Democrat politicians in Washington State suddenly became aware that the price of gas is rapidly increasing and evidently they forgot that they are the ones who imposed the taxes and regulations which predictably caused the cost of fuel to climb sharply.  The Democrats keep blaming everybody (Putin, Trump, oil executives, etc.)  but themselves for the negative impact of their own reckless actions.  And that’s even before Washington residents feel the full impact of Governor Jay Inslee’s latest set of failed environmental policies. Soon drivers will have to pay even more at the pump as the fees and increased costs of the ineffective cap and trade and Low Carbon Fuel Standard schemes hit the market later this year.  Since transportation costs will continue to rise, so will the cost of nearly every good and services that are purchased. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Washington State liberals are so obsessed with raising taxes they have already proposed increasing the rate of a state tax which a superior court judge recently ruled was illegal.  It was just March 1^st that Douglas County Superior Court Judge Brian Huber ruled that the IRS and 49 other states were correct that the Democrats’ controversial new income tax on capital gains tax (SB 5096) was indeed a tax on income and thus unconstitutional in Washington State.  Yet this ruling did not deter liberals who seek to make it even more expensive to live in Washington. They filed Initiative 1934 to raise the new state income tax rate from 7.0% to 9.9% (a 41% increase) on certain income gains.

Evidently these liberals are so desperate to increase the size of state government (which has already doubled in cost since Governor Inslee came to office in 2013) that they cannot even wait to see if the nine liberal members of the Washington State Supreme Court will create some contrived excuse to define this income tax as an “excise tax” to make it legal before they increase the tax rate. This is just further proof that the eventual aim of this tax is to keep amending it until it becomes a full-fledged state income tax that takes money from all Washington State workers. (Washington Secretary of State initiative description, The Olympian, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

State taxpayers will be funding the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board’s (LCB) effort to provide security assessments for the state’s marijuana retail shops.  The LCB will be holding 10 “security and safety training sessions” over the next couple of months for pot shop employees.  There have been more than 50 robberies at the state’s 180 marijuana dispensaries since the start of the 2022.  One resulted in the death of a marijuana shop employee, while another resulted in the eventual death of one of the robbers. Cannabis dispensaries are often a target because they are a cash-only business, since their product is illegal under federal banking laws. Even though the shops have always had cash at their locations since it became legal to sell marijuana in 2014, it hasn’t been until the recent crime wave that they have they become such a frequent target for criminals. (Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board update and KING5 News)

The Seattle Police Department’s staffing shortage is causing delays for medical teams to provide aid to those in life-threatening situations.  The Seattle Fire Department (SFD) understandably has a rigid set of protocols to follow before its medical teams can enter dangerous situations.  Often police officers are required to first secure the location.  A recent incident in West Seattle demonstrates how the mass exodus of more than 400 SPD officers could cause an otherwise avoidable loss of life.

A pedestrian was struck by a car and one of the individuals who called 911 said they heard shots fired.  Police took 11 minutes longer than the medics to arrive to secure the location and allow the SFD medics to provide aid.  Unfortunately the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene. One of the reasons why Seattle taxpayers have funded one of the best medical response units in the country is because those in an emergency situation have a better chance to survive if they receive immediate care. Yet because of liberal anti-police policies, often officers are not available to secure situations so medical teams can provide this instant care. (MyNorthwest)

Over a dozen attendees of a concert at WaMu Theater (next to Luman Field) on Friday evening had their vehicles broken into while they enjoyed the performance by Rezz.  One victim said it appeared the break-ins were organized, with multiple cars being attacked at the same time. The significant increase in crime in Seattle has already deterred many major employers from re-opening offices in downtown and have kept away customers at restaurants and shops in the city’s retail core. Will the growing crime wave keep people from coming into Seattle to attend sporting and entertainment events as well? (KIRO7 News)

Two suspects in more than 60 robberies were arrested last Friday at a Tukwila motel where they had been staying. The two were allowed to continue on their long crime spree due to restrictions placed on police departments and because the Seattle Police Department is severely understaffed. The pair’s brazen robberies (in which they sometimes drove vehicles into convenience stores to steal ATM machines) led one small business employer to close her business the next day. (KIRO7 News)

Taxpayer fatigue, disapproval of public school response to the COVID pandemic, and turmoil among the district’s administrators (which caused the superintendent to resign) have been contributing factors to the Marysville School District losing two separate levy votes this year.  This has forced the district to layoff 35 teachers and look at other cost-cutting measures, including student activities. The two failed levies represented 14% – 18% of the Marysville School District’s budget.  (MyNorthwest)

The Spokane City Council was unable to pass a nonbinding resolution to encourage city administrators to consider rehiring fire department personnel who were fired last year due to Governor Inslee’s anti-science COVID vaccine mandate. The Spokane Fire Department has been severely understaffed since the 23 firefighters were terminated under the orders.  This has resulted in an estimated $7 million in additional costs to pay for overtime wages to meet staffing requirements.  The council split 3-to-3 (Council President Breean Briggs said if he voted he would have voted “no”) on the resolution, with the moderate and conservative members voting to reinstate the fired firefighters with additional safety measures (including testing) to protect the public. (Spokesman – Review)

A suspected drunk driver, who knew police could not chase him, fled from an attempted traffic stop by the Moses Lake Police.  He continued to drive recklessly and finally crashed into a storage facility. Fortunately no was hurt as the driver drove recklessly through stops even though no police officer was chasing him.  Police did have an idea where the driver was headed and flattened his tires with a spike strip as he approached his destination.  This resulted in the vehicle crashing.  Once caught, the suspect said he sped away from the attempted traffic stop because he knew police could not chase him (due to the anti-police bills passed by Democrat legislators).

It is important to note the suspect’s thought process because just last week Democrat Senator Manka Dhingra (Redmond) said the primary reason why Democrats supported the passage of the now failing “no-pursuit” bill (which has allowed thousands of suspected criminals to flee police detention) is because they wanted to end police chases.  Yet since criminals know about the legislation, they are choosing not to pull over and instead attempt to escape by speeding away from police officers. So we still have suspected criminals driving recklessly as they escape police detention.  (iFIBER One and Seattle Times)

Was Democrat Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins attempting to be humorous when she claimed the legislature did “our job to govern” when everyone knows that the Democrat lawmakers allowed Governor Inslee to eliminate the co-equal powers of the legislative branch as he has abused “emergency” powers for more than 800 days?   The speaker made this absurd claim in a Tacoma News Tribune op-ed published this week.  Of course, Speaker Jinkins never explains in the article how removing the legislature from the lawmaking process is actually fulfilling her claim that the legislature did “our job to govern.” While Speaker Jinkins extols the virtues of how the Democrats gave away a record-breaking $15 billion in surplus taxpayer funds funding projects making state government permanently bigger and more expensive, she fails to mention that the Democrat-controlled Washington Legislature was one of a very few in the country which failed to provide any type of tax relief to low- and middle- income households financially struggling due to inflation caused by liberal economic policies. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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