Free Republic

A recent investigation into whether the presence or removal of Confederate monuments affects racial prejudice found no evidence that these statues cause changes in people’s biases. The findings suggest that while these monuments are deeply tied to historical inequalities, simply being exposed to them does not directly alter subconscious or conscious racial attitudes, and there is no evidence that removing them from public squares does either. The research was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Confederate monuments are statues and memorials erected to honor the pro-slavery Southern states that seceded during the American Civil War. In recent years, many...

There was a time when California built big things efficiently. In the 1930s, for example, the state simultaneously constructed the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge — both marvels of engineering — in about a four-year span. Both on time. Both on budget. Those days are gone. Today, examples abound of California construction projects gone (way) awry. One of those is the long-awaited People Mover at LAX. The project’s contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, disclosed this month that the train — intended to whisk people around LA’s famously sprawling airport — will not open in October as most recently...

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District announced last year Sacramento electricity ratepayers would be under a new rate system that charges residential users higher rates between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. — just in time for everyone to arrive home after work and begin evening family rituals: homework on computers, dinner, television, stereo, baths, laundry, and dishwasher after dinner.”

Link to Summary The video is a critical investigative piece arguing that California’s high-speed rail project is a massive failure of waste, delay, and mismanagement—essentially “high-speed rail to nowhere.” It contrasts the project’s poor progress with China’s rapid nationwide high-speed rail buildout and interviews locals, officials, and critics along the route. Core claims about status and costsIn 2008, voters approved a plan to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco. After roughly 18 years and about $15 billion spent, the project has connected nothing. Visible work consists mainly of concrete, rebar, and incomplete structures in the Central Valley (derisively called a...

California’s bullet train could have a new end point: Brokeville, USA. The state’s beleaguered high-speed rail line is once again careening toward a financial cliff, as a new report — delivered last month to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators — says the project could run out of cash by the end of next year. The Office of the Inspector General warned that the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s funds could dry up as soon as December 2027 unless it secures financing — and the authority would need to borrow as much as $9.5 billion over five years just to keep construction...

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...

Californians are set to notice a major change the next time they stroll through a grocery store. State officials have ordered a sweeping overhaul of food packaging that will alter how millions shop. From July 1, food manufacturers and retailers across the Golden State will no longer be allowed to slap 'sell by' dates on most packaged foods sold to consumers, under a controversial new law aimed at tackling food waste and clearing up widespread confusion over expiration labels. The shake-up, which will be felt across supermarket shelves statewide, effectively strips out a long list of familiar date markings that...

The 2028 Democratic primary has already begun — and this time, the candidates aren’t trying to hide it. Potential contenders including former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are openly embracing — or at least acknowledging — their interest in a White House run. It’s a departure from the political gamesmanship that once defined presidential politics, when would-be candidates sought to intentionally cloud their intentions out of fear that acknowledging them could backfire. It also reflects the wide-open nature of the race, with no clear front-runner — or anointed figure — for the first time in years....

California’s gasoline market is entering a period of acute supply shortages directly attributable to prior refinery closures, and the long-term systemic decline in in-state crude oil production which have been further exacerbated by the ongoing war in the Middle East. For California, there is a clear trajectory toward increasing supply deficit conditions through April and a high probability of physical shortages by May accompanied by consumer price increases at the pump.

Creepy Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell is going down in flames. Swalwell is currently running as a Democrat in California’s gubernatorial race. As TGP reported earlier on Friday, The San Francisco Chronicle published a story about a woman who claimed that Democrat Eric Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice. The woman, who worked as a staffer in Swalwell’s office for two years, told The San Francisco Chronicle that Swalwell began pursuing her just weeks after she was hired at the age of 21 in 2019. “A woman who worked for nearly two years for Rep. Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate for California...

Europe bets on California’s Gavin Newsom as a strategic counterweight to the Trump agenda. Donald Trump’s opposition to climate policy and mass immigration is putting massive pressure on Europe. There, preparations are underway to support California governor Gavin Newsom. He is expected, as the 48th president, to prevent a continuation of Trump’s policies. America remains a country of high social mobility and upward opportunity -- something we no longer see on today’s European continent. It may sound kitschy to many Europeans, yet America's vibrant economic centers, high geographic mobility, and the flexibility of its people still create the conditions for...

Illegal immigrants in California could soon have their lawyers paid for by taxpayers if a new bill proposed by Sacramento politicians goes through. Starting next year, California would begin to fund legal representation for all unauthorized adults to fight their deportations under new legislation set to clear its first hurdle on Tuesday. “Legal representation saves lives, protects civil liberties and keeps families together,” said bill author Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D). “This is a due process issue in California. People can lose their freedom, their family, their job and home through immigration proceedings.” Last year, Bonta helped pass a law that...

California's delayed, over-budget high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco is running fast in only one direction: Rising costs to even get rolling, which are now estimated to be $126 billion. "Today, we estimate with the right optimization just over $125 billion," California High Speed Rail Authority board member Anthony Williams told CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday. "I think $126 billion is the current estimate for that." Snip "We’re now in 2026: There are no trains; there’s no track laid; it was a complete bait and switch," Rep. Vince Fong, R-Calif., told "60 Minutes," saying the project "needs to...

Gavin Newsom’s transport secretary has admitted criticism of California’s high-speed rail is justified — as estimates of the project show it will be a struggle to be completed. Officials now say it will cost an eye-watering $126 billion to finish the line from Los Angeles to San Francisco — which is more money than Amtrak has ever received from the federal government since it was established in 1971, a damning 60 Minutes report revealed. That’s and a huge uptick when compared to the $33 billion voters were told the rail would cost when it was announced way back in 2008....

California Democrats have a problem with their leading candidates. One doesn’t live in the state but allegedly lived, in the euphemistic sense, with a Chinese spy. Another has the looks and personality of a distempered boar and can’t stop screaming at staffers, reporters and anyone late with her lunch. A third is a billionaire who convenes events at luxury hotels to explain how he’ll fight against the billionaires for the working class he sometimes reads about in the paper. And those are their most popular candidates. But since this is California, the real problem is that all of those candidates...

TEHRAN — Rumors of the Ayatollah regime's nefarious plot to launch an assault on the west coast of the United States hit a snag on Wednesday, as Iran canceled plans to attack California after seeing Gavin Newsom had already destroyed it. The Iranian government had issued threats that it was prepared to take revenge on the U.S. by launching attacks against California, but leaders were said to have reconsidered their plan after intelligence reports showed that the state had been completely decimated under Newsom's leadership. "You can't destroy something that's already destroyed," said a spokesman for the supreme leader. "We...

Longtime journalist Katie Couric asked if Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., had a problem with being "ridiculously good-looking." During an interview on Couric's "Next Question" podcast released Thursday, the former "Today" co-host remarked on how Newsom has been described as "slick" and whether that was a reference to his hairstyle. Newsom acknowledged that the comments had caused him to play into a "character." "Do you have a 'Zoolander' problem?" Couric asked, referencing the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy. After Newsom began laughing at the comment, she followed, "Are you just ridiculously good-looking, as Vogue said? No, seriously. What do you do about...

LATEST Feb. 18, 12:45 p.m. The CEO of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority is on voluntary leave after an arrest earlier this month at his Sacramento-area home, multiple outlets reported. Politico and the Los Angeles Times both reported that the rail authority confirmed Ian Choudri’s leave. The rail authority did not respond to SFGATE’s inquiry. “While CEO Choudri has informed the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board that he is not aware of any evidence of wrongdoing, he has voluntarily agreed to take a temporary leave to allow the Board and our parent agency, the California State Transportation Agency, to fully review...

In his famous 20th century novel "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway’s character, Mike Campbell, was asked by a friend how his financial ruin had happened. Campbell replied to the question simply, "Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly." Just a cursory look at today’s headlines and one can see this very idea of "gradually and then suddenly" playing out in the fiscal health of many blue states. California, the poster child for a state heading down the road to financial ruin, is slated to lose four congressional seats in the 2030 census due to population loss. Moreover, major companies such...

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...