Free Republic

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District announced last year Sacramento electricity ratepayers would be under a new rate system that charges residential users higher rates between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. — just in time for everyone to arrive home after work and begin evening family rituals: homework on computers, dinner, television, stereo, baths, laundry, and dishwasher after dinner.”

War fever is ramping up again across Europe. This has happened several times in the four and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine, usually coinciding with important national elections — particularly those in Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, and Germany — when certain domestic political parties have been demonized as “pro-Putin” and “security threats” to the rest of Europe. The war drums also get loud whenever increased military budgets are being debated within the governments of the Scandinavian and Baltic states, Finland, Germany, and Poland, as well as the European Commission. The ebb and flow of political battle cries against...

The majority of today's immigrants, particularly the illegals, appear to loathe everything about the United States except its wealth. Far too many of them are effectively saying, “We detest capitalism, your system of government, your Christian faith, Judeo-Christian values, and your culture, all of which we are zealously trying to change. But do continue to pay us and put us up so that we can live comfortably without needing to work.” Also, “We much prefer the brutality, stonings, misogyny, pedophilia, arranged marriages, and gang rape of young women (and perhaps occasionally a goat or two) to what we have found...

Good thing, Gov. Hochul is focused on stopping ICE from arresting them. New York’s Gov. Hochul just signed legislation protecting illegal alien criminals. Meanwhile some people keep mysteriously carrying out machete attacks. Here’s one that just happened in Long Island. A man accused of fatally attacking another man with a machete in Uniondale was arraigned Friday in Hempstead. Prosecutors allege that 35-year-old Jorge Alexander Huezo Villatoro struck 40-year-old Tadeo Alvarado-Chavez on the head and body with a machete and continued the attack after the victim collapsed to the ground. Prosecutors said the victim was left in a pool of blood....

Seattle has long been a hotbed of crime under Democrat rule, but things have gotten so bad recently that business leaders are publicly demanding change. Seattle has long been a hotbed of crime, open-air drug use, and other antisocial behaviors thanks to the city’s left-wing governance. But things have gotten shockingly worse in recent months following the election of socialist Mayor Katie Wilson last year – so bad, in fact, that major businesses are now publicly pressuring the government to do something about the city’s descent into lawlessness and chaos. On September 10, more than 30 major Seattle companies, including...

This probably isn't going to be good. San Francisco's Mayor, Daniel Lurie, who ran as a kind of get-things-done moderate in America's most liberal city, just declared a "rent emergency." San Francisco definitely has high rent compared to other parts of the country.In San Francisco, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is more than $4,300, up more than $1,000 from last year, according to Zillow.But what exactly is a "rent emergency"? There's no law in California or in the city that recognizes such a declaration. This is just another PR stunt someone has cooked up. The real question is...

Key Takeaways 1 California is now importing 20% of its gasoline from Asian refineries as it continues to close refineries in the most populous state. 2 In just seven months, California has lost about 17% of its refining capacity with the closure of two refineries, and product imports are up 38% this year. 3 Gasoline prices are about $1.60 per gallon higher than the national average because of state taxes, fees, and other penalties, but the situation could get worse, as Asia is particularly dependent on Middle East oil, which is sidelined due to the Iranian conflict. 4 A domestic...

SEATTLE — City advocates say they are struggling to find solutions as homelessness and open-air drug use spread across Seattle’s streets, amid growing concerns about the direction of socialist Mayor Katie Wilson’s new administration.

Democrat, democratic socialist, communist... however you want to slice it, New York is run by some of the most far-Left lunatics in the country. And they chose Tax Day to remind us of that once again.What are they doing now? New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a new surcharge (read: tax) for anyone who owns residential property worth $5 million or more, but is not a resident of New York City. They're calling it the pied-à-terre tax:If you can afford a multi-million dollar second home in New York City, you can afford to join its residents in supporting the...

He’s Zo-ing back on his word. Many of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s lofty campaign promises have already bit the dust 100 days in, as he makes a U-turn or scales them back almost beyond recognition. His improbable path from democratic socialist also-ran to victory in 2025’s election came in no small part from the sweeping, voter-pleasing pledges. While his marquee platforms of universal child care, fast and free buses and a rent freeze clearly captured voters’ imaginations, he made a slew of other promises that would quickly — and significantly — reshape New York City, including: City-owned grocery stores Mamdani’s early...

Abigail Spanberger ran for governor of Virginia as a sane, middle-of-the-road Democrat, but once elected immediately went communist crazy. Among her rapidly developing acts of comradely solidarity is an “assault weapon” and magazine capacity ban. There is, of course, no such thing in firearm nomenclature as an “assault weapon.” There are military assault rifles, which fire intermediate cartridges and have select fire—automatic—capability, but such rifles are essentially banned by federal law. What Spanberger is targeting is America’s most popular rifle, the semiautomatic AR-15 and anything like it. The bill also bans magazines of greater than 15 round capacity, which encompasses...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Lawmakers in Connecticut met Wednesday for a public hearing on a bill to ban Glock pistols because of how easy they are to convert from semi-automatic to fully automatic.The Hartford Police Department said it has seized dozens of Glocks that have been converted to fully automatic through the use of a relatively inexpensive modification known as a “switch.”

Katelin Holloway and Ben Ramirez thought they had found their forever home when they purchased a spacious North Beach property for $4.75 million in 2021 — a four-story residence with five bedrooms, sweeping skyline views and room for their growing family. Instead, the couple is now facing the possibility that the house must be carved back into four separate apartments after city officials determined the building was improperly converted from a multi-unit property years before they bought it, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. SNIP According to city officials and tenant advocates, the building had previously been altered from a...

Gov. Hochul has spent much of her 4 ¹/₂ years in office facing a time bomb left by her predecessor: drastic, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets that the state has no practical means of meeting. The 2019 Climate Act requires New York to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about one-quarter from that year’s levels by 2030. The state has made little progress toward this goal, in part because officials shuttered New York’s largest nuclear power plant in 2021. The law remains on the books, and its defenders balk at revision. If Hochul can’t persuade them to change it, Albany’s...

The Colorado legislature is moving quickly to pass bills that would prevent people from making their own firearms without government permission. Two bills appear likely to become law. The two bills are expected to be signed by Governor Jared Polis. House Bill 1144 has passed the House 40 – 25 on a party-line vote and was introduced in the Senate yesterday. Senate Bill 43 passed the Senate 19-16, with four Democratic senators joining 12 Republican senators to vote against it. House Bill 1144 prohibits the manufacture of firearms by “3D printing”, except for people licensed by the government:Knowingly manufacturing or...

For a few years now, it has been blindingly obvious that New York had over-promised and over-committed on impossible “climate” goals that could not be achieved. In various posts I have referred to this as an approaching “cliff,” or perhaps as the “green energy wall.” It has been entertaining to ponder what the final disaster might look like. This week has had a lot of developments. Most interesting is the growing split among the governing Democrats between, on the one hand, those who see disaster coming and are looking for some kind of graceful exit and, on the other hand,...

As gas prices continue climbing in California — already the highest in the nation — residents are increasingly venting their frustration at Gov. Gavin Newsom, accusing him and Sacramento of piling on policies and “taxing us to death.” The backlash centers on draft regulations tied to the state’s Cap-and-Invest program, overseen by the California Air Resources Board, which sets a statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions and requires major polluters to purchase allowances for each ton of carbon they emit. Critics say tightening those caps — strongly backed by Newsom — could further drive up the cost of gasoline and...

Many Black, middle-class NYC property owners say they’d be among the biggest victims of the Democratic Socialists of America’s proposed tax hikes. Some told The Post the DSA’s Marxist measures — which include higher taxes for individuals making over $300,000, and taxing inheritances over $250,000 — would hurt New Yorkers like themselves who spent decades building up retirement accounts, paying off homes, and planning their estates to benefit their loved ones. “The reason you invest is to acquire wealth with the hopes of putting it towards your legacy, for your family — and this will greatly affect my family,” said...

Shocking surveillance video captured a brazen daylight stabbing in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Thursday — showing a hooded man casually walking up behind an apparent stranger before plunging a knife into his back.

Last night, San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, was attacked by two men while being driven through the Tenderloin district. According to a report from an ABC News outlet, the confrontation arose after a group of people blocked the SUV that Lurie was being driven in; at one point Lurie himself exited the vehicle to engage the individuals on the street, but quickly scuttled back behind the safety of his security detail when the confrontation turned physical. Classic.AdvertisementClearly the men were bums, based on the handcuffed man’s appearance:San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie attacked while being driven through the Tenderloin. This post...