Free Republic

How Democrats Suppressed the #MeToo Movement in the Party Threats, blacklisting and sex scandals in the feminist party. April 27, 2018 Daniel Greenfield aniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. A funny thing happened to the #MeToo movement in the Democrat Party. While #MeToo burned a fiery trail through the media, leaving behind the wrecked careers of top talent, after suffering some initial losses, the Democrats built a firewall by ruthlessly targeting activists. Their approach was eerily similar to that of Harvey Weinstein....

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A dispute over who leaked an affidavit detailing a corruption probe involving a state senator is heading to federal court in Los Angeles after a judge's action on Friday. Ron Calderon, then a Democratic state senator from Montebello, filed a complaint in November 2013 contending that federal authorities tried to ruin his reputation by raiding his offices and leaking an FBI affidavit alleging he took money in return for promoting bills. He was later indicted and faces trial in federal court in Los Angeles beginning Aug. 11 on charges that he accepted $100,000 in bribes, lavish trips...

State Senate Democrats have decided to resume the annual Pro Tem Cup golf fundraiser in 2015, a year after the event was canceled in the wake of criminal charges filed against three Democratic Senators. The event at Torrey Pines golf course in San Diego is the Senate Democrats' largest political fundraiser for the state party and has been criticized for allowing special interests to mingle with lawmakers in exchange for tickets costing between $15,000 and $65,000 per person. The indictment of Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) on public corruption charges a week before this year's event was to be held...

Despite a series of political scandals that marred the California state Senate this year, Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday he had vetoed key ethics bills seeking to place new restrictions on gift giving and campaign spending. The Democratic governor said politicians should be subject to campaign finance rules, but the general activities addressed in the bills already are subject to regulation and disclosure. The political ethics bills originated in the state Senate, where lawmakers have been under a cloud after federal agents arrested two Democrats in unrelated corruption cases. Agents say supporters lavished gifts and dinners on Sens. Leland Yee...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The California State Senate held an "ethics refresher course" for its members after federal indictments were issued against two senators and a third was convicted. Senate leaders are hoping to regain the public's trust. The purpose of the course is to teach members and their staffs to avoid potentially compromising situations. It's the latest in a series of moves by senate leaders aimed at putting political distance between them and their colleagues facing criminal charges. The leader of California's state senate stopped all regular business on Wednesday so everyone could go "back to school" in a...

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That adage has more application than usual in California, where Democrats hold all of the statewide offices and supermajorities in the legislature. They can enact any policies they want, with only the judicial branch offering belated checks on their power. And when I say belated, that’s literally the case with state Senator Rod Wright, whom a jury found guilty in January of committing eight felonies regarding his residency and eligibility for the office he held.Normally, politicians who get that kind of a verdict have the decency to resign. If not, the body in...

Beginning in early 2011, state Sen. Leland Yee repeatedly solicited bribes to fund his San Francisco mayor and California secretary of state campaigns, according to the FBI agents who brought him down last month. But he appears to have devoted more time and energy to a far more lucrative pursuit: crafting or carrying legislation benefiting special interests who supply campaign contributions. It's a practice that's all too common in Sacramento, but Yee was a master. :snip: Yee introduced 20 bills from 2011 to 2014 that advanced a special interest over the public interest, according to this newspaper's review of his...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A story that sounds like a movie script is slowly grinding its way to trial. All of the 29 defendants in the massive corruption case involving suspended State Senator Leland Yee and reputed gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow appeared in federal court Thursday. With so many defendants, lawyers, and documents, the judge is trying to set up a system to manage what could be an unwieldy trial. What makes it even harder is that not everyone's on the same page. The frustration is beginning to show. There are 29 defendants, even more lawyers, a 137 page...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — California State Sen. Ron Calderon and his brother have been indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple political corruption charges, including mail and wire fraud, bribery and money laundering, federal officials said Friday. Calderon, 56, and his brother, 59-year-old Thomas M. Calderon and a former member of the California State Assembly, were named in a federal indictment Thursday, Department of Justice spokesman Thom Mrozek said. The lawmaker, who is traveling, has agreed to surrender to federal authorities Monday. According to the 24-count indictment (PDF), Calderon was indicted for mail fraud, wire fraud, honest services fraud,...

State Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello) was taken into custody Monday after surrendering to federal authorities in Los Angeles,...

State Sen. Ron Calderon accepted about $88,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner and a Southern California hospital executive during a wide-ranging probe into his conduct as a legislator, according to a 124-page affidavit published online Wednesday by cable news network Al Jazeera America. No charges have been filed against Calderon, a Democrat from Montebello. His attorney, Mark Geragos, did not return calls Wednesday. The federal affidavit, filed with the court under seal as the FBI sought a search warrant for Calderon’s office, alleges that he worked with interest groups in a pay-to-play...

FBI confirms it has agents executing a search warrant at the California Capitol, “taking evidence respective to an ongoing investigation”

No place on the planet is as beautiful and as naturally rich as California. And few places have become as absurd. Currently, three California state senators are either under felony indictment or already have been convicted. State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) made a political career out of demanding harsher state gun-control laws. Now he is facing several felony charges for attempting to facilitate gun-running. One count alleges that Lee sought to provide banned heavy automatic weapons to Philippines-based Islamic terrorist groups. State Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), who had succeeded one brother, Thomas, in the state Assembly and was succeeded...

Photo Credit - (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) Living in the Tarnished State is a gift that just keeps giving. A most amazing, but not terribly surprising event was reported in varying degrees of detail over the last 24 hours, about a California Democrat State Senator – a major gun-control advocate. The Los Angeles Times summarizes the headline: State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and a San Francisco figure known as "Shrimp Boy" were arrested Wednesday as part of a public corruption probe after a series of raids by federal and gang task force officials, the FBI confirmed. Yee,...

GARY, Ind. - Federal agents raided a northwestern Indiana township trustee's office Thursday, although they stayed mum on the reasons for the raid. FBI agents were joined with officers from the Indiana State Police and the IRS in a sweep of Calumet Township Trustee Mary Elgin's office in Gary on Thursday. Call 6 Investigator Kara Kenny found a 2011 audit of the trustee's office that raised concerns about the township's finances, including nine employees with take-home cars.

What a deal. About 15 lawmakers are heading to Maui for a five-day retreat. The “Independent Voter Project” is paying for the event. Democratic Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez along with Republican State Senator Tom Berryhill and Democrats Curren Price Jr. and Ron Calderon are just some of the guests. “Pérez does not think the gathering.. gives special interests inappropriate influence.” They’ll be staying at the Fairmont Kea Lani hotel.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Some California lawmakers haven't let the state's financial calamity keep them from enjoying the good life; they've been using campaign cash for first-class travel abroad, expensive dinners, salon makeovers and visits to luxurious spas. Spending reports filed with the state covering the last three months show: * Several lawmakers checked into the Fairmont Hotel on Maui on donors' dimes two days after the start of an emergency session on the budget in November. * The lead state senator on budget issues joined colleagues who left the fiscal crisis behind to go to India, where they toured...

Has Nancy Pelosi seen a newspaper lately? (Pro tip, hon: Like the Obamacare monstrosity, you have to read it to find out what's in it.) I'd love to see her face in the wake of the veritable epidemic of Democratic corruption now sweeping the country. Pelosi's blink count must be off the charts. I'm going to make it easy on Pelosi and put all of the latest cases in one handy rogue's gallery reference list. But let's not be naive. It's clear to me that the Barack Obama/Eric Holder DOJ is clearing the decks before the midterms. Prediction: The FBI's...

California lawmakers introduced 83 bills and 12 proposed constitutional amendments Monday as the Legislature reconvened for a new two-year session: Assembly legislation: - The state budget would be written every two years instead of every year. ACA 1, by Assemblyman Ron Calderon, D-Montebello. - The state Constitution would declare that marriage in California would only be legal between a man and a woman. ACA3, by Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta. - Cities, counties and special districts would be able to pass new taxes with 55 percent majority instead of 2/3 majority. ACA7, by Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. - State school...

Suppose, for some reason the FBI is getting back at or putting a shot across the bow of the DNC/Obama for some reason? Three major Democrats, busted, in one day. Just wondering what you guys think about this and the propensity for this to explode to various other politicians (Anthony Foxx)?