Governor Jay Inslee: useful idiot or mendacious enabler?
Governor Jay Inslee of Washington state was interviewed about the crisis taking place Wednesday in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. This is what he had to say:
That is one of the most shocking things I’ve ever heard a public figure say.
The first duty of government is to secure public safety. Does he literally have no idea what is happening in the largest city in his state, a story that’s been so heavily covered around the nation that even I, on the other side of the continent, made it my first story of the day at around 12:30 PM Seattle time?
Perhaps that clip is some sort of fake, doctored video. I actually hope that’s the case, because it’s preferable to the alternative.
Related craziness, as reported in a comment on the Seattle commune at Instapundit:
“T Gunther Kutsen • 6 hours ago
Just saw a report that the much of the rank-and-file police have basically quit, and Antifa is shaking down businesses in the area they control for protection money.
Gotta love that the governor is allowing this…glad that DJT isn’t rushing in to save them…”
Yet to be confirmed, but not surprising. Civic collapse. Will armed citizens be able to police the border themselves?
Both? You left off ‘fellow traveler’. At this point, he’s just an embarrassment. He’s been in political office or a government job since graduating law school in 1976.
Think he’s up for re-election (for a 3rd term) again this year (How can we miss him if he won’t go away?). We haven’t had a Republican governor in Washington State since 1984, and there’s no one in the GOP with sufficient name recognition on the populated West side (7/10ths of statewide vote) capable of competing, so if he wins the Demo nod, he’s probably in. Primary isn’t until mid-August however, so a lot can happen between now and then. But it would take exactly that…A LOT (like bodies in the street). Sadly, in that case his likely D replacement would be the state Attorney General, Bob Ferguson who thinks his job is suing the Trump Administration over anything and everything. Not an improvement at all.
The weird part for me was not that Inslee doesn’t want to admit he knows that his state is off the rails on the crazy train, but that the ASL guy looks like he’s just pooped himself & he’s trying to shake it down his pants leg. Either that or that camera man is having the DTs.
Useful idiot. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I live in Western Washington, so I am well familiar with Inslee and his antics. I’ve long considered him an amiable dunce (I’ve used that phrase many times before and I shall keep using it). Last fall, I met him at a social event and chatted with him for two or three minutes. My long standing opinion was only reinforced. He was quite sociable and friendly, even charming. But also, a complete twit.
This clip is not at all surprising to anyone used to Inslee’s personality.
My wife has stated, many times, he just “looks” like a governor. I agree. He looks the part, and does a great job at doing so. That’s about the extent of it.
Over the years Jay’s floated to the top of the scum puddle that is Olympia. Since he’s always been willing to kiss the appropriate behinds, his mush brain never mattered. He looks okay in a suit and can keep six or eight talking points straight if the press cooperates. Which of course they almost always do, here in deep blue Washington.
Ferguson is next in line, and he will be worse; venal and driven where Inslee has been a soft-focus soyboy. God help our beautiful and doomed state.
CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) looks to be about 12 city blocks. It’s located east of downtown, across the 5 freeway.
Here are their demands
https://medium.com/@seattleblmanon3/the-demands-of-the-collective-black-voices-at-free-capitol-hill-to-the-government-of-seattle-ddaee51d3e47
I Know the area well. Mrs. Xylurgos and I moved to Capitol Hill in 1975. At that time Seattle was a magical place for a boy from Detroit. The smell of the salt water in the morning, the mournful sound of the ferry boats on Puget Sound through the fog, the drone of the sea planes taking off from Lake Union. It was pure magic. For me it was a feeling of adventure, the call of the wild, the freedom of the great northwest and beyond. A wonderful time now lost. Even in those days Capitol Hill had the seeds of what it is today….men openly walking down Broadway wearing women’s clothes and openly kissing…the revolutionaries and anarchists soon followed. I feel bad for what was once a proud and beautiful city.
Well, easy come, easy go. If people don’t want Rain City to be nice, it won’t be nice. If they don’t want it to be orderly, it won’t be orderly. Inslee, whom I have never seen before, looks like a smug creep.
We’ve seen all of CHAZ before at Evergreen State, however. The feckless official “leaders”, the hapless “respected” security officials who are not permitted to do their jobs, the Maoist struggle sessions. Here’s a plot spoiler–at the end, the infested institution collapses. It wasn’t anything but a home to roaches, rats, and termites anyway.
Trump has wisely not federalized the national guard.
This puss-filled sore is strictly Inslee’s problem. He caused it and I hope that Trump does not pull his chestnuts out of the fire.
Inslee ceded control to Antifa and it is now his responsibility to take it back. They are parading around with weapons and extorting money from the kidnapped “citizens of CHAZ”. This is likely to end in blood.
A people get the government they deserve, and the state of Washington has gotten it hard. I hope the rational lesson is learned and they mend their ways (but I doubt it — they will blame whatever happens on the Bad Orange Man).
It’s quite possible he’s a lousy executive and information just does not travel north to him. It’s also possible he’s lying his tuchus off.
What these episodes have made clear is that liberal politicians (1) buy into witless social fictions and / or (2) haven’t a clue about riot control and do not listen to police professionals and / or (3) are allies of Antifa. What Glenn Reynolds says: antifa is Democratic Party muscle.
And that’s what’s disconcerting. Inslee is a perfectly ordinary Democratic pol with a perfectly ordinary background for a Democratic pol. (Law practice, which included a lot of government contracting work, followed by public office; Richard Durbin, to take one example, has a nearly identical resume). Perfectly ordinary Democratic pols are unfit, because in their hands public institutions are not minimally effective or impartial. Note=, his constituency is not an urban fragment shot through with slum-dwellers, young hipsters, and DINKs. It is the whole state, and he’s from Yakima. When half your political class is unfit, you have a problem. A really bad problem.
When will they change their state’s name? Washington was a slave holder. Shame on them for allowing this terrible, racist, non-PC situation to continue.
I’ve never been to Seattle. It doesn’t appear I’ve missed much.
Selectively choosing what reality to recognize.
It’s rude and uppity to point out that the emperor has no clothes.
And is a crappy emperor.
Points awarded for having an excellent jester, though.
Art Deco:
King Jay of Inslee grew up in Seattle, went to Stanford, U of WA, and got his law degreee from Willamette U. He moved to eastern WA in 1972 to Selah WA small town ~ 20 miles north of Yakima principally known for apple orchards. King Jay has been a blight on the state since he first entered public service.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Inslee
King Jay may have some extended family in the Tri-Cities according to a coworker who has lived in Richland WA his entire life. The family and Jay are described by him as arrogant.
More than a faint whiff of collusion (Democratic Party style).
Playing chicken with the American People in an attempt to force Trump’s hand.
(Though to be fair, some of those American People are perfectly happy with the setup as long as it produces the hoped-for results.)
The cities burn? Chaos, mayhem and looting reign? Well, in that case, “Weak, indecisive, feckless TRUMP is letting the cities burn; and doesn’t give a hot damn about the chaos mayhem and looting. Or about the AMERICAN PEOPLE. HE has GOT TO GO. He’s pathetic and NEKKID and has lost ALL LEGITIMACY.”
Trump calls out the National Guard to put down the violence and try to bring order? Well, in that case “FASCIST TRUMP IS DECLARING WAR ON AMERICA, its people, its laws its values, its principles its credos, its very essence. HE has GOT TO GO. He’s pathetic and NEKKID and has lost ALL LEGITIMACY.”
(Ah, Democrats, you gotta luv ’em.)
It is rather curious(!) that the Democratic mayors and Democratic governors and Democratic Congresscritters and Democratic Senators are all on the same page here.
Along with the entire MSCM.
Don’t lend a hand. Don’t lift a finger. “We all support the inalienable rights of Amerians to protest. Yes, we most certainly do. And we VIGOROUSLY PROTEST the actions and words of a president (and his supporters, of course—goes without saying) that deny the AMERICAN people theirinalienable rights, etc., yadda”
And even a few generals (for diversity?). As well as a former Black “Republican” Secretary of State, a respected general and former COJCOS who’s vowing not to vote for the Republican candidate for POTUS (never mind that he hasn’t voted for the Republican candidate for POTUS for the last three election cycles).
Yes, the Party of Personal and National Destruction are playing chicken (or Russian roulette?) with the American people. The Democrats have shot their wad with the Russian collusion hoax, with their sabotage of the Trump presidency and their guerilla war against his administration, with two (and counting) bogus impeachment attempts, with their failure to make hay with the COVID-19 crisis.
And with the Flynn scandal (merely one facet of Obamagate) about to come to its inglorious conclusion (assuming that DC is not overrun beforehand), one that will reveal to many who thanks to the MSM are not aware of it (or don’t wish to be aware of it), just how venal, just how criminal, just how disgusting is the party of personal and national destruction—along with those in the DOJ and other agencies who hew their wood and carry their water, including their judges (yes, that’s right—no matter what you might wish to believe, Judge Roberts), the Democrats are scrambling.
They have one last shot. One last throw of the dice. One last bullet?
And this is it. This is how you remove the king when everything else fails. And if the country has to suffer mightily, if the people must be held hostage by Democratic Party delusions of power, well, that too shall pass—and the people will, in the end, thank us profusely.
Yes they will. Because they will understand that we have been the MORAL party, all along. Now and forever.
ROPWA:
They forgot to demand Unicorns and Skittles.
So, what’s the legal theory here, according to these governors and mayors?
If the writs of the civil courts don’t run in these districts, do the statutes somehow still apply?
Suppose there is a gun battle in one of these ceded districts, lots of Antifa warriors end up in Sheol, and the winners of the duels establish their own mini-mini-republic. Is there a prosecutable offense there somewhere? Are the lives of the marxist revolutionaries somehow protected from counter-revolutionaries, or just another flavor of anarchist – say real, libertarian, anarchists – by statutes which no longer apply, and courts which have ceded jurisdiction over that territory?
Somehow, I imagine that once Antifa bodies start littering the streets, both the revolutionaries, and their parents, will be running to the Federal Government for protection under a number of jurisdictional theories which they moments before denounced and rejected.
It’s the same old dynamic as the nominalist absurdly crying for mercy because we all “human”.
I was going to sit out this web stuff for a month but, what the heck?
Short and sweet, Trump will not lose any votes in Washington State because he never had any votes, to speak of, in Washington State and Seattle. The Federal Government needs to step back and let these people keep the stew pot boiling with their ridiculous demands. The state of Washington nurtured this group so it is theirs for worse or even more worse since worser is not much of a word.
I agree that President Trump should take no action at the present time. But by threatening to take action does cause the Left to set its hair on fire, shouting that he’s a tyrant, and thereby defending their armed take-over of a portion of Seattle. If left to fester, the situation will probably become worse, as the Democrat city and state officials do nothing. This would redound to Trump’s benefit if the story ever gets out.
At the moment, the Wall Street Journal makes no mention of it (other than a video of the Seattle police breaking up a crowd eleven days ago). When things get bad enough (fires, dead people) the MsM will run articles blaming Trump for not acting sooner.
I think it is highly likely that in one of these situations, eventually, the police will use live ammo and protesters will be killed. I wonder what will happen then? I know it’s terribly cynical, but it would be better if only white people are shot.
OldTexan:
Like a moth drawn to a flame, huh?
Exactly . . . Cap’n
In a Korea Town situation today shoot the white useless idiots first. If there are no white useless idiots shoot the other principal threats to your safety and property.
The bad old rules from before our Constitution and from that source of all evil (Europe); when taking a rebellious castle/enclave “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” Them being the innocent and the guilty. Bad things happen to the innocent when the rule of law is abandoned, in spite of the “arc of history.”
The left-right, totalitarian-anarchist nexus is leftist. #ForwardLooking
I”m w/ the Captain. This is Seattle/Washington’s problem. Let them sort it out, maybe they’ll learn something. They’ll need the experience; if Trump wins the whole city will be besieged.
Xylurgos, my first apartment, in 1970, was on 12th and Olive, about two blocks from the besieged police station. My dad ran a small business on Broadway. I agree: It was like magic.
I think the deal with Islee is the deal with most of our elites. They have done extremely well over the last 40 years and even when things went wrong for the rest of the country, they were largely insulated from those events. They haven’t served in our post-9/11 military misadventures. Enormous pains are taken to resurrect the stock market after every crisis. Thanks to gated communities and social media, they even have less contact with their less fortunate fellow citizens then ever before.
If the elites had gotten their way, 2016 would have been a choice between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. That means we would have spent 24 out of 32 years trading the White House back and forth between two families. That’s not the sign of a healthy democracy. That’s the sign of a detached and degenerate elite.
Mike
As they say, “good and hard”.
One question is to what extent a significant number of WA voters see this as too far, or too much. Or inevitable, not good, but necessary and shortly over.
Or “We voted for THIS?”
Or…just what the doctor ordered. We needed this.
Or unrelated to voting which is solely an exercise in virtue signaling to oneself.
Since, as it seems, there are no republicans with the recognition or organization in the state to show up as an alternative, that means a conservative, or less insane democrat, but they’d never get anywhere within the party. Never have gotten anywhere. No more chance than a republican.
Looks like they’re going to have to function as a permanent, on-going demonstration of how not to do voting.
I mentioned in a previous comment that Jay is the least impressive of all the 50 governors. And that is quite a low bar to come under. I’ve watched Jay since the 1990s when he was, for a time, my congressman in Eastern Washington. He was such a mediocrity that, when he lost his seat to Doc Hastings, I figured he was finished in politics. I didn’t understand that he would get new life by moving to the west side of the mountains. His election as governor shows what a hold King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties have over statewide elections. It illustrates the Nancy Pelosi statement that if a candidate has a D after his/her name, a glass of water can be elected. Some say a glass of water would be an upgrade compared to King Jay.
Washington is such a beautiful state. Much like California, its natural beauty is awesome. We chose to retire here because my wife needed to live in a climate with ample humidity – she has a problem with arid climates. I wanted mountains with snow for skiing and rivers for fly fishing. Washington fit the bill. We’ve been here 27 years now and the state has become more progressive with each passing year. Yesterday we were bemoaning the fact that we’re just too old to move to a more conservative state like Idaho, Utah, or Montana. We’re in progressive territory and our only option is to fight them as best we can. 🙁
Joshua Freed isn’t well known and hasn’t gotten much traction, but I think he would make a good governor.
https://www.freedforgovernor.com/about
J.J.
Too true about King Jay and the state of WA. To the commenters from other states, we have a permanent process it seems where citizen initiatives are voted and mostly approved to limit the power of King Jay who is a minion, although he thinks he is a king, of the progressives in the Sound area. The progressives, like rust, never sleep as they corrode and destroy society.
I do not believe letting this situation play itself out is a good idea. I have little doubt that state and local authorities will soon be supplying the insurrectionists with food, water, & utilities at taxpayer expense, if they aren’t doing so already. In the interest of “public safety”. I can’t begin to understand the mental gyrations that must be required to think this is defensible as public policy, let alone a good idea.
Inslee is a mendacious useful enabling idiot. Do any of those four words *not* apply?
Oh, it’s so funny Inslee…….
In the running for the worst governor in the USA and the competition is fierce.
The madness of King Jay gets more obvious every day:
https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/2020/06/11/governor-calls-anarchists-who-seized-part-of-city-and-chased-cops-out-largely-peaceful-he-and-mayor-attack-trump-instead/
The real useful idiots, besides Inslee, are the voters of western Washington and western Oregon, who keep voting for regimes which are allowing anarchy in their streets.
Simultaneously with Gateway Pundit posting the Antifa takeover in Capitol Hill as their top article, the Seattle Times had nothing on it. Is Inslee dumb enough to restrict his information to the liberal echo chamber?
Yes, and then some.
Can anyone tell me why this area in Seattle is called “Capitol Hill?” I thought Washington’s capital was Olympia.
Kate:
Yes Olympia is the capital of WA. Here is the history entry of Capitol Hill, Seattle from wikedmedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_(Seattle)
“History[edit]
Capitol Hill c. 1917
Circa 1900, Capitol Hill was known as ‘Broadway Hill’ after the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare. The origin of the neighborhood’s current name is disputed. James A. Moore, the real estate developer who platted much of the area, reportedly named it in the hope that the Washington state capitol would move to Seattle from Olympia. Another story states that Moore named it after the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, his wife’s hometown. According to author Jacqueline Williams, both stories are likely true.[3]”
It is from wikedmedia so who knows what the true story really is.
Interesting, and thanks, om. I memorized all those capitals in grade school, and decades later I still knew it was Olympia. Given its location on I-5, is it similarly leftist? Or perhaps it doesn’t matter, since Seattle elects the representatives.
Kate, here’s what wiki says, “Circa 1900, Capitol Hill was known as ‘Broadway Hill’ after the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare. The origin of the neighborhood’s current name is disputed. James A. Moore, the real estate developer who platted much of the area, reportedly named it in the hope that the Washington state capitol would move to Seattle from Olympia. Another story states that Moore named it after the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, his wife’s hometown. According to author Jacqueline Williams, both stories are likely true.[3] ”
Also this: “Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is one of the city’s most prominent nightlife and entertainment districts and is the center of the city’s LGBT and counterculture.”
Isn’t that just great?
While we’re at it, National Review makes plain that we’d all benefit if it disappeared a la The Weekly Standard
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/america-begins-to-see-more-clearly-now-what-its-black-citizens-always-knew/amp/?taid=5ee21fc2cc071f00018dbbcd&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
There are some capable contributors at NR, but the magazine’s basic impulses are craven.
Thanks also to J.J. I was feeling sorry for the residents of Capitol Hill, but if it’s “the center of the LGBT and counterculture” then they’re probably mostly in favor of this insanity — until it gets out of hand, which reports indicate it is rapidly doing.
Ace also had uncomplimentary things to say about the NR post, but I think it is worth reading because of the writer: a black 20-year military veteran, who has experienced genuine moments that certainly look racist in his telling.
This is the view from that side of the looking-glass, the way most of the people out protesting are seeing things — even if we think the mirror is skewed, or focused on the wrong priorities.
Eric Holder was a bit early with his portentous, and hypocritical, claim that we needed to have a national conversation about race — since his idea of a conversation consisted of “you conservative guys all sit down and shut up” — but we do seem to be having one now.
There are black people speaking out on all sides of the question — some of them have shown up in Neo’s posts and in the comments — and that’s what’s different.
One notable black professional speaking out against the anarchy is Dr. Steele, a Civil Rights icon. He is probably too old skul for the current mass of young protesters, but he is putting forth a voice of sanity.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/06/09/dr-shelby-steele-the-combination-of-white-guilt-and-victim-mentality-is-not-the-solution/
Kate:
Don’t know about the CHAZ culture except by a secondhand story from my SIL and her husband (both rock climbers) who went building climbing at Volunteer Park once and commented on the alphabet people culture being out and proud there. Their comments included – “Don’t go in the public bathrooms at the park!”
The old REI Seattle store used to be in the CHAZ but moved to a location near I-5 about 15 to 20 years ago. Getting to the CHAZ REI store was in comparison a nightmare driving and parking. Local trivia.
I think Trump should stay out the chaos and destruction that has visited Washington state. The state and city governments have created this mess. If they lack the ability to reverse course, ain’t anyone else’s problem.
Commenter Dutchman at CTH thinks that the extreme actions of BLM & Antifa are a necessary crisis that has shocked conservatives, independents, classical-liberals in both parties, and even some of the soft left. He puts up a good parable to argue that position.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/06/10/jim-jordan-delivers-remarks-exposing-the-fraud-behind-defund-the-police-narrative/#comment-8336227
Another CTH commenter cited a tweet from Mike Huckabee, pointing out that there is a basic disconnect to these calls to defund the police.
“If Dems lead the cry to “DEFUND THE POLICE!” why do police union bosses dole out most of their $$ to Dems? Police unions are funding the party that wants to defund police. Huh?” – Huckabee
He links to this Fox news story with information on just who in Congress is being bribed, excuse me, benefiting from donations.
Not just Democrats, by the way.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/police-union-donations-congress
A few years ago – not so many at that – I’d have called that an obvious fake. But now, who knows. The nation’s actual paper of record is the Babylon Bee.
Seattle Times today limited coverage to a small item in the “Local” section, with no mention of any criminality, residents’ civil rights, etc. The media are actively helping the Mayor and the Governor continue justifying their inaction.
I think Trump is right to hold off and watch things go to hell. Well, by “right”, I mean using the correct strategy, not that is the right thing to do for those trapped in the mess!
AesopFan — I don’t think donating to Democrats is very likely anymore — remember that in 2016, the FOP endorsed Trump. I’m sure that cop union funding for the Democrats at the local and state levels this election will be greatly reduced or gone.
Seattle Times today limited coverage to a small item in the “Local” section,
Which tells you something about their editors. American journalism is dead.
Richard – I think individual policemen (unless they are hard-core leftists in the grip of cognitive dissonance to the max) will discontinue any donations to the Democrats.
Union bosses — not necessarily: depends on the degree of personal kick-backs being traded around.
However, if police ARE defunded (Joe and others are waffling), then union coffers won’t have as much to grease palms with even if leaders are so inclined.
And hopefully there would be some push-back from the members.
So: strategic defunding of Democrats for awhile to get their attention, then back to Situation Normal.
Unions per se don’t like conservative Republicans (aka Not-RINOs) because they don’t play the back-scratching game (or not as much, anyway, I hope).