Free Republic

Threatening secession is far from the only thing that the Golden State has in common with the Old South. Over 60 percent of California voters went for Hillary Clinton — a margin of more than 4 million votes over Donald Trump. Since Clinton’s defeat, the state seems to have become unhinged over Trump’s unexpected election. “Calexit” supporters brag that they will have enough signatures to qualify for a ballot measure calling for California’s secession from the United States. Some California officials have talked of the state not remitting its legally obligated tax dollars to the federal government. They talk of...

There are some people in California currently gathering signatures to get an initiative on the ballot to change the language in California's constitution to allow California to secede from the USA. If it passes the law will also put a question on yet another future ballot asking if Californians want to secede. If the vote is yes then it becomes their declaration of independence. It might happen. I won't rule it out especially after 2016 in which so many 'impossible' things happened. So what happens if California votes to secede? Well, before they vote on independence but after they vote...

According to a recently published study, over 27 million dollars in federal grants and direct payments are awarded to sanctuary cities, although that figure probably doesn’t take into account the recent designations of the Borough of Prospect Park and Cincinnati as such. One need only recall the names of Adrienne Shelly, Jamiel Shaw Jr. and Sarah Root in order to grasp why protecting the identities and safety of illegal aliens is such a dire threat to American citizens, and why President Trump’s decision to target these scofflaws is necessary. In the case of California, which is ground zero for the...

Let’s agree that President Trump’s travel ban on visitors from seven nations was a sensible idea hobbled by flaws, especially regarding green card holders and dual citizens. Let’s also agree we haven’t seen a rollout this clumsy since the debut of ObamaCare, which was far more serious because it penalized millions of Americans while Trump’s order inconvenienced hundreds of foreign nationals. Still, we can assume, based on past performance, that Trump will learn from the mistakes. His fierce determination to be a successful president cannot co-exist with rookie blunders. But what about the other players in the drama? Can we...

Like the talk of secession in conservative southern states after Barack Obama became president, the idea of a separate California Republic builds on long-standing separatist feelings amplified by a momentous national election. Since Donald Trump became president while securing less than a third of the vote in California, the Yes California campaign — a.k.a. Calexit — has gotten a lot of attention and perhaps even some momentum in getting an initial measure placed on 2018 general election ballot. An estimated 7,000 volunteers have begun amassing the 585,407 signatures necessary to place a constitutional amendment on the 2018 ballot deleting the...

Liberals used to hate secession, the notion that states could leave the Union as they did before the Civil War because they didn’t agree with the policies of the federal government. But with Donald Trump’s election, many California liberals suddenly have warm words for a budding ballot initiative that has just begun collecting signatures in order to place secession, or “Calexit,” on the ballot.

Los Angeles — Liberals used to hate secession, the notion that states could leave the Union as they did before the Civil War because they didn’t agree with the policies of the federal government. But with Donald Trump’s election, many California liberals suddenly have warm words for a budding ballot initiative that has just begun collecting signatures in order to place secession, or “Calexit,” on the ballot. At the height of the tea-party movement, Texas governor Rick Perry merely hinted at the thought that Texas might react to President Obama’s executive overreach by reclaiming its one-time status as an independent...

California has granted a pro-secession group 180 days to gather enough signatures to get their Calexit initiative on the ballot. From the Hill: The California secretary of stateÂ’s office announced that the group could begin collecting signatures on Thursday.The group needs 585,407 signatures from registered voters over the next 180 days to qualify for the ballot. The mechanism here is not very straightforward. If the Yes California Independence Campaign can gather the needed signatures in time, that would put an initiative on the ballot next year. That initiative, if passed, would change portions of the California constitution and set...

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced Thursday that a ballot initiative called “California Nation” has been approved by the state to begin collecting signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot. The effort is supported by the “Yes California” campaign, an organization that enjoys the support of the Russian government and whose founder, Louis Marinelli, now lives in Russia.

Reuters has a poll out which found a surprising number of Californians are ready to secede from the union now that Donald Trump is president: One in every three California residents supports the most populous U.S. state’s peaceful withdrawal from the union, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, many of them Democrats strongly opposed to Trump’s ascension to the country’s highest office.The 32 percent support rate is sharply higher than the last time the poll asked Californians about secession, in 2014, when one-in-five or 20 percent favored it around the time Scotland held its independence referendum and voted...

Friend -- The cause of Californian independence requires us to adopt multiple lines of attack. Yes California is busy working to qualify a ballot measure that will give us the chance to hold a vote on independence on March 5, 2019. Register to volunteer to collect signatures if you haven't already, or chip in a few bucks if you can't. Now there's another way you can help the cause of independence and it will take just a few minutes. Yes California is reorganizing its political party, the Californian National Party, to begin running pro-independence candidates to local, county, and state...

#CalExit just received a big boost from an unlikely source: Peter Thiel, billionaire tech buddy of President-elect Trump. In a “Confirm or Deny” interview with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, the 49 year-old Thiel confirmed that he believed California should secede. Maureen Dowd: California should secede. Peter Thiel: Confirm. I’d be fine with that. I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the country. It would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign. Apparently Thiel’s comment that “…it would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign” was made rather tongue-in-cheek. But it does raise an interesting question. With...

I am not Spanish, but I am following in the path of other Americans -- such as Washington Irving, Ernest Hemingway, and Orson Welles -- who find Spain absolutely fascinating. Recently, Spain has revved up its always impressive offerings of Hispanic chaos, and the cacophony has spilled over into France. Spain is fascinating because it is not a country, but at least five countries, possibly more: the Basque country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, and the interior where the hated Madrid bureaucrats live. The closest equivalent might be the United Kingdom. If so, the Basque history of armed insurrection finds its closet...

California gained an embassy in Russia last weekend, at least in the eyes of those who have promised to seek a statewide vote on secession, nicknamed "Calexit," in 2018. Louis Marinelli, a San Diego resident who is the leader of the group promoting an effort to turn the state into an independent country , organized the Moscow event that was publicized on social media. "We want to start laying the groundwork for a dialogue about an independent California joining the United Nations now," he said in an email Monday.

California gained an embassy in Russia last weekend, at least in the eyes of those who have promised to seek a statewide vote on secession, nicknamed "Calexit," in 2018. Louis Marinelli, a San Diego resident who is the leader of the group promoting an effort to turn the state into an independent country , organized the Moscow event that was publicized on social media. "We want to start laying the groundwork for a dialogue about an independent California joining the United Nations now," he said in an email Monday. (TWEET-AT-LINK) Marinelli is currently working as an English teacher in Russia,...

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Louis Marinelli, leader of the movement, said the embassy will not deal with diplomatic issues, but will act as more of a cultural center that will educate Russians about California's history, boost trade ties and promote tourism. “We're not requesting military assistance from Russia,” Marinelli explained. “We're certainly going to request recognition of our independence and recognition of our [2019] independence referendum result, as we're going to request that the entire international community recognizes the results.”

Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 led South Carolina to try to secede from the Union. Donald Trump’s election last month has raised similar talk in California, known as the “California Independence Campaign.” Billionaire activist Tom Steyer said in that aftermath of the election that, “It’s impossible to look at the Trump campaign and not see a direct threat to the civil liberties and dignity of California citizens.” The leftist anti-constitutionalist Jeff Rosen is also touting “States’ Rights for the Left” in a recent opinion piece. California can’t secede. The Civil War settled that. But there are other potential avenues by...

Are Democrats returning to their Confederate roots? Driven to apoplexy by Donald Trump’s victory despite Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote, some Democrats want to split the United States up. At a forum yesterday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) bemoaned the existence of the accursed Electoral College, that brilliant constitutional device that prevents angry mobs in densely populated states from picking the president of the United States on their own. But the way things are set up, there is no way to get the Constitution amended to abolish the Electoral College, she sighed.

Earlier today the Kersten Institute for Governance and Public Policy highlighted an updated pension study, released by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, which revealed some fairly startling realities about California's public pension underfunding levels. After averaging $77,700 per household in 2014, the amount of public pension underfunding for the state of California jumped to a staggering $92,748 per household in 2015. But don't worry, we're sure pension managers can grow their way out of the problem...hedge fund returns have been stellar recently, right? Stanford University’s pension tracker database pegs the market value of California’s total pension debt at...

When people speak of Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, they are really speaking about California. In that state, Hillary Clinton won 6,621,346 votes to Donald Trump's 3,549,576 as of this writing. This margin of over three million votes alone accounts for any claim that Clinton exceeded Trump in popular support. Consider some numbers. In New York, Trump won 37.5% of the vote; in New Jersey, Trump won over 40%; and in Illinois, Trump won 39.4%. Among sizably populated states that lean "overwhelmingly" Democrat, California is in a class by itself. Trump struggled to get even a third of Californian...