Free Republic

The mainstream media desperately wants the Los Angeles wildfire story to have a very specific villain: Climate Change.The theory they’re pushing goes like this: Climate Change is real — only a stupid “science denier” would argue otherwise. And because it’s real, weather patterns are far more extreme. From famines, fires, and droughts to hurricanes, snowstorms, and floodings, Climate Change is the answer to all your questions. So, YES, Climate Change is responsible for the L.A. wildfires!Hence, the deluge of climate-centric news stories:Time Magazine: L.A. Fires Show the Reality of Living in a World with 1.5˚C of WarmingNew York Times: ‘We’re...

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that construction is underway at Town and Country Apartments, a 256-unit affordable housing complex in Binghamton. The $94 million rehabilitation project will modernize the 22-building garden-style development, fully electrify its infrastructure, and improve energy efficiency by 20%. The project is part of Hochul’s five-year, $25 billion Housing Plan, which aims to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes across New York State, including 10,000 with support services for vulnerable populations. The initiative complements efforts by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which has financed over 1,260 affordable housing units in Broome County in the past...

At least 75 fire trucks languished in a city repair facility in downtown Los Angeles as wildfires decimated Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, pictures taken by The Post show. The essential firefighting vehicles were still sitting in the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Bureau Of Supply and Maintenance lot in an industrial area Wednesday, waiting to be repaired. Controversy over the rows of idle trucks has intensified after revelations about the LAFD budget being cut by $17 million by Mayor Karen Bass. “We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley admitted to CNN when...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass claims that her $17.5 million cut to the LA Fire Department budget did not impact the department’s ability to prevent or fight fires. But the LA Fire Chief told CNN that “the $17 million budget cut… did absolutely negatively impact” the Department’s ability to respond to the fires...

California’s governor Gavin Newsom was confronted while being probed at a press conference over the state’s spending of $24 billion to tackle homelessness. Mr Newson led a conference on Friday announcing that California’s budget deficit is at least $45 billion and proposed various spending cuts to state worker jobs, education programs and health services. He also proposed reducing funding for homelessness and housing initiatives by nearly $1.2 billion, including $474 million from an anti-foreclosure program to preserve existing affordable housing. Despite the big budget announcements and slashes on spending, one reporter at the conference did not allow the governor to...

The woman killed after being set ablaze by an illegal alien on a New York City subway has finally been identified. The burn victim was identified as 61-year-old Debrina Kawam. Kawam was linked to an address in Toms River, New Jersey, but she was described as homeless. It took investigators more than a week to identify the victim using fingerprints because her burns were so severe. The New York Post reported: Cops have identified the woman who was lit on fire as she slept and then burned to death on a Brooklyn subway train while terrified straphangers watched in horror,...

In a startling revelation, a recent report found that former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, oversaw nearly $900 million in taxpayer funds without recording how the money was spent. The funds were allocated primarily through the former First Lady's "ThriveNYC" mental health initiative— a program launched to address the city's mental health and homelessness crisis. However, audits and investigations into the program revealed a lack of transparency, with many expenditures unaccounted for and little oversight into how the money was being spent. The revelations came during a city council meeting where legislators noted the program’s...

During an interview with the Fox Business Network on Tuesday, incoming Border Czar Tom Homan stated that the illegal immigrant suspected of murdering a woman on the New York City subway system by setting her on fire got government benefits, but his victim and some homeless people in New York don’t. Homan said, “[Y]ou think about it, this illegal alien that burned this young lady alive, he probably had a free hotel room, three squares a day, … gets free medical attention, … but this young homeless person, she [doesn’t] have anything and she died a horrendous death.”

A Georgia homeowner was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after attempting to move back into her home, which was being occupied by an alleged squatter. 'I spent the night on a mat on a concrete floor in deplorable conditions. While this woman, this squatter slept in my home,' Loletha Hale told WSB-TV Atlanta. On December 9, Clayton County police and Sheriff's deputies were called to the home on Livingston Drive after Hale tried to regain access. A deputy, captured on body camera footage, advised Hale to consider the alleged squatter's perspective. 'Just think of it from this perspective, though....

It was a walk on the wild side. Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD brass got a firsthand look at the desolate homeless wasteland inside the Big Apple subway system in an eye-opening overnight tour of the city’s transit vagrant crisis. With The Post tagging along, the mayor and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch joined a crew from a city multi-agency outreach effort at the 34th Street/Herald Square station, with staffers coming upon a total of 96 troubled drifters — many of them struggling with mental health issues. But the late-night outreach teams face an uphill battle — only 16 of the...

(The Center Square) - Los Angeles City council voted to pass a $30 minimum wage for hotel and airport workers, along with an additional healthcare benefit starting at $8.35 per hour for employees of businesses that do not provide health insurance. Businesses say the large spike in wages will lead to closures, scaling back employees, and hotels backing out of agreements put in place for the 2028 Olympics — and could threaten the city budget.... Hotels say the new wage increase is unaffordable, especially with income for many hotels flat as other costs rise, and could leave some with no...

San Francisco is closing its only safe parking site for homeless people living out of vehicles after three tumultuous years filled with legal disputes, code violations and extensive complaints from those living in and around the site.

Audit results reveal that the City of Denver, Colorado, lost track of nearly $150 MILLION they spent between January 2022 and March 2024 on homeless shelters And they wonder why we voted for @DOGE ? By the way, it's now clear & obvious that Democrats use homelessness to launder money back to themselves. This is why the crisis will never be cured. You don't write checks totaling $150 million without knowing exactly where it'll end up. Not only should Mayor Mike Johnston get arrested for planning to harbor illegals, but he should now get arrested for laundering money. ... They...

Denver’s far left-wing Democrat mayor is in the national spotlight for his generous support for President Joe Biden’s illegal migrants, but as the tab for caring for them soars, local homeless citizens are left abandoned. Mayor Mike Johnston recently pumped up his level of bravado to full blast and promised to use the city’s police department to physically oppose the efforts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to fulfill Donald Trump’s repatriation mandate. However, he found himself trying to backtrack only a day later.

A video posted by John Braswell, a resident closely monitoring the bald eagle nest in Auburn, revealed a devastating sight Saturday morning: the tree cradling the nest had been cut down, scattering its contents. For years, the nest was home to “Pam and Jim,” a pair of bald eagles beloved by the community.As neighbors gathered near the site off N College Street across from AU Fisheries many were brought to tears as Pam and Jim were seen flying in tandem over the area where their nest once stood, appearing to search for their missing home. “It’s just so sad,” one...

PORTLAND, Ore. — President-elect Donald Trump has a strategy to tackle the homeless crisis at the national level. He pitched his plan during his campaign, but the question now is: will it happen? And if it does, how will it affect communities here in the Northwest? Trump says he wants to work with states to ban urban camping wherever possible and create large "tent cities" on inexpensive land where people could access doctors and social workers. Now that he's President-elect, his plan could be put into play in a matter of months, pushing aside housing-first policies for his treatment-first model....

Los Angeles County voters have chosen to pass Measure A, which will raise sales taxes by a quarter of a percent to fund homeless services. The referendum, which seemed in doubt until recently, passed with 57% support. CalMatters.org reported (original emphasis): Measure A, which is leading in the ballots counted thus far, would end the county’s existing quarter-cent sales tax for homelessness that was scheduled to expire in 2027 and replace it with a half-cent tax that would begin immediately and continue in perpetuity. That new tax is expected to raise $1 billion a year, and since it has no...

Shocking footage played in court showed the moment first responders said that Jordan Neely still had a pulse after former marine Daniel Penny put the troubled homeless man in a chokehold on a Manhattan subway last year.

A judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked further efforts by state officials to clear homeless encampments in New Orleans — stalling a push that came ahead of three Taylor Swift concerts in the city this weekend. The effort to relocate about 75 people living in tents beneath an overpass near the Superdome began in the days leading up to pop star’s shows, which could draw 150,000 visitors to the stadium. Judge Lori Jupiter granted a temporary restraining order on Friday, directing state law enforcement officials to not “destroy or dispose of the property of unhoused people without judicial process” and...

Voters in Los Angeles are expressing skepticism of Measure A, a ballot initiative that would raise sales taxes in the county to provide more services to the homeless, expanding Measure H, which was passed by referendum in 2017. Measure H raised sales taxes by a quarter of a percent — and the homeless population kept rising. That rise was driven by a variety of factors, but access to generous services — like hotel rooms — may have been one of them. While opinion polls suggest that support for Measure A is near 50%, that is far lower than the nearly...