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A producer of California strawberries announced last week the sudden planned closure of facilities in a move that may portend more bad news to come for embattled Central California farmers. SoCal Berry Growers, a supplier for berry giant Driscoll’s, sent a letter to Oxnard city councilmember Bert Perello Saturday notifying him and the rest of the city council that the company “will permanently discontinue its operations” at six locations in Ventura County. [...] The study specifically calls out California policy as one example of these costs going out of control: “Water quadrupled. Labor nearly doubled.” Irrigation water, which cost $22.10...

Democrat Xavier Becerra won the California governor’s race Tuesday, though his Republican opponent, British-born former Fox News host Steve Hilton, is leading in 23 of the state’s 58 counties in preliminary returns on Thursday morning... [...] California hasn’t had a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011. Becerra built wide leads in Los Angeles County and across the Bay Area, while Hilton found some of his strongest support, by proportion, in rural Northern California, including Lassen and Modoc counties.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vice President J.D. Vance admitted Wednesday on X, explaining the Republicans’ disastrous midterm election loss the day before. He listed the top four things the GOP could do, according to a pollster with whom he spoke, to win back voters who had defected to the Democrats. These were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) replied to Vance’s post, “Thanks for acknowledging these things. Better late than never.” Massie included an image of a red, MAGA-style...

At 22:45 on 5 December 2015, the River Lune - which flows directly through Lancaster - had flooded, and the electricity supply to 61,500 people in the city went. Households lost light and heat, some water supplies also began to fail because they relied on electric pumps. The railway station closed. So too petrol stations and shops. Most cash machines didn't work. Traffic lights failed. The two communication systems that survived were copper wire landline telephones and FM radio. ... If a Black Sky event takes out electricity, water, shops and communications, there is a good reason the government wants...

President Donald Trump’s naming of deportation architect as his chief of staff unleashed anger, fear and astonishment among leaders of industries that depend on immigrant labor. Industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor decried President Donald Trump’s promotion of his chief architect of deportations on Friday, just days after millions of Americans signaled anger about such policies. The elevation of Stephen Miller to chief of staff, starting Monday, left some leaders of groups representing the agriculture and construction sectors gobsmacked. “When I got a text message, ‘Hey, have you heard about Stephen Miller?,’ my first thought was: Thank goodness he...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” Luke 16:9–10Today’s Gospel begins with a perplexing command: “Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” At first glance, Jesus seems to present a contradiction. How can...

Here's chance for us to entertain ourselves and use our imaginations to reflect on the election

Americans have now delivered on what they’ve been telling pollsters all year: They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. In a stunning rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, voters have entrusted Democrats with both the House and the Senate, flipping their control simultaneously for only the fourth time in a midterm election since World War II. The reverses for the GOP include defeats in usually deep-red states such as Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas. Trump is already distancing himself from the results—after encouraging voters to pretend he was on the ballot....

Pure evil: Podcasters Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan erupted in laughter after reading a post "We're digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again." They laughed for 20 seconds before saying, "No comment." These people will celebrate your death and still believe they are the good guys.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) announced Thursday that he is running for House Republican Conference chair, arguing that the party’s election losses stemmed from broken promises and leadership’s unwillingness to pursue conservative policies. “Republicans didn’t lose because we were too conservative. We lost because we failed to deliver on the conservative policies we promised,” Steube wrote in his announcement. “I’m not interested in preserving the status quo. I’m stepping forward to give Members a conservative choice and take our Conference in a new direction.” Steube joins a contest that includes incumbent Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN),...

“What the **** are you doing?”Fan gets ejected for passing the ball at the referee pic.twitter.com/ATh5iq1vCf— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) November 5, 2026

Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above. In 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran is enriching uranium to 60 percent purity, a level that is a short technical step from the 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon. Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce uranium at such a high enrichment level. Experts estimate this quantity, if enriched further,...

With Democrats soon to control Congress, the loyal consigliere is expected to take a maximalist approach to executive power WASHINGTON—After a brutal election that gutted Republican power in Washington, President Trump has chosen one of his most loyal and divisive advisers as the new White House chief of staff, signaling a combative posture for the final two years of the Trump era.Stephen Miller, a fierce political operative who has been at Trump’s side for more than a decade, has been a vocal advocate of the no-holds-barred style of governing that delighted the president’s most die-hard MAGA supporters—and was repudiated by...

Call it a tale of two states. Both Republican-run. Both prosperous. Both heavily populated states that influence the rest of the nation. Yet in the blue tsunami, the results in Texas and Florida were very different. “In January … of the 10 largest states in this union, only one state will have Republican control of their state, the state of Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday. “Last night we witnessed—to call it a wave, I don’t think would be fully accurate—it’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States. Blue states, red states, everything...

Two skydivers plunged to their deaths after colliding midair in a horrifying Southern California accident Friday. The pair were rushed to a hospital after the reported midair collision in Lake Elsinore but neither survived, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to the California Post. Deputies responded to the 20000 block of Cereal Street at 11:47 a.m. after receiving a report of an air emergency. “Upon arrival, deputies located two skydivers on the ground receiving medical aid,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Deirdre Vickers. “Both subjects were transported to a local hospital in critical condition, where they were later pronounced deceased.” SNIP Both...

Democratic Socialist Nithya Raman was spotted for the first time since winning the race for Los Angeles mayor, making her the first mayoral challenger to defeat an incumbent since 2005. Raman made her way from her home to a combined yoga studio and workspace in downtown LA. “Los Angeles, I’m deeply honored to be your next mayor,” Raman said in a video statement. “Thank you to the thousands of people who knocked on doors, sent texts, made phone calls, convinced their neighbors to believe in the promise of this big, beautiful, joyful city that we get to call home.

Abdul El-Sayed, who recently won the Democratic primary for the US Senate in Michigan, has launched a political action committee named Habibi PAC, marking an early move to expand his political influence and back other candidates within the party. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings cited by The Hill, El-Sayed established the leadership PAC shortly after securing his victory on Tuesday. Such committees operate separately from election campaign funds and allow politicians to raise money for supporting fellow candidates and political allies rather than financing their own campaigns. The choice of name reflects a phrase that became a recurring...

In every election, there are winners and losers … except in the 2026 LA mayoral election: Everybody lost. Clearly, Nithya Raman didn’t win the election, so much as Karen Bass lost it. And with the inept, stuttering and incompetent Nithya Raman ascending to the top spot at City Hall, we all lose. I had dubbed this the “Dumb and Dumber” election because, ever since I was knocked out of the race, we were essentially left with two sides of the same coin. We’ve lurched from an old-school incompetent communist activist to a new-school incompetent socialist carpetbagger; it’s a distinction without...