Trump Nazis literally burning it all down

 

Trump and MAGA have turned the country over to the cruelest, most rapacious, and least honorable among us and directed the force of the state against firefighters, aid workers, civil servants, and children. And DHS is now spending millions to expand its numbers with the sort of individuals eager to do such ignoble work.

[...]

This past Wednesday, the Seattle Times reported that Customs and Border Patrol agents interrupted two crews of firefighters working to control the Bear Gulch wildfire. They lined them up, checked IDs, and ultimately arrested multiple men.

The scene is galling—firefighters sitting on logs as federal agents prevent them from doing the crucial and courageous work of fighting Washington’s largest active wildfire. The treatment reported by the crew is enraging.

[...]

We are a nation with a bully-in-chief, an ogre of hate and pettiness who feeds off of the suffering of others. The tools of rule are violence, humiliation, and fear. And the only people who can now make careers of government work are those willing to ply this trade.

  Liberal Currents

It's now illegal to protest ICE?

 

Because they can't win if they don't cheat

Yeah, it's not the first or only time...

Washington State GOP doesn't want a democracy

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

January 1, 2024

Washington State shows how to tax fairly

Washington's tax was anticipated to bring in $248m. Instead, it's projected to bring in $849m in the first year. Those funds will go to public school operations and construction and infrastructure spending.

[...]

Capital gains taxes are levied on "passive income" – money you get for owning stuff. The capital gains rate is much lower than the income tax rate – the rate you pay for doing stuff. This is naked class warfare: it punishes the people who make things and do things, and rewards the people who own the means of production.

[...]

The Washington State tax is levied exclusively on annual gains in excess of a quarter million dollars – meaning this tax affects an infinitesimal minority of Washingtonians, who are vastly better off than the people whose work they profit from.

[...]

(Sidebar here to say that market-based pensions are a scam, a way to force workers to gamble in a rigged casino for the chance to enjoy a dignified retirement; the defined benefits pension, combined with adequate Social Security, is the only way to ensure secure retirement for all of us)

[...]

Washington State's soak-the-rich tax is ironic, given the propensity of California's plutes to threaten to leave for Washington if California finally passes its own extreme wealth tax.

There's a reason all these wealthy people want to live in California, Washington, New York and other states where there's broad public support for taxing the American aristocracy: states with rock-bottom taxes are failed states.

[...]

The Washington tax windfall is fascinating in part because it reveals just how rich the ultra-rich actually are. Warren Buffett says that "when the tide goes out, you learn who's been swimming naked." But Washington's new tax is a tide that reveals who's been swimming with a gold bar stuck up their ass.

  Pluralistic

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

No surprise here

We were just waiting for him to do it..

They damn sure better.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 08:21 am:

Interesting.  How common is that?

UPDATE 06:25 pm:  Regarding the Texas judge's decision:

UPDATE 04/13/2023:

Still ridiculous.

Another day, another American mass shooting

A gunman is at large after he allegedly shot and killed three people at a Circle K convenience store and gas station in Yakima, Washington, early Tuesday, authorities said.

[...]

Police identified the suspect as 21-year-old Jarid Haddock of Yakima County.

He allegedly fled in a car believed to be a gray or silver Chrysler 200, the chief said.

  Yahoo

American exceptionalism.

UPDATE 02:53 pm:  Make that "other" American mass shootings...

Seven people have been killed in an agricultural region of northern California, authorities said on Monday, the latest shootings to rattle the state in recent days.

Two fatal shootings took place at a mushroom farm and a trucking firm on the outskirts of Half Moon Bay, a coastal community about 30 miles south of San Francisco, officials said.

Deputies responding to a call found four people dead and a fifth victim wounded at the first location in Half Moon Bay, then found three more dead at the second location nearby, Sheriff Christina Corpus told a news conference on Monday evening.

Police have arrested a suspect, named as 67-year-old Zhao Chunli, in connection with the shooting.

  Guardian

Des Moines resident Preston Walls, 18, has been charged with two counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder and criminal gang participation following a fatal shooting that occurred Monday afternoon.

Police say Gionni Dameron, 18, and Rashad Carr, 16, were killed. Both were from Des Moines. An adult who was also shot and seriously injured has been identified as William Holmes, known as Will Keeps, the founder and CEO of Starts Right Here, the alternative education program where the incident occurred.

  Iowa Public Radio

Maybe power stations should be better fortified/guarded

Washington state authorities said that several electrical power stations were victims of a “coordinated attack” on Christmas.

[...]

Authorities added that [...] three energy substations were broken into and some of the substations’ equipment was either vandalized or damaged during the incident.

PCSD said that at least 14,000 customers saw their power cut off due to the coordinated attack.

[...]

The sheriff’s department also said that its deputies received a call about a fire happening at another PSE substation. The fire erupted after intruders gained access through the fenced area and vandalized the station’s equipment.

[...]

“This is the 4th incident at a Power Substation in South Pierce County on Christmas Day. All law enforcement agencies in the county have been notified of the incidents and will be monitoring power substations in their area,” PCSD said in a statement. “At this time power has been restored to most of the affected homes.”

Similar coordinated attacks happened at two energy substations in Moore County, N.C., last month, resulting in nearly 40,000 local residents losing power for days, with authorities reporting that the damages to the two Duke Energy substations were caused by gunfire. The FBI has already launched a probe into that case.

  The Hill

Despot Donnie

And this is what he was impeached for.  Impeach him again.

He was just impeached for a quid pro quo withholding aid from Ukraine for a political favor, and people suggested his getting away with it might lead to him doing it to a governor of one of our own states.  That didn't take long, did it?

Finally, however, they've gotten him to enforce the Defense Production Act.

But does he even know the details?

When he DOES know who he's talking about, he just admits he's doing it because he has a grudge against General Motors.

Also...I guess he forgot.

And...

Totally incompetent.

With Trump, EVERYTHING is an opportunity to send campaign mailers.



Amen.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:  From the impeachment hearings in December...

UPDATE:

Your president is....you know

The three states that President Donald Trump has formally declared coronavirus disaster areas have not received the disaster unemployment assistance that they expected to follow that designation.

New York, California and Washington state all requested access to several aid programs provided under a disaster declaration, including disaster unemployment assistance.

  Politico

Just like with everything: lip service is enough.

Is it a coincidence that all three (blue) states have governors Trump has bad-mouthed?

Remember when people were upset about what he was doing with Ukraine and wondered what he might do if one of the governors of a state he didn't like needed federal assistance?  Now we know.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

As it should be in a national health emergency/pandemic

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Monday evening that he would direct state health insurers to waive fees related to coronavirus testing in the state amid fears of an outbreak in the U.S.

In a series of tweets, Cuomo wrote that cost should not be a barrier for New Yorkers receiving screenings for the novel form of coronavirus behind an outbreak that began in China and has since killed more than 3,000 people worldwide, infecting tens of thousands more.

"I am announcing a new directive requiring NY health insurers to waive cost sharing associated with testing for #coronavirus, including emergency room, urgent care and office visits," Cuomo tweeted. "We can't let cost be a barrier to access to COVID-19 testing for any New Yorker."


  The Hill

The federal government should follow suit.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

King County [Washington] Executive Dow Constantine immediately ordered the purchase of an area motel so patients in the Seattle suburb can be isolated while in recovery. The county has confirmed more than a dozen cases of novel coronavirus and five of the deaths occurred in King County.

[...]

Nationwide, more than 100 cases have been reported, with deaths only being reported out of Washington.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) declared a state of emergency Saturday, directing state agencies to prepare for and respond to an outbreak.

[...]

Researchers believe the coronavirus may have been spreading for weeks in the state, potentially infecting hundreds of residents.

  The Hill

Yeah, but they're old, right?

UPDATE 3/2:

A second person in Washington has died from coronavirus, officials announced Sunday night.

A man in his 70s with underlying health conditions died Saturday at EvergreenHealth, a hospital in Washington, according to a press release from King County.

[...]

The latest death, the nation’s second, was one of four new cases the county reported Sunday night. Three other patients are all listed in critical condition

All of the newly confirmed cases were found in residents of LifeCare, the skilled nursing facility where a resident and an employees have already tested positive.

  Politico

Washington to offer public option health care plan

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), a long-shot presidential candidate, signed a law this week that will make his state the first in the nation to offer a public option health plan to compete with private companies, renewing debate over an approach that first gained prominence a decade ago.

The new health care plans -- which will cover standard services and be available to all state residents by 2021 -- are expected to be up to 10 percent cheaper than private insurance.

  The Hill

Kudos. But they better get it right, or it will set back the drive for a national public option by years.

“Washington does offer a chance to test that on a smaller scale,” said Jennifer Tolbert, director of state health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “As Washington moves forward, it will help provide a test case for how a broader initiative could play out.”

[...]

Washington’s new law is similar to the public option that was included in early drafts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but stripped out due to opposition from moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill.

In all, six states are considering a public option in some capacity.

Ay-yi-yi

President Donald Trump had some advice for George Washington.

During a guided tour of Mount Vernon last April with French president Emmanuel Macron, Trump learned that Washington was one of the major real-estate speculators of his era. So, he couldn’t understand why America’s first president didn’t name his historic Virginia compound or any of the other property he acquired after himself.

“If he was smart, he would’ve put his name on it,” Trump said, according to three sources briefed on the exchange. “You’ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.”

The VIPs’ tour guide for the evening, Mount Vernon president and CEO Doug Bradburn, told the president that Washington did, after all, succeed in getting the nation’s capital named after him. Good point, Trump said with a laugh.

  History News Network

True, and I'm convinced this is why he makes so many executive orders and declarations: so he can have his name plastered all over historical documents.  In this he reminds me of the fictitional Denny Crane of the old TV series "Boston Legal" played so well (perhaps because it was so like himself) by William Shatner.

UPDATE:

Mount Vernon has issued a statement saying: "Conversations touched on topics like business dealings, real estate, and related matters that were of relevance and interest to the touring parties, and questions were asked by both leaders with curiosity and respect. Comments pulled from sources who were not present for the tour do not properly convey the tone and context in which they were delivered." They would like to please not be seen as buffoonish. Trump, however, found a headline he liked at tweeted it:

Keep counting

Another one

Republican leaders in the [Washington] state House called for the resignation of one of their most prominent members [Rep. Matt Manweller] Friday after yet another allegation of sexual misconduct surfaced against him.

[...]

House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox said in a statement Friday evening that he was saddened and disappointed by the allegation.

“What Matt did was wrong,” Wilcox said. “Our Leadership team has asked Matt to resign from his position as state representative. Our entire caucus will discuss this issue early next week.”

[...]

The woman’s account published Friday is the latest in a series of allegations of Manweller’s treatment of young women, and students in particular. A Seattle Times story last year explored reports of misconduct from his job at Central Washington University, and the university later launched an independent investigation that led to Manweller’s firing last month.

[...]

In an article published Friday, NW News Network reported that one of Rep. Matt Manweller’s former high-school students said she had a sexual relationship with him in the 1990s when she was a minor. She provided a diary and other corroborating information about their time together.

Manweller denied the woman’s account.

[...]

Among the allegations at CWU was from a student in 2009 who said Manweller put his hand on her leg during a meeting and said, “There’s always a way for you to get an A in this class.” The recent investigative report said the woman understood him to mean that a sexual favor could earn a positive grade.

Manweller has said it was not a sexual suggestion at all and that he is flabbergasted the woman took it that way.

[...]

Manweller, who represents the Ellensburg area, is seeking re-election this year. He got 63 percent of the vote in the primary last month, well ahead of Democratic candidate Sylvia Hammond.

If he were to resign, Manweller cannot be removed from the ballot at this point in the election.

  Seattle Times

So maybe they'll still elect him.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Could have been two this week

An 18-year-old high school student in Washington state was arrested this week after his grandmother reportedly found his journal with detailed plans for a school shooting.

Joshua O’Connor’s grandmother called 911 on Tuesday, the day before a deadly high school shooting in Florida, saying she believed her grandson had plans with “upcoming and credible threats.”

Excerpts from the journal detailed how O’Connor planned to shoot students and use homemade explosives at ACES High School in Everett, Wash., police said.

Officers were alarmed when they reviewed the journal, where O’Connor reportedly wrote about how often he thought about his plan and wanted to make it “infamous” by causing the “biggest fatality number I possibly can,” The Everett Daily Herald reported.

  The Hill

And, he's not the only one out there.

O'Connor wrote that he had been preparing by "reviewing many mass shootings/bombings (and attempted bombings) I'm learning from past shooters/bombers mistakes."

When detectives searched the grandmother’s home, they also found an AK-47 hidden in a guitar case and military-style grenades.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And there goes Washington

I don't think he'll be alone among governors.

Meanwhile in the state of Washington

The Most Notable Loser isn't doing such a good job for GOP prospects, is he?