Free Republic

The defeat next month of the state proposition that seeks to prohibit same sex marriages could mean hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in personal, business and government revenue from same-sex weddings over the next three years in Sonoma County, according to a study released today. The report was prepared by Sonoma State University’s Center for Regional Economic Analysis and was paid for by a grant from the Horizons Foundation, a philanthropic social justice organization serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the Bay Area. Details of the report were highlighted by Robert Eyler, Chair of Sonoma...

When he was caught selling crack in San Francisco's Tenderloin in April, the Honduran immigrant who called himself Javier Martinez first told police he was 18. Then he said he was 16. Because he insisted he was underage, police were duty-bound to take him to Juvenile Hall, where he would be shielded from deportation under the city's long-standing policy of not reporting juvenile offenders to federal immigration authorities. He was soon put up in a $7,000-a-month group home in Southern California at city taxpayer expense. In short order, he became one of the eight offenders who walked away from unlocked...

91 percent of readers think S.F. mayor should be charged VICTORVILLE — Local leaders are condemning the San Francisco mayor’s decision to dump illegal alien probationers in the San Bernardino Group homes, and some believe he should be criminally charged. “The actions of Mayor (Gavin) Newsom are unconscionable and a violation of this oath of office where he swore to; uphold and defend the constitution of the United States,” said Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. “As to whether he should be charged with obstruction of justice, that’s a legal question better answered by the United States Attorney General.” Rep....

SAN FRANCISCO -- An immigrant suspected of being in the United States illegally - freed after being shielded from possible deportation by San Francisco officials despite committing two gang-related assaults as a juvenile - faces charges that he tried to stab a man to death last year in San Mateo County, authorities say. The case of Eric Antonio Uc-Cahun, now 19, a native of Mexico, is the second in which a youthful offender protected from deportation in San Francisco has later been arrested for a violent crime as an adult. The San Mateo County stabbing was especially vicious, authorities said...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man who made it his life's mission to feed those who could not adequately feed themselves died Monday night at the age of 93. Lucious Newsom (pictured) had been hospitalized at St. Francis in Beech Grove. He had run a pantry mission for 20 years and he had been honored just two months ago for decades of service. "I don't know that the man can be replaced," said Phillip White, who lives in Newsom's neighborhood. "I think he was a visionary to do what he's done in this community." Gov. Mitch Daniels visited Newsom in the hospital...

You might ask yourself: Could the illegal alien sanctuary debacle in San Francisco get any worse? Any worse than the triple murder of an innocent father and his two sons at the hands of an illegal alien sanctuary beneficiary? Any worse than the callousness with which San Francisco government officials have treated the grieving, devastated widow of the murder victims who would be alive today if not for the city’s bloody open-borders policies? Any worse than the taxpayer-funded, law-undermining illegal alien shuttle service the felonious city was running for young Honduran illegal alien crack dealers? Any worse than the illegal...

As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show. Newsom has said the city began its policy of not referring young immigrant offenders to federal authorities for deportation under previous mayors, and that he reversed the practice after he became aware of it this year. However, in 2006, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice - a community...

Now hear this: According to the The Associated Press, the gay city's Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed inspecting its residents' garbage. Anyone not properly sorting their garbage will be fined. Do it again and you'll face delousing or perhaps beheading. That is all.

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 29, 2008 03:26 PM Nancy Pelosi may not care about San Francisco’s inhumane and reckless illegal alien sanctuary policies. But a growing number of Bay Area residents have had enough.There’s a protest tomorrow on the steps of SF’s city hall. Reader David sends details. Make your voice heard: Hi Michelle!Could you please publicize this upcoming protest on your site…Protest to demand the resignation of Mayor Newsom and the end of SF’s criminal alien shield (otherwise known as the Sanctuary City Policy).San Francisco City Hall Wednesday, July 30th 11 A.M.The call was put out by the Minuteman...

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom took a break from his busy job and gubernatorial ambitions to marry actress Jennifer Siebel on Saturday at Siebel's parents' Montana ranch. It is the 34-year-old Siebel's first marriage and the second for Newsom, who divorced legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle in March 2006. SLIDESHOWS: The Life & Loves Of Mayor Gavin Newsom The Many Looks Of Jennifer Siebel Newsom met Siebel in October 2006 and they have been together ever since. Siebel was at Newsom's side when he was sworn in for his second term as mayor in January. She also stood...

Three good men are dead thanks largely to San Francisco’s outrageous sanctuary-city policy, which forbids city authorities from notifying federal immigration authorities when they arrest illegal aliens for crimes they commit, and it’s time for President Bush to crack down on all the cities in the United States that follow this absurd policy. On June 22, Anthony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew were shot to death by Edwin Ramos, 21, after a brief traffic incident when Anthony Bologna allegedly briefly blocked Ramos’ car from making a left turn, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The mayor of San Francisco has obtained the password to the city's multimillion-dollar computer network password from a disgruntled employee during a secret jailhouse visit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. On Monday night, Mayor Gavin Newsom met Terry Childs, a Department of Telecommunications and Information Services employee charged with computer tampering, in a secret meeting and walked away with the password to the city's new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network), the Chronicle said. The system stores such records as officials' e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail bookings. Childs has been held since July 13 and had reportedly...

Horror in Knoxville update: Trial stalled for one year By Michelle Malkin • July 14, 2008 02:56 PM It must be maddening for the families of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. I know you haven’t forgotten the young couple brutally murdered in a racially-charged case in Knoxville, TN. I haven’t, either. The latest? Justice delayed in the trial of suspect George Thomas:

In officiating at the June 17 “marriage” of the same lesbian couple he had joined in dubious wedlock four years ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom beat Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the punch. But Villaraigosa, like Newsom a potential contender for the Democratic nomination for governor, was not to be bested. On June 23, Villaraigosa united Hollywood producer Bruce Cohen with his five-year-long male companion, art consultant Gabriel Catone. And, the previous week, the Los Angeles mayor voiced his warm support for legalized same-sex marriage. "The California electorate is coming into a new age realizing that [gay] marriage...

After being assailed by the police officer whose satiric videos earned him and nearly two dozen others suspensions in 2005, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong acknowledged that she has gone years without taking the target practice required for officers who carry guns. Department rules require all police officers who carry guns to pass shooting range tests every six months... The issue of Fong's proficiency with a gun was raised last week by Officer Andrew Cohen. He wrote to Police Commission President Theresa Sparks that the chief had gone five years without being certified, which he called "an egregious matter...

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - San Francisco would become the first city in the nation to ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies if legislation that was quietly introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom is approved. If the Board of Supervisors adopts the legislation, hundreds of pharmacies in The City would have to stop selling tobacco products — including cigarettes, cigars, pipes and chewing tobacco — as soon as October. “This is a sensible measure to deal with health problems before they start, and it’s consistent with our prevention-focused efforts such as Healthy San Francisco and Shape Up SF,” Newsom said....

SAN FRANCISCO — Mayor Gavin Newsom said he began to worry that the city’s Board of Supervisors had gone too far when a member proposed tagging lobbyists. After all, in the last two years, Board members have passed laws banning plastic bags at supermarkets and plastic foam containers at food outlets, proposed an ordinance to fine office buildings that left lights on overnight, and yes, floated a proposition to make any lobbyist wear a name tag when doing business at City Hall. (And outside, too.) All of which left Mr. Newsom, a former restaurateur, thinking that the city’s business community...

The major media has ignored this. Why did the Duke case get major coverage and this not? Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom were out for a date in January 2007 when the couple were carjacked, brutally tortured, and raped before being murdered and dumped. Christopher was bound, stripped, and raped. While he was still alive his penis was cut off, then he was shot, and finally set on fire all while his girlfriend was made to watch. His body was dumped by a set of railroad tracks. Channon was kept alive and gang-raped repeatedly over the next four...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Bloggers and media critics are complaining that the national media has ignored the rape and murder of a young Knoxville couple because of the racial implications of the story. Channon Christian, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student, and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, 23, were raped, tortured and killed in January. Separate trial dates were set Thursday for four people charged in the slayings. Online critics have angrily insisted that reporters are ignoring the story because the victims are white and the defendants are black. "I am not going to call it reverse racism," said country singer...

A 21-year-old University of Tennessee student was gang-raped, choked and bound in January 2007 before being stuffed inside a trash can while still alive, a federal prosecutor told jurors in opening court statements today. "The evidence will be when she went into that trash can, she was alive," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jennings said this afternoon in U.S. District Court. "Probably, mercifully, Channon Christian died (later that evening)." Jennings revealed details about the killings of Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, as a jury was seated in the trial of Eric Dewayne "E" Boyd. Boyd is charged with helping...

The defense in the case of an accused accessory to a fatal carjacking rested its case in U.S. District Court just before noon. Defense attorney Phil Lomonaco sent only two witnesses to the stand, one of whom was a government witness from Monday. The first witness was a carpenter whose sole job was to measure the distance from the Chipman Street house where a Knoxville couple was slain to the parking lot of a nearby business where an employee earlier testified he saw a car linked to Eric Dewayne "E" Boyd soon after the January 2007 fatal carjacking. The second...

Apparently prompted by the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, a group is planning a rally in Knoxville to protest crimes against white people by black people. According to special events and parade permit applications filed with the city, the rally would be held June 16 in front of the old Knox County Courthouse. The applications were filed by Ken Gregg on behalf of the "ABC Group." The applications - neither of which may be required, according to city and Public Building Authority officials - describes the planned event as a "peaceful protest against black crime on whites."

“Equal and exact justice to all men...” —Thomas Jefferson PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE Murder in Black and White Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were described by family and friends as a “clean-cut and faithful couple—good kids.” Channon was a senior at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she met Christopher. She and Chris went out on a Saturday dinner date, after which Channon called her mom and told her that they were on the way to visit friends. But Channon and Christopher never arrived at their friends’ house—or returned home. The next day, the mutilated and burned remains of Chris Newsom...

February 1, 2007KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Four suspects, including a woman arrested in Kentucky Wednesday night, are now facing murder, rape and kidnapping charges in the double slaying of a young Knoxville couple.But the location of the carjacking that began the series of charges in the investigation and why it happened is still being kept quiet.The suspects were indicted Thursday in Knox County, separate from the federal charges some of the men already face relating to the carjacking. The rape charges involve both murder victims, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.Lemaricus Davidson faces 46 counts including felony murder, premeditated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape and theft.Letalvis Cobbins faces 46 counts including...

The girlfriend of the accused ringleader in a fatal carjacking told jurors this afternoon her now ex-beau claimed Channon Christian was forced to kill her boyfriend. "He told me Channon shot Christopher (Newsom) ... that they made her do it," Daphne Sutton acknowledged under cross-examination by defense attorney Phil Lomonaco on behalf of Eric Dewayne "E" Boyd. Lomonaco was trying to show that Sutton knew about the fatal carjacking and her boyfriend Lemaricus "Slim" Davidson's involvement and yet harbored him and failed to notify police of what she knew. Boyd is on trial for allegedly hiding out Davidson after Sutton...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently said, "We're inviting people to come out of the shadows and take advantage of services." Newsom could have said -- just as easily -- that he's inviting people to come out of the shadows and take advantage of the taxpayers! Believe it or not, the City of San Francisco just launched a $83,000 public relations campaign that will actively encourage waves of illegal aliens to sneak across the border. This media blitz will include television and radio ads, billboards and bus signs and brochures distributed at police stations and hospitals. And what's the goal?...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's administration will change its policy on issuing laudatory proclamations after a gay porn studio was honored last week without the mayor's knowledge, city officials said Friday. Conservative activists and pundits nationwide belittled the city after Newsom's office declared Feb. 23 to be Colt Studio Day, honoring the 40th anniversary of a San Francisco movie company whose Web site invites visitors to "come inside to experience the hottest man-on-man action." The official document, bearing Newsom's name, was presented by a representative of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services to the company during its anniversary party. It...

San Francisco's historic fire chief's residence was trashed Friday night in what authorities said Saturday was a case of suspected arson and vandalism linked to the boyfriend of the city's new Planning Department chief, who is temporarily living in the home.

San Francisco To Vote On Alcatraz As Peace Center SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ― It would literally take an act of Congress before a city ballot proposal to turn Alcatraz into a global peace center could become reality. The measure's purely symbolic, given that the legislative branch would have to formally switch the island prison from federal to city hands, and that the proposal faces a host of other obstacles, including a lack of funding or legal force. That doesn't meant the measure on Tuesday's ballot hasn't gotten attention - much of it negative. "VOTE NO ON THIS RIDICULOUS PROPOSAL," the...

Gavin Newsom, the divorced San Francisco mayor who provoked a constitutional crisis in 2004 by granting marriage licenses to 4,000 same-sex couples, has chosen the historic Mission Dolores Basilica for a family Mass on the occasion of his inauguration to a second term. Newsom and his family are scheduled to attend Mass at Mission Dolores tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 8, in what his press office is calling a “low-key” second inauguration. Following the Mass, his father, William Newsom, a retired state appellate judge, will administer the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. Given his record,...

Dr. Walter Williams wrote an excellent editorial a few days ago about the silence from the black leaders and the MSM about black on white crimes.  He describes how the Duke case generated a huge wave of media reports and condemnation from black leaders but it all turned out to be a hoax.  He describes the James Byrd murder in 98 which was used in attempts to derail Bush's first Presidential run, they said he didn't support hate crime legislation.  Problem was that two suspects were sentenced to death and the third to life.  Sounds like punishment to me. But...

San Francisco is on track to having the country's most stringent environmentally friendly building standards after Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced a measure Wednesday that would drastically alter the city's building codes. If the Board of Supervisors approves the legislation, new residential and commercial buildings in the city would be required to meet tough environmental guidelines, making San Francisco "the greenest large city in the United States of America," Newsom said. "I will sign it, fast track it," the mayor said Wednesday. "As far as I'm concerned, if you want to do business in San Francisco ... these are going to...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will join Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on the presidential campaign trail when she comes to town on Tuesday - and Republicans couldn't be happier about it. The way they see it, the more face time the pro-gay-marriage, pro-sanctuary-city, pro-gun-control mayor of the most leftist, liberal city in America spends with the Democratic front-runner, the better. A recent news release distributed by the Republican National Committee to political reporters around the country lambasted Newsom as "Hillary's San Francisco Treat" and took a direct guilt-by-association swipe at Clinton by highlighting the mayor's signature last month on a...

Talk about spin. Much of the projected $229 million budget deficit that now preoccupies San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was created with his blessing - and with his full knowledge that the city didn't have the dough to cover it. Newsom and his aides, however, didn't let the cat out of the bag until after his re-election last month. According to the mayor's own memo on the troubles, issued late last month, the city's descent into the fiscal sinkhole was triggered by three big factors: -- Voter approval in November of Proposition A, which mandated almost $28 million to the...

Gavin Newsom's political strategist Eric Jaye jokes that he already knows what the analysis of today's mayoral election will be. "However many votes we get," Jaye says, "we know the Bay Guardian will say it wasn't enough." He's got a point. In most elections, pundits try to pick the winner. That's already been handled in this one. Newsom will certainly win a second term as mayor in a cakewalk over a group of offbeat candidates. That's not in doubt. But it does lead to a second question, best expressed by local political consultant Mark Mosher, who asks, "What kind of...

Newsom welcomes the fleet with fierce defense of San Francisco as pro-military Susan Sward, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, October 7, 2007 (10-06) 16:55 PDT SAN FRANCISCO - Mayor Gavin Newsom, attending Fleet Week festivities on the Marina Green on Saturday, lashed out at conservative critics who mocked San Francisco's consideration of a measure to ban the Navy's Blue Angels from flying over the city during this week's celebration. He cited that criticism and reports that the city turned down a Marine request to make a television recruitment commercial in the Financial District as examples of what he called exploitation by...

The standoff between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and embattled Supervisor Ed Jew shot up another notch this weekend with the mayor asking the city attorney to draw up charges that could lead to Jew's forced removal if he does not resign. According to sources close to the case, the paperwork is being drawn up today and will likely be ready sometime this week."It's not a position I want to be in," Newsom said late Saturday after Jew didn't return repeated phone calls. "But I'm compelled to move because this is just the type of situation that the City Charter...

In a city that has a reputation for being home to more dogs than children, the number of families planning to move out of San Francisco has decreased in recent years -- and on Thursday Mayor Gavin Newsom said he hopes to be able to reverse the trend of family flight. The population of children living in the city has dropped by more than 33 percent since 1960, and today there are just 112,000 young people under the age of 18 living in San Francisco, Newsom said. But the mayor painted an optimistic picture of what the future will look...

Mayor Gavin Newsom and District Attorney Kamala Harris have sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking him to halt gun shows at the Cow Palace. The Crossroads of the West Gun Show happening there this weekend. The letter follows a Thursday announcement by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that he would introduce legislation to ban gun shows at the arena. The officials say that the shows attract people who sell guns illegally and that those guns are being used in crimes in the city. They have no evidence to support those claims, however.

S.F. Mayor Newsom gives endorsement to Clinton CANDIDATE OUTLINES VIEWS ON GAY ISSUESBy Mary Anne Ostrom Mercury NewsFresh from a Hollywood presidential forum on gay issues, Sen. Hillary Clinton accepted the endorsement Friday of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the man some leading Democrats blamed three years ago for scaring voters away from them after his unorthodox push for gay marriage. Underscoring how gay politics have changed since then, the leading Democratic candidates appeared Thursday night at a forum sponsored by gay activists and a gay-oriented television network. Clinton accepted the endorsement, saying she shares "an optimism and confidence" with...

The law also makes it illegal to possess or sell firearms on city and county property and ... The measure's co-sponsors concede that it will have little effect on the proliferation of illegal firearms. The prohibition of guns on county property does not apply to Housing Authority sites, and the ban on selling guns on county property does not apply to the annual gun show at the Cow Palace.

In San Francisco's effort to pay the soaring cost for retiree health benefits, it's $500,000 down, $4.9 billion to go. The city, like most local governments and school districts in California, has put aside no money to cover the fast-growing cost of delivering on health care coverage promised to its workers once they hit retirement age. But in San Francisco, the financial liability hanging over the city is one of the heaviest in the state, thanks in part to the generosity of its employee health care benefits. "As this number keeps growing ... it can cripple our budget,'' said Supervisor...

Unreliability makes Muni reviled; agency's chief admits 'status quo is not acceptable'. The opening of the new T-Third streetcar line in San Francisco was supposed to be a crowning accomplishment for the Municipal Railway, an ambitious project that promised to accelerate economic revitalization and community pride in the city's struggling southeastern neighborhoods. Instead, the 5.1-mile rail service expansion revealed profound flaws in the city's heavily used public transit system, unleashing a torrent of pent-up public scorn. The Muni-was-late excuse wears thin for riders who regularly show up tardy to work, school, jury duty and child care. The new route came...

(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will now face serious opposition as he seeks re-election in November. Former city supervisor Tony Hall, considered more conservative than Newsom, told CBS 5 Thursday that he is jumping into the mayoral race. Hall is a former director of Treasure Island, who was appointed to that job by Newsom. But after the men had a falling out, Hall became a frequent critic of Newsom. A spokesperson for Newsom's campaign said, "Mayor Newsom welcomes all candidates to the debate." Newsom has raised about $1.3 million in campaign contributions so far. Thirteen...

The sudden force that the liberal press brought to bear on the falsely accused Duke lacrosse team has been curiously absent on a much more grisly crime committed against a white couple by a group of black youths.Personally, I don't think that local crime issues should ever be covered in the national press but if the media are going to cover them, they need to be consistent. My friend La Shawn Barber has a must-read post on the matter: Early this year, a white couple was carjacked, tortured, raped, and murdered by a group of black thugs. Christopher Newsom (23)...

Origins: On 6 January 2007, Knoxville, Tennessee, residents Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and Channon Christian, 21, went out for a dinner date at a local restaurant, then headed to a friend's house to watch a movie. They never came back. When the couple had failed to return by the following morning, their parents notified police. Christopher Newsom's body was found near some railroad tracks in East Knoxville that afternoon, but Channon Christian remained missing. A trace run on Channon's cell phone helped authorities locate her abandoned vehicle the next day, and fingerprints raised from an envelope inside the automobile led...

An investigation by the City Attorney's Office into whether it was proper for Ruby Rippey-Tourk to receive thousands of dollars in "catastrophic illness pay" from the city after she left her San Francisco City Hall job -- and following her affair with Mayor Gavin Newsom -- uncovered nothing illegal, but did raise questions about whether she should have been eligible for the payout. Rippey-Tourk received $10,154 in unexplained retroactive pay after leaving her job as Newsom's commission appointments secretary The report questioned, however, whether Rippey-Tourk, who took leave from City Hall in May 2006 to enter a substance abuse program,...

That "oh my god" screaming headline on the Drudge Report today pushing a video that suggests San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was "caught on tape" and "simulates oral sex with TV crew's stick mike" is bunk, according to journalists involved with coverage of the event. The Newsom story was given the top headline in Drudge today and included a still photo getting big play on the website -- showing the mayor's mouth in apparent contact with a stick mike from KTVU Channel 2, the Oakland-based station. The video posted on Drudge is linked to the website of San Francisco-based ABC7...

Actress Jennifer Siebel is standing by her man, who happens to be Mayor Gavin Newsom, and says there's no trouble in their romance - Jennifer Siebel may be waiting for her big break in Hollywood, but in the hothouse world of San Francisco politics, she has already been cast -- as Mayor Gavin Newsom's leading lady. For the past six months, the actress, who has been linked in the past to Oscar winner George Clooney, has been shuttling back and forth between her West Hollywood digs and San Francisco, which she has been visiting with increased frequency to promote her...

The Mayor of San Francisco continues to provide us with juicy political tidbits. First, that there is still heterosexual sex in San Fran and second, now we understand Newsome's lover girl got a big pay increase. Murtha's plan for a "slow bleed" strategy that will lose the Iraq war for us takes shape. Yes, they BRAG about slowly bleeding our troops from needed supplies! First GOP presidential debate scheduled.