The total SPD separations come as seven more officers left the force in May. At the current rate, and considering nearly a third of the force is eligible for retirement, the city projects that it will lose 94 officers by the end of the year. The city only expects to hire or rehire 34 this year.

The total number of deployable officers can vary day to day because of injuries, planned extended time off, or maternity/paternity leave. But as of June 3, there were only 848 total deployable officers (not including recruits and students).

Compare the current stats to January 1, 1958, and the crisis is clear. According to a staffing document obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, there were 918 deployable Seattle Police staff. There’s been a dramatic rise in population and crime since.

How is the city of Seattle addressing the police staffing crisis?

The mayor’s office said it’s stepping up recruitment efforts for SPD. But their strategy so far has not worked.

In a virtue signaling pivot, SPD is actively recruiting so-called DREAMERS — recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Status (DACA). Bipartisan legislation allowing DACA recipients to be hired for civil service jobs went into effect on June 6.

But DACA is still being challenged in court and a DACA recipient’s ability to carry a firearm is based on January 2024 guidance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under the Biden administration. DACA could be declared unconstitutional and the guidance can change with a new administration.

Moreover, how many DACA recipients could possibly be interested in being a police officer? The general public has little interest as it is. This strategy won’t likely bring in many — if any — applicants.

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Crime is still out of control

There is an urgent need for police as the City of Seattle is trying to recover from last year’s historic high of 74 homicides.

At 21 homicides this year (plus two additional ones that happened in the city but are being investigated by Washington State Patrol), Seattle is trending lower than where it was in 2023 (ending June with 30 homicides). But there’s caution as the city deals with a surge in juvenile crime and summer months usually see a bump in violent crime.

But it’s not just violent crime plaguing the city. Businesses and car owners are hounded by frequent break-ins, theft and vandalism as the city struggles to reach pre-2020 criminal justice reform numbers. The crisis has deteriorated to the point where small businesses are spending big dollars to hire private security since they know there are not enough police to protect their neighborhoods.

Much of the property crime isn’t even reported — a point conceded by former Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz –which skews data that is cherry-picked to downplay the crisis for political purposes. As activists and some politicians claim, Seattle is thriving, an alarming number of businesses continue to shut down, and downtown commercial real estate is being sold on the cheap.

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Senate Bill 6157 allows DACA recipients to apply for civil service jobs across Washington State. These include police officer, firefighter and sheriff’s deputies. Prior to the legislation, they were prohibited from holding these positions.

The bill is getting renewed scrutiny after a LinkedIn job application post from the SPD for DACA recipients started receiving attention. The ad explains the SPD “is now accepting applications from DACA recipients! Apply Now!”

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Is it constitutional to hire DACA recipients for police jobs?

Seattle is not alone in hiring DACA recipients for police positions. Earlier in the year, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) made the same move. They even altered its written firearms policy to allow DACA cops to carry a firearm while off-duty.

With new guidance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), DACA recipients are allowed to carry firearms and ammunition if it’s part of official law enforcement officer duties. But any local agency hiring DACA recipients must reform their gun policies to make it clear that their DACA employees can carry firearms.

But the changes in policy and guidance leave open questions as to the constitutionality of the decision. Guidance from ATF isn’t forever binding, and it won’t change how a court uses the Gun Control Act should this legislation face challenges. The whole concept is also subject to changes with any new administration. And it’s contingent on DACA protections remaining in place.

With potential uncertainty, it could put DACA cops and their agencies in difficult and costly positions. Will a DACA recipient want to become a cop if their ability to carry a firearm is contingent on an agency not changing policy? It’s obviously not worth the resources to train if the policy suddenly changes under a new administration or via the courts.

Is it right for DACA recipients to become law enforcement?

There’s nothing inherently controversial about the decision to hire DACA recipients as police officers.

DACA recipients are allowed to work in the United States, though they do so under a renewable two-year work permit.

There’s also a need for new officers. Thanks to an alarming staffing crisis hitting departments like the SPD, agencies could use as many qualified applicants as possible. Based on the latest Seattle police staffing data available, only 424 patrol officers were in the department. Across all positions, there are 280 eligible for retirement this year. They need bodies to patrol the streets.

It’s true, however, to note the irony.

DACA recipients are in this country illegally and they’d be tasked with enforcing laws. But DACA recipients were brought to this country illegally through no action of their own. Even though a teen from 13-15 years old would have known what they were doing is illegal, it’s not a reasonable position to fault a child for following their parents into this country.

But the legislation has the potential problem of treating legal citizens unjustly.

Extra points for DACA recipients at the Seattle Police Department?

The City of Seattle has struggled with recruiting beyond dealing with the catastrophic defund movement, which demonized officers and scared off new recruits. But the Mayor’s Office hasn’t made recovery easy.

Under this new law, applicants may earn extra points for being fluent as a “native speaker” in a language (or languages) other than English. This gives an advantage to a DACA recipient that progressive hiring managers and agencies may use to reject an American citizen.

It would be unwise to offer this kind of preferential treatment when staffing is so dire. But it’s not hard to imagine how this could be used once staffing course-corrects. In fact, the Seattle Mayor’s Office has already shown an interest in socially engineering the SPD.

More from Jason Rantz: Adrian Diaz out as Seattle Police Chief, will stay with department

City of Seattle looked to hire fewer white men, military veterans

Under strategist Ben Dalgetty from the Mayor’s Office, recruitment has struggled. Rather than seek applicants who are qualified, Dalgetty and other mayoral staff have sought a more diverse-looking department. But that means an SPD free from too many white men or military veterans.

In a March 2023 memo to SPD human resources staff titled “SPD Marketing More and Less,” Dalgetty asked for “less” images and videos of “officers who are white, male,” and “officers with military bearing.” In their place, Dalgetty asked for more “officers of color,” “officers of different genders,” and “officers who are younger.” And rather than reach as many possible applicants as possible, the strategy was to hyper-target black, Hispanic and Asian Seattleites with early marketing efforts.

After complaints from SPD, Dalgetty edited the memo several times. Moreover, the original memo was destroyed and not initially turned over via a public disclosure request by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Still, it’s reasonable policy

Despite the easy way to abuse this law, the policy itself is advantageous. It’s why all but one Republican in the Senate supported the bill.

Though it was adopted in a clearly unconstitutional way, it seems likely that DACA recipients are here to stay. If they’re interested in helping protect our communities, how can their employment be problematic? They’d still be subject to the other qualifications to become an officer or deputy. And they’d still be required to go through the same training.

The media (and the public) must ensure DACA recipients aren’t offered special treatment as a result of their status. If that happens, we should demand reforms. But short of abuse, that a DACA recipient wants to become a cop is something that should be celebrated.

This isn’t someone knowingly coming to this country illegally, jumping the line ahead of people who are waiting to be eligible the legal way. These are people who are trying to make good on illegal actions taken by their parents or guardians by giving back to the community.

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The teacher is based at Bow Lake Elementary School in SeaTac. “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH is not naming the teacher because she didn’t appear to violate any policy.

She sent an email to staff this week to ask if they’d be interested in having their students join her “March for Justice” from 12:15-12:45 p.m. The 5th grade teacher said the students will chant, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” The protest route is planned to march by the 3rd and 4th grade classes, then to the 2nd grade classes, down the hall to kindergarten and 1st grade classes. They will then snake down the halls to the front of the school, according to the email obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. She signed the email, “In solidarity.”

The 30-minute long, school-wide event comes after lesson plans around activism over the last several months.

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Is this social justice march assigned by a teacher appropriate for 10 and 11-year-olds?

According to her email, the teacher said her students “chose an activist issue to research and wrote an opinion essay on.”

“Students have learned about issues including LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, immigration, climate change and gun control,” the teacher wrote of her 10 and 11-year-old students.

The district provided “The Jason Rantz Show” with some of the source material used for the lessons.

While there was nothing especially outrageous or age-inappropriate on the topics of illegal immigration, women’s rights, and even Black Lives Matter (though this content was a complete misrepresenting of the movement), the content was all framed through a progressive ideological lens. (The messages on climate change, LGBT rights and gun control were inaccessible without a username and password but the district, via a spokesperson, said in these instances equal weight was offered to both sides of issues).

There was no parental consent for the political protest

A district spokesperson said this lesson is aligned with state standards. The intent, the spokesperson said, “is to help students learn that protest is a fundamental American right and a way to have a voice in a democracy, starting with the founding of our nation.” And since it’s deemed a basic lesson plan that doesn’t violate policy, parents weren’t notified of the march.

“Families were not notified about this particular activity. It is our recommendation that teachers communicate regularly with families about the learning their children are experiencing, though there is not an expectation that they share every lesson in detail,” the spokesperson told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “However, we recognize that we need to raise awareness about lessons that some families may have questions about. We will be addressing that in a training with principals before the start of the next school year.”

Having students march around campus as part of a political protest, no matter the topic, is something a teacher should recognize as controversial. Parents should have been looped in.

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Here’s why any teacher taking kids on a social justice march is a problem

I have no doubt that the district, school administration and teacher may think this is appropriate and harmless. But having kids this young be part of a political protest is profoundly inappropriate.

Schools are meant to be neutral grounds focused on education, not political battlegrounds. When educators endorse participation in protests, they risk indoctrinating rather than educating. It infringes on parental rights, imposing specific viewpoints on impressionable minds without consent.

It strains credulity to believe the teacher’s own viewpoints didn’t influence the classroom discussion. I have a hard time believing the lessons truly gave both sides equal weight when brought up as a discussion. When a “March for Justice” includes a chant championed by progressive activist groups, it’s not very subtle which ideological lens the students are being taught through.

Encouraging civic engagement is crucial, but it should be done in a balanced, informative manner, allowing students to form their own opinions. There’s little reason for parents to trust most local school districts to provide objective conversations on political issues, especially on complex topics for 5th graders, like gun control and LGBT rights. This is a district that has fully embraced Critical Race Theory and staff bring that activism into the classroom.

Any teacher leading kids on a social justice march is the type of lesson that threatens the more noble goal of teaching students how to form opinions, rather than having the opinions formed for them.

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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They said it was clear that Bird was falsifying a Warrant Officer packet in order to advance his career over more qualified candidates and that they were shocked by the level of fraud.

“I was personally involved in this specific incident beginning in 2009,” a retired Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) in the Army National Guard explained exclusively to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “I was there when SFC Semi Bird contacted our local Special Forces unit and asked for some documentation from his time there. He had not been assigned to the unit and never worked there. This was an attempt to document service he had not performed.”

The veterans are now providing additional context after Bird’s misleading response to the original exclusive report. Additionally, newly obtained documents by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, including DD-214 and DA2-1 forms, appear to clarify which badges or awards Bird claimed but did not earn, including a Special Operations Combat Diver Badge.

Two of the veterans asked to remain anonymous fearing retribution. The third source, retired Special Forces (SF) Master Sergeant Derek Elsberry, a veteran with 26 years of military service, is on the record.

What led to the reprimand of Semi Bird?

As part of a Warrant Officer packet, Bird said he was in the Alpha Company 1st Battalion 19th Special Forces Group (A/1-19 SFG) in the state of Washington.

At first, there was excitement about slotting Bird into the dive team through the Warrant Officer program. The veterans said Bird indicated that he took the Special Forces (SF) combat diver course in Key West, Florida, which is exceptionally difficult.

“Most guys assumed because he’s a little bit older, he had a Combat Infantry badge, a SF Dive badge, he often referenced First Group, which is the active duty group at Ft. Lewis, the assumption was that he was a fairly senior SF guy,” one of the soldiers tasked with validating Bird’s Warrant Officer packet said to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

It didn’t take long for the lies to unravel. The soldier said that, “You just pull all these threads and each one you get, just bulls***, upon bulls****.”

Semi Bird faked multiple documents

The retired Senior NCO explained that once the Company staff started to research Bird’s official records, they “found many discrepancies.”

“I personally found that SFC Bird was wearing unauthorized awards and badges to include the SCUBA badge, foreign jump wings, Afghanistan Campaign Medal (he had not been [to Afghanistan]), Aviator wings and several other ribbons,” the soldier explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

The soldier researching the claims said that Bird, “wrote three totally fake NCOERs (Non-Commissioned Officer Evaluation Reports) to say he was assigned to a unit that he was not assigned to, and then shopped it around to get signatures.” He said that if this was done purely to get a “Rater,” and if he didn’t fabricate his unit and experience, “it wouldn’t have ever hit the General’s desk.”

An NCOER is a performance evaluation tool used to document the achievements, leadership, and overall performance of non-commissioned officers. A Rater is the individual responsible for assessing and documenting the performance of a subordinate on their NCOER, typically the immediate supervisor of the evaluated NCO.

But sometimes that immediate supervisor is unavailable. It’s not uncommon to get someone superior to sign the NCOER. But sources said this went several steps beyond that practice because it was for NCOERs for a unit he never served in.

Soldiers go on the record

Derek Elsberry was a Washington Army National Guard soldier involved in the Bird research at A/1-19 SFG. He spoke exclusively to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. He said he vividly remembers Bird’s case 15 years later, because of the level of what he considered fraud.

In 2009, Elsberry was the Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Training NCO. He was with his superior, the Readiness NCO, which is primarily responsible for ensuring that their unit is prepared for deployment and mission execution, when he said Bird asked for a fraudulent NCOER.

“The Readiness NCO called me into his office and instructed me to be silent and listen in. I heard Bird, himself on the phone, asking for help in finalizing signatures on NCOERs, that he had written up, to show that he had served on an ODA in A/1-19 SFF without ever having been assigned to the unit,” Elsberry explained. “He stated he needed them to show he met the minimum ODA time required for submitting an SF Warrant Officer packet.”

ODA is an Operational Detachment Alpha, better known as a Green Beret team.

A closer look at Bird’s record

Elsberry said he distinctly remembers Bird acknowledging he was asking for NCOERs showing he served on an ODA in A/1-19 SFG even though he hadn’t. He said the Readiness NCO offered to help Bird get assigned to A/1-19 SFG “so he could just get the ODA time required,” but he said Bird said no.

“Bird continued to insist that the only way he could submit a WO packet was by forging several NCOERs, and he needed others to sign off on them,” Elsberry said. “He stated it wasn’t a big deal, just needed some people to help an SF buddy out, so he could further his career in SF. The Readiness NCO was noncommittal in agreeing to help out, said he’d just look into things, without saying what that meant.”

It was at this point that the Readiness NCO began looking into Bird’s military records.

“He thought that being asked to help produce fraudulent NCOERs was not right, and there had been concerns about some of Bird’s military badges prior to this, so combined with this very direct request to participate in evaluation report forgery, the Readiness NCO wondered if there was anything that Bird might have falsified in his record,” Elsberry said.

A ‘false Combat Diver badge’

There were immediate suspicions about the Special Operations Diver Badge (colloquially referred to by SF soldiers as a Combat Diver Badge or Special Forces Diver Badge) that Bird wore in informal pictures that were provided by other SF NCOs in the National Guard.

One example was Bird in full uniform at a military ball wearing the Special Operations Diver Badge, according to Elsberry. The “Jason Rantz Show on KTTH” has not been able to independently verify this photograph.

You earn the Special Operations Combat Diver Badge at the U.S. Army Combat Diver Qualification Course in Key West, FL, which is where Bird said he earned it, according to Elsberry and the Readiness NCO. But the Readiness NCO had heard Green Berets had asked Bird about his experiences and “his answers didn’t match up with what others would say about getting Combat Diver qualified.”

At times, sources said Bird wore different badges, like the Scuba Insignia, but treated them interchangeably.

“In our unit, we had a former Recon Marine who had then later joined the Army and become SF-qualified. He related to our Readiness NCO that when he briefly spoke with Bird about his Combat Diver badge, that his explanation made no sense, was lacking key details and was rather vague,” Elsberry said.

‘A complete fabrication’

At that point, Elsberry said his superior obtained copies of Bird’s military record and couldn’t find supporting documentation for a Special Operations Combat Diver Badge or even a Scuba Diver Insignia, which could have been earned in the Marines.

As most soldiers from the Army National Guard will likely tell you, paperwork can be messy, incomplete, or just plain wrong. Giving Bird the benefit of the doubt, Elsberry and the Readiness NCO reviewed documentation from Bird’s service in the Marines to see if he earned a Scuba Diver Insignia during his time there. They reviewed his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), a code to identify a specific job or career field within the military. But it wasn’t adding up.

“Concerning Marine Recon, his USMC MOS was not that of a Reconnaissance Marine, but some kind of communications equipment operator/maintenance MOS. There were no documents showing he had been affiliated with Marine Recon in any way. The records of his USMC time were very limited, and other than the information of his USMC MOS, I recall seeing the UCMJ disciplinary action documents, and nothing else,” Elsberry said.

Elsberry said he and his superior concluded that his Special Operations Combat Diver Badge was “a complete fabrication.” Bird’s multiple DD-214 forms helped shine a light on the confusion.

(The “UCMJ disciplinary action” is a reference to Bird facing a court-martial for assaulting a sergeant he said used a racial slur against him at the time. When initially confronted with the court-martial incident by the Tri-Cities Observer, the report said Bird lied and claimed he had not been court-martialed. He said it was his first cousin with the same name, before later admitting it was him.)

What are in Bird’s DD-214 forms?

A DD-214 is a document issued by the U.S. Department of Defense that certifies a service member’s retirement, separation, or discharge from active duty and includes details about their service, including assignments, training, and awards. It is updated when necessary, like getting new training or seeing new overseas service.

It’s not a “proof document,” but it helps establish details that must be proven with supportive documents (like certificates, diplomas, academic reports, etc.). It’s different from a DA 2-1 form, which is an ongoing record to track a soldier’s personnel data, qualifications, assignments, and career progression.

In a July 2003 DA 2-1 obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, a Scuba Dive Badge is listed as an award. Elsberry said this award would not have come from the only quasi-relevant training course listed in his education section, Water Safety Survival. Though the Special Operations Combat Diver Badge is primarily earned by Special Forces, it’s the same for all those who complete the U.S. Army Special Forces Combat Diver Qualification Course, which can only be earned in Key West. Bird never trained in Key West for this course.

Yet in an October 2005 DD-214 form, Bird is listed as earning a Special Operations Diver Badge, appearing to replace the Scuba Badge, which was no longer listed. The same award appears again in a 2006 DA 2-1 and an unsigned February 2009 DA 2-1. And the course Water Safety Survival disappeared and Combat Diver course was added.

“To wear the Special Operations Divers badge, you had to attend the course from a certain date forward. Bird absolutely did not do that, yet had that badge listed on his official records, and was wearing it on the uniform. Then he backtracked, saying he had been to the previous combat divers course ‘somewhere,'” Elsberry said, noting that he had not seen any actual supporting documentation for that Combat Divers course.

DA DD forms – Bird – KTTH – 0624 by scoogan on Scribd

The forms can also be viewed as a PDF here.

‘We came across something unusual’

While researching the Special Operations Combat Diver Badge issue, Elsberry said he and his superior “came across something unusual” concerning Bird’s Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) 1st Award.

Bird’s records showed a memo by a training instructor awarding him the CIB from Special Forces Training Group at Fort Bragg, NC, while he was a student in the Special Forces Qualification Course, according to Elsberry. He called this a “highly unusual and irregular document” because the CIB is usually awarded as an order from someone senior in command.

The memo said the CIB was for participation in Operation Enduring Freedom as an Infantry Team Leader. But Elsberry and the Readiness NCO found an NCOER and DD-214 showing Bird’s Primary MOS was a medic (91W Health Care Specialist), with a Duty MOS of Infantryman. Qualifications for the CIB are found in Army Regulations (AR) 600-8-22.

“This is not too unusual, as sometimes soldiers are assigned to a position that they don’t hold the MOS for, in order to support unit operations. But serving in a duty position, that one doesn’t hold the proper MOS for, will not qualify you for any kind of award that would be authorized for that duty MOS,” Elsberry said.

For Elsberry and his superior, the “smoking gun” was that Bird never served in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. He was in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Sinai Peninsula at the time in direct support of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel – not for combat duty in Afghanistan.

“He was not authorized a CIB for OEF, because he wasn’t an Infantryman, and wasn’t in combat in Afghanistan,” Elsberry said. “In short, Bird had used documentation of his duty as a medic, in support of the MFO in Sinai, to fraudulently show that he had earned a CIB.”

A second Combat Infantryman’s badge for his duty was determined to be legitimate.

Of note, the 2006 DD-214 lists an Afghanistan Campaign medal. A solider earns this for service performed in Afghanistan or its airspace, or in direct support of operations in Afghanistan. Personnel who serve outside of the designated area, but in direct support of the operation, may also qualify. This would require specific authorization from the Secretary of Defense. The Senior NCO said Bird wore medal when he did not earn it.

CIB Forms-Bird-KTTH-0624 by scoogan on Scribd

The forms can also be viewed as a PDF here.

The Semi Bird reprimand and response

As a result of the findings, Bird earned a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMR) in 2009, signed by then-Brigadier General Hector Pagan. The document’s authenticity was verified by Bird during a recent podcast.

The Brigadier General told Bird that an investigation found he “wore awards and badges that you had not earned.” Additionally, Pagan said Bird knowingly “submitted false documents for the sole purpose of gaining an unfair advantage against other individuals” seeking entry into the Warrant Officer Corps.

The reprimand also said that Bird “manipulate(d) the system for your personal gain by aiding in the drafting of NCOERs (non-commissioned officer evaluation reports) which you knew to be false” and “enlisted the help of senior NCOs and Officers to perpetuate this fraud against the government.”

“The submission of false information to gain a promotion amounts to fraud against the United States Government,” General Pagan wrote.

At the time, Bird responded to the reprimand by taking “full responsibility for my actions.”

“The intent of this memorandum is to acknowledge the fact that I submitted false and inaccurate information in my Warrant Officer (WO) packet to include false NCOERs in order to compensate for unrated time and meet the requirements for the WO program. My actions constitute nothing less than a fraud against the United States Army plain and simple,” Bird wrote, noting he would take a new official photo and update records. In the second photo, he removed several badges and awards.

A PDF of the documents can be seen here.

Was the reprimand placed in a restricted file?

Bird addressed pieces of the original “Jason Rantz Show” report in press releases and an episode of his podcast Common Sense, vowing to provide additional context to the reprimand.

The gubernatorial hopeful characterized the report as a hit piece from the “establishment,” falsely claiming “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH supports his Republican gubernatorial opponent Dave Reichert. Bird has even compared the reporting as a “sexual assault,” and “inappropriately touching a child.” He said the report was intended to “lynch me publicly.”

“I think this is part of the Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals, right? You keep them distracted. And when they try to defend, twist it, weaponize it, use it. And you know the game. You know the game of the ‘establishment.’ It’s the same game as the progressives. The progressives invented and the ‘establishment’ uses it. But we’re not doing the blame game,” he said on his podcast.

Both the press releases and podcast focused on his claim that the document was “illegally obtained” because he said it was placed in a “restricted file.” A reprimand letter placed in a permanent file is added to the soldier’s official personnel record, potentially affecting future promotions, assignments, and career advancement. If it’s placed in a “restricted file,” it has less of an impact, if any, on career advancement.

But the document cited in the original report was not accessed from a restricted file.

The reprimand did not come from a restricted file

A senior NCO confirmed to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that both the reprimand and Bird’s response were in the permanent file in 2010, not a restricted filed (at least at the time it was written). Both the reprimand and response were still in permanent file in 2011 when it was saved.

“This reprimand was placed in his permanent record and not the local file, or a restricted file,” he said.

It’s possible that the reprimand was placed in a restricted file at some point. In a press release, Bird released a generic statement from General Pagan seemingly meant to suggest Bird’s reprimand was placed in a restricted file, but it does not say when. The statement doesn’t even say the General was talking specifically about Bird. General Pagan did not respond to requests for comment.

Bird has not provided any documentation to reveal whether or not the reprimand was placed in a restricted file, for what reason it would be placed there, or even when it was placed.

Still, Bird implied a reprimand in a restricted file means he did nothing wrong. But that’s not what that means.

Does a restricted file mean Bird was cleared?

Citing Army Regulations 600-37, Bird implied, but did not say explicitly, that the reprimand was placed in that restricted file because he provided evidence that the accusations were “either untrue or unjust in whole or in part.”

Bird is referencing Chapter 7-2 under the regulation. But that’s not all 600-37 said.

Placing a reprimand in a restricted file does not imply that the soldier did not deserve the reprimand or that it was proven false in part or in full. Instead, it indicates that “the document has served its intended purpose and that maintaining it in the performance file is no longer necessary for the Army’s interests.”​

In other words, it may indicate that the Army believed Bird learned a lesson and would not violate policy again. It’s a point Bird himself conceded during his podcast when, post-reprimand, he said General Pagan “taught me a lesson. He calibrated me. He was confident that his point was made.”

The process for moving the reprimand to the restricted file involves an appeal to the Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board (DASEB), which “may recommend the transfer of those administrative memoranda of reprimand when such transfer would be in the best interest of the Army.” There’s also a process to fully remove the unfavorable information from the soldier’s file, if the information was untrue or unjust in whole or part. The DASEB is comprised of multiple members.

The appeal process involves submitting a written appeal with substantial evidence to the DASEB, which then reviews and makes a recommendation based on the case’s merits.

Bird won’t provide supporting documentation

As Bird explains in his podcast, he provided evidence to rebut the reprimand to the Brigadier General: “And he gave me seven days to bring forth my rebuttal and to bring forth my evidence, which I did, clearly. And the reprimand was put in a restricted file we talked about.”

Bird’s actions here, if accurate, are puzzling because he submitted a memorandum accepting full responsibility for defrauding the Army by knowingly submitting false and inaccurate information in his Warrant Officer packet, including false NCOERs, and wearing awards and badges he did not earn.

But if he appealed the decision because the accusations were unjust or untrue, Bird may still have committed a fraud against the Army by falsifying the memorandum taking full responsibility.

Despite repeated declarations on his podcast and interviews with media and the Washington State Republican Party that he would immediately provide all documentation to back his claims, such as an appeal letter and evidence he said he brought forward, Bird has yet to do so. Instead, he’s released misleading or irrelevant documentation.

Bird did release a letter from retired Command Sergeant Major Steven Saunders who said he has “personal and professional knowledge of the Restricted File” and that “an inquiry was conducted, and all allegations were concluded as unfounded.” Saunders’ knowledge of the file, from a position as a superior, came after the reprimand letter and Bird’s response, indicating it could have been placed in a restricted file after a period of time when it wasn’t. It’s also unclear what “inquiry was conducted” and by whom.

Saunders did not respond to multiple inquiries.

‘Document dump’ wasn’t a dump at all

After promising his podcast listeners a “document dump,” Bird released a handful of documents that do not dispute any of the original report. Indeed, they appear to have been released to confuse a non-military audience and exploit the loyalty of his base.

On May 31st, Bird released five documents on his X account, three of which were either quoted or referenced in the original report: the Bronze Star Medal certificate, the narrative of the events that led to the Bronze Star, and documentation by superiors who agreed with the commendation based on the narrative.

The final documents show Bird’s Purple Heart certificate and the orders behind it. But the Purple Heart wasn’t mentioned in the original report.

A suspicious decision on documents

Curiously, Bird’s campaign appears to have provided a supporter additional documentation for them to post to X.

The documents were posted at the same time Bird promised to release exculpatory paperwork. But they seem meant to confuse civilians over the Special Operations Combat Diver Badge controversy.

Activist and Bird supporter Amber Krabach posted an Oregon Army National Guard document to X. It shows an “Awarded” MOS for S00B1O with the hand written note “scuba” that does not appear on the original document. An MOS is a code used by the U.S. Armed Forces to identify a specific job or career field within the military.

The administrative document posted is not a “source document” for an award. It is paperwork adding a scuba qualification skill identified to his Army MOS after Bird left the Marine Corps, but it doesn’t explain where the skill was acquired and could have been added based entirely on the word of the soldier. And it was dated 2001, not after the reprimand when it would have been removed.

“I was informed directly that anything from his USMC record that said he was combat diver qualified was removed as a result of the investigation,” Elsberry told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “This is a poor attempt to prove something that doesn’t exist.”

Scuba File-Bird-KTTH-0624 by scoogan on Scribd

The forms can also be viewed as a PDF here.

In podcast, Bird says he was asked to lie

Bird offered a dizzying array of excuses and justifications for his conduct over the nearly 90 minute-long podcast. He did not respond to multiple requests for an interview for this report.

According to Bird, his superiors brought forward the idea of submitting a Warrant Officer packet. He then implies the idea to submit fraudulent NCOERs came from an unidentified Lieutenant Colonel. As Bird retold the story, he indicated that General Pagan was “harsh” in the reprimand simply for him “to take ownership” for the incident.

“When the general met with me, he proceeded to educate me and said, ‘Semi, look it was harsh, it was hard. But I wanted you to take ownership. I wanted you to take ownership. No, you didn’t try to defraud, you couldn’t do it? It’s a packet, I get it. But you are a senior noncommissioned officer, and regardless of whether they outrank you by six or whatever ranks, we need you in the senior officer corps to be that balance for us. To take ownership. You have an important position, you cannot give that away. You must take responsibility and tell us no at times,'” Bird said the Brigadier General told him.

Bird went on to say he’d release documents to back up his account, but hasn’t. He then returned focus to how the reprimand was obtained, claiming it was “procured illegally.”

Bird addresses wearing badges and awards he did not earn

Towards the end of his podcast, Bird briefly discussed wearing awards and badges he did not earn.

Bird dismissed the accusation in the reprimand as the result of faulty paperwork. He acknowledges, rightly, that the military makes numerous mistakes when updating personnel records, including the DD-214.

“Not all the information goes in the system. And sometimes the information is incorrect. But when soldiers or service members do their DA photos, it’s supposed to mirror what’s on your DD-214 That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Are things always right? No, they’re not. Do service members get it wrong every now and then? Yes, they do. No excuses for me. I’m not saying that at all. But I promise you this. I have orders for everything I have ever worn. That’s what I can promise you,” Bird said, promising to release the orders behind all the badges in his original photo, but thus far failing to do so.

The DA photo, or Department of the Army photo, is an official photograph of a U.S. Army soldier used for personnel management purposes. After the reprimand, Bird retook his photo. According to an independent third-party expert who reviewed the photos for this story, Bird appears to have removed the German Jump Wings, an oak leaf cluster on his Army Commendation Medal, a star device on his National Defense Service Medal, and the Scuba badge.

Will this affect his party endorsement?

Some members of the Washington State Republican Party (WSRP) are split on how to move forward with Bird’s controversial party endorsement. Revoking Bird’s endorsement is “on the table,” according to WSRP Executive Board officials.

“I think it’s very important, and the chairman agrees, that we look at all options available on the table. I myself am a US Marine Corps veteran. I understand the seriousness of receiving a letter like Semi did from his commanding officer, and the implications of that. And so that is definitely something that needs to be considered,” WSRP Vice Chair Lisa Evans explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

The WSRP investigated the allegations into Bird, based on the report. Party leadership gave the campaign an opportunity to respond to the story by providing the documentation he promised, but he hasn’t provided it. It’s unclear how the WSRP will move forward.

Bird’s endorsement followed a contentious vote to overturn WSRP leadership’s initial decision to postpone an endorsement after it was revealed that Bird withheld information about a 1993 conviction on a federal misdemeanor charge of bank larceny. Bird used his father’s name and social security number on the application and has taken full responsibility for the incident.

The WSRP was not made aware of this official reprimand until “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH published its report. Bird is a member of the WSRP Executive Board.

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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Tara and Ava are two senior council members for the school’s student government. They said student leaders put a lot of thought into the senior class gift to the school and settled on a mural because the school was recently renovated and the walls were still mostly barren.

“We were really excited to have the mural up, we thought by Spring Break,” Tara told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “But then we had to go through the district a few times to make sure that the image that we were permanently putting up on the walls was something that they could agree with to represent our school.”

Thor mascot is apparently too white, too male, and too colonialist

Thor is not technically an official part of the school’s logo or team name; they’re called the “Thunder.” But there’s a Thor statue in the main entrance and imagery around the mascot include Thor’s hammer. The AI-generated mural shows the Norse god Thor standing on a mountain with light bolts flowing from his hammer, held over his head.

An Evergreen Public Schools district administrator sent an email to the students involved in designing the mural.

Students were asked if the senior class surveyed students about their thoughts on the mural and then reminded them that, “We are a system that strives for inclusive representation and our Title IX and Gender Inclusive Schools commitments obligate us to create a neutral and diverse representation of the ‘Thunder’.”

The email rejected the mural, though that wasn’t said explicitly. It said the district would like “to see some other options of the mural from the artist” so that they could review the new concept and ask the student body to vote on it. The staff member also offered an “idea” to “remove the person (Thor), enlarge the hammer and rotate it so that it’s hammering the center of the mountain.”

Tara said she knew something was wrong when they met with district staff, including the equity advancement specialist. The other elected senior class council members attended, as well.

“(Equity department officials) had an issue with the image not being racially and gender inclusive, as well as upholding an image of pure colonization, white power, white supremacy and even going as far as to say that it was alluding to racist anti-black imagery in the south,” Tara said she was told at the meeting.

Move intended to protect students in the future from being offended by mural

Ava said they were told that “without context, our image could be taken the wrong way,” including being seen as an example of white supremacy. Tara noted they were warned to be “mindful that the image, despite it not being problematic is something that could grow to be controversial” in the future.

Ava said she remembered being flabbergasted by the claim that the Thor mascot mural was deemed offensive.

“Realistically, as a student, if I’m walking down the hallway, and I see this image up on the wall, that’s not going to be the first thing that comes to my mind. The first thing is going to be like, ‘This is my school mascot on the wall. And it looks pretty cool,'” Ava explained.

Tara said the meeting was a “very uncomfortable position for a bunch of high school students to be put in.”

They were treated, she felt, like they were being talked down to, which was different than how their supportive school administration had been towards them. She said their pleas to keep the mascot mural as is were ignored. Instead, Tara said the staffers claimed that the district was speaking for the “silent minority students that are too afraid to speak up and talk for themselves.”

“We were just essentially told that we will maybe understand their perspective when we’re in our 40s and have more life experiences (like) they do,” Tara explained, noting she’s not sure any students are too afraid to say anything.

Tara couldn’t help but observe the administrators feigning offense at the Thor mascot were white.

“We find it extremely disturbing that those who benefit from white privilege would utilize the ideals of equity to silence a predominantly female, ethnically and racially diverse, democratically elected body for daring to speak truth to power,” Tara wrote in an email when she first reached out to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Where things stand

District officials did not respond to multiple requests for comments. But it’s Tara and Ava’s understanding that the original mural is now axed, and they will have to make changes. One of the proposed changes, they argued, was ludicrous.

Tara said staff pulled “a bunch of AI-generated images” of people of color and females to add to the mural but they “had nothing to do with school.”

“It was very obvious that if we put something like that up, it would be very obvious the entire student body and anyone that knows anything about Mountain View that it was just to fulfill a diversity quota,” she said.

They believe the district will try to ignore this entirely moving forward and put up their own version of a mural when the time is right.

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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Seattle Police said there was a lunchtime altercation on June 7. The victim was shot multiple times in the chest as a result. Some of the violence was recorded on a cell phone and circulated on social media. Despite life-saving measures, the teen was pronounced dead at Harborview Medical Center. A source told me the victim may have been trying to mediate a disagreement when he was killed.

Democrat politicians and the Seattle activists they enable responded precisely the way they always do: Blaming guns. To the ideologically-obsessed, the lack of School Resource Officers (SROs), soft-on-juvenile-crime policies that let gangs roam carefree, and the message that guns are only dangerous when wielded by law-abiding citizens played no role.

More from Jason Rantz: Seattle business owners turn to private security as crime rises, police staffing dwindles

Why are Seattle Democrats partly to blame for the school shooting?

After the shooting, Mayor Bruce Harrell lazily recited the same speech he always gives. He decried the easy availability of guns.

“I can’t use the word ‘trauma’ enough to describe what our children are going through,” Harrell said at a press conference that afternoon. “This is not the first shooting at Garfield, and these kids deserve better.”

No, it’s not the first shooting, but it is the same response.

A student was shot in March while waiting for her bus next to campus. Last October and June, there were a number of shootings around the campus, though they were unrelated to students.

On Friday, students, staff, parents and other community members held a “silent walk” to protest gun violence. They shouldn’t be silent. They should ask to undo some of the very policies they called for that led to this.

Pulling School Resource Officers

In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists and their Antifa army convinced local and state politicians to introduce “criminal justice reforms” that falsely implied cops pose great risk to black residents. That was never true, but Seattle activists have never missed an opportunity to exploit a tragedy or national news story for ideological gain.

Seattle Public Schools (SPS), with the support of Democrat politicians and activists, removed SROs from schools, claiming they were a threat and that students felt uncomfortable around armed officers. Are they more comfortable around armed gangbanger classmates? Some of the very student activists demanding safety measures are the ones speaking out against SROs.

While there have been brief moments where parents have called for the return of SROs on campus, the conversations peter out in large part due to an unwillingness of SPS board members and Democrat politicians to admit their failures. Left-wing Seattle media outlets seem unwilling to push the conversation, either.

Soft-on-crime policies, especially with juvenile suspects

Dangerous juvenile suspects belong in jail. But in Seattle and King County, in particular, they get a pass.

Rather than jail time, they are pushed into “restorative justice” programs as an alternative. They rarely work since many of them are run by police and prison abolitionist groups that don’t hold juveniles accountable. It takes an act of G-d to see a juvenile land in detention. This is by design.

Democrat lawmakers have been dismantling the criminal justice system as we know it since 2020.

They passed a bill prohibiting cops from talking to juvenile suspects until a lawyer is present, even if the parents of the suspect demand he or she speak to the police. No lawyer lets their clients speak.

This law is almost certainly why police still have made no progress in the case of a 15-year-old Chief Sealth International High School student fatally shot in a boys’ bathroom at a youth recreation center. The three teens who were with the victim, Mobarak Adam, haven’t been interviewed because of the Democrat law.

Do gangs exist if you Democrats don’t acknowledge them?

Most Seattle Democrats and community activists stay silent on the gang problems plaguing the region. Ask any cop, however, and they’ll tell you gang-related crimes are rampant.

Since local gang membership is disproportionately black and Latino, Democrats won’t say much — they think it’ll lead to racist assumptions about black and Latino teens. Conversely, it could be used to better focus police and community resources, but Democrats prefer performative politics.

In Olympia, Democrats don’t even hide their agenda.

House Democrats pushed HB 1268. The bill reduced or, in some cases, repealed sentences for gun, drug, and gang crimes committed near schools. During public testimony, it was argued that gun, drug and gang enhancements have “resulted in the incarceration of young black men from urban areas in a grossly disproportionate manner.”

These shootings are all connected to failed Democrat policies they won’t admit failed

While Seattle Democrats blame guns, they could be taking concrete steps to save the lives of kids. And, frankly, the students, staff and parents aren’t blameless here, either.

Going after “guns” means you and I can’t carry to protect ourselves from the criminals Democrats keep out of jail. Instead, there could be a collective demand that SROs be returned to campus. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) offered two bombshell reports dissecting the positive impact SROs have on school discipline and overall safety while cutting down on disciplinary problems.

Instead of silently marching to SPS headquarters, they could march in Olympia and demand soft-on-crime policies be repealed. Then, they could make a stop at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and demand we throw the book at violent teenage suspects. They can get restorative justice in juvenile detention.

Finally, at the next Harrell press conference, maybe someone can ask for him to offer a plan to tackle gang violence. If we’re not going to put gang members in jail for using guns, what exactly does he think will keep us safe?

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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Diaz was removed from his position following a series of high-profile complaints and lawsuits about a sexist and racist culture within the department. He’s been placed in a different unit as he weighs his next steps, almost assuredly outside of SPD. As he departs, Beach and other community activists who have worked with him closely say they’re angry. They worked with Diaz to form meaningful bonds with the black community, in particular. In Diaz, Beach felt she had a trusted ally who wanted to bridge the gap between the black community and police.

But now that Beach is vocally opposing the staffing decision, she said that she’s being silenced under threat of discipline, including termination.

More from Jason Rantz: Seattle business owners turn to private security as crime rises, police staffing dwindles

Why did Victoria Beach say she is being silenced by City of Seattle?

“The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH reached out to Beach to discuss the chief’s departure. She explained that she was told in a meeting from Command Staff that she’s not allowed to speak to media members anymore.

Beach suspects the orders came from Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess, a close ally of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. Burgess is believed to be behind the changes to SPD, upset he hasn’t been able to control messaging and, in some cases, policy, according to sources.

“I met with Brian Maxey (Chief Operating Officer for SPD) and an assistant chief. I have orders that I can no longer do interviews,” Beach explained on the record. “They’re claiming policy even though when I got hired, there was a discussion about allowing me to do interviews. I believe this is retaliation because I stood up for the chief.”

Beach believes the demands of silence are to stop negative press around Diaz’s removal.

“I left today feeling betrayed and used,” Beach said.

Maxey confirmed the meeting took place in an email to “the Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

“All SPD employees, including Ms. Beach, are subject to SPD Policy Manual 1.110, which prohibits unauthorized media contacts. Ms. Beach was reminded of this policy and instructed to request permission before engaging with media, as is required of all employees regardless of the content of the engagement,” Maxey explained.

Burgess did not respond to a request for comment.

More from Jason Rantz: Asylum seeker says Seattle activists are taking advantage of migrants

Will this interview lead to termination?

By Seattle activist standards, Victoria Beach is atypical.

Beach has earned the ire of many officers for believing that the department’s culture allows for racism. She also has argued that the city must hire more police officers. More recently, she called out progressive activists for exploiting the death of Jaahnavi Kandula for ideological purposes. Kandula was hit by a patrol vehicle speeding to an overdose call. Video evidence shows that she tried to run across a crosswalk but miscalculated the speed of the oncoming vehicle.

Beach says she has previously been allowed to talk to media with few restrictions. If there are consequences for her speaking to the media now, it could come at a political cost. After lawsuits and complaints alleging racism and gender bias, will the department and mayor’s office feel comfortable firing a black, female, community activist?

To be clear, Beach said she wasn’t expressly told that if she gave interviews she’d be fired. But while “they didn’t say it in those words,” it seemed like termination was on the table. If she’s fired, she jokingly said, “I’d have to do a GoFundMe page.”

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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The faux controversy centered on UW President Ana Marie Cauce incorrectly attributing photos of antisemitic graffiti to some Jew-hating students at the former anti-Israel encampment on campus. Cauce released a statement on May 15 to belatedly condemn the “rhetoric and language used in chants and signs within the Quad and at protests” as “vile and antisemitic.”

During a meeting eight days later, the UW Daily said graduate student activist Juliette Majid asked for evidence of antisemitism at the so-called Liberated Zone encampment. The UW president responded, misattributing two photos that weren’t taken on campus or in Washington State. Cauce said it was an accident and is not retracting her statement on the vile antisemitism as activists demanded.

This misattribution outraged the antisemitic students who took to Instagram to defend their honor. How dare Cauce accidentally use photos of antisemitism off campus when she could have been honest and displayed photos taken at UW.

More from Jason Rantz: UW Seattle gave barriers to Antifa to keep Jews out of Liberated Zone

Can we all give proper credit to the UW antisemites for their antisemitic graffiti?

Photos from the UW show antisemitic graffiti.

The activists just choose to pretend calling for the destruction of Israel, siding with Hamas “freedom fighters” and tagging buildings with “piss on Zionists,” “end Israel,” “from the river to the sea,” and “Save a life, kill your local colonizer” (after declaring Israel an example of “settler colonialism”) isn’t antisemitic. Indeed, all messages coming from the activists are antisemitic because their very movement is antisemitic in nature.

This week, as antisemitic graffiti and damage from the Jew-hating encampment dwellers was still being fixed, the campus was hit with more antisemitic graffiti. Taking an LGBT Pride month theme, two messages said “Queers for Palestine” and “No pinkwashing during pride.”

Pinkwashing is a term antisemites use to claim Israel pretends to support LGBT rights as a way to mask human rights violations against Palestinians. It’s often used by supposedly progressive activists to justify fighting for the side that denies LGBT people the very right to exist. Being “queer” in Gaza is punishable by death. It’s why gay Palestinians flee to Israel for freedom.

NEW: Antisemitic students at UW Seattle again vandalize property on campus. The school isn’t even done fixing the previous damage from the anti-Israel encampment. pic.twitter.com/YMu1X3TBjJ

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 3, 2024

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Like many cities in the Pacific Northwest, Tacoma has a pothole problem. City workers patched 12,099 potholes, while permanently fixing 2,889 potholes in 2023, according to the City of Tacoma per the Tacoma News Tribune. Water seeps through concrete, freezes and breaks up our streets. Unfortunately, whether it’s Tacoma, Seattle or anywhere else in Washington, cities rarely tackle the potholes with the gusto necessary to save drivers from damaging suspensions or losing hubcaps. They rarely seem to have the budget or staff.

But the City of Tacoma has a plan with a city works event. Tragically, it comes at the expense of an adorable creature named Phil the Pothole (he/him/it) and all his friends and family.

More from Jason Rantz: A friend asks Patrick to wait at bus stop while he pukes

What is Pothole Palooza and why is it necessary to murder a family of innocent creatures to do it?

As part of the oddly titled Pothole Palooza, which makes it sound like they’re celebrating the potholes that destroy your cars, the city will tackle larger projects each day this week.

Potholes at specific intersections (in areas that likely offer political support for the people in charge) will be filled, weather pending. If the rain continues like it did Tuesday and projects must be postponed, the city says it will tackle the pothole by the end of 2024. That’s called government efficiency.

Featured in the campaign promoting the Pothole Palooza is an adorable, purple, three-eyed creature.

Phil the Pothole suffers from Resting Discomfort Face (RDF) because of its rounded teeth being too big for his mouth, making him seem like a monster when he’s just merely misunderstood. But he just wants to live amongst the rest of us. He’s probably looking for an optometrist who can handle a patient with three eyes.

And what are the ghouls doing in Tacoma? Burying Phil and his friends and family alive!

More from Jason Rantz: Let me ruin WSU’s ‘Name the apple’ contest for you

Phil the Pothole has had a rough life

Phil the Pothole. (Image courtesy of City of Tacoma)

Phil the Pothole hasn’t had an easy life. The creature and his friends and family have been looking to settle down after bad experiences in the Pacific Northwest.

The creatures weren’t weird enough for Portland, so the Phil the Pothole crew made their way into Washington state. After briefly living in Kelso, they left to find a larger city more accepting of their kind. They quickly learned Sequim and Aberdeen weren’t a good fit. You wouldn’t believe the stares they got.

Priced out of Seattle, ultimately they settled in Tacoma, first in the Hilltop neighborhood but got displaced thanks to gentrification. The journey was rough. Phil the Pothole lost a sibling, Patch the Pothole to COVID (he had a pre-existing condition) and his mother <Insert Car Themed Word to Make Name Sound Clever> the Pothole to cholera.

Now, the Pothole crew is spread out throughout the city using potholes to come street side and enjoy what Tacoma has to offer. But it’s now experiencing the Tacoma Ugly.

You’d think a city that supposedly embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion would celebrate the differentness of Phil the Pothole and his family. But the city seeks to trap him and his friends underground, where they will ultimately starve to death. Phil and crew were merely looking for a place to belong.

Is murdering Phil the Pothole worth it, Tacoma?

There’s actually an idea where everybody wins!

The city could just … fix the potholes? Not one week a year, but every week of the year, tackling pothole by pothole without making a campaign out of it. Taxpayers have relatively simple needs: we just want things to work. Our streets are broken and they need to be fixed.

The point of turning it into some event like this is to earn some points from the community: “Look at us! We’re filling potholes (and murdering rare three-eyes creatures)! Give us an award!”

But you don’t get extra points for filling potholes. It’s a basic function of your job!

But what about Phil the Pothole?

The thing is, I didn’t particularly care about Phil the Pothole or his family — Patch, Paive and the patriarch of the family, Park — because I didn’t know any of them existed. I’d have preferred the city keep me ignorant.

But the adorable monster can’t be unseen and now I feel bad. It’s like seeing a cow before it’s slaughter. I still want the steak, but I’ll feel a bit worse while eating it (at least for the first couple of minutes). I still want the potholes fixed, I just don’t want to see how the sausage is made to accomplish it.

So next time, maybe the City of Tacoma could just do its job, not ask for credit, and avoid introducing cuddly characters into the mix. But perhaps this is all some sick PSYOP. When the city doesn’t make a dent in the pothole problem, we’ll give them a pass because it means we’ll be saving the lives of some cute creatures?

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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At least a half dozen times a day, a Triple Canopy Security vehicle cruises around the Bonneville Seattle offices. The security drivers patrol up and down the quiet side streets and busy Eastlake Avenue East. They don’t provide security for Bonneville, the parent company of KTTH, but employees here benefit.

A security guard with Triple Canopy Security told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that the firm was hired by one of the labs doing work in the Eastlake neighborhood. They patrol throughout the day and early evening because many of the employees park on the surface streets. The security guard, who wasn’t speaking on behalf of the company, said it’s meant to show a presence in the neighborhood to cut down on property crime and theft.

The patrols have been working.

Before the security patrols, car break-ins were a common occurrence. Two blocks north, a restaurant recently suffered a 23rd break-in, with the restaurant owner telling “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that he’s “lost all faith in the city.” But after security patrols, anecdotally, there have been fewer crimes reported. In the last seven days, there was just one motor vehicle theft in the general area, according to the SPD crime dashboard.

How much are Seattle business owners spending on security to deter crime?

The Downtown Seattle Association’s (DSA) Jon Scholes told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that businesses are spending more on security than ever.

Contracted security costs have also skyrocketed. In March, downtown Seattle building owners said private security costs rose between 40% and 400%, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. The Metropolitan Improvement District itself spends $2 million on contracted security. 

“The private sector in Seattle is spending millions of dollars a year to attempt to compensate for the negative impacts to public safety from the defund police movement,” Scholes explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Erin Goodman of the SODO Business Improvement Area mirrored the sentiment, explaining more businesses have turned to private security because of crime. 

“With property crime continuing to be a significant issue in SODO, hiring private security is a necessary reality for many of the businesses and properties in this area,” Goodman told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Not all Seattle businesses can afford the added expense

Some business owners reluctantly pay for the added security for the safety and retention of their employees. But the business environment in Seattle is already exceeding difficult and expensive. 

For some Seattle business owners, the extra expense is not sustainable even if it helps cut down on crime.

Trevor Boone owns Emerald City Guitars in Pioneer Square. He used to pay for private security, but because of the cost, has had to be selective in how it’s used. He relied on local construction workers who would tip him off if they noticed suspicious-looking people casing his shop.

“We take those tips super seriously. And we obviously can’t, you know, nobody’s going to help you out down here. I mean, there’s no help,” Boone told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “So when we do get these tips, we’ve had to hire private security guys that will stay the night here. We did this a few times where it’s three days or something. We leave the shop, and they come in and stay the night, a few people. And I mean, three days is $10,000.”

Seattle is a ‘third-world country’ at night

Boone said it’s relatively safe during the day, but at night it becomes a “third-world country.” He said it’s not uncommon for businesses to have to replace broken windows several times a month.

“I’ve talked to other shops in West Seattle, North Seattle. It’s all the same stuff happening in these areas, truly, and it’s just that everybody wants to be quiet about it. No, news channels are showing what’s going on,” Boone said.

Emerald City Guitars has seen significant security upgrades making it considerably more difficult to burglarize. But the costs all add up.

“There’s not a lot of places that either can afford (security), even get close to affording to put any extra money in anything besides trying to keep their doors open, and replace their windows. And from what I’ve gathered from Pioneer Square (Alliance), they have a couple of guys walking around with pepper spray. It’s hardly effective,” Boone said. 

Why are Seattle businesses turning to private security?

Businesses have been forced to turn to private security to mitigate the consequences of an understaffed police department. At only 913 deployable officers, the SPD says staffing is at the lowest level since 2009.

As officers left the SPD, property crime and vandalism surged. 

The SPD confirmed an April 2024 exclusive report that it only had 424 police officers working patrol as of December 31. Of the 424 officers, at least 66 are currently eligible for retirement, and 84 are over 50, according to a Human Resources document obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. Patrol is rounded out with 11 police student officers, 22 lieutenants and 76 sergeants.

The staffing crisis is supposed to continue to worsen in 2024. Making recruiting more difficult? SPD chief Adrian Diaz was forced out of his position thanks to a coordinated campaign of aggrieved SPD staffers and allies in the mayor’s office amplified claims of a toxic environment. 

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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In a dramatically titled column, “Plot twist: WA has a law against felons running for office,” Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat cites a local activist lawyer who said he has clients ready to keep Trump off the ballot. The columnist cites RCW 29A.68.020 as providing registered voters the right to “challenge the right of a candidate to appear on the general election ballot after a primary.” This could apply to a candidate who was “convicted of a felony by a court of competent jurisdiction, the conviction not having been reversed nor the person’s civil rights restored after the conviction” prior to the election.

“I have clients lined up who are going to be all over pursuing a ballot challenge in this case,” Seattle attorney David Vogel told Westneat. The former King County deputy prosecutor was “briefly involved in an earlier ballot challenge against Trump before the presidential primary,” according to Westneat.

In an email to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, Vogel confirmed his plan to challenge Trump in the general election. His effort in the primary, like this new threatened one, won’t only fail. It will expose left-wing hypocrisy.

More from Jason Rantz: Exclusive – Secretary of State says AG Bob Ferguson demanded he break law in vulgar tirade

Does this law even apply to Trump being on Washington state’s ballot?

The RCW, based on changes made via House Bill 2624, likely doesn’t apply to Trump.

HB 2624 was introduced to address election errors and irregularities, particularly those involving ballot measures. In the bill, it added the right of a voter to challenge a felon from appearing on the ballot.

However, the bill was intended solely for state and local elections. The Code Reviser’s Office, in the bill’s digest, notes the legislation is about “local and state ballot measures under certain conditions.” The House Bill report at the time, after it was passed, noted the bill was relegated to “local and state” elections.

Giving an opening to Vogel if he plans to use this RCW in his challenge, and cheered on by Westneat, is that the language in the law doesn’t specifically state this is about local and state elections. But that’s not all that meaningful in this case.

More from Jason Rantz: Progressive candidate upset he isn’t running unopposed, makes up candidate

States don’t supersede the United States Constitution on presidential qualifications

As much as activists want to keep Trump from the Washington state ballot, federal elections are governed primarily by the U.S. Constitution and federal laws. Neither Washington nor any state can impose additional qualifications or restrictions on federal candidates beyond those specified by federal law. This is established in Supreme Court decisions in Powell v. McCormack (1969) and U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995).  There is no constitutional qualification barring felons from running for office.

Westneat argues that “States do have latitude to control the ballot,” pointing to the drama in Ohio. “Ohio has been debating whether to bar President Joe Biden from its ballot over a filing deadline issue, so it’s clear states can do such a thing,” he said.

As proof, Westneat links to a January editorial claiming states can remove Trump from ballots under the Fourteenth Amendment. In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court recently stated the very obvious: no states cannot. Why Westneat chose this editorial to make his case is perplexing but it matches the laziness in which he argues his case.

But states have some rights, don’t they?

Westneat is right that states have some latitude over the ballot. Indeed, he notes the extent they can likely impact national elections.

States are responsible for administering our federal elections. The responsibilities include managing voter registration, the design of ballots, and election procedures. The Ohio drama is around administrative issues. The deadline to submit the nominees for the ballots (August 7) comes before the Democrat’s nominating convention (August 19). That deadline was set by the legislature, as is the case in Washington state.

There is no federal mandate that a party re-nominate an incumbent president in late August. That is a choice by the Democrat National Committee. This isn’t even a particularly good argument from Westneat. As he must know, since it’s in the article he links to, the DNC is going to virtually nominate Biden before August 7.

More from Jason Rantz: Poll says Washington state is in play for Trump, bad news for Biden, Ferguson

Even so … would this law keep Trump off the ballot?

Even if this law were to unconstitutionally apply to federal elections, the way it’s written gives Trump an obvious path to the Washington state ballot.

The RCW makes it clear the candidate found guilty of a felony can still appear on the ballot if the conviction has been reversed. Trump will be the nominated candidate in July. By then, the appeal will have already been filed. Unless the Supreme Court gets involved, which is highly unlikely at this point, the appeal won’t be settled until after the election.

Washington has some of the most partisan judges in the country and the challenge can go virtually anywhere. I can imagine a hyper-partisan judge has no problem outing themselves as incompetent and removing Trump from the ballot. But that would obviously lead to an appeal. And not even our state supreme court would sully their chambers by ignoring an active appeal to keep Trump off the Washington ballot.

The attorney isn’t providing too many details yet

Vogel, the attorney threatening to bring claims to keep Trump off the ballot, would not disclose who his clients are.

“My clients in the primary ballot challenge were subjected to harassment, so I will disclose the identities of the plaintiffs in this general election challenge only when the complaint is filed, and only if necessary,” Vogel explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

It’s not entirely clear if he plans to use this RCW exclusively. He told me that, “As recognized by the US Supreme Court, States are allowed to regulate the selection of their electors in the Electoral College.”

Democrat lawmakers are unlikely to call this scheme out the way they would if it was even uttered by a Republican supporting Trump.

Democrats don’t care that you know they lack principles

In-between claims that democracy is on the line (if we vote for a candidate Democrats don’t like) and that we may never have elections again if Trump is elected, Democrats are trying to prevent an election contest between the two inevitable nominees for president.

When it comes to Trump, Washington state Democrats have neither shame nor moral compass. Democrat activists tried, and failed, to keep Trump off the primary ballot. While chiding Trump for denying the results of the 2020 election, Seattle congresswoman Pramila Jayapal tried to stop Trump’s certification in 2016.

So much for fighting for democracy. Democrats don’t particularly care their actions are inconsistent with their stated views because they don’t actually believe democracy is on the line. This is all a performance courtesy of Trump Derangement Syndrome; one that will earn them several Razzies.

To highlight the hypocrisy, we should note that there is even a current felon serving in the state legislature.

State Rep. Tarra Simmons was celebrated for being a “formerly incarcerated person” who now serves because she brings the perspective of felons to the table when discussing criminal justice reforms. How can she be celebrated if Democrats stay quiet as Trump is being threatened with a lawsuit pulling him from the ballot? (For her part, Simmons said she doesn’t support pulling Trump from the ballot and is using this as an opportunity to note there may be some agreement on an “unjust system” on both the Left and the Right.)

Moreover, Democrats spent the last legislative session attempting to get currently incarcerated felons the right to vote and serve on juries. And, of course, Democrats, particularly in Seattle and King County, have been working hard to keep criminals (including violent ones) out of jail.

Are Democrats scared of Trump?

Suddenly, Democrats pretend to be offended by Trump’s politically motivated felony convictions on a case everyone knows will be overturned on appeal. Given who the Democrats fight for, had Trump actually shot someone in the middle of Times Square, as he joked, he would have been given a pass in Washington and could stay on the ballot.

Or perhaps they fear that the party’s overzealous and disturbingly extreme reaction to Trump running for re-election is going to backfire.

A new Cascade PBS/Elway Poll shows Biden with soft support. The numbers suggest Trump has a path (however narrow and unlikely) to win even in Washington state. Despite being a deep blue state, Biden only has 42% support (31% certain, 11% inclined to support the president but could change their minds). Trump has 34% support (25% certain, 9% inclined to support the former president but could change their minds). With media coverage so positively skewed towards Biden and against Trump, both poll results are surprising for Washington voters.

With Biden showing such a poor showing, it’s no wonder Democrats are desperate enough to try to keep Trump off the ballot again. But it’ll just backfire again, making it easier for Trump to engender sympathy while exposing Democrats as extremists and hypocrites. That can’t help their brand.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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George, who lives in Issaquah, was out with his new black Labrador puppy on May 10. He said they went paddle boarding and were “trying to do a bunch of fun things” to bond. Rooster had been a part of the family for only three weeks at the time but they were all in love with him.

Unfortunately, the puppy never made it home that night and he’s still missing. But, according to George, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) isn’t helping with the theft any longer.

More from Jason Rantz: Seattle restaurant owner ‘lost all faith’ in city after 23rd break-in

How did the family’s puppy get stolen in Seattle?

George’s family brought Rooster into their lives after their seven-year-old dog Goose died suddenly after an illness. A few months later, a friend of his wife was giving away a dog that looked identical to Goose.

“This dog had the same white patch, was born around the same time that my dog died. It all just felt really good. It was like we were all meant to be together,” George said.

After their paddle-boarding adventure, George went to a restaurant to meet friends in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. He brought Rooster along.

“I had him in the restaurant with me for the whole time. The staff was loving on him … he was having a great time, and eventually just fell asleep,” George exclusively told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Rather than keep waking up Rooster, George took the puppy to his 2005 Chevrolet Silverado so he could sleep more soundly.

When George returned 40 minutes later, the truck was gone. And it would have been obvious to the thieves that a dog was in the car.

“They ended up breaking the windows and stuff. So you know, I don’t think they did know (initially). I think that they would have known right away though,” George said. “So it definitely didn’t stop them or deter them in any way. I don’t think that it was the intention to steal the dog, though, as the main priority.”

A disappointing Seattle Police response to the puppy theft

George called SPD, but he waited four hours for an officer to arrive, but one never did.

“It was a sad experience just having to leave with no closure, no understanding, no anything. I took an Uber late at night, with no car and no dog, home feeling just devastated,” he said.

SPD has been crippled by staffing shortages since the defund movement of 2020, losing over 600 officers. And George felt the pain of an understaffed department, saying there “wasn’t much of an investigation.”

George, his wife, and two young children (11 and 14 years old) plastered Seattle with flyers and contacted veterinarians and shelters. They also drove around Seattle hoping to come across their dog, who had not yet been microchipped, but came up empty.

They found the truck. But did they find Rooster the puppy?

Two weeks later, George’s truck was found abandoned in Burien with windows broken out and the steering column damaged. He got the call and rushed to the scene, but Rooster was nowhere to be found. There was no indication of a struggle or that the puppy was harmed. But what happened next frustrated George.

“Once I got the car, they (SPD) sent me an email saying the case was closed, and they’re not going to do anything more with it,” he explained.

George said the email was “devastating.” A spokesperson for SPD did not respond to requests for comments by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

‘We’re not going to give up’

This has been particularly difficult for his kids to “come home to an empty dog bed again.” To lose Goose and now Rooster is a lot for adults to handle, let alone children.

Even though it’s been nearly a month since the puppy theft, George and his family are still trying to stay positive. He said they will never give up on searching for Rooster. He’s still connecting with local pet shops and veterinarians to see if they’ve been visited by any new customers with a young Labrador puppy.

“We really feel like this is a part of our family so we’re not going to give up. It’s a weird feeling to feel like you have no closure to any of it, too. It’s just it’s an odd feeling of just who knows?” he said.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Despite being a deep blue state, Biden only has 42% support (31% certain, 11% inclined to support the president but could change their minds). Trump has 34% support (25% certain, 9% inclined to support the former president but could change their minds). With media coverage so positively skewed towards Biden and against Trump, both poll results are surprising for Washington voters.

With 13% of Washington state voters undecided, Trump theoretically has a shot at taking the state. Helping his cause are the third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein and Cornell West, which earn 6% amongst them.

Even with favorable polling, a Trump win in Washington is still unlikely. However, the poll portends Biden and Democrat troubles this election season. 

More from Jason Rantz: Exclusive – Secretary of State says AG Bob Ferguson demanded he break law in vulgar tirade

What do Washington state voters care about the most?

The Cascade PBS/Elway poll offers plenty of warning signs for Democrats. 

Nearly 80% of respondents pay attention to government and politics (44% say regularly follow and 32% say they pay attention most of the week, but not every day). Yet only 35% believe this is the “most important election of my lifetime,” which suggests that Democrats’ insistence that abortion access and democracy itself is on the ballot is being dismissed.

According to the poll, the most important issue on the minds of voters is the economy (28%) and immigration (a soft 18%). Only 14% are motivated by Democracy at risk and 11% by the Biden vs. Trump rematch, again signaling the main Democrat talking point about the dangers of Trump is falling flat.

Only 7% of respondents cited foreign affairs as important (and only 2% listed Israel’s war against Hamas). But in a tight race, this could matter. Young voters who have ideologically aligned with anti-Israel extremists and Hamas terrorists may back a third-party candidate over Biden or not be motivated to vote at all.

While the poll framed voter issues through the presidential election, it’s hard to imagine Washington Democrats escaping the blame and Republicans earning some support. 

In poll, economy and illegal immigration hurt Democrats, but help Trump, Republicans in Washington

Criticisms of either the economy or illegal immigration lay at the feet of Democrats, who have complete control in Olympia, and Biden, whose administration has dictated policy direction. Both issues have consistently polled well for Trump and Republicans nationally.

Washington’s economy has been struggling thanks to job losses hitting tech and construction the highest.

At 4.8% in April, the state’s unemployment rate is at its highest since September 2021, post-COVID (4.7%), and is nearly a point higher than the national average (3.9%). 

The impacts of illegal immigration have also caught Washingtonian’s attention. 

With an influx of migrants seeking asylum in the Seattle area, holding parks hostage until they’re given housing, area residents have grown annoyed and concerned. Meanwhile, high-profile crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, including the death of Washington State Patrol Trooper Christopher Gadd highlight the crisis.

More from Jason Rantz: Bob Ferguson using ‘fake’ name in his run for Governor, misstated law to threaten opponent

The impact of initiatives

A trio of popular, voter-backed initiatives are on the ballot, bringing more enthusiasm to the election.

If approved, I-2117 (41% support vs. 31% opposed) would nix the burdensome and costly gas tax from Governor Jay Inslee’s signature cap and trade program. I-2019 ends the state’s new capital gains tax (47% vs. 36%). I-2124 ends the state’s lackluster long-term care insurance mandate (47% vs. 25%). While the three initiatives still have high undecided voters, it’s in good shape, especially since big money hasn’t dropped to promote them yet. 

The three initiatives, if approved, would reverse Democrats’ main policy agendas from the last two legislative sessions. Three other initiatives, all killing Democrat policies like the ban of police vehicular pursuits, were already reversed by the state legislature under pressure from the public and positive polling in their favor.

More from Jason Rantz: Progressive candidate upset he isn’t running unopposed, makes up candidate

Bob Ferguson is in trouble, Dave Reichert angling for an upset

If fewer voters are excited about the presidential election, with Biden voters clearly less enthusiastic than Trump supporters, it’s easy to see how Democrats can suffer across the ticket.

Despite statewide name recognition (or perhaps because of it), Attorney General Bob Ferguson only secures 33% of the respondent’s certain or likely support. His main Republican challenger, former congressman and King County Sheriff Dave Reichert pulls in 28%, and he’s not particularly well-known on the east side of the state. 

Ferguson has struggled early in the campaign due to far-left views behind Washingtonian’s concerns with the state’s direction.

Ferguson pushed for drug decriminalization, which has been responsible for the state’s record high fatal overdoses and the related homelessness and crime crises. He may be trying to rewrite history now, but usually, politicians have more respect for voters than to do it this close to his previous publicly-held positions. 

Poll doesn’t look good for Maria Cantwell, Dr. Raul Garcia holds steady

Incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell only pulls in 39% support, despite being in office since 2000. But most voters can’t name a single issue to define Cantwell’s career and she’s been almost entirely absent from the state except for when she runs for re-election. She does so few media appearances and speeches that she’s easily forgettable.

Dr. Raul Garcia, her Republican challenger and a relative newcomer, pulls in 30% of the vote.

Focused on the economy, public safety (particularly around drug addiction), and his personal story of he and his mother escaping Fidel Castro’s communist regime to become refugees benefiting from gaining asylum in the United States, Garcia’s campaign has been gaining traction.

With 30% of the voters still undecided, the Senate race is up for grabs.

Washington is still a blue state, despite positive-looking poll for Trump

There is no doubt that Washington is still a deeply blue state and Democrats will start to coalesce closer to November, despite the poll showing better than expected (and potential) support for Trump. But the polling is unusually soft for Democrat candidates and their issues and it’s unclear how many Democrat voters will vote third party or sit this election out. Why is that?

When one party has total control of the state legislature and most of the city’s largest and mid-size cities, voters can better understand who is to blame for their worries. Democrats branded themselves around defunding police, legalizing drugs, targeting businesses and shutting down our economy during COVID. Residents are not pleased.

Biden is deeply unpopular with even diehard anti-Trumpers conceding their lives were better under the former president. Plus, there’s a looming threat of third-party candidates who can pick up younger, activist voters who otherwise would be knocking on doors for the Democrat nominee. If they sit the activism out this time around, it will undoubtedly hurt Democrats.

This is a recipe for upsets in 2024.

Trump can take advantage, not necessarily by winning (though it’s possible, even if improbable), but by motivating unlikely voters to mail in their ballot — supporting the initiatives and down ticket Republican candidates. It’s also easy to see how Trump haters could skip voting “MAGA” for president, but understand we’re feeling the pains of one-party rule, choosing to vote for Reichert or Garcia, and giving Republicans a chance.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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The group of staff explained their walkout in a social media post, complaining that the exhibit “Confronting Hate Together” calls out antisemites who hide behind “anti-Zionism” to justify their hate.

Ironically, the staff did exactly what the exhibit condemns, even accusing Jews of engaging in white supremacy, despite Jews not being white.

“On university campuses, pro-Palestinian groups have voiced support for Hamas (which is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government) and a Palestinian state stretching ‘from the river to the sea,’ a phrase defined by the erasure of Israel,” says a passage at the exhibit the antisemites dislike.

More from Jason Rantz: UW Seattle embraced the Nazi Youth as a new generation of hate group has formed

Antisemitic staff walkout over antisemitism exhibit at Seattle museum

The antisemitic staffers claimed they raised concerns about this exhibit in May. Online, they accuse Israel of “violent colonization and imperialism” and declare, “Zionism has no place in our communities.” Translation: “Jews have no place in our communities.”

“We love the Wing Luke Museum and are consistently honored to steward the stories of our community members, many of whom have experienced the destructive harm of white supremacy, genocide and violence that parallels the experience of Palestinians today,” the group posted in a statement. “Our solidarity with Palestine should be reflected in our AA/NHPI institutions. It sets a dangerous precedent of platforming colonial, white supremacist perspectives and goes against the Museum’s mission as a community-based museum advancing racial and social equity.”

They don’t explain which “white supremacist perspectives” were platformed, though they believe Jews are white, so any pro-Israel platform is white supremacist to them. They whine about “Zionist language” in the exhibit. Zionism is the belief that Jews should live on our ancestral land, Israel. Anti-Zionists don’t believe Israel should exist, an antisemitic position.

The group closed comments on its Instagram page to avoid criticism. Like in Gaza with Hamas in charge, you do not question the Jew-haters who declared themselves in charge.

Cowardly museum leadership bows to antisemitism

The antisemitic staffers have demands before they return to work.

Rather than sugarcoat their demands, “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH will translate them: they want language critical of “Palestinian liberation” (including Hamas terrorism) and supportive of Zionism removed; an acknowledgment that the section on antisemitism doesn’t include voices of antisemites justifying terrorism against Israel; a community panel with antisemites to review and edit the exhibit; and more antisemitic voices posturing as pro-Palestinian and anti-racist.

The cowards running the Wing Luke Museum have made some changes due to criticism from their antisemitic staff. But that wasn’t enough. Steve McLean, director of communications for the museum, told the Seattle Times, “Certainly adding voices that may even stand in contrast to some of the voices used in this exhibit, that would be something we are interested in pursuing.”

If the museum adds voices that “stand in contrast” to those featured in the exhibit, it no longer confronts hate. It perpetuates it.

Local media’s pathetic whitewashing of antisemitism

Local media coverage has been predictably pathetic in its whitewashing of the staff hatred.

The Seattle Times offered a story intended to normalize and amplify the hate, even attempting to defend the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea.” KING 5, which has platformed anti-Israel and antisemitic voices since October 7, offered a bare-bones explanation of the protest without any voices condemning the hate.

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Ferguson was upset when two other people with the exact same name legally filed to run for governor. One Ferguson is from Yakima, and the other from Graham. Both insist they were running because they think they’d be better than the Attorney General at running the state.

“It was so stressful with the three Bobs and (Attorney General) Bob Ferguson yelling at me. Oh man, I was so mad,” Hobbs said. “It’s like, I just took it because it’s like, I get it, he’s upset.”

But then Hobbs said he was asked to break the law.

“And then he wanted me to reorder the ballot. I was like, ‘I can’t do it,'” Hobbs said.

The secretary of state said Ferguson responded: “Bull***t! You could push the envelope!”

“No, actually, I can’t do that,” Hobbs said he told Ferguson.

Hobbs’ retelling of the phone call was caught on an open mic. “The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH” has reviewed the audio and Hobbs, through a spokesperson, did not deny the veracity of the quotes.

UPDATE (5/23/24, 10:40 a.m.): On May 23, a spokesperson indicated he did not agree with my characterization that he did not deny the veracity of the quotes, arguing I didn’t offer the full exchange. I then provided the quotes outlined above – three times – and asked if he denied them. He again did not deny their veracity.

More from Jason Rantz: Bob Ferguson using ‘fake’ name in his run for Governor, misstated law to threaten opponent

Why did Bob Ferguson think he could get the Secretary of State to break the law?

Under the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 29A.36.131, the order of candidates appearing on the ballot is determined randomly. The Attorney General Bob Ferguson was not slated to appear first. Concurrently, Ferguson threatened the two other Fergusons, saying if they didn’t drop out of the race, they would face jail time.

The Ferguson campaign, in a statement to the Washington Standard, claimed that Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 434-215-060 allows Hobbs to rearrange the ballot if it would address potential voter confusion. Ferguson claims he would have sued to rearrange the ballot order and that “a judge in Thurston County” would agree with him. He didn’t name the judge.

But Ferguson is wrong on the law, a troubling fact given he’s the Washington state Attorney General. His attorney also made this demand in a letter to Hobbs.

Washington RCW always supersedes the WAC. Hobbs, sniping at Ferguson in an interview with the Washington State Standard, said that “It doesn’t take a first-year law student to know that.”

Consistent with the law, Hobbs reached out to the Ferguson candidates to explain that he would list their occupations next to their names on the ballot in order to mitigate any voter confusion.

More from Jason Rantz: Drama! Governor Jay Inslee slams Bob Ferguson’s ‘brain dead’ ferry plan

Attorney General Bob Ferguson went too far

Ferguson’s angry response to the situation is understandable. But his aggression and willful disregard for the law, insisting a state agency knowingly violate the law, is a step too far. His Democrat opponent, State Senator Mark Mullet, said this incident revealed the Attorney General’s true character.

“I thought the two ‘fake’ Bobs should have withdrawn. I’m glad they did withdraw. I think anything that’s confusing voters isn’t helping in the process. And to me, that was really important. But I was also shocked. I mean, shocked that our Attorney General basically emailed and instructed the Secretary of State to break the law to rearrange the ballot because the law is very clear that the Secretary of State should have listed their professions had the other Bobs not withdrawn,” Mullet told “The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.”

Mullet, a moderate and pro-business and law enforcement Democrat alternative to Ferguson, argued that “asking somebody to break the law for your political advantage was pretty aggressive.”

“But to me, this highlights Bob Ferguson’s character, which is he’s going to do whatever is best for him to get elected,” Mullet said. “And that’s going to be his number one compass. And I think it does speak to his character. And I think it is important for voters to understand that’s how he’s going to operate because he’s already operating that way in trying to get into the office. It’ll just be more of the same that he’s actually in the office. And I think we need to have someone in the governor’s office whose focus isn’t on getting reelected, but is focused on doing what is right. Clearly, it wasn’t right to ask the Secretary of State to rearrange the ballot.”

‘This guy has a long history of doing things like this to people’

Conservative activist Glen Morgan helped the two other Fergusons navigate the filing process to run for governor. He also condemned Ferguson’s unprofessional behavior.

Ferguson argued that the “immediate knee-jerk reaction” of threatening jail time is indicative of a power-hungry politician willing to do anything to get into power. And, he claimed, this is a trend with Ferguson.

“This guy has a long history of doing things like this to people, whether it’s small restaurant owners, or flower shops, or you know, anything else, state workers, state ferry workers. This abusive default, to attack people, particularly people who don’t have the resources to defend themselves. That’s who you’re looking at as the guy running for governor right now. The worst possible tendency of anybody running for office is somebody who has a desire to abuse their position to attack their political enemies, and people who they think are too small, or they don’t have the power to fight back. And that’s exactly what’s been illustrated and exposed in this case.”

Ferguson did not respond to a request for comment.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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The recently revealed lineup is an embarrassment of deficiency; a mirror image of a struggling Seattle.

The struggling summer festival revealed its 2024 lineup and it’s hard to understand what they’re trying to do. Festival organizers managed to find one of the least impressive and most forgettable rock bands of the mid-’90s, Pavement, to be the main headliner. The rest of the lineup is, obviously, no better.

Rounding out the supposedly top tier talent? Cypress Hill (amusing rap group you forgot existed), James Blake (the guy who performed that one song that you can’t remember but you kind of remember his name), Marc Rebillet (who?), and Courtney Barnett (also, who?).

What happened to Bumbershoot Seattle lineup?

Once the pride of Seattle, Bumbershoot has struggled with mismanagement, exorbitant costs, and a devastating pandemic hiatus. Attempts at revival—like slashing ticket prices and reducing event days—have failed miserably.

AEG took over from One Reel, providing big names but was ultimately too costly for average fans to attend. Coupled with mismanagement and sky-high high production costs, it could not survive the COVID-19 pandemic, even if it was a mostly outdoor festival.

Ultimately, Bumbershoot took a three year hiatus only to return in 2023 with cheaper ticket prices, one fewer day, and little fan interest in headliners Sleater-Kinney, Fatboy Slim, and the Dandy Warhols. The hiatus should have been permanent.

More from Jason Rantz: Progressive candidate upset he isn’t running unopposed, makes up candidate

It’s time to let this music festival come to an end

There’s nothing redeeming about the 2024 lineup. The $70 single day pass, which is even lower than 2023’s discount, still seems too high based on the lineup.

I understand that insufferable elitist music critics may enjoy the lineup. Michael Rietmulder from The Seattle Times even called it a “knockout.” People like this revel in claiming to appreciate things most people don’t, thinking it makes them seem evolved and cultured. It doesn’t. They’re just blowhards.

The glory days of Bumbershoot was when you’d pay whatever the price happened to be for a single day because you’d spend that much on one or two of the headliners alone (Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Ellie Goulding).

Bumbershoot was worth it even if you were forced to suffer through crummy, subpar acoustics of the then-Key Arena because you got to see M83 or Heart.

And rather than focus exclusively on local bands with no shot of ever growing but were cheap enough to book so you can say you have local flair, there was more booking discernment (Secret Weapons, Watsky, Børns, Saint Claire, and Noah Gunderson).

It’s okay to let traditions go. Some need to die. Bumbershoot 2024 is a disservice to its legacy. It’s time to let this once-great festival rest in peace. At this point, it’s cruel to watch it painfully become so irrelevant.

More from Jason Rantz: UW Seattle activists say their First Amendment rights threatened by speaker they don’t like

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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“We are totally new here in the country,” Daniel Vingo exclusively told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, explaining that many migrants seeking asylum neither understand why they’re protesting, nor the legal repercussions of doing so.

“I’m saying as an asylum seeker, you must know that we don’t know much here, how things work here, so I can’t go somewhere to protest, protest, protest. Before the protest, I must know my rights,” Vingo continued.

While Vingo said he wasn’t judging the organizations, and that he’s grateful for help and support, he believes they must do a better job explaining to the asylum seekers what they’re doing and why.

More from Jason Rantz: Washington Dems diverted $460M to illegal immigrants into 2023

Why does asylum seeker believe activists are taking advantage of them?

After funding ran out to house hundreds of migrants at a hotel in Kent, Seattle-area housing activists transported them to a Seattle park declaring they would not leave until they received more funding. This was the second stunt organized by activists on behalf of the migrants. Many of the activists keep their identity private, covering their faces during the stunts so they’re not recorded on video by local media outlets.

Vingo worries that many of the migrants “don’t know better” and simply agree to comply with activist plans.

“I have friends who are participating in those protests. And when I ask them, ‘Why are you going?’ they say, ‘We are just protesting because they (activists) say we must go.’ Okay, I’m not judging that,” Vingo said, adding that he’s worried someone could be deported for violating the law during one of the protests.

While Vingo said that everyone has a right to protest, he thinks activist organizers “must explain to people what they are doing because we are asylum seekers. We cannot just go and do some stuff like that. I’m afraid because it can affect my status here.” He said he doesn’t personally feel taken advantage of because he understands the process.

The latest park occupation was mostly successful. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell agreed to fund the migrants’ hotel stay in Kent through June 30, despite previously saying the funds have run out. This likely means activists will convince vulnerable migrants to illegally occupy another park on July 1.

Why are migrants coming to the Seattle area?

Vingo is one of the hundreds of local migrants seeking asylum and he likely qualifies. He said he fled to the United States from the region of Cabinda, where his freedoms were at risk because of his political activism calling for independence from Angola. Political persecution is a qualifying determination for asylum seekers.

The political activist crossed the border between Mexico and California, leaving his family behind in Cabinda as they’ve not been subject to the consequences of his own activism. He said he spent only two days in detention and was released without turning over much information, including why he was crossing illegally. He said they just asked for basic biographical information, like his name and signed paperwork acknowledging the asylum-seeking process.

“For me, it was a surprise, not asking me questions,” Vingo said, noting he did eventually provide this information post-detention.

Vingo, like many others, made his way to Tukwila because he heard, via a friend, that the Riverton Park United Methodist Church was housing and assisting asylum seekers. Both King County and the state of Washington offer protections to people in this country illegally, regardless of whether or not they have legitimate claims of asylum.

More from Jason Rantz: Coming Clean About Illegal Immigration

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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The Nazi label is not hyperbolic; it is a sobering reflection of how history will repeat itself when hate is allowed to flourish unchecked. And at the UW and other campuses, hate is flourishing. The students’ single-minded fanaticism and refusal to engage with differing viewpoints mirror the indoctrination of the Nazi Youth, who were trained to follow a destructive ideology without question. It explains why you have imbeciles carrying “Gays for Palestine” signs. Today’s Nazis are ensnared in an echo chamber, where any dissenting opinion is met with hostility or outright violence.

This new generation of Nazi activists employs a dangerous combination of hateful rhetoric, intimidation, violence and fringe ideological purity reminiscent of the darkest chapters of history. Ironically, the threat comes from the very activists who claimed they were fighting a “literal fascist” in former president Donald Trump. But this rise of a new Nazi Youth is deeply alarming, especially for Jewish Seattleites and UW students.

Just because they’re not currently rounding up Jews for slaughter doesn’t mean they get to escape the moniker of Nazi. I can’t think of anything positive that can come from a group cheerleading Hamas.

More from Jason Rantz: UW Seattle gave barriers to Antifa to keep Jews out of Liberated Zone

Shouldn’t we call these UW student activists what they are? They’re a new generation of Nazi Youth

The demonization of an entire country of people is strikingly similar to the propaganda used by the original Nazis.

UW campus activists commonly crossed the line from what they pretend is “criticizing Israeli policies” to outright violent antisemitism. Their chants always include language that call for the end of Israel. “We don’t want two-state, we want 1948” and “from the river to the Sea, Palestine will be free” are unambiguous despite phony protestations otherwise. Maybe Seattle media members can follow up with a clarifying question or two? Perhaps they can find out if calling for a “global intifada” isn’t about violence against Israel, then what is it about?

Jews or Zionists, the codeword Nazi Youth use to avoid being explicitly antisemitic, are regularly demonized and dehumanized as genocidal baby killers and colonizers. Meanwhile, terrorists with Hamas are labeled “freedom fighters” and the “resistance.” That Hamas murdered actual babies, raped women, murdered innocent civilians and took scores of hostages doesn’t seem to matter to these new Nazis. They either ignore the inconvenient truth about the terrorists they’re rooting for, or they pretend it’s part of a Jewish media lie.

Rantz exclusive: UW professor assaulted at autonomous Liberated Zone as admin keeps cops away

Assault and vandalism at UW is driven by a hatred of Jews

The intimidation tactics employed by these students, staff, and outside agitators also draw a direct line to the UW Nazi Youth.

Just as the Nazi Youth were trained to suppress dissent violently, today’s UW Nazis sought to silence any opposition through aggressive disruption or stalking and assaulting. Jewish UW students reported feeling unsafe, not just because of the content of the protests, but because of the hostile environment created around them. But Cauce did nothing. She didn’t want to upset the Nazis, even though it would inevitably escalate.

And that’s what happened last week when UW Nazis vandalized the campus en masse. One of the messages? “Save a life. Kill your local colonizer.” The messages were so vile, even Cauce was finally forced into calling it antisemitic. But that’s all she did to condemn the UW Nazi Youth.

Rather than clear the UW Liberated Zone encampment, she again politely asked the Nazis to leave voluntarily. In Seattle, we don’t call police on Nazis. We just label police the Nazis and then wonder why no one wants to be a cop here.

Negotiating with UW Nazi Youth

We do, apparently, negotiate with Nazis. At least college presidents do.

Cauce’s recent decision to come to an agreement with activists occupying the quad is a particularly shameful episode in this saga. But given her track record and far-left views, we shouldn’t be shocked.

Rather than standing firm against the tactics of intimidation, Cauce chose to appease the protesters, effectively endorsing their hateful rhetoric. This capitulation undermines the university’s claim to being a place of learning and open debate. It sends a scary message that bullying and occupation are effective strategies to achieve political ends.

Cauce came to an agreement with the Nazi Youth so that they would agree to end the encampment. The United Front for Palestinian Liberation, a local chapter of a hate club of privileged college kids unhappy with their barista gigs and in search of meaning, earned five concessions from Cauce and the UW.

One of the concessions is that the UW will review changes to its study abroad program so that the college cuts ties with Israel. The Nazi Youth claim the new programs will “exclude participation from students from specific countries or communities, including Palestinian or other Arab students.” They think this covers Israel, though it doesn’t. Calling a country an “apartheid state” doesn’t mean it is one. But “apartheid” may be one of the words the Radical Left has redefined — like “woman.”

Another concession: UW waive tuition for at least 20 displaced Palestinian students from Gaza. This will definitely end well.

Thankfully, sometimes antisemitism is boring

Of course, the Nazi Youth aren’t happy with the concessions. United Front students released a press statement to say they “are under no illusions that this agreement is a win.”

“Many of our demands remain unfulfilled as the UW has shown clear reluctance to make even the smallest progress towards reducing our complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” according to the statement. In other words, they got a bit bored and didn’t want to keep pretending they were living in the encampment, especially since so many unvetted, creepy adults in the greater new Nazi movement moved in.

The activists claimed that they would never leave until there was a “Free Palestine.” But do you know how tiresome and expensive it was to drive to their parents’ homes in Kirkland, Edmonds and Sammamish after their Jew-hating meet-up sessions at the encampment? They never lived there. Many of the tents were empty; it was a part of their performative political expression. The only camping most of the student activists would do is glamping.

More from Jason Rantz: Seattle homeless man groped himself by ‘Free Gaza’ hacked sign

Are all these Nazis fueled by hate?

While there’s undoubtedly pure antisemitism within the movement of the new generation of Nazi, they’re not all driven by hate. Many of them just have no clue what they’re talking about, taken advantage of by bigots.

It’s hard to not consider some of the Nazi Youth activists victims of their own ignorance. Do you think they can define apartheid and then apply it to Israel? Can they explain what a genocide actually is? Could they truly defend their support of Hamas? Of course not.

It’s Gaza that is unwelcome to Jews, not Israel unwelcome to Palestinians. If Israel wanted to commit a “genocide,” they’d probably be less targeted in their strikes and they probably wouldn’t warn civilians of their military targets. Us Jews are usually pretty efficient; this would be uncharacteristically inefficient of us. And no, they have no good answer for why they support Hamas rapists and bigots who throw LGBT people from rooftops.

These activists don’t even have real Jews in their lives. Their bestie from Jewish Voices for Peace is representative of the majority of the group: they’re Gentiles, not Jews. Of the members who are actual Jews, most are self-loathing and grew up culturally Jewish but never even had a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah. They represent a fraction of a fraction of the Jewish community, though you wouldn’t know that based on how much media time they’re given. (KING 5 is especially egregious at this; they’re the local news network for the new Nazis and they routinely focus the attention on Jewish voices that don’t come close to representing a Jewish viewpoint.)

The good news is that education can change the ignorant members of the new Nazi Youth. But they can still do a lot of damage between now and their willingness to read a history book.

Breaking my rule

Throughout my entire radio career, I steadfastly avoided labeling anyone I disagreed with a “Nazi.” In fact, I consistently called out those who used such rhetoric to demonize their opponents.

This stance became a guiding principle for me. Using Holocaust imagery or calling someone a Nazi cheapens the horrific suffering Jews endured. It’s particularly off-putting to me as a Jew. My go-to response to such accusations was, “When you find people who genuinely want to genocide the Jewish people, I’ll join you.”

But now, I’m breaking that rule because it’s relevant and the most accurate descriptor of what these activists believe and promote. Disagreement on a political issue doesn’t make one a Nazi — unless the political issue becomes Israel’s right to exist and defend against terrorists.

I don’t take any pleasure in calling people Nazis. It still feels wrong. Yet, I know that if I don’t use my platform to call out this hate — and those like Cauce who legitimize it — I won’t enjoy what will happen to me as a Jew.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz