioners by paying them for their work.  Representative Kretz, who raises cattle and horses on his Okanogan County ranch, said that many of the current commissioners are unqualified for the position, yet they are selected because they have an outside source of income which allows them to not worry about being paid for the 12 – 15 days of work per month they are asked to perform.

Representative Kretz said qualified people from his 7^th Legislative District (the largest district in the state and the one often most impacted by WDFW decisions) simply cannot afford to take time off from work to perform the duties of a WDFW commissioner.  Representative Kretz’ bill (HB 1699) would provide a salary for commissioners.   He stated he has already received some Democrat support for his proposal, including from the Chair of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Mike Chapman (D – Port Angeles). (House Republican Caucus radio report and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Our Newsmaker Interview was with second-term Republican Representative Cyndy Jacobsen who serves the 25^th Legislative District (East Pierce County).  She is a former Puyallup City Councilmember, schoolteacher, home school parent, and small business owner. She is the mother of seven children.

The representative discussed her bill to allow the state to rehire the workers who were unfairly fired when Governor Inslee abused his emergency powers by terminating the employment of state employees who were unvaccinated for COVID.  Representative Jacobsen also discussed her bill to improve safety in our schools and the proposal to provide more educational options to families by having the state fund the student and not the schools. She called the Democrats’ 2021 restrictions on police pursuit a “disastrous policy” and she is strongly supporting legislative efforts to repeal the law. She stated that Governor Inslee’s $4 billion bond measure for the state to purchase affordable housing is unwise fiscal policy and believes the housing crisis could be addressed better through lifting many of the bureaucratic restrictions Democrats have placed on development. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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