Free Republic

The Supreme Court just issued a unanimous ruling, and the case behind it has everything: Twitter, Saudi dissidents, federal prosecutors, and a fake invoice. The decision came down June 11, 2026, in Abouammo v. United States, No. 25-5146. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a 9-0 Court, reversing the Ninth Circuit and sending the case back. Legal reporter Katie Buehler summed up the ruling this way: The defendant is Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter employee accused of giving confidential information about Saudi dissidents to a high-level Saudi official. According to the Court, the Saudi official wired Abouammo $300,000. Later, after Abouammo...

A massive fire at a Tracy warehouse complex was burning out of control Thursday afternoon and sending a huge plume of black smoke into the air. The fire broke out at a little before 1 p.m. at the Medline Distribution Center, a medical supply warehouse in the 5700 block of Promontory Parkway just south of Interstate Highway 205 and west of the downtown area, according to Tracy Police Department spokesperson Kaylin Heefner. So far, no injuries have been reported, but the roughly 1 million square foot warehouse is fully engulfed in flames, according to the South San Joaquin County Fire...

The White House pulled federal funding from Los Angeles’ largest homeless agency after discovering a bombshell audit that showed millions of dollars in missing public funds, The California Post has learned. The Trump administration’s new task force on fraud announced Thursday it was halting any more cash going to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The office, led by Vice President JD Vance, said it was part of a wider crackdown on “fraud and corruption” that they have consistently leveled against California. It also comes amid a wider fight between the White House and the Golden State over the recent elections,...

EXCLUSIVE: A top Trump agency is cutting off funding to the Los Angeles agency responsible for coordinating billions in homelessness spending after accusing it of "obvious fraud," "wanton mismanagement" and repeated failures to safeguard taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is a member of the White House fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, is immediately suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's (LAHSA) federal funding while HUD’s inspector general investigates potential offenses by the agency and its leadership, according to a letter sent to LAHSA's board chair...

The Los Angeles mayoral race just got a little more interesting. It’s already been a wild ride, where wildfire victim Spencer Pratt seemed to be a shoo-in for the second spot the night the polls closed, only to see his lead slowly erode over the days as mail-in ballots continue to be counted in an excruciatingly slow fashion. Somehow, LA Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who tanked in the May debate and was a consistent third in the polls, is now seemingly destined to take the number two position and head to the November general election to face the failed incumbent, Karen...

Spencer Pratt has clapped back after Jimmy Kimmel roasted him for being beaten in the Los Angeles mayor’s race. During his monologue Tuesday night the TV host mocked claims the election was “rigged” and brought up the former reality TV star’s previous comments he would leave the city if he lost. “I know things might be tight right now, especially with the out-of-state donation money running out,” Kimmel said during his monologue. Moving is expensive, so to help you out we rented you a U-Haul. Our staff spent the whole day decorating for you, and everybody will notice you and...

A series of shocking videos show homeless residents on Los Angeles’ Skid Row claiming they were paid to vote for Mayor Karen Bass and councilwoman Nithya Raman. The California Post obtained copies of the videos after they were published Tuesday on the TikTok account LaneNeedsSpencerPratt. The footage, recorded near 7th Street and Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, has since been provided to the Department of Justice. It also follows The Post’s revelations that thousands of homeless voters were registered to shelters where they didn’t live. One shelter in Venice, where 185 Raman voters were registered, received...

Can the Morning Joe crew possibly be this oblivious to its hypocrisy? The panel spent Tuesday morning blasting Republicans for raising questions about suspicious vote counting in the Los Angeles mayoral primary — then immediately launched its own sweeping conspiracy theory about how Republicans plan to steal the 2026 midterms. Mika began spinning the anti-GOP conspiracy theory on the 2026 midterm elections: "I think the bigger picture is, there seems to be some sort of preparation going on here. That's just my analysis. But it doesn't feel good looking ahead to the midterms, the way these Republicans are behaving." Get...

For Spencer Pratt’s supporters, the last four days of the Los Angeles mayoral primary vote-counting and conclusion were like a gut punch delivered in slow motion. On election night, their candidate held a lead of roughly 40,000 votes over Democratic Socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, a margin that seemed to validate Pratt’s social media insurgency – and set up a November runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. By Sunday evening, six days later, that lead had evaporated entirely. Raman had pulled ahead by more than 3,100 votes, crushing Pratt’s long-shot dream of flipping Los Angeles City Hall red. “A net...

A father’s mission to save his teenage daughter from an alleged intruder who broke into their San Jacinto home prompted a gun battle Friday night that ended with the suspect dead. “His goal was to get his daughter out safely, regardless of what happened to him,” neighbor Robert Dorame said. “I’m shattered for them because they’re good people.” Police said they were called to a home on Herron Way around 10:23 p.m. on a report of assault with a deadly weapon. When they arrived, officers found the suspect had been shot dead at the scene. The family who lives at...

Polls indicate that President Donald Trump is doing a lot that most Americans don't support: The war with Iran; the arbitrary tariffs; the retribution campaign against his perceived enemies; the 250-foot Triumphal Arch; the $1.776 billion fund intended to reward Trump loyalists. (Even Republicans don't like that one!)

"When you embrace somebody for the job, you really want to embrace a winner" Ouch. Willie Brown made Kamala, gave her positions, introduced her to donors and moved her through the political system. It probably helped that Kamala, unlikely presumably Gavin Newsom, was his ‘side piece’. Now with Kamala polling behind AOC in a hypothetical Dem presidential primary, Willie just dumped her. Politically at any rate.

Karen Bass will escape being asked under oath about her actions leading up to The Palisades Fire at the trial of the man accused of starting the blaze which destroyed the beachfront enclave and killed 12. The trial against Uber driver Jonathan Rinderknecht started Monday with jury deliberations, where Judge Anne Hwang read out the witness list including dozens of names. But the embattled Los Angeles mayor, who it currently in a tight reelection fight, was not mentioned. Prosecutors claim Rinderknecht ignited the most expensive wildfire in US history, killing 12 people, torching thousands of homes and causing $150 billion...

Nithya Raman even LOST her own district (CD-4) to Spencer Pratt and Karan Bass, but you expect us to believe she beat them BOTH by winning 40% of the vote in the rest of the city by mail-in ballots?

* Nithya Raman is now in second place in the mayor’s race, with 27.1% of the votes counted so far compared to 26.7% for Spencer Pratt. * Mail-in ballots will continue to be accepted through Tuesday, but analysts say the trend favors Raman moving into a Nov. 3 runoff with incumbent Karen Bass. Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman surged past reality television personality Spencer Pratt in the city’s mayoral primary election Sunday, capping off a five-day turnaround after she fell behind Pratt on election night. Raman now sits in second place with Pratt in third, according to the latest...

Karen Bass and Nithya Raman are now the projected winners in the primary for the Los Angeles mayoral race and will likely face each other in November’s runoff as reality television star Spencer Pratt falls to third place. Decision Desk HQ called the race for Nithya Raman to secure the number two spot behind incumbent Karen Bass on Sunday, with roughly 87 percent of the votes in. Bass earned 34.68 percent while Raman won 27.12 percent. Spencer Pratt earned 26.69 percent of the vote and had been in the lead ahead of Nithya Raman since election night; his lead over...

A recent report exposes the concerning ways in which the Chinese Communist Party has leveraged the University of California system to shape California’s climate and energy policies — prioritizing China’s strategic interests while undermining American economic independence, energy stability, and national security. Titled “Behind the Climate Curtain: China’s Hidden Role in California’s Energy Mandates and University Partnerships,” this report by Ian Oxnevad, senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars (NAS), examines how California’s aggressive climate agenda, facilitated through partnerships between the University of California (UC) and China’s Tsinghua University, has benefited Beijing’s economic and military ambitions at the expense...

3:06 Half a century after Steven Spielberg challenged audiences to think about what lies beyond the starry canopy that defines our universe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the director is again challenging accepted precepts of faith and singular belief in a supreme being. His new film Disclosure Day sees him revisit the possibility of aliens: “I absolutely think that they have been here, and they are here,” he outlined in an interview with CBS News. First he outlined the themes behind the $115 million creation and the answers it (possibly) posed to questions of life, faith and mortality.

The child was in Sacramento County’s child protection system at the time of his death CPS allowed weekend visits in Linda with an older sister, who has pet pit bulls Investigators say the boy was killed when his sister left him alone with her dogs

A McDonald’s manager in Yuba City was rushed to the ICU with horrific burns after a co-worker allegedly threw scorching hot oil on him following their shift. Jacob Smith, 20, suffered third-degree burns to his face, neck, hands and shoulders and is receiving specialized treatment at UC Davis Medical Center. Police said the attack happened May 30 when Smith’s co-worker, 23-year-old Jalani Bluett, is accused of attacking him. Following the incident, Bluett was reported missing before authorities located him days later and took him into custody, according to CBS News. Smith’s mother, Amber Smith, said her son, a manager at...