California Leads Nation in Unhoused People

115,000

Wall Street Journal: “The number of homeless people in California grew about 50% between 2014 and 2022. The state, which accounts for 12% of the U.S. population, has about half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless, an estimated 115,000 people, according to federal and state data last year. It also has among the highest average rent and median home prices in the U.S.”

Newsom Hits GOP’s ‘Authoritarian Leaders’

interviewed in Alabama by MSNBC's Jen Psaki

Politico.com: “[California Gov. Gavin] Newsom sat down with [MSNBC’s Jen] Psaki in Alabama, while on a tour of Republican-led states including Arkansas and Mississippi. Newsom recently announced the launch of a new political action committee called Campaign for Democracy, aimed at calling out red state policies and ‘authoritarian leaders.’

“With Psaki, he lit into DeSantis, a frequent target of his ire who is expected to announce a run for the Republican presidential nomination at the close of Florida’s legislative calendar.

“‘[He’s] scared to death, scared of the people, scared of the public,’ Newsom said. ‘I think the majority of NRA members probably oppose that position.’”

California Overtakes Germany to Become World’s Fourth-Largest Economy

4th

Bloomberg: “California’s economy has proven relatively resilient, first through the pandemic and now through the current period of elevated inflation. So much so, that the Golden State’s gross domestic product is poised to overtake Germany’s as the fourth largest in the world after the US, China and Japan. It had already leapfrogged Brazil (No. 7) and France (No. 6) in 2015 and supplanted the UK (No. 5) in 2017.”

Newsom Signs Gun Bill Based on Texas’ Abortion Vigilante Law

Politico: “California has issued the U.S. Supreme Court a direct challenge at the confluence of gun and abortion rights as Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a firearms bill embracing the doctrine of private enforcement.

“The new law allows Californians to sue manufacturers and citizens who distribute banned assault weapons or ghost guns. Newsom explicitly modeled the concept on a Texas law, preserved by the high court, that allows people to pursue legal claims against abortion providers.

“By calling for and then signing the bill, Newsom has set up a legal test while illuminating the gulf between liberal California and a conservative Supreme Court on politically charged issues.”

Newsom to Florida: ‘Freedom Is under Attack in Your State’

Deadline.com: “Continuing the war of words between Florida and California – and potentially previewing the presidential campaign for 2024 – California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a new ad attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Newsom’s July 4 weekend ad claims “Freedom is under attack” in states run by Republican governors, like Florida. It goes on to demonize several decisions led by the conservative DeSantis.

“’Your Republican leaders, they’re banning books,’ Newsom says in voiceover of images of DeSantis. Republican governors are ‘making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors,’ Newsom’s ad claims….

“Newsom called on Floridians to ‘join the fight’ against DeSantis. He added that disgruntled citizens in the Sunshine State are welcome to move to California, ‘where we still believe in freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate and the freedom to love. Don’t let them take your freedom.’”

California Senate Passes Gun Bill Based on Texas’ Abortion Bounty Hunter Law

PoliticalWire: “Shortly after the nation’s latest mass shooting, which killed at least 18 children at an elementary school in Texas, the California Senate passed a bill Tuesday to allow private citizens to file suit for at least $10,000 — a bounty-hunter provision modeled on a Texas abortion law — against makers or sellers of untraceable ghost guns or illegal assault weapons,” the [paywalled] San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Fox News: Trump May Take Current Disaster Funds from Florida, Texas to Build Wall

Event canceled due to emergency in Trump’s base
It wasn’t surprising to hear that Trump was targeting disaster relief funds earmarked for victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the wildfires in California. After all, Hillary Clinton won handily in both those places in 2016 and punishing them by taking away desperately needed funding is exactly the kind of mean-spirited, cold-hearted retribution we’ve come to expect from Trump.

But now even Fox News is reporting that Trump will also strip disaster recovery funds from two big states he won: Florida and Texas.

[…]

Report: Ivanka Played Shill in Her Father’s Trump Baja Resort Scam

Site of the Trump Baja resort; inset: Ivanka Trump and her father
Site of the Trump Baja resort; inset: Ivanka Trump and her father

After winning a behind-the-scenes power play in which she ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Ivanka Trump has assumed a larger role in her father’s presidential campaign.

This change has heartened worried Republican elites. Ivanka’s public persona is a stark contrast from her father’s. He is a hotheaded, conspiracy-theory spouting vulgarian. She is poised and comes off as smart and cool. He is a world-class con artist. She seems to be squeaky clean.

But an investigation by the Los Angles Times into one Donald Trump’s many failed real estate ventures found that Ivanka, along with her brother, Donald Jr., played a supporting role in one of her father’s cons, a real estate deal in Baja, Mexico, that plundered the life savings of hundreds of unwitting condo buyers from Southern California.

[…]