Free Republic

The arrival in 2017 of a raft of new gun control laws in California won’t amount to much, except more hassles for gun dealers and the law-abiding few. Randy Pench rpench@sacbee.com Yes, “few.” When buying a handgun, rifle or shotgun, the vast majority of people naturally will follow the law. The cost of noncompliance is too high, and the inconvenience is too great. Unless your next-door neighbor happens to traffic in illegal weapons, odds are you will go to the gun store, fill out the paperwork, endure the waiting period and get on with your life. But many otherwise law-abiding...

The Los Angeles Times thinks California’s next attorney general must place the investigation into Exxon Mobil’s climate change research at the top of their “to do” list. Whoever becomes California’s next attorney general will have to address the probes and allegations that Exxon lied to the public and investors at the seriousness of man-made global warming, the LA Times editorial board wrote Friday.

A Black Lives Matter chapter publicly praised a Starbucks barista for spiting in an officer’s coffee at a local California coffee shop Wednesday night. The Facebook page “Stockton Police Department, Corruption Reporting Page” posted a photo of the officer and his family, reports Fox 40. “We are happy to report that today this officer from the Stockton Police Department got to have coffee at Starbucks … served with a side of spit,” the caption alleged.

It started out like any other Uber transaction. Keith Avila, a photographer who also drives for the ridesharing company, picked up two women and a girl at a home in Sacramento, California. As they got into the car, Avila noticed the girl looked young. *snip* “I was 100 percent sure I knew what was happening,” Avila tells PEOPLE. “It wasn’t 99.999 percent. It was 100 percent. And I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do it. I wondered if I should take pictures with my phone.”

Beginning on Jan. 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California. Yes, you read that right. SB 1322 bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution, or loitering with the intent to do so. So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution. This terribly destructive legislation was written and passed by the progressive Democrats who control California’s state government with a two-thirds “supermajority.”

U.S. News compiled data on car thefts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2014 – the most recent year for complete data from the bureau – to determine which of the 100 largest metro areas in the country had the highest rate of car theft. Albuquerque, New Mexico, takes the top spot for highest rate of car theft, with a total of 6,131 thefts in 2014 and 676.9 thefts per 100,000 people. The City of Albuquerque acknowledges its high rate of auto theft on its website, noting New Mexico’s shared border with Mexico gives car thieves added incentive because...

Last month, Competitive Edge, a San Diego communications firm, announced that it was moving 75 call center jobs to El Paso, Texas because of the costs of the minimum wage hike. In the Bay Area, San Francisco Eater reports that restaurants continue their year-end “death march” with dozens of closures, many of them at least partially a result of dramatic minimum wage increases. Book stores have been particularly hard hit, with local favorites like Black Oak Books (Berkeley) and Almost Perfect Bookstore (Roseville) closing because of cost increases. Earlier this year, Adam Ozimek, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, calculated that...

Beginning on Jan. 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California. Yes, you read that right. SB 1322 bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution, or loitering with the intent to do so. So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution. This terribly destructive legislation was written and passed by the progressive Democrats who control California's state government with a two-thirds "supermajority." To their credit, they are sincere in their...

A Mendocino County man and his mother have been fined $37,079 for the failure of a giant water bladder that ruptured, spilling up to 80,000 gallons and carrying sediment down a tributary to the Eel River in April 2013. The deluge of water tore out vegetation, dislodged boulders and scoured the seasonal stream bed before flowing into the Eel River, muddying its waters, according to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, which announced the penalty last week. “We don’t know whether any harm happened to fish,” said Stormer Feiler, an environmental scientist with the water board. But “the...

On the day that California officials implemented a controversial law that allows undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses, DMV offices throughout the state were packed with immigrants looking to take advantage of the opportunity. Two years after the implementation of AB 60 on Jan. 1, 2015, an estimated 806,000 undocumented residents have received driver’s licenses, according to Department of Motor Vehicles statistics this month. About 14,000 of these licenses were issued in November alone, the DMV said.

On the day that California officials implemented a controversial law that allows undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses, DMV offices throughout the state were packed with immigrants looking to take advantage of the opportunity. Two years after the implementation of AB 60 on Jan. 1, 2015, an estimated 806,000 undocumented residents have received driver’s licenses, according to Department of Motor Vehicles statistics this month. About 14,000 of these licenses were issued in November alone, the DMV said.

A California man is in the midst of a lengthy legal battle following a driving under the influence charge that was issued almost 18 months ago for operating a car while under the influence of caffeine, reports said. I'm sorry, did we miss something? When did it become illegal to drive after consuming some espresso? Joseph Schwab, 36, was pulled over on August 5, 2015, by a California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agent in an unmarked car who claimed the 36-year-old had cut her off and was driving erratically, The Guardian reported. The agent administered a breathalyzer test which...

San Francisco.. stands as a profound example of the damage ultra-liberal policies can do. After 20 years of envelope-pushing changes to grow government and ease law enforcement, the once-shining City by the Bay has turned into a place where: Property crime runs amok. An online map is needed to track human feces on city streets. Discarded syringes are common sightings. Public urination is so widespread it has damaged subway elevators and escalators, building walls and power poles ... San Francisco has the dubious honor of being at or near the top of numerous national surveys tracking homelessness, the cost of...

President-elect Donald J. Trump has packed his cabinet with nominees who dispute the science of global warming. He has signaled he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. He has belittled the notion of global warming and attacked policies intended to combat it. But California — a state that has for 50 years been a leader in environmental advocacy — is about to step unto the breach. In a show of defiance, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and legislative leaders said they would work directly with other nations and states to defend and strengthen what were already...

For the first time in its 85-year history, the California Public Employees Retirement System, CalPERS, is drastically cutting benefits for public retirees. Starting January 1st, four retired City of Loyalton public employees will have their pensions cut 60 percent. For 71-year-old Patsy Jardin, that means her pension will drop from about $49,000 a year to a little more than $19,000.

Bags in the Produce section -- it was overlooked when the phoney AstroTurf coalition between greedy California Grocers & hairbrained Enviros convinced the dope California electorate they would Save the Planet by charging everyone 10¢ for bags, or $4 for reusables. Just go over to the produce section to get enough bags to take home your stuff. But please keep all bags away from dopes.

Ed Reinecke, the California lieutenant governor who resigned after being convicted of perjury in a Watergate-era scandal, died Saturday in Laguna Hills. He was 92 and died of natural causes, said his son, Mark Reinecke... Reinecke was a protege of then-Gov. Ronald Reagan... The conviction was eventually overturned because of a technicality: the Senate Judiciary Committee had not officially published a rule permitting a one-man quorum, and the special Watergate prosecutor had not established that more than one senator attended the hearing... After Reinecke’s downfall, Reagan remained loyal to his former lieutenant, soliciting funds to help him pay his legal...

Complete Headline: After 24 years working together, Feinstein and Boxer say goodbye to their 'Thelma and Louise' partnership In 1992, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pitched themselves to California voters as the dynamic duo, as "Thelma and Louise," as "Cagney and Lacey." They were trying to convince voters to do something no state had ever done: Elect two women to represent them in the U.S. Senate. [Snip] Their different personalities - and governing styles - could have posed a problem. Instead, their contrasts, in many cases, became a strength. [Snip] "They are fire and ice," USC political scientist Dan Schnur...

Anaheim police Friday released new video of a suspected vehicle involved in a fiery street-racing crash that authorities say killed two 19-year-old men and inflicted life-threatening injuries on another victim, hoping it would generate new leads in the case.The new surveillance video shows a tow truck driver near the scene, so investigators are hoping to track down that driver as a witness only, said Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt. The video shows the other car suspected of taking part in the street racing to be a black Ford Mustang, not red as earlier reported.The Mustang’s driver fled the scene of...

Food scientists at Cornell University have produced a strain of broccoli that thrives in hot environments, which may make it possible for states with stiflingly hot summers to grow the vegetable. California, where cool coastal fog is perfect for growing standard broccoli, currently produces more than 90 percent of the broccoli grown in the United States. If California were to disappear, what would the American diet be like? Expensive and grainy. California produces a sizable majority of many American fruits, vegetables, and nuts: 99 percent of artichokes, 99 percent of walnuts, 97 percent of kiwis, 97 percent of plums, 95...