Free Republic

If California were its own country, its economy would now rank as fourth-largest of any nation across the globe, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, a new milestone that comes at a time of major economic turbulence. California has long been global powerhouse, fueled by a variety of sectors including technology, agriculture, tourism and entertainment. The new ranking comes as the state is facing challenges from a trade war with China and other nations that are key California trading partners. Newsom announced the state’s new economic ranking Wednesday after recently released data from the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Bureau of...

Lawrence Herrera started carrying a folded-up copy of his birth certificate in his wallet last week. He also saved a picture of his passport on his phone’s camera roll. For the 67-year-old Atwater Village resident who was born and raised here, the precaution felt silly. But he’s not taking any chances. “I started hearing, ‘He’s taking anyone and everyone,’” Herrara said, referrring to President Trump’s immigration crackdown. “I thought, ‘You know what? That could be me.’” Herrera was one of hundreds of protesters who spent Fourth of July in downtown Los Angeles to rally against the immigration raids that have...

NEW YORK — In choosing Zohran Mamdani as their candidate for mayor, Democrats in America’s most Jewish city have nominated an outspoken critic of Israel, alarming some in New York’s Jewish community and signaling a sea change in the priorities of one of the party’s most loyal voting groups. The 33-year-old democratic socialist’s surprisingly strong performance against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes clear that taking a stance against Israel is no longer disqualifying in a Democratic primary. The state Assembly member has declined to support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, refused to denounce the term...

California’s fight to rein in President Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles hinges on a 19th century law with a a blood-soaked origin and a name that seems pulled from a Spaghetti Western. In a pivotal ruling this week, Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ordered the federal government to hand over evidence to state authorities seeking to prove that the actions of troops in Southern California violate the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which forbids soldiers from enforcing civilian laws. “How President Trump has used and is using the federalized National Guard and the Marines since deploying...

WASHINGTON — An undocumented man from Guatemala who has leukemia postponed chemotherapy because he was afraid to go to the hospital. A Mexican grandmother packed most of her belongings into boxes, in case she is deported. A Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles has lost nearly half of its in-person membership. Across California and the U.S., immigrants are responding to the Trump administration’s unrelenting enforcement raids by going into lockdown. Activities that were once a regular or even mundane part of life — taking kids to school, buying groceries, driving — have become daunting as immigrants who lack legal authorization...

Increasingly aggressive immigration raids carried out by masked federal agents, sometimes using unmarked vehicles, are creating problems for local law enforcement agencies. Police have little or no insight into where the federal enforcement actions are taking place but often have to deal with the aftermath, including protests and questions from residents about what exactly happened. In some cases, local cops have been mistaken for federal agents, eroding years of work to have immigrant communities trust the police.In Bell, chaos erupted when masked men arrived at a car wash and began detaining its workers, sparking a confrontation with residents and immigration...

The Trump administration has sued Texas and Kentucky over laws allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. Students wonder if the federal government will target California, which passed its law in 2001. States’ in-state tuition laws, often enacted with bipartisan support, have faced growing challenges. For 24 years, immigrants lacking documentation who graduated from high school in California have received in-state tuition benefits at public colleges and universities under a law that’s given tens of thousands access to higher education that many couldn’t otherwise afford. When the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 540 in 2001, it was the second state...

Emma De Paz woke up at 2 every morning for 25 years to make soup, roasted chicken and tamales to sell to work crews picking up their day’s supplies at the Home Depot. She joined other immigrant vendors lining the side streets under tents and over grills in a makeshift community that was something of a refuge for Latino immigrants in the Hollywood area. Abelino Perez Alvarez and his wife sold orange juice, soda and water. Day laborers scrolled through their phones as they waited outside the parking lot in hopes of getting work. Around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, the refuge...

With federal immigration sweeps showing no signs of slowing across Southern California, there is growing concern from top officials, spiritual leaders and business owners that a climate of fear was sending more people underground and changing the rhythm of city life.Once-bustling immigrant hubs, including MacArthur Park, the Garment District, downtown’s produce market and areas of the Eastside have seen a noticeable reduction in foot traffic over the last week, with some businesses forced to close as a result.It comes as social media is rife with videos of people spotting immigration agents at shopping centers, markets and neighborhood streets, and capturing...

San Francisco police have arrested a man accused of defacing the famed Pink Triangle, a symbol of LGBTQ+ rights that is installed annually during Pride Month on top of the city’s landmark Twin Peaks.

...2,000 National Guard troops will be sent to L.A. amid clashes over immigration raids... Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies use flash bang grenades and tear gas on protesters... "We'll come get you": L.A.'s top federal prosecutor says protesters are being investigated... Hegseth says Marines could be deployed. "Deranged", Newsom says...

LEOPOLD, Ind. — On the ceiling of Abbie Brockman’s middle school English classroom in Perry County, the fluorescent lights are covered with images of a bright blue sky, a few clouds floating by.Outside, the real sky isn’t always blue. Sometimes it’s hazy, with pollution drifting from coal-fired power plants in this part of southwest Indiana. Knowing exactly how much, and what it may be doing to the people who live there, is why Brockman got involved with a local environmental organization that’s installing air and water quality monitors in her community.“Industry and government is very, very, very powerful. It’s more...

A new, highly transmissible COVID subvariant has been detected in California — heightening the risk of a potential summer wave as recent moves by the Trump administration threaten to make vaccines harder to get, and more expensive, for many Americans, some health experts warn. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this week that he was rescinding the federal government’s recommendation that pregnant women and healthy children get immunized against COVID, effective immediately. Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, also said the agency will no longer routinely approve annually formulated COVID-19 vaccinations...

Has any American company run away from a public commitment faster than Target?In an Aug. 19, 2020, conference call, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell forthrightly put his company in the forefront of the quest for racial and ethnic justice. George Floyd had been murdered by Police Officer Derek Chauvin, abetted by several other officers in Minneapolis, Target’s home city, only about three months earlier. Calls for recognition of the racism exposed by the killing were still reverberating nationwide.“Our team is passionately demanding equity and justice for our Black colleagues and guests,” Cornell said. “We are united in that passion and...

WASHINGTON — For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected — from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity. Now, the Trump administration has sought to expand the executive branch’s power to shield from public view key administration initiatives. Officials have used apps like Signal that can auto-delete messages containing sensitive information rather than retaining them for record-keeping. And they have shaken up the National Archives leadership. To historians and archivists, it points to the possibility that President Trump will leave...

Americans barely remember the Mexican-American War, but in Mexico memories of the war and other military quarrels with the United States remain deeply felt. Mexico lost half its territory, including California, in the war that broke out this week in 1846. President Claudia Sheinbaum, who often speaks of Mexico’s sovereignty, said, “We are neither a protectorate nor a colony of any foreign nation.” MEXICO CITY — At the entrance to Mexico City’s largest park lies a towering marble monument to six young military cadets killed in battle. The Niños Héroes — “boy heroes” — died while defending Mexico’s capital...

The EPA’s plan to roll back regulations and cut climate programs will increase the cost of living for millions of people and bring about hundreds of thousands of premature deathsRepealing key protections could erase $254 billion in annual benefits for public health and the environment, compared with $39 billion in savings for regulated industriesLooser rules around air and water quality could also lead to worsening asthma attacks, increased ER visits and other adverse health outcomes The Trump administration’s slash-and-burn approach to federal programs has delivered a considerable hit to the nation’s environment, but experts say its plans to repeal hard-won...

The Los Angeles Times has delivered another round of layoffs with the outlet’s business side slashed just weeks after 40 newsroom employees accepted buyouts. The Wrap reports the full count isn’t known, citing Oliver Darcy that dozens of employees across the company’s operations and communications sections were let go this week, including Vice President of Communications Hillary Manning. Representatives for the Los Angeles Times didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.

Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman will allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty again in Los Angeles, undoing one of the signature policies of his predecessor, George Gascón. The move comes as little surprise: Hochman campaigned on the issue almost as soon as he announced his challenge to Gascón in 2023. But it still marks a significant shift in one of the largest prosecutor’s offices in the nation. Under California law, the death penalty can only be sought in cases where a defendant is accused of murder with special circumstances. That can include multiple homicides or cases where the victim is...

From tariffs to Ukraine to cuts to the federal workforce, President Trump has invoked the idea of fairness.Experts said the focus is effective, tapping into the sense among many Americans that they have been left behind.In a sit-down interview with Fox News last month, President Trump and his billionaire “efficiency” advisor Elon Musk framed new tariffs on foreign trading partners as a simple matter of fairness.“I said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging,’” Trump said of a conversation he’d had with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I’m doing that with every country.”“It seems fair,”...