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-Lurid Crime Tales-

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells Accuses AG Bonta of Protecting Child Traffickers, Ties Crisis to Becerra's HHS Failures

2026-08-21

Megan Barth
August 20, 2026

[California Globe] In a viral video posted Wednesday, El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells detailed how California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s

…D, of course, naturalized Filipino-American, he’s been carrying Soros water since he was a mere California state assemblyman, a decade before he became an official Soros AG…

office instructed local police not to conduct welfare checks on approximately 50 children in his city flagged as possible sex trafficking victims—because doing so based on federal information could violate the state’s sanctuary law.

The mayor's video on X.

The video features Wells recounting the sequence of events and connecting it to broader Democratic failures under former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra—now the Democratic frontrunner for California governor—when hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children went missing or unaccounted for under his watch, numbers Wells’ reveals was in the range of 319,000 to 320,000.

"We got word that there were around 50 children in our city who were suspected victims of sex trafficking. We wanted to go get them. That is the whole job. That is why you put on the badge," Wells said in the reel.

The city’s attorney warned that under state law, officers—not the traffickers—would be the ones in violation. Any officer knocking on a door risked criminal charges, loss of pension, and livelihood.

El Cajon officials then formally asked Sacramento for guidance: Could police check on the children? Bonta’s office replied in writing : No.

"I keep that response because people don’t believe me when I describe it. They think it’s hyperbole, or politics, or some wild-eyed conspiracy theory. It isn’t. It’s a letter. It’s the state of California telling a police department to leave trafficked children where they are," Wells stated. "It happened in my town. I have no reason to believe my town is unique."

Federal authorities had previously flagged 52 unaccompanied migrant children with addresses in El Cajon as potential trafficking victims. Local officials sought Bonta’s guidance before acting; the AG’s office warned that wellness checks "alongside or based on information provided by federal immigration authorities" could violate Senate Bill 54, the 2017 California Values Act sanctuary law (see below). That refusal helped spur El Cajon’s April 2026 lawsuit against Bonta challenging the sanctuary policies as conflicting with federal law and endangering children.

Senate Bill 54, the 2017 California Values Act, signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown, authored by then-Senate President Kevin de León, was enacted as a response to the first Trump administration’s immigration enforcement priorities. It generally prohibits state and local law enforcement from using resources to assist federal immigration authorities.

As California Globe has previously reported, SB 54 specifically bars California agencies from inquiring into an individual’s immigration status; detaining someone on the basis of an ICE hold request; providing release date or personal information; participating in arrests based on civil immigration warrants; assisting in interrogations or arrests of noncitizens for immigration purposes; transferring individuals to immigration authorities without a judicial warrant in most cases; and contracting with the federal government to house immigration detainees, among other restrictions. Limited exceptions supposedly exist for individuals convicted of certain serious or violent felonies, yet...

According to the Department of Homeland Security, as of February 6, 2026, ICE had active detainers for over 33,000 criminal non-citizens in California custody, including murderers, sex offenders, and drug traffickers.

"California’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 4,561 criminal illegal aliens since January 20. The crimes of these aliens include 31 homicides, 661 assaults, 574 burglaries, 184 robberies, 1,489 dangerous drugs offenses, 379 weapons offenses, and 234 sexual predatory offenses," DHS reported.

"There are currently 33,179 aliens in the custody of a California jurisdiction with active detainers. The crimes of these aliens include 399 homicides, 3,313 assaults, 3,171 burglaries, 1,011 robberies, 8,380 dangerous drugs offenses, 1,984 weapons offenses, and 1,293 sexual predatory offenses."

Wells has repeatedly described the conflict: officers risk violating either federal law by following state sanctuary rules or state law by cooperating with federal tips on vulnerable minors.

In related Globe coverage, "Failure in Pomona: Thousands of Migrant Children Missing," former Lake Elsinore mayor Thomas Buckley detailed how HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement under Becerra lost track of at least 85,000 unaccompanied minors. Many were processed at the Pomona Fairplex emergency intake site in California. Whistleblowers described children sent to fake addresses (including empty fields), known gang members, and suspected traffickers; some were forced into sex work or labor.

Secretary Becerra prioritized rapid releases over rigorous vetting and follow-up, reportedly comparing the process to a Ford assembly line. In June, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s delivered a sharp rebuke of Becerra’s record: "His only notable accomplishments here were losing 300,000 children, referred to HHS for custody and care, to human traffickers and drug runners..." Kennedy pledged to locate the children Becerra lost.

While Bonta’s office has publicized its own anti-trafficking operations, the El Cajon episode underscores a policy conflict: state sanctuary rules that treat federal tips on at-risk migrant minors as off-limits for local police.

Critics, including Wells, argue this prioritizes protecting illegal immigration status over child welfare. Bonta has dismissed the El Cajon lawsuit as politically motivated. Wells maintains the written refusal from Sacramento is not theory but documented state policy that left suspected child victims unchecked.

As California’s gubernatorial race intensifies with Becerra as frontrunner, Wells’ video forces the question into the open: When local law enforcement is barred from checking on children flagged for sex trafficking, whose interests does Sacramento truly serve?

Copy of Bonta's letter in a PDF file.

Link

Government Corruption

Who pays for Newsom's travel? Hint: It's not always taxpayers

2026-02-15

[LAT via MSN] Gov. Gavin Newsom sat onstage at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday and described one of the primary ways he is responding as the Trump administration shifts federal climate priorities.

“I’m showing up,” he said.

In recent months, that has meant trips to Brazil, Switzerland and now Germany, where he has repeatedly positioned California as a global climate partner. The travel has also revived a recurring question from critics and watchdog groups: Who pays for those trips?

In many cases, the costs are not borne by taxpayers.

About the only thing in California that is.

The governor's office said his international travel is paid for by the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that is funded primarily by corporate donations and run by a board Newsom appoints.

Filed by corporate accountants, no doubt as good will rather than bribes…

For decades, California governors have relied on nonprofits to pick up the tab for official travel, diplomatic events and other costs that would otherwise be paid with taxpayer funds.

"The Foundation’s mission is to lessen the burden on California taxpayers by reimbursing appropriate expenses associated with advancing the state’s economic and diplomatic interests," said Jason Elliott, a former high-ranking advisor to Newsom whom the governor added to the foundation's board.

While the arrangement helps the state's pocketbook, critics say it is another avenue for corporate interests to gain influence. Among the donors to the foundation are healthcare giants like Centene and CVS Pharmacy, while the bulk of revenue stems from separate nonprofits affiliated with the governor made up of power players with business before the state.

"The problem with the protocol foundation and others like it is that donors to these foundations receive access to the politicians whose travel they fund," said Carmen Balber, executive director of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.

WHEN DID NONPROFITS START PAYING FOR GUBERNATORIAL TRAVEL?
The protocol foundation was created as a tax-exempt charity during Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration in 2004.

Similar nonprofits have existed since Gov. George Deukmejian created one in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, Gov. Gray Davis dramatically increased the use of nonprofits to cover travel, housing and political events.

When Schwarzenegger left office, his supporters turned the protocol foundation over to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's backers, who in turn handed it over to Newsom's camp. The foundation describes its mission in federal tax filings as “relieving the State of California of its obligations to fund certain expenditures of the Governor’s Office.”

Newsom appoints members to the foundation board, which then is responsible for determining what expenses to cover in the governor's office. In its most recent tax filing covering 2024, the foundation lists its board chair as Steve Kawa, who served as Newsom’s chief of staff when he was mayor of San Francisco. The foundation's secretary in those filings is Jim DeBoo, who was Newsom's chief of staff in the governor's office until 2022.

The foundation reported total revenue of $1.3 million in 2024 and, after expenses, had a balance of less than $8,000.

WHAT IS THE FOUNDATION PAYING FOR?
The foundation covers the cost of Newsom’s international travel and certain domestic trips, including Climate Week in New York, when he is acting in his role as governor. His staff's travel is also covered by the foundation. The governor's office declined to say whether the foundation also pays for Newsom's security detail.

Publicly available records are vague, but Newsom's annual financial disclosure forms show the foundation paid more than $13,000 for the governor’s 2024 trip to Italy, where he delivered a speech on climate change at the Vatican.

That same year, the foundation paid nearly $4,000 for his trip to Mexico City to attend the inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum. The cost of both trips included flights, hotel and meals for his “official travel,” according to the disclosure records, which are filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission and known as Form 700s.

Newsom has reported receiving $72,000 in travel, staff picnics and holiday events from the protocol foundation since he took office in 2019, according to the disclosures.

The foundation paid $15,200 for the governor's 2023 trip to China, where he visited five cities in seven days during an agenda packed with meetings, sightseeing and celebrations, including a private tour of the Forbidden City.

In 2020, the foundation paid $8,800 for Newsom to travel to Miami for Super Bowl LIV — where he said he was representing the state as the San Francisco 49ers faced the Kansas City Chiefs.

The governor's office said it did not yet have the amount picked up by the foundation for Newsom's travel to Brazil to attend the United Nations climate summit known as COP30 or to Switzerland for the World Economic Summit.

WHO ARE THE DONORS BEHIND THE FOUNDATION?
In some cases, the well-heeled funders behind the foundation's cash flow are easy to identify on state websites.

Donations to the foundation that are solicited directly or indirectly by Newsom are recorded with the Fair Political Practices Commission as behested payments. A behested payment occurs when an elected official solicits or suggests that a person or organization give to another person or organization for a legislative, governmental or charitable purpose.

The environmental grantmaker Resources Legacy Fund contributed $100,000 to the protocol foundation last year, a donation which records show came shortly after the organization announced that it had hired Newsom's former mayoral chief of staff Phil Ginsburg.

Last year, the clean-energy nonprofit U.S. Energy Foundation donated $150,000 for the California delegation to attend COP30 in Belém, Brazil. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation donated $300,000 in a 2023 behested payment earmarked for the California delegation traveling to China for the meetings on climate change. UC Berkeley gave $220,000 for the governor's office's trip to the Vatican in 2024.

Most donations simply indicate that they are directed for "general operating support" of the foundation. That includes two donations from the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company Zoox Inc. cumulatively worth $80,000.

Two charities set up to pay for Newsom's inaugurations in 2019 and 2023 moved more than $5 million to the protocol foundation since 2019. The financial backers behind those inaugural charities include powerful unions, corporations, tribal casino interests, trade associations and healthcare giants — organizations with significant financial stakes in state policy decisions.

PAST SPENDING BY THE FOUNDATION HAS BEEN CRITICIZED
During Schwarzenegger’s administration, his office avoided fully disclosing $1.7 million in travel costs paid for by the foundation, instead relying on vague internal memos and, in some cases, oral accounting, according to a 2007 Los Angeles Times investigation.

Schwarzenegger's expenses picked up by the foundation included leased Gulfstream jets costing up to $10,000 per hour and suites going for thousands of dollars a night. The Times' investigation found among the costs was $353,000 for a single round trip to China on a private jet in 2005.

The foundation also paid for Schwarzenegger’s travels to Japan, Europe, Canada and Mexico.

At the time, Schwarzenegger’s representatives told The Times the governor did not have to report the travel costs on his annual disclosure forms because the payments for the jets and suites were gifts to his office, not to him.

Newsom's office said the governor travels commercially, not on private jets.

Link

Government Corruption

Federal Audits Demand California Repay Over $1 Billion in Misused Medicaid Funds for Illegal Aliens

2026-01-20

By Megan Barth

[California Globe] An additional 2024 federal audit found the state improperly claimed $52.7 million in reimbursements for payments to illegal aliens

In a major escalation of federal oversight, audits by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Trump administration have determined that California must repay more than $1 billion in improperly claimed federal Medicaid funds tied to healthcare for illegal aliens.

But California is already broke…

The findings highlight California’s role as the "biggest culprit" among several blue states—including Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and the District of Columbia—that collectively face demands to return $1.35 billion in questioned reimbursements.

The revelation, first highlighted in a Fox News alert on Monday, underscores the ongoing fiscal strain caused by the state’s decision to extend full Medi-Cal coverage to all "undocumented migrants", a move that has ballooned costs to the near point of fiscal insolvency.

According to the CMS preliminary audit conducted in late 2025, California alone accounts for the lion’s share of $1.35 billion in improper federal reimbursements across several blue states. The audit found that these funds were used to subsidize non-emergency healthcare for non-citizens violating federal restrictions that limit Medicaid reimbursements to emergency services only for non-citizens without satisfactory immigration status.

Fox News reported that the Trump administration, through CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, is aggressively pursuing recovery of these funds, labeling the expenditures a "terrifying reality" of taxpayer dollars being diverted to support illegal immigration. Oz’s office emphasized that California was the "biggest culprit," with over $1 billion in questioned costs, some of which allegedly benefited individuals with violent criminal records.

The California Globe has extensively covered the fiscal fallout from Newsom’s Medi-Cal expansions. In 2022, the governor expanded coverage to undocumented seniors, and by January 2024, the program was opened to all undocumented immigrants regardless of age. This led to a massive enrollment surge, with an estimated 1.7 million non-citizens now on Medi-Cal rolls—representing about 11 percent of total participants. Costs have skyrocketed to nearly $10 billion annually, far exceeding initial projections and contributing to a $6.2 billion Medi-Cal deficit in early 2025.

Recent reports showing Medi-Cal is basically insolvent—costing taxpayers $23 billion over 2 years, forcing Newsom to get both an emergency loan and a bailout during the Biden administration.

Republican lawmakers and analysts have long warned of this outcome.

"We warned him," said Senator Brian Jones (R-San Diego) in a statement. "I urged the governor to immediately freeze his reckless Medi-Cal expansion for illegal immigrants a year and a half ago, before it buried our healthcare system and bankrupted the state. Had he listened, we wouldn’t be in this crisis—breaking promises, scrambling for loans, and cutting services for legal Californians just to keep this broken program afloat. Let’s be clear: Democrats are prioritizing illegal immigrants over citizens. With a massive deficit largely driven by this policy, our focus should be on preserving Medi-Cal for those it was originally designed to serve. Even Governor Jerry Brown understood this was a bad idea and refused to go down this path. After seven years of reckless expansions, Newsom is now backtracking to the same position Brown held from the beginning. It’s time to end the political games, immediately freeze this program, and restore Medi-Cal to serve those who are here legally."

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has projected that illegal alien healthcare now accounts for one-fourth of all state Medi-Cal spending, dwarfing allocations for law enforcement.

"California is financing its expansion of Medicaid to illegal aliens by implementing a budget gimmick to draw down increased federal funding, placing American taxpayers on the hook for the free health care California is giving to illegal aliens," the Congressional Budget Committee revealed.

This isn’t the first time California’s handling of federal Medicaid funds has come under scrutiny. A 2024 audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the state improperly claimed $52.7 million in reimbursements for payments to illegal aliens. The OIG criticized California’s outdated proxy methodology, which failed to accurately exclude non-emergency costs, recommending periodic reassessments that the state has yet to fully implement.

The OIG’s earlier report recommended that California refund the $52.7 million and reassess its proxy system, but as of January 2026, no formal repayment has been confirmed.

Last November, California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) pushed back, insisting that the state is not misusing federal funds and that its Medi-Cal expansions comply with regulations. A spokesperson for Governor Newsom echoed this, stating that the program uses state funds to cover non-emergency services, while federal dollars are appropriately limited to emergencies.

Federal officials have not issued new public announcements since the 2025 audit findings, but HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard affirmed the administration’s stance: "Protecting Medicaid from waste, fraud, and abuse isn’t optional—it’s the law. Every dollar misspent on illegal health care spending is a dollar taken from vulnerable Americans. Federal law forbids using Medicaid funds for illegal immigrants, yet several Democrat-led states did it anyway. The Trump Administration won’t tolerate it. CMS is auditing aggressively, recovering every dollar, and holding states accountable."

Attempts to reach Governor Newsom’s office for comment were unsuccessful due to the holiday. We will reach out to the Governor’s office on Tuesday.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Another Failure: Gavin Newsom's Bankrupted Medi-Cal After Expanding Coverage to Illegal Aliens

2025-03-21

[RedState] California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Democrat, of course) bragged about a huge budget surplus during the COVID lockdowns and made big promises to his core constituencies about how they were going to use that money. For many reasons (pandemic unemployment fraud, gross mismanagement, huge tax base losses) that surplus isn't just gone; the state has such a large shortfall that some agencies were ordered to stop ordering office supplies.

Last year, despite loud warnings about the cost from (most) California Republicans and anyone else with a brain, Newsom and his band of virtue-signaling Democrats made Medi-Cal available to illegal aliens in the state - and now Medi-Cal is bankrupt and Newsom's asking the legislature for $6.2 billion just to keep it solvent through the end of the fiscal year.

Surprisingly, he admits that paying for healthcare coverage for illegal aliens is "partially" contributing to Medi-Cal's funding shortfall.

Where will that money Newsom's requesting come from? The state's general fund will probably be raided, and monies earmarked for other things (most likely from the $10 billion "climate change" bond voters approved last year, so not from anything important) will be diverted to pay for this boondoggle.

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-San Diego) wants to know why estimates were so far off (and so do the rest of us):

Just days after the Newsom Administration announced a $3.4 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants, they are now scrambling to secure an additional $2.8 billion just to keep the program solvent through June.

That’s a staggering $6.2 billion over budget...and the costs keep climbing with no end in sight. Californians should not be forced to shoulder the burden of radical Democrats' reckless financial mismanagement.

Even Jerry Brown refused to expand Medi-Cal to all illegal immigrants because he knew it was fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable. Now under Newsom, legal residents are paying the price both financially and in reduced access to healthcare.

The public deserves answers: Why are the costs so much higher than what Newsom promised? What is Newsom’s plan to fix the financial disaster he created?

Link

Government Corruption

Time to Bite the Bullet? Trump Administration Eyes Billions Going to California High-Speed Train

2025-02-13

[Turley.org] Kill it. Kill it now.
Despite a plethora of challenges, the Trump Administration is pushing ahead with its top-to-bottom review of government spending. It has already halted billions in what it views as wasteful spending. It now looks like one of the most wasteful, runaway public works projects in the country could be on the chopping block: California’s high-speed rail project. The project to build a bullet train from Los Angeles to Sacramento is an outrageous example of a public work that lacked any fiscal responsibility or oversight from the state government. Nevertheless, Democrats continue to push for billions more from the federal government as well as California taxpayers.

There is currently $4.3 billion in unspent federal funds for California’s high-speed rail project, and Trump should seek to claw back the money in light of the gross negligence shown by the California authorities.

The project was initially approved in 2008 with the support of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) as an environmental and technological advance for the state. It proved a costly bait-and-switch.

Voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue in 2008 after absurdly low estimates of the projected cost. Influential figures and companies stood to make a fortune, and the key was to get a "buy-in" worth billions so that it would be more and more difficult to abandon the project as overruns and delays sent the costs soaring.

Now the official estimate of future ridership has dropped by 25% and it demands billions more to complete a project that would be delayed by decades to complete. Remember that this entire project was meant to create a rail line of only 171 miles. It is projected at over $128 billion and could ultimately come in a billion dollars a mile. There are still uncompleted environmental assessments and challenging rail lines through the mountains.

In his first term, Trump criticized the project and withheld a billion dollars in federal aid. However, when President Joe Biden came into office, he opened the federal coffers and approved billions more despite well-documented mismanagement and dubious spending.

Trump is now pledging an investigation, which is long overdue. There is ample reason to suspect fraud and other possible violations in this multi-billion dollar boondoggle.

Indeed, this week, the inspector general, Benjamin Belnap, issued a scathing report on the first phase of still uncompleted project. That is only the stretch from Merced to Bakersfield which was supposed to be completed by 2033. Belnap wrote:

"With a smaller remaining schedule envelope and the potential for significant uncertainty and risk during subsequent phases of the project, staying within the 2033 schedule envelope is unlikely. In fact, uncertainty about some parts of the project has increased as the authority has recently made decisions that deviated from the procurement and funding strategies that were part of its plans for staying on schedule."

The Merced-Bakersfield line alone would now cost $35.3 billion, more than the 2008 projection for a complete system.

California Democrats have continued to throw money at the project without making meaningful changes on the overruns and delays. There is currently only $28.7 billion in state bonds left.

The inefficiency of the project has been raised for years. Even if completed, the system would reduce auto travel by 10 million miles a day in a state where citizens drive a billion miles a day. As noted by Cal Matters, "A 10 million-mile reduction would ostensibly cut emissions by scarcely 1%." It added:

Logically, spending emission auction money on more direct carbon reduction programs, such as reducing emission-spewing wildfires, would make more sense.

The current estimate for linking San Francisco with Southern California is $107 billion. Officials don’t even know how to fully finance Merced-Bakersfield, much less raise the other $72.4 billion they would need.

Both a federal investigation and a cessation of funding are long overdue. It is time to bite the bullet. California has every right to spend over $100 billion during budget deficits, but the rest of the country should not subsidize it

Link

Home Front: Politix

Biden Admin Concedes No Evidence Behind Recommendation for 6 Annual COVID Booster Shots

2023-08-10

[ZH] President Joe Biden's administration concedes that there is no scientific evidence to support an apparent recommendation to receive as many as six COVID-19 booster shots in a year.
After Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Biden appointee, wrote in a social media post on Nov. 29, 2022, that people should get vaccinated "if it’s been over 2 months since your last dose," the Functional Government Initiative (FGI) filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents supporting the statements.

The watchdog organization then sued after the administration didn't comply with timelines laid out in the law.

FGI asked for, among other documents: "Any scientific support relied on by Secretary Becerra when approving or issuing the tweet recommending that all Americans receive a booster shot every two months" and "any study, synopsis, or similar statement or document of scientific, academic, or government research on whether a bi-monthly booster shot will effectively prevent the transmission or susceptibility to COVID-19 and known active variants as of November 2022."

It also asked for internal communications regarding Mr. Becerra's statements.

In a new response, the government said it had no evidence to support Mr. Becerra's recommendation.

"The department reviewed 1,263 pages of potentially responsive records captured in the agency’s search for this FOIA request. After a careful review of these records, I determined the 1,263 pages were not relevant to your request," Alesia Williams, an official in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told FGI.

"The lack of a single of a single record supporting Secretary Becerra’s bold public health recommendation for six COVID boosters a year is a startling development," Pete McGinnis, a spokesman for FGI, said in a statement.

"It is tremendously irresponsible for the government’s chief health official to fire off tweets recommending frequent injections of a new vaccine booster apparently based on no academic or scientific support," Mr. McGinnis added.

"How can the public be assured that the agency is ’following the science’ on other important public health matters when it demonstrates such clear disregard for basic scientific integrity standards on an issue as important as COVID vaccine shots?"

The group noted that Mr. Becerra, a lawyer by training, lacks a background in health. Doctors typically lead that department.

BOOSTER RECOMMENDATIONS
As newer COVID-19 variants have emerged, the vaccines have performed increasingly worse. Federal officials inside HHS first cleared booster shots in 2021 due to the flagging effectiveness, and have since authorized and recommended additional shots.

In the spring of 2023, regulators had authorized, without clinical trial data, newly formulated versions of the vaccines aimed at Omicron subvariants. Federal officials had said that people should get a booster if more than two months had elapsed since their most recent shot. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said most people should only receive one additional shot, but that certain groups could receive more.

In another statement promoting vaccination, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that a single shot would protect people from COVID-19 for an entire year. There's no evidence supporting that claim.

Link

Olde Tyme Religion

California lawmakers to honor anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member, despite Dodgers backlash

2023-06-01

[FoxNews] The California State Legislature's LGBTQ Caucus is poised to honor a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the controversial group at the center of a backlash engulfing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who identify as a group of "queer and trans nuns," are known for mocking Christian beliefs, including holding an annual "Foxy Mary" and "Hunky Jesus" contest, pole dancing on crosses, and using the saying, "Go forth and sin some more!"

Michael Williams, a member of the group known as "Sister Roma" who runs a podcast covering pornographic movies and LGBTQ issues, is on the honoree list for the California Senate's upcoming Pride recognition night.

"For more than three decades, Sister Roma has been one of the most outspoken and globally recognized members of San Francisco's Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence," the LGBTQ Caucus' announcement said.

"Honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group whose sole mission is to sexualize nuns and mock Jesus, reveals the true depth of hatred California’s elected officials have for the millions of Catholics residing in the state," Mark Trammell, the executive director of the Center for American Liberty, told Fox News Digital.

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

Judge strikes down California's quota for women on corporate boards

2022-05-17

[JustTheNews] A California law requiring publicly-held corporations to include women on their boards has been declared unconstitutional by a Los Angeles judge.

Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis said the law, which requires corporations with principal executive offices in California to include women on their boards, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the state’s Constitution.

The law was challenged by Judicial Watch, who argued that the law created an unconstitutional gender-based quota system. Judicial Watch represented three California taxpayers who brought forth the case. The judge issued the ruling on Friday.

“Thankfully, California courts have upheld the core American value of equal protection under the law,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement Monday.

The 2018 law at the center of the case, Senate Bill 826, required that publicly held foreign or domestic corporations with principal executive offices in California add at least one female director to its board by the end of 2019. By January 2022, the law required corporations to have at least three female directors on boards of six or more members and at least two female directors on boards of five members.

Corporations that failed to file board member information to the Secretary of State regarding these regulations would face a fine of $100,000 for the first violation and $300,000 for subsequent violations and for failing to have the required number of female board members.

During the trial, however, the state admitted that the Secretary of State “had no plans to and has not taken any steps to issue the regulations necessary to impose fines.” According to the latest report, fewer than half of the almost 650 corporations failed to file a required corporate disclosure statement last year.

When the law passed, supporters of the bill hailed the law as a step to increase gender representation on corporate boards. But opponents of the bill, including the California Chamber of Commerce, were concerned that the mandate’s exclusive focus on gender “potentially elevates it as a priority over other aspects of diversity” when companies were looking at “all classifications” of diversity, according to a bill analysis.

A legislative analysis of the bill had previously said the law had a “significant risk for legal challenges,” saying that if the law was enacted, it would “likely be challenged on equal protection grounds.” When signing the bill, former Gov. Jerry Brown said he was aware of the “serious legal concerns” that were raised surrounding the legislation, according to Judicial Watch's complaint.

The state defended the constitutionality of the law during trial by arguing that the law as necessary to “remedy discrimination” and increase gender diversity in the selection process for directors on publicly held corporate boards. The court, however, said that SB 826’s text does not “reference discrimination nor remedying discrimination.”

Several states have followed California’s model by introducing similar proposals in their states. Washington, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Hawaii have introduced or enacted similar bills, according to the Associated Press.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Sirhan Sirhan Will Likely Leave Prison in 2021

2021-08-28

But Bobby Kennedy will still be dead.
[TheGuardian] The man who killed Robert F Kennedy was granted parole on Friday after two of the former attorney general, senator and presidential hopeful's sons spoke in favor of release and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars.

The decision was a major victory for Sirhan Sirhan,

...the Jerusalem-born, Christian Palestinian of Jordanian citizenship who showed his gratitude for growing up in the safety of the U.S. by killing a presidential candidate for supporting Israel...

77, though it did not assure his release.

The ruling by the two-person panel at Sirhan'16th parole hearing will be reviewed over 90 days by the California parole board. Then it will be sent to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant it, reverse it or modify it.
Sirhan has learned to show remorse (as he was not able to do as late as 2016) and has the entire leftist establishment on his side.

Bobby Junior decided that the confessed murderer of his father is innocent, so that’s that.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Triumph of the Woke Oligarchs

2020-04-27

h/t Instapundit
[Real Clear Energy] - Like the rest of the country, although far less than New York, California is suffering through the Covid-19 crisis. But in California, the pandemic seems likely to give the state’s political and corporate elites a new license to increase their dominion while continuing to keep the middle and working classes down.

Perhaps nothing spells the triumph of California’s progressive oligarchy more than Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to off-load the state’s recovery strategy to a task force co-chaired by hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer. A recently failed presidential candidate, Steyer stands as a progressive funder. He is as zealous as he is rich. Steyer sometimes even found the policies adopted by climate-obsessed former governor Jerry Brown not extreme enough for his tastes.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Looks Like Senator ‘Cryin’ Chuck’ Schumer Just Inadvertently OUTED One of Schiff’s Whistleblowers!

2019-11-24

[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] It looks like Senate Minority Leader and President Trump critic, Senator Chuck Schumer
...Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower, which is 43.966552880257055 years. Senate minority leader as of 2017...
, just outed one of Schifty Schiff’s whistleblowers. In a tweet this morning the Senator may have outed Schiff’s witness "LTC Alexander Vindman" as one of the whistleblowers!

In a tweet Chuck Schumer just referred to "Alexander Vindman and whistleblowers like him". What a dummy.

Would Cryin’ Chuck refer to Vindman "and whistleblowers like him" if Vindman wasn’t a whistleblower?

How does Cryin’ Chuck know this? We were told by Adam Schiff

...Showboating U.S. Representative for California's 28th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Schiff has served in Congress since 2001. He currently serves as the chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In a manner reminiscent of Joe McCarthy, on March 22, 2017, in a interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC Schiff claimed there was “more than circumstantial evidence now” that Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
's campaign colluded with Russia." Todd followed up by asking if he had seen direct evidence of collusion and Schiff responded that there was "evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation...
that the whistleblower’s identity was unknown?

Link

-Land of the Free

Trump Flips Another Circuit Court To Conservative Majority

2019-11-16

[DAILYWIRE] On Thursday, President Trump flipped another U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals into a conservative majority, as the Senate confirmed the nomination of White House attorney Steven Menashi to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals now has seven judges appointed by Republican presidents and six by Democrats. Democrats flailed about in hysteria over the Menashi nomination, in which he was confirmed 51-41 in a party line vote only excepted by Susan Collins of Maine, who voted against Menashi.

Menashi, 40, was viciously attacked by Democrats; Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer

...Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower, which is 43.94454725489264 years. Senate minority leader as of 2017...
raged, "Mr. Menashi is one of the most contemptible nominees to come before the Senate in all my time in this body. He would be a disgrace, a disgrace to the seat once held by the great Thurgood Marshall."

Link

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