Tax Filings: Black Lives Matter Has over $42 Million in Assets

New tax filings from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reveal that the official Black Lives Matter organization ended the last fiscal year with at least $42 million in assets.

According to the Associated Press, the 63-page Form 990 shows that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. peaked with over $90 million in donations in 2020, amid race riots that destroyed cities all across the country, which were largely orchestrated and led by BLM. Of that $90 million, the organization invested at least $32 million in stocks.

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DeSantis Calls Out So-Called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Moniker and Migrating Californians Staining Red States Blue

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was a featured guest with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and participated in a Q&A segment. In it, DeSantis tells some of the back story behind the recently signed Parental Rights in Education bill as well as deriding Californians for their main export being ideology.

DeSantis specifically pointed out the number of California companies who are moving to states like Texas and Florida and who are bringing their employees with them.

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New Study Shows Red States Handled COVID-19 Better Than Blue States

A new study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that states led by Republicans did a better job than Democrat-led states at managing the coronavirus and keeping their states from slumping into an economic and social recession.

As reported by The Daily Caller, the three states that ranked the worst in mortality, economy, and schooling during the COVID pandemic were New Jersey, New York, and California, all of which had implemented some of the strictest lockdown measures in the nation. By contrast, the states that ranked the highest were Utah, Vermont, and Nebraska.

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‘Trans Demiboy’ Elementary Teacher: ‘Heterosexuality Is Pushed on My Kids on a Daily Basis at a Very Young Age’

A video posted to the Libs of Tik Tok Twitter account features a self-described “trans demiboy non-binary” elementary school teacher who argues parents’ claims that pre-K through third grade children are not ready for indoctrination in gender ideology are signs of “internalized homophobia and transphobia.”

“Hi, I’m a queer teacher and I, 1,000 percent, do not support this bill,” states Amanda Tooley, who apparently now uses the name “Skye” and goes by “Mx. T” in her classroom at Saturn Street Elementary Arts and Media Magnet School in Los Angeles.

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Bakersfield College Funneled Nearly $200K to Undocumented Student Programs

A public community college in California has funneled just under $200,000 to undocumented student programs, documents obtained by Campus Reform show.

The California Campus Catalyst Fund is a “grantmaking initiative” for undocumented students and their families attending California state schools such as Bakersfield College, a community college with over 2,000 undocumented students in attendance.

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Shipping Company to Move Operations from Backlogged California to Florida’s Open Ports

Several cargo boxes on a ship in the ocean

While many businesses continue to leave California for Texas and elsewhere, international shipping companies have been increasing their operations in Florida, with one launching a new service on the East Coast, and its first port in Florida, bypassing the West Coast and California ports.

Sea Lead Shipping Pte Ltd, a privately owned global shipping line headquartered in Singapore, announced the launch of a new service linking ports in East Asia with ports on the East Coast of the United States – the first port being JAXPORT in Florida.

Sea Lead Shipping “will be moving part of their operations from California to JAXPORT in order to bypass heavy congestion at the Port of Long Beach,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office announced. It will be “the first U.S. East Coast container service for the company and JAXPORT will serve as the last port of call on Sea-Lead’s Asia East Coast rotation, connecting Jacksonville to 4 locations in Asia.”

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Prosecutors’ Union in Landslide Vote Says Soros-Backed Los Angeles District Attorney Should Be Recalled

The Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA), a union which represents the vast majority of Los Angeles County prosecutors, voted overwhelmingly to support the recall of District Attorney George Gascon.

Gascon, who received over $2 million in financial backing from left-wing financier George Soros according to The Los Angeles Times, is currently facing a recall petition spurred by backlash to his perceived lenient stance on crime.

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NFL’s San Francisco 49ers Hit by Ransomware Attack

The San Francisco 49ers team fell victim to a ransomware attack affecting key corporate operations, the team announced Sunday.

Hackers using BlackByte ransomware tools listed the San Francisco 49ers on a dark web site identifying the team as a target for extortion attempts, The Record reported. The team confirmed to The Record on Sunday that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack.

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Black Lives Matter Shuts Down Fundraising After Blue States Threatened to Sue

Black Lives Matter (BLM) removed fundraising features from its website Wednesday after California and Washington threatened to hold the group’s leaders personally liable for its missing financial records, the Washington Examiner reported.

BLM hasn’t had a known leader managing its $60 million bankroll since May 2021, the Examiner reported. California demanded that BLM cease all fundraising activities Wednesday due to the BLM Global Network’s failure to report on its 2020 finances, and the state said it would hold BLM leaders personally liable if they do not submit information about the organization’s finances within 60 days.

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FBI Director Says China Is Bigger Threat to U.S. Than Any Other Nation

On Monday, FBI Director Christopher Wray declared that the greatest foreign threat to the United States is the country of China, adding that the nation’s recent escalation of tensions regarding the country of Taiwan are “more brazen” and “more damaging” than anything seen in recent history.

The New York Post reports that Wray made his remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. Just days before the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Wray said that China poses a threat “to our economic security and to our freedoms: Our freedom of speech, of conscience, our freedom to elect and be served by our representatives without foreign meddling, our freedom to prosper when we toil and invent.”

“I’ve spoken a lot about this threat since I became FBI director,” Wray continued. “But I want to focus on it here tonight because in many ways it’s reached a new level — more brazen, more damaging than ever before, and it’s vital, vital, that all of us focus on that threat together.”

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University Bets on Bitcoin as Nationwide Enrollment Dips

San Diego State University is now accepting donations in the form of Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

An anonymous donor has sent the school approximately $25,000 worth of Bitcoin, according to the SDSU NewsCenter.

“The SDSU auxiliary will keep almost all of the contribution in the form of Bitcoin instead of immediately converting it all to cash as many other universities have done,” the outlet reported.

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California Law Would Let Kids 12 and Older Be Vaccinated Without Parental Consent

California state senators have introduced a bill to allow children 12 and older to receive vaccinations against diseases like COVID-19 without parental consent.

State Sens. Scott Wiener and Richard Pan on Thursday introduced SB 866, which clarifies eligible vaccines as those that are “approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration” and meet “the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

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FBI Investigating Chinese Funding of California Plane Maker: Report

Federal authorities are investigating Chinese investment in a California-based plane maker after shareholders alleged that the firm’s technology was being transferred to China, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The FBI and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) have launched separate reviews of Chinese investment in small plane manufacturer Icon Aircraft Inc., according to the WSJ, which cited company documents and people familiar with the matter. The authorities are investigating allegations that technology from the company with military applications was transferred to China.

The investigation follows a lawsuit filed in June 2021 by a group of minority shareholders, including former Boeing CEO and chairman Phil Condit, who alleged that Pudong Science and Technology Investment Co. (PDSTI), a Chinese firm which owns 47% of Icon’s shares, was exploiting the company for its technology’s military applications to the detriment of the firm’s bottom line.

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California Gov. Newsom’s Health Care Plan Covers Undocumented Immigrants, Low-Income Residents

Gavin Newsom

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a plan to expand Medi-Cal coverage to many income-eligible residents regardless of immigration status on Monday as part of his 2022-2023 budget proposal. 

The plan, which Newsom hopes to see implemented in January 2024, would expand Medi-Cal eligibility to all income-eligible adults between 26 and 49 years old regardless of immigration status. The proposal would also close a gap in health-care coverage for undocumented immigrants, who the state already covers up to age 26 and after age 50.

The program lies within Newsom’s $286.4 billion budget proposal, announced on Monday, including a surplus of $45.7 billion.

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Nearly a Dozen People Indicted for Allegedly Trying to Distribute Marijuana and Fentanyl in Tennessee

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that a total of 11 individuals were indicted for their roles in a “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and fentanyl” as a part of an investigation by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force that tracked the movement of the illicit substances from Washington and California into Tennessee.

“Our continued partnership with the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, has resulted in the removal of 27 firearms, and the seizure of deadly fentanyl that has been linked to overdoses here in Dyersburg. We remain committed to the removal of this deadly drug, and illegally owned firearms from our community,” said Dyersburg Police Chief Steven L. Isbell.

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Exclusive: Wife of Acquitted San Diego County Police Officer Railroaded Off Force After Viral Video Vows to Fight On

The wife of a former La Mesa, California police officer told The Star News Network that since a jury December 10 acquitted her husband Matthew Dages, the couple fights now to regain his spot on the force so that he can return to his law enforcement vocation.

“The foreman handed it to the court clerk, and she read the verdict, and I think all of us were just waiting for the end pronunciation of the not guilty words – and as soon as we heard that everyone kind of erupted in a huge sigh of relief and just tears,” said Christina Dages, whose husband was charged with the felony filing a false police report regarding his May 27, 2020, interactions and arrest of Amaurie Johnson, at the Grossmont Transit Center here.

Dages said when the couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary, December 28, it was poignant because, for 19 months of their marriage, they have been dealing with the severe possibility of her husband going to prison.

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People Moving to Red Parts of Arizona, Not Blue Areas Like Tucson

Arizona is one of the fastest growing states in the country, ranked No. 6 in 2021 by HomeSnacks. New data from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity reveals that the growth is taking place in red parts of Arizona, not blue strongholds like Tucson — which could mean Arizona is not trending blue.

“The growth is around Maricopa County,” Rep. David Schweikert (R-06-Ariz.) told The Arizona Sun Times. “Maricopa County, which leans Republican, already dominates the state. This will give it even more power.” Currently, 62% of the population lives there.

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Virtual Universities Going for the 2022 Academic Year

Woman on laptop working outside

Campus Reform is monitoring the colleges and universities starting the 2022 academic year online.

These institutions are imposing the changes due to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Seven out of the 10 University of California chancellors decided to begin the winter quarter remotely. This includes UC Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.

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Over Half of U.S. States Will Increase Their Minimum Wage in 2022

Over half of the states in the U.S. will institute a minimum wage increase in 2022, according to a report.

A total of 26 states will raise the minimum wage in 2022, with 22 of the states starting the pay hikes on Jan. 1, accordingto payroll experts at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.

“These minimum wage increases indicate moves toward ensuring a living wage for people across the country,” Deirdre Kennedy, senior payroll analyst at Wolters Kluwer, said in the report. “In addition to previously approved incremental increases, the change in presidential administration earlier this year and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have also contributed to these changes.”

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Homeless Encampments Begin Forming Near Schools in Los Angeles

Homeless encampments have begun cropping up near schools throughout the city of Los Angeles, even despite a citywide ban on any such encampments near public areas, as reported by the Epoch Times.

The Los Angeles City Council had previously passed a new resolution, Ordinance 41.18, which was signed into law by Mayor Eric Garcetti (D-Calif.), forbidding any such homeless camps from being set up within 500 feet of “sensitive-use” areas, including schools, daycares, libraries, and parks. The ordinance also banned such camps from forming near freeway overpasses and underpasses, ramps, tunnels, and bridges.

But in order for the ordinance to be enforced, each individual district’s councilmember must introduce a motion to do so, which then must be approved by the council. As such, homeless encampments have begun sprouting up near schools in the Venice Beach neighborhood, which falls under District 11; that district is represented by Councilman Mike Bonin (D-Calif.), who has a history of refusing to enforce anti-homeless measures for other districts, and has not yet introduced any such measures to protect his own district.

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Iowa Farmers Prepare for California’s Prop 12

Man in gray tee and blue jeans walking in a field with two hogs behind him

Hogs born Jan. 1, 2022, or later are subject to California’s Prop 12.

Some Iowa agricultural leaders have criticized the law, which prohibits the sale of pork from hogs that are the offspring of sows that were raised in pens with less than 24 square feet of usable floorspace per pig.

California accounts for about 15% of the U.S. pork market, the National Pork Producers Council said in a September news release. The NPPC is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine Prop 12’s constitutionality.

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Minnesota County Executives’ Days of Working from Sunny California May Be Over

California may not be what it used to be, but it still looks tempting in the middle of a Minnesota winter. So tempting two of Hennepin County’s highest paid public employees made the Golden State their home base for working remotely during–and now–after the pandemic.

Michael Rossman takes home $189,000 in salary as Chief Hennepin County Human Resources Officer supervising 70 employees from his Palm Springs pad, while Chad Helton gets paid $184,000 to lead over 500 employees of the Hennepin County Library system out of Los Angeles.

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Biden Administration Green-Lights Multiple Solar Projects to Power 274,000 Homes

The Biden administration approved two solar projects, and it is nearing approval of a third, that will power hundreds of thousands of homes in California.

Construction of the Arica and Victory Pass solar projects — the two that received administration approval — will begin immediately on a large swath of land in Riverside County, California, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on Tuesday. Together, the projects will cost $689 million, be able to produce 465 megawatts of electricity, store 400 megawatts of energy and power 132,000 homes.

Oberon, the third solar project mentioned in the announcement, would be built on 2,700 acres of public lands in Riverside County if approved, according to DOI. The project would generate 500 megawatts of electricity and power an additional 142,000 households.

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California’s New Congressional Map Bolsters Its Democratic Majorities

Gavin Newsom

California’s citizen redistricting commission finalized a new congressional map late Monday that puts every Democratic incumbent in a seat that President Joe Biden won by at least 10 points.

The independent commission’s maps also put most of California’s Republican incumbents in more competitive districts. And while Democratic Reps. Alan Lowenthal and Lucille Roybal-Allard’s districts were merged to accommodate California losing a House seat, both are retiring in 2022.

“This is a good map for Democrats,” J. Miles Coleman, an associate editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, noting how the new map could even “put Trump-won seats in play, depending on the year.”

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California to Ban Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers, Lawn Mowers

Leaf blower moving leaves downstairs

A California environmental regulator approved a measure banning new purchases of small off-road engines including leaf blowers and lawn mowers beginning in 2024.

The measure will also affect portable generators and recreational vehicle engines which will need to meet “more stringent standards” in 2024 and zero-emission standards in 2028, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announcedThursday. The vote was part of the state’s aggressive climate program and goal to achieve a “zero-emission future” as outlined by an executive order Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September 2020.

“Today’s action by the Board addresses these small but highly polluting engines. It is a significant step towards improving air quality in the state, and will definitely help us meet stringent federal air quality standards,” CARB Chair Liane Randolph said in a statement. “It will also essentially eliminate exposure to harmful fumes for equipment operators and anyone nearby.”

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Stanford Administrators Unsure Whether Old Ropes Are Nooses, but Send Campus-Wide Email Anyway

Stanford University administrators sent a campus-wide email regarding two ropes with loops discovered in a tree along a walking trail — even though there was no indication that the ropes were hung due to racist intent.

As reported by The Stanford Daily, the Stanford University Department of Public Safety believes that the ropes had been present for up to two years. However, Vice Provost for Institutional Equity, Access and Community Patrick Dunkley and Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students Mona Hicks informed students that “a noose is a potent symbol of anti-Black racism and violence that is completely unacceptable under any circumstances.”

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Report: At Least Two Students at Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in Los Angeles Given COVID Jabs Without Their Parents’ Consent

At least two parents have accused a prep school in South Los Angeles of vaccinating their children without their permission after bribing them with pizza, according to NBC Los Angeles. One distressed mother claimed that her 13-year-old son was told not to tell his parents after he was given a Pfizer COVID-19 injection at Barack Obama Global Prep Academy.

Maribel Duarte told NBC LA on Monday that her son recently came home from school with a vaccine card after he had accepted the jab. The boy told his mom that he agreed to get the shot after he was offered pizza. Duarte said that the woman who administered the shot and signed the form told her son not to tell his parents because she didn’t want to get in trouble.

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Yet Another Company Abandons California for Tennessee, Announces New Jobs for Volunteer State

Officials at the California-based Gutterglove, Inc. announced Monday that they will relocate their company’s headquarters from Roseville, California to Franklin, Tennessee.

Gutterglove manufactures professional grade stainless steel gutter guards. Company officials will invest $720,800 and create 20 new jobs in Williamson County, according to an emailed Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development press release.

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Conservative Think Tank Sues California over Forced Diversity Quotas on Corporate Boards

Assembly member Shirley Weber

A conservative think tank is suing California to block a law that will force race, gender and sexual orientation quotas on corporate boards of publicly held companies located in the state.

The suit, National Center for Public Policy Research v. Weber, was filed against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

The free market think tank argues that AB 979 perpetuates discrimination by treating people based on fixed characteristics rather than individual merits. Specifically, the law requires that all publicly held companies headquartered in California must meet a quota of female board members or be fined. Beginning in 2022, the law will extend to board quotas based on race and sexual orientation.

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California’s Gavin Newsom Goes on Vacation to Mexico After Extending ‘State of Emergency’ Order

Gavin Newsom

Just one week after declaring that he would extend a statewide “state of emergency” order, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) left for a vacation to Mexico with his family, as reported by the Daily Caller.

Newsom, his wife Jennifer, and their children left the state on Monday, and will not return until November 28th. On November 15th, Newsom signed another executive order extending numerous restrictions and other “emergency” measures that he first implemented in March of 2020, as the Chinese coronavirus first began to spread in the United States. Under his latest order, the rules and restrictions now will not expire until March of next year, with the added possibility that they may be arbitrarily extended again.

Despite some of the heaviest restrictions in the nation, including mask and vaccine requirements, California continues to see some of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases out of all the other states. In early November, California saw twice as many new cases as Florida, a state with virtually no restrictions remaining.

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State Attorney Generals Launch Investigation into Instagram’s Effects on Kids

Young person on Instagram

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general launched a probe into Instagram on Thursday to examine whether the company violated state-level consumer protection laws.

The states are investigating whether Meta (formerly known as Facebook), which owns Instagram, promoted the image-sharing platform “to children and young adults” despite being aware of its negative effects, according to statements from the attorneys general. The probe cites internal Facebook communications and research leaked by former Facebook employee Frances Haugen and published by The Wall Street Journal showing Meta was aware that use of Instagram could contribute to body image and mental health issues among teens.

“When social media platforms treat our children as mere commodities to manipulate for longer screen time engagement and data extraction, it becomes imperative for state attorneys general to engage our investigative authority under our consumer protection laws,” Republican Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said in a statement.

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Commentary: An Overview of the 2022 Election Cycle

"VOTE ONE MORE TIME" sign on an electric pole in Atlanta, Georgia

It is now less than a year to the 2022 elections, with this, more stories about the midterms are developing. Below are the latest updates.

State

In California, Progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin will face a recall. Conservatives have tapped into anger over his decisions not to prosecute certain cases. Meanwhile, CA Governor Gavin Newsom is facing controversy over his lack of public appearances.

In Wisconsin, Republicans are continuing their 2020 election audit, even amidst criticism that the audit is too partisan and unruly. Republican Senator Ron Johnson is set to decide in the next few weeks over whether he will seek re-election

In New Jersey, Powerful Democratic State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has conceded in his race for re-election. Sweeney’s race caused national headlines because it was so shocking.

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Los Angeles Sheriff Warns of Police Shortage over Vaccine Mandate

The sheriff of Los Angeles County warned last week that there could be a massive exodus of police officers and other emergency workers over the city’s demand that all public employees take a coronavirus vaccine, as reported by Breitbart.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that the mandate could drive out as many as 20 or 30 percent of employees in the sheriff’s office. The vaccine mandate was passed by the city council in August, ordering that all public employees of the county submit their vaccination status in order to keep their jobs. Those who do not submit a vaccination status will be ordered to get the vaccine within 45 days or else be suspended from work for five days; they are then given another 30 days to comply, after which further action would be taken if they still refuse to get the vaccine.

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DeSantis’ Florida Offers In-N-Out Haven from Regulatory Overreach in Newsom’s California

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Refusing to ask patrons if they got the COVID-19 shots or to show a negative test in order to eat in, the popular California-based burger chain In-N-Out is taking a stand — and paying for it. But the company may have a new place to call home, if it takes up an offer from the state of Florida.

If the besieged fast-food chain were to leave, it would follow Elon Musk’s recently decamped Tesla in a growing exodus of companies from a Golden State that has lost its luster for many business owners.

Currently, three Bay Area health jurisdictions — San Francisco County, Contra Costa County and the city of Berkeley — are requiring restaurants to screen customers for on-site indoor dining by either showing proof of a negative COVID test or of COVID vaccination status.

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Analysis: Woke Teaching Programs Create K-12 ‘Social Justice Educators’

Integrating activism in the K-12 classroom is the trickle-down of liberal bias in higher education. The results are seen as educators mirror anti-racist trainings and social justice workshops, which evolved from college campuses.

For instance, University of California, Los Angeles’ Teacher Education Program (TEP), trains “social justice educators” and follows an “anti-racist and social justice agenda.”

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Walgreens Closing Five Bay Area Locations Due to Spike in Shoplifting

People looting a Walgreens

The pharmaceutical chain Walgreens will be closing five stores in San Francisco, California due to a spike in “organized” shoplifting impacting its locations, according to MarketWatch via MSN.

The decision was made by Walgreens’ parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which will relocate all employees to new locations and ship all outstanding prescriptions to other stores within one mile of the original stores. The stores will be shut down sometime between November 8th and November 17th.

“Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average,” the company revealed in the statement announcing the decision. “To help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average, in an effort to provide a safe environment.”

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Oil Prices Hit a Seven-Year High as Industry Feud with Biden Administration Continues

Oil prices hit a 7-year high this week as American oil and gas companies continue to fight the Biden administration over policies restricting production.

As the economy began to reopen this year and the demand for fuel increased, President Joe Biden, through executive order, halted and restricted oil and gas leases on federal lands, stopped construction of the Keystone Pipeline, and redirected U.S. policy to import more oil from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia (OPEC+) instead of bolstering American oil and gas exploration and production.

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Arizona State Rep. and Secretary of State Candidate Shawnna Bolick Favors Statewide Audit, Other Measures

The results of the Maricopa County ballot audit has many elected officials demanding accountability and action. Arizona State Rep. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, issued a statement denouncing the fraud that the audit uncovered, and recommended conducting a statewide audit. 

Bolick said in a recent campaign update, criticizing Democratic election officials Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, “Who is surprised that Secretary Hobbs and the former Maricopa County Recorder Fontes bent the rules last year, taking advantage of Covid to consistently undermine our election processes? It didn’t stop in 2020. They continued to obstruct the State Senate’s audit to serve justice. Then we saw how Maricopa County refused to turn over election routers despite a subpoena, but it went deeper. Throughout the audit report, it was clear that at almost every point Maricopa County was uncooperative in providing important context and information. They disrupted the audit processes by deleting logs, files, and important documents from the Election Management System.”

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Clint Eastwood Wins Millions in CBD Company Lawsuit over Fake Endorsements

Actor Clint Eastwood and the company that controls the rights to likeness won a $6.1 million lawsuit Friday against a Lithuanian company that used the actor’s image on its products without his consent, the New York Times reported.

Judge R. Gary Klausner of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favor of Eastwood and his company Garrapata after Lithuanian company Mediations UAB did not respond to a summons in March, according to the NYT. The Lithuanian company was also ordered to pay for Eastwood’s $95,000 legal charges and is blocked from using his name again.

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Groups Warn of Supply Chain System Collapse, as California Ports Face Record Backlogs

Seaport

The International Chamber of Shipping, a coalition of truck drivers, seafarers, and airline workers, recently warned heads of state at the United Nations General Assembly that if restrictive COVID policies don’t change and freedom of movement isn’t restored to transportation workers, a supply-chain collapse is imminent.

Industry leaders representing some 65 million transport workers asked the United Nations and heads of government to “take meaningful and swift action to resolve the crisis now.”

“Global supply chains are beginning to buckle as two years’ worth of strain on transport workers take their toll,” they wrote in an open letter signed by the International Air Transport Association, the International Road Transport Union and the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

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California Will Mandate Vaccines for Grades Seven Through 12, Pending Federal Approval

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he would require all private and public school students between seventh and 12th grade to get vaccinated against COVID-19, once the vaccines are approved for ages 12 and over.

According to The Associated Press, the governor’s executive order will take effect once a vaccine receives full federal approval for ages 12 and over.

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California Bans State-Funded Travel to Ohio After Passage of ‘Anti-LGBT’ Law

The state of California will no longer sponsor trips to Ohio after the Buckeye State passed what California describes as a discriminatory law against the LGBT community. 

A clause in the recently-passed Ohio budget allows medical professionals to opt-out of performing procedures that violate their own moral beliefs. Under the new law, a doctor could, for example, refuse to perform a gender reassignment surgery on moral grounds. 

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Designer of AOC’s ‘Tax the Rich’ Gown Owes Back Taxes on $1.6 Million Hollywood Hills Home, Report

The designer of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” gown for the recent Met Gala reportedly has her own tax issues, including owing thousands on a $1.6 million home she recently purchased in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills.

Designer Aurora James bought the home in September 2020, but the property is already listed as “delinquent” by the Los Angeles County assessor’s office. The office told The New York Post, which this past weekend reported on James’ tax issues, the designer owed $2,504 in property taxes.

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Commentary: Nobody Is Coming to Save California

In the end, it wasn’t really even close.

California Governor Gavin Newsom easily survived his recall election on Tuesday, with voters rejecting his ouster by nearly two-to-one. The results won’t be official until next month, but as of now, the “no recall” vote leads by a resounding 27 percentage points. By any account, it was a big win for the third-rate politician who is utterly incapable of making a public statement without resorting to platitudes and clichés.

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