Ryan Calkins

Couldn’t stand to watch #SOTU last night, but reading the analyses and watching clips this morning. The Gaslighter in Chief is telling Americans not to believe their lying eyes.

All port property

Detaining people without a conviction and no ability to petition for their freedom is an affront to habeus corpus. To the extent the Port can prevent them from stepping on our liberties, we will do so.

Detention centers are disease vectors, facilitate abuse of women and children, and prevent detained people from accessing work, medical care, schools.

Mass detention of lawful residents is unjust, dangerous, immoral, expensive, and antithetical to our fundamental value of individual Liberty.

On Tuesday, the Port Commission will consider an order to strengthen civil rights protections and restrict use of port property for immigration enforcement purposes. We must do everything we can to stop this administration from reenacting the abuses of our past.

The SCOTUS tariff decision undoes bad policy that has hurt families and small businesses. AND, it is an assertion of both judicial and legislative branch powers (SCOTUS‘ final say on constitutionality and Congress’ power to set tax policy). Win-Win!

Offshore wind showed up big during the East Coast’s brutal cold America’s two utility-scale offshore wind farms performed as well as gas power plants and better than coal in January — including during Winter Storm Fern.

Even though the current administration is opposed for reasons utterly disconnected from fact, over the long term the benefits of offshore wind for grid stability, climate, and economics will prevail.
www.canarymedia.com/articles/off...

It felt like watching a seven inning no hitter. What an incredible team. What an incredible win. Go Hawks!

Congratulations to the @seahawksofficial.com on an extraordinary game. Love that Coach McDonald, Sam, JSN all attributed the win to their teammates and the 12s. Now let’s go bring home the Lombardi!

It can feel hopeless, but we can’t give up on our democracy. Our power comes from community, which can take time to organize. As we build people power, we can throw sand in the gears of the machinery of oppression, which is exactly what Renee and Alex were doing when they were killed.

Port of Seattle to Advance Sustainable Growth and Innovation Under New Commission Leadership Port of Seattle Commissioner Ryan Calkins today officially assumed the role of Commission President for 2026. Under President Calkins’ leadership, the Port will continue its commitment to sustainability, innovation, and economic opportunity for the region, building on years of progress toward a cleaner, more equitable future.

Commissioner @ryancalkins.bsky.social today officially assumed the role of Commission President for 2026. Under President Calkins’ leadership, we will continue our commitment to sustainability, innovation, and economic opportunity for the region.

Still calling us Sea-Tac? Whoops… it’s SEA.

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Our priorities for the year:

- Being a global hub for clean energy
- equitable workforce pipelines
- infrastructure for the next century
- community activation

This is after a milestone year of investments in people, shorepower, and generating over $1B in annual revenue.

Today, I took the gavel (literally) as Commission President to lead the Port of Seattle.

As we look at 2026, our focus must be on resilience, equity, and preparation.

Before I share priorities for the year, I want to thank Commissioner Hasegawa for her visionary leadership over the past year.

We ought to focus on supporting a social democratic model in Venezuela—akin to Norway not Chad—where the enormous natural resources benefit everyone, creating a stable middle class. A stable, prosperous neighbor is in everyone’s best interest.

Venezuela needs investment in civic infrastructure: education, media, community centers, job training—everything that ensures broad-based well-being. Instead, the administration is focused on rebuilding extractive oil infrastructure, ignoring the everyday needs of Venezuelans.

If this gets messy, it’s too late to build a coalition. We’ve spent the last year torching our own soft power. Europeans are aghast. BRICS would be more likely to support a continuation of the regime rather than a US puppet. Latin American nations (except Argentina) have to be concerned they’re next

Those arguing that “might makes right” foreign policy is in the best interests of the US likely overestimate our relative strength, which has been diminishing for decades.

Finally, two must follows on Latin American foreign policy and the drug war: @adamisacson.com and @sanho.bsky.social

A Venezuela failed state would increase the likelihood of significant refugee flows, safe harbors for non-state actors (like cartels and paramilitaries), and an open door for China and Russia to expand their influence in the region.

The lack of a Day Two plan (as evidenced by the press conference) for establishing a stable government in Venezuela is bad news for its neighbors, especially Colombia, Ecuador, and Central America.

For instance, how will they divvy up the spoils? Which oil majors will benefit and how is that determined? As we’ve seen with TikTok, he uses the office of the president to secure sweetheart deals for himself, his loved ones, and his supporters.

Instead, the focus seems to be accruing more power to this particular US president. If the pattern of his other foreign policy actions holds, he and his family and close associates will find ways to personally benefit from US involvement in Venezuela.

The Administration, both in the way it carried out the capture and in its justification for it, has completely abrogated democratic norms. No congressional approval in the US, no mention of building up Venezuela’s democratic institutions, no mention of elections—even when reporters teed up the topic

From 2001 to 2003, I lived in Colombia as part of a team documenting the results of US foreign policy in the Andes, and for the last eight years I’ve served as a commissioner at the Port of Seattle. My perspective on the capture of Maduro is based on those experiences. A few thoughts:

YouTube video by TVW Washington to Washington: Tariffs & The Economy

youtu.be/JQ1hjv9_6RU

Solid way to wrap up the year.

Way to go Dawgs!