Free Republic

Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch sat during most of U.S. anthem and stood for the Mexican anthem before their game against the Patriots at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Lynch has not stood for the national anthem since returning from retirement this season. There did not appear to be any other protests during the anthem as the afternoon games kicked off. Five NFL players protested during the national anthems before early games. The Dolphins’ Kenny Stills, Julius Thomas and Michael Thomas took a knee before their game against Tampa Bay. Giants defensive lineman Olivier Vernon took a knee, as he...

They laugh at it now — the conversation that set in motion their move to a city that neither of them had ever seen. “What about Sacramento?” Cat Perez asked her wife, Aja Blue. “What about Sacramento?” Blue responded. After a decade of renting in San Francisco and a brief stint in Los Angeles, Blue and Perez became part of a great migration to one of the last affordable urban areas in the state. Drawn by lower housing prices, Bay Area residents are pouring into California’s capital and its surrounding areas, trading a temperate climate for triple-digit summers; hustle-and-bustle for...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has re-introduced a bill to ban the sale of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Feinstein was joined by 22 other Democratic Senators in the wake of recent mass shootings in Texas and Nevada. The bill was introduced just days before the most recent mass shooting, which occurred Tuesday in Northern California. “We’re introducing an updated assault weapons ban for one reason: so that after every mass shooting with a military-style assault weapon, the American people will know that a tool to reduce these massacres is sitting in the Senate, ready for debate and a vote,”...

Los Angeles police are investigating almost two dozen cases of alleged criminal sexual misconduct connected to multiple people within the entertainment industry, a senior department official told NBC News. [Snip] Allegations span from misdemeanor sexual battery to felony rape, and in many cases, there are multiple complaints lodged against the same individual, the official said. With calls from victims continuing to roll in, the number of investigations is expected to rise. [Snip] The LAPD has also collected nearly 30 "courtesy reports" that take a victim's statement before referring the case to law enforcement agencies in other parts of the country...

In Coachella, a man was fined $900 for expanding his living room without getting a permit. He paid his fine. Then more than a year later he got a bill in the mail from Silver & Wright for $26,000. They told him that he had to pay the cost of prosecuting him, and if he didn't, they could put a lien on his house and the city could sell it against his will. When he appealed the bill they charged him even more for the cost of defending against the appeal. The bill went from $26,000 to $31,000. Brett Kelman...

The West Hollywood apartment of a prominent Democratic donor where a 26-year-old man was found dead of an overdose this summer was littered with drug paraphernalia, according to the man’s autopsy report. The Los Angeles County coroner’s report... says that Gemmel Moore died from an accidental methamphetamine overdose July 27 in the Laurel Avenue home of Ed Buck. The drug was injected into his body. Paramedics found Moore naked on a mattress in the living room with a “male pornography movie playing on the television,” the report states. Coroner's officials ruled Moore's death an accident, and an initial review by...

Before Maxine Waters (D-CA) ever went viral for reclaiming her time at a congressional hearing this summer, she was advocating for constituents domestically and globally. That’s what makes her rise to popularity within social media feel familiar — she’s been about this life, battling injustice, inequality and systematic silencing for over 40 years. So when she delivered the now-famous line in a House Financial Services committee hearing in August after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attempted to filibuster her, it was business as usual.

University of California regents meeting on Thursday admonished UC President Janet Napolitano for agreeing to a plan that led to interference in a state audit on the operation of her office. “Her decision and then follow-on actions of her direct reports reflect negatively on the University of California community, which is committed to the highest ethical standards in furthering the University’s mission of teaching, research and public service,” board chairman George Kieffer said in a statement after the regents met behind closed doors for nearly five hours.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Evidence that when Democrats rule taxes are never high enough can be found at any gas station in this once politically competitive state. Last month, the California gas tax was raised 12 cents a gallon. Regular gas at some stations is again approaching, and in some cities exceeding, $4 a gallon, a level not seen since natural disasters temporarily curtailed refinery production, and Gulf States manipulated prices. Republicans plan to put the gas tax issue on the 2018 ballot; hoping voters will roll back the increases. Some are not waiting for the next election, but are voting...

As more cases of sexual harassment in the Capitol come to light — intensifying concerns over how such allegations are handled — the state Senate on Sunday night announced an extraordinary change in protocol: It will no longer police itself. The Senate Rules Committee will stop handling complaints of sexual harassment — including pending cases — effective immediately, its members said. Instead, the committee, together with the Senate Democratic Women’s Caucus, will hire an outside legal team to conduct investigations and recommend discipline. “This process will be designed to protect the privacy of victims and whistleblowers, transparency for the public,...

Despite California laws designed to keep firearms away from troubled people, this assailant still got his guns. The red flags were flying all over the place. Let’s review: crazy guy, history of wreaking violence on others, and multiple weapons at his disposal in a state with the toughest gun laws in the nation. It doesn’t quite add up. So what about that California law banning certain weapons from certain people who’ve had run-ins with authorities? It’s called APPS for short, or the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, and it’s designed to allow California law-enforcement officials to automatically track firearm owners...

President Trump is hearing crickets from a trio of UCLA basketball players, despite his successful full-court press to get China to drop shoplifting charges against them. The three players, LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, were arrested after being accused of stealing designer sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou. Trump, while on a tour of Asia, urged his Chinese counterpart to let them go, and may have been looking for some credit Wednesday. *snip* “Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for...

The House Intelligence Committee “learned a great deal” during Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony Tuesday about the anti-Trump dossier, California Rep. Adam Schiff said Tuesday night. Simpson testified behind closed doors as part of the House committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential campaign. Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, provided no additional commentary on Simpson’s interview. Simpson’s lawyer, Joshua Levy, provided a statement and answered a few questions from reporters. Levy took a jab at the White House and “its political allies,” who he said “have attempted at every turn to smear Fusion GPS because of...

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Daily on Tuesday that the U.S. House of Representatives has paid $15 million to alleged victims of sexual harassment by its own members in recent years. “We do know there is about $15 million that has been paid out by the House on behalf of harassers in the last ten to 15 years,” she said. “15 million dollars has been paid out over sexual harassment claims,” Todd replied, somewhat shocked. “So, obviously more than one member of Congress.” Pressed for details, Speier said she did not know how...

Southwesterly wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour are forecast to blow across Lake Tahoe Wednesday, churning waves up to three feet high, according to the National Weather Service. This could bring some surfers to the lake's north and northwest shores, says Scott McGuire with the Weather Service's Reno office. "The winds are coming unaffected across the entire length of the lake and it builds up those waves as it moves across," McGuire says. "Southerly winds are ideal but southwesterly still provides a decent fetch." Tahoe's waves aren't nearly as popular as its slopes, but when the winds kick...

Three people were shot and killed Tuesday when a shooter opened fire near a Northern California elementary school, authorities said. The shooting was reported near Rancho Tehama Elementary school as some parents were dropping off their children. The shooter was killed by police officers after he also wounded children at the school, however, it was unclear if the shooting happened on school ground. It was also not immediately known if the shooter was counted among the people killed.

There was a massive police response to several crime scenes in Rancho Tehama, California Tuesday. Deputies say at least three people are dead—including the gunman. A Deputy told local media the shootings took place at several crime scenes and ‘multiple shots’ were fired at the elementary school. According to scanner traffic, children as young as 6 are among the wounded.

CORNING, Calif. - Witnesses tell a chilling account of two gunman who opened fire at Rancho Tehama Elementary School near Corning Tuesday morning. Coy Ferreira, whose daughter is a kindergarten student, was dropping his daughter off for class just before 8 a.m. when he heard what sounded like a firecracker. A school secretary ran out and yelled for the kids to get in the classrooms because someone was shooting at the school. Ferreira said he ran into a classroom with 14 students. He said the series of shots came through the classroom windows, hitting one student. Ferreria said a young...

Our County Supervisor has been giving this talk the past few months around Santa Clara County. He put this invitation on NextDoor. Supervisor Joe Simitian, Santa Clara County District 5 November 14th at the Los Altos Library Dear Friend, Here in the Bay Area we live in a bubble, in a bubble, in a bubble. While 46% of the American electorate voted for President Donald Trump last fall, at home the numbers were dramatically different. In California 32% voted for President Trump, in Santa Clara County it was 21%, and in my hometown of Palo Alto, just 12% voted for...

A once-empty parking lot at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s top secret aircraft plant in Palmdale, Calif., is now jammed with cars that pour in during the predawn hours. More than a thousand new employees are working for the time being in rows of temporary trailers, a dozen tan tents and a huge assembly hangar at the desert site near the edge of urban Los Angeles County. It is here that Northrop is building the Air Force’s new B-21 bomber, a stealthy bat-winged jet that is being designed to slip behind any adversary’s air defense system and deliver devastating airstrikes for decades...