Clark County is going to learn a horrific lesson on loot rail.

For readers not keeping up with the Sound Transit light rail insanity, a brief history:

Nine years ago, without reading the fine print on HOW they were going to pay for it (massive increases in tab fees, mainly) voters in the Sound Transit district, apparently overcome by fentanyl smoke, voted to hand the district $54 billion for a promised expansion of 62 miles.

Not long ago, the Mafia chieftain running Sound Transit, former King County Executive Dow "I never met a tax increase I didn't love" Constantine came out publicly and finally spoke the heretofore obvious and well known, but never mentioned, truth.

An additional amount of money was going to be needed to complete the promised expansion project... as much as $30 billion more.

And how they intend to do it?

At this point, the plan is to jack up a 1% property tax increase... with an actual result of a 3.8% increase, even though they're limited to 1%.

Having used the camel's-nose-under-the-tent-flap approach to get this rip off passed by the voters... this time, there will be no vote.

Governments typically don't seek voter approval for any tax increase for fear of voters saying "no."

Now, unlike the loot rail scam being rammed down our throats here locally, Sound Transit at least asked initially. No one is asking us if we want this insanity.

The reason I mention the Sound Transit debacle is simple.

THAT will be the blueprint for how we get screwed here.

WHATEVER number the scum running the IBR ultimately come up with?

Don't believe it.

There WILL be massive budget shortfalls for this scam, as even now, Oregon has loaded that garbage up like Christmas Tree, major improvements such as new cars they'll be running through THEIR system, paid for by mainly the tolls Washington residents have to shell out to go to work and then return.

And when those shortfalls hit?

Guess who's going to pay for it? And how?

Sound Transit is showing us. $14 billion or $17 billion for the cross river, loot rail scam or whatever the final number they claim may be?

Don't believe it.

And even now, if you do the math?

Including the most recent cost scams for light rail in Seattle?

The idiots who voted for THEIR rip off are now being shown the INTERIM true cost of this expansion.
Expect that number to continue to skyrocket.

Divide 62 miles into $54 billion. That figure will get you the cost per mile promised to get that scam approved by the voters. In short, the promised cost even then was $871 million per mile.

Add the possible $30 billion to that number, billions voters will have zero say over, and what do you get? $1.355 billion. ( a number that will go much high than even the $30 billion)

Per mile.

And we all already know that getting the deadly fungus of Portland loot rail across the river is just phase one. After that, the leftists will start demanding expansion in Clark County for a system we do not want, do not need and cannot afford.

And they will do their best to expand that scam without asking us. Or if they DO ask us?

They'll use the Washington State Supreme Court method of lying to get initial approval while they dramatically understate the costs; only to, again, like Sound Transit is now, jack up the costs later and force us to pay the increases.

Speaking of loot rail Sound Transit and our own bridge replacement around here...

By now, most reading this are aware that 1. The voters of the Sound Transit district screwed themselves by voting FOR a $54 billion bond to extend the current worthless insanity of the loot rail system that now needs a 62-mile extension... which is what the initial 62-mile extension promised, and

2. It turns out NOW that Sound Transit admits to a likely shortfall of as much as a paltry additional $40 billion more to accomplished what they stupidly promised for $54 billion a mere 9 years ago.
Which around here locally reflects the lies we've been told for a decade about what the I-5 loot rail project/bridge replacement scam is supposed to cost, a number now projected to be as much as $17 billion, more than doubling the costs of this unneeded, unwanted and unaffordable rip-off designed to infest Clark County with the repeatedly-rejected-by-voters light rail rip off.

But I digress.

On November 9, 2016, I wrote the following when I discovered the nimrods in the Sound Transit area voted for that insanity.

https://clarkcountypolitics.blogspot.com/2016/11/sound-transit-voters-agree-to-waste-54.html

"I'm struggling to understand it. This is a MASSIVE waste of money that will, if history has judged... accomplish absolutely nothing except to enrich the special interests, set up a series of under-funded projects that will make the $54 billion look like a parking ticket by the time these clowns are done screwing these people... and when the system is built... it will make ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE."

(one of many articles about this scam here at the link:)

Weird, isn't it? I'm just a local yokel nobody. How did *I* know what the politicians supporting this stupidity apparently, did NOT know?

Does ANYONE believe that once this insane waste of money begins construction, that whatever lie of a number they actually come up with to pay for this insane project will not any closer to the promised number than Sound Transit as a percentage of the promised cost?

Almost exactly like the Sound Transit scam?

But the Supreme Court of this state decided that campaign lies are perfectly OK.

https://clarkcountypolitics.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-quick-reminder-our-state-supreme.html

"The best remedy for false or unpleasant speech is more speech, not less speech," Johnson wrote. "The importance of this constitutional principle is illustrated by the very real threats to liberty posed by allowing an un-elected government censor like the PDC to act as an arbiter of truth."

Where Justice Johnson blew it, of course, is where he referred to "lying speech," as "unpleasant speech."

Which causes one to ponder: if you make financial decisions on information provided by alleged "trustworthy source," i.e. government, and the end result is you lose billions of dollars, I would venture to say the campaign of lies used to gain approval for that funding is a great deal more than "unpleasant speech."

In fact... I would venture to say that such a result would be outright fraud.

Candidates and government at all levels rightfully viewed that decision an INVITATION to lie, cheat, or exaggerate, or all 3.

After all, the Supreme Court of this state TOLD them it was OK and there's no accountability.

After all, under those conditions?

Why wouldn't they?

Is it time to stop listening to the talking heads?

One of the reasons I stopped listening to talking heads of either side is the last thing I need is to be told what to think.

Back in 2016, I remember all the talking heads telling us Trump was going to get flattened in the election against Hillary.

99% of the talking heads were wrong about that.

Months before the election, I had concluded Trump would win.

So, on election night, I'm sitting there, watching TV coverage as they were proven wrong and I asked myself: why do I listen to any of these people since I obviously knew more than any of them?

I don't care what The View thinks. I don't care what Sean Hannity thinks. I don't care what CNN says. I don't care what FOXNews says. I don't watch any of them.

And I certainly don't care what Tucker Carlson says.

Maybe.... just maybe... it's time to throw off the yoke of programming... being told what to think, when and how to think it, and what to do about it.

Stop being lazy. Do the heavy lifting.

Think for yourselves.

Try it sometimes. I know it can be hard. I know, particularly in this AI era that you don't know what to believe, that even your own eyes can betray you.

But being told what to think/believe by others who are only concerned about their own agenda has led to the most divided country since 1865.

It is time to stop the insanity. And for those who understandably claim some version of dislike for politics, let me leave you with this somewhat modified axiom:

"You may not be interested in politics.... But politics is most definitely interested in you."

I oppose the expansion of VA benefits bill, HR 6047: the devil is in the details.

Weeellll…. I knew this was going to happen.

I am steadfastly opposed to the latest expansion of veteran’s benefits, aka HR 6047.

Even though it’s a Republican bill, I agree with the democrats who voted in opposition to it in committee.

Why?

Because the devil is in the details.

A lot of veterans were excited over expansion of the VA bill to include personnel who had not set foot in Vietnam to become eligible for Agent Orange benefits if they had, for example, come into contact with it as a part of their job outside Vietnam proper, this is typically called expanding the Agent Orange coverage and benefits to the “Blue Water Navy”

For example, personnel on aircraft carriers where missions were flown over Vietnam.

When aircraft returned, they’d frequently be covered in Agent Orange dust… dust the deck crews would clean off the planes.

The contact would be the same. The cancers would be the same. The birth defects would be the same. Even though they may have never physically set foot in-country.

As a retired Veterans Service Officer who worked to get vets connected to VA benefits, I knew that expansion was necessary. And I was for it, until…

Then, a few years later, along came the Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act of 2025

This act was mainly aimed at increasing, improving educational opportunities and scope of educational opportunities for veterans and their families in areas of assistance, housing benefits, inclusion of trade schools like CDL schools and the like, again a worthwhile expansion which I again supported, until…

And now, we’re confronted with yet ANOTHER expansion of VA benefits, H.R.6047, officially named the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, Which expands benefits for “catastrophically” disabled veterans their families and survivors. The bill increases in financial support for benefits that have not been increased “significantly” in decades, including a $10,000 per year increase for those receiving “special military compensation,” again a laudable goal, well deserved and one I could support until…

All three of these efforts, which the sponsors and supporters, including, naturally, the major veteran’s organizations such as the VFW, the Vietnam Veterans of America and the like all support, will set about to brag about their lobbying efforts to make this bill happen.

On the surface, these bills are easy to support. But when the Representatives go home and start bragging about these efforts, there’s one element you can bet they won't be bragging about:

How it’s paid for.

What all THREE of these bills have in common is that these increases will be paid for by veterans and veterans alone.

HR 6047 is funded by eliminating the VA home loan funding fee exemption for disabled veterans with ratings of 70% or below when they use their VA loan benefit for a second or subsequent home purchase. This change is intended to cover the estimated $10 billion cost of increasing benefits for severely disabled veterans and their survivors over the next decade.

The same veterans groups that sold us out on the expansion of Agent Orange benefits bill and The Dole VA Improvement Act are also selling us out on this bill.

Until now, if you had a service-connected disability or any kind, you were exempt from a substantial amount of the VA loan fees. For those veterans without disabilities, those fees were increased to cover the cost of the Agent Orange Expansion Bill, with a sunset clause of 2031.

When the Dole Bill passed, the sunset was extended to 2034.

And now, with this bill, even if you have substantial disabilities equal to 70%, you get no discount at all.

I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree but I am detecting a pattern here.

Now, at the outset, these bills do not impact me in the least.

Yet.

But they WILL impact millions of new veterans trying to get home loans in an increasingly out of control housing market cost, making it even LESS affordable for the veterans we have now and those following along behind us.

If these bills have merit, and it would seem that they do… then why are ONLY VETERANS PAYING FOR IT???

Why are we sending billions to foreign countries like Ukraine and Israel for their militaries… but we have to nickel and dime our veterans here?

As merited as these bills are, I did not support the first two and will not support this one if veterans are forced to bear the burden of the costs of these expansions.

Veterans are veterans. And now, this is becoming a dual class of veteran (until they eliminate any veteran housing benefit altogether to pay for some other bright idea fairy debacle) where there are the haves and have nots.

This is not fair. It is not just. It is not right.

Veterans should not be forced to pay for benefits that should be the responsibility of the entire taxpaying public we died or were injured defending.

I knew after the Agent Orange expansion that they would keep coming back to this convenient well to rip off veterans for benefits the general fund should be paying for. And it saddens me I was right.

BOTH sides of the aisle should know better, not just the democrats who opposed this bill in committee.

Find some other way to pay for it or don’t do it at all, because eventually, you’ll run out of benefits to take away to pay for these new programs.

Newspapers believe we have to give them taxpayer money. Conflict of interest, anyione?

The Seattle Times, which is to political fairness what concrete is to cottage cheese, is demanding a bail out of state taxpayer dollars... of $24 million.... to start... but we all know, of course, that number will climb higher and faster as long as they continue to play ball with those in the legislature cutting the checks. .

How could it not?

Such a bill would cement the obvious fringe-left bias of most every newspaper in the state.

How is it REMOTELY possible to continue the charade of impartiality the media is SUPPOSED to have (but which we all know, have long since given up even the APPEARENCE of in either their articles or their editorials) when those they cover are cutting 8 figure checks to buy their cooperative coverage?

Wasn't it democrat Lyndon Johnson who once famously said that, "...down in Texas, once we buy a politician, he stays bought?"

And these news outlets supposed to benefit from this corruption would be any different?

It isn't. This is nothing but progressive advertising, paid for by OUR money, cash on the barrel head, under the guise of news.

Leftist bias in this state's major media is both well-known and undeniable. This is a guarantee it will stay this way.
How can any media outlet accept taxpayer money without supporting those who gave them the cash?

These scum want taxpayer money to continue to pump out leftist propaganda at taxpayer expense!

And this Seattle Times article expects us to go along with it?

What other business get taxpayer money to stay in business in this state? Bakeries? Car washes? Grocery stores? What?

Why is it OK for leftist propaganda organs but no one else?

We don't need biased local news in this state. We have enough of this garbage as is, and the costs to buy their products are OBSCENE.

Keep an eye on SB5400, the buy local media with taxpayer money bill.

If you can't compete with other news sources, then close down. If you have to shut down because you can't steal our money to run your "for profit" democrat PR arm?

You won't be missed. And proof of that is how have we survived without the Seattle Post Intelligencer, which went under several years ago, save for a website? Not only NO, but HELL no. Not a penny. This is NOT why we pay taxes to the Washington Soviet, and they waste enough of our money as is.