Free Republic

Last year, Oregon Senate Republicans undertook a historic walk-out to stop two radical pro-abortion bills, including one that would have stripped parents of their right to be involved in their children’s abortion decisions. Republican lawmakers blocked the Democrat-controlled Senate from passing legislation because of House Bill 2002, a radical pro-abortion bill that would allow girls as young as 10 to have abortions – or be coerced by an abuser – without their parents’ knowledge. Republican and independent lawmakers denied a quorum in the Oregon Senate and blocked action on the pro-abortion bill and other legislation. Senate rules require two thirds...

Oregon high court decides 10 Republican state senators cannot seek re-election after record-long walkout The Oregon Supreme Court decided on Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who participated in a record-long boycott last summer to block bills extending access to abortion for minors, transgender procedures and medical intervention, as well as another measure on ghost guns, cannot seek re-election this year. The Oregon Senate Republican Caucus charged that the "Democrat-stacked supreme court sides with Democrats and union cronies on Measure 113 despite plain language of Constitution." The caucus stressed that the state high court's decision is "effectively ending the service...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection. The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences. Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed...

Oregon, the pioneering state in drug decriminalization, faces a fentanyl crisis prompting a state of emergency in Portland. Despite hopes that a more compassionate approach would address addiction, the reality has been starkly different. Measure 110, passed in 2020, shifted focus to addiction and recovery, with police issuing citations for public drug use. However, the law’s effectiveness is under scrutiny, with overdose deaths rising since its implementation. Governor Tina Kotek has declared a 90-day emergency order for fentanyl use, establishing a command center for better coordination between emergency management and health services. The move comes after nearly a thousand accidental...

If you need more evidence that America has become a "permission-slip" society, look no further than the City of Portland, Oregon, requiring homeowners to get permits to remove trees that've fallen on their houses during recent winter storms. Portland alt-weekly Willamette Week published a story last week about Joel and Sarah Bonds, who had a large Douglas Fir in the backyard squash their house after it became weighed down with ice. The tree barely missed the Bonds' young daughter and cat. As it turns out, the couple were not unaware of the danger posed by the tree. In 2021, they'd...

The university's VP of Academic Affairs said the changes will no longer 'mask' students' 'demonstrated abilities'.. An Oregon university announced they will abandon failing letter grades, citing a "GPA fixation" that negatively impacts students. Western Oregon University issued a news release earlier this month that revealed the school would be replacing "D-" and "F" grades with "no credit" to discourage undergrads from dropping out. ... The difference is that the grade of NC will not negatively impact student GPAs, ... the decision came after data from the university showed that 65% of freshman students who dropped out had earned at...

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13 (King James Version) It is so incredible when you catch a liberal saying the quiet part out loud. While filming the latest Forestry Board testimony we caught them in a unrehearsed moment, and they admitted the entire song and dance of protecting the forests...

Independent candidate Dr. Cornel West will appear on the Oregon state ballot after receiving the presidential nomination of the Oregon Progressive Party, as announced in a recent press release issued by the campaign earlier this week. “It’s a profound honor to be listed on Oregon’s ballot for 2024 as part of the Oregon Progressive Party slate of candidates,” West said in a press release put out by the campaign on Wednesday. “I am deeply thankful to my Oregonian family for embracing this vision. Oregon, you are not just on the map, you are at the forefront of the struggle for...

Lawmakers in Oregon are moving to recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs after it faced rampant public drug use and saw overdose-related deaths more than triple. 'It's the compromise path, but also the best policy that we can come up with to make sure that we are continuing to keep communities safe and save lives,' said state Senator Kate Lieber, a Democrat and one of the bill's authors. The state became the first in the country to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine in 2020.

Climate change has led many states and countries to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power systems. Oregon has set targets for all power sold to retail customers in the state to have GHG emissions cut by 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035, and 100% by 2040. ...Portland General Electric (PGE) generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to half of Oregon’s population, and 75% of its commercial and industrial activity, is working hard to achieve those objectives. As the first utility in the U.S. to sign The Climate Pledge, an initiative co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in...

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apprehended a would-be "transgender" shooter who wanted to mass murder "transphobes." However, the FBI didn't swiftly nab the gunman until discovering months later that the "indigenous" suspect, a self-described "Nazi dominatrix," was posting racist, antisemitic content on social media vilifying blacks, Jews, and immigrants. The few media outlets that did cover the arrest also opted to focus on the Nazi flag-waving suspect's white nationalist ideology and downplay his "trans"-fueled bloodlust. Both The Oregonian and CourtWatch referred to the "transgender" as an "Oregon woman." Elizabeth Ballesteros West, formerly Francisco Frank Paramo, of Cottage...

Atransgender woman in Oregon was recently arrested after posting photos showing several guns and speaking about being angry over transphobia. FBI agents in Oregon arrested Elizabeth West last week after reviewing several social media posts that included photographs of guns, a criminal complaint reviewed by Newsweek said. West was accused of interstate threatening communications, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint states that on September 26, 2023, FBI agents in Eugene, Oregon, received a tip regarding a social media post made by West in a "Trans Woman Support Group" page on Facebook that showcased two guns and mentioned being bullied...

The FBI has arrested a 56-year-old Cottage Grove woman accused of making threats online to harm Jews and Black people in posts displaying a Nazi flag and multiple guns. Elizabeth Ballesteros West, who was found with a cache of guns and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was arrested Friday and is being held in the Lane County Jail, according to federal agents and court records. She has not yet made her first appearance in federal court in Eugene. Agents first were alerted in late September to a Facebook post that West put on a transgender women’s support group page,...

𝐖𝐓𝐅 𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐍?? ⚠️ Volcanic steam bubbles oozing out of pavement in Portland, Oregon. Pavement is hot to the touch and crumbles easily VIDEO AT LINK.....................

This week’s revelation that a Chinese billionaire and member of its Communist Party is the second-largest foreign owner of farmland in the US sparked outrage among politicians, who want to know why Chen Tianqiao’s $85 million purchase was a secret for nearly a decade. Chen, a co-founder of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, bought nearly 200,000 acres of farmland in Oregon in 2015 at about $430 an acre, according to the Land Report, a magazine that focuses on private land ownership in the US. However, his purchase of the acreage does not appear in government records of land ownership by foreign investors,...

Oregon officials contacted a family to let them know that their relative had been found dead from a drug overdose, but months later, they admitted they had made a mistake. On Sept. 11 the family of Tyler Chase was told that he had died and the body was cremated on Oct. 1. The Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office issued a death certificate after identifying him. The family received the ashes of someone whom they believed was their relative. Three months later, on Dec. 19, officials told the family that they had made a mistake and that Chase was still alive....

The second-largest foreign landowner in the U.S. is a Chinese billionaire who it has been determined is a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Chinese-language news reports. Chen Tianqiao, the founder, chairman and CEO of global investment firm Shanda Group, owns approximately 200,000 acres of land in Oregon, according to Land Report. Chen also has extensive ties to the Chinese government, ranging from CCP membership to executive roles in CCP-affiliated organizations, according to a DCNF review of Chinese-language media reports. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Lawmaker Urges Biden Admin To Investigate CCP-Tied...

Oregon's Supreme Court said Friday that it would not hear a challenge from five voters seeking to keep former President Donald Trump off the state's 2024 Republican primary and general election ballots, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to take up the issue of Trump's eligibility. The Oregon voters, represented by the liberal advocacy group Free Speech for People, asked the state high court in early December to direct the secretary of state to disqualify Trump from the primary and general election ballots, arguing he is constitutionally ineligible for the president under the Constitution's so-called insurrection clause. Their request to...

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to weigh in on whether homeless individuals have the right to camp on public property. The issue is the biggest SCOTUS case in decades on the rights of the homeless, and the decision has the potential to impact how cities across the U.S. handle the homelessness crisis. Grants Pass, located in southwestern Oregon with a population of nearly 40,000, requested that the high court review a lower court decision that ruled it unconstitutional to punish homeless residents for camping on public property when no shelter alternatives are unavailable. According to court filings, there are...

The gun controls in Oregon’s Ballot Measure 114 (BM 114) were permanently blocked via a General Judgment entered January 9, 2024, by Harney County Circuit Court Judge Robert Raschio.Raschio initially blocked the gun controls just days before they were to go into effect.