I Wish My District Had A Senator Like Him!

This was a January 24th feature interview on ShiftWA:

 

This week’s Newsmaker Interview is with Senator Doug Ericksen who has represented the 42^nd District (Whatcom County) since 1999 – first as a House member for 12 years, and as a Senator since 2011.  Ericksen is the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy, Environment, and Technology Committee, where he sees many of the misguided and ineffective climate change policies of the extreme left and big government liberals.  Ericksen talks with Shift about breaching the Snake River dams and the Ballard Locks, low carbon fuel standards, Governor Inslee, taxes, and out-of-touch Seattle legislators.

 

1. Several of your fellow Whatcom County legislators favor a low carbon fuel standard – do they not understand how bad that would be for the county’s economy?

In Whatcom County we have 2 oil refineries.  We create great jobs locally and we produce the energy that powers the economy of the entire state.  When I fight to protect our state’s refining capacity it is not just about my area, it is about the entire state.

 

A Low Carbon Dioxide Fuel Standard is essentially a cap and trade system for liquid fuels.  If your goal is to reduce human based C02 releases into the atmosphere, the LCo2FS program is very inefficient.  The cost per ton of Co2 reduction is very high compared to other methods.

 

It is very hard to construct an effective LCo2FS program.  Under current proposals, consumers would be paying up to 50 cents more per gallon of gas for limited results.

 

This extra tax on gas would not go to roads.

 

2. Do you think that Gov. Inslee actually believes his environmental rhetoric – such as saying his low carbon fuel standard would not raise gas prices – or his he just trying to fool voters?

This is a great question.  I am not a climate alarmist, but I am a person who supports new technologies and a cleaner environment.

 

Gov. Inslee presents himself as a true believer in a radical man-made climate change. I can never claim to get into our Governor’s head to know his true feelings.

 

However, I think that many people have a religious fervor with regards to global warming.  It is my view that Gov. Inslee wants to believe in global warming because he wants to implement a big government, high taxes, high regulations agenda.  The global warming agenda is a mechanism to implement the agenda that Governor Inslee wants.

 

So I would say that Governor Inslee believes his environmental rhetoric because he really wants to believe it is true as a means to achieve his agendas.

 

3. If you were governor for a day, what state regulations would you eliminate – or add – to create jobs?

This is an easy one.   Number one—I would veto any tax increase that did not get a 2/3s vote in the House and the Senate.  I would veto any budget that grows government spending faster than inflation plus population.  I would require that for any new regulation put into place, two regulations would have to be deleted.

 

I would also create rules for economic empowerment zones in Washington to expedite permitting for high quality manufacturing jobs in all parts of Washington.

 

4. Do you believe your Seattle legislative counterparts understand how their proposals will impact non-urban communities?

No.  I could stop right there. When you live in a concrete jungle, I think you lose some understanding about what is means to live on real soil.  The radical elements that currently control Seattle politics scream for the removal of the Snake River dams or for massive buffers on rural streams.  They really do not know the massive environmental changes that were made to the City of Seattle to create the lifestyles they live today.

 

I think the Ballard Locks should be breached before we even talk about tearing out Snake River dams.  Seattle City Light gets their power from dams in my district in Whatcom County.  Perhaps we should free the wild Skagit River by tearing out these dams and let Seattle find its power somewhere else.

 

I will not even try to explain the Denny Regrade—but those who know what it is know how much Seattle has altered their landscape.  I do not think the even 10% of the radicals in Seattle would even know what the Denny Regrade is without searching it on their phones.

 

5. Many counties on the west side of the state have many jobs connected to agriculture. Are the needs of the farmers on the west side any different than those in Eastern Washington?

Yes and no.  We have similar issues.  But our water issues, the scale of our farms, the products we produce, and many other aspects are different.

 

What we share in common is over regulation, over taxation, and a lack of freedom to produce the local food stuffs that urban people say they want.

 

A great example of how out of touch Seattle legislators are was provided in the 2019 session.

 

The State Senate passed a bill requiring all dairy and berry farmers to report to the state the number of slaves they had on their properties.   This is insulting to farmers because we do not have slaves—obviously.

 

Here is the part you cannot make up—the prime sponsor of this legislation was from Seattle.  While there are no slaves on our farms, a law enforcement operation in the Seattle district of the prime sponsor freed several dozen young women trapped in the sex slave industry.

 

6. You have made headlines for suggesting the state should study the removal of the Ballard Locks and the dams that provide power to Seattle.  Do you believe this has had any impact in the thinking of urban environmentalists who want to tear down the Snake River dams?

No.  The goal of this legislation is to highlight that all parts of Washington should have the chance for economic prosperity.   The goal of this legislation is also to educate people about the realities of what needs to be done to build big projects in Washington State.

 

I am not trying to alter the viewpoints of carbon jihadists, I am not trying to alter the viewpoints of radical deep ecologists.  I am trying to work with people who want to improve our quality of life, create good jobs, and build better communities.

 

I am an environmentalist.  I am working on positive solutions to protect our environment while creating more opportunities to enjoy our environment.  Current policies in Olympia are wasting limited resources to take us down the carbon rabbit hole, while ignoring policies that could create better communities.

Prophetic, or Just A Phase?

The following posts put out by ShiftWA.org today provide a disturbing view of the kinds of things currently going on in this beautiful, but rapidly degenerating state. If this trend continues, It's going to become the northern portion of the left coast, called Washinfornicated!

Skim through these items and you'll understand why...

State

Regulatory delays from Inslee’s Department of Ecology (DOE) are the reasons why Phillips 66 announced last week it was canceling the construction of a job-creating renewable diesel facility in Whatcom County.  The company described tactics similar to those DOE is also using with the Kalama methanol facility, and the bureaucratic delays are costing local communities hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue.  These job-killing delays are conducted to boost Governor Inslee’s environmental portfolio so he can selfishly obtain a job for himself (he hopes) in a future Democrat president’s administration. (Lynden Tribune and Senate Democrat caucus) Comment: Looks to me more like he's workin' hard at pissin' off his taxpayers. Department of Transportation road crews used to concentrate on highway “beautification” projects, but today they focus on cleaning up tons of garbage created by homeless encampments.  A spokesperson says $3 million in the department’s budget is currently set aside for “homeless cleanup.” Now that’s a liberal job-creation program! (KIRO) Comment: And the next thing you know,  the U.W. and W.S.U. will be offering degrees for it, with salaries starting at $250,000 a year! In just three weeks, Washington’s new family leave program is already overbudget and behind schedule.  22,000 people have applied for the weekly payout since the program began January 1st.  State bureaucrats had projected they would receive that number of applications in the first three months, not first three weeks. Because the Inslee Administration failed to correctly estimate the caseloads, payment delays will occur. Guess they should have known that when you promise free stuff, people will sign up fast. (AP) Comment: Hey, ain't socialism great? Rep. Melanie Morgan (D-Tacoma) has introduced a bill to make it illegal to discriminate due to “hair texture and protective hairstyles.”  Current state law makes it illegal to discriminate due to race, religion, or sexual orientation, but hair is not on the list…yet. (KREM) Comment: After that... a bill to make it illegal to discriminate against those who wander the streets naked.

= = = = = = = = =

Western Washington

A leader of a liberal special interest group attempts to portray Amazon as an “abusive boyfriend” simply because the company has stood up to the crazies in Seattle government.  If we use writer Katie Wilson’s silly analogy, and honestly analyze the dysfunctional relationship, isn’t the Seattle City Council the “abusive partner” here?  First the council blames Amazon for the homeless problem the city has created (development and landlord regulations that reduce affordable housing, and a criminal justice policy that enables a drug/crime/homeless culture).  Amazon has arguably done more to help homeless individuals with its support for Mary’s Place and other effective charities than the city has with its expensive homeless programs that selfishly increase government employee headcount (the city council giving money to their “enablers”, i.e. government unions). Then, even though Amazon and its employees pay millions (maybe billions) in local taxes, the city thinks it deserves all the money Amazon earns.  The abusive partner (city council) keeps saying that if we just give them a little more money, things will get better. Yet they keep coming back demanding more money.  Finally, the abuser (city council) now wants to punish Amazon for standing up for itself.  The Seattle City Council is the real abusive partner here.  (BTW – we won’t attack Wilson for her sexist stereotype that only men are abusive in relationships.) (Crosscut) Comment: I thought this was the from the script of some soap opera show. Predictably, the Seattle City Council is attempting to find a scapegoat instead of fixing the criminal culture which led to the recent mass shooting.  Members of the city council focused their efforts on computer programed aps that automatically increased fares as people were attempting to escape downtown after the shooting.  Apparently councilmembers believe they are empowered to force private-sector Uber/Lyft drivers to risk their own lives to go the scenes of a mass shooting, after public-sector transit officials had stopped serving the area, at a price the city council determines. (Seattle Times) Comment: Let's face it, Seattle isn't dying, it's  DEAD! Sex trafficking is also associated with the homeless culture which liberal policies have created.  At a recent forum in Federal Way, victims who were homeless spoke how they were promised shelter, food, clothes, and drugs in return for sex. (Bellevue Reporter) Comment: Okay, so what's new? Leaflets around the University District reveal there is a “Seattle Drug User’s Union.”  The flyers indicate members are “Proud to be a drug user” and they are seeking ways to decriminalize their drug use.  The union members meet the first Thursday of each month at a needle exchange location. (MyNorthwest) Comment: I know, let's enroll them in SEIU! Reports are circulating that the name of Seattle’s new National Hockey League team might be the Seattle Kracken.  For those who are unfamiliar, a “kracken” is a giant octopus-like creature from Scandinavian folklore (and Pirates of the Caribbean movies). (MyNorthwest Sports) Comment: Yea... and the fans will be puffin' on their pipes in the seats too.

It Isn't Much Better Outside Seattle Either!

After scanning through the entire article, I kept telling myself, "This is how bad it's gotten now!"

Question: Why are public schools so bad now, in terms of both learning and behavior, that we are regularly learning about teachers who are being reported for behavior we find difficult to believe?

Answer: To anyone who thinks they can do the job of most teachers currently dealing with the kinds of students in many schools today, go for it! If they think they can both maintain discipline and keep them interested in learning, be my guest! Good luck!

After 40 years of doing my best to do the same, I speak with experience and authority in saying that over those years, the deterioration of decent social behavior of a growing percentage of students, especially by the time they get to middle school age, has gotten to the point where I can understand why many school districts will do their best to keep teachers, rather than fire them. 

And why do I say that? Because those teachers who have attempted to do the job for a reasonable amount of time know from experience that even though they're paid what seems to many as an exorbitant salary for the work they do, leave as soon as they realize they can no longer tolerate the abuse and disrespect they must endure on a regular basis, while also feeling that the district administration's edicts about what they can, and can't do, finally leave for another profession; it's just not worth it! So, many districts do their best to keep who they can.

Until and unless school boards begin to stand behind teachers who are attempting to establish their classroom as one that is oriented toward a learning environment that observes polite, respectful social conduct and treatment by the student of the teacher who's there to help them apply skills to get them prepared for a prosperous future, then public schools will only get worse.

Think about it... why are private, charter, and home schooling growing in popularity and demand by parents across the country? Because they can afford it? No, because they understand that their child's learning, as opposed to a constantly disruptive and anti-social, disrespectful climate which dominates many classrooms in middle and high schools today stunt's their child's experience and, in the long run, their potential for success in the future.

The President of the Washington Education Association testified against state funds being used to support charter schools.  Since the teachers’ union does not control charter schools – nor receive dues from the teachers in those schools – the unions are opposed to parents providing their children with an education option that better fits their needs.  Charter schools are increasingly more attractive to students from low-income families than their neighborhood public schools.  The teachers’ union continues to demonstrate that its greed and political power are more important than parents choosing what is best for their children’s education, especially those from poorer families. (WEA) from ShiftWA.org

The last 10 years were spent substituting in a few different districts. Even through that brief period, I experienced a noticeable deterioration of even elementary students at the upper grades exhibiting what I dealt with at the middle school level years before. Why? Because many children see their older siblings modeling the inappropriate behavior in various settings, or on television.

I know, I've managed to hang in there over the past four decades and it's gotten worse with the type of undisciplined child who comes from a home that has no father figure to provide them the needed guidance and nurturing so critical to a growing child. This is where our society has failed itself.

Senate Impeachment Trial - Day 7

After watching today's presentation by President Trump's defense team on the second day of arguments for the impeachment trial - if you can actually call it one based on what they've been pointing out (which I'll explain here) - it is obvious to me that there are two points which need to be made.

In the process of listening to some talking heads - even on Fox News - speak about the so-called "bombshell" news - gee, where have we heard that euphemism before - I'm infuriated to hear them speak of the John Bolton manuscript as though it's undisputed fact, thus planting an unverified claim in the minds of the public as though it is true. How can I, and why do I, say this? Rush Limbaugh, during his introductory half-hour this morning, he spoke to this very issue by explaining that there are two brothers, both who work for the National Security Council, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindmin - who testified before the House hearings - and then there's also a Lt. Col. Yevgenny Vindmin, who is currently conducting a manuscript vetting on, wait for it, wait for it... John Bolton's manuscript for his book coming out soon.

If you write a book like this and you’re part of the Security Council, National Security Council apparatus, you have to submit this to the National Security Council for vetting before it can be send to the publisher. They have to clear it to make sure no national security secrets or violations are being written about and published. Alexander Vindman’s brother, Yevgeny Vindman, is the guy vetting Bolton’s book!

Limbaugh went on to point out that this story follows the pattern by the Democrats throughout the past three years in trying to take down our duly elected president through bogus articles which hold no water. (The link in this sentence is of the whole transcript from Rush's show today.) Here's a key point from that transcript:

Isn’t it just magical that on the very day after the Trump defense team decimates the House managers’ case, the very next day here comes this leak from the New York Times about what Trump told Bolton supposedly that he didn’t want to do? What remains amazing is the leak supposedly is that Trump told Bolton that he didn’t want to release any aid to Ukraine until Ukraine turned over him material related to investigations. That’s from the Maggie Haberman tweet. “New York Times scoop:

So, when the talking heads on news channels speak about it, they are being incredibly irresponsible about discussing it as though it is true, when it is merely a leak story to the New York Times, a paper with zero credibility after how it's covered the last three years against the president. 

As Dan Bongino maintains as his rule "Wait 24 - 72 hours before commenting on the latest media leak because it is debunked totally within that time frame." He has accurately pointed out on his podcasts, "There is no crime, if there is no victim! Ukraine has repeatedly said they were not subjected to any pressure campaign."

The second issue is that Speaker of the House Pelosi obviously blew it "big time" by allowing the investigative committees in the House for five or so weeks PRIOR to having the whole House vote on providing those committees the Constitutional power to authorize demanding subpoenas for testimony. The defense team accurately explained today that, because of this delay of the whole House's vote, then all testimony records in those hearing prior to the whole House vote to give them the authority to subpoena them makes it all null and void.

Therefore, much of the material the House's articles of impeachment - other than the fact much of the articles are based solely on hate, malicious opinion and urgency to staunch the political bleeding for the Democrat Party's defense of their hopeful candidate; Quid-Pro-Joe Biden - have no place in these Senate hearings. Boom! The House Manager's points have been obliterated! If anything in this whole impeachment process is unprecedented, it is that "Shifty" Schiff's team and any points they've made are completely bogus and unfounded.

I suspect that most of the public is not going to pay attention to these points the Trump Defense Team has made, but instead will rely on talking heads' remarks which are baseless, but are mentioned because it continues to promote the Democrat's narrative in a desperate attempt to maintain a false basis for control and dominance in national politics.

Such tactics reveal that the Democrats are nothing more than liars and power hungry swamp rats who use the long practice of intimidation and threat of destroying anyone who attempts to stand up against those lies!

Senate Impeachment Trial, Day 6 - Slam Dunk!

Two hours! Folks, the Democrat Candidates owe the President's Defense Team in this trial a big "Thank You!" for giving them the rest of the weekend to go and campaign again.

Two hours! After the House Managers spent 24 hours to drone on an on filled with incorrect statements, half-truths, omissions of critical information in that presentation of their case to support the two articles of impeachment, the President's Defense Team tore apart everything in just two hours. Hey Burbank, are you embarrassed yet?

I post this link to C-SPAN2's video presentation of this morning's presentation of those points the team presented to the Senate because it's worth providing to anyone who might not have watched at 8 a.m. PST. 

As someone who's followed this "Witch Hunt" over the past three years, I know just how much information the team finally exposed to the nation who may have NEVER heard any of the facts it pointed out have been deliberately withheld, both from members of the House Managers Team and the Media (D); ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, also now understood as the Democrat Party's propaganda arm.

Now, you may assert that my statement in the above paragraph is biased, opinionated, or based on my conservative ideology. I understand why you might claim that. Unlike some of my liberal friends, I don't base those remarks on opinion, but provable facts which my friends ignore. I don't!

 However, ask yourself this question... Of all of the investigations and claims against Pres. Trump; Spygate (Russian Collusion), Ukraingate (Quid-Pro-Quo), and now the House's two articles of impeachment to the Senate, has resulted in ANY sound, legal evidence which indicates Pres. Trump committed a crime which rises to the level which justifies removal from office? 

If you watch the video of the presentation from this morning, you'll realize there is none! This is what I've known all along. Every time a new attack was launched, facts kept trickling out over time which revealed that the assertions weren't true. In fact, they revealed that it was all an orchestrated collaboration of the same key players in what's become widely known as "The Deep State" who are holdovers from the Obama administration.

A Campaign Ad Like NEVER Before!

If you've not yet seen this new campaign ad for reelecting the president, you've got to watch it!

A fair trial starts now!


However... Media Research Center's Brent Bozel has a slightly different message which we should heed... I think he's got a very good point. 

So, I'm not going to buy the excuse that contacting our state representatives - House & Senate - will do no good, even if I have to harass them DAILY to tell them how I feel about their attempt to take away our vote for the one president in decades who's actually made a positive difference in our country's future.

The Height of Hypocrisy

It has begun!

Opening argument for setting the rules of the impeachment trial are now being presented. As I watched and listened to the points from each side, I couldn't help but wonder, are these two lead managers of the trial from different planets?

One side says that the president will be proved to have not risen to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the House's articles don't even rise to that level because he has committed no crimes the two articles assert has occurred.

The other side says that he has committed two crimes - abuse of power (withholding funds to Ukraine), and obstructing Congress's investigations by refusing certain witness requests (exercising executive privilege by directing those close advisors not to testify before the House Judiciary committee).

What confuses the general viewing public about these totally different perspectives on this paramount issue before the nation is the details which are an integral part of what's gone on over the last few years. I've posted many an article which touches on those details to point out just how much hypocrisy has been exercised in these many months. I'll assume that readers will have a basic understanding of those points from having followed what's gone in in the past. 

Yet, just for the sake of perspective, I must suggest to my readers that they use this link to go to the 11:43 mark for the video composite of media remarks about the impeachment of Pres. Bill Clinton in 1999. If watching the whole hour long video of today's post by Dan Bongino one will learn the total hypocrisy of the Democrats when comparing it to their remarks about impeaching Pres. Trump. As a taste of what I'm referring to, when it comes to the left's hate against the president, read this statement by one Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D) N.Y. who is on the prosecuting team of the trial:

Why were so many people who worship at the altar of white supremacy drawn to Donald Trump’s campaign? What was it about this individual that so many folks dripping in hatred flocked to his candidacy?
That’s not to say that every American who voted for Donald Trump is a racist. We do know that every racist in America voted for Donald Trump. That’s a problem. But this president has a responsibility to address the rise in hate crimes that have taken place on his watch, whether or not his election is directly connected to it.

I must, however, point out here the hypocrisy which lead manager Rep. Adam "Shifty" Schiff (a.k.a. Stimpy) has displayed in his opening statements about demanding to have the Senate allowing a continuation of the House's investigations by allowing witnesses during the trial portion of the Senate's proceedings; something which the House failed to complete, along with holding secret hearings in the basement of the Capitol building and is STILL withholding secret witness testimony from the pubic that's damaging to their arguments. This is the height of hypocrisy!

It is these details which, I'm confident, the defense team of managers in this Senate trial will present, explain, and convince the sitting body that the president is not guilty of any crimes, but that those managers from the House are, as the president himself has stated many a time, engaging in a "Witch Hunt" motivated by hatred and malice.

Moreover, it is fascinating to observe how the Media (D) - ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, PBS - are couching their choice of words applied to every comment so as to present a highly opinionated perspective to the consuming public, thus exposing them to unwitting bias while pushing polls which are skewed to favor those biased views toward the president they hate.

First Day Trial First Impressions
After watching most, but not all, of the opening remarks of both sides of the impeachment teams to set the rules for proceedings of the trial, I am beginning to wonder why Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed both Chair Jerry Naddler (a.k.a. Rhen) of the House Judiciary Committee, and Chair Adam "Shifty" Schiff (a.k.a. Stimpy) of the House Intelligence Committee, to be #2 and leader managers - respectively - for this trial.

I think I've figured it out! Pelosi wants to get rid of the two clowns who, having no principles, are doing the most damage of humiliating the Democrat Party's image... they're so inept and incompetent. Remember, back in March of last year, Pelosi was saying there wouldn't be an impeachment hearing in the House because certain criteria of hers wasn't being met. Then, over time, I'm convinced, the more radical left element in her caucus persuaded her to change her mind.

Based on what they've claimed are the reasons for the two articles of impeachment, it's clear that they're making up 99% of their reasons from a pure hatred of the man, for he has exposed what the Democrats were up to during the 2016 presidential campaign and are desperately attempting at every turn to distract the public from learning what they themselves are guilty of doing; attempting to completely rig - with the help of Ukrainian operatives - the 2016 election against Trump and for Hillary!

This is not a criminal trial! It's strictly a political exercise! Don't believe me? Just do some searching for both of these clowns above and what they are on record of saying about Pres. Clinton's impeachment! Prove it to yourself. However, if you're not interested in taking time to do the research, go here to read this article by Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner.

Yet, what most people haven't heard is that we taxpayers paid to have nominee for the GOP, Trump, spied on through the Office of Net Assessment; a tax funded federal agency. Again, don't believe me? Check this article from SaraACarter.com about U.S. Attorney John Durham now investigating this fact. (For comments by Dan Bongino on this matter, I recommend watching further on in his video;especially at the 30:00 mark.)

Folks, I'm very hopeful that those out there who've not been paying attention much previously to all of this and who don't really understand all of what's actually gone on because they've only learned from hearsay and tidbits of news over the last six months or so, and are still at a neutral position on this will hear some of the trial presentations from Trump's team of lawyers and learn what's really gone down that will cause them to realize just how horrible the liberals have been in conducting this whole charade. Then, after Trump's been acquitted, come November, will pull the lever for him for reelection. However, if nothing's done about potential voter manipulation, our republic is truly in trouble. (See video below.)

It will be interesting to follow these proceedings as the days go on. More to come!

The Rise of Homelessness in America

I found this interesting article from the Daily Caller - Tents, Homelessness and Misery - 9 Things I Saw in San Francisco - in my email box and took the time to read it for a couple of reasons. And, although it was fairly long and well written, I could totally relate to what the woman author shared.

In my early years as a student in high school I attended only 70 miles north of San Francisco, I had many an opportunity to visit S.F. because of a female of interest who I dated occasionally, which never turned out to be any more than that. Back then, it was only the Tenderloin district of the city that one avoided because of the drug use and prostitution which prevailed there. The rest of the city was free of any pan handlers because the city police enforced the vagrancy laws of the city. The tourist industry flourished during the late '60s and early '70s; with the only other exception being the Haight/Ashbury district that became a pilgrimage for the "Hypie culture" of that same period.

During the mid-'70s, I ran the Bay To Breakers race across the city twice. At that time the appearance of Gay Community members within the crowds and the race was just gaining momentum, but the city was basically decent to visit.

Fast forward 50 years...

After retiring 10 years ago from the classroom in the Pacific NW, I decided to spend several years doing guard work at the two sports arenas in south Seattle; what's known as the SODO district near the Amtrak Station. CenturyLink Field is the northern of the two, with what was then Safeco Field. The Seattle Seahawks, along with the Seattle Sounders Soccer team, play in CenturyLink, while the Mariners baseball team play in what is now called T-Mobile Park due to new sponsorship.

In the fall of 2009, when I first began working at CenturyLink Field, homelessness was mostly non-existent. Yes, there were a few hanging around on the streets, but of no real significance. They didn't live in tent communities or pan handle because the city police enforce the existing ordinances and kept the streets free for the tourists; a big industry which is now suffering from the homeless influx of the past few years.

As the years went by and I picked up doing guard work also at Safeco Field in 2015, the scene in the SODO district began to change exponentially. More and more tent communities - such as the infamous "Jungle" underneath the raise freeway of Interstate 5 along the eastern edge of that area which made news after it was discovered that drug dealing and use, along with prostitution, were rampant, and at least one person was killed by someone with a gun inside the area - pan handlers and street sleepers became much more noticeable to the fans and stadium workers coming to games or work.

Sadly, this has resulted in several deaths of individuals in Seattle by homeless persons over the last several years of the past decade. The first and most tragic of that time was Prof. Troy Wolf who was walking through Pioneer Square north of CenturyLink stadium from a Sounders game and was knifed to death by a delusional homeless man.

Changing policy and the involvement of the federal DOJ during the Obama administration's A.G. Eric Holder, created a climate among city police which caused most police officers to "choose their battles" very carefully. A series of different incidences - a Sounders fan walking home through the Pioneer Square area from a game was murdered by a homeless individual, a homeless man was shot dead by police when he refused to drop a knife he was wielding, and other similar situations - brought about an imposed set of federal requirements that snuffed any real enforcement of low level crimes as a result.

Then too, the writer of the Daily Caller article cited above didn't mention the Kate Steinle incident of 2015 and the perpetrator's consequent overturned conviction for murdering her, or the influx of illegal immigrants who've been allowed to remain at large due to the city's "Sanctuary" policy of refusing to notify ICE of their presence when getting out of jail for a felony conviction.

Now S.F. has voted in a new kind of District Attorney, Chase Boudin, who has announced that low level crimes will not be prosecuted out of supposed compassion for the homeless. His campaign was known to be funded by George Soros; a former Hedge Fund manager who, from his European residence, is working to turn law and order on its head, as this article points out. 

So, both S.F. and Seattle have plenty in common when it comes to the homeless issue. Yes, folks, the liberals/leftists/socialists are doing their best to "progressively" move this nation into their utopia of concocted rights for everyone with no rational basis backing them. Personally, I believe it's virtue signaling which is part of their modern religion.

My question is... If we continue to allow this trend to move forward, at what point will we have to get to for a "tipping point" to occur in triggering a reversal and return to civility and decency?

Could This Be Why Hillary Erased 30K Emails?

 

Do you know what the Skolkavo Project in Russia was about? Are you aware what the Army Intelligence has pointed out about it?

Are you aware of the network of connected people involved as contributors to the Clinton Foundation and what was going on at the same time Billy collected $500K for that speech in Moscow?

Folks, the documented information and facts which Dan Bongino in today's show about these points asked above is revealed from the 31:31 mark to the 53:00 mark of the video edition of his presentation. Careful... Dan moves through this fast, so you may need to click back on the time bar and replay certain portions, but it's well worth the time to be clear what he's pointing out.

I cannot urge you enough to take the time to watch this fascinating piece which, if one uses a simple application of deductive reasoning, will come to the obvious conclusion that Hillary was well aware of the legal jeopardy she was in to the point of treasonous actions if convicted.

But, of course, Comey was a good team player for the "supposed president elect" and announced that - even though he had no authority to do so - she was exonerated of any wrong doing so that she could go on to lose and wander in the woods to contemplate why she lost.

How the Cabal Operates and Protects Their Own

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Much of what we are witnessing going on today in "the Swamp" with the House impeaching the president is only one small part of the vast cabal of east coast elitists who have networked for generations in circles of power and influence to retain that position, even though much of what they've done is criminal and reason for prosecution and conviction of a crime. This is why "the Swamp" stinks so badly.

My first insight into this fact was when I got and read Sydney Powell's book, "Licensed to Lie" which is her experience in defending one of the accused Enron employees in the Arthur Andersen, Merril Lynch and Enron scandal of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is an account of the massive prosecutorial misconduct by the lawyers who were assigned to prosecute for the government the Enron case. One of those employees of Enron was the client Powell represented who ended up going to prison for the simple fact that those lawyers representing the government withheld exculpatory evidence known as "Brady material". It was only after a year serving time that he was finally released after an appeal resulted in a unanimous vote in the U.S. Supreme Court which overturned his conviction. Thus, an innocent man served a year or so in prison!

From Powell's book, which came out in 2014, I'm going to quote from one of the final chapters about one particular individual which I shall connect to in the following paragraphs through a very revealing article.

The games and tactics of Fredrich, Ruemmler, Weissmann, Caldwell, and others on the Enron Task Force should never have been tolerated by the Houston federal judiciary or by the Fifth Circuit - much less reinvigorated by Friedrich and Glavin as heads of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice to pervert the trial of a United States Senator [Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska] There is no telling how many others have been or will be wrongly convicted as this cabal of corrupt cronies ambitiously climbs and weaves through the highest ranks of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the White House - in between their powerful partnerships in some of our country's most prestigious and influential law firms. (pg. 402)

Now, you're probably wondering which particular individual I'm focusing in on from that paragraph. For those who've been paying attention to the now infamous Mueller Investigation team, one name might have stood out as Mueller's right-hand man who was actually doing most of the work for him; Andrew Weissmann, also known as "The Pitbull" for his aggressive actions as a lawyer.

It's been speculated by many pundits who followed and wrote about the two and a half year long investigation that it was Weissmann who actually wrote the report when it became apparent that Mueller, during his testimony before Congressional Hearings, revealed he knew little about the contents and who the key players were in much of the case.

With Weissmann as part of the Enron Task Force team which withheld evidence from the court case which sent an innocent man to prison, and the fact that we now have Manafort, Cohen, and Stone in prison for reasons unrelated to any actual Russian collusion by the Trump Campaign, I ask the reader to read this article by Sara Carter, who you may recognize as one of the few remaining actual investigative journalists today who is frequently on Sean Hannity's show with legal consultant Gregg Jarrett. Reading this article will connect the dots on why I began this post the way I did.

Oh, and by the way, you may not realize that Sydney Powell, who is a Fifth Circuit U.S. Attorney, is now Lt. Gn. Michael Flynn's attorney who just filed in his court case to rescind his guilty plea for supposedly lying to two FBI agents. But, that's a whole other post I've already covered.

It's Embarassing and Concerning!

As I watched the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D) CA, announce who the nine impeachment managers would be to take the articles of impeachment over to the Senate today, it became apparent that this woman has some issues which are making the rest of us senior citizens look bad. Born in 1940, Pelosi will be turning 80 years old in March! Note that, the average age of Members of the House at the beginning of the 115th Congress was 57.8 years; of Senators, 61.8 years, among the oldest in U.S. history.

She's so obsessed with her position of power that she has no common sense to recognize she's got problems and it seems intends to die while a member of Congress in hopes of getting some form of national day of mourning in doing so. Her speech is clearly impeded by whatever condition is causing it in her old age. She's recently repeatedly slurring and having to correct her own pronunciation of words, or names, and it's downright embarrassing to witness! 

I can't help but be concerned that we citizens have reelected repeatedly such obviously disabled people - just look at Jerry Nadler standing next to Pelosi in that video - to office to make such critical decisions for us. On top it all, she designates Adam "Shifty" Schiff as the lead manager of the group of nine; a known lair who clearly defines most Democrats in Congress.

In her announcement speech this morning, she stated that it was about the Constitution. Since when did the Democrats give a damn about the Constitution? They've been doing everything in their power to disregard it in every way possible to ignore or change it. I don't have to explain the details regarding this point; any adult who's been paying attention to what's been going on with this sham in the House over the past two years is aware of how much of a joke it is.

No, folks, it is clear to me that this whole process is nothing more than a distraction from having exposed what the Democrats were doing in collusion with many of the corrupt Ukrainians during the Obama administration. Everything which has been revealed thus far points to actions on the Democrats part to stop the will of the people of this nation from restoring any measure of respect, decency, and morality to our great country.

Despite the appearance that we may have already lost our republic to these leftist socialists, the silent majority in this great nation needs to unify by standing up against what is clearly a concerted effort to turn our nation into a socialist one. We must unify by urging everyone we know to vote next November to re-elect Pres. Trump. Anyone who doesn't think he's done a fantastic job of improving everyone's lives over the short time he's been in the White House is delusional and blinded by their ideological bias and prejudice.

Joe Biden & Son - A Bit of History

If there was ever a "classic" example of just how corrupt and nepotistic "the Swamp" is these days, this is a prime one!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

By Your Friend Bill in Kentucky - a retired teacher

If ever there were a more worthy politician to circle the drain to oblivion, it is Joe Biden. He has been feeding at the public trough since 1972. That equates to 47 years out of his present 76 years of age.  First of all, Joe was elected to congress with Kennedy's money.

 

After graduating 506 out of a class of 688 at the University of Delaware, he entered Syracuse University of Law. During his first year there, he was accused of having plagiarized five of 15 pages of a law review article. Biden said it was inadvertent due to his "not knowing the proper rules of citation", and he was permitted to retake the course after receiving an "F" grade, which was subsequently dropped from his record. This incident would later attract attention when further plagiarism accusations emerged in 1987. He received his Juris Doctor in 1968, graduating 76th of 85 in his class.

 

So now that I have established that Joe and the truth were often times strangers, let's explore how after a life in "public service" the notoriously cheap Joe Biden has amassed a net worth of 9 million dollars.  $9,000,000.00! And in case you think his wife has been a big moneymaker, I would like to point out that she is a glorified school teacher. And it turns out his Ukrainian scheme was not the first time Creepy Joe strong-armed his way into hush money for him and his cocaine loving son. Which is exactly why Robert Hunter Biden, secured a prestigious direct commission to the U.S. Naval Reserves in 2012 as a public affairs officer. The program recruits civilians without prior military service who have special skills that are critical to sustaining military operations. Hunter Biden's primary qualification for the cushy part-time job was his last name. The power of nepotism came in handy when he was forced to seek not one, but two waivers, to secure the job.

 

Ordinary applicants have to meet age restrictions (under 40 at the time he sought the position, now 42). He was 43. Then Hunter needed a second waiver to get a pass for prior cocaine use. Granted! Only six public affairs officers received such direct appointments from the Navy Reserves that year. Amazing, isn't it, that there wasn't a single other applicant in America (population: 327 million) with a clean drug history and proper age eligibility to take the slot.

 

But for all that string-pulling effort, Hunter Biden barely served a year. After testing positive for cocaine during a random drug test, he was discharged quietly in February 2014. The hush-hush deal, undisclosed until a whistle blower told The Wall Street Journal eight months later, was yet another perk of Biden patronage. So was his immunity from any investigation or review of his law license by the Connecticut bar. And so, too, was his quick career bounce back.

 

A month after his humiliating discharge from our military, Biden's coke-abusing party boy was appointed to the board of directors of Ukraine's largest private gas producer, Burisma Holdings, owned by a powerful Russian government sympathizer, who had fled to Russia that year. It's also the same company a top Ukrainian prosecutor was investigating for corruption before he was fired at the behest of Creepy Joe, according to Joe himself, who bragged about threatening to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine during a Council of Foreign Relations speech in 2018.

 

After reporting earlier this month that Ukrainian officials are still probing the shady company and its dealings with Hunter, The Hill's John Solomon proposed pointed questions for the Democratic presidential front-runner: Was it appropriate for your son and his firm to cash in on Ukraine while you served as point man for Ukraine policy? What work was performed for the money Hunter Biden's firm received? Did you know about the Burisma probe (and) should you have recused yourself?

 

Similar queries apply to Hunter Biden's other position at investment firm Rosemont Seneca, which snagged a $1 billion deal in 2013 with the Communist Bank of China, just days after Creepy Joe had met with China's President Xi Jinping.

 

This is all part of the crooked pattern in the Biden family finances. Hunter's first job, acquired after Joe Biden won his 1996 Senate reelection bid in Delaware, was with MBNA, the credit card conglomerate and top campaign finance donor to then Sen. Biden. The elder Biden secured his custom-built, multi million-dollar house in Delaware's Chateau Country with the help of a leading MBNA corporate executive. Biden went on to carry legislative water for MBNA in the Senate for years.

 

Hunter became a founding partner in the lobbying firm of Oldaker, Biden, and Belair in 2002. William Oldaker was Papa Biden's former fundraiser, campaign treasurer, and general counsel. Under Oldaker's tutelage, Hunter lobbied for drug companies, universities and other deep-pocketed clients to the tune of nearly $4 million billed to the company by 2007.

 

Hunter held a top position at Paradigm Global Advisors, a hedge fund holding company founded with Joe's brother, James, and marketed by convicted finance fraudster Allen Stanford. Hunter oversaw half a billion dollars of client money invested in hedge funds while remaining a D.C. lobbyist. The ill-fated venture went bust amid nasty fraud lawsuits.

 

Hunter also served on the board of directors of taxpayer-subsidized Amtrak, for which his father secured a $53 billion high-speed train initiative.

After a life filled with fraud and service, this nasty old man has the temerity to run for our nation's highest office. Ever the narcissist he positions himself in front of the camera almost daily and lies his head off about anything he thinks will secure his nomination. Except for now.

 

 Joe's  son Hunter, got a woman pregnant in Arkansas, and when she told him about it, he ignored her and walked away. This was after he was having an affair with his dead brother's widow. Classy guy this Hunter. The state of Arkansas laws required a paternity test, and sure enough, Hunter was the father.  It's only because the law "forced" him to, did he help this woman out with child support. It's not like this scumbag isn't rolling in money.

Every time I see Joe on TV, I feel like throwing up.  His son does the same thing to me. They are the epitome of everything that's wrong in D.C.

More Proof of Subversiveness Against America

"They have instituted a regime that attacks American values systematically by design, providing a haven for insurrectionary ideas to thrive within academia."

I often wonder how many more examples of how our nation's freedoms and liberties must come under attack before a sufficient majority of our people will realize we must take action against it.

Of course, the real question from the pull-quote above is, just who are THEY?

As someone who's spent their career in public education, I can personally testify to the fact that my experience has revealed that there has long been a concerted effort into even the K-12 sector of our education system. Many of the recently implemented curriculum in the U.S. have come from those organizations who not only have received funds from foreign entities, but have dedicated themselves persistently to lobbying both national and state governments to promote their tyrannical and despotic concepts on the youth of our nation.

This article from the Wall Street Journal, however, only addresses the threat from without - rather than the threat from within through the NEA and its state affiliates - on college and university campuses across our country. Should we allow foreign entities to donate or contribute to programs in our institutes of "higher learning" which support the influx of patently insane and ridiculous concepts such as identity politics, entitlement, socialism and communism, and reparations to those who've never been enslaved, just to name a few?

 Yet, the more insidious and effective campaign by those who wish to foment further insurrection against our freedoms and liberties are those promoting the lie that we should be our child's friend, rather than the experienced and caring adult who understands the need to not allow them everything they want or desire. Growing up without experiencing any hardships or difficulties, and getting whatever one feels entitled to, will inevitably grow into a young adult who will be unprepared to handle the real world issues they will confront. Why do you think we're seeing this phenomenon of "snowflakes" today?

There are, no doubt, those who may not believe that we can possibly turn this "ship of state" around, but if we don't even try, then we'll never even see a change of course.