Free Republic

It’s four weeks until Election Day and Donald Trump is doing his utmost to dig Republicans out of their polling hole. In theory, anyway. Trump has been rallying through red states – Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas – to try and secure existing Senate seats. But today’s Democratic pile-on concerns a throwaway comment he made last night in Nebraska. Mid-weave, of course. The President said: “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They could take out a city… ‘let ’em, let ’em take Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego, that’s…’ this is...

U.S. — The nation has reportedly slipped into a period of deep sadness and introspection after learning that Iran may not actually nuke Los Angeles. Following a misunderstood statement by President Trump that it would be a "small price to pay" for Iran to nuke LA and San Diego, the nation was upset to learn there is no imminent threat to the City of Angels and that it would not, in fact, be destroyed. "There are no words to express my disappointment," said John Glenn of Arizona. "I mean, I'm glad San Diego is going to be okay, but I...

Stealing from the taxpayer has now become a multi-billion-dollar industry in America - and the Trump administration is finally doing something about it. From the Department of Government Efficiency to Vice President JD Vance’s task force, the Trump administration has made combatting fraud a top priority. Here are just a few of the most astonishing fraud schemes uncovered so far. 750,000 fraudsters stealing $2.2 billion from ObamacareSince its passage in 2010, Obamacare has been a magnet for scammers, resulting in higher tax bills for Americans and higher premiums in the private insurance market. But the Trump administration is finally doing...

DA says 20 surrogate-born children suffered abuse in California 'house of horrors' A California mansion packed with young children was a "house of horrors," prosecutors say. Authorities on Tuesday arrested Guojon Xuan, 65, and his wife, 38-year-old Sylvia Zhang, on child abuse charges after a yearlong investigation into what officials describe as a tightly monitored "home school type" compound for more than 20 children, most of them born to surrogate mothers, the Los Angeles Times reports. Fifteen children, most of them between 1 and 3 years old, were removed from the home in the Los Angeles County city of Arcadia...

A Chinese-born couple who paid a nationwide web of surrogates to bear close to two dozen children for them were arrested Tuesday in what Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called an “unprecedented case of child abuse.” Hochman alleged that Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan conspired to commit child abuse by authorizing nannies caring for 14 babies and toddlers in the couple’s Arcadia, Calif., mansion to beat and physically punish the children, sometimes directing the abuse. Xuan was also charged with one count of child abuse, and both he and Zhang were additionally charged with dissuading witnesses. Mitchell Krems,...

This is Measure ULA, sold to voters in 2022 as a way to stick it to the millionaires and billionaires.But it ended up sticking it to the people as a whole instead!Here's the NYP:LA's 'mansion tax,"'sold to Angelenos as a way to tax the rich and boost housing, has instead blocked the building of 9,100 homes, wiped out 16,650 full-time construction jobs, and cost $452 million in revenue.A damning new report says the tax, officially known as United to House LA, or ULA, has had a negative impact on the city's high-end and multifamily real estate markets and collected less...

Los Angeles County introduced a 10.25 percent sales tax on Thursday, four months after voters approved Measure ER. The Essential Services Restoration Act (Measure ER) overwhelmingly passed in L.A. County earlier this year, raising the sales tax by a half-cent to support health care and other essential services – from 9.75 percent to 10.25 percent. “For every $100 in taxable purchases, Measure ER adds 50 cents in tax, bringing the total to $110.25,” noted NBC News. “The increase is temporary. Measure ER allows the tax to remain in effect for five years until Oct. 1, 2031 as it is projected...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that formally recognizes two Muslim holidays as state holidays on Sunday, making it the second state to formally recognize both holidays statewide. California Assembly Bill 2017 officially added Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to the list of state holidays, which would permit public schools and colleges to close and allow state employees to be eligible to observe the holidays. However, schools and businesses will not be required to close on these days, and courts will be required to stay open. This makes California the second state in the country, after Washington...

Earlier, “progressive” LA mayoral candidate Nithya Raman used the "genocide" slur with Hasan Piker.  Appearing on Sep 29, 2026 in a Jewish forum by the Jewish Federation, Raman was asked whether she would appear with someone who was anti-Christian or anti-Muslim, as she had appeared with the antisemitic Hasan Piker. She said yes, explaining that “we need to hear a wide variety of opinions.”  So she was asked about her use of the word “genocide.”  She answered, “I’m not an expert on this term, but I’ve seen experts calling it a genocide. I looked it up, and...

A Honduran agitator arrested earlier this year at an anti-ICE protest in Southern California was busted by Homeland Security agents Friday on charges of illegally registering to vote — part of a crackdown on suspected election fraud in California. Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, a Honduran national living in the San Fernando Valley, is accused of two felonies related to his false claims of US citizenship to complete voter registration forms, prosecutors say. Rivera Flores’ early-morning arrest outside a health-care center in Ventura is just the beginning of a war on suspected election fraud that has the full support of...

Spencer Pratt didn't make the November runoff, but his warning did. The latest UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll has DSA-backed City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 39 percent and Mayor Karen Bass at 28 percent. The DSA, which has called for defunding the police and abolishing prisons, endorsed Raman's mayoral run earlier this month. Another 33 percent of likely voters haven't chosen either candidate. The online survey of 2,150 likely Los Angeles voters was conducted Sept. 15-20 and has a margin of error of about three percentage points. Pratt had a simple response. And this wasn't Pratt taking a...

Nithya Raman is dominating Karen Bass in the Los Angeles’ mayor’s race, according to a bombshell new poll. The challenger has surged to an 11-point lead with less than six weeks until the vote, according to the UC Berkeley/LA Times survey. Far-left Raman is backed by 39% of likely voters compared with just 28% for Bass, the poll released Wednesday morning shows.But a whopping 33% remain undecided, leaving plenty of room for the race to move before the Nov. 3 election. Bass’ campaign quickly blasted the survey as an “outlier,” saying other recent polls have shown a much tighter contest.

Typhus, a flea-borne bacterial disease, is on the rise in Los Angeles County, with the latest localized case reported in the Wilshire Center neighborhood, public health officials said Tuesday. The disease is spread to humans by infected fleas that commonly live on rats, opossums, stray cats and other animals. Common symptoms include headaches, chills, muscle aches and rash. The Wilshire Center case is the second localized typhus outbreak this year, according to the LA County Department of Public Health. There were at least seven symptomatic cases linked to the outbreak, health officials said. Six of the seven patients had to...

A Republican can’t win, Becerra is already governor, and the remaining issue is Steve Hilton’s accent On Flagrant and Funny with Jemele Hill and Cari Champion, Mayor Karen Bass did California the courtesy of canceling November. “That’s why the governor’s race is over. Our governor’s name is Xavier Becerra. You don’t need an election on November 3. A Republican cannot win in this state.” Then, she supplied the punch line: “And yet, a Republican with a British accent?!” The hosts laughed on cue like trained parrots. The party of “No Kings” would like a coronation, please—just don’t call it that....

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced Sept. 16 that his agency had identified approximately $75 million laundered through homeless services, mostly in California. States and cities receiving federal taxpayer dollars to support homeless people funneled that money into nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, where the taxpayer dollars were spent on lavish vacations, private jets, luxury automobiles, opening nightclubs, and other personal ventures, according to the announcement. The “homeless industrial complex,” as Turner called it, involves nonprofits and non-governmental organizations that take federal taxpayer dollars, administered by states, and register non-existent identities as “homeless people” receiving aid, when no...

A man who was arrested for allegedly pepper-spraying a moviegoer at a SoCal theater because the moviegoer was on their phone is receiving strong support from the internet. The incident unfolded at the AMC Burbank 16 at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. The man, identified by the Burbank Police Department as 34-year-old Los Angeles resident Matthew Ware, is said to have pepper-sprayed a person who was using their cell phone “about 40 minutes into the movie,” according to a witness, who said he heard a “hissing sound” of an aerosol spray. It is believed that the film playing at...

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) laundered more than $75 million for charlatans, cheaters, and thieves, at least one of whom used more than $1 million of the more than $110 million in homeless funds he received to open a nightclub. And it's no wonder that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who's running for reelection, smelled trouble and quit her membership in and control over LAHSA before the feds announced indictments on Wednesday. Karen Bass suddenly stepped down from LAHSA a few days ago. Today, HUD Secretary Turner just revealed that $75M of fraud was laundered through LAHSA.Probably nothing!...

This video from the Watching the Watchers channel discusses the criminal sentencing of Elpedio Raina, a man from Compton, for his role in attacking ICE vehicles (0:00 - 0:24). Key takeaways include: Sentencing Outcome: Raina was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison (0:27, 8:31) for felony assault on a federal officer (0:36). He had requested probation (1:52, 4:06) but the judge rejected this, noting that disagreement with laws passed by Congress does not justify assaulting federal officers (1:03). The Incident: On June 7th in Los Angeles, Raina was involved in an anti-ICE protest where he knowingly lit objects on...

Projections indicate that a Paramount exodus would severely hurt California’s economy to the tune of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs if movie studio head David Ellison made good on his threat to relocate. AG Bonta’s lawsuit halts the Warner Bros. acquisition.Conducted by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, the study found that California would lose roughly 28,990 to 57,980 full-time jobs statewide across various industries if Paramount relocated to a state like Tennessee, with revenue losses estimated between $10.6 billion and $21.2 billion annually. “It should be emphasized that these estimated job losses include direct,...

Karen Bass has said she is not available to testify before a powerful House panel over alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” involving more than $1 billion in federal homelessness funding. The Post obtained a copy of the letter the mayor’s team sent to the DOGE subcommittee where she shot down their efforts to grill her on cash handed to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). Her legal counsel David Michaelson said “unfortunately the mayor is not available on that date,” in reference to her planned September 15 appearance. It is not clear what Bass has planned for that date and...