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Posts tagged ‘California’

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


Branco Cartoon – The Gov Buds

A.F. Branco | on June 25, 2025 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/branco-cartoon-the-gov-buds/

Walz and Gavin
A Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco 2025

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A.F. Branco Cartoon: Governor Walz and Governor Newsom are among the worst Governors in America. Both would rather let their cities burn than have Trump bring in law and Order.

BRANCO TOON STORE

WATCH: NY Gov. Kathy Hochul and IL Gov. JB Pritzker Dare Trump to Arrest Them, MN Gov. Tampon Tim Walz Chickens Out During Congressional Hearing

By Jordan Conradson – The Gateway Pundit – June 12, 2025

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sat before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, where they taunted the Trump Administration, daring Tom Homan to arrest them for their lawless sanctuary state policies.
Republicans grilled the Governors in a hearing titled “A Hearing with Sanctuary State Governors.”
Democrats used the opportunity to rant against the Trump administration, accusing Trump of inciting violence and violating the rights of illegal aliens in the interior of our country.
When Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) used his time to rail against the Trump Administration for sending troops to stop the violent insurrection in Los Angeles and claim that “people are protesting, nonviolently, President Trump’s treatment of immigrants.”
Frost highlighted the arrest of a Milwaukee Judge on obstruction of justice charges for concealing an illegal alien from ICE agents, a mayor for trespassing on an ICE facility, Democrat New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver for assaulting federal agents, and recent calls for California Governor Gavin Newsom’s arrest from President Trump. “Why is Trump now saying he wants to arrest governors? It’s because he knows that some of the people who are going to be the greatest opposition to his lawlessness are democratic governors standing up for their people,” he said… READ MORE

DONATE to A.F. Branco Cartoons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country in various news outlets, including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, Elon Musk, and President Trump.

South Carolina’s Play to Nullify Tariffs In 1832 Failed Spectacularly. Newsom’s Will Too


By: Chuck DeVore | April 23, 2025

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/23/south-carolinas-play-to-nullify-tariffs-in-1832-failed-spectacularly-newsoms-will-too/

Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom is dusting off John C. Calhoun’s playbook from 1832, arguing his state can nullify federal law.

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Oh, the irony! California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the gel-haired darling of the left, has decided to play President Andrew Jackson’s foil in a modern-day Nullification Crisis. His lawsuit to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs — filed with all the fanfare of a Hollywood premiere — smacks of South Carolina’s 1832 tantrum over federal tariffs. Back then, the Palmetto State tried to nullify federal law, claiming it could pick and choose which national policies applied.

Newsom, it seems, fancies himself a latter-day John C. Calhoun, strutting onto the national stage with a States’ Powers swagger. The only problem? He’s reading from a script debunked by history, law, and common sense.

Let’s rewind to 1832. South Carolina, peeved over the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 — derisively called the “Tariff of Abominations” — declared them null and void within its borders. The state’s economy, tied to slave-driven cotton exports, chafed under duties that protected northern industry but raised costs for southern planters. Calhoun, then vice president, penned the intellectual case for nullification, arguing states could override federal laws they deemed unconstitutional. Andrew Jackson called this treasonous nonsense. He issued a Proclamation of Force, threatening troops, and Congress passed a compromise tariff to cool the feud. South Carolina backed down, but the episode laid bare a dangerous question: Can states defy federal authority rooted in the Constitution? Gavin Newsom, on a different day, would say that the Civil War answered that one with a resounding “no.”

Fast forward to 2025, and enter Newsom, California’s self-anointed guardian of the “resistance.” On April 16, Newsom announced a lawsuit to halt Trump’s tariffs, which slap a 10 percent baseline on imports and far steeper levies on goods from China. Trump justifies these under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law granting presidents broad authority in national emergencies.

Newsom, flanked by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, claims the tariffs are “unlawful” and will wreak “chaos” on California’s economy — think higher prices for almonds, wine, and Hollywood flicks as other nations hike their tariffs in response. Sound familiar? Like South Carolina, California is griping about federal policy hitting its economic interests. Like Calhoun, Newsom is betting on state power to thwart Washington. And like 1832, this is a clash over who gets to call the shots.

The parallels are uncanny, and the irony is thicker than a blanket of Sacramento Tule fog. Newsom, a Democrat who’s spent years preaching federal supremacy on everything from climate to immigration, now cloaks himself in the mantle of state sovereignty to dodge Trump’s trade agenda.

Let’s be clear: States don’t have rights; they have powers, delegated by the Constitution. Only people have rights, a truth the Founders etched into our framework. Newsom’s rhetoric, implying California can opt out of federal policy like some sovereign republic, misreads the Constitution as badly as Calhoun did. This is the same governor who has cheered federal overreach when it suits his progressive piety — think EPA mandates or Obamacare. Yet when Trump wields federal power to address trade deficits, Newsom cries foul, claiming California, the “world’s fifth-largest economy,” deserves special treatment. Newsom is dusting off Calhoun’s playbook, arguing his state can nullify federal law.

But let’s not kid ourselves. Newsom’s not just channeling South Carolina’s ghost. He’s auditioning for 2028. This lawsuit isn’t about protecting California’s farmers or tech bros; it’s about burnishing his anti-Trump credentials for a future presidential run. He’s been laying the groundwork for months, from begging foreign leaders to spare California from retaliatory tariffs to launching a tourism campaign to lure Canadians back to Napa Valley. Never mind that his own state is riddled with “rampant crime, homelessness, and unaffordability,” as a White House spokesperson pointed out. Newsom’s too busy playing global diplomat to fix the mess in his own backyard.

Here’s where the irony deepens. South Carolina’s nullification gambit failed because the Constitution vests Congress with the power to regulate commerce (Article I, Section 8). The Supreme Court has upheld this for centuries, from Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) to modern cases. Newsom’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues Trump’s use of IEEPA exceeds his authority. Good luck with that. Courts have historically given presidents wide latitude under emergency powers, and Trump’s trade war is hardly the first time IEEPA’s been invoked. Newsom’s legal Hail Mary is less about winning in court and more about rallying the coastal elites who cheer his every anti-Trump jab.

And let’s talk about the Logan Act, shall we? Newsom’s earlier stunt of cozying up to foreign governments to secure tariff exemptions for California skirts dangerously close to violating this 1799 law, which bars unauthorized citizens from meddling in U.S. foreign policy. If a conservative governor tried this, the media would scream “treason.” But Newsom gets a pass because, well, he’s the left’s poster boy. Imagine the headlines if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott negotiated trade deals with Mexico. The hypocrisy is staggering.

The Nullification Crisis of 1832 exposed the fragility of a Union in which states could cherry-pick federal laws. It took Jackson’s resolve and a compromise tariff to avert disaster. Today, Newsom’s tariff lawsuit risks reopening that wound, not because California will secede (don’t threaten us with a good time), but because it fuels a narrative of state defiance that undermines national unity. Trump’s tariffs may be bold, but they’re a federal prerogative, like it or not.

Newsom’s grandstanding, like South Carolina’s, is a losing bet. The Constitution hasn’t changed, and neither has the lesson: States don’t get to nullify federal law, no matter how much their governors crave the spotlight.

So, here’s to Gavin Newsom, California’s would-be Calhoun, tilting at windmills while his state’s problems fester. The Nullification Crisis ended with South Carolina eating crow. Newsom might want to study that history before his lawsuit crashes and burns.


Chuck DeVore is chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a former California legislator, and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. He’s the author of “The Crisis of the House Never United—A Novel of Early America.”

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – A Head Scratcher

A.F. Branco | on January 15, 2025 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-a-head-scratcher/

02 MovingOut DT 1080
A Political Cartoon by A.F Branco 2025

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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Democrat voters, seeing firsthand the disaster their Democrat leaders’ policies have brought to their neighborhood, will most likely continue to vote for them.

Powerful: Actress Justine Bateman Unloads on California’s ‘Useless’ Leaders Who Should “Resign Out of Shame” (Video)

By Margaret Flavin – The Gateway Pundit – Jan 11, 2025

Gen Xer’s grew up on the iconic show Family Ties. Actress Justine Bateman played the slightly ditzy but surprisingly deep sister Mallory opposite Michael J. Fox’s briefcase-carrying tie-wearing Republican brother Alex.
While Bateman’s acting career has continued over the years, she has also expanded her creative repertoire to include directing, producing, and writing.
Bateman’s X account has become a must-follow for her straightforward take on the current political landscape.
On Friday, a justifiably angry Bateman joined Jesse Watters and unloaded on California’s useless leaders and their abject failure to protect their citizens. READ MORE

DONATE to A.F. Branco Cartoons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country in various news outlets, including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Trump.

Parts I, 2 & 3: Inferno of Insanity in LA


By: Kevin Jackson | January 11, 2025

Read more at https://theblacksphere.net/2025/01/inferno-of-insanity-la/

The City of Angels is ablaze, and the irony couldn’t be more striking. LA burning to the ground has accomplished something rare: it’s turned the national spotlight on the absurdity of Leftist governance.

Let’s take stock of the players in this tragedy. At the top, we have a governor who could be the poster child for style over substance. Gavin Newsom is the guy you’d hire to play “concerned politician” in a Netflix series, not someone you’d trust to lead in an actual crisis. His brand? Smug photo-ops and buzzword-riddled speeches. Substance? Nonexistent.

And at the local level, it somehow gets worse. The leadership of the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) reads like a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) experiment gone terribly wrong. The hiring and promotion process is more about checking identity boxes than finding people qualified to combat real-world disasters.

Then there’s the cause of the fires. Initially blamed on global climate change, the narrative quickly unraveled. Authorities discovered a literal flamethrower in the hands of a deranged individual—one who, I might add, seemed more like a walking caricature of Leftist dysfunction than the embodiment of any conservative boogeyman. Five cell phones? A United Nations calling card? If the Devil had a child, they’d look like this guy, complete with chaos as their middle name.

So yes, climate change has a face, and it’s a human being—though perhaps we should check which pronouns the arsonist prefers before proceeding further.

Democrats and the Politics of Chaos

Newsom wasted no time blaming climate change for the fires. Think about that for a moment: one of the most catastrophic fires in recent history was weaponized to perpetuate the climate change narrative. Yet the truth revealed that it was the work of one of Newsom’s own citizens, not some freak weather phenomenon.

It’s a pattern, isn’t it? Democrats thrive on chaos. If chaos doesn’t exist, they manufacture it. Where chaos already exists, they stoke the flames—sometimes literally. This isn’t hyperbole; it’s a playbook.

Meanwhile, conservatives—especially MAGA conservatives—are problem solvers. We work to uphold the Constitution’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Democrats, on the other hand, torch the framework, then sell you on the lie that their arsonist tendencies are somehow virtuous.

Another Conspiracy Confirmed

Once again, what started as a wild conspiracy theory has been confirmed: Democrats are responsible for the fires. Whether by arsonist proxy or through failed policies that allow such lunatics to thrive, the result is the same—destruction disguised as progress.

In a particularly sardonic twist, local authorities describe the culprit as a “savvy arsonist” familiar with wind patterns and fire science, targeting affluent areas. So much for the climate change fairy tale. Turns out, it’s plain old arson—strategic, methodical, and painfully human.

When your neighborhood HOA newsletter contains more actionable intelligence than your elected officials, maybe it’s time to admit we have a problem. And it’s not climate change. It’s leadership—or rather, the lack thereof.

To showcase the real insanity of Leftism, even acts of kindness must be investigated by the California Gestapo:

This California city wanted to make sure it got tax revenue and perhaps a license fee if this man had been selling hot dogs to beleaguered firefighters.

California politicians need to reset their priorities. Because they couldn’t be more out of touch.

Check out Part II of this article, where I discuss the players in this horrible saga.

Part II: Playing with Fire and How DEI Policies Let LA Burn

By: Kevin Jackson | January 11, 2025

https://theblacksphere.net/2025/01/part-ii-playing-with-fire-and-how-dei-policies-let-la-burn/

The United States is the land of plenty, yet when it comes to providing water—a basic necessity for life—we’re starting to look like a Third World country. It’s a surreal problem, given that one of our citizens has mastered feats like landing rockets back on Earth. So why can’t we solve water crises in places like California? The truth is as simple as it is damning incompetence and greed.

California, with all its wealth and technological prowess, could solve its water issues if it wanted to. Areas of the country regularly flood while others face severe droughts. The solution—moving excess water to areas in need—isn’t rocket science. The same man who lands spaceships back to earth manufactures earth boring equipment. One would think we could dig tunnels from areas of high rain to areas of low rain and manage the water supply chain. But instead of solving the problem, California prioritizes political posturing over practicality.


DEI and the LA Fires

In case you were aware of how bad DEI is, understand that a Chinese spy who infiltrated New York City’s government promoted it.

If our biggest enemy is promoting something, it stands to reason we should avoid it. But look at this statistic regarding probability of hiring 3 Lesbians in the LAFD:

The LA fire crisis exemplifies this deadly mix of incompetence and misplaced priorities. At its core, the issue isn’t just about water; it’s about the leadership managing these crises—or failing to manage them.

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is a case study in progressive politics gone awry. The department’s leadership roster isn’t filled with the most qualified individuals but instead boasts a trio of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) appointees:

  • Kristina Crowley: First LGBTQ Fire Chief of the LAFD, earning a staggering $439,722 annually.
  • Kristine Larson: First Black lesbian Equity Bureau Chief, with a salary of $399,000.
  • Kristina Kepner: First Lesbian Assistant Chief, making $264,468 per year.

Together, these three cost taxpayers over $1 million annually. But what are they delivering for that money?


Leadership or Liability?

Let’s start with Assistant Chief Kristine Larson, who openly admits that some women may struggle to carry a man out of a fire. Her solution? Blame the victim. Larson’s words, paraphrased: “He shouldn’t have gotten himself into that position in the first place.” Imagine hearing that as your loved one’s life hangs in the balance.


The emphasis on DEI over competence has real consequences. Fires don’t care about your race, gender, or sexual orientation. When your house is engulfed in flames, the only thing that matters is whether the person coming to your rescue is capable. DEI does nothing to ensure that. Instead, it undermines meritocracy, placing political agendas above public safety.


Beyond the LAFD: A National Crisis

The problem isn’t confined to Los Angeles. This is a microcosm of what’s happening across the nation. DEI is infiltrating every sector—from the military to education to criminal justice. As meritocracy gives way to identity politics, the cost is measured in lives lost, homes destroyed, and dreams shattered.

The LA fires—massive, deadly, and avoidable—stand as a fiery indictment of this systemic failure. Water was available, but mismanagement and greed kept it from where it was needed most. DEI hires aren’t solving these problems; they’re exacerbating them.


Political Fires Burn Hotter

While LA burned, leftists on social media cheered the destruction of conservative actor James Woods’ home. They ignored the fact that their neighbors’ homes burned too. To them, the fire wasn’t a tragedy—it was a political statement. This kind of thinking exemplifies the broader issue: a society so divided by ideology that even disasters become partisan talking points.

We need leaders who are chosen for their ability to do the job, not their ability to check a diversity box. Until then, expect more fires, more failures, and more preventable tragedies.

Next, I will discuss the political leadership that allowed this clusterf*ck to occur.

Part III: California Leftists Leaders Fan the Flames of Incompetence

When Diversity Kills More Than It Saves

By: Kevin Jackson | January 12, 2025

https://theblacksphere.net/2025/01/part-iii-california-leftists-leaders-fan-the-flames-of-incompetence/

Los Angeles is in ashes—both literally and figuratively. A combination of failed leadership, radical ideologies, and gross mismanagement has left the city devastated. The staggering toll includes $60 billion in property damage, lives lost, and neighborhoods destroyed. What’s worse is that it didn’t have to happen.

The culprit remains DEI. And we have more Leftist women to add to the list of Lesbians who actually allowed this massive fire to occur. But before we get to them, let’s remove one boogeyman: the insurance companies.

Insurance Fallout and Fire Prevention Neglect

Leftists have tried to deflect blame of the fire to insurance companies. Democrats want people outraged by insurance companies dropping coverage. However, what they don’t want known is why the insurance companies dropped coverage.

The reason points back to government incompetence. Because the state of California has consistently failed to perform basic fire prevention activities, such as clearing brush and maintaining firebreaks. These are the very measures that keep fires from spiraling into uncontrollable infernos. And this is just for starters.

Intentional Malfeasance?

Governor Gavin Newsom slashed CalFire budgets while vetoing a bill that would have retained thousands of seasonal firefighters, leaving critical positions unfilled. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass cut $17 million from the fire department budget last year and, according to a leaked document obtained by the Daily Mail, requested an additional $49 million in cuts. The very departments tasked with protecting Angelenos from disasters are being gutted by leftist leaders who claim to champion public welfare.

Water Shortages: Janisse Quinones and LADWP

At the center of the fire response debacle is Janisse Quinones, head of LA’s Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Appointed by Mayor Bass in May 2024, Quinones earns $750,000 annually, nearly double the salary of her male predecessor. Her appointment was a “diversity win” for Bass’s administration but has proven to be an operational disaster. Under her leadership, LA ran out of water for fighting fires, leaving firefighters unable to contain the blazes.


The failure to provide basic resources underscores a grim reality: DEI-driven appointments that prioritize symbolism over competence put lives at risk. The so-called “patriarchy” may not be in vogue, but it certainly kept the water flowing when it mattered.

Leftist Ideology Over Lives

Instead of accepting responsibility, leftists have deflected blame by invoking their favorite scapegoat: climate change. Fires that result from neglected firebreaks, underfunded departments, and bureaucratic incompetence are framed as acts of nature. But there’s no denying the truth: these disasters are man-made, created by those in power.

Even as Oregon fire crews offered aid, their engines were delayed in Sacramento for DOT inspections—bureaucracy over urgency. This red tape kept critical resources from reaching LA while fires raged unchecked, and is symbolic of how leftism works.

The Media’s Complicity

Media outlets, ever eager to shield Democrats, have rushed to obfuscate the facts. CNN’s Anderson Cooper absurdly suggested that the real issue wasn’t government failure but homeowners “hoarding water” to protect their properties. These homeowners, many of whom have been abandoned by insurers, were left to fend for themselves because government services failed.

As President Reagan famously said [pp]: “The most terrifying words in the English language are, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

Gavin Newsom: Lies and Negligence

Governor Newsom, always quick to spin disasters into self-promotion, was caught lying about reaching out to President Biden for federal assistance. His office claimed he had made the call, but no such communication exists. This “style over substance” governance is nothing new for Newsom, whose veto of critical fire-prevention funding set the stage for these catastrophes.


Worse yet, his broader policies—gutting fire budgets while championing costly green energy initiatives—have made California more vulnerable to disasters. Newsom’s failures are not just negligence; they’re malpractice.

Karen Bass: A Radical Agenda

Karen Bass’s radical agenda has left LA vulnerable in more ways than one. From pushing “Down With the Patriarchy” rhetoric to dismantling functional systems in favor of ideological experiments, Bass has prioritized politics over public safety. The leaked document revealing her request for additional fire department budget cuts is a chilling reminder of her misplaced priorities.

DEI = DIE

The formula is clear: prioritizing diversity and ideology over competence and safety leads to disasters. The current crisis in Los Angeles is a case study in what happens when DEI policies replace proven systems. The people of LA are left with ashes, excuses, and a government that continues to fail them.

The Real Danger

As long as leftists hold power, they will continue to deflect responsibility and blame invisible boogeymen like “climate change.” But the truth is clear: radical progressivism is the real danger—not just to California, but to the nation.

California’s DEI-Obsessed Anarchotyrants Threw Money at Everything but Water and Firefighters


By: Chris Bray | January 10, 2025

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2025/01/10/californias-dei-obsessed-anarchotyrants-threw-money-at-everything-but-water-and-firefighters/

California Palisades fire
California has enormously expensive and intrusive government that can’t even provide firefighters or water when your neighborhood burns down.

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Astonishingly devastating fires are burning mostly unchecked in Los Angeles, destroying whole neighborhoods, and see if you can spot the problem in this Yahoo News update, I found in my inbox this week:

As of that report, thousands of acres of fire burning into (and then straight through) neighborhoods; 1,400 firefighters. In Pacific Palisades alone, where the biggest fire started first, we’re below one firefighter per two acres of fire. I’ve spent most of my life in California, and a quite common experience is to be in way-Northern California, for example, and watch a line of fire engines go racing past from San Diego and Newport Beach, 500 miles from home. We deal with big fires with prompt statewide mutual aid, a well-practiced system.

I live near the Eaton fire, which is burning in the hills above Pasadena, and I listened all Tuesday night for the cavalry to arrive. The cavalry, bizarrely, did not seem to arrive. And so, I watched houses burn, on the news, with reporters present but no firefighters.

This is becoming a widespread problem, so serious and obvious that even the Los Angeles Times has noticed, writing:

As wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.

“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.

“Water supply just dropped,” said another.

By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all water storage tanks in the Palisades area “went dry,” diminishing the flow of water from hydrants in higher elevations, said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the city’s utility.

Where I live, in the western San Gabriel Valley, a large group of suburban fire departments has built an effective system of integrated and automatic mutual aid, the Verdugo system, run from a shared dispatch center in Glendale. I was listening to Verdugo dispatch Tuesday night, and the dispatchers gave up on dispatching. They broadcast calls in sets of 10 or 12, without assignments, so firefighters could hear what was happening, in case anyone could get to any of it: homes burning at the following addresses, brush burning at the following addresses, wires down at the following addresses…

The fire departments aren’t the problem, and the firefighters on the ground are very much not the problem. A cluster of headlines this morning at the highly alert news aggregator Rantingly begins to get at the underlying reality:

The mayor of Los Angeles, having cut fire department funding to pay for social justice programs, was on a city-funded outreach trip to Ghana as her city burned. How important.

As a matter of symbolism, the destruction of Pacific Palisades (and, as we saw Wednesday morning, big stretches of Malibu) is a gut punch. These are the most comfortable places in Los Angeles, and one of the discussions on social media this week is about which celebrities have evacuated or lost their homes. (“Oh my God, Tom Hanks!”) The places that are burning are the Democrat Party’s ATM machine. One wonders if they’ll notice the meaning of the fires. Meanwhile:

So yes, the ability of leftists to miss the point appears to be infinite. California has enormously expensive and intrusive government that can’t provide firefighters or water when your neighborhood burns down, which proves that Orange Man Bad.

I’m more than a mile from the edge of the nearest evacuation warning, so we’ll be fine. But that’s because of the accident of our location relative to the fire, not because anything here actually works.

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, “Tell Me How This Ends.”


Chris Bray is a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army, and has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles. He is the author of “Court-Martial: How Military Justice Has Shaped America from the Revolution to 9/11 and Beyond,” published last year by W.W. Norton.

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by (Fellow California Resident) A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Where There’s Smoke

A.F. Branco | on January 10, 2025 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-where-theres-smoke-3/

Californis Fires Dems at Fault
A Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco 2025

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A.F. Branco Cartoon – S. California fires all lay at the foot of the Democrats. They’ve been so focused on DEI, LGBTQ, the Green Agenda scam, etc. They have failed to do the job of protecting their citizens.
Their poor forest management, DEI hiring, shortage of firefighters due to COVID firings, and lack of water in the reservoirs so they can protect the tiny smelt fish. To name a few.

WAYNE ROOT: Wildfire Alone Didn’t Destroy Los Angeles. How the Dumb, Radical, Left’s 6 Favorite Obsessions Made the Fire Unstoppable- Woke DEI, Climate Extremism, Homelessness, Vaccines, Open Borders & Ukraine

By Assistant Editor  – The Gateway Pundit – Jan 9, 2025
I left Malibu, California 23 yrs ago because of high taxes and liberal morons. I just couldn’t take the liberals and their crazy, radical, extreme ideas anymore. I moved to Las Vegas. It was the best move of my life.
In Las Vegas we have no taxes- no income tax, no business tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax and among the lowest property taxes in America. Guns are legal. The sun is always out. And everyone I know is a conservative MAGA Trump supporter. You know what I call that? HEAVEN… READ MORE

DONATE to A.F. Branco Cartoons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country in various news outlets, including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Trump.

Snail Darter RIP: The Species that Shut Down the Tellico Dam May Not Actually Exist


By: Jonathan Turley | January 9, 2025

Read more at https://jonathanturley.org/2025/01/09/snail-darter-rip-the-species-that-shut-down-the-tellico-dam-may-not-actually-exist/

In the annals of environmental law, no creature is more famous than the Snail Darter, the endangered species that shut down completion of the Tellico Dam in the 1970s. It required congressional legislation to allow the dam to be finished after years in the courts where judges maintained that the species had to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. According to the New York Times., the species may turn out to be as mythical as a unicorn.

The controversy began in 1967 when the Tennessee Valley Authority started constructing a dam on the Little Tennessee River, roughly 20 miles outside Knoxville. Environmentalists and locals opposed the project and, in 1973, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee named David Etnier went snorkeling with his students and found a possible solution. He spotted a small fish and called it a “snail darter” because of its movements and eating habits. He reportedly announced, “Here’s a little fish that might save your farm.”

Dr. Zygmunt Plater, an environmental law professor at Boston College, represented the snail darter before the Supreme Court. He did an excellent job, and, in 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that “the Endangered Species Act prohibits impoundment of the Little Tennessee River by the Tellico Dam” to protect the endangered snail darters.

That was then.

The Times now quotes Thomas Near, the curator of ichthyology at the Yale Peabody Museum who leads a fish biology lab at the university, that “there is, technically, no snail darter.” Worse yet, it was actually just another member of the eastern population of Percina uranidea, or stargazing darters, which is not considered endangered. Near and his colleagues have published the results in Current Biology

In other words, years of litigation and millions of dollars were spent on what was a false claim, and the courts accepted the claims hook, line, and sinker.

Under the ESA, the snail darter was listed as protected and therefore triggered Section 7 of the Act barring federal agencies from undertaking actions that could jeopardize a species’ survival or destroy any of its critical habitat.

In Tennessee Valley Auth. v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153 (1978), Chief Justice Warren Burger noted that the finding of this “previously unknown species of perch” changed everything on a legal level. He added:

“Until recently, the finding of a new species of animal life would hardly generate a cause celebre. This is particularly so in the case of darters, of which there are approximately 130 known species, 8 to 10 of these having been identified only in the last five years. The moving force behind the snail darter’s sudden fame came some four months after its discovery, when the Congress passed the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), 87 Stat. 884, 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq. (1976 ed.).”

Plater insisted that Dr. Near is merely a “lumper” who tends to rely on genetics rather than being a “splitter” who proliferates new species. Dr. Plater added that “whether he intends it or not, lumping is a great way to cut back on the Endangered Species Act.”

That was a particularly revealing point from the law professor since it suggests what could be an overwhelming motive could be legal and not scientific in declaring the new species — the very objection raised in the litigation and denied by many advocates.

Roughly three years ago, the government declared victory in restoring the snail darter and the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing it from the ESA list of threatened species.

Newsom Signs Law Barring Huntington Beach Voters from Deciding Their Own Voter ID Laws


By: Brianna Lyman | October 01, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/10/01/newsom-signs-law-barring-huntington-beach-voters-from-deciding-their-own-voter-id-laws/

California Gov. Gavin Newsom
California’s Warden/Governor Gavin “I do what the hell I want” Newsome

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., signed a law Sunday undermining the will of Huntington Beach voters who approved a measure requiring voter ID. The new state law bars cities from adopting such measures. In March, 53.4% of Huntington Beach residents approved a ballot measure that would require voters present identification in order to vote in municipal elections. The measure was slated to take effect in 2026 and also permitted the city to “provide more in-person voting locations” and “monitor ballot drop-boxes.” But Newsom signed into law Sunday legislation that was originally introduced in response to the Huntington Beach city council approving the measure prior to placing it on the ballot. The new law prohibits “a local government from enacting or enforcing any charter provision, ordinance, or regulation requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot at any polling place, vote center, or other location where ballots are cast or submitted, as specified.”

The state previously sued Huntington Beach in April to prevent the will of the voters (in the name of “democracy”). California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city claiming, “the right to freely cast your vote is the foundation of our democracy and Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy flies in the face of this principle.”

It is unclear whether the lawsuit will still be pursued. The Federalist has inquired with Bonta’s office for a status update.

Bonta had previously sent a letter to city officials in September 2023 claiming the measure “conflicts with state law” and falsely alleged voter ID measures “serve to suppress voter participation.” Bonta told city officials to withdraw the measure or else Bonta would take “action.”

Bonta’s suit alleged Huntington Beach’s voter ID provisions were “preempted and invalid” in matters in which “local law conflicts with state law reasonably tailored to the resolution of a statewide concern.”

The suit also argued the measure undermined the authority of the state legislature, “placing the onus on registered voters to establish their eligibility to vote, and groundlessly challenging the right to vote.”

Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates said in response to the suit that the city would fight to “uphold and defend the will of the people,” according to Courthouse News.

Gates argued that state law (at the time the measure was adopted by the city), did not prohibit the city from adopting the ballot measure. Gates pointed to the introduction of the legislation after the proposal was approved by the city council arguing, as reported by Courthouse News, that “this proves that Bonta [is] wrong — if passing voter ID laws was illegal, why was a new bill necessary?”

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.


Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2

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California Scuttles Reparations Bills As Supporters Denounce a Political Bait-and-Switch


By: Jonathan Turley | September 3, 2024

Read more at https://jonathanturley.org/2024/09/03/california-scuttles-reparations-bills-as-supporters-denounce-a-political-bait-and-switch/

We have previously discussed (here and here and here and here) the push for reparations in California that has been touted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats for years. After the Democrats campaigned on the issue in past elections, I wrote a column about how this bill had come due after years of delay for study and recommendations. The legislature, however, just stamped the bill “return to sender” and shelved the two reparations bills with the reported support of Newsom. The reaction is not surprising that there has been a bait-and-switch by Democrats on the issue.

Last week, the California legislature did approve proposals allowing for the return of land or compensation to families whose property was unjustly seized by the government and issuing a formal apology for laws and practices that have harmed Black people. However, the two bills to establish a fund for reparation payments – Senate Bills 1403 and 1331 – were tabled. State Sen. Steven Bradford blamed Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the result, stating that the governor made clear that he would veto them.

Newsom signed a $297.9 billion budget in June that included up to $12 million for reparations legislation. However, that is a drop in the bucket given the billions demanded and it is not clear how the money will be spent. Adding to the anger is the fact that the legislature approved a bill to allow undocumented persons to receive no-interest loans of up to $150,000 to cover down payments on new homes.

It is now unclear what will happen next, though sponsors are saying that they will continue to push for legislation green lighting reparation payments. Some congressional Democrats have pushed for similar federal reparations and passed a bill out of the House Judiciary Committee in 2021 that failed to receive a floor vote. BET founder Robert Johnson has called for $14 trillion in federal reparations.

As discussed earlier, there are a host of legal and practical questions over the reparation payments that will have to be resolved. Even with passage, the bills would likely face constitutional challenges.

The Justice Department Makes The Case Against Hunter Biden . . . and Itself in California


By: Jonathan Turley | August 8, 2024

Read more at https://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/08/the-justice-department-makes-the-case-against-hunter-biden-and-itself-in-california/

Special Counsel David Weiss appears to have finally made the long-awaited case exposing years of concealment and political corruption. No, it is not the case against Hunter Biden. The allegations of tax fraud in California are obvious and unavoidable. Weiss just made the case against the Justice Department and himself in protecting Hunter Biden from the most damaging charges of being an unregistered foreign agent. In a new filing, Weiss released evidence on Hunter seeking money to advance the interests of a Romanian on United States policy.

I have previously testified on the Foreign Agents Registration Act and have previously written about the disturbing disconnect in the treatment of the President’s son as opposed to figures like Paul Manafort. The charge was always one of the greatest fears of the White House. If Hunter Biden was a foreign agent, it would magnify the influence peddling scandal and further link his conduct to work of his father as vice president and later president.

What was previously known about millions received from China, Russia, and other countries made such a charge obvious. In the past, the Justice Department has used the charge early and often in high-profile cases to pressure defendants and force cooperation or plea agreements. During the Trump Administration, an official could not go to Epcot without drawing a FARA charge from DOJ.

This charge has been a favorite of the DOJ before the President’s son was implicated in a massive influence peddling scheme with foreign figures.

Here is the definition used in such cases:

A “foreign agent” is defined as “(1) any person who acts as an agent, representative, employee, or servant, or any person who acts in any other capacity at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign principal or of a person any of whose activities are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole or in major part by a foreign principal, and who directly or through any other person— (i) engages within the United States in political activities for or in the interests of such foreign principal; (ii) acts within the United States as a public relations counsel, publicity agent, information-service employee or political consultant for or in the interests of such foreign principal; (iii) within the United States solicits, collects, disburses, or dispenses contributions, loans, money, or other things of value for or in the interest of such foreign principal; or (iv) within the United States represents the interests of such foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States; and (2) any person who agrees, consents, assumes or purports to act as, or who is or holds himself out to be, whether or not pursuant to contractual relationship, an agent of a foreign principal as defined in clause (1) of this subsection.”

For years, I have expressed alarm at the special treatment afforded to Hunter Biden on the charges.  Many of us have also criticized Weiss for allowing the most serious tax charges to expire despite being able to extend the statute of limitations. He has yet to offer a compelling reason why prosecutors would ever allow viable felony charges to expire when they could have extended that period.

Now, Biden is seeking to avoid conviction under the tax charges in California. He is repeating the claims that failed in his recent gun violation. He is claiming that he was an addict and not responsible for his criminal conduct, even though he was flying around the world collecting millions from foreign sources.

To rebut that claim, Weiss’ team said they plan to introduce evidence showing his sophisticated scheme to tap foreign sources interested in influencing the government and federal policy.

In the filing below, Weiss opposes the Biden team effort to exclude the evidence of his working for the Romanians. Senior assistant special counsel Derek Hines writes in the filing that “[t]he evidence of what the defendant agreed to do and did do for [the businessman] demonstrates the defendant’s state of mind and intent during the relevant tax years charged in the indictment. It is also evidence that the defendant’s actions do not reflect someone with a diminished capacity, given that he agreed to attempt to influence U.S. public policy and receive millions of dollars pursuant to an oral agreement.”

That sounds a lot like seeking the work of a foreign agent. Here is the language from FARA:

“The first category of evidence the defendant seeks to exclude is any “reference to allegations that Mr. Biden (1) acted on behalf of a foreign principal to influence U.S. policy and public opinion . . .” Motion at 3 (emphasis added). The government does not intend to reference allegations at trial. Rather, the government will introduce the evidence described above, including that the defendant and Business Associate 1 received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion and cause the United States to investigate the Romanian investigation of G.P in Romania.” (emphasis added)

It is a curious argument. It is akin to saying that we know that he stole the car because he used it in the kidnapping. It leaves most people wondering why you did not charge on the kidnapping crime.

The fact is that this is only one of an array of such contracts that have been detailed by the House Oversight Committee and other House committees. The other foreign dealings reportedly involved Hunter reaching out to government officials while his father was vice president. That includes the controversy over Joe Biden’s sudden decision to issue an ultimatum to the Ukrainian government.

In a 2018 interview at the Council on Foreign Relations, Biden bragged that he unilaterally withheld a billion dollars in US aid from the Ukrainians to force them to fire prosecutor general Viktor Shokin.

The Ukrainians balked, but Biden gave them an ultimatum: “I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”

However, a State Department memo is shedding disturbing light on that account and shredding aspects of Biden’s justification for the action. It directly contradicts Biden’s insistence that he took this extraordinary stand because there was little hope for the anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine if Shokin remained prosecutor.

The Oct. 1, 2015, memo summarizes the recommendation of the Interagency Policy Committee that was handling the anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine: “Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee.” One senior official even complimented Shokin on his progress in fighting corruption. So, Biden was told to deliver on the federal aid but elected to unilaterally demand Shokin be fired.

In testimony from Devon Archer, a business associate of Hunter Biden, we learned that Burisma executives made the removal of Shokin a top priority and raised it with Hunter. He described how the need to neutralize Shokin was raised with Hunter and how “a call to Washington” was made in response. While Archer also said that “the narrative spun to me was that Shokin was under control,” he and others also heard concerns over Shokin and the risks of the investigation.

Other transactions directly requested intervention on matters being addressed by the Obama-Biden Administration.

So, now, the Justice Department is citing some of these dealings to show a conscious and premeditated effort to shake down foreigners to influence U.S. policy. Weiss now maintains that “The defendant did receive compensation from a foreign principal to attempt to influence U.S. policy and public opinion, as alleged in the indictment, and this evidence is relevant.”

They have made more than the case against Hunter Biden. They have made a conclusive and overwhelming case against themselves in slow walking and minimizing charges against the President’s son.

Here is the filing: gov.uscourts.cacd.907805.181.0

Latest Job-Killing Policy Spells More Bad News for Californians


By: EJ Antoni @RealEJAntoni / April 24, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/24/latest-job-killing-policy-spells-more-bad-news-for-californians/

Hiking the minimum wage to $20 for California’s fast-food workers will result in job losses, higher prices, and more automation. Pictured: An employee helps a customer April 1 at a Chipotle restaurant in San Rafael, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

California’s list of public policy failures was already long but hiking its minimum wage to $20 an hour for fast-food workers may belong at the top.

The predictable fallout in lost jobs and higher prices are already being felt, and the flood of residents fleeing the state is poised to accelerate.

California is already home to some of the highest taxes and costs of living in the country, the consequences of failed government policies. A higher minimum wage is more of the same.

Consider California’s “green” energy policies, which have created the highest utility rates in the nation. Instead of rolling back those mandates, the state created a new one: surcharges on utility bills, making the middle class pay more even if they don’t use more.

The overtaxing, overspending, and overregulating by the state government in Sacramento has turned California into such a basket case that 1.2 million more people left the state than moved in over the past three years—by far the biggest loss of any state and beating New York by 35%.

Californians clearly don’t like the effects of these policies, but they just got more of them with the higher minimum wage law for fast-food workers. This particular policy provides a superb example of how disastrous economic ideas become law: wonderful rhetoric, terrible results.

The law was advertised as forcing “greedy” corporations to pay workers a “living wage.” But businesses aren’t charities and can’t pay employees more than they produce or they’ll go bankrupt. Employers pay taxes and other costs on top of an employee’s earnings; at $20 an hour, many fast-food workers don’t provide enough value to justify the highest minimum wage in the country.

Not surprisingly, California’s fast-food companies have frozen hiring. Some are already announcing mass layoffs. This is not a small cohort of workers: California is, at least for now, home to half a million fast-food workers.

That number is already dropping and is set to plunge soon. McDonald’s has been investing millions of dollars in fully automated restaurants and opened the first such restaurant last year. Jack in the Box and El Pollo Loco, the Mexican chicken chain, both announced that they’ll use robotics to fully automate cooking and cashier functions.

The machines are cheaper than employing people at artificially inflated wage rates, plus the additional costs such as training, payroll taxes, and vulnerability to lawsuits, thanks to lawyer lobbies.

Where fast-food workers can’t be replaced, their jobs effectively will be outsourced. About 1,100 Pizza Hut delivery drivers are set to lose their jobs, with more layoffs announced at another restaurant chain, Round Table Pizza.

Consumers will have to use food delivery apps (also being targeted by California’s notorious legislation, AB 40), or they’ll have to pick up their orders themselves.

Apologists claim that corporations are just posturing and won’t really lay off thousands of workers. That thinking is largely made possible by the fact that many politicians never have run a business, had to make payroll, or hired minimum-wage workers.

In short, advocates of the $20 minimum wage don’t understand the impact of the policy they’re pushing. All the politicians know is that it’s a reliable vote winner—even if it throws low-wage workers under the bus not once, but twice. Hiking the minimum wage causes job losses, but it also increases prices. Because lower-income folks disproportionately eat at fast-food restaurants, they bear the brunt of these higher costs, in addition to losing their jobs.

minimum wage of $20 an hour is really a state ban on any job that pays less than $20. Californians in that category either must go somewhere else where such work is still legal, work illegally “under the table,” or rely on welfare.

But the insanity doesn’t end there. The law also creates a Fast-Food Council that can raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers by another 3.5% per year, every year, until no fast-food workers are left standing.

California will continue to hemorrhage residents, and that rate of outmigration likely will accelerate as politicians target low-income workers with wage mandates and inflation. Eventually, all those willing to work will leave. The only ones left will be those on the state’s bloated welfare rolls. 

The Golden State is killing the goose that laid its golden eggs.

Originally published by Fox Business

California’s EV Agenda Will Require Massive and Costly Infrastructure Upgrades, Analysis Finds


By: Nick Pope / April 23, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/23/californias-ev-agenda-will-require-massive-costly-upgrades-analysis-finds/

Electric vehicle chargers stand ready to power EVs on Sept. 23, 2020, in Corte Madera, California. The state will need tens of thousands more of them along with a massive increase in the required power-generating capacity to accommodate the forthcoming California ban on gas-powered cars. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images)

California’s electric vehicle agenda will require costly upgrades to the state’s electric grid infrastructure if it is to be realized, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The state, often heralded as a national leader when it comes to EVs, is set to ban the sale of purely gas-powered passenger vehicles in the state after 2035 and heavy-duty trucks that burn fossil fuels starting in 2036. The infrastructure upgrades reportedly needed to support the projected rise of EVs in the state could cost anywhere between $6 billion and $20 billion, according to the study.dailycallerlogo

The study identifies “feeders,” or transmission lines that carry electricity from the site of generation to its end user, as a key type of infrastructure that needs extensive upgrades by 2045 in order to meet targets set by California’s aggressive EV policies. There is a “substantial need” for 50% of all feeders in the state to receive upgrades by 2035, and for 67% of feeders by 2045, according to the study.

The state will also need to increase the amount of energy that it is able to distribute by about 25 gigawatts (GW) by 2045 to meet demand for public and private EV charging stations—upgrades that will cost anywhere between $6 billion and $20 billion, the study states. But it takes nearly 2.5 million solar panels or 310 utility-scale wind turbines to produce just 1 GW of power, according to the Department of Energy.

“The imminent challenges confronting California serve as a microcosm of the forthcoming obstacles anticipated worldwide due to the prevailing global trend of EV adoption,” the study states.

California is also expecting to continue its advance toward its goal of having 100% zero-emissions power generation by 2045. The state figures to rely heavily on wind and solar power to meet that target, given that the state’s sole major nuclear power plant may have to close for good after its five-year life span extension granted by state regulators expires.

While the state is changing how it sources electricity over time and adding demand with policies like those pushing EVs, the study’s authors project that electricity demand growth will actually drive down electricity costs in the state over time. California had the second-highest cost of electricity per unit of any state in the continental U.S. in January, trailing only Rhode Island, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The office of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Energy Commission did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

California School System Sued Over Falsified History About Israel-Hamas War


By: Tony Kinnett @TheTonus / April 16, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/16/california-school-system-sued-for-hiding-pro-hamas-history-lesson-from-parents/

A student’s father sues California’s Berkeley Unified School District, accusing it of hiding pro-Hamas “history” lessons at Berkeley High School from parents. (Photo: Berkeley Unified School District)

A California public school district that attempted to hide pro-Hamas course material from parents now faces legal action. The Deborah Project, which describes itself as “a public interest law firm that defends the civil rights of Jews in education,” filed suit April 8 against the Berkeley Unified School District, accusing it of “intentionally trying to prevent parents from knowing what their kids are learning.”

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, also accuses the school system of “teaching kids mendacious and malicious lies about [Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel] that are grossly inaccurate and, on the basis of this false information, fomenting hatred against the Jewish State.”

The Deborah Project went to court on behalf of a parent in the Berkeley school district, Yossi Fendel, who says he was delayed and denied information about his child’s curriculum after a social studies teacher, Alex Day, announced at a school board meeting in November that he was going to incorporate lessons about “Palestine.” Day also stated at the school board meeting that he wouldn’t be “censored” from lecturing his students about “colonialism.” Day is a ninth-grade social studies teacher at Berkeley High School, according to the school system’s website.

Alex Day in a photo obtained from Berkeley High School’s staff page

Fendel repeatedly attempted to gain information about Day’s course material, but was obstructed constantly “for months” by rescheduling, cancellations, and other delays by Berkeley High School and district staff, The Deborah Project said in a press release. The lawsuit asserts that Day cast Jews as abusive, land-stealing colonizers, ignoring thousands of years of history to make a political assertion, while soft-pedaling the Hamas terrorist organization. Day explicitly refrained from describing as “terrorism” Hamas’ Oct. 7 rape and murder of over 1,200 in southern Israel and its kidnapping of over 200 civilians, according to the lawsuit.

The suit adds:

We seek as well to learn how it came to be that [Berkeley Unified School District]—in violation of California law—inexcusably but intentionally delayed access to the curriculum, ensuring that parents could not learn what was being fed their kids until after a stream of antisemitic falsehoods had already been planted not only in Mr. Fendel’s son’s mind, but in the minds of all his classmates.

According to slides for Day’s lessons obtained by The Daily Signal, the teacher used one slide and half of another to describe Hamas’ massacre of civilians in Israel, and 43 slides to describe what he called Israel’s “all out assault on Gaza.”

Hamas, which is known for using civilians as shields for its military operations, has been the elected government of the Gaza Strip since 2006.

In my analysis as a former teacher and curriculum developer, Day’s slides are absolutely riddled with leading questions and weighted comparisons, in what appears to be an attempt to paint Gazans as the victims of unwarranted colonial aggression. Day makes a comparison on slide 14, titled “Consequences of War,” that dishonestly portrays Israeli citizens as only having to postpone funerals and weddings while Gazans have “no food, no water, no electricity,” and “humanitarian aid was/is being blocked.” (The teacher doesn’t specify who blocked aid.)

The repeated rocket strikes and other horrors Israeli civilians have faced during the war, and for decades before, are not mentioned in Day’s slideshow.

Although the teacher claims in slide 29 that “we take care of each other,” his slides decidedly paint Israelis and Republicans in America as unfeeling and uncompassionate. The slides ask loaded questions such as: “Why do you think there aren’t more politicians calling for a ceasefire?” Day’s slides include quotes only from, and photos of, Democrats.

Day included several questions asking students what they thought about Israeli actions toward “Palestinians,” but didn’t ask a single question about what students thought of Hamas’ actions, media coverage, or related U.N. resolutions. For example, question 10 asks, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Do you think that Netanyahu’s directions to the Palestinians are fair? Why or why not?”

Outside of a brief reference to Oct. 7, Day’s slides don’t mention Hamas at all, nor is its leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Students aren’t asked whether Haniyeh’s actions toward Israelis “are fair.”

Both questions 6 and 7 ask students how they feel “about lives lost or damage done to Gaza’s infrastructure,” but no question asks students about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

California State Standards require history teachers to point out “bias and prejudice” in historical interpretations, but the slides in Day’s presentation don’t mention the blatant antisemitism of Hamas or other Iranian proxy groups. 

Not referenced a single time: the tens of thousands of social media posts, press releases, recordings of public chants, and other blatant expressions around the world in support of Hamas that call for the death of all Jews. 

The Berkeley school district didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s request that it confirm the authenticity of Day’s slides by time of publication. However, hyperlinks in the slides link to electronic forms hosted by the school district’s official internet domain.

If the Berkeley Unified School District attempted to hide or delay access to this information, it wouldn’t be the first time a public school district was caught trying to keep parents from seeing disturbing or controversial curriculum or pedagogy. Hundreds of public school districts around the country have attempted to hide racially discriminatory and sexually explicit curriculum from parents, as confirmed by Freedom of Information Act requests, recorded admissions by school administrators, and dozens of whistleblowers.

Berkeley Unified wouldn’t be California’s first public school district to protect antisemitic actions within its schools.

Within weeks after the Hamas attack in Israel, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District forced a gag order on four 11-year-olds so they wouldn’t talk about the antisemitic death threats other students made against them.

Berkeley Prosecutors Cut Probation Deal for Scientist Who Tried to Kill Colleague


By: JonathanTurley.org | April 11, 2024

Read more at https://jonathanturley.org/2024/04/11/berkeley-prosecutors-cut-probation-deal-for-scientist-who-tried-to-kill-colleague/

I have been a criminal defense attorney for my entire career, but there is a case out of Berkeley, California that is a real head scratcher. David Xu was the chief metallurgist for a company called Berkeley Engineering and Research (BEAR) and was caught on tape trying to poison a colleague. His actions are blamed for not only causing harm to Rong Yuan, but her parents. After spending only 10 days in jail, Alameda County prosecutors and a judge signed off on a probation deal in the case.

Xu was arrested back in 2019 after Yuan became suspicious that her illness (which she thought might be cancer) might be related to a water bottle that she used at work. When her parents used the bottle to cook, they also became ill. She set up a spy camera at work and caught David Xu tampering with the water bottle. It was tested and found to contain “extraordinarily high levels of cadmium, a poisonous heavy metal.”

That seems a pretty strong case for two counts of poisoning and an attempted murder prosecution. Yet, the prosecutors dropped the attempted murder charge and accepted a plea on the two poisoning counts. Then a probation officer recommended no jail time. The officer wrote that

“The defendant is highly educated and living at home with his wife and children. He is employed and earning a stable income. Although this matter represents the first and only offense, it was serious in nature and could have resulted in death or serious illness of the victims…. It is the hopes of this deputy that the defendant will take advantage of this second chance and can satisfactorily complete this probation.”

Alameda County DA Pamela Price

Even on the two poisoning counts, one would expect some jail time. This man hurt three people and could have killed a colleague. Yet, Alameda County DA Pamela Price signed off on letting Xu spend less than two weeks in jail for his crimes.

It is not clear what it takes to get actual jYet, Alameda County DA Pamela Price signed off on letting Xu spend less than two weeks in jail for his crimes. ail time in Alameda County under Price. The San Francisco Chronicle was unable to get sentencing data from her office and Price is the subject of a recall campaign over her lax enforcement record.

“Not Evidence”: Federal Judge Denies Hunter Biden Motions to Dismiss Tax Charges in Stinging Rebuke


By: Jonathan Turley | April 2, 2024

Read more at https://jonathanturley.org/2024/04/02/not-evidence-federal-judge-denies-hunter-biden-motions-to-dismiss-tax-charges-in-stinging-rebuke/

Despite hours of argument by the counsel for Hunter Biden, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Scarsi denied his eight motions to dismiss tax charges with a stinging rebuke that the defense omits one thing from its argument: actual evidence.

Hunter Biden has been arguing that he is the victim of selective prosecution despite a documented history of receiving special treatment as the son of the President. However, he has proven a key witness against himself in swatting down defenses raised by his counsel and publishing self-incriminating facts in his book.

The filings also did not address the fact that the Justice Department not only allowed the statute of limitations to run on major crimes but sought to finalize an obscene plea agreement with no jail time for Hunter. It only fell apart when a judge decided to ask a couple of cursory questions of the prosecutor, who admitted that he had never seen an agreement this generous for a defendant.

Special Counsel David Weiss noted in his filing that they filed new charges only after Hunter’s legal counsel refused to change the agreement and insisted that it remained fully enforceable.

One only has to look at the series of superseding indictments against Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to see how Hunter continues to receive special treatment.  Rather than the four original counts, Menendez now faces 18 counts with his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, and alleged co-conspirators Wael Hana and Fred Daibes.

What is most notable is not the proliferation of counts but the lack of comparative charges in the pending case against Hunter Biden. Some of us have long raised concerns over the striking similarity in the alleged conduct in both cases, but the absence of similar charges against the president’s son.

Judge Scarsi made fast work of the Biden filings as entirely insufficient to dismiss these charges. Abby Lowell and the defense team seem to be doubling down on the same claims despite the uniform rejection by courts.

The judge noted:

“As the Court stated at the hearing, Defendant filed his motion without any evidence. The motion is remarkable in that it fails to include a single declaration, exhibit, or request for judicial notice. Instead, Defendant cites portions of various Internet news sources, social media posts, and legal blogs. These citations, however, are not evidence.”

Lowell disagreed with the court’s order and pledged “to vigorously pursue Mr. Biden’s challenges to the abnormal way the Special Counsel handled this investigation and charged the case.” In truth, the “abnormal” treatment of Hunter was giving him advance notice of attempts to interview him and to search of Biden property. It was allowing the statute of limitations to run despite having an agreement on the table to keep potential felonies alive. It was trying to secure a plea agreement that even the prosecutor admitted in court was like nothing he had ever seen in his career.

The court even makes reference to Schrödinger’s cat, a paradox suggested by physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 that a cat in a thought experiment could be viewed simultaneously as both alive and dead:

“The Court understands that its decision rests on an interpretation of the agreement neither party advocated—that the Diversion Agreement is a binding contract, but performance of its terms is not yet required. The Court, therefore, invites the parties to stipulate to further pretrial motion practice to the extent there are additional disputes that arise from the Court’s Schrödinger’s cat-esque construction of Defendant’s immunity under the Diversion Agreement.”

The court also rejected the repeated unsuccessful claim by Hunter that the plea agreement is enforceable. The court found that the agreement fell apart before preconditions were met. It is null and void.

“Having found that the Diversion Agreement is a contract that binds the parties but that the parties made the Probation Officer’s signature a condition precedent to its performance, the Court turns to Defendant’s theory of immunity: that the United States’ obligation to refrain from prosecuting Defendant under section II(15) of the Diversion Agreement is currently in force. It is not. The immunity provision is not one exempted from the term of the contract under the survival clause.”

Scarsi has scheduled a status conference for May 29.

Here is the opinion: Hunter Biden Ruling

Gap in San Diego Sector Border Wall Raises Obvious Question About Illegal Immigration


By: Virginia Allen @Virginia_Allen5 / March 26, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/26/gap-san-diego-sector-border-wall-raises-big-question-illegal-immigration/

A large gap in the U.S.-Mexico border wall is seen in Otay Mesa, a community in San Diego County, California, on Friday. (Photo: Virginia Allen/The Daily Signal)

A man made his way along a dirt path in Tijuana, Mexico, toward the large gap in the U.S.-Mexico border wall Friday morning. He carried a backpack and walked with ease through the more than 100-yard opening into Otay Mesa, a community in San Diego County, California. No Border Patrol agents were in sight. A source working alongside agents in the San Diego Sector told The Daily Signal on Friday that Border Patrol was short-staffed, only having a fraction of the agents needed to cover California’s border with Mexico. 

The man who entered through the gap Friday did not appear concerned about whether he was seen entering the country illegally, but also appeared hesitant to encounters strangers, maintaining a significant distance between himself and The Daily Signal reporting team.  

If the wall had been completed in Otay Mesa, would the man with the backpack still have found another way to enter the country illegally? In other words, do walls alone stop illegal immigration?  

Trump vs. Biden on Border Walls  

Construction was underway to extend the border fence 3 miles through the Otay Mountain Wilderness under President Donald Trump, The San Diego Union-Tribune previously reported. And the materials to finish the project, according to local landowners who recently spoke with The Daily Signal, were ready to be used to complete the barrier between Otay Mesa and Tijuana.  

But under the Biden administration, construction was halted, and the wall materials were removed from the area. Today, a large gap in the wall remains in the mountainous region.  

On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order declaring that “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution. It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security.”  

Case Study of the San Diego Sector  

The San Diego Sector, one of nine sectors along the southern border, presents an interesting case study on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of border walls and policy related to U.S. border security.  

(Photo: Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, generated based on Customs and Border Protection data)

Illegal crossings into the San Diego Sector are not new.  

“San Diego Sector’s primary operational area of responsibility consists of 7,000 square miles, including 60 linear miles of international boundary with Mexico and 114 coastal border miles along the Pacific Ocean,” according to Customs and Border Protection.  

Throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and into the ’90s, the San Diego Sector consistently experience more illegal crossings than any other southern border sector. In fiscal year 1980, for example, Border Patrol encountered 285,984 illegal aliens in the San Diego Sector. The El Paso Sector, which includes all of New Mexico and a portion of western Texas, had the second-highest number of encounters that same year at 127,488.  

In an effort to stem the vast number of illegal crossings into the sector, in 1994, “Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector introduced a new border control plan at Imperial Beach Station,” according to an archived Justice Department document. The plan was called Operation Gatekeeper.  Imperial Beach Station is one of eight Border Patrol stations in the San Diego Sector.  

According to the Justice Department, Operation Gatekeeper focused on deterring and preventing illegal crossings, and shifted away from an emphasis on apprehensions.  Following Operation Gatekeeper’s implantation in the Imperial Beach Station, the plan was rolled out at the other seven stations in the sector.  

In 1993, fencing was constructed out of steel landing mats along long stretches of the San Diego Sector border with Mexico starting at the Pacific Ocean, according to the Justice Department report.  The report notes that people were still able to climb over the barrier, but “the fencing serves two important functions: It provides a barrier to vehicles crossing the border with aliens and/or drugs, and it defines a clear line of demarcation between the two countries.” Those initial efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the San Diego Sector saw little result.  

Border Patrol encountered 565,581 illegal aliens in 1992 before the implementation of Operation Gatekeeper or the building of long stretches of barrier. By 1996, the San Diego Sector was seeing slightly lower encounter numbers, ending the fiscal year with a total of 483,815—still the highest among all nine southern border sectors.  

It was not until 2010 that the San Diego Sector began to see a large and sustained decrease in illegal border crossings, following Congress authorizing the building of 700 miles of border wall under the Secure Fence Act of 2006 during the Bush administration.

Border-NumbersDownload

The construction of the border wall that began under then-President George W. Bush continued under President Barack Obama, including in the in the Otay Mountain Wilderness in California, where a gap remains today.  In 2007, total illegal Southwest border crossings between ports of entry began to decline and did not see significant increase again until fiscal year 2019, at which time then-President Donald Trump began implementing new policies to reduce the flow of illegal immigration, such as the Remain in Mexico policy. More fencing was also built under Trump. 

Results 

Between factors such as changes to Border Patrol policies and the building of border wall during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, Border Patrol encounters between ports of entry on the southern border fell to 400,651 in fiscal year 2020, the final full fiscal year of Trump’s presidency. In the San Diego Sector, Border Patrol encountered 53,282 illegal aliens during the same year. In fiscal year 2021, most of it under President Joe Biden’s administration, encounters in the San Diego Sector climbed back up to over 142,000, and across the southern border, encounters were more than 1.6 million, levels the Border Patrol had not come close to since before the building of the tall border wall in 2000.

Biden ended Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy and stopped all wall construction, but did not remove sections of previously built wall, yet has seen record high encounter numbers under his presidency.  In fiscal year 2022 and 2023, Border Patrol encountered more than 2 million illegal aliens in each 12-month period between ports of entry along the southern border.  

Border Patrol data indicates illegal crossings have only declined significantly with both construction of border wall and during times when policies were in place to discourage entering the country illegally.  

Former MLB slugger Steve Garvey edges ahead of Adam Schiff in California US Senate primary


Stepheny Price By Stepheny Price Fox News | Published March 13, 2024 4:44pm EDT

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-mlb-slugger-steve-garvey-edges-ahead-adam-schiff-california-us-senate-primary

Baseball legend Steve Garvey has edged ahead of U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff in California’s U.S. Senate primary. As of Wednesday morning, Garvey, a former 10-time MLB All-Star, led Schiff by an incredibly slim margin of just 4,801 votes with more than 5 million votes tallied — about 85% of expected returns.

“As California’s votes are counted, it’s clear that our message of unity, common sense, and compassion resonates across the state,” Garvey said. “I am deeply honored by the trust and support shown in these preliminary results. 

Despite millions being spent against Garvey in the state’s most expensive U.S. Senate primary election, Garvey’s trajectory is remaining competitive to finish in first place.

‘ARROGANT’ DEMOCRATS ‘MASSIVELY SURPRISED’ BY EX-MLB STAR’S SURGE IN CALIFORNIA SENATE RACE, STEVE HILTON SAYS

California Senate primary election
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, left, and Republican challenger Steve Garvey are likely to face off against one another in California’s Senate election in November.  (Getty Images)

“I’m energized by our campaign’s momentum and ready for the challenge ahead,” Garvey said. “I look forward to a spirited campaign on the critical issues facing us.”

Schiff, one of the leading Democrats in the U.S. House, will face Garvey, a Republican, in November to determine who succeeds the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. California also puts all candidates, regardless of party, on the same primary ballot, and the two who get the most votes advance to the general election.

EX-MLB STAR IN STATISTICAL TIE WITH SCHIFF IN CALIFORNIA SENATE RACE, SAYS VOTERS ARE ‘MAD’ AT DEMOCRATS

Steve Garvey talking to a veteran
“One of my focuses is going to be getting back to taking care of these veterans, men and women, who sacrificed their lives for our country and not dismiss them once they’re out of service or trying to get back into society,” Garvey told Fox News Digital. (Steve Garvey)

Republican hasn’t been elected to represent California in the U.S. Senate since Pete Wilson in 1988, when he won re-election over Leo T. McCarthy. Wilson stepped down when he became governor of California in 1991 and appointed John Seymour to serve in his place.

Feinstein defeated Seymour in the state’s 1992 election and held the seat until her death in September. Laphonza Butler was appointed to serve out the remainder of Feinstein’s term.

Garvey said his campaign is about bringing together Californians from all walks of life to address shared challenges. 

MLB GREAT STEVE GARVEY LOOKS TO REVIVE ‘HEARTBEAT’ OF CALIFORNIA ‘FOR ALL THE PEOPLE’ WITH SENATE RUN

California Senate race
Schiff and Garvey are vying for the California Senate seat formerly held by the late Sen. Diane Feinstein.  (Getty Images)

“I will continue to listen, learn, and lead with compassion and work to build consensus on the real issues that matter to our communities. Thank you to everyone who believes in the California comeback, together, we will make that vision a reality,” Garvey said. 

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The race will not be finalized until all mail-in ballots are counted, including ballots postmarked on March 5.

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Morris and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Media Smear NC Republican As Conspiracy Theorist While Celebrating Russia Hoaxer Adam Schiff


BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | MARCH 06, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/06/media-smear-nc-republican-as-conspiracy-theorist-while-celebrating-russia-hoaxer-adam-schiff/

Adam Schiff

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Rep. Adam Schiff, whom colleagues censured for fomenting the Russia hoax, practically won Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat Tuesday night. Schiff captured the Democrat nomination in the deep-blue state and will face Republican baseball star Steve Garvey in the fall general.

Corporate media coverage of Schiff’s part in the years-long effort to impeach former President Donald Trump over deep-state conspiracies ignored his repeat abuses of power. They also ignored Schiff’s use of his intelligence committee chairmanship to peddle lies about Democrats’ political opponents.

To the New York Times, Schiff is “the chief tormentor of former President Donald J. Trump.” To Politico, Schiff is “a scourge of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.” To Axios, Schiff is simply a “Top Trump foe.”

Republican North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, on the other hand, may have grounds to sue MSNBC and Slate for defamation over calling him a “Holocaust denier.”

The network’s Joy Reid tossed out the moniker following Robinson’s Tuesday night win in his state’s GOP gubernatorial primary when she introduced North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for an interview. Slate went with the headline — now apparently altered — “Mark Robinson: North Carolina Republican primary for governor goes to a Holocaust denier.”

Below is all the evidence the Slate article presents to frame the gubernatorial nominee as a denier of the Holocaust:

The Holocaust
“There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered. There is also a REASON those same liberals DO NOT FILL the airwaves with programs about the Communist and the 100+ million PEOPLE they murdered throughout the 20th century.”

(He also, in a 2014 post, quoted Hitler without context.)

The quote from Adolf Hitler comes from The New Republic, which linked two Facebook posts to claim Robinson “has minimized the horrors of the Holocaust.” Neither, however, comes anywhere close to Holocaust denial.

“We often speak of the ‘appeasement’ of Hitler,” Robinson wrote in one. “But the biggest ‘appeasement’ of ALL TIME is how we turned a blind eye to the clear and present danger of MARXISM.”

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmark.k.robinson.3%2Fposts%2Fpfbid034yK55wg7VUT4KHKtKZvjKcw5siA3DzE6QiXQyPTjxFLyqekk7WuLmNhZMmzwCFZwl&show_text=true&width=500

“It is EXTREMELY distressing that many well meaning and intelligent people are so focused on long dead Hitler while the living political dissidents of Stalin are currently fighting to destroy our REPUBLIC,” Robinson wrote in the other.

500https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmark.k.robinson.3%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0kQwR4uYekgQqHnF2mqukifJf4w4fZNEkx73nBCaE6KGCffnsTyuyvM97cDas6swal&show_text=true&width=500

The press can have their opinions about Robinson’s eccentricity, but to call him a Holocaust denier is exceedingly dishonest.

In high contrast, Rachel Maddow positively described conspiracy theorist Schiff as a “major, major player in Trump impeachments and investigations” when MSNBC called the Senate primary for the California congressman.


Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.

How Illegal Aliens Flooding Our Border Skew Elections for Democrats Without Ever Casting A Vote


BY: BRIANNA LYMAN | FEBRUARY 28, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/02/28/how-illegal-aliens-flooding-our-border-skew-elections-for-democrats-without-ever-casting-a-vote/

President Joe Biden talks on the phone

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Why did President Joe Biden reverse former President Donald Trump’s order excluding noncitizens from being counted in the census, while simultaneously issuing a slew of executive orders decimating the integrity of our southern border? While illegal immigrants cannot vote in elections (despite Democrats’ best efforts), the left is using their illegal presence to rig elections by shifting the political landscape through apportionment.

Both congressional and electoral college apportionment is derived from the number of residents in a particular area. Trump signed a memo in July of 2020 that barred illegal immigrants from being counted in the census, which is used to apportion representation in Washington. Biden, however, reversed the policy and ordered the census to include illegal immigrants and other noncitizens.

This means that American citizens aren’t receiving balanced representation in their government.

States can pick up — or lose — a congressional seat depending on the size of their population, despite the fact that some of that population may not even be allowed to vote. Millions of illegal immigrants, many of whom are in large, left-leaning cities, dilute the voting power of American citizens who may live in a mildly populated area composed of legal residents.

And Democrats know what they’re doing.

[READ: 2020 Census Asks For Your Racial Identity, But Not If You’re A Citizen]

Democrat New York Rep. Yvette Clark said during a 2021 hearing that her district “can absorb a significant number of these migrants” because “I need more people in my district, just for redistricting purposes.”

Clark’s resurfaced clip prompted Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and others to introduce the “Equal Representation Act” which would mandate only legal citizens are counted for congressional districts and the Electoral College map.

Sanctuary Cities

So-called “sanctuary cities,” which promise not to enforce immigration laws and often guarantee lodging to illegal residents, have long blurred the lines of law, bucking federal immigration policy and then begging taxpayers to foot the bill. But despite the drain on government resources — and sometimes violence — these policies invite, these cities and left-leaning states have reason to incentivize illegal immigrants because it helps them adjust for apportionment.

As residents flee blue states like California and New York for more family-friendly and taxpayer-friendly states like Florida and Texas, Democrats need to recoup their population losses. Illegal immigrants inflate the census data, which in turn could help Democrats retain their power.

Constitutionally Suspect

The framers likely would not support Biden’s position that illegal immigrants deserve to be counted in apportionment to determine representation.

The Constitution’s original census clause stated:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

Following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment stipulated that “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.”

But “whole number of persons” was likely not intended to encompass those illegally residing in the states.

Prior to the ratification of the Constitution, most northern states advocated for no slaves to be counted in the apportionment proceedings so that slaveholding states, some of which had slave populations as high as 43 percent of their total residents, would not have an unfair amount of representation compared to their actual voting weight.

The three-fifths compromise also lessened the incentive for slaveholding states to import more slaves in order to expand their population and increase their representation.

No ‘Colorable Constitutional Claim’

Lower courts had blocked Trump’s memorandum from taking effect after 23 states challenged the memo, saying it violated the Constitution and federal census statutes. The Supreme Court has never weighed in on the question nor answered whether the word “persons” encompasses illegal immigrants for the purpose of apportionment. But the high court has previously ruled in Mathews v. Diaz, a case regarding the Social Security Act, that while illegal immigrants are entitled to due process protections under the Fifth and 14th Amendments, they are not entitled to the benefits of citizenship. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the unanimous court:

Neither the overnight visitor, the unfriendly agent of a hostile foreign power, the resident diplomat, nor the illegal entrant, can advance even a colorable constitutional claim to a share in the bounty that a conscientious sovereign makes available to its own citizens and some of its guests.

If voting, which is a benefit exclusively for citizens, is off-limits to illegal immigrants, it would be hard to imagine that illegal immigrants should be empowered to dilute the weight of a vote by artificially expanding the population and increasing the representational advantage of one area while taking it away from another area that is populated by legal residents. And yet, thanks to Democrats, that’s exactly what they’re doing.


Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.

Beware Civics Education’s ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’v


By: Jason Bedrick @JasonBedrick / February 09, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/09/beware-civics-educations-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing/

A private grant for K-5 pilot programs in civics education in California, Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin promotes a radical agenda, including ideological “action civics” as a substitute for the traditional approach. (Photo illustration: skynesher/Getty Images)

Everyone agrees that American students need better civics education.

Civic knowledge in America is abysmal. Fewer than half of American adults can name the three branches of government—and a quarter can’t name any branch at all.

Likewise, a quarter of Americans couldn’t name any of the five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment.

That’s why supporters of civics education might be inclined to celebrate the recent announcement that a private initiative called Educating for American Democracy would award $600,000 in grants for K-5 pilot implementation projects to applicants from California, Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin.

But for supporters of true civics education, popping the champagne in this case would be a grave mistake.

“EAD is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” warns Mark Bauerlein, a professor emeritus at Emory University. In his telling, the seemingly innocuous goals of Educating for American Democracy, such as inculcating an “inquisitive mindset towards civics and history,” mask a more radical agenda. As Bauerlein explains:

Yes, [Educating for American Democracy] contains a few traditionalist elements that deflect the charge of anti-conservatism. Overall, however, the EAD Roadmap circumscribes those elements with identity politics that left-wing teachers can plunder all year long. Here is what EAD really means by ‘inquisitive mindset’: a takedown of heroes, emphasis on victims (women and racial minorities), denial of American exceptionalism, and a focus on the failings of the founding.

According to David Randall, director of research at the National Association of Scholars, Educating for American Democracy is among the worst civics education resources.

In a 2022 report by the Pioneer Institute and the National Association of Scholars, “Learning for Self-Government: A K-12 Civics Report Card,” Randall gave the EAD an “F+” on a scale of A through F. (See chart below.)

Why the poor grade? Randall said EAD is “the central political-administrative push to reshape American civics education into a radical mold,” with the goal “to get every state civics education standard aligned for action civics and abbreviating as much as possible traditional civics education.”

What is “action civics”? According to the Pedagogy Companion to the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy, it is “a specialized form of project-based learning that emphasizes youth voice and expertise based on their own capabilities and experience, learning by direct engagement with a democratic system and institutions, and reflection on impact.”

If you’re still confused, that’s because, as Randall observes, the proponents of action civics and other radical pedagogies use “impenetrable, jargon-heavy terms” to mask their true agenda.

In his report, Randall explains what action civics really entails:

What this means is that in ‘action civics’ history and government classes, students spend class time and receive class credit for work with ‘nongovernmental community organizations.’ This substitution degrades teachers’ and students’ esteem for classroom instruction, which is deemed not to have sufficient civic purpose in itself. It reduces the scarce time available for students actually to learn about the history of their country and the nature of their republic.

Most importantly, it introduces a pedagogy that facilitates teachers’ ability to impose their personal predilections on their students, by influencing the process by which students choose ‘community partners’ with which to work. It also facilitates the ability of peer pressure to impose group predilections on individual, dissenting students. We may note that the advocates of ‘action civics’ explicitly distinguish this activity from volunteering: action civics is meant to change the political system, not to support civil society.

In other words, Randall explains, in place of real civics, action civics “substitutes radical progressive pedagogy as a vocational training for activism.”

In action civics courses, students get class credit for attending protests or supporting progressive organizations. The EAD website’s “Educator Resources” includes links to resources from left-wing organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose “Learning for Justice” curriculum provides lessons on the “concepts of intersectionality, privilege and oppression.”

Instead of inculcating students with a Madisonian appreciation for our constitutional order, EAD-backed action civics programs train Alinskyite activists.

It’s easy to see why the Democrat-controlled Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and public school districts in Los Angeles and New York are excited to accept EAD funds. What’s harder to understand is why the Georgia Department of Education would be.

Georgia’s superintendent of schools, Richard Woods, is a Republican who previously wrote that the “ideology of Critical Race Theory (CRT) has no place in our schools and classrooms” and cautioned that “[w]e must be vigilant against embracing polarizing practices that only seek to divide us.”

Vigilance against embracing radical and polarizing practices in education is certainly necessary. Georgia policymakers should start by exercising greater vigilance over the grants they accept to further civics education.

California homeless found living in furnished caves 20 feet below street level


Chris Pandolfo By Chris Pandolfo Fox News | Published January 25, 2024 11:51am EST

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-homeless-found-living-furnished-caves-20-feet-below-street-level

Homeless people in California were found living in caves along the Tuolumne River before they were cleared out by the Modesto Police Department and volunteers over the weekend.nVolunteers with Operation 9-2-99 and the Tuolumne River Trust worked with police to clear them out, removing some 7,600 pounds of garbage from the area, authorities said.  

“This particular area has been plagued by vagrancy and illegal camps, which have raised concerns due to the fact that these camps were actually caves dug into the riverbanks,” the Modesto Police Department said in a statement.

The cleared debris filled two truckloads and a trailer, police added. 

LOS ANGELES RECRUITS UP TO 6K VOLUNTEERS TO COUNT CITY’S HOMELESS POPULATION AS CRISIS WORSENS

Clean-up efforts along the Tuolumne River in Modesto, California
Volunteers with Operation 2-9-99 and the Modesto Police Department participated in a joint clean-up operation along the Tuolumne River in Modesto, California, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Modesto Police Department)

Ahead of the cleanup, individuals residing in the caves and nearby homeless camps were told about the operation and informed of services to assist them, the department said. The caves were about 20 feet below street level, and some were fully furnished, indicating that vagrants had been living there for some time. Items found inside included bedding, belongings, food, items on a makeshift mantel, drugs and weapons, local news station KOVR reported. 

“We had a hard time figuring out how they got so much stuff down in there, considering how hard it was to get it up the hill and out,” Operation 2-9-99 coordinator Chris Guptill told KOVR. 

Guptill was one of many volunteers who participated in the cleanup. He said his group found eight caves in total, and this was not the first time they were occupied.

SQUATTER PIRATES IN FLORIDA SETTING UP HOMES ON ABANDONED BOATS

A cave entrance where homeless people set up residences
Homeless people were found living in caves like this one pictured along the Tuolumne River in Modesto, California, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Modesto Police Department)

“We really don’t have a known solution on how to deal with it,” Guptill told KOVR.

Tracy Rojas, a Modesto resident who lives near the caves, said it is dangerous for people to take up residence underground.

“If one of these were to collapse, it would be devastating,” she told KOVR. “This whole thing would come down and go into the water.” 

Homelessness is a growing crisis in California.

HOMELESS IN AMERICA: HOW BAD IS THE CRISIS RIGHT NOW?

A makeshift tent belonging to a homeless person
A tarp and trash belonging to homeless people encamped by the Tuolumne River in Modesto, California, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Modesto Police Department)

The city of Los Angeles, about 300 miles south of Modesto, recently began recruiting up to 6,000 volunteers to count homeless people. 

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority-led street tally helps the county government’s efforts to tackle a homeless crisis, which has crippled the city with tens of thousands of people living on the streets, living in cars, tents and makeshift street shelters. These temporary homes have proliferated on sidewalks, in parks and other community areas.

The so-called “point-in-time” count aims to estimate how many people are homeless and what financial or medical services they may require for potential mental health conditions or from drug addiction.

This count comes as California residents have grown increasingly frustrated over lawmakers’ failure to deter the surging homeless population. Since 2015, homelessness has increased by 70% in Los Angeles County and 80% in the city. In 2023, officials reported more than 75,500 people were homeless on any given night in LA County, a 9% rise from a year earlier, and about 46,200 within the city of Los Angeles.

“Homelessness is an emergency, and it will take all of us working together to confront this emergency,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement, calling the count “an important tool to confront the homelessness crisis.” 

Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

How A Ballot Initiative to Save Kids from Trans Madness in California Could Save Them Elsewhere Too


BY: NATHANAEL BLAKE | JANUARY 15, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/15/how-a-ballot-initiative-to-save-kids-from-trans-madness-in-california-could-save-them-elsewhere-too/

kids sitting a room while a teacher reads them a book

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The Democrats who run California love “transitioning” kids, including chemically and surgically sterilizing them. But a courageous group of residents is betting California voters are less radical than their politicians and that the tide can turn against gender ideology even on the West Coast.

A proposed ballot initiative by Protect Kids California would put the Golden State’s radical “trans kids” agenda — which has previously been checked only by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambition — before the people. 

The initiative would enact three policies:

  • First, it would end the practice of government schools socially transitioning children without telling parents. Schools would be required to inform parents about mental health issues, including gender-identity issues, and to have parental permission before pretending a boy is a girl, or vice versa. 
  • Second, the law would require that sex-specific spaces and sports be based on sex, rather than self-declared “gender identity.” Boys would no longer be allowed to participate in girls’ sports or share the girls’ locker room, showers, and other private spaces. 
  • Finally, the law would prohibit medically transitioning children with chemicals, hormones, and surgeries in an impossible quest to change a child’s sex. Chemically castrating boys and amputating the healthy breasts of troubled adolescent girls would be illegal.

These worthy goals might seem impossible. Even as many other states have enacted such policies, California’s leaders have doubled down on radical gender ideology and transitioning children. But the organizers of the initiative point to polling to argue that California’s voters are on their side on this issue, even if Californians tend to vote for Democrats who are in the grip of gender ideology and the transgender lobby. Erin Friday, one of the leaders of the effort, is a lifelong Democrat, and she is convinced there are many more like her who find the transgender industry’s targeting of children abhorrent.

She may be right. The campaign’s website highlights polling showing that the public is with them, and in an email to me, Friday shared additional polling commissioned by the feminist Women’s Liberation Front showing overwhelming support for the child-protection policies this ballot initiative would enact. 

This ballot initiative would protect children from outside California as well. As Friday has explained, California is a sanctuary state for sexual experiments on children. In the name of gender ideology, California now refuses to return runaways to their out-of-state parents, pays for minors to be chemically and surgically castrated, and shields doctors who flee to California after breaking the laws of other states. Winning in California is a victory for everyone.

Thus, California’s Democrat establishment will do everything it can to stop this. The state attorney general has already written a biased and inaccurate summary of the measure (the title line is literally “RESTRICTS RIGHTS OF TRANSGENDER YOUTH”) that by law is included on the petition pages. And additional resistance is sure to follow — for example, petition signatures will be rigorously scrutinized by people who otherwise denounce election-integrity measures as racist. 

The debate over the measure will be ugly. Its opponents will undoubtedly resort to suicide threats early and often, declaring that this law will push kids to kill themselves. It won’t, but telling kids to take themselves hostage is the transgender movement’s main weapon. After all, the only harm that can come from not transitioning is self-harm. Furthermore, there is no good evidence that castrating or mutilating kids reduces suicides. And in other contexts, we recognize that constantly threatening suicide is manipulative and abusive.

The ugliness won’t end just because the election does. If this measure gets on the ballot and passes, there will be lawsuits. There will be protests that turn into riots. There will be promises of noncompliance from government officials and employees. But it will all be worth it. 

If gender ideology goes down in California, it will fall everywhere. Even the most committed Democrats (and the most craven Republicans — looking at you, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine) will have to acknowledge that it is a political liability. And the collapse could be swift. Many people went along with radical gender ideology not out of conviction, but because they were afraid of being caught on the wrong side of the latest front in the cultural revolution. They will happily abandon it if their fear is taken away, and defeating transgender radicalism in California will do that.

There is work to do before that happy future is realized. The initiative has yet to qualify for the ballot, let alone pass. California residents can print out the petition, sign it, and mail it in. They can also volunteer. And everyone can donate to help fund the effort. Collecting more than a half-million valid signatures isn’t free, to say nothing of countering the mass of lies the media will tell about it.

But it is worth the attempt. 2023 brought a lot of victories in protecting children in Republican states from transgender insanity, but victory requires going on offense, even — especially — in California.


Nathanael Blake is a senior contributor to The Federalist and a postdoctoral fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Dishonest Ballot Initiative Wording Is Another Way Democrats Rig Elections


BY: ELLE PURNELL | JANUARY 15, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/15/dishonest-ballot-initiative-wording-is-another-way-democrats-rig-elections/

Ballot on a table

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Would you support a law protecting healthy minors from life-altering injections and amputations, side effects of which may include infertility, cancer, sexual dysfunction, and heart trouble?

Would you support a law that makes it a crime for a doctor to give “gender-affirming care” to minors whose gender dysphoria places them at a heightened risk of suicide?

If the average voter were asked each of these two questions, it’s not hard to deduce that the wording of question No. 2 is far more likely to garner “no” answers, regardless of the false assumptions the question relies on. We see the same reality at work in polling: The way you ask someone a question greatly influences the answer. Its why lawyers aren’t allowed to “lead the witness” during direct examination.

For example, when PBS commissioned a poll in 2021 asking about restricting transgender surgeries for children, pollsters used this euphemistic language: “Do you support or oppose legislation that would prohibit gender transition-related medical care for minors?”

Unsurprisingly, they got 66 percent of respondents to say “oppose,” with only 28 percent admitting support. Who doesn’t want kids to get “medical care”?

Conversely, when the conservative group Convention of States Action asked respondents the following year, “Do you believe underage minors should be required to wait until they are adults to use puberty blockers and undergo permanent sex change procedures?” an overwhelming 79 percent said yes.

There are doubtless other factors contributing to the polling discrepancy (though it’s worth noting both survey samples included more Democrats than Republicans). But the more than 50-point spread between the polls has something to do with the question language. Researchers have tested the idea that ballot language affects voters’ decisions and come to the same obvious conclusion. Democrat officials and activists are aware of this too — and use it to their advantage when writing the language voters see on their ballots.

‘Prejudicial, Partial, and Inaccurate’

For example, parents rights group Protect Kids California is suing the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, for dishonestly crafting the title and summary of their proposed ballot initiative to benefit Democrats’ policy preferences. The summary provided by Protect Kids California for its own ballot initiative says it will:

(1) repeal the California law that permits [male] students to compete in female’s sports and students to be in females’ locker rooms and bathrooms; (2) prohibit schools from deceiving parents about their student’s gender identity crisis and stop them from secretly transitioning a child; and (3) stop sex change operations and chemical castrations on minors.

I might quibble with the phrase “sex change” — since it’s metaphysically impossible to change a person’s sex — but overall, the summary is pretty clear. The actual text of the proposed statute is similar, with provisions like, “Health care providers are not permitted to provide sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures on a patient under the age of 18 years,” and “any sex-segregated facility, including, but not limited to, a bathroom or locker room, on the campus of a school shall be segregated based on biological sex.”

Bonta took it upon himself to title the initiative the “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth Initiative.” The summary created by his office says the initiative, in part, “Prohibits gender-affirming health care for transgender patients under 18, even if parents consent or treatment is medically recommended,” and that it “Requires schools to notify parents whenever a student under 18 asks to be treated as a gender differing from school records without exception for student safety.” According to California law, the attorney general’s dishonest title and summary must appear on every page of the petition.

Protect Kids California is suing Bonta over his obvious attempt to prejudice voters and run interference against the ballot initiative. The group contends his “title and summary is prejudicial, partial and inaccurate.”

How to Get Away with (Making People Vote for) Murder

Sometimes the dishonest framing is in the proposed measure itself, rather than the summary. In Ohio last year, for example, pro-abortion activists behind Issue 1 carefully crafted the benign-sounding amendment to cloak its drastic ramifications.

“Every individual has the right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to contraception; fertility treatment; continuing one’s own pregnancy; miscarriage care; and abortion,” the amendment text stated, brushing over the fact that it made no exception for minors and threw open the door to transgender surgeries for kids as a kind of “reproductive decision.”

Furthermore, the text used a common Democrat trick to ensure the amendment would allow abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy. It winked at allowing abortion restrictions after “fetal viability,” but kneecapped any such restrictions by making exceptions “if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.” It sounds nice to the voter who skims the page for the first time at the polling station on his lunch break, but it really allows any doctor to prescribe an abortion for any reasons that can be couched as “health”-related — presumably including a woman’s mental distress at being pregnant.

Define the Terms, Control the Discourse

Language is an all-important tool, and Democrats often use it to manipulate and take advantage of Americans who don’t have hours to spend sifting through media lies to figure out the truth. Dishonest terms like “gender-affirming care” sound positive and invite sympathy, even though the procedures described by the term are neither medical “care” nor “affirming” of a person’s real sex.

And — just like media blackouts (see: Hunter Biden laptop) or partnerships between election offices and left-wing dark-money groups — deceptive ballot initiative language is one of the many methods Democrats use to rig elections before the first vote is even cast.


Elle Purnell is the elections editor at The Federalist. Her work has been featured by Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women’s Forum. She received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_etreynolds.

California’s Record of Felonies, Feces, And Failure Should Kill Newsom’s Political Career But It Won’t


BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | DECEMBER 01, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/12/01/californias-record-of-felonies-feces-and-failure-should-kill-newsoms-political-career-but-it-wont/

DeSantis and Newsom debating

Thursday night’s debate between Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom was a total crapshow for Newsom — literally.

When the Democrat darling wasn’t getting lambasted for violating his own Covid restrictions and allowing homelessness and human feces to plague California’s major cities, Newsom was justifying the presence of pornographic materials in school libraries and defending the surgical mutilation of minors, even without parents’ knowledge. Meanwhile, DeSantis stuck to the facts and tackled major culture war issues most Republicans are often too afraid to mention.

Things got so bad for Newsom that his wife reportedly stepped in to prevent the debate from continuing beyond the original 90-minute discussion agreed upon by the governors.

But Thursday’s back-and-forth wasn’t just a heated discussion between two high-profile politicians. It was a symbolic display of the stark spiritual divide encapsulating the country. While DeSantis represented positions of truth, logic, and common sense — like protecting kids from disfiguring transgender surgeries, for example — Newsom embodied the lies, deception, and propaganda of his fellow leftists.

Even when confronted with facts — some of which were displayed in front of him — Newsom simply lied or pivoted to launching ad hominem attacks against conservatives. Such is the way of the modern left.

In a sane world, DeSantis’ beatdown of Newsom and the Democrat Party’s extremist agenda would end the California governor’s prospects for higher office. But America doesn’t exist inside a sane world anymore, and the sad reality is that many of the leftists who watched Thursday’s debate probably came away believing Newsom’s falsehoods — or worse, knew he was lying but simply didn’t care.

If Newsom were to run for another statewide office in California today, there’s no reason to believe the vast majority of Democrats in the state wouldn’t vote for him. Even if it means having to pay higher taxes, subsidize illegal immigrants, and dodge human feces, used needles, criminals, and homeless encampments on the streets, Democrat voters will not abandon their dystopian belief that the state is almighty.

For the left, politics is religion. It’s what drives them, shapes their nonsensical worldview, and permits them to justify the most demonic policies imaginable, such as murdering innocent unborn babies and conducting irreversible surgeries on minors without parental knowledge. There is no belief in objective morality or truth on the left because Democrats’ view is that morality and truth are whatever they want them to be, facts and logic be damned.

Leftism is a heck of a drug, and no matter how much pain and suffering it causes, Democrats won’t stop taking it.


Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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The Fight Against Sexualizing Kids Doesn’t Just Win Debates, It Wins Elections


BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | DECEMBER 01, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/12/01/the-fight-against-sexualizing-kids-doesnt-just-win-debates-it-wins-elections/

Ron DeSantis

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During his debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday night, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was at his strongest on contentious culture-war issues, such as the merits of transgender medical interventions for kids and parental rights.

The governors from two of the nation’s most populous states offered Americans a preview of a 2028 White House showdown on Fox News, debating red and blue state governance. Both are popular two-term governors presiding over colossal coastal states with overwhelming control of their respective state legislatures, and both are also relatively young (Newsom is 56, DeSantis is 45) and well-funded, with presumably long careers ahead. So, while only one of the men on stage Thursday night is officially running for higher office, both eagerly capitalized on the opportunity to frame up a presidential race that’s still five years out. DeSantis was at his best when topics landed on hot-button cultural issues, from parents’ rights in education to California’s endless sexualizing of children.

Fox moderator Sean Hannity brought up Florida’s parental rights bill — which Democrats dishonestly branded as “Don’t Say Gay” — that DeSantis signed last year. The new law bans teachers from bringing mature sexual topics and transgender propaganda into kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.

“Should schools be focused on reading, writing, math, science, history, computers — and maybe leaving values, considering parents might have different values than teachers at school?” Hannity asked. “What is the role?”

“The role of the school is to educate kids, not indoctrinate kids,” DeSantis said. “It’s not to impose an agenda, it’s to do the basics.”

“What we’ve said in Florida is it’s inappropriate to tell a kindergartner that their gender is a choice, it’s inappropriate to tell a second grader that they may have been born in the wrong body,” DeSantis added. “California has that. They want to have that injected into the elementary school.”

DeSantis went on to highlight a book used to teach kids about gay sex called Gender Queer.

“Some of its blocked out,” DeSantis said with an image held up of a graphic illustrated porn scene. “You would not probably be able to put this on air.”

The demonstration was DeSantis’ second most-effective use of a visual after the poop-map moment highlighting human feces in San Francisco.

Newsom sought to justify the salacious content in K-12 classrooms, calling DeSantis’ efforts to sanitize leftist activists’ curricula a “banning binge.” The West Coast governor went on to list a series of authors Democrats falsely claim are prohibited in Florida.

[READ: There Are No Banned Books]

A moment later, DeSantis called out California’s radical efforts to become a refuge for trans-identified kids. Last year, Newsom signed a bill allowing gender-confused teens to seek irreversible medical interventions in the Golden State without parental consent.

“How in the heck is that honoring parents’ rights when you’re bringing people in from out of state to go around their parents’ backs and getting life-altering surgeries?” DeSantis asked. “It’s not for you to decide. It’s for the parents to decide.”

Newsom turned to emotional blackmail, citing the debunked left-wing talking point that transgender-identifying children are more prone to suicide. The data points to the contrary, however, with individuals more likely to suffer mental anguish when given easier access to transgender medical interventions.

Transgenderism and parental rights in education are winning issues for Republicans. The twin topics let the party go on offense just as the Virginia GOP did in 2021 with statewide triumphs in what had become a blue state.

Recent polls suggest more and more Americans are with Republicans on transgenderism and parental rights. A March survey from Parents Defending Education found, “75% of registered voters support legislation requiring schools to get parental consent before helping a student change their gender identity at school, while only 18% oppose this policy” (emphasis theirs).

A Gallup poll in June found that 55 percent of Americans believe it is “morally wrong” to attempt to “change” one’s sex, up from 51 percent two years ago. An overwhelming majority opposed bending sex requirements for athletic competitions.

[RELATED: Support For Transgenderism Is Cratering]


Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.

Why GOP Voters Saw This Week’s Debate Differently Than DeSantis Superfans


BY: AARON DECORTE | DECEMBER 01, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/12/01/why-gop-voters-saw-this-weeks-debate-differently-than-desantis-superfans/

Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom in debate

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The biggest loser of Thursday night’s debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom was us, the voters. For far too long party officials have had a stranglehold on how candidates are vetted, presented, and nominated. If the “Red vs. Blue State” debate was successful, it could have been the jumping-off point for other networks, third-party candidates, or donors to sponsor and create better opportunities for voters to see candidates in more diverse settings and formats. Sadly, it was unsuccessful for everyone involved.

Kudos to Sean Hannity for making it happen and kudos to Newsom for showing up to a forum he knew would be tilted toward DeSantis. Despite his actual performance, Newsom is the only person in his party that would have agreed to debate in that environment in the first place. Could you even imagine Vice President Kamala Harris in place of Newsom last night? It might have ended her political career. The reality is we know the White House would have never, ever allowed her to appear.

It’s hard to be critical of Hannity’s handling of the debate chaos because, short of cutting their mics off, there wasn’t much he could do besides appeal to both men several times to stop behaving like toddlers. It is unbecoming of governors, let alone presidential candidates, to talk over one another, and keep repeating the same statistic or practiced line. Still, Hannity deserves credit for pulling it off despite the fact that Trump and those around him aren’t thrilled he gave DeSantis the prime-time opportunity. Hannity has spoken openly about his personal relationship with Trump and his family, but he gave DeSantis airtime and a unique venue anyway.

Wearing the Hat vs. the Jersey

If you watch sports or attend games in person, you know the difference between a fan who is wearing a hat and the one who is wearing a jersey. A hat doesn’t have your favorite player’s name on it, just the team. A jersey has a specific player’s number and (with few exceptions) their last name. Fight in the stands? Most likely between fans who have jerseys on, not hats. In primary season, political pundits, donors, and early supporters have jerseys on, but regular voters who are living their lives mostly have hats on, or are willing to switch jerseys when the primary dust settles. How you think this debate went for DeSantis largely depends on whether you are wearing a DeSantis jersey or a GOP hat.

If you are wearing the DeSantis jersey, you think he crushed Newsom and embarrassed him with several references to the French Laundry incident and Newsom’s kids going to in-person private school while the rest of his state’s children were at home. You thought it was a nice touch when he talked about San Francisco police officers approaching him and thanking him for his support of law enforcement because they don’t get that in California. You were giddy when he pulled out both his paper props from his suit jacket to shame Newsom over the graphic nature of a book and a print-out of a San Francisco human feces map. If you have a DeSantis jersey on, it was a good event, even if all he got was major screen time without Nikki Haley zinging bad one-liners at him all night.

If you are wearing the GOP hat, maybe you didn’t see it the same way. You saw a presidential candidate that had some shades of Marco Rubio circa 2016 getting wrecked by Chris Christie. The repetitive talking points and stats in the face of a full-on frontal assault by Newsom is troublesome. You saw a guy who practiced all the stories he was going to tell last night (father-in-law, French Laundry, Newsom kids in person at private school) and still couldn’t tell them well.

You were thinking: if Trump told these exact same stories they would have landed with such force that Gavin’s White House dreams might have died on that stage last night. You also might be thinking that if Nikki Haley told those same stories she would have raised millions more dollars for her campaign. You saw a guy with a friendly moderator not be able to shift on the fly and bury Newsom when everything (data, history, and truth) was on his side. You also know that Donald Trump wouldn’t need to pull out crumpled paper to embarrass Newsom. He could have told those exact two stories without the props just as effectively.

A friend of mine who wears a GOP hat, not a jersey, texted me, “I don’t think he is good on his feet” during the debate, and he isn’t alone in that assessment. GOP hat-wearers are very perceptive and watched DeSantis Thursday night wondering if he has the stand-up skills to go to metaphorical war with whomever is occupying the other podium.

I am not sure last night moved the needle for DeSantis but how it’s perceived is very different by those wearing DeSantis jerseys versus those wearing GOP hats. It was a wasted opportunity for some much-needed change of the political process and for both participants.


Aaron DeCorte has worked in sales and marketing for more than 25 years. His wife is a 9-1-1 operator for their local police department.

Clean For Xi but Not for Thee: Democrats Hastily Clean Up San Francisco Ahead of Chinese Visit


BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/11/13/clean-for-xi-but-not-for-thee-democrats-hastily-clean-up-san-francisco-ahead-of-chinese-visit/

San Francisco

California Democrats hastily cleaned up San Francisco last week ahead of the upcoming state visit between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Friday, The New York Times described the scene in the city as one of “teenagers frantically cleaning up after a house party with their parents on the way home.”

“On Market Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, maintenance workers resurfaced uneven sidewalks and installed plywood over empty tree wells,” the Times reported. “Nearby, a crew gave a long-derelict plaza a makeover by turning it into a skateboard park and outdoor cafe with pingpong tables, chess boards and scores of potted plants. Elsewhere, workers painted decorative crosswalks and new murals, wiped away graffiti, picked up piles of trash and removed scaffolding to show off a refurbished clock tower at the Ferry Building.”

Why the sudden clean up after years of decay? Xi will be arriving Wednesday. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, which began Saturday, will draw 21 world leaders from Pacific nations along with 30,000 people to the Golden City. Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted last week the quick cleanup effort was provoked by “fancy leaders” who are “coming to town.”

“That’s true,” Newsom said.

As government officials work to power wash transit stations and clear homeless encampments in major areas, residents openly wondered what took leaders so long to clean up one of California’s largest cities.

“What about the people who are here year-round?” Marc Savino asked a local Fox affiliate.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed pledged cleanup efforts will continue even after the conference closes.

“We will continue to do everything we can to maintain cleanliness in our streets,” Breed said at a press conference.

For years, deteriorating health and safety conditions in California’s fourth-largest city have made San Francisco an emblem of American decline. Rampant crime and homelessness have left residents exposed to safety hazards while the jewel city of the West Coast remains prohibitively expensive to live in. Instead of implementing aggressive efforts to clean up, as residents saw last week ahead of visits from foreign leaders, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors prioritized leftist activism. In March, San Francisco leadership moved forward with a plan to hand out slavery reparations for $5 million per person to people who never were slaves, paid for by residents who never owned slaves.

In August, The Wall Street Journal published a feature on San Francisco’s downward spiral, openly wondering in the headline, “Can San Francisco Save Itself From the Doom Loop?”

“Downtown San Francisco now trails nearly every other major urban center in economic health,” the paper reported. “Retailers like Nordstrom and Banana Republic have announced in the past few months that they are closing their downtown San Francisco stores. The owner of the city’s biggest mall, located downtown, is handing it back to the lender rather than continue to make debt payments.”


Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders Op-ed: Why people are leaving California for Arkansas


By Sarah Huckabee Sanders Fox News | Published November 7, 2023 5:00am EST

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-people-leaving-california-arkansas

Ask people why they’re leaving blue states like California, and they’ll give you a lot of answers: more freedom, a lower cost of living, a more family-friendly quality of life. But a lot of them are just tired. Tired of the lockdowns, tired of the crime, tired of the preening politicians who won’t do anything to address the real issues they’re facing.

As governor of Arkansas, I’ve had my chance to ask that question a lot of times. That’s because our state has received a steady influx of new residents for years. Today, there are thousands of California refugees – and thousands more from other states – in our state.

Govs Newson and Sanders
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Getty Images)

This year alone, about 32,000 new people moved to Arkansas, about 10% of them from California. Arkansas is now one of the top five states for inbound migration. And the flow isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

SARAH SANDERS WADES INTO ‘CRUCIAL’ KENTUCKY GOVERNOR RACE AS REPUBLICANS LOOK TO FLIP SECOND SEAT FROM DEMS

That’s because my administration is focused on the reforms that will make Arkansas the best state in the country to live, work and raise a family. 

Just in my first few months in office, we passed the boldest education reforms in the country, including universal school choice, cut taxes not once, but twice, and are making historic investments in outdoor recreation. We’re cracking down on crime, getting woke nonsense out of our schools, and keeping kids safe online.

Video

I think these changes will be the icing on the cake for those who are already looking at how good we have it in Arkansas. Take our cost of living, for example. It’s nearly 40% cheaper to live in Little Rock than in Los Angeles. Housing is about 60% less expensive; health care is 15% cheaper. Imagine a family struggling to eke it out in California. For $500,000 – no small sum – they could afford a tiny fixer-upper in East LA. With that money in Little Rock, you could get a modern, 4,000-square-foot, custom-built home in one of our best neighborhoods.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER ELIMINATING ‘WOKE, ANTI-WOMEN WORDS’ FROM STATE GOVERNMENT USE

Taxes are another way we beat our coastal competition. Already this year, we cut the top individual income tax rate twice and built the groundwork to phase out the state income tax entirely. Our tax rate is about a third of that in California and going down.

Video

We’re able to slash taxes so heavily because our economy is booming, creating billion-dollar surpluses. As taxes continue to fall, our economy will continue to rise – the opposite of the Left Coast’s downward spiral.

 But moving to Arkansas isn’t just a pocketbook decision – it’s about quality of life as well. As 48 million people discovered for themselves in 2022, Arkansas is, for good reason, the Natural State. From world-class duck hunting to fly-fishing, there are outdoor adventures for everyone – many of which are located just minutes from our urban centers.

ARKANSAS HIGH COURT SIDES WITH GOV. SANDERS, STATE LAWMAKERS IN EDUCATION OVERHAUL CASES

Video

Arkansas’ 52 state parks are free to residents and visitors alike and offer a host of outdoor opportunities right at your doorstep. Four of Arkansas’ state parks – Mount Nebo State Park, Hobbs State Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, and Devil’s Den State Park – host a collection of world-class mountain biking trails known as the Monument Trails that Outside Magazine just named the best in America.

Arkansas is God’s country. I firmly believe that you haven’t lived until you float the clear, free-flowing waters of the Buffalo River through the Ozark Mountains or watch a sunrise on a duck hunt in flooded timber. 

Video

Arkansas is also the land of opportunity, where Sam Walton grew a little five-and-dime store into the most successful business on the face of the earth.

Arkansas is the home of legends like Al Green and Johnny Cash who pioneered a new American sound. It’s where Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine struck a blow against racism and blazed a trail for civil rights. 

Arkansas is my home, and we’d love to welcome you here too, as a tourist, as an investor, and even as our newest neighbor. Come and see what we have to offer. I promise you won’t regret it.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the 47th governor of Arkansas.

Message From California: Parents and the Constitution Not Welcome


By: Sarah Parshall Perry @SarahPPerry / September 27, 2023

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/27/message-california-parents-constitution-not-welcome/

A fist painted in rainbow flag colors with a heart on the wrist

California Gov. Gavin Newsom may have vetoed one transgender bill, but he has signed many LGBTQ+ bills that send the message that parents and the Constitution are not welcome in California. Pictured: Dominique Hernandez displays her rainbow-colored fist, with heart painted on pulse in honor of those slain in the Orlando shootings during a vigil for the shootings in Orlando at Los Angeles City Hall on June 13, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

Will the government take your child away because you don’t buy into radical gender ideology? Well, if you live in California, it’ll certainly try. While Gov. Gavin Newsom surprisingly vetoed the bill that would have forced parents to accept their child’s gender identity, that veto can still be overridden by the state Legislature.

In child custody and visitation cases, judges normally consider the health, safety, and welfare of the child. But California legislators went the extra mile: Judges there might have to include a parent’s affirmation of their minor child’s gender identity when determining who gets to see the child—or doesn’t.

Newsom did sign nine LGBTQ special interest bills into law—including one that allows a minor child to change their official gender and sex identifier… Without. Telling. Parents. 

California is violating parents’ constitutional rights to raise their children as they see fit—recognized by the Supreme Court for more than 100 years—while it works toward a full-state apparatus to force gender orthodoxy on kids.

The message from California is: parents—and the Constitution—not welcome.

COMMENTARY BY

Sarah Parshall Perry@SarahPPerry

Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

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UK Study Finds Puberty Blockers Exacerbated Mental Anguish For Trans-Identified Teens


BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/25/uk-study-finds-puberty-blockers-exacerbated-mental-anguish-for-trans-identified-teens/

Suffering

Up to a third of trans-identified teens put on puberty blockers suffered a significant decline in mental health, according to new analysis of a survey from the United Kingdom.

In August, researchers published an updated review of data from a 2021 study in the U.K. on medRxiv, a preprint service for medical research. The original study conducted by the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) examined 44 children aged 12 to 15 over three years who were prescribed puberty-blocking drugs to treat gender dysphoria. Participants took triptorelin, a prostate cancer medicine used to inhibit the synthesis of estrogen in women and testosterone in men.

According to researchers at the University of Essex, the mental health of between 20 and 34 percent of participants significantly deteriorated while on the puberty-inhibiting drug. Just between 9 and 20 percent reported a reliable improvement. Between 56 and 68 percent witnessed no change in distress.

In other words, less than a fifth of those prescribed puberty-blocking drugs, if that, experienced emotional improvement after taking triptorelin. The findings contradict broad claims that such medical interventions are necessary to save gender-confused children from the perils of suicidal ideation. While the updated analysis from the University of Essex has yet to be peer-reviewed, another long-term study from Sweden found those who underwent transgender surgery were 19 times more likely to die by suicide than the general public.

The national suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255. More resources are here.

A U.S. study published in 2019 found nearly 60 percent of trans-identified patients in a more than 10,000-patient survey were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder (besides gender dysphoria) to begin with.

In June, the U.K. NHS updated guidelines to prohibit prescriptions for puberty blockers outside of clinical research. The change in protocol follows other European nations similarly pulling back on dangerous premature medical interventions on minors who wish to manipulate their gender.

“In the past few years, European health authorities conducted systematic reviews of evidence for the benefits and risks of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,” City Journal reported in February. “The findings from these reviews — that the certainty of benefits is very low — guided the hand of policymakers there to restrict access to hormones.”

On Friday, California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed radical legislation mandating that parents “affirm” a child’s newfound so-called “gender identity.” Parents with kids in California’s Chino Valley Unified School District, however, are still fighting state Democrats for the right to watch over their own children.

In August, California’s far-left Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a legal crusade to terminate the district’s new policy requiring schools to notify parents whenever a child tries to change pronouns or display other symptoms of gender dysphoria.

[RELATED: School District Gears Up To Fight California AG Trying To Make Them Secretly Trans Kids]


Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.

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Newsom Vetoes Bill Requiring California Parents to Affirm Kids’ ‘Gender Transitions’


By: Tony Kinnett @TheTonus / September 25, 2023

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/25/newsom-vetoes-bill-requiring-california-parents-affirm-kids-gender-transitions/

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday vetoed a bill that would have classified not affirming a child’s gender transition as “child abuse.” (Photo: Patrick Fallon/AFP/Getty Images)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a state measure on Friday that would have required parents to “affirm gender transitions” for their children or risk losing custody. State Democrats’ bill, AB 957, cleared both the California Senate and the Assembly along party lines two weeks earlier on Sept. 8. AB 957 would have added “gender affirmation”—a term California doesn’t define or explain—as an essential need of every child to California family law, along with “health, safety, and welfare.”

Assembly member Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, whose child identifies as transgender, wrote the bill and introduced it Feb. 14. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, co-sponsored the measure.

The Daily Signal previously reported that Wiener successfully amended the bill June 6, altering AB 957 from requiring a judge to consider whether a child experiencing gender dysphoria was “affirmed” by parents to making “gender affirmation” an essential need of a child in California. Violating the standard of “health, safety, and welfare” set for a child under the California Family Code can carry penalties under the California Penal Code—prompting parents, activists, and lawmakers to speculate that the new law could result in parents being charged with child abuse or neglect for not participating in their child’s transgenderism.

Parents, lawmakers, and activists said they were furious with California’s passing AB 957, and urged Newsom not to sign the bill.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk, a California resident, called AB 957 a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and “utter madness.”  Musk, who owns X, the social media app formerly called Twitter, is the father of a child who claims to be transgender.

Nicole Pearson, founder of the Facts Law Truth Justice, a law firm and civil rights advocacy group, described the legislation as “unconstitutional, unscientific, and cruel” in an interview with The Daily Signal:

AB 957 is illegal, unconstitutional, unscientific, and cruel, and will not stand. It does not define “affirmation,” rendering it impossibly vague for judges to apply and, thus, “void for ambiguity.”

It violates parents’ and guardians’ fundamental and constitutionally protected First Amendment rights to speak freely, be free from compelled speech, and exercise their religion because they will be forced, for example, to say they will affirm or to not say that they won’t, or that they believe their child needs alternate care, even if they do not believe it, just to maintain custody. 

Similarly, it will deprive them of their Fourteenth Amendment right to direct the care and upbringing of their children, which has been safeguarded—without hesitation—by the U.S. Supreme Court for over a century.

Many speculate that Newsom vetoed the bill because he is attempting to appear less extreme as a potential presidential candidate. Erin Friday, a California attorney and co-leader of Our Duty, a parental rights advocacy group, says Newsom “only vetoed the bill because he seeks higher office.” While we celebrate the governor vetoing this horrendous bill, we know that the Governor did not veto it for the sake of protecting parents and children. He continues to assert that children who are struggling with gender issues should be transitioned. Newsom only vetoed the bill because he seeks higher office. Perhaps as the Governor fields the vitriolic outrage of the extreme left, it may dawn on him how unhinged those who want to force parents to either transition their gender-dysphoric kids or lose them.

Newsom did sign SB 407, which would prevent “LGBTQ foster youth” from being placed in homes in which parents don’t believe in LGBTQ+ ideology. In total, Newsom on Friday signed eight pro-LGBTQ+ bills, which dramatically increase California’s authority to require citizens to acquiesce to LGBTQ+ ideology.

Wiener criticized Newsom’s AB 957 veto, calling it “a tragedy for trans kids here & around the country.” He also claimed that “trans kids” are living “in fear,” accusing “right-wing politicians” of targeting and attempting to “erase [trans kids’] humanity.” Wiener provided no evidence to back up his accusations.

A Christian student athletic club was thrown off campus in California because of its traditional stance on marriage. Members fought back and won.


By: JOSEPH MACKINNON | September 14, 2023

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/a-christian-student-athletic-club-was-thrown-off-campus-in-california-because-of-its-traditional-stance-on-marriage-members-fought-back-and-won-2665405185.html/

YouTube video, Fellowship of Christian Athletes – Screenshot

A Christian student athletic club in California was denigrated, protested, then thrown off campus in 2019 on account of its traditional views on marriage. When the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and student leaders’ requests to have their club reinstated fell on deaf ears, they took legal action with the help of the religious liberty group Becket and the Christian Legal Society.

In a major upset for LGBT activists and other cultural imperialists in the San Jose Unified School District, a federal court delivered the evangelical FCA a decisive win Wednesday, ordering the reinstatement of its chapter at Pioneer High School.

Rigo Lopez, the local FCA leader for Bay Area schools, responded to the victory for religious liberty, stating, “FCA is excited to be able to get back to serving our campuses. … Our FCA teams have long enjoyed strong relationships with teachers and students in the past, and we are looking forward to that again.”

Daniel Blomberg, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said, “This is a huge win for these brave kids, who persevered through adversity and never took their eye off the ball: equal access with integrity.”

“Today’s ruling ensures religious students are again treated fairly in San Jose and throughout California,” added Blomberg.

No room for Christian beliefs

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes student club, founded in 1954, seeks to “lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His church.”

Despite meeting at San Jose Unified School District schools in California for over a decade without incident, the group was thrown off campus after a single social studies teacher at Pioneer High School denounced the organization during class time, claiming its views on marriage were “bulls***.”

Peter Glasser, the teacher in question, had learned that while all students were welcome to participate in FCA events and to join its ranks, chapter leaders were required to affirm the group’s statements of faith and sexual purity, reported the Washington Examiner.

Among the statements of faith, listed on the FCA’s website, are the declarations that: the Bible is the word of God; there is “only one God who eternally exists in three persons”; Jesus Christ is God; and “acceptance of Jesus Christ and the corresponding renewal of the Holy Spirit is the only path to salvation.”

The sexual purity statement required that leaders affirm that “sexual intimacy is to be expressed only within the context of marriage,” defined as “exclusively the union of one man and one woman.”

According to court documents, in April 2019, Glasser obtained these statements, posted them on the whiteboard in his first period class, and appended a note to them which read, “I am deeply saddened that a club on Pioneer’s campus asks its members to affirm these statements. How do you feel?”

Extra to inviting criticism of Christian students’ beliefs by other students, Glasser, who reportedly suggested the FCA’s beliefs were tantamount to harassment, pressed principal Herb Espiritu to take action.

A school leadership committee, which included Glasser, met on April 30, 2019, determining the FCA’s “pledge” clashed with the “core values” of the high school.

Espiritu brought the decision to the attention of SJUSD administrators, then two days later informed the student leaders of the Pioneer FCA that the district had stripped the group of its approval.

Within weeks, all three FCA student clubs in the district had been labeled as “discriminatory” and similarly booted off campus whilst identitarian groups, LGBT activist groups, and even the Satanic Temple Club remained unscathed, notwithstanding their own dogmatic views and rules.

Battle in the courts

Two students filed a lawsuit in April 2020, seeking to restore the club’s equal access to meet on campus. A district court shut them down. They nevertheless persevered and appealed the decision.

On Aug. 29, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in the Christian students’ favor, concluding that the “plaintiffs [were] likely to succeed on their Free Exercise claims alleging that the defendants have selectively enforced their non-discrimination polices.”

Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit Court reversed the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s earlier denial of the FCA’s motion for a preliminary injunction and directed the district court to order the group’s reinstatement.

The San Jose Unified School District did not handle the decision well.

Rather than accept that it could no longer flout the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act by way of discriminating against the FCA’s religious leadership standards, it shut down all student groups for the fall 2022 semester and appealed the decision.

Christian virtue prevails

On Jan. 18, 2023, the the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the case before a panel of eleven federal judges.

In a 9-2 decision issued Wednesday, the court killed perhaps the SJUSD’s last hope of boxing out the Christian group, ruling that the FCA and other such clubs do not have to surrender on matters of faith to enjoy equal access to campus.

“The District, rather than treating (the Fellowship of Christian Athletes) like comparable secular student groups whose membership was limited based on criteria including sex, race, ethnicity and gender identity, penalized it based on its religious beliefs,” said the ruling.

The court stressed that “[i]ndividual preferences based on certain characteristics and criteria serve important purposes for these groups”; that just as the “Senior Women club” can have all-female members and various honor clubs can require benchmarks pertaining to members’ moral character, “it makes equal sense that a religious group be allowed to require that its leaders agree with the group’s most fundamental beliefs.”

In her opinion, Judge Consuelo María Callahan noted that while anti-discrimination policies “serve worthy causes … those policies may not themselves be utilized in a manner that transgresses or supersedes the government’s constitutional commitment to be steadfastly neutral to religion.”

Accordingly, “[u]nder the First Amendment’s protection of free exercise of religion and free speech, the government may not ‘single out’ religious groups ‘for special disfavor’ compared to similar secular groups,” wrote Callahan.

Judge Danielle J. Forrest called the SJUSD’s treatment of FCA student members “shocking and fundamentally at odds with bedrock principles that have guided our Republic since the beginning.”

Concerning the FCA’s win Wednesday, Steve McFarland, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom, said, “Public schools should respect every student’s religious beliefs and treat every student with dignity. … We are grateful the court has reaffirmed this foundational right of every student.”

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California’s Pro-Trans Child Custody Bill Is Pure Emotional Blackmail


BY: KYLEE GRISWOLD | SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/15/californias-pro-trans-child-custody-bill-is-pure-emotional-blackmail/

California Gov. Gavin Newsom

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There’s a bill sitting on Gavin Newsom’s desk right now that would not only render the First Amendment null and void but also strip parents of their most fundamental rights and responsibilities toward their children. It’s not a matter of if the far-left California governor will sign it, but when.

The bill, the Transgender, Gender-Diverse, and Intersex Youth Empowerment Act (AB 957) — which last week passed the Senate and then, on a party-line vote, the Assembly — dictates that courts must consider “gender affirmation” in child custody battles. The soon-to-be-law states that in seeking to determine the “health, safety, and welfare of the child,” courts must consider “a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity or gender expression.”

While some Democrat apologists in the media pretend it’s absurd to think this means conservative parents would ever lose custody of their children by nature of holding conservative values — It doesn’t say judges *have* to side with the loving, accepting parents, you hateful rubes! — we know how this will go. It’s California, for crying out loud.

But we don’t have to extrapolate much. Other media have dropped the facade and told us exactly where this bill will lead. Here’s CNBC:

Under the proposed law, parents, who fail to acknowledge and support their child’s gender transition, could face potential consequences, including the loss of custody rights to another parent or even the state itself. The bill’s supporters argue that it is in the best interest of children, aiming to create a more inclusive and affirming environment for gender-diverse youth.

There’s the quiet part out loud: A mom or dad who opts not to indulge their child in mental illness, who uses the child’s given name, prohibits the use of puberty blockers, or discourages sterilizing hormones or surgery could lose the child not only to the other parent, which is egregious enough — but to the state.

As Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has pointed out, this law would stomp on the Constitution’s guarantee to free speech and the free exercise of religion. It would “muzzle” parents and prevent them from rearing their children in accordance with their deeply held beliefs — beliefs, by the way, that have been regarded by both Christians and non-Christians as basic laws of nature and fundamentals of civil society until about five minutes ago. This is more than a legal dilemma for Constitutional scholars and gender-studies midwits to bat around in mahogany rooms and shoddy amici, however. If it feels more nefarious and personal — that’s because it is. We’ve seen it before.

It’s classic Democrat emotional blackmail. It’s the left waging psychological warfare on its ideological opponents with barely veiled threats. Oh, you want to see your own child? Well, that’s interesting because xir needs some hormones xe says you won’t provide. You don’t seem too concerned with xir’s health and safety.

This brand of emotional blackmail has already been tested and perfected with the suicide card. That is, the aforementioned gender-studies “experts,” medical professionals, journalists, and other Very Smart People™ have decided, based on little to no evidence, that transgender medical interventions are the only acceptable course of action for confused kids. In fact, anything short of full “affirmation” is deadly, they say.

With this conclusion in mind — and at the expense of mounting evidence showing pro-trans policies cause the most harm — they’ve devised “research” that Democrats then present as unassailable. The methodology of these biased studies is wildly problematic. Pro-trans ideologues habitually equate correlation with causation, fail to treat gender dysphoria as a mental illness and ignore underlying mental health issues such as depression, discount the potential role of wrong-sex hormones in unhealthy ideations, ignore hard facts about the ways puberty eventually resolves almost all dysphoria in minors, discounts rampant social factors, and turns a blind eye to the growing chorus of detransitioners who fell for leftist lies and are now filled with despair.

[READ: Telling Kids To Hate Their Biology Might Be What’s Actually Killing Them]

But never let bad science get in the way of an agenda. Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?, they manipulate. A lack of acceptance has driven trans suicide rates and self-harm through the roof.

A law this unconstitutional is bound to wind up in the courts. And I suppose we should be thankful there’s one remaining recourse. But if all conservatives have on their side is a waiting game until the courts eventually slap California lawmakers on the wrist, they have nothing. In fact, getting GOP-opposed laws tied up in the slow gears of the court system is exactly what Democrats are expecting. They’re counting on it. The more they can keep conservatives and jurists busy, the more radical laws and policies they can keep shoving out the door. We can’t stop them all. How many poor parents and children will be casualties in the meantime?

But don’t lose the human element in the legislative games. Rabid ideologues and iconoclasts who want to remake America and its children in their own image aren’t afraid to use the most vulnerable among us as pawns. Self-censorship will only be the start. It’s emotional blackmail, plain and simple. Do what we say, or else.


Kylee Griswold is the editorial director of The Federalist. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in Communication Arts/Speech and an A.S. in Criminal Justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.

Cali residents FLEEING hellhole as San Francisco now leads the US in PLUMMETING home values


PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL | BLAZETV STAFF | September 11, 2023

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/shows/pseudo-intellectual/cali-residents-fleeing-hellhole-as-san-francisco-now-leads-the-us-in-plummeting-home-values/

There’s no question that the West Coast is home to some of the most beautiful places in the country and perhaps even the world. However, it’s also home to the failed state of California, specifically the city of San Francisco — which is now overrun by the homeless and has streets covered in feces and drug needles. According to Lauren Chen, it’s also home to “sky-high property prices, excessive taxes and regulations, the state actively trying to trans your kids behind your back,” and “rolling blackouts, looting.”

“All of the above mentioned are very real problems that the people living in these cities and in these states have to deal with on a daily basis,” Chen adds.

Because of these issues, Californians who can afford to leave are fleeing in masses. However, many people deserting the state won’t get back the top dollar they paid to live there.

A recent article from Newsmax reports that San Francisco is now topping the U.S. in plunging home values.

The article states: “About one in eight (12.3%) homes that sold in San Francisco during the three months ending July 31 was purchased for less than the seller paid for it, up from 5% a year earlier. That’s a higher share than any other major U.S. metro and is quadruple the national rate (3%).”

Chen believes this data is concerning because “it means number one: a lot of people who invested in the real estate market in San Francisco, in New York, they’re going to be taking major losses. Number two: we also have to keep in mind that this decline in prices isn’t because of something like increased housing opportunity.”

Rather, it’s “because people are actually packing up and just leaving the city, leaving these states.”

While Chen believes the issues that are causing people to leave are a direct result of who they voted for, she hopes that they’re capable of realizing that themselves.

“You’re not liking the crime, you’re not liking how it’s getting harder and harder to run a business. I don’t see how you can simultaneously still be liberal, still be Democrat, because guess what, there’s no one else that you have to blame in those situations than the Democrats.”

Want more from Lauren Chen?

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California Lawmakers Vote To Remove Kids From Any Parents Who Don’t Support Severing Their Genitals


BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/11/california-lawmakers-vote-to-remove-kids-from-any-parents-who-dont-support-severing-their-genitals/

California Capitol

The California legislature passed a bill Friday requiring parents to “affirm” a child’s newfound gender or risk loss of custody.

Assembly Bill 957 was initially proposed to require courts to consider whether parents were “affirming” a child’s identification as transgender in custody cases. The legislation was later amended in June to declare non-affirming parents liable for child abuse.

Republican state Sen. Scott Wilk bluntly recommended parents “flee” the state over the amendment.

“In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophy, I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting,” Wilk said in June. “I’ve changed my mind on that,” Wilk added. “If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee.”

Wilk said he would leave the state himself at the end of his term.

Washington Free Beacon California Correspondent Susannah Luthi Taylor highlighted the law’s ambiguous language, opening the door to broad interpretation.

“The California bill does not define ‘affirmation,’ leaving it unclear if a parent would be required to support a child’s desire to socially transition or receive medical sex-change treatments,” Taylor wrote. “Nor does the bill make distinctions based on a child’s age or mental health record.”

The legislation is now headed for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, who is expected to sign it.

California’s latest law on transgenderism follows a cascade of state interference in parental rights to challenge a child’s desire to attempt a changing his-or-her gender. In August, California Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School District over new rules compelling teachers and administrators to notify parents of changes in pronoun use, sports participation, or bathroom assignments. A local judge in San Bernadino temporarily suspended the district’s new policy last week while litigation remains underway. The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13.

“San Bernardino Superior Court’s decision to issue a temporary restraining order rightfully upholds the state rights of our LGBTQ+ student community and protects kids from harm by immediately halting the board’s forced outing policy,” said the attorney general. “While this fight is far from over, today’s ruling takes a significant step towards ensuring the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming students.”

Last fall, Governor Newsom also signed a bill to “offer refuge” for out-of-state minors seeking trans medical interventions in the state without parental consent. In another assault on parental rights, the new law mandates that doctors hide children’s medical information related to “gender identity” from parents.

Contrary to Democrat claims of protecting children, multiple studies show easing access to adolescent medical interventions in pursuit of transgenderism increases the risk of suicide.

The national suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255. More resources are here.


Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.

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California AG Wages Legal War To Hide Kids’ Transgender Pursuits From Parents


BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | AUGUST 30, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/30/california-ag-wages-legal-war-to-hide-kids-transgender-pursuits-from-parents/

Rob Bonta

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The California attorney general is launching an all-out assault on parents and families with a new lawsuit asserting state control over schoolchildren.

On Monday, state Attorney General Rob Bonta sued to stop a new policy in a southern California school district that requires schools to notify parents whenever a child identifies as transgender and begins to pursue a so-called gender transition. The new guidelines adopted by the Chino Valley Unified School District in July would have required schools to tell parents if their child sought changes in pronoun use, sports participation, or bathroom assignments contrary to his or her sex. The state’s Democrat attorney general argues the district’s new disclosure rule violates students’ civil rights and risks “emotional, physical, and psychological harm.”

“Every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity — regardless of their gender identity,” Bonta said in a statement. “We’re in court challenging Chino Valley Unified’s forced outing policy for wrongfully and unconstitutionally discriminating against and violating the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ students. The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home.”

The attorney general’s press release went on to disparage concerned parents and school board members as passing the measure with “animosity, discrimination, and prejudice” toward trans-identified students, “as evidenced by statements made during the Board’s hearing.”

“In discussing the policy before its passage, board members made a number of statements describing students who are transgender or gender-nonconforming as suffering from a ‘mental illness,’ or ‘perversion,’” the press release said. “The Board President went so far as to state that transgender and gender nonbinary individuals needed ‘non-affirming’ parental actions so that they could ‘get better.’”

The data, however, supports claims made by the proposal’s proponents and vindicates the board president’s alleged recommendation that parents adopt a cautious “non-affirming” approach to their trans-identified kids.

A 2019 study found nearly 60 percent of trans-identified patients in a more than 10,000-patient survey were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder. Meanwhile, access to transgender medical interventions has been shown to increase the risk of suicide. A report last summer from the conservative Heritage Foundation found that “easing access to cross-sex treatments without parental consent significantly increases suicide rates.” Another major long-term study out of Sweden showed that people who underwent transgender surgery were 19 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population.

[RELATED: Science Is On The Side Of Those Resisting Transgender Ideology In Schools]

More and more detransitioners are now coming forward to share stories of how impulsive prepubescent medical treatment left them permanently “damaged.” In July, a 19-year-old detransitioner named Chloe Cole, who had a double mastectomy, testified on Capitol Hil about the “nightmare” she experienced as a victim of adolescent transgender ideology.

“It’s caused permanent changes to my body. My voice will forever be deeper, my jawline sharper, my nose longer,” she said. “My bone structure permanently masculinized. My Adam’s apple more prominent. My fertility unknown. I look in the mirror sometimes, and I feel like a monster.”

Yet the United States remains an outlier with its approach to trans minor medical treatment. Physicians have been found to “rubber-stamp” diagnoses of gender dysphoria to approve devastating procedures.

In June, England passed new restrictions on irreversible transgender medical interventions for pediatric patients. Other European nations are following suit as more research emerges on the dangers of premature interventions such as cross-sex hormones and surgeries.

“In the past few years, European health authorities conducted systematic reviews of evidence for the benefits and risks of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,” the City Journal reported in February. “The findings from these reviews — that the certainty of benefits is very low — guided the hand of policymakers there to restrict access to hormones.”

In California, however, leaders are on a crusade to establish the state as a “haven” for gender-confused children. Last fall, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to “offer refuge” for out-of-state minors seeking trans medical interventions in California without parental consent. The new law also mandates that doctors hide children’s medical information related to “gender identity” from their parents.

State animosity toward parents who oppose transgender ideology escalated this summer with legislation drafted in Sacramento that would charge parents with “child abuse” if they don’t “affirm” a child’s trans ideations.

Republican state Sen. Scott Wilk bluntly recommended that parents “flee” the state over Democrats’ transgender radicalism.

“In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophy, I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting,” Wilk said in June. “I’ve changed my mind on that,” Wilk added. “If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee.”

Wilk declared he would leave the state himself when his legislative term expires.


Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.

FOR ALL OUR CALIFORNIA READERS


Monday, August 28, 2023

‘Trying to Chill Parents’: California Bill Would Criminalize Sparking of ‘Substantial Disorder’ at School Board Meetings


By: Tyler O’Neil @Tyler2ONeil / August 10, 2023

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/08/10/trying-chill-parents-california-bill-would-criminalize-sparking-substantial-disorder-school-board-meetings/

Man holds sign reading
Critics warn of an attempt to “chill parents from speaking out” as the California State Assembly considers a bill that would criminalize causing a “substantial disruption” at a school board meeting. Pictured: A man hoists his message at a July 20 meeting of the Chino Valley school board in Chino, California. (Photo: David McNew/Getty Images)

California already has undermined the rights of parents from out of state when it comes to experimental transgender “health care,” but the Legislature also is considering a bill that would criminalize causing “substantial disorder” at school board meetings—an attempt to “chill parents from speaking out,” critics warn.

SB 596, which the California State Senate passed in May, 30-8, would expand state law that bars adults from subjecting “a school employee to harassment.”

The bill, now making its way to the floor of the lower chamber, the California State Assembly, would expand the definition of “school employee” to cover any employee or official of a school district, charter school, and county or state education board or office.

The bill also would outlaw, as a misdemeanor, actions that cause “substantial disorder” at a school board meeting.

The law proposed in the Golden State doesn’t define “substantial disorder,” and its definition of “harassment” leaves broad room for interpretation. Under the proposal, Californians who violate the provision face a fine of $500 to $1,000, a year in county jail, or both. A second offense would mean mandatory jail time and could involve another fine; a third offense would mean more jail time and perhaps a third fine.

“It’s clear they’re trying to chill parents from speaking out,” Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told The Daily Signal on Wednesday. (The Daily Signal is The Heritage Foundation’s news outlet.)

“I find it curious that there’s no definition of ‘substantial’ or ‘disruption’ within the proposed text,” Perry said. “Considering that these are essential terms for the bill, it’s likely that if passed, the law would fall under a vagueness challenge.”

Parents “have a right to express themselves under the protections of the First Amendment,” she noted. “Ordinary limitations on certain speech—making a true threat of violence, for example—already apply within the context of the First Amendment, making the criminal penalty here unnecessary, legally suspect, and ideologically driven.”

“California Democrats want to increase the presence of minors’ activism while working to chill the free speech of rightfully concerned parents and taxpayers,” Kelly Schenkoske, a California mother who homeschools her two children in conjunction with a public charter school program, told The Daily Signal.

“Instead of focusing on solutions for a state riddled with low academic achievement, a drug crisis, homelessness, rising taxes, human trafficking, water storage issues, and fire prevention, this Democrat-controlled Legislature continues to propose their aggressive, anti-family, legislative pet projects,” Schenkoske added. “Their work over the years to erode parental involvement and rights has been noticed by parents who will stand courageously to speak for the protection of their children and for a better education.”

Jim Manley, state legal policy deputy director at the Pacific Legal Institute, told The Daily Signal that the state government has the prerogative to make laws regarding school board meetings, but the vagueness of the text might encourage school employees and prosecutors to chill parents’ rights to speak freely.

“The idea that the government is trying to regulate conduct at school board meetings is pretty normal,” Manley said. “What sends up potential red flags is some of the language in this bill.”

SB 596 defines “harassment” as “a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, torments, or terrorizes the person, and that serves no legitimate person.” The bill defines “course of conduct” as “a pattern of conduct composed of two or more acts occurring over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose.”

A parent or other critic “saying two things that the school official finds harassing could be enough to qualify there,” Manley said. “An email that simply torments would count as harassment under this standard.”

The lawyer noted that “to torment” merely means “to cause mental suffering.”

“If you send two emails that cause a school board official to mentally suffer, technically you fall under this definition,” Manley said.

The bill “could be interpreted in a way that chills people’s ability to communicate with elected officials,” he said.

Manley also noted that the bill includes an exemption for “any otherwise lawful employee concerted activity, including, but not limited to, picketing and the distribution of handbills.”

“Parents showing up to hand out literature would not be exempt” under the proposed law, the lawyer said. “Given how broadly this expands the coverage of the crime, I’d like to see the exemption be similarly broad. As written now, it only applies to employees who are picketing.”

Matt McReynolds, deputy chief counsel at the Pacific Justice Institute, echoed these concerns.

“I would certainly agree that SB 596 targets conservative parents who have been energized and re-engaging at the school board level,” McReynolds told The Daily Signal.

“It’s not just speaking at school board meetings; this would criminalize sending emails that seriously annoy or alarm school employees,” he said. “Note, too, the double standards, beginning with the exception in the legislation for labor union activity such as picketing.”

McReynolds also said the “larger context” of the bill is “revealing.”

“In nearly all other areas, our state leaders are stressing decriminalization and have released thousands of dangerous offenders back into our communities,” he said. “The rhetoric about mass incarceration and overcriminalization goes out the window when they’re going after their political enemies. And in the school setting itself, our legislators are moving to reduce the ability of teachers and administrators to punish kids for defiance, disruption, and disorder. The hypocrisy is unmistakable.”

McReynolds also mentioned AB 1078, which passed the California State Assembly in May. That bill, which aims to boost instructional materials regarding diversity by circumventing parents, threatens “to reduce parents’ influence at the school board level,” McReynolds argued,

State Sen. Anthony J. Portantino, the Democrat who sponsored SB 596, didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on the bill.

The bill comes amid new California laws prioritizing children’s stated gender identity over parental rights. Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law SB 107, a bill to turn California into a “sanctuary state” for “gender-affirming care.” The measure, which took effect in January, gives California courts the ability to award custody of a child if someone removes that child from his or her parents in another state to obtain such “care” over the parents’ disagreement. 

In June, a California state senator told parents to flee the state as the Senate debated a bill that would subject parents who refuse to “affirm” their children’s “gender transitions” to child abuse charges.

“In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophied, I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting,” state Sen. Scott Wilk, a Republican, said. “I’ve changed my mind on that.”

“If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee,” Wilk urged.

Pro-LGBTQ Radicals Threaten to Kill, ‘Dismember’ School Board Chief Over Parental Rights Policy


By: Ben Johnson @TheRightsWriter / July 25, 2023

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/07/25/radicals-threaten-kill-dismember-school-board-president-adopting-parental-rights-policy/

Chino Valley Unified School District President Sonja Shaw tells a woman who disrupted the school board meeting to leave the room at Don Lugo High School in Chino, California, on Thursday night. The CVUSD board voted 4-1 on a parental notification policy requiring schools to notify parents if their child changes his or her pronouns. Death threats from left-wing extremists have ensued. (Photo: Will Lester/Media News Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/Getty Images)

A local school board president in California has been inundated with threats that left-wing activists will dismember her, kill her children, and slaughter her pets. Her crime? Saying that teachers should not keep parents in the dark if their children begin to “identify” as transgender.

The new Chino Valley (California) Unified School District Board of Education policy states that school officials will notify parents in writing within three days if a child seeks to “identify” as a gender “other than the student’s biological sex,” use different pronouns, adopt a different name, or use the restroom or join a sports team of the opposite sex. The board adopted the resolution Thursday by a 4-1 vote, with member Donald Bridge casting the lone dissenting vote.

“The next morning, our district got a phone call” from an anonymous caller threatening “to kill me, and they said that they were going to dismember” school board president Sonja Shaw, the official revealed on “Washington Watch With Tony Perkins” on Monday. Police alerted Shaw to the threat shortly before a previous interview on the show last Friday.

Then Shaw looked at her district email account, where she said she saw messages stating, “You’re going to die,” with a series of profane epithets. “Your children are going to die, and your animals are going to die.” For a “point of reference, they would name what kind of animals I had,” Shaw added.

“I also got notification that people who identify as being in the terrorist organization Antifa posted on their website, ‘We declare war on Sonja Shaw,’” Shaw told Perkins, adding that the group posted her address. “They said, ‘We know where you sleep,’” the same message an angry mob screamed outside the home of then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson in 2018. “They said things like, ‘Use all force possible to stop her.’”

“I’m not going to lie. I was shaking,” Shaw confided on Monday. Police had beefed up patrols around her home to ensure security, she said.

While she had been “hesitant” to share the details of her ordeal, “God reminded me that these are the people that are after our children.”

“Sacramento has waged a war on parental rights, and a lot of it has to do with the perversion of our children,” Shaw told “Washington Watch” guest host Jody Hice, a former Georgia congressman, on Friday.

“We have to put up safeguards. That’s why I was put here,” Shaw told the school board meeting on Thursday.

After being alarmed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top-down imposition of radical education policy as a parent, Shaw ran for school board, and “God opened the doors” to implement the new policy, she told Hice. When the Newsom administration learned of the impending policy, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond arrived at the district meeting Thursday night.

“It was a political stunt. He was trying to scare us,” assessed Shaw.

Thurmond requested a private meeting with Shaw prior to the meeting, but declined to follow through when he learned she would not withdraw the policy, Shaw has said. He instead addressed the board meeting, speaking as the first of 83 Californians to make their voices heard. Video footage shows the attendees booed when Thurmond concluded, as Shaw asked everyone to “be respectful” toward the official. Thurmond exceeded his one-minute speaking slot, then returned to the podium demanding a “point of order,” although he is not a board member. Police eventually escorted him out of the building.

Thurmond later claimed he “stayed within the one-minute limit,” and tweeted, “When done speaking, the board president verbally attacked me an [sic] instructed police to remove me.”

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who authored a bill allowing out-of-state children who identify as transgender to flee to California and be injected with cross-sex hormones against their parents’ wishes, alleged, “The QAnon school board president cut him off.” But his former colleague, ex-state Sen. Melissa Melendez pointed out that “Thurmond militantly enforced the rules for speakers when he was in the legislature.”

The district’s newly enacted policy has won the support of parental rights advocates and education experts nationwide. “The school board in Chino Valley is making parental involvement and inclusion a priority. State level officials interested in a healthy school system should follow their lead,” Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at the Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand.

But the policy drew instant backlash from the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, which announced its members are already “actively working on new approaches” to override the democratically enacted resolution. The liberal caucus added that parents who represented the near-unanimous consensus of the Chino Valley school board “will not stop us.”

“It appears some state legislators are scheming to make the newly passed CVUSD policy illegal with a future bill,” said Jonathan Zachreson, a member of the Roseville City School District school board and the founder of Reopen California Schools.

Parents in the district have expressed enthusiastic approval. “I think it’s crucial that we keep parents in this conversation. I think that the worst thing you can do to a child is to ostracize their parents from such an important conversation,” Amy Davlin, a parent in the district, told Newsmax on Tuesday morning.

“Groomers and pedophiles are the ones who attempt to gain the trust of children and encourage them to keep secrets” from their parents, said Davlin. A school district should “not encourage children to deceive and lie to their parents.”

More than two-thirds (68%) of Californians agree that parents should be notified if their minor children change their gender identity, according to a poll taken by Protect Kids California.

“I believe there is an all-out agenda against our children,” said Davlin, adding the new policy sends a message to activists who have weaponized education against parents: “You have crossed a red line. The red line is our children.”

Democrats have indicated a legal fight will ensue. California State Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened that the pro-parental rights policy “may violate California’s anti-discrimination law” in a letter to the Chino Valley school board seeking to sway Thursday’s vote. Disclosing a child’s transgender identification to his or her parents “is very likely to result in significant emotional, mental, and even physical harm,” Bonta asserted.

Parents and board members reject that talking point. “Why are you assuming that parents are dangerous?” asked Shaw.

“If you want a lower suicide rate, bring the parents into the conversation,” said Davlin. “We are the ones who love the kids the most. We are the ones who have their best interests at heart, not their teacher who is with them a few hours a day.”

As Newsom and Thurmond focus on social issues, California students fall further behind. California ranks 38th nationwide in K-12 education, according to U.S. News and World Report—behind such Republican strongholds as Florida (14), Virginia (13), Indiana (7), Utah (9), Nebraska (11), and South Dakota (24). Education levels may improve if teachers focused on fundamentals rather than indoctrination, said Kilgannon. “We’re just trying to get the crazy out: To not have children taught wrong history, not have children taught that they could be born in the wrong body, not have children shown sexually explicit images,” she told Perkins on Monday.

Meanwhile, a potential 2024 Democratic presidential hopeful, Newsom, “plays the biggest part” in fueling the vitriol, hatred, and potential violence directed toward the Chino Valley school board, said Shaw. “But I’m glad that they’re exposing themselves,” she continued.

“My daily prayer is for those to be revealed, exposed, and removed that don’t have the best intentions and that have ill-intent for children,” Shaw told Perkins. Thanks to their voluble radicalism, “More people are starting to realize what we’re up against.”

“They’re literally driving a wedge between parent and child,” said Perkins on Monday. “This is evil. It’s just pure evil.”

A version of this article was oirignally published at WashingtonStand.com.

Electric Cars Are An Expensive Scam


BY: DAVID HARSANYI | JUNE 29, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/06/29/electric-cars-are-an-expensive-scam/

Gustave Trouvé's personal electric vehicle (1881)

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The left likes to treat skeptics of electrical cars as if they were Luddites. Truth is, making an existing product less efficient but more expensive doesn’t really meet the definition of innovation.

Even the purported amenities and technological advances EV-makers like to brag about in their ads have been a regular feature of gas-powered vehicles going back generations. At best, EVs, if they fulfill their promise, are a lateral technology.  

Which is why there is no real “emerging market” for EVs in the United States as much as there’s an industrial policy in place that props up EVs with government purchases, propaganda, endless state subsidies, cronyism, taxpayer-backed loans, and edicts. The green “revolution” is an elite-driven, top-down technocratic project.

And it’s increasingly clear that the only reason giant rent-seeking carmakers are so heavily invested in EV development is that government is promising to artificially limit the production of gas-powered cars.

In March, Joe Biden signed an executive order to “set a target” for half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emission. California claims it is banning combustion engines in all new cars in about 10 years. So carmakers adopt business models to deal with these distorted incentives and contrived theoretical markets of the future.

In today’s real-world economy, though, Ford announced this week that it was firing at least 1,000 employees — many of them white-collar workers on the EV side. Ford projects it’s going to lose $3 billion on electric vehicles in 2023, bringing its EV losses to $5.1 billion over two years. In 2021, Ford reportedly lost $34,000 on every EV it made. This year it was losing more than $58,000 on every EV. In a normal world, Ford would be dramatically scaling back EV production, not expanding it. Remember that next time we need to bail out Detroit.

Then again, we’re already bailing them out, I suppose. Last week, the U.S. Energy Department lent Ford — again, a company that loses tens of thousands of dollars on every EV it sells — another $9.2 billion in taxpayer dollars for a South Korean battery project. One imagines no sane bank would do it. The cost of EV batteries has gone up, not down, over the past few years.

Ford says these up-front losses are part of a “start-up mentality.” We’re still pretending EVs are a new idea rather than an inferior one. But scaremongering about climate and a misplaced romanticizing of “manufacturing” jobs have softened up the public for this kind of waste. In the statist’s utopian vision, highly paid union members will be grabbing their lunchpails and biking over to the local solar panel factory or EV production line and toiling there for the common good.

In the real world, there is Lordstown. In 2019, after GM — which also loses money on every EV sold — shut down a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, then-President Donald Trump made a big deal of publicly pressuring the auto giant to rectify the situation. So CEO Mary Barra lent Lordstown Motors, a new EV outfit, $40 million to retrofit the plant. Ohio also gave the company another $60 million.

You may remember the widespread glowing coverage of Lordstown. After Joe Biden signed his “Buy American” executive order, promising to replace the entire U.S. federal fleet with EVs, Lordstown’s stock shot up. By the start of this year, Lordstown had manufactured 31 vehicles total. Six had been sold to actual consumers. (But to be fair, five would be recalled — following a recall of 19.) The stock was trading at barely a dollar. Tech-funding giant Foxconn was pulling its $170 million. And this week the company filed for bankruptcy.

Without massive state help, EVs are a niche market for rich virtue signalers. And, come to think of it, that’s sort of what they are now, even with the help. A recent University of California at Berkeley study found that 90 percent of tax credits for electric cars go to people in the top income strata. Most EVs are brought by high earners who like the look and feel of a Tesla. And that’s fine. I don’t want to stop anyone from owning the car they prefer. I just don’t want to help pay for it.

Really, why would a middle-class family shun a perfectly good gas-powered car that can be fueled (most of the time) cheaply and driven virtually any distance, in any environment, and any time of the year? We don’t need lithium. We have the most efficient, affordable, portable, and useful form of energy. We have centuries’ worth of it waiting in the ground.

Climate alarmists might believe EVs are necessary to save the planet. That’s fine. Using their standard, however, a bike is an innovation. Because even on their terms, the usefulness of EVs is highly debatable. Most of the energy that powers them is derived from fossil fuels. The manufacturing of an EV has a negligible positive benefit for the environment, if any.

And the fact is that if EVs were more efficient and saved us money, as enviros and politicians claim, consumers wouldn’t have to be compelled into using them and companies wouldn’t have to be bribed into producing them.


David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist, a nationally syndicated columnist, a Happy Warrior columnist at National Review, and author of five books—the most recent, Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent. Follow him on Twitter, @davidharsanyi.

‘Indoctrination’: Council member, parents blast Pride video shown to students, decry ‘activist teachers’ after dissenting students threatened with punishment


By: DAVE URBANSKI | June 16, 2023

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/indoctrination-council-member-parents-blast-pride-video-shown-to-students-decry-activist-teachers-after-dissenting-students-threatened-with-punishment/

Image source: Instagram video screenshot via @the_typical_liberal

A Huntington Beach, California, city council member and some parents took time during a local school board meeting earlier this week to blast a Pride video recently shown to students. A clip that’s been circulating on social media shows students purportedly in an Edison High School math class watching the Pride video and reacting with jeers and boos.

The teacher gives an initial warning for unruly students to “stop!” But when the negative reactions continue, the teacher adds, “Hey, I’m warning you guys now, if you’re gonna be inappropriate, I will have supervision down and give all of you a Saturday school for next year. So knock it off.”

“At no time was the teacher concerned with the student’s visceral reactions as they watched the video clips of couples in intimate positions and poses,” Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark said during Tuesday’s Huntington Beach Union High School District board meeting, according to Voice of OC. “In my opinion, it was not the students who were being inappropriate in that video.”

Van Der Mark added that she’s received emails demanding that she apologize for calling on parents to speak out against the teacher and the video shown in the class, the outlet noted.

“I will never apologize for encouraging parents to express their concerns any time they are worried about their child’s safety or well-being. Never,” she said, according to Voice of OC.

The outlet said some parents spoke out, too.

The Daily Pilot reported that one parent described the Pride video as “indoctrination,” which drew cheers from some in the crowd. The parent also accused “activist teachers” of trying to push their values on his children, the Pilot added.

While many have reacted harshly toward the teacher in question as if airing the clip was her idea, conservative commentator Robby Starbuck — who posted the clip on Twitter — noted in a subsequent tweet that “some 10th grade students came forward to tell me that this video was played in ALL classes that day, not just math class. They’re upset about it and want the school to refrain from playing videos like this.”

Another Twitter user — @inminivanhell — made a similar claim on Twitter, saying the clip was shown in all classes and actually is from the student news channel. The Daily Pilot added that it was from an episode of a student-produced show called “Bolt TV.”

That Twitter user added, “In an effort to control the class, the teacher can be heard warning the students if they can’t behave they will receive Saturday school. This teacher is now dealing with her picture & name being posted all over the Internet — because she asked them to behave in class.”

That same Twitter user also noted the following: “Further context: the student news video was 10 mins long, it shared graduation information, interviews with students, sports recap, and videos reflecting on their school year. This video clip about Pride was a 1-min segment during the episode.”

Another Twitter account posted what it claimed is the Pride clip shown at Edison High School:

The Huntington Beach Union High School District on Monday didn’t immediately respond to TheBlaze’s request for comment on the initial story.

The Daily Pilot also reported that residents about a mile away from Edison High School found anti-LGBTQ, anti-Jewish flyers the morning after the school board meeting.

Councilwoman Natalie Moser told Voice of OC that a resident sent her a photo of the flyer.

The flyers feature a pentagram, star of David, and the words “The LGBTQ+ movement is Jewish” in a rainbow-colored font, the Daily Pilot said, adding that Mayor Tony Strickland said their distribution was limited to a small, “isolated” area.

Van Der Mark told the Voice of OC that the flyers don’t have anything to do with the Pride video, and she also issued a statement against the flyers.

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California Bill Would Make Insurance Fund Unlimited Attempts to Create Motherless and Fatherless Children


BY: KATY FAUST | JUNE 14, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/06/14/california-bill-would-make-insurance-fund-unlimited-attempts-to-create-motherless-and-fatherless-children/

Two adults hold hands, newborn infant is in a hospital bed in the background

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Marriage, once the most child-friendly institution in the world, has now been redefined in the name of equality. It was argued same-sex couples just wanted to visit one another in the hospital, have access to the same inheritance laws, and get the same tax breaks as heterosexuals. We were told ad nauseam that marriage had nothing to do with children. 

Eight years post-Obergefell and it is clear we were lied to. As we have seen in every country that has redefined marriage, the redefinition of parenthood follows quickly on its heels. Court decisions mandating the state-sanctioned falsification that children have “two moms” at birth; deeming the term “mother” and “father” unconstitutional; Andrew Cuomo supporting commercial surrogacy in the name of “fairness and equality” for “LGBTQ+ New Yorkers” — in all of this, it is clear that children are the permanent victims of gay marriage.

Gay marriage and children’s right to their mother and father cannot coexist.

California’s Senate Bill 729 offers one of the clearest connections between adult “equality” and child victimization. Take it from the child-violating bill’s co-author Sen. Caroline Menjivar who notes that this legislation “is critical to achieving full-lived equality for LGBTQ+ people.” The bill has passed in the Senate and advanced to the Assembly. As of June 1, it’s been referred to the Committee on Health and is awaiting a hearing date. But how does this bill provide full-lived “equality” for LGBT couples?

First, SB 729 redefines infertility. For the purpose of insurance coverage, infertility is typically defined as 12 months of unprotected heterosexual sex without pregnancy or birth. But what about gay couples? Twelve months — or 12 years — of unprotected homosexual sex will never produce a baby. Thus, California’s more “equitable” definition of infertility will include “a person’s inability to reproduce either as an individual or with their partner without medical intervention.”

Never mind that every adult operating under this expanded infertility definition will be creating a child who is intentionally motherless or fatherless — a child who will experience the inevitable mother-hunger or father-hunger as they are deprived of their natural right to both. True “equality” seems to require that children lose a parent (or two). 

Next, because same-sex couples cannot create children organically, synthetic baby-making is required. SB 729 will force insurance companies to cover in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for the medically and relationally infertile. Never mind that children created in-vitro (in glass) experience higher rates of physical and developmental struggles. “Equality” demands that a child’s conception be directed by a technician rather than in the loving embrace of his or her own mother and father. 

Third, while two female bodies have double the eggs, and two male bodies have double the sperm, bigoted biology requires one sperm and one egg for every new life to begin. Therefore, SB 729 will require insurance companies to fund the participation of reproductive third parties — someone else’s, sperm, egg, womb, and/or embryo — to make sure single menlesbians, or gay couples are not disadvantaged. Never mind that this will subject children to the identity struggles often experienced by children created via sperm or egg donation. Never mind that womb-rental infants suffer intentional severing of the maternal bond — largely regarded as a foundation for life-long trust and attachment. (And no, surrogacy is not just like adoption.) “Equality” must be achieved, even at the expense of denying children a relationship with a biological parent and/or their birth mother. 

Finally, biology puts no limit on a heterosexual couple’s pregnancy attempts, while single and same-sex couples are limited by the high cost of IVF. That’s why SB 729 will grant everyone unlimited embryo transfers. Once you’ve selected your child’s genetic parent from that sperm or egg catalog, created your dozens of embryos, discarded or donated the undesirables, sex-selected to your preference, and frozen the majority for later — or possibly for never — then the sky’s the limit! You can implant however many tiny humans you want in your womb, or that of a hired stranger.

Never mind that only 7 percent of lab-created babies will be born alive due to the high-risk nature of IVF pregnancies, eugenic screenings, and the abortion selective reduction to which they’re subjected. We already have 1 million babies on ice in this country, many of whom have been functionally abandoned — but at least the 93 percent of lab-created babies who die in California will do so at the hands of a truly diverse population.

California’s proposed bill is not unlike other recent attempts in MinnesotaWashington, and nationally to treat children as items to be cut and pasted into any and every adult relationship. But this is the inevitable result of equating two things that can never be equal: opposite-sex and same-sex relationships. There is only one kind of marital relationship capable of producing children and thus only one coupling that deserves to be incentivized and institutionalized.

In the marriage and family world, the pursuit of “Equality” based on adult emotions and preferences will always result in true inequality for children. And unfortunately for America’s children, our highest court insists that there is no distinction between these two types of parental pairings, even though one leads to wholeness for children, and the other to lifelong loss.


Katy Faust is President of Them Before Us, author of the book “Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children’s Rights Movement” and the forthcoming book “Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City.” You can follow her on Twitter @Advo_Katy.

Radical California bill could do this scary thing to parents who don’t ‘affirm’ trans kids


Jim Daly

 By Jim Daly | Fox News | Published June 14, 2023 4:00am EDT

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/radical-california-bill-scary-thing-parents-dont-affirm-trans-kids

A radical bill being hotly debated in the Golden State threatens to label parents as child abusers if they decline to “affirm” their son or daughter’s sexual confusion.

AB 957, which has already passed California’s State Assembly, would require judges who are overseeing custody disputes with transgender children involved to favor the mother or father who supports the child’s so-called new gender identity. Parents who choose to affirm their son or daughter’s biological sex are considered out of bounds and out of luck.

At the root of this dangerous legislation is a foundational belief that the constructive and compassionate thing to do when it comes to gender confusion is to go along with whatever the child is feeling at the moment. This premise is not only destructive but also shortsighted and foolish, and on several levels. Cases of gender dysphoria or gender identity disorders have skyrocketed in recent years. Why is this happening? Sociologists report that much like teen suicide, gender-confused children run in clusters. In essence, if one child begins to question or act out, others soon follow. In some cases it’s become trendy and exotic to experiment with drugs and surgeries.

CALIFORNIA BILL THAT COULD PUNISH PARENTS WHO DON’T ‘AFFIRM’ CHILDREN’S GENDER IS ‘RECKLESS’

In reality, it’s terribly sad, and also a direct affront to God’s beautiful design for humanity. My heart breaks for children struggling and for those parents struggling alongside them. The organization I lead, Focus on the Family, exists to help moms and dads guide and provide the critical help needed when children are in this type of crisis.

Video

Culture, though, is leading and encouraging children down a dangerous pathway by affirming their sexual confusion. In fact, some medical practitioners and activists have even coined the deceptive term “gender-affirming care” to describe the dark deed of irreversibly mutilating and altering children’s bodies.

What makes this even more tragic is that sociologists tell us that a significant majority (upwards of 80 percent) of children who experience this confusion will eventually psychologically revert back to their biological gender. In other words, they grow out of it.

Mark Yarhouse, professor psychology at Wheaton College, suggests, “Most children who meet criteria for gender dysphoria do not continue to meet criteria as they grow up and enter adolescence.” Yet, for some who take drugs and have surgery, the act of fully “de-transitioning” is impossible.

Video

Despite the explosion of this confusion and abuse here in the United States, traditionally more progressive countries in Europe appear to be waking up to reality. The Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board recently recommended that so-called sex-change operations and puberty blockers be used in research settings but not on children. They’re finally acknowledging that there’s no science to justify these abusive acts.

“The knowledge base, especially research-based knowledge for gender-affirming treatment (hormonal and surgical), is deficient and the long-term effects are little known,” the UKOM, an independent government watchdog over Norway’s healthcare system, stated. “This is particularly true for the teenage population where the stability of their gender incongruence is also not known.”

Norway’s not alone. Officials in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and France have made similar decisions. The controversial Tavistock Gender Clinic in the U.K. was shut down last year and just this past Friday, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service announced they were banning puberty blockers for children.

Whether in business or family life, leadership is knowing reality and suggesting solutions to problems. Affirming confusion and out right falsehoods does children no favors and, in fact, enslaves them to a lifetime of regret. We owe our children both truth and compassion, as well as situational clarity. California legislators are serving up only lies and confusion.

Jim Daly is president of Focus on the Family and author of  “The Good Dad: Becoming the Father You Were Meant to Be.” 

Today’s THREE Politically Correct Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Arm in Arm

A.F. BRANCO | on May 7, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-arm-in-arm/

Walz of Minnesota and Newsom of California competing for the most radical left-wing Governor in America.

Walz vs Newsome
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Big Ears

A.F. BRANCO | on May 8, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-big-ears/

The Government has built a huge spy machine in order to spy on the enemy that’s now being used on us.

Government Spying
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

A.F. Branco Flashback Toon- Mayorkas’s Border

A.F. BRANCO | on May 8, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-flashback-toon-mayorkass-border/

The southern Border is a historical Biden disaster while Myorkas claims the border is secure.

Mayorkas Border Disaster
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2022.

DONATE to A.F.Branco Cartoons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden

Will this California Ghost Town End Gavin Newsom?


By: Kevin Jackson | May 3, 2023

 Read more at https://theblacksphere.net/2023/05/will-this-california-ghost-town-end-newsom/

Newsom, California, TKJN, Kevin Jackson
 Image courtesy: KTLI

From some of the world’s most iconic views to offering poop maps, San Francisco now disappoints on a Herculean level.

Check out San Francisco now.

Arguably the most beautiful big city in America looks more and more like a ghost town as San Francisco learns yet another painful real estate lesson.

The Wall Street Journal reported on a “fire sale” on the 22-story office tower known as Union Bank. The retail cost of this building should be around $300 million. However, the building will likely sell for about one-fifth; as little as $60 million.

Tenant vacancies have caused the commercial real-estate triage in the City by the Bay. But there is more to the story.

This particular building located at 350 California is 75 percent vacant. Moreover, renovation costs could exceed $50 million. Still a bargain if you could get occupants. Sadly, San Francisco’s government is pushing tenants away rather than attracting them.

“We’re all really on the edge of our seats to see the first office trade in San Francisco,” real estate services executive J.D. Lumpkin told the WSJ. A real estate lawyer warned the paper that the 350 California fire sale could prove “a bellwether for the value destruction in the urban office market nationally,” and not just for San Francisco’s (formerly?) ritzy Financial District.

To blame are high-cost structures based on pre-pandemic valuations, the local tech industry’s embrace of remote work, and what some people euphemistically call “quality-of-life issues.” That’s what honest people call “aggressive panhandlers, violent crime, and open-air drug sales and abuse.” Oh, and sidewalks festooned with poop and dirty syringes.

As I mention on my radio show from time to time, the last time I was in San Francisco, I had about $1000 worth of equipment stolen from my car along with a leather jacket I purchased earlier that day. When I went to the police station to file a report, the officer said “What do you expect me to do? Look for a well-dressed bum taking pictures?!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. But I made that chump fill out my report. I would be damned if they didn’t log the crime against me.

While admittedly the scamdemic caused some problems in commercial real-estate, this bubble burst was expected long before work-from-home hit.

The article continues,

According to the Journal, nearly “$80 billion worth of loans backed by U.S. office buildings come due this year,” and “most will need to be refinanced, at a time of higher interest rates and lower occupancy, threatening lenders with losses.”

City governments have been driving corporations out for decades. Homeless and drug addicts swarm formerly iconic downtowns. There was a time when city leaders kept the riff-raff from these areas. Now they condone it.

Corporate America responded.

Many corporations either have abandoned these cities or they plan to. And who could blame them? Clearly, a state without respect for law and order is no place for corporations to plant their valuable investments, i.e.. headquarters. As we see in San Francisco and elsewhere, when corporations leave, cities begin their death spiral.

Add these corporate losses to the loss of private citizens and it’s a one-two punch that could stop Gavin Newsom’s presidential run before it even gets started.

Remember, I recently predicted Newsom plans to run in 2024? Which is why he’s suddenly vested in the fate of San Francisco.

Operation De-Leftization

Things are so far-gone in SF, Newsom deployed the National Guard to assist in the policing and cleanup efforts.

As Trending Politics writes:

Newsom unveiled the unprecedented collaboration between the California Highway Patrol (CHP), California National Guard (CalGuard), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA) to combat the escalating fentanyl crisis in the city. This move comes as a dramatic response to the severity of the situation, highlighting the urgency with which the state government is addressing the issue.

Newsom said his administration will focus on “dismantling fentanyl trafficking and disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city by holding the operators of large-scale drug trafficking operations accountable.”

“Two truths can coexist at the same time: San Francisco’s violent crime rate is below comparably sized cities like Jacksonville and Fort Worth—and there is also more we must do to address public safety concerns, especially the fentanyl crisis,”  Newsom said.

“We’re taking action. Through this new collaborative partnership, we are providing more law enforcement resources and personnel to crack down on crime linked to the fentanyl crisis, holding the poison peddlers accountable, and increasing law enforcement presence to improve public safety and public confidence in San Francisco,” he added.

Newsom understands that Leftist Democrats look bad, particularly on drugs and crime.

“The San Francisco Police Department has been working hard to stop drug trafficking by making countless arrests and narcotics seizures,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott.

“Despite our ongoing work and close collaboration with the District Attorney, the fentanyl crisis has contributed to hundreds of drug overdose-related deaths.

“We welcome the support of our state partners because when we work together we can make a significant difference to make our city safer.”

“The CalGuard is seeing significant success supporting multiagency task forces interdicting fentanyl across our state,” said Major General Matthew P. Beevers of the California National Guard.

“We expect to achieve the same success working with our partners in San Francisco,” he added.

Currently, the carnage of San Francisco rests squarely on the shoulders of Democrats. However, one or two more conservative-like initiatives and Newsom will be ready to throw his rainbow hat into the ring, If nothing else, reviving the city will give Newsom an actual accomplishment, something Joe Biden STILL doesn’t have. Of course, if Newsom fails, his campaign will be a “no go” at launch.

California’s Income-Based Electric Bills Show It Cares More About Control Than Climate


BY: CHUCK DEVORE | APRIL 20, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/20/californias-income-based-electric-bills-show-it-cares-more-about-control-than-climate/

solar panels generate energy in California
The electrical pricing scheme may work as income redistribution social policy, but it fails the test of reducing energy consumption.

Author Chuck DeVore profile

CHUCK DEVORE

VISIT ON TWITTER@CHUCKDEVORE

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What’s behind California’s shift to paying for electricity based on income? In a few words, it’s the consequence of California’s futile fight against climate change.

California’s quixotic pursuit to save the planet by reducing greenhouse emissions has had three broad and irrefutable consequences. It has made energy more expensive; costlier energy has accelerated the deindustrialization of the state; and, the best irony of all, the offshored manufacturing has increased greenhouse gas emissions by pushing production to dirty, coal-fired China, with goods then shipped back to California for consumption.

The latest twist in California’s arrogant tale of energy virtue signaling is playing out with a major restructuring in how Californians are charged for their electricity. For decades, consumers paid for electricity — as well as other utilities such as water and natural gas — with a tiered system that charged more for resources used above a baseline amount. For electricity, the baseline was determined by three things: the consumer’s use of electricity, the region, and the season.

This system meant consumers who used a lot of electricity would pay far more for each kilowatt hour of that additional electricity than they would for their baseline allocation.

This tended to hit lower-income consumers who ran their air conditioning too much, though the Golden State also has a separate program to reduce costs for low-income residents known as California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE).

But with California’s electric prices pushing from where they’ve traditionally been — about sixth-highest among the contiguous 48 states, behind New York and New England — to the second-highest in the nation after Hawaii last year, costs on the working poor were rising too much. To paraphrase a colorful politician, “The electric bill is too damn high.”

Thus, the California legislature last year passed Assembly Bill 205, which mandated an end to the tiered system of electric rates and instituted in its place a system where each would pay according to his ability to help those in need. (Of course, it sounds better in the original German, “Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen.”) The bill goes into effect no later than July 1, 2024, with the stated aim that “low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage.”

One unintended consequence of ditching the old baseline allocation scheme is all ratepayers, regardless of income, will now have far less incentive to conserve electricity, since each additional unit of electricity used will be priced the same, with overall prices reduced.

Higher Income Will Pay More

In preparation for the rollout of the new electric charges, California’s big, regulated utilities have proposed their new rate plans to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Depending on the provider, ratepayers would pay a fixed fee based on three household income tiers, plus charges for electricity use. Household income would be validated by a third party, likely the agency that collects the state income tax, the California Franchise Tax BoardThe three proposed household income tiers and their fixed rates are: $28,000 to $69,000 — $20 to $34 a month, depending on the provider; $69,000 to $180,000 — $51 to $73 a month; and more than $180,000 — $85 to $128 a month.

Median household income in California in the years 2017-2021 was $84,097, meaning that an average California family could, under the proposed rate structure, pay a flat fee of $876 per year for their electricity while charges for kilowatt hours used would decline by 33-42 percent depending on the provider. The net effect would be an increase of about $90 a year for the average household and up to $750 more annually for higher-income households. Ironically, households living in homes with rooftop solar would see some of the highest increases in electrical costs under the new rate structure. Lower-income households are expected to see savings of up to $300 per year.

Increasing Fees Rather Than Taxes

One big advantage to California policymakers of heavily regulating public utilities is the ability to use these energy and water corporations as de facto arms of the welfare state.

California’s Constitution requires a two-thirds majority to increase taxes, but a simple majority to increase fees. The CPUC’s total control over California’s utilities means state lawmakers can direct the CPUC to change its rate structures to take more from those earning more and give to those earning less — all without a penny flowing into or out of the state treasury — something that’s particularly attractive today in a state that went from an almost $100 billion surplus last year to an expected $30 billion deficit this year.

And in that, the CPUC commissioners, appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, are willing accomplices in the class struggle for fair electricity bills and energy justice. Of the five commissioners, four are attorneys, with backgrounds in “environmental justice,” air quality, low-income assistance, and climate change — electricity generation, not so much. Though the CPUC’s mission is to ensure “that consumers have safe, reliable utility service at reasonable rates, protecting against fraud, and promoting the health of California’s economy,” it’s clear now that all that really matters is figuring out how to shield low-income voters from the costly consequences of California’s green energy crusade.

Moreover, while the electrical pricing scheme may work as income redistribution social policy, it fails the test of reducing energy consumption — laying bare the fact that California policymakers care more about control than they do the climate.


Chuck DeVore is chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, vice chairman of the Golden State Policy Council, a former California legislator, and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. He’s the author of “The Crisis of the House Never United—A Novel of Early America.”

Huge mob ransacks California gas station; police ‘outnumbered’: video


By Greg Norman | Fox News | Published April 17, 2023 1:41pm EDT

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/us/huge-mob-ransacks-california-gas-station-police-outnumbered-video

A shocking video captured a mob of California youth breaking into a gas station convenience store and then stealing what police say was thousands of dollars of products. 

The incident happened early Sunday morning in Compton, California, after a large group of people blocked an intersection as part of a street takeover, with video footage capturing cars drifting in circles and screeching around 2:30 a.m., according to KLTA. 

“It’s unbelievable. Unreal. I’ve never seen anything like that happen here,” Greg Johnson, a Compton resident and customer of the Arco Station that was looted, told ABC7 in reaction to the ransacking. 

Staff at the Arco said that a clerk there hid in its bathroom while the looting was ongoing. 

GUNMAN OPENS FIRE IN LA AT VOLUNTEERS WHO OFFERED TO PAINT OVER GRAFFITI AT ICE CREAM SHOP 

Unidentified people are seen early Sunday, April 16 breaking into an Arco gas station convenience store in Compton, California.
Unidentified people are seen early Sunday, April 16 breaking into an Arco gas station convenience store in Compton, California. (AIO FILMZ)

Video taken of the incident shows unidentified individuals first crowding around the entrance of the convenience store at the Arco Gas Station and kicking down its glass door to gain entry. 

Once inside, people could be seen swiping items from the stores’ shelves, with one smiling individual taking packages of condoms and cigarettes. 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said thousands of dollars of products ultimately were stolen and that the store suffered serious damage, ABC7 reported 

Deputies at its Compton station were responding to incidents throughout the night, but police said since they are “currently limited with their staffed personnel,” they “couldn’t intervene with the giant takeover groups for safety concerns” and being “outnumbered,” according to the station. 

No arrests have been made yet in connection to the incident. 

FLASHBACK: LOS ANGELES FLASH MOB LOOTS, VANDALIZES 7-ELEVEN FOLLOWING STREET TAKEOVER, POLICE SAY 

A man is seen taking packages of condoms inside the Arco store in Compton, California, early Sunday.
A man is seen taking packages of condoms inside the Arco store in Compton, California, early Sunday. (AIO FILMZ)

Sgt. Clarence Williams of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told the Los Angeles Times that the street takeover near the Arco Gas Station was one of three in the area that night – but that he had never seen a flash mob bust into a store “to that level.” 

By the time police arrived, the crowd had scattered, he reportedly added. 

Around 100 people were involved, and the area was left covered in trash and tire marks afterward, KTLA reports. 

The Arco Gas Station in Compton, California, that was targeted by the mob of youth.
The Arco Gas Station in Compton, California, that was targeted by the mob of youth. (Google Maps)

“It makes me angry,” Norrice Heron, whom KTLA says witnessed the events, said to the station. “It makes me angry when they do that to the streets and put everybody in danger. 

An investigation into the footage showing the looting is reportedly ongoing. 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

How Rejecting Biblical Masculinity Turns Men From Protectors To Predators


BY: NANCY PEARCEY | APRIL 12, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/12/how-rejecting-biblical-masculinity-turns-men-from-protectors-to-predators/

woman holding toxic masculinity sign at gun protest
Men everywhere seem to experience tension between what they themselves define as good men and the way the surrounding culture pressures them to be real men.

Author Nancy Pearcey profile

NANCY PEARCEY

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The following is an excerpt from Nancy Pearcey’s upcoming book, “The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes.” 

The report of a mass shooting in a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, in 2018 was more than a news account of a crime. It was also a story about two young men. 

The killer was 28-year-old Ian David Long, a college dropout, divorced former Marine who was unemployed and living with his mother. 

He knew the Borderline Bar and Grill held a weekly college night when it would be crowded with young people. He entered the bar dressed in black, a hood pulled over his head. Tossing smoke grenades into the crowd to create confusion, he drew out a pistol with a laser sight and started shooting. A sergeant from the sheriff’s office rushed over to help, but the shooter was waiting for him. After killing the sergeant and 12 other people, Long shot himself. 

In the crowd that night was another young man, 20-year-old Matt Wennerstrom, who emerged as the hero of the hour. Sporting a backward baseball cap and a scruffy beard, Matt looked like a typical college student. But what he did was not at all typical. 

As soon as shots began booming through the bar, he and about seven other young men grabbed as many people as they could and pushed them under a pool table for cover. Then they piled their own bodies over them to protect them from the hail of gunfire. 

One woman, who was celebrating her 21st birthday at the bar that night, told reporters afterward, “There were multiple men who got on their knees and pretty much blocked all of us with their back toward the shooter, ready to take a bullet for any single one of us.” 

When the shooter paused to reload, Matt and his friends threw bar stools through a back window and began shepherding people outside. Repeatedly, the young men rushed back into the bar to steer more people to safety. 

How did Matt have the presence of mind to respond so quickly to danger?  

When a reporter at the scene of the crime asked that question, the young man replied, “My life is taken care of. I know where I’m going if I die, so I was not worried to sacrifice.” 

Two young men. One used his masculine strength to take lives. The other used his masculine strength to save lives. 

‘Toxic Masculinity’

When the American Psychological Association (APA) issued its first-ever guidelines for counseling men and boys in 2018, it denounced “traditional masculinity ideology” as “psychologically harmful.” Groups like the APA have injected the phrase “toxic masculinity” into the bloodstream of America’s public discourse. The phrase has become a catchall explanation for male sexism, dominance, aggression, and violence. 

Few people are claiming all masculinity is toxic. Yet the message men often hear is that there is something inherently defective in the male character. Many men today feel discouraged, devalued, and demoralized.  

When I told my class at Houston Baptist University that I was writing a book on masculinity, a male student shot back, “What masculinity? It’s been beaten out of us.” When masculinity itself is portrayed as a problem, the implication is that the solution is emasculation. 

“Are men being held hostage by culture war labels and stereotypes that blame them rather than help them?” asks the Christian Science Monitor. In a culture that increasingly blames men, it’s time to find ways to help them instead. 

Because of testosterone, men are typically larger, stronger, and faster than women. In general, they are also more physical, more competitive, and more risk-taking. We need to affirm these God-given traits as good when used to honor and serve others. 

The APA guidelines make a point of noting that most mass shooters are male, but they overlook the controlled power and aggression used by the heroic men who have stopped mass shooters.  

Masculine traits are not intrinsically toxic; they are good when directed to virtuous ends. In a fallen world, the lawful application of coercive force is sometimes necessary to defend the innocent. 

Yet we all know that the male strength that makes a man a protector can be distorted and turn him into a predator. The drive to achieve can become egoism and self-seeking. The leadership impulse can be twisted into an impulse for domination and control. 

In “Play the Man,” Washington, D.C., pastor Mark Batterson says, “The image of God is our original software, sin is the virus.” The challenge is to sort out which definitions of manhood are part of the original software and which are the virus. Which belong to God’s original design and which are products of sin? 

Masculinity: God’s Software or a Sinful Virus? 

We might say there are two competing scripts for what it means to be a man. Sociologist Michael Kimmel highlighted the contrast with an ingenious experiment. He started by asking cadets at West Point what it means to be a good man. If someone delivers a eulogy and says, “He was a good man,” what does that mean?  

The cadets had no trouble answering: “Honor, duty, integrity, sacrifice, do the right thing, stand up for the little guy, be a provider, be a protector.” Be responsible, be generous, and give to others. 

“Where did you learn that?” Kimmel asked. The cadets answered, “It’s everywhere. It’s our culture … it’s the Judeo-Christian heritage. It’s the air we breathe.” Men seem to be innately aware of the software God has coded into the male character. 

Kimmel then asked a follow-up question: “What does it mean if I tell you, ‘Man the f-ck up! Be a real man.’” 

The cadets shouted, “Oh no, that’s completely different.” To be a real man means to be “tough, strong, never show weakness, win at all costs, suck it up, play through pain, be competitive, get rich, get laid.” 

Kimmel has posed the same two questions to thousands of boys and young men in countries across the globe — from single-sex schools in Australia to a police academy in Sweden to former soccer stars at FIFA — and he virtually always gets the same answer.  

Men everywhere seem to experience tension between what they themselves define as the good man and the way the surrounding culture pressures them to be real men. They sense the contradiction between the software and the virus. 

The Good Man vs. the ‘Real’ Man

Borrowing from Kimmel’s experiment, let’s give them labels: the Good Man versus the “Real” Man. 

It’s not that every trait listed as the “Real” Man is necessarily bad. In a crisis, for example, we need men (and women) who can stand tough and not collapse in tears. But that is meant to be a short-term strategy, not a way of life.  

The problem with the stereotype of the “Real” Man is that it is one-sided. When separated from a moral vision of the Good Man, it can easily degenerate into sexism, dominance, entitlement, and contempt for those perceived as weak — traits we can all agree are toxic. 

Of course, men do not respond well to being accused of being toxic — who would? A better course is to ask, “How can we support men in aspiring to live out the ideal of the Good Man?” 

Because men are made in God’s image, even those who are not Christian seem to understand that their unique masculine strengths are not intended to enable them to get whatever they want but to protect those they love — to provide, sacrifice, and, if necessary, fight for them. 

As a result, when Christians promote a biblical moral vision — the Good Man — they are not imposing an alien standard on men. They are encouraging them to follow their own conscience, to be uncompromising in doing what they instinctively know is right.  

As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, people everywhere “show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them” (Romans 2:15). 

Our goal should be to support men in living out their innate sense of the biblical software — God’s original design for manhood.  

In “The War Against Boys,” feminist philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers writes, “History teaches us that masculinity without morality is lethal. But masculinity constrained by morality is powerful and constructive, and a gift to women.” 

But how did there come to be two competing scripts in the first place? Over the course of Western history, society has grown more secular, and so has its concept of masculinity. As a result, men increasingly feel pressure to live by the secular script of the “Real” Man. The most important conversation is not the one between men and women but the one carried out within men’s own heads between these two competing versions of manhood. Ideally, the Good Man should also be the “Real” Man. But in today’s secular culture, the two have become decoupled.  

My goal is to ask how the two scripts were split apart. We will be effective in countering the secular script for men only if we understand where it came from and how it developed. By recognizing that there are two competing scripts, we can cut through many of today’s contentious debates over masculinity. The word “masculinity” has become a trigger word that sets people off in all directions, making it difficult even to discuss the topic objectively.  

But a Christian worldview gives us the means to think critically about cultural trends. It provides a perspective that is “in the world but not of it” (John 17:14–19). 

A transcendent perspective empowers us to rise above the polarization — to push back against both extremes and consider a dispassionate account of the issues facing men today. 


Nancy Pearcey is a professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. She has written several bestselling books, which have been translated into 19 languages. The story of Brandon is adapted from her book “Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Live and Sexuality.”

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Highway from Hell

A.F. BRANCO | on April 6, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-highway-from-hell/

In spite of destroying California, Gavin Newsome has eyes on the white house.

Newsom Eyes the White House
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

DONATE to A.F.Branco Cartoons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden

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