Now that election season is behind us, Democrats have shifted their mischief-creating focus this week to the legislative session starting in January. As the Washington State Standard warns us, among others things, “spending proceeds from the state’s new capital gains tax and recent cap-and-trade auctions … (are among) topics state lawmakers will delve into when they return to Olympia for committee days.”

You can bet that once the “delving” starts, it’s going to cost taxpayers even more money.  However, read on to see there is some good news, because even as the Democrats are planning how to reward their campaign donors with taxpayer money from their carbon tax, “that 2021 law is now the target of a citizen initiative to repeal it” here… Washington State Standard.

Shift

doesn’t find many opportunities to acquaint readers with the inner thinking of the nine proud liberals who comprise our state supreme court, beyond covering the major decisions they seem to get wrong (i.e., state income tax). That’s why we’re happy to share something that broke today, Ballotpedia’s “groundbreaking report on the Washington State Supreme Court’s decision making and candidate campaign contributions from 2013 through 2022.”

Now, just because someone gives these judges a “significant contribution,” as the study defines it, doesn’t mean they are always buying the outcome they wanted. However, Ballotpedia was able to study how contributors lined up with decisions, so you can read how from a “sample of plaintiffs, petitioners, appellants, defendants, and respondents that were coded as progressive, 72% received Washington State Supreme Court decisions that were favorable” here… Ballotpedia.

It was apparent to the team at Shift last week just how far Left the city has gone that the annual lighting of a Christmas tree outside of what used to be the Bon Marche united the loudest people in Seattle around one thing – support for the terrorist group Hamas. Unfortunately, the few loudmouths demanded their free speech at the expense of a positive holiday experience for the rational human beings who found themselves downtown, leading the event’s organizer to note on KIRO radio’s Ursula and Gee show that “our team did their job. The city and the Seattle Police Department (SPD) unfortunately didn’t do theirs for what was a city-permitted event.”

Lacking a permit is never a problem for far-Left activists in Seattle, who have learned that there are no consequences for illegal bad behavior, like bullying others in the name of free speech. So the fact “SPD knew they were on their way downtown” was of no deterrent, so the terrorist supporters “came downtown and they took over the stage, unplugged the sound, they knocked over tables and chairs and fences and commandeered property.” You can read on to see how no arrests are forthcoming here… Ursula and Gee Show.

The long-running debate in the city of Burien over how the homelessness industrial complex should expand has often been highlighted by Shift. Now a resolution of sorts has been reported by MyNorthwest, as “the Burien City Council voted for a pallet village for the homeless and accepted $1 million from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.”

One left-wing activist ironically asked questions that have dominated the process: “Do we want a village here? Do we want a village there? Really, do we want a village anywhere?” The answer evidently is that the region’s homelessness bureaucracy has bought itself a location for $1 million, which the city of Burien will be required to maintain after that money runs out.

City leaders wrung some concessions out of King County’s bureaucracy, mandating that “pallet shelter occupants and visitors must abide by a code of conduct to include at a minimum; NO illegal drug use, alcohol use, or possession of firearms on-site, or in the surrounding neighborhood, and no registered sex offenders permitted.” We can all see how that will work here.… Shift, MyNorthwest.com.

Inflation seems to be a positive thing for liberals, from the Democrats’ disastrous embrace of Bidenomics featuring it’s record-breaking interest rates to the rising grades teachers are handing out (especially since COVID hit). That’s the clear point from the Seattle Times’ coverage of a recent study from the University of Washington which shows “average grades rose significantly for Washington students due to the pandemic, and they’re still slightly up.”

For some this is easily explained since “in 2020 the state advised districts against failing their students while schools were closed during the pandemic.” However, the study’s “most recent data shows evidence of grade inflation even in the years after students returned to in-person schooling.”

You can read on to see how under the all-liberal leadership which governs our state’s public schools “test scores are way down from pre-pandemic, so the relationship is not as strong between test scores and grades” here… Seattle Times.

Shift offers the following Olympian story with little comment, other than the fact the ceilings in the rotunda where the tree stands are really high and there are lots of doors so air flow is generally pretty good. So you should be safe attending “the public lighting of the Holiday Kids’ Tree at the Washington state Capitol Rotunda in Olympia which will be at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1. This is the first time since the pandemic began in 2020 that the festivities have occurred.”

Read on about this “35-year tradition” which “has donated over $500,000 to families in need, identified by local firefighters” here… The Olympian.

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