Free Republic

(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office on Tuesday said a current Boeing employee has come forward as a whistleblower, an announcement that comes hours before the airplane manufacturer’s chief executive is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill. The senator’s office identified the employee as Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance inspector for Boeing in Renton, Washington. Mohawk alleges that Boeing is cutting corners by losing track of parts that have been labeled as non-conforming or not up to design standards, according to Blumenthal. Sometimes these parts get a second chance because they can be fixed or were mislabeled, but often they...

The Libertarian Party of Florida’s Executive Committee approved a motion over the weekend calling for the Libertarian National Committee to investigate allegations concerning the validity of votes cast for the presidential ticket during the party’s recent national convention. The resolution, first shared via X on Sunday, urges the LNC to investigate claims that the presidential and vice-presidential nominations at the party’s recent national convention may have been compromised by ineligible votes. While the party states that it remains committed to supporting its 2024 presidential ticket and will place it on the ballot, the resolution highlights concerns about potential legal and...

As Democrats make their case to voters around the country this fall, one challenge is that some of the bluest parts of the country — cities on the West Coast — are a mess. Centrist voters can reasonably ask: Why put liberals in charge nationally when the places where they have greatest control are plagued by homelessness, crime and dysfunction? I’ll try to answer that question in a moment, but liberals like me do need to face the painful fact that something has gone badly wrong where we’re in charge, from San Diego to Seattle. ...the truth is that too...

The King County, Washington, Prosecuting Attorney's Office has charged a man with second-degree murder and assault, both felony counts, for allegedly shooting a teen he thought was holding a gun and who he believed was about to rob a sporting goods store. Aaron Brown Myers, 51, told police he believed the 17-year-old victim had a gun and was going to rob a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in the Seattle suburb of Renton last Wednesday as the teen headed toward the retailer with two others, according to court documents filed by the prosecutor, Leesa Manion. The boy was holding an...

SEATTLE (AP) — Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90. His son, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. “The family is devastated,” Greg Anders said. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.” William Anders has said the photo was his most significant...

Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders' plane crashes northwest of Seattle. Search and rescue underway

Teachers’ grading practices have changed and students’ grades have drifted up in recent years, a pandemic-era legacy that is being met with mixed reaction from educators across the country. Dating back to 2020, when the pandemic upended American education overnight, many schools have adopted a more lenient approach to grading. Some eliminated zeros or removed penalties for late work. Many teachers report “giving grace” to struggling students. Others say they have felt pressure from administrators to limit failure rates. Higher grades have come even as students’ test scores and attendance rates have dropped. A study in Washington state found that...

District actively promoted non-religious groups, including a Pride Club and Green Team... A school district that just weeks ago had refused students permission to begin an interfaith prayer club – even though a wide range of other special interest organizations like a Pride club and a Green club were approved – abruptly has reversed itself. "We are very pleased that the Issaquah School District is allowing our clients to start a prayer club at their school this spring," explained Kayla Toney, associate counsel at First Liberty Institute,.. "Schools should always respect the religious beliefs of their students. This is a...

Tiffany Smiley, the former triage nurse and veterans’ advocate who ran unsuccessfully against Democratic senator Patty Murray (D., Wash.) in 2022, will announce today that she’s challenging Representative Dan Newhouse (R., Wash.) this cycle, National Review has exclusively learned, setting up a potentially bruising reelection fight for one of two remaining pro-impeachment House Republicans. A crowded jungle primary in 2022 helped Newhouse (R., Wash.) — one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach former president Donald Trump three years ago — easily fend off his primary challengers. But his path to reelection may look a bit more complicated in...

RainFurrest 2015 was one for the books. The convention, filled with full-grown adults dressed as bears, wearing diapers and taking drugs, catapulted the often sex-crazed subculture cast into the public eye. It was meant to be an annual convention designed for and by furries. But the debauchery that ensued left animal loving organizers banned from ever holding another event in the city of Seattle after brass at the hotel they defiled spread word about what happened the social gathering. Permanently plastered in the annals of internet history, the event started to go off the rails when someone purposely loosened a...

Hundreds of migrants, most from Africa and Venezuela, swarmed into Powell Barnett Park in Seattle on Monday and hastily erected a tent encampment before issuing a list of demands including free housing, food, and other needs. The park, situated in Seattle’s Central District neighborhood, was invaded in a planned takeover by more than 200 migrants who brought in wood pallets and erected tents on top of them. One of the migrants, Republic of Congo Central African native Don Tstay, told the media they plan to stay until their demands are met. “So far they haven’t kicked us out, and we...

One strategy for state officials looking to transition Washington’s transportation sector to electric vehicles is by subsidizing them with taxpayer dollars.This week, Gov. Jay Inslee announced $45 million in subsidies through a Department of Commerce grant program for families deemed “low-income” to purchase an EV. “Washingtonians really get it when it comes to electric vehicles,” Inslee said at a Wednesday news conference in Tukwila.The program provides up to $9,000 for families to lease an EV, or $5,000 to purchase one. The grant program allows them to purchase either new or used EVs. The funding would be available to those who...

A prominent pro-Kremlin propagandist has been unmasked as a 37-year-old Navy veteran and tropical fish seller from New Jersey. Divorcee Sarah Bils is known to her 100,000 devoted fans online as 'Donbas Devushka', or Donbas Girl. She posed as a Russian Jew from the occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk and a geopolitics expert. -snip- She left the military in November last year with an honorable discharge but only after being demoted. Bils claims she was 'kicked out' of the Navy due to her 'leftist views.'

A social-media account overseen by a former U.S. Navy noncommissioned officer—a prominent online voice supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine—played a key role in the spread of intelligence documents allegedly leaked by Airman First Class Jack Teixeira. A purported Russian blogger known as Donbass Devushka, which translates as Donbas Girl, reposted the files from obscure online chat rooms. The blog is the face of a network of pro-Kremlin social-media, podcasting, merchandise and fundraising accounts. But the person who hosted podcasts as Donbass Devushka and oversees these accounts is a Washington-state-based former U.S. enlisted aviation electronics technician whose real name is Sarah...

The man fatally shot by Seattle police officers at a Tukwila hotel last week was a retired U.S. Navy physician who is tied to an address in Hansville, Kitsap County, records show.Bruce Coval Meneley,67, was identified Tuesday by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, which determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide. Task force members were conducting a sting operation at the Double Tree Hotel in Tukwila to arrest a suspect who thought he was going to meet two young girls, ages 7 and 11, in a hotel room, according to an item posted...

King County filed charges against 6 people for the blockade which trapped motorists and emergency vehicles for over 5 hours. Two Seattle public school teachers and an Antifa militant with ties to the MS-13 gang were among those charged for shutting down the Interstate 5 freeway in January as part of an anti-Israel demonstration. On Friday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) filed misdemeanor charges against six people in connection with the January 6 blockade, during which hundreds of anti-Israel activists flooded the northbound lanes of the freeway and trapped thousands of motorists and emergency vehicles for over 5...

Nonprofit on boards in the city of Seattle are facing huge bosses because tenants in the city are not paying rent. Following the pandemic eviction moratorium, a lot of tenants became used to someone else paying their bills for them and continue to not pay to this day. This has hurt the revenue of the nonprofits

We have often discussed how cities and universities will use the threat of protests to block or shutdown free speech, particularly of conservative speakers or groups. We now have a major decision out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that could prove an important precedent in resisting the growing anti-free speech movement in the United States. In Meinecke v. City of Seattle, the court ruled against Seattle in a case involving the arrest of a pro-life protester. Matthew Meinecke was harassed by Antifa and other counterprotesters, but police arrested Meineche when he refused to yield...

A group of House Democrats on Tuesday announced they would move to codify federal protections for transgender people. The proposal, dubbed the “Transgender Bill of Rights,” would codify the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision that protects employees against discrimination for being gay or transgender. The proposal would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explicitly include protections for gender identity and sex characteristics, expand access to gender-affirming care and ban conversion therapy. It would also require the attorney general to designate a liaison dedicated to overseeing enforcement of civil rights for transgender people and invest in...

Nike will lay off about 740 employees at its world headquarters in Oregon, a letter showed on Friday, as the top sportswear maker looks to rein in costs after warning of a revenue dip in the first half of fiscal 2025. The "second phase of impacts" would begin by June 28 at its headquarters, Michele Adams, Nike's vice president for people solutions, said in a legally mandated notice to state authorities. The company's shares were up marginally in after-hours trading. They have declined nearly 13% this year. Nike had in December announced a cost savings plan for $2 billion over...