Free Republic

Seattle’s mayor on Thursday unveiled a proposal to fine gun owners $500 to $10,000 for failing to lock up their firearms. The legislation, drafted by Mayor Jenny Durkan and Councilmember M. Lorena González, follows recent deadly school shootings in Florida, Texas and other locations. The bill was forwarded to Seattle's City Council for consideration, the Seattle Times reported. In 2016, Washington state enacted an "extreme risk" gun law that has allowed Seattle police officers to confiscate 43 weapons from citizens, the Times reported. The gun-control movement in Washington state has been aided by former Microsoft executive and NFL team owner...

SEATTLE – Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle's newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness. Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the No Tax On Jobs campaign, a coalition of businesses, announced it would gather signatures to

PERRY HALL, Md. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of a Baltimore County, Maryland, police officer, and three other suspects were taken into custody, authorities said Tuesday. A statement of probable cause dated Tuesday identified the suspect as Dawnta Anthony Harris of Baltimore and the officer as Amy Caprio. Police have not confirmed how Caprio was fatally injured in a suburban neighborhood Monday, but witnesses reported hearing a pop before seeing a Jeep run her over. Meanwhile, officials said Tuesday that three additional teenagers had been taken into custody. Baltimore County’s public...

A Baltimore County police officer was fatally shot in Perry Hall Monday afternoon during a traffic stop. Police said the shooting happened in a residential neighborhood near Belair and Klausmier roads, after the officer responded about a suspicious vehicles in the unit-block of Linwen Way. The officer, who would have been a 4-year veteran in July, was shot in the head just after 2 p.m. and was taken to Medstar Franklin Square hospital nearby where she was pronounced dead at 2:50 p.m.

In a shortsighted effort to fight homelessness, Seattle’s city council has approved a new employee “head tax” on companies based in the city. The policy pits growth and progress against each other in a zero-sum game that will do far more harm than good. The head tax is exactly what it sounds like: a straight levy of $0.14 per hour per employee—about $275 a year for a full-time worker—targeting every business in Seattle with revenues of $20 million or more. The proposal’s backers aim to raise around $48 million per year to fund various affordable housing initiatives in order to...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to consider prosecuting the Democratic mayor of Oakland, California, over her February heads-up to illegal immigrants about a federal enforcement raid.

Seattle is worried about the well-being of the poor and mentally ill people living there, so it's going to drive businesses out of town. OK, that's not how the politicians describe their plan, but that's probably how it will work out. Members of Seattle's city council want all big Seattle businesses to pay a tax of $500 per employee. In response, Amazon stopped building a new complex. Construction workers joined Amazon in protesting the new tax. On the other side are city council members like Kshama Sawant. She and members of her political party, Socialist Alternative, demonstrated in support of...

Seattle’s largest businesses such as Amazon and Starbucks will have to pay a new tax to help fund homeless services and affordable housing under a measure approved by city leaders. The City Council unanimously passed a compromise plan Monday that taxes businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenues about $275 per full-time worker each year — lower than the $500 per worker initially proposed. The so-called “head tax” would raise roughly $48 million a year to build new affordable housing units and provide emergency homeless services. Etc...

The Cheesecake Factory is investigating an incident at one of their Miami locations after a black customer claims he was verbally attacked by staff over his “Make America Great Again” hat, the Daily Wire reports. Eugenior Joseph, 22, was reportedly dining with his girlfriend’s family at the Dadeland Mall location of the restaurant on Mother’s Day. His MAGA hat allegedly drew the attention of a female staff member, who gathered her co-workers to confront him, a witness told the site. The witness further claims about a dozen of those employees circled his table, pointing fingers.

Now-former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's serial and often violent mistreatment of women chronicled on Monday at The New Yorker is yet another example of scandalous behavior which was widely known among leaders in both the Democratic Party and the media elites that somehow never surfaced in public for years (a few of many additional examples would include former Today Show host Matt Lauer, former PBS/CBS newsman Charlie Rose, and retired NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw).

The former attorney general of the state of New York allegedly had a pattern of slapping and choking women with whom he was intimate. He also spat at them, demanded threesomes, insulted them, threatened them and called one (who had dark skin) his "brown slave," according to recent accusations. One woman claims that without warning he slammed her so hard that he broke her eardrum. Another woman says that his palm left a red welt on her face that remained visible the following day. These and other details about Eric Schneiderman were disclosed by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer in...

Cities across the country are turning down the opportunity to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, where President Trump is expected to be nominated for a second term. The cities that have rejected hosting duties insist Trump and today’s divisive politics are not factors in their decisions. They instead cite high security costs and disruptions in the normal flow of business and traffic. But Trump is almost certainly a factor in some cities’ decisions to opt out. “Most of the cities that have turned down the RNC are Democratic cities,” said Evan Siegfried, a New York-based Republican strategist. “Their leaders...

About half of all Americans now live under sanctuary policies that shield illegal immigrants from law enforcement, according to the latest tally of jurisdictions that the Federation for American Immigration Reform is releasing Thursday. FAIR calculates there were 564 states and municipalities that refuse some level of cooperation with federal immigration authorities as of April 1, up more than 200 since President Trump took office and up more than 500 compared with a decade ago. There were just 40 sanctuaries when President Obama took office. Entire states such as California, Illinois and New York are now sanctuaries, as well as...

Four men who turned themselves in for attacking a couple who were leaving a Gay Pride event on Miami Beach are now being charged under Florida’s hate-crime enhancement law. ... up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the attack that took place during Miami Beach’s annual gay-pride...

Washington - The Democratic National Committee is eyeing eight American cities for its 2020 Democratic National Convention, a party official tells CNN. The DNC sent requests for proposals to a host of cities and received responses from eight: Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; Denver; Houston; Miami Beach; Milwaukee; New York; and San Francisco. "The DNC sent the original letters of interest to a broad list of cities that have traditionally been able to meet the preliminary requirements for serving as a host," the official said. "We expect the entire selection process to play out over the next year."

The end result of indoctrination in government schools and mass media that teaches "urban youths" that American society is racist, corrupt, unfair, and unworthy of compliance is the crumbling of civil order.  When a substantial group of young males (the segment of society most prone to acting out with violence) think they have no stake in the continuation of existing social and property relations, they are able to impose anarchy in local areas.  When enough people think and feel this way, the forces of order – police, and in extremis the National Guard – can be overwhelmed and powerless to stop...

The teenagers tucked their hands into their sweatshirt pockets as they shuffled to form a circle. Some gazed at the asphalt, trying to avoid the game they had been drafted to play. “It’s like hot potato/musical chairs, but with a penis,” said the girl leading the group. The kids gathered on a spring morning in South Los Angeles were about to get a hands-on lesson in sex education. Many health experts say that public health problems are best tackled outside the doctor’s office — that fixing the culture that perpetuates them is more effective than changing a single patient’s behavior....

A police body camera video leaked to Contact7 Investigates shows the son of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock using a slur against an Aurora police officer during a traffic stop. “My dad’s the mayor, you f---ing f--got,” Jordan Hancock is shown saying in the video clip. “Of Denver? Well you’re in Aurora,” the officer responds. “Guess what, I’m about to get you fired you f---ing b---h,” Hancock is heard saying later. The video clip sent to Contact7 Investigates by an anonymous source is only about 20 seconds long and ends with 22-year-old Hancock driving away. Denver7 requested the full video from...

The growing attempt to personally destroy superstar Kanye West has moved to Detroit where a radio station has banned the superstar’s music. The fallout continues against Kanye West is growing. Case in point, the hashtag #MuteKanye, which is part of a left-wing campaign to silence and marginalize West. In the spirit of that movement, Detroit radio station 105.1 The Bounce has announced that going forward West’s music is blacklisted.

New Jersey is taking steps to join a dozen states in the nation that give driver licenses to undocumented immigrants. Gov. Phil Murphy supports it and legislation has been introduced in both chambers of the Legislature. But more than that, the state's Motor Vehicle Commission is preparing for the measure. The head of the MVC, Sue Fulton, told lawmakers this week the office has reached out to other states that offer licenses to undocumented immigrants to learn up on the requirements. "We are aware of the governor's intent on this matter, and we're leaning forward in terms of learning more,"...