Free Republic

Washington state Democrats are magicians! In the time it takes to say abracadabra, they made millions upon millions of dollars disappear just like that!As if it weren’t bad enough that Seattle is under the reign of a communist mayor, statewide radical Democrats passed a bill masquerading as a “millionaire tax,” ushering in the state’s first-ever income tax.As I reported in a recent West Coast, Messed Coast™ report, this "millionaire tax" was always going to change — POOF! — into a thousandaire income tax, and the Washington Policy Center has the email receipts. But now, as night follows day, as thunder...

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is ditching his longtime residence in Seattle for Florida, just as Washington Democrats are nearing the finish line on a proposed "millionaires tax." Schultz, who served as board director of the coffee chain until 2023, said in a statement on social media that he and his wife are moving to Miami as part of the "retirement phase" of their lives. Schultz, who has lived in Seattle for more than four decades, purchased a $44 million penthouse in Surfside, Fla., according to reports, and will relocate his private family office to Miami. Schultz, who owns roughly...

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a self-styled "working class" Washington Democrat, claims she worked in an "iPhone case factory" in college to pay her tuition after her father cut her off because she wouldn’t go to church. But the shop was actually a boutique artisanal workshop that made wooden, hand-crafted cases, according to her former roommate. Gluesenkamp Perez has repeatedly said she juggled the "factory" gig alongside her jobs as a nanny and a barista while attending Reed College, an elite and expensive private school in Portland, Ore. But no major phone case manufacturers operated in the area at the time—as...

CDC Update: Tularemia Outbreak in Prairie Dogs in Texas Tuesday, August 06, 2002 4:15 PM Eastern US http://www.videonewswire.com/CDC/080602/event.html?id=7237

A Washington state special needs student who graduated with a padded 3.78 GPA is suing her school district, claiming her diploma was a “participation trophy” that propelled her into financial strain. Makena Simonsen claimed she graduated from the Edmonds School District in Lynwood reading at first-grade level — and was handed a high school diploma that blocked her from entering a free vocational program that helps special needs grads transition to independent life, King 5 reported. “I should have earned that diploma,” the 22-year-old former student charged. “Not just something that really got me nowhere.” Makena Simonsen claimed she graduated...

A 68-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after authorities say he deliberately drove his car into a woman in a Bellevue YMCA parking lot, killing her, and then struck two more pedestrians in Tacoma later the same day. Mark A. Adams, 68, is charged in King County Superior Court with second-degree murder and hit-and-run resulting in death in connection with the Feb. 28 killing of Shinko Oshino, 88, according to a certification of probable cause. Prosecutors allege Adams used his vehicle “as a weapon” and are seeking $5 million bail, citing what they described in court documents as...

(The Center Square) – Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes says that any police officer who violates the city’s new policy requiring documentation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, including video recording, will be subject to disciplinary proceedings.“This would be a violation of our policy, a violation of the law,” Barnes told the Seattle City Council’s Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy on Thursday. “They could be placed on administrative leave per the [Seattle Police Officers Guild] collective bargaining agreement.”Barnes said what would happen to the officer ultimately would be based on a recommendation by the city Office of...

A Seattle woman who shot and killed a rideshare driver, then stole his car and drove to get her haircut, has pleaded guilty to murder. Ne'Iani Allen-Bailey, 20, faces between 15 and 23 years in prison when she is sentenced later this month for her plea to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement, according to filings in King County Superior Court. In August 2023, Allen-Bailey killed Amare Geda, 52, as he was parked on 1st Avenue South in the SODO neighborhood. Geda was driving for a rideshare service and had a "Lyft" jacket on at the time he was killed....

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez—whose Washington swing district makes her one of the most endangered members of Congress—has repeatedly claimed she was forced to work three jobs after her father cut her off financially because she stopped going to church. She says she struggled to pay her tuition at Reed College, a prestigious private institution in Portland, Ore., and resorted to unorthodox living arrangements to avoid paying rent. But documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon cast doubt on Gluesenkamp Perez's tale of woe. Her father, Jose Perez, whom she describes as a volunteer evangelical pastor in Houston, loaned Gluesenkamp...

A 21-year-old man with German-Iranian citizenship has been charged in Germany with allegedly targeting dozens of children and teenagers online over several years, encouraging them to harm themselves and, in some cases, to take their own lives. The charges relate to actions said to have taken place between 2021 and 2023. Prosecutors allege that the suspect, identified as Shehriar J. under German privacy regulations, contacted more than 30 minors, most of them between the ages of 11 and 15. Using the online alias “the White Tiger," he is accused of hiding his true identity while building relationships with the young...

A father who posted a video of himself pulling his son out of a "walkout" protesting operations by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tore into the Highline School Board in Washington state on Wednesday. Hundreds of students in the Seattle-area school district took part in the Feb. 2 walkout, some of whose parents backed the protest, according to the Seattle Times. Vance Glawe, who drove to the protest to pull his son, a seventh-grade student at Cascade Middle School, out of the event, confronted members of the school board with fiery remarks during his two-minute address. "My name...

A female high school wrestler is accusing a transgender opponent of trying to push his fingers into her vagina during an official wrestling match in Washington State. Kallie Keeler, 16, a sophomore wrestler at Rogers High School in Puyallup, Washington, claims that the assault occurred during a December 6 girls wrestling match against Emerald Ridge High School. The teen says that when she was on the mat, face down, and her opponent — who is a male who identifies as female — was on top of her. Keeler says her opponent put his hand between her legs and then began...

House Democrats proposed a sugar tax on Thursday that would impose another 3-cent charge per fluid ounce of applicable beverages, amounting to a 72-cent tax on a 24-ounce coffee. The sugar tax would be in addition to other state and local taxes, including Seattle's sugar tax, which amounts to a 1.75-cent-per-ounce tax on distributors of "sweetened beverages." The money would go toward expanding food assistance programs, despite studies showing that it could decrease sales. Rep. Chipalo Street, D-Seattle, and Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham, recognized this potential outcome when filing House Bill 2734, citing Seattle and other cities with sugar taxes...

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When the Seattle Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald to be their head coach two years ago, it came at a time when most teams were looking for the next young offensive genius to lead their team. But Macdonald had a reputation. The “defensive Sean McVay” was mentioned a few times about Macdonald, who was the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator before he was hired by Seattle. In Super Bowl LX, Macdonald proved the Seahawks right. Betting on coaches who know how to slow down the NFL’s best offenses can also be a championship formula. The Seahawks won the...

A former Bothell City Council member, James McNeal, has been sentenced to 125 months in prison for the death of Liliya Guyvoronsky. Court records indicate that McNeal initially called his attorney to report the crime in April 2024. He was found at the scene covered in blood with self-inflicted wounds, and Guyvoronsky was found suffocated in a bedroom. Friends shared that McNeal and Guyvoronsky met at a strip club where she worked and had been dating on and off. Though McNeal was initially charged with murder, he pleaded guilty to the less serious charges of manslaughter and assault in January....

It looks like the embattled airline Boeing may be looking for a fresh start in South Carolina. Boeing told employees last week that it plans to consolidate 787 engineering work in South Carolina as it ramps up production of its popular twin-aisle jet, the union representing its engineers said on Wednesday. “Boeing regularly evaluates and adjusts its workforce to stay aligned to our commitments to our customers and communities,” a Boeing spokesperson said in an email. A Boeing spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that in addition to adding engineers in South Carolina, the company plans to hire engineers in Washington,...

Four Massachusetts residents are accused of using more than 100 stolen identities to get over $1 million in food stamps and pandemic-era unemployment benefits in a multi-state fraud scheme, federal prosecutors say. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said stolen identities from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico were used to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The defendants also allegedly submitted fraudulent documents in order to receive more than $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Nevada. --snip-- Three defendants charged...

Seattle has become so liberal (socialist) that a glitch in their armor is so different up here. Here's an article from the times that I thought was hilarious in it's reason and I applaud The Seattle Police Officers Guild: https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/seattle-mayor-police-guild-ice-directives You go cops! wy69

(snip)As part of the changes, the mayor directed the Seattle Police Department to investigate, verify, and document reports of immigration enforcement activity. If officers are sent to a location where apparent enforcement is underway, they will document the activity with in-car and body-worn video, verify the identification of apparent federal agents, and secure scenes of potentially unlawful acts to gather evidence for prosecutors, according to the announcement.(snip)

(The Center Square) – A King County jury on Thursday found the city of Seattle negligent in its handling of the 2020 Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, or CHOP, zone, awarding nearly $31 million to the family of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr., who was fatally shot during the protests. Mays was shot by an unknown person(s) on June 29, 2023, in the chaotic, barricaded zone that was set up in Seattle in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin the previous month. No suspects have been officially identified or arrested for May's murder. A...