State government is getting merry AF in Olympia

Gov. Bob Ferguson wants a tax hike on AI and the ultra-rich for Christmas. 🤖🧐 He also wants to see billions more in IOUs to fix bridges and roads as his budget knife hovers over childcare and climate investments. Meet the Bob Ferguson of '26. 🛣️ washingtonobserver.substack.com/p/ferguson-r...

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them,” - Dune by Frank Herbert

The short-lived Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act is coming to an end: Any wildfire-related settlement payments beginning in 2026 will again be subject to federal income taxes. via @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

After rising to prominence as a rebel against the establishment, Sen. Ted Cruz is now a vocal champion of some longtime orthodox GOP positions, as a new generation of conservatives is ascending with a different vision.

Little kid in a bookstore: “This isn’t even CLOSE to words!”

Whataboutism is a helluva drug.

Very disappointed in the new Nebula Award eligibility information from SFWA that allows partially-generated works to be on the ballot. See 9.11.2. www.sfwa.org/complete-neb... This shouldn't be difficult. #noAI

SCOOP: Big Fruit, a tribal elder, and the wide open race for a U.S. House seat might all be linked to a dark money pile we at The WA Observer sniffed out. 💸 🗳️ Those big bucks may decide whether Central WA sends a MAGA Republican to Congress. #waleg washingtonobserver.substack.com/p/the-names-...

Donald Trump announces the ‘Patriot Games' It's an 'unprecedented four-day athletic event' with 'one young man and one young woman from each state and territory'

Lawmakers are leaving for the holidays without a health care deal, guaranteeing higher insurance rates for millions come January. “We’ll deal with it in January,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters.

Some days I have to remind myself that Lego literally sold Lego Nazis in my lifetime.

Breaking news: Moderate House Republicans join Democrats to force a vote on ACA subsidies, which are likely to expire. Speaker Mike Johnson had refused to allow a vote, provoking the strongest rebellion among Republicans from swing districts to date.

You think the ☀️ is coming back? Worried we pissed it off.

Dick Van Dyke is officially too old for Legos.

SCOOP: Dark money from the right just made landfall in WA per a six-figure check written out to the state GOP's top ballot initiative machine. 🍨💸 What would a certain someone(s) from Tennessee have to gain from our elections?... 🤔🗳️ #waleg washingtonobserver.substack.com/p/new-shadow...

The way I understand it, companies pay YouTube to show us ads. Then we pay YouTube not to show them. How is this economy still going?

“What will replace unions? Unions.” - Paul Krugman

Dick Van Dyke was born before sliced bread was a thing in 1928.

All my recent books went from hardcover to trade paperback and almost all of my backlist in mass market has now migrated to trade. The role of mass market paperbacks is now handled almost entirely by ebooks. I'm okay with this but it is the end of an era. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Even the baby animal videos are AI slop now. What hell is this?

Just find 100 billion of these guys and *poof* instant billionaire. 💵🤴👸

The additional 16 gender-neutral stalls aren’t replacing other options for lawmakers and capitol attendees who prefer to use sex-segregated stalls or individual bathrooms. Single-stall units to accommodate disabilities or families with small children also remain.

Shameful that @opb.org has 25 year employees having trouble making ends meet, while leadership make multiple six-figure salaries. How is this acceptable?

Democrats have a taxing session ahead of them in both Washingtons, but is this one in the market for an income tax? The budget crunch could pop that question. Again. 💸 🗳️ Plus Seattle's socialist mayor paid it forward to the bank of Mom & Dad. #waleg washingtonobserver.substack.com/p/does-an-in...

Next Tues., Olympia City Council's slated to vote on new tenant protections: Social security numbers no longer required (other ID ok), solo applicants wouldn't have to make 2.5 times rent (combined income could count), among other changes.

So long as the War on Drugs is still on, what’s the argument against random drug tests for electeds — e.g. members of Congress? The White House? The Supreme Court?

…

Talked to one guest at our @washingtonobserver.bsky.social Re-Wire conference in Tacoma who suggested maybe if WA State wants to balance the budget, it should sell off the million dollar monuments at the Capitol. Feeding kids or George Washington busts, you know?

PSA: Re-Wire is going down! This is not a drill!

What a beautiful day in Tacoma for a politico comic con! (Aka Re-Wire) We at the Washington Observer are ready to chat housing, healthcare, politics, and energy with our public servants! open.substack.com/pub/washingt...

Books are power charges for your brain.

‘Zombie’ electricity projects in Britain face axe to ease quicker grid connections www.theguardian.com/business/202...

A proposed data center complex in southeastern New Mexico would need to generate as much electricity as the state’s largest utility, and would emit more greenhouse gases than Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined via @sourcenm.com sourcenm.com/2025/12/05/d...

BREAKING: WA state Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, has announced she is running for King County Exec. Girmay Zahilay’s county council seat. Saldaña notably passed the HEAL Act, which directed state agencies to help cut pollution in underserved communities and close health disparities. #waleg

'Tis the season to take a gander at what your tax money is doing in Olympia. That's right, Re-Wire is here! 🎊 There's time to join us as we (politely) grill our public servants about the trials + tribulations in the Legislature. 🥂 🗳️ #waleg washingtonobserver.substack.com/p/our-re-wir...

This is what our tax money is paying for.

Good stories don’t change the world. They change you.

The only way a drug cartel goes out of business is if people stop buying drugs.

Candy corn is just plain awful.

Good government means grilling your electeds every so often to see what they're up to with YOUR 💸: e.g. Re-Wire. 🗳️ We at the WA Observer are throwing our usual shindig in the City of Destiny. And we need YOU to help us send out 2025 with a bang. 🥂🎊 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

What is Gov. Bob Ferguson's Plan A to backfill the state's budget gap? Sink the budget knife into everyone but the ultra-rich. 🔪💵 The 1st-term Democrat's given the cold shoulder to tax hikes ahead of Decision '26, a wealth tax included. 🗳️ washingtonobserver.substack.com/p/ferguson-s...

This decision by OPB makes zero sense. The work that @leahsottile.bsky.social and @ryanjhaas.bsky.social have done in the two seasons of HUSH has been excellent and so important.

One thing pollsters should disclose when it comes to economic sentiment is who handles finances in the household.