Liberals Are Also Ruining Seattle

Above, the city of Seattle with Mt. Rainier in the background haze. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It's funny. A friend recently said that I was full of "bitterness" over California after I gave him a joking poke. He got all upset over it. (Proving once again that liberals have no sense of humor.) Others knew right away I was joking.

It is interesting that he should accuse me of being "bitter" over California, yet he constantly posts anti-Trump tirades or attacks deceased Republican presidents in a Facebook post about the Kentucky Derby.

I am not "bitter" about California. I am just sad and disgusted with over what it has become. I am not alone in this sentiment. There are others in other places.

California is not alone in being ruined by leftist lunatics. A professional science writer wrote an op-ed at the Seattle Times that liberals have also ruined the city of Seattle.

Begins with:

I KNEW Seattle was no longer a place for me when I met with Debora Juarez — the District 5 City Council member I had voted for. 

Last September, at what I thought was going to be a friendly one-on-one meeting between an elected official and her constituent, I expressed some concerns that were on my mind. I fretted over the deterioration of a city with which I had fallen in love — a city that, despite my 21 trips to Europe, I still believe to be the most beautiful in the world.

I told my council member that Northgate, my home, had seen a noticeable increase in litter and graffiti. To my dismay, she seemed to suggest these issues were someone else’s job, not hers. So, I moved on to a bigger issue: homelessness.

This should floor you:

I believe strongly that it is not compassionate to leave people who are unable or unwilling to care for themselves to suffer and die on the street. Because many (but certainly not all) homeless people struggle with mental illness or drug addiction, I suggested that Seattle find a way to make it easier to provide treatment to these troubled souls — involuntarily, if need be. It could literally save their lives. 

Juarez exclaimed, “What is this? Nazi Germany?”

Yep, trying to talk sense to liberals is about like trying to talk sense to a rabid dog. They are impervious to logic.

To read more, go here.

National Park Service Reforms Needed

Above, summer workers living quarters at Yosemite. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When President Trump proposed his cut to the Department of the Interior's budget, predictably, cries of horror spewed out among the environmentalist community.

Interestingly, there is an Op-Ed article by Isaac Orr who says that there's plenty of fat and waste in the NPS budget that was published in Deseret News.

It begins with:

Environmental groups predictably took National Park Week as an opportunity to decry President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut the budget for the Department of the Interior from $13.2 billion to $11.6 billion, a reduction of about 12 percent. They claim the reduction will be the death knell for America’s natural wonders. 

As someone who worked for the National Park Service, in Yellowstone National Park, I can attest NPS has its fair share of waste, fraud and abuse, and there are plenty of places where more efficient practices can be utilized to provide a better return for taxpayers’ investment.

To read more, go here. 

No, Mr. President, the NRA is not to blame: Chris Cox

In response to the Dunce-In-Chief Barack Obama, Chris Cox, the executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, wrote an op-ed in USA Today.

It begins with:

Just when we think that politics can’t sink any lower, President Obama once again proves us wrong by politicizing the tragedy in San Bernardino before the facts were even known. What we do know is that the American people are heartbroken by these horrific crimes — and despite what the president would have us believe — America’s law-abiding gun owners are heartbroken by these horrific crimes as well. At the same time, we are sick and tired of this president suggesting the men and women of the National Rifle Association are somehow to blame. 

The National Rifle Association is not to blame. Neither is our Second Amendment freedom. An act of evil unfolded in California. President Obama used it not as a moment to inform or calm the American people; rather, he exploited it to push his gun control agenda. Policy discussions should be intellectually honest and based on facts, not politics. And the fact remains that California has already adopted President Obama’s gun control wish list: "universal" background checks, registration, waiting periods, gun bans, magazine bans and an expansion of prohibited gun categories. But those laws did nothing to prevent this horrific crime from taking place. Nothing.

To read the full op-ed, go here.