Free Republic

There is no avoiding the obvious. Sen. Rick Scott’s personal history — single mom, public housing, extraordinary success in business — the only legit billionaire in the crowd. His military record. Winning not once or twice but four times in a large, politically complicated state like Florida that was a swing state before he ran in 2008. Business experience. Political experience as a governor in a large state, and appetite for policy. A personal history that speaks to the moment. He will be a very difficult competitor should he decide to seek higher office in 2024. Lots of folks in...

A Seattle police officer shared with me a heartbreaking letter explaining why they are “broken” after so many years protecting the public. The letter is long. It’s important you read it all. This is an officer who has committed much of their adult life to serving a community that, right now, is doing little to support police. This officer is “broken” due to recent experiences as activists demonize cops and the Seattle City Council pushes to defund the department by 50%. This is an officer you don’t want to lose. Please read this letter and commit to no longer being...

Gov. Inslee says businesses in Washington will not be allowed to serve customers who are not wearing a face covering as of Tuesday, July 7. "When we wear a mask, it is a signal about something about us, it is a signal we care about the community, we care about our loved ones, we care about those we are doing business with," said Gov. Inslee.

Melinda Gates says she will preference women and non-whites over men and white people, specifically for these immutable characteristics that have nothing inherently to do with business success. Melinda Gates has decided to enter the venture capital world by sending her money to people based at least partly on their sex and skin color, she said in a recent Fortune interview. Disparate Outcomes Can Signal Broader Possibilities In the Fortune interview, Gates says “I think real change can occur when the VC community starts to demand that the people it invests in have diversity, the right values, and the right...

He had a history of violence and sexual abuse of women -- almost as if he grew up in a culture that revered violence and thought of non-Muslim women as "uncovered meat." He posted admiration for al-Baghdadi and Khamenei and a call for Muslims to repeat "SubhanAllah" multiple times. Maybe he wasn't a jihadi and there is some mitigating explanation for all of this. When authorities refuse to discuss it and appear to dismiss it out of hand, however, it only reinforces the impression that there is some deliberate effort to cover up jihad attacks -- an impression that authorities...

Repeating combined photo's posted yesterday by me and jonrick.

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange call center in Spokane is so busy that staffing has been quadrupled, with the center receiving up to 10,000 calls a day. The problem is not enough of those callers are actually signing up for insurance. The state has enrolled 160,000 paying customers in ObamaCare exchange health plans but that's more than 50,000 short of goal, which has led to an extension of the enrollment deadline and a request that the Washington State Legislature fork over $125 million to fund the exchange. Republicans are angry because they were told the exchange would be self-sufficient by...

SEATTLE - Desperate times are calling for desperate measures at food banks around the area. Longer lines and shorter tempers are now forcing some facilities to hire security guards to keep people safe. The need for increased security comes with food banks across the region seeing more people than ever before. Seattle’s Cherry Street Food Bank recently saw 2,651 people walk through their doors in a single day -- an all-time record. “It's a problem with people wanting more than they get, and not getting what they think they deserve,” said Cherry Street security guard Ron Washington. “Then, they have...

YAKIMA, Washington (AP) -- Federal investigators were set Tuesday to begin an investigation into a fire that ruined about 4 percent of America's yield of hops, used as flavoring in the brewing of beer and ale. The fire started shortly before noon Monday in a 40,000-square-foot (3,600-square-meter) warehouse operated by S.S. Steiner Inc., one of the four largest hop buyers in the Yakima Valley of central Washington. By mid-afternoon flames engulfed most of the building, sending up plumes of smoke and a pungent aroma.

The power went off today for a couple hours due to the stormy conditions in Fresno, Ca. (more than 30 spots in Fresno county reported downed wires at one point) and I broke out my battery operated radio to catch the scoop on the poop, so to speak.Paul Harvey's "The rest of the story" was on and I decided a chuckle was in order. Even he laughed at this one. Seems someone in the Census Bureau pulled a fast one concerning a lake in Washington state.Beavis lake was the target of the prankster who changed the name on official census...