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Co-editors Ana Wolpin, Stephen Schumacher and Annette Huenke have a combined history of more than 120 years in Port Townsend. See the “About the Free Press” page for more about the editorial team.
Shades of Grey, Not Black and White
You may or may not know who Dory Monson was. He passed away Saturday evening at 61 from heart failure.
I have a friend that listened to him on “conservative” KIRO radio. I had no interest in what I thought his take on things was, but I finally tuned in from time to time. He was tagged as conservative as the Free Press often is, although someone recently has called the Free Press and its editors leftist liberals.
Black and white are easy. Grey is sometimes harder to understand as tribes and teams are chosen and lines are drawn.
We are not involved in a football game. Please for God’s sake don’t paint your face.
Recently Monson was focused on State Health folk and vaccines, and misinformation and flat out lies spread by those claiming to know all and who say those questioning are spreading misinformation. In tide pools large and small similar dynamics play out. His take on the State level was similar to what the Free Press is covering in Jefferson and Clallam Counties, with officials parroting what comes from levels above them.
Science, says Elon Musk this week is not owned by a chosen talking head. Discussion and sharing information and data is science. Propaganda is one sided.
Dory Monson also took interest in the YMCA trans story and Appointed Mayor Faber’s methods in dealing with that and its aftermath. As with the Free Press Faber would not do an interview regarding trans issues, women’s rights, along with his stated interest in dogs and chickens as sex partners. Monson and many others simply want to know what Faber means when he says you have to be a deviant and pervert to be Appointed Mayor here in PT. As an attorney Faber of course takes the fifth after dragging a willing and supportive City Council into the depths with him. And all who live in PT along with all of them.
To paraphrase a Council Member, elections will be here before you know it.
All who knew him say Monson’s loud and boisterous radio persona was quiet and reserved in real life. You can’t charge into the fray of established status quo bullshit with a meek and submissive tone. This includes yours truly when addressing those on City Council who fail oaths and job descriptions and also take the fifth. If you are employed by the evil empire and do its work, you are the evil empire. Don’t fool yourself. Stand up. Don’t stand down.
Thanks to Dory and any and all who stand up after doing their homework, and don’t just choose a team.
The sky today is grey. Never black and white.
Someone I communicate with from time to time hoped for justice in the New Year. I wonder what that would look like, and if it’s possible anymore.
474 words before this last line, better stop here.
Just heartbreaking to hear this. He was a gem. I listened to him regularly except through Christmas because of family and commitments and was looking so forward to getting back to listening to his show. Rest in peace Dori Monson.
Also, I listened to this podcast and it reminded me of what some of you went through when you went up against the city Council. It all sounds really familiar
https://newdiscourses.com/2022/12/surviving-a-modern-struggle-session/
I listened to KIRO programing today of Dori’s friends and acquaintances holding what was called an on air Irish wake; telling stories and reminiscing. Mr. Monson’s brand of broadcasting was called more than once, entertainment, by some. And, that’s the reason I listened to his show, occasionally. It was entertaining.
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down……
In a most delightful way…….
Dori Monson, talk show host, died from a cardiac condition on New Year’s Eve at 8 pm. His radio show was the highest rated show in the Seattle-Tacoma area during the noon to 3 pm time slot.
He was an extremely hard working talk show host, working 12-16 hours per day to provide the best radio for his listeners.
He had 2 Covid injections and got sick after his second Moderna jab, according to this report. He had some medical problems which he didn’t publicly discuss. Because of his age and health conditions he thought the Covid injections would protect him. I think he later decided the Covid vaccines weren’t as effective as Big Pharma and government officials claimed. He wasn’t anti vaccine, however he saw through the government mandates and proclamations. He fiercely opposed what he saw as government overreach
“…The last thing he said on air, to all of us, was “I love you”. He meant it, and that’s the perfect ending…”
See more
from: https://mynorthwest.com/3766510/broadcasters-politicians-coworkers-and-friends-remember-dori-monson/
https://chartable.com/podcasts/the-dori-monson-show
I would say happy new year but 2023 wont be a happy year for everyone… If you desire the corrupt corporate government to collapse and its the tool of control the US dollar to collapse then it will be a good year… If you desire for the PEOPLE to regain control of their destiny then it will be a good year… If you desire the medical control and extortion/death system to totally collapse under its own liability, by its own hand than it will be a good year…
With people like Dori having cardiac arrest suddenly and watching young men on the football field nearly die of cardiac arrest on the world stage,,, on live TV,,, many who took the vaccines are shitting bricks yet have doubled down on denial… I hear the excuses but nobody wants to tell the truth,,, nobody wants to accept responsibility for their actions,,, not yet… As the days pass,, as more and more people die suddenly,,, and excuses no longer make them feel better,,, denial will shift to anger… When the shift happens and people realize what has happened,,, when they accept what has happened it will be good to stay away from them while they act out… 2023 is the year people wake up…
Dori came as the keynote speaker at the Jefferson County Lincoln Day Lunch about five years ago. He gave an excellent, motivational talk. After the luncheon was over he came up to me, as Chairman, and said, “It was a great event. For future reference the order goes: God then country. You should do the invocation first and then the flag salute.” He was a class act and didn’t run us down for the mistake, but made it a learning situation.
Did I miss the conciliatory moment?
On New Years Eve I walked down to Port Townsend’s First Night event with my children because our family has always participated in this community that we call home. When I approached the celebratory crowd gathered on the streets in front of city hall an all too familiar emotion began to bubble up.
I thought I had moved on.
I thought I had let it go.
I thought I had wished it away.
As an adult I am ashamed to admit that I still carry this with me.
It is the anger, baked into my subconscious, from what I have experienced over the last two years.
There it was, in the middle of a happy occasion, inexplicably rising up, as I waded into the mostly hometown crowd. I just couldn’t help but imagine that many of these individuals were the same people that only a few months ago cursed me out for standing along Sims Way with a sign stating, “Mandate Freedom”. The same people that demanded that I mask up and show my papers to enter a restaurant or a theater. The same people that condemned me for asking questions, and told me to just get the shot.
Thankfully the anger faded as I relaxed into the rhythm of the Unexpected Brass Band, and was pretty much gone when the fire dancers did their grand finale to the sounds of a bag piper dancing amongst them. The crowd pleaser for me was the woman twirling about while spinning two flaming hula-hoops without setting her hair on fire.
It’s wonderful to see everyone together again, shoulder to shoulder, no masks, back to normal, or as normal as it can be.
Yet I have to ask the question, am I the only one having a hard time pretending that all is forgiven, and that it is best just to move on as if none of this ever happened?
In prior times, when a great tragedy occurred it was traditional, once the crisis passed, to have a coming together, a conciliatory moment where the community could gather, commiserate, make peace with one another and maybe even put plans in place to make sure something like this never happened again.
Have I missed this moment?
Did this moment happen here in Port Townsend and I just missed it?
Did the state employee at the ferry dock that threatened me with arrest for not wearing fabric on my face say he was sorry and I didn’t hear it?
Did the Tesla driver who called me a &*%$# idiot at a freedom rally realize his error and turn around and come back to say he made a mistake only to find I had left?
Has anyone in a leadership position in Jefferson County, County Commissioners, City Council, School Board, Board of Health, PUD, Port, Police Chief, major business owner, non-profit ceo, church leader, or anyone with any authority said, in public or private, “Wow, that was a mistake. Let’s not do that again.”?
Maybe it is just me, and maybe I ask too much, but I need that conciliatory moment.
The first few weeks of this new year would be a good time to start this process.
@Brett, I’m sure the State employee threatening you with arrest was just following orders. As well as the others, doing what they were told to do. They don’t have a regret in the world over how many lives they ruined. But even in America, when I hear someone using the Nuremberg defense, I want to hear it in a German accent.
Brett, many thanks for this personal sharing. Your expression of emotional vulnerability is moving and much appreciated. And the lack of processing about what has transpired in this community over the last three years is concerning indeed.
The latest poll (Rasmussen Reports, 1/2/23) indicates that half of American adults now “believe it is likely that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths,” with 28% saying “they personally know someone whose death they think may have been caused by side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.” And as awareness of the dangers from these shots has increased — along with the fact that they do not protect at all (just the opposite, they increase your susceptibility to the virus) — uptake of the boosters has plummeted. It’s estimated that nationwide only 11% of those eligible have gotten the bivalent booster.
But Jefferson County appears to be a holdout for the brainwashed. We have the highest bivalent booster uptake in the state at 45.8% (last update 12/19/22), with the second highest covid case rate to show for it. The counties with the lowest booster uptakes, like Adams (10.3%) nearly all show the lowest case rates. But this county continues to invert the science and maintain a cult-like religious fervor acting out insane propaganda. An incredible proportion of folks I see out shopping are still buying the mask nonsense. We do not seem even close to the recognition, “Wow, that was a mistake. Let’s not do that again.”
This remains a county disproportionately gripped by fear and programming. Those in leadership positions are among the worst. Conciliation, sadly, seems a remote dream.
JeffCo is closing in on half of eligible residents now injected with the bivalent booster. Updated stat thru 1/2/23 shows 46.7% uptake in our county.
And how in God’s name are they coming up with this eye-rolling panic button claim: “Jefferson County Public Health staff estimate that 1 in 15 COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County were reported to public health last week.”? I’ve watched this estimate grow each week as case numbers decrease. What are “staff” basing their estimate on and how are the calculating this? They just can’t let it go. This community is thoroughly addicted to their own trauma and JCPH is dealing the triggers right out in the open. Oh these people. I’m so angry.
A shocking read by the inventor of the mRNA vaccine technology, Dr. Robert Malone. It’s a bit long, but worth the time to read: https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/shedding-innocence
Thank you Brett. My sentiments exactly. It is all so surreal.
Plus, this is not over. My daughter keeps applying for jobs and being told there is a vaccine mandate. Very frustrating. It is still on. Not over. Only when people wake up. Of course, our town and the elected and non elected controllers are so WOKE they are in a perpetual sleep walk.
Thanks for a place to discuss and vent.
Brett-
“As an adult I am ashamed to admit that I still carry this with me.
It is the anger, baked into my subconscious, from what I have experienced over the last two years”.
Your shame is useful to those actually responsible for what you have experienced. Victim blaming is part of the handbook. Don’t take on the shame yourself.
Brass bands and flaming hoops are a show. Nothing to do with root causes or healing. More of a distraction. This is not like VE day after WW2. The next round of “situations” are ahead. The “new” year is simply another year. Players have defined themselves. Future moves are predictable. Check the handbook.
“County Commissioners, City Council, School Board, Board of Health, PUD, Port, Police Chief, major business owner, non-profit ceo, ……..’ for the most part are gears in a machine that need to be worn down in specific ways to mesh with and benefit from the machine. Sharp unworn gears are not wanted. No re tooling is planned. All is well.
One “major business owner” has been part of the official machine and has special interest status. Mess tents taking limited mismanaged public parking space for private use are exhibit A.
Perhaps we could start some of your desired healing with Appointed Mayor Faber commenting here. Who told police to stand down as elderly community members were assaulted, and free speech shut down? Sadly, he is actually not a free man. He is a stooge in the machine and serves a purpose. His ignorance and arrogance a perfect combination. The furthest he can look inside himself is to say he was duly elected and appointed by the City Council as mayor.
Fool me once……..shame is part of the second part of this saying. The wrong folk seem to accept it, along with responsibility. Business as usual into 2023
Your turn Appointed Mayor Faber. Who told police to stand down as elder community members were assaulted, and free speech was shut down?
Brett and many others would like the open wound that you are to heal others. As Faber told Dori Monson when he requested an interview “not going to happen”. Anyone else with some power care to step up?
Ahhhh. The peaceful sound of Port Townsend and Jeffco crickets. What you can’t hear are the soul termites.
New Year’s Resolution for True Believers
This is the time of year that many make resolutions to improve themselves and the world around them. So I though it would be a good time to challenge those who believe in human-made (anthropogenic in the vocabulary of the elites) climate change with a resolution recommendation. Especially those who believe that climate change is an existential threat.
A recurring theme in the mainstream media, popular culture, politics, and academia that the continued use of fossil fuels is leading to the imminent and rapid ‘destruction’ of our planet and that we only have a few years to reverse this ominous future of destruction and planetary death. Indeed the patron saint of this movement, Greta Thunberg, tells us that “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction.” That is a pretty dire statement. Even our Governor, Jay Inslee believes and espouses that “Climate change is truly an existential threat for everything we hold dear.”
This rhetoric is used by most politicians and activists as though it is as established and accepted as the law of gravity.
Yet I wonder how many ordinary people genuinely believe it.
If you are one or know someone who genuinely believes this rhetoric, then have I got a New Year’s resolution for you! Try to live for a year with a minimalist carbon footprint. It can be done. In fact, I did it — for two years, albeit inadvertently.
In the mid-80’s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, West Africa. I lived in a small city of about twenty thousand. I had a cinder block house that had a few fluorescent lights, a ceiling fan, and a small 2 cubic ft. refrigerator. That was the extent of my electric use. Minimal by our standards, but extravagant for Niger. No A/C, no washer, dryer, or any other electric appliance other than a boom box (remember those?). Laundry was done by hand, ironing done with charcoal irons. Outside of cities like I lived in a cold drink could not be found. However, cold showers (no water heaters) were available year-round. (Or bucket baths for those outside of cities.)
Most food I bought was grown locally, which means that there was not a great variety of food available. Vegetables were grown in off-season (winter months) gardens, and were not available any other time. Meat was slaughtered and sold (and usually eaten) on the same day.
I owned a bicycle and either rode or walked everywhere I needed to go. If I needed to travel to another city, I took a bus service we called ‘bush taxis’. (Think of the smallest Toyota minivan you have ever seen and put 17 passengers and luggage in it and on it. Now that’s efficient public transportation!)
But even this low-carbon lifestyle required carbon use. Most fruit was brought by truck from the less arid countries of Benin and Nigeria. Luxuries such as instant coffee and powdered milk had to be transported by ships and trucks. Any travel beyond the city I lived in required fossil fuels.
So my challenge to those true believers in human-caused existence-threatening climate change is this: Resolve to live for even one year, as I lived for two in Niger. If you truly believe like Greta that “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction.” then this would be a small price to pay to help save the world.
I personally believe that human-cause ‘climate change’ is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated. It is a huge power and money grab that is very dangerous. It is leading people to willingly give up their freedoms. It is condemning the poorest among us to further poverty while enriching and empowering a few elite.
You may think otherwise. If so, let’s see you put your behavior where your beliefs are. Don’t protest carbon use until you eliminate it in your life. Don’t say it is not possible. It is possible. I did it. But you may not like it.
Speaking of the climate devil, John, look what our WEF-woke legislators have conjured up for us —
courtesy of Informed Choice WA:
Brett, thank you for this. You beautifully articulated what I have been feeling for months now. The friendships lost and family relationships strained, the dread of losing my job should anyone find out I’m not jabbed or that I believe all lives matter and biological sex is immutable, the bewilderment of watching this place I chose to make my home turn on itself as it turned on me and my likeminded brothers and sisters. I don’t have hope that there will be any attempt to recognize and reconcile. All I hear is deafening silence. The denial runs so deep that it’s turned upside-down on itself. As Ana notes, it’s brainwashing. Cult behavior. So I look inward and hope to heal what I can. I’d even appreciate talking with a therapist to sort through the deep hurt and anger, but how does one begin to screen for “local therapists who said No to the mRNA vaccine”? I laugh through the tears.
There is an app called “Public Square” which allows businesses/health providers to list themselves as holding truly conservative values and missions.
New businesses and providers are being added every day. There is also an app called RedBalloon, which helps find conservative-minded employers and employees. There are WA state entries on both apps. Find and support them.
Thank you, Darlene. I hadn’t heard of Public Square and I appreciate the information.
Something Isn’t Kosher in Denmark
When electric vehicles were being touted as green, I was skeptical. Considering the massive energy that goes into mining lithium and cobalt, manufacturing, and then disposing of green energy infrastructure, and the fact that energy is energy, whether remotely generated or internal to your car engine, it is clear that this is a hoax. Now the truth comes out:
You know those electronic dog fences to keep your dog within the confines of a loop of wire? Well, this is what Klaus Schwab and his followers are planning to do to us, under the guise of safety, ecology, and green energy. Already it is illegal to drive more than 15 minutes from your home in Oxford. In France and the Netherlands, they’re building high rise tenements to confine people to their digital prisons, just like the electronic dog fences
https://slaynews.com/news/bidens-infrastructure-bill-installs-kill-switches-all-new-vehicles/
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/15-minute-cities-and-the-right-to-travel/
https://tolleystopics.com/2022/10/28/an-important-message/
‘You will have nothing and like it’ is the new Fascist mantra, as they turn us into neutered serfs to toil for their power and wealth.
WAKE UP AMERICA!
Accountability for Fire/EMS District funding sorely lacking
I wish someone would do some investigative reporting on the Fire District and the history of why we are “Here Now” as stated by a Fire commissioner, so at least the citizens would be able to understand the ramification of the district’s past actions, and so citizens might truly understand their voting decisions.
I believe the City had failed to pay the money owed, from the first ILA to the tune of 3 million (?) The City is still collecting general obligation tax, that part of it was going to cover the Fire and EMS within the City, it is now going into the general fund, approximately 1 million per year.
The new merger with Port Ludlow, there was NO “Pro–Con” committee? As required by law and if the district did not do it, it was the obligation of the County Auditor, was it not? This was to be in the voter pamphlet to inform the voters.
The lack of personnel at fires or aid calls has been an issue since the removal of true volunteer programs, both within the City and the fire districts prior to the first merger and has only continued to flounder. I was part of a group, firefighters and ex-chiefs that went to the City’s Public Safety Committee and we made them fully aware of the consequences of these actions. Nothing has changed, still the same old story, it is all about the money and how do we get it from you. Their answer is with it we will be able to provide the better service.
There are options for ways to collect money other than property taxes, available to the district, such as Transient tax, from those that use the service that do not live here, but consume our resources. Just like a bed tax. Real Estate Transfer Taxes, from those buying up housing, for their second and third homes or rentals, or buying to create Air B and B’s etc.
A Benefit Assessment of commercial buildings, those that need specific types of service, Aid calls or a ladder truck. 26 buildings in town and 3 in the county, 6 are government owned, we have to pay as rural property owners to support urban levels of service, while many profit from the commercial enterprises and lower insurance rates.
Are these service standards being pushed by commissioners, NFPA and or by Unions, as well as Fire Truck and Aid Car manufacturers? Even new fire halls are not designed to last more than 20-30 years…. As was done with the uptown station and it is now half way there, at 15 years old. Who will pay for the next one?
This community has become unaffordable for many and its services are not being held accountable to it citizens.
How many chiefs have we had over the past 15 plus years? What causes that turnover?
I will be voting “No” and I hope others will see the light as well.
This is the RCW regarding the pro and con committees:
RCW 29A.32.280
Arguments advocating approval or disapproval—Preparation by committees.
For each measure from a unit of local government that is included in a local voters’ pamphlet, the legislative authority of that jurisdiction shall, not later than the resolution deadline, formally appoint a committee to prepare arguments advocating voters’ approval of the measure and shall formally appoint a committee to prepare arguments advocating voters’ rejection of the measure. The authority shall appoint persons known to favor the measure to serve on the committee advocating approval and shall, whenever possible, appoint persons known to oppose the measure to serve on the committee advocating rejection. Each committee shall have not more than three members, however, a committee may seek the advice of any person or persons. If the legislative authority of a unit of local government fails to make such appointments by the prescribed deadline, the county auditor shall whenever possible make the appointments.
read more here: https://www.ejfr.org/uncategorized/february-2023-ballot-measure/
It appears that this will roughly double local Fire/EMS taxes. It’s always claimed that these lid lifts are needed to supply the demand for more services. Is that true? Or is it possible that the ever-burgeoning fat lining our bureaucracies is the real demand? Bigger salaries, newer and more vehicles and gear… I was once told by someone who worked for EMS that they bring out the firetrucks with the ambulances because they have mileage quotas, that if not met, means they won’t get the newest, best firetrucks. How often is a firetruck really needed in Jefferson County? How many times in the last decade have the firetrucks snoozing in that outsized, tony station up on Lawrence St. been absolutely necessary in a 911 response? Not what it’s costing us, that’s for sure. Do the taxpayers get a rebate when the near-new equipment is sold off to a less well-financed department out in the sticks somewhere?
I haven’t had time to keep an eye on this layer of agencies in the county. Maybe someone here knows the answers to these questions, or has the time and energy to research the topic. It could use a good microscopic examination…
I attended an October 3rd meeting in Port Ludlow that it was stated that if the merger was voted in, the former District 3 would see a one year cost savings of $.83 per one thousand assessed value in 2024. Those of us in District 3 will be over $1 per $1,000 assessed value for 2023. So this one year cost savings for 2024, if the merger was voted in, doesn’t exist. I asked about what we were told about the one year cost savings to be put on record at the final PLFR commissioners meeting.
Has anyone else noticed the signs up already for vote yes? Doesn’t it seem early ahead of the February ballot??
East Jefferson Firefighters are practicing discrimination. My daughter applied, passed the written, oral and physical test. She was hired. She applied for a vaccine exemption and it was accepted. However, she would be required to wear a mask at all times, eat alone and sleep alone. She asked for evidence of how she would be a danger to anyone. And, crickets. She asked how this has worked before, crickets. She said she would only be willing to do those things if everyone did them. She was told she was fired because she would not follow the discriminatory rules.
She checked with Clallam County Firefighters. They do not discriminate. Everyone had to do the same thing.
I will not be voting to support EJF because of their discriminatory policies and because of the lack of oversight on spending.
It is clear from this evidence that the injection is being used as an ideological test and not for public health reasons.
Thank you for having the courage to go public with this personal story, Beth. Deep gratitude to your daughter for her similar courage in standing up to the criminal discrimination being enforced by EJFR. John O is spot on — this has nothing to do with health, public or otherwise. It is to do with compliance and doing what you’re told by (illegitimate) authority.
How Do Inslee and Berry keep the feces out of their nostrils?
We have known for 2 years that masks don’t work. If I could post a graph here, it would show no difference, in a Danish study, between masked and unmasked people when it came to getting Covid. I also have Word documents outlining 167 studies that show masks to be ineffective. Yet, when I went to a doctor’s office today, they told me I had to wear a mask. Why? All they would say is “It’s our policy”. I refused, so they gave me a face shield to wear.
And, we’ve known for at least a year, that the more people are vaccinated, the MORE likely they are to catch Covid. The vaccines do nothing, yet Inslee mandates them for state employees. Why? Perhaps he should read.
“CDC Director Rochelle Walensky went on CNN and said that vaccines cannot prevent transmission of COVID-19.”
And ditto for “Dr” Berry: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/01/where_are_the_intellectually_curious_doctors.html
Perhaps “Dr. Berry” is an abbreviation for Doctor R. Dingleberry, a brainless parrot of political– NOT scientific– narrative.
Everything you wanted to know about Covid but were afraid to ask
https://swprs.org/covid19-facts/
Inslee releases worst sex offenders from secure island lockup into homes near you for profit – why?
Great reporting by Glenn Morgan – https://youtu.be/DhLd54tQPBE
“Washington State Governor Inslee, in coordination with AG Bob Ferguson, the Democratic majority legislature and senior bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services has decided to empty McNeil Island’s facility housing the worst unreformed sex offenders into homes near you. This is a planned release throughout Washington State (equitable distribution) and an effort to shift the blame and responsibility to private for profit businesses run by political insiders. What could go wrong?”
Irresponsible. Reckless. Dangerous. But profitable to politicians in power and their favorite grifters. In short the epitome of modern Democrat party policy.