Ballot drop boxes in both Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire early Monday morning, destroying hundreds of ballots.
Read the full storyBallot Drop Boxes Set Afire in Oregon, Washington, Hundreds of Ballots Destroyed
Tag: Washington
Commentary: The Strange, Mythological Campaign of Kamala Harris
It is now well known that Kamala Harris was rated as the most left-wing of all current senators, including Bernie Sanders — according to GovTrack, a non-partisan compiler of evaluators in Congress. The Voteview project found her voting record the most liberal of all senators of the 21st century, except for radical Elizabeth Warren.
Read the full storyCommentary: Government Policies are Exacerbating Evictions
Evictions are soaring, and Americans can’t pay the rent, potentially throwing hundreds of thousands of families out of their homes at a time when homeless shelters are jammed to the rafters with 10 million illegal immigrants.
It’s a useful reminder that the problem with our ruling elite isn’t just President Joe Biden’s dementia. They’ve made a very big bed we’re all going to be lying in.
Read the full storyBig Tech Championed Zero Emissions but Now Its Power-Hungry Data Centers are Straining the Grid
For years, tech giants in California and Washington have been leading the charge to eliminate fossil fuels from the grid. Microsoft, Google, Meta and Apple, for example, are members of Climate Group RE100, an organization of major corporations who are dedicated to accelerating “change toward zero-carbon grids at scale by 2040.”
In 2018, Apple proclaimed that it was globally powered entirely by 100 percent renewable energy.
Read the full storyCommentary: Rural and Hispanic Communities Among Those Most Benefited by Telehealth
Telehealth has become a health care gamechanger for tens of millions of Americans.
We all know the time and effort an in-person health visit takes – travel to the appointment, time off work, hours spent in an office, follow ups that require us to do the whole process over again. But telehealth expansion in the post-COVID world has changed everything.
Read the full storyPro-Life Activist Sentenced to Almost Five Years in Prison over D.C. Clinic Blockade
Handy was convicted last year on two charges under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
Pro-life activist Lauren Handy was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison on Tuesday for organizing a blockade at an abortion clinic in 2020 in Washington, D.C.
Read the full storyAntisemitism in Public K-12 Schools Spotlights Activist Teachers and Radicalized Students
Prominent acts of antisemitism at K-12 schools nationwide since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel are raising questions about what students may have been learning before the Hamas attack that could have sparked such a quick radicalization.
School “walkouts” with praises of Hamas, student shouts of “F*** the Jews,” and teacher-led bullying of Jewish students have been reported at Berkeley Unified School District in California. On the other side of the country, the New York City Education Department has also been hit with massive walkouts and is facing a lawsuit from Jewish teachers who say they were subjected to severe, repetitive acts of antisemitism that were perpetrated by students and ignored by other faculty members. Meanwhile, Maryland’s Montgomery County School District, which borders Washington, D.C., has been accused of repeatedly failing to punish antisemitic student behavior.
Read the full storyDem Rep Says Biden Admin Has No ‘Operational Control’ Over Border, Demands Reinstatement of Trump-Era Policies
Washington Democrat Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said Monday that the federal government has lost “operational control” of the southern border and called for Trump-era enforcement policies to be brought back.
Gluesenkamp Perez, a centrist House Democrat, reiterated her calls for President Joe Biden to bring back Remain in Mexico and Title 42, two policies that were utilized widely under the Trump administration, but were both phased out after Biden assumed office. Illegal immigration has surged at the southern border under the Biden administration, with millions of migrant encounters at the southern border since Biden took office.
Read the full storyFeds Have Showered Washington State with Tax Dollars to Fix Homelessness, but It Keeps Getting Worse
A plethora of federal agencies have spent well over $200 million attempting to alleviate homelessness in Washington state over the past 17 years, only for the number of people living on the streets to keep rising.
Federal agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS), among others, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars since 2007 on grants to third parties intended to mitigate homelessness in Washington, federal spending data shows. Despite the nine-figure sum of taxpayer dollars spent, the number of homeless people in Washington grew by about 20% between 2007 and 2023, according to a report produced by HUD.
Read the full story‘All Unite for Pre-Born Rights!’: Thousands Gather to Attend March for Life amid Massive Snowstorm
Thousands of people attended the annual March for Life, joined by high-profile advocates and speakers, in Washington, D.C., on Friday to oppose abortion amid a massive snowstorm that blanketed the city.
Read the full storyFederal Figures Show Surge in Homelessness
The number of homeless people in the U.S. jumped 12 percent to more than 653,000 people as pandemic spending expired, the highest level on record since the counts started in 2007.
Figures released Friday provide a snapshot of the number of people in shelters, temporary housing and in unsheltered settings. The report found 653,100 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, a 12 percent increase from 2022. That figure of 653,100 people is equivalent to about 20 of every 10,000 people in the U.S.
Read the full storyPhoenix Socialists Amass to Demand Gaza ‘Ceasefire’ in Anti-Israel Marches This Weekend
Far-Left activists across Arizona are organizing a “Free Palestine” protest in Phoenix on Saturday to demand Israel agree to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas. The coordinated effort is a part of a nationwide show of force in major U.S. cities, the largest of which is expected to be in Washington, D.C.
“Lift the siege on Gaza Now!” the social media posts by organizers proclaim, as they invite supporters to “Find a bus to join” the protest on November 4th.
Read the full storyCrime Rate in Nation’s Capital Continues to Climb
Crime rates per capita in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, including Northern Virginia and Maryland, have increased 9% in 2022 to a rate of 18.3 crimes per 1,000 residents, according to an annual crime report released Wednesday, with 83,000 more calls for service to primary agency participants in the study.
Russell Hamill, police chiefs committee chair for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, shared the findings of the council’s annual Report on Crime and Crime Control at a meeting with the board. The report reflects data from 17 cities, counties, or entities in Maryland and 18 in Virginia, as well as from law enforcement in the district.
Read the full storyStates with Weaker Marijuana Laws See More Impaired Driving, Report Finds
A new report found that states with less restrictive marijuana policies have higher incidents of residents driving while high.
The Drug Free America Foundation released a new report showing that states that have legalized or weakened restrictions around high-THC marijuana, either for medical or recreational use, saw 32% more marijuana-impaired driving than states that have not adopted the same policies.
Read the full storyGovernments Across America Spend Millions to Put Homeless in Hotels
In states like California, Colorado, Washington and Arizona, cities this summer are spending millions buying hotels and converting them to shelters for the homeless.
In Los Angeles, there is a ballot initiative in 2024 to require hotels to use vacant rooms to house homeless people besides paying customers. The American Hotel & Lodging Association has objected to the proposal.
Read the full storyRamaswamy Lays Out Recalibrated America First Foreign Policy Vision: ‘We Will be Uncle Sucker No More’
As he takes heat for proposing that the United States roll back aid to Israel in pursuit of stronger regional relationships for the key American ally, GOP top tier presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he wants a new approach to U.S. relations with friends and foes alike.
And he’s harkening back to the founders’ vision of avoiding “entangling alliances” to get there.
Read the full story10 States to Sue EPA for Not Updating Wood Stove Emission Standards
Ten states and a regional government clean air agency plan on suing the Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly failing to update emission standards for wood-burning stoves, allowing high-emission stoves to still be sold.
The mostly Democratic state attorneys general filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA last week.
Read the full storyState Medical Authorities Are Cracking Down on Therapists Who Don’t ‘Affirm’ Kids’ Trans Identities
by Laurel Duggan State laws have made it effectively illegal for therapists to help children with gender identity issues come to terms with their natural bodies and biological sex in much of the country by labeling the practice an illegal form of “conversion therapy.” While conversion therapy is broadly understood to refer to clinical attempts to get patients to stop feeling same-sex attractions, and has historically included practices like shock therapy, the term has expanded since the mid-2010s to include efforts by health care professionals to help gender-confused patients accept their birth sex rather than putting them on the transgender medicalization track. As states pushed new conversion therapy bans under this new definition, therapists are facing intimidation, legal battles and threat of licensure loss for offering a critical or exploratory approach to children who struggle with their gender identity. “If someone tells you what their gender identity is you must affirm them; you must accept it at face value,” Joseph Burgo, a psychotherapist and vice director of Genspect, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It has a chilling effect on the whole profession. I know therapists who avoid gender altogether because they’re afraid of activists coming after them.” Many transgender activist groups advocate…
Read the full storySchool Districts Celebrate Pride Month with Drag Shows, LGBTQ Assemblies
School districts across the country are using drag shows, parades, assemblies and proclamations to celebrate LGBTQ Pride month.
Some school districts that are promoting the events throughout the month of June are located in Washington, Oregon, California and New Hampshire. The Pride celebrations are a part of the growing push to expand lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation into the classroom, education advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Read the full storyState Senate DFLers Vote to Abandon Electoral College for National Popular Vote
DFLers in the Minnesota House and Senate voted this month to transform American presidential elections by abandoning the Electoral College.
The Senate voted along party lines, 34-33, on Wednesday to pass an elections omnibus policy bill that includes a provision that would have Minnesota award its presidential electors to the candidate with the most votes nationwide. Republicans unsuccessfully tried to remove that language from the bill.
Read the full storyAdvocates Warn of ‘Desperate’ Movement to Undermine the Electoral College
An organization’s efforts to circumvent states’ rights are “getting desperate” as they try new ways to push their interstate compact through state legislatures, two pro-Electoral College advocacy groups told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The National Popular Vote (NPV) is a group initiative to reform the U.S.’ two-step, Electoral College system by ensuring that the candidate with the most popular votes nationwide becomes the president. Now that NPV has enacted its interstate compact in all of the “easy,” bluer states as a standalone bill, it is getting creative to force the law through in swing states like Minnesota, Nevada, Michigan and Maine, Trent England of Save Our States and Jasper Hendricks of Democrats for the Electoral College told the DCNF.
Read the full storyCatholic Civil Rights Group Condemns State Legislation to Force Priests to Break Seal of Confession
Bills in the states of Vermont, Delaware, and Washington would include in mandatory reporting laws information about child sexual abuse a priest learns during the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a move the Catholic League states lacks sound reasoning.
Last week Catholic League President Bill Donohue warned the “seal of confession” is “under fire” in Vermont, noting the Catholic civil rights organization is once again “doing battle with lawmakers who want to violate” the priest-penitent privilege, mostly in legislation concerning the sexual abuse of minors.
Read the full storySeattle Public Schools Consider Closures as Student Enrollment Plunges Post-Pandemic
Seattle Public Schools may have to close some of its schools over the next few years as the district battles budget shortages and plummeting enrollment after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full storySoft-on-Crime Progressives Push for Laws to Prevent Traffic Stops for ‘Less Severe’ Violations
Leaders in multiple states and cities are embracing efforts to bar police from pulling drivers over for certain less-severe traffic violations, a move that some experts believe endangers public safety.
Lawmakers in Washington state are pushing a plan that would forbid police traffic stops conducted to address some lower-level traffic lawbreaking, and Oregon has already established a similar policy, while San Francisco is considering a city-wide plan of this kind after Los Angeles and Minneapolis instituted their own. Such restrictions could effectively impede enforcement against more serious offenses and put innocent civilians at risk, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Read the full storyFiscal Watchdog Warns Against Wealth Tax in Connecticut and Five other States
New York is being cautioned against raising taxes on its top earners as lawmakers consider plans to drum up more money from the state’s wealthiest.
A group of progressive Democratic state lawmakers have proposed a raft of tax reforms targeting New York’s ultra-rich that includes adding new tax brackets for the highest earners, increasing corporate taxes for the top companies, and setting wealth taxes on capital gains and inheritances.
Backers of the Invest in New York proposal say the package of reforms would drum up another $40 million to $50 million for the state’s education, housing and transportation needs.
Read the full storyEighteen State AGs Voicing Support for New York Gun-Industry Liability Law
A coalition of 18 state attorneys general, all Democrats, on Wednesday submitted an amicus brief in support of New York’s firearms industry accountability law.
In the brief, the coalition led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul asserts the law’s legitimacy to protect residents public health, safety and welfare.
Read the full storyWhy We March: Historic 50th March for Life, First in Post-Roe Era
Thousands of pro-life Americans and advocates from other nations will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Friday to celebrate the 50th March for Life, the first since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The March for Life Education and Defense Fund says the theme for the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration is “Next Steps: Marching into a Post-Roe America,” one that calls pro-life advocates to continue their work in defense of the unborn and their mothers on both the state and federal level, including advocacy for “a minimum federal standard to protect innocent life against radical pro-abortion legislation.”
Read the full storyNorth Carolina, North Dakota, Among States Phasing Out Income Tax
Americans in search of economic freedom and opportunity are flocking to Florida, Tennessee and Texas, and at least part of the attraction is that these three states, along with six others (Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming and New Hampshire), don’t levy an income tax.
Other states may soon follow.
“There are 10 states that are in the process of moving their personal income tax to zero,” President of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist said on the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Read the full storyWashington Lawmaker Introduces Proposal to Pay Prisoners Minimum Wage
A Washington legislator who served time behind bars contends it is time for the state to stop saving millions on the backs of inmates who are paid pennies for work in prison jobs.
“This is an evolution of slavery,” Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, told reporters. She is proposing that inmates be paid minimum wage when they work in the kitchen or produce furniture or other goods.
Read the full storyLocal Government’s Christmas Policy Parallels Woke Rules Found on College Campuses
A memo shared by the free speech watchdog, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), reveals that employees of King County, Washington, are advised not to include “religious symbols” in their workspaces.
“Before adding any decorations to your workspace (including your virtual workspace), consider the likely effect of such decorations on all of the employees in and outside of your workgroup,” writes Workforce Equity Manager Gloria Ngezaho in the “Guidelines for Holiday Decorations for King County Employees.”
Read the full storyWashington State’s Dem Gov, Attorney General Propose Major Gun Control Measures
Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson held a press conference Monday to announce three new measures for the upcoming 2023 legislative session that aims to curb gun violence in the state.
The measures would ban assault style weapons, hold manufacturers and retailers accountable for gun sales and implement a permit-to-purchase requirement for all gun buyers, according to a press conference. Inslee cited an increase in gun violence as the reason for the new legislation, and believes the laws, along with mental health assistance, will curb gun violence in Washington.
Read the full storyGen-Z’s First Congressman-Elect Says He Was Denied a Lease in D.C. Due to ‘Really Bad’ Credit
Florida Democratic Rep.-elect Maxwell Alejandro Frost says he was denied a lease on a Washington, D.C., apartment after the landlord initially told him that his bad credit wouldn’t matter.
Frost is slated to become the first Gen-Z lawmaker in Washington when the next Congress is sworn in in January. He was previously a community organizer and will take over the seat of Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who unsuccessfully challenged Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio for his seat in the upper chamber in November.
Read the full storyGOP Senate Challenger Tiffany Smiley Now Tied with Dem Incumbent Sen. Patty Murray in Washington State
Democratic Sen. Patti Murray is now tied with her Republican challenger and nurse Tiffany Smiley in the Washington Senate race, according to the results of a new survey published on Sunday.
The survey showed that Murray and Smiley each had the support of 46% of respondents, a two percentage point shift in favor of Smiley from the same poll conducted in September, according to pollster Moore Information Group. It also showed a three percentage point decrease in Murray’s net favorability ratings, while Smiley’s net favorability increased by the same amount.
Read the full storyDemocratic Secretaries of State Warn ‘Independent State Legislature Theory’ Would Upend Elections
Thirteen Secretaries of State led by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper, a case that will have the court considering the “independent state legislature” theory.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moore v. Harper in December, a case brought forth after the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature adopted a new congressional voting map based on 2020 Census results. A group of Democratic voters and nonprofit organizations alleged the map was a partisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution and challenged it in court, according to Ballotpedia.
Read the full storyVaxxed Army Pilot Reprimanded, Denied Promotion for Questioning Vax, Investigation Bias
A U.S. Army pilot who reluctantly received a COVID-19 vaccination has been reprimanded and denied promotion — and could still face discharge and the loss of his wings — after questioning the vaccine and filing complaints about allegedly biased investigations of him, according to his wife and her attorney.
Jessica Hill-Budge, the wife of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brandon Budge in the 7th Infantry Division’s 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, told Just the News that her husband is likely to lose his nearly 20-year military career due to improperly conducted official investigations of his case.
Read the full storyWashington’s Largest County Fails to Meet Goals After Spending over $230 Million in Taxpayer Dollars on Homeless Housing
King County, Seattle, has poured $230 million into homeless housing projects in the area since 2020, but half of those properties are vacant and they have yet to meet even half their goal of housing 1,600 homeless people, according to The Seattle Times.
Read the full storyEastern Washington Legislators Urge Biden to Lift Vaccine Mandate for Border Travel
Two U.S. Representatives from Eastern Washington have signed onto a letter that urges the Biden Administration to drop all vaccine requirements for people entering the United States from Canada.
Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, and Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, say the decision to send the letter follows Canada lifting vaccine mandates for international travelers entering the country despite Biden’s refusal to follow suit.
Read the full storyWashington’s Largest School District Goes on Strike, Delaying Start of School for Thousands
Teachers of the largest school district in Washington are on strike on what should have been the first day of classes after rejecting a deal that would have kept them working in classrooms.
The Seattle Education Association (SEA) could not come to an agreement with Seattle Public Schools (SPS), which has roughly 50,000 students, in Seattle, Washington, causing its members to strike Wednesday morning, SPS announced on its website. The SEA rejected the school district’s memorandum of understanding which would have kept teachers working under their current agreement and allowed students to return to school on time as contract negotiations continued.
Read the full storyWashington Will Ban Gas Cars, Copying California
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington announced Wednesday that his state would be following California’s lead in banning the purchase of all gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
Inslee touted California’s new rule, which was approved on Thursday, and stated that Washington was ready to adopt the rule to prohibit the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035 at the end of 2022, according to a tweet he posted. The governor also said that his state already set an unenforced goal for all new car sales to be zero emissions vehicles by 2030, a move that would attempt to phase out cars powered by an internal combustion engine.
Read the full story30 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic, at Least a Dozen States Are Under ‘Emergency’ Orders
In October 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court stripped Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of the unilateral powers she was using when she declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whitmer had been using a 1945 law – which was prompted by a three-day race riot in Detroit three years earlier – that had no sunset provision in it and didn’t require approval by the state legislature.
In May 2021, Whitmer told a news agency that if she still had that 1945 state-of-emergency law, she would use those powers, but not for anything related to a pandemic.
Read the full storyIllegal Migrants Deny Being ‘Tricked’ into Getting on Buses to D.C., NYC
Illegal migrants bused from the southern border to Washington, D.C, denied that they’re being “tricked” into boarding the buses, several of them told the Daily Caller News Foundation, contradicting claims made by the mayors of D.C. and New York City.
Read the full storyCommentary: Washington’s Incurable Case of Trump Derangement Syndrome
Like Shakespeare’s King Lear, Donald Trump is a “man more sinned against than sinning.” Trump’s enemies invariably exceed him in excesses. They accuse him of dictatorial behavior even as they seek to turn America into a left-wing authoritarian regime. The wags who dubbed their feverish hatred of him “Trump Derangement Syndrome” were right. The condition is altogether real, spurring everything from the bogus Russia investigation to the equally outlandish FBI raid on his home.
Read the full storyConnecticut’s AG Tong Among 20 State Attorneys General Supporting National Gun Control Rule
A coalition of 20 state attorneys general, all Democrats, are backing a federal gun rule in court.
The Final Rule, as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives named it, would enable law enforcement officials to trace any homemade guns used in crimes. In addition, the rule limits trafficking the weaponry.
Read the full story‘If Abortion Isn’t Safe, You Aren’t Either’: Vandal Attacks Pregnancy Center
A suspect vandalized a Washington state crisis pregnancy center by breaking the building’s windows and spray-painting the property early Wednesday morning.
The suspect targeted the Next Step Pregnancy Center in Lynwood, Washington, Next Step Pregnancy Center Director Heather Vasquez told KTTH talk radio host Jason Rantz. The center stayed open despite the vandalism and police have opened an investigation into the matter.
Read the full storyJustices Signal They’ll Rule in Favor of Football Coach Fired for Praying
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, covered the oral arguments heard on April 25, 2022, by Supreme Court justices in the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case.
Read the full storyCarjackings Soar in Blue State After Democrats Tie Police Officers’ Hands
Carjackings in Washington have soared after Democrats endorsed a rule that limited police pursuits, according to a major police association, King 5 News reported.
Washington recorded an 88% increase in car thefts since 2021, according data compiled by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, King 5 reported. The state experienced 12,569 stolen vehicles between January and March 2022, compared to 6,692 thefts during the same time period in 2021.
Read the full storyCatholic Charities Met Abbott’s Bused Migrants with Tickets to Ride Elsewhere
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, reports from Washington’s Union Station, where Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott sent migrants who crossed the border into his state.
Read the full storyPro-Life Leaders Demand Investigation Into Whether Late-Term Infant Bodies Discovered May Have Survived Botched Abortions: ‘Beyond Horrific and Devastating’
Leaders of a national pro-life organization are demanding an investigation into the deaths of five late-term infants whose bodies were discovered last week at a Capitol Hill region home in Washington, DC.
D.C. police discovered the bodies of the babies last Wednesday at a home occupied by pro-life activist Lauren Handy, WUSA9 reported.
Read the full storyCrom’s Crommentary: Every Issue in Washington, D.C. Is Viewed Through a Partisan and Grifter’s Lens
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
Read the full storyCommentary: Washington Doesn’t Want Peace in Ukraine
The United States is now overwhelmed with propaganda pushing for Americans to “stand with Ukraine” in its war with Russia. It is not enough to wish the people of Ukraine well. The media, Big Tech, and both political parties have made being a partisan of Ukraine some kind of moral duty. Those refusing to get swept up in anti-Russian hysteria can expect to be condemned as traitors and agents of Vladimir Putin.
Read the full story