Free Republic

It has not been a pretty summer for consumers at California’s supermarkets. That’s what my trusty spreadsheet found when averaging slices of Consumer Price Indexes for three Golden State metro areas: the Los Angeles/Orange County combo, San Francisco and San Diego. This summer’s pricing – June through August’s reports – shows that prices in the “food at home” category across those three metros grew at an average 3.3% annual rate this summer. So, grocery inflation more than doubled from 1.5% in 2024. Yes, food at home inflation is nowhere near the pandemic era’s inflation surge that saw grocery prices balloon...

MALIBU, Calif. (KABC) -- The road to recovery after the Palisades Fire has been anything but smooth for a group of historical business owners on the eastern edge of Malibu. For years, the Reel Inn was a staple along Pacific Coast Highway at Topanga Canyon Boulevard. The famous seafood shack fed surfers and tourists for nearly 40 years. Its sign is now in a pile of rubble, and because of a yearslong dispute over land use, the Reel Inn may never reopen. Other businesses are facing the same roadblocks when it comes to rebuilding -- The Topanga Ranch Motel, Wiley's...

Does Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shtick seem familiar? There’s a good reason. You’ve seen it before. So did everyone else. As a young man, Newsom made VHS tapes of three subjects and studied them obsessively: the smooth lefty swing of the Giants’ first baseman Will Clark; episodes of “Remington Steele”; and every speech by Bill Clinton. When Newsom was mayor, his staff always knew when he’d been studying Clinton, because he’d speak with an Arkansas twang. He still employs Clinton mannerisms on the stump: the bit lip of empathy, the genial head toggle as he adjudicates, the drill-sergeant jaw pop before...

A recently published study from researchers at Texas A&M University found that several parts of the U.S. are much more susceptible to power outages than others, with Southern California among the most vulnerable. Researchers at the university’s Urban Resilience AI Lab used machine learning and artificial intelligence to help establish a nationwide Power Stability Vulnerability Index (PSVI) for every county in America. They collected data from around 179 million power outage records at 15-minute intervals across 3,022 counties in the contiguous U.S. over a nine-year period between 2014 and 2023 to create a framework based on three key dimensions: intensity,...

A combination of climate change and natural erosion is thought to be threatening the highway, vital for school buses, emergency services and local businesses. “Last Chance Grade and Highway 101 isn’t just a road — it’s a lifeline,” said state Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Mark McGuire, who represents the north coast. DEL NORTE COUNTY, Calif. — In March 1972, Kurt Stremberg’s parents gave him a predawn ride from their house in northwest California to his friend’s home in the tiny town of Klamath, about 20 miles south of Crescent City on Highway 101. Stremberg, then 24, and his buddy...

Three West Coast states are forming a public health alliance to provide "credible information" on vaccine safety in response to the turmoil within the Trump administration. This announcement heralds a shift from the federal vaccine recommendation system that has been in place for decades to a patchwork structure that varies from state to state. The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington announced Wednesday that they were working to provide unified recommendations to "ensure residents remain protected by science, not politics." The action comes after months of upheaval at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the termination of the...

California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom is the new front runner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. Behind a social media campaign that mocks the style and demeanor of President Donald Trump, Newsom’s charges have worked wonders for his national profile and elevated what appears to be an all-but-certain presidential campaign in 2028. New polling from Emerson suggests the 57-year-old former mayor of San Francisco is heads and shoulders above his Democratic peers who each possess a fatal flaw that will likely prevent them from warding off the coming era of Newsom. Emerson queried 387 active registered Democrats and...

Ian Jaeger @IanJaeger29 $17 for a Burger King Whopper Meal in California. This is what happens when you make the minimum wage $20, Gavin Newsom. From Wall Street Apes 7:26 PM · Aug 30, 2025

"The scariest thing about living in LA. right now, doesn't matter nice area or poor area...a lot of businesses are just out." Store after store is just vacant. "So scary to see so many businesses go out. Feel like the city is dying."

California “First Partner” Jennifer Siebel Newsom making bank off her husband’s position is outrageous — and fresh proof that American politicians have gotten far too comfortable with the dirty dealing that pervades politics. ...Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit, Representation Project, pays her a hefty $150,000 — while raking in donations from companies that have an interest in winning the favor of her husband, California Gov. Gavin Newsom. AT&T, which has spent upward of $2 million to lobby the state on landline phone rules so far this year, forked over up to $25,000 for Representation Project’s “Flip the Script” gala. Comcast, AT&T’s competitor,...

Phillips 66 will begin shutting down its 139,000 bpd Los Angeles-area refinery as soon as next week , sources told Reuters, moving forward on a closure plan announced last year. Units at the plant will idle in phases through Q4 2025, with the facility permanently offline by year-end. The decision isn’t a surprise—Phillips 66 said in October it would exit the site, citing “market dynamics.” But it comes with fallout about 600 employees and 300 contractors will lose their jobs by December, with only a handful reassigned to the company’s marine terminal. The company insists it will support workers through...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday announced a plan to accelerate the process of laying the first tracks on the state’s beleaguered infrastructure project. The materials will be used to install the first miles of electrified track along the California High-Speed Rail route, the first high-speed rail track to be laid in the U.S. The Authority states that the process is being accelerated and will result in track being laid in 2026. Aerial view of the Cedar Viaduct crossing in Fresno which was completed in April 2023. (California High-Speed Rail Authority) U.S. manufacturers will be able to bid in...

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately politicized the mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis on Wednesday by blaming Republicans. As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, two children were killed and 17 others were wounded during a shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school while the students attended Mass. Per the New York Post: The deranged gunman who slaughtered two children and injured at least 17 others at a Catholic school in Minneapolis has been identified as a transgender woman — as disturbing videos posted by the shooter show a handwritten manifesto and “kill Donald Trump” and “for the children”...

San Bernardino easily won the title for dirtiest city in both California and the U.S. for the second straight year, with the worst pollution rating and the highest number of dissatisfied residents, according to the study. Next in line was Los Angeles, which was also joined in the top ten by Ontario (5) and Corona (10). Topping the list of cleanest cities was South Bend, IN, with a score of 18.53, followed by Wilmington, NC and Des Moines, IA.

Editorial Gerrymandering is an idea that should be terminated the independent redistricting movement here, has vowed to fight Newsom with the same vigor that his character as a Thank goodness for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not only did he utter one of the top lines in movie history—“I’ll be back”—but he’s also bringing muscle to the fight against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scheme to take Ventura County and the rest of the state back to the days when shady politicians decided who spoke for us in Sacramento and Washington. Newsom’s “Election Rigging Response Act” is a constitutional amendment that, if passed by California...

In April, illegal Harjinder Singh made an illegal u-turn on a Florida turnpike and caused a crash that killed three occupants of a minivan in the lane to the left of his semi-truck. Hoping to bolster his chances of running for president in 2028, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) pointed out that "Trump was president when Singh illegally entered the US. His failure to secure the border enabled this tragedy to occur." What Newsom failed to mention was that it was California that illegally granted Singh a commercial driver's license. When Singh was tested for English language proficiency by the Federal...

Gavin Newsom has been searching for an identity for his pursuit of the Presidency in 2028. It appears as though he's settled on one. He's been advocating for violence against Republicans (this one is Obamaesque). Gavin Newsom calls for violence against Republicans: “We’re going to punch these sons of b*tches in the mouth.” He knows what he’s doing. He’s inciting more riots and attacks against Republicans. Arrest Newsom for promoting violence. pic.twitter.com/WgcGE0CZCp — Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) August 21, 2025But the rest have a theme. He's holding press conferences that are looking increasingly familiar Gavin Newsom: "$175 billion in the...

He had a massive drinking and outburst problem. So much so that when a reporter once asked him about it - he completely lost his composure. 👀

Top Dem donor and Gavin Newsom backer raised $300 million by touting "Corporate ESG Business" based on fake revenue.Joe Sanberg, a top California Democrat activist who decried the corruption of big Wall Street banks and started a company marketed as the “cleaner” alternative, actually propped that company up through blatant fraud, he admitted Thursday. Sanberg and other high-profile Democrats started the carbon-credit platform and online banking app Aspiration Partners Inc., promising to plant trees and not invest in polluting industries. Its motto was “clean rich is the new filthy rich.” It was once a star of the “environmental, social, and...

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to spout dangerous, left-wing rhetoric — this time inciting violence against Trump supporters and other conservatives. Newsom spewed his venomous bile Wednesday while cosplaying as a tough guy on “The Siren” podcast, during which he urged leftists to “punch” MAGA supporters.