Progressive California county appears to recall two Soros-backed politicians amid devastating crime surge



Voters in Alameda County, California, appear to have chosen to remove two George Soros-backed politicians from office amid a devastating crime surge that has prompted many businesses to flee the area.

Ahead of the November election, separate recall efforts were launched against Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao (D) and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price (D).

'The phony "progressive" movement is officially dead.'

Recall campaign leaders, who blamed Thao and Price for the county's recent crime surge, gathered enough local signatures to force an election to keep or remove the politicians.

With 100% of the 108 precincts tallied, nearly 32,000 residents, 65.19%, voted to oust Thao.

With full results from all 570 precincts, more than 134,000 locals, 64.79%, voted to remove Price.

The recall efforts to replace Price, Save Alameda for Everyone and Supporters of Recall Pamela Price, spent approximately $2.6 million on their campaigns. According to KGO-TV, they were backed by several police officers' unions, PG&E, and hedge fund executive Philip Dreyfuss.

In addition to a recall effort launched by Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, Thao faced calls to resign from the Oakland Police Officer's Association. In August, the union urged Thao to step down to allow residents to vote for a new mayor in the November election.

Union president Huy Nguyen stated, "Today we are asking Mayor Sheng Thao to recall as mayor immediately for a lot of the failures in this city, going from crime, the budget crisis, the distraction of the FBI raid that prevents our ability to function as a city."

Thao is currently wrapped up in an FBI investigation; however, no charges have been filed against her.

She refused the union's calls to step down and accused it of "playing politics."

While the final outcomes have not been officially announced as of Wednesday afternoon, if the results hold, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors will appoint a DA in Price's place to finish out her term, and the Oakland City Council will step in for Thao.

In the summer of 2023, even the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Oakland branch acknowledged that the area's crime "doom-loop" resulted from "progressive policies and failed leadership."

Businesses that have fled the area under Thao's and Price's leadership include Denny's, In-N-Out, Black Bear Diner, Subway, and Starbucks, to name a few. Clorox Company, Blue Shield of California, and Kaiser Permanente were forced to increase their security due to the area's uptick in criminal activity.

Seneca Scott, the founder of Neighbors Together Oakland and a recall spokesperson, stated, “The phony ‘progressive’ movement is officially dead. May it rest in pieces.”

Neither Thao's nor Price's campaigns responded to KGO's requests for comment.

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Newsom rescinds offer to address Oakland crime surge after radical Soros DA rejects aid despite looming recall



George Soros-backed Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price (D), who is facing an upcoming recall election over her soft-on-crime policies, refused to onboard Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom's attorneys, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Earlier this year, Newsom's office announced that it would attempt to help Oakland address its rampant crime crisis by deploying additional law enforcement officers and sending more attorneys to prosecute violent offenses, Blaze News previously reported. The governor's office claimed the "new partnership" would "increase the capacity to prosecute suspects involved in violent crimes, serious drug-related crimes, and property crimes — including retail theft and auto burglary — in Oakland and the East Bay," according to a press release.

'We have decided to shift these resources.'

"The partnership will result in the deployment of deputy attorneys general from the California Department of Justice and attorneys from the California National Guard — adding capacity to prosecute suspects arrested for serious and complex crimes in Alameda County," it read.

Newsom called on criminals to be "held accountable" by "using the full and appropriate weight of the law."

At the time of the announcement, Price appeared to welcome Newsom's offer, stating that she assigned "Alameda County career prosecutor Assistant DA Michael Nieto to represent my office in this collaborative effort."

According to the recent letter obtained by DCNF, Newsom's office still plans to support the Oakland area by providing additional law enforcement resources, but it rescinded its offer to send additional attorneys.

Newsom's Cabinet secretary, Ann Patterson, claimed Price failed to onboard the attorneys.

"After several months of communications, however, including fulfilling requests from your office for resumes and interviews, you have not taken the initial steps of finalizing the memorandum of understanding or deputizing Cal Guard attorneys to work in your office," Patterson wrote. "Accordingly, we have decided to shift these resources."

A December crime report revealed that Oakland crime is on the rise, with motor vehicle theft up 44%, robbery up 38%, burglary up 23%, violent crime up 21%, and overall crime up 17%.

Oakland residents are putting their feet down on progressive policies that have led to a crime and homelessness crisis. Both Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao (D) will face a recall vote later this year after residents gathered enough signatures to force an election, Blaze News previously reported. Thao is currently entangled in an ongoing FBI investigation.

Loren Taylor, a Democratic mayoral candidate seeking to replace Thao, recently told the San Francisco Chronicle, "To say that this is the worst compilation of troubling, challenging situations that I've seen is an understatement."

"A fiscal crisis, hundreds of millions of dollars, compounded with a public safety crisis that has folks fearful of moving around the city and businesses leaving town, combined with [a] homelessness crisis that continues to expand despite things getting better in neighboring cities. … This storm of events is the opposite of what Oakland needs right now when we're trying to rebound as a city, post-pandemic," Taylor said.

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Oakland residents move to oust progressive leaders over rampant crime, homelessness: 'Chaos'



Oakland, California, residents are moving to oust the city's progressive leaders who have overseen a significant increase in crime and homelessness.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao (D), currently battling a recall effort, is entangled in an FBI investigation. Several city staffers were recently forced to turn over records to the bureau in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.

'Oakland is in a crisis.'

For the first time last week, Thao addressed the news that law enforcement agents raided her home in June, repeatedly noting that she could not share much information due to the "ongoing investigation."

Thao will face a recall election in November after Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao secured over 25,000 verified signatures ahead of the July 22 deadline. Those behind the recall effort have slammed Thao for firing former Oakland Police Department Chief LeRonne Armstrong and allowing a "surge of serious and violent crimes" that prompted a number of businesses to close.

After Thao's home was raided, her attorney and chief spokesperson abruptly resigned. She has not been charged with any crime.

Loren Taylor, a Democratic mayoral candidate running to replace Thao, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "To say that this is the worst compilation of troubling, challenging situations that I've seen is an understatement."

"A fiscal crisis, hundreds of millions of dollars, compounded with a public safety crisis that has folks fearful of moving around the city, and businesses leaving town, combined with homelessness crisis that continues to expand despite things getting better in neighboring cities. … This storm of events is the opposite of what Oakland needs right now when we're trying to rebound as a city, post-pandemic," Taylor stated.

J.J. Jenkins, a local bartender, described Oakland's current conditions as "chaos."

"Every time I think the pendulum has swung, something like Juneteenth [shooting] happens. And I don't think it's done yet. It's going to get worse before it gets better," Jenkins told the Chronicle.

Former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris (D) stated, "Oakland is in a crisis."

Harris told the Chronicle, "Many of these problems are not new. They continue to evolve. They require ideas and renewed commitment to a plan of execution. The city must get beyond finger-pointing and the blame game as soon as possible."

West Oakland Pastor Dr. Ken Chambers, who provides homeless services through his church, told the news outlet that crime, homelessness, human trafficking, and prostitution have become a big issue in the city.

"I've been in Oakland 58 years. I've never seen anything like this before. It's a multitask, problematic, complicated situation," Chambers told the news outlet.

Thao is not the only progressive politician who will face an upcoming recall election.

George Soros-funded Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price (D), who has gained a soft-on-crime reputation, also made it onto the ballot after a recall effort, which only needed 73,000 verified signatures, submitted roughly 123,000 signatures to election officials. Those behind the recall torched Price for failing public safety and creating a "doom loop" with her "progressive policies and failed leadership."

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Prosecutors' union supports recall of Soros-backed DA Pamela Price — chief assistant resigns



The Alameda County Prosecutors' Association threw its support behind the recall effort against George Soros-backed District Attorney Pamela Price, the San Francisco Chronicle recently reported.

According to an email obtained by the news outlet, the union "overwhelmingly" voted to support recalling the soft-on-crime DA.

The union's email read, "Our support for the recall reflects the unfair and hostile work conditions that we face everyday [sic], as we try in good faith to implement the policy directives that Pamela Price has created."

"Put different, our support for the recall is based on labor issues, not policy," it added.

During her time in office, the county has experienced an increase in crime and an exodus of businesses.

Price has recently led an investigation into past misconduct in her office, which she believes prompted the union to support the recall effort. The DA alleged that prosecutors in Alameda County between the mid-1980s and 2007 prevented black and Jewish residents from participating as jury members on death penalty cases, according to a CNN report.

During a Tuesday press conference, Price addressed the union's support for her removal from office.

"The prosecutors' union has always supported the recall. The prosecutors' union contributed $125,000 to my opponent's campaign and then fundraised an additional $75,000. The prosecutors' union, at this point, represents a very small percentage of our employees," Price stated.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 85% of the union's members participated in the recall vote. However, it is unclear how many ballots were cast supporting Price's removal.

"Unfortunately, the timing is indicative of the fact that this office has had a legacy and a history of unethical behavior, and it's obviously something that no one wanted us to uncover or certainly to expose to the public," Price continued. "We're aware that [the prosecutors' union] has been consistently opposed to our efforts to try to reform this office and to expose prosecutorial misconduct."

She called her office's investigation of the death penalty cases a "final straw" for the union.

"I do believe that they are threatened by our review of past prosecutorial misconduct. I believe that too many prosecutors in this office were raised with very different values than the values that this community holds today," Price added.

California Justice and Public Safety PAC, which received funding from Soros, gave $700,000 to Price's 2018 campaign.

In March, the groups behind the recall effort submitted approximately 123,000 signatures, Blaze News previously reported. To force a special election, they only needed roughly 73,000 verified signatures.

During Tuesday's press conference, Price announced that Chief Assistant District Attorney Otis Bruce Jr. had announced his resignation effective July 13.

"I can confirm that Otis Bruce Jr. has resigned," Price stated. "He was part of the transition team. We had a great experience with him. The impact on the office is such that it will continue to grow."

— (@)

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Soros-backed DA worsens rift with Asian community over planned presser to announce her 'Chinese name'



Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price assumed office on Jan. 2, 2023, after running on a pledge to seek shorter sentences for criminals, to reduce incarceration, and to hound police about the execution of their duties.

Price, whom George Soros reportedly funded in a previous run for the DA's office, began to made good on her soft-on-crime promises right away. A leaked memo revealed in March 2023 that barring "extraordinary circumstances" and Price's approval, most crimes would be met with probation or the lowest-level prison term, reported the Berkeley Scanner.

Having faced the fallout of Price's apparent deference to criminals, concerned citizens mounted a recall campaign. The group spearheading that initiative, Save Alameda For Everyone, secured enough valid signatures in April, meaning Price now faces a potential ouster in November.

Price's political vulnerability has evidently not led to greater caution or care on her part.

This week, she planned on smoothing over her rocky relationship with the Asian community. When that proved to be a failure, she released a defensive video, reassuring the Asian community she once had an office near Chinatown.

Digging a hole

Price's relationship became especially strained last year when she decided to drop sentencing enhancements against thugs charged in connection with the 2021 murder of 1-year-old Jasper Wu in Oakland.

Two gang members were initially charged with the boy's slaying and with other felonies related to their alleged "gun battle" on the freeway, reported the Berkeley Scanner. The thugs had pursued a rival gang member onto the freeway, where Trevor Green allegedly fired wildly into traffic, striking Wu as he slept in his car seat several lanes over.

Wu's parents, Xiao Xiao An and An Wu, wanted the harshest possible penalty for Green, Ivory Bivens, and a third man connected with the murder of their son. Price's predecessor, former DA Nancy O’Malley, had applied criminal enhancements to ensure the alleged killers would face the prospect of life in prison without parole; however, Price stepped in and made it possible for the duo to walk the streets in under three decades' time if convicted.

The Wu case hurt Price's reputation with the Asian community. Then came the resignation of veteran prosecutor Rebecca Warren, part of the "Asian American and Pacific Islander" community, who accused the Democratic DA of mistreating and disrespecting the "AAPI community."

Another prosecutor, Danielle Hilton, resigned shortly thereafter, stating, "Victims deserve better," reported the New York Post.

Digging deeper

KGO-TV reporter Dion Lim indicated Monday that Price was planning to hold a press conference at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center this week to announce her Chinese name to celebrate so-called AAPI Heritage Month.

"Someone messaged me to ask if this was an April Fool's joke," tweeted Lim. "I then sent this person the press release that came from the DA's office!"

Charles Huang, head of the local National Asian Pacific Islanders Prosecutors Association, told KGO, "I think it's ridiculous. It's cultural appropriation and pandering at the highest level."

After facing ruthless ridicule online, the DA's office informed KGO Tuesday that the press conference had been canceled.

Price did, however, share a defensive video to social media, closed to public comment, wherein she claims: to have a good relationship with the Asian community; to have once had an office next to Chinatown; to have a Chinese name that she would not state outright; and that the thugs charged with Wu's murder face the possibility of hundreds of years in jail if convicted.

It remains unclear from Price's remarks whether she ultimately embraced the same Chinese name she previously assigned herself in her full-page ad in the Chinese-language American paper World Journal, which the Daily Mail indicated translates to "nice virgin bureaucrat."

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Soros-backed DA Pamela Price will face recall vote



George Soros-funded Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price (D) will face a recall vote this year after campaigns targeting the soft-on-crime DA collected enough signatures to make it onto the ballot.

The groups behind the recall effort submitted 123,000 signatures to election officials in early March. The campaigns only needed approximately 73,000 verified signatures to trigger a special election.

On Monday, the Alameda County registrar of voters announced that enough verified signatures were collected to launch a recall vote.

Following a manual review, the registrar found that 74,757 of the signatures were valid, while nearly 49,000 were invalid, KQED reported.

The county's board of supervisors will need to determine when to hold the recall election. A date must be decided within 14 days of the registrar completing the signature validation process.

It is unclear whether the county will hold a separate special election, which would cost around $20 million, or if the recall vote will be consolidated with the regularly scheduled election in November to save funds.

Leaders of the effort to oust Price have blamed her progressive policies for the increase in criminal activity in Oakland.

Price promised to radically reform the criminal justice system, reduce mass incarceration, end the death penalty, and prohibit minors from being charged as adults.

Since Price has been in office, many Oakland businesses have closed down due to the area's rampant crime.

Carl Chan, one of the recall's leaders, stated in March that the petition to remove Price is "not about politics, but about public safety."

Brenda Grisham, another leader of the recall effort, said, "We shouldn't have to do this, but for the safety of our community, the safety of our children, the safety of our businesses, this is something that had to be done. This is a right for the citizens of Alameda County."

Under Price's leadership, multiple veteran prosecutors have resigned, citing an inability to perform their job duties. Even the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Oakland branch has accused Price of creating a "doom-loop," slamming her "progressive policies and failed leadership."

A spokesperson for Price's Protect the Win campaign previously claimed that the DA would win a recall vote. However, Price's campaign has since become so low on money that it allowed the contract with its campaign manager to expire, KQED reported.

Price, during a July interview with local news, claimed that her role as DA "has really no impact on crime." She has called those who support the recall effort "election deniers."

"We had an election. We won the election by an overwhelming majority. It wasn't a small, close election and so the people who lost, they lost, and when you lose an election, you shouldn't be able to overturn the will of the voters. That's what happened during the insurrection on Jan. 6," Price stated last year.

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Police arrest suspected 'East Bay Pirates' who allegedly raided boats on Oakland waterfront



The Oakland Police Department announced that it recently arrested three suspected "East Bay Pirates" who allegedly raided houseboats and yachts along Oakland's waterfront, KRON reported.

On Thursday, authorities detained three individuals believed to be connected to a March 13 robbery that targeted a maritime business on the 1300 block of Embarcadero, a San Francisco waterfront. The break-in prompted a joint investigation between the Oakland Police Department Marine Unit and the Criminal Investigation Division Burglary Unit.

Police officers used security footage provided by the business to identify the suspects, who they recognized as individuals residing on boats in the Oakland Estuary, KPIX-TV reported. Law enforcement officials recovered items stolen from the business on two ships associated with the detained individuals.

Authorities will present the case to Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price's office for charging. George Soros-backed Price is currently facing a recall effort over her soft-on-crime policies, which critics argue have led to a significant uptick in crime in Oakland.

Residents living in houseboats and yachts along the waterfront have reported an increase in theft and physical confrontations with the "East Bay Pirates," according to Fox News Digital. The thieves use small stolen or abandoned boats to reach and break into larger ships docked in the area.

During an October San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission's enforcement meeting, former harbormaster Brock de Lappe stated, "The open shoreline of the (Oakland-Alameda) estuary is littered with sunken wrecks and derelict, end-of-life vessels, and crime has risen to truly intolerable levels."

"Multiple vessels have been stolen and ransacked. Victims have had to resort to personally confronting the criminals to recover their property without the benefit of police support. Is this an appropriate activity for a 79-year-old senior?" de Lappe questioned.

Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi told Fox News Digital, "In the waterways, it's very difficult to draw a line."

"There are no roadways or fence lines, so we all have a shared interest, much like crime as a whole, to deal with this as a regional approach," Joshi noted.

A Coast Guard spokesperson called the waterfront burglaries "a federal and state problem," Fox News Digital reported.

"We're all working to protect the best interests of everyone in the estuary," the representative told the news outlet.

Oakland police are still investigating the thefts.

Residents across Oakland have sounded the alarm about the area's out-of-control crime problem. Several San Francisco Bay Area businesses, including Denny's, In-N-Out, Black Bear Diner, Subway, and Starbucks, announced that they would close amid the crime wave. Last month, Taco Bell stated that several of its Oakland locations will close their dining rooms following several recent robberies.

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Soros-backed DA's staff training claims 'racial disparities' in justice system, slavery 'never fully abolished': Report



George Soros-backed Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price mandated staff training that teaches about "racial disparities" in the criminal justice system and claims that "slavery was never fully abolished in the US," according to a Thursday report from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Documents obtained by the DCNF revealed that the leftist California DA's office provided employees with training materials arguing that the criminal justice system in the United States is rooted in racism.

A 40-slide presentation, titled "A New Paradigm for Public Safety Restorative Justice Racial Justice Act Training," claimed that the U.S. "never fully abolished" slavery, citing the 13th Amendment, which states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

The presentation, which quoted the Constitution, bolded and underlined the phrase "except as a punishment for crime." According to the training, "Modern policing grew directly out of slave patrols," and "the carceral state grew out of chattel slavery."

A slide titled "The Myth of Black Male Criminality" read, "Americans can tolerate mass incarceration because it happens to 'others' and is justified by this narrative." It noted that black men account for just 6.5% of the population and 40.2% of the prison population. The training declared that one in 17 white men versus one in three black men have a "lifetime likelihood of imprisonment."

"Black people are treated more harshly than white people at every stage of the criminal legal process," the presentation stated. "As a result, people of color — and Black people in particular — are incarcerated at strikingly higher rates than white people in jails and prisons across the country."

The DCNF reported that Price's office uses the presentation to train victim-witness advocates, who, according to the DA's website, "serve as the liaison between the victims, prosecutor, law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies."

A spokesperson from the DA's office told the news outlet that the training materials are currently in use.

Earlier this month, a committee submitted 123,000 signatures to the Alameda County Registrar's Office in hopes of ousting Price by securing a recall vote on the November ballot. Oakland residents are fed up with the progressive DA's soft-on-crime policies, which have led to an uptick in crime and driven out veteran prosecutors and businesses. The campaign only needs 73,000 of the signatures to be verified to launch a special election.

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