Free Republic

President Trump on Sunday publicly demanded that the Washington Commanders change the team name back to the Redskins— labeling them derisively the “Washington Whatever’s.” He also said the Cleveland Guardians should revert to being the Indians. Both teams had rebranded several years ago due to concerns that their Native American-inspired names were offensive, but Trump argued that the pendulum has since swung back against political correctness. “The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this,” Trump declared, unprompted on Truth Social Sunday. “Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one...

A federal judge on Friday blocked a Washington state law requiring Catholic priests to report suspected child abuse or neglect, including any information they learn from sacramental confession, raising concerns about religious liberty. The law, Senate Bill 5375, was slated to go into effect on July 27, but was blocked Friday after Judge David Estudillo of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted a preliminary injunction.

A little over 2,500 years ago, there lived a man named Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. If his name seems familiar, that's because one of the United States' great cities is named after him. Cincinnatus had served the Roman Republic in several capacities, including Consul of the Senate of Rome. But in 458 BC, the Roman Army was struggling to defeat the Aequi, an Italic tribe to the east of the city of Rome. Cincinnatus had retired to a farm, but when Rome called, he answered. He was appointed Dictator by the Roman Senate, giving him absolute power over the city -...

People coming of political age in the last decade or so were no doubt shocked to learn of the Biden administration’s insane plan for saving the northern spotted owl from purported extinction. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for implementing the Endangered Species Act, preserving the owl requires slaughtering nearly half a million barred owls at a cost, opponents say, of $1.3 billion over the next 30 years. That is so, the FWS maintains, because the larger, aggressive barred owl is killing its cousin at a prodigious rate. Perhaps more stunning to these political newcomers is...

A Seattle judge has ordered that a popular beach be closed because it has become a hot spot for public sex and nudity. King County Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung has given the city two weeks to handle the ongoing inappropriate behavior occurring at Denny Blaine Park. The waterfront park has become known as a nudist spot for over 50 years, though it is not specifically designated by Seattle Parks and Recreation as a clothing optional park. Residents of the Denny Blaine area have reported an escalation in aggressive sexual behaviors over the last few years at the park, and...

A teenage girl sobbed as she told a court how she feared for her life as her own father choked her during an alleged 'honor killing'. Fatima Ali, 18, was giving evidence against her parents Ihsan Ali, 44, and mother Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, at their attempted murder trial on Tuesday. The couple are accused of trying to strangle their daughter outside Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington, on October 18 last year. Terrifying footage first published by the Daily Mail before the trial, and shown to the court today, shows Ihsan put her in a chokehold on the...

Washington’s first plug-in ferry will begin shuttling cars and passengers across Puget Sound by the end of next week. Gov. Bob Ferguson made the announcement Thursday during a celebratory demonstration lap around Elliott Bay on the ferry Wenatchee, concluding a challenging conversion to hybrid-electric propulsion over the past 22 months. *SNIP* “Washington state is a great visionary state. It deserves a great visionary boat and it has got one today,” Inslee exulted. *SNIP* The complicated shore power infrastructure is in the design phase for the downtown Seattle, Bainbridge, Bremerton, Kingston and Clinton terminals. The Seattle terminal’s plug-in charging arm and...

Seismologists are closely monitoring Mount Rainier after a swarm of earthquakes struck the Pacific Northwest’s tallest volcano this week. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports that hundreds of small quakes have occurred since the swarm began, making it the largest such event at the mountain since 2009.Wes Thelen, a seismologist with the Cascades Volcano Observatory, told FOX 13 Seattle that the quakes began as a concentrated group of seismic events happening in quick succession..."We had an increase in activity in seismic activity up to about 26 events an hour, which is a pretty good event rate for a quiet volcano,"...

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration was considering taking over governance of Washington, DC, the city that serves as the seat of the federal government. Trump, speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House, said his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was in close touch with the city's elected mayor, Muriel Bowser, a Democrat.

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...

New state and local increases are boosting paychecks in Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and other locations this week. Workers in about 15 locations nationwide are about to receive a boost in their paychecks, thanks to minimum wage increases that went into effect this week around the country. On Tuesday, July 1, minimum wage increases went into effect in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington D.C. Additionally, 12 cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, are doing the same. The minimum wage hasn’t changed on a federal level since 2009. It remains stuck at $7.25. However, local governments have been moving the needle...

For years, radical gender ideology appeared unstoppable. The media framed transgender identity as the next frontier of liberation. Pride Month drew enthusiastic endorsements from nearly every university, corporation, and school district. Dissenters were often marginalized, and the prevailing narrative allowed little room for debate. No longer. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the movement has begun to retreat. The Supreme Court recently upheld a Tennessee law banning medical transition procedures for minors. Many corporations have withdrawn support for this year’s Pride events. An ideology that once seemed culturally dominant has lost significant ground in public opinion. In retrospect,...

[Catholic Caucus] Heterodox Jesuit parish publishes blasphemous image of Trinity as female with LGBT ‘pride’ flagThe bulletin for St. Joseph and St. Therese churches in Seattle featured a mockery of Andrei Rublev's 15th-century Holy Trinity icon depicting three women sitting by a 'pride' flag.A Jesuit-run Catholic parish marked Holy Trinity Sunday by publishing a blasphemous icon depicting the Blessed Trinity as women that included an LGBT “Pride” flag.The first page of the parish bulletin for St. Joseph and St. Therese churches, dated June 15, Holy Trinity Sunday, featured a mockery of Andrei Rublev’s 15th-century Holy Trinity icon depicting three women...

For many people, a trip to the airport is simply a means to an end. Whether you're traveling for vacation or business, you'll need to catch your flight in order to get there - and that's where the airport comes in. All airports have the same goal, but any traveler knows that all of them aren't created equally. Some airports are sprawling ecosystems with multiple terminals and acres of space, while others can be traversed entirely on foot. One airport may have more opportunities for scenic views, while others offer better food options. The Washington Post recently ranked the best...

"I think President Trump was wrong. He went against the Constitution." Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, joined Chris Jansing on MSNBC Reports to discuss the legality of President Trump’s move to launch military strikes on Iran.

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany met with their Iranian counterpart on Friday and after talks ended said discussions had been “serious” and that they’d urged Tehran to agree to talk to the Americans next. Initial peace talks between London, Paris, Berlin, and Tehran to open channels for negotiating an end to the Iran-Israel war lasted for around four and a half hours on Friday. Britain’s David Lammy, France’s Jean-Noël Barrot, and Germany’s Johann Wadephul met with Iran’s Abbas Araghchi in Geneva, Switzerland for face-to-face talks they said after the meeting broke should lead to further...

A Washington State school district is defending a teacher who posted a “This Teacher Kills Fascists” sign on social media the end of last month. In the since-deleted Instagram post, Olympia High School teacher Ryan Akiyama (pictured) noted he had planned on putting the sign on his hydration pack for an upcoming race. According to The Olympian, Akiyama also wrote “Might need to print it on a T-shirt next for all my fellow WOKE DEI educators still showing up with courage and care. Yes, I’m woke. Yes, I teach DEI. No, I’m not sorry if that triggers the willfully ignorant.”...

The sisters, 5-year-old Olivia, 8-year-old Evelyn and 9-year-old Paityn Decker, were found suffocated to death at an abandoned campsite in Washington state on Monday, police said, sparking an intense manhunt for their father, Travis Decker. Whitney had handed the girls over to Decker, 32, for their regularly scheduled custody visit on May 30, the Friday before the devastating discovery. (snip) Whitney told police that while he had a “good relationship” with his daughters and they enjoyed their time together, she believed he was experiencing mental health issues, according to the affidavit. “But he never displayed any sort of ‘red flags’...

Three young sisters have been found dead in Washington state after a tense weekend of searching. The sisters – Paityn Decker, 9, Evelyn Decker, 8, and Olivia Decker, 5 – failed to return from a “planned visitation” with their father on Friday, sparking a police canvass involving local detectives, federal officers and a Homeland Security helicopter in Chelan County, Washington. Authorities found their bodies near their father’s car on Monday at 3:45 p.m. around the Rock Island State Park campground in western Washington. The girls’ father, 32-year-old Travis Decker, remains missing and is wanted on suspicion of first-degree murder and...