Free Republic

The Washington State Office of the Attorney General has launched a taxpayer-funded hotline in three counties that would allow residents, including foreign nationals and illegal immigrants, to report U.S. citizens for engaging in legally protected speech and activity, in addition to hate crimes. The launch of the hate crimes and bias incidents hotline in King, Clark and Spokane counties occurred almost exactly a year after The Center Square reported that Oregon’s hate crime and bias incident hotline mostly tracks legal activities. Referring to both legal crimes and protected speech, the hotline’s website says “these incidents have a devastating and long-lasting...

Two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, yesterday to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government of the PRC without prior notification to the Attorney General. The defendants, Yuance Chen, 38, a PRC national and legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, a PRC national who traveled from the PRC to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested Friday on a criminal complaint charging...

A man attacked a woman with a knife and then fatally stabbed a man before another man shot and killed the knife-wielding suspect in self-defense Tuesday at a South Hill apartment complex, according to the Spokane Police Department. Officers were called about 5:15 p.m. to an altercation at the Hart Terrace apartment building, 3308 E. 11th Ave., police said in a news release. Lt. Jay Kernkamp told reporters Tuesday that officers found two people injured in the parking lot of the complex. Police and other emergency personnel tried to save them, but both died, according to the release. Detectives believe...

The University of Washington reported pro-Palestinian protesters caused more than $1 million in damage to the university’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building during a violent demonstration Monday night. The self-described pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside the nearly brand new Interdisciplinary Engineering Building on campus Monday evening. The building, which just opened with a "soft launch" to students in March, was funded in part with $50 million from the Washington state legislature. Yet, the University of Washington was reluctant to discuss any of it on Tuesday. The UW Police referred questions to University spokesperson Victor Balta, who told KOMO News no interviews would...

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that she was training Americans to help take down a potential “dictatorship” of President Donald Trump. At her resistance lab training, Jayapal said, “It appears that the Trump administration is willing to ignore judicial decisions and so that brings us to you in this room. It brings us to the people that is really, the bulwark, the wall against the crumbling of democracy.” Maddow said, “Help me understand this idea of the resistance lab and what you’re talking about in practical terms at these events.” Jayapal said, “Yeah...

A federal appeals court has ruled that a church cannot sue Washington state over a law that requires most employers to have healthcare insurance plans that cover abortions. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 last Thursday against a lawsuit brought by Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland against former Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington Insurance Commissioner Myron Kreidler over Washington's Reproductive Parity Act. Circuit Judge Susan Graber, a Clinton appointee, authored the majority opinion, writing that the church lacked the standing to sue because "Washington's conscientious objection statute exempts employers like Plaintiff...

Source: University Of Washington Date: 2003-10-31 Japanese Shipwreck Adds To Evidence Of Great Cascadia Earthquake In 1700 Evidence has mounted for nearly 20 years that a great earthquake ripped the seafloor off the Washington coast in 1700, long before there were any written records in the region. Now, a newly authenticated record of a fatal shipwreck in Japan has added an intriguing clue. Written records collected from villages along a 500-mile stretch of the main Japanese island of Honshu show the coast was hit by a series of waves, collectively called a tsunami, on Jan. 28, 1700. Because no Japanese...

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, who is seeking a sixth term, will face off against Trump-endorsed candidate Jerrod Sessler along with Tiffany Smiley, a former nurse who has made Trump a focus of her campaign, in the reddest congressional district in Washington state. But for the second election in a row, Newhouse must fight for reelection with Trump’s looming presence hanging over his shoulder in the central Washington district that runs from the Canadian border to the Columbia River. His primary opponents have been quick to jump onto what they see as a huge liability, but political experts caution it’s difficult...

Teachers’ grading practices have changed and students’ grades have drifted up in recent years, a pandemic-era legacy that is being met with mixed reaction from educators across the country. Dating back to 2020, when the pandemic upended American education overnight, many schools have adopted a more lenient approach to grading. Some eliminated zeros or removed penalties for late work. Many teachers report “giving grace” to struggling students. Others say they have felt pressure from administrators to limit failure rates. Higher grades have come even as students’ test scores and attendance rates have dropped. A study in Washington state found that...

ermell Witherspoon and Royce Yeun are the impastors of Common Good Church in Bellevue, WA, one-two punch combination of Christ-hating heretics if there ever was one. Four years ago, Yeun preached a message titled “-Isms: Heterosexism,” which argued Christians need to “shift” their understanding of what the Bible says about queer affirmation. Their church swiftly did that very thing, coming to “fully affirm and celebrate our LGBTQIA+ siblings and believe that everyone— no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status— belongs here and can share in the worship, rites, sacraments, membership, and leadership of this church.” Four months...

Chief Patrol Agent Lloyd Easterling called the decision 'unfortunate' and 'disheartening' Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the Biden administration's border policies have 'unilaterally destroyed' the country on 'Special Report.' The school district in Spokane, Washington voted unanimously to ban U.S. Border Patrol agents from entering schools, saying that it could be traumatizing for immigrant students. The movement to bar U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) personnel from the classrooms came after members of Latinos En Spokane, an advocacy group that supports the Latino community, said that immigrants seeing Border Patrol agents in their school could be traumatizing. "They could be...

Washington State has been pushing for more infringements of Second Amendment rights for several years. SB 5444 is a bill that follows New York, California, and New Jersey in expanding “sensitive locations” as a way to infringe on Second Amendment rights. The current law restricts carry in courtrooms, jails, and secure areas of airports. SB 5444 expands the ban on the carry of weapons to libraries, zoos, aquariums, and, especially, “transit stations” or “transit facilities.” Transit stations or transit facilities are defined to include bus stops, shelters, and all properties that are by a “transit authority” for the purpose of...

Students in a Seattle English class were told that their love of reading and writing is a characteristic of “white supremacy,” in the latest Seattle Public Schools high school controversy. The lesson plan has one local father speaking out, calling it “educational malpractice.” As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week, World Literature and Composition students at Lincoln High School were given a handout with definitions of the “9 characteristics of white supremacy,” according to the father of a student. Given the subject matter of the class, the father found it odd this particular lesson was brought up....

Four doctors are suing the Washington Medical Commission, challenging the state licensing body's position statement on COVID-19 misinformation.Three of the doctors hold active licenses in Washington, but are facing disciplinary action related to their alleged care for COVID patients with unproven treatments and "false and misleading" statements regarding the pandemic. The fourth gave up her Washington license earlier this year.However, their lawsuit, filed by a Pasco, Washington-based organization called the Silent Majority Foundation on behalf of the doctors, alleges that the medical commission is "using the statement as an enforceable rule although it was not adopted with the procedures for...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) was slammed by both Democrats and Republicans Sunday after calling for “balanced” criticism of the Israel-Hamas war when asked about progressives’ alleged silence over Hamas rapes of Israeli women. Jayapal, chair of the progressive caucus, quickly condemned the sexual violence against Israeli women by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 before moving on to note that Israel has killed 15,000 Palestinians — two-thirds of whom are women and children — during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” CNN host Dana Bash said she has noticed that progressive women have largely remained silent on the horrific...

Campus carry exists when students can legally carry guns on university and college campus premises. The practice quickly becomes a non-issue, according to police chief James Terry of Marshall University in West Virginia. West Virginia is scheduled to join eleven other states where carry on campus by permit holders has been restored as a matter of law. West Virginia is scheduled to implement campus carry on July 1, 2024. From dominionpost.com: Marshall University Police Chief James Terry said the Action Learning Team is comprised of a cross section of all campus stakeholders and meets every two weeks on the issue....

Video at https://twitter.com/JeremyHarrisTV/status/1707805849467625490A Seattle robbery suspect was recently left stunned when a judge informed him he would not be released, video of the courtroom moment shows. The 16-year-old is charged with three counts of robbery, three counts of burglary, and one theft count, KOMO News reported on Friday. “I can’t get house arrest?” the teen asks the judge in the clip. “You let people out, who shoot at people get house arrest.” “Well I’m not letting you out,” the judge responds. “Why not?” the teen asks. “Why not? Maybe you should ask [your attorney] why not,” the judge says. Five...

New Jersey's Canoe Brook Water Treatment plant produces 14 millions gallons of drinking water a day. Each one of those gallons weighs around 8 pounds , so it's quickly apparent that a large amount of energy is needed to move water from a reservoir to the treatment plant and into the 84,000 homes and businesses that the New Jersey American Water Company serves in the area. So the water utility partnered with NJR Clean Energy Ventures, the renewable energy subsidiary of the natural gas firm New Jersey Resources, for a solution

A strange puzzle piece sits between the worlds of mental health care and the criminal legal system. For the last decade, nearly every county in Washington has sent a rapidly growing number of people in jail to undergo a competency evaluation — that is, there’s a question as to whether that person can legally stand trial, often due to mental illness, substance use or an intellectual or developmental disability. Those evaluations are necessary to move a criminal case forward. People deemed incompetent are given treatment, though it’s limited — usually medication and basic legal education to help them understand the...

As the smoke cleared the battlefield, we were left witness to a disaster of unprecedented proportions. NATO’s most advanced tanks and armor were left as smoking ruins: The most shocking development was the closeups revealed that these weren’t just any NATO tanks and IFVs, but were in fact some of the most advanced upgraded variants. Many of the Leopards destroyed were not the older 2A4s but in fact the much newer 2A6s, which are some of the most advanced tanks in the world. The Bradleys were M2A2 ODS-SA variants, seen under the 2003 column below: The losses by some counts...