Free Republic

The ridge high above Los Angeles is filled with clues. There are shattered pieces of electrical equipment, and a grove of madrone blackened by fire. Police tape is strung around one section of the sandy soil, now mixed with ash. Investigators have zeroed in on these rocky bluffs with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean as the ignition point of the Palisades fire, the inferno that has destroyed at least 5,000 homes and businesses and killed at least eight people. A recent visit by New York Times reporters to the site — near the “crime scene,” as officers for the...

During the early days of Donald J. Trump’s first presidency, lawyers at the attorney general’s office in Washington State would gather to strategize about what they saw as troubling directives being handed down by the White House.There were orders barring travelers from Muslim-majority countries, rolling back environmental rules and ending protections for young immigrants. Lawyers in Washington and other states controlled by Democrats believed the actions were endangering rights and lives.But there was one thing working to their advantage: Many of the administration’s orders were written in such a sloppy fashion, said Bob Ferguson, Washington State’s attorney general, that he...

Law enforcement officials cautioned that they had not yet determined a motive for the Pacific Northwest arson fires. But the messages have heightened the sensitivity of the investigation. Investigators responding to arson fires at two ballot boxes in the Pacific Northwest this week found devices at both scenes marked with the words “Free Gaza,” according to two law enforcement officials. Investigators are trying to determine if the perpetrator was actually a pro-Palestinian activist or someone using that prominent cause to sow discord, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. But the message...

00:00 Whose Fault Was This? 08:16 Was There Less Secret Service Than Usual? 15:37 What an Internal Investigation Would Look Like 21:33 Will Anyone Get Fired From This? 26:33 The Crucial Role That X Played 34:42 Will People View Trump More Favourably? 39:03 Everything We Know About the Shooter 44:51 Mike’s Thoughts on JD Vance 51:18 What World Leaders Had to Say 59:36 Should Trump Hire Private Security? 1:06:59 How “That Photo” of Trump Was Taken on Saturday 1:11:17 Where to Find Mike

FOLSOM, Calif. — K.C. Alvey treads carefully when she and her dog, Stuart, walk the dappled trail behind their apartment in Folsom, California. Since the pandemic, her neighbors have included homeless campers along a brook known as Humbug Creek.There’s the man who periodically emerges from the brush, yelling in fear and tearing at tree limbs. There’s the hoarder who fled with his dog as a cleanup crew again cleared his massive campsite — shopping carts, three beds, throw pillows, art, books, mirrors on trees, rugs, torch fuel. Rogue campfires have been frequent.Until recently, federal appellate courts limited how far cities...

Some of my conservative friends worry that China is trying to impose its political system on the rest of the world. Ask the Chinese about this, and they look at you as if you’re crazy: There’s no way you barbarians could reproduce our system, even if you wanted to, they explain. You can’t accept failure. The key to China’s system is the willingness of its people to accept failure. The ticket to middle-class success in China is a university education, and 10 million Chinese high-school students take the entrance exam (Gaokao) every year. They study prodigiously, and the average Chinese...

Early Friday morning on Fox’s Red Eye, host Greg Gutfeld finally broke the silence and announced the departure of long-time “repulsive sidekick” and panelist Bill Schulz. The brief announcement came after a prolonged, unexplained Schulz absence from the show. “A lot of viewers have wondered where the heck Bill Schulz went,” Gutfeld said. “Sad to say he has decided to move on from the show. He’s been a close friend of mine for 13 years, and he’s been a huge part of Red Eye since its inception, and we wish him the best.” No further reason was given for his...

It seems that much of the nation rolled over on Tuesday night last week, lit a post election cigarette and dreamily congratulated themselves on a wonderful performance. Was it okay for you? I’ve never seen anything like the global swoon we’ve been experiencing since the polls closed and Obama’s victory was announced. "OMG," cries the public, fueled by a media that got itself a bit more than a little pregnant, "how wonderful we are for electing Obama." Maybe I’m just a cynical, churlish idiot, but I woke up after the election with a feeling that, while historic, the result was...