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A dozen alleged members of an MS-13 gang in Santa Cruz have been accused in a revised indictment by a federal grand jury in San Jose of charges including murder, drug trafficking and racketeering.

One major part of the President’s recent shutdown showdown announcement was a dispute over funding to continue construction of the border wall. And the word “continue” is important here because portions of the project are already underway, in addition to the previous submissions of wall design samples. Much of that work took place in Southern California and now the city of San Diego has a message for all of the construction contractors who have taken part in the effort. Don’t bother applying for any more city contracts because you’re going to be on their blacklist. (Free Beacon) As President...

What if the bluest state in the country stole a third of a billion dollars from victims of chicanery and the media refused to notice?    I have been stunned at the lack of media coverage of California’s foiled robbery of almost a third of a billion dollars. That’s right: under Governor Jerry Brown, the Great State of California helped itself to hundreds of millions of dollars – money that was supposed to go to home owners, and you probably didn’t hear about it. Bib Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle was one of the few to cover this...

Sure, it’s just a primary. And the general election is five months away. But is that reason enough, in a state that has screamed its political resistance loud and clear, to sleep through an election? The answer, my fellow Californians, is yes. Andrew Hernandez, 30, told me he had not voted but he had the materials at home and might still cast a ballot. I asked who was running for governor. He thought for a moment, as if the answer might bubble up, but there was no fizz. “I couldn’t tell you,” he said. U.S. senator? Hernandez shook his head....

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte on Franklin Graham encouraging Evangelicals in California to get out and vote, the latest in California's governor's race and the debate over the state's new gas tax hike. Video at link!

CNN projected Republican John Cox will finish in the top two, and advance to the general election in the California governor’s race. Cox, a San Diego businessman, was endorsed by President Trump. Republicans feared they could be shut out of the governor’s race in November, which could have depressed GOP voter turnout and adversely affected the party's congressional candidates. Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was attempting a political comeback in the race, but will fall short of making the general election.

Hundreds of thousands of voters’ names have been accidentally left off the rosters in Los Angeles County because of a printing error. About 2.3 percent of registered voters in the county — or 118,522 voters — were missing on the lists for Tuesday’s primaries, according to The Los Angeles Times. But those voters are still able to cast provisional ballots, though they won’t be verified right away. This will have an impact in more than a dozen House districts, but will likely have the most dramatic effect on the race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Ed Royce, where Democrats are...

Voters on Tuesday head to the polls for California's pivotal primary, which could help determine whether Democrats will gain control of the House in the November midterms. The Golden State is home to 10 of the most competitive House races in the nation, virtually all currently held by Republicans. The state is a key to the Democratic Party’s plan to net the 23 seats it needs to flip the House majority in November. But uncertainty abounds thanks to the state's "jungle primary" system, where the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. The unusual dynamic...

Results and Observations, please.

In California, it’s different. The state doesn’t have primaries; it has a “top two” race, in which the top two vote-getters in a June primary election proceed to the general, regardless of party. Erected by referendum in 2010, the “top-two” system is supposed to circumvent party primaries on both sides to produce Democrats and Republican who appeal to the broad electorate. *** In practice, the system turns each cycle into a potential fiasco. The “top-two” elections might produce a Democrat and a Republican for the November ballot, or they could produce two Republicans or two Democrats. That’s what happened in...

The California Assembly discussed Thursday a bill that would replace Abraham Lincoln or George Washington’s birthday with International Socialist Workers’ Day as a paid holiday. California Democrat Assemblyman Miguel Santiago introduced Bill AB-3042, which would allow schools to replace Washington Day and Lincoln Day with Presidents’ Day and install an “International Workers’ Day” — conventionally known as “May Day” — as a second holiday. “I’m aghast that a bill like this would be able to get through committee,” California Republican Assemblyman Matthew Harper said to the Assembly. “Are we in competition to be the laughing stock of the United States?”...

The biggest boondoggle in California history is now under the microscope of the U.S. Department of Transportation as costs continue to climb on a multi-billion dollar high-speed rail project that routinely misses deadlines and blows through budgets. The DOT is currently auditing the pricey West Coast venture—something critics claim is long overdue on what’s essentially a pet project that’s billions in the red, seven years behind schedule and appears to have no plausible way of living up to its goal of getting riders across the state in three hours or less. The audit was requested by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif.,...

California’s air pollution levels are among the worst in the country, and climate change is making the situation worse, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. Despite the state’s efforts to reign in air pollution, 90 percent of California residents are exposed to unhealthy air at some point during the year, according to the State of the Air 2018 report. While air pollution is bad for everyone’s health, low-income communities, children, seniors, and people with underlying health problems tend to be most impacted when ozone and particle pollution levels soar, experts said. Afif El-Hasan, a pediatrician in...

California Governor Jerry Brown blamed “low-life politicians” for a growing backlash against the “sanctuary state” policies he has enacted in his state during an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

California has rejected the federal government’s initial plans for National Guard troops to the border because the work is considered too closely tied to immigration enforcement, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The state informed federal officials it will not allow its troops to fix and repair vehicles, operate remotely-controlled surveillance cameras to report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol, operate radios and provide “mission support,” which can include clerical work, buying gas and handling payroll, according to officials with knowledge of the talks who spoke condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Talks...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Tired of all this Winning yet? – Hey, Californian’s, you’re in luck! The feds are going to audit Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown’s high speed rail project, and, if the audit is conducted honestly, will likely conclude that it is time to cut off funding for the single biggest boondoggle in American history. Yes, dear readers, it isn’t bad enough that California’s utterly corrupt Democrat political class has already wasted billions of Californians’ dollars on this high-speed rail pipe dream, they’ve also already wasted $3.5 billion federal dollars, and are planning on wasting...

Gov. Jerry Brown urged the Legislature on Friday to "man up" and make spending cuts, acknowledging the state budget deficit is likely larger than he previously thought. The Democratic governor, in an interview on Bay Area talk radio station KGO (810 AM), said the deficit is "probably bigger now" than the $9.2 billion he estimated earlier this year. "We're trying to be as prudent as we can," Brown said. "That's why the Legislature has to man up, make the cuts and get some taxes and we'll make it." Democrats this year have resisted Brown's proposed cuts to social services and...

Just one day after California Governor Jerry Brown compared supporters of President Trump to cave dwellers, he told the United Nations the U.S. is not run by Trump. Speaking at a UN roundtable event on Tuesday, the Democrat vowed to fight climate change despite Trump’s stand on the issue.

Leftists are relentlessly selling their bogus narrative that Trump is insane. Here are samples of leftists' headlines: "Lawmakers Met With Psychiatrist About Trump's Mental Health," "President Trump's Mental State An 'Enormous Present Danger,'" "The Awkward Debate Around Trump's Mental Fitness," "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists Assess." So what has Trump done to convince leftists that he must be crazy? Unlike Republicans, Trump fearlessly confronts fake news media, calling them out when they lie. Unlike Obama's punish-evil-America-first presidency, Trump has America's best interest at heart. Unlike leftists seeking to dissolve our borders, Trump plans to build a wall...

For a guy known to hold some pretty strange views, this might be the most bizarre perspective on welfare policy I have ever seen. Here is Jerry Brown from his Pacifica Radio show in 1995 (full transcript here): The conventional viewpoint says we need a jobs program and we need to cut welfare. Just the opposite! We need more welfare and fewer jobs. Jobs for every American is doomed to failure because of modern automation and production. We ought to recognize it and create an income-maintenance system so every single American has the dignity and the wherewithal for shelter, basic...