Free Republic

A national logging organization is offering support to President Trump following catastrophic wildfires in California and a political debate over the causes of the destructive blazes. “President Trump blamed poor forest management for wildfires in California and throughout the West, and there is truth to statements he has made,” said Daniel Dructor, executive vice president of the American Loggers Council, a coalition of state and regional associations that represents independent contract loggers. “It’s time to rise above political posturing and recognize that active forest management — including logging, thinning, grazing and controlled burning — are tools that can and must...

My sister and I are nurses who are disabled by life-shortening diseases. As a result, we know from first-hand experience about both the limits of modern medicine at life's end and the challenges of living with disabling medical conditions. I'm 61 and have suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for 30 years. It has invaded my lung tissue and requires me to wear an oxygen tank most of the day to breathe. I've had 18 surgeries. I plan to fight my illness for as long as I can. I enjoy life. But at the end stage of my disease, I do not want...

On Saturday, November 17, 2018, during protest events near Terry Schrunk Plaza and Chapman Square Park, six people were arrested.  The General Services Administration, the federal agency responsible for Terry Schrunk Plaza, approved a permit for a group to use the plaza today. As part of the General Services Administration permit, the permit holder had the authority to determine who could and could not enter the park while the permit was in effect. In preparation for today's permit, the Federal Protection Service erected fencing around the perimeter of Terry Schrunk Plaza.  There was also a demonstration in Chapman Square today....

Being mayor of Portland, Ore., may have gotten to Ted Wheeler. On Thursday, after finishing a speech at the Oregon Health Forum in which he was heckled, Wheeler mumbled, “I can’t wait for the next 24 months to be over,” indicating he may not seek re-election, the Oregonian reported.

Dueling ralliea concluded with police trying to separate members of Vancouver, Washington-based Patriot Prayer and counter-demonstrators as the two groups quarreled in the streets Saturday afternoon. Media at the scene reported small scuffles breaking out, and police reported six arrests. The scene unfolded days after Portland City Council voted down Mayor Ted Wheeler's proposed ordinance to regulate some protests. Police, federal and municipal, kept the groups separate for most of the day.....

The House passed a bill Friday that would remove federal protections for the gray wolf, allowing ranchers, hunters and others to kill the animals. The Manage Our Wolves Act passed 196-180, mainly with Republican support. It would direct the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to end Endangered Species Act protections for the species and prohibit lawsuits challenging the removal. The GOP and many western states have long argued that four decades of federal protections have been too successful in bringing the wolf back from the brink of extinction, and the species now poses a significant threat to livestock, pets and...

<p>The Portland Police Department said in a news release that officers received a report around 10:53 p.m. of an injured person on the Interstate 205 Multi-Use Path, and arrived at the scene to find an injured woman.</p> <p>During the investigation, officers learned that the woman was traveling north when she became "entangled and injured" by material that was strung across the path.</p>

FULL TITLE: Oregon Votes to Force Residents to Fund Abortions Up to Birth After Planned Parenthood Spends Millions Oregon voters voted today to force their fellow residents to keep funding abortions with their tax dollars. By a 2-1 margin, residents of the left-win state voted to keep killing unborn children with taxpayer funds — and the voted for that after a massive out of state spending campaign by the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Outside pro-abortion groups poured massive amounts of money into Oregon this fall to continue forcing state taxpayers to pay for elective abortions. Oregonians considered Measure 106, which...

"Will Oregon amend Constitution with ballot measures?", "Measures 102 through 106 deal with a number of issues", " "The measures -- with shorthand slugs of Affordable Housing, the Grocery Tax, 3/5 Vote Requirement, Immigration Law and Abortion -- touch on hot topics that revolve around culture, economics and how personal faith plays out in the public square.", PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- The statewide ballot measures Oregon voters will decide could amend the Constitution. As with any measure of this kind, big money supporters and opponents have dominated the conversation trying to make their argument more persuasive. The measures -- with...

Multnomah County “sheriff” Mike Reese is now taking heat for failing to notify I.C.E. when he had an illegal alien in custody up on assault charges. Those charges were dropped, of course, and the illegal alien was set free, only for said illegal alien to go on to murder his wife by stabbing her to death and dumping her body in a ditch. Multnomah County is home to Portland, Oregon. ... A man accused of murdering his wife and leaving her body in a ditch is at the center of a firestorm between ICE and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office....

Colorado is one of only three states that run their elections with all-mail ballots. The other two are the west coast progressive strongholds of Washington and Oregon... So, between this and Jared Polis’s goal of 100% renewable energy five years sooner than California’s unreachable goal, we’re out-Californicating California... Colorado mandated all-mail ballots the last time the Democrats controlled both the state house and senate, 2013. And it fundamentally changed electioneering ... We used to have an election day, a 12-hour period for civically minded folks to get to their neighborhood polling place and exercise their voice. Voting was for those...

PORTLAND, Ore.—To find enough votes to win the governorship in a state that last elected a Republican leader in 1982, Knute Buehler has focused on voters like Danielle Miller. A 47-year-old mortgage-loan officer, Ms. Miller voted in 2016 for Kate Brown, Oregon’s incumbent Democratic governor, but has since grown disenchanted with her on issues including education funding and homelessness. This year, Ms. Miller isn’t planning just to vote for Mr. Buehler, a two-term Republican state representative. She is campaigning for him and even appeared in one of his commercials. “This is the first candidate I’m crossing party lines for in...

Several Oregon counties have referenda on the ballot to re-enforce protections for Second Amendment rights. The movement to re-enforce the Second Amendment protections started in 2013, in Wallowa County. Similar referenda have passed in four counties, Coos, Curry, Wallowa, and Wheeler. Wheeler and Coos county passed their ordinances in 2015, Curry county passed a similar ordinance in 2016.In 2018 ten counties have Second Amendment protection referenda on the ballot. These are: Baker County (measure 1-84), Columbia County (measure 5-270), Douglas county (measure 10-165), Jackson county (measure 15-181), Klamath County (measure 18-110), Lake County (measure 1-84), Lincoln County (measure 21-189),...

Melissa Klein, co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, in Gresham, talks with a customer on Feb. 5, 2013. (Everton Bailey Jr./staff) The owners of a shuttered Gresham bakery fined by the state after refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple want to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawyers for Aaron and Melissa Klein, the former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, filed a petition Monday asking the high court to overturn the state's order to pay $135,000 in emotional damages to the couple they turned away. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries...

According to Milne News, the antifa thug who accosted the 9/11 widow on the streets of Portland last week has now been identified as Steve Wilson, aka SalvadOrwell Wilson on Facebook. Wilson lists Self Enhancement Inc has his employer. SEI describes itself as “Self Enhancement, Inc. is one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful youth development organizations.” They have now fired Steve Wilson, as per a tweet they sent out on Saturday:

Portland professional skateboarder Charlie Wilkins faced violent threats on social media Thursday after video of an Oct. 13 protest went viral that showed an Antifa protester yelling at a woman. "Your husband, should probably ... rot in the grave," the man rants at the woman, who claimed to be a 9/11 widow. The man in the video resembles Wilkins, but the skateboarder insists it's not him. He and his wife Victoria say they avoid protests and were at a pumpkin patch that day. "I just think he's horrible to say that to anybody," Wilkins told KGW, referring to the protester...

Voters in Alabama, West Virginia and Oregon will cast their ballots in November against or in support of bills amending their state’s abortion laws. Alabama’s proposed constitutional amendment, “Statewide Amendment 2,” will ask voters to affirm that “the constitution of this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” It would also “recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children.” “The real aim is to ban abortion, but that’s not what you see in the language. This is just very broad. We have seen some split among conservatives...

Warning: This post contains graphic content A demonstration billed as a march for "law and order" in the streets of Portland descended into chaos as rival political factions broke into bloody brawls downtown Saturday night. Members of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer and their black-clad adversaries, known as antifa, used bear spray, bare fists and batons to thrash each other outside Kelly's Olympian, a popular bar on Southwest Washington Street. The melee, which lasted more than a minute, ended when riot cops rushed in and fired pepper balls at the street fighters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSQrM3R-0HA The Portland Police Bureau reported seeing protest...

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler came under fire over a viral video showing Antifa protesters blocking traffic and harassing drivers, but he says he supports the decision by police to watch from a distance without getting involved. “I was appalled by what I saw in the video, but I support the Portland Police Bureau’s decision not to intervene,” he said at a Friday press conference. “This whole incident will be investigated.” The video posted by journalist Andy C. Ngo showed protesters, including members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter, blocking an intersection and attempting to direct traffic at while officers on...

Simply, the Oregon governor's race is about who can best lead Oregon in tackling the human and economic crises unfolding on our home turf. From the state's distressed K-12 education system to the critical need for pension reform to encouraging more affordable-housing construction, Oregon is running out of time to responsibly address these challenges. With little vision and no urgency by Brown in her nearly four years as governor, and insufficient experience from Independent Party nominee Patrick Starnes, voters fortunately have a strong alternative. Oregonians should vote for the candidate who is willing to take courageous action on these entrenched problems and...