Tag: california

California Orders NGO Serving As “Financial Backbone” For Singham-Linked Marxism Causes To Cease Operations

Foreign policy investigator Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon revealed on Monday that California regulators ordered Arc of Justice, a nonprofit operated by left-wing Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin, to cease charitable operations after years of missing tax filings and unanswered questions about what happened to $51 million in reported assets. 

The state attorney general revoked the foundation’s charitable registration in January 2025, barring it from distributing assets without prior approval. A June 19 warning letter went further, directing Arc of Justice to stop soliciting, holding or spending charitable funds in California and warning that board members could face personal liability for unauthorized distributions.

Kredo cited an investigation by the watchdog group Intelligent Advocacy Network (IAN) that said since California first revoked the foundation’s charitable registration 18 months ago and ordered it to provide a full accounting of $51,445,599 in outstanding assets it held as of 2023, “no public document establishes what has happened to the money, where it is held, or whether any of it has moved.” 

The California Franchise Tax Board subsequently confirmed that the foundation was no longer in good standing or certified as tax-exempt. At the same time, the Secretary of State listed the organization as suspended.

“The silence from Arc of Justice raises unanswered questions about a foundation that has long served as the financial backbone for a network of radical advocacy groups tied to Benjamin and her Code Pink cofounder, Jodie Evans,” Kredo wrote in the report. 


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California City Pulls Plug on It’s Computer System After Cyberattack

A northern California city of 30,000 people had to disconnect its entire computer network after a cyberattack, idling the municipality’s 911 emergency line for police and fire dispatch.

Officials in the city of Suisun City, located about 45 miles from San Francisco, had to find a workaround for emergency calls and did by forwarding 911 calls to a county dispatch center.

The city declared a state of emergency Saturday after malicious software invaded its computer network and system shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, according to the California Post.

“Officials shut down the entire network to stop the threat from spreading and protect evidence for a federal investigation,” the Post reported.

Despite the attack, Suisun City officials say they found a work around to prevent residents from being put in immediate danger during emergencies.

First responders remain active and dispatched, with city emergency operators routing calls through he Solano County dispatch center.

That way police and fire personnel are able to respond to calls for service,

The attack also disrupted non-emergency city services, including access to municipal records such as building permits and idled residents ability to pay bills online.

The complete shutdown came after the city council voted unanimously to pull the plug and declare a state of emergency at a special meeting Saturday morning.

Cybersecurity for municipalities and infrastructure systems have been in the news during the Iran war after U.S. authorities earlier this year issued an “urgent warning” that hackers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran were attempting to disrupt American computer networks.

Investigators are still at work in an effort to determine how the malicious software got inside the network and who was behind the attack, according to news reports.

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A California startup won approval to launch a 59-foot mirror into orbit that beams sunlight to a chosen spot on Earth, helping crews work after dark

ight falls, solar panels stop producing, and emergency crews often turn to fuel-powered generators and floodlights. A California startup now wants to offer another option by redirecting sunlight from orbit to a chosen place on Earth for a few minutes.

On July 9, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission authorized Reflect Orbital to deploy and operate Earendil-1, one experimental satellite carrying a reflector about 59 feet by 59 feet. From an orbit roughly 388 miles above Earth, the spacecraft is intended to create a moonlike patch of light about 3.1 miles wide while testing whether that footprint can be aimed and controlled accurately.

A mirror that follows the Sun

Earendil-1 will not make electricity or store solar energy. Its thin reflective film will act like a giant heliostat in space, turning so it can intercept sunlight while the satellite remains sunlit and redirect that light toward a location that has already entered darkness.

Because it moves quickly through low Earth orbit, a single pass would illuminate a target only briefly. Reflect Orbital says its planned 2026 demonstration is designed to provide around 0.1 lux for up to five minutes, equal to roughly 0.009 foot-candles and comparable to a clear night under a full moon.

The light can be removed from the ground by changing the spacecraft’s orientation. That steering ability is at the heart of the mission, since the test must show that the reflector can unfold, point accurately, hold its footprint, and turn away when service ends.

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California Judge Greenlights Democrat AG Rob Bonta’s Biased Ballot Title Claiming Voter ID Measure “PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING”

A Sacramento Superior Court judge on Thursday upheld radical Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta’s last-minute, heavily slanted ballot title and summary for Proposition 39, California’s common-sense voter ID initiative, locking in language that frames the measure as one that “PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.”

Judge Jennifer K. Rockwell denied the petition for writ of mandate filed by Californians for Voter ID, Yes on 39, and registered voter Donald DiCostanzo.

The court ruled that Bonta’s materials “accurately describe the effect of the measure” and fell within the “considerable latitude” the Attorney General enjoys under California election law.

The bold, capitalized lead language that will confront voters on the November 3, 2026, ballot is exactly what Yes on 39 supporters called false and designed to prejudice the electorate against the popular reform.

Proposition 39 would amend the state Constitution to require government-issued identification for in-person voting and the last four digits of a designated government-issued ID number on mail ballot envelopes.

It also directs election officials to maintain accurate voter rolls, use best efforts to verify citizenship, and report annually on citizenship verification rates.

The state would provide free voter ID cards on request. Election officials would only count ballots after verifying identity and that the person has cast only one ballot.

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Federal Judge Blocks California From Disciplining Doctors for COVID Medical Advice That Contradicts Public Health Officials

A federal judge has barred California medical regulators from investigating or disciplining three physicians based on the viewpoints they share with their patients about COVID-19.

In an order signed Wednesday, Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb granted a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction in favor of Dr. Pierre Kory, Dr. Le Trinh Hoang and Dr. Brian Tyson.

The injunction applies only to those three doctors. It remains in effect pending the outcome of a lawsuit the doctors filed in January 2024 against California’s attorney general and two state medical boards. Children’s Health Defense (CHD) is funding the lawsuit.

“While the order technically only applies to our three doctor plaintiffs, it puts the boards on notice that a federal judge has found their Covid misinformation policy unconstitutional under the First Amendment,” wrote attorney Rick Jaffe, who represents the doctors in the case. “Every investigator and every board member now knows how this judge sees it.”

CHD CEO Mary Holland called the preliminary injunction a victory for the physicians.

“Fantastic news that doctors can still be doctors and not just mouthpieces for the state,” she said. “It verges on the absurd that Dr. Kory had to go to the U.S. Supreme Court and back to the California district court to establish that he — not the state — can be a doctor to his patients. But there it is.”

Writing today on Substack, Kory said, “Free speech prevailed. We do not have to parrot pharma-government nonsense to keep our licenses. That principle was worth every day of this fight.”

Ruling doesn’t resolve underlying lawsuit

Under the order, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Medical Board of California Executive Director Reji Varghese, Osteopathic Medical Board of California Executive Director Erika Calderon and others acting on their behalf are prohibited from investigating, prosecuting, accusing or sanctioning the three physicians based on “the viewpoint of the information, recommendations, or advice they give a patient about COVID-19,” even if that information contradicts the positions of public health authorities.

The judge said regulators may not characterize a physician’s refusal to communicate the government’s position on disputed COVID-19 issues as either an informed consent violation or a departure from the applicable standard of care.

However, Shubb’s order makes clear that the injunction does not prevent state medical boards from pursuing other disciplinary action against the physicians. This includes failures to obtain informed consent regarding material risks or reasonable treatment alternatives, or other conduct that can be regulated independently of their views on COVID-19.

The ruling does not resolve the underlying lawsuit, which will continue as the court considers the merits of the physicians’ claims.

Aaron Bone, chief of Legislative and Public Affairs at the Medical Board of California, told The Defender that the board “has no comment on this matter.”

Requests for comment sent to the offices of Bonta and Calderon by The Defender went unanswered.

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Pelosi Slams Dem Trying to Replace Her in House for ‘Sexist’ Campaign Chatbot

Watching the woke eat their own is an entertaining sideshow — and while it’s unfortunate when it won’t end up benefiting a Republican, at least we can take heart that Nancy Pelosi will go out slamming a thoroughly woke gay man who’s poised to replace her in Congress.

California state Sen. Scott Wiener is locked in a two-Democrat race with San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan to replace the retiring Rep. Pelosi (or, as other Democrats love to refer to her, “Speaker Emerita Pelosi”). Wiener was first in the jungle primary in June, but given that the top two advance and second place was Chan, it’s woke vs. woke, and Pelosi has endorsed Chan’s version.

Part of Wiener’s problem in a heavily Democratic district is that he’s Jewish and won’t call Israel’s war against the terrorist group Hamas a “genocide,” which means that anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head. In addition to Pelosi’s endorsement, the San Francisco online news outlet Mission Local reported that third-place finisher Saikat Chakrabarti endorsed Chan as well, and he “shares a progressive-leaning voter base with Chan.”

Polls show the race as close; while both are crazy in their own way, Wiener tends more toward the culturally woke, trans-the-kids side, while Chan tends toward the anti-development, defund-the-police woke side. It’s like a reverse “Sophie’s Choice” — you have to keep one.

And, as in any campaign between wokeistas, there are going to be intersecting claims of prejudice. To that end, we have the rich irony of Wiener getting accused of sexism, in a letter reported by Politico, for launching a chatbot that chronicles his opponent’s foibles.

“Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power,” Pelosi wrote in the letter, which was signed by several other female Democrats.

“We should not have to fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths.”

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Olympic Gold Medalist Alysa Liu’s Transgender Brother is Quietly Dominating California Girls’ High School Sports

The brother of Olympic figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu has been competing as a female athlete and steadily collecting victories in California high school girls’ sports, according to a new report.

Jaylin Liu, who previously went by the name Joshua and only recently began identifying as female, has taken first place in every 200-meter and 400-meter girls’ race he entered for Albany High School this season, including the Tri-County Athletic League Finals, according to reporting from Reduxx.

He is ranked the top “female” runner on his team in those events and the best in the league in the quarter-mile.

In 2025 alone, Jaylin Liu secured eight first-place finishes at seasonal meets, a silver medal at the NCS Bayshore Championship in the 400-meter, and a gold medal in the Tri-County Athletic League Frosh-Soph Championship 200-meter race.

Beyond track, he has also competed in girls’ varsity basketball, earning a silver medal at a championship, and played ultimate frisbee for El Cerrito High School at the Ultimate High School National Invite, where his performance was described as extremely dominant.

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Colombian Authorities Seize Bus Carrying 420 Kilograms of Explosives Bound for Cali Days Before Presidential Inauguration

Colombian security forces have reportedly intercepted a bus carrying approximately 420 kilograms of ammonium nitrate explosives in the department of Cauca, preventing what authorities believe could have been a major planned large-scale terrorist attack against military and police installations in Cali.

The operation, dubbed Operation Prometeo, was carried out today along the Pan-American Highway near Santander de Quilichao by Colombia’s National Police, with the participation of the Intelligence Directorate (DIPOL), Criminal Investigation Directorate (DIJIN), Anti-Narcotics Directorate (DIRAN), Highway Police (DITRA), and the Southwest Organized Crime Task Force.

Authorities say intelligence indicates the explosives were intended to strike military and police facilities in Cali during the inauguration of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella on August 7, with the objective of demonstrating the group’s operational capability and disrupting one of Colombia’s most significant political events.

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Palisades Fire Fraud: Man Headed To Prison After Scamming $64K Out Of FEMA

An East Hollywood man is headed to federal prison for a year and a day after collecting more than $64,000 in wildfire disaster relief on a Pacific Palisades home he had no connection to whatsoever.

Delvonne Dashon Johnson, 32, was sentenced on July 31 in Los Angeles and ordered to repay $64,148 to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He pleaded guilty last year to fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits – a charge that carries a statutory maximum of 30 years.

In February 2025, weeks after the Palisades Fire tore through the coastline, Johnson filed a FEMA claim listing a Pacific Palisades address as a home he owned. FEMA wired him $64,138 later that same month – except, he didn’t own the house. Someone else did, and she was living in it.

The fraud unraveled only when the actual homeowner tried to file her own claim. FEMA told her someone had already submitted one on her property’s behalf. When investigators interviewed her on April 2, 2025, she told them she had lived at the address since 2015, that it was her primary residence, that she was there when the fire hit, that she had never rented the place to anyone, and that she had never heard of Delvonne Johnson.

Johnson was not working alone – he was one of several people federal prosecutors swept up for running the same play on the same disaster. Deanniah Hogan, 32, of Compton, allegedly posed as a renter at a Palisades home and drew roughly $17,351. Zenalyn McIntre, 38, of Sherman Oaks, allegedly submitted a fabricated utility bill and a driver’s license listing a different address, and received about $25,229. Hedeshia Robertson, 36, of Lakewood, pleaded guilty after obtaining some $24,899. Another defendant allegedly claimed a nonexistent Altadena address as her destroyed primary residence and collected $23,441, plus two FEMA-booked hotel stays. Jaime Arturo Carrillo, 48, pleaded guilty after claiming property damage and utility disruption at a South Los Angeles address roughly 20 miles from either fire.

The pattern extends well beyond Los Angeles County. In June, a Honolulu man was sentenced to two years for conspiring to submit false FEMA claims tied to both the Lahaina fire and the Pacific Palisades fire, with a co-defendant posing as his Maui landlord before turning around and claiming to have lived in Pacific Palisades herself. The pair collected more than $60,000. He then filed fabricated flight records with the court and picked up an obstruction charge on top.

Victims of the Eaton and Palisades fires could qualify for a one-time $750 FEMA payment, up to $43,600 in other-needs assistance covering personal property, transportation and medical costs, and housing assistance for as long as 18 months. Homeowners were eligible for up to another $43,600 in repair money. Money that moves fast enough to help people who just lost everything moves fast enough to reach people who lost nothing.

The two fires ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, burned close to 60,000 acres, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and killed 30 people.

For claiming a slice of the recovery money set aside for those people, Johnson drew 12 months and one day.

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California Democrats Overwhelmingly Back Billionaire Tax Ahead of High-Stakes November Ballot

California’s proposed billionaire tax cleared a major political hurdle on Sunday after winning the endorsement of the California Democratic Party.

The endorsement provides fresh momentum to the initiative just months before voters decide the measure at the ballot box.

The proposal secured the 60 percent threshold required for the party’s endorsement during a meeting of hundreds of Democrat officials in San Diego.

The approval came despite fierce opposition from some of the state’s most prominent Democrats.

If endorsed by voters in November, the measure would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on Californians with a net worth of at least $1 billion, affecting roughly 200 of the state’s wealthiest residents.

The endorsement is a significant victory for supporters after months of infighting within the Democratic Party.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra have both publicly opposed the proposal, warning it could encourage wealthy taxpayers to leave the state.

The initiative was placed on the ballot by the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), which claims the tax will raise an estimated $100 billion.

The money will be primarily used to offset healthcare funding reductions enacted by the Trump administration.

“This endorsement puts to rest the idea that California Democrats are not united by the billionaire tax—they are,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW.

The measure has drawn support from far-left Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna, who argue California’s wealthiest residents should contribute more to fund healthcare programs.

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