In most visitors, Alaska inspires wonder at its beauty, awe at its wildlife, and admiration for the hardiness of those who make their lives in its vast backcountry, enduring some of the harshest conditions on earth.
West
Reparations supporters vow payback after CA state Democrats block two bills: 'Political price to pay'
Protests erupt in California over shelved reparations bills
Let’s Win for America Action co-chair Janelle King discussed the Kamala Harris campaign’s effort to garner support from labor leaders, Democrats’ effort to defend her ‘flip-flops’ and protests over shelved reparations bills in California.
A pair of reparations-related bills for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans failed to pass in the California legislature last week, but supporters say they’re not going down without a fight.
The two bills led by Democrats that would have greenlit reparations were considered key components of some lawmakers’ ambitious efforts to pass legislation aimed at atoning for what they said was a legacy of racist policies that drove disparities for Black people, from housing to education to health. Authored by Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford of Inglewood, Senate Bill 1331 would have created a new state fund for reparations, while Senate Bill 1403 would have established a state agency to oversee these efforts and determine who would be eligible.
After hours of heated debate and protests last week, Democratic state lawmakers and the California Legislative Black Caucus chose to proceed without the bills. While the Democratic-led California legislature did pass a spate of other bills aimed at remedying past racial injustices, none of these would provide direct payments to African-Americans.
BLACK CALIFORNIANS WARN NEWSOM OF ‘DIRECT IMPACT’ ON HARRIS AFTER DEMOCRATS KILL SLAVE REPARATION BILLS
Members of Coalition for a Just and Equitable California protest and demand lawmakers take up a vote on two reparations bill in the rotunda on the last day of the legislative year Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen)
Reparations supporters, however, are vowing revenge, CalMatters reported. Some are reportedly weighing the idea of recalling Black caucus members and other state Democrats who blocked the bills from going through.
“They plan on showing up at town hall meetings in some of the legislators’ districts, and at least one group has filed an ethics complaint with the special committee on legislative ethics against the caucus. The complaint alleges corruption and improper influence played a role in the bills’ fates,” according to CalMatters.
“There has to be a political price to pay,” Chris Lodgson, who has been working with state lawmakers on reparations since 2019, told the nonprofit news organization.
“This hurts in a different way because what we saw was our own people stop our own people. That hits different,” he said.
California Legislative Black Caucus Chair Assemblymember Lori Wilson said Saturday that the Black Caucus pulled the bills, adding the proposals need more work.
“We knew from the very beginning that it was an uphill battle … And we also knew from the very beginning that it would be a multiyear effort,” Wilson told reporters.
PROTESTS ERUPT AT CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITOL AFTER PAIR OF REPARATIONS BILLS SHELVED
Protests erupted outside the Capitol Saturday as reparation advocates demanded the lawmakers who held up the bills be held accountable.
A person wears a Reparations Rally hat during a rally for reparations at the African Burial Ground National Monument on July 23, 2021. (Getty Images)
“This type of betrayal cannot go unanswered,” the Coalition for a Just & Equitable California wrote on X. “There must be a political price to pay. Gone are the days when politicians of any race or party can disrespect Black Americans and expect no political consequences. We are not captured. We do not belong to any party or special interest. We are the living embodiment of our Ancestors who built this state and this country over 400 years and who are owed Reparations. We’re coming…No…We’re HERE, to get our checks and more.”
The California Legislative Black Caucus did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Bradford Bentz contributed to this report.
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Alaska
An Alaska vacation can remind Israelis the world doesn’t revolve around them | The Jerusalem Post
For Israelis, it can also inspire humility. Not because the Jewish state is smaller than Denali National Park, but because in Alaska, one is reminded that the world neither revolves around Israel nor is obsessed with it.
That realization came on a trip The Wife and I took to America’s Last Frontier last month.
“Where is your final destination today?” the woman checking us in for our flight home at the Anchorage airport asked chirpily.
“Tel Aviv,” I replied. “Where’s that?”
When I said it was in Israel, she smiled and said, “Oh.”
Lest one think this was just a fluke: on the plane a few hours later, another Alaskan asked where we were going. When we answered “Tel Aviv,” she said she had never heard of it.
Granted, two people do not a Pew Poll make, but they do offer a small corrective to the perception – fed by the media most of us follow – that the world is preoccupied with Israel, thinking about us obsessively, talking about us constantly, and cursing us unremittingly.
The last part, at least in Alaska, is also not true. During our two weeks there, we saw no “Free Palestine” graffiti, nor were we subjected to dirty looks or “child killer” comments when we said we were from Israel.
All of America, it turns out, is not Mamdani’s Manhattan, nor does social media present a proportionate picture of that country’s reality.
One of the problems with social media is that every incident of antisemitism is posted online. The incidents are real and rising at an alarming rate, but seeing them all in one place creates a disproportionate sense of how likely you are to encounter them while traveling.
Watch enough clips of a Jewish kid harassed on a New York subway or an Israeli couple berated at a hotel in California, and you begin to wonder whether the same thing awaits you when you ride an American subway or check into a hotel.
It doesn’t. Yet the cumulative effect is that you begin to wonder how open to be about your Israeliness. You don’t decide to hide it, but simply having to ask the question adds a mini-layer of apprehension before every trip.
When Israel comes along for the ride
You also learn to read the Uber.
“Honey,” I urged The Wife before we got into an Uber in Chicago during a brief layover, “you don’t have to say you’re from Israel.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “I’m not going to hide who I am.”
“Wonderful sentiment,” I replied. “The driver’s name is Rabah. Humor me.”
We didn’t volunteer our place of origin, nor did he ask.
But on the entire trip, that was the only time we consciously withheld that nugget of biographical information. Everywhere else, we proudly said we were from Israel – and it was fine. More than fine: it was often a conversation starter.
On a whale-watching excursion, we sat across from a young couple from China who work at Google. They were intrigued that we lived in Israel, and even more fascinated that we passed on the chicken sandwiches being served.
Instead of looking for sea creatures, The Wife spent a good part of the trip explaining why some of the fish in the sea we can eat and others we can’t.
“Honey,” I whispered at one point, a bit annoyed. “We didn’t pay all this money for you to give an introductory lecture on kashrut. Look for the damn puffins.”
Since October 7, another layer has been added to the anxiety of travel: whether your flight will be canceled at the drop of a ballistic missile.
One doesn’t just hop over to Alaska on a whim; it takes planning and a special occasion to justify the expense. For us, it was 40 years of wedded bliss, so we booked back in October after being warned that rental cars sell out months in advance.
We chose United. But just days after the war with Iran broke out, United – typically – canceled flights until mid-June, four days after our planned departure. We acted quickly – well, The Wife acted quickly – and switched to El Al. Still, it complicated the trip further.
Then came the more serious question: Do you leave the country when one of your sons or your son-in-law is in miluim in Lebanon, Gaza, or Syria?
My first instinct was no: you don’t leave when one of your children is serving. That may have worked before Oct. 7, when reserve duty meant a few weeks a year and could be planned around.
But today, when they have each logged upward of 350 days, saying you won’t leave while they are serving essentially means that you won’t leave at all.
Which, by the way, is hardly the end of the world. But what can I say? I like to travel.
So we went, even though as we were watching bears and sea otters, my youngest son was dodging drones in Lebanon.
“Go,” he said. “What are you going to be able to do by being here? And if, God forbid, something happens, you’ll come back.”
“That’s not the point,” I said. “How can we enjoy it if we are worrying about you?”
“You’ll figure out a way,” he teased.
And he was right. Sure, we worried, but less than if we were here. Distance, it turns out, has its advantages. I wasn’t glued to the news, tracking every development on his front.
Perhaps that was Alaska’s greatest gift. Not the calving glaciers, surfacing whales, or foraging bears, magnificent though they were. It was the realization that while Israel is the center of our world, it is not the center of everyone else’s. Every now and then, regaining that perspective is refreshing. ■
Arizona
Arizona AG continues to investigate Glendale apartment complex after Friday deadline to fix A/C
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is giving a Glendale apartment complex until 5 p.m. Friday, July 10, to fix the air conditioning in every unit or face legal consequences. In a demand letter dated July 8, Mayes called Spectra West Apartments’ failure to provide air conditioning “both unacceptable and unlawful.” The complex could face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation if it does not comply. Resident Javier Montes said he chose to live at Spectra West because of its proximity to his job. “The reason I decided to live here because my work is just down the street. So, it’s just a five-minute walk for me, and so it’s very convenient for me.”
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KABC) — An Amber Alert was issued Friday by the California Highway Patrol for a 3-year-old child out of California City believed to be in imminent danger.
Emaria Peel, 3, was last seen Friday at about 7:17 p.m. in the area of Redwood Boulevard and 83rd Street in California City, according to police.
Authorities believe 31-year-old Charnay Mclin took Emaria. Investigators have not yet said what relationship, if any, Mclin has to the child.
The suspect was described as being 5 feet 9 inches tall, 185 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
The child was described as being 1 foot 6 inches, 20 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Police believe they’re traveling in a gold-colored 2021 Kia Sorento with the California license plate: 36095DV
Mclin is considered armed and dangerous. Authorities wants anyone who sees them to call 911.
No further details were immediately known.
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