Tag: california

Dem Infighting Worsens as Fingers Start Pointing in Heated California Governor’s Race

The warm California summers have nothing on the flaring tempers within the state’s crowded gubernatorial race.

And most of that bickering is coming from just one side of the political aisle.

As Democrats vie to get past the state’s unique primary system — wherein neither major political party is guaranteed to have a candidate in the final two — tensions are rising significantly between them.

As the New York Post pointed out, one of the contenders, California Rep. Katie Porter, is now trying to reframe one of her biggest campaign blunders as an indictment against a fellow Democrat.

Porter told CNN that she was “confident” that the unflattering videos that began circulating in October 2025 of her screaming at various aides and acting in other uncouth manners were ultimately leaked by billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer.

“I am confident that is the case,” she said.

Steyer’s campaign has denied this allegation.

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Woman Caught on O’Keefe Undercover Camera Illegally Paying People to Register to Vote on Skid Row Federally Charged

A woman who was caught on O’Keefe Media Group’s undercover camera illegally paying people to register to vote on Skid Row in Los Angeles, California, has been federally charged.

The Justice Department on Monday announced that Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong was charged with one felony count of paying another person to register to vote. She is facing a max of five years in federal prison.

“False registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections – even more so when payoffs are involved,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“This Justice Department is committed to ensuring that all U.S. elections are fair and free from illegal meddling – so that all Americans can accept the results with confidence,” she said.

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Dem Infighting Worsens as Fingers Start Pointing in Heated California Governor’s Race

The warm California summers have nothing on the flaring tempers within the state’s crowded gubernatorial race.

And most of that bickering is coming from just one side of the political aisle.

As Democrats vie to get past the state’s unique primary system — wherein neither major political party is guaranteed to have a candidate in the final two — tensions are rising significantly between them.

As the New York Post pointed out, one of the contenders, California Rep. Katie Porter, is now trying to reframe one of her biggest campaign blunders as an indictment against a fellow Democrat.

Porter told CNN that she was “confident” that the unflattering videos that began circulating in October 2025 of her screaming at various aides and acting in other uncouth manners were ultimately leaked by billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer.

“I am confident that is the case,” she said.

Steyer’s campaign has denied this allegation.

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Wait Until California Taxpayers See Gavin Newsom’s Latest Multi Million Dollar Spending Disaster

California Governor Gavin Newsom has managed to outdo himself again, and that is saying something.

The man never seems to meet a taxpayer dollar he is not eager to torch, and this time, he has done it under the warm glow of “helping children.”

The latest fiasco involves a state-funded pediatric hearing aid program that has managed to spend nearly twenty-three million dollars while delivering only a few hundred hearing aids. Lawmakers and child advocates are absolutely fuming over the waste, and Californians are once again left holding the bill.

Five years ago, rather than backing legislation that would have forced private insurers to cover hearing aids for children, Newsom opted for a state-run fix.

The result has been precisely what every conservative predicted: a bloated bureaucracy that devours funds while doing next to nothing for the very people it is supposed to help.

According to state reports, the Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program has around three hundred active enrollees.

That means each case has effectively cost the state about seventy six thousand dollars.

In the private market, that amount could have purchased thousands of hearing aids instead of footing the bill for more public sector “administration.”

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Southern California Police Urge Homeowners to Search Their Yards for Hidden Cameras Planted by Illegal Alien Burglary Rings, Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s Sanctuary State Policies

Southern California residents are being urged to physically inspect their property after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that organized burglary crews, many tied to illegal South American theft rings, are planting hidden cameras in bushes, flower beds, planters, and landscaping to scout and monitor targeted homes before striking.

The alarming announcement comes after deputies responding to a residential burglary in San Dimas discovered concealed surveillance devices that were actively feeding live video to criminals.

On Tuesday, San Dimas Sheriff’s Station deputies were called to a home break-in.

While investigating, they located a small camera hidden deep in the bushes directly across from the victim’s residence.

The device was wired to a portable hotspot and an external battery pack, allowing the burglars to remotely watch the home in real time.

Approximately one week earlier, a landscaper working in the same neighborhood found a second identical device concealed in hedges he was trimming.

Both cameras were camouflaged with artificial plants, green tape, and surrounding foliage to blend seamlessly into the yard.

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Annoying jingle permanently banned from airwaves as California ends ‘strategy of deception’

California is pulling the plug on the wildly recognizable Kars4Kids jingle after a judge ruled the charity’s ads misled donors about who actually benefits from their money.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gassia Apkarian found that the organization violated California false advertising and unfair competition laws by failing to disclose that donations primarily fund Orthodox Jewish programs tied to Oorah Inc., a New York- and New Jersey-based outreach organization.

The ruling was published May 8 and comes after California resident Bruce Puterbaugh sued the charity in 2021, claiming he donated his car after repeatedly hearing the famous ad and believed the proceeds would help underprivileged children in California.

Instead, Puterbaugh learned the $250 generated from his donated vehicle went to programs connected to Oorah, which focuses on Jewish heritage camps and religious outreach.

According to the ruling, Kars4Kids chief operating officer Esti Landau testified that the charity’s “primary function” is funding Oorah’s programs.

Landau also testified that although about 25% of Kars4Kids’ revenue comes from California, the organization has virtually no meaningful programs benefiting children in the state beyond a backpack drive described in court as a “branding exercise.”

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Gavin Newsom reveals ‘break glass’ emergency plan to block Republican governor

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has a secret “break the glass” plan to prevent California from electing a Republican governor — though he’s stubbornly refused to make an endorsement in the race to succeed him.

The governor revealed the secret contingency plan to prevent two Republicans from advancing in the governor election — as polls show Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton near the top of the field in the packed race.

Newsom alluded to “action efforts” behind the scenes to make sure Democrats aren’t locked out of the governor’s race, saying he “making my case” to “encourage that doesn’t happen.”

Recent surveys show Democratic frontrunner Xavier Becerra and Hilton as favorites among registered voters, with billionaire Tom Steyer, Republican Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco and Democrat Katie Porter trailing a few points behind.

The top two vote getters in the June 2 primary election will advance to the November general election.

Newsom has repeatedly declined to weigh in on the race to succeed him.

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UCLA Medical School Accused Of Racial Discrimination In Defiance Of Supreme Court

We previously discussed a disturbing account of how medical students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were subjected to a bizarre class where one of the university’s “activists-in-residence” showered them with anti-Semitic postings and racist rhetoric. Now, the Justice Department has found that the university engaged in systemic racial discrimination in the admission of medical students. Given the university’s history, it is hardly surprising, but it remains unclear how the university will respond to the findings.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division announced that the medical school violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by giving preferential treatment to black and Hispanic applicants.

The investigation followed the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which barred race-based admissions.

In the DOJ’s “Findings” letter, black and Hispanic admits in some years averaged MCAT scores in the 66th to 72nd percentile, while Asian and white students averaged scores in the mid-to-high 80th percentiles.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon indicated that the Justice Department found that UCLA medical school leadership discussed how to achieve “diversity goals” and other strategies after the Supreme Court ruling.

After the historic ruling in the Harvard and North Carolina cases barring the use of racial criteria in admissions, administrators and academics admitted what they had long denied: that race was having a major role in admissions.

In anticipation of the rulings, many schools, including the California system, eliminated standardized testing. Without objective scores, there is less ability to identify the use of non-scholastic criteria for admissions. By eliminating or devaluing standardized testing, admissions offices can use the more subjective essays to achieve the same race-based results.

I wrote about how administrators were already preparing to use essays as an indirect way to achieve the same identifications and preferences in admissions.

The essay “prompts” encourage students to effectively self-identify by discussing incidents where they faced discrimination.

The shift to the essays would allow the removal of high-scoring students while elevating those with lower scores. That prediction was quickly confirmed, as top candidates were rejected based on their essays, while schools used essays to flag their backgrounds.

Faculty and administrators at UCLA and other schools remain adamant in using race-based admissions. They simply justify discrimination as equity and diversity. 

This is the same school that required medical students to sit through a raving lecture from “a formerly unhoused and incarcerated poverty scholar who prefers to keep their face covered in public.”

In her two-hour lecture, Gray-Garcia dismissed modern medicine as “white science” and told the medical students to engage in a prayer to “mama Earth.” Students were expected to pray and affirm that “Mama Earth was never meant to be bought, sold, pimped or played.”

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Convicted Pedophile on the Run for Nearly a Year After California Judge Released Him on Bail

A convicted child sex offender in California remains on the run after a judge released him on bond last summer while he was awaiting sentencing.

Authorities in El Dorado County near Lake Tahoe now are asking for the public’s help to locate Carl Cacconie, 51, who was convicted last year of six felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on an 11-year-old girl.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office described the fugitive as a “convicted and violent sexual predator” and is asking anyone who knows his whereabouts to contact law enforcement or the Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers.

On July 17, 2025, Carl Cacconie, 51, was convicted of the charges. El Dorado Judge Michael McLaughlin set his bail at $1 million, which the convicted pedophile posted.

Typically, with the help of a bail bondsman, suspects can put up just 10 percent, which in Cacconie’s case would have been $100,000. Cars, homes, and other valuables can be used as collateral.

Cacconie was instructed to return to court on August 25, 2025, for sentencing. He faces 18 years in prison.

He never showed up.

The El Dorado County Probation Department fit Cacconie with an ankle monitor in 2023, the Daily Mail reported.

That device was disconnected on August 17 on a street in San Francisco, according to a report obtained by KCRA3.

Eight days later, the day of his sentencing, his family reported him missing.

El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson and the victim’s family were critical of the judge’s decision to allow Cacconie to bond out of jail.

“To expect that a person on $1 million bond, who has now been convicted, that merely adding an ankle monitor, which can be easily cut off, adds any real assurance to bringing him back to court, it’s kind of folly,” Pierson told the TV news outlet.

He added, “This is a county that prides itself on holding people accountable. And, unfortunately, that’s so far not what has happened.”

Cacconie’s family has told authorities that he left a suicide note, but police and prosecutors believe that’s a ruse by the fugitive to evade capture.

Cacconie inflicted sexual abuse on the victim, now an adult, over a period of several months in 2014 and 2015, and his felonies were facilitated by his close relationship with her family, KCRA3 reported.

“He’s a monster, and he took away my innocence,” the victim reportedly said.

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Gavin Newsom’s hearing aid debacle costs California tens of millions as kids suffer in silence

Child advocates and lawmakers are furious with Gov. Gavin Newsom as California’s pediatric hearing aid program has spent tens of millions of dollars on administrative fees while delivering only a few hundred hearing aids.

Nearly five years after Newsom pushed lawmakers toward a state-run alternative instead of requiring private insurers to cover pediatric hearing aids, California’s Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program had around 300 active enrolled members despite spending almost $23 million, according to a report delivered last month to a state Senate budget committee. That works out to about $76,000 per person.

Michelle Marciniak, founder of Let California Kids Hear, told The Post that the governor’s office has dropped the ball.

“The governor has a budget proposal on his desk that would help more children, reduce taxpayer exposure, and finally reflect years of bipartisan legislative intent,” Marciniak said, noting that Newsom still has time to address the issue in his revised budget coming out Thursday. 

“A child’s development doesn’t wait. It is time to solve this.”

Newsom’s refusal to take greater action to help kids with hearing loss stands in contrast to his action last week to provide free diapers, as well as his swift reversal earlier this year to expand menopause care for women in the budget after criticism from actress Halle Berry.

The state program has received roughly $30 million in taxpayer funding over multiple budget years while serving only a fraction of the children advocates say lack adequate hearing aid coverage statewide.

State Sen. Suzette Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) ripped Newsom by noting that “nearly 20,000 kids are still sitting in classrooms struggling to hear clearly.”

“These are real children whose learning, confidence, and futures are being impacted every single day,” Valladares told The Post. 

“At some point we have to stop funding bureaucracy and start fixing the actual coverage gaps so families can get their kids the help they need.”

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