Inland Empire Progressive

Rep. Jay Obernolte let Inland Empire’s public radio sputter into static by supporting cuts that defunded KVCR by $550,000. KVCR (91.9 FM) in San Bernardino Valley College is a valuable source of local news, local arts, and local accountability. For decades, it has served listeners across Riverside and San Bernardino counties information about events throughout the Inland Empire.  When public radio loses support, it undermines the journalistic independence, kneecaps local reporting, and silences the communities whose stories deserve amplification. But apparently, for Obernolte, silence is cheaper. With these cuts in support Obernolte proudly declares, “I am defunding KVCR!”  Obernolte shouldn’t pretend that this is neutral. It’s a sellout to let listeners go unheard. Radio is more than static and talk shows. It’s accountability: local governments, school boards, environmental hazards, health disparities — these are the stories KVCR covers because too often no one else will. To ...

Conservatives are making this nation weaker. And if you needed proof, look no further than the recent spectacle over Qatar building an air-force facility at a U.S. base in  Idaho . If the conservative idea of patriotism includes rolling out the red carpet for foreign militaries on our sovereign soil, you might want to reassess your “America First” bumper sticker. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed off on allowing the Qatari Emiri Air Force to build a facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, so their pilots can train alongside U.S. soldiers.  Hegseth assured everyone that Qatar will not have their own base in the United States and that the US will control the existing base. let’s surrender the optics of sovereignty while claiming we’re still in charge. It’s like letting somebody crash on your couch, telling them they can’t redecorate, and then being surprised when your home loses all character. What’s the rationale?  Combined training? Increased lethal...

The gloves are off, and Democrats have a fighting opportunity to go on offense in all 52 California congressional districts, not just the competitive races that the consultant class like to obsess over. Conservatives have made their brand so toxic, so extreme, and so wildly detached from California values that even Republicans should be looking for the exit ramp that leads them straight into the Democratic Party.  For too long, Democrats have treated deeply red districts as write-offs with Democrats in those districts left to be sacrificial lambs. That mentality is outdated. California’s demographics have shifted, younger and more progressive voters are turning 18 every day, and even moderate Republicans are exhausted by the extremism dominating their party. Democrats in state leadership should fund organizers to canvass, register voters, and develop strong candidates everywhere from Modoc to the Inland Empire where affordability and opportunity are on the ballot. MAGA is incompati...

Donald Trump doesn’t just neglect rural communities he actively undermines them. Let’s take three concrete examples where his actions have betrayed the people he claims to champion. First, the program known as Essential Air Service ( EAS ), which subsidizes flights into remote and rural airports across the country, is being allowed to collapse on his watch. The U.S. Department of Transportation warns that funding could expire imminently, cutting off vital links to medical care, commerce and connectivity for hundreds of rural communities. If you live in a rural town, losing affordable air links is a lifeline that is being pulled away. Next comes the shocking billion-dollar bailout of Argentina. Trump’s decision to throw billions at Argentina’s economy while U.S. soybean and cattle farmers suffer is a rebuke his promised “America First” posture. U.S. farmers and ranchers are the backbone of rural communities and are watching as their markets are undercut by U.S. policy that benefits ...

Donald Trump’s most recent blunder cultural blunder? His outrage at the selection of  Bad Bunny  to headline the 2026 Super Bowl LX halftime show and admitting he’s never heard of the artist, is a staggering display of how out of touch the Trump administration is with the 21st century culture. This isn’t simply one old man shaking his fist at cultural norms, it’s part of a broader pattern. The Trump administration has made deliberate incursions into cultural institutions: from attempting to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to orchestrating sweeping reviews of museums to whitewash the contribution of Black Americans, the message is clear: art, music, performance are for the people Trump chooses to approve. So, when the cultural moment of the halftime show meets Trump’s cultural gatekeeping, it’s no surprise he seems out of touch with modern times. Bad Bunny is one of the world’s most-streamed artists, and the first primarily Spanish-language s...

During Rep. Jay Obernolte’s August  Spectrum News  interview, Obernolte delivered tidy talking points about House GOP messaging on President Trump’s Big Ugly Bill. But one response stood out like a flare in the dark regarding the question of the Epstein files: “We need to go open kimono.” He used it to emphasize transparency and to argue that government should be honest about its actions. And yet that very principle should mean that Obernolte should be a "Yes" on the upcoming vote to release the Epstein files. If he really believes what he said, then a “Yes” vote shouldn’t that hard. This moment calls for something far more significant than partisan gloss: it demands courage. And courage is exactly what Obernolte will need on the upcoming vote to release the Epstein files a vote he has no excuse to oppose. Transparency should never be controversial, yet Washington’s talent for avoiding accountability turns even the simplest moral choices into political calculus. The...

If the Trump administration invokes the Insurrection Act, it would be another signal that the Trump and Conservatives hate America. The Insurrection Act grants the president sweeping authority to deploy the military in American cities and bypasses traditional law enforcement. Historically, the military has been kept separate from domestic policing because the founders feared too much executive control over the military inside civilian life.  By dangling the threat of activating this old but potent power, Trump is effectively saying that cities and states that resist his will be put down by federal soldiers. Trump has said:  “We have an  Insurrection Act  for a reason … if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”   The threat of using it against normal civil-governance processes, in cities led by Democrats sets a dangerous precedent. Legal scholars  have noted that the act’s l...

  Progressives should adopt taking stakes in companies that align with progressive values like clean energy and strategic minerals. Under the Trump Administration shares in the company  Critical Metals  surged over 60 percent after word spread that the U.S. government might take an equity stake in the company’s Greenland rare-earths deposit. The Trump Administration has created a permission structure for state‐backed industrial policy advancing public ends via market mechanisms. However, his moves are not strategic, incompetent, and more for personal grift than for the benefit of the American people. We are in  end-stage  capitalism and conventional free-markets are failing. Corporate consolidation, stagnant wages, and ecological collapse have all exposed how laissez-faire capitalism leaves society at the mercy of profit-seeking and short-termism. Democrats have spent too long trying to patch the system rather than reshape it. They argue about regulation, redis...

The decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to decline to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal is in fact the right one and it sends a clear message: accountability stands, and now the pressure squarely lands on the Donald Trump administration. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of five counts involving sex-trafficking of minors and conspiracy for her role in aiding  Jeffrey Epstein .  By refusing to rehear the case, it puts the onus on Trump to send her back to maximum security prison instead of playing with puppies. Maxwell’s attempt to overturn her conviction rested on a strained interpretation of Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement arguing it shielded her and other conspirators. But the lower appellate court rejected that logic, finding that the plea terms did not bind the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York . The Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene means the legal path Maxwell tried is closed, and the justice system ensured that her role in recruiting...

It’s sad that we as Progressives have allowed the populist, working-class terrain of country music become the soundtrack of conservatives. While artists like  Zach Bryan  are teasing songs like “the fading of the red, white and blue” that jab at immigration enforcement and decry the American dream as being battered. Progressives remain absent from this cultural space. Country music is hardly apolitical. Its roots lie in the rural working class, in economic despair, labor protests, in voices that howl against injustice. Yet today the genre has been corralled into a chorus of right-leaning tropes: patriotism, guns, small-town nostalgia. An article in  The New Yorker  notes a new cohort of “outlaw songwriters” challenging Nashville’s conservative lock-in—but too many left-leaning voices remain mute.  I feel that if Progressives don’t move into this space, they hand the cultural microphone to the conservatives and allow them to shape the narrative. The Trump admini...

Despite its deep-red reputation, there is a compelling and urgent case for Democrats to concentrate resources, energy, and strategy on turning  Mississippi  blue. The state’s demographics, historical background, and recent electoral trends all suggest that the opportunity is real. First, Mississippi’s population offers a bright starting point: it has one of the highest proportions of Black residents of any U.S. state at nearly 39 %.  Given that African American voters overwhelmingly support Democrats nationally and are a critical part of the Democratic coalition, the base is already present. Mobilizing this base more fully in Mississippi could raise turnout and change the conversation. Second, although Mississippi has consistently voted Republican in presidential elections that very fact underscores the scale of the opportunity: it’s a state long neglected by Democrats, meaning the playing field is wide open. The state party itself has acknowledged the need to rebuild and...

Economic conservatives Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent are gleefully hitching American's wagon to the express train of ruin.  Look no further than the latest tariff debacle around China’s rare earth. They’re playing how to wreck the economy in one easy step with the American people serving cow catcher. China a shrewd global player, has tightened export controls on  rare earth  elements and related technologies minerals absolutely essential to everything from electric vehicle motors to semiconductors and defense systems. Conservatives, upon learning this, reacted not with calm reflection or a strategic long game, but with: “Let’s insta-tariff 100% on Chinese imports!” The stock market responded like you’d expect: plunging.  Then the Trump administration spokespeople tried damage control by reversing the tariffs. This just makes us look stupid and weak. But the damage is done. Tariffs are destabilizing markets, inflating costs, and signaling to global investors that t...

Republicans passed Big Ugly (H.R. 1) that slashes roughly 20 % of the  CalFresh  budget decimating benefits.  22% of residents of our District received SNAP (CalFresh) benefits. Meanwhile, Trump and the party circus are planning their next Great Gatsby party while poor families are figuring out how to stretch their dollar.  Trump, Jay Obernolte and his conservative allies are clinking champagne glasses with each other while cuts to SNAP coming for five million residents.  These are not minor adjustments. These are cuts that will push people into hunger, insecurity, and worse. The research clearly states that CalFresh benefits have not only fed families, but they’ve also bolstered local economies. Yet the cruelty continues and Obernolte is part of the cut-crew.  While grocery bills for a typical California family with children run over a thousand dollars a month, the average CalFresh benefit hovers at around $189. Obernolte and Trump think it’s cute to toss ...

  Congressman Jay Obernolte's  refusal to compromise is doing serious damage to our district. The federal government is stalled because Republicans in congress want to shove their cruel agenda down Inlander's throats while essential programs are being used as leverage to get Democrats to bend the knee.  The Trump shutdown threatens the food security of millions via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and leaves the pay of federal employees and service members in limbo. This month-long impasse has federal employees wondering whether their next paycheck will show up and if they will get back pay.  But what is Obernolte doing? He continues to hold the line against compromise, standing firm with MAGA Mike Johnson rather than lifting a finger to protect the people who depend on these programs. In his own words, he has called out partisan gamesmanship but declined to find a solution.  Families in Yucaipa, Barstow, Adelanto, and Victorville relying on ...

Inlanders, Proposition 50 is California’s bug spray for the swarm of Trump-aligned politicians trying to infest our democracy with Texas-style gerrymandering.  That includes our very own MAGA-mascot Rep. Jay Obernolte, who continues to introduce and support policies that violate our states' rights.  56% of California voters are already on board with  Prop 50  while 43% are clutching their pearls about it. Democracy needs a blue-wall to stop Trumpism in its tracks and it's up to California to stand up to this madness. Texas Republican lawmakers have sliced up districts so aggressively you’d think they were prepping onions at Benihana. Communities of color? Silenced. Urban voters? Diluted. Fair elections? Deleted.  Prop 50 is our chance to stand up to Trump and send a message. It prevents the GOP from rage-editing democracy because they can’t win in a fair fight. If we don’t pass Prop 50, California is one election away from the Texasification of representation. V...

In a nation where the sick and vulnerable should be our priority, the latest move by the Trump Justice Department armed with the obedience of Rep. Jay Obernolte is transforming health care oversight into a raw political weapon. The suit against the Inland Empire Health Plan ( IEHP ), under the False Claims Act, reeks of political theatre dressed up as integrity enforcement.  It is easy to point fingers at health plans and accuse them of manipulating funding rules. But when those fingers belong to actors with a transparent political agenda, the accusation becomes far more sinister. Where is Obernolte’s concern when IEHP delivers care to communities that otherwise lack options? In his drive to bend the cost curve thousands of residents in our district stand to lose their health care coverage. Obernolte is letting himself be used as a political amplifier. He helps distract from the fact that the DOJ’s selective enforcement is glaring and investigations get initiated based on who holds...

The conservative backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement wasn’t born out of some deep philosophical difference. It was born out of pure, unfiltered panic. Panic that the country might actually have to reckon with the idea that systemic racism exists. Panic that the police might not be perfect. Panic that someone, somewhere, might kneel during the national anthem and make them think about someone else’s pain. When that panic wasn’t enough conservatives embraced the alt-right, that lovable band of “free thinkers” whose idea of intellectual rebellion is posting racist memes and complaining that women won’t date them. Conservatives didn’t just tolerate the alt-right they gave them a platform, a microphone, and a seat at the table. Nothing rallies a conservative crowd faster than fear: fear of immigrants, fear of Black people marching for justice, fear of the country changing into something that doesn’t look like a 1950s sitcom. Conservatives didn’t stumble into this mess they cultivate...

Something has gone deeply wrong when the military an institution grounded in duty, discipline, and the apolitical defense of the nation begins to smell like a campaign rally in camouflage. Yet this is precisely the path that Rep. Jay Obernolte and the Trump administration are pushing us down, with scant resistance. A recent report reveals that Pentagon officials are considering a recruiting campaign built around the legacy of  Charlie Kirk , the conservative activist recently assassinated, with slogans like “Charlie has awakened a generation of warriors” and outreach tied to Turning Point USA chapters on college campuses. Consider what that means: turning military recruitment into a partisan memorial, collapsing lines between the state’s defense apparatus and a political movement. The service is outside partisan politics and serves the Constitution, not a party or the president. When the Trump administration and Obernolte stoop to leverage the uniform as a megaphone for political m...

The latest exhibit in Trump’s weaponization of justice is a federal grand jury has indicted New York Attorney General  Letitia James  on charges of bank fraud, in what is widely being interpreted as an escalation of the weaponization of the Department of Justice. Where is Rep. Jay Obernolte in all of this? Strategically tucked behind a quiet, finger-in-ear silence so deafening it could shatter glass. Obernolte campaigned with the standard GOP playbook of law and order, equal justice under law, limits on executive overreach. He has not, to my knowledge, penned any op-eds about the normalization of political prosecutions. His silence suggests that only some people deserve defense from a runaway executive. By refusing to speak out, Obernolte implies that when this kind of retribution is aimed at Trump’s enemies, it’s acceptable. That kind of moral surrender is cowardice. The fact that Obernolte hasn’t responded suggests either that: He genuinely doesn’t see a problem, or he sees ...

As Inlanders already know, this isn’t just politics as usual. President Trump is actively using the government to shakedown shady foreign governments, crypto bros, and Wall Street billionaires. Qatar has "gifted" Donald Trump a $400 million Boeing 747 jumbo jet with luxury bath and golden toilet "to serve" as Air Force One and then be handed over to the Trump presidential library after his term.  Crony conservatives will claim: “It’s a gift to the Department of Defense, not to him personally.” But here’s the trick: retrofitting that plane, wiring it with security systems, customizing it for presidential use that’s going to cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And once the work is done, guess whose personal plane it becomes. Accepting a foreign gift of that magnitude is unconstitutional under the Emoluments Clause. But given a rubber stamp congress and a corrupt Supreme Court it's likely Trump will fly off free in the friendly skies while taxp...