Free Republic

The Oscars are a day away and are already coming under fire. The city of Los Angeles is being accused of hiding the homeless as Hollywood prepares to toast itself ahead of Sunday’s 93rd Academy Awards ceremony. One man told local news he was told to either move or have his things demolished. The celebrity-studded ceremony is being held at Union Station in Los Angeles, an area bedeviled by homelessness. But on Sunday, the homeless will not be seen anywhere near Union Station, according to a report by Fox 11 Los Angeles. “They came to us about a week ago...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles lawmaker leading the fight to make California a so-called “sanctuary state” has suggested half of his family would be deported for using falsified Social Security cards and other fake identification. California Senate Leader Kevin de Leon made the claims during testimony before the Senate’s Public Safety Committee for SB54, a bill introduced by De Leon that would create a statewide sanctuary for immigrants living in the country illegally. Responding to President Trump’s suggestion of “withholding federal funding” from California, de Leon said: “Half of my family would be eligible for deportation under the...

FULL TITLE: Senator who authored California’s ‘sanctuary state’ bill sends condolences to family of slain officer As Twitchy reported earlier, Cameron Gray posted a must-read thread about the number of House members from California who took to social media to demand answers about the deaths of two children in Border Patrol custody but never thought to tweet about Cpl. Ronil Singh, who was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant. Well, there was one tweet and another retweet at least. President pro tempore of the California State Senate Kevin de León, probably better known to out-of-staters as the Democrat who...

While Hollywood constantly preaches diversity, some of the entertainment industry’s most powerful and influential executives have given almost exclusively to Democrat candidates and left-wing PACs. According to The Hollywood Reporter, nearly 100 percent of the millions donated from the top executives in Hollywood went to Democrats or PACs working to elect Democrats. Of the more than $4 million in federal donations made by the top Hollywood executives and entertainers, 99.7 percent went to Democrats and Democratic-leaning political action committees or organizations, according to a Hollywood Reporter data review of Federal Election Commission records. Only three members of this year’s THR...

Two of California's best-known Democrats are slipping in the polls as the calendar advances closer to Election Day. In fact, both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein have only single-digit leads over their opponents, the results show. In the race for governor, a Probolsky Research poll, conducted between Aug. 29-Sept. 2, shows Newsom leading Republican businessman John Cox by a mere 5 points, with 17 percent of respondents undecided, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Feinstein faces similar problems, with the poll showing her with only an 8-point advantage over progressive challenger Kevin de León. A quarter of...

According to a new poll, California's two biggest statewide races in 2018 are tightening, as the leads for front-runners Gavin Newsom and Dianne Feinstein have been cut to single digits. The poll, conducted by Probolsky Research between Aug. 29 and Sept. 2, found that Lt. Gov. Newsom leads Republican businessman John Cox 44 percent to 39, with 17 percent of the poll's participants saying that they are undecided. Additionally, the poll found that Sen. Feinstein leads progressive challenger Kevin de León 37 percent to 29, with a whopping 34 percent of participants undecided.

Two of California’s best-known Democrats are slipping in the polls as the calendar advances closer to Election Day. In fact, both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein have only single-digit leads over their opponents, the results show. In the race for governor, a Probolsky Research poll, conducted between Aug. 29-Sept. 2, shows Newsom leading Republican businessman John Cox by a mere 5 points, with 17 percent of respondents undecided, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Feinstein faces similar problems, with the poll showing her with only an 8-point advantage over progressive challenger Kevin de León. A quarter of...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is under intense pressure heading into Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing. His nomination puts the 85-year-old California senator, who is seeking reelection, at the center of one of the Senate’s most partisan fights of the year. If confirmed, Kavanaugh, 53, is expected to tilt the Supreme Court to the right for years by giving conservatives a fifth vote on a host of controversial issues. The nationally televised hearing will be a high-profile test for Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee who has taken fire from progressives worried that her collegial personality is...

Watch how de Leon avoids calling Feinstein a crook, lest he draw attention to his own legal issues and corruption Why is California such a cesspit of political corruption? Both U.S. Senate candidates from California have some serious legal troubles and should spend time in the pokey. For 20 years, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) employed a Chinese spy on her staff. When the FBI notified her about the spy on staff, Feinstein allowed him to retire, but claimed she fired him. Why wasn’t he immediately arrested by the FBI?

Since giving up his leadership post in March, former state Sen. President Kevin de León has been allowed to keep at least one perk — an armed driver and car at his beck and call. All on the state’s dime.

<p>But promoting socialism, sky-high taxes, and open borders is probably not going to help them trounce the GOP in November. The activist base of the Democratic party is lurching left fast enough that everyone should pay attention. Activists matter because their turnout in low-turnout primaries and caucuses almost propelled leftist Bernie Sanders to victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Last month, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated New York congressman Joe Crowley, the No. 4 ranking House Democrat in a low-turnout primary. She benefited from organizing support from the Democratic Socialists of America. Leftists have also upset establishment Democrats in statewide primaries for governor in Colorado and Maryland.</p>

The California Democratic Party endorsed progressive candidate Kevin de León for Senate late Saturday in a stunning rebuke of 25-year incumbent and establishment favorite Dianne Feinstein. De León, the state Senate president pro tempore, secured 65 percent of the party’s vote, while just 7 percent voted to endorse Feinstein. A candidate needed 60 percent of the vote to win the endorsement. Twenty-eight percent of the body voted not to endorse any candidate. “Today’s vote is a clear-eyed rejection of politics as usual in Washington, D.C.,” de León said in a statement. “Through years of hard-won progress, we have proven to...

California State Senator Kevin de Leon introduced himself to the DASB Senate on Wednesday, April 18. He formerly served as President pro tempore of the California State Senate, and is running to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein in the 2018 election. De Leon expressed his support for protecting undocumented immigrants and making college free. After Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was going to deport 11 million criminal violent felons, de Leon said he decided to author Senate Bill No. 54, also known as the California “Sanctuary State” Bill. He called Sessions’ comment “fake news,” and said Sessions was...

A recent poll by the University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) has shown that Republican James Bradley, an outsider to the political world, is almost tied with Democrat State Sen. Kevin de Leon in the race for the U.S. Senate in California in the 2018 midterm election. Compared to two years ago, more Americans today may believe that electing a political outsider to a public office is not a bad idea. The job approval rating for President Donald Trump, who had never been part of any political establishment before he was elected, recently hit 51 percent, according...

For the first time in California's history, the state has appointed an undocumented resident to a statewide post, announcing the decision just a day after President Donald Trump attacked its immigration approach during a visit to San Diego. The decision made by the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday saw Lizbeth Mateo, a 33-year-old attorney and immigrant rights activist, appointed to serve on a committee that helps increase college access for students from low-income or underserved communities. In announcing the decision, Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León appeared to recognize the move as an act of defiance in the face...

The California Democratic Party will not endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election bid this year, with delegates at the party’s annual convention giving the majority of votes to her top primary challenger, progressive State Sen. Kevin de Leon. De Leon got 54 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent for the more moderate Feinstein, according to results released Sunday. But neither Democrat will receive the state party endorsement because they failed to reach the 60 percent threshold. The vote totals were not a surprise, considering the state party’s liberal leaning. And Feinstein leads de Leon by 29 percentage points in...

The California Democratic Party decided not to endorse in the U.S. Senate contest on Saturday, an embarrassing rebuke of veteran Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein, who has represented California in the Senate for a quarter-century, is facing an insurgent bid by a fellow Democrat, state Senate leader Kevin de León. He earned nearly 500 more votes than the senator, who was first elected in 1992. De León has cultivated relationships with the party’s delegates. He still faces a significant challenge in trying to topple Feinstein, who trounces De León in all public polling and fund-raising. The party also did not endorse...

California state senator Tony Mendoza resigned Thursday from the Legislature after an independent investigation found that he "more likely than not" harassed several women he worked with during his tenure at the state Capitol. Mendoza, who represents the Artesia area, was suspended last fall when the harassment charges came to light. He denies the charges and his resignation letter called into question the integrity of the investigation. The resignation came after Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León introduced Senate Resolution 85 on Wednesday, which cites the house's zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy and the results of the investigation as grounds...

Senior Senate staff say Sen. President Pro Tem Kevin DeLeon still actively helping former roommate Mendoza keep his paycheck In an exclusive interview to the Flash Report, a California State Senate senior staffer revealed a behind-the-scenes plot to save, or at least continue the Senate paycheck of Democrat Senator Tony Mendoza (Artesia), who in multiple media reports and news articles is alleged to be a serial sexual harasser of women in his own Senate office. The Senate staffer, who has worked several years in the Legislature under multiple leaders, requested anonymity for fear of workplace reprisals.

The Republican-backed federal tax bill flipped the tables on a never-ending question for California politicians: Will high taxes lead the state’s wealthiest residents to flee the Golden State for the comparable tax havens of Florida, Nevada and Texas? Republicans reliably raise that alarm when Democrats advocate for tax increases, like the 2012 and 2016 ballot initiatives that levied a new income tax on very high-earning residents. But now, with the federal tax bill cutting off deductions that benefited well-off Californians, the state’s Democrats suddenly are singing the GOP song about a potential millionaire exodus. “People with higher incomes pay a...