Elected officials in California are carrying on with business as usual, even after their constituents voted overwhelmingly to send them packing.An election was held on April 28 in the California city of Avenal in Kings County, where the mayor, Alvaro Preciado, and three city council members — Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez — were recalled with at least 76% of voters backing the ouster in each case. The Kings County Registrar of Voters certified the recall election.'I’ve never seen a city so deflated.'The driving force behind this electoral housecleaning — which the council members unsuccessfully attempted to stop with a lawsuit in April — was principally voter concerns about transparency and the council's previous decision to cease contracting with the county fire department.Preciado, Gamez, and Hernandez voted on June 11 to reject the will of the electorate and remain in office. They even approved a new city budget despite recall advocates producing a restraining order, reported the SF Chronicle.Those officials clinging to power, including Reynosa, maintain that the recall election was conducted unlawfully by Kings County and without the council's authorization.Preciado told the SF Chronicle last month that he was staying in office until a judge decides on the recall's legality.California Democrat Attorney General Robert Bonta cleared the way for legal action against the recalled officials on June 11.RELATED: Gov. Pritzker says he's one of the good billionaires, not the ones vilified by socialists In his opinion, Bonta noted that "if the Relators are correct on the merits, then the Defendants are not lawfully occupying office. It would not be in the public interest to permit elected officials to disregard election results."Days after Bonta granted the recall campaigners' application for leave to sue in quo warranto, residents served Preciado and the other recalled officials a lawsuit and an earful at an Avenal city council meeting.Dalila Barajas, a resident of Avenal who is one of the recall proponents, told KGPE-TV, "It just seems that the more meetings they have, the more money that they're spending illegally, the more our citizens are getting frustrated and the more we're asking for them to step down."While Bonta cleared lawsuits against the recall officials, King County District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle criticized the state attorney general for his apparent disinterest in the scandal, telling KMPH-TV on Wednesday, "I believe that if these were MAGA republicans who were refusing to leave office, someone in California would have done something about that.""We were hoping he would take some action," added Valle."I’ve never seen a city so deflated in my time of being around in public service. The people feel like nobody’s coming to help," added the King County supervisor. "Why is it being allowed to take place here in the state of California, in the county of Kings, in the city of Avenal? It’s embarrassing."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico expressed his support for a gun licensing system, mandated safety standards for handguns and a ban on modern semiautomatic firearms in […]
Outrage over the Texas State School Board of Education’s requirement that the Bible be included in the K-12 curriculum isn’t just anti-God, it speaks to a lack of understanding of what made the West great.
At a time when many Americans feel disconnected from their nation’s history, filmmaker Jon Erwin is changing that with his film “Young Washington” — a tribute to America’s founding story in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary.Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck loved the film, telling Erwin that he watched it “with such pride and admiration.”“It’s a great story and a great movie,” he adds.“I just wanted to write kind of a love letter to the country for our 250,” Erwin says, “and it’s the only film in theaters nationwide that celebrates American history as we go into the 250.”“We really want to do more of these stories. We want to do more stories on the life of George Washington. We want to do more stories on the founding of America,” he explains, noting that the story is “unbelievable.”“As you know, it lives up to the hype. And you’re just filled with a sense of gratitude and awe and wonder and pride that this nation exists at all. And it really is something to celebrate together. It is a miracle. I mean, talk about low statistical odds of success,” he says.And so far, audiences have loved the film as well.“When our audience unifies our voice around something and shocks Hollywood, millions and millions of people see it that wouldn’t otherwise see it because of the fear of missing out. And that’s my hope, and that’s my prayer,” Erwin says.Erwin tells Glenn that as the film has been screened across the country, audience members have chanted “USA” at the end.“But what I love is a lot of people say, ‘I was up on Google all night researching, like, did this really happen,’ because some of the most extraordinary things in the movie actually happened. So, that’s my hope,” he says, adding, “is that it will serve as a spark of curiosity for Americans everywhere.”Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
History—in this case, through the pen of Thomas Boswell—does not record for us the context in which Samuel Johnson offered up the famous quote that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” According to samueljohnson.com, the English intellectual and polymath just blurted it out on the evening of April 7, 1775, providing no context or explanation of what was on his mind. Some biographers apparently believe he was thinking of William Pitt the Elder, and the former prime minister’s frequent invocation of the term.We do, however, have more thoughts on the matter from Johnson that have survived. The year before, Johnson—something of a mixed bag, politically, but an ardent foe of slavery long before abolitionism became a movement in Great Britain—wrote and delivered to Parliament a speech he called “The Patriot.” It was election time, and Johnson was laying out for the assembled some of his ideas about the duties of public service, and what patriotism does, and does not, mean.Herewith, just a few choice quotes:“To instigate the populace with rage beyond the provocation, is to suspend publick happiness, if not to destroy it. He is no lover of his country, that unnecessarily disturbs its peace.”“Still less does the true patriot circulate opinions which he knows to be false. No man, who loves his country, fills the nation with clamorous complaints, that the protestant religion is in danger, because ‘popery is established in the extensive province of Quebec,’ a falsehood so open and shameless, that it can need no confutation among those who know that of which it is almost impossible for the most unenlightened zealot to be ignorant.”Finally, in his closing peroration, Johnson urged the next House of Commons to “unite in a general abhorrence of those, who, by deceiving the credulous with fictitious mischiefs, overbearing the weak by audacity of falsehood, by appealing to the judgment of ignorance, and flattering the vanity of meanness … arrogate to themselves the name of patriots.”As we watch (or avoid watching) Donald Trump trying to turn the celebration of the United States’s 250th birthday into a celebration of Donald Trump, we would do well to remember Dr. Johnson’s thoughts. In wondering what he might think of the president’s ideas and actions this week, there is very little mystery. Let’s review a couple of those actions, as reported by Politico Playbook Friday morning:You saw that ridiculous video of Trump “talking” with the AI Teddy Roosevelt? Well, this was meant to be part of a “living museum recreating Theodore Roosevelt’s frontier experience,” as envisioned in a “planning document” from America250, a bipartisan, congressionally chartered, decade-old plan to launch various commemorations. “It hoped to draw 250,000 visitors for a nationally televised celebration on July 1 featuring A-list performers, immersive historical programming, a drone spectacular and, ultimately, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library’s grand opening.” Instead, it launched with a visit from Trump.The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a decades-old Washington summer fixture that always takes place on the National Mall, was given the boot this year and forced inside the Smithsonian Castle to make way for Trump’s Great American State Fair, which has been drawing fewer attendees than a lot of Little League games.Finally, it almost goes without saying that the Trump administration stiffed America250, according to Politico. Congress appropriated $150 million to the project, but organizers have received just $25 million to date. Democrats also alleged this week that some America250 donors were tricked into donating to Trump’s personal semiquincentennial organization, Freedom 250, which is responsible for the UFC fight at the White House and the ongoing fair. (Naturally, Freedom 250 is not subject to congressional oversight, and it can keep its donors private.)But these, of course, are minor matters that will pass. The real hallmarks of Trump’s false patriotism are the things that make his tenure such a horrific embarrassment and civic tragedy to so many millions of Americans. The constant lies meant to glorify him and his reign. The toxic hatred of so many of the people he was elected to serve. The petty and immoral pursuit of his political enemies. The operatic and open corruption.These are venal acts. But as July 4 approaches, it behooves us to remember specifically that they are unpatriotic. Or worse: They are aggressively anti-patriotic. Real patriotism is truthful and humble; it tolerates and even welcomes dissent, and, understanding that the people rule in a democracy, it serves supporters and detractors equally; it seeks justice rather than revenge; and it understands that to seek profit from office is abhorrent.That’s Trump. A treacherous, know-nothing anti-patriot. The image that sticks with me, the photo that made me both roll my eyes and gasp in horror when I first saw it, was the one of Trump kissing an American flag.
An FBI supervisor scrambled to retract her praise for a departing Chicago agent after the bureau branded him disloyal to President Donald Trump, a move a former agent warned could cost her career.FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan accidentally forwarded the resignation email of Chicago Special Agent in Charge Douglas DePodesta to her entire Detroit division, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. In it, she called DePodesta someone who "will always be a part of the FBI Detroit family."The FBI's official Rapid Response account on X had already weighed in on his departure:"It's simple: Anyone who is not on board with THIS FBI under the leadership of President Trump — which has achieved the lowest murder rate ever — is free to leave," the FBI statement said.Kyle Seraphin, a former FBI agent once touted by Republicans as a whistleblower after his security clearance was suspended under former President Joe Biden, called out the FBI statement on X.Seraphin had asked the bureau about DePodesta's departure. The Chicago Field Office told him in writing that it was FBI policy not to comment on personnel matters — then the bureau's own social media account did exactly that."The FBI does not comment on personnel matters," Seraphin wrote on X. "Except when they do."The next morning, Runyan walked back her praise. "Yesterday, I forwarded out SAC DePodesta's email without reading it fully and understanding the full context. It was a mistake on my part, and I should have demonstrated better discretion on what I communicate," Runyan wrote, as posted by Seraphin.DePodesta's last day is Monday, July 6.Seraphin warned that under FBI Director Kash Patel, such mistakes have had "career ending consequences."
