Tag Archive for: Seattle

Here’s How Democrats And The Media Have Responded To The Months Of Civil Unrest Following George Floyd’s Death

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The United States is engulfed in ongoing civil unrest as major cities across the country have faced protests and riots following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody May 25.

The majority of demonstrations have been peaceful but waves of violence and looting have generated mass chaos.

Some Democrats have inflamed and encouraged the riots in many cases with statements either denying the violence or shifting the blame to President Donald Trump and his supporters. Here is a timeline of major riots that have taken place in American cities and how Democrats have responded to them.

May

A Facebook video uploaded May 26 depicted Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin placing his knee onto Floyd’s neck during an encounter that took place one day prior and led to Floyd’s death.

Civil unrest began to grow May 27 as protestors took to the streets of Minneapolis. Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey requested National Guard support May 28 after violence and looting destroyed parts of the city. A police precinct was set on fire and by mid-June the Twin Cities had seen at least two deaths, 619 arrests and $500 million in damage to 1,500 properties according to the Star Tribune.

Left-wing commentators almost immediately offered their support. Filmmaker Michael Moore called the rioters “good citizens” and said police headquarters “must be demolished” in a tweet May 28.

MSNBC commentator Zerlina Maxwell demanded that the media stop calling the situation a “riot” in a tweet May 29.

Frey said Trump “knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis” in a statement May 29 after the president slammed the mayor for not controlling the riots. Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused Trump of “calling for violence” in a tweet May 29 after the president said he would deploy the National Guard.

A peaceful demonstration in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. turned violent May 30 as rioters gathered at Lafayette Square Park in front of the White House. Several monuments on the National Mall, including the World War II memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, were vandalized May 30 and the historic St. John’s Church was set on fire May 31.

Democratic Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser suggested that Trump was hiding and said he was afraid of a handful of “peaceful protesters” after the White House went into a lockdown May 29.

June

Clashes occurred between protesters and police June 1 in the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill. Democratic Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said the unrest was “instigated and perpetuated by white men.” The Seattle Police Department withdrew from the East Precinct building June 8, paving the way for demonstrators to declare the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) June 11.

Durkan told CNN host Chris Cuomo in an interview June 11 that the CHAZ had “more like a block party atmosphere” and likened it to the “summer of love.” A resident living in the area told the Daily Caller in an interview June 13 that he heard “gunshots every single night.” Four shootings were reported between June 20 and June 29 with two people killed and four injured.

WATCH:

Mostly peaceful demonstrations in Portland in early June led to escalating civil unrest throughout the month. The Portland Business Alliance estimated that riots and violence in Portland by late June had cost small businesses $23.2 million and the Portland Police Department lost $6.2 million in related costs.

July

Durkan ordered the Capitol Hill neighborhood to be cleared out July 1 and CHAZ was officially brought to an end.

Rioters in Portland reportedly lit fires inside a police union building and swarmed the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in the first week of July as unrest in the city escalated.

Democratic Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler initially told the Trump administration that he did “not need or want their help,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Federal officers arrived anyways in order to protect federal property and engaged with rioters over the next week with tear gas and other riot dispersion tactics.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden downplayed the risk of violence and instead turned attention to the Trump administration, stating that federal officers were “acting like an occupying army” in a tweet July 12.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi referred to federal officers as “stormtroopers” and accused them of “kidnapping protesters” in a tweet July 17. Pelosi also downplayed the riots by claiming that federal involvement was “in response to graffiti.”

Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler minimized the violence in Portland and told political commentator Austen Fletcher that antifa violence was a myth in a video released July 27.

WATCH:

Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal minimized the riots during a CNN appearance July 29 where she referred to the riots as “some protesters at some building in Portland.”

WATCH:

Police data compiled by The Oregonian found that 15 people had been killed in Portland in July, with a total of 24 people killed since the demonstrations kicked off in the city in late May and early June.

August

Hundreds of people rioted and looted stores in Chicago between August 9 and August 10 after a man was reportedly shot by police.

Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot refused federal assistance and said she would not allow “Donald Trump’s troops” to “terrorize our residents.”

More than 100 people were arrested and 13 officers were injured in Chicago during multiple days of rioting. Lightfoot later changed her tune and defended banning protests near her residence, telling reporters she had a right to make sure her “home is secure” during a press conference August 20.

A wave of unrest in Seattle led to six police officers injured and 18 people arrested as demonstrators hurled explosives at law enforcement outside a police building August 18. Rioters reportedly tried to seal off the East Precinct building and light a fire outside August 24, according to the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

The Trump administration negotiated a withdrawal of federal troops in Portland by late August but the violence continued in the city even after federal forces pulled back. 15 riots were declared in the month of August according to the Portland Police Department.

Wheeler repeatedly said “no thanks” to recurring offers from the Trump administration to send federal officers back into Portland, KGW8 reported. The mayor also blamed the president for inciting violence and told him to “stay away” one day before a Trump supporter was shot and killed August 29.

Kenosha experienced riots and fires August 24 after footage emerged of a police officer shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back August 23. A resident cleaning up after the riots called the city a “complete war zone” after businesses were looted and a number of buildings were destroyed.

September

Seattle continued to see unrest as members of a crowd threw Molotov cocktails at the East Precinct building September 1.

Rioters in Kenosha damaged more than 100 buildings, 40 of which were destroyed, and caused up to $50 million in damage through September 2, according to ABC 7. Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers told Trump not to come to the city and accused him of creating “divisiveness” in a letter.

Michael Forest Reinoehl, a self-identified Antifa supporter, was identified as a suspect in the fatal shooting of Trump supporter Aaron Danielson in Portland August 29. He told Vice in an interview set to air September 3 that he “had no choice.” Reinoehl was later killed during a shootout with federal forces that same day.

COLUMN BY

VARUN HUKERI

Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO DOCUMENTARY: Seattle is Dying

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KOMO News published the following comments and video on its YouTube channel:

KOMO Anchor Eric Johnson takes an in-depth look at the impact the drug and homelessness problem is having on our city and possible solutions in “Seattle is Dying,” a news documentary that aired on KOMO-TV in March, 2019.

You can read the full story and watch at KOMONews.com.

©All rights reserved.

‘Do Something About It’: BLM Protesters In Seattle Call On White People To Give Up Their Homes

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Black Lives Matter protesters appeared to march through a suburban Seattle neighborhood demanding white residents give up their homes, claiming white residents gentrified the area, according to a video shared on Twitter.

Dozens of protesters chanting “Black Lives Matter” took to the streets before an unidentified man appeared to say white residents are living in a historically black section of the city and should give up their homes to black people.

“Do you know that before your white a** came here this was all black people? Do you know people like you came here and basically bought all the land from the black people for less than what it was worth, kicked them out so you could live here?” the man said in the video. “Do you know that? Cause if you don’t, now you f–king do, now do something about it!”

A woman on a megaphone then appears to demand white residents “open” their wallets before telling the unidentified residents to leave the area.

“Give black people back their homes! You’re sitting there comfortable-comfortable as f–k as if they didn’t help gentrify this neighborhood!” the woman shouted.

Seattle is the third most gentrified city in the United States, according to The Seattle Times.

The Central District of Seattle, which has historically been black, has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of black residents, with estimates showing the area could be less than 10% black in the next decade despite having been 73% black in 1970, according to a report from The Seattle Times.

While gentrification can displace low-income families, for original residents who don’t move away, gentrification reduces their exposure to poverty and increases the value of their homes, according to The Seattle Times.

Seattle is working to rectify issues of gentrification, creating a policy that encourages developers to combat gentrification by choosing residents with community connections.

COLUMN BY

BRIANNA LYMAN

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Massive Pro-Police #BacktheBlue Rally at Seattle Hall

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Outside Seattle City Hall, rally to stop the defunding of the Seattle Police Department.

Photos thanks to Orange Martyr.

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PROTESTERS’ TAKE OVER SEATTLE CITY HALL

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

FORMER REP. BOB BARR: ‘The Dumbest Generation’ Grows Even Dumber

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In 2008, Mark Bauerlein wrote “The Dumbest Generation, How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.” Judging by events in the intervening dozen years (and especially in recent months), it appears that assessment was premature and perhaps even too kind.

Bauerlein correctly identified overreliance on the internet and social media (then still in its infancy) as the primary culprits for Millennials losing their ability to think, learn and communicate coherently. What his analysis perhaps did not anticipate is the number of adults who have come to encourage, empower and support Millennials in these efforts. It is almost as if adults in government, the news media and academia are competing with Millennials for the title.

Consider, for example, the issue of providing college students with “safe spaces,” where they can shelter from the horrors of people, ideas and principles they consider “offensive.” The students may be the ones pushing for these accommodations, but it is the adult college administrators who cave in and make it happen.

Young protesters in Seattle may “occupy” a sector of that once-respected city; they may scream “police brutality” and call for the police department to be “defunded.” Their  demands, however, would amount to little were it not for the city’s clueless Mayor Jenny Durken, who lauded the young occupiers as “patriots,” and her namby-pamby police chief, Carmen Best, who decided that barricades which had protected one of her department’s precinct headquarters should be removed as a “gesture of trust” to the mob.

While adult elected enablers of today’s young mobs predominate in west coast cities such as Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, counterparts are found across the country. New York’s dynamic duo of Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly praise and encourage the demonstrators, even as they offer virtually no support for police who are left to deal with the looting, arson and violence in the streets. Meanwhile, Cuomo’s narcissistic brother, CNN commentator Chris Cuomo, muses on air that protesters need not be either polite or peaceful.

On the ground in Seattle’s mob-occupied zone, a collegiate-type “safe space” was set aside, but only for individuals with “black ancestry” or who “have experienced oppression because [they] are black.” In an interesting role-reversal, news reports noted that this open-air “Black Healing Space” was enforced against non-black interlopers by young whites.

The profound historical and cultural illiteracy of these young mobs repeatedly is confirmed by actions such as their indiscriminate destruction of public statues simply because they are, well, public statues. Reasoning with demonstrators who have shown themselves incapable of distinguishing between statues of musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan and those memorializing Confederate civil war generals would be an obvious waste of time.

In Lincoln County, Oregon, officials decreed that black Americans do not have to wear medical masks otherwise required for all citizens, because requiring African Americans to do so would in some way perpetuate “racial stereotypes.” Truly, there would be little point in arguing with adults spouting such nonsense; they have thrown in with the children.

The depth to which these “adult Millennials” and their “true Millennial” cohorts have descended in their drive to protect themselves (and our country) from reality, is perhaps most clearly illustrated by the wrath just recently directed against “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.

Rowling’s “sin” was to publicly explain that only biological women menstruate, not men who had “transgendered” to women. Adult detractors were not only angered by Rowling’s refusal to kowtow to the New Age gender orthodoxy; they reportedly were deeply “devastated” by the horror of her words.

One such person is a teacher at the highly regarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Devin Michelle Bunten. Ms. Bunten penned a New York Times op-ed declaring that people, like Rowling and President Trump, who employ terms such as “male” and “female” are “erasing” transgendered individuals and simply perpetuating what she considers our disgraceful social “patriarchy.”

With adult teachers at institutions of higher learning like MIT spouting such nonsense, it is hardly surprising we have now two generations of illiterate snowflakes who cannot distinguish between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Stonewall Jackson.

COLUMN BY

FORMER REP. BOB BARR

Bob Barr represented Georgia’s 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 and served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1986 to 1990.  He now serves as President of the Law Enforcement Education Foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Joe Biden Is Either Incapable, Or Unwilling, To Stand Up To The Radical Leftist Mob

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President Donald Trump is back on the road to energize and connect directly with the American people. The president is most at home when he is outside the swamp, sharing his aspirational vision for the future.

As America continues toward a safe and full reopening, it’s more important than ever before to contrast President Trump’s bold leadership throughout the pandemic and recovery, with Joe Biden’s weakness and blatant attempt to politicize the pandemic for political gain.

While President Trump hosted his first rally in months Saturday from Oklahoma, Biden has now gone 82 days without a press conference and the media should be asking — at what point will Biden subject himself to the scrutiny American voters deserve when considering who to elect as the next President of the United States?

Biden’s weakness and inability to lead the country is a threat to us all. He’s unfit to be president.

While President Trump and his administration focus on safely reopening the greatest economy in the world, Joe Biden continues to lob ineffective attacks from his basement while continuing to try and score cheap political points through divisive rhetoric and fear.

Defunding and dismantling the police is now a serious policy proposal being pushed by leading Democrats, such as Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, and Joe Biden has been slow to push back in any meaningful way.

For example, Biden remains silent on the professional anarchists and radical leftists currently occupying a major section of downtown Seattle.

Despite campaign press releases and incomplete statements, Joe Biden owns the radical left’s mission to defund and eliminate law enforcement as the standard bearer for the Democrat Party. By refusing to denounce the dangerous rhetoric of others within his party, Biden is leaving open the door for a future where law enforcement’s ability to protect and serve is severely diminished.

Contrast Biden’s weakness to President Trump’s strength. The president stands with America’s law enforcement communities while recognizing the need to constantly stay up on policies and procedures to keep communities safe and allow law enforcement to do their jobs.

And while Biden is hesitant to criticize objectively dangerous and destructive policies that will hurt the American people, especially the most vulnerable among us, he has no problem criticizing the men and women of law enforcement if he thinks it’ll serve his political ambitions.

In Seattle, police are unable to respond to emergencies, and had to shut down a precinct, which is tripling response times and leading to unresolved criminal behavior.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden remains silent even as Seattle’s Police Chief reports how conditions have quickly deteriorated in what the radical left is calling the “Autonomous Zone.”

“Rapes, robberies and all sorts of violent acts have been occurring in the area and we’re not able to get to them,” Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best recently said.

Joe Biden’s refusal to acknowledge anti-American behavior by radical-left wing provocateurs and professional anarchists behind the violence is telling — he is incapable of leading from the front, choosing instead to capitulate to the radical left in order to advance his own political ambitions.

While President Trump gears up for a full travel schedule to speak directly to the American people, Joe Biden sticks mostly to the basement of his home.

The contrast between President Trump’s pro-growth policies that protect economic opportunity for all Americans, and Joe Biden’s slow-growth, job-killing policies that decimated once great American cities and hurt working families could not be clearer.

President Trump ushered in a new era of innovation, economic opportunity, and economic growth that supercharged the American economy before it was artificially shut down by a global pandemic.

Biden, who has championed policies that shuttered small businesses and cost millions of Americans their jobs, sees the White House as just the next step in his half-century political career.

COLUMN BY

MERCEDES V. SCHLAPP

Mercedes Schlapp Co-Founder, Cove Strategies and is Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On Twitter, @mercedesschlapp.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Builders and Destroyers: The Battle for America

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There are two kinds of people in this world – builders and destroyers. You know who you are.

Our forefathers were builders who rejected monarchy in favor of limited government and the challenge of self-rule. Our forefathers understood the difference between servitude and citizenship. They chose freedom and built a more perfect union – a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The building of the United States of America was the most successful experiment in individual freedom and prosperity the world has ever known.

Our forefathers built America with a Constitution articulating its secular laws, and the Ten Commandments articulating its moral laws. We are a Judeo-Christian country built on the Judeo-Christian foundation of the Ten Commandments. Let’s examine them.

Commandments 1-4 codify rules for membership in the group, they are the unifying principle of monotheism. Monotheism is at the heart of the Ten Commandments and its moral laws. Freedom and independence require self-respect, self-control, and respect for others. It is a delicate balance that requires maturity and the ability to agree to disagree.

Commandments 5-10 codify the ethos of individualism and respect for others: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Constitution and the Commandments define the balance between self and society, and between the individual and the group. There is no disagreement about the need for mutuality or respect for the individual.

Collectivism is an affront to individualism, adult mutuality, and the morality of Judeo-Christian tradition. Collectivism, whether socialism, communism, Islamism, or globalism, destroys the value of the individual and insists the value of the group takes precedence. The problem, of course, is that even in collectivism the group is made up of individuals!

The humanitarian hoax of collectivism is the destruction of the individual. Socialism is the destructive democrat party platform being marketed as altruism. Radical blue state Democrat leaders are telling the citizens of their states that anarchy, looting, robbery, rape, murder, and mayhem perpetrated by destroyers will bring equality and social justice. It is a lie. Anarchy precedes tyranny.

We still have the choice between builders and destroyers in November. We can choose between ordered liberty or the Seattle CHAZ—Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone that has become the country’s first No-Go zone. The radical Democrat destroyers support anarchy and the defunding of police departments, but without law enforcement there is only anarchy. Ask yourselves, “Do you want to live in the anarchist country of CHAZ?”

CHAZ is the predicted escalation of radical Democrat sanctuary cities and sanctuary states that protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding citizens. In CHAZ the criminals have taken over the government. This is how violent revolutions begin. This is what the radical Democrat destroyers are offering you in November. Voter beware!

Law-abiding communities, black and white, are builders who want to live the American dream of freedom and equality rooted in American individualism articulated in the Constitution and the Ten Commandments. Law-abiding communities, black and white, reject the destroyers of the radical leftist Democrat party who foment racial divisiveness and religious divisiveness by embracing Antifa anarchists, Black Lives Matter supremacists, and Islamic sharia law supremacists who are all diametrically opposed to the Constitution and the Ten Commandments.

The Democrat hype of the coronavirus pandemic and their support of anarchist pandemonium are both tactical weapons in the radical leftist Democrat war of destruction against America and America-first President Donald J. Trump.

There are two kinds of people in this world – builders and destroyers. You know who you are.

The 2020 presidential election is a battle between builders and destroyers. The outcome will determine if the dreams of our forefathers for a more perfect union of citizenship and individualism prevail, or if the radical Democrat destroyers successfully surrender our country to collectivism and servitude.

Before you cast your vote in November, remember Communist China Premier Zhou Enlai’s dismissive comment, “One of the things about Americans is that they have absolutely no historical memory.” The radical leftist Democrat destroyers are counting on you to forget the millions of people killed in the name of collectivism.

Remember that every group is made of individuals, this means if you choose radical Democrat collectivism you are choosing to destroy your self.

Remember that the ruling elite always take care of the ruling elite. The radical Democrat political party does not represent individualism and American interests. The radical Democrat party leaders are lobbyists for their globalist financiers who fully intend to bring socialism to America in preparation for the internationalized new world order of their globalist bosses.

There are two kinds of people in this world – builders and destroyers. Be a builder and reject the destroyers in November.

©All rights reserved.

See Linda’s Pundicity page and  website. Contact Linda at info@lindagoudsmit.com

Why ‘Holocaust Denial’ Graffiti Matters

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Early Friday morning, March 10, 2017 Holocaust graffiti was discovered by an off-duty Seattle police officer on the façade of a major Reform Jewish Temple in the Capitol Hill District of Seattle, Temple De Hirsch Sinai.

According to a Buzz Feed report, the graffiti read:

“Holocaust is fake history!” A dollar sign appeared to be used in place of the letter S in the graffiti.”

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) undertook an immediate bias crimes investigation and established patrols for both the historic sanctuary on Capitol Hill as well as a companion one in Bellevue, Washington.   Later that morning, a thoughtful neighbor in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle hung a sign over the anti-Semitic graffiti with a comforting statement expressing community support for the temple, “Love wins.”Because of the heightened security, a suspicious box left at the door of the temple Friday afternoon was investigated by the SPD and found to contain a donation of old books.

Comments of the anti-Semitic incident by the  Seattle Temple Rabbi

holocaust denial graphitiA CNN report noted what Rabbi Daniel Weiner wrote on the Facebook page of Temple de Hirsch Sinai regarding the security precautions that this latest anti-Semitic incident prompted and its occurrence on the cusp of the Jewish festival of Purim:

And as we take all of these precautions, we are also adamant in our conviction that we will not allow the toxicity of intolerance and growing climate of hate to define who we are, how we live, and what our nation can be.

We take courage from the upcoming celebration of Purim and its story in the Book of Esther, as our people triumphed over the evil plans of those who seek to diminish and destroy us, and as we stand shoulder to shoulder with all who are vulnerable and in need, placing our faith in God to inspire us to perfect a broken world.

Condemnation of Anti-Semitic Seattle incident  by Washington Governor Inslee and U.S. Representative Jayapal

Washington Governor Jay Inslee condemned this latest act of anti-Semitic vandalism, saying: “It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to condemn any and all acts of hate and intolerance.”   US Rep. Pramilla Jayapal, whose 7th Congressional District  covers Seattle  tweeted:

“I condemn the anti-Semitic vandalism against Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle in the strongest possible terms.”

The Seattle anti-Semitic incident reported on Friday was not the only occurrence that day.  CNN noted:

The graffiti is the latest in a wave of anti-Semitic vandalism and threats made to Jewish institutions all over the country.

Earlier in the day, staff at a Jewish community center (JCC) in Las Vegas received “suspicious communications,” according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, prompting them to evacuate the area and investigate. Police reported the property safe a short time later.

In Tucson, Arizona, police were investigating the second threat in two weeks sent to a JCC. Sgt. Pete Dugan, a spokesman for the police department, said a bomb threat was received via email.

There have been more than 148 reports of anti-Semitic bomb threats, calls against Jewish Community Centers across the US and several Jewish cemetery desecrations in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, New York. These occurrences have been condemned by both President Trump and Vice President Pence. The FBI has a task force currently investigating these occurrences and at least one arrest has been made in St. Louis of a suspect, Juan Franklin who made a string of 8 hate bombing calls. Franklin was a former staff journalist for on-line journal The Intercept, ironically fired for producing fake news stories.

Governor Inslee in a statement drew attention to this latest occurrence of intolerance in the State of Washington:

Yesterday’s act of vandalism at the Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle is the latest in a wave of anti-Semitic threats against our state’s Jewish community.

We can’t ignore the reality that these threats have increased in recent months. Right here in Washington — a state known for being tolerant, open-minded and forward-thinking.   We are seeing an increase in reports of harassment, vandalism and attacks against Muslims, Sikhs, Hispanics and Latinos, African-Americans, LGBTQ individuals and other minority groups. I continue to stand with the Jewish community as I have stood with all Washingtonians. Regardless of one’s faith, color or orientation, Washington welcomes all.

2006 Seattle Jewish Federation shooter Naveed Haq. Source: Seattle Times.

The 2006 Seattle Jewish Federation lethal attack

The Seattle Jewish Community is acutely aware that anti-Semitic attacks can be lethal.  In 2006 there was a shooting attack on the Seattle Jewish Federation offices by a Pakistani – American Muslim that killed one staffer, maiming and wounding others.  We reported  a second trial and conviction  to multiple life sentences of  a Pakistani American  in December 2009 in a New English Review/Iconoclast blog post,  .“Seattle Jihad Naveed Haq found guilty in Second Trial.” 

Remember the infamous Seattle Mass shooter, Pakistani American, Naveed Haq?  He was convicted by a Seattle Jury in a second trial.  The AP report noted what he did in 2006:

Haq made several trips to gun stores in the weeks prior to the attack, wrote two documents on his father’s computer criticizing Israel and U.S. policy in the Middle East, and used MapQuest to find directions to the center from his family’s home in Pasco, 180 miles east of Seattle

Haq drove from his eastern Washington home to Seattle the day of the attack and forced a teenage girl at gunpoint to let him into the Jewish Federation. Once in the second-floor office, he opened fire, shooting some people in their cubicles, some in the hall and one, Pamela Waechter, fatally as she fled down a stairwell.

He shot and seriously injured five others. One of the shooting victims a woman who was pregnant was shot in her arm shielding her unborn fetus. Her child, a boy was born unharmed seven months later.

Here is the Seattle Times ‘harrowing testimony’ of Layla Bush in the first Haq trial in 2008. She has not been able to walk again:

As Layla Bush lay bleeding from a gunshot wound on the floor of her boss’s office, her thoughts were a jumble.

Against a backdrop of gunfire and screaming coming from other parts of the building, Bush thought about how, as the receptionist, it was her duty to call 911 and report the rampage at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

But the pain in her side anchored her to the floor.

“I realized that I couldn’t move, so there was nothing I could do even if he was reloading,” she said.

Suddenly, the gunman, Naveed Haq, returned.

“We made eye contact, and he shot me again. I believe he was trying to kill me,” she testified.

According to the AP report on the second  trial outcome:

Haq was found guilty of all eight counts against him. The 34-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Haq’s first trial ended in 2008 with jurors deadlocked on whether he was legally insane during the shooting spree on July 28, 2006, that left one woman dead and five others injured.

The eight counts against him included one count of aggravated first-degree murder; five counts of attempted first-degree murder; one count of unlawful imprisonment; and one count of malicious harassment, the state’s hate-crime law.

Jurors rejected Haq’s defense that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyers acknowledged that he committed the shooting but said his mental illness kept him from understanding what he was doing.

They also conceded he poses a danger to the public and should never be free, but asked jurors to send him to a state mental hospital rather than prison. They declined comment after the verdict.

Prosecutor Don Raz said he was pleased the verdict would bring closure to the victims.

Raz argued Haq wasn’t insane – just angry – when he stormed the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

“He was tired that no one was listening to the Muslim point of view. He wanted that point of view heard,” Raz told jurors as Haq’s second trial opened in October, 2009.

A major difference between this trial and the first was the playing of jailhouse phone calls.

In a recorded phone conversation after the shooting, Raz said, Haq told his mother, “I did a very good thing. I did it for a good reason.”

She said, “I know you’re not well,” to which Haq replied: “Whatever, Mom.”

One of Haq’s lawyers, John Carpenter, argued that his client believed he could change the course of wars by attacking the Jewish Federation.

Conclusion

The 2006 Seattle Jewish Federation attack was a wake-up call to Jewish communities across the country to undertake robust security precautions. Now, with this latest anti-Semitic graffiti incident in Seattle, the fear is palpable about whether this might be a prelude to another possible shooting  incident or a temple bombing like the historic one in Atlanta in 1958.   We only have to look at the March 3, 2017 shooting by a gunman wounding a Sikh  in the driveway of his  home in a Seattle suburb.   The attacker shouted: “go back to your own country.” That is why this Seattle anti-Semitic incident matters both there and throughout this country. Violent intolerance kills.

Washington State: Seattle Group forms to bring more Syrian Refugees to the U.S.

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I suspect this is happening in other cities too—immigrant activists meeting to see how to get more of their mostly Muslim countrymen into the U.S.

If there are any ‘pockets of resistance’ in Washington state be sure to check out who the Syrian activists are and plan to attend their next meeting.

From the Seattle Globalist (no mention of persecuted Christians):

Dozens of Seattle-area residents gathered over the weekend to brainstorm ways to help people fleeing the war in Syria — including bringing more refugees into the state.

[….]

In Seattle, Hussein Ali, a Syrian immigrant who overcame challenges to move his family from Damascus to the U.S., quickly organized the event to make action plans. Ali says he wants the community to pressure their Congressional representatives to increase the limit of 8,000 Syrian refugees allowed into the U.S.

[….]

The next gathering is planned for Sept. 13 at the University of Washington. The group has a new page on Facebook.

It won’t take much to pressure one of their US Senators as Senator Patty Murray is a member in good standing of the Senate ‘Jihad Caucus’ which has gone on record to promote the resettlement of 65,000 Syrians to your towns across America.

Search RRW for more on Seattle, but don’t miss this post about the Seattle low income housing crisis because so many Somali refugees are occupying those units.  Syrians and Somalis will soon be squabbling over housing!

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EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Washington State Democratic Senator Patty Murray following Dick Durban’s (D-IL) lead in pushing Obama to admit 65,000 Syrians in FY2016.

Senior female Islamic State recruiter is student from Seattle

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She could still be in the country, and plotting to wage jihad here — or simply still recruiting for the Islamic State. In any case, from the description below, she doesn’t seem to have been suffering from notable poverty or deprivation or oppression. John Kerry, call your office!

“Senior female Isis figure who helped recruit women from Europe to Syria is revealed as student from Seattle,” by Heather Saul, Independent, April 29, 2015:

A senior female Isis figure who reportedly helped recruit women to join the extremist group in areas under its self-declared caliphate has been exposed as a student from Seattle, who may have been living in the city up until March this year.

The person behind the influential @_UmmWaqqas Twitter account has been revealed by Channel 4 as a woman in her 20s who lived and studied in the US.

Her Twitter account had a following of over 8,000 before it was suspended and shows that British recruits, such as Aqsa Mahmood, and other women from Europe were in contact with her in the days running up their departure. Mahmood goes by the name of ‘Umm Layth’ online and tweets from the @_UmmWaqqas account included: “Legit I talk to @ummlayth everyday” and “Umm Layth has more BALLS than most men & more heart/iman to have left her home for Allah’s sake.” She is also reportedly listed as a contact for recruits in a travel document explaining the best methods for reaching territories held by Isis in Syria.

The investigation found her Twitter account was accessed by someone in Seattle as recently as March, but her friends insist that she has since moved away. One told Channel 4 she may have relocated to Saudi Arabia, while another suggested she could be living in Denver, Colorado.

Some of her more extreme tweets justified the brutal killing of a Jordanian pilot and other atrocities committed by the group, including one that read: “I now get why they caged the man & then poured concrete on him… Whenever the muslims are bombed in their homes they have nowhere to run.”

However, her social media accounts also presented a passion for American football, the Super Bowl, eating takeout food with her friends and going to the gym, while photographs of her day-to-day life were found to show locations in and around Seattle….

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Communist member of the Seattle City Council steps down

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Goodbye Comrade Sally Clark City Council District 9 Seattle, Washington State. Many thanks for your personal email telling me you are now stepping down from this position. I hope my emails telling you over the years what a disaster you are-were for free markets and capitalism in Seattle helped you pack your little ditty bag and clean out your cubicle.

Your mission to raise the minimum wage in Seattle for entry level non skilled jobs from $9.32 to $ 15 was a huge success. Now you are part of the history books and can be remembered for crushing the Seattle economy and destroying jobs. Karl Marx would be very proud of you but now you are quitting and this is great.

So now your job killing strategy is a success and many workers look forward to the higher pay, while employers are looking for ways to absorb the big increase in labor costs. Some plan on eliminating jobs. Some plan on moving out of Seattle. I say come to Florida to a free market capitalist state free of Communism.

“We’re going to be looking at making some serious cuts,” said Cedarbrook Lodge General Manager Scott Ostrander. “We’re going to be looking at reducing employee hours, reducing benefits and eliminating some positions.” Hey Obama-Romney care did this too…. wam wam double wammy on Seattle.

A local trade group it is going to close one of its two restaurants, eliminating 200 jobs.

The plan has also caused Han Kim — who runs Hotel Concepts, a company that owns and manages 11 hotels in Washington state — to shelve plans to build a hotel in SeaTac. The company already has three hotels in SeaTac, and Kim and a business partner were looking to build a fourth on land they own. More jobs lost. Source Fox News.

“Uncertainty is bad for business, and right now we’re right in that area so we’re just putting everything on hold,” Kim said.

One of the biggest supporters is your friend Kshama Sawant, a self proclaimed socialist-Communist who also won her election to the Seattle City Council. She plans on keeping Seattle a $15 minimum wage city. You won’t have many hotels or restaurants left but who cares right ?

Your colleague Sawant said. “There may be a few jobs lost here and there, but the fact is, if we don’t fight for this, then the race to the bottom will continue,” Really…? The race to the bottom will continue ? My friend in Baton Rouge started out flipping burgers in McDonald’s 30 years ago and now he owns 9 restaurants. You call that a race to the bottom? Typical Communist mentality. Sawant needs to move back to North Korea cleaning the barracks at the forced labor camp.

The American Car Rental Association estimates 5 percent of low-wage jobs will be cut; and another 5-10 percent of those workers will be replaced by more experienced workers.

The owner of Dollar Rental Cars told Fox News she’ll outsource some functions, change schedules and cut some staff in response to the new policy. More jobs lost!

So Ms. Sally there you go, your Communist ideology just put thousands of people out of work but you did probably down size the city as more people move to free states. So as Seattle becomes a ghost town and you plug in your iron from your solar paneled apartment and run it over your Hammer and Sickle a few times before draping it over your balcony, smile.

Much luck in your future endeavors. I know you tried to ban plastic bags too and that failed but keep on trying Comrade. Don’t let the door hit you in your rear on the way out.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is courtesy of Alan Berner / The Seattle Times, 2014.