Free Republic

Target said Tuesday that it will close nine stores in major cities across the country, citing violence, theft and organized retail crime. The company will close one store in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, two locations in Seattle, three stores in the San Francisco-Oakland area and three more in Portland, Oregon. The discounter said it will shutter the stores for good on Oct. 21. “We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” Target said in a news release. “We know that...

Angry progressive activists screeched and wailed at lawmakers during a Seattle City Council meeting in protest at a vote to recriminalize drug abuse in the crime-ridden city.In video taken at the meeting, proponents of the city's laissez-faire laws shared their anger over the 6-3 vote which they call the 'War on Drugs 2.0.' 'You have blood on your hands,' crowd members can be heard shouting at the council members following the vote in a video posted by journalist Jon Choe.

KING COUNTY, Wash. - A gas station cashier in Normandy Park is recovering after a relentless assault Friday night. "I mean, my face hurts. But my pride I think hurts more." Leah Johnston said. The Seattle woman can be seen on security footage suffering blow after blow, from a single suspect, as five others rob the Friendly Normandy Market of cash and handfuls of merchandise from the cigarette case. There was less than $100 in the till. Police describe the suspects as young, driving a stolen Kia and Hyundai—both cars were later recovered. "Kids don’t seem to fear anything anymore,"...

Justin Christopher Moore was sentenced on Wednesday after being convicted in a plot to burn down the Seattle Police Officers Guild during the BLM Antifa riots in the summer of 2020. Moore was sentenced to 41 months in prison for manufacture of homemade bombs with intent to burn down government property. "Moore’s offense was extremely dangerous and created a substantial risk of injury to numerous bystanders," said Assistant US Attorney Todd Greenberg. "Moore carried the box of 12 Molotov cocktails in a crowd of over 1,000 people who were participating in the protest march. All of them were in harm’s...

The Seattle cop who joked about the death of a graduate student who was fatally struck by a police cruiser while crossing the street defended his callous remarks in a statement released Friday. Officer Daniel Auderer claimed his cold-hearted laughter at 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula’s death and jokes that the city should “just write a check” were taken out of context during a private call he didn’t know was being recorded by his department-issued body camera.

Why is it so hard for city officials to accept the fact that they need to bolster their budget for police officers in an effort to fight crime? They always seem to come up with these secondary solutions to solve the problem, when, in fact, they could actually make things worse. I’m talking about Seattle officials recently deciding to stop police and fire departments from answering mental crisis calls, instead letting unarmed “crisis responders” handle the matter. City officials note how this system has been in the works for the past three years, following what occurred with “defund the police.”...

A south Seattle man was tased by two masked men, who robbed him of anything of value he had on him at the time.

911 calls in Seattle could soon be answered by unarmed “crisis responders” instead of police officers through a new “alternate response team” spearheaded by a Democratic council member. Councilwoman Lisa Herbold announced on Friday that they are beginning to hire the first six new positions for a new pilot program to provide for unarmed “crisis responders” to respond to certain emergency calls. […] Herbold was originally behind the vote that began defunding the Seattle police back in Aug. 2020. The plan cut 100 officers from the city’s 1,400 police force and $3 million from the police’s $400 million budget. Around...

A wannabe lawmaker running on platforms of anti-crime and aiding small businesses has been accused of shoplifting - by a hardware store owner who has footage of the alleged theft. A candidate for Seattle's Federal Way City Council, Denise Yun is seen pulling hammers from a shelf at Trinity Ace Hardware on Pacific Highway South in the footage, which was filmed July 18. In the clip, Yun - a relatively unproven political newcomer who has pleaded guilty to stealing twice in the past - is seen knocking over store signage as she puts the hammers on top of her purse....

Bennie Koffa stood out in the small but growing world of Seattle homelessness. For one thing, the immigrant from West Africa always wore a suit, even in the encampments. But when he died, in a makeshift camp on the side of an industrial road near the Starbucks headquarters in Sodo, he attracted notice for a different reason. Koffa was 71. The medical examiner listed the cause of his death as “acute combined drug intoxication including fentanyl and methamphetamine.” Koffa is the oldest homeless person to die on the streets so far this year in Seattle. That even senior citizens are...

Fourteen major American cities are part of a globalist climate organization known as the “C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group,” which has an “ambitious target” by the year 2030 of “0 kg [of] meat consumption,” “0 kg [of] dairy consumption,” “3 new clothing items per person per year,” “0 private vehicles” owned, and “1 short-haul return flight (less than 1500 km) every 3 years per person.” C40’s dystopian goals can be found in its “The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World” report, which was published in 2019 and reportedly reemphasized in 2023. The organization is headed and largely funded...

Three women were arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars worth of designer handbags from a Glendale mall on Wednesday. The suspects were identified as: – Reality Leavens, 18, from Renton, Washington – Janeice Downs, 23, from Seattle, Washington – Memory Yearby, 26, from Seattle, Washington

Average temperature is 77-78 degrees at this time of year - The heat wave will be followed by two days around 80 degrees, but with very high Pacific Ocean humidity, so, it will feel the same or worse than near 90 degrees with low humidity - Less than 50% of Seattle homes and apartments are air conditioned, so unusual heat is always a BIG deal around here.

The progressive Seattle Times has issued a warning to residents of the city by turning on neighboring Portland, Oregon, referring to the city as 'a landfill.' Columnist Jon Talton penned the piece, 'A tale of two cities: Portland offers a worrying example for Seattle,' writing that citizens should be concerned. In the article, Talton shared that one person he spoke with said Portland 'looks like the road to the landfill and, in some areas, the landfill itself.' The person who spoke with the author blamed the city's own 'preoccupations with grand abstractions such as 'social justice,' liberal policies, and high...

Portland, Oregon is .. one of the most woke Democrat cities in America. And like so many cities on the left, they have a problem with crime. Some of the crime in Portland is just your garden-variety crime. Some of it, however, is political. I'm referring in particular to Antifa, the so-called “anti-fascist” group that itself is actually quite fascist with its tactics... in cities like Portland and Seattle, and even in places like New York City, there is a political will carried out by Antifa that is, I hate to say it, reminiscent of Hitler's Brownshirts. .. they are...

A 14-year-old male who was spray-painting a building was hit and killed by the Seattle Center Monorail Sunday night. Seattle Police said it happened shortly before 9 p.m. near Fifth Avenue and Denny Way. The man had climbed onto the roof of a building. Surveillance video reviewed by the Seattle Police Department shows the man was spray-painting graffiti on a building next to the tracks before he was hit. We believe this is the first time anyone has been hit and killed by the train, although there have been at least a few other high-profile incidents involving the Monorail in...

An explosion that set a homeless encampment in Seattle ablaze on July 21 was due to explosive devices, according to law enforcement. The devices that were detonated at the scene may have a connection to a fight for control over who is in charge of the drug trade among the homeless population in the area, KOMO reported Wednesday. The blaze the erupted July 21 was initially reported as a brush fire that was seen burning up numerous trees at the site near Interstate 5 and a hospital. Video footage shows the blazing inferno consuming everything in its path: The cause...

After two nights of earth-shaking dancing at Swift’s Seattle “Eras” tour concert at Lumen Field, enthusiastic Swifties caused seismic activity equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, according to seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach. The “Swift Quake” has been compared to the 2011 “Beast Quake,” when Seattle Seahawks fans erupted after an impressive touchdown by running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch. The ensuing celebration was detected on the same local seismometer as the Swift concert, Caplan-Auerbach told CNN. Caplan-Auerbach, who works as a geology professor at Western Washington University, saw the comparison in a Pacific Northwest earthquake group she moderates on Facebook and...

Washington school official warned of 'staff members who identify as Christian' resistant to transgender directives ... A top official with Washington state's biggest school district told a fourth-grade elementary school teacher that a student’s pronoun change should not be shared with the parents, "regardless of age," unless the student consents.. In March of last year, a Seattle Education Association (SEA) board member and fourth-grade teacher reached out to Seattle Public Schools (SPS) to request a training at an SPS school on LGBTQ best practices, according to emails Fox News Digital obtained in a public records request. "It came to my...

Seattle vagrants have now constructed a homeless encampment in the trees above the crime-ridden city, prompting one stunned local to liken it to the Ewok Village from Star Wars. Local journalist Jonathan Choe stumbled across the ramshackle treehouse high in the city's trees on Friday, and deployed a drone to get a closer look. The Ewok encampment has a wooden stepladder to let its residents reach the ground below it. Its floor appears to be comprised of foam blocks, with a net supporting the soft material, which likely gives the shelter's residents a comfortable sleeping experience. Up top, the sci-fi...