We are not putting our survival in danger. Apocalyptic fear mongering about climate change has no basis in science. Those who fan the flames of climate panic are causing real harm.
So says award-winning, highly respected environmental champion Michael Shellenberger. He was named a Time magazine Hero of the Environment. He enjoys international respect. He’s had it with people who exploit climate fears to push political agendas.
He would no doubt roll his eyes were he to attend the meetings of the Jefferson County Board of Health. There you can hear all kinds of fantastical, speculative scenarios being used to lay the groundwork for declaring a “climate emergency. (We’ve written about this in two earlier reports, here and here.)
Everything from drowning communities, uncontrollable forest fires, Biblical natural disasters, lethal contagions, to murderous heat waves. When we will not be expiring from unrelenting heat we will be succumbing to killing cold, and we’ll be fighting massive flooding when we’re not dying from dehydration in permanent droughts–because “climate change” explains everything that can possibly go wrong. And if the dire predictions don’t come true, that is also due to “climate change.”
I put “climate change” in quotes not only to indicate sarcasm but because with all the fabulist, ever-changing climate scenarios there’s just no knowing what this term means any more.
Don’t forget we’ll also be starving to death, because “climate change” will destroy agriculture. The mass migration of “climate refugees” will topple nations and engulf the planet in war.
These images are from the January packet of information presented at the Board of Health’s meeting to justify declaring a “climate emergency.”
Back to Shellenberger.
He’s had it with this stuff. These apocalyptic scenarios are built on lies. Crop yields are not falling; we’re producing 25% more food than the world needs. What Africans need is better distribution and the same agricultural tools–tractors, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation–the developed world enjoys.
We’re terrifying our kids, making them believe their lives are hopeless and doomed, when the planet does not face any existential threat.
We are seeing a huge decline in human deaths due to natural disasters, not an ever-rising body count caused by “climate change” This nonsense about “mass migration” and global population disruptions–well, it is nonsense and made up on the fly by opportunist climate panic exploiters.
Here is his article. Read it for yourself, and better understand why all this talk of a “climate emergency” is really mostly about politicians, their activist allies and bureaucrats grabbing more control over our lives and resources and not about anything based on solid data and science.
Forget facts. Forget failed predictions. Forget the best, most relevant science. Climate fear exploiters are set to ram through a “climate emergency declaration” that will give the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners greater powers to dictate just about every aspect of life in our community, and make everything we do and need much more expensive.
The groundwork is being laid in the Board of Health, on which all county commissioners sit. The charge to declare a fake climate emergency is being spearheaded by County Commissioner Kate Dean and Hospital Commissioner Kees Kolff. Once the Board of Health declares the fake emergency the next step will be having the Board of County Commissioners implement what will no doubt be explained as “emergency measures” to address the fake crisis.
The fears behind any emergency declaration are baseless, a bit dishonest and grounded in something closer to fervent religious belief than an objective, dispassionate consideration of the best available science.
Instead of fear-mongering, these leaders should be celebrating good news on the climate. But it seems that good news is the last thing they want to hear.
Take for instance, the best, most relevant predictions on what would happen in Jefferson County if the theory of man-made catastrophic global warming proves true. (A big “if,” as the computer models predicting disaster by now have repeatedly been proven wrong. See further discussion below).
As we previously reported, the best, most relevant predictions for Jefferson County show we do not face a climate emergency. This conclusion comes from University of Washington atmospheric scientist Dr. Cliff Mass and his team of researchers. They have concluded that climate change poses “no existential threat” to Washington. Jefferson County and the Olympic Peninsula are actually in a “sweet spot” and will see no severe increases in temperatures, no droughts, no significantly increased fire risk and no heightened danger of extreme storms.
But, never mind that good news. It is “Polly Anna,” according to Kolff, who without any scientific foundation for his claim, insists we will see even worse temperature increases than predicted not only by Washington’s preeminent meteorologist, but also by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
At the Heath Board meeting in January, Kolff claimed repeatedly that “99% of scientists” agree with his catastrophic climate predictions. “The consensus is almost unanimous,” he said. But, when faced with contradictory conclusions from Mass and his University of Washington researchers, Kolff breezily acknowledges that there exist “different schools of thought,” and promptly rejects Mass’s work out of hand.
So far nothing has been presented to the Board of Health that contradicts Dr. Mass’s predictions. Nothing has been presented to show that Mass has it wrong. Nothing from the IPCC or the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group addresses as specifically as Mass what is the most likely scenario for western Washington in the context of a climate change analysis.
Mass explains that, due to the cooling Pacific Ocean (underway for decades) temperatures in western Washington will continue to be moderate and will not experience sharp spikes. Kolff dismisses the best science available with the claim that “researchers have shown that people have already died in King County” due to increasing heat waves from climate change.
The fake climate change emergency declaration may rest on falsehoods such as this. King County in recent years has experienced but a single death somewhat connected to heat. That was in July 1999 when heat was ruled merely “a factor” in the death of a 66-year old man who already suffered from hypertensive and artherosclerotic heart disease. On that day, Seattle experienced its hottest day on record, 103 degrees, quite hot for the Pacific Northwest but hardly life-threatening.
Global warming cannot be blamed for a hot day in summer. The hottest day in June in Seattle history was in 1955, decades before global warming became a thing. The hottest August day was in 1960. Washington, particularly the eastern side of the state, suffered through prolonged heat waves in the 1930s, well before global CO2 levels were rising significantly.
That ten-year record for July has not been broken, even though climate fabulists tell us we are experiencing runaway temperature increases right now. Indeed, rather than seeing runaway high temperatures, the Puget Sound this past winter saw record low temperatures. February 2019 was the coldest on record since SeaTac airport started keeping track in 1945.
We have been warned that “snow would be a thing of the past.” Not long ago Gov. Jay Inslee predicted nearly snow-less winters as our state’s future. But February 2019 saw record-breaking snowfall and this year the mountains are again doing well, and winter is still with us.
Never mind facts. Never mind actual data. Kolff, Dean and others are going to get their climate emergency declaration regardless.
Surely news of record cold temperatures should come as relief if one is laying awake worrying we are all going to die from heat waves that will produce desert conditions in the Pac NW.
That last bit you may take as unfair. Kolff, Dean and allies certainly can’t be saying that the Olympic Peninsula will become another Sahara.
But they are. Here is an image from the information packet distributed at January’s Board of Health meeting. This was from a page depicting what climate change will do to our area:No serious scientist has predicted anything like this for the Pacific Northwest, let alone Jefferson County where the predictions are for continued moderate temperatures with increasing precipitation.
There is lots of good news on climate. None of it is welcome by activists and politicians who want to use the excuse of climate panic to boss other people around.
But good news does abound. Snow is not a thing of the past. We are not seeing the predicted global crop failures, endless droughts and famine.
In 1998 the Pentagon commissioned a study on the impact of global warming, examining what would happen if the doomsayers were right. That study, which the military kept secret because it likely would have caused panic, predicted that within twenty years millions–millions-of people would be killed in wars, famines and natural disasters caused by runaway global warming. The world was going to teeter at the edge of anarchy as civilization unraveled and people murdered each other for scarce food and water. A dramatic rise in sea level would drown cities, maybe entire countries. Britain would be trapped in a permanent Siberian winter because global warming was going to interfere with the Gulf Stream.
None of it happened. None. Great news, right?
Not if you want to terrify people so you can grab more power over their lives.
Here’s more good news: CO2 emissions have leveled off. Advanced economies are actually decreasing their CO2 emissions. At a time of historic economic growth, of record low unemployment for Blacks, Hispanics and women, with wages rising for those lowest on the income ladder and manufacturing expanding, when it has attained energy independence and leads the world in production of oil and gas, the United States also led the world in reducing CO2 emissions, cutting its output by 2.9%. Wow.
The sky is not falling. We do not face any climate crisis that would justify an emergency declaration. The only crisis confronting us is one of confidence in our local leaders.
Gary Ridgeway, the Green River killer, raped, tortured and murdered over 48 women. The Port Townsend Womxn’s March wants him, and all other rapists, murderers, child rapists and wife beaters released from prison in the name of women’s rights.
Yup. That’s right, crazy as it sounds. But the Womxn’s March is nothing any more if not crazy.
In reading what follows, please remember that the Port Townsend City Council and the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners have enthusiastically endorsed the PT Womxn’s March, to the point of offically declaring a day of recognition for the group’s efforts.
The Womxn’s March’s primary and longest serving organizer, Emelia De Souza, released on the group’s Facebook page a statement from a local drag queen who calls himself “Golden Powers.” (A weak play on words, alluding to an act most people would find revolting. If you don’t get it, just Google “Golden Powers Drag Queen” and you won’t be long in the dark).
This is how low the PT Womxn’s March has sunk. Its last march drew only a fairly small, low energy group, far below the numbers it attracted when it was the Port Townsend’s Women’s March. As this author observed, at least a third of its marchers were imported and came off the ferry from Whidbey Island.
But back to the Womxn’s March call to release Gary Ridgeway and other very bad, very dangerous, downright evil people.
In the message from Mr. Powers, broadcast by the PT Womxn’s March, he calls for an end to all prisons. “We must see people in prison as humans, advocate for their care, then begin to talk about divestment from prisons.” He goes on to quote Angela Davis, who escaped all but a year in jail for purchasing firearms for a courtroom takeover resulting in the death of four people. Powers likes what she wrote: “[Prison] relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.”
Powers is a genius. He knows what makes killers and rapists tick, and it is, “increasingly,” global capitalism. (As Stalin once decreed, there is no crime under socialsim. Never mind people like Andrei Chikatilo or Yang Xinhai, and we’ll also ignore the tens of millions murdered by anti-capitalists Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Adolph Hitler).
Here’s where Powers, and by endorsement, the PT Womxn’s March, calls for freeing The Green River Killer. He writes: “People in prison are more than a TV show or punchline. Prison abolition is the epicenter of community care. Inmate’s rights are women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, worker’s rights.”
This call for abolition of prisons, Mr. Powers writes, springs from “our feminism.”
The walls the PT Womxn’s March want to bring down separate us from people like Ridgeway, who preyed primarily on sex workers, another group Powers wants the Womxn’s March to champion. Prisons keep off the streets people who kill, rape and rob, and will do so again if they are not behind bars. It is more than a punishment; short of execution, incarceration is the only way to protect the weak, vulnerable and defenseless from monsters like Ridgeway. When Ted Bundy got himself out of prison, what did he do? He bludgeoned to death more young women. If Bundy were alive and able to attend one of the Drag Bingo parties Golden Powers hosts, he’d be there hunting for his next victim.
But, hey, feminism demands the end to imprisonment of rapists and murderers. So says the PT Womxn’s March through its thoughtful spokesperson.
The Women’s March was nonsensical from the beginning. It never stood for anything. It was about venting and throwing a tantrum. It had as its national leaders people who have called for sharia law that oppresses women around the world, who have openly displayed their hatred of Jews, and who participated in the kidnapping, sexual torture and murder of a gay man. Its leaders were friendly with the Nation of Islam, not exactly a force for liberating women. If you doubt what I’m writing, do some research on Linda Sarsour and Donna Hylton.
And now, on our local scene, its voice is that of a man who dresses as a woman and wants Gary Ridgeway again cruising SeaTac’s International Boulevard. Because, after all, putting killers and rapists back on the street is the “epicenter of community care.”
Somewhere in Port Townsend, little dolls of Joe D’Amico are being stuck with hat pins. Or wax Joey Dee miniatures are being cast into coal fires. Or hairs plucked from the back of Joe’s head at the last hearing on his proposed gun range are being woven into triple moons or pentangles or ankhs and wrapped around the necks of frogs.
On November 11, 2019, at 49 minutes to noon, Port Townsend witches will seek to seal shut Joe’s mouth, and numb the fingers of P.J. Sullivan to silence voices that ripple the calm waters of their gauzy world.
They will summon the dark god of silence and doom named Zuckerberg to bring down the dreaded Jefferson County Washington Facebook page.
Get it? 11/11 at 11:11 a.m. A time intentionally selected, as organizers have admitted, for its supernatural powers. To witches and Wiccans, 11 is a master and very spiritual number. The space between the numerals is a portal. As the Wiccan website BlackWitchCoven.org explains, In moments the time, or numbers 11:11 are noticed, one should make a wish and know it will come true. As previously discussed, a connection between the spiritual and physical worlds comes through this portal, so basically anything can be manifested from the spiritual into the physical and the number 11 resonates with this energetic connection. It should be accepted as a confirmation from the universe!
In an open letter to Joe D’Amico, they boast of the power of their “magic” that will bring him to his knees, or at least shut him up. Poor Joe. He’s up against confirmation from the universe!
Joe D’Amico, owner of Security Services Northwest, once one of the largest private employers in Jefferson County (until he was virtually driven out), employs Sullivan as a communications director of sorts. Sullivan writes the Jefferson County Washington FB page posts. Sullivan spent nearly three decades with The Port Townsend and Jefferson County Leader, as reporter and finally its editor. His is the only sometimes hourly source of information in Jefferson County that offers reports throughout the day and evening about car accidents, fires, public hearings, and other developments. The site is followed by over 7,500 people and makes clear it is not the official governmental information outlet of county government, but is “intended to convey what it is like to live, work and play in Jefferson County.” The site provides a link to the official Jefferson County website. It has been up and growing for seven years.
Sullivan’s alternative news and information page has hundreds more followers than The Leader. D’Amico is in almost constant conflict with local political elites over his business and demands for transparency and public records. The fact that an alternative to the Leader has become the leading source of information in the county–and that they cannot control or influence that outlet–drives the In Crowd nuts. So crazy, that both county and city governments have made attempts to shut down Sullivan’s page, including, as Sullivan has reported, the city demanding surrender of the site in exchange for settling a zoning enforcement action against a property owned not by D’Amico, but a member of his family.
They have lost their minds. They are now conspiring with witches. Port Townsend Deputy Mayor David Faber–whose distaste for D’Amico and campaign against Sullivan’s reporting is spread across his own Facebook page and on comments he intemperately posts elsewhere–has endorsed the diabolical ceremony. He posted on his Facebook page that the witches’ anti-Joe Black Sabbath “seems worthwhile” and shared the link inviting seekers of Power over the First Amendment.
Faber and others are inviting folks to join the Wiccan sacrifice of D’Amico and Sullivan’s freedom of speech by making false reports to Facebook and generally engaging in coordinated harassment. The event was originally organized by an anonymous FB page called “Port Townsend Troll Control.” (That page first appeared around the time this site was calling out Port Townsend Planning Commissioner Paul Rice for, in his words, “f—k–g around” in our comments). Troll Control describes itself as a janitorial service and has attacked various individuals around town the anonymous author(s) didn’t like. “Janitorial service”? Not too subtle. They get rid of trash, which is anyone who disagrees with them.
Promotion of the event has been taken over by another coward posting anonymously as “the 11/11 Project.” This could be same coward behind the Troll Control mask, or it could a new coward, or a group of cowards who cast stones and spells from under hoods and sheets with holes cut for their eyes.
These people may think there is power in the numbers they worship. I don’t know about 11:11 except it adds up to 22 and is about the time in the morning I start thinking seriously of lunch. But here are some numbers with real proven power behind them: 42 U.S.C. Section 1985. That is the federal civil rights statute that gives D’Amico and Sullivan a private right of action to sue in federal court for a conspiracy to deprive them of civil rights, which includes freedom of expression. That statute not only grants damages, but also attorney fees. More powerful numbers for conspiring witches to ponder. Those numbers come with lots of zeroes.
I am intentionally not assisting the Nazi witches by providing a link to their invitation to join in a communal, oh-so-spiritual act of reprisal, suppression, and censorship. I’ve asked them to identify themselves. Shortly afterwards things started falling off the walls in my house and my cat is now speaking Druid.
But here is the link to the excellent, timely and informative Jefferson County Washington Facebook page. (click here)
D’Amico has announced his attorney is preparing a lawsuit over the conspiracy (hey, guys, you put all the evidence of conspiracy right there on the Internet, including getting conspirators to sign up and give their names to you. You can bet D’Amico’s attorney has the screen shots). You may think your identities and those you enlist will remain secret, but a federal subpoena to Facebook will lift the hoods from off your faces. Anyone who participates, who signs up, who helps organize, who helped pay for the Facebook ad to spread the conspiracy, you are conspirators and thus equally and personally liable.
So memorize the following Witches Song from MacBeth and start looking for an attorney. You might try sticking pins in a doll of the judge presiding over your case, but the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not provide for exorcism.
Round about the cauldron go:
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweated venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing.
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch's mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i’ the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat; and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Questions and concerns about the new Jefferson County Oath of Office have prompted County Administrator Philip Morley to prepare and distribute a special memorandum detailing the change, but the document fails to address key questions.
Morley’s December 21 memo cited, “questions and misunderstandings about the updated Oath of Office,” and informed county elected officials and officials-elect that the Oath, “has received attention recently with some in the community questioning County motives for changing the oath,” which no longer requires Jefferson County elected officials to affirm their support for federal law. Missing from Morley’s five-page memo is any information on why the oath was changed.
The memo said, “In April 2018, the Auditor’s Office updated the Oath of Office for Jefferson County’s elected officials.” However, Elections Coordinator Betty Johnson said the Auditor’s Office was “directed” to alter the oath and Central Services Director Mark McCauley said Morley himself initiated the change.
Morley’s change followed media reports that cannabis store owner Greg Brotherton was under consideration by county Democrats to be the nominee to fill the open seat on the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners in the 2018 election. Brotherton won the November election with a 68% – 32% margin of victory.
The sale of marijuana, while legal in Washington state, is illegal under federal law, meaning Brotherton would be unable to fulfill the old oath’s pledge to, “support the Constitution and Laws of the United States.” The new oath removes any problems associated with pledging to support federal laws on cannabis that differ from state laws. He is scheduled to be sworn into office December 31.
Morley refused to respond to numerous email and telephone requests for comment, so it is not known what or who prompted him to initiate the change, what discussions were held prior to changing the oath, what public input was sought, or what county resources were utilized in affecting the change. The wording of the new oath, which is consistent with oaths taken elsewhere in Washington state, is not required by any state law or regulation, and elected officials in Clallam and Kitsap Counties continue to swear oaths affirming their support for federal law.
The new oath also makes it easier for officials to seek or implement sanctuary status for illegal immigrants in Jefferson County without violating a pledge to support the laws of the United States. Immigration, whether legal or illegal, is governed by federal law. However, a growing number of states and municipalities have voted in recent years to defy federal law by declaring themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.
Jefferson County is not a sanctuary locale per se but county commissioners approved a proclamation in February, 2017, saying commissioners will, “strive to make Jefferson County a welcoming place,” for people regardless of, “immigration and citizenship status.”
Morley’s refusal to answer questions about the change to the oath also raises questions about transparency in county government and contradicts the position of at least one of his professional affiliations. Morley’s biography on the county website states that he holds a certificate from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).
The AICP stresses that, “Honesty, integrity, and transparency are key to maintaining professional credibility in the public arena.” An AICP article further promotes the importance of transparency in local government by asking the question, “Want to maintain professional credibility in the public arena? For planners, honesty, integrity, and transparency are the keys.”
The lack of transparency regarding the oath appears to contradict the transparency guidelines of the organization that issued Morley’s certificate. The contradiction also parallels concerns raised in an earlier critique of the American Planning Association (APA), the parent organization of the AICP.
In a February, 2013, analysis of APA by Bent Flyvbjerg, a professor at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, Flyvbjerg found that, “APA escalated its strategy for dealing with uncomfortable knowledge from denial to diversion, diversion being defined as the organizational strategy of establishing a decoy activity that distracts attention from a subject or problem, thus trying to ensure that knowledge about it is not created or shared.”
Morley’s December 21 memo explained that the new oath is similar to other oaths taken by some state and federal officials, provided four pages of background information on oaths taken by others, and acknowledged that some county residents were curious about why the change was made. However, Morley did not explain why he initiated the change in early 2018.
Flyvbjerg, who also chairs the BT Centre for Major Programme Management, concluded in his report, “APA appears to have disregarded and violated its own Code of Ethics on multiple counts. In so doing, APA is potentially placing principles of transparency and democracy at risk.”
Elected officials in Jefferson County, along with all county employees, will no longer swear an oath to support the laws of the United States, according to a recent modification of the oath of office.
Up until this year, county officials pledged in their oath to, “support the Constitution and Laws of the United States, and the Constitution and Laws of the State of Washington.” In the new oath county employees, appointed officials and elected officials affirm only to, “support the Constitution of the United States,” without swearing to support federal law. The oath is scheduled to be administered at the county courthouse in Port Townsend December 31 at 1:00 pm.
The New Oath of Office
Central Services Director Mark McCauley said County Administrator Philip Morley initiated the change, which McCauley characterized as, “a simple tidying-up of an oath.” McCauley said, “there was no event that triggered it,” and the change was adopted in April, 2018, according to Elections Coordinator Betty Johnson.
McCauley could not say what prompted the re-writing of the oath but the revision coincides with media reports in mid-March that Greg Brotherton was being courted by Democrats to run for an open seat on the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners. Brotherton went on to win election in November with 68% of the vote.
Brotherton owns the Sea Change Cannabis store in Discovery Bay. The sale of marijuana is illegal under federal law, resulting in Brotherton being unable to uphold the old oath’s provision to support the, “Laws of the United States,” without divesting himself of his cannabis business. The wording of the new oath removes any conflict for Brotherton to support federal law while operating a cannabis shop.
According to McCauley, the county’s new oath is taken from the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC), a non-partisan, non-profit organization that provides policy implementation and other consulting services for local governments in Washington state. The MRSC provides a template for what it calls a “commonly used,” oath but also informs that no particular language is mandated for local oaths, giving counties the latitude to change their oaths as they see fit.
“We like MRSC,” said McCauley. “They’re a pretty good source on how to run local governments.” McCauley also noted that Washington state officials who are sworn into office do not take an oath to support the laws of the United States.
Jefferson County’s decision to omit support of federal law from its oath differs from surrounding counties that require elected officials to affirm their support for the laws of the United States. The oaths of office in Kitsap and Clallam Counties include language to support the Constitution and laws of the United States, while in Grays Harbor County, officials swear an oath to support the federal and state constitutions and to, “perform and discharge the duties of the office… according to law.”
Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs says officials there swear an oath to support the laws of the United Sates adding, “the oath of office was sent to the (county) prosecutor for review.” Grays Harbor County Auditor Joe MacLean said there are numerous federal laws that affect county governments in Washington state. “There are laws involving federal grants and federal laws regarding voting, federal voting assistance programs and ballots for people overseas,” said MacLean. “Federally, we’re required to provide ballots to service members overseas.”
The new Jefferson County oath does not prohibit supporting federal laws, and Jefferson County Sheriff-elect Joe Nole said the new oath would likely not have a significant impact on local law enforcement. Nole said the sheriff’s department would continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies as appropriate and on a case-by-case basis.
Nole pointed out that county sheriff’s are not ordinarily tasked with enforcing federal law, but said he believes the new oath better reflects the sometimes contradictory nature of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, in which there is a difference between state and federal law on specific matters, including cannabis use and sales. “I think it’s a more accurate idea because we don’t actually enforce federal regulations as such,” said Nole.
The 10th Amendment reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The amendment has been increasingly invoked as states move to legalize or deregulate marijuana use and sale. Marijuana is illegal under federal law but the Constitution is silent on the issue, and cannabis supporters argue the 10th Amendment gives states the right to legalize the drug.
On matters involving illegal immigration, primarily a federal issue, Nole drew a distinction between the administrative and law enforcement aspects of dealing with people suspected of being in the United States illegally. “If (federal agencies) had some kind of federal warrant, like a murder in Tennessee, of course we would hold them,” said Nole. However, Nole said his department would not likely hold a suspect for an extended period of time based solely on a request by a federal agency to do so, saying the federal government has an obligation to take custody of suspects in a timely manner.
[Editor’s Note: Compare the oath office taken by incumbent Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan, in which he swore to uphold federal laws. That oath is reproduced as the featured image for this story.]
No serious scientist has predicted anything like this for the Pacific Northwest, let alone Jefferson County where the predictions are for continued moderate temperatures with increasing precipitation.
