Tag: los angeles

Kamala Just Got a Humiliating Reality Check About Her Irrelevance

Kamala Harris just suffered a major humiliation in Los Angeles, and it’s one that speaks volumes about her diminished political stature… assuming she even had any political stature.

On Saturday, the LAPD quietly withdrew its officers from guarding the former vice president’s Brentwood home, ending a weeklong arrangement that had drawn fierce criticism for pulling cops away from fighting real crime in the city. For Kamala the optics couldn’t be worse. A once untouchable figure who enjoyed the trappings of high office is now struggling to find anyone willing, or obligated, to protect her.  

The saga began when President Trump revoked Harris’s Secret Service protection, which Joe Biden had ordered to be extended far beyond the customary six-month window after a vice presidency. Kamala’s aides had pushed for that unusual extension, claiming safety concerns, and Biden obliged—granting cover for another two years. Trump, upon retaking office, terminated that special privilege. That ought to have settled things, but California’s Democratic leadership wasn’t about to let the embarrassment linger unaddressed. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass jumped in, directing the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division to step in alongside the California Highway Patrol so Harris wouldn’t appear abandoned.  

Of course, those officers didn’t appear out of nowhere. The LAPD diverted those officers from crime suppression duties in the San Fernando Valley—a part of Los Angeles already ravaged by spikes in theft, gangs, and violent crime. Los Angeles residents know that officers are stretched dangerously thin, yet Bass thought it appropriate to reroute them to stand guard outside a multimillion-dollar Brentwood mansion. 

To say this landed poorly with rank-and-file cops is an understatement.  

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents front-line officers, blasted the arrangement as inappropriate and unfair. Taxpayers, they said, shouldn’t be footing the bill for a partisan security favor, not when ordinary residents endure slow response times and skyrocketing crime. 

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Gavin Newsom declares war on the Marines

Term limited California Governor Gavin Newsom is running for the Democrat Party nomination for President in 2028. He’s not certain against whom he’ll be running, so he’s running against America. He’s been governing against California for years, so why not extend that kind of governance to the whole country?

California Governor Gavin Newsom attacked the U.S. Marines and National Guard on Saturday as “bringing war to the American people” in trashing their recent mission to restore order to the streets of Los Angeles.

His purpose: to attack President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize by trying to resolve conflicts around the world.

In his first seven months in office, Trump has ended at least six wars and for the first time it appears possible he’ll end the war between Ukraine and Russia, a conflict that has cost Russia untold billions and a million of its young men wounded, captured or killed. That’s quite the campaign. Even should that effort fail, it’s impossible to identify a more deserving recipient of the Peace Prize in this or the last century.

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Why Don’t We Know What Caused the L.A. Fires?

It’s been eight months since the California wildfires incinerated hundreds of homes and left charred scars stretching for miles in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena. The natives are getting restless, however. Angelenos want to know what officially caused these fires, which led to homelessness and despair and contributed to a corrosive and abiding distrust of local and state government competence.

What’s the holdup? 

We’re getting closer to finding out the cause, ironically, not from the state’s congressional delegation and its two troubled senators, but rather because a Florida senator is demanding answers. 

Senator Rick Scott, at the bidding of desperate Palisades fire victims, answered their pleas to get answers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF took command of the investigation less than a week after the Palisades fire sparked at 10:30 a.m on Tuesday, January 7.

Scott met with Palisades fire victims, including Spencer Pratt, a cast member from the MTV show “The Hills,” who lost his home in the fire. Pratt has become a leading spokesman for fire victims. He arranged a meeting with Scott in the Palisades, where the senator promised to get a briefing from the ATF for fire victims. 

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L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Demands End to ICE Raids that Captured Illegal Alien Child Molester Working at Car Wash

Los Angeles, California, Mayor Karen Bass (D) is demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) end all worksite raids “at fruit stands and car washes” in the sanctuary city, just as agents arrested an illegal alien convicted child molester at an Orange County, California, car wash.

This week, Bass posted on X that ICE raids “at fruit stands and car washes must end,” calling such raids “un-American” and declaring that she “will never accept these tactics as a new normal.”

United States Border Patrol agents arrested illegal alien Claudio Reyes-Vasquez during a targeted operation at Chapman Car Wash in Orange County, just an hour outside of Los Angeles.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials called Reyes-Vasquez “one of the worst of the worst,” noting that he had been arrested for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old and had an active federal warrant for his arrest after violating his probation.

Most significantly, perhaps, Reyes-Vasquez has a criminal record going back to 1990 — having been convicted of molesting a child, beating his spouse, two DUIs, battery, petty theft, and illegal reentry.

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Blue State Lawmaker Hit With Corruption Charges

Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price, a Democrat, is facing additional corruption charges after new evidence revealed that the city’s housing authority and LA Metro paid Price’s wife more than $800,000.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that two new public corruption charges had been filed against the embattled lawmaker. The latest charges build on the existing case against Price, which has existed since 2023.

In June of that year, he was charged with five felony counts of embezzlement of government funds, three felony counts of perjury and two felony counts of conflict of interest.

Prosecutors allege that Del Richardson & Associates, a company owned solely by Price’s wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, received payments totaling upwards of $150,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers who had been green-lit for city contracts by the councilman. Price is also accused of embezzling approximately $33,800 in city funds from 2013-2017 to pay for medical benefits for Richardson, who he falsely claimed was his wife while still legally married to Lynn Suzette Price,” Fox 11 Los Angeles reported.

Price pleaded not guilty to those charges in December 2023 and was released.

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Democrat Los Angeles City Councilman Charged with Corruption for Embezzling $800,000

A Democrat Los Angeles City Councilman has been charged with corruption for embezzling $800,000.

The Los Angeles DA filed two new charges against Curren Price this week alleging the embezzlement of public funds and awarding contracts for his own financial gain.

Price was first hit with five embezzlement charges in 2023. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Embezzling public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial gain is the antithesis of public service,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. “Our communities expect and deserve better from their public officials. I thank our investigative team and prosecutors in the Public Integrity Division for diligently pursuing every lead and holding elected officials accountable. Self-dealing and pay-to-play politics will not be tolerated in Los Angeles County.”

Per the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office:

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has filed two new public corruption charges against Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price after uncovering evidence that the city’s housing authority and LA Metro paid Price’s wife more than $800,000 total at the same time Price voted to award the agencies multimillion-dollar contracts.

Curren De Mille Price Jr. has been the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the Ninth District since 2013. Like all other councilmembers, he is prohibited from having a financial interest associated with any project that comes before the City Council.

Price (dob 12/16/50) was charged on June 13, 2023, in case BA515782 with five felony counts of embezzlement of government funds, three felony counts of perjury and two felony counts of conflict of interest.

The 10 felony counts allege that Del Richardson & Associates, a company owned solely by Price’s wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, received payments totaling more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers before he voted to approve projects.

Price is also accused of embezzling approximately $33,800 in city funds from 2013-2017 to pay for medical benefits for Richardson, who he falsely claimed was his wife while still legally married to Lynn Suzette Price.

Price pleaded not guilty to these charges on Dec. 15, 2023. He was released on his own recognizance.

Subpoenas in the case yielded additional evidence of public corruption. On Aug. 11, prosecutors filed an amended complaint alleging two additional counts of conflict of interest. The complaint includes an appendix of 39 exhibits of evidence of the payments and Price’s voting history.

Between Oct. 22, 2019, and June 30, 2020, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles allegedly paid Del Richardson & Associates approximately $609,600. During this time, Price voted to support a $35 million federal grant and a state grant application for $252 million for the agency.

Price’s staff had flagged the item of interest prior to the votes.

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Filing: Smartmatic Gave Unlawful Gifts To LA Official Who Helped Obtain Voting Firm’s ‘Lucrative Contract’

“[I]t now seems irrefutable that” voting technology company Smartmatic gave unlawful gifts to the Los Angeles County official who helped obtain the firm’s “lucrative contract” with the county, a new filing by Fox News alleges. Fox also argues a recent filing from the DOJ indicates that executives at Smartmatic, which is currently involved in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News over the latter’s reporting on the 2020 election, “funneled” L.A. County tax dollars to a “slush fund.”

Fox News is seeking “public records relating to the relationship between certain L.A. County officials and the election systems company Smartmatic,” according to a recent filing. The company also seeks information pertaining to the process by which Smartmatic was awarded a contract that permitted them to “build voting equipment for” and run the Los Angeles’ state, federal, and local elections.

“Since Fox News filed its original petition, subsequent productions by L.A. County and recent U.S. Department of Justice … filings have revealed stark indications that Smartmatic’s most senior executives engaged in some of the same patterns of misconduct in Smartmatic’s contracting with L.A. County as they have been accused of elsewhere,” the filing reads.

Fox’s “amended petition” asks the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles to direct the county, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (collectively referred to as the “County”) to comply with California public records law.

Fox News states that it previously uncovered evidence showing Smartmatic provided Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and Clerk Dean Logan with “business class travel, expensive entertainment, and other personal benefits” that Logan “had not disclosed as required by law.” County documents later revealed, as described in Fox News’ filing, “Mr. Logan cultivated unusually close relationships with Smartmatic executives through frequent communication, dinners, and other social gatherings, several of which included a spouse and/or partner.”

But, as Fox News alleges, the county still produced “incomplete” records and “omitted many responsive documents.” Fox News suggests that “much of this underproduction” occurred because “the county is reliant” on Logan “to provide the responsive records.”

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LA’s secret celebrity tunnel was just a rumor. Until workers found it.

In its near-century of existence, Chateau Marmont — a faux French castle perched on a hill near the entrance of West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip — has kept countless secrets for the artists, actors and other icons that have stalked its halls. It has also held a few mysteries of its own, including a long-rumored secret tunnel. 

Famously, the bohemian playground-slash-hotel doesn’t allow photos in its public spaces so that guests can unwind away from the outside world’s prying eyes. (Not that it’s ever stopped paparazzi from lurking on the sidewalk right outside.) As such, Chateau Marmont’s reputation as a comforting haven has made it a Hollywood favorite, with film director Billy Wilder once describing its appeal this way: “I would rather sleep in a bathroom than in another hotel.”

Every once in a while, though, fizzy tales do manage to trickle outside Chateau’s secretive walls, such as when Lindsay Lohan reportedly racked up a staggering $46,000 tab from her extensive stay there, or when Doors rocker Jim Morrison scaled the rooftops of the hotel’s bungalows late at night throughout the 1960s. 

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Federal court dismisses case against LA school Covid shot mandate

A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Covid-19 vaccine mandate for employees.

The case was brought in 2021 by the Health Freedom Defense Fund and   California Educators for Medical Freedom on behalf of school employees. More than 1,000 employees lost their jobs after refusing Covid shots. Plaintiffs argued the mandate violated their right to refuse unwanted medical treatment, especially since the shots did not prevent transmission.

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in an 11-judge “en banc” decision, ruled that LAUSD had the authority to require Covid vaccination in 2021. At the time, public health authorities, including the CDC, were advising that the shots would protect public health.

Several judges dissented, warning the decision comes “perilously close” to allowing the government to mandate medical treatments “so long as it asserts — even if incorrectly — that it would promote public health and safety.”

The majority opinion relied on the 1905 Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, which upheld a smallpox vaccine mandate. The dissenting judges said Jacobson applies only to vaccines that stop disease transmission, which plaintiffs argued Covid shots do not do.

LAUSD ended its employee vaccine mandate in September 2023. However, plaintiffs say they still suffer harm, including lost wages and career damage, and warn the policy could return. They are considering an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

“This ruling should terrify every American because the court is essentially saying it doesn’t matter whether or not health authorities lie, it doesn’t matter whether or not vaccines actually have a public health impact. All that matters is that someone is afraid and tells you that this is the right way to address the problem, and then you have to comply.”
— Leslie Manookian, Health Freedom Defense Fund

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TDS Alert: LA Times Columnist Urges Los Angeles to Drop 2028 Olympics Over Trump’s Role

A Los Angeles Times columnist has called for the city to withdraw from hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics, citing opposition to President Donald Trump’s role in overseeing federal preparations for the event, as reported by Fox News.

In his column, Gustavo Arellano expressed concern that Trump, as head of the White House Olympics Task Force, would use the games — scheduled for July 14–30, 2028 — to promote his policies and political image.

Arellano described the federal involvement in Olympic security as expected, but said Trump’s leadership makes the situation “problematic.”

“The federal government was always going to play a role in providing security for the 2028 Olympics, just as it has for previous Games in the U.S. But Trump, as the head of the task force, now gets to personally oversee our own siege,” Arellano wrote.

The columnist argued that Trump could use the next three years of Olympic preparations to “humiliate blue L.A.” and to showcase his immigration enforcement policies.

Arellano warned that during the Games, Trump might “proclaim his mission accomplished” in a Los Angeles he described as “radically transformed by his deportation blitzkrieg.”

Arellano criticized Casey Wasserman, chair of the Los Angeles 2028 organizing committee, for praising Trump during the announcement of his role.

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