Dori Monson’s Feedback Friday: Intolerance, Inslee’s campaign, and more

Welcome to our new Feedback Friday feature, where we collect a sampling of comments we receive over email and Facebook on various topics throughout the week. Want the chance to have your comments included in Feedback Friday? Send your thoughts about any show topics via email or the Dori Monson Facebook page.

King County named among most politically intolerant areas

What about intolerant Republicans? 

I read your article about intolerance in King County, where I grew up, and — after living all over the country during my career — have now returned to retire. I’m a Canadian, so I don’t vote, but I do have an opinion. King County is clearly a Democrat area, and I’ve seen evidence of it all over. After spending the last 10 years in Texas, it’s actually a breath of fresh air.

Although the majority of my friends in Texas were Democrats, I knew several there who were not. We got along fine, except when it came to discussions about Trump. My Republican friends seemed to be blind supporters, despite clear evidence of his backpedaling on various campaign promises (that Mexico would pay for the wall, primarily), his call to violence during his campaign rallies, calling white supremacists “some fine people,” his mocking of women and a disabled reporter, etc. My Mexican American friends were deeply disturbed by his implication that their Mexican relatives and friends were murderers and rapists (and I know he meant illegal immigrants coming across the border, however, they resented him painting all Mexicans with that same brush).

I’m curious about your opinion of these comments and actions by him, and how they demonstrate tolerance, in light of your comments about the intolerance of Democrats. Thank you, Dori.

– Katie in Redmond

Jay Inslee for president

Stop laughing about Jay Inslee’s speech

Dori, Dori, Dori … I’m shaking my head, I’m so ashamed of you, this must be the worst show ever. I know you twist the truth to suit your view of the world … today your childish behavior, however entertaining, was sad, even blow your traditional half-truths you tend to spew.

– Lisa in Renton

Electoral college for gubernatorial elections

Jay Inslee only won nine counties in the state during the last election. Why does he insist on embarrassing the state? If we had a state electoral college (one vote per county for each county won for governor) this discussion would not be relevant. At the very least, the governor would be elected to represent the state and not just a selected few counties!

Hey Dori, where does “hot air collector” fall on the job creation list? If Inslee is so concerned about climate change, he’d hire people to suck up all the hot air that comes out of his mouth.

– Mark in Everett

Sexually violent predators moved to Poulsbo neighborhood

Thank you for bringing attention to this

Thank you for covering the issue of sexually violent offenders being located in a (just outside of) Poulsbo neighborhood. I called the mayor and she told me that neither she nor the city police were even notified about this and they are as outraged as I am. I have called all of my representatives, as should everyone. One thing none of them want to answer is whether they would welcome these predators in their or their family’s neighborhood, and they are not focusing on sentencing guidelines. I am outraged beyond belief.

– Tim in Poulsbo

The state is violating its duty to protect citizens

I am angry that DSHS has been able to skirt public protections by narrowly re-framing the functions of staff there. As a grandmother of two little girls who live less than a mile from this place, I want it shut down. I’m appalled to think that this is one of many others, and that we can expect more in the more populous areas of the state (where services are available). The state’s number one duty is the safety of it’s citizens; this is an egregious violation of that charge!

– Kathy in Poulsbo

Coming soon to YOUR neighborhood

This property shares a fence line with me, and my house is under 600 feet window-to-window. There is clearly a play area in my orchard where there can be multiple children playing at any time. My 12-year-old granddaughter has lived here her entire life, and the play area has been there for 10 years. The chaperones are not one per inmate 24/7. At night, there are two personnel on staff for the four predators in residence — we can see the shift changes from our kitchen window. The GPS monitoring is a joke, as it relies on electricity, internet, and hard-wired landlines. Yes, we had a 52-hour power outage, and when I called the parole officer, he didn’t know the power was out. The property and business owners had no backup plan (generator) for possible power outages. The inmates do not always have their chaperone within 20 feet and direct line of visibility; I have photos of them walking around outside while the chaperone stands on the porch and plays on his phone. On Saturday, I saw them watching the kids play from their living room window; the curtains are never closed over there.

I am angry; our lives have changed on a daily basis. Kids do not play outside without an adult, they do not wait for the bus without an adult, are no longer allowed to be home alone for any amount of time, opaque window cling is now applied, and doors are not only locked, but dead-bolted. Yes, we are angry. This all happened completely under the radar, the state lied to the judges writing the orders — the state didn’t see my play area, the big playset, the trampoline, didn’t see or hear the kids playing in my yard, and didn’t know that there are bus stops closer than one mile north. No notification, no conversation, and no one knocked on my door, called, or even indicated they were going to do this. The best part of this is that the taxpayer is only paying around an additional $2,200 a month per offender for the privilege of the offenders living a more normal life where they are allowed to gawk at the kids playing in my yard from their big picture windows. We are paying extra to let pedophiles live next to our kids!

– Gail in Poulsbo

Ballard mom says city changed in four years

I remember when my wife and I moved to Washington in 2010, we thought Seattle was the coolest city ever! Pike Place Market was so memorable with the throwing fish, there were so many street performers singing and playing musical instruments (we even bought a couple of CDs), all kinds of good food …we LOVED it. Now, fast forward to today, I feel like it’s a total dump. It’s so sad to see what the Seattle City Council has done.

– Lance via Facebook