Yes, Republicans are losing their national bench. Oh noes!
More than a dozen GOP leaders in state legislatures across the country — including North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia and Iowa — have opted to resign or have announced their retirement over the past 14 months.
It’s not just congressional Republicans facing mid-terms as polls show President Donald Trump’s popularity sinking amid higher gas prices and doubts about the Iran war. They could be facing another midterm like 2018, when Democrats flipped six legislative chambers and netted over 300 seats nationwide.
“I think he puts Republicans on the defensive with his actions,” said Dick Wadhams, a longtime consultant and a former state GOP chair in Colorado. (Gee, Dick, ya think?) “They can’t stand it anymore.”
Some Republicans continue to whistle in the dark. “If the election were next week, I’d be bothered,” said Wisconsin GOP Chair Brian Schimming. “The election is not next week.”
The loss of at least 14 Republican leaders, compared to about half as many Democrats, points to a broader shift in state-level politics and the loss of some lawmakers who might have become the next generation of leaders on the national political scene -- choking off the statehouse to D.C. pipeline. OH DARN. I AM SO UPSET.
On Easter Sunday, Donald Trump posted a profane and insane Truth Social rant against Iran that any US president in history would recoil from.
In this diatribe, Trump cursed out the Iranian government, calling them "crazy bastards" and promised to commit massive war crimes against the civilian population if they did not open the Strait of Hormuz.
This is beyond outrageous.
Trump's reckless attack on Iran, with what appears to be no plans on securing the Strait is bad enough. Planning to destroy their entire power output and bridges is something quite different.
It's un-American to its core. The NY Times has a duty not to sugarcoat these threats.
Trump didn't threaten to escalate the war he started. He demanded Iran do something he can't because of his ineptitude that is disrupting the global supply of oil.
What hell is this narcissistic idiot proposing? I know he bloviates like an ingrate, but with an incompetent Pete Hegseth running the war, they are apt to do any number of horrific things to civilians that would make the authors of the Geneva convention weep.
It is reported the US does not have any old style atomic bombs or low output portable nukes like the fabled suitcase nuke or I wouldn't put it past him to use them.
Regular readers will be familiar with Strong Language, a group blog about swearing that I co-founded with James Harbeck in 2014. If you’re interested in swearing as a linguistic or cultural phenomenon, I recommend bookmarking or subscribing to it.
New posts by our excellent contributors are less frequent now, but that makes it easier to catch up if you haven’t visited before or feel like browsing the archives. The blog has over 400 posts: fascinating and colourful explorations of profanity for readers not averse to such material.
I also contribute to Strong Language now and then, and this post on Sentence first introduces the last few that I wrote. What follows below is not very sweary – there’s one reference to a strong swear – but if this type of language freaks you out like it does Ned Flanders, or just plain doesn’t interest you, you may prefer to bail out here.
From “Be-bop-a-Lisa” in Simpsons Comics no. 6 (1994). Script & pencils: Bill Morrison; Inks: Tim Bavington; Colours: Cindy Vance. Editor: Steve Vance
I’m interested in how people refer to swearing: as bad language, explicit language, dirty language, adult language, and so on. The adjectives form an intriguing set. ‘Strong bad mature filthy language’ examines the patterns that emerge and explains why I proposed Strong Language as the name for the blog.
The title of the present post, you may have twigged, alludes to Amy Winehouse and her song ‘Me & Mr Jones’, which contains a line I borrowed more directly for ‘What kind of “fuckery” is this?’. The post delves into that word’s meanings and use, originally literal but now usually (and variously) figurative.
Also in a pop-cultural vein, John Boorman’s 1987 drama film Hope and Glory has a scene that depicts swearing as a rite of passage for a group of boys in London during World War II. My short post puts the scene in context and discusses its effects.
Most recently, I wrote about a remarkably successful euphemism in ‘Another freaking f-word’. This use of freaking first appeared in 1928, as far as we know, so its centenary is just around the corner. In the post I look at why and where it has become so freaking popular.
Regularly, Trump berates journalists for the question that they asked. Usually, though not always, it's a woman journalist that he is berating. There is one simple thing that her colleagues can do in response, both to show solidarity and to pursue a line of questioning that Trump doesn't want: just repeat the question.
It doesn't even require being especially savvy. Just repeat the fucking question.
I long ago stopped feeling any need to defend "journalism" because elite political journalists fail to show even minimal solidarity for their colleagues or even to stick up for themselves.
This isn't new. Most of the gang would get mad at anyone being slightly aggressive during the Bush years, too.
Ruined the nice camaraderie they all had. Made things very uncomfortable! They were all good friends, after all. All on the same side, fighting the war on terra together.
On a Saturday evening in late April, the ballroom of the Washington Hilton will feature the annual tradition of reporters dressing up in tuxedos and gowns to mingle, network, and celebrate their profession. But this year, when Donald Trump looks out into the crowd, he might spot some of those attending the White House Correspondents’ Association’s gala sporting unusual accessories: pocket squares and pins with the words of the First Amendment, in a subversive gesture supporting press freedom, reflecting the news media’s consciousness of the perilous moment it’s in, and why.
...
Whether items like pocket squares, tote bags, and phone wallets bearing the text “Congress shall make no law abridging the Freedom of Speech or of the Press”—a hand-drawn design by CNN’s Jake Tapper—rise to the occasion while rubbing elbows with a president who regularly labels journalists “enemies of the people,” will surely be debated. But the effort speaks to the elephant in the room: this is no ordinary WHCD, given the Trump administration’s overt attempts to discredit and undermine the press.
A "hand-drawn design by CNN’s Jake Tapper!" Take that, Donald!
Trump’s threat to destroy power plants if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t opened by tomorrow, which obviously it won’t be, is an even more unambiguous war crime than the general attack on Iran, which is definitely a war crime as well, but there’s slightly more wiggle room from a legal perspective if you want to make some bullshit argument about “imminent threat.” The threat to bomb civilian infrastructure doesn’t even have that transparent fig leaf of pseudo-justification.
Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator who serves on the armed services committee, urged Trump to “please dial back the rhetoric”. Also speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Kaine said Trump’s language was “embarrassing and juvenile” and raised the risk for US service members.
That’s totally pathetic, but on the other hand Tim Kaine.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s rant resembled that of “an unhinged madman”. He wrote on X: “Happy Easter, America. As you head off to church and celebrate with friends and family, the President of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media.
“He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.”
OK that’s not terrible, but how about some specific threats of actual consequences, such as we’re going to form a blue ribbon commission chaired by Merrick Garland to figure out if there may be some procedural improprieties of some kind here?
This is better:
Bernie Sanders, an independent US senator, called it “dangerous and mentally unbalanced”. He said on X: “One month after starting the war in Iran, this is the statement of the President of the United States on Easter Sunday. These are the ravings of a dangerous and mentally unbalanced individual. Congress has got to act NOW. End this war.”
Senator Chris Murphy also called it completely unhinged. He wrote on X: “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.”
Neither of these senators are part of the party leadership however. (Yes I know Bernie isn’t even a Democrat. I also realize the 25th amendment is completely useless in this context, as is the impeachment power for that matter. Nice Constitution you’ve got there).
The best response I’m. aware of is unfortunately from freelance lunatic Marjorie Taylor Greene:
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch ally turned Trump critic, said everyone in the Trump administration who claims to be a Christian needs to “beg forgiveness from God” and intervene in the president’s “madness”.
In a lengthy post on X, the former Republican congresswoman wrote: “I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit. I’m not defending Iran but let’s be honest about all of this.”
She went on: “The Strait is closed because the US and Israel started the unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they’ve been telling for decades, that any moment Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.
“You know who has nuclear weapons? Israel. They are more than capable of defending themselves without the US having to fight their wars, kill innocent people and children, and pay for it. Trump threatening to bomb power plants and bridges hurts the Iranian people, the very people Trump claimed he was freeing.”
I’d like to see Newsom or Pritzker or AOC out there saying straightforwardly that their presidential administration will prosecute Trump as a war criminal, and make sure he spends the rest of his life in prison. This war is extremely unpopular, it’s getting more so, and mewling about the War Powers Act is pretty weak tea when the Commander in Chief of our War Fighters sounds like William Calley on a meth jag (Yes I know there was a lot of support for Calley. That was 55 years ago, and we’re younger than that now).
City of San Diego Councilmember Marni Von Wilpert in San Diego on Dec. 28, 2022. Photo by Daniel Knighton, Getty Images
A former Republican stronghold in California has been redrawn to favor Democratic candidates — pitting Democrats against each other in a high-profile race to be the district’s next representative in Congress, report CalMatters’ Nadia Lathan and Deborah Brennan.
After President Donald Trump pushed Texas Republicans to create five additional GOP seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, California voters passed Proposition 50 last year to gerrymander the state in a way that could enable Democrats to regain the House in the midterm elections.
The result shifted California’s 48th congressional district — a once deep red district — to slightly blue, and prompted U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican who represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than two decades, to end his reelection bid last month.
With the district now up for grabs, Democratic support has been divided between two leading candidates: San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former public affairs official for President Barack Obama.
During the California Democratic Party convention in February, von Wilpert won more than half of delegates’ votes, but failed to meet the 60% threshold for an official party endorsement. Campa-Najjar, meanwhile, received 18%.
Both candidates have openly criticized one another over the course of their campaigns: Von Wilpert accused Campa-Najjar of being anti-LGBTQ for questioning whether she could win voters outside the gay-friendly Palm Springs, and Campa-Najjar accused von Wilpert of racism for questioning his name changes and residence.
The two Democrats must also contend with San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, the Republican candidate whom Issa endorsed upon his retirement. Because the top two vote-getters in the June primary will face off in November, regardless of party, Desmond is expected to secure one of those spots as GOP support coalesces around him.
Positioning himself as a moderate who is not as closely affiliated with Trump as Issa was, Desmond has outraised both von Wilpert and Campa-Najjar, and is viewed among Democrats as a tough opponent to beat despite the redrawn district.
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Other Stories You Should Know
Carlsbad resident loses fight with HOA
Adam Hardesty points toward construction at his home in Carlsbad on Feb. 19, 2025. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters
A California judge last week told a homeowner that he’s in the wrong for converting the garage of his condo into a rental unit, writes CalMatters’ Ben Christopher.
In a court dispute highlighting the ambiguous role homeowners associations play in state housing policy, Superior Court Judge Victor Torres on Friday ruled against Adam Hardesty, a Carlsbad resident who tried to turn his condo’s garage into a standalone accessory dwelling unit to rent out.
Hardesty cited a 2019 law that voids any HOA rule that “prohibits or unreasonably restricts” the construction of ADUs. But in an attempt to stop his plans, Hardesty’s HOA sued, arguing that the law only applies to areas “zoned for single-family residential use,” and doesn’t apply to condo developments.
In his ruling, Torres sided with the HOA, saying that if the Legislature wanted to include condos, it would have easily done so by adding language to make it more explicit.
A row of semi-trucks and trailers at the Gillson Trucking Inc. facility in Stockton on Jan. 16, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters
The California DMV has yet to restore the trucking licenses of thousands of immigrant drivers, despite a court order in February directing the state to give drivers a chance to do so, writes CalMatters’ Adam Echelman.
Last year the U.S. Department of Transportation issued new regulations prohibiting certain immigrants from holding commercial trucking licenses. As many as 61,000 California truck drivers will lose their licenses in the coming years, and about 13,000 drivers have already lost their licenses in the state.
Many of the affected drivers are asylum seekers who have a legal right to live and work in the U.S. Singh, for example, has two kids and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. (CalMatters is only using his first name because he fears he will be targeted by immigration officials.) Singh is legally able to live and work in the U.S., but the green card he applied for three years ago has yet to arrive. Singh lost his commercial license in March after the federal policy change, and can no longer drive his truck, support his family or pay the monthly loan payments for his truck.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed to restore the licenses of immigrants like Singh, including one that prompted the February order. But the DMV has not reissued any because of pressure from the federal transportation department, which has threatened to withhold federal highway funds from the state.
And lastly: CA ends funding for salmon restoration
A juvenile salmon is measured in Shasta County on Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Xavier Mascareñas, California Department of Water Resources
In 2024 Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a partnership between the state and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe to restore the imperiled winter-run Chinook salmon to their ancestral waters in the Sacramento River. But tribe officials say the state is now ending its support, and efforts to save the sacred fish could come to a grinding halt. Read more from CalMatters’ Rachel Becker.
California Voices
Most California legislators wouldn’t dream of letting the Trump administration make it harder to get public records, yet a Democratic bill in the Legislature would do exactly that, writes David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition.
The Legislature must reject Newsom’s proposal to cut $1 billion from Medi-Cal Dental because it would mean fewer providers, longer waitlists and worse health outcomes for the 15 million Californians who rely on the program, writes Pat Hornbecker, retired dental hygienist and disability rights advocate.
Other things worth your time:
Some stories may require a subscription to read.
House Democrats to hold CA ‘shadow hearings’ on midterm election security // Los Angeles Times
CA election experts sound alarm as rate of rejected ballots quadruples // Los Angeles Times
Trump announces ‘fraud’ crackdown in Democratic states as arrests begin in CA // The Guardian
Judge blocks Trump’s college admissions data push in 17 states, including CA // Politico
These CA research stations prepare for fire risk. The Trump administration is shutting them down // San Francisco Chronicle
UC execs sit on boards of university vendors. A new bill would outlaw these financial ties // San Francisco Chronicle
Who controls your home insurance? A high-stakes CA race could decide // San Francisco Chronicle
Trump asks Congress for $152M to reopen Alcatraz // KQED
Writers Guild of America and Hollywood studios reach tentative contract agreement // LAist
Q: How can we get everyone to quit using “loose” when they mean “lose”? It’s driving me insane!
A: The word “lose” is usually a verb with the sense of failing to win or hold on to something, while “loose” is usually an adjective meaning not securely attached, or less commonly a verb meaning to release or set free.
But as you’ve noticed, some people spell “lose” with an extra “o” in casual writing, a usage that some language references suggest may be influenced by the double “o” in “choose,” a word that rhymes with “lose.”
Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (4th ed.), for example, says, “Possibly because lose is pronounced like choose, there is a common tendency to write that meaning with two letter os.”
Similarly, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary says, “the fact that lose rhymes so well with choose seems to prompt many people to assume that it too should contain a second O.”
Nevertheless, the spelling of “lose” as “loose” is relatively rare in contemporary books, newspapers, magazines, and other edited writing, both online and off. Garner’s Modern English Usage (4th ed.) describes it as Stage 1, the earliest level, in its Language Change Index.
Interestingly, the “oo” usage was fairly common in the early Modern English of the late 16th and 17th centuries, when Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, and other writers used “loose” for “lose.” Here are a few examples from the Oxford English Dictionary:
• “At length, the left winge of the Arcadians began to loose ground” (from The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1590, by Sir Philip Sidney).
• “I thanke thee, thou shalt not loose by it” (from The Taming of the Shrew, written in the early 1590s by Shakespeare). We’ve expanded the cited comment by Petruchio in Act 1, Scene 2, one of many passages in Shakespeare’s plays that use “loose” in the modern sense of “lose.”
• “As to a monoculos [one-eyed man] it is more to loose one eye, then to a man that hath two eyes” (Of Coulers of Good & Euill, 1597, by Francis Bacon). In the title, “coulers” (colors) refers to questionable arguments or reasons.
• “The tempting stream, with one small drop to loose / In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe” (Paradise Lost, 1667, by Milton). We’ve expanded the citation, which describes the desire of the fallen angels to drink from the river Lethe and lose their torment in forgetfulness.
Our standard spelling and pronunciation of “lose” and “loose” evolved in Old English, Middle English, and early Modern English, according to the OED.
When “lose” first appeared in Old English, it was spelled losien, according to the dictionary, but in Middle English it was variously losie, losien, losse, loss, loose, and lose.
As for “loose,” it was originally leowsin in Middle English, then lauce, laus, lowss, loyse, lous, lose, loiss, losyn, louce, louss, loss, looce, looze, los, loase, lows, lowis, lewce, leuse, and loose.
By the middle to late 18th century, language authorities had recognized the standard modern spelling and pronunciation, but much of the population hadn’t got the word.
In A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Samuel Johnson spelled “lose” and “loose” the now-standard ways in their various senses.
And in A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1791), John Walker pronounced “lose” as LOOZ, and “loose” as LOOS. Walker uses an inverted circumflex over each “o” to indicate a “slender o,” like those in “do” and “soon.”
But a century later, language authorities were still commenting on the spelling of “lose” as “loose.” The entry for “lose” in The Century Dictionary (1889), for example, describes the verb as “formerly also loose” and “more or less confused with loose, untie, relax.”
And yet another century later, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (1994), points out that “this error is rare in edited material but fairly common in casual writing. A quick look in any dictionary is all that is needed to avoid it.”
Help support the Grammarphobia Blog with your donation. And check out our books about the English language and more.
In the run-up to the June primary, Democrats are still divided on which candidate would give them their best shot to flip a closely watched House seat.
When Republican Rep. Darrell Issa quit his reelection campaign last month, Democrats celebrated. Now, some are worried.
Issa’s exit is seen as a mixed blessing among Democratic officials who have eyed flipping his San Diego House seat for years. While demonstrators at a No Kings rally last weekend were exultant to see him leave the race, local Democratic organizers are more guarded. The Republican who took his place, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, is a longtime local official with name recognition, fundraising connections and community relationships — without Issa’s close ties to President Donald Trump.
“If anything, Jim Desmond is a slightly better candidate than Darrell Issa in some regards,” because he is not as closely affiliated with Trump, said Dan Rottenstreich, a spokesperson for Marni von Wilpert, one of two leading Democrats in the race.
The new hotly contested district covers most of East and North County San Diego and parts of Riverside County, including Palm Springs. Its voter makeup shifted from deep red to slightly blue when California voters approved a redistricting plan to try to give the state five more Democratic congressmembers after Texas created five extra Republican seats.
San Diego Democrats, including council member Marni von Wilpert, and former Obama official Ammar Campa-Najjar, are competing with Desmond in a crowded field. The top two vote-getters in the June primary will face off in the November general election, regardless of their party. Given the district makeup, Desmond is expected to secure one of those spots.
With a local background in nonpartisan office, Desmond is a “formidable opponent” to Democrats, said Ross Pike, parliamentarian for the Democratic Club of Fallbrook. Desmond raised nearly $1.4 million by the end of last year and the main GOP re-election campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, says it’s optimistic about the district as Desmond aims to cast himself as a moderate focused on affordability and immigration.
“He appears more approachable, less polarizing, and he has given grants to different areas, and people know him for that, so it’s going to be tough,” said Amalia Martinez, vice president of communications for the Escondido Democratic Club, which endorsed von Wilpert.
And in a race with many Democrats, party support is divided. In the regional stage of California Democrats’ endorsement process, von Wilpert fell short by a single vote. During the state convention she won more than half of delegates’ votes, but didn’t meet a 60% threshold. Campa-Najjar received 18% of delegates’ support.
Another Democrat, Palm Springs businessman Brandon Riker, is also gaining ground in the Coachella Valley. He raised $1.5 million by the end of the year and was the only other candidate besides von Wilpert and Campa-Najjar to win some votes at the California Democratic Party convention.
“The more Democrats that are on this ballot in the primary, that’s less votes for Marni to get,” Martinez said.
Leading Democrats have responded to Issa’s departure by comparing Desmond to Issa and framing him as a “MAGA extremist,” revisiting his controversial comments downplaying COVID-19 deaths and spotlighting his votes against the county policy that limits ICE agents’ access to county facilities.
Campa-Najjar, a former Obama public affairs official trying to win a San Diego congressional seat for the third time, said he welcomes Desmond to the race.
“Democrats need to be the opposition party to Trump. But we also have to be the opportunity party. We have to have an affirmative message to bring down costs, raise wages, rein in the cost of health care, and make sure that this president abides by the law,” Campa-Najjar said in an interview.
A spokesperson for Desmond said he is focused on public safety and affordability issues. “While Democrats fight among themselves, their crowded field is a reminder of how out of touch they are,” spokesperson Sam Oh said. His campaign declined to make him available for an interview.
Campa-Najjar had raised about $823,000 at the end of last year and has received the most endorsements from members of Congress, including his partner, Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs. But support has waned locally after two previous unsuccessful congressional campaigns, and some Democrats have criticized him for shifting his policy positions on gun control.
City of San Diego Councilmember Marni Von Wilpert in San Diego on Dec. 28, 2022. Photo by Daniel Knighton, Getty Images
Von Wilpert had raised $520,000 at the end of last year and is endorsed by the state’s labor unions and local San Diego Democratic clubs.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee does not plan to endorse a candidate before the primary.
Democrats turn on each other
A party endorsement would give the winner campaign funding and support from the party. Without it, local organizers and volunteers must try harder to get their preferred candidate’s name out.
“I’m very frustrated, because I will have to knock on more doors,” said Martinez, of the Escondido Democratic Club.
No party endorsement could also weaken Democratic candidates during the primary if they tear each other down and exhaust their campaign funds before the general election. In addition to attacking Desmond, Democrats are turning on each other. Republicans are gleefully highlighting the spat between von Wilpert and Campa-Najjar; she called him anti-LGBTQ for questioning whether she could win voters outside the gay-friendly city of Palm Springs; he accused her of racism for questioning his name changes and residence.
But a tough primary battle could also harden the Democratic front-runners ahead of a November contest with Desmond.
“The advantage of a competitive primary is that it’s forcing Democrats to build their name ID with voters throughout the district, which will only benefit them in the general election,” Pike said.
They have their work cut out. At the No Kings protest, many demonstrators said they weren’t sure who was running in the 48th District, or weren’t following the race closely.
“It’s a little confused,” said John Boyers, a protester at the Escondido rally last weekend. “The herd needs to thin a little.”
The swiftly shifting race has made it tough for voters and candidates to weigh their options. Issa built a reputation as a firebrand conservative 10 years ago when he oversaw several high-profile investigations into the Obama administration.
Desmond, who terms out as county supervisor this year, was previously running for the 49th District and quickly received Issa’s endorsement when he moved to the more competitive 48th District.
Before his exit, Issa was boosted by years of name recognition and relationships. Yet, just three months after telling voters he’d stay in California after briefly considering a run in Texas, Issa announced he was retiring for good. It harkened to the last time he called it quits, in 2018, after his coastal San Diego district at the time, the 49th, became increasingly liberal.
The fact that Issa, one of the wealthiest members in Congress, left the race after 25 years in office is a warning sign for Republicans, strategists say.
“If he looked at it and said ‘no,’ it’s encouraging for Democrats,” political consultant Mason Herron said.
You might remember Al Schmidt, the former Philadelphia election official who was threatened by MAGA for accurately counting votes in 2020. He was since made Secretary of the Commonwealth by Gov. Josh Shapiro. Schmidt said Sunday that he was confident the courts would block Trump’s executive order about mail-in voting.
“I am confident of an outcome in our favor,” Schmidt said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” Pennsylvania is one of the 23 states with officials challenging Trump's order.
Last month, Trump signed the order, which seeks to limit mail-in voting and restrict who the U.S. Postal Service can send absentee ballots to. Since then, multiple lawsuits have been filed to challenge it -- including one from a group of Democratic lawmakers who’ve argued that Trump’s order interferes with states’ constitutional right to conduct elections.
Stephen Richer, a fellow Republican and former recorder for Maricopa County, Ariz., agreed with Schmidt. He said the legal challenges against the order were poised to succeed.
Comics Curmudgeon readers! Do you love this blog and yearn for a novel written by its creator? Well, good news: Josh Fruhlinger's The Enthusiast is that novel! It's even about newspaper comic strips, partly. Check it out!
Luann, 4/6/26
So at some point in the long stretch when I was demonstrating self-care and not reading Luann, there was some kind of romantic/emotional entanglement between Bernice and a guy named “Piro,” which I have learned about peripherally but have never sought out further details on. I guess the fool’s paradise I’ve been living in ends today, though, and I’ll soon be learning more than I ever wanted to know. For today I mostly just wanted to point out that the Luann brain trust apparently decided to start a plot with a booty call text, learned that “u up?” is a popular format for such a message, and couldn’t bring themselves to introduce such a barbarism in their comic, so they did the best they could with it.
Mary Worth, 4/6/26
OK, I have to hand it to Mary, “He had a girlfriend … and now he doesn’t. He’s upset about it” is an extremely funny way to describe the Harvey story to this point. Still, I feel like if you wanted to pull an emotionally distant adult child back into her father’s life, “He sent $200,000, which presumably you would have been in line to inherit, to someone he’s never met in person” would be a somewhat more effective hook? I don’t mean to tell Mary how to do her business, though, and Sharon’s reaction seems to indicate that “salacious gossip” may be the best on-ramp to get her involved in the situation.
Judge Parker, 4/6/26
Bogdan update! Just moments after Bogdan was punched in the throat by Neddy, an unnamed third party has begun bludgeoning him with a baseball bat, or a cricket bat, or maybe a fraternity paddle? Whatever it is, it’s definitely something you don’t want to be hit in the head with, even if you hadn’t just been punched in the throat, and, as we’ve discussed, Bogdan has been punched in the throat relatively recently.
Thousands of immigrant truck drivers in California lost their licenses earlier this year as a result of a Trump administration order, and many more drivers will face the same fate soon. Lawsuits are seeking to restore the licenses, but they may take months or years to resolve.
Thousands of immigrant California truck drivers are in legal limbo after the Trump administration ordered the state to revoke their licenses earlier this year. Many are now out of work and unable to support their families.
Multiple lawsuits seek to restore the commercial driving licenses, otherwise known as trucking licenses, but so far, none of the cases have succeeded in keeping those drivers on the road.
As many as 61,000 California truck drivers will lose their licenses in the coming years as a result of the federal actions, representing between 5% and 10% of the state’s licenseholders. Roughly 13,000 drivers have already lost their licenses, which industry experts say could raise shipping costs across the state.
Many of the affected drivers are asylum seekers or those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status. They have the legal right to live and work in the U.S. but the Trump administration has alleged, without rigorous data, that these truckers drive more dangerously than U.S. citizens or immigrants with more permanent status, such as green card holders. To justify its crackdown, the federal government cited a few fatal crashes last year involving Punjabi truck drivers, including one in Ontario in October that killed three people.
For affected immigrant drivers, the loss of their trucking licenses puts their livelihoods in jeopardy.
One, whose last name is Singh, has two kids and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. For years he was rarely home as a long-haul truck driver carrying freight across the country. CalMatters agreed not to use his first name because he fears immigration officials will target him.
Singh is legally able to live and work in the U.S. because a judge approved his asylum case. He applied for a green card three years ago, but it has yet to arrive. If it had, he would be exempt from the federal enforcement actions and policies.
As an independent contractor, Singh contracts with companies to deliver goods, making between $11,000 and $16,000 a month. But expenses are high. Four years ago, he bought his own truck for $160,000 and he has monthly $3,000 loan payments, plus $1,500 a month in insurance.
Because of the new enforcement actions, Singh lost his commercial license on March 6 and is no longer able to drive his truck. The California DMV issued him a temporary license that allows him to drive a car, but that license is inadequate as a form of ID, said Singh, since many employers don’t recognize its validity. The temporary license isn’t a hard copy and doesn’t have a photo.
Singh said his wife has started working as a nanny while Singh searches for a job.
“What kind of job is going to pay off the rent and all these payments?” he said during a phone interview with CalMatters while his kids, ages 4 and 8, yelled for him in the background.
A year-long wait for resolution
In September, the Trump administration criticized the California DMV for giving commercial licenses with expiration dates that didn’t align with the dates of drivers’ work permits. The federal government then ordered California to rescind thousands of trucking licenses for certain non-citizens and created a new policy banning such immigrant drivers from obtaining licenses in the future. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the accusations were unfair or false but the state ultimately complied.
In February, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ordered the state to give drivers such as Singh a chance to restore their licenses after a law firm and two legal advocacy groups, the Asian Law Caucus and the Sikh Coalition, sued on behalf of the truckers.
But California has yet to reissue a single one of the 13,000 licenses it rescinded.
“The court ruled that DMV must accept new applications and act on those applications within a ‘reasonable time frame,’” a DMV spokesperson, Jonathan Groveman, told CalMatters in an email. The DMV has told Singh and other affected drivers that they can reapply for their licenses and that the DMV will take up to a year to process them. Even then, the DMV told the Alameda County Superior Court judge that it may not be able to make a decision on the licenses.
The DMV is delaying because it is under pressure from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which has threatened to punish California if it issues commercial licenses to these immigrants. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy already said he will withhold roughly $160 million in federal highway funds from the state over its previous handling of the trucking licenses. He also said if the state reissues the licenses, the transportation department would consider more severe actions, including revoking the state’s ability to issue trucking licenses entirely.
The California DMV sued the transportation department in February in response to the threats. Other lawsuits, including a Washington, D.C. case, could reverse some of the policies affecting California’s immigrant drivers, but they are still pending.
In March, Singh called his bank to ask about a deferment for the loan payments on his truck while he waits for a decision about restoring his license. He said the bank was familiar with his situation because it had received a number of similar calls that week from other truck drivers. It denied his request, he said.
On April 2, the Alameda judge held another hearing, seeking an update on the DMV’s attempts to restore the licenses. The state said that it is still sorting out its feud with the Trump administration and is awaiting the status of related legal developments, which could take months. The judge agreed to discuss the matter again in October.
A Carlsbad condo-owner lost his legal battle to turn his garage into an apartment over the objections of his homeowners association.
Adam Hardesty fought the HOA and the HOA won.
In a legal ruling issued Friday afternoon, a north San Diego County ruled against the Carlsbad condo owner who tried to convert his garage into a rental unit over the objections of his homeowners association. The ruling brings to an end — at least for now — a year-long legal tussle centered on whether state housing law written to make it harder for locals to reject new developments also applies to all homeowners associations, the quasi-private governments that enforce neighborhood rules for more than one-third of California’s residents.
Throughout much of the fight between Hardesty and the Mystic Point Homeowners Association, Hardesty has sat on the association’s board.
The dispute is more than a neighborhood-scale drama. Though the California Legislature has spent the last 10 years overriding local restrictions on new residential development in order to boost the state’s stock of homes amid an affordability crunch, HOA authority often falls into a legal gray area.
In the case of Mystic Point, Hardesty argued that a 2019 state law voided any HOA restrictions on accessory dwelling units — small residences located on the same property as a larger existing home. Hardesty wanted to turn his condo garage into a rental for extra income. The HOA countered that its own ban on using garages for anything other than car storage made that a no-go.
Hardesty, backed by the opinion of a planner at the state’s Housing and Community Development department, believed the law was on his side and went ahead and broke ground. Shortly after CalMatters reported on the dispute early last year, the HOA sued.
In its court filings, the association argued that though the 2019 law might very well prohibit many types of HOAs from placing restrictions on ADUs, the law doesn’t apply to condo developments like the one at Mystic Point.
It also argued that the law only applies to areas “zoned for single-family residential use.” Because Hardesty’s plot did not exclusively allow single-family homes, but townhomes and small condos as well, it doesn’t apply in this case for that reason, too.
In a highly technical ruling with heavy emphasis on syntax and grammar, Superior Court Judge Victor Torres sided with the HOA on both counts. If the Legislature had intended to include condos, it “could have easily” made that language more explicit, the judge wrote. “It did not.” Likewise, applying the law to Hardesty’s plot with its multi-use zoning would be “contrary to the legislative intent,” he wrote.
The legal battle has so far played out without the intervention of the state. Though housing regulators and the state’s attorney general’s office regularly step in when local governments quash a development project in a way that may conflict with state law, they do not typically take such enforcement actions against HOAs.
In a hearing Friday afternoon, Torres acknowledged the complexity of the case, saying that he wished he had “a stronger feeling one way or the other.” Ultimately, he ruled for the association, but noted that this might not be the end of the legal saga.
“I’m sure I’ll hear more education from the Court of Appeal at some point,” he said.
Hardesty said he would like to appeal the decision but isn’t in a position to do so. “What it’s going to take is more time and money,” Hardesty said in a telephone call. “Time, I have. But money? I think I’m pretty much bone dry.”
He estimates that he and his wife spent more than $100,000 in combined construction costs and legal fees.
In fighting for his right to add a unit under his condo, Hardesty pushed up against what many see as a fundamental character of HOA living — the ability to restrict how other residents use their land. Economic researchers have found that residences governed by associations are typically more valuable when they neighbor areas with lax zoning. In other words, people are often willing to pay more to guard against the possibility of a new apartment in their neighborhood.
David Snyder is executive director of the First Amendment Coalition
At a moment in our country’s history when transparency is more vital than ever, a California legislator wants to make it harder for the public to get information from their government.
A bill introduced by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, a Downey Democrat, would amend the California Public Records Act to make it more expensive — in many cases much more expensive — for the public to get records from state and local agencies.
The California Public Records Act, while it only applies to state and local agencies, has proven to be an essential tool for understanding the local effects of President Donald Trump’s policies.
For example, the First Amendment Coalition recently won the release of bodycam footage from Ventura County sheriff’s deputies who assisted an ICE raid on farms. The raid resulted in one death and more than 300 arrests. The sheriff refused to release the footage until my organization used the act to sue on behalf of Buen Vecino, a local group that advocates for immigrants.
Under AB 1821, once the sheriff released the footage as the law requires, he could have charged an hourly rate for any time over two hours that it took to review and redact the footage before releasing it. That could be dozens or even hundreds of hours. So, depending on the rate the sheriff’s department decided to charge — something the bill doesn’t limit — that could have cost thousands of dollars.
The vast majority of Californians could not afford that.
In a bit of irony one hopes is not intentional, this bill’s language became public in March, amid Sunshine Week, a national celebration of government transparency.
Pacheco’s bill would create different fee regimes for various types of information requesters. It would allow for free waivers for a “ journalist,” “newspaper” or “educational or noncommercial scientific institution.”
That puts every state and local government entity in the position of deciding who qualifies as a journalist. And it would mean organizations like Buen Vecino could be stuck with a big bill.
Even if a reporter were able to persuade an agency that they qualified for a fee waiver, the bill would still hurt newsgathering because reporters would be working in an environment with less transparency.
Most California legislators wouldn’t dream of letting the Trump administration make it harder to get public records from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security by pricing out people or groups with the fewest resources. Lawmakers should not let this ill-conceived bill do the same in their own backyard.
Transparency is the lifeblood of accountability in government. Accountability is how the people keep the government on course. If the people don’t know what the government is up to, they can’t hold it accountable.
Pacheco’s bill would make it much harder for Californians to hold their government — local, state and federal — accountable.
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