Tag: california

California Immigration Judge Sues Trump DOJ; Claims She Was Fired for Being a Registered Democrat Woman Over 40

A California immigration judge has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice, alleging she was terminated because she is a registered Democrat, a woman over 40, fluent in Spanish, and had ties to immigrant-rights groups.

Kyra Lilien had been in the San Francisco Immigration Court since 2023, before transferring to the Concord Immigration Court in 2024.

Last July, Lilien was notified that her two-year probationary period would not be converted to a permanent appointment.

The 14-page lawsuit, filed this week, names the DOJ and Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche as defendants.

Lilien claims she met or exceeded all performance standards and received the highest possible ratings in her probationary reports for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

According to TRAC Immigration data, she denied just 34% of asylum claims brought before her.

Despite this, she alleges her removal violated her civil and First Amendment rights.

Lilien’s attorney, Kevin Owen of Gilbert Employment Law in Maryland, told local station KTVU that Lilien “didn’t fit their mold” and that the actions taken against her were “impermissible and unlawful.”

“She didn’t fit their mold,” Owen said. “And what they did to her was impermissible and unlawful.”

The suit claims that immigration judges who were terminated or not retained around the same time were overwhelmingly female and points to internal memos issued by then-acting EOIR Director Sirce Owen in early 2025.

Those memos criticized “extremist leftist organizations” involved in illegal alien advocacy and Biden-era hiring practices that promoted illegal immigration and DEI hires.

Lilien, KTVU reports, “used to be program director for Jewish Family and Community Services, which largely helps Afghan refugees settle in the United States, and was the immigration program director for Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland.”

The complaint also names nearly 30 other immigration judges from across the country who were similarly fired or not converted from probationary status, including 14 from the Concord and San Francisco courts.

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Cost of California’s High-Speed Rail Goes Up Again

It was also supposed to be carrying 65.5 million to 96.5 million intercity riders a year by 2030. Yet now 2040 is the date for “full service to start.” Skeptics don’t believe we’ll ever see the train run with paying customers aboard.

“In my judgment, the Draft 2026 Business Plan describes a project that has reached a dead end,” says Louis S. Thompson, a 15-year member of the California High Speed Rail Peer Review Group that was established by legislation.

In a letter to lawmakers, Thompson, who was also on the team that created Amtrak, said that after so many changes in the project—cost, design revisions, longer estimated trip times—it’s “not, not even remotely, the system the voters approved in Proposition 1A” in 2008.

Early last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom, that “Steel Driving Man,” promised there soon would be some visible manifestation of the train’s “progress.” A few months later, HSRA CEO Ian Choudri promised, “We are going to be laying high speed tracks next year.”

The HSRA “expects to achieve several other procurement milestones in 2026,” but not track laying and there is no hard deadline for it to begin to be found in the plan. There is only a three-and-a-half-year timeline, which starts in July for the “Track & Systems Design & Construction” of the first section in the Central Valley.

In other words, the HSRA has provided itself cover should it fall short of its 2026 promise.

California’s perpetually unfolding mess has caught the attention of the editorial board of a newspaper one state over after a recent “60 Minutes” report “shined the spotlight on what has become the most embarrassing and costly government infrastructure boondoggle in US history.”

“Has there ever been a greater fraud perpetrated on the taxpayers than California’s high-speed rail travesty?” asked the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Where are the folks at ‘American Greed’ when you need them?”

That is, of course, a reference to the CNBC documentary series “American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals.” It won’t happen, but it would be fitting, if the HSRA borrowed the program’s name for the subtitle of its 2027 business plan, which this year is shamelessly being called “Transforming California’s Future.”

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Disney cruise ship staffers among 28 arrested in massive child porn operation

Families hoping to make memories on a cruise were unknowingly surrounded by alleged child predators working aboard the ships, according to law enforcement officials.

US Customs and Border Protection boarded five cruise ships, including a Disney cruise docked in San Diego, between April 23 and 25 as part of ongoing child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) enforcement operations, a CBP spokesperson told The California Post.

“After boarding the vessels and interviewing 26 suspected crew members from the Philippines, one suspected crew member from Portugal, and one from Indonesia, officers confirmed all subjects were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSEM or child pornography,” the CBP spokesperson said.

“CBP cancelled their visas and these criminals are being removed from our country,” the spokesperson continued.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and fully cooperated with law enforcement. While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company,” a Disney spokesperson told The California Post.

It’s unclear which other ships the additional crew members may have worked on outside of Disney.

Passengers aboard a Disney cruise ship docking in San Diego were stunned as they documented multiple employees getting arrested last month.

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HERE IT IS: Democrat Katie Porter Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About Illegal Aliens During California Governor Primary Debate 

California Democrat gubernatorial candidate and former Democrat Rep. Katie Porter said the quiet part out loud during Tuesday night’s primary debate.

Katie Porter admitted that illegal aliens are taking over California and she said that she supports healthcare for illegals.

This woman is dangerous – literally (just ask her ex-husband and staffers).

“Illegal aliens are one of the only ways California has been growing in recent years,” Katie Porter said.

Katie Porter routinely abuses her staffers.

Politico previously released a shocking video of Katie Porter berating one of her staffers during a call with the Biden Administration.

The abusive outburst happened in July 2021 while then-Democrat Rep. Katie Porter spoke with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in an online exchange.

Porter lashed out at a masked staffer who could be seen in the background.

“Get out of my f*cking shot!” Porter shouted as the staffer tried to correct something she said about electric vehicles.

“You also were in my shot before that. Stay out of my shot,” Porter said as she pounded her fists on a table.

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Man Accused of Starting Palisades Fire Had Become Obsessed With Leftist Ideas According to Prosecutors

New court filings show that the alleged arsonist who started the January 2025 Pacific Palisades fire in California is a deranged leftist who hated capitalism, resented the rich, and was angry at the world.

As a reminder, these are the hallmarks of today’s unhinged, anti-American, anti-social left.

These findings were presented in a memorandum filed last week in the case United States vs. Jonathan Rinderknecht, ahead of his June 8 trial.

Rinderknecht has been charged with three federal felony counts for starting the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people, destroyed 7,000 homes and businesses, and caused $150 billion in damages.

In the weeks preceding the arson, Rinderknecht’s online searches included phrases such as “lets kill all the billionaires,” “let’s take down all the billionaires,” and “free Luigi Mangione,” according to WESH-TV.

Mangione is currently in jail awaiting trial for the December 2024 assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Mangione’s personal journal entries suggested he targeted the insurance executive because of his intense hatred for the American for-profit health insurance industry, which he called a “greed-fueled cartel.”

According to the memo in Rinderknecht’s case, the leftist lunatic — who worked as an Uber driver in the weeks preceding the Palisades fire — ranted against capitalism and whined about Mangione’s arrest.

“Many of defendant’s Uber passengers on December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025, described defendant as angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world’ and Luigi Mangione, capitalism, and vigilantism,” prosecutors wrote, per the New York Post.

“When asked why someone would ultimately set the blaze, Rinderknecht allegedly responded that it ‘would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them,’ and compared such an act of ‘desperation’ to the murder for which Mangione was charged,” according to the pretrial memo.

In a nutshell, Rinderknecht is the poster boy for today’s deranged left, whose primary characteristics are emotional incontinence, violence, and fetishization of criminality.

It’s not surprising that Rinderknecht romanticized accused assassin Luigi Mangione, since liberals constantly lionize criminals while undermining the safety of law-abiding Americans.

In the months preceding the Palisades fire, Democrats and their media puppets beclowned themselves by falsely blaming “climate change” for the massive blaze that, in reality, seems to have been caused by a left-wing arsonist.

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A detransitioner confronted a California lawmaker on the harms of gender transition. Here’s why he spoke out

A young man who went viral for confronting California lawmakers about harms he says he faced from childhood medical transition is speaking out against a bill he believes could make it harder for vulnerable minors to get proper counseling.

Jonni Skinner, a detransitioner and ambassador for Genspect, testified at a California Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week against SB 934, a bill sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener that would let victims of “conversion therapy” seek damages through malpractice lawsuits, even years after the counseling occurred. Wiener’s office defines conversion therapy to include “sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts.”

Critics, including the California Family Council, say SB 934 is so broadly written that it could expose therapists to lawsuits for talk therapy on sexuality and gender identity.

Skinner says he grew up in a small town in Michigan in a religious family and was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at a young age. He said he struggled with feeling different from other boys and was bullied for having stereotypical feminine interests. As he reached puberty, he became increasingly uncomfortable with his body and carried shame that he might grow up to be gay or an effeminate man. After seeing online influencers he admired undergo gender transitions, he said he found the idea appealing.

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Billionaire California Dem Gubernatorial Candidate Gets DRAGGED Online After Sharing Footage of Himself Posing in a VERY IRONIC T-Shirt With Marxist Protesters

A billionaire California Democrat gubernatorial candidate is getting blown up online after posing in a very ironic t-shirt with his fellow socialists.

On Saturday, Tom Steyer uploaded a video on his X page showing him at a “May Day” protest where he attempts to portray himself as a traitor to his class and a ‘champion’ of ordinary Californians. He even poses in a “Workers Over Billionaires” shirt.

Does he not realize that these people want to see folks like him eliminated?

“Today is May Day…Today is the day where we celebrate the working people of California, the people who make California run,” Steyer says in the video. “And their rights are being trampled on!”

A woman then asks if he’s planning on redistributing his wealth, to which Steyer replies, “Yes, I am!”

Steyer goes on to say that his campaign is about standing up for working Californians against “corporate special interests,” before cutting to him taking photo-ops with Marxist protesters while still wearing the stupid shirt.

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Teacher caught simulating incestuous sex act on video will be allowed back in classroom on Monday, parents told

The teacher mom of Baywatch star Noah Beck has been allowed to return to the classroom after being suspended for a video of her appearing to simulate oral sex on her son. 

Amy Beck, 55, the mom of actor and social media star Noah Beck, 24, was placed on leave from Coyote Hills Elementary School in Peoria, Arizona last week after the 2020 video resurfaced. 

The footage recirculated social media earlier this month after her daughter Haley Beck, 27, who is a teacher in the same school district, was accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with a teenage boy. 

The video was originally posted by Noah, who has 33 million TikTok followers, in 2020, and showed the mother and son singing along to the song ‘King’s Dead’ by Jay Rock, which features lyrics about oral sex.

As the pair lip-synced to the lyrics, Noah repeatedly pushed his mother’s head toward his groin.

In a statement to the Daily Mail on Friday night, the Peoria Unified School District said it was allowing Amy to come back to the classroom following her suspension for the video.

‘The school and district have addressed concerns regarding videos that were published in 2020, appropriate measures have been taken, and Mrs. Beck will transition back into the classroom on Monday, May 4,’ the district said. 

While Amy Beck will return to work, her teacher daughter Haley was terminated from Centennial High School, and the Peoria Police Department said Friday it was ‘looking into’ new allegations regarding her alleged conduct with a second student. 

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California Can’t Define ‘Hate Speech’ But May Mandate Workplace Training Anyway

“Hate speech” is notoriously hard to define and is usually a subjective characterization of harsh words. Though the term is thrown around by people describing comments they don’t like, it generally refers to expression that might not be nice but is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as state speech protections. But that’s not going to stop California lawmakers from trying to hector people into refraining from voicing nasty sentiments.

Existing California law requires employers with five or more employees to provide at least two hours of training regarding sexual harassment to all supervisors, and at least one hour of training to all other employees, repeated every two years. Assembly Bill 1803, introduced by Assemblymembers Josh Lowenthal (D–Long Beach) and Rick Chavez Zbur (D–Los Angeles) and co-authored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D–Moreno Valley), “would additionally require that the above-described training and education include, as a component of the training and education, anti-hate speech training.”

In a press release, Lowenthal claims that “AB 1803 is about making our workplaces safer, more respectful, and more inclusive for everyone. Hate speech has no place on the job, just as sexual harassment has no place on the job. By incorporating anti hate speech training into existing sexual harassment prevention programs, we are building on a proven framework to address harmful behavior before it escalates.”

What the world really doesn’t need, it should be noted, is more state-mandated nagging about the allegedly naughty activities we shouldn’t engage in. As PBS’s Rhana Natour reported in 2018, “there’s little evidence that sexual harassment training works.” A 2016 U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission report concluded that “much of the training done over the last 30 years has not worked as a prevention tool—it’s been too focused on simply avoiding legal liability.” Research by Justine Tinkler, a sociologist at the University of Georgia, found that such training mostly reinforces traditional views of sex roles by portraying men as predators and women as victims. But training is an effective time suck.

Hate speech has the added burden of being primarily a political term used to describe expression that somebody doesn’t like. This makes it very difficult to describe in an actionable way in a country that has vigorous speech protections. California’s lawmakers have not risen to the challenge.

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Mysterious ‘dumbbell-shaped’ UFO spotted for 45 minutes over Joshua Tree before vanishing

A family hiking in Southern California has revealed stunning images of a mysterious craft flying overhead during a solar eclipse. 

The four hikers spotted a large dumbbell or H-shaped UFO flying slowly and erratically near Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park on October 14, 2023.

According to the witnesses, they followed the object for about 45 minutes, watching it disappear and reappear several times before it vanished completely.

Images of the craft, shared with safeaerospace.org, a nonprofit group focused on aerospace safety and national security, captured a clear view of the UFO, which was made of a highly reflective material described as silver.

It was described as looking like a ‘capital I’ or ‘sideways H’, and its two large panels on each end gave it a shape reminiscent of a TIE fighter from the Star Wars films.

Skeptics sharing the sighting online have suggested that the craft may have been a box kite or an escaped letter H party balloon.

However, the hikers estimated that the craft was the size of a car or small plane, which would make the object significantly larger than the typical kite and balloon.

While the Pentagon has maintained that physical evidence of UFOs or extraterrestrials has never been found, the sighting took place near several US military bases, including one that has tested experimental aircraft for decades.

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