Free Republic

I don't know about you, but I kind of resent that I have to repeatedly beg a few men in a far off city to do the right thing. Representative Frank Wolf has 146 Co-Sponsors to House Resolution 36, which calls for a Select Committee to investigate the attack on Benghazi. According to The Hill, while many of the members of the committees that oversee this issue have signed on to HR 36, the chairmen of those committees and Speaker Boehner stand against a select committee. The Chairmen in question are: Chairman of the Intelligence Committee: Mike Rogers R-MI Chairman...

LOS ANGELES — A California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it broad authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, potentially shielding the public from seeing how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. The degree of secrecy afforded Covered California appears unique among states attempting to establish their own health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's signature health law. An Associated Press review of the 16 other states that have opted for state-run marketplaces shows the California agency was given powers that are the most restrictive...

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California may speed up the release of some inmates while allowing other inmates with a violent history to become firefighters, under a proposal to cut crowding in state prisons filed by Gov. Jerry Brown late Thursday night. Brown filed the plan "under protest," said Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard. Brown warned that the options he presented to the court would undermine public safety, and Beard reiterated that the state plans to appeal in an attempt to avoid going through with the measures. The governor's plan calls for increasing early release credits for inmates and paroling elderly and incapacitated prisoners, while...

Sen. Diane Feinstein’s husband Richard Blum won a construction contract for California’s high-speed rail project, reports the California Political Review. Author Laer Pearce says Perini-Zachary-Parsons, a construction group partially owned by Blum’s investment firm, Blum Capital, and their investors, bagged the nearly billion dollar contract:

A fifth-grader in Cupertino, California was suspended and threatened with expulsion for bringing a small Swiss Army knife on a school-sponsored, science-oriented camping trip. In early April, Braden Bandermann’s class set off on Garden Gate Elementary School’s annual, week-long pilgrimage for fifth-graders to Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco. Before leaving, Braden did what any Silicon Valley 10-year-old faced with the perils of nature might do: He packed his trusty Swiss Army knife. As any camper knows, the multi-tool device is nothing if not versatile. Braden’s particular model contains a can opener, tweezers, a toothpick, a nail file, a...

Now that the man who tried to kill him is off to prison, Greenbrae resident Jay Leone wants his guns and valuables back. But it could take anywhere from a couple of months to several years. Leone's gun collection, bullets, watches and jewelry are being kept in evidence while the convicted attacker, Samuel Cutrufelli, contemplates an appeal. Cutrufelli, who received a life sentence last week, has 60 days to file a notice of appeal, and the appeal itself could take years. Leone, 91, was unpleasantly surprised to learn that his belongings would not be returned to him immediately. "Those guns...

SANTA MONICA (CBSLA.com) — Working out in large groups along Southland beaches could soon become a thing of the past if the Santa Monica City Council has its way. KNX 1070′s Jon Baird reports Council members were scheduled Tuesday to consider proposed regulations that would regulate outdoor fitness classes in city parks and at the beach. Among the proposals: a $100 permit fee and a 15 percent revenue charge for using Palisades Park and other sites for fitness instruction, classes or boot camps that have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional gym memberships. The ordinance – which was first...

Paradise Police say that two pit bulls were shot and killed Sunday morning after the two dogs allegedly tried attacking a cat and the homeowners. Police say that the dogs were killed in the 5100 block of Edgewood Lane at around 11:32 a,m. Police say their investigation revealed the two dogs were running loose in the neighborhood and came onto the resident's property, attempting to attack the homeowner's cat. The two dogs reportedly became aggressive and attempted to attack the homeowners who were forced to shoot and kill both dogs. Police say that, "The area and manner in which the...

SAN CARLOS, CA – The Calguns Foundation has filed a lawsuit on behalf of seven California residents today against Attorney General Kamala Harris, the California Department of Justice, and DOJ Bureau of Firearms Chief Stephen Lindley. The case challenges the DOJ’s policy of requiring some firearm purchasers to prove their legal standing to take possession of acquired firearms and forcing them to wait beyond the statutory 10-day waiting period. One plaintiff in the case, Daniel Schoepf of Long Beach, California, was denied his fundamental right to keep and bear arms for self-defense even after DOJ told him that he was...

After 15 burglaries over three months, a California hardware store owner took the law into his own hands by catching the men he suspects of robbing him saying, 'This is my property; I’m going to defend it.' Fed up after losing thousands of dollars worth of gardening equipment and spending money on surveillance cameras and new fencing, Darin Fowler decided the only option was a stake-out. So on Friday night, Fowler waited up until the early hours of the morning and at 3.30 a.m. pulled his gun on the two unsuspecting men he caught taking equipment out of the store...

After 15 burglaries over three months, a California hardware store owner took the law into his own hands by catching the men he suspects of robbing him saying, 'This is my property; I’m going to defend it.' Fed up after losing thousands of dollars worth of gardening equipment and spending money on surveillance cameras and new fencing, Darin Fowler decided the only option was a stake-out. So on Friday night, Fowler waited up until the early hours of the morning and at 3.30 a.m. pulled his gun on the two unsuspecting men he caught taking equipment out of the store...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man who was found dead hanging by a rope off an 18-story Sacramento high-rise appears to have been a graffiti tagger, Sacramento police said Monday. Fire Battalion Chief Marc Bentovoja said the man appears to have died accidentally of asphyxiation when he created a harness from the rope and lowered himself down the east side of the office building. "From everything we can tell, he didn't have any special rope rappelling equipment on, climbing equipment or anything like that," he said. "He appeared to be looped into the rope.A police department dispatch supervisor said Monday...

Thanks to Kathryn Lopez for highlighting this interview in USA Today with Archbishop Cordileone on gay marriage. Anybody who wishes to enter into a debate about gay marriage with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, or anyone else should read this interview and memorize each and every answer by the Archbishop. This, folks, is how it is done. Do not accept their premises at all. This is not a debate about tolerance or a live and let live mentality. If it was, some form of civil union or benefit structure would have been sufficient. This is about criminalizing the opposing views and...

Working for the public good has also worked well for one California county administrator’s bank account. According to reports by several newspapers, Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area, is paying its County Administrator Susan Muranishi, north of $400,000—for life. This includes a generous base salary of $301,000, plus taxpayer-funded deferred pension plans paid for by the county. The pension accounts are set by a formula that multiplies years of service by 2 to 3 percent of the top salary to calculate the benefit, the San Jose Mercury News reports. With 38 years of service under her belt, the...

Much to the chagrin of people who are sure I’m evil, in the pocket of big oil, and highly carbon positive, I’m actually an independent and pretty energy efficient guy, and I challenge any of my detractors to show their solar and energy efficiency projects. Put your money where your mouthpiece is, I say. For example, do loud climate campaigners Joe Romm and Bill McKibben have solar power on their homes? Do Jim Hansen and Michael Mann have solar power while telling us we all must cut back our energy usage linked to fossil fuels? Inquiring minds want to know....

Wearing bulletproof vests and carrying 40-caliber Glock pistols, nine California Justice Department agents assembled outside a ranch-style house in a suburb east of Los Angeles. They were looking for a gun owner who'd recently spent two days in a mental hospital. They knocked on the door and asked to come in. About 45 minutes later, they came away peacefully with three firearms. California is the only state that tracks and disarms people with legally registered guns who have lost the right to own them, according to Attorney General Kamala Harris. Almost 20,000 gun owners in the state are prohibited from...

A Meadowview resident shot an apparent home intruder to death on Tuesday, said Sacramento police, based on a preliminary investigation. The resident exchanged gunfire with a man outside a home in the 3500 block of Reel Circle, near Detroit Boulevard, police said.

Investigators called to 8975 Folsom Blvd. found a man dead inside a business, reportedly shot by a storekeeper while trying to rob the place. A man shot dead at a Folsom Boulevard business near Rosemont was trying to rob the store, according to the storekeeper who reportedly shot him Sunday, sheriff's officials said. Investigators called to 8975 Folsom Blvd. about 3 p.m. found a man dead inside a business, reportedly shot by a storekeeper while trying to rob the place, said Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt. Jason Ramos.

Authorities say a shooting spree through Orange County, Calif., has left four people dead, including the shooter, and two others injured before the man stopped and shot himself to death in a stolen car, police said. The shootings began early Tuesday morning when deputies responded to a call in Ladera Ranch, a sleepy inland town about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found a woman shot multiple times. Police have identified the gunman as Ali Syed, a 20-year-old unemployed part-time student. Police say Syed lived at the Laderaa Ranch residence where the first victim was killed.

The day after a takeover robbery at a Metro PCS store on Folsom Boulevard that left the suspect dead, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department has no one in custody and may never. “We have no evidence that a crime occurred,” Sgt. Jason Ramos told FOX40, “This is a homicide investigation, although it may very well turn out to be a justifiable homicide.” Ramos also said surveillance video inside the store shows the suspect hopping the counter with a gun drawn and getting shot multiple times by an employee. The suspect’s name hasn’t been released at this point, but FOX40 has...

Investigators called to 8975 Folsom Blvd. found a man dead inside a business, reportedly shot by a storekeeper while trying to rob the place. Update: Authorities have identified the alleged robber as 30-year-old Derick Hunter of Citrus Heights. -- A man shot dead at a Folsom Boulevard business near Rosemont was trying to rob the store, according to the storekeeper who reportedly shot him Sunday, sheriff's officials said. Investigators called to 8975 Folsom Blvd. about 3 p.m. found a man dead inside a business, reportedly shot by a storekeeper while trying to rob the place, said Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt....

Thousands of dolphins spanning across 7 miles of ocean were sighted off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, a boat captain told NBC 7 San Diego. Capt. Joe Dutra of Hornblower Cruises said he saw a “super mega-pod” of common dolphins Thursday around noon while he was on his daily tour. He said the pod was more than 7 miles long and 5 miles wide. Dutra said the boat tour followed the pod for more than an hour and said he’s never seen anything like it. “When you see something that is honestly truly beyond belief,” the captain said.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Weeks after New York enacted the nation's toughest gun laws, California lawmakers said Thursday they want their state to do even more in response to recent mass shootings, particularly the Connecticut school massacre. Democrats who control the state Legislature revealed 10 proposals that they said would make California the most restrictive state for possessing firearms.

America is up to their eyebrows in debt and fixing to get worse. Well, if this were a normal American family, they would sell off some of the possessions they think could get their finances back on firm ground. Government doesn't seem to work that way. They just print more money (inflationary) or borrow money from other countries (exploding the debt). Not good. America seems to have no appetite for tightening their fiscal belts either so perhaps it is time to sell off a few assets. Alaska might be a good choice but it is a tough sell because it...

From Sister Mary Ann Walsh, for the USCCB:WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on January 29 filed amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court in support of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8, both of which  confirm the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.DOMA was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1996 and defines marriage for federal and inter-state recognition purposes. Proposition 8 is a state constitutional amendment approved by the citizens of California in 2008. Both laws are challenged because they define marriage exclusively...

<p>A group of sideshow drivers briefly shut down all northbound lanes of Interstate 880 near the Coliseum in Oakland on Saturday afternoon while they burned rubber and did doughnuts.</p> <p>Participants filmed the minutes-long stunt and posted it to YouTube. The videos show at least a half-dozen souped up cars stopping traffic.</p>

San Diego Police Chief, William Lansdowne said in an interview that the implementation of new gun laws will take guns off the streets of America within a generation.

GARDENA, Calif. (KABC) -- Gardena police say an attempted robbery suspect was shot by his alleged victim on Saturday evening. Police said the suspect approached an off-duty security guard around 6:15 p.m. in the 2000 block of Rosecrans Avenue while simulating a handgun and demanding property from the victim. Investigators said the victim feared for his life. He shot the suspect once in the stomach.

This California Councilwoman opposes open carry of unloaded handguns as people can even be shot by ‘unloaded guns!’

SACRAMENTO (CBS13)- A man shot and killed another man who chased him around his yard and threatened to hurt him. --------------------cut----------------------- The resident went inside and came back out with a gun and ordered the man to leave. The man grabbed a heavy wrought iron stand and was motioning to throw it at the resident, when the resident shot the man in the abdomen.

L.A. Catholic's latest post on a The Tidings article reports on the "Missa Gaia"The print edition of the October 27 issue of The Tidings (the online edition is not posted on that paper's site, but you can click on this post's title tomorrow and presumably it will be) carries an article, "LMU Forum draws prominent environmentalists."The article is about this year's Bellarmine Forum, Oct. 29-Nov. 3, at Loyola Marymount U. in L.A. The theme is, "Earth to You: Do Something Now." The invitees include Bobby Kennedy Jr., Jean-Michel Cousteau and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), for whom the...

The producer of a documentary on the civil right to keep and bear arms has posted a trailer in advance of the film’s release that provides a powerful, timely and resonating counter to the ongoing media frenzy pushing for citizen disarmament edicts. Kris Koenig, Emmy award-winning producer and writer, and founder of Dead Patriot Films, Inc., which is producing “Assaulted, Civil Rights under Fire,” has been the driving force behind an effort to provide an all-encompassing look at the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment, both from an historical perspective and as a contemporary societal necessity. “This film will...

Something’s amiss at the Department of Interior. Eight government scientists were recently fired or reassigned after voicing concerns to their superiors about faulty environmental science used for policy decisions. Which begs the question, “Are some government agencies manipulating science to advance political agendas?” Fictional book authors operate in a convenient world, unconstrained by facts and experiences of the real world. The antithesis of works of fiction are scientific findings solely based on provable facts and experience. For agenda-driven environmental science, facts can sometime prove inconvenient. It’s far easier to advance an agenda with agreeable science, even if that means creating...

Saint Vibiana Whenever I visit the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angeles I head straight downstairs to the mausoleum to take a peek at my friend’s crypt.  He’s still very much alive but has his place already for when his time is up.  His name is Mike Dugan and I never get tired of reading the inscription below his name, “Mike tried!”  I find his healthy attitude and sense of humor toward death very comforting.  On a recent visit I felt the urge to check out an area I’ve never been before.  I felt drawn to what appeared to...

Madeleine Melo of Fort Bragg, widow of the North Coast's most prominent recent victim of gun violence, spoke out Thursday night in defense of gun ownership at a public forum convened by Rep. Mike Thompson. "I strongly support our right to own and use guns," Melo told Thompson and six other public officials before an overflow crowd in the Sonoma County supervisors chambers in Santa Rosa. In her next sentence, Melo, whose husband Jere Melo was murdered in the Mendocino County woods in 2011, said the "unchecked acts of violent criminals take away the rights of others to live a...

2 shot at California high school Published January 10, 2013 | FoxNews.com DEVELOPING: At least two people were shot at a high school in Taft, Calif., Thursday morning and the shooter was taken into custody, local reports say.

At least two people were shot at Taft High School Thursday morning. It happened at about 9 a.m. and as of 9:30, students had been evacuated to the football field and there were reports one person was in custody. Details were still sketchy at 9:45 a.m. but the Sheriff's Department has confirmed a shooter is in custody and at least two people have been wounded. Hall Ambulance dispatched three ambulances and a medevac helicopter.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Sacramento police are investigating a home invasion robbery on Haven Court that left one intruder dead and three others injured on Saturday. Police have arrested Thomas Ordonaz, 21. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon and, accessory after the fact. The incident happened at 3:30 a.m. in the Pocket neighborhood. Investigators said during the course of the robbery, gunfire was exchanged and total of four people were shot.

Good defense 12:40 a.m. Dec. 12, 7000 block of Atascadero Ave. A resident said her husband was simulating a gun and had an intruder detained. Officers arrived and arrested a man for first-degree burglary.

One of the most fascinating characteristics of government borrowing - whether at the local, state, or federal level - is that debts contracted over time are obligations tied to specific geographical boundaries but not to the citizens living there when those debts were incurred. For example, while it's customary to say that each of the 210,000 residents of Stockton, California, are on the hook for their share of the bankrupt municipality's estimated $700 million in unpaid bills, the day one of them picks up and moves, personal responsibility for that debt drops to zero.

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Jesus Ruiz Diego, 26, woke up in San Jose on Wednesday morning he thought for a second that he had just dreamed about getting out of jail. But when he saw it was his aunt who had awaked him, not a guard, he knew he wouldn't have to face the horrible reality of a Christmas spent awaiting deportation in the Yuba County Jail. "And then I was like, 'It's real,' " he said Wednesday during a news conference in front of the San Francisco office of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whom he hopes will help in...

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO (CBSLA.com) — The mayor of San Juan Capistrano is recovering Monday after being attacked while walking with his wife over the weekend. Mayor John Taylor and his wife were leaving a Christmas event around 11:30 p.m. Saturday when the attack happened, Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials said. The couple was walking along Old Los Rios and Del Obispo Streets when they heard someone walking behind them, authorities said. As Taylor and his wife moved off to the side, Taylor was punched in the face and knocked to the ground by two heavy-set Hispanic suspects. The men continued...

“Whumph!” It sounds like somebody just dropped a sack of potatoes from 50 feet high into 3 feet of powder snow. On instinct, you will turn to see where it came from. There are no indicators: A moonscape of fresh snow extends as far as you can see up the steep mountain slopes. If you’re not scared by now, then you don’t realize the risk: The daunting power of nature may be about to unleash its ultimate winter force, an avalanche. The “whumph” noise is a warning sound that an avalanche may be imminent. It occurs when a deep layer...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A resident shot an alleged robber Tuesday morning in east Bakersfield, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Office. The resident heard someone remove a screen and break a kitchen window to gain access to his home, so the resident armed himself with a handgun, the sheriff's office said. The suspect and resident came face to face in the hallway of the East Brundage Lane home, and the resident shot the suspect at least twice in the upper body. The alleged intruder, 26-year-old Arturo Jose Luis Estrada, got out of the house and stumbled about a half...

Legislation introduced Tuesday would give about 400,000 undocumented immigrants in California the same rights as citizens to unemployment benefits and various other government services.

Just think — if Democrats win the midterm elections in 2014, we could see this kind of success on a national scale!  California has struggled with massive budget deficits for years, but the political class in Sacramento stumbled on the perfect solution to falling revenues and rising costs … soaking the business world to seize more capital for further spending.  The state held its first auction of cap-and-trade credits, and projected that businesses would spend a billion dollars in buying, er, vapor.  Those projections were just a teensy bit optimistic, as Bloomberg’s Steven Greenhut explains: In late November, the California Air...

SANTA MARIA – An unidentified intruder was shot Sunday evening in Santa Maria when he knocked on a homeowner’s door and brandished a gun. Police received a 9-1-1 call just after 7:30 p.m. that shots were fired in the area of the 400 block of North Oakley. Officers responded to the scene, where they found a male subject who had been shot multiple times. According to police, the adult shooting victim knocked on a homeowner’s door in the neighborhood and began threatening the occupants in the house. The suspect was also armed with a gun and began threatening the resident...

Hundreds of Saturday afternoon customers at a Sacramento shopping center witnessed a tense three-hour standoff at a Jack in the Box restaurant, which ended with a robbery suspect shot by Sacramento police sharpshooters. ------------------------cut---------------------- Dan Escamilla had just sat down to lunch at El Festival taqueria behind the Jack in the Box. A bail agent from Orange County, he was visiting the area in search of a violent felony fugitive. Still wearing her headset from the drive-through window, a female Jack in the Box employee rushed into the taqueria and said the nearby restaurant was being robbed, Escamilla said. "The...

Featured Term (selected at random):SANTA CRUZ "Holy Cross." A mission church founded on September 25, 1791, on Monterey Bay at Santa Cruz, California. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Californians are buying more guns than ever. As of November, the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System had run 981,798 background checks related to guns in California, beating out totals for previous years before 2012 is even over. The numbers jumped about 8 percent from last year, part of a steady increase since 2008. This year, however, the system broke records, with 154,873 calls on Nov. 23, up about 20 percent from Black Friday last year. With the high volume of calls, officials shut down call centers briefly to allow the system to catch up, Fischer said. Among California...