Free Republic

In 2012, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif) won election to Congress by ousting 20-term incumbent Democrat Pete Stark in the general election. During the campaign Swalwell mocked Stark, saying "Stark lives in Maryland--2,850 miles from the district he claims to represent. I live in the district. I will make sure that I commute to Washington and always stay connected with my district. That means driving the roads of my district, shopping the businesses of my district, and the basic requirement, sleeping under a roof in the district." Swalwell, now the leading candidate in the race to replace the retiring Gov. Gavin...

He lives here, he lives here not. Instead of plucking daisy petals, let’s reason it out. Does Rep. Eric Swalwell live with his wife and kids in a posh spread near the Capitol they bought for $1.2 million in 2020? Or does the wannabe gov reside in one rented room in Livermore, Calif. — not far from swanky hotels he frequents — in the district he represents? With fraud a hot issue in California, Swalwell’s approach seems to fit right in. But should he be governor? (The SEIU, which just endorsed Swalwell, seems to think so –– which means he...

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s claims about living in a rented California home have raised “red flags” among members of the state Democratic Party after multiple neighbors at his supposed home of nine years have never seen or met him. The Democrat frontrunner for Governor claims he’s lived since 2017 with another family in a 1,350-square-foot Livermore home owned by the sister-in-law of his political mentor, Tim Sbranti. But five neighbors failed to identify Swalwell on Wednesday when The Post showed them a picture of the congressman and identified him by name. “I’ve never seen him,” said Gita Prusty, who noted she’s...

Two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, yesterday to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government of the PRC without prior notification to the Attorney General. The defendants, Yuance Chen, 38, a PRC national and legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, a PRC national who traveled from the PRC to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested Friday on a criminal complaint charging...

At more than one million hours of use and counting, this bulb proves that they really don't make things like they used to. The Centennial Bulb, as this light has come to be known, is the longest-lasting light bulb of all time. It has been burning continuously since 1901, excluding a short interval in 1976 when the bulb was disconnected from electricity for 22 minutes while the firestation was moved to a different location.

SACRAMENTO — Assemblywoman Nicole Parra and her father traveled to Cuba in early December on what has reportedly become an annual event organized by one of California’s most powerful lobbyists and political fundraisers. Parra, D-Hanford, and other participants said the trip was arranged by Darius Anderson, founder of one of Sacramento’s premiere lobbying firms and a top fundraiser for former Gov. Gray Davis. Since travel to communist Cuba is generally prohibited except under a license from the U.S. government, Anderson’s repeated trips there with lawmakers, business people and others raise a number of questions. Why is a lobbyist arranging religious...

A 70-year-old man imprisoned for the 1976 kidnapping of a bus full of children has been approved for parole, according to spokesperson Joe Orlando of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Frederick Newhall Woods, 70, was one of three men who kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver in Chowchilla, a small city in Northern California's Madera County, more than 45 years ago. All 27 captives were taken to Livermore, more than 100 miles away, placed into a moving truck and buried alive in a quarry owned by Woods' father. The kidnappers then demanded $5 million ransom while...

I'm in the Livermore, colorado area which is north of Ft. Collins. There are fires on the mountain where son in laws boss keeps cattle. They are trying to help a neighbor and the bosses cows. Pleas pray for them, they are at the thick of it. I am a few miles from the fire and the wind is blowi g from the fire toward where I am from time to time...40mph winds. My granddaughter in law had to go up and check on her animals and then she will come back down to where i am which is a...

FULL TITLE: 99.9999% chance humans are causing global warming, and other science-based facts on climate change for Earth Day. Climate change is real and increasingly a part of our daily lives. New research and studies out in just the past six months highlight the latest facts about the human-caused shift to our global weather systems and its effects on our planet. First among them, there's no longer any question that rising temperatures and increasingly chaotic weather are the work of humanity. There's a 99.9999% chance that humans are the cause of global warming, a February study reported. That means we've...

<p>This commentary is IMO honest and frank and leads to many interesting side discussions. My comment is that the red tide is indeed happening, people are just not talking about it. Some are afraid to put up signs, because of the property damage that seems to go along with posting a sign, but they show up at the ballot box. They won't wear a Maga hat because of the violence that seems to encourage, but they have one in their home. This is really sad. The reason it will be a red tide, is because many on both sides of the isle are sick and tired of just what this article articulately describes...See if you don't agree...</p>

The latest in an increasingly worrisome string of vandalism affecting fiber lines in Northern California has prompted AT&T to offer up a $250,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of whomever is responsible. Local media reports indicate the latest apparent acts of vandalism occurred on Monday night when fiber lines were accessed via a manhole and severed at two locations in Livermore, Calif., which is across the bay and about 40 miles inland from San Francisco. The FBI is also looking into the matter. Earlier this summer, Special Agent Greg Wuthrich said, “Anyone who may have been in these...

Someone hacked through yet another fiber optic cable in the San Francisco Bay area early Tuesday morning, continuing a rash of incidents that have disrupted Internet traffic and vexed law enforcement officials. The latest attack occurred at around 4.30 am Pacific Time near the town of Livermore, about 50 miles east of San Francisco. Someone climbed down a manhole cover there and cut through several fiber optic cables, according to several reports. The FBI is investigating. The cables are operated by backbone providers such as Level 3 Communications, which sell capacity to other cable and Internet providers. The cables carry...

Two environmental organizations have asked the US Department of Energy to cancel experiments with plutonium at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF). Representatives from the groups claim the experiments could contaminate the massive laser facility and possibly expose workers and the public to the toxic element. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Tri-Valley CAREs, in Livermore, California, charge that existing environmental impact statements do not include an adequate assessment of the environmental, safety, and proliferation aspects of zapping plutonium with beams from NIF’s 1.8-megajoule laser. The experiments are to be conducted in NIF’s massive 10-meter-diameter target chamber...

A U.S. supercomputer has won back the crown in the never-ending battle for the world's most powerful supercomputer. Its victory is the latest milestone marking the steady climb of computing power all across the globe. The Top500 industry list gave its No. 1 ranking to the Sequoia supercomputer housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California — a spot earned by Sequoia's ability to crunch 16.32 quadrillion calculations per second (16.32 petaflops/s). Such supercomputing power is used by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration to simulate nuclear weapons tests for older weapons that have been sitting in the U.S. arsenal....

LIVERMORE -- How many firefighters does it take to change the Livermore light bulb? None, because it never burns out! The riddle may be a bit tired, but the object of its affectionate punchline is not. For more than a century, the 4-watt "Centennial Light" -- believed to be the world's longest-burning bulb -- has hung from the modest rafters of Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore.

Livermore police warn female joggers or walkers to be aware of a man who approaches women and pulls down their pants. There have been six reports of a man with dark hair who approaches female joggers from behind on Patterson Pass Road and Holmes Street and pulls down their pants before running away, police said. The suspicious activity has happened at an inconsistent frequency on various days of the week and at different times, police said. In most cases, the women have been listening to digital music players and do not anticipate . . .

Joe Requa would love to spend his retirement immersed in woodworking or restoring antique tools. But instead of honing his 1935 Craftsman jigsaw for public display or building a cherry bookcase for his daughter, he devotes his days to a legal battle to protect his retiree health benefits. His fight has culminated in a state case now under way in an Oakland courthouse, brought by Requa and three other plaintiffs against the regents of the University of California. "I've basically been working three years full time on this," the 72-year-old Requa said. "Not having something come out of it would...

LIVERMORE — It's a finable offense in some parts of Alameda County to light any sign — including the sign of the cross, say county officials, who have pulled the plug on a familiar religious landmark near the Altamont Pass. Most motorists traveling east on I-580 can't help but notice the 580-foot-by-300-foot cross with the words "Jesus Saves" visible on a hillside from the north side of the freeway. Until a couple months ago, the brightness of the carving rivaled that of the Las Vegas Strip most nights of the week. Strands of generator-powered Christmas lights stretching a third of...

Although these diagrams are a couple of years old, they do clarify the gross and net energy flows of the US economy, and clearly show the overall efficiency of that consumption in a way that some of you might find informative and useful. https://eed.llnl.gov/flow/02flow.php

Data Found In Drug Raid Contains Weapons-Design Secrets. The recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory was very serious, with sensitive materials being taken out of the facility — possibly including information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons, officials tell CBS News. Officials say there is no evidence the information taken from Los Alamos was sold or transferred to anybody else, but there is no way to be sure right now. As CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson was the first to report, secret documents apparently taken from the lab were found during a drug raid at a...