Free Republic

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) made an apparent threat of kidnapping charges against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in a tweet on Monday. The California Democrat was likely referring to a recent flight of more than a dozen immigrants to Sacramento who, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, possessed "documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida." ".@RonDeSantis you small, pathetic man. This isn't Martha's Vineyard. Kidnapping charges? Read the following," Newsom tweeted, providing a link to California's penal code.

California’s electricity woes result from man-made climate policies, not from climate change.. ... Solar and wind power have rapidly expanded thanks to rich government subsidies along with the state’s renewables mandate. These have made it harder for baseload gas and nuclear generators that run around the clock to make money. Many have shut down, and the result is that the state often lacks sufficient power when the sun goes down. ... The state must therefore rely on imports from other states ... But these imports are becoming less dependable since California’s neighbors are also losing base-load generators owing to their...

The Supreme Court yesterday denied an appeal from the California Trucking Association about AB5, the new employment law in California governing independent-contract work. That means the law goes into effect today, and the trucking industry in the most important state for supply chains will face major upheaval. “It is going to be a radically new world in California’s trucking sector with the imposition of AB5, and it isn’t clear what parts of the industry — if any — are ready for it,” writes John Kingston at FreightWaves. The law was enjoined by a lower court on New Year’s Eve in...

A California law scheduled to take effect in January will reclassify many independent contractors as employees, and that could strip truck drivers in the state of some of their best-paying opportunities, experts warn. According to job search website Indeed, the average annual salary for an owner-operator driver is $222,608. The median salary for a truck driver is $43,680 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many people are without cell service after PG&E cut power to two milllion people and wildfires burn across California. In Marin County, close to 50 percent of all cell sites are down. In Sonoma County, 17 percent of sites are without power.  "The biggest concern is that when it comes to 911 calls, 81 percent of 911 calls are made from your wireless phone so having cell sites down it's an incredible public safety concern that consumers cannot access emergency services," said Ana Maria Johnson with the California Public Utilities Commission. Johnson said cell towers don't have back-up power systems because cell companies are not required...

The earthquake struck about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast from the NuStar Energy fuel storage facility in the Bay Area community of Crockett 15 hours before the Tuesday fire that consumed thousands of gallons (liters) of fuel. Aftershocks in the same area were still being felt Wednesday, including one with a 3.4 magnitude. State and local inspectors were investigating the fire that shut down the facility, which according to the company has 24 tanks capable of holding more than 3 million barrels of different kinds of fuels. The seven-hour blaze erupted in towering, stubborn flames Tuesday afternoon at the facility...

Last November, Democrats hailed California voters' rejection of Proposition 6, a law to scrap the state's 2017 massive gas taxes.  They crowed that Californians were glad to pay five bucks at the pump when the rest of the U.S. average was half that.  Big reason?  Because $3 billion of those takings would save the state's tumbledown highways and go to repair roads and bridges.  The rejection came after a voters showed strong signs of wanting to get rid of the tax until a barrage of television ads ran, warning that any vote to repeal the gas tax would mean the state's decrepit highways and bridges would go wanting for repair funds: A vote to repeal the gas tax would...

Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s biggest utility company, shut off electricity to more than 1 million people on Wednesday in an effort to prevent wildfires caused by downed power lines. The utility said it cut power to more than 500,000 customers in Northern California and that it plans to gradually turn off electricity to nearly 800,000 customers to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires during hot, windy weather. A second group of about 234,000 customers will lose power starting at noon, the utility said. The power outages are expected to affect about 2.5 million people. The utility plans to shut...

Not content with micro-stamping, background checks for ammo, and outright bans on handguns that aren’t individually tested to be “safe”, California is back on the gun control warpath. If state Sen. Anthony Portantino’s bill passes in a final vote in the Legislature this week, California residents will soon be barred from buying more than one semiautomatic rifle a month. Purchases of any semiautomatic rifles will also be off-limits to anyone under the age of 21. Portantino’s bill originally called for limiting monthly purchases on all long guns – shotguns and bolt-action rifles included – but he decided to exclude those...

Full Title: Faithful Flock to Pay Tribute to Effigy of Virgin Mary That Appeared Near Artesia Church on Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Crowds have been gathering near a church in Artesia the past few days after an unusual stain that bears a resemblance to the Virgin Mary appeared on a sidewalk on Wednesday — the same day Catholics celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The image was spotted on the 1800 block of Clarkdale Avenue by parishioners returning to their car of from an early morning mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in celebration...

When police in Huntington Park shut down Pacific Boulevard in anticipation of the celebrations, fans moved one block over. CBS2 captured video as crowds shut down the intersection of Rita and Saturn avenues while a car did donuts. Rocks and eggs were thrown at patrol cars. One man was arrested on several charges. Dozens of people also hit the streets of Pacoima, celebrating at the intersection of Van Nuys and Laurel Canyon boulevards. A watch commander at the sheriff’s East L.A. station confirmed that extra units were deployed, but refused to go into further detail. There were no reported injuries. All...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — More than a dozen states banded together Monday to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block a California law requiring any eggs sold there to come from hens that have space to stretch out in their cages. In a lawsuit filed directly to the high court, the states allege that California's law has cost consumers nationwide up to $350 million annually because of higher egg prices since it took effect in 2015. The lawsuit argues that California's requirements violate the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause and are pre-empted by federal law. A federal appeals court...

President Trump took to Twitter Monday morning to harshly condemn NFL player Marshawn Lynch after he stood for the Mexican national anthem, yet took a knee for the U.S. Star Spangled Banner during Sunday Night Football over the weekend.  Marshawn Lynch of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders stands for the Mexican Anthem and sits down to boos for our National Anthem. Great disrespect! Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2017 Marshawn Lynch sits during the US national anthem, stands for Mexican anyhem pic.twitter.com/8wdaKprEki— Ben Volin (@BenVolin)...

Marshawn Lynch of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders stands for the Mexican Anthem and sits down to boos for our National Anthem. Great disrespect! Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down. 6:25 AM - 20 Nov 2017

California Senate leader Kevin de León will hire two outside firms to look into allegations of a widespread culture of sexual harassment in the state Capitol. De León announced Monday he has hired the law office of Amy Oppenheimer to conduct an external investigation into harassment and assault allegations, and the consulting firm CPS HR Consulting to review Senate policies on harassment, discrimination and retaliation. De León also sent letters to lobbyists in the Capitol community detailing how existing rules protect non-employees. "There's always more employers can do to protect their employees," De León said in a statement. "Everyone deserves...

A man suspected of arson was arrested at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma on Sunday afternoon after he was seen leaving a creek bed where a fire was burning, authorities said. Three Sonoma County Probation officers patrolling the area because of ongoing fires in the region noticed Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, 29, walking out of the creek area and a plume of smoke behind him, Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum said. Sheriff’s Deputy John Grohl was called to the scene and extinguished the fire, which was then completely doused by Sonoma Valley Fire Protection District personnel. Gonzalez was wearing a trench...

The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) issued a detainer request on the Sonoma County Jail for Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, who was arrested Sunday on suspicion of arson in Wine Country fires that have killed at least 40 residents.Breitbart News reported earlier this week that Sonoma County Sheriffs had arrested Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, 29, at Maxwell Regional Park in Sonoma County after a series of reports of ongoing fires in the region. Mr. Gonzalez was observed around 3:00 p.m. PDT wearing a jacket and walking “out of the creek area and a plume of smoke behind him,” according to the Santa Rosa...

There are two kinds of people who support the Calexit movement. People living in California who think that their state would be far better off without being hitched to the rest of the union, and people living in every other state who can’t wait to get rid of California.I’d wager that latter of those two know something that most Calexit supporters in California do not. They know that the golden state is a toxic influence on the rest of the country. It’s become a breeding ground for leftists ideologies, and the people who believe those ideologies have run the...

"Kevin de León says Trump law enforcement policy based on 'principles of white supremacy' Patrick McGreevy APRIL 21, 2017, 12:42 P.M.California officials reacted with defiance Friday to a threat by federal officials to withhold some $20 million in criminal justice grants from the state and its counties as part of the dispute over so-called sanctuary city policies. “It has become abundantly clear that Atty. Gen. [Jeff] Sessions and the Trump administration are basing their law enforcement policies on principles of white supremacy — not American values,” Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement. “Their constant and...

Democrats who are having trouble getting out of the first stage of grief — denial — aren't being helped by the fact that, now that all the votes are counted, Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote has topped 2.8 million, giving her a 48% share of the vote compared with Trumps 46%. To those unschooled in how the United States selects presidents, this seems totally unfair. But look more closely at the numbers and you see that Clinton's advantage all but disappears. As we noted in this space earlier, while Clinton's overall margin looks large and impressive, it is...