Free Republic

California’s excise gas tax will increase 1.6 cents per gallon on July 1 as the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom attempts to correct “disingenuous claims” about gas price spikes in the state. The excise tax rate per gallon will be 61.2 cents, an increase from its previous rate of 59.6 cents since last July. These rates are based on the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, which measures inflation. Excise taxes are commonly passed on to consumers in the price of the product, according to Reuters. As the...

A California Highway Patrol officer was killed after losing consciousness and then crashing his cruiser in Culver City Wednesday morning, authorities said. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. as the officer and his partner were transporting a detainee near Green Valley Circle and Bristol Parkway. ... CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee said Cano had been driving the CHP vehicle when he appeared to have lost consciousness and crashed. The investigation into the incident was ongoing, but Duryee said the severity of the crash was not what would be expected for a fatal incident. “We do not think the crash was consistent...

Explanation: Does the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks? No. Capturing this stunning alignment took careful planning: being in the right place at the right time. In the featured image taken in June 2024 from Otago, New Zealand, the bright central core of our Milky Way Galaxy, home to the many of our Galaxy's 400 billion stars, can be seen between two picturesque rocks spires. For observers in Earth's Northern Hemisphere, the core is only visible throughout the summer. As Earth orbits the Sun, different parts of the Milky Way become visible at different angles at different times...

The idea sounds prudent enough: limit the amount the federal government can borrow and you limit its ability to overspend. But this, like many Washington contraptions, is a mirage. The debt ceiling, as it currently functions, is not a tool of restraint. It is a lever of dysfunction, a mechanism that paradoxically leads to more spending, higher deficits, and greater economic instability. It is a relic that should be scrapped entirely. This might surprise even some conservatives. Elon Musk, no stranger to fiscal rigor, recently argued against raising the debt ceiling in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. His instinct is...

The U.S. Secretary of Energy and other elected officials are preparing to travel to Wyoming for the opening of the first new coal mine in the state in more than five decades. The ribbon cutting for the Brook Mine Carbon Ore Rare Earth project will be on July 11. National and state leaders are expected to speak at the event in Ranchester. "It will be the first new rare earth mine in the United States in more than 70 years and the first new coal mine in Wyoming in over 50 years," Ramaco Resources, Inc. said in a press release....

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump and his team are racing to get the “One Big Beautiful Bill” on the president’s desk, pushing a message of economic growth in these final days. “Nobody wants to talk about GROWTH, which will be the primary reason that the Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed,” the president said in a Wednesday morning Truth Social post. “THIS GROWTH has already begun at levels never seen before. Trillions of Dollars are now being invested into the USA, more than ever before.” “Likewise,” he added, “hundreds of Billions of Dollars...

Ian takes a 1970 Chevrolet Caprice for a test drive on narrow UK roads.

Yulia Zhdanova, head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, said that the negotiations should aim to find ways to reconcile these positionsMOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The settlement memorandums that Russia and Ukraine exchanged are absolute opposites of each other, said Yulia Zhdanova, head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control. "During a speech to the press on June 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that our country is fundamentally ready for a third round of talks with Kiev. We assume that its agenda will include...

George W Bush has issued a rare critique of Donald Trump over his shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The former president joined Barack Obama and U2 singer Bono in an emotional video call farewell with staff at the agency on Monday when it officially ceased operations. After six decades, the humanitarian organisation created by former president John F Kennedy to promote US national security by boosting prosperity and goodwill abroad, is being absorbed into the State Department under the supervision of Marco Rubio. Speaking to thousands of agency staff on the video conference, Mr Bush...

[Catholic Caucus] British MP says bishop opposes priest’s decision to deny him Communion over assisted suicide voteChris Coghlan claims Bishop Richard Moth disavowed Fr. Ian Vane's decision to bar him from Holy Communion after he voted for the 'Terminally Ill Adults' Bill to legalize assisted suicide.A British MP who was denied Holy Communion for voting to legalize assisted suicide says his bishop does not support the decision, and has suggested the priest acted without his backing.Liberal Democrat Chris Coghlan, who represents Dorking and Horley, told The Pillar that Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton informed him “it is not...

A "lessons learned" review by John Ratliffe's CIA finds multiple problems with the U.S. intelligence community's assessment on the 2016 election, including related to the inclusion of the discredited Steele Dossier and the conclusions on Putin's motives. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has released a scathing review of the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of Russian influence in the 2016 election, criticizing then-CIA Director John Brennan for joining the FBI in pushing to include British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s baseless anti-Trump dossier.In the review, released Tuesday, Ratcliffe also critiqued the CIA and FBI's “high confidence” assessment that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had “aspired”...

President Donald Trump told reporters before leaving the White House Tuesday for his visit to the new ICE detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials, that if immigrants housed there find themselves near an aggressive gator, they should run away in a zigzag pattern.

It’s been fun watching the dying news media in recent days swoon over New York Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani as if he’s a revolutionary who just broke political party dogma. The reality is that he’s yet another version of the same type of Democrat the media have been fawning over since as far back as Barack Obama — a leftist minority who happens to be attractive.For about the 50 billionth time, a New York Times story this week referred to Mamdani’s “surprise success” in defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the party nomination, and said Mamdani “added...

Sometimes I wonder if anyone with an IQ above room temperature has been guiding the leadership of the Democrat party. Case in point: Last night’s vote on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill (BBB), a massive tax and spend bill that includes a number of important tax cuts that will benefit blue collar workers – including those who depend on tips – as well as seniors living on limited and fixed means. While the bill passed thanks to the almost monolithic support by the thin Republican majority, the Democrats unanimously opposed it – in essence, turning their backs on their most important...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholics kneel to receive Communion on tongue at Mass with Charlotte bishop, other bishops presentCatholics at a bishops' conference Mass said their intent was to 'show a reverent resistance' to the anti-traditional agenda of Bishop Michael Martin.CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (LifeSiteNews) — Traditional Catholics showed up en masse to kneel to receive Holy Communion on the tongue at a Mass with Bishop Michael Martin, OFM, of the Diocese of Charlotte and about a dozen other bishops present.At a concelebrated Tuesday Mass for the Atlanta Province Bishops Conference held at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Charlotte, North Carolina, almost...

Though former Governor Andrew Cuomo entered the Democrat primary for Mayor of New York City as the favorite, the less well known State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani came out on top. His campaign promises included globalizing the intifada, budgeting $65 million for transgender medical care, replacing police with social workers to combat crime, and funding government grocery stores so free food can be provided to fight hunger. Sen Kirsten Gillibrand asserted that "New York City is home to the largest Jewish population in the country. If a democratic socialist is serious about governing here he must openly denounce globalizing the intifada...

Discharging untested patients from hospitals to care homes during the Covid crisis was the “least worst decision”, the former health secretary Matt Hancock has told a public inquiry. In his testimony to the UK Covid-19 inquiry on Wednesday, Hancock defended the decision – which was later ruled illegal in a high court judgment – to move hospital patients into care homes during the early weeks of the pandemic to free up space. “Nobody has yet provided me with an alternative that was available at the time that would have saved more lives,” he said. “I still can’t see a decision...

The Next Generation Accreditation pilot program aims to offer faster, more affordable, and more flexible routes for emerging schools.As a mother of nine in Tennessee, Sarah Fagerburg tried a variety of different schooling types, from public schools to homeschooling, but she always felt there had to be something better. In the spring of 2023, she discovered Acton Academy from listening to a podcast, and knew that this was the educational model she had been seeking.“My mind was blown,” said Fagerburg. “I had no idea education could be this good.”She applied to open her own Acton Academy, and was accepted into...

On Morning Joe, NBC reporter Julia Ainsley fretted that there could be "injuries" to detainees at Alligator Alcatraz. She did so in the context of noting that the facility is "soft-sided" rather than "bricks and mortar." Her implication seemed to be that, as a result, it will be easier for detainees to escape. Pro tip for detainees not wanting to become lunch for a hungry alligator or python: don't add to your crimes by escaping. Ainsley also claimed that with Alligator Alcatraz, the Trump administration is "deviating" from the notion that ICE detention is not meant to be punitive. Katty...

LOS ANGELES — Sean "Diddy" Coombs celebrated his acquittal on sex trafficking and racketeering charges this morning by hosting a massive "freak-off." Coombs reportedly stated he really needed to let loose after months of testimony about the violence and prostitution involved in his notorious parties. "The jury is all invited," said a smiling Coombs as he exited the courthouse. "I doused the foreman with baby oil on the way out, just a little pre-game celebration. Man, that was a rough few months! Time to get back to business." Although Coombs beat three of the charges, the jury did find him...