Free Republic

Nearly a decade ago, Los Angeles County voters overwhelmingly approved Measure M, a half-cent sales tax to fund projects focused on public transportation. The idealistic vote gave Angelenos a lot to look forward to, including a $365 million plan for an 8-mile bike path along the Los Angeles River, which would close a crucial gap between existing paths lining LA’s concrete channelized waterway. The expected opening date: 2025. But, as the year nears a close, the bike path still isn’t open. In fact, construction hasn’t even started, and the environmental review process is still in the early stages. In the...

Some artificial intelligence (AI) data centers are vacant in California because the local utility cannot provide the electricity required to operate them, according to Bloomberg. Although developers in Santa Clara, California, have completed shells of data center projects, the facilities remain empty and unpowered because the city-owned utility Silicon Valley Power (SVP) cannot supply enough electricity to meet their energy demands, Bloomberg reported. California imports the second-largest amount of electricity of any state, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and has been phasing out reliable power sources like coal as it pursues a rapid green energy transition. Big Tech...

A Latin street gang in Chicago is reportedly telling its members to shoot federal immigration officers on sight, escalating the already highly dangerous and volatile situation in Chicago. When you’re on the side of gang criminals, you’re probably in the wrong. Then again, leftists never met a murderous criminal whom they didn’t like. The Latin Kings gang is putting out hits on all Border Patrol agents participating in Operation Midway Blitz, which has rounded up hundreds of illegal alien criminals. That’s probably cutting into the gang’s membership — hence the new threat. And since Democrat politicians, mainstream media hacks, and...

With the government shutdown rolling on without an end in sight and the Obamacare subsidies running out, President Donald Trump is sizing up a long-running battle against the failures of the Affordable Care Act. "OBAMACARE 'SUCKS," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning. "THE WORST HEALTHCARE FOR THE HIGHEST PRICE." On Saturday, Trump floated a compromise amid the impasse on the shutdown, urging Republicans to redirect federal money that goes to health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act and send it directly to individuals. "PAY THE PEOPLE, NOT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES!" Trump wrote in a message that could...

The data recently obtain by CIS as part of a lengthy and ongoing Freedom of Information Act litigation demonstrated that HHS lost contact with 112,872 UACs after 30 days of being released to sponsors, between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023, and the UACs safety or whereabouts could not be determined.

WASHINGTON (TNND) — A mayor of a small town in Kansas was charged earlier this week for allegedly voting in multiple elections, despite not being a U.S. citizen. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab filed six charges against Mayor Joe Ceballos in Comanche County. Ceballos is the mayor of Coldwater and is described as a lawful permanent resident from Mexico who allegedly voted in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 elections, according to Fox News. Prior to being mayor of Coldwater, he used to be a city councilman.

The Biden administration’s border policies are still haunting us.An Indian illegal immigrant faces three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving for allegedly causing a collision last month on the westbound 10 Freeway in San Bernardino County, California, according to the New York Post.Jashanpreet Singh, 21, is accused of crashing a semi-truck into traffic where three people were killed and four were injured.Singh faced 17 years in prison, but that was downgraded to 10 after it was discovered he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol — something authorities originally claimed.Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants...

Zohran Mamdani’s incoming administration began taking shape on Wednesday as the New York City mayor-elect announced a transition team to help enact what he called the city’s most ambitious policy platform in a generation, vowing to get right to work when he takes office on 1 January. Speaking at a morning press conference in Queens, the 34-year-old democratic socialist revealed an all-female transition team led by Elana Leopold as executive director. It also includes co-chairs Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor; Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair; the United Way’s president and CEO, Grace Bonilla; and the...

Zohran Mamdani will be the unlikeliest mayor in New York City history. A 34-year-old backbench state assemblyman and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Mamdani ran on the promise of affordability and was declared the winner not long after polls closed tonight. On his path to victory, he thrilled young voters in a way that few Democrats have in years. But perhaps no one was more delighted by his election than President Donald Trump. Mamdani’s victory was his second decisive win over former Governor Andrew Cuomo, whom he defeated in the Democratic primary in June. (The current mayor, Eric Adams, skipped the primary,...

'You can't just destroy small communities along the way'An impassioned and oftentimes angry cohort from a small California city turned up ready for a fight this week in opposition to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s proposal to bisect the town. On Monday, residents of Shafter, a rural town of 22,000 just about 20 miles northwest of Bakersfield, showed up en masse to provide almost two hours of unanimous testimony opposing the plan to their city council. Individual pleas from community members often began calmly and then crescendoed into yelling (or even escalated to holding back tears) following a presentation by...

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is the Democratic Party’s early presidential frontrunner in New Hampshire, topping California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former Vice President Kamala Harris in a new poll. With 19% support, Buttigieg leads Newsom – his closest opponent – by 4 percentage points, according to the University of New Hampshire’s Granite State Poll, released Monday. The only other Democrats in double-digits were Ocasio-Cortez (14%) and Harris (11%). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) received 8% support and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker garnered a 6% backing. New Hampshire traditionally is the first state to hold both Democratic...

The Agriculture Department has $5.5 billion in backup funds for food stamp benefits but says it can’t use them.With the nation’s primary anti-hunger program on the verge of running out of money, more than two dozen states and D.C. sued the Agriculture Department on Tuesday to force it to make billions of dollars in contingency funds available to help feed the most vulnerable individuals and families. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program commonly known as food stamps, needs $9.2 billion to pay benefits in November. The Trump administration has said there’s no money for next month because of the government...

A suspected homicide near a Charlotte light-rail station rekindled crime fears that have plagued officials since the August gruesome caught-on-video murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Zephaniah Adewale Little Rivers, 23, was found at about 6:30 p.m. Monday near the Norfolk Southern train tracks with a gunshot wound. He was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Preliminary reports indicated the shooting followed an altercation at a nearby business and that the victim did not know the suspect. Authorities have not named a suspect. The crime scene is near the Archdale light-rail station...

The naked body of a young woman was found stuffed in a green duffel bag and dumped on a sidewalk in Manhattan, according to police and sources. MTA Police were called to 125th and Park Ave. in East Harlem shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday after a passerby made the grisly find underneath the Metro-North railway. The body was described as that of a white female in her 20s, inside of a black garbage bag, which was then left in a green duffle bag secured by a drawstring and dumped on the sidewalk, sources told The Post.

There's stupid, and then there's Democrat stupid. Now I don't mean stupid as in low IQ—although there are plenty of low IQ Democrats, the same applies to people from all walks of life. Instead, I mean "stupid" in the sense that one has priorities that don't align with any sane goals, but rather are driven by emotions and desires that bear no relationship to achieving them. There are lots of high-IQ stupid people in this sense. Democrats own a particular brand of stupid these days: emotional incontinence, which is expressed most commonly as Trump Derangement Syndrome. If Donald Trump is...

Radical leftist Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) reportedly had a secret stock portfolio and tried to delve into the marijuana business. In an article for the Washington Free Beacon published Monday, Andrew Kerr shared more information on Crockett’s apparently shady dealings. The report said Crockett “owned stocks in at least 25 companies that she did not disclose to the public during her first congressional run in 2022, even though she’d quietly admitted to the holdings the previous year as a Texas state legislator,” adding she did not disclose the stock holdings when she got to Washington. The Beacon said it found...

California Governor Gavin Newsom told CBS News Sunday Morning that he is considering a White House run after the 2026 midterms. When asked if he would give "serious thought" to a run for national office, Newsom said, "Yeah, I'd be lying otherwise," adding, "I'd just be lying. And I'm not — I can't do that." The democrat has been a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump, criticizing many of the administration's policies, including the use of federal forces in American cities

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has become one of President Trump's most high-profile adversaries, told "CBS News Sunday Morning" in an exclusive interview that he will consider whether to run for president after the 2026 midterm elections. In an interview taped Thursday in San Jose, Newsom was asked whether he would give "serious thought" to a White House bid once next year's midterm elections are over. "Yeah, I'd be lying otherwise," Newsom replied. "I'd just be lying. And I'm not — I can't do that." Newsom, whose term ends in January 2027 and is prevented from running again due...

At a time when Indian-origin truck drivers are dominating headlines in the US for horrific accidents, a major cargo theft ring has been busted in California, with 12 men charged, including 11 'Singhs'. Referred to as 'Singh Organization' by the cops, the group acquired or fraudulently used real trucking companies to bid on shipping contracts. When they won these bids, they used to take possession of the cargo that was to be shipped, but instead of delivering it to the right destination, they diverted it and stole it. They sold the cargo thorugh black market channels and earned millions of...

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, fiercely criticized Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Biden administration’s immigration policies on Friday, claiming they directly enabled a deadly multi-vehicle crash in California. During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show,” Miller focused on the case of Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national living illegally in the U.S., who triggered a fatal highway wreck that left three people dead. A Department of Transportation (DOT) probe revealed Singh had maintained and even upgraded his commercial driver’s license (CDL) just days before the alleged drug-fueled incident in Ontario, California. Miller...