Free Republic

As the clock ticks on California’s billionaires facing a proposed wealth tax, some of America’s top business leaders are making strategic moves to leave the Golden State. Google co-founder Larry Page appears to be distancing himself from California, as public filings reviewed by Fox News Digital from the California Secretary of State’s office show several business entities linked to Page were moved out of the state in December, ahead of the Jan. 1, 2026, residency date tied to the proposed tax. Those filings indicate his family office, Koop LLC, and his influenza research fund, Flu Lab LLC, no longer list...

Larry Page, the Google co-founder and world’s second-richest person, has reportedly left California amid concerns about a wealth tax on billionaires. Mr Page has moved the registrations of several entities, including his family office and flying car business from California to Delaware, according to filings with the states. He has also personally moved out of the state ahead of a potential vote on a 5pc wealth tax, according to Business Insider, which first reported the move.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom showered praise on his Minnesota counterpart Tim Walz – and was promptly blasted for boosting his fellow Democrat in the wake of an alleged billion-dollar welfare scandal. Newsom spoke of Walz in glowing terms in a Monday social media post after the Minnesota pol dropped his gubernatorial reelection bid as welfare fraud accusations swirled. “Tim Walz is a man of character, strength, and compassion,” Newsom said on X. “Minnesota — and America — is better off thanks to his lifelong public service.” People were quick to react to Newsom’s post on social media, questioning his endorsement...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom claims he was “physically in the midst” of firefighting efforts during 2025’s Los Angeles wildfires — months after claiming his hair “literally burst” during the inferno. snip “And I was there just a few hours after the fire, and was there physically in the midst of the firefighting as I went up into the foothills and experienced firsthand what our first responders were dealing with.” The governor previously told podcaster Shawn Ryan he was so close to the fires after they ignited on Jan. 7, 2025 that his famous slicked-back mane “literally burst” after a smoldering...

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a fourth generation rice farmer and Republican who for the last 13 years represented much of California’s rural north in Congress, has died. He was 65. His sudden death, confirmed Tuesday morning by House Republican leadership, further shrinks the party’s already razor-thin majority, which now stands at 218 following Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation this week. The GOP can now only afford to lose two members on any given party-line vote. While President Donald Trump and House Republicans could consistently count on LaMalfa’s support for conservative priorities such as last year’s mega domestic policy bill, he...

California Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa died suddenly at the age of 65, GOP leadership confirmed Tuesday. LaMalfa (R-Calif.), who had represented the Golden State’s 1st Congressional District since 2013, had chaired the Congressional Western Caucus. His cause of death is not immediately clear. “Jacquie and I are devastated about the sudden loss of our friend, Congressman Doug LaMalfa,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said in a statement. “Doug was a loving father and husband, and staunch advocate for his constituents and rural America. Our prayers are with Doug’s wife, Jill, and their children. LaMalfa’s passing now brings the GOP’s...

She is a star of American science. A Stanford chair. A NASA collaborator. A role model for a generation of young researchers. But a chilling congressional investigation has found that celebrated geologist Wendy Mao quietly helped advance China's nuclear and hypersonic weapons programs – while working inside the heart of America's taxpayer funded research system. Mao, 49, is one of the most influential figures in materials science. She serves as Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious science posts in the country. Her pioneering work on how diamonds behave under...

Do parents have a right not to be lied to by a government school if their child starts undertaking a gender transition? That’s now a live legal dispute, and over the holidays a federal judge took the side of parents in a case from California. His ruling was stayed for now by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but one of these cases could make it to the Supreme Court. The California policies “are designed to create a zone of secrecy around a school student who expresses gender incongruity,” as Judge Roger Benitez writes. Children as young as two years...

San Francisco is ringing in the New Year by pushing for reparations for the city's black residents, to the tune of $5 million per person.How will they pay for it? Well, the ordinance creates a fund of both private and public monies to cover the payments. Mayor Daniel Lurie signed the ordinance into law on December 23. The bill was unanimously passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in early December.Supervisor Shamann Walton, who authored the bill, said the ordinance will "provide restitution, compensation, and rehabilitation to individuals who are black and/or descendents of a chattel enslaved person and...

Protests erupted across the United States on Saturday following President Donald Trump’s military attack on Venezuela late Friday. Demonstrations were held throughout the Monterey Bay region, including in Santa Cruz, Salinas and Monterey. Organized by Indivisible Pajaro Valley, protesters waved signs reading “No Blood for Oil,” “No New Wars,” and “Enough Is Enough.” The two-hour protest drew cheers and honking horns from passing motorists. Following airstrikes on civilian and government sites in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, U.S. troops detained President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and transported them to the United States to face criminal charges, according to international...

Two weeks still remain to participate in the annual Santa Cruz Gives fundraising event, which runs until Dec. 31. Below, Good Times writer Kristen McLaughlin talks to some of the people behind Planned Pethood, one of the 72 nonprofit initiatives seeking support from Good Times readers. Also below, other nonprofits share their “elevator pitch,” explaining what they plan to do with the money they raise. To donate to any of these groups, visit [Redacted]Puppies and kittens are cute and cuddly, but unplanned litters can result in animals living in miserable conditions, as either strays or denizens of municipal shelters,...

A mother is speaking out after an illegal alien DUI suspect allegedly killed her 8-year-old daughter in a Thanksgiving weekend crash that also critically injured her U.S. Marine husband, Oscar, who had his leg amputated and remains in a fight for his life more than a month later. Jackie Cruz Acencio, who is grieving the loss of her 8-year-old daughter, Arya Cruz Acencio, says the suspected illegal immigrant driver should not have been in the country in the first place. "I care very deeply for these people that want to have a better life. I really do, but I have...

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that California's ban on openly carrying guns in most parts of the state is unconstitutional. A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling ‍that the state's prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people violated the ‍Constitution's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. About 95% of California residents live ⁠in counties of that size. The state has had some of the nation's strictest gun control laws. U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke said the Democrat-led state's law could...

Due to a software error, over 300,000 Californians will need to replace their REAL IDs, the California Department of Motor Vehicles said this week. According to the department, a review of its data systems identified that some legal immigrants were issued REAL IDs that do not expire at the same time as their authorization to remain in the country. About 325,000 individuals will be notified in the coming weeks and months about the actions they need to take to obtain a REAL ID or a non-REAL ID driver’s license, if eligible. The department will expedite the process and waive any...

A federal appeals court on Friday struck down California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state, ruling the restriction violates the Second Amendment. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with gun owner Mark Baird, finding that the state’s prohibition on open carry in counties with more than 200,000 residents is unconstitutional. About 95% of Californians live in those counties, which have been subject to some of the nation’s strictest gun-control laws. Why It Matters The ruling partially reverses a lower court’s 2023 decision that upheld...

The California Department of Motor Vehicles said this week that it is delaying the cancellation of thousands of migrant truck driver licenses. The announcement means approximately 17,000 migrant truck drivers won’t have their commercial licenses revoked on Jan. 5. Instead, they can remain on the roads and will have another two months to re-test and re-apply. The decision comes amid pressure from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which announced in November 2025 that it would compel California to revoke thousands of what it calls “illegally issued” non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses. A nationwide audit revealed “systemic policy, procedural, and programming errors...

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles revealed that about 325,000 people will be required to obtain a new REAL ID driver’s license due to a software issue dating back more than 20 years. The REAL ID, a federally accepted driver’s license, was officially implemented nationwide in May 2025 after Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005. With travelers now required to show either a REAL ID or a passport when flying, the DMV released a statement Wednesday saying an estimated 325,000 people will receive notices instructing them to correct their licenses. “We proactively reviewed our records, identified a legacy system...

The city of Santa Monica is asking a judge to declare the two Waymo charging stations public nuisances and order that overnight operations be curtailed due to the effects of noise and lighting on nearby residents. The city's court papers, filed Dec. 24, say those who live near the stations have used such terms as "mini-Las Vegas," "living next door to a spaceship," "a circus" and "a city that never sleeps" to describe their plight. Residents also say they hear workers' whole conversations in normal speaking voices in the middle of the night, along with all the other sounds the...

Newly uncovered photos and online accounts purportedly associated with the Wisconsin teen school shooter suggest a deeply disturbing obsession with other school shooters such as Columbine killer Eric Harris — and even show her wearing a t-shirt of his favorite band. A now-eerie snapshot of Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, 15, was posted on her father’s Facebook page and shows her aiming a rifle at a shooting range wearing a shirt from the German industrial rock band KMFDM. Harris was seen in photos also wearing one of the band’s T-shirts before he and Dylan Klebold went on to murder 13 people in...

President Donald Trump claimed that California and Minnesota are both rife with fraud, slamming the two states and their respective governors as "Crooked." "There is more FRAUD in California than there is in Minnesota, if that is even possible. When you add in Election Fraud, then they are tied for first. Two Crooked Governors, two Crooked States!" the president asserted in the post on Wednesday, referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Trump also slammed Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. "Much of the Minnesota Fraud, up to 90%, is caused...