Free Republic

Gov. Jerry Brown, mocking Donald Trump for his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, suggested Monday that if the Republican frontrunner wins election, California might have to take protective measures of its own. “If Trump were ever elected, we’d have to build a wall around California to defend ourselves from the rest of this country,” Brown told labor organizers at a dinner in Sacramento. “By the way that is a joke. We don’t like walls, we like bridges.” Brown, the Democratic governor of a liberal border state, has signed legislation granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants and...

“If Trump were ever elected, we’d have to build a wall around California to defend ourselves from the rest of this country,” he said at a dinner held in Sacramento by the California Labor Federation and State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, according to the Sacramento Bee. “By the way that is a joke,” he added. “We don’t like walls, we like bridges.” Brown was touting the state’s economic progress, and the influx of young, talented tech workers — though the state has experienced net out-migration for decades, especially of middle-class families. The governor blasted “old white guys”...

Gov. Jerry Brown, mocking Donald Trump for his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, suggested Monday that if the Republican frontrunner wins the election, California might have to take protective measures of its own. “If Trump were ever elected, we’d have to build a wall around California to defend ourselves from the rest of this country,” Brown told labor organizers at a dinner in Sacramento. “By the way that is a joke. We don’t like walls, we like bridges.” Brown, the Democratic governor of a liberal border state, has signed legislation granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants...

California regulators may force a massive solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert to shut down after years of under-producing electricity — not to mention the plant was blinding pilots flying over the area and incinerating birds. The Ivanpah solar plant could be shut down if state regulators don’t give it more time to meet electricity production promises it made as part of its power purchase agreements with utilities, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ivanpah, which got a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, only produced a fraction of the power state regulators expected it would....

California Gov. Jerry Brown joked on Monday that if Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump wins the 2016 election, the state would have to erect a wall — not on its border with Mexico, but its borders with other states. “If Trump were ever elected, we’d have to build a wall around California to defend ourselves from the rest of this country,” he said at a dinner held in Sacramento by the California Labor Federation and State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, according to the Sacramento Bee. “By the way that is a joke,” he added. “We don’t like...

An underground natural gas pipeline rupture that caused the largest methane leak ever in California has been permanently capped, paving the way for thousands of displaced Los Angeles residents to return home, state regulators said on Thursday. The leak, which began in October, was confirmed by a series of independent laboratory tests to have been successfully sealed as of Wednesday night, officials said. The leak originated from a broken injection-well pipe deep beneath the surface of the 3,600-acre (1,457-hectare) Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field, owned by Southern California Gas Co. State officials said the uncontrolled release of 80,000 tonnes...

Should find out today if the California Secretary of State is going to place my name on the presidential primary ballot of the American Independent Party which will be conducted on June 7th. We'll also find out if they also placed Donald Trump's name there as well. He'll likely be on the Republican ballot line in their closed primary, but the AIP offered his name up as well for their non-binding open primary, in which Independents will be able to vote. California law allows candidates to appear on multiple party ballot lines. Once again, though, the actual nominee of the...

California's Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom is no stranger to controversy. He famously gave out gay marriage licenses during his time as Mayor of San Francisco, even as it flouted state law. His time as Mayor was met with serious economic troubles and increasing numbers of middle class residents leaving the city. However, Newsom used that position to become California's Lt. Governor under Jerry Brown. Now after links to disgraced State Senator Leland Yee-- who was found involved in a gun running organization, and recently convicted Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, Newsom is under increased public scrutiny.

Why the near media-silence over the absurdly long-delayed trial of alleged serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr.? Franklin would seem to represent ideal grist for the voracious 24/7 national media. There is, of course, murder. He is charged with killing 10 and suspected of killing more. The crimes took place in a big, media-centric city, Los Angeles, as opposed to some obscure small town or rural community in a fly-over state ignored by national media. There is an unsolved mystery that took place over a long time. Franklin was a former city trash collector who lived quietly in South Central Los...

Saudi Arabia is mulling the sale of shares in Aramco, believed to be the world's most valuable company, as part of plans to repair its finances and open up its economy. The announcement was made by the country's deputy crown prince as Saudi's secretive, state-owned oil firm grapples with the effects of oil prices nearing 12-year lows . Mohammed bin Salman told The Economist: "That is something that is being reviewed, and we believe a decision will be made over the next few months." The Saudi economy has taken a battering from the oil price decline and the finance ministry...

On Monday, California State Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) introduced two pieces of legislation to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the State of Israel. Allen’s Assembly Bills 1551 and 1552 aim to ensure that the Golden State does not contract with businesses that engage in boycotts based on race, color, religion, gender, and/or nationality. “I think the message is clear [and] that there’s real pushback against this fringe movement by a handful of extremists that are trying to demonize and discriminate against Israel,” Allen told Breitbart News on Wednesday.

After the British victory at the Battle of the Second El Alamein in November of 1942, Winston Churchill spoke to the British people. Churchill eloquently stated, “Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Perhaps, the same can be said of the opening salvos of the 2016 Presidential Election. We have watched numerous debates on both sides, filled with candidates grandiose and not very grandiose. Gradually, the field is being thinned and on February 1, 2016, the games truly begin at the Iowa Caucuses....

Family members who believe a loved one poses a danger to themselves or others will be able to ask police to seek a temporary "gun violence" restraining order from a judge beginning Jan. 1. The order would allow police to seize the person's guns for 21 days. State lawmakers approved the legislation (AB1014) and Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law after a 2014 mass shooting in Isla Vista, near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in which six people were killed and 14 injured. Before the shootings, sheriff's deputies had visited the shooter, Elliot Rodger, after his parents raised...

California governor criticizes ‘wide open’ Nevada, Arizona. LE BOURGET, France — Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday that “wide open” gun laws in Nevada and Arizona are a “gigantic back door through which any terrorist can walk,” while he was noncommittal on efforts to strengthen gun control measures in California. Brown, arriving in France for climate talks after the mass shooting in San Bernardino last week, called the shooting a terrorist attack. The guns used were purchased legally in California before being modified, authorities have said. Asked if stricter gun control laws were warranted, as some activists have argued, the fourth-term...

California Gov. Jerry Brown took a swipe Saturday at the gun laws of neighboring states, saying looser restrictions in Arizona and Nevada created a "gigantic back door" for terrorists to enter California. "California has some of the toughest gun control laws of any state. And Nevada and Arizona are wide open, so that's a gigantic back door through which any terrorist can walk," Mr. Brown told the Sacramento Bee. He made his comments in Le Bourget, France, where he recently arrived for international climate talks, several days after two shooters killed 14 people and injured 21 in San Bernardino in...

California's aggressive push to increase renewable energy production comes with a catch for people with solar panels on the roof: You don't count. If a home or business has a rooftop solar system, most of the wattage isn't included in the ambitious requirement to generate half of the state's electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030, part of legislation signed in October by Gov. Jerry Brown. That means rooftop solar owners are missing out on a potentially lucrative subsidy that is paid to utilities and developers of big power projects. It also means that utility ratepayers...

Six years ago, the company that owns California's last operating nuclear power plant announced it would seek an extended lifespan for its aging reactors. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. envisioned Diablo Canyon as a linchpin in the state's green energy future, with its low-carbon electricity illuminating homes to nearly midcentury. Now, with a much changed nuclear power landscape, the company is evaluating whether to meet a tangle of potentially costly state environmental requirements needed to obtain renewed operating licenses. If it doesn't move forward, California's nuclear power age will end. That prospect is remarkable considering it was once predicted that...

A whistleblower has emerged in the controversy of Governor Jerry Brown’s use of state oil experts to study his own family’s private land. Jennie Catalano, a mapping specialist for the California Department of Conservation, says she faced retaliation after complaining about being required to do personal work for Brown. It is illegal for politicians to use state resources for personal benefit. Brown says he used the same resources available to any Californian. The Associated Press confirmed the whistleblower complaint, which is separate from the original legal action by Kern County farmers alleging that Brown colluded with oil companies over the...

California governor Jerry Brown used state experts to prepare a 51-page report on the prospects for oil development on his family's private land in Northern California, according to an Associated Press investigation released early Thursday morning. "Senior staffers in the state's oil and gas regulatory agency over at least two days produced a 51-page historical report and geological assessment, plus a personalized satellite-imaged geological and oil and gas drilling map for the area around Brown's family ranchland near the town of Williams," the AP reported. Brown's office declined to comment, referring the AP instead to the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, which...

In Tuesday’s elections, voters rejected recreational marijuana, transgender rights, and illegal-immigrant sanctuaries; they reacted equivocally to gun-control arguments; and they handed a surprise victory to a Republican gubernatorial candidate who emphasized his opposition to gay marriage. Democrats have become increasingly assertive in taking liberal social positions in recent years, believing that they enjoy majority support and even seeking to turn abortion and gay rights into electoral wedges against Republicans. But Tuesday’s results—and the broader trend of recent elections that have been generally disastrous for Democrats not named Barack Obama—call that view into question. Indeed, they suggest that the left has...