Free Republic

**SNIP** In a frank and unflinching critique not seen or heard on the broadcast or cable news shows, Sawant described Obama's renewed focus on income inequality as an indictment of his own failures and misguided economic policy. Pointing to record high poverty and the fact that "95% of the gains in productivity during the so-called recovery have gone to the top 1%," Sawant argued that Obama's rhetoric on inequality has been forced on him by popular "outrage over the widening gulf between the super-rich" and the millions of workers, many working in low-wage retail and fast food jobs, who generated...

Seattle’s only Socialist City Council member announced Monday that she will make good on a campaign pledge and accept only $40,000 a year in salary — bringing her down to the average wage of a worker in the city. The remainder of the roughly $117,000 salary will go to social justice causes such as strike funds, civil rights and women’s rights, she said in a statement. "Every Councilmember faces a choice of who they represent and which world they inhabit,” said Kshama Sawant, who took office earlier this month. “My place is with working people and their struggles. I want...

With the current success of the Seattle Seahawks, the "12th Man" has been all over ESPN and social media. We decided to look further into the "12th Man" trademark and Texas A&M's licensing agreement with Seattle. Following an initial lump sum payment of $100,000 in 2006, Texas A&M University is receiving $5,000 per year from the Seattle Seahawks for their use of the "12th Man" mark. The initial term of the agreement was five years, and the Seahawks opted to renew the agreement for five more years in 2011. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2016 after...

A 32-year-old Seattle man accused of posting threats on Facebook against Seattle’s openly gay mayor and a socialist City Council member was charged Wednesday with malicious harassment, felony harassment and two counts of cyberstalking. Mitchell Munro Taylor remained jailed on $600,000 bail, The Seattle Times reported. …

"Omaha" versus "You mad, bro?" Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks is setting up to be a classic contest in which the surgical Peyton Manning will try to perhaps cap off his career and legacy against the brash--and best (ask Richard Sherman)--Seattle secondary that has smothered the league's best wide receivers all season long. Simply put, the league's top offense (Denver) will face the league's top defense (Seattle). Something has to give.

Bertha, the world's largest tunneling machine, churning through the rock and mud beneath Seattle, has hit a mysterious roadblock—so mysterious, it is only known for now as "the object." The New York Times reports that the machine—300 feet long and 5 stories tall—has ground to a halt. Built precisely not to be stopped by, well, just about anything, Bertha has apparently met her match. But what exactly is it? "Something unknown, engineers say—and all the more intriguing to many residents for being unknown—has blocked the progress of the biggest-diameter tunnel-boring machine in use on the planet," the NYT writes. It...

After drilling four deep shafts and sending a man down to look last week, Seattle Tunnel Partners and the state Department of Transportation don’t fully know yet what’s blocking tunnel machine Bertha, some 60 feet deep next to Pioneer Square. So the DOT announced Tuesday it is “going hyperbaric,” by sending workers to the pressurized cutting face. Teams of five or six workers would take turns inspecting the huge area. Bertha is equipped with two hatches for men and one for equipment, to reach a five-foot wide chamber where excavated muck enters the conveyor system, right behind the 57-foot rotary...

Assuming the 49ers win on Sunday, fans wanting to cheer on the Niners in the January 19th NFC Championship Game in Seattle will not be able to buy tickets through the Seahawks, as the team is restricting sales to only zip codes in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Canada. Tickets go on sale Monday, and California residents can still purchase tickets through the secondary ticket market like NFL Ticket Exchange, Stub Hub and others, or with a friend who has a credit card billed to an address in the Pacific Northwest.

<p>A buried steel pipe is at least partly to blame for stopping the giant tunnel-boring machine Bertha, which has been stuck since Dec. 6 along the Seattle waterfront near South Main Street. The long pipe was a “well casing” used to measure groundwater during studies in 2002 on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project, state DOT spokesman Lars Erickson said this afternoon. The well site was listed in reference materials that were provided to bidders as part of the contract specifications, he said. “I don’t want people to say WSDOT didn’t know where its own pipe was, because it did,” Erickson said. It’s unclear for now why the pipe was left in the ground by the team that did those soil investigations, or why Seattle Tunnel Partners would not have removed it prior to drilling. A modern tunnel machine can chew through dirt and concrete, but not steel. Even fiberglass rods caused a snag that delayed work several days this summer. A steel pipe can become tangled in the spokes of the rotary cutting head, and in a conveyor screw that pushes dirt from the cutter face onto a belt that moves out the rear of the machine. Downtown Seattle contains some of the most frequently poked and studied ground on earth, which makes the blockage all the more confounding. Five-foot diameter holes were drilled alongside the tunnel path to install concrete pilings that protect the old viaduct; the contractors have used ground-penetrating radar; and geotechnical experts drilled test holes, which didn’t hit this particular object. The state Department of Transportation is holding a news conference this afternoon, during which state engineers and contractors will provide more details about the next steps, and about resuming drilling. An inspection was conducted at the front of the machine Thursday night.</p>

As the Big Apple’s tax base shrinks, its municipal costs skyrocket, increasing the urgency that it get its financial house in order. So I’ll make a bold prediction: New Yorkers may someday regret electing a man who says he does not believe in the free market system. “Everything you heard about me is true…I am not a free-marketeer…I believe in the heavy hand of government,” Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio recently told a meeting of major real estate developers. (snip) Amazingly, this erstwhile reader of Barricade magazine isn’t the most radical city politician lately to sweep into power. Meet Kshama Sawant,...

SEATTLE — People are used to liberals running things around here. But nobody reckoned with Kshama Sawant. Ms. Sawant, a 41-year-old economics teacher and immigrant from India, took a left at liberal and then kept on going — all the way to socialism. **SNIP** But Kshama Sawant (pronounced SHAH-mah sah-WANT) heartily embraces the label. Ask her about almost any problem facing America today, and her answer will probably include the “S” word as the best and most reasonable response. Socialism is the path to real democracy, she says. Socialism protects the environment. Socialism is the best hope for young people...

NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday that the Dallas Cowboys worked out David Carr, Tyler Thigpen, John Skelton and Caleb Hanie, only to send all four of the free-agent quarterbacks home without a contract. Now we know why.

A group of 49ers fans who raised money for a billboard in Seattle to brag about their team's five Super Bowl trophies got their sign - but it's nowhere near CenturyLink Field. The digital billboard is just north of Fife, about 27 miles from downtown Seattle. Niners fans raised money through the fundraising site gofundme.com. They raised more than the $7,000 needed to pay for the billboard so the rest will go to charity. A Seahawks fan wants to do the same thing in San Francisco, but to promote Seattle Children's hospital and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. On Sunday, a...

SEATTLE (AP) — Students at a Seattle-area Catholic school are gaining national attention for their protest over the forced departure of a gay vice principal. An online petition started by the senior class president of Eastside Catholic was the third fastest growing U.S. petition on change.org Friday, attracting around 15,000 signatures in one day. The petition was launched after Vice Principal Mark Zmuda resigned under pressure from school administrators after they learned he had married his same-sex partner. Bradley Strode said the students want to effect change within the wider Catholic Church, with an ultimate goal of altering the Catholic...

ABC This Week viewers were treated to a classic conservative versus liberal debate Sunday. When former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich tried to blame the increase in poverty in the past five years on Republicans, former Speaker of the House and current CNN host Newt Gingrich called it "baloney" firing back, "Every major city which is a center of poverty is run by Democrats" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary): Gingrich Schools Reich: 'Every Major City Which Is a Poverty Center Is Run By Democrats' JONATHAN KARL, SUBSTITUTE HOST: And let me ask you, Mr....

A secret subterranean heart, tinged with mystery and myth, beats beneath the streets in many of the world’s great cities. Tourists seek out the catacombs of Rome, the sewers of Paris and the subway tunnels of New York. Some people believe a den of interstellar aliens lurks beneath Denver International Airport. Now Seattle, at least for now, has joined that exclusive club. Something unknown, engineers say — and all the more intriguing to many residents for being unknown — has blocked the progress of the biggest-diameter tunnel-boring machine in use on the planet, a high-tech, largely automated wonder called Bertha....

The mother of a Ballard High School student is fuming after the health center on campus helped facilitate her daughter's abortion during school hours.

SEATTLE -- The mother of a Ballard High School student is fuming after the health center on campus helped facilitate her daughter's abortion during school hours. The mother, whom KOMO News has chosen to identify only as "Jill," says the clinic kept the information "confidential."

Wednesday March 24, 2010 Seattle Mom: School Sent My Daughter for Secret Abortion without Telling Me By Patrick B. CraineSEATTLE, Washington, March 24, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Seattle mother is furious after learning that her 15-year-old daughter was sent by her school's health center for a secret abortion, reports ABC-affiliate KOMO.The mother, identified only as “Jill,” says her daughter was given a pregnancy test at Ballard High School's Teen Health Center, which came back positive.  Rather than informing the parents, she said, the center gave the girl a pass and put her in a taxi for the abortuary, all...

Former ATF agent accused of embezzling SEATTLE — A former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent accused of embezzling nearly $20,000 when he worked for the federal agency was indicted Thursday. A federal grand jury in Seattle indicted James Contreras, 51, of Maple Valley, Wash., on an embezzlement count and 30 counts of making false statements, the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco said. The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle is recused from the case. While Contreras worked as an agent and supervisor at the ATF office in Seattle, he's accused of embezzling money from a cash fund...