Free Republic

Taxpaying Angelenos write big checks every year. They dump billions into homelessness services –– and the tents, needles and suffering still turn neighborhoods into obstacle courses. Then Mayor Karen Bass drops her latest pearl of wisdom: Homeless folks use meth “to stay awake for protection on the city’s dangerous streets.” Bless her heart. This isn’t compassionate; it’s Olympic-level mental gymnastics that insults every working stiff paying the tab while watching their city circle the drain. It perfectly explains why Bass’s approval hovers in the 32%–36% range, with disapproval in the 57%–66% zone in recent polls. Let’s be real about how...

Ghana has recorded 14 arrests linked to false news and offensive speech in less than 16 months, nearly double the number documented during the previous administration’s entire eight-year tenure, according to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). The rise has triggered a sharp debate in one of West Africa’s most stable democracies over whether authorities are simply enforcing long-standing laws in a new digital environment, or edging into a more restrictive approach to public speech. The controversy carries added political weight because President John Mahama, while in opposition in 2022, warned that using state power to intimidate dissent was...

Last month and early this month, Camilla Alhassan shared a series of videos alleging, without providing evidence, that the president sacrificed 32 cows as part of a ritual to help him win the 2024 general election. The 43-year-old also alleged that a government initiative to distribute sanitary pads to recent flood victims was an attempt to conceal what she claimed he had done. The judge turned down an appeal for a lighter punishment, ruling that a custodial sentence would discourage similar conduct. Prosecutors had argued that Alhassan, who has more than 70,000 followers on TikTok, had made a series of...

In Mayor Karen Bass’s Los Angeles, the rule of law is separate and not equal when it comes to street food — with illegal immigrants and rogue vendors getting a free pass on violations while citizen restaurateurs and licensed food stands are subjected to fines, high costs, burdensome regulations, and even closures. In short, L.A. and the surrounding counties have two sets of rules. Other progressively-run cities like New York and Minneapolis also are catering to “vulnerable” and undocumented immigrant street vendors. But California is leading the way in sanctuary food practices. The Los Angeles County Health Department, citing immigration...

Before the Boyle Heights warehouse fire, Lineage representatives lobbied City Hall over the rooftop solar array. The company says it was seeking a safer alternative to rapid shutdown devices. A year before a massive fire at a Boyle Heights cold storage building sent polluted smoke into surrounding communities, the operator of the facility came to Los Angeles City Hall with a request.Lineage asked about removing an emergency shutdown switch from the solar panels on the roof of the structure, according to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.A spokesperson for Lineage said that the company was inquiring about what...

There is a word for demanding tens of thousands of dollars from a man before you’ll give him back what you took from him. That word is extortion. But in Los Angeles, when the thing taken is a house, the state calls it a landlord-tenant dispute and tells the victim to hire a lawyer. That single act of miscategorization, repeated thousands of times across California, has built an entire criminal industry, and the people who investigate it for a living are now begging the city to admit what everyone already knows. Former LAPD Lt. Moses Castillo and veteran private investigator...

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...

A 19-year-old woman accused in a violent attack on an elderly Los Angeles street vendor has been taken into custody, authorities announced. Harmunie Heaven Church’s June 25 arrest comes 10 days after a cellphone video captured Arabelia Martinez, 62, a food vendor who has worked in the 700 block of Figueroa Street for years, being brutally beaten. Video that circulated online showed Church, according to police, confronting Martinez and spraying sauce toward her cart. Martinez responded by throwing what appeared to be Tajín seasoning in the suspect’s direction, escalating the conflict.

California is a blue state, and one of the manifestations of its political orientation has been a tolerance for one of the nation’s highest levels of taxation. The state’s tax rates on retail sales and personal and corporate incomes are among the highest of any state. Although tax rates on real estate are relatively moderate, high property values still translate into high bills for their owners. Specific taxes, such as those on fuel, utilities, cigarettes, liquor, medical care, gambling, guns and ammunition, contribute even more. Overall, state and local governments and school districts collect around $400 billion in taxes every...

The Mamdani regime in New York City has already been making noises about moving on this sort of thing, and now the LA County Board of Supervisors is following suit. People will call this socialism but in some ways this is worse. They’re not just proposing a government takeover of private property, what they’re proposing to do is to use government power and taxpayer money to seize private property and turn it over to their political allies who will run ‘community groups’. This is fundamentally no different than politicians using eminent domain to seize property and transfer it to their...

LOS ANGELES —Jurors have deadlocked in the trial for a troubled Uber driver accused of lighting a blaze in the Santa Monica Mountains that investigators say led to one of the most destructive fires in U.S. history. Jurors told U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang on Thursday they were unable to come to a unanimous verdict. They’re expected to return the following day. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, is accused of starting a fire on Jan. 1, 2025, which prosecutors say later grew to become the deadly Palisades Fire. He is facing three counts of arson related to the destruction of federal property....

Karen Bass was out of town for a major fire that affected the entire LA region. No, we’re not talking about the Palisades Fire of January 2025, when she was, infamously, in Ghana to represent the Biden administration at a foreign presidential inauguration. We’re talking about the Boyle Heights fire, which continues to rage in East LA, and which has spewed black smoke into the summer sky. The emergency caused smoke to hover over the World Cup match between Iran and Belgium in Inglewood, and over the Dodgers-Orioles game in Chavez Ravine. It’s a major international embarrassment, evoking bad memories...

A wave of investigators descended on comedian Carlos Mencia’s Encino mansion Thursday as officers moved methodically through the property, hauling out boxes, sealed cases, and bags of materials tied to a sweeping tax fraud investigation. Photos from the scene show a heavy presence from the California Franchise Tax Board enforcement team, with officers posted across the driveway and front entrance as they carried evidence containers from inside the home to waiting vehicles. Multiple images capture officers actively removing stacked banker-style boxes and hard cases from the residence, staging them outside the property in organized piles. Black duffel bags and additional...

The FBI is now investigating voter fraud in Los Angeles. Federal agents descended on the streets of Skid Row in downtown LA Thursday following allegations that the homeless had been paid to vote in the June 2 primary. About 20 agents swooped in on the notoriously blighted area after homeless people staying there claimed they’d been bribed with cash to sign multiple registration forms, forge signatures, and fill out voter information for the mayoral and gubernatorial primaries. The California Post looked on as plainclothes agents questioned Skid Row residents, asking them if they were paid to vote or were aware...

Days after the June 2 California primary election, it was announced that a large mail-in ballot dump from Los Angeles Skid Row favored District 4 Democratic Socialist City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman. It was not long before Raman suddenly pulled ahead and overtook viral candidate Spencer Pratt for the Top 2 slot, edging him into third place and out of the running. p>The legacy media did what they do: parrot and cover up. However, the L.A. voters who supported Pratt (and some who did not) clamored for a real investigation into this suspicious and mathematically impossible occurrence. As...

The Los Angeles City Council took one step closer toward possibly giving noncitizens the right to vote in city elections, agreeing to put the measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. The measure is part of a package of proposed charter changes that will go before voters later this year. In a decisive 10-5 vote, the council on Wednesday approved a proposal introduced by Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez to implement noncitizen or "residential" voting for city and Los Angeles Unified District elections. Soto-Martinez emphasized individuals with some form of legal status such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Temporary Protected Status holders,...

Anger and anxiety filled a packed town hall Tuesday as hundreds of Altadena residents pushed back against proposals that could transform single-family neighborhoods devastated by the Eaton Fire. Nearly 450 people attended the meeting, where residents learned that 49% of properties sold in the burn zone since the wildfire have been purchased by developers, a revelation that drew an audible gasp from the crowd. The debate centers on California housing laws, including SB 9 and SB 1123, which can allow developers to build up to 10 housing units, as high as three stories, on a single residential lot. Residents warned...

Spencer Pratt has claimed he is “teaming up” with Karen Bass’s brother after they both launched lawsuits against the city she runs over the fire that burnt their homes down. The former reality TV star, who lost his bid to become the next LA mayor last week, slammed her “reckless negligence” that he claims allowed to Palisades Fires to rage. “I’m proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass’s brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes,” Pratt wrote on X Sunday while resharing an ABC7 segment. “I hope their Thanksgiving...

EXCLUSIVE: A top Trump agency is cutting off funding to the Los Angeles agency responsible for coordinating billions in homelessness spending after accusing it of "obvious fraud," "wanton mismanagement" and repeated failures to safeguard taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is a member of the White House fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, is immediately suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's (LAHSA) federal funding while HUD’s inspector general investigates potential offenses by the agency and its leadership, according to a letter sent to LAHSA's board chair...

Spencer Pratt did not hold back in a new social media video post, commenting on problems in the city and the remaining Los Angeles mayoral candidates following his loss in the primary. The former mayoral candidate and reality TV star titled the video, "Saving LA – Phase III," and vowed that his fight to save the city is not over, claiming, "It's war." He said he is moving on to "the next, more interesting phase …now that my campaign portion mission to save Los Angeles is coming to a close." After placing third in the June 2 primary election, with...