Free Republic

Keith Macdonald, who has fathered nine children by eight different women, attacked Stephanie Jubb when she scolded him for scattering crumbs at her home in Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland. The 27-year-old, of General Graham Street, Millfield, Sunderland, went on the run after being convicted of criminal damage, theft, and the assault which left Ms Jubb with a bloody nose and two black eyes.

It would be easy for me to dismiss Obama supporters as mentally defective but for one inconvenient fact: my mother, sharp as a tack at 92, is voting for him. And so is my sister, a San Francisco attorney who is no slouch in the brains department. I’m not sure where my brother, a municipal employee, stands, but neither am I eager to find out. There is no bridging the political gap between us, and so we simply avoid discussing politics. The same goes for old friends, although newer ones are another matter. One of them walked out on our...

A group of gays in Seattle pressured the Seattle LGBT Commission to cancel a Friday reception for a delegation of gay Israeli leaders, citing Israel's human-rights record with the Palestinians. Bowing to pressure from some gays outraged by Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, the city of Seattle commission that represents gays canceled a Friday reception at City Hall for a visiting delegation of Israeli gay leaders.

I am posting this because freepers might enjoy a look at OWS from another point of view. I enjoyed the narrative and the photos, even though I don't usually agree with Jim's diatribes.

America is exceptional - utterly and absolutely exceptional - because the rest of the world depends on American guns, American money and American mediation in a way that no other country or combination of countries possibly might replace. Any other power that suffered the setbacks that America sustained during 2010 under the Barack Obama presidency would have been pushed off the top of the hill. The reason America still has diplomatic currency to spend in Asia as well as actual currency to borrow demonstrates its indispensable role: no one, least of all Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao or Russian Prime Minister...

The Pakistan Government and Islamic hardliners have signed an agreement to enforce sharia law in the north-western Swat valley, a provincial minister told reporters. The announcement followed talks between the Government of troubled North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and a local militant leader, Soofi Mohammad, on formalising the implementation of strict Islamic law. "Today an agreement has been signed between the government of NWFP and Maulana Soofi Mohammed," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters in the north-western city of Peshawar. "All laws against sharia will be abolished and sharia will be enforced under this justice system," he added....

Two cheers to the Seattle School District for eliminating its Office of Equity, Race and Learning Support. I'll award the third cheer if a district spokesman's contention that this move is purely a budgetary fix turns out to be a glossing over of the truth. I hope the real story is that someone in charge came to their senses and realized the Office of Equity, Race and Learning Support would have been better titled the Office of Race Propaganda, White Guilt and Bogus Sociology. The director of the office, Caprice Hollins, gained notoriety for a variety of offensive acts. Most...

I was watching the All-Star game and I turned away as they were following some stupid dog in McCovey Pond, meanwhile missing Ichiro's inside the park home run. Did they really follow the dog while they were pitching to Ichiro, or is it my fault I missed it? Anyhow I wanted to make a list of the top ten most influential cities in the US, to promote discussion. There shouldn't be much argument about the top 4. But the rest may be worth discussion. And I don't have an axe to grind, because I'm 80 miles from Seattle and 110...

Here’s the story of how scientists unlocked the secrets of the worst natural disaster in the history of the West African nation of Cameroon… and what they’re doing to try and stop it from happening again. THE DISCOVERY On the morning of August 22, 1986, a man hopped onto his bicycle and began riding from Wum, a village in Cameroon, towards the village of Nyos. On the way he noticed an antelope lying dead next to the road. Why let it go to waste? The man tied the antelope onto his bicycle and continued on. A short distance later he...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim McDermott has had the luxury of winning big and cheaply in recent elections, facing only token opposition But that fortunate history could pose a problem for McDermott if the Seattle Democrat is forced to pay more than $1 million in legal fees and penalties to settle his long-running legal battle with House Minority Leader John Boehner. Unlike colleagues who have been able to tap into campaign funds for legal costs, McDermott doesn't have enough cash in his coffers to cover his bills. The prospect that McDermott soon will be liable for a huge payout became a...

JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Jubilant monorail supporters finally get to enjoy their win. The Nov. 5 vote had been too close to call until yesterday. E-mail this article Print this article Search web archive Forty years after Seattle built a futuristic one-mile monorail for the 1962 World's Fair, a tiny majority of voters has approved what could become the first crosstown monorail system in the nation. The proposed 14-mile "Green Line," connecting Ballard, downtown Seattle and West Seattle, led by 868 votes as of yesterday afternoon, an approval rate of 50.23 percent. Only about 20 ballots remained to...

What does ping mean? What does IMHO mean? What does bump mean? really curious