Free Republic

When the Oregon Senate passed expanded background checks on April 14, it marked a change from 2013 and 2014–when the same type of legislation was taken up but defeated without even making it to the floor for a vote. What was the difference in 2015? One huge differences was the influx of Michael Bloomberg’s money into the state, which showed itself not only in the establishment of an apparatus to help gun control candidates get elected but also in gifts to gun control senator Chuck Riley (D-Hillsboro).

Senate Democrats on Tuesday delivered a stinging blow to President Obama’s trade agenda by voting to prevent the chamber from picking up fast-track legislation. A motion to cut off a filibuster and proceed to the trade bill fell short of a 60-vote hurdle in the 52-45 vote. Sen. Tom Carper (Del.) was the only Democrat to back it. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) switched his vote from yes to no to reserve his ability to return to the measure at a later date. Fast-track is a top legislative priority for the White House, but it has run into significant...

Twenty-seven senators want President Obama to block federal agencies and contractors from asking job applicants about prior criminal convictions. The senators, including 26 Democrats and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), want Obama to take executive action to "ban the box," referring to a question on job applications that asks if an applicant has any convictions. "We ask you to require federal contractors and agencies to refrain from asking job applicants about prior convictions until later in the hiring process," they said in a letter to Obama on Monday. "This policy would eliminate unnecessary barriers to employment for all job...

Intimacy is the key to your breaking through in your days ahead . So persevere as Daniel and Gabriel for I will send My angels of My Presence as Michael (AS GOD) as you spend time in mine . . . DANIEL 10:12-21 12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael,...

Ever since the 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn., gun-control advocates have worked hard to close so-called “loopholes” in background-check laws. Not all the efforts have been successful; gun-rights advocates say such measures are needlessly burdensome and do little to stop violent crime. But last year, Washington state residents voted to toughen the state’s background-check laws. And now the Oregon legislature has done the same. On Monday, the Oregon House voted 32-28 in support of Senate Bill 941, which requires background checks for all purchasers of guns through private sales. Currently, background checks in Oregon are...

In January 2013, Rachel Cryer and her mother walked into Sweet Cakes By Melissa, a bakery in Gresham, Oregon, and tried to order a wedding cake. Aaron Klein, the co-owner (and Melissa’s husband), was informed Cryer would be marrying another woman. He apologized and told them that providing a cake for a same-sex wedding violated his Christian convictions. Cryer walked out of the store. In a suburb adjacent to Portland, one of the most progressive cities in America, Sweet Cakes By Melissa was living on borrowed time once the incident became public. (The city is so famously tolerant that Sam...

Portland police used tear gas, flash bangs and what they called "noise distractionary devices" to try and disperse protesters in downtown Portland Friday evening. At least one officer was injured during the clashes. No arrests were made. The group Don't Shoot Portland, protesting excessive force by law enforcement, marched through downtown Portland Friday afternoon and joined an unrelated May Day rally for immigrant rights. Hundreds of marchers began winding their way through downtown Portland at 4:30 p.m., but some protesters disregarded the planned route and walked against traffic. TriMet buses and MAX trains were delayed.Streets in downtown Portland were blocked...

An undersea volcano about 300 miles (480 km) off Oregon's coast has been spewing lava for the past seven days, confirming forecasts made last fall and giving researchers unique insight into a hidden ocean hot spot, a scientist said on Friday. Researchers know of two previous eruptions by the volcano, dubbed "Axial Seamount" for its location along the axis of an underwater mountain ridge, Oregon State University geologist Bill Chadwick said on Friday. But those 1998 and 2011 eruptions were detected months or years afterward, Chadwick added. Last year, researchers connected monitoring gear to an undersea cable that, for the...

Eugene School Board incumbent Mary Walston, who is up for re-election next month, urged neighborhood organizers of a school board candidates’ debate next week to either reschedule the debate or prevent her opponent from participating because she will be out of town. Organizers of the debate agreed to honor Walston’s request to bar her opponent from the debate — which, in turn, prompted the opponent, Colin Farnsworth, to cry foul. A substitute teacher in the Bethel, Eugene, Springfield and South Lane school districts, Farnsworth said it is “extremely unfair and undemocratic that my participation and perspective will be censored during...

The question mark’s in the headline because they haven’t commented yet on where the page went or why, but you can guess what happened if you read Jazz’s post yesterday. A GoFundMe page for a different Christian-owned business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon, was yanked down by GFM because there are discrimination charges pending against the owner and it’s GFM’s policy not to raise money “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.” Politely refusing to cater a gay wedding is, evidently, now a “heinous crime.” But that raised a question: If charity...

Ex-Oregon jail staffer sentenced after caught having sex with inmate in closet BY NINA GOLGOWSKI An Oregon mother said it was her crumbling marriage and vulnerability that drove her to cheat on her husband. But it was the former jail staffer's decision to do it with a maximum security inmate — more than a dozen times in a supply closet — that earned her more than four years behind bars Monday. Jill Curry, sobbing before a Washington County judge and deputies, apologized for her actions over the last year that saw her repeatedly sneak a convicted gang member out of...

Christian Bakery Ordered To Pay $135,000 To Lesbian CoupleThe trials and tribulations for Sweet Cakes By Melissa continue. You may recall that this is the Oregon bakery that refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding. Since then, they’ve been on the receiving end of protests, hit piece articles, and a lawsuit.The Klein family The Oregonian reports: The lesbian couple turned away by a Gresham bakery that refused to make them a wedding cake for religious reasons should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering, a state hearings officer says.Rachel Bowman-Cryer should collect $75,000 and her wife,...

The owners of an Oregon bakery learned Friday that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith. A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake. As a result - Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own — including their home. The Oregonian reports the recommended penalty is not final and could be raised or lowered by State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian. The controversy started in 2013...

The LGBT-Gestapo adapts rather quickly.  After Memories Pizza raised $842,432 in just a few days, and Arlene’s Flowers raised over $173 thousand on GoFundMe, the Gaystapo couldn’t let Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of the now-shuttered Sweet Cakes by Melissa, use that fundraising platform. A GoFundMe account was established for the Kleins, and raised over $6,000, until the website took it down. The website GoFundMe said in a statement Saturday that it took down the page because the campaign violated the policy against raising money “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.” “The...

The lesbian couple turned away by a Gresham bakery that refused to make them a wedding cake for religious reasons should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering, a state hearings officer says. Rachel Bowman-Cryer should collect $75,000 and her wife, Laurel Bowman-Cryer, $60,000 from the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, an administrative law judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said in a proposed order released Friday, April 24.

An Oregon administrative law judge recommended today that the bakers who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding should be fined $135,000. “[T]he forum concludes that $75,000 and $60,000, are appropriate awards to compensate [the same-sex couple] for the emotional suffering they experienced,” wrote Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries in his proposed order. Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa located in Gresham, Ore., say the fine is enough to potentially bankrupt their family of seven. The dispute began in January 2013, when Aaron denied Rachel Cryer a...

Oregon Sheriff’s Tim Svenson and John Hanlin Just a few weeks ago, Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer made headlines for his staunch opposition to the gun registry bill moving through the Oregon Legislature. He is now being joined by several other Sheriffs across the state.Just yesterday the House rules committee held their hearing on SB941, which is being sold as a “universal background check” bill. Among the folks testifying against the bill were Yamhill County Sheriff Tim Svenson and Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin. “My fear with SB 941 is that these citizens will now be at risk of being...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Tens of thousands of people along the U.S. Pacific Northwest coastline may not have enough time to evacuate low-lying areas before tsunami waves arrive, according to a new publication by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Colorado Boulder, and California State University, Sacramento. “All coastal communities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest are vulnerable to varying degrees to tsunami hazards from a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake,” said Dr. Nathan Wood, lead author of the study and scientist with the USGS. “Having a better sense of how a community is specifically vulnerable provides officials with the ability...

I’m a Democrat, I’m socially liberal, and I’m a gun owner. And when I say a new law won’t stop criminals from getting guns, I hope readers will at least pause for a moment to consider. The bill’s unintended consequences will further polarize politics, while doing nothing to keep guns away from criminals.

GRANTS PASS -- A man who owns a gold-mining claim on federal land in southwestern Oregon asked for help defending it after U.S. authorities ordered him to stop work, but he is now telling his armed supporters to back off. Rick Barclay said Thursday that he hoped to prevent his fight with federal regulators from turning into the kind of high-profile standoff at a Nevada ranch last year. He initially called in a local chapter of constitutional activists known as the Oath Keepers because he thought the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would seize the equipment on his mining claim...