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Los Angeles County Sales Tax Hits 10.25 Percent for Five Years
Los Angeles County’s sales tax rose Thursday from 9.75 percent to 10.25 percent, four months after voters approved Measure ER, the Essential Services Restoration Act. The half-cent levy is projected to raise about $1 billion a year and expires Oct. 1, 2031. It does not apply to groceries, prescription drugs, or medical equipment. About 45 percent of the revenue is set for nonprofits and outpatient clinics serving underinsured and low-income residents. Another 22 percent goes to LA Health Services. The county public health department said it has lost $50 million in federal, state, and local funding. Supporters sold the measure as a backfill for cuts tied to the federal tax-and-spending law. The Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County sued, so collected revenue stays on hold until the case ends. If the court throws out the tax, refunds are due. California’s top income-tax rate is already 13.3 percent.
Editor’s Note: This is why there is a mass exodus from California, and why the rest of the country believes the state is lost to spendthrift radicalism.
🏛️ News & Politics
Biden Judge Tosses Federal Case Over a Noncitizen’s 2020 Vote
U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz, a Biden appointee in Miami, dismissed federal charges Thursday against Chelsea Cox, a Jamaican national accused of voting in the 2020 election. He held that 18 U.S.C. § 611, the 1996 ban on noncitizen voting in federal elections, is unconstitutional as applied to her. The 31-page order applies only to her case. Leibowitz wrote that the Constitution leaves voter qualifications to the states, not Congress, and that Florida can and does punish the same conduct. Cox entered as a tourist in 1999, stayed after her visa expired, and used a fraudulent U.S. Virgin Islands birth certificate to get a Florida license and register in 2012. The Justice Department has charged at least 60 people with noncitizen voting since January 2025. Illegal voting is also grounds for deportation. The ruling does not bind other judges.
Editor’s Note: Another Leftist judge trying to make a name for himself.
Ohio Man From 2012 Bridge Plot Indicted Over Ricin
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio indicted Brandon L. Baxter, 34, of East Cleveland, on Oct. 2 for prohibitions regarding biological weapons and possession of a biological toxin by a restricted person. Prosecutors say he knowingly possessed ricin, a toxin lethal to humans. They did not say why he had it or how they found it. He was arrested Sept. 19 in Cuyahoga County on a weapons charge, inducing panic and aggravated menacing. Arraignment is set for Oct. 14 before Magistrate Judge Jonathan D. Greenberg. Baxter was one of the self-described anarchists known as the Cleveland 4, or Cleveland 5, convicted in a 2012 plot to bomb the Route 82 bridge near Macedonia. He pleaded guilty to weapons-of-mass-destruction and explosive-device charges and was sentenced to nine years and nine months. He was 20 at sentencing. The FBI Cleveland Division, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office and East Cleveland police are investigating. He faces up to 15 years if convicted on both counts.
Trump Orders $90 Medicare Part B Payments to More Than 20 Million Seniors
President Trump said Friday the administration will send one-time $90 payments to more than 20 million seniors to offset Medicare Part B premiums, drawing on the Medicare Improvement Fund. A White House fact sheet put the payments at $90 per person, with most arriving by direct deposit in early October and the rest by mailed check. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said about 20.8 million people in original Medicare Part B who live in the United States qualify. People whose premiums Medicaid already pays, who owe an income-related surcharge, or who are in Medicare Advantage do not. The standard 2026 Part B premium is $202.90 a month, with a $283 deductible. Congress created the fund in 2008 and gave it $2 billion. No prior administration had spent it. Trump said the checks are separate from $500 ObamaCare refunds and from a proposed $5,000 payment tied to a Republican midterm win.
Editor’s Note: Use all money diverted from Medicare and Medicaid fraud first to reduce Part B, then eliminate it altogether.
ICE Limits Traffic Stops to Trained Officers and Bars Pursuits
A Sept. 30 memo from Enforcement and Removal Operations says only officers who have finished specified training courses may conduct traffic stops and high-risk vehicle stops. New hires may ride along in a support role and may not drive the primary or secondary vehicle. Officers are not authorized to pursue vehicles that fail to pull over or to use PIT maneuvers. They are told to record the plate and direction of travel. Pinning and tire-deflation devices are limited to officers with extra training, and only when the fleeing vehicle, officers, or the public are at risk. Stop vehicles must have lights and sirens. Officers on scene must wear and activate body cameras. The memo follows fatal shootings tied to ICE stops in Texas and Maine. In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ordered a halt to pursuits. President Trump then said traffic stops would continue. An ICE spokesperson said the memo is a reminder and changes nothing about how stops are done.
Kennedy Says Skin-Graft Medicare Spending Hit $14 Billion and Was Stolen
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Vice President JD Vance at the MAHA Summit that Medicare spending on skin-graft wound coverings rose from about $200 million in 2019 to $14 billion last year. He said doctors who prescribed the products got 6 percent of the sales price and were pushed toward the most expensive ones. He said U.S. prices rose from $135 to $2,000 per cubic inch while European prices stayed near 35 cents. Spending was on track for $23 billion this year before the administration cut it to about $1 billion. House Oversight put the rise at $200 million to $14.4 billion. Grafts were repeatedly used on elderly patients, including people in hospice. In 2025, Alexandra Gehrke and Jeffrey King were sentenced to 15.5 and 14 years after pleading guilty in a $1.2 billion false-claims case. In June 2026, the Justice Department charged 455 defendants in health-care schemes totaling more than $6.5 billion.
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📢 The Fifth Column Watch
Illinois and Chicago Released More Than 500 Criminal Aliens Despite Detainers
A House Judiciary Committee interim report says Illinois and Chicago released more than 500 illegal immigrants despite ICE detainers. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office released 408 in 2025 and transferred none to ICE. The Illinois Department of Corrections released nearly 100 in 2024 and 2025. Chicago police received about 1,136 detainers, warrants, or notice requests from July 2024 to June 2026. Releases included a Mexican national sentenced to 30 years for attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault, and kidnapping; another convicted of attempted murder; and one sentenced to 17 years for assault on a child. A Jamaican national who served 28 years for murder was later accused of robbery and murder after release. In January 2025, police released an Ecuadorian accused of assault and luring a child. Another man released on a domestic-violence detainer was arrested again a year later. Illinois limited cooperation under a 2017 law that Gov. JB Pritzker (D) tightened in 2021. Chicago’s sanctuary rules date to 2012.
Former El-Sayed Aide Quits and Says the Senate Candidate Faked His Record
Jordan Domingue, who says he was a personal assistant and executive-protection lead on Abdul El-Sayed’s failed gubernatorial campaign and his current Michigan Senate race, quit and went public on X. He said he left two jobs abroad, moved to Michigan twice, and took pay cuts averaging $50,000. He said El-Sayed never mentioned foreign policy in the governor’s race, then ran for Senate on a foreign-policy platform driven by what Domingue called misplaced revenge, and that he stopped believing the candidate cared about civilians and peace. Domingue said management pushed multiple staffers to tears, that El-Sayed told different groups different things hours apart, and that he acted like an entitled mobster toward elected officials in 2017 and 2018. He said the claim of 10 years of public service is false. He also described what he called performed masculinity, including farting in front of staff as a joke. After leaving, he founded Democrats for Mike Rogers. El-Sayed, a former Detroit and Wayne County health director, won the Democrat primary in August with 48.5 percent.
Michigan Firefighters Union Drops El-Sayed and Calls It a Clerical Error
The Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union removed Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed from its endorsed slate and then scrubbed the listing. President Matt Sahr said a slate sent to members on Sept. 11 or 12 put El-Sayed at the top, next to Jocelyn Benson for governor and Supreme Court picks. Fifteen days later, on Monday, a revised slate replaced him with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist for secretary of state. Sahr said the union meant to stay out of the Senate race, that the first slate went out before approval, and that it was a clerical error. A member from southern Michigan disagreed, saying the listing would still be there if rank-and-file firefighters had not objected. The same union endorsed El-Sayed’s primary opponent, US Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee, has backed defunding police and abolishing prisons.
Obama-Appointee Blocks Release of University Foreign-Donor Names
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, issued a temporary restraining order late Thursday barring the Education Department from publishing the names of foreign donors and contract counterparties at universities. The list was set to go out Friday and covers gifts and contracts totaling as much as $5.2 billion since 2020. Schools reported more than $5.2 billion in 2025 alone, across more than 8,300 transactions, and $67.6 billion since Section 117 of the Higher Education Act took effect in 1986. That law requires federally funded schools to report foreign gifts and contracts of $250,000 or more. The department began collecting donor names in 2020 and told schools the names would stay confidential, then reversed course in June 2026. It has already posted 92 “counterparties of concern.” Chutkan said publication would likely never leave the public eye and could harm donors in repressive countries. She found the Association of American Universities, which represents 69 research schools including Columbia, Penn and Yale, likely to win on an Administrative Procedure Act claim. The order lasts 28 days.
UK’s Greens Tell Members to Drop Mother and Father for Parents and Carers
Ahead of its Brighton conference, the Green Party circulated inclusive-terminology guidance telling activists to replace “mothers and fathers” with “parents and carers.” The document, already used in equalities training, calls ordinary terms unacceptable and says the wrong words can create an unwelcoming setting and feed harassment under the party code. “Sexual preference,” “transsexual” and “homosexual” are discouraged. So are “elderly,” “youngster,” “able-bodied,” “sex-change,” “female politician,” and “lady doctor.” Gendered job titles are out. Members are steered toward “global majority” and “racially minoritized.” A section says mistakes are acceptable if the speaker apologizes and adjusts, but repeated or deliberate use may count as harassment. A spokesman called it a standard guide, nothing more. Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake said the party is policing ordinary speech. J.K. Rowling answered by calling herself an elderly mother of three youngsters who knows many homosexuals and thinks the Greens are nutters. Leader Zack Polanski is standing in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election on Oct. 8.
ON THIS DAY IN 1913:
President Woodrow Wilson, a progressive Democrat, signed the Revenue Act of 1913 into law, establishing a federal income tax following the ratification of the 16th Amendment earlier that year.
🌐 International
French Riots Lift Le Pen’s Odds as Officials Blame the Far Left
Riots that began over crowded classrooms, teacher shortages and worn-out buildings have been driven in large part by youths from immigrant and refugee communities, and officials say far-left groups took them over. At least 65 school employees, including 40 principals, and about 170 students have been injured, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said. At least 100 high schools were badly damaged. Authorities have arrested about 5,000 people, most of them teenagers. Intelligence officials told a crisis meeting Thursday that politicians from France Unbowed helped spark the unrest. The proposed 2027 education budget rises 1.7 percent, to 65.53 billion euros. Marine Le Pen’s Polymarket price to win the April 2027 presidential election rose from 38.4 percent on Sept. 27 to 45.1 percent by Friday. Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe fell to about 19 percent. Jean-Luc Mélenchon stood near 13 percent.
EU Clears Return Hubs as Five States Plan Third-Country Transfers
The EU Council gave final approval Oct. 1 to a return regulation that lets member states send people with no right to stay to facilities in non-EU countries. Greece, Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands have agreed on a framework for those hubs when origin countries will not take people back. Danish Interior Minister Morten Bødskov said transfers to a partner country could begin in 2027. Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said Greece expects a pilot in the first half of next year. No destination is confirmed. Rwanda has been mentioned, and Greece said the hubs would be in safe third countries, particularly in Africa. Agreements may be made only with countries that respect human rights and non-refoulement. Unaccompanied minors are excluded. Hub rules apply as soon as the measure is published. A 2023 court ruled Britain’s Rwanda plan unlawful, and the government later dropped it after spending about 715 million pounds and relocating no one.
Smoke Rises at Aramco’s Riyadh Refinery as Saudis Plan a Houthi Operation
A large plume of smoke and fire was seen Saturday at Saudi Aramco’s refinery south of Riyadh, a witness and an AFP journalist said. Fire engines, ambulances, and police were on site. Saudi authorities and Aramco had not confirmed the cause, and no group had claimed the fire. The plant can process about 130,000 barrels a day. NASA FIRMS imagery showed stronger thermal hits over the site. The incident comes as Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up strikes on Saudi cities and energy sites. Last week they said they hit Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Riyadh said it intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and Yanbu and reported no damage then. U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia has approved a coming operation against Houthi-held coast near the Bab al-Mandeb, using Yemeni government ground forces and Saudi air cover. Prince Khalid bin Salman briefed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and again asked for U.S. strikes. A U.S. official said Washington is not taking kinetic action for now.
Prosecutor Says Two Iranian Men Scouted Manchester Synagogue for a Bomb Plot
Salam Ahmadyan, 36, of Liverpool, and Rahman Salehi, 34, of Salford, appeared Saturday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with preparing terrorist acts. Neither entered a plea. Judge Nina Tempia remanded them until Oct. 23 at the Old Bailey. Prosecutor Mark Luckett said they researched the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue and the Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill and carried out hostile reconnaissance in Manchester’s Jewish community. He said a third person, assessed to be an Iranian national most likely in Iran, directed the plan and sent instructions for a homemade device. Police arrested them Sept. 20 in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, on the eve of Yom Kippur. Both crossed the English Channel by small boat. Salehi arrived in 2020 and was granted asylum. Ahmadyan arrived in 2023 and has a pending claim. Heaton Park was attacked on Oct. 2, 2025, when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, drove into the gates and stabbed worshippers. Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed. Counterterror police said the case is isolated and unconnected to the suspected plot at RAF Fairford.
Argentina Offers Citizenship for $350,000 or an $800,000 Bond
Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced Friday in Paris that Argentina will open South America’s first citizenship-by-investment program in the fourth quarter of 2026. Applicants can make a non-refundable $350,000 payment to the treasury or buy an $800,000 zero-interest government bond with a seven-year term. A spouse or a single child ages 18 to 25 can be added for $100,000. Children under 18 cost $25,000. Officials said a family of four could pay $500,000. Caputo said the passport is accepted in more than 140 countries, including visa-free travel to China, Russia, the Schengen area and most of Latin America. Advisers estimated the program could raise up to $2.5 billion. Caputo said the idea came up during President Javier Milei’s 2024 visit to Sun Valley, Idaho. Funds must go through the formal system and pass money-laundering checks. In 2023, Milei repealed the land law limiting foreign ownership. The Supreme Court cleared that repeal on Sept. 29.
