Free Republic

A recall effort aimed at “progressive” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has gathered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, organizers say — though they are still collecting signatures to ensure that they survive a challenge. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday: The campaign, Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, known as OUST, has until July 22 to submit its signatures. Election officials then must make sure enough signatures are valid to trigger a recall, a process that could take up to two months. OUST has obtained nearly 35,000 signatures since it began its effort in February, Brenda Harbin-Forte, a...

Governor JB Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., and Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter joined convention leadership at the United Center in Chicago to provide a media preview on May 23, 2024. DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said “While the Republican convention will be mired in chaos, fear, and division, the Democrats will host a hopeful convention", and that the "Democratic National Convention will be smooth, seamless, and safe", added Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter.

This is disgusting. Those cops should be tried for deprivation of rights under color of law. They deserve the rope.

The California Senate passed a bill that would ban parental notification for gender changes in public TK-12 and provide more resources to increase parental support of LGBTQ pupils. While parents broadly support disclosure rules and have approved them in many school districts, state leaders, including the attorney general — who has supported lawsuits against districts with disclosure rules — say these efforts harm transgender children. In the past year, school districts across California have adopted measures requiring parents to be notified if their children request to officially change their pronouns, go by a different name, or use facilities or school...

It's not a laptop in first class or a cheap Chinese scooter smoking ominously in the plane's cargo hold. Nor is it a massive commercial ship packed to the gills with cars being transported across an ocean that has had one of the EVs parked onboard light off, and now the whole vessel is hopelessly ablaze. It's not another fiery EV in a driveway or garage or the solar panels on a rooftop, even though I have covered all of those. Comments regular Global Traveler turned me on to an ongoing drama in, of all places, San Diego County that...

Update 5/24/2024: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 233 into law on Thursday, allowing abortionists from Arizona to travel to California, evading Arizona’s pro-life laws to commit abortions on women from Arizona. “Arizona Republicans tried to turn back the clock to 1864 to impose a near-total abortion ban across their state,” Newsom said in a statement. “We refuse to stand by and acquiesce to their oppressive and dangerous attacks on women.” He added, “California stands ready to protect reproductive freedom.” Currently, Arizona protects the majority of preborn children from abortion with an exception for the life of the mother...

Within hours after Thomas Perez Jr. called police to report his father missing, he found himself in a tiny interrogation room confronted by Fontana detectives determined to extract a confession that he killed his dad. Perez had told police that his father, 71-year-old Thomas Perez Sr., went out for a walk with the family dog at about 10 p.m. on Aug. 7, 2018. The dog returned within minutes without Perez’s father. Investigators didn’t believe his story, and over the next 17 hours they grilled him to try to get to the “truth.” According to court records, detectives told Perez that...

On Wednesday, independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. posted an homage to Harvey Milk, an infamous Democrat politician accused of grooming minors, on the day established in 2009 to celebrate his life. Kennedy posted on X, “I want to take a moment to celebrate Harvey Milk Day and honor a man whose bravery transformed our society. Harvey Milk was a trailblazer for LGBTQ+ rights and the first openly gay individual elected to public office in California." “Harvey died fighting for what he believed in and left behind a world in which people could live more freely and more authentically,"...

Here’s the report, from Fox News today:Blue line getting thinner in West Coast states as police take refuge in IdahoHigh concentration of retired and active first responders in Idaho not a coincidence, says former California High Patrol officer[.]California is losing its law enforcement officers to a red state—imagine that! Men and women whose job may require them to lay their lives on the line, who handle some of the scummiest and darkest realities in the history of humanity, want to be respected and supported by their employers and community? No kidding.And it’s not just a few cops here and there—deep...

Join us in celebrating Stevens Creek County Park’s 100th anniversary by completing the Hike the Hundred Challenge. Rack up 100 points in 100 days! There are 13 curated trails at 12 parks where participants go on a scavenger hunt for our Park's unique findings. ​​​​There are six ways to collect your points: Visiting the park (5 points) - Take a selfie in front of the park sign.Plant (2 points) - ID the plant and take of picture (careful not to touch if its poison oak or thorny!)Building (2 points) - Take a picture of the chosen building.Structure (2 points) -...

California Assemblyman Vince Fong appears to have handily won California’s special election yesterday, bringing the Republican Party’s slim majority in the House up to five. With 87 percent of the votes in, The New York Times had Fong up over opponent and fellow Republican Mike Boudreaux 60.2 to 39.8, making it essentially impossible for Boudreaux to win unless something happens to change that math. Fong won the special election to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned at the end of 2023 after being ousted from the speakership and endorsed Fong in the race. ... Fong had also been...

Californians pay more at the gas pump than residents of any other state in the United States despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) so-called “plan” to crack down on windfall oil profits. “Is Gavin Newsom trying to help Donald Trump?” Is Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley question, citing his plan to raise fuel prices in Nevada and Arizona just before the November presidential election. Nevada and Arizona’s gas prices heavily reflect those in California due to them being significantly reliant (90 and 50 percent) on California for their fuel supply. According to recent reports, the California Energy Commission is looking to...

The Redwood City [CA] Fire Department and Mountain View [CA] Fire Department crews are responding to a large fire at Sims Metal, a metal recycling facility on Seaport Blvd. in Redwood City. Fire officials shared news of the fire at approximately 3:20 p.m. Thick, dark smoke is in the air, accompanied by “the smell of burning plastic,” fire crews said. Stabbing reported at high school in Gilroy Officials said there is potential for smoke impacts in the area and downwind neighborhoods. Smoke is making its way to Sunnyvale, but Sunnyvale’s Department of Public Safety said there is no active fire...

The California State Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would require new vehicles to come equipped with a function that warns motorists when they’re driving 10 mph over the speed limit. If passed by the state Assembly and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, SB961 by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener would make California the first state with such a requirement for new vehicles. The bill cleared a significant hurdle Tuesday, passing the state Senate on a 22-13 vote. Specifically, SB961 would require new vehicles built or sold in California to include what’s known as “passive speed governors” that...

California state Assemblyman Vince Fong won the special election to fill Kevin McCarthy’s seat for the remainder of the former speaker’s term. Fong defeated Mike Boudreaux, 67.3 percent to 32.7 percent, according to Decision Desk. The two will go head-to-head again in November to win a full term. “I am filled with humility and gratitude tonight, as early results show that voters have overwhelmingly selected me to serve as their voice in Washington D.C.,” he said in a statement posted on X. “With the campaign over, the real work now begins,” he continued. “In Congress, I will remain focused on...

The noteworthy British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once remarked that “there are three types of lies -- lies, damn lies, and statistics.” The Ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus also observantly wrote ”in war, truth is the first casualty.” There could easily be another corollary to these great quotes that could go ... in the battle over school board recalls, there are lies, damn lies, and recall campaign slogans. The Temecula Valley Unified School District recall campaign against current School Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky is a prime example of the lies and mistruths perpetrated by a leftist dominated coalition of local...

According to Kenneth Schrupp at The Center Square, a new analysis from the U.S. News and World Report agency found that California ranked “dead last” among the 50 states when it comes time to “opportunity.” In other news water is still wet.What could have possibly indicated that California wasn’t the friendliest location for anyone wanting to build a life of prosperity and freedom?Was it the state’s nearly seventy-billion-dollar deficit?Was it the mass exodus that has seen hundreds of thousands of people flee the state for friendlier locales, a trend which has resulted in a net negative for legal population and...

The ease and “fortuitousness” by which birth names evolve into perfectly descriptive and denigrative monikers seems like a God-has-a-sense-of-humor moment—a slimy-looking man that screams “greasy salesman” just happens to have a last name that can easily accommodate the word “scum” into it? Providence, no? And, there are few things slimier and scummier than taking an oath of office to represent the people, making promises to act in their best interest, and then reneging on them—but that’s just who Gavin Newscum is. From Susannah Luthi report at The Washington Free Beacon:Earlier this month, the governor repeatedly pledged he would not raise...

A revision to the municipal code made it illegal for groups of four or more people to convene in public spaces for commercial recreational activities without a government stamp of approval.They come in packs. They're often crunchy. They're chameleons: a downward-facing dog one moment, a cobra or child the next. (What versatility!) They do handstands and breathe peacefully. And we can't have any of that. At least, not on public land. By "they," I'm referring to the world of yogis. And by "we," I mean the city of San Diego, which revised its municipal code in March to prevent groups...

A carjacker stole a Los Angeles police SUV with a female cop still inside — before speeding off and crashing it just after the female officer was “ejected” and dragged down the road, according to officials. The unidentified officer was conducting “security detail” in downtown LA at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday when the man suddenly jumped into the squad car and attacked her, NBC LA reported. The cop was “ejected” from the vehicle at some point and fell onto the road as the suspect fled, police said. It was unclear if the officer was pushed, but she was dragged down...