Tag: washington

WA School District That Forced Kids to Hide Bibles in “Concealed Envelopes” Must Now Apologize, Undergo Religious Liberty Training, and Fork Over $275K

A school district in Washington state is being forced to apologize, fork over $275,000, and attend religious liberty training after forcing students to hide Bibles in concealed envelopes.

School officials in the Everett School District were accused of trying to make it difficult for children to participate in a release-time program on Christianity. The elementary students were forced to hide Bibles in “concealed envelopes,” and parents were forced to repeatedly submit permission slips.

LifeWise Academy provides optional, privately funded Bible education to public school students during school hours. Classes take place off school property and require parental permission.

Following complaints, First Liberty Institute and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of a LifeWise parent and staff member after the district imposed restrictions that singled out the program.

According to the lawsuit, the restrictions included excluding LifeWise from community events and flyer displays, requiring burdensome weekly parental reauthorization, and requiring students to keep materials received at LifeWise, including Bibles, sealed in envelopes in their backpacks.

Additionally, a school board member was openly hostile about the program and “publicly declared animus toward LifeWise Academy” while grossly mischaracterizing the program during  a school board meeting.

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Washington to Charge Residents $126 Just to Shop for a Gun

Beginning May 1, 2027, Washington state residents will have to pay $126 to acquire a state-issued permit-to-purchase that allows them to buy a gun.

Radio host Jason Rantz noted that the permit-to-purchase will be issued by the Washington State Patrol (WSP).

Ammoland received confirmation from WSP that the overall fee will be $126. That fee consists of “$90 for the permit and $36 for the fingerprint background check.”

Rantz pointed out that there are other costs involved, too. Namely, the cost for training and ammunition for a “state-certified safety course” that permit-to-purchase applicants must pass in order to receive their permit.

He said, “Course fees, ammunition, range time and travel all come out of the buyer’s pocket on top of the $126.”

Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Washington the No. 9 state in the Union for gun control stringency.

Washington has universal background checks for handgun purchases, a ten-day waiting period on gun sales, a concealed carry permit requirement, a red flag law, gun storage laws, an “assault weapons” ban, a “high-capacity” magazine ban, a bump stock ban, a registry of all handgun sales, “ghost gun” regulations, a ban on K-12 teachers being armed for classroom defense, and so much more.

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Wash.: High school cross-country girls walk off track meet, protesting biological male runner

Nearly half of the girls on the Camas High School cross-country team in Camas, Washington, walked off the starting line during a recent meet to protest the inclusion of a biological male runner on their team.

Footage of roughly 13 athletes linking arms and leaving the course quickly went viral, reigniting debate over transgender participation in girls’ sports.

The protest centered on teammate Logan Mihailoff, who notably began the season in the boys’ junior varsity division — placing 76th place at the Ultimook Invitational on September 5th — before transitioning to compete in the girls’ division midseason.

Mihailoff switched from competing in the boys’ division to the girls’ division midseason between September 5th and September 26th.

Competing under Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules, which permit participation based on gender identity, Mihailoff then placed second out of 195 female runners at the Nike Portland XC Invitational on September 26th, won a dual meet against Union High School on September 29th, and placed second in the subsequent October 8th meet.

Critics have highlighted that allowing biological male athletes to compete displaces female runners who have trained rigorously for team roster spots and standings, while school officials simply argue they are just complying with established state interscholastic policies.

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FBI Arrests Washington “Trans Woman” Accused of Helping Plot the Canadian School Shooting — Sent Cash, Tactical Advice, and Watched the Livestream as Children Were Shot

The FBI arrested a 30-year-old Bellingham, Washington resident on Tuesday and charged him with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country for allegedly coaching, funding, and agreeing to broadcast the February 10 slaughter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, the attack that left 8 people dead, including 5 children.

James Cody Bryant was taken into custody in Bellingham and appeared in federal court in Seattle.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

According to the Department of Justice announcement and the accompanying 41-page FBI criminal complaint, Bryant allegedly maintained extensive communications with 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar during the six months before the February 10 massacre.

Both Bryant and Van Rootselaar were born male and identified as transgender women, according to police and federal officials.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in February that Van Rootselaar was “born a biological male” who began identifying as female about six years earlier.

On Tuesday, U.S. officials said they understood Bryant was also born male and identified as female.

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Washington State Democrat Candidate Has a Meltdown in Patrol Car After DUI Arrest

Democrat candidate Krista Perez — who who is running for a state House seat in Washington — was seen on police video having a meltdown in a patrol car after being arrested for a DUI.

In the body camera footage, Perez — who won the Democrat primary in Washington state’s 29th Legislative District, Position 1 — admitted to drinking wine, declined field sobriety tests, and begged to go home before she was seen praying and sobbing in the back of a police vehicle.

“Did you get into an accident here?” an officer asked Perez in the video, to which the Democrat candidate replied, “I did not.”

In the footage, the 40-year-old woman is seen standing outside her vehicle, where an airbag had deployed at the front wheel.

“What happened, then?” the officer inquired, to which Perez responded, “I don’t know. I’ve never been in an accident before.”

After being asked for her insurance, Perez told law enforcement, “I literally just changed my insurance just, like, within the last two weeks,” and was unable to tell the officer the name of the insurance company.

Perez then told police that she was driving from “a friend’s business” on Tacoma Avenue South when the car accident occurred.

“Did you have anything to drink tonight?” the officer asked, to which the Democrat candidate replied, “I just had some wine while I was there.”

After being asked how much wine she had, Perez responded, “I had a glass of wine. One glass of wine.”

The officer then asked how big the glass was, to which she answered, “I’m confused about what our questions are right now,” before adding, “I think you might need to contact the business.”

“On a scale from zero to ten, zero being sober, ten being unable to function, where would you rate yourself tonight?” the police officer inquired, to which Perez replied, “I would like to go home.”

After being asked to rate herself on the scale from zero to ten again, the Democrat candidate finally responded, saying, “Four.”

The officer then asked Perez to participate in field sobriety tests, informing her multiple times that she can decline the tests if she prefers.

“It’s totally voluntary,” he said. “You can say no if you’d like.”

Perez told the officer she wanted to “go home” first, and repeatedly stated that she was “confused.”

“You’re not going to go home first. I’m going to tell you that right now, okay? So, your options between the test, yes or no, that’s going to be determined tonight, right now, not when you go home. So, would you like to take these tests or no?” the officer asked.

After declining the roadside sobriety tests again, the officer instructed Perez to turn around and put her hands behind her back.

“Oh no, wait. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. One second,” she reacted.

The officer then handcuffed Perez while she repeatedly stated, “I don’t know what any of this means.”

“It means you’re under arrest for DUI,” the officer replied.

The Democrat candidate then informed law enforcement that she doesn’t know what “DUI” means, before continuing to repeat, “I don’t know what any of this means.” Perez went on to ask God to help her in Spanish.

Later, inside the squad car, Perez told the officer, “I think what I assume tonight is that you did not experience domestic violence in your life.”

“What makes you think that?” the officer asked, to which Perez responded, “I choose gratitude in my life.”

The officer then asked, “Is there anything else you want to share?” to which the Democrat candidate bizarrely replied, “Anything that you are requesting to be shared right now would be under duress.”

The video footage goes on to show Perez crying in police car and repeatedly asking, “Can you please help me?”

Upon reaching the station, the sobbing Democrat candidate told authorities, “I don’t know to get out” of the vehicle.

The Tacoma Police Department said Perez struck a parked car and set off a chain reaction that damaged five vehicles shortly after midnight on August 11, according to The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red.

The Democrat candidate was booked into Pierce County Corrections on the morning of August 11 on a DUI charge.

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University Of Washington Settles Case Against Professor Disciplined For Mocking Land Acknowledgment

Land acknowledgments have become standard at academic and political events, including the opening of the Obama Presidential Library and a recent Michigan Democratic event. While supporters insist it merely shows respect for original inhabitants, critics argue it is the ultimate virtue signaling and is increasingly being forced on both speakers and audiences. One critic is Professor Stuart Reges, who teaches at the computer science and engineering school of the University of Washington. He has now received a settlement from the University of Washington, which spent a significant amount of time and resources in response to his mocking of the school’s land acknowledgment.

We previously discussed the case of Professor Reges, who was disciplined because he refused to post the school’s “land acknowledgment” and instead posted an alternative statement. Professor Reges sued the university and various officials in 2022. Professor Reges has declared “Land acknowledgments are performative acts of conformity that should be resisted, even if it lands you in court.”

The defendants included Nancy Allbritton, the Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington, Magdalena Balazinska, Director of the Allen School, UW President Ana Mari Cauce, and the Allen School’s Vice Director Dan Grossman.

After the university encouraged faculty to add a prewritten “Indigenous land acknowledgment” statement to their syllabi, Reges decided to write his own statement. He has now been told that, while the university statement is optional, his statement is unacceptable because it questions the indigenous land claim of the Coast Salish people.

The school provided a recommended statement for all faculty to post and/or read to their students at the first of every course:

“The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.”

Professor Reges disagreed with that statement and expressed his doubts to the faculty while also noting that “Magda” did not want the faculty to discuss such reservations on the email system. That may refer to the Director of the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, Magdalena Balazinska.

Reges’ alternative statement read:

“I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington.”

The labor theory (which I teach) generally refers to John Locke’s theory. In his Second Treatise, Locke laid the foundation for property as a divine gift of God that began in the state of nature, where all was created in common by God. Reges declared that these tribes, indigenous people, “can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land and that the claim of the university land was not sufficiently used or developed to bestow a claim upon the Coast Salish people. That acknowledged group is a broad collection of different groups with ethnic or linguistic associations.”

In his lawsuit, Professor Reges says that, after he stated his own views, the university moved against him.

“On January 4, 2022, the day after Professor Reges’s Computer Science and Engineering 143 class met for the first time, Defendant [Magdalena] Balazinska, Director of the Allen School, sent Professor Reges an email ordering him to remove the statement from his syllabus because it was ‘offensive’ and created a ‘toxic environment.’“

Reges noted that the university allowed other professors “to include modified statements in their syllabi that were more consistent with the University’s recommended statement.” The operative point is that “other faculty at the Allen School continue to include land acknowledgment statements in their syllabi that differ from the University’s own statement, so long as they express a viewpoint consistent with the University’s recommended version.”

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Trump Orders Shock Voter Fraud Crackdown in Nine States, Including: WA, WI, MO, GA, CA, PA, NV, NY and CT

Cue the shrieking demons in the leftist media!

President Trump ordered a shock voter fraud crackdown on Monday in nine states, including Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, and Connecticut.

It starts on Tuesday.

Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative arm, will launch what officials are calling a ‘coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative to pursue investigative leads, conduct field interviews, and support timely prosecutorial review.’

Agents will be authorized to pursue investigative leads through mid-October — right as the midterm election season gets underway.

Today’s news comes after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin previously stated 250,000+ noncitizens were found on voter rolls in four states.

In July, Secretary Mullin sent letters to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, New Jersey Secretary of State Dale Caldwell, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt.

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Arson Suspect Identified and Arrested in Spokane Wildfires that Torched Hundreds of Homes – Man Previously Gunned Down HIS OWN FATHER

A ‘climate change’ narrative pushed by the left following the latest wildfires affecting the United States has imploded following news that an arson suspect has been arrested. And his past is absolutely harrowing.

As The Gateway Pundit reported yesterday, The Old Trails Fire in Spokane County, Washington, ignited on Saturday across parts of Spokane, Washington.

The fires rapidly expanded under strong winds, prompting widespread Level 3 “Go Now” evacuations that forced 64,000 residents to flee their homes.

By evening, multiple homes had been burned, with videos posted to social media showing the devastation. 700 homes in total burned to the ground.

Early coverage, including CNN’s live updates, used “climate crisis” language, and the Associated Press described the fires as erupting “across a parched landscape” amid severe drought and low snowpack.

Climate activists and social media accounts ran with the climate crisis narrative.

But in news that should shock absolutely no one, the corporate media got it all wrong. On August 3, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 37-year-old man named Aaron F. Farinacci on suspicion of first-degree arson.

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Vulnerable Dem Implodes When Pressed About Support for Socialism

Yes, there’s a congressional race on the Left Coast that Republicans could wrest away from Democrats. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) from Washington’s 3rd District is underwater in her race, not well-liked, and trailing her primary challengers. Washington goes by a top-two primary system: everyone from all parties is on the ballot, and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election. Perez is trying to lie low, keeping mum about the state income tax issue (via Oregon Public Radio): 

The race for Washington’s 3rd congressional district is expected to be one of the most competitive in the nation this fall, thanks to a wave of redistricting across the U.S. that has left few seats in play for either political party.

Washington state holds a “top-two primary,” which means that the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November, regardless of party.

Yet as voters head into the Aug. 4 primary, experts predict a fiercely partisan general election, with an incumbent Democrat fighting to hold her seat against a state senator who’s been endorsed by President Donald Trump in a deeply purple district.

Two-term Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is favored in a field of four Democratic candidates. The frontrunner in a field of three GOP candidates appears to be state Sen. John Braun, a Trump favorite who represents a rural legislative district that includes northern Clark County.

Whoever emerges victorious will quickly find themselves at the heart of one of the fiercest and most closely watched Congressional races — one of just 18 seats without a likely outcome in November out of the entire 435-member House of Representatives, according to the Cook Political Report.

Perez knows she’s vulnerable, walking a waffled line on some issues, like this interview with a local NPR outlet, where she couldn’t handle questions about her ties and support for socialist causes. The FEC reports don’t lie; she’s taken in over $2 million from the MGP Victory Fund, which has ties to the Washington Democratic Party. It’s no shock, but lady, admit that you’re in with socialists, because that’s the state party platform. There’s a lot of Mamdani in these pages. 

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These Are The Six States Celebrating America 250 By Raising Your Gas Tax

The final countdown for America’s 250th birthday is on. Families will be planning road trips, parades, vacations, reunions, and cookouts to celebrate the greatest nation in history. But in six states, politicians have a different idea for the party: raise taxes.

Beginning July 1, drivers in California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Mississippi are scheduled to see higher state gas taxes. In other words, as the country prepares to celebrate casting aside a tax-heavy king in favor of freedom, these states will use the occasion to fatten government coffers one gallon at a time.

The worst offenders will be no surprise. California, Washington and Illinois  — we’ll call them the Axis of Glut.

Their governors are often the first to fake outrage when gas prices rise. They blame oil companies. They blame “price gouging.” They blame world events. They blame everyone except the politicians who keep piling taxes, mandates, and regulations onto every gallon drivers buy.

Yet these same states already have some of the worst gas prices in the nation, some of the highest gas taxes in America, and now they are getting ready to raise those taxes again.

California’s gas tax is already the highest in the country and is scheduled to climb again on July 1, from 61.2 cents to 63.4 cents per gallon, under the state’s annual inflation adjustment. The same report noted California’s average price for regular gasoline was nearly $6 per gallon in early June.

Illinois is no better. The state says its motor fuel tax will rise on July 1 because the law requires an annual inflation adjustment. Washington joined the club with a gas tax increase last year and then baked in automatic increases going forward. Starting July 1, 2026, the state’s fuel tax rises by 2% every year unless lawmakers change the law.

This is the dirty hustle behind inflation-indexed taxes. Politicians get to raise taxes without holding a press conference to admitting it. They pass the law once, then every year drivers get mugged by a formula.

As of June 8, the national average for regular gas was $4.164, down 38.2 cents in a single month. That is welcome relief for families, workers, small businesses and anyone trying to get through summer. But the national average would look even better if it were not being anchored down by tax-heavy states that treat drivers like a rolling ATM.

The problem is not limited to the six July 1 tax-hike states. Seven of the ten most expensive states for gas are run by Democratic governors. That is not a coincidence.

Taxes play a major role in the high-price reputation of many of these states. So do their regulatory regimes, special fuel rules, anti-energy policies and climate mandates that make fuel harder to produce, refine, transport and sell.

The result is predictable.

Families, small businesses, truckers, and farmers all pay more. Then the same politicians who helped drive up the cost pretend they are shocked by the bill.

That is not compassion. That is government gluttony.

Supporters claim the money goes to roads and infrastructure. But that excuse only goes so far. Every tax increase is sold as necessary. Yet somehow the burden always lands in the same place: on the people who drive to work, school, church, the grocery store or a summer vacation.

That is what makes the timing so perfect, and so insulting.

America’s 250th birthday should be a celebration of freedom, independence and the rejection of government overreach. The American Revolution was born from the idea that people should not be treated as endless revenue sources for rulers who never seem to have enough.

Nearly 250 years later, millions of drivers will pull into gas stations in California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Mississippi and get a reminder that some politicians still have not learned the lesson.

The country is moving toward a better energy future: lower prices, more production, more reliability and less punishment for the people who keep America moving. But these six states are choosing a different path.

America 250 should remind us why this country was born: because free people eventually get tired of being treated like revenue.

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