Free Republic

Some colleges and universities in the United States have been struggling with student performance, particularly since they began spending more time protesting Israel or the police than on the classes they signed up for. And the DEI push concerning who does or doesn't get admitted isn't helping either. But no school wants to go public and say that they are graduating a bunch of sub-par students, right? Western Oregon University has joined the ranks of those who are finding creative solutions to these challenges. They will simply no longer issue failing grades to anyone such as "D-" or "F." They...

George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Leftist policies daily show his wisdom. The latest leftist policy to go down in flames is Oregon’s experiment with legalizing all drugs. It turns out that when you give people license to sin, and also delete all moral constraints, they’ll sin themselves to death. Now, Oregon’s very leftist governor, Tina Kotek, is walking back the policy, having declared a state of emergency over fentanyl drug overdoses. The Founding Fathers never forgot the past. Indeed, they were imbued with it. One example of that wisdom was...

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - The U.S. Attorney’s Office-District of Oregon said four suspected drug traffickers are facing federal charges Thursday after they were caught transporting near 370 gallons of liquid heroin. Police said 44-year-old Marco Antonio Magallon, 26-year-old Luis Deleon Woodward, 25-year-old Jorge Luis Amador and 32-year-old Santos Alisael Aguilar Maya have ties to a Mexico-based transnational criminal organization. They have all been charged with conspiracy to distribute and posses with intent to distribute heroin and possess with intent to distribute heroin. Investigators watched Amador drive a rented moving truck alongside a red pickup truck west on I-84 near Bonneville....

Swiss scientists have found what they say may be Europe's biggest mushroom - covering an area about the size of 35 football pitches. The fungus was discovered in a national park near the eastern town of Ofenpass, said the Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Countryside Research (WSL). Spanning 35 hectares (86 acres), the mostly underground fungus is believed to be 1,000 years old, the WSL added. The Honey Mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) is edible, but it can kill trees. "The majority of the fungus is an underground network that looks a bit like shoelaces," WSL's spokeswoman Muriel Bendel said. "The...

The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that 10 Republican state senators are ineligible to run for reelection after they participated in a quorum-denying walkout for six weeks last year to stall legislation on abortion, transgender treatments and firearms.The high court decided in favor of Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who had disqualified the senators from running for office again after voters approved a measure in 2022 to amend the state constitution to ban lawmakers with more than 10 unexcused absences from running again. The measure to prevent walkouts passed after GOP lawmakers staged other walkouts from the Legislature...

The homeless Portland woman who shoved a toddler onto train tracks in December 2022 will head to a mental institution after being found guilty of the heinous crime.

Last year, Oregon Senate Republicans undertook a historic walk-out to stop two radical pro-abortion bills, including one that would have stripped parents of their right to be involved in their children’s abortion decisions. Republican lawmakers blocked the Democrat-controlled Senate from passing legislation because of House Bill 2002, a radical pro-abortion bill that would allow girls as young as 10 to have abortions – or be coerced by an abuser – without their parents’ knowledge. Republican and independent lawmakers denied a quorum in the Oregon Senate and blocked action on the pro-abortion bill and other legislation. Senate rules require two thirds...

Oregon high court decides 10 Republican state senators cannot seek re-election after record-long walkout The Oregon Supreme Court decided on Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who participated in a record-long boycott last summer to block bills extending access to abortion for minors, transgender procedures and medical intervention, as well as another measure on ghost guns, cannot seek re-election this year. The Oregon Senate Republican Caucus charged that the "Democrat-stacked supreme court sides with Democrats and union cronies on Measure 113 despite plain language of Constitution." The caucus stressed that the state high court's decision is "effectively ending the service...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection. The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences. Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed...

Oregon, the pioneering state in drug decriminalization, faces a fentanyl crisis prompting a state of emergency in Portland. Despite hopes that a more compassionate approach would address addiction, the reality has been starkly different. Measure 110, passed in 2020, shifted focus to addiction and recovery, with police issuing citations for public drug use. However, the law’s effectiveness is under scrutiny, with overdose deaths rising since its implementation. Governor Tina Kotek has declared a 90-day emergency order for fentanyl use, establishing a command center for better coordination between emergency management and health services. The move comes after nearly a thousand accidental...

If you need more evidence that America has become a "permission-slip" society, look no further than the City of Portland, Oregon, requiring homeowners to get permits to remove trees that've fallen on their houses during recent winter storms. Portland alt-weekly Willamette Week published a story last week about Joel and Sarah Bonds, who had a large Douglas Fir in the backyard squash their house after it became weighed down with ice. The tree barely missed the Bonds' young daughter and cat. As it turns out, the couple were not unaware of the danger posed by the tree. In 2021, they'd...

The university's VP of Academic Affairs said the changes will no longer 'mask' students' 'demonstrated abilities'.. An Oregon university announced they will abandon failing letter grades, citing a "GPA fixation" that negatively impacts students. Western Oregon University issued a news release earlier this month that revealed the school would be replacing "D-" and "F" grades with "no credit" to discourage undergrads from dropping out. ... The difference is that the grade of NC will not negatively impact student GPAs, ... the decision came after data from the university showed that 65% of freshman students who dropped out had earned at...

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13 (King James Version) It is so incredible when you catch a liberal saying the quiet part out loud. While filming the latest Forestry Board testimony we caught them in a unrehearsed moment, and they admitted the entire song and dance of protecting the forests...

Independent candidate Dr. Cornel West will appear on the Oregon state ballot after receiving the presidential nomination of the Oregon Progressive Party, as announced in a recent press release issued by the campaign earlier this week. “It’s a profound honor to be listed on Oregon’s ballot for 2024 as part of the Oregon Progressive Party slate of candidates,” West said in a press release put out by the campaign on Wednesday. “I am deeply thankful to my Oregonian family for embracing this vision. Oregon, you are not just on the map, you are at the forefront of the struggle for...

Lawmakers in Oregon are moving to recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs after it faced rampant public drug use and saw overdose-related deaths more than triple. 'It's the compromise path, but also the best policy that we can come up with to make sure that we are continuing to keep communities safe and save lives,' said state Senator Kate Lieber, a Democrat and one of the bill's authors. The state became the first in the country to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine in 2020.

Climate change has led many states and countries to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power systems. Oregon has set targets for all power sold to retail customers in the state to have GHG emissions cut by 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035, and 100% by 2040. ...Portland General Electric (PGE) generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to half of Oregon’s population, and 75% of its commercial and industrial activity, is working hard to achieve those objectives. As the first utility in the U.S. to sign The Climate Pledge, an initiative co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in...

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apprehended a would-be "transgender" shooter who wanted to mass murder "transphobes." However, the FBI didn't swiftly nab the gunman until discovering months later that the "indigenous" suspect, a self-described "Nazi dominatrix," was posting racist, antisemitic content on social media vilifying blacks, Jews, and immigrants. The few media outlets that did cover the arrest also opted to focus on the Nazi flag-waving suspect's white nationalist ideology and downplay his "trans"-fueled bloodlust. Both The Oregonian and CourtWatch referred to the "transgender" as an "Oregon woman." Elizabeth Ballesteros West, formerly Francisco Frank Paramo, of Cottage...

Atransgender woman in Oregon was recently arrested after posting photos showing several guns and speaking about being angry over transphobia. FBI agents in Oregon arrested Elizabeth West last week after reviewing several social media posts that included photographs of guns, a criminal complaint reviewed by Newsweek said. West was accused of interstate threatening communications, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint states that on September 26, 2023, FBI agents in Eugene, Oregon, received a tip regarding a social media post made by West in a "Trans Woman Support Group" page on Facebook that showcased two guns and mentioned being bullied...

The FBI has arrested a 56-year-old Cottage Grove woman accused of making threats online to harm Jews and Black people in posts displaying a Nazi flag and multiple guns. Elizabeth Ballesteros West, who was found with a cache of guns and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was arrested Friday and is being held in the Lane County Jail, according to federal agents and court records. She has not yet made her first appearance in federal court in Eugene. Agents first were alerted in late September to a Facebook post that West put on a transgender women’s support group page,...

𝐖𝐓𝐅 𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐍?? ⚠️ Volcanic steam bubbles oozing out of pavement in Portland, Oregon. Pavement is hot to the touch and crumbles easily VIDEO AT LINK.....................