At a press conference this afternoon Gov. Inslee scolded the idiots he scolded earlier in the day for endangering the lives of Washingtonians by flouting social distancing guidelines during protests, refusing to enforce laws, and voting to reopen businesses in violation of the state's "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order.

While the vast majority of Washingtonians have complied with these reasonable but painful restrictions to prevent mass death and illness, the Republican party has stirred up a small number of self-righteous, lonely, suicidal insurrectionists who find Matt Shea charming in order to further their goal of cutting vital programs at the exact moment when we need to expand them. Inslee took this public opportunity to remind Franklin County commissioners, a Snohomish County sheriff, and various, likely astroturfed right-wing organizers that the Attorney General and the State Patrol will enforce the law if they don't.

But brushing all the extremely dangerous political theater aside for a moment, the Governor did answer one of the genuine questions allegedly driving some of these actions: Why can Boeing employees go back to work but not my hairdresser?

This is a good question, especially when you consider the fact that the aerospace giant shut down back in March after one of its employees died of the virus. Surely putting 27,000 workers back on the line doesn't do much to slow the spread, no matter how many articles of protective equipment they plan to distribute in their newly spruced facilities.

The Governor's answer, essentially, was that Boeing (and its suppliers) is too big to fail. Inslee said his office has "tried to make the best decisions and the fairest decisions we possibly can to make sure that people had food, and clothing, and pharmaceuticals, and that the entire economy of Washington state would not collapse." Since Boeing is a "fundamental pillar in the state of Washington's economy," and since it would be "extremely difficult to stand up again once it collapsed," he's allowing the company to get back to the business of building the 737 MAX and other extremely functional commercial airline products.

People with decent memories will likely recall Inslee relying on a similar logic when he gave Boeing "the largest state tax break awarded to a corporation in U.S. history," which the company then "invested" in stock buybacks rather than, you know, hiring more inspectors. He compared the negotiations with Boeing to a mugging on The Daily Show, saying "...These corporations put a gun to your ribs and say you’re going to lose 20,000 jobs unless you get [them] a tax break.” But rather than weighing desperately needed funding against potential job losses, this time Inslee is weighing the health of Washingtonians against more certain job losses. While some of those Washingtonians don't mind heading back to the line, others are not so happy about it, despite the company's new safety measures.

While hairdressers are essential to the state's concerns about bang length, people can buy scissors and razor blades at the grocery store. They can't buy planes.