Tag: california

California Ordered to Cut ‘Gender Ideology’ From Sexual Education

The Trump administration has given California 60 days to remove all references to transgender or non-binary gender concepts from its federally funded sex education curriculum—or risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding.

In a letter sent on June 20, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said California’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) materials include “gender ideology” content not permitted under federal law.

Citing multiple lesson plans and teacher guides, the agency said the state’s curriculum teaches that gender identity is distinct from biological sex—something ACF says is outside the program’s statutory scope.

“The Trump Administration will not tolerate the use of federal funds for programs that indoctrinate our children,” ACF acting assistant secretary Andrew Gradison said in a statement. “The disturbing gender ideology content in California’s PREP materials is both unacceptable and well outside the program’s core purpose.”

Among the flagged material are lessons describing transgender, non-binary, gender-fluid identities, as well as references to social and medical gender transitions, including hormone therapy and “gender-affirming” surgeries.

ACF stated that these subjects fall outside the statutory framework of the PREP program, which is designed to educate youth on abstinence, contraception, and select adulthood preparation topics such as healthy relationships, financial literacy, and job readiness. Teaching about gender identity does not qualify, the agency says.

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Families plead for answers in the mystery of the Yuba County Five almost 50 years later

The Plumas National Forest has held the mystery of the Yuba County Five for almost 50 years. Their disappearance has puzzled people around the world.

The five men, who lived with intellectual disabilities, were known as “the boys.” They were Ted Weiher, Jack Huett, Bill Sterling, Jack Madruga and Gary Mathias. 

“Madruga was from Yuba City and everybody else lived in Yuba County in the Olivehurst area,” said Brian Bernardis with the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office.

Dallas and Perry Weiher remember their brother Ted as a gentle giant. Tony Wright, the author of “Things Aren’t Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five,” describes the other boys as very active and friends who loved to spend time together.

“You had Jack Madruga who was 30 years old. He was a very quiet introverted person but very very smart, very kind and loving. That’s how he was remembered by his family. Bill Sterling was 29. He was a very avid bowler, he too was an athletic individual known for being very sweet individual. There was Gary Mathias who was 25 years old. He was very athletic, known as a great brother, he was a musician who played in a rock band in high school, was a great harmonica player, spent time in the military. And then there was Jackie Huett. He was 24 years old. He was a great friend. A very loving person. Very kind, very sweet,” said Wright.

The boys met in the 70s on a basketball team for a Yuba County nonprofit helping people with disabilities. They followed UC Davis basketball and on Feb. 24, 1978, the five men piled into Madruga’s car to watch a college basketball team in Chico.

“I think it was Chico State and UC Davis. Davis was their kind of home team. They really want to see them do well so they had traveled this before. It wasn’t the first time for him, so he was familiar with the territory,” said Bernardis.

Bernardis, the cold case investigator for the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office, says there’s no doubt the boys made it to the game. 

“The editor of the Chico newspaper actually recalls seeing the five of them there where they were because they were kind of out away from everybody else. There was something very distinctive about them,” said Bernardis.

They stopped at a convenience store in Chico after the game.

“Their next reported appearance would have been at the Behr Market not too far from the college. They’d stopped in there and picked up candies and cakes and milks,” said Bernardis.

But what happened next still puzzles law enforcement agencies today.

“We know nothing. From that point, we know nothing. They literally disappeared into nowhere,” said Bernardis.

They vanished without a trace and their families reported them missing the next day.

“That night they were saying, ‘Well, they’re grown boys, they can go do what they want. They’re not lost or anything.’ Well, those weren’t normal grown boys. They were different boys,” said Perry.

“Back then they, that small town, small community, everybody knew everybody. It paid a large impact on how they responded and how they felt about the case,” said Bernardis.

The five men had big plans to play in a basketball tournament the following day. The prize for the winning team was tickets to Disneyland.

“These men were not going to miss that basketball game for any reason. It was of utmost importance and they were going to get home come hell or high water,” said Wright.

Jack Madruga’s car was found in the snow on the Oroville Quincy Highway in Butte County four days later — about 70 miles in the wrong direction from home. ABC10 asked what condition the car was found in.

“It was intact and undamaged? (The) best way to describe it. It was abandoned for lack of a better term. Windows were down or at least one of the windows were down. The candies and milk and things that they’d purchased at the store; those wrappers were in the car. There were some maps that were found in the car which Madruga was kind of a map student, so nothing would indicate that there was any foul play or some type of heinous act that occurred,” said Bernardis.

A massive search followed near where the car was found.

“So now you have Yuba and Butte counties both working the case. They brought in snow equipment so they could travel across the snow and search the area looking for the guys. They’d spent a couple of days, but then that was a very bad snow year and the weather came in and put a complete halt to any efforts to look further,” said Bernardis.

Families searched for their missing loved ones for days on end. Detectives wouldn’t get a break in the case until about three-and-a-half months later.

Motorcyclists off-roading near a rural Plumas County campground came upon some portable buildings used for fire crews during fire season. They found a broken window and went to take a closer look.

“When they opened the door, the smell of decomposition was pretty intense and they realized that something significant was in there and they found a body, a human body in there on a bed. So that was four months after the disappearance, a little less,” said Bernardis.

It was Ted Weiher’s.

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California’s Secretary of State Weber Shares Disingenuous, False Narrative Rationalizing State’s Corrupt Elections

California’s Secretary of State Shirley Weber shared a false narrative to cover-up the state’s totally broken and uncertifiable elections.  

Democrat California Secretary of State Shirley Weber took to social media Wednesday to say the reason why the state takes weeks to process election votes is due to the fact that it would cost up to an estimated $110,000 in each county per election.

This statement by Weber is totally misleading and false on so many levels.  It is a good example of a limited hangout where she focuses on a small piece of a much greater problem.

But then again, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, PhD, claimed the 2024 Election in California was “safe, free, fair, and accessible to all”.

As noted previously, the only thing accurate in that statement was that the elections were “accessible to all” with an estimated 3.8 million non-citizens on California’s voter rolls, the 2024 election was accessible to non-citizens as well as citizens.

Currently elections in California are a mess under Weber.  Voter rolls are bloated with non-citizens, drop boxes and ballot harvesting are legal.  Electronic voting machines are in use and voter-ID requests at polling places are outlawed.  The state is looking more and more like a communist state due to its bogus elections where corrupt politicians cannot be voted out of office.

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Gavin Newsom Tries to Blame Trump for California Wildfires; Still Wants Trump to Sign $40 Billion for Fire Relief

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) tried to blame President Donald Trump for the spread of wildfires across the state on Wednesday, claiming National Guard soldiers had been pulled from firefighting to stop riots.

Newsom made the accusation while still seeking $40 billion in federal relief funds for California in the next congressional spending bill, which Trump would have to sign into law after passage by a Republican majority.

There are currently eight wildfires burning in California, with evacuations ordered near Sacramento and San Diego.

A statement from Newsom’s office said:

As multiple fires burn across the state today, a critical firefighting resource is short-staffed due to President Trump’s illegal federalization of California’s National Guard troops.

CAL FIRE crews responding to the Monte Fire in San Diego have had to fill in gaps left by a California National Guard (CalGuard) Joint Task Force Rattlesnake team that is understaffed due to the federalization of some of its members.

Task Force Rattlesnake is made up of over 300 California National Guard members, who work at the direction of CAL FIRE to help fight and prevent fires. More than half of that team has been diverted to Los Angeles as part of President Trump’s illegal federalization of the Guard.

What the governor’s office refers to as “illegal” could soon be upheld as legal by the Ninth Circuit. Politico reported Wednesday that the three-judge panel — including one appointed by President Joe Biden — “sharply questioned Newsom’s argument that Trump had failed to sufficiently justify his decision to send 4,000 National Guard troops to protect federal buildings and support immigration authorities as they conduct arrests and enforcement operations.”

Newsom declined to blame rioters who attacked federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and local police. He also evaded the fact that his administration has failed to clear brush in forests for years.

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Having Solved All of California’s Problems, Gavin Newsom Announces He’s Launching a Substack to Fight ‘Disinformation’

California Governor Gavin Newsom sure seems to have a lot of free time on his hands.

In addition to launching a podcast earlier this year, Newsom just announced that he is launching a Substack site to fight disinformation. What’s next? A TV talk show?

It’s not as if the state of California has thousands of homes to rebuild after wildfires ravaged the state earlier this year. And who cares if there is a riot raging in downtown Los Angeles that has been going on for more than a week?

How does this man still have his job?

The Hill reports:

Gavin Newsom launches a Substack

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) launched a page on Substack this week, using his first entry on the platform to blast President Trump amid recent tension in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement efforts in the state.

Newsom’s op-ed, which was first published by Fox News Digital, is titled “Trump is trying to destroy Democracy. Do not let him.”

“Our system of democracy was created in direct opposition to the monarchy and designed to bolster individual freedom and liberty so that we are never again subjugated to a king. It is that idea, that sacred value, that is being destroyed,” Newsom wrote in the piece.

“But our greatest strength has always been with the people. It’s time for all of us to stand up,” he continued.

Newsom said in a short video posted before the piece he was joining the platform to “break through the noise and engage in real conversations.”

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California City Makes Homeless Eligible For Arrest If They Refuse 3 Offers Of Shelter

The San Jose City Council in Northern California voted June 10 to render homeless individuals, who refuse three offers of shelter, in violation of trespassing laws and able to be arrested.

The council members voted 9–2 in favor of amending the city’s encampment code of conduct with a “responsibility to shelter” provision.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat, introduced the proposal, which is among the stricter anti-encampment laws introduced since the Supreme Court in 2023 made it simpler for cities to ban homeless people from camping on public property. Mahan said that, if the city has enough shelter and interim housing, homeless people should be required to move into them.

Vice Mayor Pam Foley said getting people housed is the first step to getting them the help they need.

“We cannot expect to adequately treat mental illness, addiction, or unemployment effectively if someone is living outdoors,” Foley said during the City Council meeting. “Stable shelter, whether through interim housing, safe parking, or safe sleeping sites, not only connects people with critical services and job training, but ultimately paves the way toward permanent housing.”

Foley said the updated Code of Conduct demonstrates that San Jose is dedicated to reducing homelessness and restoring access to public spaces.

“When shelter becomes available, choosing not to fill those spaces only sets us back,” she said. “We must ensure that every opportunity to move people indoors is used to its fullest potential for both their sake and for the broader San Jose community’s well being.”

The city will not make arrests merely for refusing shelter, but, rather, for trespassing. The goal of the code of conduct revision is to enhance engagement with the homeless community.

Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who voted “no” on the proposal, fears the code of conduct revision could lead to a situation where the city has de facto criminalized homelessness, pointing out that the policy says somebody who simply declines shelter could be arrested. He noted that there are many reasons one may deny shelter, including unsafe shelter conditions or incompatibility.

“I think that by including arrest language in this policy, there could be unintended consequences,” he said at the city council meeting.

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CA Dem Loses the Plot, Calls Deportation of Criminal Illegal Aliens ‘Domestic Terrorism’

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement strategy during a recent appearance on CNN, calling it “domestic terrorism” and accusing federal agents of targeting minority communities.

Kamlager-Dove made the comments on CNN’s “The Arena” while discussing the Trump administration’s renewed push to deport individuals in the country illegally.

“I would argue that this is not immigration policy that we’re seeing unfold. This is domestic terrorism,” she said during her interview with host Kasie Hunt.

When asked to elaborate, the California Democrat pointed to examples she claimed were reflective of current immigration enforcement activity.

She described situations involving “grandmothers taking young children to church or to the grocery store or to a little Korean market” who were allegedly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“They are snatching people, putting them in a van, carting them off, detaining them, not informing their parents or family members,” Kamlager-Dove said.

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California Democrats Dumped $73M into Migrant NGOs Opposing ICE

California’s Democrat-controlled state legislature has pushed tens of millions of tax dollars into the hands of non-governmental organizations that work to thwart deportation and out ICE agents, according to a report.

Five of these far-left, pro-illegal alien organizations have received $73.6 million in state tax dollars since 2023, according to a report by budget watchdog group Open The Books.

According to the review of state spending, the notorious group Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) was the biggest recipient of state funds, with handouts of a whopping $35,226,566 during 2023 and 2024.

CHIRLA has reportedly been at the center of efforts to track where ICE agents are working in Los Angeles so that activists can be dispatched to the area, often followed by rioters and agitators. The group has set up a tip line for members of the public to out ICE agent activity, as well.

“Aside from their current activities fomenting unrest in L.A., CHIRLA runs many different campaigns and programs as a part of their regular operations, including the ‘Wise Up!’ program to teach high schoolers how to become activists,” Open The Books reported. “The CHIRLA website states this program is an ‘initiative to organize high school students—both undocumented and allies—around immigrant rights, and full access to educational opportunities.’ The website further states WiseUp! ‘activates students’ by ‘engaging them civically to fight in the legislative arena and the public square for measures that ease their access to education and citizenship.’”

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The Claim That America ‘Stole’ California From Mexico Is An Ignorant Lie

Recently, Katy Perry claimed on her Instagram page that California has always belonged to Mexico and is another example of U.S. racism and bigotry. 

That’s not quite … right. California, like most of the world, has a history that’s slightly more complex than will fit an average bumper sticker.

Prior to the Spanish arrival in 1542, there were more than 100 different tribes inhabiting modern-day California. Most were small, and the total population of the area is estimated to be approximately 300,000. 

Although there were some minor explorations and small settlements, Spain left California largely unexplored and unsettled for nearly the next 200 years. This was due to a combination of factors such as distance from Spain, the strained Spanish finances, and also because there were no pack animals, little agricultural tradition, and a food supply that was less than appealing to Spanish palates. 

By the late 18th century, however, the Spanish decided they needed to better organize their North American territories to preempt incursions from other European powers, particularly the French and Russians. As a result, Spain began a more robust exploration of the state and would slowly colonize it, setting up missions along the vast coastal areas. 

By the early part of the 19th century, however, Spain’s fortunes were changing, the empire was stretched too thin, and after a decade of fighting, Mexico gained its independence in 1821. The new nation included what is today Mexico, as well as California and much of the American Southwest, stretching east to Texas and north to Colorado. Here’s where the rub in the argument that the United States stole California begins.

The population of California in 1800 was approximately 300,000 — almost all natives — essentially the same as it had been for centuries. By 1848, however, it had dropped to half of that due to disease, which was responsible for 60-80 percent of the decline, and the Spanish working to death or killing the natives.

California, at the time of Mexico’s independence, was sparsely populated, with just 200,000 people, and that number was rapidly shrinking. For perspective, that’s 0.5 percent of today’s 40 million inhabitants. Add to that the fact that Mexico could barely be called a functioning country, as in the 27 years from 1821 to 1848, it had literally 40 heads of government. As would seem obvious, the governments were dysfunctional, had an incredibly large land mass to govern, little tax revenue coming in, and very limited finances with which to field an army to secure it, never mind to carry out the minimum responsibilities of a government. 

To better understand how dysfunctional and empty Mexico was, consider Texas. In 1835, Texas had a population of less than 45,000 people, 30,000 of whom were Anglo settlers who’d been given permission to settle the lands by the Mexican government. The remainder included approximately 7,000 Mexicans and 5,000 black slaves. Because of conflict with the Mexican government on issues from slavery to religion, in October of that year, Texas started a war for independence. By March 1836, it had declared itself the Republic of Texas. That could never have happened had Mexico been able to populate the area on its own or keep it from breaking away. But it couldn’t, so Texas was born. 

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California scientists sound alarm on role of pesticides in raising resistance to antifungal drugs

The proliferation of new fungicides in the U.S. agricultural sector may be raising resistance to critical antifungal medications in humans and animals, infectious disease experts are warning. 

Although antifungal pesticides have become vital to combatting the spread of crop disease, the ongoing development of new such fungicides may be leaving people more vulnerable to severe infections, according to new commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

“Antimicrobial resistant pathogens are a constant reminder for us to use agents judiciously,” lead author George Thompson, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Davis, said in a statement.

“We have learned that the widespread use of antibiotics for livestock resulted in the rapid development of resistance to antibacterials,” Thompson continued. “We have similar concerns regarding the use of antifungals in the environment.”

In the past few decades, fungi that cause severe infections in humans — such as the difficult-to-treat Candida auris — have undergone a rapid increase, the scientists noted.

Yet because there are relatively few antifungals available to eradicate such microbes from the body, Thompson stressed that “preventing resistance is of paramount importance.”

In the U.S. today, the researchers found that there are about 75,000 hospitalizations and 9 million outpatient visits linked to fungal diseases every year, with direct annual costs amount to $6.7 billion to $7.5 billion.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that fungi cause between 10 percent to 20 percent of crop loss, at a cost of $100 billion to $200 billion annually, according to the report.

However, scientists have now become increasingly aware that antifungal pesticides and antifungal drugs share some of the same mechanisms. The authors therefore warned that the promulgation of these chemicals “may select for resistant fungi in the environment, which can then endanger human health.”

The development of antifungal medications, meanwhile, is a difficult task due to the metabolic similarities shared by human and fungal cells, as well as the surge in antifungal resistance, the authors explained.

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