Free Republic

Via The Seattle Times: Mayor Ed Murray’s soda-tax legislation led to criticism it was unfair because white and affluent people tend to drink more diet drinks. The mayor’s revised proposal lowers the tax rate slightly and adds diet soda. The changes were recommendations that emerged when staff from the mayor’s office and the office of Councilmember Tim Burgess studied disparate impacts the tax could have on people with low incomes and on people of color, according to Murray. That work involved conversations with community advocates, public-health professionals and business owners, according to the mayor. After Murray’s initial announcement, some suggested...

The mayor of Seattle has altered the rules of his proposed soda tax — which would fund education for minorities–to include diet drinks because affluent white people tend to consume them more. Mayor Ed Murray of the staunchly liberal Seattle city originally proposed the soda tax during his state of the city address in February. Under his initial plan, distributors of sugary drinks would have to pay 2 cents per ounce. It would cover sodas such as Coke and Pepsi, energy drinks like Red Bull, fruit drinks, sweetened teas and bottled coffees such as those sold by Starbucks. The Mayor claimed the tax would bring $16 million in...

SEATTLE, WA - A group of conservative, pro-Donald Trump activists will gather in Seattle on May Day as a counterpoint to planned leftist demonstrations, and the group is preparing for possible confrontations. As Seattle gears up for May Day - which typically brings large, sometimes violent, protests to the city - police say there is a potential this year for "crowd on crowd" conflict. The organizer of the pro-Trump rally says that some members of his group will be armed with guns, but he is asking everyone to remain nonviolent. About 50 members of the Vancouver, Wash., group Patriot Prayer...

The Seattle City Council passed a unanimous resolution this week which declares May 1 a "day of action" on which city employees are encouraged to attend planned anti-Trump protests instead of going to work. The resolution—drafted by Councilmember Kshama Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative party—instructs supervisors of city government departments to remind their workers that they are entitled to take two days of unpaid leave for "days of faith and conscience," and that attending Monday's protests is a legitimate use of this leave. Sawant's resolution goes on to stress to Seattleites that through strikes and civil disobedience they...

After a year away from football, running back Marshawn Lynch is coming out of retirement to play for the Oakland Raiders. Because there were years remaining on the contract extension Lynch signed with Seattle two years ago, the Seahawks still controlled Lynch’s rights, so to facilitate Lynch returning to play with his hometown team, the Raiders and Seahawks will swap picks in the 2018 draft, the Raiders announced. The Raiders will receive Lynch and a sixth-round draft choice in 2018 in exchange for Oakland’s fifth-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft. Lynch, who the Seahawks acquired in a trade with...

A spectre is haunting Seattle—the spectre of Kshama Sawant. Consider the April 12 Seattle Times editorial. In it, the editorial board called on Mayor Ed Murray to forgo a re-election bid. The reason: The child sexual-abuse allegations recently leveled against him make him vulnerable. “If he runs under that cloud,” the paper reasoned, “it increases the possibility of a Mayor Kshama Sawant, or some other extreme left-wing ideologue, steering this booming city wildly off course.” This was an odd argument to make, especially since Councilmember Sawant is almost certainly not running for mayor this year. In the swell of resistance...

Continuing from our previous story below about the shooting in Fresno and about anti-white bias in the media. I want to bring this up some more about the actions of Antifa/ARA especially their recent antics in Seattle Washington. Its an incident that should be making headlines, a racist attack on white people. A gang of marxist terrorist hoodlums putting up flyers warning white people not to propagate their race. The language of the posters clearly threatening, telling whites not to date white not to propagate, had this been any other group the media would be doing headstands. Unfortunately the...

Three Seattle police officers were shot and wounded while trying to arrest robbery suspects in downtown Seattle on Thursday afternoon before one of the suspects barricaded himself in a nearby building where he was later found dead. A male officer, who was shot in the face, was initially listed in critical condition but was upgraded to serious condition. He remains in serious condition Friday morning. A female officer, whose Kevlar vest saved her from a life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest, was treated at a hospital and released. A third officer suffered a hand wound and was treated and released...

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Wednesday denied knowing or having sex with a 46-year-old man who has accused the mayor of sexually abusing him when he was a teenager. In new court filings Wednesday, the man suing Murray over alleged sex abuse in the 1980s publicly identified himself as Delvonn Heckard, from the Seattle suburb of Kent.

It's really great to have a libturd faggot mayor for our Seattle. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/lawsuit-alleges-seattle-mayor-ed-murray-sexually-abused-troubled-teen-in-1980s/

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Friday denied as "simply not true" allegations in a civil lawsuit that he once paid a homeless, drug-addicted teenager for sex in the 1980s, and he vowed to press on with his re-election campaign. Appearing briefly at the downtown office of his private attorney, Murray, 61, a Democrat who began his first term in 2013, shed no light on the identity of his anonymous accuser while challenging the man's credibility. "I understand the individual making these accusations is troubled, and that makes me sad as well," he said.

Full title..............Mayor of Seattle is accused of repeatedly raping crack-addicted teenage boys and paying them $10 a time......................Ed Murray, 61, reportedly 'raped and molested' a 15-year-old boy for five years He allegedly met boy on a bus and propositioned him for sex at his apartment Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson accused Murray of abusing them in the 1980s Mr Simpson claimed Murray raped him for several years, starting at age of 13 Murray's spokesman branded claims 'categorically false' and 'unsubstantiated

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray was accused in a lawsuit of sexually molesting a teenage high-school dropout in the 1980s. Two other men claim in interviews with The Seattle Times that Murray abused them in the 1980s when they lived in an Oregon center for troubled children. . . . In the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court, a 46-year-old man, identified only by the initials D.H., said Murray "raped and molested him" over several years, beginning in 1986, when he was 15 and addicted to crack cocaine and Murray was in his early 30s. . . . The newspaper...

The city of Seattle is headed toward a federal court settlement that could cost millions of dollars to make sidewalks and curb ramps moreusable for people with wheelchairs and other mobility issues. Three men with disabilities sued the city in 2015 to force the city to make upgrades. They alleged the city was violating federal law because many sidewalks didn't have curb ramps that were accessible. Linda Dardarian, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, told the Times that negotiations were "fruitful and ongoing," and that she hoped for a resolution by this summer. Seattle has been working to improve sidewalks for...

The city of Seattle sued U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday over its executive order seeking to withhold federal funds from "sanctuary cities," arguing it amounted to unconstitutional federal coercion. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray told reporters the Constitution forbade the federal government from pressuring cities, “yet that is exactly what the president’s order does. Once again, this new administration has decided to bully.”

A lawsuit in Seattle pits some fundamental rights against each other — it’s civil rights that ban discrimination, and property rights that allow owners to decide what to do with their homes and land. The issue is with a new law that requires landlords to rent to tenants on a “first come, first served” basis. The goal is to make sure all renters are treated equally. But the landlords who are suing say the program is a bureaucratic nightmare and unconstitutional. Critics say it’s all about the survival of the fastest, but supporters say it levels the playing field for...

...Blue America is having trouble with sleep — tossing and turning as they lie awake, then falling into nightmares. And those who are suffering tend to blame the 45th president of the United States. ...“I have not slept a full night since the election,” says New York fashion designer Ariane Zurcher. “I’m 56 years old. I have never had insomnia or issues with sleeping until this.” What’s going through their minds in the dark? Erika Kilborn, a training director for a software company, who has just been diagnosed with cancer, worries she will lose her job as a result of...

Known as the "first in time" rule, the mandate forces landlords to rent to the first qualified applicant, rather than choosing the best fit from among prospective tenants.

You my children have been orchestrated for My will and glory but are you accomplishing my will at this very moment or have you put me on pause for I AM your Redeemer, Lord and God . My yoke is easy there is no striving but a beautiful flowing river of Life and this is the wellspring I call to that abides in you ! My law is Love and My Rudder for your life is intimacy with me . So come even now and walk with Me in the Garden of your Destiny for there is fruit of My...

Once cornerstones of America, freedom of contract and property rights are being reduced to rubble by federal, state, and local officials. A case arising out of an ordinance passed in Seattle is illustrative of the trend. On January 1, a new law took effect there, mandating that landlords rent available apartments to the first prospective tenant who meets “all the screening criteria necessary for the approval of the application.” Under Seattle’s “first in time” rule, landlords cannot see if several people apply and then choose the one they prefer. If a landlord were to do that, he’s now guilty of...