Free Republic

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...

The Democratic Socialists of America LA chapter has released a 40-page, 9,000-word manifesto that lays out an aggressive, six-to-eight-year plan to seize control of the nation’s second-largest city and impose full-blown socialism In what can only be described as a chilling blueprint for economic destruction and social chaos (see below), the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Los Angeles chapter has released a 40-page, 9,000-word manifesto that lays out an aggressive, six-to-eight-year plan to seize control of the nation’s second-largest city and impose full-blown socialism. This radical document, published in 2025, doesn’t mince words: Los Angeles is “on the burning edge...

Gov. Newsom is single handedly sending California into energy poverty, rather than economic and energy prosperity Most California residents recognize that California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices are self-inflected, as is the gasoline crisis in the state. This has subsequently increased dependency on foreign oil suppliers and shippers to supply fuels, and as we reported recently, this poses a direct threat to U.S. military force readiness on the West Coast. California today produces less than 23% of its own in-state petroleum needs and imports over 65% of its crude oil from foreign sources, yet the oil and gas industry in California account...

“Cheers” star and Pixar voice actor John Ratzenberger announced his support for Republican California gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco, calling out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership.With California’s June primary approaching, the race between Democrats and Republicans is heating up. Endorsements have continued to roll in as party leaders and public figures weigh in on who they believe can steer the state forward; Ratzenberger is the latest to do so. The actor has worked in Hollywood for over 20 years, featuring as Cliff Clavin in “Cheers” and voicing notable characters in Pixar films such as “Toy Story,” “Cars” and “Monsters, Inc.”In an...

The governor has been an unmitigated disaster for California. Why is he urging global resistance to a duly elected president? Mr. Newsom is in Davos, Switzerland this week, not for a ski holiday, but to attend the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting. His latest appearance exemplifies the petulant, sore-loser mentality that plagues him, the California legislature, and the national Democratic Party post-2024. Newsom is using the global stage not for constructive dialogue but to shockingly lambaste world leaders for their supposed “complicity” in dealing with Trump, urging them to instead “buck up” and “grow a backbone” against the president’s...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to expedite rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon after wildfires ravaged the Los Angeles communities in January 2025. According to a White House fact sheet, the order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Karen Evans and the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler to establish regulations preempting procedural permitting requirements at the state and local levels.

The one thing Newsom is good at is destroying the Golden State If I was the leftist governor of the largest state in the U.S. and my unspoken goal and unholy plan was to destabilize and destroy my state, there are certain policies I would impose, and executive orders I’d make, while insulating myself from my own policies: Cut water off to rural areas in the state; remove dams and hydroelectric plants. Limit water deliveries to farmers and ranchers, forcing farmers and ranchers to shut down. Create a housing shortage. Raise the minimum wage so high, restaurant owners are forced...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom unleashed a vulgar tirade against Louisiana’s female attorney general yesterday as he defending allowing illegal abortion pills to flow into pro-life states. Newsom told a female Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill to “go ---- yourself” as he defended his state’s refusal to extradite abortionists accused of illegally mailing abortion pills to Louisiana residents, a move pro-life advocates say endangers women and unborn babies by circumventing state laws designed to protect life. The exchange erupted on social media after Newsom posted about Louisiana’s plans to sue him and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for blocking extradition requests....