John Zender

Be the best you can, and help encourage others.

[Handre @Handre]

Seattle's insane minimum wage (currently $21) experiment delivered exactly what the free market predicted - entry-level jobs vanished. Restaurants automated ordering systems, retailers cut hours, and small businesses discovered they could function with fewer workers. The city council celebrated "progress" while teenagers found themselves competing with college graduates for the remaining positions.

You can mandate higher wages, but you cannot mandate higher productivity. When government forces employers to pay $21 for $10 worth of output, those jobs disappear into thin air. The workers who need experience most - young people, immigrants, those with gaps in their résumé - get locked out entirely.

Politicians sell minimum wage hikes as compassion. What they deliver is economic segregation (the connected get jobs, the rest get welfare applications).

[Future 42 @future42org]

"Governor Ferguson said no new taxes in 2025. Then he signed Washington’s largest tax increase in state history."

This ^ is why nobody believes Gov. Bob Ferguson when he promises not to raise taxes to cover the 'fiscal cliff' Washington's budget is about to leap off of next year.

KIRO's Charlie Harger with a great commentary on the incoming budget meteor, the denial by Progressives that they overspent, and how Olympia Democrats got us here through bad budgeting.

@KIROCharlie | @KIRONewsradio
'Harger: Governor Ferguson admits Washington’s 2027-29 budget is in trouble. His own OFM director is preparing for it to be worse'
Article: https://t.co/GdTVZx7YzM

[John Zender @JDZender]

@JackDangerLIVE Pass the save America act or this is what they will do every where. Nuke the fillabuster

[Nick Sortor @nicksortor]

Republicans want to play cutesy, REFUSING to nuke the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, pretending like Democrats will play fair when they get power.

Meanwhile, Democrats just rammed through the most egregiously gerrymandered map of all time.

This is why we lose.

[John Zender @JDZender]

@PattyMurray Weird how much cheaper gas is in Idaho… it’s like there’s state taxes?

[Jonathan Choe @choeshow]

Every news organization in America should be fighting this. CA is clearly compromised.

[John Zender @JDZender]

@RepDelBene How about we remove the $1.30 in state taxes? Also let’s not forget that every president since Clinton has been calling out that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, and more importantly that their own population has been getting killed in the street for protesting.

[Nick shirley @nickshirleyy]

California is trying to pass a bill that would criminalize investigative journalism with misdemeanors, $10,000 fines, imprisonment, and content takedown.

The proposed bill is titled AB 2624 and was made after I exposed mass fraud by immigrant groups in America.

Under AB 2624, government-funded entities like the Somali “Learing” Daycare centers would be protected from being exposed if they operated inside California.

The enemy truly is within. When our politicians would rather protect fraudsters and illegal migrants, it’s time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who “rule” over us.

[John Zender @JDZender]

@RepFine How is this not already law?

[Kristen Mag @kristenmag]

WA state charges us over a dollar in taxes and fees for every gallon of gas we buy. Local prices are soaring over $6/gallon. If the governor cares at all about affordability in this state he will give us a gas tax holiday.

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

In 19 days, a jury in Oakland is going to decide whether the entire legal foundation of the AI industry is built on fraud.

Everyone thinks the Musk vs Altman lawsuit is a billionaire grudge match.

Two egos, one grudge, a $150 billion damages number designed for headlines.

Easy to dismiss. Easy to scroll past.

That's exactly what Altman wants you to think.

Because what's actually on trial on April 27 is something much BIGGER than Elon's hurt feelings...

A jury is going to decide whether you can legally take billions of dollars in nonprofit donations, use them to build the most valuable technology in human history, and then quietly convert that nonprofit into a for-profit company worth $850 billion.

If the answer is no, the entire AI industry has a problem.

Because OpenAI is not the only company that did this:

Anthropic was founded by OpenAI defectors using the same nonprofit-first mission language.

xAI pitches itself as building AI "for humanity."

Every frontier lab has used the moral cover of "we're doing this for the good of the world" to attract talent, capital, and regulatory goodwill they would have never gotten otherwise.

An Elon win doesn't just touch OpenAI. It creates a legal precedent that every AI company built on a nonprofit or public benefit promise becomes vulnerable to shareholder and donor clawback suits.

That's why this case matters. And that's why Altman is panicking.

Just look at what he did this week:

Elon filed a motion demanding the court remove Altman and Brockman from their roles and FORCE OpenAI to return to its nonprofit origins.

Then he amended the suit to say if he wins the $150 billion, all of it goes to OpenAI's charity arm. Not him. Zero dollars to Elon personally.

That amendment was surgical. It stripped Altman of his entire public defense.

He can no longer claim this is about Elon's ego or Elon's bank account. Elon is now legally on record saying he just wants the mission back.

OpenAI's response was to panic-write a letter to the California and Delaware attorneys general asking them to investigate Elon for "anti-competitive behavior." Their strategy chief publicly accused Elon of coordinating attacks with Mark Zuckerberg.

They called the lawsuit "harassment driven by ego and jealousy."

That's NOT the response of a company that thinks it's going to win.

Real companies with real defenses don't ask the government to silence the person suing them 3 weeks before trial. They let the evidence speak.

OpenAI is scrambling because they know what's in discovery.
Elon's team has been building this case for two years. Emails, board minutes, internal conversations about the conversion.

The kind of paper trail that juries understand and executives can't explain away.

And the timing couldn't be worse...

OpenAI is trying to IPO at $852 billion. They just raised $122 billion. Microsoft has $135 billion of exposure to them.

A jury verdict that even partially sides with Elon in late April or May would crater the entire IPO runway and send shockwaves through every major AI investor on Earth.

This is why Altman spent the last 2 weeks doing press tours and policy blueprints and "super intelligence agendas" aimed at Washington. He's trying to REFRAME himself as the responsible statesman of AI right before a jury decides if he's a con artist.

Most people will watch this trial start and think it's celebrity drama.

The smart money is watching it and realizing that the legal foundation of the AI boom is about to be tested in court for the first time EVER.

And if that foundation cracks, everything built on top of it is at risk.

[Future 42 @future42org]

"Have you given any consideration to a gas tax holiday?"

Weeks ago, KIRO7's Brandon Thompson asked Gov. Bob Ferguson directly if he will suspend our gas and climate taxes. Non answer, even as we touch the $6 mark at many gas stations.

Another great highlight from this segment is the breakdown of exactly what taxes we pay per gallon of gas, and why Washington is so much more expensive than both neighboring states👇

WA Gas Tax: $0.55
WA Hazard Tax: $0.04
WA Low Carbon Fuel Tax: $0.04
WA Climate Tax: $0.55

Total WA Taxes on Gas: $1.18 per gallon

(Great segment, Mr. Thompson)

@BThompsonNews | @KIRO7Seattle
'Gas Tax Holiday? Don’t hold your breath in Washington'
Article: https://t.co/nE8Tsy4yZr

[Brian Heywood - That Damn Mormon @bkheywood]

WA will hire 300 employees just to enact the income tax

They will also spend over $550 million per year just to administer it.

That means they need $5.5 billion dollars of wealth to plunder just to break even on this unconstitutional tax.

The good news is, WA state has an incredible track record of losing money, refusing to conduct audits, spending tax payer funds with abandon, and no accountability. So you can rest assured, this SEIU backed income tax will totally be spent for the good of the state….

Oh and when you hire 300 people and spend $550 million to administer something, of course it will never be expanded to hit every tax payer at every income level. Trust them. They kept their word on pennies per gallon carbon taxes….

Excerpt:

“The total cost to the Revenue Department for the 2029-31 biennium, when the tax takes effect, is about $557.4 million including salaries, benefits, and office equipment.

https://t.co/0T30kIYsZj

[Brandi Kruse @BrandiKruse]

🚨BREAKING: A lawsuit against Washington state's new income tax was filed this morning. Plaintiffs include small businesses and farmers. A bipartisan legal team has formed to lead the case, including former AG Rob McKenna (R) and former State Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmage (D). Led by @CADFWashington.

[John Zender @JDZender]

@HenryFrank02 She should be locked up

[John Zender @JDZender]

@4thOfJuly365 Need more of this kind of spirit in our country

[John Zender @JDZender]

@elonmusk Same with WA

[beatnikdr @beatnikdr1]

@SteveTVNews @komonews @tyrahmajors Where is all the money going?

[John Zender @JDZender]

@SteveTVNews @tyrahmajors Where is the money going?! We’re already getting taxed on everything.