Newsom Hits The Gas

 Issues & Insights

"Newsom recently bragged that California is now the fourth-largest economy in the world. That’s nice, but it won’t last long if Sacramento’s political war on oil and gas continues."

"It wasn’t long ago that a California governor made it clear that oil refineries were not welcome in his state. Then another California governor asked regulators to loosen the chains on refineries to ensure that they will be profitable and remain in the state that every day burns an enormous volume of gasoline.

"Actually, it is the same governor, one who has turned his attention from playing to his hard-left, blue-state constituency to shifting toward the middle for a 2028 White House run.

"It was just last summer when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a “plan to prevent Big Oil ‘profit spikes’” that would also “save Californians money at the pump.” He groused about refiners “playing games to earn even more profits” and vowed to force them to “act responsibly.”

"Two months later, he signed a bill that is intended to limit “higher profits for the industry.” Within hours, Phillips 66 said that it was closing its Los Angeles refinery complex.

“ 'Without actually using the words, the company is saying there’s no reason to stick around and be abused,” the Pacific Research Institute said last fall.

"Then, earlier this year, PRI pointed out that “California is literally running out of oil refineries.”

“Phillips 66 announced it was closing its Los Angeles refinery complex in 2025. It will be the fourth refinery shut down in the state since 2020. At that point, there will be only a dozen refineries left to produce the 38 million gallons of California’s boutique blend – which is not made anywhere else, costs more than conventional gasoline, and requires oil companies to invest billions to upgrade their systems to make – that’s consumed daily.”

"Or it could be only 14. Valero is likely to close its California refinery next year.

"Mission accomplished. Then the mission changed. Now, Newsom is asking regulators to do what they can to keep oil refineries open.

"In a letter to California Energy Commission Vice Chairman Siva Gunda, sent days after Valero’s announcement, the governor asked the agency to “redouble the state’s efforts to work closely with refiners,” and to ensure that “refiners continue to see the value in serving the California market, even as demand for fossil fuels continues its gradual decline over the coming decades.” . . .

Newsom Touts Calif. as World’s 4th-Largest Economy on Paper as Real Jobs Fall — Daily Signal

California, Which Bans Affirmative Action, Sues Trump over Anti-DEI Policy — Breitbart

Voto Latino CEO Asks News To "Blur" Mugshot Posters On WH Lawn: "We Don't Know If They've Had Due Process"

 RCP 

 "I recognize a lot of shots are tough, but I encourage folks to actually make sure that those shots are blurred to the best of your abilities."

"Maria Teresa Kumar, the CEO of Voto Latino, told MSNBC on Monday morning that journalists reporting from the White House lawn should "blur" the mugshots of suspected deported illegal immigrant criminals on posters put up by the Trump administration.

"MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire reported: "The White House has put up about 100 posters of what they say are unauthorized immigrants who have been arrested for violent crimes."

"What’s particularly noteworthy about this location is it is right directly behind the positions where TV correspondents do their hits from the White House lawn. So therefore, no matter what network you’re on, that includes MSNBC, if you’re doing it from the White House right now, those pictures will be behind you," he said.

"Maria Teresa Kumar, the CEO of Voto Latino, told MSNBC on Monday morning that journalists reporting from the White House lawn should "blur" the mugshots of suspected deported illegal immigrant criminals on posters put up by the Trump administration.

"MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire reported: "The White House has put up about 100 posters of what they say are unauthorized immigrants who have been arrested for violent crimes."

" 'What’s particularly noteworthy about this location is it is right directly behind the positions where TV correspondents do their hits from the White House lawn. So therefore, no matter what network you’re on, that includes MSNBC, if you’re doing it from the White House right now, those pictures will be behind you," he said." . . .

After Decimating Their Credibility, Networks Still Spew 'Relentlessly Hostile' Trump Coverage

 Bob Hoge

"You’re not imagining it—you’re living in a misinformation world where the major broadcast networks are regularly depicting a country that you don’t live in. For four years, they told us that Joe Biden was just fine—sharp as a tack—even though our own eyes told us otherwise.

"Since 2016, they’ve tried to convince us that Donald Trump is Hitler reincarnate, even as he’s made major efforts to stomp out antisemitism in this country and has made no move to kill six million Jews.

"Have they learned anything as their reputations have cratered and no one trusts them anymore? Of course not. They continue on their relentless campaign to demonize conservatives while pushing radical woke ideology down the throats of low-information voters. The numbers bear it out:

"Just 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, the broadcast evening news landscape is even more lopsided than it was eight years ago, when Trump was besieged with relentlessly hostile coverage. So far this year, the new Trump administration has faced a withering 92% negative coverage from ABC, CBS and NBC, whose flagship news programs averaged more than 19.3 million viewers during the first quarter of 2025, making them the most widely-watched news programs in the country.

"I know some readers, when faced with stories like this, say, “Who cares? Nobody watches these gaslighting idiots anyway." Unfortunately, that is not the case—as the Newsbusters report indicates, almost 20 million viewers tune in on average to these lie-fests. We can ignore it, but we do so at our own peril—just remember, we got Joe Biden for four miserable years." . . .

 WHCA 'Nerd Prom'   Marked by Insulting Gaslighting and the Press Learning Zero Lessons   "For reference, Daniels is a host on MSNBC, the most far-left network in existence. Have he and his fellow press members comported themselves as the "opposition?" Absolutely. I'd also cool it with the talk of great sacrifice from a class of people who mostly work from their couches if they aren't sitting in cushy studios. 

"Included in Daniels' words is the rank arrogance and inability to admit fault that has turned the mainstream press into a pariah. Progress would be admitting there are issues, changing their approach, and trying to regain trust. What's not progress is doubling down on how important they supposedly are while lying to people about their motivations and concerns for the public trust. 

"Remember when a verbatim question from a reporter ended up on a pre-printed Biden notecard, complete with a picture of who the questioner would be and her name spelled phonetically (because he was and remains senile)? The WHCA has still provided no explanation, and the journalist involved sits on its board." . . .

What Is Going On In Los Angeles?

Issued & Insights

"Nor have they shown themselves capable of leading the recovery. After promising to streamline the permitting process and rebound without delay, only four building permits for owners whose homes were destroyed had been issued 75 days after the fires."  

 "In a little more than three years, Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics. It seems fair to ask if it is going to be up to the task. The city has a nearly $1 billion deficit and will be laying off 1,600 workers. The rebuild after winter wildfires killed 12 and destroyed 68,000 structures is moving as slowly as the state’s high-speed rail project. A federal judge has told Los Angeles officials he is their “worst nightmare.” And the city is being sued by its hometown newspaper.  

"Another question comes to mind: Could Los Angeles be the next Detroit? At times, it seems it’s in a race with San Francisco to see which will be the first to reach a Motor City-like nadir.  

"Due to its “serious financial headwinds,” the city is going to have to make cuts, immediately and in the future.  

“ 'This is an enormous hole to fill,” Matthew Szabo, city administrative officer, told the City Council last month. “The severity of the revenue decline, paired with rising costs, has created a budget gap that makes layoffs nearly inevitable. We are not looking at dozens or even hundreds of layoffs, but thousands.”  As much as 5% of the city workforce will likely have to go.

The Democrats have responded to Judge Hannah Dugan's arrogance with a combination of hypocrisy and political ineptitude.

David Catron; The American Spectator

. . ."This makes two judges arrested and two judges who, for all intents and purposes, refuse to adhere to their oaths of office. All four, and many more, see themselves as part of “the resistance.” But what are they resisting? It isn’t just Trump or even the will of the people. It’s the rule of law." . . .

"Last week, after their absurd attempt to make a martyr of Salvadoran deportee Kilmar Abrego Garcia, some Democrats seemed to realize they had committed a political blunder. As Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) put it, “I don’t know if that’s the right issue that Democrats should be focusing on right now.” Many polls, including a CBS/YouGov survey released Sunday, indicate that most Americans support the deportation of people living in the U.S. illegally. Yet, when a Wisconsin judge was arrested for aiding a “migrant” in his effort to escape immigration officials, the Democrats repeated their error.

"If any reader managed to miss this story, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday and charged with two federal crimes involving obstruction of a federal proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent his arrest. The specific “individual” was Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national living in the country illegally. Judge Dugan foolishly assisted his futile attempt to avoid apprehension at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18, and her subsequent arrest inspired a number of Democrats to issue irresponsible statements such as this one from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.):

Americans are watching with outrage the stunning news that Trump’s FBI has arrested a sitting judge in Milwaukee for alleged obstruction of an immigration arrest. While all the facts are not yet in, the implications of this arrest are chilling. This is a drastic escalation and dangerous new front in Trump’s authoritarian campaign of trying to bully, intimidate, and impeach judges who won’t follow his dictates.  We must do whatever we can to defend the independent judiciary in America.

"Conspicuously absent from this portentous nonsense is any justification for Dugan’s illegal actions. Raskin is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and often reminds us that no one is above the law. He has never mentioned a county judge exception. Nor has Raskin’s counterpart on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who denounced Dugan’s arrest in an Orwellian statement: “When immigration enforcement officials interfere with our criminal justice system, it undermines public safety, prevents victims and witnesses from coming forward, and often prevents those who committed crimes from facing justice …”

"Durbin is clearly a little confused. It was Judge Dugan who “interfered in our criminal justice system” by personally conducting Flores-Ruiz out of her courtroom through an exit outside of which she knew no federal agents would be waiting. As reported by KKTV.com, “Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest.” He was only apprehended because he ran the wrong way after departing the building. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor, Tony Evers, condemned President Trump’s administration as dangerous:" . . .

What will it take for Democrats to love America more than they hate President Trump?

UPDATE: Democrats Burn Their ‘No One Is Above the Law’ Card in Response to Wisconsin Judge’s Arrest  "One of the most oft-repeated talking points from Democrats and media figures during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and the four years after was “no one is above the law.” They said it in part because Trump had the nerve to fight back in the court of public opinion— and courts of law when necessary — against the Democrats’ blatant lawfare schemes.

"But it didn’t take long before their masks slipped off, once again revealing who they really were underneath: crass hypocrites to whom the rules – and their purported “standards” – don’t apply.

"Such has been the case this week after the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, 65. According to the FBI charging document, Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI for two alleged U.S. Code violations: “Obstructing or impeding proceeding before a department or agency of the United States” and “Concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.” . . .

"Last but not least, there was this, which is insane when you think about it:

You really can’t make this up.

Last week their crusade was for a confirmed member of MS-13 who beats his wife and was involved in human trafficking.

Michigan has had a vocal presence of anti-Israel demonstrators in recent times.

[RELATED: Former Columbia president says during deposition she doesn’t remember students calling for Israel’s destruction]

Broc Smith

University of Michigan suspends anti-Israel student activists from campus 

. . ."Last month, pro-Palestine demonstrators vandalized the house of the university’s provost with slogans like “Free Palestine,” “Divest,” “M Kills” and “No Honor in Genocide.”

"Michigan Regents Vice Chair Mark Bernstein strongly condemned the vandalism as an “assault” on the university’s fundamental values. “We have failed as an educational institution when these criminal acts replace responsible advocacy,” he noted. "

 I recall during Vietnam when American soldiers were taunted by these same types with the slogan "Baby killers!" Now they defend those Hamas allies for putting infants into ovens and cooking them alive or beheading them. TD

Gazans were here.

Princeton president digs in heels after Trump revokes $210 M over anti-Semitism concerns, saying he’s protecting ‘academic freedom’  

. . ."The Trump administration suspended the funds as the result of a Department of Education investigation started in 2024 as the result of a Title VI complaint filed by Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Dr. Zachary Marschall.

"Marschall wrote that Princeton protesters chanted anti-Israel messages shortly after the Oct. 7 massacre, and that “The violent words of these protesters completely disregard the atrocities Hamas has already committed and promises to commit in the future against the people of Israel, including raping, murdering, and kidnapping civilians.” His Title VI complaint stated that Princeton allowed such anti-Semitism to continue with impunity. 

"[RELATED: Princeton students host extreme anti-Israel speakers, including one who says Zionists ‘exploited’ the Holocaust]" . . .

Drone footage shows Pacific Palisades reservoir still empty

Monica Showalter

LA Empty reservoirs today

"After Gavin Newsom tooted his own horn about how much California has learned its lesson about fire prevention, and shoveling out $170 million for just that purpose, someone on X sent up a drone over the famous empty Pacific Palisades reservoir ... and found it still empty:

"Business as usual, empty reservoirs, and the L.A. Department of Water and Power still makes $750,000 a year. Perhaps the state has a new illegal alien benefit to dole out. The reservoirs were specifically built to ensure a large supply of water for firefighters to fight fires in the event the inevitable happened. It did, and the reservoir was "under repairs" for years, making it empty.

"Obviously, they don't care.

"And just as appalling, amid all the bragging about Los Angeles 'rebuilding' and 'rising up' after January's conflagration, someone sent a drone up to take a gander at how that's going

A flyover of wildfire recovery efforts in Los Angeles show empty reservoirs, and very little actual recovery in Malibu. pic.twitter.com/ALrIvYTQ0q

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) April 25, 2025

On “Assassination Culture”: It’s Not You, It’s the Left

"A new report warns that rising left-wing support for political violence, fueled by online “assassination culture,” threatens the foundations of civil discourse and democracy."

 Thaddeus G. McCotter 

"After all, during the four years of the Biden Administration, the right did not engage in a similar wave of violence, let alone have it ignored or condoned by the media. In fact, it was the federal government under a leftist president that used its police and surveillance powers to infringe upon the constitutional rights and civil liberties of its opponents."

"Writing in City Journal, Zack Dulberg and Max Horder, senior fellows at the Network Contagion Research Institute, examined the results of a recent survey to determine why America has experienced a disturbing increase in political violence. The answer should surprise no objective observer: “Progressives increasingly support violence.”

We found that nearly one-third of Americans surveyed—and around half of those identifying as left-of-center—believe that the murder of certain public figures is at least somewhat justified. The figures are startling: 38 percent of respondents, and 55 percent of those left of center, said assassinating President Trump would be at least somewhat justified; 31 percent of respondents, and 48 percent of those left of center, said the same about Musk. Forty percent of respondents, and 58 percent of those left of center, deem it at least somewhat acceptable to “destroy a Tesla dealership” in protest.

"Further, based upon their findings, Mr. Dulberg and Mr. Horder have identified the disease ravaging the body politic: 

Our report also discovered an online “assassination culture,” found in predominantly left-leaning digital spaces, such as Bluesky and Reddit. This subculture justifies and glorifies political violence. Some of these networks’ users wield the name “Luigi” or use the Luigi video game character as coded endorsements of Brian Thompson’s alleged assassin, Luigi Mangione. These users cloak explicit calls for violence in stylized memes. Many believe that political murder and sabotage are acceptable forms of protest.

"And again, as the authors stress, this is no longer a phenomenon on the fringe of the public square: “This ‘assassination culture’ incubated on social media has migrated from the margins of public life into the mainstream.” . . .

"Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional District from 2003-2012, He served as chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees."

Let’s Move One Prison Gang Thug Into The Home Of Each Judge Who Wants To Keep Them In America

 

"Biblical & historical Scholar Steve Putney, award-winning financial adviser George Caylor and retired attorney & Substack writer Diane L. Gruber discuss the asinine Supreme Court ruling to keep murderous Tren de Aragua prison gang members in America. Steve explains the history of suspending Habeas Corpus^ and how illegal aliens put Abraham Lincoln in the White House. George and Diane discuss the fact that Christians and gun owners have a low voter registration rate.Share

Listen to our 28-minute podcast by clicking here.

“ 'Get Real” Host, George Caylor, was in George’s studio in Lynchburg, VA taping this podcast on April 23rd. Professor Steve M. Putney joined from his vacation home in Lackland, FL and I joined from our home in Oysterville WA, at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. Each of our podcasts is broadcast on American Christian Network every Saturday, at noon Pacific Time. We normally tape Wednesday mornings for the following Saturday’s radio broadcast.

S.C.O.T.U.S. Was NOT Elected: Usurps Presidential Authority   If, if, if President Biden had the authority to fly in prison gang members from Venezuelan and give them “temporary protective status;” then President Trump certainly has the authority to terminate this TEMPORARY protective status, which he did in March.

"In February the US government declared the Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua, as a foreign terrorist organization, which was "conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States" with the goal of destabilizing the nation. The gang is linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings, which is promoted by Venezuela's government.

The Dangers of Price Controls

Imprimis   

"Of course, if we are in a period of inflation, price fixing does immensely more harm. It is never a cure for inflation. Rather it is an attempt to direct the blame away from government. What causes inflation is an increase in the supply of money and credit. This is often brought on, directly or indirectly, by government policies—especially when the Federal Reserve decides to print new money to fuel government deficits."

Thomas Nast 1873

"Editor’s Note:   The first issue of Imprimis, published in May 1972, featured an article titled “The Dangers of Price Controls” by Henry Hazlitt. The Federal Reserve back then was printing large amounts of money to fund massive government spending on Great Society programs launched during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. As a result of printing so much money, the U.S. economy was suffering from rapid inflation. To address inflation, Federal Reserve Chair Arthur Burns and the Nixon administration dreamed up wage and price controls.

"Today we face a similar situation. The Federal Reserve has been printing a lot of money to fund the huge expansion in the size and scope of government that took place during and after the Covid pandemic. In response to the resulting inflation and the political unrest that comes with it, Vice President Harris and others are promising to outlaw “price gouging”—in other words, to impose price controls—which will eventually lead to wage controls as well, since production and prices involve both in an intimate way.

"Because economic truth remains the same today as it was 52 years ago, we are reprinting Henry Hazlitt’s article from 1972, but with edits and updates by Brian Wesbury that bring Hazlitt’s classic piece into today’s world.

"The first thing to be said about price and wage fixing is that it is harmful at any time and under any conditions. It is a giant step toward a dictated, regimented, and authoritarian economy. It makes impossible arrangements that both sides are willing to agree to. It sets aside contracts that have already been made in good faith. If an employer wishes to give a man a raise in pay, and the man deserves it, he is nonetheless forbidden to do it under the new regulations. This is a grave abridgment of individual liberty.

"Price and wage fixing does harm even if there is no inflation. In a free economy prices are constantly changing. They are changing to reflect changes in supply and demand, in costs, and in a hundred other conditions. Some prices are going up, other prices are going down. If an effort is made to freeze prices and wages exactly where they are, it immediately disturbs the relationship of prices and comparative profit margins, which decides what things will be made and what quantities they will be made in. It upsets the process by which the free market decides how thousands of different commodities and services are to be made in the proportions in which people want them.

"Of course, if we are in a period of inflation, price fixing does immensely more harm. It is never a cure for inflation. Rather it is an attempt to direct the blame away from government. What causes inflation is an increase in the supply of money and credit. This is often brought on, directly or indirectly, by government policies—especially when the Federal Reserve decides to print new money to fuel government deficits.

"Since the onset of Covid, government deficits have soared to spectacular levels. Roughly $5 trillion of new debt was issued to pay people not to work and to buy vaccines, as well as to fund Green New Deal policies. The massive spending bills that accomplished this were cynically called the “CARES Act” and, comically, the “Inflation Reduction Act.” Even in the past two years, with the pandemic over and the unemployment rate down near four percent, the government—in adopting what may be the most irresponsible budgets in U.S. history—has been running deficits as high as $2 trillion.

"These deficits have mostly been financed by the Fed’s creation of new money. At the end of 2019, demand bank deposits and currency in the hands of the public totaled $15.3 trillion. Today that figure is $21.1 trillion. That is an increase of 38 percent, most of which occurred in 2020–2021. This is the major cause of the worst U.S. inflation in over 40 years, with consumer prices up 22 percent." . . .

London in The Blitz, WW2

London in The Blitz, WW2 - Fascinating THEN & NOW Photographs

No Tesla or victim love in Minneapolis

 Mike McDaniel  

"Among the worst burdens of any police officer’s job is dealing with non-prosecuting prosecutors. The common, pre-Soros variety were bad enough, but Soros prosecutors blatantly refuse to prosecute most criminals and are prone to throwing the book at non-Democrats." . . . 

"That Democrats have long enjoyed a two-tiered system of injustice is well established. The law applies to Normal Americans, not the self-imagined elite who may break it with impunity. That’s particularly true in Minnesota, playground of Governor Tim “Tampon” Walz and Hennepin County—Minneapolis—Prosecutor Mary Moriarty, very much a Soros prosecutor.

"Moriarty has a horrible record of ignoring victims and coddling criminals. She dropped the case of a 35-year-old man who allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl. She gave probation to a drug dealer who knowingly killed a man with a fatal Fentanyl dose. She was so lenient to two hitmen even Tim Walz had her booted from the case. 

"And now one Dylan Adams, a 33-year-old state government employee who allegedly keyed six separate Teslas, causing at least $20,000 in damage, won’t face the felony charges he deserves. I say “alleged” because Teslas have 360° cameras, all of which caught Adams in the act. Instead, he’ll be given a “diversion” program.

"Such programs are normally reserved for first time offenders who made a single, foolish mistake, people who really aren’t career criminals. Usually in exchange for restitution, and perhaps some community service, they get off without any criminal record. In this case, Adams vandalized six widely separated Teslas in a premediated series of felonies. One wasn’t enough for Adams; he had to make a bigger political statement. Moriarty’s office noted:  

"Our main priorities are to secure restitution for the victims and hold Mr. Adams accountable. As a result, we will file for pre-charge diversion to best facilitate both of those goals," HCAO spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping said. "This is an approach taken in many property crime cases and helps to ensure the individual keeps their job and can pay restitution, as well as reducing the likelihood of repeat offenses. Criminal prosecution remains a possibility should unlawful behavior continue."