Seven people were found shot to death Monday at an illegal marijuana grow in the small rural town of Aguanga, California.  The Associated Press reports that police responded to a call reporting  gunshots at a home in the one stop-sign town, and found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds, who later died, and six other victims who were dead.   Officers found over 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana and several hundred plants.  In February police arrested four people in the same community and seized nearly 10,000 plants and 400 pounds of pot.   After recreational marijuana became legal in 2018, illegal grows have actually increased in the state.

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A federal district judge’s July 23, order restricting federal law enforcement agents from removing journalists and observers from restricted areas around federal buildings and the federal courthouse during violent protests in Portland was lifted last week by a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Sam Simon of Politico reports that the court’s 2-1 ruling held that preventing federal agents from removing everyone, including journalists, from areas around federal buildings they are trying to protect undermines the objective and threatens their safety.

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A unanimous panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held an Oklahoma City ordinance prohibiting panhandling on traffic medians unconstitutional.  The Associated Press reports that in an earlier ruling, a federal District Judge had upheld the ordinance.  The case of McGraw et al. v. City of Oklahoma City involves a lawsuit by two panhandlers, two joggers and an activist, all claiming that they had a  constitutional right to use traffic medians to solicit money, sell newspapers, jog and chat with friends, hand out leaflets and display political signs.

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Every election year some candidates argue that voter fraud might have determined the outcome of close races.  The President has made the claim several times.  The mainstream media’s response has consistently been to label such claims as baseless, often quoting Secretaries of State saying that there is no evidence of fraud.  One recent example is Danielle Echeverria’s story in The San Francisco Chronicle “Trump recycles evidence-free charge of California voter fraud.”  She checked with Alex Padilla, the Democrat Secretary of State in one-party governed California, who made it clear, “Trump’s lies about voter fraud are patently untrue.”  Is it possible that Mr. Padilla has never really looked into it, because his party always wins?  This blanket denial squares poorly with a Monday story in MyNewsLA about two criminals who have plead guilty to submitting hundreds of ballots with forged signatures in Los Angeles.  Seven other co-defendants have either plead no-contest or guilty, while an eighth awaits trial.  No telling how many others in California were submitting fake ballots but have not yet been caught.

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