Hobart “Hobie” Alter was born on October 31, 1933 in Ontario, California, though his family owned a summer home in Laguna Beach where he developed a passion for water sports.
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On Thursday, a federal judge blocked the state of California from enforcing a newly-passed law that was directly targeting President Donald Trump over his tax returns, as reported by Reuters.
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As the homelessness crisis in California escalates, state officials requested increased federal funding to combat the issue, only to be rejected by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, as reported by ABC.
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When President Trump arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday, he had a few words to say about the city’s homeless problem. “We can’t let Los Angeles, San Francisco, and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what’s happening,” the president told reporters. “In many cases [building tenants] came from other countries and they moved to Los Angeles or they moved to San Francisco because of the prestige of the city, and all of a sudden they have hundreds and hundreds of tents and people living at the entrance to their office building. And the people of San Francisco are fed up, and the people of Los Angeles are fed up.”
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California may have just passed a death sentence on the gig economy.
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Uber, Lyft and DoorDash are prepared to spend a collective $90 million against a bill that would recognize their drivers as employees rather than independent contractors, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
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A comprehensive report by the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) breaks down the cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers: $115.9 billion annually.
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When Netflix’s bland new psychological thriller “Secret Obsession” was released last week, I never expected keen political insights, let alone a unique cinematic twist. (Warning: Some spoilers ahead.) Under closer scrutiny, however, the film solidifies the need for individual rights, and presents a damning picture of California’s unconstitutional gun laws.
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Tennessee residents may hear news about this week’s major earthquake in California from afar, but what some don’t realize is the same thing could happen here — with more devastating results. As reported, Tennessee also lies along the East Tennessee Seismic zone. No one at the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency returned The Tennessee Star’s repeated messages seeking comment Friday. Nor did anyone at the Memphis-based Center for Earthquake Research and Information. Members of those agencies told The Star last year, however, that a large-magnitude earthquake in the central part of the United States would jolt Tennessee and do far more damage here than another similar-sized quake out west could do to California. That’s because Tennessee and California have different type terrains and that makes all the difference. As The Associated Press reported this week, the strongest earthquake in 20 years shook a large swath of Southern California and parts of Nevada on Thursday. The quake rattled nerves on July 4 and caused injuries and damages in a town near the epicenter, followed by a swarm of ongoing aftershocks. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck at 10:33 a.m. in the Mojave Desert, about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, near the…
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by James Agresti During the second Democratic presidential debate, Kamala Harris stated that Joe Biden was “wrong to oppose busing” and equated this to support for racial segregation. In reality, supporters of integration broadly opposed busing because of its downsides. After busing was implemented in the early 1970s, national polls found that 84% of whites and 92% of blacks thought that students of all races should attend school together, but only 15% of whites and 40% of blacks supported busing. This is because the policy involved: quotas to achieve specific numbers of black, white, and Latino students in certain schools. removing children from their neighborhood schools and busing them to other schools, often via long commutes that made it hard for them to participate in extracurricular activities. court-ordered mergers of urban and suburban school districts. in at least one case, forcing all children in a district to change schools at least once during grades K to 5. Hence, Congressional Quarterly reported in 1975: “Many of the people who once supported busing as educationally and socially beneficial to both races are questioning or even forsaking it as a remedy.” Busing also forced children to attend schools that were often run by politicians who their parents did not…
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Mitsubishi is saying “buh bye” to California’s high taxes and moving its headquarters to Franklin, multiple media outlets report. Mitsubishi was one of two final Japanese car manufacturers to have its headquarters in California, CNET said. Honda will be the lone Japanese holdout. Moving to Franklin will allow the company to be closer to its Alliance partner Nissan, which moved there around 13 years ago. Nashville Business Journal added that other Middle Tennessee automotive brand names include Bridgestone, General Motors, Hankook and suppliers and other related companies. The move will include about 200 jobs and an $18.25 million investment in corporate jobs including legal, finance, IT, sales and dealer operations. Mitsubishi is negotiating a long-term office lease plus a lease for interim use. A move to a temporary space will start in August and be done by the end of the year, Nashville Business Journal said. Automotive News said Mitsubishi cited Franklin’s high-tech community, cost savings, business-friendly work environment and, again, proximity to Nissan. Mitsubishi’s decision is yet another loss for Southern California, referred to in 2000 as “Motown West” for the concentration of automotive brands that based their U.S. operations there. Since then, the brands under Ford’s former…
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by Molly Prince California lawmakers released a final draft of the state’s 2020 budget late Sunday evening that would expand health care to illegal immigrants and cost taxpayers nearly $100 million per year. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom reached an agreement with Democrats in the state legislature to become the first state in the nation to provide full health care benefits to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. As part of a larger $213 billion budget, low-income illegal immigrants under the age of 26 will be eligible for California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, reported The Sacramento Bee. Under the agreement, approximately 90,000 new individuals would qualify with an estimate price tag of $98 million annually. California will begin taxing residents who don’t have health insurance in order to help ease the program’s financial burden, creating an individual-mandate penalty. Initially implemented under the Obama administration to help pay for the federal Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as Obamacare, Republicans rolled back the federal individual-mandate penalty in 2017. California Democrats contend that an individual mandate fine will prevent premiums from skyrocketing. “The budget agreement we’re finalizing tonight builds on the strong budget proposal of the governor, while adding significant legislative priorities,” said Democratic state…
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A war on the U.S. Constitution and chicken is being waged in San Mateo County, California where an elected leader is trying to stop Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant. David Canepa, a county supervisor wants to stop the Georgia-based company from establishing an outpost in Redwood City. “Hell no,” the leftist lawmaker told the local NBC television station. “Chick-fil-A’s values don’t represent our values,” Canepa said. “The logo might as well say ‘We hate gay people.’” For the record, the Chick-fil-A logo does not say, “We hate gay people.” It says eat more chicken. “When people think of the Chick-fil-A logo — what they think of is anti-LGBTQ,” he said. Now, that’s a lie and the supervisor knows it’s a lie. Chick-fil-A has never discriminated against gay people. They serve everyone — regardless of sexual orientation. These kinds of hateful attacks against Chick-fil-A is why I wrote “Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left From Killing a Nation.” Supervisor Canepa told the CBS television station in San Francisco he wants to pressure the nation’s third-largest restaurant chain into canceling their plans. “What we are trying to do is to make sure Chick-fil-A–if they want to do business here–that there…
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by Kaylee Greene The California Assembly voted 44-11 in favor of a bill last week that broadens state Medicaid coverage to include illegal immigrants to the tune of more than $3 billion annually. Under federal law, Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, provides health care to low-income citizens. Assembly Bill 4, if passed, would eliminate the existing citizenship requirements to receive benefits. The bill would “extend eligibility for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits to individuals of all ages, if otherwise eligible for those benefits, but for their immigration status, and would delete provisions delaying eligibility and enrollment.” In other words, under AB 4, illegal immigrants over 19 years old would receive the same full scope Medi-Cal benefits as taxpaying citizens, including keeping their chosen primary care provider. Though the proposal now travels to the state Senate, there is still debate among Democrats about which illegal immigrants should qualify for these benefits. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, concerned over the $3.4 billion yearly increase from the bill, has advocated extending coverage for illegal aliens who are between 19 and 25 years old, costing about $98 million annually. His 2019-2020 budget already proposes $22.9 billion for Medi-Cal from the general fund of $100.7 billion. The…
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by George Rasley Recently, Dr. Drew Pinsky spoke with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade about the horrific conditions on the streets of Los Angeles, America’s second-largest city, before making the frightening prediction, “There will be a major infectious disease epidemic this summer in Los Angeles.” Pinsky described to Kilmeade what he believes to be the almost medieval conditions in the City of Angels and compared local politicians to Nero, the infamous Roman Emperor who allegedly fiddled while his nation burned. “We have tens and tens of thousands of people living in tents. Horrible conditions. Sanitation. Rats have taken over the city. We’re the only city in the country, Los Angeles, without a rodent control program. We have multiple rodent-borne, flea-borne illnesses, plague, typhus. We’re gonna have a louse-borne illness. If measles breaks into that population, we have tuberculosis exploding. Literally, our politicians are like Nero. It’s worse than Nero,” Pinsky said. Homelessness and trash are a growing problem for residents in Los Angeles and as the garbage piles up, so do the rats, fueling concerns about flea-borne typhus, according to a report this week. Pinsky said the city’s homeless situation and sanitation crisis are out of hand and politicians…
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Joe Biden is rolling the dice and striking out on his own on the campaign trail, keeping his distance from the other Democratic presidential candidates. Biden appeared at the Human Rights Campaign’s Columbus Dinner Saturday, Cleveland.com said. The gala was at Ohio State University’s Archie Griffin Ballroom. The HRC is the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights organization. In visiting Ohio Saturday, the former vice president, who is the front-runner in his party’s primary race, showed he is not afraid of missing out by not attending the same events as his plethora of competitors, WGME said. Instead, he is focusing on a November 2020 competition against President Donald Trump, as if his primary challengers are not an issue. Also, Biden plans to avoid an Iowa state party dinner that will draw rivals next weekend, although he will visit Iowa two days later, WGME said. And, he will miss a South Carolina economic forum on the black community, although he will attend the state party convention the next weekend. Fourteen of the 23 other Democratic presidential hopefuls attended the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco that Biden skipped. The stakes are big as California has 400 delegates for the national convention up…
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The U.S. government plans to replace barriers through 100 miles of the southern border in California and Arizona, including through a national monument and a wildlife refuge, according to documents and environmental advocates. The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday again waived environmental and dozens of other laws to build more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Funding will come from the Defense Department following the emergency declaration that President Donald Trump signed this year after Congress refused to approve the amount of border wall funding he requested. Barriers will go up at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a vast park named after the unique cactus breed that decorates it, and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, which is largely a designed wilderness home to 275 wildlife species. The government will also build new roads and lighting in those areas in Arizona. Environmental advocates who have sued to stop the construction of The Wall say this latest plan will be detrimental to the wildlife and habitat in those areas. “The Trump administration just ignored bedrock environmental and public health laws to plow a disastrous border wall through protected, spectacular wildlands,” said Laiken Jordahl, who works on border issues at the Center…
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More than 1,000 rifles and handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized Wednesday at a mansion in a posh area not far from the Playboy Mansion. Acting on a tip regarding illegal firearms sales, police and federal agents served a search warrant around 4 a.m. at the property, a home valued at millions of dollars on the border of the Bel Air and Holmby Hills neighborhoods, authorities said. Photos and video from the scene showed stacks of rifles, handguns and shotguns laid out in the driveway. Others showed a table stacked with boxes of ammunition. Although many appeared to be modern, some were 50 years old or more and a few may have been collectibles dating back to the Civil War, KABC-TV reported. “I had never seen so many weapons in my career of 31 years,” police Lt. Chris Ramirez said. “That’s such a big arsenal in a residence like this, in this type of neighborhood. It’s astounding.” One man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of violating a state law that outlaws the manufacture, possession or sale of assault weapons and high-caliber rifles. His name wasn’t immediately released. Investigators didn’t immediately release other details, such…
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Capping a week in which her testy exchange with Attorney General William Barr went viral, Sen. Kamala Harris on Sunday told a crowd of thousands gathered at a dinner hosted by the country’s oldest NAACP chapter that Barr “lied to Congress” and ” clearly more interested in representing the president than the American people.” The Democratic presidential candidate was the keynote speaker Sunday at the Detroit NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund dinner, attended by a mostly black audience of nearly 10,000. As of Sunday, 4.8 million people had watched the C-SPAN video circulating on Twitter of Harris questioning Barr, catapulting her into the spotlight amid the crowded field of more than 20 Democrats and hammering a campaign theme that she is the candidate to “prosecute the case against Trump.” During her remarks, Harris also said her approach to the 2020 race is about challenging notions of electability and who can speak to Midwesterners. “They usually put the Midwest in a simplistic box and a narrow narrative,” Harris said. “The conversation too often suggests certain voters will only vote for certain candidates regardless of whether their ideas will lift up all of our families. It’s short sighted. It’s wrong. And…
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Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) headlined the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner Sunday night. Harris’ appearance at the event was called into question earlier this month after a dispute between union leaders and the Cuyahoga County Council. As The Cleveland Plain Dealer explains, the council voted to transfer control of three county jails to MetroHealth, and as a result placed the jobs of nurses at the jails in jeopardy. Shontel Brown, a county councilwoman and the chair of the county’s Democratic Party, voted in favor of the move. The local chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) planned to protest Sunday night’s event. “Kamala Harris is a longstanding friend of labor and if there is a dispute that leads to a picket line, she will not cross it,” a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign said in response. The dispute, however, was resolved last week, allowing Harris’ appearance to move forward as planned. “These hardworking and dedicated nurses are guaranteed employment through the transition to MetroHealth. Individuals not retained, or those who decline employment, will be offered jobs elsewhere in the county or placement services to assist in seeking employment,” Brown said in a statement.…
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by Nick Givas Agnes Gibboney, whose only son was killed by an illegal immigrant, called on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to start protecting his people from the dangers of illegal immigration. Gibboney appeared on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday to discuss Newsom’s proposal to invest in El Salvador as a way of curbing the immigration crisis. “California has a lot of issues. We have the worst quality of life, inflation is really high. Taxes. We have the worst schools, the worst roads,” she said “[Newsom] ought to focus on economic growth in California. Stop giving health care to illegal aliens and free tuition, where our children have to pay full price. This is outrage. He ought to be focusing on what’s happening in our state not another country. It’s not his job to be doing that.” Gibboney’s son, Ronald Da Silva, was shot and killed back in April of 2002 in El Monte by illegal immigrant gang member Luis Gonzales, according to CBS Los Angeles. She said she doesn’t trust California’s state government and claimed it’s more interested in protecting illegal immigrants than American citizens. “I have no respect for the California government because they let me down.…
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WHITE HOUSE — U.S. President Donald Trump says more troops will need to be sent to the country’s southern border because too many dangerous people are illegally entering the United States. “I’m going to have to call up more military. Our military, don’t forget it, can’t act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy,” Trump, in Texas, told reporters during a meeting ranchers who complained to him about the constant threat from trespassers on their properties. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, asked by reporters earlier in the day about a possible multiyear deployment of troops to the border, responded, saying he had been speaking at length about that with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I would expect shortly here to have another request for assistance,” Shanahan said. Trump, in San Antonio, specifically blamed the problem on the governments of four countries: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. “Those countries are sending the tough ones, they’re sending the gang members,” he said. “They’ll kill you, take your truck, sometimes rob your house. Who the hell can live like this?” asked Trump, sitting in a room surrounded by area Republican…
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by Chuck Ross California Rep. Devin Nunes said Sunday he plans to submit eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department this week related to the Obama administration’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation. Nunes said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that the referrals will be made for alleged leaks of classified information to the media, for manipulating intelligence and for misleading foreign intelligence surveillance court judges regarding the infamous Steele dossier. Nunes declined to identify the Obama officials who will be subject to the referrals. He said that five of the referrals name specific government officials he believes have lied to Congress, misled Congress or leaked classified information. “We believe there is a conspiracy to lie to the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] court, mislead the FISA court, by numerous individuals that all need to be investigated and looked at,” said Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “The second conspiracy one is involving manipulation of intelligence,” said Nunes, adding that “we’ve had a lot of concerns with the way intelligence was used.” Nunes is also making what he calls a “global leak referral.” “There are about a dozen highly sensitive, classified information leaks that were given to…
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On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy discussed the recent report from CNN about the Chattanooga bridge collapse. The duo took a call from a career trucker named Art who expressed some interesting views on the situation and the possible reason it could have happened: Gill: This report by CNN that the bridge rail collapse down in the Chattanooga area was because a truck hit it and sliced some of the steel beams that held the barrier, the wall in place. Let’s go to Art. He had a comment about a truck hitting the bridge. Art, good morning. Welcome to the Tennessee Star Report. Art: Thank you. Thank you. Great show, love your show every morning. Gill: Thank you Leahy: Thanks Art. Art: Just a different comment on this truck thing. I haul delivery equipment and have and you name it for about 28 years and part of the problem is not just the trucks. They get a permit to haul this stuff, these oversized loads and normally DOT or TDOT or wherever they originate from, give…
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by Nick Givas Former California GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro listed nine ways in which America is moving towards socialism during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Monday. Del Beccaro said increased government spending and inflated tax codes are just the beginning and claimed they’ll have a domino effect on the rest of the country. “We do have massive [spending],” he said. “We are going to spend $7.6 trillion as a society in this upcoming year which is roughly four times what Reagan’s era spent when he said government was the problem.” “We have massive tax systems,” Del Beccaro continued. “And hallmarks of socialist societies are poor incentives where there is weak economic growth. And that comes from tax systems. Trump did a good job beginning with the business tax code. He’s got to do better with personal so we have better growth.” He then moved to reduced economic growth through government interference and cited the EU as a prime example. “[The EU] had zero economic growth over the last 20 years and government is about 60, 70 percent of their economies,” Del Beccaro said. “In the United States we’re about 36 [percent]. With regulations closer to 50. Our growth has slipped…
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The governor of the U.S. state of California plans to announce Wednesday a moratorium on carrying out death sentences. In prepared remarks seen by news organizations ahead of the official announcement, Governor Gavin Newsom says, “The intentional killing of another person is wrong.” He cites cases of innocent people being convicted for crimes they did not commit, and sometimes even executed. Newsom also says cases involving capital punishment disproportionately affect minorities, the mentally ill and those who do not have enough money for costly legal representation. The moratorium will involve an executive order to withdraw the state’s lethal injection protocol. None of the 737 inmates currently on death row in California will be released or have their sentences changed. California last executed an inmate in 2006. Rights groups praised Newsom’s decision. Alison Parker, U.S. managing director at Human Rights Watch, said the governor “has taken a strong moral stand” and that the group hopes other states will follow his actions. Criticism came from some law enforcement organizations. Michelle Hanisee, president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, called Newsom’s moratorium “hasty and ill-considered,” and said he was going against the will of the people of California. In 2016, a ballot…
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Friday, Ohio’s state Commerce Department awarded the first medicinal marijuana processor its certificate of operation. This processor will allow medicinal marijuana to be processed, refined, and distilled into cannabis-infused products. These products include: oil, wax, ointment, salve, tincture, capsule, suppository, dermal patch, cartridge or other product containing medical cannabis concentrate, or usable cannabis that has been processed so that the dried leaves and flowers are integrated into other material. The move is a major step forward for advocates who wish to see the ubiquitous use of cannabis adopted in the Buckeye State. The process of earning this certificate from the state of Ohio is very competitive. Per the rules outlined the Ohio Medicinal Marijuana control program. “The Department received 104 processor applications. From these, the Department is authorized to award up to 40 provisional licenses.” In addition, the cost of operations is shockingly high. It costs $10,000 to apply for the initial certificate. If approved, the actual certificate costs an additional $90,000. Furthermore, to continue operations at a plant, there is an annual fee of $100,000. While these fees may seem high, relative to other business fees, one of the most appealing arguments to marijuana legalization was the idea that the drug would be taxed heavily and…
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by Jason Hopkins Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a major critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, visited a border town with a wall and declared there was no “national emergency.” https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1103709125609906176 “[We are trying] to highlight a different story as it relates to what’s going on here between Mexico and the United States, and the economic vibrancy that is demonstrable here at the border,” Newsom said Thursday as he visited San Ysidro, a district in San Diego, California. Newsom on Thursday hosted a roundtable discussion with local residents to talk about Trump’s national emergency declaration and what life is like on the U.S. southern border. The press conference was largely meant to push back against the president’s narrative that unfettered illegal immigration leads to crime and lawlessness. Participants of the conference spoke on camera about how the town is actually quite safe. “They’ve had the mentality that it’s dangerous,” said local resident Edgar Alaniz, referring to Americans who believe the border town to be unsafe. “I live here. I come down here every day and I can tell you that it isn’t.” However, critics of Newsom’s press conference were quick to point out one glaring detail about San…
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by Jason Hopkins Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials claim a deadly shootout between an illegal immigrant and a sheriff’s deputy could have been prevented if California sanctuary laws allowed them to do their job. A deadly shootout on Sunday took place between a cop and a Mexican national. During a routine traffic stop in Napa County, California, Javier Hernandez Morales, 48, attempted to shoot Napa County Sheriff’s Deputy Riley Jarecki. Jarecki was able to maneuver away and return fire, killing Hernandez Morales at the scene. Footage of the shootout was captured on the deputy sheriff’s body camera. Hernandez Morales, who had been living in the U.S. illegally, was no stranger to law enforcement. He had been deported back to his home country of Mexico twice in 2007 and once more in 2010. However, since that time, local law enforcement officials refused to work with ICE on deporting him again, despite various crimes. ICE lodged four different detainers for Hernandez Morales relating to battery of a peace officer, suspicion of driving while intoxicated, selling liquor to a minor and probation violations. The detainers, according to ICE, were sent to Napa County Jail in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and anther was issued to Sonoma County Jail in…
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by Michael Bastasch The Trump administration officially ended negotiations with California over a proposed rollback of Obama-era fuel economy regulations. The White House issued a joint statement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) Thursday: “Today, officials from the White House, Department of Transportation, and Environmental Protection Agency announced that the Trump Administration has decided to discontinue discussions with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regarding the proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule. Despite the Administration’s best efforts to reach a common-sense solution, it is time to acknowledge that CARB has failed to put forward a productive alternative since the SAFE Vehicles Rule was proposed. Accordingly, the Administration is moving forward to finalize a rule later this year with the goal of promoting safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles.” The announcement comes as tensions flare between the White House and California over border wall and high-speed rail funding. The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported the administration’s plan to end talks. The impasse over fuel economy regulations will likely result in EPA revoking California’s ability to set its own tailpipe standards for carbon dioxide emissions. Talks between EPA and DOT officials the California Air…
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by Fred Lucas President Donald Trump is moving to make over the liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has delivered some of the most stinging judicial setbacks to his agenda. Trump announced three nominations this week to the San Francisco-based appeals court, which covers California, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and the eastern part of Washington state. Earlier this month, the president renominated two other judges for the 9th Circuit. “We’re very happy to have these extraordinary nominees,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, told The Daily Signal. “It doesn’t change the [9th Circuit] majority to Republican nominees. But when we are talking about future three-judge panels, the odds are a lot better.” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will oversee the confirmation process for the nominees and said he hopes for bipartisanship. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] “I’m very supportive of the nominees submitted by President Trump to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Graham said in a prepared statement. “These are highly qualified nominees and I am hopeful they will receive wide bipartisan…
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by Edward Ring Venice Beach, California, used to be one of California’s great places. A Bohemian gem, nestled against the sand between big Los Angeles and the vast Pacific Ocean. Rents used to be a little lower in Venice compared to other coastal neighborhoods. The locals mingled with surfers, artists, street performers, and tourists. People from suburbs further inland migrated to Venice’s beaches on sunny weekends year-round. Venice was affordable, inviting, inclusive. That was then. Today, Venice Beach is off limits to families who used to spend their Saturdays on the sand. It’s too dangerous. On the sand, beached seaweed now mingles with syringes, feces, broken glass, and other trash, and the ocean has become the biggest outdoor toilet in the city. More than 1,000 vagrants now consider Venice Beach their permanent home. At the same time as real estate values exploded all along the California coast, the homeless population soared. In Venice, where the median price of a home is $2.1 million, makeshift shelters line the streets and alleys, as the affluent and the indigent fitfully coexist. What has happened in Venice is representative of what’s happened to California. If progressives take back the White House in 2020, it will…
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by Spencer P. Morrison Legend says a humble French scribe named Nicolas Flamel discovered the philosopher’s stone – the alchemical secret to physical transmutation. To immortality itself. After turning a half-pound of mercury into gold, fear consumed Flamel: what man could resist the temptations of unlimited wealth and immortality? In a show of Christian humility, Flamel hid his manuscripts and dedicated his life to philanthropy. What remained of his synthetic treasure built several schools, seven churches, and 14 hospitals. He died a lifetime later, in 1418. The Democrats appear to have rediscovered Flamel’s alchemical texts and have used their knowledge of the philosopher’s stone to transform immigrants and blue-collar conservatives into reliable voters. This has made the once-dying Democratic Party all but immortal. Family Ties It is no secret that by 1965 the Democratic Party’s future looked bleak. The exploitation of black-white tensions – the Democrats’ bread-and-butter – no longer looked like a “growth industry.” To stave off their political decline the Democrats needed a new strategy. They needed new voters. Enter the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This legislation (and the political zeitgeist animating its passage) had two primary effects. First, it opened the floodgates and ushered in the…
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by Molly Prince Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris announced on Monday that she is officially throwing her hat into the ring and seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020. Amid speculation of Harris’s presidential aspirations, the California senator revealed in December she would make a decision on whether or not to launch a 2020 presidential run over the holiday season. She also acknowledged the challenges she would face while running in such a heated election and how cutthroat the presidential race might be. “Let’s be honest, it’s going to be ugly,” Harris said at the time. “When you break things, it is painful and you get cut. And you bleed.” Leading up to her presidential announcement, the first-term senator had been actively elevating her national profile. Harris spent more money on Facebook ads during the summer than any other senator despite not being up for re-election in November 2018, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Harris, a high-profile member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, faced both massive backlash and praise for her combative line of questioning of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court hearings. She later used her role in the tumultuous confirmation process to fundraise for vulnerable Democrats during the midterms. If elected,…
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by Brittany Hunter When the private sector needs to generate more revenue, entrepreneurs innovate and create in order to draw in consumers and raise profits. When the government needs to generate additional revenue, they are left with only one option: Extort through fees and taxation. And after it has taxed everything feasibly within its grasp, it has to get creative. California lawmakers have sunk so low, there is now a tax on fruit purchased from vending machines. It should be noted that regular fruit purchased at a store is not subject to this tax, only those purchased from a vending machine. Following this line of absurdity, Indiana has an instituted a candy tax on marshmallows. Maine has a fruit tax specifically on blueberries. Unfortunately, Georgia may be the next state to fall victim to absurd government attempts to generate revenue by taxing digital streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Tax All the Things At the end of last year, California tried to pull a fast one on its residents when local policymakers attempted to levy a 4 percent tax on text messaging. Just weeks prior, Chicago became a target for criticism after PlayStation’s decision to begin enforcing the city’s new 9…
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by Lloyd Billingsley “Shots fired!” radioed Newman, California, police officer Ronil Singh after pulling over a suspected drunk driver the day after Christmas. Those were the last words of Cpl. Singh, a legal immigrant from Fiji. His killer turned out to be someone who “doesn’t belong here,” as Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said. “He is a criminal.” Outgoing California Governor Jerry Brown offered condolences to Singh’s family and said flags at the capitol would fly at half-staff in his honor. “Our hearts are with the entire community of Newman and law enforcement officers across the state who risk their lives every day to protect and serve the people of California,” Brown said. The governor mentioned nothing about the shooter, and neither did Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Considering the grandstanding and pandering of both politicians on immigration, both have good reasons to keep quiet. Gustavo Perez Arriaga—or whatever his real name is—has gang connections and two previous DUI arrests. As former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News, the September 2017 Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act would have given authorities the ability to take immigration enforcement action against the shooter, even if he had…
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Several insurance companies have filed lawsuits blaming Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a deadly California wildfire that destroyed 14,000 homes and triggered billions of dollars in insurance claims. The lawsuits filed by Allstate, State Farm, USAA and their subsidiaries come on top of several other cases filed by victims of the Camp Fire, which devastated the towns of Paradise, Magalia and Concow north of Sacramento after it started Nov. 8. Investigators have not pinpointed a cause for the fire. But the insurance companies note in their lawsuits that flames ignited near the site of a transmission-line irregularity reported by the utility. They also note a potential second ignition point involving PG&E distribution lines. California law Under California law, PG&E is held entirely liable if lawyers can prove the fire is linked to the utility’s power lines or other equipment, a fact that sent shares of the company tumbling following the start of the fire. Following a series of deadly fires in 2017 in Northern California’s wine country, PG&E executives and lobbyists tried to persuade state lawmakers to change the legal standard and reduce the company’s liability. Lawmakers declined, but they allowed the company to pass along some of the…
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The State of California settled a lawsuit with the Election Integrity Project California (EIPCa) Friday and has agreed to remove as many as 1.5 million inactive registrants from the Los Angeles County voter rolls. EIPCa filed suit against the state in August 2017 and alleged that California was not “following the requirements of Section 8 of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA),” which requires states to reasonably maintain state and county voter registration rolls. According to EIPCa, the settlement means that Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan (pictured above) must immediately begin following federal mandates for “identifying and removing deceased, moved, and other ineligible registrants,” which is estimated to be as many as 1.5 million. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Los Angeles County has a population of 10.1 million, and 5.2 million are registered voters, according to Logan’s office. That means up to 28.8 percent – nearly a third – of registered voters in Los Angeles County were ineligible registrants. “Because of the powerful and overwhelming evidence provided by EIPCa, this was an exceptionally strong case,” Linda Paine, president of EIPCa, said in a press release late Friday. “California’s voter rolls are unforgivably bloated, a situation that…
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by Neetu Chandak A preliminary report released Thursday found U.S. police officer deaths on duty increased by 12 percent in 2018 from 2017. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a non-profit dedicated to making police officers’ work safer, found 144 police officers died between Jan. 1 and Dec. 27. Nearly 129 police officers died in the same time frame in 2017. The leading cause of death was gun-related followed by traffic-related incidents. Other forms of death included being struck by a train, having a heart attack and drowning. “The rising number of law enforcement officer deaths in 2018 is disappointing news after a decline in 2017,” the fund’s CEO Craig W. Floyd said in a press statement. “Sadly this reminds us that public safety is a dangerous job and can come at a very steep price.” Texas, Florida, California, and New York had the highest number of officer deaths with 11 each, according to the data. The District of Columbia along with 14 states did not have any police officer fatalities. The number of deaths could change as the numbers are not final, according to the fund. The report comes as an illegal immigrant allegedly shot and killed…
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by Elizabeth Lee Imagine being on the bridge of a ship navigating through space with your crew’s survival at risk, then stepping onto a river raft to battle aliens in a swamp, and finally flying through the air, all in one night. All this and more are possible at a futuristic micro amusement park called Two Bit Circus in Los Angeles. “I think it takes a whole arcade game venue to the next level, and there’s a couple of games I played tonight where I was out of breath and actually sweating,” said visitor Kelly Bentall, who had just finished playing a game where she had to roll a plastic ball and watch a cartoon version of it on a screen, while trying to knock an opponent off a virtual arena. Many of the games at Two Bit Circus can be described as traditional carnival games on steroids where sensors, cameras or virtual reality goggles add to the experience. There is even a robot bartender that mixes drinks for customers. “I have not had a robot make my drink before. That was actually pretty cool. He even managed to shake it,” said customer John Duncan. Just like a movie…
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A large-magnitude earthquake in the central part of the United States would jolt Tennessee and do far more damage here than another similar-sized quake out west could do to California, a Memphis geologist said. That’s because Tennessee and California have different type terrains and that makes all the difference, said Gary Patterson with the Memphis-based Center for Earthquake Research and Information. “If you take the same magnitude earthquake in the central United States in Tennessee versus California then the one in Tennessee will be felt over a five to 20 times larger area. You get more bang for your buck,” Patterson said. “The deep geology here is much different. We are talking 10 to 20 miles deep here. Compared to California, the deep geology here we have is hard, cold dense rocks that transmit seismic energy and vibrations very efficiently. The vibrations go out over huge areas. In California the deep rocks are relatively hot and shattered. The seismic energy dissipates quicker.” People as far away as Dallas, Texas and Tampa, Florida, for instance, felt a recent 4.4 magnitude quake that originated in Decatur, Tennessee Patterson told The Tennessee Star. “The Virginia earthquake that damaged the Washington Monument several years…
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by Michael Bastasch President Donald Trump moved forward with policies aimed at preventing catastrophic wildfires while the media breathlessly covered the government funding battle. Trump issued an executive order Friday to allow for active management of forest and rangelands, including thinning and removing debris from millions of acres of federal lands. The order also calls on federal officials to streamline regulations and permitting processes to allow the harvest of at least 3.8 billion board feet from U.S. Forest Service lands and 600 million board feet from Bureau of Land Management lands. That represents a massive increase in timber sales from federal lands. For example, loggers harvested 2.9 billion board feet from Forest Service lands in 2017, according to federal figures. But even Trump’s increased allowance for loggers is still about one-quarter of what was harvested in 1973. Trump also asked federal officials to do more to maintain roads into hard-to-reach areas where fires can spread. Western Republicans welcomed Trump’s order. GOP lawmakers said that a change in policies was sorely needed after the devastating 2018 wildfire season, which saw more than 8.5 million acres burned. “While litigation activists thwarted forest management reforms, the Senate also failed to pass legislation…
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by Grace Carr A twice-deported illegal immigrant felon allegedly killed a man and injured numerous others Sunday, and authorities are blaming the criminal’s violent actions on California’s sanctuary state law for allowing the violence to occur. Gustavo Garcia, 36, shot a farm worker in Tulare County in California Sunday before stealing $2,000 from an AA Gas and Grub mini mart in Exeter, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Garcia went on to shoot a woman in the parking lot of a Motel 6 in Tulare, spray bullets into a Shell gas station, shoot and kill a man at a second gas station in Visalia, and finally attack his ex-girlfriend’s house, the Post reported. The farm worker and motel occupant are expected to survive, according to the Post. Authorities described Garcia’s 24-hour violent rampage as a “reign of terror,” according to the Post. Garcia stole a truck and drove at speeds exceeding 100 mph in an attempt to evade police following his shooting spree, according to Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux. Garcia collided with multiple vehicles before flying through the car’s windshield. Four people were taken to the hospital with injuries, and one remains in critical condition, according to the Post. Garcia was arrested on Dec.…
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by Jason Hopkins An in-depth investigation found that federal, state and local governments were aware of California’s vulnerability to wildfires, but failed to take the necessary steps to prevent its devastation. California residents have recently been forced to deal with some of the worst wildfires in the state’s history. Over the course of a 13-month period that began in October 2017, four major fires scorched California. The fires ultimately burned 700,000 acres of land, destroying nearly 27,000 properties and killing over 100 people. The devastation has left leaders wondering who — or what — is to blame. California and the Trump administration have sparred heavily over what was responsible for the fires. Outgoing Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and environmental activists have directed blame at climate change, claiming that rising temperatures make the fires more brutal. California officials are currently investigating whether a malfunction in an electric utility’s equipment may have caused one of the fires. Mounting evidence suggest the wildfires were in large part a result of regulatory failure. ProPublica, an investigative outlet based in New York, reviewed records and conducted dozens of interviews concerning one of these deadly fires: the Carr Fire. Its team ultimately concluded that “every level…
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by John Rosenberg Ever since Justice Powell’s lone opinion in Bakke allowed the camel’s nose of “diversity” under the anti-discrimination tent, controversy has raged over preferential treatment awarded to college applicants of certain races. Just as hurricanes often change direction after landfall, the diversity movement has recently taken off in some surprising new directions that deserve public attention. Diversity Statements First came the “diversity statements,” introduced by a smattering of institutions for promotion or tenure and sometimes for all new hires. Both the prevalence and the required content of these diversity statements has expanded dramatically. UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, for example, recently released Version 2.1 of a comprehensive “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement FAQs” attempting to justify why equity, diversity, and inclusion should “figure into faculty hiring and promotion” and laying out chapter and verse of what should be included in EDI statements. Helpful examples were provided, quoted from the faculty hiring guide: Efforts to advance equitable access to education; Public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population; Research in a scholar’s area of expertise that highlights inequalities; Mentoring and advising students and faculty members, particularly from under-represented and underserved populations. An applicant’s…
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by Chris White One of the law firms involved in a trove of California lawsuits targeting ExxonMobil and other energy companies is poised to rake in millions of dollars from their climate crusades, according to Climate Litigation Watch. Sher Edling LLP could capitalize on a big pay-day if San Francisco’s lawsuit against the oil company settles, according to documents obtained Wednesday by the watchdog. The contract between the firm, San Francisco and the county is complex and lays out a multi-tiered payment method for Sher Edling. Altshuler Berzon LLP also represents the city. The California-based firm’s pay is dependent on the amount of the settlement. If the city secures a $100 million settlement, then lawyers could take home roughly $25 million; if the settlement exceeds $100 million, then they get $32.5 million; and roughly $36.5 million for any settlement hitting $200 million, according to the document obtained by CLW. Sher Edling and Altshuler will have to come to an agreement about how the fees are split up. Oakland is also working with Sher Edling on a lawsuit against the Texas-based company, but refused to provide copies of its settlement, CLW noted in a press statement Wednesday. San Francisco and…
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by Neetu Chandak Asian-American parents and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against New York City officials Thursday over a plan that would increase admissions for black and Hispanic students to elite schools in the city. Black and Hispanic students make up 68 percent of the city’s population with 9 percent receiving offers to attend specialized high schools. Asian-American students, however, make up 62 percent of the population at the city’s elite high schools, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The plan promoted by Mayor Bill de Blasio would set aside 20 percent of seats at each of the elite high schools for students coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to WaPo. Gaining admission into the specialized high schools is determined by a single test known as the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), a Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. De Blasio announced the Discovery Program’s expansion in June, which offers free tutoring to those who missed the cutoff for admissions and a second chance at being accepted, The Wall Street Journal reported. “It unlawfully restricts equal access of tens of thousands of poor Asian-American children living outside high-poverty school districts to Specialized High…
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Insurance claims from last month’s California wildfires already are at $9 billion and expected to increase, the state’s insurance commissioner announced Wednesday. About $7 billion in claims are from the Camp Fire that destroyed the Northern California city of Paradise and killed at least 86 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in at least a century. The rest is from the Woolsey and Hill fires in Southern California. Collectively, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 20,000 structures, with the vast majority in and around Paradise. On Tuesday, state and federal authorities estimated it will cost at least $3 billion just to clear debris. “As the claims get perfected, as individuals get access to their former homes and neighborhoods, as they dialogue with their insurance companies and share more information about the scope of their loss, we expect these numbers to rise,” Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said of the $9 billion estimate. Over 28,000 claims There are more than 28,000 claims for residential personal property, nearly 2,000 from commercial property and 9,400 in auto and other claims for the fires. That’s well above the number of claims filed following a series of fires that tore through Northern California’s wine…
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by Tim Pearce Apple is investing $1 billion to nearly double its workforce in Texas and is hiring thousands more employees in offices across the U.S., the company announced Thursday. Apple is adding 5,000 positions to its Austin, Texas, campus on top of the 6,200-strong workforce already there. The tech company is also establishing campuses in San Diego, Seattle and Culver City, California, employing about 1,000 people each. Hundreds more jobs will be added to other offices in places such as New York, Pittsburgh and Boulder, Colorado, by 2022. Apple’s announcement is relatively quiet compared to Amazon’s decision to build headquarters in Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia. The local and state governments at each location offered Amazon incentives worth millions of dollars. Dozens of other locations across the U.S. competed for Amazon’s attention with tax credits, infrastructure investment and other favors. President Donald Trump gave credit to Amazon for and owner Jeff Bezos for the antics. “I think they’re paying a very big price,” Trump said of Arlington and New York City in a November interview with The Daily Caller. “It was a competition. I know all about those competitions. I’ve been in those competitions —…
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by Gregory Morin I recently had the opportunity to visit San Francisco for the first time. Coastal towns tend to be a bit more interesting in terms of cuisine (seafood being one of the more varied palate options) as well as architecture (steep hill structures are ever a testament to human ingenuity) and San Francisco scores high in both categories. However one area where it currently scores quite low is in the aroma zone. At first I thought perhaps they had a very inefficient sewer system near the shoreline retail sector, but as we explored deeper toward the city center it became clear something was amiss. I learned shortly thereafter that San Francisco has a poop crisis. To be blunt — people are literally crapping on the sidewalks. Not the tourists, mind you, but the local homeless population. The situation has come to a head (or to the head to employ a nautical metaphor) primarily as a result of progressive conservatism primed with the power of centralized (governmental) authority. The outside leftist narrative of course is that this poop crisis is inevitable results of unmitigated capitalism, which drives the eternal boogeyman of income inequality. This inequality fuels gentrification of…
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