Free Republic

Members of the UCLA community launched into a debate about free speech after a UCLA student posted a photograph in which students denounced the validity of identifying as transgender. In the photograph circulated on Facebook and Twitter, three UCLA students and one UC San Diego student held signs that read, “Get your agenda out of my restroom!” and, “Transgenderism is a mental disorder!” Julia Nista, incoming internal vice president of Bruin Republicans who posted the photo on Facebook, held a sign that said “There are only two genders!” in the photo. She said the photo was taken at a UC...

In the late 1800s, it took railroad companies six years to lay 1,907 miles of track for what was to become the Transcontinental Railroad (or as Barack Obama calls it, the Intercontinental Railroad). Building that railroad line required tunneling through mountains — at one foot a day — building bridges — including one that spanned 700 feet — and doing all the work almost entirely by hand. As best, it will now take seven years for California to lay 119 miles of track — on relatively flat ground in the middle of nowhere. That news came from a contract revision...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A comparison of records by David Goldstein, investigative reporter for CBS2/KCAL9, has revealed hundreds of so-called dead voters in Southern California, a vast majority of them in Los Angeles County.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A comparison of records by David Goldstein, investigative reporter for CBS2/KCAL9, has revealed hundreds of so-called dead voters in Southern California, a vast majority of them in Los Angeles County. “He took a lot of time choosing his candidates,” said Annette Givans of her father, John Cenkner. Cenkner died in Palmdale in 2003. Despite this, records show that he somehow voted from the grave in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010. But he’s not the only one. CBS2 compared millions of voting records from the California Secretary of State’s office with death records from the Social...

A video has surfaced that is putting doubt on Senator Barbara Boxer’s claims that she feared for her safety while at the Nevada State Convention. During her contentious speech, Sanders delegates loudly booed her as she stood defiantly at the podium. Her response to Sanders delegates can only be described as arrogant. A video of that verbal assault has already circulated the internet. Not until five days after the convention did another video go viral: A video of Boxer walking casually from the podium, blowing sarcastic kisses to the Sanders delegates. As the video ends. Boxer throws up her left...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bernie Sanders predicted Monday that the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia could be "messy" as he pushed the party to adopt his progressive agenda, but added: "Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle..." Asked if the convention could be messy, Sanders said, "So what! Democracy is messy. Everyday my life is messy. But if you want everything to be quiet and orderly and allow, you know, just things to proceed without vigorous debate, that is not what democracy is about."

<p>Firefighters had to climb some 300 feet up a boiler tower at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California after fire was reported on an upper level around 9:30 a.m., fire officials said.</p> <p>The plant works by using mirrors to focus sunlight on boilers at the top of three 459-foot towers, creating steam that drive turbines to produce electricity.</p>

Former President Bill Clinton, sprinting through the Central Valley ahead of California's looming primary, urged Democrats on Monday to "relax" about his wife Hillary's general election prospects, with recent polls showing Donald Trump running even with - or ahead of - the likely Democratic nominee. [Snip] Clinton's remarks Monday, without citing polling worrisome to many Democrats, served to counter Sanders' argument that he is the better candidate to oppose Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Clinton said his wife has faced opposition from Republicans for years and that her campaign will "get a new shot when the general election starts." "Just...

Federal immigration authorities plan to build a separate unit for transgender detainees in a new facility under construction in Alvarado, Texas .... One other facility in Santa Ana, California also has a separate unit for transgender women and gay men. The Human Rights Watch report notes that transgender women have previously faced violence and been subject to attacks when they were housed alongside men.

The Democratic Party relies too heavily on superdelegates to pick its presidential nominees, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday — though she downplayed the current dispute between party leaders and Sen. Bernard Sanders. Mrs. Pelosi called the fight between Mr. Sanders and party leaders a “family disagreement” and insisted it won’t dent the eventual nominee in the general election. She also dismissed comparisons to the riot-fueled 1968 Democratic convention. “This is an incident. That was a colossal … clash of people,” she said.

A federal lawsuit alleging widespread confusion over California's presidential primary rules asks that voter registration be extended past Monday's deadline until the day of the state's primary election on June 7. "Mistakes are being made," said William Simpich, an Oakland civil rights attorney who filed the lawsuit. At issue is whether voters understand the rules for the presidential primary, which differ from those governing other elections in California. Unlike statewide primaries -- where voters now choose any candidate, no matter the political party -- the presidential contests are controlled by the parties themselves. Democrats have opened up their primary to...

An angry anti-Israel mob at the University of California at Irvine chased a Jewish student into a building while chanting anti-Semitic epithets after she tried to attend a campus screening of an Israeli documentary last Wednesday, the Observer reported. Second-year Eliana Kopley was attempting to enter the showing of the Israeli documentary "Beneath the Helmet" about the IDF when a crowd of protesters physically obstructed her and chased her into an adjacent building. The angry mob proceeded to pound intimidatingly on the windows and doors while shouting "Long live the Intifada!" and "F**k Israel!" Kopley called the police, who escorted...

As the sixth-richest man on the planet, with a net worth of $50.7 billion, Zuckerberg bought the four houses surrounding his Palo Alto neighborhood home at 1462 Edgewood Drive to stop real estate developer Mircea Voskerician from building an imposing house next door. It seems that Voskerician acquired an adjacent house to Zuckerberg in 2013 in the Crescent Park neighborhood, located just north of downtown Palo Alto and near the Bayshore Freeway. The developer had been moving forward with the city Planning Commission to build a house tall enough to look directly down at Zuckerberg’s master bedroom. It is unknown...

Four houses surrounding Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's home in Palo Alto will be demolished and replaced by smaller ones, according to an application filed with city planners Tuesday. Zuckerberg bought the homes on Hamilton Avenue and Edgewood Drive in 2013 after he learned of a developer's plan to build a house next door tall enough to have a view of Zuckerberg's master bedroom. Concerned about privacy, Zuckerberg paid more than $30 million total for the properties at 1462 Edgewood Drive and 1451, 1457 and 1459 Hamilton in the Crescent Park neighborhood.

s the left turning on its darling, Bernie Sanders? On Friday, Netroots titan Markos Moulitsas, namesake of the liberal Daily Kos, dropped a rhetorical bomb on the Bern, blaming the candidate for doing too little to denounce death threats received by the Nevada Democratic Party after Sanders’ state convention delegates complained they had received unfair treatment. “The problem isn't Bernie Sanders' supporters,” Moulitsas wrote. “It's Bernie Sanders himself … [He] refuses to forcefully and unambiguously reject that violence, instead rationalizing and explaining it away with a mix of grievances and outright conspiracy theory.” Actually, Sanders hasn’t lost much support among...

In this year of political rage, one aspect that baffles me somewhat is the absolute, electrified, apoplectic, blurred-vision hatred of Hillary Clinton. Nor do I get the similar outrage expressed about President Barack Obama, who in Comment Section World makes Donald Trump look like a lovable Disney character. I can only ascribe this Rage Against the Clinton Machine to misogyny. Yeah. I said it (send enraged emails to my boss, Dan Morain at dmorain@sacbee.com). Looking back on political figures, I can truly say that there are only a handful of people I could really get vein-popping angry about. â–ª Sarah...

Pro-Palestinian activists turned violent last Wednesday night as they protested a pro-Israel movie screening at University of California, Irvine (UCI), and in the process hunted down a Jewish woman who was forced to hide and call for police rescue. At least 50 anti-Israel protesters from the Muslim Student Union and the group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCI physically blocked the screening of “Beneath The Helmet,” a documentary about the IDF shown in an event hosted by Students Supporting Israel at UCI as part of a series of Peace Week events. The protesters blocked the exits to the...

The incredible journey of California's high speed rail took another hit this past week when authorities inked a contract revision pushing back the opening of the first segment of the line from 2018 to 2022. Project costs for this one, 119 mile stretch of track through the relatively empty Central Valley have topped $69 billion, with only a fraction of those funds appropriated. The high speed rail authority has only purchased half the land necessary to complete the first leg of the project and not a single foot of track has been laid. The feds are blaming opponents of the...

A federal jury has found a San Jose man who traveled to Manila several times to have sex with an underage girl guilty of sex tourism. A federal jury on Friday also convicted 56-year-old Michael Lindsay of obstruction charges.

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