Free Republic

LOS ANGELES - Javier Ramirez was handcuffed in the back of an unmarked car, bruised and confused, when immigration agents used a word he had never heard before. It was June 2025, and they were bragging about the raids in the Los Angeles area that swept up hundreds of immigrants - and a few U.S. citizens, like Ramirez. The unfamiliar word caught Ramirez's ear.

The Los Angeles Times recently published a "News Analysis" headlined: "Trump, long a critic of 'forever wars,' may be stumbling into one with Iran." The analysis offers legitimate grounds for criticizing President Donald Trump. He has described the objectives of the war against Iran in different ways. He has made changing predictions about its duration. He has repeatedly suggested that an agreement was near, only for negotiations to collapse. He promised no more endless Middle East wars, yet the conflict has continued for months, American servicemembers have died, and the administration has not clearly defined what victory looks like. All...

President Trump long railed against forever wars. For years, whether as president or candidate, he flayed electoral opponents and previous presidents with his signature barbs, calling their entanglements a "complete waste of time" (Afghanistan), "the worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country" (Iraq) and "stupid" (Ukraine). Yet he now appears to be stumbling into a forever war of his own.

The war with Iran has been marked by collapsed ceasefires, expanding airstrikes and mounting American and Iranian casualties. In recent days the U.S. military announced the deaths of three more servicemembers, two of whom died in an Iranian missile strike. The U.S. is pressing on with a fight that has no end in sight — or even a clear definition of what an acceptable end would be. BEIRUT — President Trump long railed against forever wars. For years, whether as president or candidate, he flayed electoral opponents and previous presidents with his signature barbs, calling their entanglements a “complete waste...

Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel and his wife, supermodel Miranda Kerr, have helped pay off $550 million in medical debt for more than 261,000 Californians. The couple made a multimillion-dollar donation to Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that provides debt relief to people in financial need. The organization acquires medical debt in bulk from hospitals, physician groups, collection agencies and other groups for a fraction of the cost. "When someone you love is sick. All you want to do is focus on helping them get better," said Kerr, who is also the founder of skincare company KORA Organics, in a...

The far left has enjoyed one-party rule in the City of Angels for decades, but now there’s a slight wrinkle in their plans as Los Angeles might finally get its first non-left mayor in years this Tuesday. Spencer Pratt, the nominally conservative former reality TV star turned political activist, is currently trailing by less than five points behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and is even closer to current City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, according to recent polling by UC Berkeley/The Los Angeles Times.

Well, I gave him a chance, offering my services.I was willing to give the young novice a primer on what a mayor can and can’t do, and let him know City Hall is a reality show like no other he’s been on. But Spencer Pratt didn’t call me in response to my column last week.I did, however, hear from a slew of his most ardent supporters.Steven C. had this to say: “You’re a left-wing idiot, and … it’s time for you to retire. You’re a joke!!! You always have been!!! God bless Spencer Pratt and the 45th and 47th President...

Does Spencer Pratt, the conservative Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose home burned up in the Palisades fire, ever get a break over his housing arrangements? They're still picking on him over his desperate post-fire living arrangements, this time with TMZ attacking Pratt's decision to put his family in a nice hotel for a few days. Hypocrite, you see, he's supposed to be living in a silverstream trailer on the rubble of his burned home as if an arrangement like that would even be safe for a family with two small children. First, the Los Angeles Times went after him for...

A legal maneuver once reserved for death row inmates and suspected terrorists has become the only recourse for immigrant detainees. The petitions for freedom have flooded California’s Eastern District, where the chief judge recently took the unusual step of announcing a “judicial emergency.” Many of the cases involve longtime U.S. residents unexpectedly hauled off to jail after routine immigration check-ins. Federal immigration officials had once again flouted his authority by keeping a man locked up in a California City detention center after Nunley ordered him released. When he was finally set free, the man was booted onto the street with...

Once upon a time in California, I went to the Orange County fairgrounds to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger give the signal for a wrecking ball to drop onto a vehicle. The audience went wild, and Schwarzenegger went on to become governor and deliver on his promise to roll back a car tax increase, thereby blowing a $4-billion hole in the state budget. SNIP “There’s no historical precedent in modern California history for a governor’s race with such a large field or such an amorphous field of candidates,” said longtime political observer Dan Schnur. “Unless you’re paying very close attention, it feels...

Deportations of Mexicans dropped to 144,000 in 2025, roughly half the annual figure under President Biden, according to data analyzed by a Mexican investigative outlet.

Apparently, it's panic time for Democrats in their one-party blue state of California. The Los Angeles Times reports that they are facing armageddon in the upcoming governor's race, whose "jungle" primary is in June. According to the Los Angeles Times: SAN FRANCISCO — Leaders of the California Democratic Party, along with liberal activists and loyal power brokers, are openly expressing fear that their crowded field of candidates running for governor may splinter the vote and open the door to a surprise Republican victory in November.SNIP The bottom line here is that Democrats wouldn't have this problem at all if they...

Former Rep. Katie Hill, the California Democrat who resigned following her très bizarre multi-layered sex scandal with a younger female congressional staffer, who then presented herself as the victim of harassment, bullying, and revenge porn in a New York Times op-ed, is back. She’s not back in Congress, but back to her pre-Congress homeless nonprofit grift. Allegations and photos emerged of Rep. Katie Hill and her husband involved in a “throuple” threesome relationship with a young congressional staffer in 2019. Hill also had allegedly been involved in a sexual relationship for a year with her finance director, RedState reported. She...

California’s Democratic supermajority quickly pushed through a redistricting measure that favors their party. Voters will consider it in November. The effort was in response to Texas Republicans adopting a redistricting plan favoring their party, which they took up at Trump’s behest. In an evening social media post about a supremely partisan battle that could reshape American political power for generations, President Trump sounded ebullient.“Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself,” Trump wrote, of the nation’s most populous red...

Brian K. Williams, former deputy mayor of public safety under Mayor Bass, was sentenced to probation for calling in a fake bomb threat. Williams said he was suffering mental health issues following family deaths when he told police someone threatened to bomb City Hall over Israel support. He actually made the threatening call himself using Google Voice to escape a stressful meeting at City Hall last October. A former senior member of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ staff was sentenced to a year probation and 50 hours of community service for calling in a fake bomb threat that he told...

A strawberry delivery driver was arrested by Border Patrol near Gov. Newsom’s Little Tokyo news conference, becoming “collateral damage.” Angel Minguela Palacios endured six weeks of harsh detention conditions, watching fellow detainees give up and self-deport. Over more than a month in detention, the 48-year-old father prayed he’d get back to his family. The lights never dimmed and Angel Minguela Palacios couldn’t sleep. He pulled what felt like a large sheet of aluminum foil over his head, but couldn’t adjust to lying on a concrete floor and using his tennis shoes as a pillow. He could smell unwashed bodies in...

The state’s new congressional lines have yet to be approved, but would-be candidates are jockeying behind the scenes. Supervisor Hilda Solis hasn’t publicly announced her candidacy, but she’s already lining up support for a potential new southeast L.A. County congressional seat. As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to redraw California’s congressional maps plays out at the state Capitol and on the national stage, a quieter but no less bloody scramble is simultaneously underway. Newsom’s plan — a bid to counter President Trump’s drive for more GOP House seats with his own California show of force — still needs to be approved...

FAIRVIEW, N.C. — Jamie Ager has spent much of the past year rebuilding his farm in the foothills of western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene tore through the region, cutting power, destroying fences and scattering livestock. Then, earlier this year, Ager lost his beef contract with local schools, a casualty of billions of dollars in cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration. Now, the fifth-generation farmer is running for Congress — part of a new crop of Democratic candidates the party is turning to as it tries to compete in the tough, often rural districts it...

Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was walking his family’s dog in Van Nuys on a recent morning when he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials, according to authorities and published reports. Guerrero-Cruz, who turned 18 this month, was set to start his senior year at Reseda Charter High School on Thursday. Instead, he’s being held in Department of Homeland Security custody pending removal from the United States, the agency confirmed in statement to The Times on Friday. “Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz, an illegal alien from Chile, overstayed his visa by more than two years, abusing the Visa Waiver Program under which he...

As “Madame Web” star Sydney Sweeney remains mum on allegations of promoting eugenics via her American Eagle advertisement, she has seemingly stirred up even more support from far-right figures after recently gaining the favor of President Trump. A black-and-yellow banner covering a billboard on the 91 Freeway in Corona boldly states: “Proud Boys Love Sydney Sweeney,” according to a photo that one Corona resident shared with ABC7.