Tag: washington

Councilwoman Slammed for Calling Pride Flag ‘More Relatable’ Than American Flag

A left-wing local official in Washington has found herself in hot water after dismissing the American flag as “not relatable” and suggesting that a pride flag would better represent her city, as reported by Fox News.

Lynnwood City Councilwoman Isabel Mata sparked outrage after arguing that 27 American flags displayed in a local park should be swapped out for “commemorative” or “inclusive” ones—because certain versions of Old Glory represent “parts of American history that, frankly, are not great.”

Mata’s comments came during a recent city council meeting, where she lamented the presence of multiple iterations of the U.S. flag flown in Wilcox Park, affectionately known as “Flag Park.”

Her remarks, suggesting the American flag was less meaningful than the LGBTQ pride flag, quickly spread across social media and drew fierce criticism from locals, veterans, and conservatives who saw her statements as yet another symptom of the Left’s ongoing crusade against patriotism.

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HUGE! WA State Abandoned Box of Election Materials – More Data Analysis Shows Amazing Find is Bigger than Expected

REVIEW: On April 16, 2026, WAGOP State Chairman and State Rep. Jim Walsh reported that a concerned citizen made a troubling discovery in February 2026: hundreds of undelivered WA State ballots sitting in a large box on the ground, next to a dumpster behind a strip mall in Renton, WA. According to Chair Walsh, the Good Samaritan knew they were important, put the box in his truck, called King County Elections, then called the WA Secretary of State’s office (SoS), but was given the runaround. He even tried calling his congressional representative with no luck. So, he contacted Chair Walsh and gave the box to WAGOP.

WHAT WE NOW KNOW:

  • USPS delivered election mail from several county elections offices and the WA Sec of State (SoS) over the 2020-25 election cycles, addressed to people who rented private mailboxes at a Commercial Mailbox Business at 330 SW 43rd St., Suite K, Renton, WA. The business was responsible for holding the mail in customers’ private mailboxes for them to pick up.
  • Much election mail went unclaimed between 2020–2025. Instead of being properly handled as undeliverable and sent back to USPS, a large box of election materials was abandoned next to a dumpster behind the strip mall where the business is located.
  • The new owner of the business told reporters they took over in Jan 2026 and were unaware of any leftover ballots, calling the situation “news to them.”

The WAGOP scanned and photocopied the contents of the box. They contacted law enforcement and the USPS and ensured the contents of the box were secure. It took USPS two days to come and pick up the box. The box and all its contents were then given to USPS inspectors who are conducting an investigation with Renton Police, King County officials, and possibly the FBI.

As Chair of the WAGOP Election Integrity Committee, I was notified of the findings immediately after Chair Walsh’s April 16 video. I then reached out to several election integrity specialists to assist in data analysis to further clarify, verify, document, and record the findings. Here are the most recent updates:

THE ELECTION-RELATED MATERIALS IN THE BOX INCLUDED:

  • 550 undelivered “Eligible But Unregistered” (EBU) voter registration postcards, addressed from the SoS to people not yet listed on the state’s voter roll. These are people who are NOT registered voters but appear to be eligible to register to vote (U.S. citizens, age 16+, state residents, etc.).
  • 360 undelivered ballot envelopes, sent from elections offices in King (334), Pierce (11), Snohomish (11), Thurston (2), Kitsap (1), and one from Imperial County, California.

DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE 360 UNDELIVERED BALLOT ENVELOPES:

  • 63 unique voters (2020 – 2025 election cycles). 58 are currently registered.
  • 6 people voted in different election cycles (using ballots not found in the box).
    • 4 voted in the 2024 general election.
    • 1 voted in the 2020 general election.
    • 1 voted in the 2022 general election.
    • No one voted in the 2023 or 2025 elections.

Of Note: Of the 63 voters, about 47 (75%) have traditional American/Northern European names, and about 16 (25%) have other foreign names (6 Hispanic, 6 Chinese/Central Asian, 4 Russian/Slavic).

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Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson slammed for cutting short interview over basic public safety question

Seattle socialist Mayor Katie Wilson is facing renewed backlash after abruptly cutting short an interview when pressed on a basic public safety question.

The two-minute video has amassed nearly 1 million views on X and sparked fierce criticism of the newly installed mayor.

Wilson awkwardly exited the interview with Seattle’s TV station KOMO after being asked about the role of surveillance cameras amid rising gun violence in the city.

“That’s obviously been an issue that you weighed in on. Does that change it? Does that change your perspective at all?” a reporter asked.

As the question was posed, the mayor began to break eye contact and glance at what appeared to be her press staffers off camera, who could be heard telling the reporter to “keep it on topic.”

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The great bait-and-switch of state assisted suicide laws

Last March, 31-year-old Eileen Mihich was found dead in a room at the Hotel Deluxe in Portland, Ore. Near her body was an empty bottle of the poison pills prescribed specifically for physician-assisted suicide.

Mihich had obtained this concoction from a pharmacy in Mill Creek, Wash., despite not meeting any of the legal criteria to obtain it. She was not terminally ill. She had not seen even one practitioner. She also had serious mental illness that rendered her capacity questionable, and she was not a resident of Washington state.

One year after lodging a formal complaint with the Washington Department of Health, her family has still received no word on how their loved one could have received these deadly drugs.

The incident helps illustrate the classic bait-and-switch nature of the modern assisted suicide movement and the effort to make suicide-affirmation a form of medical care.

The first U.S. state to legalize the practice, Oregon, promised that cases like that of Mihich wouldn’t happen. In the subsequent decades, the assisted suicide lobby has continuously protested too much that no documented case of abuse exists. This nonsense has long been discredited. In fact, the very first woman to die from Oregon’s original suicide law was pushed through the doctor-shopping process despite her likely ineligibility. A litany of other cases of abuse has followed.

Outside the U.S., it is almost satirical how ravenous the system has become for new victims of abusive practices. Recently, multiple outlets have documented how an 81-year-old woman in Canada was offered to be put to death by the state on account of her back pain.

Mihich’s tragic case ought to bring renewed scrutiny to how this flimsy, dangerous system operates in the U.S. Bills to legalize the practice are active in 13 states, and two other states are looking at removing their existing safeguards.

Eileen’s workaround was disturbingly simple and works in all 13 states where suicide-affirming care is legal. She knew she did not meet her native Oregon’s eligibility requirements. So she found a random doctor’s publicly available National Provider Identifier, which she used to forge a prescription. She spoofed that doctor’s email address and submitted the fraudulent application by email to a pharmacy, which signed the prescription.

Eileen picked up the fatal dose shortly thereafter.

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Washington pastor accused of using AI to create sexually explicit images of real children

A pastor and educator in southeastern Washington state was arrested after allegedly using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create sexually explicit images of real children.

Kevin Johnson, 54, has been charged with four felony counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He worked as a lead pastor of Impact Church in Pasco and as a paraeducator at Cottonwood Elementary School in nearby Kennewick, according to his Linkedin account.

Johnson pleaded not guilty during an April 10 court appearance, according to NonStop Local, a network of NBC affiliates in the area. During the hearing, prosecutors said they had identified two victims.

“Law enforcement is still working on processing through the defendant’s devices but as of this time have identified an additional victim of which the defendant had generated AI child sexual abuse material,” a prosecutor said at the hearing, NonStop Local reported.

The Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a law enforcement collaboration in southeast Washington led the investigation. Google had flagged suspected child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded to an online platform, according to the Richland Police Department. 

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Kurt Cobain death mystery reignites as ex-detective points to three clues challenging suicide ruling

Kurt Cobain was found with a lethal gunshot wound to the head on April 8, 1994 at his Seattle, Washington home.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) took over the investigation, finding a suicide note, a gun in his hands and a nearby heroin kit, which they used to determine the Nirvana frontman, 27, had taken his own life.

Now, in a newly released update tied to his controversial book Case Closed: The Cobain Murder: The Killing and Cover-Up of Kurt Cobain, author Ian Halperin, a journalist known for several bestselling investigative books, claims that an unnamed former Seattle police detective privately told him the investigation into Cobain’s death was mishandled. 

Halperin wrote that he spoke to the former police officer about 18 months ago and quoted the source as saying: ‘I have felt a sense of righteous indignation for years. Finally, I decided to speak out to address a serious wrongdoing.’

Halperin said the unnamed former detective claimed Cobain’s heroin levels were so high that it would have been impossible for him to fire the gun himself. 

‘There were no fingerprints on the gun, and the last five lines of his alleged suicide did not match his own handwriting,’ the source said, according to the book.

‘Just on that, the case should not have been labeled a suicide. A proper investigation should have been conducted, a thorough investigation to find out how, in fact, Cobain died. It was never done.’

When asked about a potential mishandling of Cobain’s death, a SPD spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘Kurt Cobain died by suicide in 1994. This continues to be the position of the Seattle Police Department.’

The former SPD office also claimed there was ‘poor management,’ with Halperin writing that the source said they were among several people within the department who believed the entire investigation was ‘one big cover-up.’

Halperin wrote that the source worked under Norm Stamper, the Seattle Chief of Police from 1994 to 2000, who has expressed regret over how Cobain’s case was handled, stating in 2015 that he ‘would reopen this investigation’ if given the opportunity.

While not directly accusing anyone, Stamper previously suggested that investigators should not have immediately discounted the possibility of murder.

Halperin’s source echoed Stamper’s concerns, saying: ‘Too much politics was involved. Not enough facts. Many people were able to advance themselves at others’ expense. As a result, many cases were treated unfairly.’ 

Halperin wrote that when asked why the unnamed former detective questioned the suicide ruling, the source cited several concerns about the investigation. 

Similar concerns have been raised in previous years by other law enforcement figures who later reviewed the case.

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Kurt Cobain death mystery reignites as ex-detective points to three clues challenging suicide ruling

Kurt Cobain was found with a lethal gunshot wound to the head on April 8, 1994 at his Seattle, Washington home.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) took over the investigation, finding a suicide note, a gun in his hands and a nearby heroin kit, which they used to determine the Nirvana frontman, 27, had taken his own life.

Now, in a newly released update tied to his controversial book Case Closed: The Cobain Murder: The Killing and Cover-Up of Kurt Cobain, author Ian Halperin, a journalist known for several bestselling investigative books, claims that an unnamed former Seattle police detective privately told him the investigation into Cobain’s death was mishandled. 

Halperin wrote that he spoke to the former police officer about 18 months ago and quoted the source as saying: ‘I have felt a sense of righteous indignation for years. Finally, I decided to speak out to address a serious wrongdoing.’

Halperin said the unnamed former detective claimed Cobain’s heroin levels were so high that it would have been impossible for him to fire the gun himself. 

‘There were no fingerprints on the gun, and the last five lines of his alleged suicide did not match his own handwriting,’ the source said, according to the book.

‘Just on that, the case should not have been labeled a suicide. A proper investigation should have been conducted, a thorough investigation to find out how, in fact, Cobain died. It was never done.’

When asked about a potential mishandling of Cobain’s death, a SPD spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘Kurt Cobain died by suicide in 1994. This continues to be the position of the Seattle Police Department.’

The former SPD office also claimed there was ‘poor management,’ with Halperin writing that the source said they were among several people within the department who believed the entire investigation was ‘one big cover-up.’

Halperin wrote that the source worked under Norm Stamper, the Seattle Chief of Police from 1994 to 2000, who has expressed regret over how Cobain’s case was handled, stating in 2015 that he ‘would reopen this investigation’ if given the opportunity.

While not directly accusing anyone, Stamper previously suggested that investigators should not have immediately discounted the possibility of murder.

Halperin’s source echoed Stamper’s concerns, saying: ‘Too much politics was involved. Not enough facts. Many people were able to advance themselves at others’ expense. As a result, many cases were treated unfairly.’ 

Halperin wrote that when asked why the unnamed former detective questioned the suicide ruling, the source cited several concerns about the investigation. 

Similar concerns have been raised in previous years by other law enforcement figures who later reviewed the case.

In a previous interview with the Daily Mail, retired Seattle Police Captain Neil Low, who was asked by his chief to audit the Cobain case in 2005, said he believed investigators failed to properly treat the death as a potential homicide.

‘I just am not buying that Kurt did that to himself,’ he said, describing the investigation as ‘botched.’ 

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Washington Sheriffs File Lawsuit to Block Unconstitutional Law Allowing Unelected Commission to Remove Them From Office

Yesterday, four Washington County Sheriffs sued the State of WA, the State Legislature, and Governor Bob Ferguson, asking the court to block a blatantly unconstitutional new law that gives a newly formed, unelected state commission the power to end their careers without a vote, a recall, or a court order.

Of all the terrible bills the (other than their unconstitutional income tax) that Democrats passed in the 2026 legislative session. 2SSB 5974 may be the worst. Duly elected County Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, and Town Marshals are now subject to a state-appointed, unelected bureaucratic board and can be “decertified” and removed from office.

This is another blatantly unconstitutional and sinister Democrat bill, where over 50 Republican Amendments were not adopted! Under the law, its 21 commissioners are appointed by the Governor (who appoints them to six-year terms, with some staggered).

Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels, Pend Oreille County Sheriff Glenn Blakeslee, Stevens County Sheriff Brad Manke, and Ferry County Sheriff Ray Maycumber filed the complaint in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, in Pend Oreille County. A hearing on their motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for April 16.

The legal action comes with the consent and support of Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Preston McCollam, Pend Oreille County Prosecuting Attorney Dolly Hunt, Stevens County Prosecuting Attorney Erika George, and Ferry County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Golden.

The sheriffs’ motion argues the governor and legislature “adopted a modern-day McCarthy loyalty oath in the form of 2SSB 5974,” calling it “not a close constitutional call but rather a flatly prohibited practice from a dark period of our country’s history that must never be resurrected.”

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Energy bills set to spike for Washington state residents — while Microsoft gets rate cut: report

Electric bills are set to jump more than 16% for 1.25 million Washington state residents — even as Microsoft gets a rate cut under a special deal, according to a report.

Puget Sound Energy, a utility company that is owned by a consortium of Canadian and Dutch pension funds, is seeking state government approval for rate hikes of 16.75% next year, 3.76% in 2028, and 8.81% in 2029.

The request, which is subject to approval by Washington’s state regulators at Utilities and Transportation Commission, also includes a proposed rate cut for Microsoft, according to the local news site Zoned Out PNW.

If PSE gets its way, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, which as of Wednesday boasted a market capitalization of $2.76 trillion, will see its rates slashed by 12.49% next year; 2.04% in 2028; and 3.06% in 2029.

The UTC board is chaired by Brian Rybarik, who held various roles at Microsoft before he was appointed to his current position by Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Dem.

Microsoft reportedly qualifies for the rate cuts because the tech giant falls under the category of a “special contracts” customer.

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Christian Girl Subjected to Daily Backpack Searches, Scolded for Sharing Her Faith in Jesus

Imagine your daughter being pulled out of math class by a school official and told she must leave her faith at the door – while the very same school encourages other students to walk out for anti-ICE protests.

That’s not hypothetical. That’s exactly what happened to our client at a middle school in Washington state – in a district with a troubling pattern of violating the Constitution.

And we know this district well – because the ACLJ has already held it accountable once before.

Years ago, when our client was just a second grader in this same district, school officials searched her backpack every morning, treating Christian materials like contraband. Simply sharing her faith was enough to trigger daily inspections.

We stepped in. We took action. And we forced the district to back down.

After we sent a demand letter, the school district entered into a formal written agreement – explicitly affirming our client’s constitutional right to share her faith.

However, during a recent math class, the vice principal entered the room, pulled our client aside, and told her she was not allowed to distribute Christian Gospel tracts – even to willing classmates.

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