Free Republic

Despite the valiant efforts of unions, immigrant rights and progressive groups, nativists successfully led an effort to repeal hard-fought legislation to provide driver cards to undocumented immigrants in Oregon. IREHR examines the behind-the-scenes political committees, uncovers the network of anti-immigrant and Tea Party groups in the state, and follows the money to find out how nativists were victorious in Oregon. We also look at what the nativist victory portends for national immigration reform in 2015 and beyond.Dissecting the Nativist Victory in Oregon In last Tuesday’s general election, Oregon voters rejected a bi-partisan law that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to...

Initiative 594 just passed in Washington State, bringing on residents mandatory gun background checks and making it a felony to privately purchase or even hand a gun to a friend without government permission. A story in the Seattle Times the morning after the mid-term elections, revealed the true motives of the I-594 campaign and its proponents. It didn’t take long for the other shoe to drop and the rest of their anti-rights agenda to be exposed. Other states they’re now targeting with initiatives include Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and Maine. Our rights are and always have been their real target, not...

Enough is enough. An important bloc of voters made their voices heard on Tuesday. Their message: Quit rewarding people who violate our immigration laws. They chose a sovereign nation over an illegal alien sanctuary nation, and they told politicians in both parties loud and clear: Put Americans first. Will D.C. listen? These voters are tired of politicians creating magnets for illegal immigrants. They're tired of preferential treatment for defiant border-crossers, visa overstayers and deportation fugitives. They're tired of the heavy costs and consequences of the government's systemic refusal to protect its borders and fully implement interior enforcement. Pay attention, both...

Sen. Jeff Merkley, speaking to reporters Wednesday after his big re-election victory, blamed heavy Democratic losses in U.S. Senate races on the flood of big outside spending on campaigns unleashed by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. "I think we should be deeply troubled by the results of last night, where an agenda by and for billionaires -- campaigns funded by out-of-state billionaires -- had victories across our country," Merkley said in a press conference at the Portland Hilton Hotel.

Oregon and Alaska approved recreational pot use – following Washington State and Colorado, which did the same in 2012 – and the District of Columbia approved legal marijuana possession but not sales, though the move could still be halted by the new US Congress. Though medical marijuana was rejected in Florida, the steps by Oregon, Alaska, and the District add momentum to a movement that is eyeing California next. Recommended: How much do you know about marijuana? Take the quiz ... Yet marijuana remains prohibited by the federal government, and the issue could come to a head in the District...

Yesterday’s Democratic wipeout had many causes, but immigration was clearly one of them. When the president said, “My policies are on the ballot this fall,” he was talking about things already done, like Obamacare, but also things to come. And whatever we think he might do in the future, he’s made only one concrete policy promise in that regard — unilateral lawless amnesty for millions of illegal aliens by the end of the year. (SNIP) As Mickey Kaus noted, “Schumer would probably be chairman of the lucrative Banking Committee if he hadn’t pushed his amnesty bill.” (SNIP) Only one ballot...

Yesterday voters in the blue State of Oregon rescinded a state law giving illegal aliens access to driver cards by voting down Ballot Measure 88. The citizens veto referendum, which was placed on the ballot by an issue committee called Protect Oregon Drivers Licenses (PODL), gave voters an opportunity to decide whether the 2013 law (SB 833) should be implemented. Voters said “No” by a 68-32 margin. The measure’s demise is a major defeat for illegal-alien advocates. Earlier, they failed to get the state legislature and the courts to re-write the referendum title in a manner favorable to keeping the...

On Tuesday, Oregon voters rejected an initiative (Measure 88) to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants even after the proponents for the licenses outspent opponents by more than ten to one. The vote was not even close, as Oregon news outlets called the race right after polls closed. With 80% of the votes in, nearly 70% (66.7%) of Oregon voters rejected the measure, while 32.5% approved. Last month, 61% of likely voters in Oregon said they were opposed to the measure, with 53% of those voters saying they were certain to vote against it. According to KGW, the driver’s license...

Oregon Democrats, especially in the Senate, virtually ran the table Tuesday night, clearing the way for an ambitious agenda heavy on environmental and income-equality issues in the 2015 legislative session. With one race still too close to call, Democrats surprised most analysts by pushing their majority in the Senate to at least 17-to-12. Depending on the outcome of a lone undecided race in Washington County, Democrats could pick up a net of two seats from the 16-to-14 edge they held during the 2014 session. "I'm not surprised they picked up one seat, but two would be pretty impressive," said Jim...

Measure 88, which would have provided driver cards to those who can't prove their legal residency, failed in Tuesday's election. Partial returns showed the measure going down with 64 percent against and 36 percent in favor. The measure pitted unions, some business groups and immigrant-rights organizations against a meagerly funded but tenacious campaign that referred the issue to the ballot after it passed the state Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. John Kitzhaber in May 2013.

NEW YORK (AP) — Voters in Oregon and the District of Columbia approved ballot measures Tuesday allowing the use of marijuana by adults, elating legalization activists who hope to extend their winning streak across the country. Oregon will join the company of Colorado and Washington state, where voters approved the recreational use of pot two years ago. And the District of Columbia is on the same path unless Congress, which has review power, blocks the move. Still to come were results from Alaska, which also had a marijuana-legalization measure on its ballot Tuesday. Other volatile issues on state ballots include...

Kitzhaber's lead narrows in early election returnsBy Steve Benham, KATU.com Staff Published: Nov 4, 2014 at 8:08 PM PST Last Updated: Nov 4, 2014 at 9:08 PM PST PORTLAND, Ore. – Early ballot returns show incumbent Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber leading his Republican challenger state Rep. Dennis Richardson of Central Point.But his lead has narrowed from results released earlier in the night.At about 9 p.m. Kitzhaber had 49 percent to Richardson’s 46 percent.Real-time election results for this racePolls conducted for KATU by SurveyUSA have consistently shown Kitzhaber leading Richardson by double digits since June. But a dark cloud formed...

Brittany Maynard, the Oregon woman who had become an outspoken advocate for patients' rights following her terminal cancer diagnosis, died on Saturday, the Oregonian reported. She was 29. "Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love," she wrote in a Facebook post, according to People. "Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness... the world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers... goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!" Earlier this year, Maynard...

A 29-year-old terminal cancer sufferer who had previously spoken of her right to die has ended her own life surrounded by her family. According to friends and family of Brittany Maynard, she passed away in her Portland, Oregon, home after her condition worsened and the tumor took over. However she was able to choose to die before she lost her ability to function. People.com said she wrote on Facebook : 'Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. 'Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness,...

'Goodbye World. Spread Good Energy': Terminal Cancer Patient, Brittany Maynard, 29, Exercises Her Right-to-Die And Takes Her Own Life Surrounded By Her Family Brittany Maynard, 29, had previously planned to legally end her life on November 1 - before she loses her battle with terminal brain cancer She died on Sunday in her Portland, Oregon home on Sunday Maynard wrote on Facebook: 'Goodbye to all my dear friends and family' Added that she had 'a ring of support' around her as she typed Was diagnosed in April and doctors gave her just six months to live She then made headlines...

(CNSNews.com) -- Some high schools in Oregon are creating an optional “13th grade” in order to provide students with another year of academic support while boosting the state's on-time graduation rate. Starting with the Class of 2014, hundreds of students who have completed four years of high school but have not received their diplomas will be considered “graduates" for statistical purposes. At 69 percent statewide, Oregon had the second-lowest graduation rate in the nation for the Class of 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

PLEASE DON’T LET the fear-mongers among us—the nativists, the bigots, the racists, the speak-English-first types, etc.—have their way. If you vote no on Measure 88, which would allow Oregon to assign driver’s cards to people who can’t (or just won’t) produce documents proving their legal residency in the United States, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. You’ll be just as horrible as groups like Protect Oregon Drivers Licenses and Oregonians for Immigration Reform, who have been spreading manure piles of misinformation about what’s actually at stake—including some unconscionable references to September 11. (SNIP) How do we know the sky won’t...

It's not every day that Planned Parenthood and Oregon Right to Life agree on anything, but both groups have come out against a new ballot measure that would limit the number of choices Oregon voters have in a general election – a measure backed by out-of-state billionaires and corporate interests.. If passed, Oregon Measure 90 would place all candidates for office – of any party – on one primary ballot, and only the top two vote-getters would face each other in the general election. This could result in two members of the same party facing one another. “Measure 90 will...

A week ago I wrote an article about the unicorn event of an open carrier having his firearm stolen by an armed robber.   It is only the second event that has been documented.   Numerous pundits sided with those who want their political opponents disarmed.   An important detail was left out of the story. Multnomah County, where the robbery took place, requires that openly carried guns must be unloaded.   The ordinance makes it an offense to possess a loaded magazine or speed loader if you do not have a concealed carry permit.  As the open carrier was barely old enough...

University officials threatened to call the police and disciplinary action against students who were passing out copies of the U.S. Constitution at Southern Oregon University (SOU) last week. A group of four students at SOU handed out copies of the Constitution on campus Tuesday while collecting signatures to end the university’s restrictive speech policies, which limit free speech to an area that totals less than one percent of campus. While doing so, the students were approached multiple times by school administrators and campus police who all asked the students to move to a different area of campus.