Difference between revisions of "Washington"

Latest revision as of 00:45, December 9, 2021

For the United States Capital, see Washington, D.C.

For the U.S. President see George Washington

Washington

Capital	Olympia
Nickname	The Evergreen State
Official Language	None
Governor	Jay Inslee, D
Senator	Patty Murray, D (202) 224-2621 Contact
Senator	Maria Cantwell, D (202) 224-3441 Contact
Population	7,700,000 (2020)
Ratification of Constitution/or statehood	November 11, 1889 (42nd)
	Motto: "Al-ki" (bye and bye)

Washington, often referred to as Washington State, was the forty-second state to enter into the Union, on Nov. 11, 1889. The state is named after the first president George Washington. Its capital is Olympia, and its largest city is Seattle. It is located at the extreme northwest corner of the 48 contiguous American states. This Democrat-dominated state was the location of an early outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 in early 2020 in a nursing home.

The state Constitution of Washington, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. It says:

We, the people of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this constitution.

Geography

The state has a notably wide variety of terrain and boasts of three national parks. The western edge of Washington borders the Pacific Ocean and has the only temperate rain forests in the country, the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault. The Olympic Mountains rise from sea level to nearly 8,000 feet in elevation. Puget Sound, gouged by the Vashon sheet in the last ice age, brings ocean access to ports far inland. The Cascade Mountain Range bisects the state from north to south and contains several large volcanoes, both active and dormant. The eastern half of Washington is much drier, with a continental climate and much farmland irrigated by Columbia River dams and irrigation works constructed in the time of the New Deal.

Politics

Washington was the first state to allow women to vote in local elections, since 1855.

The 2004 election created controversy due to a virtual tie between candidates conservative Republican Dino Rossi and liberal Democrat Christine Gregoire. Rossi won both the original election and the first recount, but the second recount gave the election to Christine Gregoire by a mere 129 votes.[1] Controversially, on the second "recount," more votes were counted than ballots were cast in Washington state.

Since 2007, Washington has offered domestic partnerships, which are similar to same sex marriage.^[1]

In 2009, Washington was the first state in the United States to affirm civil unions by a public vote (Ref. 71). In 2012, they continued this continued this trajectory by fully implementing marriage equality by a vote of the people. The same year, they fully legalized marijuana possession.

Washington state has consistently been a blue state since 1988, with the last winning Republican being Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Anarchism

For nearly a month, starting in June 2020, the City of Seattle permitted anarchists and activists to seize six square blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, naming their new enclave the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) and then the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” (CHOP). Law enforcement and fire fighters were precluded from entering the territory. The Seattle Police Department was ordered to abandon their precinct within the CHOP. Person-related crime in the CHOP increased 525% from the same period of time in the same area the year before, including by Mayor Jenny Durkan’s own count “two additional homicides, 6 additional robberies, and 16 additional aggravated assaults (to include 2 additional non-fatal shootings).” The CHOP was allowed to stand for nearly a month, during which time two teenagers were shot and killed in the zone. The Seattle City Council, Mayor Jenny Durkan, and Washington Governor Jay Inslee publicly rejected federal involvement in law enforcement activities within the city of Seattle.^[2]

2020 Leftist insurrection

Marxist insurrectionists set up check points and border walls in Occupied Seattle. Residents were extorted and forced to pay protection money.

See also: 2020 Antifa riots

After two straight nights of violence, the Seattle Police Department abandoned its east precinct building. Forty-eights hours after Marxist insurgents occupied a 7 square block area including a police station, extorting protection money from businesses and employers to allow them to continue operating, Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee claimed to have no knowledge of the imminent danger to the lives and property of citizens and taxpayers.

Several hundred demonstrators, led by Seattle City Council Socialist Alternative^[3] Kshama Sawant, occupied City Hall calling for the resignation of Democrat mayor Jenny Durkan and the defunding of the Seattle Police Department after a march from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Sawant was backed by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).^[4] The DSA provided logisitcal support for the riots.^[5] Sawant called for the importance of Black LGBTQIA+ women and other issues. At City Hall another speaker decried Sawant’s cooptation of the movement to push her own agenda.

The speaker noted the whiteness of many speakers at recent protests. Protesters left City Hall chanting “Defund SPD” and headed back to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), where protesters watched 13th, a documentary on the The New Jim Crow.

A two-hour rally of an estimated 2,000 protesters gathered in the rain for a community meeting hosted by Sawant.

“What we’ve defeated here is the political establishment of this city....You can never have zero police and an elimination of racism and oppression on the basis of capitalism."

A 30-point list of demands was published. “We demand the de-gentrification of Seattle, starting with rent control," etc.

Community members were subjected to barricades set up by the protesters with some armed individuals running them as checkpoints in the neighborhood,” a police spokesman said. “While they have a constitutionally protected right to bear arms there is no legal right for those arms to be used to intimidate community members.” Residents described a small number of people armed with rifles who have been seen serving as guards. Many businesses and residential buildings in the so called C.H.A.Z. hired private security staff. The entire area was lawless, and residents were left to fend for themselves. A social media posting from inside the occupied territory read,

"Due to the police not being able to respond for fear of reprisal and the shear amount of police resources required that makes it possible to have any presents in our area, residents needed to have an emergency plan that does not involve 911. Whether it is contacting friends, family or driving someone or yourself to the emergency room. You can still call 911 for help with planning and dealing with emergencies, but they may ask that you attempt to make your way to one of their other locations or possibly deal with a significant delayed response.^[6]

The Occupied Seattle Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone offered no social and mental health care for victims of the occupation.

Seattle Police fly Gadsden flag protesting fascist vaccine mandates.

Defund the Police

See also: Defund the Police

BLM and Antifa racists set fires at the Seattle juvenile detention facility. 21 police officers were injured.^[7] The Seattle Chief of Police warned citizens that the police could not protect them after the Democrat city council politburo defunded riot-control measures.^[8]

Elected Officials

Federal

• Sen. Patty Murray (D)
• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D)
• Rep. Suzan Delbene [D, WA–01]
• Rep. Rick Larsen [D, WA–02]
• Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler [R, WA–03]
• Rep. Dan Newhouse [R, WA–04]
• Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers [R, WA–05]
• Rep. Derek Kilmer [D, WA–06]
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal [D, WA–07]
• Rep. Kim Schrier [D, WA–08]
• Rep. Adam Smith [D, WA–09]
• Rep. Marilyn Strickland [D, WA–10]

Statewide

• Governor Jay Inslee (D)
• Lt. Governor Denny Heck (D)
• Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D)
• Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D)
• State Auditor Pat McCarthy
• State Treasurer Duane Davidson

Notable people from Washington

• Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and despoiler of skylines.[2]
• Glenn Beck, conservative talk radio host and television anchor employed by Fox News.
• Bob Barker, host of the long-running game show The Price is Right, was born in Darrington.
• Harry P. Cain, U.S. senator, 1946-1953
• Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the influential grunge band Nirvana, was from Aberdeen.
• Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world's richest man as of 2007, lives in Medina.
• Slade Gorton, Moderate Republican U.S. Senator from 1981 to 1987 and 1989 to 2001
• Jimi Hendrix, an influential rock guitarist of the late 1960s, was born in Seattle
• Henry Jackson, U.S. Senator, 1953-1983
• Arthur B. Langlie, three-term Republican governor
• Gary Larson, cartoonist known for his strip The Far Side, was born in Tacoma.
• Warren Magnuson, U.S. senator, 1944 to 1981
• Rob Maness, Louisiana Republican and Tea Party figure, born in Fort Lewis in 1961.
• Bill Nye, engineer best known for his children's television series Bill Nye the Science Guy, studied at Washington State University in Pullman.
• Dixy Lee Ray, governor from 1977 to 1981; last chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
• Chief Sealth, a Native American leader who converted to Roman Catholicism, lent his name to the city of Seattle.
• John Spellman, Moderate Republican governor from 1981 to 1985
• John Stockton, the all-time NBA leader in assists and steals, was born and raised in Spokane.
• Ted Bundy, serial killer, grew up in Tacoma and attended University of Washington.
• Gary Ridgeway, serial killer.

References