Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert, who represents Issaquah, Sammamish, Redmond, a large portion of Woodinville, and all the rural Eastern areas of the county North of I-90.  Prior to becoming a councilmember, Lambert was a schoolteacher and a state legislator, where she built the reputation for thoroughly understanding the issues and working with other elected officials to pass needed legislation.  In her interview, Councilmember Lambert is critical of Seattle enabling homeless individuals which only perpetuates the problem. Lambert expresses concern for the partisan process of selecting a new sheriff, which she claims is already three months behind schedule. Lambert also pointed out that since most members of the council have either no or very few constituents who live in unincorporated areas, they do not have constituents complaining about the many expensive liberal measures which pass the council.  Lambert says her challenge is to provide a greater “outside-Seattle” voice on the Seattle-dominated council. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Governor Inslee continues to push the false fact that only 66% of Washington adults have been vaccinated.  It’s clear that Jay Inslee is the most partisan governor in decades, which is why you have to look to his campaign communications to know what he is actually up to. In the most recent email to his campaign supporters, Inslee stated, “We just passed a major pandemic milestone: 66% of Washingtonians 16+ have initiated their COVID-19 vaccinations,” and “This means we’re well on track to fully reopen at the end of this month.”  Yet, the overwhelming facts show that the state’s vaccination rate is NOW above 70% and Washington should be fully reopened NOW.  As Shift previously reported, on Monday the Biden White House sent out a congratulatory message to Washington State for achieving a 70% vaccination rate.  At the same time, Inslee’s Department of Health was reporting the state had only a 64% of Washington residents over the age of 16 had been vaccinated.

In explaining the 6% difference between the state’s figures and federal figures, Inslee’s team stated the federal government 1) counted its vaccination of military personal in Washington State (which the state strangely refuses to consider); 2) used more current census information (the feds use current 2020 census data, while Jay Inslee is happy to use old 2019 data, since it serves his political purposes), and 3) did not include 16- and 17-year-old residents (which the state does).

Thus, the federal government had a more accurate data base by including more Washington adults and not including a small population of older teenagers. Yet, even if no 16- or 17-year-olds had been vaccinated, that would only drop the state’s immunization percentage by approximately 2%. But current state figures show more than 116,000 16- and 17-year-old residents have already received the vaccine, which is more than 50% of the 231,000 individuals in that age group.  So, in order for Inslee’s 66% to be correct, we have to 1) believe military personnel are not Washington residents, and 2) believe the 2019 census data the state is using is more accurate than the 2020 census data the federal government uses.  As we have seen many times in the past 16 months, Governor Inslee has consistently relied on poor and inaccurate data to make his decisions, which always seem to benefit either his political supporters or himself. We guess we should not be surprised that he is doing it one last time and refusing to fully reopen Washington State so he can cling three weeks longer to his dictatorial control of the state’s economy. (Inslee Campaign email, Shift, White House staff tweet, and Washington State Department of Health, and Seattle Times)

The Washington State Lottery announced the first $250,000 winner of the “Vaccine Lottery.” While media reports failed to say when Lance R. (as he is identified by the state) received his vaccine shot(s), his statement (which was obviously written by a state PR flak) lead us to assume he received it well before Governor Inslee announced that he was spending $2 million to provide incentives to be vaccinated.  Once again, it is highly unlikely that anyone who previously refused to be vaccinated will be encouraged to change their opinion by the incredibly small possibility of receiving one of the state’s prizes.  But, hey, it’s not Jay’s money going out the door, so why should he care? (MyNorthwest)

The Washington State Gambling Commission bought off on new gambling compacts with 15 Native American tribes to allow them to begin lucrative sports betting in their casinos.   During the 2020 session, the Democrat-controlled legislature gave a monopoly on sports betting to the state’s tribes, while leaving out non-tribal casinos and gaming rooms which actually pay taxes to the state.  The new monopoly deals now go to Governor Inslee for approval.  The governor could have used this sweetheart deal as way to encourage tribal casinos to not reopen last May, when all other restaurants and bars were closed to indoor activity due to the governor’s orders.  But, no.  Snce tribal governments had bought the privilege of special treatment by the governor through their substantial campaign contributions, Inslee allowed hundreds to gather daily in casinos. Not only did Governor Inslee fail to use political leverage to encourage tribal casinos to follow the same orders as everyone else, he also unbelievably said, “I hope that they are very, very successful.”  Which had to make those dependent on income from non-tribal bars and restaurants feel really good about all the sacrifices the governor was forcing them to make. (Spokesman Review and Seattle Times)

A woman who once threatened to blow up a school bus is receiving support from many establishment Democrats (including State Senator Rebecca Saldana) in her race for the King County Council.   Police records show that, in 2010, Ubex Gardheere boarded a bus full of students heading to Chinook Middle School, claimed she might have a bomb, and told the driver to inform his dispatch that there was a “national security incident was going on.” As students fled from the bus, Gardheere called them cowards.  Gardheere was taken into custody.  Felony charges were plea bargained down to gross misdemeanor before trial.  In supporting her race for the 9^th District council position, Democrat Senator Saladana said, “I will follow Ubex anywhere.”  One might ask Senator Saldana if that includes jail, since Gardheere was heading that way.  It would be interesting to know if either King County Executive Dow Constantine or his Democrat challenger Senator Joe Nguyen would support Gardheere is she were to make it through the primary – will anyone in the media ask? (The Post Millennial)

Seattle police officers and police guild officials are filing complaints against City of Seattle officials and bureaucrats for their radical comments stating that all police officers are “white supremist” and that they purposefully target Black people with deadly force.  Complaints are being filed with Mayor Jenny Durkan, the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, Ombudsman, the city’s Human Resources Department, and with state and federal agencies, stating that these derogatory comments written by a city employee (and subsequently supported by city officials) constitute a hostile work environment for police officers.  In his letter to the mayor, Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan called the comments, “unreasonable, bigoted, biased, discriminatory, deranged, devoid of logic and lacked anything remotely factual.” This attack is the latest one the city’s police officers have had to face from city officials, who are more concerned about pushing a radical political philosophy than they are in providing public safety to the 750,000 residents who they are supposed to be serving. Experienced and well-trained Seattle police officers are leaving in droves and crime rates are skyrocketing, yet those implementing Seattle’s failed liberal policies keep pushing for more radical measures.  It would be interesting to know if Democrat elected officials (Governor, Attorney General, legislators) and Democrat members of the Washington congressional delegation and legislature support the radical views of Seattle officials, and believe all police officers are racist – will anyone in the media ask? (MyNorthwest)

Cracks are starting to form in organized labor’s support for Socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant.  Ironworkers Local Union #86, which has supported Sawant since she first ran for office in 2014, has decided to back the recall campaign against Sawant.  The union said it previously supported Sawant because “she had a strong message coming out of the dark days of the 2008 great recession. Unfortunately, since that time we have found that the actions of this elected official did not embody the message.” Or, if the union bosses were telling the truth, they backed Sawant because they did not do their homework on the radical socialist, and are only realizing now that she doesn’t like their members or the projects they work on. (MyNorthwest)

On-going drought conditions throughout Eastern Washington have caused the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to impose restrictions on permit fires, campfires, and target shooting.  DNR officials state that there have been 437 wildfires thus far this Spring, compared to an annual average of 178.  (KREM2 News)

Governor Jay Inslee wants to give your money away to people to do something they have already done – obtain a COVID-19 vaccine shot.  Despite the Biden White House already having congratulated Washington State for reaching the 70% vaccination threshold (which Inslee had previously promised would cause nearly all restrictions to be lifted), our out-of-his-league governor is giving away $2 million to people to get the vaccine.  It is incredibly doubtful that the remote possibility of receiving some of the state’s prizes will encourage very many people who previously refused the vaccine to suddenly agree to be immunized.  But that fact does not stop the governor from wasting $2 million more of your taxes.  Yet, since the Inslee Administration has already lost $1.1 billion in taxpayer funds due to the dysfunctional management of his Employment Security Department, $2 million more down the drain is no big deal. (Click to read full Shift Article)

BABYLON BEE FRIDAY

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