And, more importantly, how can we stop it?
To hear our politicians and pundits—left, right, and center—tell it, the shooting occurred in a politically charged climate, committed by some coward who chose to end the debate with a bullet. Toss in some lip service to mental health and the obligatory lip-pursing about gun violence, and you have the consensus vision of what went wrong. And it’s a strangely comforting one at that, because it casts the shooter as a horror movie monster, terrifying but singular in its ghoulishness, the one meanie who emerged from the toxic swamp of bad but curable social phenomena. All you have to do, then, is find him, catch him, deter others from getting any crazy ideas, and our long national nightmare will be over.
But the nightmare, sadly, is far greater than that . . .
AB 495 dangerously redefines guardianship, stripping away parental rights By Katy Grimes, September 2, 2025 9:59 am
Assembly Bill 495, the bill which threatens parental rights by allowing the state to remove custody from parents who do not “affirm their child’s gender identity,” was moved off of the suspense file by Senate Democrats, after being placed on the suspense file August 18th.
Urge Senator McGuire (or your senator) to vote NO on AB 495 HERE
As President Donald J. Trump celebrates 200 days in office, the winning is never-ending — and if his first 100 days were historic, his second set was equally as impressive. From securing unprecedented trade deals and locking in massive investments to unleashing American energy dominance and ending woke culture, President Trump has accomplished more in his first 200 days than most administrations do over an entire term — and the best is yet to come.
President Trump made good on even more of his promises between Day 100 and Day 200:
By Anne Doherty
Study after study—like the 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics finding that 70% of incarcerated juveniles came from disrupted homes, or the 2016 University of Pennsylvania link between family instability and violent crime—show strong families are a bulwark against chaos. But in an age where we can’t even agree on what ‘family’ means, how do we harness that power?
In creating the Family Month Project, I have found that people are touchy about the definition of family. People are afraid to define it. In order to fine-tune my own definition, I've sent around a definition to friends. One woman with three children and six grandchildren told me her stomach knotted up when she even thought about the definition. And yet intuitively everyone knows they have one. We all have a biological mother and father, for example, even if we have never met them. We have people who raised us from an infant. Even if we didn't grow up to like those people, they fed us, dressed us, and put a roof over our heads. We know they did this because infants can't take care of themselves.
The reason that people are so frightened of the definition, I think, is pretty obvious. Science, technology, and modern medicine have changed our relationship to our bodies and our perception of ourselves in society. Whether we're talking about women’s rights, disposable diapers, IVF, or even phones so smart we can run businesses from them, we have so much freedom we don't know what to do with it. Compared to our ancestors, we can be anything we want to be. Anything. The extremes of personal evolution don’t mesh easily with the traditional idea that a family consists of a mom, a dad, and 2.5 heathy kids who live happily ever after in a neat suburban house.
But when did such ideal families ever exist? They didn't. Before World War II, in a world with no antibiotics or other medical advancements, families were lucky if all their children lived to adulthood. Wives were lucky if they weren't widowed young, as my grandmother was. Husbands were lucky if their wives didn't die in childbirth or from the flu or an abscessed tooth for that matter. During the depression, some children were put in orphanages if their parents couldn't support them. Life was hard. So after the war, when prosperity hit America, people tried to build a better world, The way they all began was by having a family. There's just something inside most human beings that tells them a family matters more than anything. All we have to do, at the dawn of this great technological age, is remember what makes us human and treasure it.
My definition of family is still evolving, but here’s where I’ve landed: It’s a messy, unbreakable unit—forged by blood, law, or love—that shapes who we are and holds society together. It’s not always warm or easy; some ties hurt, some fade, but they all matter. Because once formed, a family is forever—and that’s the human thread we can’t afford to lose.
Anne Nygren Doherty is the founder of the Family Month Project, advocating for the celebration of family origins between Mother's Day and Father's Day to strengthen family bonds and honor personal histories.
Please sign the petition HERE to establish an annual national Family Month.
Sometimes words fail us. In certain circumstances, no words are the right words. Grief, even wrenching grief that feels like a lead weight on your chest, has a tendency to be silent. Courage has a tendency to be silent too. In real life, the people who talk the most, are often the people who have done the least.
At too many Memorial Day ceremonies this week, local dignitaries and celebrities will give speeches while the veterans sit silently by contemplating friends who are now names carved on stones.
In case you somehow missed it, this isn't just a three day weekend that, in California, already feels like high Summer. This is Memorial Day weekend.
It is, perhaps, inevitable that too many people don't really understand that "Memorial Day" isn't just an excuse for mattress sales, traffic jams, and backyard barbecues. Some memories are hard to talk about.
When I was a little girl I asked the old guy who lived across the street from my parents why he didn't go to the Memorial Day parade like the other veterans. Mr. M was a World War II vintage Marine who'd fought in the Pacific theatre. On Memorial Day, like every day, he'd put the flag up in the morning, and bring it in in the evening, but he'd never go anywhere. In late afternoon he'd sit on his porch drinking two inches of amber whiskey out of a heavy glass, enjoying the sun.
His combat career had included some of the most vicious battles of the Island Hopping campaign. He'd already been in uniform when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. He was on a ship by New Year's Day 1942.
His answer, when I asked him why he didn't go to a parade, or a ceremony, was pretty simple. When he was nineteen he legitimately didn't think he'd live to see his twentieth birthday. Instead, he made it through the war, made it through the twentieth century, and lived well into the 21st century. On Memorial Day he liked to stay home, fly his flag, drink his whiskey, sit in the sun, and think about all his friends who didn't make it.
The soldiers of the First World War have all made their final march long since. There are, at most, a dozen Americans still alive who remember waving handkerchiefs at the departing doughboys.
Soon, most of the veterans of the Second World War will leave us. Korea, Vietnam, and our more recent wars, have all taken their toll. The children of the men who fell in Korea and Vietnam now have grey hair.
Words really don't mean much when confronting names on stones. But, every name on every stone represents some son, father, brother, husband, sister, mother or daughter, who didn't get to contemplate old age while sitting in the sun drinking whisky on a beautiful hot California day.
Rest in peace, Mr. M.
And please, if you have a chance, take a moment this week to remember & maybe try to find the words to talk to someone about what Memorial Day means.
~ Sarah Nagle
In December 2024, CA State Rep. Carl DeMaio – who also serves as chairman of Reform California – introduced the CA Voter ID Initiative to not only require
citizenship verification for voter registration but photo ID for casting a ballot. In introducing the measure, DeMaio said “too many Californians have lost trust and confidence in our elections – and we need to fix that immediately if we are to have a healthy democracy going forward.”
In January, President Trump endorsed CA Voter ID as a “condition” for continued federal funding to the state.
Both DeMaio and the measure’s co-sponsor State Rep. Bill Essayli have worked to convince Sacramento politicians to do the right thing and put the measure on the 2026 ballot – but the legislature has stubbornly refused to act.
DeMaio announced that a number of elected officials from across California and campaign committees are coming together as a formal coalition to support the qualification of and passage of a Voter ID Initiative in California in the 2026 election.
Several members of the coalition also released polling showing overwhelming bipartisan support for a Voter ID Initiative in California – with a super-majority of Republicans and Independents and a majority of even Democratic voters supporting the initiative.
Specifically, 68% of Californians support requiring an ID when casting a ballot to verify an individual’s identity. A whopping 72% support verifying citizenship for anyone wishing to register to vote.
“Politicians and the media will keep denying the fact that California has real problems with election integrity, but the message from the public is loud and clear in support of requiring Voter ID as the best way to restore public trust and confidence in our elections,” says Carl DeMaio, State Assemblymember (District 75) and Chairman of Reform California.
"Thirty-six states in the U.S. have implemented some form of voter identification requirement. Similarly, every country in Europe mandates that in-person voters present photo ID to cast their ballots. This practice is also standard in Canada, Japan, South Korea, India, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, and many other nations worldwide, spanning both developed and developing democracies," said Julie Luckey, Director of Californians for Voter ID. "Support for voter ID laws transcends party lines—it’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. Polls consistently show that majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents favor these measures. Nor is this unique to the United States; it’s a global norm. Voter ID is simply a common-sense policy. California needs to modernize its elections to align with the vast majority of the world’s democracies. While our state leads in so many areas, it lags behind on this issue. It’s time for California to catch up and enact voter ID laws."
“There is a cancer growing in our democracy where too many people have lost confidence in our elections – and enacting a Voter ID law should be seen as the best bipartisan solution to this problem,” says Bill Essayli, State Assemblymember (District 63) and Chairman of Common-Sense California.
“Voter ID is a common sense step that improves election security, which is why it receives broad support among Democrats, Republicans and independents throughout California. By passing a Voter ID initiative in California we can give voters increased confidence in our elections without unnecessarily restricting access to voting,” says Ken Calvert, US Representative (District 41).
“There is wide-spread support among the donor community for enacting common-sense election integrity reforms through the Voter ID Initiative and we look forward to helping get this important reform qualified and passed in 2026,” says Teresa Hernandez, Chair, Orange County Lincoln Club
Reform California has already begun recruitment of volunteers to collect signatures to qualify the initiative. To volunteer, sign up at www.VoterIDVolunteer.org
To commit to sign the petition when it is ready for circulation, visit: www.VoterIDPetition.org
