Free Republic

Three high-profile primaries in U.S. House districts will be held tomorrow in South Carolina. In solidly Republican CD-3), seven candidates are vying to replace 7-term conservative Jeff Duncan, who is retiring rather than face a campaign that would feature nasty (and unproven) allegations from his vindictive soon-to-be ex-wife. In solidly Republican CD-4 Trump-supported incumbent William Timmons is facing conservative state legislator Adam Morgan, who is being boosted by outspoken conservative congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida. Timmons had no Democrat opposition in 2022 but he achieved only 52.7% in a four-way primary that year, and this one could be close too....

Beckett Law, a religious freedom advocacy group, has taken up the cause of three Jewish students at UCLA. The students claim that in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, they faced mounting antisemitism, which included barring them from access to areas of the campus. The students are also represented by Clement & Murphy, PLLC. In the lawsuit, Frankel v. The Regents of the University of California, the plaintiffs claim that pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protesters set up barricades on the Los Angeles campus, effectively creating a "Jewish Exclusion Zone." Beckett Law states that after creating the encampment, protesters not...

A luxury apartment building funded by the American taxpayer is set to open in Los Angeles‘s Skid Row for homeless people. The 19-story building, with 278 units, will open within weeks. According to The Times, the building is meant to be a “self-contained environment that will insulate its formerly homeless residents from the squalor and hopelessness around them.”

California owes the federal government $52.7 million after it “improperly” requested reimbursements for services provided to noncitizens, according to a recent inspector general report. The Golden State claimed Medicaid reimbursements for services it provided to “noncitizens with unsatisfactory immigration status,” the report reads. The category does not include those seeking asylum or refugees. States are prohibited from claiming such federal reimbursements except in medical emergency situations, which did not apply here, according to the report. An audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general’s office found California had been using an outdated calculation method to determine...

He’s not mincing words. Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu dished Thursday on the current and former governors who “nobody liked” — claiming that Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo are despised by other state leaders. “I gotta be honest, no one cares for Gavin,” Sununu said of the California Democrat during an event at the Reagan Institute Summit on Education in Washington, DC. “Gavin is just a #$@_&. He just is,” he added. “It’s really disappointing.” Sununu, 49, indicated that he used to get along well with Newsom, but now, even Democratic governors can’t stand him.

California fast food restaurants have slashed nearly 10,000 jobs because of the state’s new $20 minimum wage as struggling franchises cut labor costs and raise prices to survive, a major trade group said Thursday. The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) slammed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for pushing through the law, which went into effect April 1 – and was blamed for forcing one beloved taco chain to shutter 48 locations in the state last week. “California businesses have been under total attack and total assault for years,” CABIA president and founder Tom Manzo told Fox Business. “It’s just another...

A massive residential tower in California will provide homeless people with a swanky new living space and luxury amenities, including a café, gym and TV lounge. The 19-story tower, which is set to open this month in Los Angeles' Skid Row neighborhood, will provide sprawling views of downtown and the San Gabriel Mountains, the Los Angeles Times reported. "We’re trying to make our little corner of the world look and feel a little better," Weingart Center Assn. Chief Executive and President Kevin Murray told the outlet. Murray, who devised the plan, launched it in 2018 alongside the affordable housing developer...

In 1929, almost a century ago, the great economist Ludwig von Mises published “A Critique of Interventionism.”It’s written in plain language and is free online. He described how government intervention in the free market is not socialism, but eventually “leads to socialism because government intervention is not only superfluous and useless, but also harmful. ... It lowers labor productivity and redirects production along lines of political command, rather than consumer satisfaction.”He died in 1973 at the good old age of 92 and was the teacher of Friedrich von Hayek, who won the Nobel economics prize in 1974.I bring up Mises...

President Donald Trump was greeted by large crowds of Trump supporters and boaters during his visit to the deep blue state of California. Trump arrived in Newport Beach, California, on Saturday for a rally hosted by a health insurance entrepreneur, John Word, and his wife, Kimberly, according to CBS News. Tickets for the event reportedly ranged from $3,300 for the lunch reception, and $6,600 for each couple. For a photo opportunity, it was $35,000 or raising $75,000. For members of the roundtable host committee, it was $100,000 per person, according to the website for the Republican Party of Orange County....

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Friday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “absolutely” should not have been invited to address Congress. Host Dana Bash said, “If you were still speaker, would you have invited him?” Pelosi said, “No. Absolutely not, absolutely not. I think this is wrong. Frankly, I didn’t approve of his being invited the last time. But the speaker, just on his own, invited him without consulting with the rest of the leadership. And he came and he criticized, President Obama for the masterful work that he had done with the nuclear agreement regarding...

California has the highest income tax rate in the country (top tier of 14.4 percent). It has the highest statewide sales tax rate (7.25 percent, plus local sales taxes). It has the highest gas tax rate ($0.78 per gallon). Yet, it ranks third to last in the country in terms of road quality.The old joke is that California would tax the air we breathe if it could. Well, California’s latest tax proposal comes close. The state is recruiting drivers for a pilot program to track and tax the miles they drive.The plan is borne from the fact that Californians have...

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., proposed slashing budgets regarding public safety, such as prisons and law enforcement, as the state simultaneously grapples with a crippling deficit and doubles down on climate goals relating to equity. The California Democrat's proposed budget, released in May, notes that "difficult decisions" are necessary to address the estimated $27.6 billion deficit, which is projected to continue for years to come. It includes a $97 million cut to trial court operations, $10 million to the Department of Justice's Division of Law Enforcement and more than $80 million to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A Newsom spokesperson...

One neighborhood in East Oakland is so dangerous that construction workers apparently feel unsafe. A construction crew left a residential street unpaved and refused to return because the workers did not feel safe being in the neighborhood. The situation has left Sobrante Park residents with their street torn up and reduced to gravel with gaping potholes. Resident Shari Angarano said the unfinished road work made bumpy driving conditions on Colorados Drive go from bad to worse. “The ground is uneven and a lot of the gravel used to fill pot holes is being kicked up,” Angarano said. The unfortunate situation...

A 39-year-old man was arrested Monday morning for allegedly firing randomly at passing cars in Riverside County, killing a husband and father of four, authorities said. Deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department responded at 7:05 a.m. to the area of West Seventh Street and South San Jacinto Avenue to a report of a man shooting at passing vehicles, according to a sheriff’s department news release. Two people were found shot and multiple cars had been hit by gunfire; both victims were hospitalized and one died from his injuries, according to authorities. Julio Cesar Rodarte, a 39-year-old San Jacinto resident,...

California owes the federal government tens of millions of dollars for incorrectly claiming medical care reimbursements for noncitizens, a federal audit found. The Golden State must repay nearly $53 million to the federal government after it “improperly” claimed reimbursements from the Medicaid program for illegal immigrants and other noncitizens, according to a recent report by the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The findings emerge as California grapples with a massive budget deficit in the tens of billions of dollars. ... The issue surrounds how California officials calculated federal reimbursements for noncitizen...

This article has been updated to include another post from Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) about the revelations.The more we learn about what went on with the now former January 6 Select Committee, the worse it seems to get. The June 2022 testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, considered a star witness by the Committee's members, all of whom were selected by then Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has once more garnered attention. It turns out that former and potentially future President Donald Trump's Secret Service driver wanted to quickly testify to refute her testimony, though he was "rebuffed."Just the News is reporting that...

House investigators have obtained evidence showing that former President Donald Trump’s Secret Service driver wanted to quickly refute testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson alleging a struggle in the presidential limousine during the Capitol riots but the Democrat-led January 6 committee rebuffed him for months. The evidence was confirmed to Just the News both by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the chairman of the House subcommittee that is investigating the Jan. 6 tragedy now for Republicans, and a transcript of the driver’s interview that was conducted months after he first offered to testify. [snip] The transcript of the driver’s testimony reviewed by Just the...

The more we learn about Nancy Pelosi's handpicked January 6th Committee, the more corrupt they appear. First we learned they destroyed evidence, and now we're learning they 'rebuffed' important testimony. Almost as if the committee was not so much concerned about finding out what really happened on January 6th, but was more concerned about making sure a specific and very damaging-to-the-Right narrative stayed put. And Liz Cheney helped pave the way. Jonathan Turley @JonathanTurley Remember the widely reported story of Trump struggling with his driver in the presidential limo on January 6th? The driver’s testimony shows that he offered to...

NEW: In an internal memo to ICE— The ERO Executive Associate Director says that CBP and ERO will not question illegal immigrants who cross the southern border and are processed for expedited removal while the limitation is in effect regarding their fear of return... “If a noncitizen subject to the Presidential Proclamation is processed for expedited removal and manifests fear or an intention to apply for asylum or related protection while detained in ICE custody, the noncitizen must be referred to USCIS…” One source saying, “In other words nothing has changed…”

“What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is my own.” James Joyce penned those words while writing Ulysses, but he could have easily written them were he composing a report on the political attitudes of the pseudo-elite greenie left of the modern era.From an article by Greg Rehner at Fox News:California clean energy project threatens thousands of protected Joshua trees: reportsA California-based renewable energy company plans to clear thousands of protected Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert to make way for a solar project that will generate electricity for nearly 180,000 homes in coastal neighborhoods instead of the impacted communities,...