Free Republic

LOS ANGELES — Adam Leber was nodding off in his Hollywood Hills mansion late Wednesday night when his housekeeper jolted him awake with an urgent message: There’s a fire at the door. Leber — a talent manager whose clients have included Miley Cyrus and Lil Nas X — opened his door and looked. Sure enough, “The entire hillside was on fire,” he said. “It was insane.” Orange-red flames sprung up everywhere, spitting embers dangerously close. Without thinking, he and his wife scooped up their dogs and 3-year-old daughter, threw some belongings in their car and drove east, to take refuge...

…The argument, in short, was that California’s progressive values, particularly its embrace of LGBTQ+ rights and the protection of women’s rights, had angered God, and in response, He was punishing the state with fire. The comparison immediately struck me as absurd, not only because of its unsubstantiated religious implications but because it ignored the complex reality of wildfires, especially in a state like California. But more importantly, it made me wonder: If California’s progressive stances really had invited divine wrath, what about the conservative states that were also suffering from natural disasters? After all, hurricanes like Helene and Milton had...

The far right is rising in the ranchland of Northern California, using special elections and veiled intimidation to spread political influence across a historically conservative region of this deeply liberal state. The movement is rooted here in Shasta County and includes the support of a roughly decade-old militia. The gains it has achieved have come at the expense of moderate Republicans, who for generations fit the small-government, light-regulation ethic that guided political life here.

SFGATE reporter Michelle Robertson on Banksy's critique of an art world he actively participates inPhoto of Starting at $40 a ticket and reaching $70 on weekends, the new — unauthorized — “Art of Banksy” touring exhibit has landed at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, and tickets are already selling out quickly. Brought to the city by Starvox Exhibits, the same group responsible for the “Immersive Van Gogh” show that came to San Francisco in 2021, “The Art of Banksy” brings together more than 100 artworks by the secretive, anonymous artist, with the value of the pieces totaling more than...

little Huntington Beach political attitude has been transplanted north to Venice Beach in recent weeks, and the reviews from locals and tourists have not been winning.

I’m gonna be a dick today, because that’s a personal choice. It’s the middle of June and the COVID-19 vaccine is available (and free!) to anyone in the United States over the age of 12. This is a miracle. If you’re fully vaccinated like I am, you can throw parties now. You can travel. You can eat out. You don’t have to quarantine at home, counting toilet paper rolls and making hatch marks on your bedroom wall and wondering when you’ll be free of this bloody pandemic. It’s over for you. You won. You could even celebrate by going to...