Free Republic

On Los Angeles streets, tents aren’t just signs of homelessness — they’re where gangs openly deal drugs and collecting rent. Whether its RV rows choking Compton Boulevard, Skid Row’s packed tent maze or the once-quiet pockets of the Westside, encampments have morphed into open-air drug markets. This isn’t chaos — it’s control. Gangs blend into the population, hiding in plain sight, running street commerce behind tarps and inside RVs while City Hall looks the other way. Nowhere is it clearer than Compton Boulevard, where more than 100 RVs sit bumper-to-bumper, windows blacked out. Outreach workers and residents say many are...

More than 20,000 immigrant truck drivers will be able to keep their licenses in California, at least temporarily, despite efforts by the Trump administration and the state of California to revoke them, according to a tentative ruling Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court. The decision puts the state of California in a bind. The U.S. Department of Transportation already has repeatedly pushed the California Department of Motor Vehicles to rescind these licenses, which belong to many asylum seekers and other immigrants with temporary legal status, after the federal government found alleged clerical issues regarding the expiration dates on their licenses....

...Leading the grim ranking is Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County, which recorded 80 fatal crashes over three years, more than any other highway in the nation. Stretching from San Diego to the Nevada border, I-15 serves as a critical connection between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, carrying a relentless stream of tourists, commuters, and freight trucks.

A Sacramento man once described by a judge as "the monster parents fear the most" seemed destined to spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999. Instead, he is now set to go free after being granted elderly parole — much to the anger and horror of some of his victims, as well as the prosecutor who oversaw his case. "He shouldn't be breathing the same air that we're breathing at all," one victim, who was kidnapped and assaulted when she was just 4 years old,...

Fire victims in Pacific Palisades say they are frustrated and confused after receiving brush clearance bills from the City of Los Angeles for properties where their homes once stood. What we know: Nearly 14 months after last year’s deadly fire destroyed thousands of homes across the community, some residents say they were mailed $31 notices citing alleged noncompliance with brush clearance rules — even though their lots remain empty and covered mostly in dirt. "This is one final blow. After everything that happened, they’re still trying to take money," said resident Christine Martinez, whose home was destroyed in the fire....

California Democrats are panicking as a crowded and uninspiring field of gubernatorial candidates is raising the real possibility two Republicans to advance out of the June primary. The prospect of the “zombie campaigns” leading to a Republican governor for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011 has created a “sh—show,” one Democratic state legislator told The Post. “I’ve never seen a big race like this before,” the legislator said. “And I am worried that we’re going to have two really whacko Republicans.” As hundreds gathered this weekend for the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, another...

By now, the case of Riddhi Patel, the left wing activist who threatened to murder members of the Bakersfield City Council, has become more than just another local criminal proceeding. What once looked like a high-profile public safety and political extremism case evolved into a de facto legal determination that radical left political behavior is a matter of mental health rather than ideological disagreement.

A “vermin infestation” has forced a well-known steakhouse in Marina Del Rey to shut its doors. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse — a spot that charges diners more than $70 dollars for a filet and $20 bucks for cocktail was shut down on Feb. 17, according to the Los Angeles County Public Health Department. During the inspection of the upscale establishment, the health inspectors found several violations. Two of the five violations were categorized as “Major.” The two major violations were for “no insects, rodents, birds or animals present” and “food contact surfaces: clean and sanitized.” The other violations included equipment storage...

Newsom knows if the true scale of CA fraud comes to light, his presidential campaign is over’ California Governor Newsom, our own International Man of Mystery has been focused on anything but California as he gallivants around the world – first to Davos, then Germany last week where he threatened “climate deniers.” Today he is in London signing a climate agreement with the UK. I’m sure Californians are relieved that Gov. Newsom is single handedly saving us from climate change. While he gallivants, California’s climate is normal, but the state of the state is a hot mess. Another $370 million...

Colorado Democrats have officially introduced a bill to fully decriminalize prostitution. If passed, Senate Bill 26-097 would make Colorado the first state in the entire country to completely remove criminal penalties for buying and selling sex between consenting adults. If enacted, the legislation would repeal the state criminal offenses of: - Prostitution - Soliciting for prostitution - Patronizing a prostitute - Keeping a place of prostitution - Pandering related to arranging prostitution

An Arizona judge on Friday struck down three of the state's pro-life laws, claiming that they violate the state constitution. Arizona voters approved an amendment enshrining a "right" to abortion in the state's constitution in 2024, and since then, pro-abortion organizations and lawmakers have worked diligently to overturn the state's pro-life protections. Key Takeaways: * Judge Gregory Como overturned state laws prohibiting the use of telemedicine for abortion pill distribution, a 24-hour waiting period with a mandatory ultrasound, and a ban on discriminatory abortions. * Como cited Prop 139, the state's pro-abortion constitutional amendment, as his reason for overturning the...

It's not hard to understand why people live in California, nor why it boomed in the decades after World War II. There are few places more blessed by God than California, even with its mudslides, wildfires, and earthquakes, which deterred not a single person from moving there. It is, in most ways, a paradise. If there was anyplace that could be said to embody the American Dream, or at least the postwar American Dream in which anybody could aspire to be middle class, it was California. New York City may be where people went to strike it big, but California...

The battle over a new tax on California’s billionaires is set to heat up in the coming months as citizens spar over whether the state should squeeze its ultra-rich to better serve its ordinary residents. The proposed billionaire tax that triggered the tempest is still far from being approved by voters or even making the ballot, but the idea has already sparked backlash from vocal tech moguls — some of whom have already shifted their bases outside the state. Under the Billionaire Tax Act, Californians worth more than $1 billion would pay a one-time 5% tax on their total wealth....

California Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged that the state’s proposed wealth tax is bad economics. Newsom said he feels vindicated in opposing the proposed wealth tax after reports showed some of California’s wealthiest residents moving money and businesses out of the state, warning the measure would damage the economy and drive away investment. “This is my fear,” Newsom said in a Politico interview on Monday. “It’s just what I warned against. It’s happening.” “The evidence is in. The impacts are very real — not just substantive economic impacts in terms of the revenue, but start-ups, the indirect impacts of … people...

A Ukrainian family in California says Child Welfare removed their teenage daughter from their home and placed them on the child abuse registry after they declined to “affirm” her transgender identity. Speaking to Reduxx under the condition of anonymity, the parents say the removal followed a report filed by their daughter’s psychiatrist without their knowledge. The mother, who will be referred to as Ellie, told Reduxx that a social worker from Shasta County Child Welfare Services arrived at the family’s home on June 3, 2024, without prior notice. According to Ellie, the worker accused the parents of emotional abuse and...

I just wrote about some of the billionaires fleeing California to avoid the proposed "one time" wealth tax which would take 5% of everything they own. But the LA Times points out it's not just the very wealthy who are fleeing the state. Once again, California topped a list put together by U-Haul showing the most out-migration.U-Haul’s survey of the more than 2.5 million one-way trips using its vehicles in the U.S. last year showed that the gap between the number of people leaving and the number arriving was higher in California than in any other state.While the Golden State...

It’s the benchmark of success, a milestone of responsible adulthood, a time-tested way to amass wealth for you and your progeny. Homeownership, we’re told again and again, is a status that every right-thinking person should aspire to — the white-picket-fence-fronted embodiment of the American Dream. But what if it’s also a little overrated? For generations it has been taken as a near article of faith across the country that ownership is both the financially and socially superior way to inhabit a home and that public policy makers should always promote it. California legislators and housing advocates spent this past year...

We are only now starting to witness the aftermath of the legislation and policies put in place by blue states as a means to control prices. California under Governor Gavin Newsom may have staged its own economic demise (the final nail in the coffin) after laws were passed requiring even greater state interference into oil refineries and gas stations. The Democrat crusade to divert blame for the stagflation crisis triggered during the Biden Administration led them down a path of economic lies. The central theme of their narrative was that corporations were “price gouging” consumers and inflation was actually a...

Federal prosecutors have charged a longtime California welfare worker with carrying out a multi-year fraud scheme involving food assistance benefits and dead people. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of former Madera County benefits eligibility worker Leticia Mariscal, 55, of Madera. Prosecutors alleged that Mariscal stole tens of thousands of dollars in CalFresh benefits by exploiting her access to county databases. CalFresh is California’s version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. According to the Justice Department, the alleged scheme took place between December 2020 and April 2025. Mariscal is accused of improperly accessing identifying information for elderly and...

11 Los Angeles County employees charged in over $700,000 pandemic unemployment fraud scheme Eleven more Los Angeles County employees have been charged with felony grand theft for allegedly stealing unemployment benefits while working full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The new charges, announced by the office, follow an earlier round of filings in October against 13 county employees accused of similar conduct. In total, prosecutors say 24 employees fraudulently collected a combined $741,518 in unemployment benefits between 2020 and 2023. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said his office intends to pursue the...