Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raided a Los Angeles residence that the federal law enforcement agency says has been used to harbor Iranian illegal aliens with ties to terrorists.
CBP arrested two unidentified individuals at the home on Friday after a previous operation at the same address resulted in the arrest of seven Iranian nationals, some of whom are on the FBI terror watch list and associated with an Iranian human smuggling network.
“CBP executed a federal search warrant today at a human smuggling hub in Los Angeles tied to national security threats,” Customs and Border Protection said in a post on X on Friday. “Two individuals were arrested during the operation, which was led by CBP’s Special Response Team with support from Border Patrol tactical units and Air and Marine Operations.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨BREAKING🚨
CBP executed a federal search warrant today at a human smuggling hub in Los Angeles tied to national security threats. Two individuals were arrested during the operation, which was led by CBP’s Special Response Team with support from Border Patrol tactical units and… <a href="https://t.co/9bhtCw2iWs">pic.twitter.com/9bhtCw2iWs</a>
— CBP (@CBP) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBP/status/1938741939890696464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
“The location has been repeatedly used to harbor illegal entrants linked to terrorism,” the federal law enforcement agency added.
The arrests come amid a broader wave of enforcement actions against Iranian illegal aliens in the wake of the United States’ bombing campaign that targeted Iran’s nuclear production sites.
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Federal authorities arrested <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-arrests-100-iranian-nationals-across-us-amid-sleeper-cell-concerns">130 Iranian nationals</a> who were in the United States illegally in the week following the strikes against Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities, with 670 Iranians currently being held in ICE detention centers.
Among those <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hezbollah-link-among-11-iranians-arrested-by-ice-in-48-hour-sweep">arrested</a> was a man who served as a sniper in the Iranian military, while another Iranian national was identified as a former member of the Iranian military’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That individual, ICE said, was connected to the terror organization Hezbollah.
Federal authorities also arrested an American citizen who is accused of harboring an unlawfully present Iranian national and now faces federal charges after she threatened to “shoot officers in the head” as they conducted the raid.
“We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out — and we are,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”

CBP Raid

Feds Raid California Home Harboring Iranian Nationals With Terrorism Ties

arrest

California

deportation

illegal alien

Immigration

Iran

Los Angeles

Los Angeles County

Politics

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Perhaps it is fitting that legendary Beach Boy and California native son Brian Wilson would pass away in the same year that a New York Times headline would ask, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/us/california-turmoil-resilience.html">“Is the California Dream a Mirage?”</a>
The social, environmental and economic disaster that is California has been mushrooming for decades now, with any improvements in the near term looking about as likely as a working bullet train from the north to the south in that state. The litany of negative facts emerging for the state is accompanied by descriptors such as “worst,” “first,” “record,” “ballooning,” “unsustainable,” “disaster,” and “mismanagement.” These ills are detailed in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-assemblyman-explains-how-state-has-mismanaged-fire-prevention-policies-as-wildfires-rage">myriad</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/bad-policy-served-as-kindling-for-californias-wildfires-forest-water-management-social-justice-c5b94a4f?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAif-IufnKaxHOP49zFGTHPZhQuqrXUEi-2TLq3CTiNpkYvlSDqNxFWNzK60iAw%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685d8562&amp;gaa_sig=3-LfR_GHU3tLPG-o-YsVjgoRNU1-opiK9zrnQzURPOZIBNcm7OIKeIV5kTdTHBKbOeKnRJ-BbcIcuJq-0ipu3Q%3D%3D">articles</a> <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/11/opinion/catastrophic-wildfires-left-la-in-ashes-due-to-californias-failing-liberal-leadership/">pointing</a> to California’s failed leadership.
Consider the overall economic situation. California went from a state budget surplus of <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/after-100-billion-surplus-california-now-faces-73-billion-budget-deficit">$100b to a deficit of $73b</a> in just three years. This was driven in part from its decision in February of 2020 to escalate spending significantly while it was <a href="https://www.ppic.org/publication/whats-behind-californias-recent-population-decline-and-why-it-matters/">losing jobs</a>, and for the first time since receiving statehood in 1850, population. Between 2010 and 2023, the state saw 9.3 million people leave while only 6.7 million arrived — with a disproportionate number of the “leavers” in the high-income, high-tax-paying category.
California had the distinction of being rated as the very worst state in which to do business by <a href="https://chiefexecutive.net/california-is-the-worst-state-for-business-2014/">Chief Executive</a> magazine — for ten years in a row. Others were more positive with The <a href="https://sbecouncil.org/2019/05/06/new-report-sbe-council-ranks-50-states-according-to-public-policy-and-tax-climates-for-small-business/">Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council</a> seeing them as only the second worst state, and the <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/best-worse-states-entrepreneurs">Cato Institute</a> placing them at 48th out of 50 for entrepreneurs.
<a href="https://californiapolicycenter.org/reports/worsttobest/">The California Policy Center</a> concludes: 
“For anyone operating a business in California – small, medium or large – the experiences of the last twenty years have been challenging, and it gets worse every year. California’s regulatory environment, its high taxes and exorbitant fees, and the overall cost of doing business are the toughest in the nation. Many businesses have voted with their feet, moving their operations to more welcoming business environments.” 
According to WalletHub.com’s report “<a href="https://wallethub.com/edu/best-places-to-retire/6165">Best &amp; Worst Places to Retire (2025)</a>,” which examined 182 cities across the U.S., four out five of the worst cities in which to retire are in California.
The story is equally daunting in a host of other arenas for the state — education, illegal immigration, water, violent crime, theft, housing, insurance, energy, environment, assorted taxes and fees, cost of living, state employee pensions, healthcare, and more. <a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/%23editorial">ConsumerAffairs</a>, a consumer news and advocacy organization, compared all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. across five categories: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. California ranked as the single least desirable state to move to. Their conclusion might have been influenced by seeing that, compared to all other 49 states in the nation, California has the:
<ul>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-280.html">poverty rate</a></li>
<li>Highest top marginal <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates/">state income tax rate</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.redfin.com/blog/most-expensive-states-to-buy-a-house/">median home price</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-gas-tax-rates-2024/">gasoline tax</a></li>
<li>Highest number of federal <a href="https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/welfare-recipients-by-state">welfare recipients</a></li>
<li>Highest amount of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-states-blame-most-nearly-400-million-unemployment-fraud">unemployment benefit fraud</a></li>
<li>Highest number of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/">illegal immigrants</a></li>
<li>Highest percentage of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/map-states-most-high-school-dropouts-1872310">high school dropouts</a></li>
<li>Highest rates of <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/human-trafficking-statistics-by-state">human trafficking</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://247wallst.com/special-report/2024/02/13/this-is-the-state-with-the-most-homeless-people-every-state-ranked/">homeless population</a></li>
<li>Highest level of <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/pension/comparative_view/table/">state pension shortfall</a></li>
<li>Highest level of <a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/states-people-are-moving-to-and-from.html">net exodus</a> from the state</li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/630090/states-with-the-average-electricity-price-for-the-residential-sector-in-the-us/">cost for kilowatt hours</a> in the continental U.S.</li>
</ul>
While many folks have wryly referred to California as, “the most expensive weather in the world,” an increasing number of people are rethinking that cost — especially when the weather itself is now regularly accompanied by wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes.
The <a href="https://hgbr.org/californias-economic-challenges-a-growing-exodus-and-policy-concerns/">Hampton Global Business Review</a> concludes, “The allure of California’s beaches and innovation hubs might not be enough to counteract the growing disenchantment among its residents and business leaders.”
While all of this is more than sobering, contrary to the popular narrative, the untenable situation in which the state now finds itself cannot be blamed solely or even largely on the handful of people who have occupied the top leadership roles or even the few thousand in mid-tier management/political roles for the state. To be sure, many of those people have largely been far worse than feckless; they have been actively counterproductive — perhaps even maleficent. But blaming leadership is like blaming guns for shooting homicides. They could not have performed this disservice without the active support of the California voters.
Time and time again, California voters continue to check the box for more of the same people who continue to inflict damage on them for decades now. But more importantly, they knowingly do so. No objective observer can credibly argue that Californians have been fooled or misled by their leaders or the outrageous decisions they have made, or failed to make.
The great scholar, author, and life-long California resident Dr. Victor Davis Hanson has for years <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/28121811-the-decline-and-fall-of-california">detailed</a> the disastrous results of many of these decisions — from eliminating fire-preventing forest management, to not only failing to build appropriate dams but blowing up existing dams and eliminating reservoirs, to promoting unchecked and mass illegal immigration.
There was likely no more clarifying moment of truth on this point than when Governor Gavin Newsom faced a recall. His record was damning. There was the bungled and hypocritical mismanagement of the COVID virus response — complete with vaccine shortages, maskless French Laundry dinners with friends, and arbitrary business closure guidelines, a budget deficit that was more than double his own projection, and most importantly, the ignoring or exacerbation of most of the long list of the aforementioned maladies destroying the state.
Not only did the recall effort fail miserably, with Newsom receiving a convincing approval mandate of 62% of the vote, but he was then solidly re-elected in 2022 with nearly that same margin. California voters, no doubt painfully aware of all of these issues essentially said, “Yes, yes, yes! Give us more of this!”
But suppose for just a moment that Newsom had been recalled, that perhaps he had skewered one of the sacred cows big enough to motivate his ouster. Perhaps he drove a diesel car, or contended that there is something wrong about allowing a 250lb biological male athlete to compete with women, or suggested that maybe the unpunished shoplifting limit should be reduced from $950 to say $500, or publicly stated that illegal immigrants are not entitled to the same rights as U.S. citizens. Who would voters have suggested take his place? It almost certainly would have been another entity not dissimilar to Newsom in any significant way.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that so many logically thinking, hard-working, patriotic Americans are leaving California if they can. With each passing year, the state is left with an increasingly left-leaning voter base — and they like it that way.  Thus, it is folly to believe that California’s ills can be solved as simply as replacing a few, key incompetent leaders. California’s failed leadership is not nearly as problematic as its failed follower-ship. And that is a far harder nut to crack.
Brian Wilson made a career writing songs about the abundant fun, fun, fun available in the Golden State. Were he with us today, begrudgingly or not, he would have to admit that clearly, daddy took the T-Bird away.
* * *
Greg Salsbury, Ph.D. is former president of Western Colorado University and Board of Advisor member for <a href="https://starrs.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STARRS.US</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Vogue World: Hollywood Press Announcement

California Had Fun, Fun, Fun — Until Voters Took The T-Bird Away

Business

Gavin Newsom

Jobs

Opinion

Small Businesses

Taxes

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, alleging the news network deliberately misrepresented the timeline of a phone call between him and President Donald Trump to make it appear the governor lied about their communication.
The lawsuit, first <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/27/newsom-sues-fox-news-defamation-case-00429168">reported</a> by POLITICO, centers on Fox News&#8217; coverage of a June 7 phone call between Trump and Newsom during anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles County. President Trump said he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-vows-to-liberate-los-angeles-shut-down-migrant-riots-and-insurrectionist-mobs">deployed</a> thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to the area to quell the violence despite the governor&#8217;s objections, but local officials say they are there to protect federal buildings and federal workers.
The dispute arose when Trump claimed on June 10 that he had called Newsom &#8220;a day ago.&#8221; Newsom subsequently denied any recent contact, stating: &#8220;There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn&#8217;t even know who he&#8217;s talking to.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
No more lies.
I’m suing Fox News for $787 million.<a href="https://t.co/L73VUsPsuB">https://t.co/L73VUsPsuB</a> <a href="https://t.co/qKoRaxHRDW">pic.twitter.com/qKoRaxHRDW</a>
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1938587950704677237?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Fox News then ran a segment on Jesse Watters&#8217; program that Newsom&#8217;s claims &#8220;willfully distorted&#8221; the timeline to the network&#8217;s viewers. According to the lawsuit, Watters aired a deceptively edited video that juxtaposed Trump&#8217;s &#8220;day ago&#8221; claim with call logs obtained by Fox host John Roberts showing the call occurred on June 7 — three days earlier, not one day as Trump had claimed. Newsom accuses the network of falsely claiming he lied about the phone call and violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, which outlaws “deceptive and unfair business practices.”
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&#8220;If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump&#8217;s behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,&#8221; Newsom said in a statement to POLITICO, referencing Fox&#8217;s $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in 2023.
&#8220;I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet. Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine,&#8221; the governor added.
Fox News dismissed the lawsuit in a statement to The Daily Wire, writing, &#8220;Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.&#8221;
In Fox News&#8217;s initial reporting on the disputed call, headlined &#8220;Trump brings receipts he called Newsom amid LA riots as California gov claims there wasn&#8217;t &#8216;even a voicemail,'&#8221; the network did <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-brings-receipts-he-called-newsom-amid-la-riots-california-gov-claims-wasnt-even-voicemail">include</a> Newsom&#8217;s clarification that the call was from &#8220;3 days ago&#8221; rather than the &#8220;day ago&#8221; Trump had claimed.
POLITICO notes that defamation cases brought by public officials face a much higher legal standard than those filed by private citizens. Newsom has indicated he would retract the lawsuit if Fox News issues a formal retraction and Jesse Watters delivers an on-air apology.

California Governor Newsom Announces Lawsuit Challenging Trump Tariff Authority

Newsom Targets Fox News With Dominion-Sized Lawsuit Over Trump Phone Call Dispute

Defamation

Fox News

Lawsuit

National Guard

News

Riots

U.S.

A hazardous substances engineer at the California Environmental Protection Agency was arrested and charged on Tuesday with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Since February, 33-year-old Ammaad Akhtar of Stockton, California, has been communicating with a person he believed was a member of ISIS but who was actually a law-enforcement controlled individual, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-charged-attempting-provide-material-support-isis">according to the Department of Justice</a>.
“In these conversations, Akhtar voiced his support for ISIS and jihad, expressed a desire to travel overseas to join and fight with ISIS, and stated a desire to send guns and money to ISIS,” the Justice Department said in a statement. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hamas-is-preparing-attacks-on-american-contractors-helping-distribute-aid-in-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Hamas+Is+Preparing+Attacks+On+American+Contractors+Helping+Distribute+Aid+In+Gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HAMAS IS PREPARING ATTACKS ON AMERICAN CONTRACTORS HELPING DISTRIBUTE AID IN GAZA</a>
In April 2025, Akhtar began providing financial support in a few payments to what he thought was ISIS. When he was told by a federal asset that ISIS was able to purchase firearms with the money, he responded “may Allah destroy our enemies” and promised to send more money that day.
On June 23, Akhtar met with an undercover federal employee who he thought was also a part of ISIS and provided clothing, binoculars, $400 cash, two loaded guns, and six additional magazines. He also then swore bayat (a pledge of loyalty) to ISIS, according to the Justice Department.
Akhtar, a graduate of the University of the Pacific, describes himself as a “great team player” and a “great leader” on his LinkedIn, as first reported by <a href="https://www.jns.org/hazardous-substances-engineer-for-california-epa-arrested-charged-with-trying-to-support-isis/">Jewish News Syndicate</a>.
The California EPA listed Akhtar on <a href="https://archive.is/AhV3H">its website</a> and a spokesperson confirmed that he is an employee, telling JNS, claiming that the department “became aware of this situation after the arrest and intend to fully cooperate with the federal investigation.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-official-removed-from-joint-chiefs-of-staff-for-anti-israel-posts?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Pentagon+Official+Removed+From+Joint+Chiefs+Of+Staff+For+Anti-Israel+Posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PENTAGON OFFICIAL REMOVED FROM JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF FOR ANTI-ISRAEL POSTS</a>
Over several months, Akhtar also talked about planning terrorist attacks including attacking a specific unnamed Jewish individual and using homemade explosives.
“He said he ‘want[s] to die in the cause of Allah fighting the kuffar [infidels]’ and asked for instructions on how to make a homemade explosive device in order ‘to make a boom’ at a populated event,” according to the DOJ.
Akhtar also said that the “day will come when the head of every evil, dirty Jew and their slaves, the cross worshippers, will have their heads plucked like chicken.”
According to court documents, Akhtar told his “ISIS contact” that he “drove by a Jewish temple, and I see one guy. He is always there on Saturday. He was in Israeli army. I follow him, and now I am following him to see where he lives.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-has-been-clear-for-14-years-that-iran-cannot-have-a-nuclear-weapon?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Has+Been+Clear+For+14+Years+That+Iran+Cannot+Have+A+Nuclear+Weapon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TRUMP HAS BEEN CLEAR FOR 14 YEARS THAT IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON</a>
Akhtar told the undercover asset that he knew the Jewish person drove a red truck. The FBI confirmed that there is a Jewish temple in Stockton and was able to identify the owner of the red truck “who does not appear to resemble an Israeli soldier.”
If convicted, Akhtar faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Akhtar

California EPA Employee Charged With Threatening Jews, Attempting To Provide Guns and Money to ISIS

antisemitism

ISIS

Terrorism

A Leftist California bookstore is banning J.K. Rowling&#8217;s &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; series but remains committed to sending &#8220;queer, affirmative&#8221; titles all over the country through an anti-book banning nonprofit.
Booksmith is located in San Francisco&#8217;s renowned Haight-Ashbury neighborhood — the epicenter of the 1960s hippie counterculture and the Summer of Love. It stopped selling &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; books after Rowling announced the creation of the J.K. Rowling Women&#8217;s Fund. The fund <a href="https://jkrwf.org/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKdvNljbGNrAp26GGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAGJyaWQRMVhFYkVUMVlETmNnb3NRM2YBHpCylZCyqT-dSAcjqzcghgBSrl8tIO_sNX3dgcFvY5leoMkcTzlQEUHionpy_aem_HyMGvqrZM5nRn93ZKNrRMg">says</a> it &#8220;offers legal funding support to individuals and organizations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces.&#8221;
Its website never mentions transgender-identifying individuals, but Booksmith <a href="https://www.booksmith.com/NotHP">claims</a> the fund is &#8220;dedicated to removing transgender rights.&#8221;
&#8220;With this announcement, we&#8217;ve decided to stop carrying her books. We don&#8217;t know exactly what her &#8216;women&#8217;s fund&#8217; will entail, but we know that we aren&#8217;t going to be a part of it,&#8221; a sign in the bookstore reads.
But ironically, Booksmith — a self-described &#8220;group of queer booksellers&#8221; — participates in the Books Not Bans program, which is dedicated to <a href="https://www.booksmith.com/BnB">mailing</a> &#8220;crates of queer, affirmative, necessary books all over the country,&#8221; it says, that are actively being banned.
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&#8220;These are going to people who desperately need them but who live in book deserts and communities where new book bans are rolling out daily,&#8221; the store&#8217;s announcement said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t need to tell you things are serious out there: this is a lifeline for people whose lives and wellbeing are in danger. &#8221;
Books Not Bans, now a separate nonprofit, started at a different San Francisco <a href="https://www.fabulosabooks.com/#/">bookstore</a>, Fabulosa Books, that &#8220;[specializes] in LGBTQ+ books.&#8221;
Fabulosa Books also stopped selling Rowling&#8217;s work, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DLV4dvcyXYY/?hl=en">saying</a> on social media that the author &#8220;is devoting her life to nastiness.&#8221;
Books Not Bans has sent more than &#8220;2200 books to community groups around America,&#8221; according to a social media <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJvD5hUzNhs/?igsh=aGduY25yYWM4NDl5">post</a>.
One popular shipment is &#8220;All Boys Aren&#8217;t Blue,&#8221; which has been at the center of fights to keep sexually explicit books away from children, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-fight-to-shield-kids-from-graphic-material-in-a-deep-red-state">reported</a>. The book includes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-time-to-unite-against-the-real-enemy">graphic descriptions</a> of anal rape and incest.
&#8220;[&#8216;All Boys Aren&#8217;t Blue&#8217;] was recently named the most banned book in America,&#8221; Books Not Bans said in a social media post. &#8220;We’ve sent &#8216;All Boys Aren’t Blue&#8217; to 20 different organizations all over America.&#8221;
Rowling has drawn criticism for her commitment to protecting women and women&#8217;s spaces, but the bestselling author has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-years-ago-j-k-rowling-took-a-stand-against-trans-activists-she-hasnt-backed-down">refused</a> to back down or apologize. In December, she celebrated the social media post that resulted in her becoming a global icon for women&#8217;s rights.
&#8220;Five years ago today and my only regret is that I didn&#8217;t speak out sooner,&#8221; Rowling <a href="https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1869544832370344245?s=43&amp;t=BDz6oekueqrSVJ50bM62xw">said</a> on social media. &#8220;To every girl and woman who&#8217;s paid a heavy price for fighting to retain their rights and boundaries, to every person striving to halt an appalling medical experiment on minors, I salute you. We will win.&#8221;

Assam Book Fair 2023-24

Liberals In California Are Banning Books Again

Books

Censorship

J.K. Rowling

San Francisco

Social Issues

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has faced significant resistance from California Democratic donors in recent weeks as she ramped up outreach for a potential gubernatorial run, with some major contributors still bitter about her role in what one called the &#8220;complete s*** storm&#8221; of her 2024 presidential run.
Harris has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamala-harris-hints-at-future-political-run-im-not-going-anywhere?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Kamala+Harris+Hints+At+Future+Political+Run%3A+%E2%80%98I%E2%80%99m+Not+Going+Anywhere%E2%80%99">testing</a> the waters with trusted supporters as she considers a gubernatorial run, but enthusiasm has noticeably waned among the Democratic donor class, according to a POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/27/california-donors-kamala-harris-governor-00428797">report</a>.
One California Democrat who contributed six figures to Harris&#8217;s presidential campaign bluntly stated that her candidacy would only remind voters of the &#8220;traumatizing&#8221; 2024 election when Donald Trump regained power.
“Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete s*** storm. With Biden, we got bamboozled … I think she did the best she could in that situation, but obviously she knew about the cognitive decline too,” the unidentified donor reportedly said. “I’ve written so many checks because I knew the Trump administration would be horrible, but we’re living in a nightmare because of the Democrats. I’m furious at them, truly.”
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POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/26/california-republicans-kamala-harris-governor-run-00368028">reports</a> that many GOP candidates, eager to face Harris given her damaged reputation, would consider throwing their hat in the ring should the former vice president enter the race.
Democratic fundraisers note that Harris has yet to address accusations from former Los Angeles mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, who alleges both she and Biden&#8217;s Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, another Democrat who has already entered the gubernatorial race, were &#8220;complicit in a cover-up&#8221; regarding Biden&#8217;s condition.
“Voters deserve to know the truth, what did Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra know, when did they know it, and most importantly, why didn’t either of them speak out?” Villaraigosa <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/20/fellow-democrat-tears-into-harris-becerra-bidens-fitness-00361106">said</a> in a statement. “This cover up directly led to a second Donald Trump term — and as a result, all Californians are paying the price.”
Harris has set a late-summer deadline for her decision. She is exploring multiple options beyond the governor&#8217;s race, including a potential 2028 presidential run or establishing &#8220;a philanthropic venture&#8221; outside of elected office, per POLITICO.
“It’s very fair to say there’s not an overwhelming clamor” for a Harris gubernatorial bid, said Scott Drexel, a Bay Area-based donor adviser. “It’s very hard for there to be one if it’s not 100 percent clear if she really wants to do it.”
“She’s going to have to work for the nomination,” Drexel said, “Every day that passes, there’s less of a sense of inevitability about her candidacy.”
Harris has made some quiet outreach, including multiple private meetings in the Bay Area during her visit to headline a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in early June.
These intimate gatherings in supporters&#8217; homes were officially billed as social events but carried &#8220;an unmistakable subtext&#8221; regarding her political future, POLITICO reported.
&#8220;The donors that are here, that have been with her know that this is her home state. She can win &#8230; but they also don&#8217;t want her to find herself in a spot of vulnerability, particularly if someone like a Rick Caruso comes into the race,&#8221; said Todd Hawkins, a Harris bundler dating back to her tenure as California attorney general.
Caruso, a billionaire developer and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, has been mentioned as a potential centrist challenger who could complicate Harris&#8217;s path to the nomination. Caruso is a former Republican who changed his party registration several times before running as a Democrat in the 2022 L.A. mayoral race, when he lost to Karen Bass. 
One Southern California fundraiser, speaking anonymously, said donors &#8220;realize it&#8217;s just going to bring up the whole pathetic last presidential, which no one wants to hear about again. And then it&#8217;s the whole &#8216;Did you know Joe Biden?&#8217; thing. She still would probably lead, but honestly, no one is incredibly pumped.&#8221;

Former Vice President Kamala Harris

Liberal Donors Trash Kamala: ‘Just Reminds You We Are in This Complete S*** Storm’

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President Donald Trump secures increased funding from NATO members, Senate Republicans consider the &#8220;Big Beautiful Bill,&#8221; and a therapy student blows the whistle with explosive allegations on mandatory training in smut.
It’s Thursday, June 26, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
 
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<h2>The North Atlantic Trump Organization</h2>
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Topline: In a significant foreign policy victory for President Trump, NATO allies agreed Wednesday to his demands that they increase defense spending.
President Trump took a victory lap following his successful strikes on Iran and subsequent ceasefire on Wednesday, scoring another feather in his foreign policy cap. For years, Trump has been a vocal critic of NATO, arguing that the United States was being taken advantage of by its allies, who spend far less on defense for the NATO alliance. He arrived at The Hague this week demanding that member states increase their defense spending from 2% of GDP to 5% by 2035, and almost all members quickly agreed.
For context, one country — the United States — currently accounts for more than two-thirds of NATO’s entire defense budget.
&#8220;For too long, one ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden of that commitment — and that changes today,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1937806555186962864">said</a>. “President Trump — dear Donald — you made this change possible&#8230; we will produce trillions more for our common defense to make us stronger and fairer by equalizing spending between America and America&#8217;s allies.&#8221;
In exchange for that increased spending, President Trump reiterated his commitment to adhering to Article 5, the NATO clause that states an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. 
Ahead of the summit, Trump said he wasn’t sure where he stood on Article 5, and that it “depends on your definition.” However, once the other members agreed to increase defense spending, the president offered his full support. 
The only holdout among the alliance was Spain. The country’s prime minister said 5% was “unacceptable” and would force him to cut social services. Instead, they plan to increase their spending from just 1.2% to 2%. That clearly angered Trump, who said he’d make them pay more in a future trade deal.
In a press conference at the summit, the president also refuted reports that Iran’s nuclear facilities only sustained minor damage in U.S. strikes last weekend, reiterating that Iran&#8217;s nuclear program was “completely and fully obliterated.” Trump announced that the United States would meet with Iranian officials next week to ensure the country does not continue to pursue a nuclear weapon.
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<h2>The &#8216;Big Beautiful Bill&#8217; Nears Senate Vote</h2>
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Topline: The Senate is set to vote on Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Big Beautiful Bill&#8221; – will the GOP majority hand the president a win on his signature legislation?
The Republican-led Senate is set to vote on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill this week despite some continued divisions within the GOP. The bill contains many of President Trump’s key policy planks, including increased immigration enforcement and defense spending, a $5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling, his promised ‘no tax on tips,’ and permanent extensions for the 2017 tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term.
“It is so important that we get this one big bill, this one big beautiful bill over the line,” Stephen Miran, chairman of the nonpartisan Council of Economic Advisors, told The Daily Wire. “If we don&#8217;t, it&#8217;s going to be the biggest tax hike in history. It&#8217;s going to be a $4 trillion tax hike on American families and American workers.&#8221;
A key sticking point has been the bill&#8217;s pricetag – the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that it would add $3 trillion to the deficit. Supporters dispute that characterization, arguing that the CBO isn’t factoring in the economic growth they believe the bill would create, which they say could result in a net decrease of deficit spending on the order of trillions of dollars over the next 10 years. 
“More tax revenues reduce the deficit,” Miran said. “So the best way to reduce the deficit in debt is to grow the economy. …[The] CBO just ignores growth altogether… [and] tariff revenue. Tariffs are bringing in total deficit reduction – hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue every year going forward.”
However, some Republican senators remain skeptical and continue to argue that passing the bill would be fiscally irresponsible.
“I&#8217;m not for raising the debt ceiling by 5 trillion dollars,” Sen. Rand Paul(R-KY) said. “I think that is a mistake to have such a large extension of the credit line to a Congress that has shown disregard for fiscal responsibility.
The Republicans have a three-seat majority in the Senate – Vice President JD Vance will presumably break any ties in the president’s favor, but unless Democrats decide to cross the aisle (which appears highly unlikely), the &#8220;Big Beautiful Bill&#8221; will need the support of at least 50 of the 53 Senate Republicans.
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<h2>A Course You&#8217;ll Remember In Therapy</h2>
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Topline: A California psychology student training to be a therapist is blowing the whistle on alleged ideological bias and required sexual disclosure in therapy training. The following story is not appropriate for younger readers.
Naomi Epps Best, a 26-year-old graduate student at Santa Clara University, decided to go public with allegations against her university’s psychology counseling program. Best says she was required to write a sexual autobiography and was subjected to gratuitous smut in one of her required classes, “Human Sexuality.” 
“I immediately discovered in the syllabus sadomasochistic erotica, a crassly written pornographic illustration guide, and the final exam was an eight to 10 page comprehensive sexual autobiography: ‘When did I start masturbating? Chronicle my sexual past and present.’ I requested an accommodation not to complete this sexual autobiography and I was denied. I went up the chain to the professor, the chair, the dean, the provost, the president, the Title IX office, the campus ministry office and the ombudsman and I was met with institutional indifference to my ethical concerns.”
Best later asked for an accommodation she heard had been offered to Muslim students – the ability to take the course remotely. Instead, she said the professor asked to meet with her and promised that there would be no required sexual disclosure and everything would be professional.
“In this new class, I was required to write something down anonymously about something I disliked about my breasts or my genitals. We watched bondage videos, tutorial videos… there&#8217;s an argument to be made that therapists should be aware of the breadth of human sexual practices, including BDSM. I am not contesting that. But the manner in which this material was presented was promotional. It was actually a promotional video for a sex dungeon. And when the video ended, the professor said, ‘So what do you think? Who wants to try it?’ There was no clinical framing.”
The Daily Wire reached out to Santa Clara University for comment. A spokesperson stated that the Human Sexuality class has been taught with a similar approach and assignments since the mid-1990s. They added that “we do not agree with many of the student’s public assertions about the class” and that “people who were present” dispute Best’s characterization of classroom discussions and course content.

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Morning Brief: Trump Scores NATO Win & A California College Sparks Smut Uproar

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When Naomi Best began a counseling psychology master&#8217;s program last year at Santa Clara University, she did not expect her professor to ask her what she disliked about her genitals.
As a required part of Professor Chongzheng Wei&#8217;s &#8220;Human Sexuality&#8221; class, students were asked to submit a &#8220;sexual autobiography&#8221; that could include talking about their genitals, sharing when they first began masturbating, or discussing their &#8220;personal sexual aspirations,&#8221; Best said.
The syllabus said students need not answer questions that &#8220;make you feel extremely uncomfortable,&#8221; but that was easier said than done.
At one point, a trans-identifying male psychologist was invited to be a guest speaker for the class, she said. When Best asked him what he meant by &#8220;gender euphoria,&#8221; he allegedly told her that he &#8220;almost came&#8221; when he saw himself in the mirror as a woman for the first time, she said.
The trans-identifying psychologist also allegedly told students, “trans women have the only p***ies that can blow up the world,” Best said.
Then there was the day when Professor Wei, who goes by &#8220;he/they/ta&#8221; pronouns, allegedly shared that he had bought a device at a kink festival to elongate his foreskin, Best said. The professor also allegedly showed the class an instructional video on how to tie someone up who was wearing a slave “gimp suit” to an X-shaped cross.
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ICYMI: Therapy student <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@naomieppsbest</a> blows the whistle on mandatory training in smut. <a href="https://twitter.com/maireadelordi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@maireadelordi</a> reports. <a href="https://t.co/xf5PmTcxGo">pic.twitter.com/xf5PmTcxGo</a>
&mdash; Morning Wire (@MorningWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/MorningWire/status/1938247484267970876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He also allegedly had students watch a video of a BDSM dungeon tour that featured a female influencer being flogged, electroshocked, ball-gagged, put in a guillotine, subjected to knife “play,” and wrapped in plastic and made to jump up and down as a &#8220;humiliation tactic,&#8221; all with no warning, Best said.
Afterwards, Wei smiled and asked if students wanted to try it themselves. Best walked out of class that day, and ended up dropping the class altogether.
&#8220;There&#8217;s an argument to be made that therapists should be aware of the breadth of human sexual practices, including BDSM, and I am not contesting that, but the manner in which this material was presented was promotional,&#8221; Best told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;There was no clinical framing,&#8221; Best said. &#8220;I want to be able to talk with clients about sex if they want to talk about it. If a client comes to me and brings it up that they get sexual gratification from inflicting pain upon somebody, I think that therapists should be trained to have curiosity about that association &#8230; not for the reason of telling them they&#8217;re a bad person. Therapists don&#8217;t do that. But to have a conversation about it, if they bring it up.&#8221;
She had dropped the &#8220;Human Sexuality&#8221; class once before when she was asked — and declined — to discuss her &#8220;masturbation history&#8221; in a group of four students that included a man, she said.
Best, a 26-year-old married mother of a toddler, believed that revealing her personal sexual history would be a violation of her Christian beliefs. So, she requested the same accommodation she had heard female Muslim students were offered, which was to take the course remotely. Instead, Professor Wei asked to meet with her and promised there would be no personal sexual disclosure in his class, but that turned out to be wrong, she said.
&#8220;It&#8217;s just clearly a hostile learning environment, and I don&#8217;t know how to explain that to somebody who just doesn&#8217;t inherently understand it,&#8221; she said.
Best took her complaints about the course all the way up the chain at Santa Clara University, exhausting every official avenue from the Title IX office to the school&#8217;s president. She explained her issues with the class — the invasive sexual autobiography, a swath of &#8220;gratuitous&#8221; sexually titillating course material, and alleged unprofessional behavior from the professor and guest speakers.
But she said her concerns were not taken seriously. The school dismissed her Title IX claim, and when she asked for a refund for the class, a school representative called her request &#8220;astonishing,&#8221; according to emails shared with The Daily Wire.
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The time is now to take on ideological capture of therapy. I’m just getting started. <a href="https://t.co/BTm4OrHUFM">pic.twitter.com/BTm4OrHUFM</a>
— Naomi Best (@naomieppsbest) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest/status/1935170217090629938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Ideological capture is near complete in the field of psychology. Schools, training grounds, accreditation bodies, and professional guilds are all complicit.
&mdash; Naomi Best (@naomieppsbest) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest/status/1935140122296725918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Blew the whistle in <a href="https://twitter.com/WSJopinion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WSJopinion</a> on ideological rigidity in therapy training. A week later, I am fired from my internship with the regret of my boss. This field is in crisis. The public needs to know. <a href="https://t.co/EldOjq0hOG">pic.twitter.com/EldOjq0hOG</a>
&mdash; Naomi Best (@naomieppsbest) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomieppsbest/status/1933292756765716743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Last week, Best received a letter from Sabrina Zirkel, dean of the School of Education and Counseling Psychology telling her that, &#8220;we do not agree with your interpretation or characterization of what the syllabus required&#8221; and &#8220;based on input from others who were present, we also do not agree with your assertions about and characterization of what occurred during the class.&#8221;
The dean argued that &#8220;the class requires internal self-reflection which is the type of work that therapists ask of their clients,&#8221; but that &#8220;under no circumstances were you required to disclose sexual memories, sexual experiences, or any other personal information that you did not wish to share.&#8221;
The school said Best still has the opportunity to &#8220;complete this content through approved continuing education classes offered by a third-party provider.&#8221;
Professor Wei and the heads of the Education and Counseling Psychology school all referred requests for comment to Santa Clara University&#8217;s media office.
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Santa Clara University said that &#8220;no student is expected to or required to reveal or disclose private sexual information they do not want to share&#8221; and &#8220;self-disclosure of an intensely personal nature is not required.&#8221;
The school said the class has been taught with a similar approach and similar assignments since the mid-1990s.
&#8220;We do not agree with many of the student’s public assertions about the class,&#8221; the university said. &#8220;People who were present dispute statements being made by the student and her characterization of classroom discussions and course content, including the readings, speakers, and assignments.&#8221;
Best says one of the books the class studied was &#8220;The Guide To Getting It On,&#8221; a book with explicit cartoons of sexual acts, whose author <a href="https://ucsdguardian.org/2004/06/01/summer-reading-heats-up-with-sex-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he wrote the book as &#8220;revenge for eight years in Catholic school.&#8221; Santa Clara University is a Catholic Jesuit school.
The school said it could not comment on the details of Best&#8217;s complaint but said the Title IX office may sometimes conclude that &#8220;course requirements or classroom content are protected by the principles of academic freedom.&#8221;
Best believes her experience points to a deeper problem in the counseling psychology world.
&#8220;What happened at Santa Clara University was unethical and will be remedied,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I want to bring awareness to the fact that psychology and counseling has been ideologically captured. That means that there is one permissible worldview for upcoming therapists to hold, and it is grounded in critical theory.&#8221;
Earlier this month, Best came out publicly with her concerns and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/santa-clara-universitys-crazy-idea-of-human-sexuality-therapy-licensing-higher-education-44e744ce?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAijGcRg9HzkiSNcp-aiyabuI168QfQHcSgOG8e-CkmVRCiDtuKx8MB3kTfwXg%3D%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685389bf&amp;gaa_sig=eP2Ptw3OgBEwcKj5AHvObMjHZ8FfWvgADp2XkRUWKX2-oX7ISvVUM9iI5v2Uu5eER1jBPWtyOlwX7tbFI52J0A%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
After her op-ed ran, Best said she was fired from her required therapy internship — unrelated to the school — after she was called into a meeting with over a dozen colleagues where she said she was &#8220;attacked for what I wrote.&#8221;
&#8220;I think I just blew up my career,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire.
However, since going public with her allegations, Best has received an outpouring of support.
An alumnus of Santa Clara University <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/santa-clara-an-alumnus-would-like-a-word-human-sexuality-course-69440035?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjukHLV0uaBwUu8n-oX1QMhkeRjH8Ez31nLAlhKctGAqw03SqRFKZCS4c-l4g%3D%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685389bf&amp;gaa_sig=o5uKqr-rOlgMrQUZTfxPe0JGPDTiE42klL79rBZwsXHDNKT43B1L3mdU0QFNkpZ7MS2E1T6JxiUunxEld0LrPg%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> Best&#8217;s experience with her graduate class &#8220;gobsmacking, sordid and sad&#8221; in a letter to the editor The Journal published.
Her social media videos discussing the situation have been viewed millions of times, and many people have reached out in support, including lawyers and other students with similar experiences, she said.
&#8220;Two weeks ago, I was living a private life with a great career path,&#8221; Best said. &#8220;I am putting that on the line to bring this issue to the public&#8217;s attention because I think it is important and I think people will be harmed if it is not addressed.&#8221;

How A California Psychology Student Exposed The Dark Side Of Therapy Education

How A California Psychology Student Became A Whistleblower For Smut In Therapy Education

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The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ruled Wednesday that California violated Title IX by allowing men to compete in women’s sports and use women’s locker rooms.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-finds-california-department-of-education-and-california-interscholastic-federation-violation-of-title-ix">announced</a> the results of the office’s investigation on Wednesday.
“Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions.”
“The Trump administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law,” McMahon said. “The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow,” she added.
<a href="https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/title-ix-and-sex-discrimination">Title IX</a> “prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.”
President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/">executive order</a> in January to formally recognize only two genders, based on a “fundamental and incontrovertible” reality. Under this framework, male participation in women’s sports counts as sex discrimination under Title IX. 
The following month, Trump signed another executive order to remove funding from states that violate Title IX. 
The California Interscholastic Federation responded in February by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/sports/california-plans-continue-allowing-trans-athletes-compete-girls-sports-despite-trump-executive-order">declaring</a> it would continue to allow trans athletes to compete alongside women in accordance with state law.
 &#8220;The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences…consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records.”
California has 10 days to comply with Title IX and Trump’s executive order, or it will face “imminent enforcement action, including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for proceedings,” and removal of federal education funds, the Education Department says.
The Office fo Civil Rights has also instructed California to “restore to female athletes all individual records, titles, and awards misappropriated by male athletes competing in female competitions,” and sent a personalized letter of apology to each female athlete affected, “for allowing her educational experience to be marred by sex discrimination.”
The state must also propose a monitoring plan to ensure that it continues to abide by Title IX.
California receives a tremendous amount of federal funding. In 2022, the state <a href="https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-money-does-the-federal-government-provide-state-and-local-governments/state/california/">received</a> over $161 billion. Residents say they won’t look kindly on Newsom if he puts these funds at risk.
“Without these federal funds, California’s budget crisis would dramatically worsen, and California’s most vulnerable students would stand to lose crucial programs and support,” writes the <a href="https://californiapolicycenter.org/california-accepts-billions-in-federal-funds-for-education-while-defying-federal-law/">California Policy Center</a>. 
“Newsom and the California Department of Education should reassess their priorities and consider what California families want most: a quality education for the next generation.”

Linda McMahon

Department of Education Says California Violated Title IX, Threatens Legal Action

Department of Education

Title IX

Women's sports

The Los Angeles County Sheriff&#8217;s Department (LASD) deleted a social media post on Sunday and then apologized for it after calling the United States&#8217; bombing of key Iranian nuclear facilities a &#8220;tragic event.&#8221;
LASD released a statement saying, &#8220;Our hearts go out to the victims and families impacted by the recent bombings in Iran.&#8221; While the Trump administration <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9r4q99g4o">says</a> that the strikes caused &#8220;severe damage&#8221; to Iran&#8217;s most important nuclear facilities, there have been no reported casualties from the U.S. bombing mission, and Iran <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9r4q99g4o">claims</a> that all of the targeted facilities were evacuated before the attack.
In its now-deleted social media post, the L.A. County Sheriff&#8217;s Department added, &#8220;While this tragic event occurred overseas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff&#8217;s Department is closely monitoring the situation alongside our local, state, and federal partners.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The LA County Sheriff’s office just deleted this tweet calling the U.S. strikes on the Iranian regime’s nuclear facilities a “tragic event” and saying that “our hearts go out to the victims and families impacted by the recent bombings in Iran.” <a href="https://t.co/xnq2u8NDnY">pic.twitter.com/xnq2u8NDnY</a>
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1936956559029916047?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Later on Sunday, the world&#8217;s largest sheriff&#8217;s department released a statement &#8220;to formally apologize&#8221; for what it called &#8220;an offensive and inappropriate social media post.&#8221;
&#8220;This post was unacceptable, made in error, and does not reflect the views of Sheriff Robert G. Luna or the Department,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;As a law enforcement agency, we do not comment on foreign policy or military matters.&#8221;
The sheriff&#8217;s department added that it has launched an investigation to &#8220;determine how [the post] was created and published.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/z6MhYB8knl">pic.twitter.com/z6MhYB8knl</a>
— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/LASDHQ/status/1936981037021827216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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State and local agencies across the country ramped up security and preparedness following the United States&#8217; bombing mission over Iran. L.A. Democratic Mayor Karen Bass <a href="https://x.com/MayorOfLA/status/1936616636405948530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1936616636405948530%7Ctwgr%5Ed5d77118c00f00af1d62e79b8daa0a4762215cc6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fabc7.com%2Fpost%2Fcalifornia-state-local-officials-monitoring-threats-us-attack-iranian-nuclear-sites%2F16812539%2F">said</a> on Saturday that &#8220;out of an abundance of caution, LAPD is stepping up patrols near places of worship, community gathering spaces and other sensitive sites.&#8221; She added, &#8220;There are no known credible threats at this time.&#8221;
The NYPD <a href="https://x.com/NYPDnews/status/1936584866969342013">said</a> Saturday evening that it was &#8220;deploying additional resources to religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across NYC and coordinating with our federal partners.&#8221; Similarly, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DKYV9RjNheR/">said</a> it is &#8220;actively coordinating with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to share information and monitor intelligence in order to help safeguard residents, businesses, and visitors in the District of Columbia.&#8221;
On Sunday, President Donald Trump&#8217;s border czar, Tom Homan, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-border-czar-warns-of-biden-era-gotaways-amid-iranian-sleeper-cell-concerns">warned</a> of potential Iranian sleeper cells in the United States after the Biden administration allowed more than 1,200 Iranian nationals through America&#8217;s southern border.
“So we know that some terrorists have crossed that border. We’d be a fool to think zero crossed,&#8221; Homan added. &#8220;The thing is, though, we’ve got President Trump as a commander in chief who has put all resources on that.&#8221;

L.A. County Sheriff

L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept Apologizes For Calling U.S. Strikes On Iran A ‘Tragic Event’

Sheriff

Social Media

Every year, millions of high school students across the country dream of attending America’s most selective colleges. In California, that goal may be harder to reach as pro-affirmative action lawmakers push for new ways to give certain groups a leg up in admissions.
As a high school junior in San Jose, I will be applying to college next year. Students like me are taking AP classes, building their profiles, and doing everything we’ve been told to help us get into the schools of our choice.
The system is far from perfect but the basic premise is that colleges will then, in good faith, try to weigh each applicant based on merit and context. No group receives an unearned advantage at the expense of others.
<a href="https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB7/id/3029617">California Assembly Bill 7</a> (AB7) blows a hole in that idea.
The bill, which recently passed in the Assembly by a 54–17 vote, would allow California public universities to consider whether an applicant is “a descendant of a chattel enslaved person of American chattel slavery.” It’s part of <a href="https://blackcaucus.legislature.ca.gov/news/california-legislative-black-caucus-introduces-2024-reparations-legislative-package">a broader reparations push</a> and now headed to the state Senate.
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, says it’s not about race but historic harm. “For decades, universities gave preferential admission treatment to donors, and their family members, while others tied to legacies of harm were ignored and at times outright excluded,” Bryan <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-universities-slavery-descendants-admissions-4b0e84c27b40725a9f7929b230a591ca">told the Associated Press</a>. 
He’s right about history. The legacy of slavery has shaped socioeconomic outcomes for Black Americans. But that doesn’t mean all descendants of slavery are disadvantaged — or that ancestry should now serve as some kind of admissions shortcut.
That distinction seems to be missing from the conversation. What we’re left with is a bill that awards preference based on ancestry.
This bill proposes an eligibility line drawn by lineage. To be clear, the text does not use the words “Black” or “African American” but rather delineates a specific historical category, “descendants of U.S. chattel slavery,” without using racial language. It’s designed to sidestep Proposition 209, which banned racial preferences in 1996, and the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions that struck down affirmative action nationwide.
Legal scholars describe such policies as “race proxies”: mechanisms that dodge explicit racial language but preserve race as the decisive factor in practice. Courts have repeatedly scrutinized such end-runs: in Parents Involved v. Seattle, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2006/05-908">the Supreme Court warned</a> against policies that look constructive but act as racial stand-ins.
The legal system has long treated ancestral classifications with the same suspicion as racial ones. In Hirabayashi v. United States, the 1943 case on Japanese-American internment, <a href="https://edge.sagepub.com/epsteinpowers11e/student-resources/chapter-5-interbranch-interactions/hirabayashi-v-united-states">the Court held</a> that “distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Moreover, the express text of Proposition 209 includes “ethnicity” in its enumeration of protected categories as well as race.
The bill defines a “descendant of slavery” as someone whose ancestors were enslaved specifically in the United States, meaning it would exclude many Black students whose families came from Africa or the Caribbean after abolition. Meanwhile, someone who identifies as white but has traced a distant enslaved ancestry through DNA testing could, in theory, qualify. And we know these terms circle a ridiculously arbitrary line. African American activist Angela Davis <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/angela-davis-finding-your-roots-mayflower-ancestors-rcna71700">went on PBS’s</a> ancestry show Finding Your Roots only to find out she’s a descendent from Mayflower colonists. She was mortified.
But even if Bryan turns out to be right on the legal question, does the technical distinction between race and ancestry suddenly make it fair to those it excludes?
No. Ancestry-based preferences would still have effectively all the same downsides as other affirmative action policies: lack of individual assessment, blunt group categorization, and fairness concerns for everyone else. As Chief Justice John Roberts <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf">wrote in the SFFA majority opinion</a>: “College admissions are zero-sum. A benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former group at the expense of the latter.”
Even if preference is framed as reparative, someone else is paying the price.
There are better options to help marginalized students. California lawmakers could index Cal Grants to local cost of living. They could strengthen the UC/CSU admission guarantees for top students at public high schools. They could improve outreach around community college transfer guarantees or pass bills like <a href="https://www.padilla.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BASIC-Act-One-Pager.pdf">the BASIC Act</a>, which would give colleges resources to help students cover food, housing, and health care.
This bill, by contrast, like other affirmative action-adjacent legislation before it, assumes inherited identity stands in for “lived struggle.” It doesn’t.
We don’t need another lecture on systemic inequality. We see the results of it in classmates of all backgrounds who stop aiming high because they don’t think college is for them, or can’t imagine paying for it.
The California Senate should reject this bill and pursue fairer solutions, rather than advancing a measure the Supreme Court is likely to strike down.
* * *
William Liang is a student journalist living in San Jose, California.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Stanford Graduate School of Business

I’m Preparing For College. California’s New Slavery Bill Could Change Everything.

I’m Preparing for College. California’s New Slavery Bill Could Change Everything.

Affirmative Action

High School

Sacramento

Slavery

President Donald Trump picked up another legal victory in his fight with Governor Gavin Newsom after an appeals court ruled that he acted within the law when he deployed the California National Guard to protect federal personnel and property in Los Angeles County. 
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday issued a 3-0 ruling in favor of Trump, blocking a ruling from a district judge who said Trump had violated the Constitution when he sent in the National Guard against Newsom’s wishes. 
“Both irreparable harm and the public interest weigh in favor of Defendants, who have an uncontested interest in the protection of federal agents and property and the faithful execution of law,” the court wrote in its decision. “The undisputed facts demonstrate that before the deployment of the National Guard, protesters ‘pinned down’ several federal officers and threw ‘concrete chunks, bottles of liquid, and other objects’ at the officers. Protesters also damaged federal buildings and caused the closure of at least one federal building.”
Last week, the same court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/appeals-court-says-trump-can-keep-national-guard-deployed-in-l-a?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Appeals+Court+Says+Trump+Can+Keep+National+Guard+Deployed+In+L.A." target="_blank" rel="noopener">granted</a> an emergency injunction to Trump, allowing him to retain control of the guard while the case played out in court. The court said it was convinced by evidence that the guard “engaged only in protecting federal personnel and property.”
Trump deployed the National Guard earlier this month after violence broke out in multiple California cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, in response to ICE operations. At least 20 people have been federally <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-are-coming-for-you-feds-reveal-more-charges-against-anti-ice-rioters?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=‘We+Are+Coming+For+You’%3A+Feds+Reveal+More+Charges+Against+Anti-ICE+Rioters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> with actions like spitting on or assaulting federal officers and damaging federal property, while dozens more have been arrested by local law enforcement. 
Trump celebrated the decision from the appeals court. 
“BIG WIN in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the President’s core power to call in the National Guard! The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “This is a Great Decision for our Country, and we will continue to protect and defend Law abiding Americans. Congratulations to the Ninth Circuit, America is proud of you tonight!”
Newsom also reacted to the decision, noting that the court wrote in its ruling that presidents don’t have unlimited ability to use the National Guard. 
“Donald Trump is not a king and not above the law. Tonight, the court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court,” Newsom posted on X. “We will not let this authoritarian use of military soldiers against citizens go unchecked.”
Tensions have remained high in Los Angeles, with the Dodgers saying Thursday that the major league baseball franchise turned away ICE agents hoping to use their parking lots. Homeland Security <a href="https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1935787097048109231" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied</a> this claim, saying that vehicles with Customs and Border Protection were briefly in the parking lot for a reason unrelated to operation or enforcement actions.

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