California County Tries $2,000 Fee and Psych Exam for Carry Permits:
Getting a permit to carry a firearm in Santa Clara County, California, now comes with a steep price tag. Applicants are looking at an estimated total cost of around $2,000 to apply.
This figure includes a $976 application fee, a $500 mandatory psychological evaluation, and a $400 training course, not to mention fingerprinting costs.
The permit itself is valid for two years, and renewals aren’t cheap either, costing about $850 every two years, which also requires an 8-hour recertification course.
This approach stands out because, as of now, no other county in California requires a mandatory psychological exam just for applying to exercise constitutional rights.
While California law does allow sheriffs to order psychological evaluations in specific cases where mental fitness is in question, Santa Clara County has made it a universal requirement for every applicant, regardless of individual circumstances.
Predictably, this new policy has already led to a lawsuit.
Filed as Blank versus Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, the case challenges both the fee structure and the universal psychological exam requirement.
The people bringing the lawsuit argue that the fees act as a “wealth qualification,” effectively preventing law-abiding citizens who can’t afford the high costs from exercising their rights.
They also contend that there’s no legal or constitutional basis to make a psychological test a requirement for everyone applying, without any specific reason or evidence of concern.
To put it in perspective, imagine if other rights had similar requirements. Would you have to pay a fee and undergo a psychological exam to vote? Or to speak at a city council meeting? Or to post on social media?
The lawsuit points out that such requirements would likely be struck down as unconstitutional, drawing parallels to the prohibition of poll taxes.
Modern Education Is Working Exactly As Planned… – SF736
Andrew Kern joins me for the first part of a conversation about education, parenting, attention, and the spiritual foundations of learning.
We explore why modern education may be cultivating anxiety rather than wisdom, how technology and constant distraction shape the minds of children, and why Andrew believes the ability to pay attention is one of the most important skills a person can develop.
Together we discuss Christian education, conformity, the purpose of schooling, raising children in a digital age, and how faith, beauty and truth can transform the way we think about learning, culture and the next generation.
“He’s All In” – George Soros Invests $103 Million to Shape the Midterms
George Soros and his political network have committed more than $103 million ahead of the midterm elections, putting them on pace to break previous spending records.
Patrick Bet-David and the panel debate how billionaire-backed political spending could shape key races, Democratic candidates, and the future of American politics.
President Trump Signs Massive Executive Order Slashing Car Costs for Americans – 06/29/26
Ford rehires veteran engineers after AI quality control fails
Ford said it leaned too hard on artificial intelligence for vehicle quality control and has spent the past three years hiring 350 veteran engineers to fix the resulting problems, the company said this week.
Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, said the company had misjudged what AI alone could deliver.
“Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that would produce a high-quality product,” he told reporters.
Many of the company’s most experienced engineers had left Ford before their knowledge could be used, BBC reported.
The automated quality systems Ford had increasingly leaned on were not delivering, COO Kumar Galhotra told Bloomberg.
The returning specialists now lead troubleshooting sessions and have overhauled the AI tools to flag defects before components arrive on the assembly line, he said.
AI remains central to Ford’s operations going forward, but the so-called “gray beard” engineers the company brought back are now putting their decades of experience to work mentoring junior employees and rebuilding the machine-learning systems that had previously underperformed. Poon said the company came to understand that improving its automated and AI-driven systems depended entirely on having the most seasoned people shape them.
The effort appears to be producing financial results.
Declining warranty and recall expenses have added up to real money, CEO Jim Farley said, describing the cumulative savings as “literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of a tailwind for Ford on cost.”
The company’s quality overhaul also earned it first place among mainstream automakers in this week’s JD Power Initial Quality Survey, an achievement Ford had last reached sixteen years ago.
That marks a dramatic climb from its position in the prior year’s survey, when it sat tenth among mainstream brands and trailed the industry average….
WAKE-UP CALL: Trump is putting NATO on notice
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker joins ‘Varney & Co.’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s push for higher NATO defense spending and why some allies still aren’t doing enough.
Putin Acknowledges Fuel Deficit As Ukraine Targets Oil Refineries
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes have disrupted Russia’s fuel production, marking his clearest admission yet of the campaign’s impact, according to The Associated Press.
CNBC reported that Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian oil refineries and energy infrastructure to weaken Moscow’s war funding.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces recently struck two additional refineries as part of a broader campaign targeting Russia’s energy sector.
The Institute for the Study of War said Putin appeared to acknowledge the economic strain while attempting to project stability.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Russia’s central bank warned prolonged disruptions to fuel production could weigh on the country’s economic growth in 2026.
“He Caved” – Newsom Caved to Socialists Proposing a National Wealth Tax
Gavin Newsom has reversed course, moving from skepticism over California’s wealth tax to publicly supporting a national version.
Patrick Bet-David and the panel debate whether Newsom caved to the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and what higher taxes could mean for top earners and the U.S. economy.
How Did The Shooting At A German Welfare Facility Unfold
Six people were killed and several others injured in a shooting at a youth welfare facility in the northern German city of Stade on Monday, prompting a large-scale police response and an ongoing criminal investigation.
According to German authorities, five victims died at the scene while a sixth later succumbed to injuries in hospital.
Police arrested a 45-year-old German man of Turkish heritage, who has been identified as the suspected main perpetrator.
Investigators continue to examine the circumstances surrounding the attack while urging the public to avoid the area during the ongoing forensic investigation.
The incident is one of the deadliest shootings in Germany this year and has shocked the local community.
June 28, 2026 – Cover Story: Breaking Brad
Woman Wins Lottery And Immediately Gives Neighbor 5,000 to Take the Family on Vacation
A 48-year-old woman who won a million in the lottery immediately gave her neighbors a gift of five thousand, so they can travel on their first family vacation abroad.
Honorata Jamrozik scooped up the life-changing tax-free prize in the UK Omaze Monthly Millionaire Draw—and her first act was selfless generosity.
The kind-hearted foster care mother surprised her neighbors of 14 years with the cash to spend on a family getaway.
“It’s a life-changing prize for us, but also for our friends and family,” said the woman from Dartford, Kent, who says she can go back to fostering kids thanks to the influx of money. “Now we can help make life easier for our loved ones—and that is the best feeling in the world.
“Good neighbors are one of life’s true blessings. They have been wonderful since the day we moved in, and they feel like family to us.
“Being able to give them money for a holiday so they can make some magical memories together makes me so happy.”
Polish-born Honorata, who’s lived in the UK for 25 years, had been grieving the loss of her father just two weeks earlier, and she learned about her new fortune after returning from his funeral in Poland.
And she’s convinced he’s the one who ‘sent it’ to her: “He’ll always be the angel sitting on my shoulder, and I know it was him who sent this gift to me.”…
The Only Thing Iran FEARED Losing… TRUMP JUST ERASED
While the cease-fire with iran continues to fail, president trump’s patience has resulted in the regime losing the one thing they were banking on and now may never get back.
Why was John the Baptist beheaded? | GotQuestions.org
Standing for truth literally cost John his head at dinner. Matthew 14 and Mark 6 on his execution reveal the heavy price of truth.
Herod Antipas and Herodias used Salome to silence God’s messenger, violently ending his earthly ministry.
Yet, John stood firmly on Leviticus 18:16 in the ESV, enduring human wrath without ever compromising his faith.
Florida Woman Filmed Disturbing Sex Acts with Dog: Police
What started out as a call for possible child sex abuse material spiraled into much more after the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida responded to a call involving Vallen Hrabb.
Authorities allege she not only possessed disturbing material of minors, but also of animals, and even engaged in inappropriate acts with her own dog.
Harris Faulkner: This hatred is on FULL display
Tiffany Smiley and Richard Fowler discuss the rise of socialism in the Democratic Party, focusing on Colorado primaries and candidates aligned with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
CROWLEY: The America 250 Celebration Will Culminate July 4th On The National Mall.
BANNON: “The Republican Party does not give an alternative to the Democrats.”
Justices Overturn 1935 Precedent, Backing President’s Power to Remove Agency Heads
The Supreme Court on Monday handed President Trump a sweeping victory over the administrative state, ruling that Congress cannot shield the heads of independent regulatory agencies from presidential removal, and overturning a landmark 1935 precedent that had underpinned the modern regulatory framework for nearly a century.
The 6-3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter arose from the President’s firing of two Democratic-appointed Federal Trade Commission commissioners, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, at the start of his second term.
Trump cited his constitutional authority under Article II rather than any cause recognized by the FTC’s governing statute, which permits removal only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the FTC’s for-cause removal protection is incompatible with the Constitution’s vesting of executive power in a single President.
Officers who exercise executive power, the Court held, must remain accountable to the President — and accountability requires the ability to remove them at will.
The ruling explicitly overturned Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which had carved out an exception to presidential removal authority for agencies exercising so-called quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial functions.
The Court found that characterization had never made sense and had become increasingly untenable as the FTC’s powers expanded to cover virtually every corner of the American economy.
The decision’s reach extends well beyond the FTC, potentially exposing the leadership of dozens of independent agencies — including the SEC, CFTC, and NLRB — to at-will presidential removal….
Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Bid to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
The Supreme Court on Monday blocked President Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, ruling that the president failed to provide her the procedural protections required by law.
The 5-4 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Jackson, denied the government’s application to stay a lower court injunction that has kept Cook in her position since last fall.
The Court resolved the case on narrow grounds, declining to rule definitively on whether Cook’s alleged mortgage fraud constituted sufficient legal cause for her removal.
Instead, the majority held that regardless of the underlying merits, the president was required to give Cook notice of the charges against her and a meaningful opportunity to respond before acting.
A social media post demanding her resignation did not satisfy that requirement, the Court said.
Trump moved to fire Cook in August 2025, citing a referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency alleging she had falsely claimed two properties simultaneously as her primary residence to obtain more favorable mortgage terms.
Monday’s decision did not decide the issue of whether President Trump’s reasons for attempting to remove Cook met the statutory “for cause” threshold, although it did make it clear that the question is reviewable by the courts.
The court said the rationale for firing her would have to establish her “unfitness” for the office.
If the Trump administration continues to try to remove Cook, the lower courts may have to decide whether the mortgage fraud allegations satisfy the requirement.
SCOTUS Rules 5-4 to Permit Counting of Mail-In Ballots that Arrive After Election Day
On Monday, SCOTUS issued a 5-4 ruling that permits states to count mail-in ballots — sent on or before election day — that are received by state election officials after election day.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority’s opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts as well as Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Two principles are important here. First, post-election-day receipt, considered on its own, does not conflict with the election-day statutes,” the Court writes:
Second, state law is preempted by the federal election-day statutes only “‘so far as the conflict extends.’” So even if plaintiffs are right about Mississippi law, they would still lose the challenge they have pressed in this litigation: that post-election-day ballot receipt is itself unlawful. [Emphasis added]
The Framers recognized the difficulty of crafting election laws “applicable to every probable change in the situation of the country.” So instead of constitutionalizing election law, they decided that “a discretionary power over elections” needed to be lodged “somewhere.” Suffice it to say, that power was not lodged in this Court. The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose. [Emphasis added]
Justice Samuel Alito filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined most of the dissenting opinion as well.
“The Court … concludes that the election-day statutes merely require that each individual cast a vote on or before election day,” Alito writes for the minority:…
Sisters, friend charged in Texas mom’s stabbing death
Kitty Mia Diaz, 21; Amaya Cookie Diaz, 19; and Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, were arrested Thursday on charges of murder in connection with the fatal attack, the Del Rio Police Department wrote in a press release posted to Facebook.
The victim was identified as Caroline “Caro” Peña, 32, according to local media reports.
Police said officers responded around 2:10 p.m. Thursday to Val Verde Regional Medical Center after receiving a report that a woman had arrived with multiple stab wounds from an assault at a busy intersection.
“This wasn’t something that happened in a back alley; this happened at the corner near Sonic on one of our busiest roads in broad daylight,” Ochoa told KENS 5.
Because of the severity of her injuries, the woman was taken to a San Antonio medical facility for emergency treatment, police said.
Investigators were notified around 9 p.m. that she had died after being stabbed twice in the back and a third time in her stomach.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video, processed evidence and interviewed witnesses before identifying Kitty Diaz, Cookie Diaz and Faz as suspects, police said.
Kitty Diaz and Cookie Diaz were arrested without incident around 4 p.m. local time Thursday, and Faz was arrested a short time later…..
Dem running for Pelosi’s seat mocked after anti-Israel hecklers chase him from SF Trans March
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, was widely mocked by conservatives on social media over two videos of him being shouted down by anti-Israel activists in his own district over his stance on Israel, despite his progressive track record.
The first video showed several people surrounding Wiener, running for Congress to replace Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, as he walked through San Francisco’s Trans March at Dolores Park on Friday, with multiple hecklers shouting profanity-laced insults.
“We f—ing hate you!” Wiener was told in the video that was viewed over 11 million times on X, posted by Dimitry Yakoushkin, who could be heard criticizing Wiener’s position on the war in Gaza as the Democratic lawmaker moved away from the crowd.
Conservatives on social media widely mocked Wiener and pointed to the fact that he is considered one of the most progressive Democrats in the country and yet was still attacked by his own constituency for not being critical enough of Israel.
“No one more richly deserves this humiliation than Scott Wiener, who learns the hard lesson that you can be a militant for trans radicalism, a full-scale Israel-hater, and an all-around moral derelict…and the hard Left will still yell at you for being a Jew,” conservative commentator Ben Shapiro posted on X. “10/10, no notes.”
“Hey, Wiener guy!” Reality TV star and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt posted on X. “Remember when you called me a ‘McBigot’? How does it feel now that the Frankenstein you created is coming for you? Every stupid communist learns this history lesson the hard way. Enjoy!”
“I have zero sympathy for eat me last Democrats like Wiener who enabled anti-white bigotry to fester, threw open our borders to foreigners with alien ideologies, and poured gasoline on the dumpster fire of the trans contagion and LGBTQ insanity,” Charlie Kirk Show executive producer Andrew Kolvet posted on X.…
Newsom under fire as California gas tax hike sends pump prices even higher
California motorists are set to pay even more at the pump starting Wednesday as another gas tax increase takes effect, prompting some of the state’s Republican lawmakers to warn that added costs will further squeeze residents already shouldering some of the highest fuel prices in the nation.
California’s GOP congressional delegation, led by Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., to suspend the planned 2.2-cent-per-gallon hike, which would raise the state’s excise gas tax to 63.4 cents per gallon.
The lawmakers say that figure doesn’t include the state’s sales tax and other local fees, bringing the total surcharge burden to about $1.15 per gallon at California pumps.
“According to AAA, the average price of gasoline in California is currently $5.58 per gallon—the highest in the nation and $1.65 above the national average,” the lawmakers wrote Friday in a letter sent to Newsom. “Instead of further unaffordable increases to California’s gasoline excise tax, we urge you to prioritize commonsense energy policies that will provide meaningful relief for all Californians.”
Of the average $5.58 price per gallon cited by the lawmakers, about $4.43 reflects the cost of gasoline, with the rest going toward taxes and fees.
California GOP Reps. James Gallagher, Tom McClintock, Vince Fong, Jay Obernolte, Young Kim, Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, and Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., also signed the letter.
Valadao has repeatedly urged Newsom to suspend California’s gasoline excise tax increases in recent years, which are indexed to inflation and rise annually….
DOJ launches grand jury probe into Marxist mogul Neville Roy Singham’s funding of leftist groups
A federal grand jury is investigating alleged financial crimes by Neville Roy Singham, the China-based tech tycoon whose fortune has funded a sprawling network of socialist, communist and Marxist organizations across the U.S. over the last decade.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the grand jury in Manhattan has issued subpoenas as part of a probe launched by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, one of the country’s most powerful districts for federal prosecutions.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the investigation as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes in the multibillion-dollar nonprofit industry.
The grand jury action follows a Fox News Digital investigation published in mid-March, documenting how Singham pumped $285 million from his base in Shanghai into a Goldman Sachs philanthropy fund and two shell corporations that then fed the money into a constellation of nonprofit organizations, media operations and activist groups pushing sectarian division, identity politics and support for socialist politicians.
The investigation is examining the movement of the money in Singham’s financial network and attempting to determine if Singham, the organizations he funded or their leaders committed wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering or other financial crimes, according to sources familiar with the matter…..
