Free Republic

Government auditors in Democrat-dominated Washington State say that more than $1.3 billion in spending through the state’s childcare subsidy system cannot be verified. The audit, covering 2021 through 2024, revealed that the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) failed to maintain the necessary records to track federal childcare funds at the provider level, leaving a slew of expenditures and other payments unaccounted for. Concerningly, the financial review found in 2024 that $416 million was unauditable, with $356 million in 2023, $268.5 million in 2022, and $293 million in 2021. The State Auditor’s Office (SAO) described the situation as “serious...

California's delayed, over-budget high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco is running fast in only one direction: Rising costs to even get rolling, which are now estimated to be $126 billion. "Today, we estimate with the right optimization just over $125 billion," California High Speed Rail Authority board member Anthony Williams told CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday. "I think $126 billion is the current estimate for that." Snip "We’re now in 2026: There are no trains; there’s no track laid; it was a complete bait and switch," Rep. Vince Fong, R-Calif., told "60 Minutes," saying the project "needs to...

Gavin Newsom’s transport secretary has admitted criticism of California’s high-speed rail is justified — as estimates of the project show it will be a struggle to be completed. Officials now say it will cost an eye-watering $126 billion to finish the line from Los Angeles to San Francisco — which is more money than Amtrak has ever received from the federal government since it was established in 1971, a damning 60 Minutes report revealed. That’s and a huge uptick when compared to the $33 billion voters were told the rail would cost when it was announced way back in 2008....

Chicago has seen better days. The city is losing residents and businesses and is digging itself deeper into debt just to maintain the status quo. Yet city officials show no intention of cutting back on spending. This crisis, however, will have nationwide implications. An unconditional bailout will signal to other fiscally mismanaged cities that their irresponsibility can be rewarded. At its core, Chicago’s fiscal problems are straightforward. For decades, the city has committed itself to unsustainable spending levels. While its ridership is declining, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is flush with funds thanks to sales tax and driver fees. Chicago...

Liberal Maine Democrats control Maine State Government: Governor, Senate, House. They are poised to impose a 2% tax on the 2,600 tax paying Mainers who earn a million dollars or more per year. The governor said she expects the state will see added income tax revenue of $150 million over the next two years. There is no mention in the news story about the likelihood of any of those 2,600 taxpayers changing their legal residency to income tax free states in response to this new law. Nor is there any discussion regarding the possibility of future legislation lowering the tax...

One month into Operation Epic Fury against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a long-overdue conversation has finally broken into the open: What, exactly, is the enduring rationale for NATO? For decades, this question has been treated in Washington foreign policy circles as heretical. But it isn't. And to their credit, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are now saying so plainly. As Trump recently put it, "They haven't been friends when we needed them. We've never asked them for much. ... It's a one-way street." Rubio has been similarly blunt: "If NATO is just about us defending...

There’s a lot of money in crises and if you’re wondering where that money went, ask the folks profiting from the crisis. The open borders invasion was bad news for a lot of people, but good news for some. Now there’s bad news to go with the good news. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City Council member and her sister, an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider in a warrant that seeks evidence of possible criminal violations involving Councilmember Farah Louis,...

A homeless nonprofit paid the son of San Francisco’s top human rights boss $10,000 to prepare five slides for a panel his mother moderated — as she was signing city contracts worth millions to the organization, according to prosecutors. Sheryl Davis, former head of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, was arrested Monday on a slew of public corruption charges stemming from her time leading the scandal-scarred Dream Keeper initiative, a $120 million plan to aid the city’s black communities. Davis signed city contracts worth more than $3.5 million to Homeless Children’s Network, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides substance...

As Kamala Harris uses California Highway Patrol officers as her security detail, Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration will not release records or provide information on how much it's costing taxpayers. As KCRA 3 first reported in February, dozens of CHP officers have been assigned to Kamala Harris and her international book tour. In response to a California Public Records Act request submitted by KCRA 3 earlier this month, the California Highway Patrol confirmed on Monday that it has records related to the situation, but will not release them, citing a section of state law that protects law enforcement and security-related records....

They’re running up the bill. Bronx residents in state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s district decried spiking utility bills Monday — as the state Legislature pushes back on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s cost-saving bid to delay New York’s controversial climate law mandates. The complaints come as lawmakers, led by Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, are poised to split with Hochul over her push to delay the climate law, as well as to reform car insurance — two major sticking points in state budget talks. “Anything that you pay less is better for everybody,” said Francisco Perez, 36, a Baychester resident...

A disgraced San Francisco human rights chief and her longtime beau have been arrested for allegedly grifting taxpayer funds for personal use through a city program intended to help the city’s black communities. Sheryl Davis, former heard of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and her nonprofit boss partner James Spingola were taken into custody Monday on suspicion of multiple felony counts of misappropriating public funds and conflicts of interest. “Public integrity matters because our communities must be able to trust that government agencies treat everyone fairly and serve all members equally,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins at a press...

🚨UPDATE: LA hospice fraudsters shut down their fraudulent business and flee the building. This “business” was operating as a home healthcare and hospice consultant, teaching others how to start a fraudulent hospice business. Why run if you have nothing to hide? FRAUD.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom teared up Wednesday when announcing an expansion of the state’s Service Corps geared at recruiting young men. “Forgive me, this is embarrassing,” he said, as his eyes welled. “All the noise, we just need to turn off. Listen to this, this is it,” he continued while wiping tears off his face. “We’re all just sitting there, screaming and yelling at each other, everybody’s getting at each other’s throats, trying to tear everybody down, and how are we going to get out of this? This is it,” he went on. The governor’s teary showcase was in response...

Los Angeles homeless people are being put up in brand new apartments in ritzy neighborhoods that cost taxpayers up to $1.5 million per room, the California Post can reveal. At least $2.6 billion of taxpayers cash has been spent buying and renovating hotels, motels and dorms for the huge unhoused population in the city and county since 2020. The properties were all purchased with $1.3 billion from Governor Gavin Newsom’s Homekey initiative, which then renovated with another $1.3 billion in funding from the city and county of Los Angeles. Some of the suites, which are staggered across neighborhoods such as...

A California school district is teetering on the verge of collapse after out of control spending and hiring. Santa Rosa City Schools, which are about 1.5 hours north of San Francisco, have been reprimanded by Sonoma County education chiefs for blowing stacks of cash. Staff saw bumper pay packets and brought in too many new workers for the revenue it was generating, authorities said. Meanwhile the district has seen student enrollment dwindle from 16,000 in 2016 to under 12,000 last year across 24 schools in the region. In a stark warning, Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management...

Wall Street Apes@WallStreetApes·4hThis is absolutely insaneJournalist Angela Rose investigates Minnesota Rep Ilhan Omar’s consulting headquarters who claims to manage $60 billion in assetsShe goes into the building, walks every floorThey DO NOT EXIST. (Holy S***)“We are going to be infiltrating Ilhan Omar's sketchy consulting headquarters that claims that they have $60 billion in assets under their management. Yet they are located out of a co-working place called WeWork. This company is called Rose Lake Capital and it is co-owned by Ilhan Omar's husband Timothy Manette. And similar to the winery in 2023, it made up to $51,000 and it had...

New York City has more than tripled spending on unsheltered homelessness since 2019, shelling out nearly $368 million even as the number of people living on the streets continued to rise, according to a state comptroller’s report. The city’s own numbers show the unsheltered population grew from 3,588 in fiscal year 2019 to 4,504 in fiscal year 2025, a 26% increase from pre-pandemic levels. Over that same period, spending on services for the unsheltered jumped 262%, from $102 million to nearly $368 million. That works out to roughly $81,700 per unsheltered person in FY 2025 — slightly more than the...

Yesterday I had some figures from the NYC vs LA deathmatch over who can spend more on the homeless population. Los Angeles was looking pretty good with $650,000 per housing unit for the homeless, but don’t count NYC out yet. These numbers come from the NY comptroller’s annual report via Mike Bird of the Economist. New York City’s unsheltered population increased from 3,588 in FY 2019 to 4,504 in FY 2025 — a 26 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels In that time, spending on services for this population has more than tripled, growing from $102 million in FY 2019...

The Obama Foundation is looking for 100 unpaid volunteers to work alongside the former president’s highly paid cronies at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago when it opens in June. Officials are pitching the no-paycheck gigs as rooted in former President Barack Obama’s legacy of civic engagement. The recruitment campaign comes after Fox News Digital reported that the organization’s CEO, former top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, was paid $740,000 in 2024. Foundation officials told Fox News Digital the volunteers will complement about 300 full- and part-time employees at the long-delayed center, which the organization is promoting as a...

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has revived a controversial benefit program once lauded as a step toward “reparations” for black San Franciscans. Known as the Dream Keeper Initiative, the relaunched program will grant $36 million to “community-serving organizations,” including some that have offered “Afri-centric” mental-health services, African ancestry DNA testing, and free doulas for “African American birthing people.” The Dream Keeper Initiative was founded by former San Francisco Mayor London Breed in 2021, fulfilling her promise to redirect police funding to “the African American community” in the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 death in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In February 2021, Breed...