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Column: Newsom could face tough task replacing Feinstein in U.S. Senate

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Column: Newsom could face tough task replacing Feinstein in U.S. Senate

You’d suppose that filling a U.S. Senate seat could be simple, even enjoyable. But when Gov. Gavin Newsom has to discover a alternative for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, it could possibly be agonizing.

Loads of certified individuals would leap on the probability to hitch the world’s so-called best deliberative physique, proper?

Status, energy, perks — a profession spotlight even when it had been solely a short lived job till another person gained the seat within the subsequent election.

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Improper. Not on this specific case — not less than for individuals ready to adequately characterize California within the method it deserves because the nation’s most populous state and the globe’s fifth largest financial system.

Feinstein, 89, hasn’t indicated she’ll vacate the seat earlier than her time period expires on the finish of subsequent 12 months. However she’s being pressured to step down by some in her personal occasion.

California’s longest serving senator has been recuperating from painful shingles for 2 months and has missed roughly 60 votes. They embody a number of wanted to approve President Biden’s stymied federal judgeship nominations.

Feinstein says she’s working at residence in San Francisco. However she will’t vote there. And her votes are sorely wanted to maneuver Biden’s agenda in a Senate that Democrats management by solely a two-vote edge.

There’s no timetable for Feinstein’s return to Washington.

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Hypothesis about her bowing out started two years in the past with reviews of diminishing cognitive acuity. In February, Feinstein introduced the anticipated: She wouldn’t run for a sixth time period subsequent 12 months.

A race was already underway to succeed her.

The query of whether or not Feinstein would — and will — retire earlier than her time period expires has been a sizzling subject amongst politicos. Her alternative till the subsequent election could be chosen by the governor. However he isn’t saying a lot publicly.

Newsom restricted his choices two years in the past by promising to nominate a Black girl. There wasn’t — nonetheless isn’t — a Black feminine senator. The final one was California’s Kamala Harris, who left to turn out to be vice chairman.

Newsom might have changed Harris with one other Black girl, however as a substitute selected a longtime ally, then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla. The governor’s subsequent promise was an effort to appease disillusioned Black girls, an vital Democratic constituency.

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It now could be politically untenable for Newsom to return on his phrase, particularly if he has nationwide ambitions. Black politicians and voters could also be comparatively small in numbers, however they punch above their weight. Ask Biden which voting bloc rescued his presidential marketing campaign within the 2020 primaries.

The obvious selection for Newsom could be Rep. Barbara Lee, 76, of Oakland, who has 25 years of congressional expertise. She’s a bit extra liberal than Newsom and most Californians, however that wouldn’t be her essential drawback for the governor.

Lee is one among three main candidates within the 2024 Senate race. Her crowning with the title “senator” could possibly be a major marketing campaign profit. Newsom would possibly take into account it unfair to the 2 front-runners — Reps. Adam B. Schiff, 62, of Burbank and Katie Porter, 49, of Irvine — to present Lee a lift.

“What’s fallacious with that? He’s dedicated or not dedicated” to gaining a Black feminine senator, says Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the Individuals, an activist group that pushes for electing extra girls of shade.

Allison helps Lee.

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If Newsom handed up Lee and selected one other Black girl who then ran for the workplace, it could conversely damage Lee’s marketing campaign. With two Black girls competing, each their core bases could be divided. That dangers angering Lee’s supporters, together with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

There’s additionally one other actuality: A brand new 2024 Senate candidate would start her marketing campaign far behind in organizing and fundraising, making a Newsom appointment much less enticing than regular for an formidable politician.

The first election will likely be held sooner than standard, on March 5. It’s already late within the sport for a brand new entry with low statewide identify identification.

So, Newsom would possibly need to appoint a “caretaker” senator, a Black girl who would end Feinstein’s time period however conform to not run for election.

However, as I’ve written, that wouldn’t be in line with the spirit of the governor’s pledge. He gave the impression to be promising to anoint a Black girl as a full-fledged senator, not a temp.

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Anyway, it could be tough to recruit an skilled legislator of the standard California deserves who could be prepared to surrender her present seat to turn out to be a short-timer.

Former Rep. Bass, 69, could be a terrific senator, however no means would she step down as L.A. mayor. Anyway, that might danger political suicide simply after voters elected her.

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, 58, a former influential state legislator, has senatorial qualities. However Mitchell has stated she’s not , both as a full-timer or a temp. She’s working for reelection subsequent 12 months.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, 48, hasn’t stated a lot, however it wouldn’t make sense for her to step down as chief of a good looking — if challenged — metropolis to turn out to be a short lived senator. She’s additionally working for reelection.

In addition to Lee, there are two different Black feminine Home members from California, each Angelenos: 17-term Rep. Maxine Waters, 84, an outspoken liberal, and newly elected Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, 50. I can’t see both giving up her seat.

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There’s a comparatively painless answer to the seat-surrender dilemma. The governor might appoint both California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, 74, or newly elected Controller Malia Cohen, 45, as a caretaker senator and quickly place a bureaucrat in her principally ministerial job. Then after subsequent 12 months’s election, he might return Weber or Cohen to her state submit.

Or he might attain far afield for a non-politician caretaker — like Oprah Winfrey of Montecito.

That might be enjoyable.

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Border Patrol sector stops hundreds of Chinese illegal immigrants in just two days as numbers soar

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Border Patrol sector stops hundreds of Chinese illegal immigrants in just two days as numbers soar

One Border Patrol Sector has seen over two hundred Chinese migrants on two separate days this week, which by itself outpaces the entire number of total Chinese migrants encountered in Fiscal Year 2021.

A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) source told Fox News that on May 1 and May 2, Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector apprehended over 200 Chinese nationals each day.

On Thursday, agents encountered 223 migrants, after encountering 262 on Wednesday.

That means that more Chinese illegal immigrants crossed illegally into the sector in two days than across the entire southern border in all of FY 21, – where 342 migrants were encountered.

ICE CHIEF SAYS THIS FOREIGN ADVERSARY ISN’T TAKING BACK ITS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

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A Chinese migrant speaks to a border patrol officer before being processed after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S.  (Brandon Bell)

Numbers have increased dramatically since FY 21. There were 1,970 encounters in FY 2022, over 24,000 in FY 2023 and so far there have been over 24,200 encounters so far this fiscal year.

Fox News reported last month that the number of Chinese nationals entering illegally has surged by over 6,300% since FY 2021. 

Some migrants previously told Fox News that they are seeking a better life in the United States.

“My English is not very good, and I don’t know anyone in the United States,” one migrant said in March. “Once I get to the United States, I know I have to start all over again. But I want to live a good life in the future, and I want my children to be educated well. I strive to take root in the United States as soon as possible.”

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But some lawmakers have raised concerns about potential espionage by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the movement of fentanyl into the U.S. – which is often created in Mexico using Chinese precursors and then smuggled across the land border. 

SPIKE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM THIS US ADVERSARY BLOWS LID OFF PREVIOUS YEAR’S RECORD 

“There have been numerous documented instances of Chinese nationals, at the direction of the CCP, engaging in espionage, stealing military and economic secrets,” lawmakers, led by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said last year. 

Earlier this year, a Chinese illegal immigrant was detained in California after entering a Marine Corps base without authorization and ignoring orders to leave. In response to that incident, CBP has stressed that there will be consequences for those who enter the U.S. illegally, including those from China.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

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Migrants in California near the border

Migrants in line in Jacumba, California. Border authorities are contending with an influx of Chinese migrants in a key border sector. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“DHS continues to enforce United States immigration laws, expanding lawful pathways while strengthening enforcement consequences for those who cross our border unlawfully,” the agency said.

“Individuals and families without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. are subject to removal pursuant to Title 8 authorities and are subject to a minimum five-year bar on reapplying for admission and potential criminal prosecution if they subsequently re-enter without authorization.”

However, the overwhelming majority of the Chinese are mass released as China is not cooperative with deportation flights from the U.S.

At a recent House Appropriations Committee hearing, acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner was asked by Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., to identify the top countries that are the most difficult to send back their nationals who are being deported from the U.S.

“We’ve got Bhutan, top of the list there, Cambodia, they’ve been challenging, the People’s Republic of China, although we’ve had some recent cautiously optimistic progress with the Chinese, so I want to say it’s moving in the right direction there.”

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He also said that ICE is working with both other DHS agencies and the State Department in trying to rectify recalcitrant countries, but he noted that “it’s not an easy issue for them either,” given other factors, including geopolitical issues.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently told lawmakers in the House that there had recently been one deportation flight to China after he had spoken to officials in the communist country.

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Ali: Mocking Gaza protesters as 'gluten-free warriors' was fun — until a mob at UCLA attacked them

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Ali: Mocking Gaza protesters as 'gluten-free warriors' was fun — until a mob at UCLA attacked them

Bill Maher on his HBO talk show this week said that pro-Palestinian student protests on college campuses are what happens when “activism merges with narcissism.”

The Atlantic columnist David Frum referred to protesters like the UCLA students who were violently attacked Wednesday by a mob of counterprotesters as “banana-allergy revolutionaries.”

During Tuesday night’s tactical police response to Columbia University students’ taking over a building on campus, author Judith Miller tweeted: “Hey Columbia protesters! If you’re so proud of what you’re doing, why are you covering your faces?”

Mocking student protesters has become a fun and easy pastime since they began marching and camping out in opposition to Israel’s ongoing military incursions in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel. All critics and jeering old folks need is a platform (cable TV, Instagram, a tattered soap box) to discredit the movement as the performative act of feckless snowflakes and spoiled children.

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The protective gear of the “gluten-free warriors” is a form of dress-up. Their safety measures — encampment barricades and self-manned medical tents — are seen as ploys for attention. They’re called cowards for covering their faces with masks and goggles.

But these actions weren’t just for show. UCLA’s pro-Palestinian demonstrators did need to shield and defend themselves when a violent mob of pro-Israeli counterprotesters attacked their encampment.

Video shot by The Times, other media outlets and witnesses at the scene show counterdemonstrators in black attire and white masks ripping down barricades, beating people with batons and poles and screaming racial epithets. Campers were dragged, kicked and pummeled by the predominantly male mob Tuesday night and Wednesday morning while police and campus security stood by for three hours before responding.

Law enforcement eventually cleared the counterprotesters, who reportedly included non-student organizations. No arrests were made.

But 24 hours later, more than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested when UCLA called in a massive police presence to clear the student encampment.

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“What we’ve just witnessed was the darkest day in my 32 years at UCLA,” David Myers, a professor of Jewish history at UCLA who is working on initiatives to bridge differences on campus, told The Times. “Why didn’t the police, UCPD and LAPD, show up? Those in the encampment were defenseless in the face of a violent band of thugs. And no one, wherever they stand politically, is safer today.”

The optics, at best, discourage free speech on campus and encourage violent reprisal from those who disagree with the message. Recent weeks have seen police summoned by universities such as USC, UCLA and Columbia to quash largely peaceful student rallies and clear encampments, while racial slurs, verbal threats and violent attacks perpetrated against antiwar protesters have not been treated with the same seriousness or urgency.

Fox News naturally took the “Good vs. Evil” theme a step further when describing the protest movement as a Trojan horse for nefarious, anti-American operations.

“A lot of them seem to be the same type of protester we saw during the George Floyd protest,” anchor Trace Gallagher said in response to the tactical response of the NYPD at Columbia this week. “They have changed the chants. It’s a new location and a lot of the same crowd that moves into these things.”

His guest went on to say that the protesters are “targeting the American system and using the Palestinian cause to piggyback their nonsensical, glazed-over beliefs in order to start mass anarchy.”

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Delegitimization is a classic tactic in the debate over who has the higher moral ground. But it shouldn’t matter: All peaceful protesters — on and off campus — need to be protected, regardless of where their participants stand on the war.

Watching footage of the violence at UCLA this week is chilling, and there’s sure to be more dangerous clashes if the safety of protesting students is mocked as unnecessary, or colleges continue to treat them as the threat. Their right to safely exercise free speech has to be protected.

Cynical agitators like Maher will always leverage incendiary moments for ratings and clicks. But tucking one’s opposition to the protest movement into a flippant screed against Gen Z isn’t just obnoxious, it’s dangerous. It feeds a harmful narrative that their need for protection is make-believe, that they’re a whining, pampered generation we should ignore, or worse, allow others to target while we watch from the sidelines.

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Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar indicted by DOJ on conspiracy and bribery charges

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Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar indicted by DOJ on conspiracy and bribery charges

The Department of Justice indicted Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas on conspiracy and bribery charges Friday. 

Cuellar’s wife has also been indicted in an investigation connected $600,000 in bribes they accepted from an Azerbaijan-based energy company and a bank in Mexico to advance the former Soviet republic’s interests in the U.S. 

Federal law enforcement raided Cuellar’s house and office in 2022 as part of an investigation into a group of U.S. businessmen, and their ties to the country. The representative and his office agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

FEDERAL GRAND JURY SUBPOENAS REP. CUELLAR, WIFE, AND ASSOCIATES IN AZERBAIJAN-TIED PROBE: REPORT

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is seen outside a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Cuellar released a statement on Friday following reports of the upcoming indictment, declaring both himself and his wife as innocent without specifying the charges.

“I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations,” wrote Cuellar. “Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of Texas.”

REP. CUELLAR, STAFF TOOK SPONSORED TRIPS TO AZERBAIJAN COORDINATED BY CONVICTED BUSINESSMAN

The Texas representative specifically defended his wife and her qualifications, once again without specifying the nature of the indictments.

Department of Justice logo

A podium displays the seal of the Department of Justice at the department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

“Imelda and I have been married 32 years. On top of being an amazing wife and mother, she’s an accomplished businesswoman with two degrees. She spent her career working with banking, tax, and consulting. The allegation that she is anything but qualified and hard working is both wrong and offensive,” he wrote.

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Cuellar previously served as a co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus.

This is a developing story and will be updated.  The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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