Meet the Newscum same as the Oldscum

Food banks across California are marshaling their forces as residents face losing their federal aid under new rules.

The federal government’s 2025-26 budget bill, H.R. 1 or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, cut an estimated $211 billion of federal taxpayer money from the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as CalFresh in California. That’s according to the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated the amount of federal funding reductions to food benefits programs by shifting more cost-sharing responsibilities onto states and reducing funding for child nutrition programs.

The new rules, which take effect June 1, would institute work, school or community engagement requirements on CalFresh recipients between 18 and 65 who don’t have children at home. Those who keep their CalFresh benefits would have to work, be in school or do community service for at least 20 hours a week or 80 hours averaged out over a month.

However, there are exceptions. Children and those over 65 years old, a parent or guardian of a child under 14, those who are disabled, caretakers of a disabled person, veterans, pregnant women and those in a drug or alcohol treatment program are excused from those rules.

When the California Energy Commission announces plans to float twenty gigawatts of wind capacity in waters off the coast, that does not equate to twenty gigawatts of reliable electricity

By Edward Ring, May 20, 2026 4:53 pm

When Governor Gavin Newsom’s water plan calls for nine million acre feet of new water supply, it turns out part of that total is increased storage capacity in reservoirs, which will not result in an equivalent amount of available water. When the California Energy Commission announces plans to float twenty gigawatts of wind capacity in waters off the coast, that does not equate to twenty gigawatts of reliable electricity.

Whether it’s an energy project or a water project, it’s important to avoid conflating capacity with actual production, or yield. With energy projects, that difference is much more certain than with water projects.

For example, in 2024, California’s lone remaining nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon, with an output capacity of 2.4 gigawatts, would have produced 20.9 terawatt-hours (TWh) if it had ran 100 percent of the time. In reality, its uptime was 88 percent, and it generated 18.4 TWh.

he announcement also serves as a pointed reminder that voting in federal elections is strictly limited to eligible United States citizens

By Megan Barth, May 20, 2026 3:45 pm

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada announced Tuesday the formation of an Election Integrity Task Force and the creation of a dedicated Election Crimes and Prosecutions Unit within its Criminal Division, signaling a heightened federal commitment to enforcing voting laws and safeguarding the 2026 elections.

The move comes just weeks before Nevada’s statewide primary election on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, with mail ballots already being prepared for distribution.

The announcement also serves as a pointed reminder that voting in federal elections is strictly limited to eligible United States citizens.

The sheer volume removed, equivalent to roughly 15% of active registrations, should alarm every Nevadan who values fair elections

By Megan Barth, May 20, 2026 12:37 pm

Nevada election officials have inactivated or canceled more than 315,000 voter registrations in just over a year, according to data released by the Secretary of State’s Office. The figures—138,000 inactivated and 177,000 canceled in 2025, plus an additional 119,533 inactivated and 7,583 canceled so far in 2026—raise fresh questions about the bloated state of Nevada’s voter rolls and the vulnerabilities that have long plagued the battleground state’s election system.

These numbers represent one of the largest single-year voter roll cleanups in recent Nevada history. Combined with post-2024 efforts that removed over 162,000 registrations, the scale underscores a system that had allowed hundreds of thousands of potentially ineligible or inactive entries to accumulate.

Inactive voters can still cast a ballot if they show up and prove eligibility, but they are removed from mail ballot lists. Canceled registrations are fully removed after processes including undeliverable mail notices and two cycles of inactivity under the National Voter Registration Act.

The federal government pulled its money because the project violated terms and conditions of federal funding

By Katy Grimes, May 20, 2026 10:55 am

California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle is now estimated to cost taxpayers $231 billion, up from its original $33.5 billion price tag in 2008 when voters passed Proposition 1A.

Voters were deceived by the original ballot summary and language in Proposition 1A from 2008, but the state’s lawmakers seem to find that fact inconvenient.

And, the entire project is lacking in private, public and debt funding to complete even the most minor operating segment – nearly 20 years later.

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson is calling on ousted U.S. Rep Thomas Massie to abuse his remaining time as a congressman and read off all of the names in the Epstein Files.

“I’m begging @RepThomasMassie to go on the House floor asap & read all of the names in the #EpsteinFiles,” Carlson posted on X the morning after Massie’s humiliating ten-point primary loss. “You were a hero for survivors — you believed them & fought for them. Your actions were brave & heroic. Now pls blow the whole thing wide open. Thank you.”

California’s Democrat gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a political action committee (PAC) affiliated with actress Jane Fonda before the leftist celebrity endorsed him, according to campaign filings.

Not only has Fonda endorsed the billionaire in the governor’s race — she has even participated in an ad for the leftist gubernatorial hopeful.

“Some politicians are impossible to trust. Tom Steyer is a different story,” Fonda said, narrating an ad released for Steyer last month.

“Progressives like me trust Tom because he’s been on the front lines with us for over a decade. He organized with us against big oil when they tried to pollute our air and water,” Fonda said.

One of America’s oldest beer brands is being discontinued after a nearly two-century run.

Schlitz Premium, a beer brand that dates all the way back to Milwaukee in the 1840s, went from being one of the largest breweries in the U.S. to being placed “on hiatus,” its parent company Pabst Brewing Co. said on Friday.

The company confirmed the brand’s discontinuation after Wisconsin Brewing Company said it is brewing the final batch of the beverage at the end of May, Fox Business reported.

“Unfortunately, we have seen continued increases in our costs to store and ship certain products and have had to make the tough choice to place Schlitz Premium on hiatus,” Zac Nadile, Pabst head of brand strategy, told Milwaukee Magazine in a statement.

“Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future. We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands, and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions,” he continued.

California is the only state in the country that hasn’t repaid its COVID-era unemployment loans to the federal government. And Governor Gavin Newsom is sticking the bill to the state’s business owners.

Not many Californians even knew that California borrowed $20,501,188,129 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment claims, the Globe reported in 2021.

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office issued a report in 2021 which showed that California’s loan was 40% of the total $51,568,130,856 billion in loans 17 states borrowed. The next closest state, New York, borrowed $9 billion – less than half of California’s loan.

Many Californians are wondering just what they have to do to get Governor Gavin Newsom to get the homeless off the streets. As it turns out, all you need to do is be one of his celebrity buddies.

According to text messages obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsom’s office became very proactive in helping clear a homeless encampment outside the home of the governor’s friend and podcast co-host, Seahawks legend Marshawn Lynch. Lynch’s agent is also friends with the governor.

The homeless encampment became an issue in 2024, when an RV, a camper, and an SUV set up shop and backed up into the freeway. Lynch was far from the only resident to register a complaint. In fact, Oakland officials received 311 requests to disperse the Dover Street encampment.

However, one particular request seemed to go further up the chain than most.

The thing we were told never happens, happened on Skid Row for 20 years

By Megan Barth, May 19, 2026 10:00 am

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that a Marina del Rey woman has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of paying individuals, including homeless people on Skid Row, to register to vote using false or vague addresses, a scheme prosecutors say spanned approximately 20 years.

Court documents state Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, also known as “Anika,” paid individuals small amounts of cash, cigarettes, or other items to complete voter registration forms, often using her former address or nonspecific locations. She faces one felony count under 52 U.S.C. § 10307(c) for paying another person to register to vote. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $10,000 fine.

The case originated from undercover videos released by James O’Keefe and O’Keefe Media Group. As this outlet reported, it was citizen journalism–not the Secretary of State, county Registrar of Voters, congressional representatives, city officials, or nearby “nonprofits” that exposed the long-running operation.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California announced the plea agreement at a news conference.

Californians would have to take a four-hour course with live-fire training to buy a gun if a bill advancing through the Legislature gets signed into law.

Senate Bill 948, by Berkeley Democratic Sen. Jesse Arreguín, also would require gun owners moving to California to obtain a firearm safety certificate and register their firearms within 180 days of their arrival. Beginning in 2028, obtaining that certificate would require completing the training.

It’s the latest effort by California Democrats to add more restrictions on firearm ownership in a state that already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. However, it’s hardly certain the bill will become law. A similar measure died in the Legislature last year.

California’s community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money.

Recent data shows the colleges’ efforts finally may be working.

Last spring, CalMatters reported that colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Now fewer scammers are bypassing colleges’ vetting systems, according to monthly reports, and school administrators say they’re better, though still not perfect, at detecting and preventing fraud.

Despite booming revenues, the budget position is overextended, reflecting: a structurally higher spending base, diminished reserves, an already accumulated wall of debt, and an operating deficit’

By Katy Grimes, May 18, 2026 5:01 pm

Last week California Governor Gavin Newsom released his May budget revise, and blamed the President’s policies–especially tariffs– for contributing to a worsened budget outlook.

And then he claimed his final May budget revise is “miraculously balanced.”

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office disagreed with him last January, and disagrees now.

As we reported, Newsom proposed roughly $322 billion in total spending and about $226 billion General Fund spending. His budget revise projected a $12 billion deficit for 2025-26.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan to succeed her in Congress.

The nod from the 20-term congresswoman, the first woman ever to wield the speaker’s gavel, presents a last-minute twist in the three-way Democratic race to become San Francisco’s next congressmember. Pelosi announced last November that she would retire rather than seek another term.

“I know this district, I know the Congress, and I know Connie,” said Pelosi in a short clip from a video provided by Pelosi’s team, in which she’s seated next to Chan. “I’m proud to endorse Connie Chan, and I ask you to join me in electing her to Congress.”

The full endorsement video will be released Tuesday morning.

renda Brown admitted to a decades-long ‘cash-for-ballots’ scheme in which she worked as a paid ‘petition circulator’ for ballot initiatives, referendums, and recalls

By Megan Barth, May 18, 2026 10:47 am

In a significant victory for election integrity, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, a 64-year-old longtime petition circulator from Marina del Rey also known as “Anika” or Brenda Brown, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal felony charge of paying individuals, including homeless people on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, to register to vote.

The charge stems directly from an undercover investigation by O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), which captured Armstrong on hidden camera engaging in a cash-for-ballots scheme targeting vulnerable homeless individuals. As previously reported by the California Globe, OMG’s undercover videos exposed how Armstrong and others operated a forgery pyramid on Skid Row, paying cash, cigarettes, and other inducements to collect signatures and voter registrations for ballot initiatives.

hat’s not compassion – it’s political self-protection with a humanitarian label stapled to it

By Jay Rogers, May 18, 2026 6:30 am

California lawmakers have a long-established habit of treating the First Amendment like a nuisance. If speech is uncomfortable, regulate it. If criticism is sharp, chill it. If reality looks bad, rename it. That reflex is on full display in Assembly Bill 2624, a measure authored by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) that would extend the state’s “Safe at Home” address confidentiality program to immigration service workers — and in doing so, hand those workers a legal tool to silence nearly any online discussion that “relates to” them, including posts that have nothing to do with immigration or threats.

That’s not compassion. It’s political self-protection with a humanitarian label stapled to it.

The Globe reported on hackers, crooks and bots who use stolen identities for the purpose of obtaining financial aid in California’s colleges and universities, ripping taxpayers off of billions of dollars

By Katy Grimes, May 17, 2026 9:20 am

In 2010, President Barack Obama eliminated the federal guaranteed student loan program and nationalized student loans. Prior to this takeover, private lenders offered student loans at low interest rates.

The Department of Education effectively became a lending institution and is now the only place to administer student loans.

As a result, universities and colleges throughout the country increased the cost of tuition. Suddenly, even community colleges were charging exorbitant fees and providing government financial aid

he Democratic Party’s dominance of the Golden State may be waning.

More than 900,000 ballots turned in by early voters in the June 2 primary show more than a three-fold surge in Republican votes compared to the last governor’s race four years ago, according to newly released data.

Data linked in a post over the weekend from the research firm Political Data (PDI) showed that “out of 905,889 ballots that have been returned, 37% were from Republicans, with Republican returns up 11% compared to the same stage of the 2022 midterms.” the California Post reported.