Free Republic

This week, the U.S. added to the list of reasons why foreign leaders laugh at the leadership our nation faces under Democratic rule. China's propaganda-fueled newspaper, the Global Times, mocked San Francisco's "miraculous" cleanup of the city's ongoing homeless problem ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Before Chinese dictator Xi Jinping's arrival in the Democrat-run city, San Francisco sidewalks were plagued with homeless encampments, human feces, and needles— making it one of the most dangerous places to visit in California. More from the Global Times: The so-called San Francisco's "problem of the century" of the homeless miraculously disappeared...

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Monday “Bloomberg Technology” that her city has constantly been cleaning streets and helping the homeless get shelter while discussing preparing for the APEC Summit of President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. Host Ed Ludlow said, “Why has it taken the visit of U.S. President Biden, China’s President Xi, leaders around the world for action on all of the problems the city has been talking about for 4 years now?” Breed said, “Just to be clear, we have been working on this for a few years. This is not an issue have been sitting...

How long was Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Speaker of the House? She was in power for quite a period. And how long have the Democrats controlled San Francisco? Probably longer than Pelosi has been in office. Yet, Pelosi and the Democrats have allowed the city to deteriorate into a hell hole. Heck, Democratic policies helped it get that way with things like free needles and not holding criminals accountable. As we reported, people who worked in the San Francisco federal building named after Pelosi were told to work from home because the situation around the building was so unsafe. But...

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Michael Regan said on Friday that he expects the cleanup in East Palestine, Ohio, to take three months. “We are absolutely laser focused on ensuring that Norfolk Southern cleans up this mess as quickly as possible. We are optimistic that the cleanup will be complete in three months,” Regan said during a conference call on Friday. “We will continue to be transparent. We will continue to ensure that the people of East Palestine get the protection that they deserve and that Norfolk Southern will be held accountable,” the EPA administrator added.

The heads of a dozen US railroad unions said Wednesday that workers are getting sick at the site of the toxic Ohio train derailment. The meeting comes after labor leaders claimed that workers at the site of the Norfolk Southern derailment have fallen ill with “migraines and nausea.” “I have received reports that [Norfolk Southern] neither offered nor provided these workers with appropriate personal protective equipment, such as respirators that are designed to permit safely working around vinyl chloride, eye protection and protective clothing such as chemical retrain suits,” the American Rail System Federation wrote in a letter to Buttigieg...

A law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf on Nov. 3 encourages doctors to test pregnant women, and children up to 2 years old, who they believe have been exposed to lead. Act 150 is a smart move, but it doesn’t go far enough. Lead is everywhere — especially in industrial regions with older housing, which means Pittsburgh and vast swaths of Pennsylvania. Sen. Lisa Baker, R.-Luzerne, wanted Act 150 to make testing mandatory, but it was watered down in the amendment process. Now she’s reintroducing a bill to switch “encourage” back to “require,” making lead testing mandatory for all young...

INDIALANTIC, Fla. - The mayor of a Florida town was arrested after police said he hit another man in the face with a rake while they were cleaning up a park in Brevard County after Hurricane Ian. David Berkman, 59, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge. According to an affidavit from the Indialantic Police Department, the victim – Melvyn Chang – and Berkman were both in Orlando Park in Indialantic on Friday assisting with cleanup efforts after Hurricane Ian spread debris across the area. Police said Chang was sitting on a picnic table recording Berkman after Berkman allegedly made several...

The Department of Justice is well aware that the Proud Boys who attended the Stop the Steal rally on January 6 were not violent and did not conspire to enter the Capitol—yet are prosecuting them on conspiracy charges anyway, FBI documents obtained by Gateway Pundit reveal. Five members of the group are currently in pre-trial detention on federal charges: Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl. A whistleblower leaked “a treasure trove” of exculpatory documents, and text messages—some marked “Highly Sensitive”—to the Gateway Pundit reporter Cara Castronuova. “These documents would be buried forever and never see...

Volunteers from Black Voices for Trump joined social media influencer Scott Presler on Saturday to help with the recovery in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following several nights of violence and looting in the city. “People told me not to go to Kenosha — I’m glad I did,” Presler told Breitbart News. “Although a bandaid, I believe our presence showed the city that we see, value, and care about them. We had volunteers from Milwaukee, Kenosha, Chicago, and Illinois. “

A nonprofit law firm run by a former member of President Donald Trump's now-disbanded voter fraud commission is suing Allegheny County for its alleged failure to maintain its voter rolls. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, of which J. Christian Adams is president and general counsel, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday accusing the county of violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by not undertaking a "reasonable effort" to remove the names of ineligible voters from its registration lists. Under state and federal law, the county is supposed to remove voters who have moved out of state,...

Texas will be much cleaner after this upcoming weekend as Scott Presler, conservative activist and environmental steward, returns to Harris County. Over the last year, the 31-year-old spearheaded initiatives to cleanup cities and empower communities across the United States including Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. He now plans to tackle our very own city of Houston this Saturday. In a phone call with the Houston Courant, Scott’s enthusiasm was earnest, “I used to live in Galveston and League City and have roots in the greater Houston area. We want to go into the areas that have been neglected and show...

Early Monday on the same morning that TxDOT crews planned to start cleaning up underpasses across Austin, many of those experiencing homelessness were awake and gathering their belongings. “We’ve been up all night,” Andrea Aguilar said. Aguilar posted a sign to a concrete column that read, “Mr. Abbott!!! Protect the Homeless” and another reading, “We are worth a safe solution.” Nearby, other homeless people had started an illegal bonfire underneath one of the underpasses. Temperatures overnight dipped down to 54 degrees. A burn ban remains in place in Travis County, but the fire would have been illegal regardless.

Conservative activist Scott Presler mobilized 200 volunteers to remove 50 tons of trash from a homeless camp in Los Angeles, California on Saturday. Presler’s volunteers removed more than five tons of waste per hour over a nine-hour span – and did so without any assistance from the government. On Saturday morning, Presler posted Twitter videos of the ground of the homeless camp covered in waste, before cleanup efforts began around 9a.m., which he followed with videos showing his group’s progress – and the end result. It’s almost 9 a.m. & we’re removing waste from a homeless camp in Los Angeles....

MAGA fan Scott Presler was tired of all the constant bickering in the media about Baltimore's numerous problems, so he personally decided to do something about it. Rather than simply complain or join the online chorus, he has organized a massive trash clean up of the city set to take place in the near future. Presler just wants to help out in any way that he can. "I’m so tired of people saying, ‘We should do this, we should do that'....I was just like, ‘I’ve had, it. I’m going to go to Baltimore, even if it’s just me on a street...

A U.S. appeals court panel sided with the Trump administration Friday in a mining pollution dispute, ruling that state and federal programs already in place ensure that companies take financial responsibility for future cleanups. The ruling came after the administration was sued by environmental groups for dropping an Obama-era proposal that would have forced companies to put up money to show they have resources to clean up pollution. The mining industry has a legacy of bankrupt companies abandoning polluted sites and leaving taxpayers to cover cleanup costs. But the three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District...

Hong Kong protesters showed up the rest of the world’s demonstrators when, after a 2 million-strong march, they worked through the night to ensure not a scrap of trash was left in their wake. The mass protests against an unpopular China extradition bill took place on June 16 and, after the 3km march was over, the diligent demonstrators worked into the night to ensure the streets they had marched on were not left strewn with litter. Images circulated on social media showed young people working to pick up rubbish late at night, with a few doing a final sweep of...

The property overcome by the encampments near Edinger Avenue belongs to the Union Pacific Railroad and has long been a place where the homeless camp, officials say. Early Wednesday morning, 16 people were kicked out of their tents. One resident says he has lived at the encampment for a year with his rabbit and cat. The men and women staying at the encampment were offered a place at a local shelter but they reportedly refused. Complaints from business owners and the community prompted Santa Ana leaders to secure a warrant to remove the nuisance.

Infrastructure improvements are perennial fodder for politicians on the stump looking to appeal to voters. However, composing a detailed, effective investment plan that goes beyond rhetoric is a much more daunting task that requires careful consideration. President Trump has made it clear he wants to undertake a “new program of national rebuilding” by investing $1 trillion in infrastructure.1 Although the President has stated this funding would be drawn from both public and private sources, he has yet to put forth a detailed plan. Democrats in Congress have seized on the opportunity to put forward their own proposal on infrastructure. This...

BRENTWOOD, NH (WMUR/CNN) - A New Hampshire homeowner is under court order to clean up his yard that's littered with thousands of boxes. If he doesn’t, the town will do it for him and stick him with the bill. Meanwhile, his neighbors are hoping their community will finally go back to normal. Michael Bates found himself back in court after failing to clean up his property in Salem, MA. The town estimates that there are some 2,000 boxes containing printers in the yard.

Litigation: After thwarting a $9.5 billion judgment from an Ecuadorean court, Chevron is going after the entire edifice of environmentalist enablers who make such junk lawsuits possible. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. To the surprise of many, the oil giant is suing the tony, white-shoe law firm of Patton Boggs for alleged unethical involvement in an all-out legal attack by environmentalists over rainforest pollution in Ecuador. Chevron accuses the oh-so-respected firm of lying, concealing inconvenient facts, running a public smear campaign and miscellaneous other flim-flammery, all for the sake of the dollar signs spinning in their eyes. This poses...