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."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Petition to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón fails



The petition to recall the controversial district attorney of Los Angeles, George Gascón, has failed.

Gascón, who was elected to office in November 2020, has faced his second recall effort in as many years. However, both attempts have failed to garner the minimum number of valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

According to state law, a recall campaign must gather a total number of signatures which reflects at least 10% of the number of people eligible to vote when the candidate was first elected. In November 2020, there were more than 5.6 million eligible voters in LA County, meaning that the campaign needed to collect 566,857 valid signatures by mid-July.

Though the recall campaign submitted over 715,000 signatures, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan has now officially reported that the campaign has failed.

"Based on the examination and verification, which conducted in compliance with the statutory and regulatory requirements of the California Government Code, Elections Code, and Code of Regulations, 520,050 signatures were found to be valid and 195,783 were found to be invalid," Logan’s office said in a press release.

Of the invalidated signatures, 88,000 of them were unregistered, more than 43,000 were duplicates, more than 37,000 had an issue with the listed address, nearly 9,500 had a mismatched signature, and more than 7,300 were canceled for reasons unknown, according to Fox News.

Gascón also faced a recall measure last year, which failed largely because of limited funds and disorganization, according to the LA Times.

Though Gascón seems to have survived this latest attempt to oust him before his four-year term has been completed, he remains one of the most controversial district attorneys in the country. He has been viewed as soft on crime, seeking light sentences for violent offenders, some of whom have since offended again.

Chesa Boudin, the former district attorney in San Francisco, faced similar criticism before his ouster in early June.

Gascón is the former district attorney and police chief of San Francisco. His campaign for district attorney of LA was largely funded by billionaire leftwing financier, George Soros.

Democrat Immigrant From Hong Kong Fights For Election Integrity In San Francisco

The case deserves national attention because many Americans from both sides of the political divide have questioned election integrity.

Netflix CEO Shells Out $3M To Stop Gavin Newsom Recall Effort

Reed Hastings is the latest and biggest donor to stop frustrated California residents from recalling Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.

High Schoolers Are Suing Gavin Newsom Over His Ban On Indoor Youth Sports

The law firm that represents the kids won a temporary restraining order against Newsom's restrictions on youth sports in San Diego County in February.

It’s Been One Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week For The Democratic Party

The acquittal of Donald Trump is the culmination of a problematic week for the triggered left.

Judge rules recall effort can proceed against socialist Seattle city council member for her support of BLM protests



A group of Seattle residents are trying to recall a far left socialist member of the city council for her efforts in helping Black Lives Matter protests, and a judge decided on Wednesday that they could proceed.

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant is a self-proclaimed socialist who has called for the destruction of capitalism.

Residents argued that she had violated her oath of office when she aided the protests in numerous instances, including one where she spoke at a protest in front of Mayor Jenny Durkan's house. In another incident she used her passkey to let demonstrators into City Hall.

Sawant's attorney, Dmitri Iglitzin, argued that the residents were simply attempting to undo the results of the election because they disagreed with Sawant's politics.

"We have elections in this state and in this city, and those elections are where the decision as to who is holding this office is supposed to be determined," he said. "This is on its face, by any fair reading, a political screed against Councilmember Sawant."

King County Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers found that four of the six charges against Sawant met the standard to allow the recall process to continue. "The petitioner has shown actual knowledge of facts indicating that the Councilmember intended to commit an unlawful act," said Rogers.

Among the charges that he said were unfounded was a claim that Sawant had helped create the storied CHOP, or Capitol Hill Occupation Protest zone.

Organizers need to collect 10,000 signatures in order to put the recall effort on the ballot.

Sawant said that she planned to appeal the ruling.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant is speaking now to Socialist Alternative about the Judge Jim Rogers' decision to certif… https://t.co/ebRbtOlfDM
— nathalie graham (@nathalie graham)1600301961.0

In July, Sawant appeared on a video where she excoriated capitalism and vowed to replace it with socialism.

"We are coming to dismantle this deeply oppressive, racist, sexist, violent, utterly bankrupt system of capitalism. This police state. We cannot and will not stop until we overthrow it, and replace it with a world based, instead, on solidarity, genuine democracy, and equality: a socialist world," said Sawant.

Here's a local news video about the ruling:

Court rules recall effort against Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant can proceedwww.youtube.com