Tag: california

California Democrat Pushes to Add Muslim Holy Days to State Holidays

While Christmas and Easter are shunned for ‘winter holiday’ and ‘spring holiday’, California State Assemblymember for District 17, Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), authored a bill to establish two Muslim holidays as official state holidays that would allow local public school boards and community colleges the ability to close campuses.

AB 2017, which passed the State Assembly with a 64-1 vote to advance to the Senate Appropriations Committee, would establish Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as official state holidays.

Eid al-Fitr (Festival of Breaking the Fast) is celebrated on the first day of Shawwal, the month immediately following Ramadan, and marks the end of Ramadan.

Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) us elebrated on the 10th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the 12th (final) month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It coincides with the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

In a video shared by the Supervisor of San Francisco District 5, Bilal Mahmood, in March, when the bill was announced, Haney said, “Ramadan Mubarak, everyone. I’m Assemblymember Matt Haney. We’re here at the Islamic Society of San Francisco with an incredible group of community members announcing an exciting bill that we’ve put forward in the state legislature, AB 2017, which will make Eid a state holiday in California.”

“Right now, too many students are being forced to celebrate what is one of the most holy days for them or miss time in school. Workers are being forced to miss critical time at the jobs to be able to celebrate something that is one of the most holy days, not just for Muslim Californians, but nearly 2 billion Muslims across the world.”

“This is how we show truly that we are inclusive, that we value diversity, we celebrate diversity, and that our Muslim neighbors, our friends, our colleagues are fully included and able to celebrate without consequence the most holy a holy day for them.”

Keep reading

Tyrant Gavin Newsom Panics: Threatens to Prosecute Anyone Helping President Trump Secure Fair Elections – Pushes New Felony Law to Criminalize Ballot Scrutiny Before Certification

In yet another desperate power grab, radical Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom is warning that anyone who dares help President Trump protect election integrity in California will be prosecuted.

He’s now moving forward with legislation to make it a FELONY to seize ballots before they’ve been certified by his hand-picked state and county officials.

This is the same Gavin Newsom who has spent years resisting basic election security while California’s system remains wide open to abuse.

In a video statement posted on social media, Newsom warned that anyone who assists President Donald Trump in what he described as interference with California’s elections would face prosecution under state law.

Newsom: Let me speak directly to anyone considering helping President Trump interfere with our election or our count: If you violate California’s laws, if you interfere with our voters, tamper with our ballots, or meddle in our election, you will be prosecuted. It doesn’t matter who gave the order.

That’s why I’m moving forward with new legislation that would make it a felony to seize ballots before the vote has been certified by state and county officials.

We will be the wall he cannot get past because we believe that, once an election is decided, the winner governs for everyone. That’s the architecture of American liberty.

Donald Trump—he doesn’t believe in that architecture.

Keep reading

Ancient ‘lost world’ discovered off the US West coast rewrites story of first Americans who arrived 13,000 years ago

A remote ‘lost world’ off California‘s coast could rewrite the story of the first Americans. 

Hidden among the Channel Islands are 13,000-year-old human remains, ancient settlements and evidence suggesting some of the continent’s earliest inhabitants may have arrived by boat rather than crossing an inland ice corridor. 

If correct, the theory would overturn decades of conventional thinking that the first Americans crossed a land bridge from Siberia and traveled south through an ice-free corridor in western Canada. 

Instead, it suggests Ice Age humans reached North America thousands of years ago by following a coastal ‘kelp highway,’ using boats to move along the Pacific shoreline and settle places like the Channel Islands. 

The islands have also yielded the bones of pygmy mammoths and remarkably preserved archaeological sites that offer an unprecedented glimpse into Ice Age life.  Scientists have described the chain of islands as a place where ancient landscapes and human history have been frozen in time. 

Researchers said the evidence points to a forgotten maritime migration that could fundamentally change our understanding of America’s earliest people. And they believe many of the answers may still be waiting to be uncovered. 

The Channel Islands have been studied by scientists and archaeologists for more than a century, with some of their most important discoveries, including the remains of Arlington Springs Man, emerging during excavations in the mid-20th century. 

Now, a new documentary released on June 30 on the YouTube channel Timeline is bringing fresh attention to these discoveries and the mysteries that still lie beneath the islands and surrounding waters.

Not all archaeologists agree that the Channel Islands provide definitive proof of a maritime migration. 

While many researchers now accept that people were present in the Americas before the Clovis culture, experts continue to debate exactly when the first settlers arrived and whether they traveled by sea, by land, or through a combination of routes. 

The eight California Channel Islands lie in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California, stretching from Point Conception near Santa Barbara to south of Los Angeles.

Author Frederic Caire Chiles, who has a PhD in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara, said in the film: ‘They are the trace of a vanished world.’

Keep reading

SoCal: Absolute Mayhem in Newport Beach as Non-Residents Brawl, Riot and Loot on July 4th – Grocery Store Destroyed, Bars and Beaches Closed

Absolute chaos erupted in Newport Beach, California, on Saturday night as non-residents visiting the peninsula brawled, rioted, looted, and destroyed a grocery store on the 4th of July.

Newport Beach Police were forced to close beaches and bars due to the mayhem.

Mounted police broke up a massive brawl on the beach just north of the Newport pier.

Additional footage shows a Pavillions grocery store completely destroyed after the rioters looted the place.

The out-of-towners ignored a directive by Newport Beach Police and launched mortars on the beach.

The California Post reported:

Fourth of July descended into mayhem across Southern California as unruly crowds overwhelmed packed-out fireworks displays, looted stores, ignited fires and saw cops charge on horseback.

The worst unrest erupted in Newport Beach, where Independence Day revelers poured into Orange County, choking traffic and triggering a police response as disorder spread near the pier.

Authorities ultimately shut down businesses from the Newport Pier to Pacific Coast Highway as officers moved in to restore order.

Officers were swarmed by hundreds of people who hurled bottles and other debris at them before the crowd turned on one another and began fighting.

Mounted officers rode horses into them to clear the area so additional arrests could be made.

Video from the scene also appeared to show the aftermath of the reported looting of a Pavilions grocery store in Newport Beach, with merchandise strewn across the parking lot while groups of people lingered outside the business, laughing and joking.

Keep reading

First $1 Billion, Now $50 Million: Khanna Says Wealth Tax “Must Not Stop At Billionaires”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) – fresh off endorsing California’s November ballot measure to seize 5% of billionaire wealth – published a Substack essay Wednesday titled, no really, “Why I Support a Billionaire Wealth Tax.”

He makes it roughly a dozen paragraphs before explaining that it isn’t one.

“The tax should not stop at billionaires, it must reach centimillionaires,” Khanna writes, before spelling out exactly what that means: every fortune of $50 million and up, hit with a 2% federal levy on wealth above that line – every year, forever, on top of everything else you already pay. The vehicle is Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which Khanna notes he has cosponsored every single year it’s been introduced.

And before anyone reaches for the estate planner: Khanna wants the levy to pierce irrevocable trusts, with the tax billed to the grantor who set them up – because parking a fortune in a trust, in his telling, shouldn’t take it off the government’s books.

Former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky summed up the reveal in eight words: “Just like that, no longer a billionaires tax.“

Pirate Wires’ Mike Solana was less diplomatic, characterizing the scheme as an annual asset seizure in which the government tallies everything you own and demands a cut on top of your existing tax bill – now openly targeting anyone worth $50 million. His prediction for where the ratchet stops: “this ends with your 401k.”

Keep reading

Six California Cities Ranked Among Top 10 Least Educated In US

Six California cities ranked among the top 10 least educated metropolitan areas in the United States, according to a report by WalletHub published on June 29.

Looking at the 150 most populated metro areas, the city of Visalia ranked as the second least educated, while Bakersfield was fourth, and Modesto, Fresno, Stockton, and Salinas followed.

All six are in central California.

The other four metros that rounded out the top ten were all in Texas – McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Brownsville-Harlingen, Beaumont-Port Arthur, and El Paso, at first, third, ninth, and tenth least educated, respectively.

“Higher education doesn’t guarantee better financial opportunities in the future, but it certainly correlates with it,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report.

“The most educated cities provide good learning opportunities from childhood all the way through the graduate level.”

As Dylan Morgan reports for The Epoch Times, to determine the ranking, WalletHub equally factored in the share of adults at least 25 years old who have a high school diploma or higher, who have at least some college experience, who have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and who have a graduate or professional degree.

Visalia ranked last among the 150 metros in percent of bachelor’s degree holders and percent of graduate or professional degree holders.

It ranked 107th highest in median annual household income, and there appeared to be a general correlation between income and education rates across the nation.

However, Visalia still had a lower poverty rate than the state average—11.3 percent compared to 11.8 percent, according to U.S. Census data—and Stockton ranked as having the 31st highest median household income while Salinas ranked as 26th highest, though those two cities were near the bottom in education.

Education and income rate correlations may not reflect California’s higher cost of living and regional economic structures, such as the Central Valley’s reliance on agriculture, an industry that has not historically required higher education the same way other California hubs have, such as Silicon Valley.

The San Jose metro, home to Silicon Valley, ranked as the fourth most educated in the United States.

WalletHub said that more than 55 percent of the San Jose metro’s population over the age of 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree, while nearly 28 percent have an advanced degree. .

It also ranked third for university quality. San Jose is near Stanford University and has Santa Clara University and San Jose State University in the center of the metro.

The nearby San Francisco metro area, which is home to the University of California—Berkeley, ranked as the eighth most educated.

Keep reading

Unfair! University of California, Riverside Grant Funding Favors Illegal Aliens Over Americans

According to a report from Campus Reform, the University of California, Riverside’s Undocumented Student Programs offers up to $9,000 annually through its Butterfly Project Fellowship to “DREAMers, students from mixed-status families, and undocu allies,” while a comparable graduate research grant for U.S. citizen graduate students provides up to $4,000 per year.”

This program rewards lawbreakers while punishing American citizens, something which is entirely unfair.

“According to fellowship materials reviewed by Campus Reform, the Butterfly Project Fellowship provides up to $9,000 annually to illegal alien graduate students, with awards disbursed through the Financial Aid Office.”

There shouldn’t be incentives at American academic institutions for foreign nationals who break our laws, and the fact that there are is an outrage that rewards lawlessness.

Recipients of this insane “fellowship” are also given the opportunity to attend college and “Undocumented Student Programs events while continuing to advance their graduate research.”

“A comparable funding opportunity for American citizens available through UCR is the Dissertation Research Grant, administered by the university’s Graduate Division. The grant provides up to $2,000 per application during both the fall and spring quarters, allowing recipients to receive up to $4,000 annually.”

That’s a considerably lower amount than what illegal aliens get and shows a disparity.

Keep reading

DOJ Opens New Front in Second Amendment Fight Against California

It’s a pretty grand time to be a Second Amendment advocate. The right to keep and bear arms has been boosted by several recent court decisions, key among them being New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which changed the landscape of legal matters concerning the Second Amendment for good.

As a result of Bruen, several anti-gun laws and proposed laws have been, one might say, shot down. Now, in the latest, Harmeet Dhillon, United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, has announced a new lawsuit by the Justice Department (DOJ) challenging California’s Glock ban and handgun roster law.

The official press release, found here, states in part:

“The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”

California’s new law would ban the retail purchase of common handguns manufactured by Glock and guns with similar firing mechanisms. The state’s existing “Handgun Roster” further limits the types of handguns citizens can lawfully purchase in California. The United States Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense in Wolford v. Lopez. The Court reiterated that states cannot prevent citizens from using commonly used firearms for self-defense.

Yes, the right to keep and bear arms properly falls to the Civil Rights Division. People on the left, most of whom lack even a nodding acquaintance with the Bill of Rights, don’t get that, but the right to keep and bear arms, acknowledged (not granted) by the Second Amendment, is a fundamental civil right.

Keep reading

The Weirdest Campaign Strategy Ever Seen

Of all the ways to build an image while running for office, this has got to be the worst.

California State Senator Scott Wiener just helped to kill a bill that would have prevented registered sex offenders from holding office.

The Gateway Pundit reported,

California State Senator Scott Wiener helped kill a bill that would have barred registered sex offenders from running for or holding public office in California.

On Tuesday, Wiener’s Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee defeated Assembly Bill 2753 after the measure had sailed through the State Assembly unanimously.

Authored by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria of Merced, the bill would have prohibited anyone required to register as a sex offender under California’s three-tier system from seeking or serving in state or local offices such as city council, school board, or the legislature.

The legislation was introduced after registered sex offender Rene Campos, who pleaded no contest in 2018 to a misdemeanor involving possession of child sex abuse material, announced a bid for Fresno City Council.

Soria had promised her constituents she would act to prevent sex offenders from running.

“It’s deeply disturbing that this issue is unfolding in my own backyard. The idea that a registered sex offender could run for public office in the City of Fresno is unacceptable,” Soria said in a press release announcing the bill. “This bill will ensure once and for all that registered sex offenders are prohibited from seeking public office in California, so voters can have confidence that those seeking to represent them meet the most basic standards of public trust.”

Wiener, who chairs the committee, opposed the bill and said he would support it only if amended to apply solely to lifetime Tier 3 registrants.

Keep reading

Creepy California State Sen. Scott Wiener Helps Kill Bill That Would Have Barred Sex Offenders from Public Office, Says ‘Some People Just Have Flaws’

California State Senator Scott Wiener helped kill a bill that would have barred registered sex offenders from running for or holding public office in California.

On Tuesday, Wiener’s Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee defeated Assembly Bill 2753 after the measure had sailed through the State Assembly unanimously.

Authored by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria of Merced, the bill would have prohibited anyone required to register as a sex offender under California’s three-tier system from seeking or serving in state or local offices such as city council, school board, or the legislature.

The legislation was introduced after registered sex offender Rene Campos, who pleaded no contest in 2018 to a misdemeanor involving possession of child sex abuse material, announced a bid for Fresno City Council.

Soria had promised her constituents she would act to prevent sex offenders from running.

“It’s deeply disturbing that this issue is unfolding in my own backyard. The idea that a registered sex offender could run for public office in the City of Fresno is unacceptable,” Soria said in a press release announcing the bill. “This bill will ensure once and for all that registered sex offenders are prohibited from seeking public office in California, so voters can have confidence that those seeking to represent them meet the most basic standards of public trust.”

Wiener, who chairs the committee, opposed the bill and said he would support it only if amended to apply solely to lifetime Tier 3 registrants.

Keep reading