Free Republic

It took just a few days after the stunning defeat of Obama's attempt to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership bill in the Senate at the hands of his own Democratic party, before everything returned back to normal and the TPP fast-track was promptly passed. Why? The simple answer: money. Or rather, even more money. Because while the actual contents of the TPP may be highly confidential, and their public dissemination may lead to prison time for the "perpetrator" of such illegal transparency .... fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments,...

Turon Lamont Walker is accused of shooting three people after someone "eyed" him at the Last Thursday street fair on Thursday, May 28, 2015.Sgt. Don Livingston, a supervisor of the city's gang enforcement team, and his investigators were still busy gathering police reports and examining evidence from last week's shootings when bullets scattered the crowd and wounded three people at the jampacked Last Thursday street fair in Northeast Portland. "We're playing catch-up here," Livingston said in the aftermath of the latest violence. "They're coming in so fast." The shooting Thursday night pushed gang violence response calls to 64 this year...

On April 17, 2004 Dr. Kenneth Stevens, the President of Physicians for Compassionate Care (PCC) and a cancer specialist spoke to the provincial pro-life conference in Hamilton. Physicians for Compassionate Care is an organization which was founded in 1995 in response to the legalization of assisted suicide in the State of Oregon. Dr. Kenneth Stevens understands the issue of physician-assisted suicide both personally and professionally. In 1982 his terminally ill wife was told by her doctor that "Nothing more can be done." The doctor then said: "I can write an "extra-large" prescription." Dr. Stevens wife told him that: "he wants...

Jerry Brown, Democrat governor of drought-stricken California, appeared Sunday on ABC's This Week and defended his executive actions that placed mandatory water restrictions on citizens but not on the agriculture industry. "There are farmers who have senior water rights," Brown told guest-host Martha Raddatz. "Some people have a right to more water than others." Of his own actions, Brown stated: This executive order is done under emergency power and it has the force of law. Very unusual. And it's requiring action and changes in behavior from the Oregon border all the way to the Mexican border. It affects lawns. It...

Oregon became the third state in the United States to ban gay conversion therapy, a practice that has attracted much debate. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill into law earlier this week, though an ex-gay group has protested and called the bill "child abuse." CNN reported on Wednesday that the bill signed by Brown, the first openly bisexual governor in the U.S., will block therapist from offering conversion or reparative therapy on individuals who are younger than 18. Laws against the practice have also been made in California, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. While the American Psychological Association has...

Oregon is about to embark on a first-in-the-nation program that aims to charge car owners not for the fuel they use, but for the miles they drive. The program is meant to help the state raise more revenue to pay for road and bridge projects at a time when money generated from gasoline taxes are declining across the country, in part, because of greater fuel efficiency and the increasing popularity of fuel-efficient, hybrid and electric cars. Starting July 1, up to 5,000 volunteers in Oregon can sign up to drive with devices that collect data on how much they have...

Oregon is about to embark on a first-in-the-nation program that aims to charge car owners not for the fuel they use, but for the miles they drive. The program is meant to help the state raise more revenue to pay for road and bridge projects at a time when money generated from gasoline taxes are declining across the country, in part, because of greater fuel efficiency and the increasing popularity of fuel-efficient, hybrid and electric cars. Starting July 1, up to 5,000 volunteers in Oregon can sign up to drive with devices that collect data on how much they have...

Now that Oregon’s SB 941 has been signed by the Governor, gun rights activists have banded together and are organizing a facebook event page for a rally entitled “SB 941 I Will Not Comply Demonstration“. The rally is set for May 30th, at the Capitol building in Salem, and will feature a host of speakers. SB 941 is the “universal background check” bill, meaning that if you want to trade guns with your next door neighbor whom you’ve known for 10 years, you must both submit yourselves to background checks and get permission from the state police before the exchange...

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,...