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Military Surveillance Plane Has Been Circling Seattle for Weeks and Nobody Knows Why

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For the past two weeks the residents of Seattle have been witnessing a very strange occurrence. Day after day, a nondescript aircraft has been flying circles over their city, and the government hasn’t fully explained why it’s in the area. It’s been identified as a CN-235, and its only marking is an Air Force serial number. What we do know about the aircraft is that it is decked out with highly advanced surveillance equipment.

The heavily modified USAF CASA CN-235-300 transport aircraft was outfitted with elaborate information-gathering hardware, described in all of its apparent detail by the Drive. The aircraft’s callsign is SPUD21, and was in the air as recently as Friday on one of its patrols. Its equipment includes microwave and ultra-high frequency satellite communications gear, as well as a multitude of cutting-edge sensors. It is unmarked, save for the USAF serial on its tail: 66042. SPUD21 flies its missions out of Boeing Field, operating via Clay Lacy Aviation, rather than Boeing’s military ramp.

According to The Drive, it’s equipped with tools that you wouldn’t expect (or probably want) to find on a military aircraft circling a major US city.

Above all else, these types of surveillance systems are especially good at capturing and monitoring so called “patterns of life” over and around a target area. This is an especially useful tool when collecting intelligence on an enemy target or group of targets over time and can open up new possibilities when it comes to the process of finding, fixing and finishing the enemy.

Though it has an Air Force serial number, it’s been difficult to pin down which government agency is operating the plane. The Drive contacted all of the usual suspects including NORTHCOM, Joint Task Force North, the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. None of them would give a straight answer.

Despite denying it initially, eventually AFSOC confessed to owning the plane and claimed that it was engaged in a training mission. However, AFSOC was still pretty tight lipped about the mission. “They would not elaborate or did not know what unit the aircraft belonged to specifically or exactly what type of training it was doing and who else was involved.”

At this point, “training” sounds like a poor excuse. If it was something that innocent, why didn’t the military admit it right away? There’s no reason to hide something like that. Which has to make you wonder if this strange plane is really on a training mission, or if something very serious is going down in Seattle. (For more from the author of “Military Surveillance Plane Has Been Circling Seattle for Weeks and Nobody Knows Why” please click HERE)

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Homosexual Seattle Mayor Says He Won’t Resign Following Sexual Abuse Allegations

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Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said he will not resign from office following calls from city leadership to do so.

Murray made the announcement Monday, stating “We do not need the sort of abrupt and destabilizing transition that a resignation would create.”

Calls for the city’s first openly gay mayor’s resignation came after four men, one of them his foster son, claimed Murray sexually abused them as teenagers in the 1980s.

Four city councilmembers issued a statement of their own, following Murray’s announcement Monday afternoon.

(Read more from “Homosexual Seattle Mayor Says He Won’t Resign Following Sexual Abuse Allegations” HERE)

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Poo-Litically Correct Lunacy Leaves Big Stink

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Just outside the King County Superior Court in Seattle, the sidewalks are drenched in human urine and covered in excrement . . .

Naturally, two judges asked the city to power-wash the sidewalks and clean up some of the filth around the courthouse.

But one county councilmember is reportedly opposed to washing the soiled streets, the Times reports, because it could be racially insensitive.

King County Councilmember Larry Gossett “said he didn’t like the idea of power-washing the sidewalks because it brought back images of the use of hoses against civil-rights activists,” according to the Times.

Upon learning of Gossett’s complaint, National Review’s Katherine Timpf wrote: “Now, I’m not trying to diminish the struggles of civil-rights activists, but Gossett’s concern here is nothing short of insane. I mean, seriously — who even thinks of such a thing? I see people power-washing bodily fluids off of the streets of New York City (including streets outside of courthouses) all the time, and I have not once seen any of them being called racist. … What else are you going to do — not wash them? Because I really, really reject the idea that leaving sidewalks covered with human bodily waste is the less offensive move in this (or any) situation.”

(Read more from “Poo-Litically Correct Lunacy Leaves Big Stink” HERE)

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Seattle Approves Income Tax on the Wealthy

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The Seattle City Council unanimously approved an income tax on wealthy residents Monday, a move widely expected to draw a quick legal challenge.

The measure applies a 2.25 percent tax on total income above $250,000 for individuals and above $500,000 for married couples filing their taxes together.

“Seattle should serve everyone, not just rich folks,” software developer Carissa Knipe told the council before the 9-0 vote, saying she makes more than $170,000 per year . . .

The city estimates the tax would raise about $140 million a year and cost $10 million to $13 million to set up, plus $5 million to $6 million per year to manage and enforce. (Read more from “Seattle Approves Income Tax on the Wealthy” HERE)

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Seattle Passes Massive ‘Job-Killing’ Tax on Sugary Drinks

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Officials in Seattle passed the second largest Soda Tax in the U.S. Monday in an effort to close “the food security gap” and dissuade residents from buying sugary drinks.

The Seattle City Council approved the measure in a 7-1 vote, placing a 1.75 cents per ounce tax on beverages containing sugar. Councilman Tim Burgess, who sponsored the tax after Democratic Mayor Ed Murray proposed the idea in February, argues soda and other drinks are a threat to public health.

“Liquid sugar has zero nutritional benefits,” he said, according to The Washington Post.

The tax will be implemented at the distribution level, meaning that retailers will likely be forced to pass on the extra cost to consumers. It is second only to Boulder, Colo., as the city with the highest soda tax in the U.S.

“The City Council turned its back today on small business owners and working families with this job-killing tax that will drive up costs and further increase income inequality in Seattle,” said a statement from the business coalition Keep Seattle Livable for All. “Those who can afford this tax the least will be hurt the most.” (Read more from “Seattle Passes Massive ‘Job-Killing’ Tax on Sugary Drinks” HERE)

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Fourth Man Accuses Seattle Mayor of Paying Him for Sex

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A fourth man has accused Seattle Mayor Ed Murray of paying him for sex after being introduced to Murray as a teenager.

A Murray spokesman denied the latest allegations, made in a court filing late Tuesday, calling them a “sensational media stunt.” The mayor’s lawyers Wednesday morning redoubled their effort to get a judge to sanction the attorney who submitted the new court filing and is representing another man who filed a lawsuit last month.

The new accuser, 44-year-old Maurice Jones, said in a sworn court declaration he was introduced to Murray by Delvonn Heckard, the Kent man who filed last month’s lawsuit claiming Murray sexually abused him as a teenager in the 1980s.

Jones’ declaration, filed in King County Superior Court, was brief, saying he had been to Murray’s Capitol Hill apartment at an unspecified time and that Murray “gave me money for sex.” (Read more from “Fourth Man Accuses Seattle Mayor Ed Murray of Paying Him for Sex” HERE)

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Gay Seattle Mayor Facing Sexual Abuse Allegations

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Ed Murray led a long campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state, toiled for nearly two decades as a state lawmaker and won his biggest personal political victory in 2013 when he unseated Seattle’s incumbent mayor by promising the ultra-liberal city to raise the minimum hourly wage to $15.

Just as he took on a role as a high-profile critic of President Donald Trump and prepared to launch a re-election campaign, Murray was hit Thursday with a political bombshell — accusations from three men that Murray sexually abused them in the 1980s.

On Friday, Murray held a brief news conference to deny allegations in a lawsuit by one man, saying “they were very painful for me. It was painful for my husband.” Through a spokesman he has also denied the allegations by the other men. (Read more from “Gay Seattle Mayor Facing Sexual Abuse Allegations” HERE)

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Seattle CEO Who Set Firm’s Minimum Wage to $70G Says He Has Hit Hard Times

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The Seattle CEO who reaped a publicity bonanza when he boosted the salaries of his employees to a minimum of $70,000 a year says he has fallen on hard times.

Dan Price, 31, tells the New York Times that things have gotten so bad he’s been forced to rent out his house.

Only three months ago Price was generating headlines—and accusations of being a socialist — when he announced the new salary minimum for all 120 employees at his Gravity Payments credit card processing firm. Price said he was doing it, and slashing his $1 million pay package to pay for it, to address the wealth gap.

“I’m working as hard as I ever worked to make it work,” he told the Times in a video that shows him sitting on a plastic bucket in the garage of his house. “I’m renting out my house right now to try and make ends meet myself.”

The Times article said Price’s decision ended up costing him a few customers and two of his “most valued” employees, who quit after newer employees ended up with bigger salary hikes than older ones. (Read more from “Seattle CEO Who Set Firm’s Minimum Wage to $70G Says He Has Hit Hard Times” HERE)

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Seattle’s Nanny State Is “Deputizing Trashmen as Secret Police” to Snoop Through Wastebins

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If the cops in Seattle want to dig through a city resident’s garbage to look for evidence of a crime, they have to go get a warrant first.

But garbage collectors in Seattle are not only allowed to dig through the trash without a judge’s consent, they’re actually required to do so.

Seattle is on the cutting edge of nanny state-ism with a new citywide ban on throwing any compostable material into the trash, no matter how gross, smelly or disgusting it might be. The city government is serious about this — so serious that they have deputized the trashmen as a sort of secret police who are being ordered to rat on residents’ trash habits to the nannies at Seattle Public Utilities.

If this sounds like an arrangement that violates a whole bunch of amendments to the U.S. Constitution (and the Washington State Constitution too, in the event you’re familiar with it), well, you’re not alone.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm that loves challenging ridiculous government regulations like this one, filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a state judge to shut down the Seattle trash-snooping program. (Read more from “Seattle’s Nanny State Is “Deputizing Trashmen as Secret Police” to Snoop Through Wastebins” HERE)

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Foss Maritime Fights to Host Shell’s Drilling Rigs in Seattle

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downloadFoss Maritime said Friday it plans to appeal the city’s decision that the Port of Seattle needs a new land-use permit to host Royal Dutch Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet at Terminal 5.

Mayor Ed Murray said Monday the Port needs a new permit because the current permit allows for cargo loading and unloading — not for maintaining and supplying oil-drilling rigs.

Foss argues, however, that the current permit for Terminal 5 allows port customers to tie up vessels so goods and cargo can be stored, loaded and unloaded, “which is precisely what Foss is doing at Terminal 5,” the company said in the statement.

The company estimates the appeal process will take months to complete. In the meantime Foss intends to move ahead with its operations at Terminal 5 as Shell prepares for the summer oil-exploration season in Alaska.

“The city’s position is not supported by the plain language of the permit at issue, and will cause long-term harm to the maritime industry as a whole,” Foss said in the release. “This action is akin to the mayor ordering Seattle City Light to cut off all electricity to Amazon on the Friday after Thanksgiving.” (Read more from “Foss Maritime Fights to Host Shell’s Drilling Rigs in Seattle” HERE)

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