Free Republic

In a desperate bid to stop Tinseltown from trekking to cheaper pastures, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is taking a chainsaw to the red tape and high costs of filming at some of the city’s most famous landmarks. Bass announced last week that the city will slash filming fees at the iconic Griffith Observatory by 70% — dropping the daily price tag from $100,000 to a more manageable $30,000. The move effectively rolls back costs to 2008 levels, signaling a massive retreat from the 2022 fee hikes that may have helped drive production out of state.

There’s little doubt that the wealthy are closely linked to savvy tax maneuvers. Montana offers famously friendly vehicle registration laws that allow some to avoid paying far more in other states. It’s come under fire plenty of times in the past as have those who leverage the so-called “Montana license plate loophole”. Now, California says it’s charged 14 individuals tied to more than $20 million worth of vehicles that were were allegedly registered and plated out of state, despite actually spending their lives in California.

During an interview with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) told the Black mayor and mostly Black audience "I'm like you. I can't read. I'm a 960 SAT guy--you know, the kind of guy who's a 'C' student on his good days. I'd be the perfect president to represent your interests. I wish I was Black so you'd believe me." Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) took offense, saying "You're not like us. Black folks have built empires, created movements, outworked, out-hustled and outsmarted people like you. Stop using your mediocre academics as a way to patronize us." Newsom defended...

ATLANTA, GA — While speaking at the Rialto Center for the Arts as part of promotion for his new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, California Governor Gavin Newsom wowed a black audience by putting some hot sauce into his purple drank. "See? I'm exactly like you," Newsom said. "It doesn't get more delicious than some hot sauce in your purple drank, am I right? This isn't pandering. Back home, we call this drink a 'Newsom.'" The audience was surprised by the governor's choice of drink and unsure whether or not he was being genuine. Newsom...

Feb 23, 2026

As national Democrats search for a unifying theme ahead of the fall’s midterm elections, a California proposal to levy a hefty tax on billionaires is turning some of the party’s leading figures into adversaries just when Democrats can least afford division from within. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to campaign for the tax proposal, which has Silicon Valley in an uproar, with tech titans threatening to leave the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is among its outspoken opponents, warning that it could leave government finances in crisis and put the state at a competitive disadvantage...

Gov. Gavin Newsom grinned like Cheshire at civil rights icon Jesse Jackson’s public memorial service Friday – treating it as a campaign event as the rumored 2028 presidential hopeful schmoozed with Democratic heavyweights including Presidents Obama and Clinton. The California governor was pictured working the room and snapping selfies with Democratic party elites, as thousands of people gathered at a church on Chicago’s South Side to pay a final public tribute to Jackson. In one telling moment, Obama, who was front row at the event, turned around and pointed directly at Newsom, who’s also been on the publicity trail for...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In a letter sent to Governor Gavin Newsom and other California officials this week, energy giant Chevron expressed its concerns over possible changes to state regulations. "They're setting us up to fail and making sure that imported products will be cheaper and more available to California consumers than in-state production," said Chevron spokesperson Ross Allen. Allen says the company is worried about proposed amendments to the state's cap-and-invest regulations, which set a limit on pollution and force companies to invest some revenue into cleaner energy. The regulations are created by the California Air Resources Board. "The...

Sensing that the combined US/Israeli attack on Iran presented him with an opportunity to boost his foreign policy credentials heading into to anticipated run for president in 2028, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) asserted "the corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons. The leadership of Iran must go. But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends. President Trump is putting Americans at risk abroad because he is unpopular at home." Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said "the...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his administration is monitoring and preparing for the impacts the war in Iran could have on the state's public safety and gas prices.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled California is likely violating the constitutional rights of parents who object to policies preventing teachers from disclosing when their child changes their name or pronouns in school. The decision marks a major victory for parental rights advocates at this early stage of the case — and a blow to the state’s efforts to shield the privacy of LGBTQ students.

Team Gavin Newsom could not resist a cheap shot against President Trump following the bombing of Iran, and it promptly blew up in their faces. As The Gateway Pundit reported, the United States and Israel launched ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran over the weekend. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was eliminated in a joint military operation conducted by Israel and the United States this weekend. At least 40 other senior Iranian regime leaders were also killed in the strikes. Several Democrats predictably condemned the attack. Not surprisingly, Newsom was one of them. Following the bombing, Newsom’s team slammed Trump...

SNIP “Average gas prices in California have stayed below $5 for nearly two years. Trump’s new war is already rattling markets. We’re watching this space. Closely,” Newsom’s press office wrote on X, sparking derision from many. “Time to school the Pajama Boy who runs this account for the Gov – because this isn’t the flex on Trump he thinks it is,” the US Oil & Gas Association, a nonprofit trade association for the domestic oil and natural gas industry, wrote in response before taking the Democrat to task over what it branded Newsom’s mismanagement of California’s natural resources. SNIP California...

California Governor Gavin Newsom shared the strange origin story behind the infamous “Newscum” nickname, a moniker coined by President Donald Trump. In a late-night phone call, Newsom claims the president called him to test out the nickname, which he later adopted in his public tirades against. In a candid interview on “The Rest Is Politics” podcast, Newsom recounted the unusual exchange, which took place late one night in 2025.

Gavin Newsom complains of “faux outrage” over his comments to a largely black audience in Atlanta about his SAT scores, in which he implied a shared lack of ability.No state makes more of its “enlightened” stance on racial justice than California. But few states do worse. Governor Newsom and his Sacramento claque have embraced reparations for the descendants of slaves. They are also working overtime to preserve affirmative action policies, despite the electorate’s widespread rejection. But Newsom’s racial rhetoric is, as the leftist site Jacobin suggests, nothing more than “pure rhetorical posturing.”

Gavin Newsom launched a new water policy this week that does almost nothing for water. Perhaps he thinks it will help his nascent presidential campaign. Newsom’s biggest weakness as a presidential candidate is his record. He cannot point to any major achievements after two terms. That’s the real drought his plan aims to address. Newsom called his policy the “most ambitious water plan in California history.” If so, the obvious question is why he waited until the last months of his administration to launch it.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom received intense blowback for calling the joint US-Israeli airstrikes in Iran an “illegal, dangerous war” while ripping President Trump’s decision to attack Tehran.. “The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons. The leadership of Iran must go,” Newsom wrote on X Saturday, after the US and Israel launched the coordinated strikes early that morning. “But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people. "President Trump is...

“Hundreds of demonstrators from Los Angeles’s Iranian-American community took the streets Saturday to celebrate the US-Israeli airstrikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader. “I want to cry. I want to scream. I want to dance. I want to laugh — but above all, I just want to celebrate,” said LA resident Shervin Khorramian, 55, waving an Iranian flag as he joined the elated crowd outside of the Wilshire Federal building in Westwood. I feel absolutely elated, and I feel hopeful,” Khorramian added. “For the first time in a long time, I feel hopeful that this really could be the turning point...

A convicted California child molester who was set to walk free this week was instead turned over to law enforcement after a new arrest warrant was issued in Placer County, state officials confirmed. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said that at approximately 7:30 a.m., David Allen Funston, 64, was transferred to law enforcement authorities after Placer County filed new criminal charges and issued a warrant for his arrest. Funston had been granted parole Tuesday and was scheduled for release later this week. CDCR said Funston was sentenced in 1999 to life with the possibility of parole in connection...

If the West feels insane, it’s because something pathological took over.The social chaos isn't merely a clash of ideas but a system that rewards liars, tyrants, and manipulators, while punishing the sane.