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Seattle Gives City Workers Time Off to Attend Anti-Trump Protests
Reason Magazine's Hit & Run Blog ^ | April 27, 2017 | Christian Britschgi, assistant editor

Posted on 04/27/2017 12:28:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The Seattle City Council passed a unanimous resolution this week which declares May 1 a "day of action" on which city employees are encouraged to attend planned anti-Trump protests instead of going to work.

The resolution—drafted by Councilmember Kshama Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative party—instructs supervisors of city government departments to remind their workers that they are entitled to take two days of unpaid leave for "days of faith and conscience," and that attending Monday's protests is a legitimate use of this leave.

Sawant's resolution goes on to stress to Seattleites that through strikes and civil disobedience they "have the power to defeat Trump's attacks, because without workers' mental and physical labor no business can make profits and none of the productive forces of the world can be harnessed."

Seattle city rules require supervisors to grant request for these unpaid days off, unless doing so would jeopardize public safety or cause undue hardship.

Somewhat ironically, the Socialist-drafted resolution tacitly admits that a mass of government workers not showing up to do their jobs on Monday would not be an undue hardship for the city. Unfortunately, undue hardship seems to be exactly what Sawant wants to impose on the good citizens of Seattle.

"If we truly want to build a summer of resistance against Trump and the billionaire class," Sawant said in a Tuesday interview on King5, an NBC affiliate, "then we will need disruptive action like shutting down airports, and shutting down highways."

Other Seattle government officials, while eager to sign on to this "day of action," are less keen about Sawant's call for "disruptive action." Mayor Ed Murray provided some rather impotent pushback saying, "We need to keep our freeways and our on and off ramps...the state, of course, needs to keep our on and off ramps open."

Washington State Patrol Captain Ron Mead had harsher words for Sawant, calling her rhetoric "reckless and irresponsible."

"It's unsafe for both protesters and motorists alike, and we are simply not going to tolerate that unlawful behavior of trying to shut down the interstate or state highway systems," he told local radio station KIRO.

Mead called it "reckless and irresponsible" for an elected official to encourage city workers and residents to engage in illegal behavior and police confrontations. It also seems decidedly pointless as an act of anti-Trump resistance. On Election Day 2016, only 8 percent of Seattleites cast a ballot for Donald Trump, who won a total of zero precincts in the city. Only Washington, D.C., and Detroit were harsher to the current president.

George W. Bush, by comparison, still managed to come away with 20 percent of votes from the city in 2004, suggesting that Trump is particularly anathema to Seattle voters. Given that, it's hard to understand what exactly anti-Trump protesters blocking anti-Trump commuters will do to thwart the president's agenda, or to conjure up a "summer of resistance."

But who knows? Maybe the Trump administration truly is just one traffic jam away from crumbling.


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Government; Local News; Politics
KEYWORDS: kshamasawant; protests; seattle; socialistalternative; trump; washington
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1 posted on 04/27/2017 12:28:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I BET THERE WILL BE A LOT OF THEM VERY SOON.........................


2 posted on 04/27/2017 12:29:09 PM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Washington state taxpayer dollars at work. Grrrrr!


3 posted on 04/27/2017 12:29:31 PM PDT by ColdOne ((I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11~ Best Election Ever!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hope they get fleas....


4 posted on 04/27/2017 12:31:30 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why don’t some conservative judge stop this?


5 posted on 04/27/2017 12:33:02 PM PDT by IC Ken
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

From Wikipedia: “Kshama Sawant; born October 17, 1972) is an American socialist politician, activist and member of Socialist Alternative who sits on the Seattle City Council. A former software engineer, Sawant became a socialist activist and part-time economics instructor in Seattle after immigrating to the United States. Sawant ran unsuccessfully for the Washington House of Representatives before winning her seat on the Seattle City Council. Sawant was the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since Anna Louise Strong was elected to the School Board in 1916.”


6 posted on 04/27/2017 12:33:25 PM PDT by BlueStateRightist (Government is best which governs least.)
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To: ColdOne

if you don’t live there don’t worry. if you live there vote republican. if you can’t win (like us in jersey) suck it up.


7 posted on 04/27/2017 12:34:37 PM PDT by slickdain (Make America Wealthy Again ... STOP H-1b visas!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m surprised they didn’t try this S**T sooner! Why just on May day?


8 posted on 04/27/2017 12:34:44 PM PDT by mainestategop (DonÂ’t Let Freedom Slip Away! After America , There is No Place to Go)
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To: Red Badger

Seattle is toast. Can you imagine any sane person wanting to move there or start a business?


9 posted on 04/27/2017 12:35:38 PM PDT by fatez (Ya, well, you know, that's just your opinion man...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I hope they bring their red flags with them.


10 posted on 04/27/2017 12:36:14 PM PDT by forgotten man
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Is the Mayor of Portland a ‘rat’ and is the Gov. of that State a ‘rat’?

My opinion is that if those two or one of each is yes, then it’s best that when the ‘bus loads of protesters with money in their pockets and printed signs’ ready to beat up the crap out of people, they will have to turn on each other...

Until either President Trump calls in the Military or a Gov. calls out the National Guard to take care of these ‘George Soros’ idiots, this will continue to go on!!!


11 posted on 04/27/2017 12:36:25 PM PDT by HarleyLady27 ( "The Force Awakens!!!"...Trump and Pence: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yet they won’t give people the day off to go vote. Such priorities!


12 posted on 04/27/2017 12:37:30 PM PDT by lbtbell
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To: Sacajaweau

GET??? More likely to GIVE.


13 posted on 04/27/2017 12:39:17 PM PDT by Zarro (Oh, we don't call them the "MSM" any longer; they are now the "Basket of Detestables")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Nothing like “encouraging” free speech and “protest”.

Wonder what happens to those who don’t attend?

Is Ann Coulter welcome there?


14 posted on 04/27/2017 12:40:19 PM PDT by LouisianaJoanof Arc (Proud Horrible Deplorable that wants HRC prosecuted)
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To: IC Ken

“Why don’t some conservative judge stop this?”
They don’t do it for free.......no payoff, no ruling.
All of opukehead’s judges get paid by outside globalist sources to do the job.


15 posted on 04/27/2017 12:40:53 PM PDT by doc maverick (I)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I wish I worked there and could take off a day to campaign for President Trump... Just to irk them


16 posted on 04/27/2017 12:42:40 PM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So May 1 instead of Good Friday or Yom Kippur.


17 posted on 04/27/2017 12:43:56 PM PDT by Mercat
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To: BlueStateRightist
“Kshama Sawant; born October 17, 1972) is an American socialist politician, activist and member of Socialist Alternative who sits on the Seattle City Council.

Calling this guy an American is a real stretch... His loyalty's lie elsewhere.....

18 posted on 04/27/2017 12:45:18 PM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: All

Imagine if a city, town or even a village had done this to Obongo.


19 posted on 04/27/2017 12:47:31 PM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: unread

“Calling this guy an American is a real stretch... His loyalty’s lie elsewhere.”

He is a she. But your point is still correct.


20 posted on 04/27/2017 12:50:31 PM PDT by BlueStateRightist (Government is best which governs least.)
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