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Voter frustration with crime, liberal DAs mounting in California while Harris mum on controversial Prop 47

Voter frustration with crime, liberal DAs mounting in California while Harris mum on controversial Prop 47

Proposition 47, a progressive proposal headed by George Soros-backed Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, could be going down the drain come election night as polling shows a partial-repeal effort has the support of the majority of California voters.  Gascon’s job, along with other progressive district attorneys who championed Prop. 47 across the state, could also be at risk from voter backlash. Voter outrage is “sort of a message to [Vice President] Kamala Harris, who was the one that was a big supporter of Prop. 47 by giving it a misleading ballot title,” former Republican Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told Fox News Digital.  “So it’s a rejection of her, it’s a rejection of Gascon, who was the official proponent of Prop. 47, and the rejection of Soros-type prosecutors,” Cooley said. WOKE CALIFORNIA PROSECUTOR ‘IRONICALLY IN CHARGE OF ETHICS’ CHARGED WITH FELONIES Also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act passed by Californians in 2014, Prop. 47 made theft under $950 punishable by up to six months in jail and reclassified felonies down to misdemeanors “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.”  Gascon, who co-authored the ballot measure, sought to rethink tough-on-crime policies and reduce mass incarceration. But in the last several years, retail chains and mom-and-pop shops have been hit hard by theft, smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail crime gangs. Prop. 36 – titled the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act – seeks to undo portions of Prop. 47 by boosting penalties for some crimes and could increase depending on each category.  An overwhelming 71% of Californians support Prop. 36, according to a survey last month by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank. Harris, who was California’s attorney general at the time of Prop. 47’s passage, has not said whether she supports Prop. 36. “She paid her dues to the Soros people when she went along with that phony, misleading title of Safe Schools and Neighborhoods Act,” Cooley said of Harris. “That was an incredible lie to the voters, so she paid her dues.” San Francisco Mayor London Breed has also thrown her support behind Prop. 36, calling it a “meaningful difference for cities across California.” But Gov. Gavin Newsom remains staunchly opposed to the effort, saying it “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has also joined the effort to partially repeal Prop. 47. The California District Attorneys Association, the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the California State Sheriffs’ Association all endorsed Prop. 36. And some Republicans in the state legislature are confident it has enough support to pass. “Nobody talks about the victims in California,” Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats never talk about them. They talk about the people who they think have been put in jail unfairly, and it’s made it a social justice issue more than just flat-out crime.” PROSECUTOR SUES LOS ANGELES DA FOR RETALIATION AFTER HE WAS PUNISHED FOR ‘MISGENDERING’ CHILD PREDATOR Four years ago, Dahle heavily campaigned for Prop. 20, which was another initiative that sought to repeal Prop. 47, but state voters rejected the measure. But Prop. 36 may not be headed for the same outcome. “The big difference in my mind is that the retailers are in the game now,” Dahle said. “They went and got the signatures. They realized that, ‘Hey, we can’t continue to bleed out hundreds of millions of dollars in theft,’ and they’re behind it, and that’s why I think you see the change.” In Los Angeles, where organized smash-and-grab retail thefts and robberies thrived during the pandemic and its aftermath, law enforcement officers often had their hands tied and described what they called a “revolving door” of arrests. “Right now, we’re just seeing the revolving door of our officers,” Los Angeles Police Protective League Director Debbie Thomas told Fox News Digital. “They’ll respond to radio calls, and they can arrest somebody up to three times and shift the same officers because of this blanket policy of not holding people that commit under $950 of theft accountable for their actions,” said Thomas, who is also a Los Angeles Police Department officer. “They’re the ones that are praising George Gascon in the penitentiaries.” EMBATTLED PROSECUTORS GASCON, FOXX ENDORSE HARRIS, SAY TRUMP ‘WOULD MAKE US ALL LESS SAFE’ Thomas said the shift to supporting a repeal effort for Prop. 47 is indicative of other shifts in ideology among some voters, including that of the “defund the police” movement. “I think that people are more than fed up with the lack of support that they’ve seen,” Thomas said. “Defund the police does not work.” “It’s just nice to see people starting to wake up and realize that it’s a ‘yes’ to Prop. 36, and also ‘yes’ to Nathan Hochman, who’s currently running for L.A. County district attorney,” he added. If voters pass Prop. 36 in November, offenders of the law will have to serve out their sentences in state prison “regardless of criminal history.” Fox News Digital did not hear back from either Gascon’s office nor the Harris campaign by publication deadline. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Sen. John Fetterman proclaims unflinching support for Israel: ‘Will not waver’

Sen. John Fetterman proclaims unflinching support for Israel: ‘Will not waver’

Pro-Israel Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) resolutely declared his unflinching support for the U.S. ally after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. “I want to salute Israel and celebrate the elimination of Yahya Sinwar—a necessary move for any future enduring peace. Eliminating the mastermind of the 10/7 massacre is the definition of justice served. My vote and my voice for Israel will not waver,” Fetterman declared in social media posts on Thursday. Hamas perpetrated atrocities including murder, rape, and kidnapping during the heinous Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel. AOC FIRES BACK AT FETTERMAN, ACCUSES HIM OF ‘BLEAK DUNK ATTEMPT’ Fetterman, who has been a consistent and vocal supporter of Israel, has compared Hamas to the Nazis of World War II. “Hamas is no different than WWII Nazis and I fully support Israel’s commitment to neutralize them,” the Pennsylvania senator said in a tweet last month. In a June post, Fetterman declared, “Stop pretending Hamas has any interest in true peace. I remain standing with Israel in its right to eradicate Hamas and strongly reject any international pressure, interference, or commentary.” FETTERMAN REAMS OUT NY TIMES FOR PLATFORMING TERRORIST PROPAGANDA AFTER INTERVIEW WITH SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL “I reject all pressure to push Israel into a ceasefire without Hamas neutralized or their full surrender. They will be held accountable and I fully support it,” declared in an August post. U.S. Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin described Israel’s killing of Sinwar as “a major achievement in counterterrorism.” FETTERMAN LAUDS ISRAEL FOR LEAVING IRAN ‘EXPOSED AND HUMILIATED’ AFTER STRIKES ON HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH “Sinwar and Hamas were responsible for the deaths of many Americans over the years, including the more than 40 Americans slain on October 7th and the murdered American hostages Itay Chen, Gad Haggai, Judy Weinstein Haggai, and Hersh Goldberg Polin,” Austin said in the statement.

‘Rot and decay’: Rep Hank Johnson argues SCOTUS term limits are path forward for removing ‘corrupt’ justices

‘Rot and decay’: Rep Hank Johnson argues SCOTUS term limits are path forward for removing ‘corrupt’ justices

Georgia Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson, a strong proponent of Supreme Court reform, says term limits for the justices is a way to eliminate “the possibility of long-term rot and decay” that he argues is present on the high court now.  “Term limits is a way of creating a process that eliminates the possibility of long-term rot and decay due to corporate corruption on the court that we have now with no means of being able to correct it other than impeachment and conviction of a justice,” Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. “And if you could not impeach and convict Donald Trump, you’re certainly not going to be able to remove a corrupt Supreme Court justice from office when he or she is doing the bidding of the right-wing forces that put them there in the very beginning.” Johnson, a ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, previously teamed up with Democrats in both the House and Senate to propose court reform bills in an effort to both expand the court and impose term limits on the justices. During Congress’ most recent session, Johnson introduced the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act (TERM) that would impose 18-year term limits on justices. LEAD COUNSEL HITS NEW DEM EFFORT TO ‘DELEGITIMIZE’ SUPREME COURT AMID SENATOR’S REPORT ON KAVANAUGH PROBE In May 2023, Johnson joined Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as Democrat Reps. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Cori Bush, D-Miss., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in reintroducing the Judiciary Act of 2023 that would expand the Supreme Court to a 13-justice bench. The nine-justice court currently has a conservative supermajority. “We want to prevent this kind of rot and decay from ever overtaking a Supreme Court again,” Johnson said. “And term limits would enable that to happen.” KETANJI BROWN JACKSON SAYS SUPREME COURT’S PUBLIC PERCEPTION AS TOO POLITICAL IS ‘PROBLEMATIC’ Johnson went on to say that justices with lifetime tenure become “unaccountable, and they can do whatever they want,” calling the bench “a club of kings and queens who can do whatever they want to do simply because they serve in a third co-equal branch of government.” President Biden previously voiced support for such reform, releasing a statement in late July delineating three specific reforms, one of which called for Congress to approve term limits. Vice President Harris echoed Biden’s sentiments, saying in a statement that reforms were being proposed because “there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court.” JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON SAYS SHE WOULD SUPPORT AN ‘ENFORCEABLE CODE’ OF ETHICS FOR THE SUPREME COURT Johnson said he has yet to have direct conversations with Harris about implementing such reforms in anticipation of the vice president possibly winning the Oval Office in November, but he said she is “aware of the challenge that we face.” “She’s supportive of efforts like my legislation,” Johnson said. “So I look forward to having future conversations with, hopefully, President-elect and future President Kamala Harris and her team.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment. Johnson acknowledged that proposals to reform the court would face an uphill battle toward enactment, with the congressman foreseeing the Senate blocking the measures with a filibuster. “We’re in it for the long haul, and however long it takes, this legislation will be there for consideration,” he said.