Free Republic

'I think any father would’ve done the same thing. It’s my baby girl.' Bill Steinkirchner and his wife, Melanie, got a call Sunday morning from their college-student daughter that no parent wants to receive. Melanie Steinkirchner wrote on Facebook that their daughter was walking to breakfast when a male assaulted her, took swings at her, said he had a gun, and threatened to kill her. She was able to duck down, run, and avoid getting hurt, but she was still shaken during her phone call home. But her home is in Southern California — and KIRO-TV noted that the Steinkirchners'...

An aggressive otter pulled a young child off a dock and dragged them underwater at a marina in Washington, officials said. The attack happened at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 12 at the Bremerton Marina, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife said in a news release. A family was walking down the dock when the animal appeared and pulled the child underwater for a few moments, officials said. The mom reached into the water to rescue her child and was bitten on the arm by the attacking otter, officials said. She was able to get her child to safety,...

They say history repeats itself. Properly forewarned, it doesn’t have to. As Americans prepare to write a pivotal history for the ages this November – one way or another – it might be helpful to take a quick look at an earlier moment in time when a much divided, fractured world faced a pivotal challenge, and how complacency sealed its fate. Constantinople, the city founded by Constantine the Great in 330 AD and later protected by the Theodosian Walls, stood as the capital of the Roman Empire for 1,000 years. (What we refer to as the Byzantine Empire was at...

Robin DiAngelo, the best-selling author of White Fragility, is a big believer in citing minorities. In an "accountability" statement on her website, which makes repeated reference to her Ph.D., DiAngelo, 67, tells "fellow white people" that they should "always cite and give credit to the work of BIPOC people who have informed your thinking." It doesn't matter if their contribution is just a few words. "When you use a phrase or idea you got from a BIPOC person," DiAngelo says, referring to black, indigenous, and other people of color, "credit them." But the white diversity trainer has not always taken...

Washington DC has been labelled as the least desirable place in the country to live, according to a new poll. In a new study from Clever, the company polled 1,000 people in June as well as analyzed migration data from the US Census. The company found that the the nation's capital, for the second year running, is the one Americans feel the largest distaste for.

Hemorrhage at Planned Parenthood Required Advanced Life Support Everett, Washington — On July 24, an employee of Planned Parenthood in Everett, Washington, called 911 shortly before 11 a.m. The call involved a 36-year-old mother. In Operation Rescue’s analysis of the 911 recording, present-tense language was observed: “We have a patient who just is having a procedural abortion, and I think she is having some bleeding.” It appears that the abortion was underway and had to be stopped because of excessive bleeding. “For this reason, it is not known whether the child’s life had already been destroyed or if he or...

GO VOTE!

We're getting oh so close to knowing who all the candidates on the November ballot will be, but even as the calendar has turned to August, about a third of all states still have yet to hold their primaries for non-presidential office. On Tuesday, four states — Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington — will head to the polls (or mail in their ballots), and we're tracking over a dozen races between them. With luck, by Wednesday, we'll know whether the progressive "Squad" has lost another member; whether one of the two remaining Republican representatives who voted to impeach former President...

Five secretaries of state plan to send an open letter to billionaire Elon Musk on Monday, urging him to “immediately implement changes” to X’s AI chatbot Grok, after it shared with millions of users false information suggesting that Kamala Harris was not eligible to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot. The letter, spearheaded by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and signed by his counterparts Al Schmidt of Pennsylvania, Steve Hobbs of Washington, Jocelyn Benson of Michigan and Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexico, urges Musk to “immediately implement changes to X’s AI search assistant, Grok, to ensure voters have...

A group of Democratic members of Congress are calling on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the national Christian conservative advocacy organization Family Research Council's official status as an "association of churches." Reps. Jared Huffman of California and Suzan DelBene of Washington sent the letter on Tuesday, with 11 other lawmakers joining. The correspondence is addressed to U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. The Democrats conveyed "continued concerns about the tax-exempt status of certain organizations" such as the FRC, claiming that said groups "are self-identifying as 'churches' or 'associations of churches' to receive more favorable...

A larger Mag 6.4 earthquake tripped offshore of Seattle WA last night. It is the latest in a small swarm of Mag 4, Mag 5, and now Mag 6 earthquakes that began two days in the Cascadia Fault Zone that runs from British Columbia south to Northern California. The Cascadia Fault is regularly hit with Mag 8 (average interval 350 years) and occainsional Mag 9 (interval about 580 years) earthquakes. The last very large killed thousands of native Indians up and down the Washington and Oregon coastline in January 1700, and hundreds more in Japan from its tsunami waves.

Washington, Arizona, Colorado, California, and Oregon would see the biggest number of stores flipped to C&S.. Kroger and Albertsons have released a list of hundreds of stores that would be divested to C&S Wholesale Grocers if federal regulators approve its proposed $24.6 billion merger deal, and the states with the largest numbers include Washington, Arizona, and Colorado. Under the proposal, Kroger and Albertsons would divest stores in Washington (124), Arizona (101), Colorado (91), California (63), Oregon (62), Illinois (35), Texas (28), Nevada (16), and Alaska (18). Several states would see 10 or fewer stores divested, including: Idaho (10), New Mexico...

Extensive delays to the mid-life refueling and complex overhauls of two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers were due to damage to the steam turbines that power the ship, USNI News has learned. According to Naval Sea Systems Command, “significant damage” to the generators aboard both USS George Washington (CVN-73) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) added unplanned work that was discovered after both carriers arrived at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding for maintenance. Every mid-life refueling and overhaul, “work package has planned inspections and routine refurbishment of the eight [turbine generators]; however, inspections for both George Washington and John C. Stennis revealed one...

The state of Washington has effectively abolished its long-standing residency requirement for voter registration. The decision, led by Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) and Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D), is another attempt by Democrats to cheat on the presidential election. The Center Square reports that through agency rulemaking, Hobbs’ office has removed a provision that has been a part of Washington’s electoral framework since the state’s original 1889 Constitution. This move follows a consent decree earlier this year, settling a 2023 lawsuit that claimed the residency requirement violated federal law, due to a 2018 state law. Article VI,...

Verónica Garcia did not hear the boos when the race started last weekend. When she took the lead in the State 2A girls 400-meter run at the track and field championships in Tacoma, they grew in volume and became unmistakable as she reached the finish line to become the first transgender high school athlete to place first in state. Such victories are typically a time for celebration but the East Valley High School junior’s win has sparked controversy. People criticized Garcia all season for participating on the girls track team. Yet the jeers at Saturday’s meet were “a bit...

Seattle officials have opened up city police jobs to illegal aliens in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. With the Seattle Police Department (SPD) at its lowest staffing level in decades, officials in city hall are looking to take advantage of a recently passed state law that allows jurisdictions to hire non-citizens as police officers. The Democrat-dominated state legislature recently passed Senate Bill 6157, a law that allows jurisdictions to give DACA recipients police powers. One reason the bill was needed is because so many liberal cities have wiped out their police departments with Black Lives Matter (BLM)...

Seattle has become the latest Dem-run city trying to replace an exodus of police officers with illegal migrants. Washington's largest city has just 913 cops to serve its 750,000 people after losing 725 officers in the last five years. Now its police department has tweaked the rules to allow applications from migrants who crossed the border illegally as children and are registered on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), or 'Dreamers', program. And under a law change signed by Democrat Governor Jay Inslee in February they can be chosen above an equally qualified candidate if they speak more than...

A Seattle police officer was fired for calling his Chinese American neighbor racist and sexist slurs while off duty in 2022, according to a news report. Officer Burton Hill was fired in May, The Seattle Times reported. The termination stemmed from an altercation with his neighbor, Zhen Jin, over the disposal of dog bones at the condominium complex where they lived in suburban Seattle. The Seattle Office of Police Accountability had recommended a range of disciplinary actions, from a 30-day suspension to termination of employment. Hill was fired by then-police Chief Adrian Diaz on May 2, police spokesperson Eric Muñoz...

Washington state’s Department of Health has launched the “Teen Health Hub” to help teens find resources for “gender-affirming care,” abortion, and sex-related health content. The hub’s website provides resources for minors to learn about health-related services they can obtain without a parent's or guardian's consent and helps the children navigate the process. According to Conservative Ladies of Washington, the hub guides minors through getting Apple Care insurance and finding a provider. The site even provides resources for free transportation. Services linked through the hub include providers such as AMAZE, Planned Parenthood, and The Trevor Project. The Washington State Department of...

The Libertarian Party of Florida’s Executive Committee approved a motion over the weekend calling for the Libertarian National Committee to investigate allegations concerning the validity of votes cast for the presidential ticket during the party’s recent national convention. The resolution, first shared via X on Sunday, urges the LNC to investigate claims that the presidential and vice-presidential nominations at the party’s recent national convention may have been compromised by ineligible votes. While the party states that it remains committed to supporting its 2024 presidential ticket and will place it on the ballot, the resolution highlights concerns about potential legal and...