Free Republic

The slippery-slope is nearing the bottom now. The City of Seattle wants to keep employers, businesses, and private citizens from discriminating against people who like to sleep around and/or identify as an infinite list of genders. .... Notice how "male and female" has now been struck from the municipal code altogether. The law will "recognize genders outside the gender binary, recognize pansexuality and asexuality as orientations, and include consensual relationships with multiple partners as an element of attitudes, preferences, and practices pertaining to sexual orientation." This idea of normalizing multiple partners is a growing movement on the Left. ... It's...

Washington state Democrat Krista Perez, who is running for a state House seat, was seen on police video admitting to drinking wine, declining field sobriety tests and begging to go home before praying and crying in the back of a patrol car after her DUI arrest. Perez finished first in last month's primary in the 29th Legislative District, Position 1, and will face incumbent state Rep. Melanie Morgan, also a Democrat, in November, as the top two candidates advance to the general election. Tacoma Police said Perez's 2019 Chevrolet Silverado allegedly struck a parked car on South G Street shortly...

A 21-year-old man barely survived after he was shot three times during an encounter with a ‘street takeover’ in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood last weekend. Matthew Lanske and his friends had just finished dinner in Belltown when they were confronted by a group of armed thugs participating in a ‘street takeover.’ Lanske was shot twice in the stomach and a third time in the pelvis during an attempted robbery as he heroically tried to protect his friend, who tragically died. After being shot three times, Lanske walked two blocks looking for help. Bystanders filmed him rather than calling 911 for help....

‘This is just who she is’: Jake questions whether Mayor Wilson can learn from repeated PR failures “I understand if this was the new mayor, but almost more than a half year, three quarters of a year in, and a team that has already seen multiple replacements,” Spike said. “There’s a professional, respectful way to do that job, and an accountable way to do that job, and they just aren’t doing it.” Jake pushed the argument further, saying the pattern isn’t about bad advisers; it’s about who Wilson is. “She’s a socialist. Until she was mayor, she was to defund...

Seattle Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles raised eyebrows on Monday by using the term “trigger-pullers” instead of calling violent criminals “shooters.” Sayles’ sanitized choice of words smacks of his boss Mayor Katie Wilson’s own soft-on-crime, leftist attitudes. “Working with business owners, increasing patrols, bike patrols, working with our community response group and our gun violence reduction unit as well, looking at ways to where we can identify individuals that are known — we call them trigger pullers in our community,” Sayles said. “Identifying them, making sure that we’re putting cases on those individuals, working with King County Prosecutor’s Office to...

William Tolliver, one of three men involved in a 2020 mass shooting in downtown Seattle, has been released. The Washington State Department of Corrections confirmed to KIRO Newsradio that Tolliver was released this week. In January of 2020, Tolliver and two other men got into a gunfight near 3rd Ave. and Pine St. that was sparked by a Facebook post insulting a friend of Tolliver’s. Tanya Jackson, a 50-year-old woman, was killed, and seven others were hurt, including a 9-year-old boy who was shot in the femur while walking with his family after a visit to the Pacific Science Center....

A teachers' union has been given a harsh reality check by Seattle's new superintendent after threatening to delay the start of the academic year with a strike. Ben Shuldiner castigated the Seattle Education Association (SEA)'s threat to walk out unless a 12 percent pay increase was authorized by revealing the huge salaries that public school teachers in the city already earn. The majority take home $142,584 per year, according to a letter Shuldiner sent to parents on Sunday. Seattle Public Schools (SPS) teachers are paid a base salary of $118,000 for 180 days' work, plus an additional $3,298 for five...

Some things never seem to change. The Mercatus Institute recently released a study about American moving trends, and the overall gist isn’t surprising: those in blue states are still picking up and heading to red ones.States like New York, ranked number one for outbound movers, have long counted their own people as their number one export. Electing socialists like Zohran Mamdani, who are hostile to businesses and taxpayers, probably doesn’t help.According to Mercatus, the number one destination for relocating Americans is the proudly Republican state of Idaho. And as Chris Cargill writes, “Washington was Idaho’s single largest source of newcomers,...

SEATTLE — A 44-year-old citizen of Mexico who federal prosecutors say is illegally in the United States is now in federal custody in Seattle after being charged with returning to the U.S. following removal, a case that authorities say follows years of arrests tied to DUI-related offenses and more recent allegations including rape. Isidro Ocampo-Cayetano appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Wednesday for the federal charge, according to an announcement from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Prosecutors say Ocampo-Cayetano was arrested and removed from the United States five times between 2007 and 2013, with most of...

Very informative video of the mayor's approval ratings. At 37% it is a historic low for a mayor at the stage of the term.

SEATTLE - Starbucks has filed a notice with the state announcing details on a layoff of more than 200 corporate employees at its headquarters in SoDo. According to economics experts, the workforce reduction stems from two distinct groups within the company. Who's impacted by the layoffs What we know: Joseph Phillips, Professor of Economics at Seattle University, says the first group includes around 120 information technology workers who chose not to relocate to Starbucks' new corporate office in Nashville. He says the second group is made up of employees who worked on Starbucks' store design.

A hearing on the merits of a recall petition filed against Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is scheduled for Aug. 31 in King County Superior Court as a new poll showed a majority of voters want her to leave office. The 9 a.m hearing before Judge Patrick Oishi was scheduled Wednesday after the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office reviewed the petition by a North Seattle couple, Melinda Jacobson and Dale Osterud, and forwarded it to the Superior Court. The Prosecuting Attorney's Office review is the first step in the review process.

Recall charges have been filed against Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, beginning a legal review that must be completed before supporters can begin gathering signatures to try to force a recall election. King County Elections received the charges Tuesday, Aug. 11, according to a stamp on the filing. The charges accuse Wilson of failing to adequately address public safety concerns in several Seattle neighborhoods and criticize her handling of police leadership and the city's surveillance camera system. Recall charges filed against Mayor Katie Wilson amid Bite of Seattle shooting controversy | 3:18 KOMO News | 415K subscribers | 435,698 views |...

The Seattle City Council unanimously approved an amendment to its budget on Wednesday that would reallocate $300,000 to fund resources for members of the trans community from across the country who wish to move to Seattle. A leading Seattle Democrat argued for the amendment, claiming there is an “ongoing crisis and displacement of queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming people.” “This amendment responds to the ongoing crisis and displacement of queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming people that are seeking refuge from hostile jurisdictions from across the country,” Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck said at the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee...

“Judge them not by the color of their skin, but the contents of their crack pipes.” The Atlantic, the last liberal magazine, which still occasionally runs good articles questioning leftist insanity, has an article that touches on the consequences of leftist pro-crime policies and features insane moments like this one. Nelson also asked pointed questions about what had become the received wisdom in Seattle, such as why the county government paid millions of dollars to supply kits to addicts with tinfoil, pipes, and instructions on how to smoke fentanyl. (Incongruously, these kits came emblazoned with an image of Martin Luther...

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes was relieved of his duties Wednesday night by Mayor Katie Wilson, five different sources tell FOX 13 Seattle. According to sources, Barnes began texting individuals Wednesday night discussing his dismissal. Barnes had been scheduled to conduct 1-on-1 interviews with Seattle media Wednesday afternoon, but those interviews were abruptly canceled. At 6:30 p.m., he appeared at a silent vigil for victims of the Bite of Seattle shooting. He left abruptly, and sources tell FOX 13 he had a meeting with the mayor after the vigil, which is when he was asked to resign. The backstory: On...

SEATTLE — A judge ordered a 15-year-old held in juvenile detention Monday in connection with a gunfight at a crowded Seattle food festival that killed three people and injured at least four others. Prosecutors said the gunfight involved the 15-year-old, a 19-year-old man who died at the scene and possibly a third person. The 15-year-old is being held on suspicion of three counts of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He had not been involved in a criminal case before in the county, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney said. “At this...

Seattle's police chief now refers to gangs as 'small groups' in the wake of a mass shooting in the city that killed three. Shon Barnes repeatedly used the term during a press conference Monday, hours after Sunday's massacre at the Bite of Seattle food festival that is believed to have been gang related. He told a press conference that a motive remains under investigation but that it was 'certainly group activity.' Seemingly referring to gangs, the police chief added: 'We have small groups that appear to be at odds with each other.' 'In our city, 0.01% of the population is...

What does it take to reveal a contradiction? In at least one case, it is a deformed raccoon sashaying across Seattle, delightfully unbothered. Unless you make your home somewhere deep under a rock, you know I am referring to Jimothy—who else?—the feral hunchback whose viral sightings have injected a ray of sunshine into the land of perpetual drizzle, and also across the globe. What is it about him? Or her? Or them? There may be multiple Jimothys, after all: other little trash pandas likely afflicted with short spine syndrome, giving her/him/them the rounded back that has captured the attention and...

Multiple people were shot at a food festival in Seattle on Sunday night, sending families running for their lives. Rapid gunfire was heard at around 6pm at Seattle Center, which was hosting the Bite of Seattle food festival over the weekend, the Seattle Times reports. Early reports suggest at least six people were shot, including possibly a child. The victims were then transported to Harborview Medical Center, according to KING 5.