Free Republic

Fire and looting erupted across Los Angeles in the early morning hours Saturday as two unruly street takeovers spiraled into chaos just hours apart. The disturbing incidents unfolded in East Los Angeles and the Gramercy Park neighborhood. Both sprang from rowdy street takeovers, despite mounting public outrage and a steady infusion of city resources dedicated to stopping them. A car fire erupted after a street takeover in the southern part of the city. Los Angeles fire officials told The California Post that an engine responded to an auto fire around 4:52 a.m. and put out the massive blaze. Footage from...

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is the only governor in America currently under investigation for a “pay-to-play” scheme, but that investigation will likely conclude just prior to the November election. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes – a fellow Democrat – is conducting the investigation and recently told reporters that the investigation is “near the end” and results would come prior to the November election, KTAR News reported. “I feel confident that we’re going to get the information that we need to conclude the investigation,” Mayes told reporters earlier this week. The investigation involves Hobbs’ connection to an Arizona group...

Billionaire heiress Elizabeth Simons is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Democratic Party’s campaign to retake the House — even as she bankrolls the socialist causes and candidates that have Democrats’ establishment leaders increasingly on edge.Simons, who previously cut a $250,000 check to a super PAC backing Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has donated $354,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the party’s chief House campaign arm — and thousands more to individual House candidates this election cycle. The donations, ironically, put Simons behind the same Democratic leadership forces trying to prevent the party’s increasingly powerful progressive wing from...

After a hacker exfiltrated the data of 633,000 Maricopa County, Arizona, voter records in 2020, zero prosecutors at any level of government would prosecute despite urging from the FBI. Documents released Thursday morning by the White House Government Transparency Task Force detail the massive data breach, an investigation by the FBI, a suspect who admitted to the crime, and a years-long attempt by the FBI to get someone to prosecute, only to close the case due to a lack of prosecutor interest. “The suspect, perhaps to the chagrin of his attorney, admitted to all of the conduct involved, including that...

Dozens of suspected bot accounts on X/Twitter are amplifying content from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his circle, and reportedly can be traced to New York City Hall IP infrastructure, the World Zionist Organization told The Jerusalem Post exclusively. As part of its activities against the waves of antisemitism online, WZO’s dedicated Department for Combating Antisemitism was presented with data and findings collected by cyber experts specializing in the field. The information included an analysis of IP addresses and mapping of activity patterns and distribution networks of suspected bot accounts. WZO’s technological examination of activity on the X...

As Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass oversees the number of rebuilding permits awarded to transgender people and drag performers, other, less critical decisions are falling through the cracks. Rats. Los Angeles has a rat problem. Not a rat problem like all big cities. Los Angeles rats are of a particular variety. In addition to some of them being the size of cats and chewing on everything in sight, the rats are literally flea-bitten. And the fleas that chew on the rats carry the medieval disease typhus. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump from a rat for the typhus-bearing...

One of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top aides — who helps select judicial nominees — bragged about his connections to Big Apple politicians in an ad for a Manhattan law firm, raising eyebrows among ethics experts, The Post can reveal. Ali Najmi, a longtime ally of Hizzoner who chairs the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, released the video, which features a picture with Mamdani, on social media to promote personal injury law firm Liakas Law, PC. “We know how to get good results. We have a deep network that extends throughout the city of New York,” Najmi says — as...

The ex-con husband of a disgraced Westchester County police bigwig turned himself in to cops Thursday to face charges that the pair drove their gangbanger son to a botched hit in the Bronx. James Lackard, 47, the husband of recently fired Mount Vernon Deputy Police Commissioner Jennifer Lackard, walked into the 44th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx around 8:30 a.m. to surrender after two days on the run, the sources said. He was arraigned hours later on the same attempted murder indictment lodged against his cop wife and 20-year-old son, reputed “Slutty Gang” thug Chase Lackard, earlier this week. The...

Los Angeles has any number of problems: crime, homelessness, and productive people are leaving due to the idiot policies of the city and the state of California. Now, we can again add that ancient curse of big cities: Disease. The other thing Los Angeles shares with so many other large cities throughout human history is rats. Rats have accompanied humans almost everywhere, and they bring disease with them. That, too, is happening right now in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles County (L.A.), rats abound. You may see only an occasional rat dart across an alley or root through a restaurant...

The gangbanging son of a Westchester County police bigwig had a Bronx court date just minutes before he allegedly opened fire on a rival – with his cop mom and ex-con dad as getaway drivers, prosecutors said Wednesday. Chase Lackard, 20, faced a judge on a 2024 gun rap just 20 minutes before the alleged June 29 drive-by gang shooting – with help from his mom, disgraced Mount Vernon Deputy Police Commissioner Jennifer Lackard, and drug-dealing dad James Lackard, according to prosecutors. “He’s captured on cameras running into this courthouse,” Bronx Assistant District Attorney Keturah Ladd told the judge. “He...

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani /Image: Video screenshot @NYCMayor/X ========================================================================== Radical socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has purged a longstanding advisory board of business and civic leaders. The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City is a city-affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit that raises private donations to support public programs and City Hall priorities by partnering with agencies, philanthropies, and community groups. According to Bloomberg News, Mamdani sent letters thanking the advisory board members for their service. A separate communication from the fund stated that the entire board of advisers would be disbanded. The New York Post reports: It’s raised hundreds...

MADISON, Wis. — For the fourth day in a row, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is calling for an end to the encampment on Williamson and Baldwin streets. The encampment follows the death of Corey Ruiz who was shot by a Madison police officer July 22. “For almost two weeks now, City of Madison staff and elected leaders have been on the ground and communicating to and through community leaders to peacefully resolve extremely complex, emotionally fraught circumstances that started with the police taking the life of Corey Ruiz," Rhodes-Conway said. "Countless efforts have been made to convince people that the...

Former Seattle police Chief Shon Barnes will receive roughly $700,000 for resigning from the Seattle Police Department, according to his resignation letter. Barnes, who was relieved of his duties on Friday, agreed not to sue the City of Seattle under the terms of his optional resignation agreement. By the numbers: Seattle will pay Barnes a lump sum of 18 months of his salary at his hourly rate of $179.54, along with 12 months of health insurance valued at $2,525.99 per month. The agreement also states Barnes does not have to repay his $50,000 recruitment bonus or his $60,000 relocation package...

It's been eight days since two gunmen opened fire at the Bite of Seattle food festival on July 26, killing two and injuring four others, including a toddler. In the immediate aftermath, serious questions were raised about the city's response to the attack, specifically about the fitness of its socialist mayor, Katie Wilson, and the whereabouts of its AWOL police chief, Shon Barnes. From RedState's coverage last week: As RedState has previously reported, crime is so bad under Wilson's watch that residents have begun putting up walls and other kinds of barriers to keep criminals out of their neighborhoods. And...

A federal judge on Friday once again blocked the Trump Administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis. The termination was supposed to take effect on March 17, however, a federal judge previously halted the termination. On Friday, US District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, issued a new administrative stay after the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and an emergency motion. There are more than 100,000 Somalis living in the US. An estimated 5,000 Somalis are eligible for Temporary Protected Status. The Justice Department responded to the judge’s order. “Judge Allison Burroughs just entered yet another order preventing...

“Squad” Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s husband, Conan Harris, is still involved with a real estate firm that locked down a controversial $2 billion deal for the development of a new courthouse in Massachusetts despite a key partner divesting from that company due to ethical concerns. Harris had been partners with John Barros in CoJo Real Estate, which was involved in clinching the winning bid for a 40-year lease to build a new courthouse in Springfield, Mass. On Wednesday, Barros, the interim executive director for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, announced he was divesting from the firm due to an ethics controversy....

Investigators have extensive wiretap evidence and may soon charge several individuals in a sprawling corruption probe involving Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Newsom. It was reported earlier this month that the FBI used a Democrat insider as an informant to infiltrate Governor Gavin Newsom’s inner circle before the corruption probe expanded into the governor and his wife Jennifer Newsom. Recall that Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was indicted on federal wire fraud charges last year. Last month, Newsom fumed as he announced the corruption probe had expanded, and he and his wife are now under investigation. Newsom...

Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters have blockaded two trendy blocks in downtown Madison, Wisconsin a week after armed serial felon Corey Ruiz was shot and killed by police — erecting barricades similar to the infamous 2020 “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) in Seattle And the city of Madison — home to the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin — is helping them by providing portable toilets and other resources. Neighbors have had enough, telling WMTV 15 News they feel “trapped” by the rapidly expanding protest zone. “I feel the protest has turned into a very disrespectful occupation focused...

A pack of coyotes have moved into an abandoned West Hollywood condo complex, forcing locals to live in fear while demanding the city steps in. The complex at Romaine Street and North Spaulding Avenue. which has been under construction and empty for years, was first taken over by homeless squatters that have now been replaced by the wild animals. “It’s kind of interesting to walk out of your apartment and look up and there’s a coyote looking at you,” Cindy Sorley told CBS LA. Shocking videos and pictures appear to show six coyotes roaming the empty building, with each one...

A Westlake man has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for throwing rocks and ignited debris at California Highway Patrol officers trapped underneath a freeway overpass during a violent anti-immigration law enforcement protest last year, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Ismael Vega, 42, was also ordered to pay $253,415 in restitution. Vega pleaded guilty on April 29 to one count of obstructing, impeding and interfering with law enforcement during civil disorder and was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison. During the evening of June 8, 2025, Vega was part of a large group of protesters...