Latest news with #Prop47
Fox News
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
STEVE HILTON: Gavin Newsom leaves an unexpected legacy in California
Everywhere I go in America, when I tell people I'm from California I get one of two reactions: "You need to get out of there -- move to somewhere less crazy!" Or: "Why do they keep voting for that (fill in your curse word of choice…)?" Well, here's the good news: the answers to those two questions are now coming together in a beautiful and positive prospect: real political change in the Golden State. My answer to the first question is typically: "Why should we leave? This is my home! I'm raising my family here; I started a business here. Yes, our terrible government has turned everything into a disaster right now, but I love California. It's not us who should leave, but the people who did this to our state! The Democrat politicians: they need to leave office." Then combine that with how I'm now answering the second question, about why people still vote for the same old you-know-what: "Actually, they're starting to vote differently." Look at the city of Huntington Beach in Orange County, the iconic 'Surf City USA.' Just over four years ago, a friend of mine, long-time California Republican Tony Strickland (now a newly-elected State Senator), put together a slate of four energetic candidates to challenge Democrat dominance of the city council. They pulled it off, taking control 4-3 in the midterm elections in 2022. They went on to implement common-sense conservative policies on crime, homelessness, and what's taught in schools. They even introduced and passed a local ballot initiative on voter ID. Guess what? In last November's elections, they pulled off a stunning clean sweep. The "MAGAnificent Seven", as they called themselves, won every seat. Huntington Beach went from 6-1 Democrat control to 7-0 Republican. There were other signs in 2024 that a political revolution may be brewing. Nearly a fifth of California's counties (10 out of 58) flipped from blue to red in 2024 including Fresno, the state's fifth largest city. Proposition 36 (which reversed some of the worst parts of former Vice President and California Attorney General Kamala Harris' disastrous pro-crime Prop 47 from a few years earlier) passed with over 70% support. Soros-backed DAs like George Gascon in L.A. were kicked out. Ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage, impose rent control and raise taxes were defeated. And of course, President Donald Trump did better in California than any Republican presidential candidate for decades. Republican voter registration has also been increasing while Democrat registration has been falling. And all of this was happening before the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires, which showed so many people the terrible consequences of what I call the new DEI: Democrat Extremism and Incompetence. It is Gov. Gavin Newsom who has presided over all this. He's the one that enabled years of far-left insanity that gave California the highest poverty rate in America, the most expensive housing, gas, electricity and water, the highest unemployment, lowest income growth and worst business climate. The public schools are a disaster, homelessness continues to spiral out of control, the California Dream is out of reach and the fire hydrants are out of water. On Newsom's watch, California has gone from being America's crown jewel to its worst-run state. No fair-minded person could come to any other conclusion. It's all laid out in my new book Califailure, along with the accompanying Fox Nation special. You should read the book: it's a warning not to let this happen in your state. It shows exactly how the Democrats did it -- and how to stop it. But the second part of my book is called Califuture. In it, I lay out a positive, practical plan for turning things around. Commonsense policies that will stop the insane government bloat and nanny state bossiness that is making life a misery for every small business and every family. Of course, it will only happen if we actually end the Democrats' disastrous one-party rule and elect Republicans to statewide office, like we used to before government unions and far left activists got their stranglehold on power. Thanks to the sheer scale of "Califailure," with zero sign of any concrete action from the Democrats to clean up the mess they made, Republicans, for the first time in two decades, really do have a shot at winning in 2026. A recent poll showed that 48% of Californians would vote for a Republican governor. So, there you are: this could well be Gavin Newsom's greatest legacy: flipping California red!
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Actor Frank Stallone claims he has to ‘batten down the windows' when driving through ‘scary' L.A.
Actor Frank Stallone is lamenting what he sees as the downfall of California, claiming that the state has since become a 'scary' and 'filthy' place since he moved in the 1970s. The 74-year-old New York native and younger brother of Rocky star Sylvester Stallone recalled moving to the Golden State in 1979 when he said it was 'sunny' with little crime. 'I came to California in '79 and it was totally — it was California Dreamin', and I wasn't even in the best time,' Stallone told Fox News Digital. 'No, it was a lot better it was real California sunny, you know? Cool. Not much crime,' he said. Recalling his recent drive through downtown Los Angeles, Stallone claimed the 'filth, the graffiti and the homelessness is almost like that movie Escape from New York.' Released in 1981 and starring Kurt Russel, Escape from New York is about a former soldier turned criminal tasked with rescuing the president, who's been taken hostage by inmates on the island of Manhattan after it's been turned into a maximum security prison amid a war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. 'I mean, it's that scary. I mean, I batten down the window, talking trash piled four feet high. Just filth,' Stallone continued. 'You've just got to move them out,' he said of homeless encampments. 'No more of these Winnebagos parked for months on the curb. You know, we got to move. No more pitching tents on sidewalks where people can't walk. No more pitching tents in front of people's houses. I mean, when I was going down to the gym, it was so compacted with homeless people. The stench — also that that type of unsanitariness breeds you know... All kinds of bad stuff… There's a lot of human excrement. It's just terrible.' He further blamed the current state of California on 'really bad' leadership. Of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Stallone said: 'I think this guy is so transparent. He's so phony. He's a terrible speaker. The hands and the hair and everything. He's just set up to be made fun of, you know what I mean? And he's a bad governor.' He added: 'I mean, this is such a beautiful state. Beautiful. We got the mountains, we got snow, we got the ocean. We've got everything. It's just run wrong…. I mean, the crime. It's just ridiculous. You know, $900 you can steal and nothing happens. But that, to me, is I'm lost on that one. You know, when I was a kid, you stole a candy bar, you get a kick in the butt.' To reduce prison overcrowding, California in 2014 passed Prop 47, which reclassified certain felonies to misdemeanors, including theft of property valued under $950. The Independent has contacted Newsom's representative for comment.
The Independent
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Actor Frank Stallone claims he has to ‘batten down the windows' when driving through ‘scary' L.A.
Actor Frank Stallone is lamenting what he sees as the downfall of California, claiming that the state has since become a 'scary' and 'filthy' place since he moved in the 1970s. The 74-year-old New York native and younger brother of Rocky star Sylvester Stallone recalled moving to the Golden State in 1979 when he said it was 'sunny' with little crime. 'I came to California in '79 and it was totally — it was California Dreamin', and I wasn't even in the best time,' Stallone told . 'No, it was a lot better it was real California sunny, you know? Cool. Not much crime,' he said. Recalling his recent drive through downtown Los Angeles, Stallone claimed the 'filth, the graffiti and the homelessness is almost like that movie Escape from New York. ' Released in 1981 and starring Kurt Russel, Escape from New York is about a former soldier turned criminal tasked with rescuing the president, who's been taken hostage by inmates on the island of Manhattan after it's been turned into a maximum security prison amid a war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. 'I mean, it's that scary. I mean, I batten down the window, talking trash piled four feet high. Just filth,' Stallone continued. 'You've just got to move them out,' he said of homeless encampments. 'No more of these Winnebagos parked for months on the curb. You know, we got to move. No more pitching tents on sidewalks where people can't walk. No more pitching tents in front of people's houses. I mean, when I was going down to the gym, it was so compacted with homeless people. The stench — also that that type of unsanitariness breeds you know... All kinds of bad stuff… There's a lot of human excrement. It's just terrible.' He further blamed the current state of California on 'really bad' leadership. Of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Stallone said: 'I think this guy is so transparent. He's so phony. He's a terrible speaker. The hands and the hair and everything. He's just set up to be made fun of, you know what I mean? And he's a bad governor.' He added: 'I mean, this is such a beautiful state. Beautiful. We got the mountains, we got snow, we got the ocean. We've got everything. It's just run wrong…. I mean, the crime. It's just ridiculous. You know, $900 you can steal and nothing happens. But that, to me, is I'm lost on that one. You know, when I was a kid, you stole a candy bar, you get a kick in the butt.' To reduce prison overcrowding, California in 2014 passed Prop 47, which reclassified certain felonies to misdemeanors, including theft of property valued under $950.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
San Joaquin County DA taking aim at theft, drug offenders
Mar. 5—In nearly two months, San Joaquin County law enforcement officials have pursued more than 50 drug and theft cases under a new tough-on-crime state law. Since Proposition 36 went into effect in January, San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said his office has pursued 33 felony theft cases and 22 felony drug cases. Freitas said the proposition, known as The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act, reverses years of leniency and has empowered his office to hold repeat offenders accountable. "For too long, San Joaquin County has suffered under policies that emboldened criminals and left law-abiding citizens defenseless," he said. "With Proposition 36, we're taking back our streets, crime will once again be illegal in San Joaquin, and we are delivering justice to victims. I'm proud to lead this charge — because safety isn't negotiable, and criminals don't get a free pass anymore." The 33 theft cases include packaged retail thefts that were once classified as misdemeanors, while the 22 drug felony cases target repeat offenders. Erin Haight, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said charges have been filed in 23 of the 33 theft cases, of which two stem from incidents in Lodi. In addition, charges have been filed in 21 of the 22 drug cases, eight of which stem from incidents in Lodi, she said. Details on the cases were not available. The proposition, which passed with 68% of the vote in November, increases penalties for certain drug and theft related offenses. It also designates a "treatment-mandated felony" for those who have received two prior drug offenses. Prop 36 also repealed 2014's Proposition 47, which reclassified crimes such as shoplifting, grand theft, forgery and drug use from felonies to misdemeanors. The measure was introduced to tackle prison overcrowding and reduce the number of individuals serving sentences for non-violent offenses. Last August, former San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti said crimes such as theft and shoplifting had increased dramatically across the state over the last 10 years. "Proposition 47 achieved notable success in making California's criminal justice system more equitable, but has also led to unintended consequences over the past decade including repeat and often organized retail theft, inner-city store closings, and difficulty convincing people to seek drug and mental health treatment," Patti said during a special board meeting. "Rampant retail theft is harming businesses and residents in California because those who commit these crimes know they'll get away with it, even if they are caught." According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, Prop 36 increases punishment for some theft and drug crimes. As an example, theft of items worth less than $950 was a misdemeanor under Prop 47. Now, a person will be charged with a felony if they have two or more past convictions for certain theft crimes such as shoplifting, burglary, or carjacking. They will serve as much three years in county jail or state prison. Felony sentences for theft or damage of property will now be increased by as much as three years if three or more people committed the crime together. In addition, sentences for selling certain drugs, such as fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine, could be increased based on the amount sold. Under Prop 47, these sentences were served in county jail or state prison depending on the person's criminal history. Prop 36 generally requires these sentences be served in prison. It also allows people who possess illegal drugs to be charged with a "treatment-mandated felony," instead of a misdemeanor, in some cases. This would apply to people who possess certain drugs such as fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine and have two or more past convictions for some drug crimes such as possessing or selling drugs. These people would generally get mental health or drug treatment, and would have charges dismissed if they complete a treatment program. Those who do not finish treatment could serve as much as three years in state prison. Information about which of the county's cases ordered someone to treatment was not available. In addition, the new law requires courts to warn people that they could be charged with murder if they sell or provide illegal drugs that kill someone. "To the deputies, officers, and investigators across San Joaquin County — thank you," Freitas said. "Your dedication to upholding the law and protecting our communities is the backbone of this success. Together, we're building a safer future."
