One of the ways the mainstream media helps Democrats and their special interest supporters is to allow them to brag to their bases (and donors) about supporting new taxes every year, across every layer of government, and allow them to continue to lie to the public about the taxes they raise. Consider for example this whopper from a progressive pro-tax leader in response to Washington State Standard news that the new state income tax on capital gains is generating big money: “This news shows what we have said all along – we have the ability to fully fund our education system when we ask the wealthy to come to the table like the rest of us and pay what they truly owe in taxes.”

Understand, the reporter knows that this statement is just false, as she writes later in the story that “the first $500 million of revenue collected (from the income tax) goes into the education legacy trust account.” That’s a lot of money from the new tax, but it is a narrow slice of $33 billion for public education in the current state budget according to the Washington State Senate staff. So how does the state “fully fund” education with this new $500 million?

The state doesn’t. The new income tax money just allows the state to spend more money elsewhere on other liberal dreams, which is why the state is planning to spend a record-breaking $70+ Billion in the budget starting in July. You can read more about how a progressive supporter can lie about a tax, and a reporter repeat a known false statement without question here… Washington State Standard, State Senate.

Kyle Mann, the editor-in-chief of the conservative satirical website The Babylon Bee, joined us for this week’s Newsmaker Interview. In his interview, Mann describes how the Twitter ban before Elon Musk’s takeover increased the circulation of The Babylon Bee’s material. He also shares his thoughts on Elon Musk, the liberals’ constant attack on free speech, and how he decides what issues are appropriate targets for The Babylon Bee’s satire. Mann concludes the interview by humorously stating future plans for the website. Read more.

You can excuse South King County residents (well, frankly, all area voters) for a cynical view toward Sound Transit, given the number of broken promises and undelivered benefits that the region has experienced since the transit agency started sucking up taxpayer dollars in 1993. The latest news from the Seattle Times that “Sound Transit passengers will have to wait until 2026 to ride light rail between SeaTac and Federal Way, because contractors must build a 500-foot-long bridge over unstable wetland soil” is just the latest in a long line of delays and excuses provided by the people who can’t get the trains to run on time.

This time it’s because Sound Transit learned that soil under a wetland is, well, wet. Of course, the contractor told the bureaucrats “In late 2020 that the soil was weaker than represented in preconstruction geotechnical records,” a problem which is now a very expensive one because (buried deep in the story) “Sound Transit’s soil sampling effort in the 2010s was hindered by woodlands.” You can read more about how, with the woods covering the wetlands, the scientific folks hired by the government just sort of guessed here… Seattle Times.

The latest headline that Seattle Chamber of Commerce types really don’t want to see comes from Axios-Seattle, which picks up the Zillow report that “Spokane far outranks Seattle among best places for new college grads, coming in second in the nation based on rent-to-income ratio, average salary for recent college graduates, job openings and the share of the population in their 20s.” Seattle didn’t even make it into the top 50, as “job openings are down about 11% in Seattle, only better than the 12% decline in San Francisco and 16% drop in San Jose.” You can read more about how the cool kids are heading East, young man, right here… Axios Seattle.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson continues to “explore” new ways to create scandals, as Shift has covered with some glee, as he attempts to show that Jay Inslee is not the worst possible governor for our state. You can read more about how his campaign hides the names of contributors so that Ferguson can collect more than the legal maximum from some of his favorite friends here… Shift, PDC.

Governor Inslee and his underlings enjoy posing for cameras when they conduct the occasional clean-up of a homeless camp on state property, but when the cameras are off, they are happy to stiff-arm the public with such pablum as this reported by KOMO 4 in response to complaints in Southwest Seattle: “Homelessness is a complex issue with no easy solutions that requires a coordinated approach for the safety of those who are in need, nearby residents, the traveling public and our workers who must access site.” You can read more about how the state does not care about a situation described by one senior citizen, “The other times were encampments. This one I call an occupation” here… KOMO 4.

A week has passed since the filing deadline for the 2023 elections, so of course, the media is focused on the … 2024 elections. The latest comprehensive background piece (most of which has likely been stored on a computer since Jay Inslee aborted his presidential run in 2020) comes from Crosscut and captures the mood that “the long-anticipated great reshuffle in Washington politics has begun.”

Political consultants from both sides weigh in on the competitive prospects for next year, with one noting the obvious: “There’s certainly more angst and division within the parties. Which could create interesting primaries on both sides.” You can read more such stunning observations here… Crosscut.

REMEMBER, JAY INSLEE WANTS GAS PRICES TO GO UP – THAT’S THE GOAL

TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO AVOID NEW DEMOCRAT TAXES ((IF YOU’RE LUCKY)

SHOULDN’T A MAYORAL CANDIDATE KNOW IF THERE IS A CITY ATTORNEY?

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