4 Stories The Puget Sound Press Will Not Question Or Report On

# 1 The Drug War

Voting is highly emphasized in American culture. Asking questions related to public policy takes a lower priority.

Are newspeople forbidden to ask questions related to Homeland Security funding and performance?

What We Have Now

A $49.8 billion US Dept. of Homeland Security that fails to keep cartel product from showing up all over the US.

Billions of dollars spent every 12 months to keep bad people from coming here to do bad things.

Newspeople ask zero questions in this area.

The press release style of news reporting means that a statement is prepared by whatever agency was involved in the latest policy update, drug bust/federal grant money award, etc.

Newspeople post this statement as is.

A 5th grade book report would require more in the way of asking questions.

DEA’s drug threat report: Mexican cartel flooding Northwest with fentanyl

Source: March 2, 2021 KTVZ

Another DEA Press Release – Zero Questions From Newspeople

Love to see newspeople schedule an interview with the US Dept. of Homeland Security & ask:

Are passports/enhanced/Real IDs effective in keeping cartel-sourced product out of the US?

Standard driver’s licenses have not been accepted at the border since 2009.

Nov 19, 2021 KONP Port Angeles

CLALLAM TRACKING TO LARGEST YEARLY OVERDOSE DEATH RATE

Have opioid lawsuits played any role in improving the situation?

How do cartels react to opioid lawsuits?

Zero questions from newspeople.

After squandering DOD credibility for decades in distant lands, a new WWII style uniform look and a pledge to clobber the cartels:

April 1, 2020 C-SPAN

Have General Milley’s efforts reduced access to cartel product anywhere in the US?

Has there been enough time for newspeople to ask questions?

Newspeople remain silent.

Port Angeles

Local people find drugs and report to local (not federal) law enforcement authorities. Federal employees create news story and say that federal agents used a K-9 to “seize” the drugs.

Question for CBP:

Why does the news story created by CBP not line up with local reports?

Mainstream newspeople remain silent.

News links and Sheriff’s Dept. Facebook post here:

Port Angeles Border Patrol – Investigation Stalled For 3 Weeks?

Original blog post:

Port Angeles Border Patrol Agents Seize Meth?

Is Port Angeles CBP staffing and infrastructure at all relevant in keeping heroin and meth from entering the Puget Sound area?

Has Port Angeles CBP been able to intercept any inbound meth or heroin?

Even one time?

Newspeople remain silent.

Local meth news stories here.

Local heroin news stories here.

Port Angeles CBP Staffing and Infrastructure

Port Angeles Border Patrol Agents Seize Meth?

What role do 1,200-horsepower Border Patrol Interceptor boats play in keeping heroin away from Port Angeles?

Are fraudulent overtime claims still the norm at Port Angeles?

Border Patrol whistleblower pays price for refusing overtime pay

Has Port Angeles CBP been able to intercept any inbound meth or heroin?

Even one time?

Port Angeles – Post 911 CBP Spending Spree

# 2 Enhanced background checks required for guns since 2014

Puget Sound area shootings roll on.

Will the press ever do a follow up on the enhanced background check requirements that have been in place for years now?

WA voters approved enhanced background checks back in 2014.

The new requirements have had time to take hold.

Did the new requirements reduce gun crimes?

Has there been time for newspeople to ask questions?

Washington Universal Background Checks for Gun Purchases, Initiative 594 (2014)

“Furthermore, the initiative rendered it illegal to hand off a firearm to people outside a person’s immediate family, though exceptions were mentioned, including situations in which people are at a shooting range or hunting.”

Newspeople Show Little Curiosity Unless It’s A Sports Story

# 3 Several Whidbey beaches remain closed all year long for recreational shellfish harvest because of sewage treatment outfall.

Sewage treatment outfall. Not stormwater.

Reporting on this topic appears to be completely off limits to the press.

Local Waters And The Puget Sound Area Press

Wastewater Treatment Plant – Department of Ecology Award For Outstanding Performance

Image above: 7/15/2020

Source: Washington State Department of Health Shellfish Safety Map

View the Washington State Department of Health beach list here.

Distance learning idea:

Podcast 4 Another Month With An R – Whidbey Sewage Treatment Plant Outfalls

Whidbey Waters – Mixed Signals of Concern

A photo tour of Penn Cove here:

Wastewater Treatment Plant – Department of Ecology Award For Outstanding Performance

“…talking to officials at the Town of Coupeville…”

Whidbey Signs of Water Quality

Whidbey Earth Day

When Things Get Back To Normal

Ready To Purchase A Subscription – Whidbey Water Quality

# 4 An ongoing glorification of military service

Local press:

“For the past couple of years, the Whidbey News-Times paid the insurance for the Veterans Day Parade, about $200, because it was a small way of saying thank you to the men and women who sacrificed so that we may have our liberties, including our Freedom of Speech.”

Were US troops sent to Vietnam so that Americans could be free to send letters to the editor?

Is there any case in which the US Armed Forces have been sent to distant lands on a mission to protect freedom of speech?

Is protecting freedom of speech even part of training scenarios?

Military Town – Hometown Pride

September 27, 2019 Whidbey News-Times

Sound Off: Freedom doesn’t come free, and it’s sometimes noisy

“…the men and women of the armed forces guarantee our freedom…”

While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20. Can elected officials of any party or any member of the press help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here?

1967

Did the Joint Chiefs of Staff send The Troops to safeguard American freedoms?

Was it the Viet Cong that set up laws in 16 US states to prohibit interracial marriage?

Jet Noise Made Them Free?

Congressman Derek Kilmer:

Wars are for freedom and democracy.

Glorification of military service / total nonsense:

WA Secretary of State

“Our right to vote has always been protected by the brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces.”

If a right to vote has always been protected by the brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces, how come women were not allowed full voting rights at the end of WWI?

Why the need for a 1965 Voting Rights Act if overseas military operations somehow secured voting rights?

If a right to vote is protected by the US Armed Forces, what becomes of that right when the US leaves Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc., without a victory?

Men Died For the Right to Vote?

Right To Vote Linked To Military Operations/US Troops in Distant Lands?

The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.

In some cases, the US Armed Forces provide for our security. That’s as good as it gets.

In terms of American rights and freedoms- The Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.

Legal marijuana, concealed carry of handguns, semi automatic rifle sales, federal minimum drinking age, sports betting, voting rights, bump stock ban, interracial marriage, gay marriage, tobacco sales, open container laws, etc.

None of these are linked in any way with The Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Troops, The Dept. of Defense or the outcome of military operations overseas.

As the decades of undeclared/unwon wars stack up (The Department of Defense track record goes back to 1949.) the greater the cultural urge to glorify people who do, or did time in uniform.

If there is an honest reason to send people away into decades of undeclared/unwon wars overseas let’s hear all about it.

Just Be Honest.

Stop with the glorification of undeclared/unwon wars in distant lands.

Maybe Get Away From The Bragging About Freedom?

Growing Up In The Cold War Era

The US Armed Forces – A Giant Civil Rights Organization?

How Do The Troops Defend The Constitution?

Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.

JFK speaks about the role of the press in a free society: