Tag: washington

Gov. Inslee proposes bill making it illegal for elected leaders, candidates to spread election fraud lies

Gov. Jay Inslee proposed new legislation on Thursday, which would make it a misdemeanor for elected leaders or candidates to spread unfounded allegations of voter fraud.

Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the now-infamous U.S. Capitol riot, Inslee opined that “the threat to our democracy is just as dangerous on January 6, 2022, as it was a year ago.”

“I think we do need to do much more than commemorate this day of infamy,” he said as part of the Associated Press’ 2022 legislative preview. “I think we need to realize that this is a continuing effort to continue the ‘big lie,’ to cast doubt on the fundamental workings of our democracy — we simply have to realize the nature of this challenge.”

That has Inslee pushing for a bill in the state Legislature that would “make it a gross misdemeanor to lie about these election results without any basis.”

“I think we need to do more than speak,” he proposed. “It should not be legal in the state of Washington for elected officials or candidates for office to willfully lie about these election results. This needs to be made illegal.”

Keep reading

Washington State Democrats Push Bill Reducing Penalties for Drive-By Shootings

Washington state Reps. Tarra Simmons (D) and David Hackney (D) are pushing legislation to remove drive-by shootings from the list of crimes that elevate first degree to murder to a higher degree of murder carrying a mandatory life sentence.

FOX News reports that “drive-by shootings were added to the list of aggravating factors for murder charges in 1995.” At the time, drive-by shootings were one of a number of crimes that would elevate charges and Simmons and Hackney are now working to remove such shootings from the list.

The 1995 language that Simmons and Hackney want to specifically strike from the aggravating factors list says: “The murder was committed during the course of or as a result of a shooting where the discharge of the firearm… is either from a motor vehicle or from the immediate area of a motor vehicle that was used to transport the shooter or the firearm.”

Simmons says she believes the language surrounding drive-by shootings “was targeted at gangs that were predominantly young and Black.”

Keep reading

Gov. of Washington Likens the Unvaccinated to Terrorists “Walking Around With a Time Bomb”

Washington state Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has likened people who choose not to take the experimental COVID-19 vaccines to domestic terrorists.

“Thirty-four percent of Washingtonians are walking around with a time bomb in their backpack because they’re not vaccinated,” he said at a press conference.

Seattle talk-radio host Jason Rantz spotlighted Inslee’s “ridiculous” remark, pointing out that the governor’s administration acknowledges there are people who can’t receive a vaccine for medical reasons or have “deeply held religious convictions.”

And many who refuse to take a COVID-19 vaccine have simply done a cost-benefit analysis, pointing to the minuscule risk of death in healthy people contrasted with the known and future unknown adverse events from vaccines that were rushed to the market in one-fifth to one-tenth the usual time.

Keep reading

WSU amplifies claim that farmer’s markets, food charity are ‘white supremacy’ in action

Washington State University is amplifying claims that farmer’s markets and food charities are examples of “white supremacy” and “white dominant culture.” It has nothing to do with helping farmers thrive. This is about creating left-wing social justice activists.

The Agriculture Program Coordinator for WSU’s San Juan County Extension Ag Program promoted a webinar event titled, “Examining Whiteness in Food Systems.” During the hour-long presentation, attendees learned that “white supremacy culture” creates food insecurity by “center[ing] whiteness across the food system.”

The materials claim that “whiteness defines foods as either good or bad” and that farmer’s markets are merely white spaces.

This webinar is the latest example of a critical race theory lens framing noncontroversial issues as racist. And given WSU operates a 4-H program, it’s worth wondering how much of this will eventually get in front of young kids.

Keep reading

Votes to count even if they are mailed in on napkins in Washington state

Interesting voter protocols came to light during a recent election review training in Seattle, Washington which had many question the integrity of elections throughout the state of Washington.

While reviewing ballots that were improperly filled out, an official with King County Elections admitted that if a voter were to mail-in a candidate’s name on a napkin along with the position that they were running for, the vote would be counted.

The example the official showed during the training on whether or not a ballot should be counted was for a voter that was allegedly attempting to vote for Seattle mayoral candidate Lorena Gonzalez (D) in the November 2021 elections.

Keep reading

Washington Governor Announces Vaccine, Testing Mandate for Large Events, Including Outdoor Events With More Than 10,000 Attendees

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that large events will soon be required to confirm that attendees have either been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or that they have tested negative for the illness within the prior 72 hours.

The requirement, which will go into effect Nov. 15, is applicable to attendees ages 12 and older, Inslee said.

Not only does it pertain to indoor events involving 1,000 or more people, it also pertains to outdoor events involving more than 10,000 individuals in attendance.

“For now this applies to ticketed or registered events that have defined entrances, like conventions, concerts, sporting events, fairs that have defined entrances, theme parks and more. This does not cover large venues like shopping malls, museums, or grocery stores that are open to the public as part of their operations,” Inslee said.

He noted that K-12 school-related events that take place on school grounds are exempt from the mandate, and that religious services are also exempt.

Inslee said that “we know that outdoor venues are safest, but they still have some transmission risk, and that’s why we’ve taken the steps that we have.”

Keep reading

‘Let them die,’ Washington state middle school teacher says of the unvaccinated

A middle school teacher in Vancouver, Washington recently came under fire after writing a disturbing post on Facebook where she wished ill on individuals that are hesitant to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

“I am ready to say let them die,” Jeanine Kolkemo said, a 52-year-old PE teacher at Wy’East Middle School.

“You make a choice to not get your shot for any reason other than a doctors note, you should not be allowed healthcare. You are like the brats in class that ruin it for everyone,” Kolkemo added.

The Wy’East Middle School teacher’s volatile comments failed to stop there. In fact, they grew more extreme.

In response to an individual’s comment on her post which alluded to to the fact that it’s wrong to wish ill on others, Kolkemo said “I have no problem with that.”

“If we’re lucky we can cut out 30 percent  of the population that votes the wrong way,” Kolkemo added. “Let the hunger games begin.”

Keep reading

Fact Check — No, Spokane Students Were Not Forced to ‘Pick Cotton’

CLAIM: Black students at a Spokane, Washington, middle school were ordered to “pick cotton” as a school assignment.

VERDICT: False.

The disturbing story is already viral…

BET: “Black Middle School Students Reportedly Ordered To Pick Cotton”

NPR: “Cotton picking lesson leaves Black middle school students reeling in Spokane”

ABC: “Black students ‘humiliated’ by cotton-picking assignment”

Drudge: “SHOCK: Black Middle School Students Ordered To Pick Cotton…”

This sounds awful, right? Who would do such a thing? The mother of the two 14-year-old girls at the center of this racial storm pulled the twin girls, not only out of the class but out of the school entirely and is demanding, according to ABC News, the “removal of a school administrator whose suggestion was to separate two Black students after their mom raised concerns about a classroom assignment the students say involved cleaning cotton.”

Here’s how the mother portrayed the principal’s “suggestion”: He wanted to “segregate my girls into a room by themselves, away from the white teacher.”

She also wants the social studies teacher and “other school administrators to be disciplined for how they handled the situation.”

The outraged mother told local news, “For you to pass out cotton and to my children [and tell them] that essentially, they’re going to pick the cotton clean and it’s a race of who can get it clean first, that was extremely bothersome to me and my children” She added, “Under no circumstance … do they need to be taught what it’s like to be a slave or what it’s like to be black.”

With some reading between the lines, it’s pretty obvious what happened here, and it had nothing to do with forcing black kids to pick cotton…

Here’s how the girls themselves described what happened… [emphasis added]

Twins Emzayia and Zyeshauwne Feazell said they were in their social studies class on May 3 when they said the teacher pulled out a box of raw cotton and told the class they were going to do a “fun” activity. The girls added the students were subsequently instructed to clean freshly picked cotton as part of a classroom assignment to see who could do so the fastest.

Let’s start with the most important point… By their own admission, the girls admit no one forced them or even asked them to “pick cotton,” which proves all these stories and headlines false.

“Cleaning” and “picking cotton” are two entirely different things. Picking cotton is obviously associated with slavery, but cleaning cotton is associated with what the school says was part of an assignment about the Industrial Revolution and cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized the cotton industry by putting an end to the tedious and time-consuming labor involved in removing the seeds from the cotton by hand.

Is it not fairly obvious that this teacher used a hands-on assignment to show the class just what a revolution the Industrial Revolution was — an assignment that had nothing to do with “picking cotton?”

Something else that gives it away is what one of the girls said: “We didn’t learn about the slave trade or anything about the history of slavery.”

In other words, the cotton wasn’t handed out in the context of slavery, it was handed out in a different context altogether, which backs up what the schools said about the lesson revolving around the cotton gin.

Keep reading

Washington public school staff taught that they are ‘implicitly and explicitly upholding racism and white supremacy’

Employees of the Lake Washington School District in Washington state were subjected to “equity classes” where white staff members were told that because of the color of their skin they were “implicitly and explicitly upholding racism and white supremacy.”

The curriculum for the training came from Robin DiAngelo’s book, What Does It Mean to Be White? DiAngelo wrote in the book that “whiteness” or “white identity” identity means to be “socialized as a white person, enact Whiteness by implicitly and explicitly upholding racism and white supremacy, and participate in the rewards of being perceived white.”

The staff were allegedly each given a copy of the book to read. DiAngelo’s website describes “white fragility” as “a state in which even a minimal challenge to the white position becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive responses. These responses function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and maintain white control.”

Keep reading