The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is not going to adhere to a directive passed by the Washington State Legislature to use $5 million to clean up some of the 1,400 homeless encampments which are near state roads.  This blatant refusal to follow legislative directives comes courtesy of Governor Jay Inslee’s appointee to “lead” WSDOT, Roger Millar. Secretary Millar opined that “It’s a waste of resources and frankly, it’s not humane,” to clean up some of the camps near freeways which his department was ordered by legislation to remove.

Since Governor Inslee has refused to consult with legislators while issuing his “emergency orders” (now surpassing 500 days) and illegally vetoed significant legislative language demanded by his fellow Democrats in the last session, this is the latest action by Governor Inslee and his lackeys which indicates they consider the legislative branch a mere annoyance and an obstacle to his one-man rule of the state.

Secretary Millar’s statement that he is not going to follow the legislature’s directive has obviously upset members of the legislature.  Representative Andrew Barkis (R – Olympia), who worked with Democrat legislators to securing funding for cleaning up some of the encampments near state freeways, fumed “This is a directive.  It’s not an option.”

Secretary Millar’s bizarro comment also come at a time when hundreds of motorists have recently become victims of rocks and debris being thrown at vehicles driving on freeways and state highways.  Nearly all of the incidents have been tied to homeless encampments near the freeways.  One has to wonder if Secretary Millar considers it “humane” for motorists to be randomly attacked in this manner, or if it is “a waste of resources” to prevent likely accidents and serious injuries resulting from these random acts of preventable violence. (KING5 News)

A draft memo obtained by KTTH radio host Jason Rantz indicates that Washington State Attorney General/governor wannabe Bob Ferguson is threatening to fire any staff member who does not provide proof of having been fully vaccinated against COVID, and termination would even take place for those who work remotely.  It seems strange that a draft as intellectually flawed as this one would make it even this far in the AG’s office, let alone become official policy for the office, but its existence does raise several questions.  If the state’s top legal agent is considering such an extreme act, could “vaccine passports” (which Governor Inslee has previously dismissed) becoming a state requirement be far behind?  And, if we are going to such extreme measures of firing non-immunized workers, why was there so much effort put into the state achieving “herd immunity” by reaching a 70% vaccination rate (which Governor Inslee went on a statewide tour to celebrate once it was almost achieved)?  Attorney General Ferguson refused to comment when asked about the memo. Of course, if the memo was about suing President Trump, he would have both a comment and press release available. (MyNorthwest)

Put it on your calendar: our friends at the Washington Policy Center are telling us that the next hearing in the lawsuit seeking to throw out the Democrats’ unconstitutional state income tax (starting with capital gains) will be on Wednesday, August 18^th, at 9:30 AM.  The proceedings from the Douglas County Courthouse will be conducted via Zoom.  Shift will post the link on our Facebook page and Twitter account when it becomes available. (Facebook and Twitter)

King County and the City of Seattle announced the creation of yet another soon-to-fail government program, instead of just admitting that their high-profile soft-on-crime policies are the cause of the recent increase in violent crime.  It certainly can’t be that actions by liberal officials to defund the police (resulting in a mass exodus of well-trained police officers), not prosecute repeat offenders, and release hundreds of convicted criminals early would cause any significant increase in crime rates, right? Instead, running scared (for re-election) King County Executive Dow Constantine and heading-for-the-door Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the creation of a “pilot program” (i.e., a new method to waste taxpayer dollars) as their solution to the rise in crime.   Officials claim the $2 million “Regional Peacekeepers Collective” will suddenly stop crime from occurring, while most observers will see this as a PR stunt by liberal politicians who refuse to accept responsibility for the obvious failures of the region’s public safety policies demanded by the liberal establishment. (Seattle Times)

Evidently all of Governor Inslee’s attacks on the Trump Administration and his endless partisan actions supporting candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign will not result in any benefits for Washington citizens who depend on Canadian visitors (and their dollars).  The Biden Administration decided to ignore Governor Inslee’s request for the federal government to ease the struggles of border communities, and chose instead to extend the closure of the border to Canadian citizens.  This will prolong the financial suffering of many Washington State communities along the border, especially Point Roberts, which sits at the end of a peninsula connected by land to Canada and where thousands of British Columbia residents often spend time during the summer.  Thus, while Governor Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson were always searching for ways to spend state resources to make partisan attacks and file lawsuits against the Trump Administration to help their personal political careers, they are unwilling to do the same to help Washington citizens who are suffering due to a Democrat administration’s questionable decision. (Seattle P-I)

Many small businesses still slowly recovering from the economic effects of Governor Inslee’s randomly applied COVID restrictions are concerned about the added cost of the governor’s unscientific ban on plastic bags going into effect in October.  Retailers are already struggling with increased labor and transportation costs, as well as inflation, making the added costs for bags just one more item that government has jammed through impacting small businesses.  A small organic farmer in Pierce County said, “Our margins are really tight. Between COVID and this drought we’ve been in this year, they’re just getting tighter. All of the prices for everything has gone up, we don’t have the elbow room to pay four times as much for bags.”  While wealthy environmental groups rake in plenty of funds by pushing such emotional and non-scientific measures, and liberal politicians are able to virtue signal at someone else’s expense by enacting such bans, there is plenty of scientific evidence that alternatives to plastic bags actually cause more harm to the environment. (KING5 News and Washington Policy Center)

Washington State University football coach Nick Rolovich will not be able to participate in the PAC- 12’s media day in Los Angeles next week because he made the decision to not obtain a COVID vaccine.  The coach stated, “I have elected not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine for reasons which will remain private. While I have made my own decision, I respect that every individual – including our coaches, staff and student-athletes – can make his or her own decision regarding the vaccine.”  And, as could have been predicted, Governor Inslee overreacted by preaching “groupthink” and equating Rolovich’s personal decision to someone who wants people to die.

The governor actually said, “Anybody in a leadership position in the state of Washington, I believe, has an obligation to lead and use their leadership position to save lives.”  Sadly, the governor does not also feel that state leaders also have an obligation to support individuals to make their own lawful decisions regarding their personal health.  And if the state’s goal is to encourage more people to receive the vaccine, wouldn’t there be a more positive reaction to the remaining holdouts if they thought it was an individual choice they made and not one being forced on them by an ultra-partisan politician?  (KOMO News and Shift)

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) states that the steady source of power generated by the Ice Harbor dam as the primary reason why there were no rolling blackouts in the Tri-Cities during the recent heat wave.  The Ice Harbor dam is one of four dams on the lower Snake River, and is just a few miles East of the Tri-Cities.  The dam reservoirs were filled nightly, and water was pushed through power generators during peak hours to accommodate the increase in power needs during the soaring temperatures. A spokesperson for BPA made the argument that this is yet another reason why the dams are vital to the region when he stated, “It’s hard to imagine getting enough additional relief from moving loads around to keep the lights on everywhere with the plant offline.”  Hard to imagine indeed, which is why the rabid environmentalists demanding dam destruction never talk about why they would prefer rolling blackouts in Eastern Washington to renewable energy provided by hydropower. (Tri-City Herald)

BABYLON BEE FRIDAY

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