The editorial board at the Seattle Times has too often been quiet about the obvious failures of Governor Jay Inslee in recent years, perhaps because of the need for various government handouts to keep the paper in the hands of the ownership that has managed the company into needing government handouts. That’s why it was refreshing to see the Times use its lead Sunday editorial to remind the Democrats in Olympia that they “have already debated hundreds of bills as they approach the midway point of a short legislative session in Olympia. But ruling Democrats have yet to allow a hearing on any of the half-dozen GOP-backed initiatives that, if passed by voters, would have profound impacts on future public policy in Washington.”

The positive impact of the initiatives in rolling back taxes and requiring a bit of financial discipline for the legislative liberals will likely have to wait until the fall for a public debate because “Democrats, gatekeepers of all legislative committees, have made no commitments to debate any of the six in a public forum; they say they’re still having “internal conversations” and researching the initiatives’ impacts to the budget and state law.” You can read on to understand that is legislative-speak for “we’re afraid to let the truth come out about our bad ideas,” though the Times still demands that Inslee and company “(R)espect voters by giving them a preview of the larger debate to come” and hold public hearings… Seattle Times.

Just in case you have not been paying attention to the Democrat “action” in Olympia this legislative session, this advertisement from YouTube reminds us all of what happens every time Democrats come together in the legislature – they are coming for your wallets… YouTube.

It was a month ago that a group of Left-Wing protestors amazed the Washington State Patrol (WSP) by following through on an internet threat and marching on to block Interstate 5. It’s also been a month since Shift joined an outcry about why protestors were unpunished, though now we learn (through the Seattle Times) that the WSP will “recommend charging at least six people in relation to the Israel-Hamas war protest that shut down Interstate 5 for nearly five hours last month.”

Unfortunately for justice, the King County prosecutor’s office is already slipping on some kid gloves for handling the liberal protestors, as the charges against them likely “would be disorderly conduct, which is a misdemeanor.” Read on to see how it is, ironically, basically a traffic ticket for blocking everybody else from having traffic… Shift, Seattle Times.

The Shift team has long kept an eye on the Inslee administration’s approach to a massively intrusive proposed wind farm outside the Tri Cities. The latest word, coming from the Capital Press, is the owner of the project writing to the governor that “a Washington state council will gut the proposed Horse Heaven wind and solar installation if it requires half of the planned wind turbines to be cut from the project.”

It turns out that this green-energy dream is a bird-killing, view-eclipsing, and cultural landscape-destroying nightmare. Read on to see whether it’s about to get much smaller for the “1,150-megawatt power plant spread along 25 miles of rolling hills in southeast Washington” here… Shift, Capital Press.

Shift doesn’t get the opportunity to celebrate Seattle’s successes much these days, but the announcement via KUOW of six World Cup games scheduled for the city in 2026 is a big one. The get-your-ticket-now news included that “Lumen Field will host four group play games between June 15 and 26, including a United States Men’s National Team match on June 19.”

You can read on for more reasons for the local sporting and economic development crowd to be cheering here… KUOW.

At least in his own uncomplicated mind, Governor Jay Inslee is a life-saver that Washington state was lucky to have in office when COVID struck the world. That’s his narrative, repeated again by the humble governor, this time to the Tri City TV station KNDO, that “(P)eople would have died had we not made these decisions.”

Of course, by “we,” Gov. Inslee means himself when it comes to COVID decisions since those were made solely by him utilizing his “emergency” powers for 975 days (as Shift covered, often). Evidently, nobody told the governor about the huge jump in “deaths of despair” during his emergency COVID rule or about the state’s deadly and drug-fueled mental health crisis still unfolding on his watch, which might mean people died because of his mistaken decisions, but still, Gov. Inslee accepts no accountability for his mistakes: “I guess I would say I sleep well at night because I understand how important these decisions were.”… KNDO, Shift.