Free Republic

A co-founder of Nike has spent a staggering $3 million in a bid to boost Republican victories in Oregon. Phil Knight, worth an estimated $34.4 billion, donated a sliver of his wealth last month into the Bring Balance to Salem PAC, which aims to curb Democratic dominance in state politics, according to the Willamette Week. The political action committee, founded in 2021, spent nearly $5 million in 2022 - and slightly more again in 2024 - to support Republican candidates. Democrats now dominate both legislative chambers, holding an 18–12 majority in the Oregon state Senate and a 37–23 majority in...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ruled there would be no prison time for a former Alaska Airlines pilot who had taken psychedelic mushrooms days before he tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit.U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio in Portland, Oregon, sentenced Joseph Emerson to time served and three years’ supervised release, ending a case that drew attention to the need for cockpit safety and more mental health support for pilots. Federal prosecutors wanted a year in prison, while his attorneys sought probation.“Pilots are not perfect....

Oregon may be the most liberal, or progressive, or let's face it, socialist state in the United States. Despite having suffered all that comes with leftist governance: Crime, a moribund economy, and so on, enough Oregon voters keep voting for the far left to keep it that way. Inside Oregon lies Portland, nestled in there like a rotten red pearl inside a dead, decaying oyster. Portland is, even by Oregon standards, a bastion of the absolute nutcase left.A column at the New York Post by Fox Business's Senior Correspondent Charles Gasparino draws some interesting comparisons between Portland and New York,...

Portland woman chases ICE in her Mustang then panics and wails 'I'm a mom' when they threaten to arrest her An anti-ICE activist who chased down federal agents in her electric Mustang was left wailing and hyperventilating when officers threatened her with arrest. Video shows the moment the unidentified woman suddenly changed her tune and begged for mercy after being stopped... The woman ran a red light, nearly struck a school bus and wove through traffic as she tried to box in ICE vehicles with her car,... 'Please, give me a warning. I have kids,' she begged as officers informed...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Researchers at Oregon State University are sounding the alarm in a new report on climate change. The year 2024 was the hottest on record, or at least in the last 124,000 years, according to a new report from an OSU-led international coalition of scientists. “Without effective strategies, we will rapidly encounter escalating risks that threaten to overwhelm systems of peace, governance, and public and ecosystem health,” said co-lead author William Ripple, a professor of ecology at Oregon State University. “In short, we’ll be on the fast track to climate-driven chaos, a dangerous trajectory for humanity,” he said....

At La Imperial Bakery in Hillsboro, October typically brings a rush of customers eager to celebrate Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead. They buy bags of pan de muerto, conchas and other pastries galore. Not this year. Over the past few weeks, as the federal government has ramped up immigration enforcement and agents have seized people from cars, streets, apartment buildings and parking lots across the Portland metro area, sales at the family-owned bakery have plummeted by at least 40 percent, said owner and lead pastry chef Moises Pineda. “The clients are not coming,” Pineda said....

Former Clackamas County Commissioner in Oregon Melissa Fireside has reportedly fled the country ahead of her theft trial, where she has been charged for allegedly stealing from a resident at an assisted living facility. According to court filings, she used false identification and an Austrian passport, taking her young son with her. On Friday, the Oregon Department of Justice said it had moved to reverse Fireside's conditional release after she was no longer at the home address she stated to the court, which had been in Lexington in Morrow County. Fireside is facing charges of aggravated first-degree theft, using a...

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear the Trump administration’s appeal to deploy and federalize the National Guard to Portland, OR. The “majority of nonrecused active judges” voted to rehear the case en banc. En banc requires the approval of a majority of the judges of the 9th Circuit. In this case, the panel will consist of eleven judges. Last week, a three-judge panel froze a lower court order that stopped President Donald Trump from sending the National Guard to Portland. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut placed two restraining orders on Trump: no federalization of the Oregon National Guard...

A federal judge in Eugene Monday night granted a preliminary injunction barring the federal government from halting grant funding for sex education programs that include references to gender identities. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken found the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lacked any grounds to restrict such grant funding and said its new restrictions amounted to sex discrimination. The grants were authorized by Congress to support sex education programs intended to help reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and adolescent sexual risk behavior based on “medical and social science,” Aiken wrote. Congress also stated the programs must...

Gov. Tina Kotek wants Oregon to go full force on harnessing the potential of forests, farms, wetlands and waterways to reduce emissions, preserve wildlife habitat and help communities withstand the threat of climate change. That’s the focus of a sweeping executive order Kotek issued on Thursday to prioritize conservation on both natural landscapes such as forests or wetlands as well as on so-called working lands – farms, ranches and commercial timberlands. It also includes waterways and state-managed ocean waters. The order comes as the state faces both a significant revenue shortfall due to federal tax cuts and the loss of...

After 140 days of chaos, disorder, and lawlessness outside Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, police finally moved in and cleared Antifa’s encampment on Saturday morning. More than 30 officers braved heavy rain to dismantle the site, ordering demonstrators to remove tents, supplies, and gear that had clogged the area for nearly five months. The encampment, long a symbol of Democrat weakness and radical left-wing extremism, collapsed in hours. For conservatives and law-abiding residents of Portland, it was a long-overdue victory for public order. Since June, Antifa activists had effectively taken control of the street outside ICE’s South Portland facility....

A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked President Trump from deploying Oregon National Guard troops to Portland after a judge issued a Temporary Retraining Order (TRO). The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily reinstated Judge Karin Immergut’s TRO on Friday after it halted an order issued by a three-judge panel from the court earlier in the week. President Trump previously called up hundreds of California National Guard Troops to Portland to circumvent the judge’s order blocking Oregon National Guard Troop deployment. Trump also activated up to 400 Texas National Guard troops for deployment to Oregon, Illinois and other states...

No other state in the country has a higher prevalence of mental illness. At the same time, access to care in Oregon is improving.As one of her key campaign promises, Gov. Tina Kotek committed herself to battling the state’s persistent mental health challenges. A recent report suggests she still has work to do. More Oregonians struggle with mental health issues than ever before, according to Mental Health America’s newly released 2025 annual report—30% of the adult population.

The City of Portland assisted a controversial anti-ICE organization in securing a vacant office space on the ground floor of an apartment building directly across the street from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, which has been under siege by demonstrators, many of whom are involved with Antifa networks, since early June. The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC), a taxpayer-funded non-governmental organization (NGO), is known for conducting trainings on how to disrupt ICE operations, as well as providing guidance to illegal immigrants on the best practices to evade apprehension by federal authorities. [snip] According to a letter obtained...

Few people understand the far-left extremist group Antifa as well as investigative journalist Andy Ngo, author of “Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.” He has been beaten, attacked, and nearly killed by Antifa for his undercover reporting of the group’s operations. In an executive order signed on Sept. 22, President Donald Trump designated the group a domestic terrorist organization. On Oct. 8, the president hosted a roundtable focused on Antifa and invited Ngo and other journalists to participate. In this episode, Ngo recounts his harrowing personal experiences. What will it take to actually dismantle Antifa? How is Antifa...

Michael Snyder's update of Pacific typhoons heading east to clash with cold Gulf of Alaska air.

The White House is spotlighting what it describes as years of unchecked Antifa violence in Portland, Oregon, hosting independent journalists who have documented the unrest as President Donald Trump mobilizes federal resources to address what officials call a “reign of terror” ignored by mainstream outlets. The roundtable, announced Wednesday, highlighted repeated attacks on federal facilities and private businesses in Portland, where residents say local leaders have failed to restore public safety. Since early June, Antifa militants have maintained a violent siege of the ICE field office in south Portland — breaching the facility with a stop sign, hurling explosives at...

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson ordered the removal of police tape near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility this week despite the federal government's call for the establishment of a perimeter around the ICE location, according to a report on oregonlive.com. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the ICE facility on Tuesday and Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day noted that authorities had the vicinity cordoned off for the occasion. But the perimeter was removed on Wednesday, according to the report.

The radical Antifa militants infesting Portland have issued a brazen call to arms: a coordinated “laser party” aimed at blinding and potentially crashing U.S. military helicopters patrolling the skies over the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. Independent journalist Andy Ngo reported the blog’s announcement and said organizers urged participants to converge at different vantage points across the city and “unleash your beam at the cop copter.” According to the announcement: YOU’RE INVITED: LASER TAG! Every night for weeks we are forced to listen to the threatening rhythm of helicopter blades as the federal regime spies on us. The...

federal appeals court on Wednesday lifted a judge’s order blocking President Trump from federalizing Oregon National Guard Troops. On Saturday, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, blocked President Trump’s National Guard deployment to Portland. Judge Immergut issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and blasted President Trump’s decision to deploy troops. The TRO will expire on October 18. The judge warned that Trump’s justification to deploy troops to Portland may send the country into a constitutional crisis. On Sunday, President Trump called up hundreds of California National Guard Troops to Portland to circumvent the judge’s order blocking Oregon National Guard Troop...