Tag: california

Prop 50 Passes: California Voters Approve Newsom’s Power Grab to Eliminate 5 Congressional Seats

As expected, California voters approved Prop 50 which could help the Democrats flip 5 congressional seats in 2026.

Thanks to ballot drop boxes, mail-in ballots, ballot harvesting, and illegal aliens, voters approved Newsom’s power grab to eliminate five GOP congressional seats through 2030.

“The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Representatives Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41, and Darrell Issa in District 48,” KCRA reported.

Earlier Tuesday, President Trump called the redistricting vote in California a “giant scam” and said it is under criminal review.

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED. All “Mail-In” Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are “Shut Out,” is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Keep reading

Christian youth pastor who shared anti-LGBTQ+ post arrested on child sexual abuse charges

Josh Kemper has been arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. (MCSO)

A Christian youth pastor, who shared posts that claimed children weren’t safe around LGBTQ+ people, has been arrested on charges of child sexual abuse.

California pastor Joshua David Kemper was arrested earlier this week on charges involving a 15-year-old girl.

The Madera County sheriff’s office confirmed the 47-year-old pastor was taken into custody following a months-long investigation.

Detectives allege that Kemper, from Coarsegold, a town about 35 miles north of Fresno, engaged in a sexual relationship with the teenager between March and July this year. Incidents are said to have taken place at her home, in his vehicle and at the local church.

Digital evidence allegedly uncovered by investigating officers showed explicit messages, photos and videos exchanged between Kemper and the girl.

During the time he was alleged to have abused his victim, Kemper shared a post on his Facebook account that suggested LGBTQ+ people were a danger to youngsters. An AI-generated image depicted a group of young women, apparently from the kingdom of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings, holding a Pride flag and a sign that read “orcs welcome”.

A second image showed the same women standing in front their now burned home, holding a sign that said: “We don’t feel safe.”

Sharing the post, Kemper wrote: “Do you get it?”

Keep reading

Health Insurance Companies Spend Big To Support California’s Partisan Redistricting Fight

In Washington, Democrats continue to keep the federal government shut down, demanding an extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies scheduled to expire on December 31. Half a continent away, two health insurers are helping to fund a partisan campaign by one of the country’s most prominent Democrats. Coincidence?

The political donations represent but one more example of how big corporations want to feather the nest of Big Government and bankroll the leftist politicians willing to expand the same. It’s also yet another reason why Congress should let the enhanced subsidies expire as scheduled.

Big-Money Donations

A September story in the Sacramento Bee discussing money raised for and against the state’s Proposition 50 ballot measure on congressional redistricting noted two sizable donations from health insurers — $500,000 from Blue Shield of California, and $75,000 from UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest insurer. The news raises numerous questions, starting with how the insurers could afford such large political contributions in the first place.

After all, as I have previously noted, a recent California law that went into effect in March requires insurers to engage in “cultural competency training” regarding the transgender agenda. Apart from the fact that such training — more like indoctrination — likely violates employees’ First Amendment rights and federal conscience protections, it could also prove costly for insurers.

On top of the new administrative costs from this new mandate, UnitedHealth faces expenses from last year’s hack of Change Healthcare, one of its affiliates, that caused chaos within the health care system for months. So where and how exactly did these insurers have the wherewithal to make such large contributions?

Partisan Affair

The related question focuses more on the specifics of Proposition 50 itself. The referendum doesn’t touch on a health care-related issue — or really any policy issue whatsoever. It’s a pure political power play by Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-CA, attempting to gerrymander more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California to offset Republican gerrymanders in Texas and elsewhere. Why are health insurers getting involved in such overtly political activities?

In responding to questions from the Daily Wire, Blue Shield of California claimed that it made its donations to Newsom’s ballot measure committee before it knew that Proposition 50 would end up on the November ballot. That’s arguably true regarding its first $250,000 contribution, made on April 24. But by the time of its second $250,000 contribution on July 16, rumors had started swirling about actions by California to respond to redistricting efforts by Texas Republicans.

Blue Shield of California also told the Daily Wire that it contributes to lawmakers on a bipartisan basis. But after its $500,000 contribution to Newsom’s ballot measure campaign, its next-largest contributions were $50,000 to the California Democratic Party, and $20,000 to the LGBT Caucus Leadership Fund — all of which suggests its donations go overwhelmingly to Democrats in a state with de facto one-party rule.

Keep reading

California’s Mileage-Based Road Charge: What It Is, How It Would Work, and Why Privacy Risks Increase

As I’ve been investigating California’s mileage-based road charge, it’s clear this isn’t just a policy about road funding. It’s the quiet rollout of a system built to track, record, and bill movement itself. The state says it’s about fairness and modernization, but the deeper I look, the more it resembles a permanent surveillance and revenue network disguised as transportation reform. What’s being tested today through Caltrans and the State Transportation Agency is the blueprint for total mileage monitoring tied to personal identity.

California is advancing a plan to replace the state gas tax with a mileage-based road charge that taxes drivers by distance traveled. The effort is led by the California State Transportation Agency and Caltrans under a multi-year Road Charge program first authorized by SB 1077 in 2014 and extended and refined by SB 339 in 2021. The state’s stated purpose is to stabilize road funding as fuel-tax revenue declines.

As of October 2025, the program is still in the pilot and data-gathering phase. No statewide mandate or rate schedule has been enacted, but Caltrans has already built the structure necessary for full implementation. What is being called a “test” now is the foundation for what will later become mandatory reporting.

Keep reading

California Opens Public Comment on Online Age Verification ID

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has launched the preliminary phase of rulemaking for Senate Bill 976, the “Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act.”

The legislation mandates that social media companies use “age assurance” systems to determine whether a California user is an adult or a minor.

The Attorney General has until January 1, 2027, to complete and adopt the final regulations.

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) will host a public meeting on November 5, 2025, to gather feedback from residents, experts, and organizations about how these rules should be structured.

The DOJ is seeking public comment on the potential effects of the proposed regulations.

Citizens can send their comments in written form to sb976@doj.ca.gov. Note that any information provided is subject to the Public Records Act. 

SB 976 was introduced to limit the impact of addictive online design features on minors. It requires the Attorney General to create standards for age assurance and parental consent that align with the Act’s stated purpose of child protection.

However, privacy advocates have raised alarms that the “age assurance” requirement could erode online anonymity, forcing individuals to hand over sensitive identification data to access social platforms.

Such systems could expose Californians to new risks of data collection, profiling, and potential misuse of personal information.

Keep reading

Judicial Misconduct And Christian Persecution Against A Single Mother. This Case Should Outrage Every American

If you needed another reminder that the federal justice system is broken, look no further than the case of Shana Gaviola. The Gateway Pundit has previously reported on Shana’s case, and yet more continues to be exposed.

What started as a custody dispute has exploded into a full-blown scandal involving federal prosecutors, judicial misconduct, and a system that seems more interested in protecting its own than delivering justice.

Gaviola, a California resident, is accused of violating a protective order involving her then-minor son in 2021. Prosecutors claim she conspired with Julio Sandoval, a Missouri boarding school dean, to remove her son from California against court orders. But instead of handling the case fairly, the government went nuclear. Why does the court have such an inappropriate interest in this case?

In 2023, Gaviola alleged that Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Tierney, one of the prosecutors assigned to her case, made highly inappropriate advances of a sexual nature toward her at a Fresno bar. He chose to become intoxicated and continue the inappropriate behavior. Rather than investigate the claim transparently, the entire Eastern District of California was quietly removed from the case. Every judge. Every prosecutor. Gone. Just like this flagrantly appalling behavior never happened.

Gaviola’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that the prosecution (more than) violated her constitutional rights as a parent and her religious liberty by criminalizing her decision to send her son to a religious boarding school. That motion was denied even after her team cited the Supreme Court decision of TAMER MAHMOUD, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. THOMAS W. TAYLOR, ET AL.

Then came the venue shuffle. A Fresno-based judge initially ordered the case moved to the Northern District of California due to the misconduct allegations. But Chief Judge Troy Nunley overstepped his authority and reversed that decision, stating the case would remain in Fresno. Instead of transferring it, the Ninth Circuit’s Chief Judge assigned Seattle-based, Reagan-appointed Judge John C. Coughenour to be flown in to preside over the trial, setting a new precedent.

So, while the courtroom stays in Fresno, the people running it are outsiders brought in because the local bench was too compromised to continue.

Keep reading

‘Ghost students’ continue to steal millions in financial aid from California community colleges, report says

“Ghost students” continue to steal millions in financial aid from the California Community College System despite efforts to stop them, a new report finds.

While Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said there is $1 billion in fraudulent financial aid paid out to the scammers, who might use bots to enroll and participate in class, the number is likely much larger according to a professor interviewed by Open the Books and The College Fix.

Kim Rich, a criminal justice professor at Pierce College, said she determined half of the students in her classes are fake.

Rich told The Fix that she has tried “to stop this fraud in its tracks for the past four years,” but she doesn’t “feel like [she’s] anywhere closer.” She previously spoke to The Fix in 2022 after determining about 36 percent of the students of newly-issued student ids were fake just from one week period at her college. She regularly comments on the problem of fake students.

In the spring 2025 semester, according to the Open the Books report, 24 students in Rich’s 40-student class were fake. Rich estimated that if just one ‘ghost student’ were enrolled in each of the 4,000 online classes offered in Los Angeles community colleges per semester, the nine schools in the county would lose a combined $20 million per semester.

Referencing the expected ID verification mandate the chancellor’s office planned to implement on Oct. 30 Rich told The Fix that she is “not very confident it will solve the problem or even reduce the instances of financial aid fraud, mainly because none of the other efforts or millions of dollars they have spent to remedy this issue have.”

Keep reading

California’s Retirement Fund Lost 71% Of $468M Investment In Clean Energy And Won’t Say How

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) lost roughly 71% of its $468 million investment in a clean-energy and technology private equity fund – and won’t explain how. The losses highlight growing concerns about the pension giant’s private equity strategy, which relies heavily on opaque, illiquid investments and leaves taxpayers ultimately on the hook.

According to state records analyzed by the Center Square, the CalPERS Clean Energy & Technology Fund (CETF), launched in 2007, has seen its value fall from a total commitment of $468.4 million to $138 million as of March 31, 2025. That represents a loss of more than $330 million, even after paying $22 million in fees and costs to private equity managers.

CalPERS’ overall returns for fiscal 2024–2025 were 11.6%, with public equities returning 16.8% and private equity 14.3%. The similar performance between the two asset classes has raised questions about whether the complexity and cost of private equity are worth it.

“If you can get these kinds of returns on the public markets, why bother with all the complexities and the illiquidity involved in private equity?” said Marc Joffe, a public finance expert and visiting fellow at the California Policy Center, in an interview with The Center Square.

Joffe said the CETF losses underscore “the combined dangers of private equity and ESG investment,” describing it as an opaque strategy that appears driven by “green credentials” rather than returns. “CalPERS would be better off focusing on a diverse portfolio of publicly traded equities to get better long-term returns,” he said.

Keep reading

Newsom Brutally Fact-Checked Over Latest Anti-Trump Sales Pitch

California Governor Gavin Newsom is running for President in 2028. That much is obvious.

What doesn’t make sense to us, however, is that Newsom seems to be working under the impression he’ll be running against President Trump in three years, not some other yet-unnamed Republican. He’s tried — in cringe-inducing fashion — to emulate President Trump’s brash style, and constantly attacks the president as if he’ll be running for reelection in 2028.

We won’t disabuse Newsom of that idea; any time he spends wasting energy and resources on attacking President Trump only helps whoever the actual nominee is. 

That being said, Newsom is not above lying to achieve his political ends, and he’s back doing that and attacking President Trump in the same X post.

Keep reading

Newsom’s and Weiner’s vile law ties cops’ hands on child sex-trafficking

California’s statehouse Democrats called their 2022 law the “Safer Streets for All Act.” 

Gov. Gavin Newsom gladly signed Senate Bill 357 sponsored by radical state Sen. Scott Wiener, and his ACLU pals hailed it as a bill that “will move California one step closer to acknowledging sex workers as deserving of full dignity and respect.”

But its effect has been the opposite for vulnerable children without functioning families  — who end up coerced into lives of prostitution by sex-traffickers and the pimp trade is flourishing.

The law prohibits any enforcement action against loitering with intent of commiting prostitution, supposedly because cops are racist and like to target black and trans people.

The real effect is that cops can’t catch sex-traffickers of children anymore. Eleven-year old girls just line the streets of Los Angeles openly now, waiting to be bought and sold like meat for perverts, and cops can’t do a thing to stop them.

That’s what was found by New York Times reporter Emily Baumgaertner Nunn, in a long investigative report about child sex-trafficking on Los Angeles’s Figueroa Street, in a stretch appropriately called ‘The Blade.’

She writes of a pitiful young teenage prostitute she calls ‘Ana’ whose mother was a drunk, who got bounced around foster care homes, who ran away, and who was picked up by a pimp she met on Instagram, at the tender age of 13.

Keep reading