Tag Archives: Washington (state)

Understanding The Value Of A Team

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On Wednesday, The Daily Caller posted an article about a recent decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding Washington state.

The article reports:

A federal court handed Washington state Christians a major legal victory by allowing churches to exclusively hire members of their own faith for jobs beyond strictly ministerial roles in one of the least religious states in the country.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Washington state’s interpretation of its Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) in a unanimous ruling. The Yakima Union Gospel Mission can prefer and hire “co-religionists for non-ministerial roles.”

As any corporate executive can tell you, a corporation (or company) functions best when everyone has the same goals. That rule also applies to churches and ministries. Division in the ranks can easily derail any program.

The article notes:

The WLAD “prohibits employment discrimination based on several protected grounds, including sexual orientation,” according to the ruling’s summary. However, Union Gospel required workers to abide by Christian beliefs and practices regarding abstinence from sexual relations outside of marriage between a man and woman. The organization sued, alleging the WLAD violated its First Amendment protection under the Religion Clauses, a claim the court agreed with.

“Today’s ruling is especially significant because it answers an under-explored First Amendment question: Does a religious organization’s right to hire fellow believers extend to all staff positions, or only to ‘ministerial’ ones?” said Kristen Waggoner, head of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented Union Gospel. “In what we believe to be the first federal appellate court ruling of its kind, the Ninth Circuit explicitly held that the First Amendment protects faith-based hiring for all staff — not just ministerial employees.”

The article concludes:

A 2024 Pew Research study found Washington state was tied with New York as the 37th least religious state in the U.S., with only 25% of Washingtonians considering themselves “very religious,” according to MyNorthwest.

Only 51% of Washington residents identified themselves as Christians, with 38% of Washington adults claiming they had no ties to any faith, MyNorthwest reported.

Although Union Gospel aims to hire those who share its religious beliefs, no discrimination or moral requirements are placed on recipients of its aid, according to the AFD press release.

When You Don’t Confront A Problem Early…

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Unfortunately, in recent years the American Justice Department has been more concerned with parents attending school board meetings and Catholics who are pro-life. While the Justice Department was watching innocent Americans, groups with less than innocent intentions grew and remained unmolested.

On Tuesday, Andy Ngo posted and article in The New York Post about the recent arson attacks on ballot drop boxes in Washington State and Oregon. Andy Ngo is a reporter who has been reporting on Antifa and other anarchist groups operating in America for years. During that time the groups have remained pretty much unmolested by the Justice Department of local law enforcement. (Remember the autonomous zone in Portland). The anti-Israel protesters have also been handled with kid gloves.

The article at The New York Post reports:

Ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington may have been set on fire by an anti-Israel protester, as investigators found a note that said “ALL DROP BOXES WILL BURN. FREE GAZA,” The Post has learned.

Between 3 and 4 a.m. on Monday, fires caused by incendiary devices were discovered in ballot boxes in Vancouver, Wash. and neighboring Portland, Oregon.

A built-in fire suppressant stopped most of the flames at the Portland location, but hundreds of ballots were destroyed at the drop box at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center in Vancouver. 

The FBI is now heading the investigation into the two Monday fires, which are believed to be linked and also connected to a third attempted arson attack earlier in the month in Vancouver.

The article notes:

All elections in Washington and Oregon are vote-by-mail.

The arson attacks come amid a closely-watched congressional race rematch in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District between incumbent Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, and Joe Kent, a Republican US Army veteran. The two are polling neck-and-neck in the district.

By Monday evening, the Clark County Auditor announced that election office employees will monitor 24/7 all 22 drop box locations.

Hopefully, everyone who voted in Washington and Oregon will check online to make sure their ballot was received.

Beware Of Carbon Taxes

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On Wednesday, The Post Millennial posted an article about the impact of a carbon tax the Washington State legislature passed.

The article reports:

Gas prices in Washington State passed California as the most expensive in the country with many blaming a new carbon tax passed by local Democratic lawmakers.

According to data from AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded was at $4.89 on Monday in the Evergreen State, an increase from $4.81 the previous week.

The Center Square reported that the latest increase marks the 20th consecutive week of rising fuel prices for Washingtonians since the new carbon tax was implemented earlier this year.

The most recent increase was in the opposite direction from the national average, which decreased from $3.59 to $3.57 per gallon during the same time period.

The article concludes:

Myers also noted that the Department of Ecology has scrubbed the agency’s web page of claims that the fuel prices would not increase and “…significantly increased the estimated impact of the tax on CO2 emissions on Washington’s economy.”

Despite warnings that the tax would increase gas prices, some in the media “fact-checked” those claims using information from the Washington Department of Ecology in an effort to debunk the theory that gas prices would increase.

So much for fact checkers.

 

Laws Have Consequences

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On Saturday, Hot Air posted an article about a recent trend in Washington State.

The article reports:

Last July, a new law went into effect in Washington state that was described as “police reform.” House Bill 1054 made significant changes in how the police are allowed to do their jobs. Police unions had been protesting the measure, saying that it would negatively impact their ability to control crime, but the state’s Democrats cheered the bill as a way to bring more “equity” into the system. One of the changes put in place by the bill was a rule saying the police officers were no longer allowed to engage in high-speed chases except in very limited circumstances. In other words, if the cops see a driver doing something wrong and turn on their sirens and flashers but the motorist doesn’t pull over, there isn’t much they can do about it. To the great surprise of nobody with an IQ higher than tepid water, motorists have begun ignoring the police in increasing numbers and simply refusing to pull over.

I guess it’s equity if no one is held responsible for any lawbreaking while driving.

The article continues:

The police aren’t allowed to give chase unless there is an increased bar of “reasonable suspicion” that the driver is impaired or there is “probable cause” to believe that the driver had committed a violent crime or sexual assault. This has basically put an end to high-speed pursuits because if they guess wrong, they won’t wind up getting a conviction anyway and the department could be tied up in endless lawsuits.

The article concludes:

This was all entirely predictable and, in fact, state Republicans and police unions did predict it last year. This shouldn’t have required a rocket scientist to figure it out. Your average, law-abiding citizen who may have committed a minor traffic infraction is probably still going to pull over when the police hit their lights. But if you know you are driving while intoxicated or you’ve stolen a car or have outstanding warrants, why would you pull over for the cops when you know they can’t chase you? Criminals will clearly be happy to risk hitting the gas and making a clean getaway rather than being hauled off to jail.

This is yet another item in a long list of examples of “police reform” going on around the nation. When you reduce the disincentive for committing a particular crime, you get more of that type of crime. When you announce that the cops can no longer chase you, criminals will flee since they have nothing to lose. And we’re talking about a lot more than just your random person who had a few too many beers. Seemingly random traffic stops are one of the most common ways that people with outstanding warrants wind up being taken into custody. That tool is now unavailable to the police in Washington in most cases, so there are going to be more wanted fugitives out there roaming the roads.

The legislators in Washington State need an infusion of common sense.

An Interesting Endorsement

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Red State posted an article yesterday about one of the most unique endorsements of President Trump I have heard.

The Washington Spokane-Review posted the following on Wednesday. This is their rather lukewarm endorsement of Governor Inslee:

It’s been nearly 50 years since Washingtonians elected a governor to a third term, but given the state Republican Party’s inability to field a strong candidate in this year’s race, Gov. Jay Inslee should get one.

There’s a lot to worry about with another Inslee term, not least that the governor has seemed more focused on national and global issues than on the issues hitting his own state the hardest. He has spent more time running for president and railing against climate change than addressing homelessness, a far more critical concern to the state.

The distracted governor also remains oblivious to big and small business concerns outside the Puget Sound, especially agricultural industries.

He is beholden to public employee unions and an opponent of education reform and accountability.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Inslee led by executive order far longer than necessary rather than work with lawmakers. On his watch, the Washington Employment Security Department flailed and got ripped off by scammers.

Despite all that, he’s the better choice. Republican Loren Culp is token opposition. He’s the police chief in Republic (population: 1,105) who made a name for himself fighting regulations on firearms. That’s not the résumé of a governor.

Inslee offers deep experience working on state policy and executive leadership skills. Washington at least knows what it’s getting with him.

Their endorsement of President Trump seems to be even more lukewarm:

Donald Trump is a bully and a bigot. He is symptomatic of a widening partisan divide in the country. We recommend voting for him anyway because the policies that Joe Biden and his progressive supporters would impose on the nation would be worse.

The list of Trump’s offenses is long. He panders to racists and prevents sensible immigration reform in a nation built on immigrant labor and intellect. He tweets conspiracy theories. He’s cavalier about COVID-19 and has led poorly through the pandemic. He seeks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act without proposing a replacement. He denies climate change.

Voters knew his character in 2016 and elected him anyway. Four years later, the nation is still standing. Indeed, in many ways it flourished until the pandemic upended everything.

The economy and markets roared under Trump’s championship of market-based solutions and individualism. Unemployment among communities of color reached record lows. He reset trade and diplomatic relationships in America’s favor. He provided historically high support for traditionally Black colleges. He rolled back extreme environmental regulations and led the way for U.S. energy independence. He backed federal sentencing reform to address inordinately high American incarceration rates. And he’s committed to supporting law and order in American cities.

Biden might win on personality and comity, but his policies would strike at the economic well-being of the country. He favors massive growth in government and a historic increase in federal spending through green initiatives, free health services, free education and other ideas grounded in reliance on the state as savior rather than creating an environment in which individual liberty and hard work can thrive. Public employee unions would hold outsized power and demand greater spending.

To afford it all, Biden and a Democrat-controlled Congress would have to impose unprecedented tax increases or accept catastrophic deficit spending.

Taxes and spending likely would increase under Trump, too, but the nation stands a better chance of moderation and reform with him in the White House than it does with Biden pushed left by progressives intent on reshaping America to fit their fantastical vision.

This is an election that pits a wretched human being whose policies and instincts for helping America thrive are generally correct against a doddering, doting uncle who would hand out gifts the nation can’t afford in order to win people’s love. Given that choice, economic policy and principle should prevail. Vote for Donald Trump.

I disagree with a lot of their premises, but at least they came to the right conclusion.

This Has Happened Before

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KOMO News in Washington state reported yesterday that the number of Washington state drivers involved in deadly crashes who tested positive for THC has doubled.

The article reports:

According to research by AAA between 2008 and 2012, an estimated eight percent of Washington drivers involved in fatal crashes were positive for THC. That rate now is more than double since weed became legal in Washington.

In the five years before legislation, an average of 56 Washington drivers involved in fatal crashes each year were THC positive. In the five years after legislation, that average jumped to 130.

“We know that marijuana use can inhibit concentration, slow reaction time, and cloud judgment. There’s no reason to think that’s not going to happen when you are behind the wheel. That doesn’t suddenly change,” said Kelly Just of AAA.

THC is the active compound in marijuana and can stay in your body for a period of time before disappearing.

“There really isn’t a test to show impairment, so you may have it in your system, may not be impaired. You may have it in your system and may be impaired. Because of that our recommendation is if you use marijuana, don’t drive and if you plan to drive don’t use marijuana,” said Just.

“We’re running across people under the influence and driving all the way from teenagers, all the way up to people in their forties and fifties. So keep in mind the safest bet is just to not get behind the wheel if you plan on using marijuana that day or night,” said Trooper Chris Thorson of the Washington State Patrol.

I know there is a move for legalization of marijuana, but I question the wisdom of legalizing a drug for recreational use in the middle of an opioid epidemic. There are a lot of pathways to drug addiction and a lot of things that can happen when drugs are used for recreation. The pattern of increased accidents caused by an increase in marijuana use as a result of legalization has been seen in other states. The legalization of marijuana may make some people happy, but it makes all of us less safe.

The Experiment Of The States

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America is made up of 50 different states. Each state is unique–politically, economically,  geographically, ethnically, etc. So if people could live anywhere they wanted to, where would they live? Actually, the age of the internet has made that somewhat possible–telecommuting has grown in recent years. So let’s look at where people live.

John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article yesterday about a study of trends in population growth in states within America. The data for the study came from the IRS. The results were not really surprising.

The article reports the findings of the study:

To measure the states that are most attractive to Americans on the move, we developed an “attraction” ratio that measures the number of domestic in-migrants per 100 out-migrants. A state that has a rating of 100 would be perfectly balanced between those leaving and coming.

Overall, the biggest winner — both in absolute numbers and in our ranking — is Texas. In 2014 the Lone Star State posted a remarkable 156 attraction ratio, gaining 229,000 more migrants than it lost, roughly twice as many as went to No. 3 Florida, which clocked an impressive 126.7 attraction ratio.

Most of the top gainers of domestic migrants are low-tax, low-regulation states, including No. 2 South Carolina, with an attraction ratio of 127.3, as well as No. 5 North Dakota, and No. 7 Nevada.

…Overall, many of the most affluent states are the ones hemorrhaging high-income earners the most rapidly. As in overall migration, New York sets the standard, with the highest outmigration of high income earners (defined as annual income over $200,000) relative to in-migrants (attraction ratio: 53). New York is followed closely by Illinois, the District of Columbia and New Jersey, which are all losing the over-$200,000-a-year crowd at a faster pace than California.

The big winners in terms of affluent migration tend to be historically poorer states, mainly in the Sun Belt and the Intermountain West. Florida has an attraction ratio for people earning over $200,000 a year of 223, the highest in the nation, followed by South Carolina, Montana, Idaho and North Carolina.

Given the opportunity, Americans move to states with lower taxes and less regulation over their businesses and daily lives. Now if we could only teach them to vote that way in national elections…

 

As A Parent, Is This Something You Support?

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This was posted on YouTube on June 14th:

Further information on this can be found at the Daily Signal.

If I still had children in school, I would wonder why I wasn’t initially told about this program. I would probably also be ready to consider seriously the option of homeschooling my children. There are a lot of homeschool options now that were not there twenty years ago, and I think now might be a really good time to investigate them. There is a website called The Homeschool Resource Roadmap that can help parents with questions about homeschooling gather information.

I am appalled at this. I believe we need to let our children be children and not treat them as social experiments. What we are encouraging in our children is still considered a mental disorder by many social workers. We need to stop this runaway train and get back to teaching kindergartners to build things with blocks and get along with their classmates.

Some Consequences Of Legalizing Marijuana

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On April 30, the American Academy of Pediatrics posted a story on their website with the following information:

A new study to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting found that one in six infants and toddlers admitted to a Colorado hospital with coughing, wheezing and other symptoms of bronchiolitis tested positive for marijuana exposure.

The study, “Marijuana Exposure in Children Hospitalized for Bronchiolitis,” recruited parents of previously healthy children between one month of age and two years old who were admitted to Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC) between January 2013 and April 2014 with bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the smallest air passages in the lung. The parents completed a questionnaire about their child’s health, demographics, exposure to tobacco smoke, and as of October 2014, whether anyone in the home used marijuana. Marijuana became legal in Colorado on January 1, 2014.

Of the children who were identified as having been exposed to marijuana smokers, urine samples showed traces of a metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana, in 16 percent of them. The results also showed that more of the children were THC positive after legalization (21 percent, compared with 10 percent before), and non-white children were more likely to be exposed than white children.

The findings suggest that secondhand marijuana smoke, which contains carcinogenic and psychoactive chemicals, may be a rising child health concern as marijuana increasingly becomes legal for medical and recreational use in the United States, said lead researcher Karen M. Wilson, MD, MPH, FAAP, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and section head at CHC. Most states with legal marijuana do not restrict its combustion around children, she said.

Smoking pot around your children is not any healthier than smoking cigarettes around your children. Back in the days of dinosaurs when I grew up, parents thought nothing of smoking around their children. I grew up in a blue haze and married a smoker. From the time I was little until the time my husband quit smoking, I had chronic sinus problems. Since I now live in a pretty much smoke-free world, I very rarely get sinus infections. Also, the number of colds my children had decreased noticeably after my husband quit smoking. Second-hand smoke, regardless of its source, is simply not healthy.

On May 10, Today reported:

…A new report by the American Auto Association (AAA) has found that the percentage of drivers who are high on pot during fatal accidents in Washington State more than doubled between 2013 and 2014.

In Washington, only looking at crashes in which at least one driver tested positive for active THC, there were 40 fatalities in 2010, compared to 85 in 2014, according to AAA estimates. However, a large number of drivers were not tested for THC or did not have available blood test results, so THC-related fatalities could be much higher, the report notes.

The AAA report focused only on Washington state, while legalized the sale and possession of marijuana in 2012. It did not track driving while high fatality trends in Colorado, which also legalized pot that in 2012.

But with marijuana on the ballot to become legal in more states, AAA researchers fear that the numbers will rise more sharply.

Is this where we want to go?

It Won’t Pay To Be A Non-Muslim In Seattle

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On Monday, the Christian News reported that the Mayor of Seattle, Washington, has proposed Sharia law-compliant housing loans for Muslim residents. In case you are not aware of what a Sharia law-compliant loan is, it is a loan without interest. How many of us would like to take out a mortgage without interest?

The article reports:

“For our low—and moderate—income Muslim neighbors who follow Sharia law—which prohibits the payment of interest or fees for loans of money—there are limited options for financing a home,” the proposed plan reads. “Some Muslims are unable to use conventional mortgage products due to religious convictions.”

“The City will convene lenders, housing nonprofits and community leaders to explore the best options for increasing access to Sharia-compliant loan products to help these residents become homeowners in Seattle,” it says.

Arsalan Bukhari, chapter executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Puget Sound Business Journal that he believes that there are approximately two hundred Seattle residents who identify as Muslim that avoid taking out home loans because of their religion.

“[T]hey don’t want to pay interest,” he said.

Mayor Ed Murray mentioned the proposal at a recent press conference, which will go to city counsel for consideration.

“We will work to develop new tools for Muslims who are prevented from using conventional mortgage products due to their religious beliefs,” he said.

Non-Muslim Americans will still be paying interest on the loans they take out. Aside from the fact that one of the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood is to bring Sharia Law to America slowly, so that we won’t object to it, what about the Americans who will be paying more for their loans because of the Muslims who will not pay interest? This is stupid on many levels. Is beating your wife (legal under Sharia Law) now going to be legal in Seattle?

An Interesting Development For The Political Left In America

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The political left in America loves the United Nations. When the U.N. condemns Israel and supports countries that routinely practice persecution of non-Muslim religions, the political left in America doesn’t seem to notice. When the U.N. creates gun treaties that will take away Americans’ Second Amendment rights, the political left doesn’t worry about American sovereignty. Well, the question of American sovereignty is about to impact some of the political left.

Reuters posted a story yesterday reporting that Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has told reporters that moves by some U.S. states to legalize marijuana are not in line with international drugs conventions.

The article reports:

“I don’t see how (the new laws) can be compatible with existing conventions,” Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told reporters.

Asked whether there was anything the UNODC could do about it, Fedotov said he would raise the problem next week with the U.S. State Department and other U.N. agencies.

I have stated before that I do not support the legalization of marijuana. However, I do support American sovereignty and states’ rights. Under the U.S. Constitution, the states have all authority not enumerated as federal authority (Tenth Amendment). I believe that according to the U.S. Constitution, the states are within their rights to legalize marijuana. Has America given the U.N. sovereignty over our states?

The article concludes:

On the international level, Uruguay‘s parliament in late 2013 approved a bill to legalize and regulate the production and sale of marijuana — the first country to do so.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has said Uruguay’s new bill contravened the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which it says requires states to limit the use of cannabis to medical and scientific purposes, due to its dependence-producing potential. The Vienna-based INCB monitors compliance with this and two other drug control treaties.

This could get interesting.