Inland Empire Progressive

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

 The role of Congress in foreign policy isn’t to be an employee at a rubber stamp company. The Constitution doesn’t give the president a blank check to meddle abroad while lawmakers play spectator. But if you were looking at Rep. Jay Obernolte lately, you might assume Congress is just a fancy prop and Obernolte is auditioning to be Trump’s personal assistant to the Department of Defense. The Trump Administration is attacking boats up and down the  South American  coast with no rationale fracturing alliances and sending ripples through Latin American politics. This development demands Congressional attention. Such moves must be debated, scrutinized, and subject to congressional oversight. Instead, what we’re seeing Republicans giving Trump a pass. Meanwhile, our representative Jay Obernolte doesn’t seem to mind. He’s hardly been vocal in demanding hearings, reviewing executive actions, or forcing accountability. He raises barely a whisper when Trump acts unilaterally. Inla...

Rep. Jay Obernolte refusal to seriously oversee the Department of Health and Human Services is not only shirking his constitutional duty of oversight, but he’s also playing with fire with Inland Empire's health. Meanwhile, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is busy promoting wild, unproven theories about  Tylenol  causing autism and linking circumcision to neurodevelopmental disorders, and Obernolte appears to be napping on the job. This is not oversight, its negligence. Kennedy reasserted the connection between the pain reliever Tylenol and autism during a Cabinet meeting despite the fact that credible science rejects the link. He also referenced a conspiracy theory that boys undergoing circumcision have double the autism rate. How untethered to reality can you get? But while the scientific world recoils, Obernolte’s silence is deafening and irresponsible. Public health is not a joke. An Inlander might ask: What's the harm if a congressman fails to push back? The answer: everyth...

Our congressman, Representative Jay Obernolte is a co-conspirator with a front-row seat. While thousands of federal employees are not getting paid, furloughed, threatened with layoffs, or left in limbo, Obernolte’s inaction is deafening. The Trump administration has already begun issuing “ reduction-in-force ” notices to federal employees in agencies such as Treasury, Homeland Security, HHS all during a shutdown when legally the workers should be furloughed, not fired. This is not a mere “oops, budget mistake” it looks like a deliberate attempt to weaponize the shutdown to force Democrats to continue Trump's illegality. That's not going to happen. Obernolte is not some powerless freshman. Yet what has he done? Spoken politely? Issued vague statements? Counted on talking points? None of that suffices when federal workers are losing paychecks, and taxpayer are losing services. By refusing to break ranks, demand accountability, or force a way forward, Obernolte is effectively givi...

The notion that the current government  shutdown  is driven by fiscal wrangling or partisanship is erroneous on its face. The real reason for this government shutdown is that our congressional representative, Jay Obernolte, and his fellow Republicans is so that the Epstein files stay buried. Furloughing government workers, stalling services, and sowing chaos is all cover to keep the Epstein files from seeing the light of day. Democracy be damned, so they can protect powerful pedophiles.  The official narrative is that the shutdown is dragging on because Republican can't work on a bi-partisan deal with the Democrats. But the unofficial narrative is because House leaders continue blocking a discharge petition that would force a vote to release the Epstein files.  So, are we, the voters of the 23rd District naïve for noticing that a conveniently timed congressional absence happens to stall that vote? The timing is too perfect to be coincidence. Let’s call it what it is:...

When it comes to economic literacy, Rep. Jay Obernolte is auditioning for the role of Sloth from Goonies. He champions tariffs and refusal to admit they hurt consumers, is now showing up not just in obscure economic charts, but in the sticker price of your next  Xbox , PlayStation, or Nintendo system. Obernolte and his fellow tariff enthusiasts like to pretend that import duties are magically absorbed by foreign exporters. In his public musings, Obernolte claims that tariffs are paid only by foreign countries, not by domestic consumers. That would be a fascinating spell, if it existed in real economics. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t. In reality, when the U.S. imposes heavy tariffs on electronics components or finished goods, importers and manufacturers absorb higher costs and then pass them directly to the end user. In other words, you pay. The narrative that tariffs are free money or pure leverage against foreign companies is just political soap opera, not serious policy. Just this ye...

Another school. Another locked-down campus. Another pair of students arrested for walking into  Mesa Ridge High School  with a handgun. School shootings are becoming so common that it almost standard practice.  This is another blatant warning that our system is broken. However, it’s business as usual for Rep. Jay Obernolte, who strongly supports the Second Amendment while voting against even the most modest reforms. Let’s go through the Obernolte’s track record. Because it matters which lawmakers refuse to act when students bring real guns into classrooms.  Yes, you’ll hear this preferred dodge: “We need more mental health resources.” As if that magically prevents a kid from grabbing a firearm. If it were solely a mental health issue, other democracies with robust mental health infrastructure wouldn’t have zero-tolerance school shootings. They do not. Jay Obernolte claims to support common sense reforms to our justice system. Yet he’s opposed to almost all gun-contro...

  I can't imagine that Congressman Jay Obernolte would treat the systematic  removal  of experienced senior military leaders like background noise. That silence would not be a neutral act. It would be a political choice. It would be a decision that says: “I will look away while the scaffolding of American defense is dismantled.” This is the sort of silence that should make any voter — conservative, moderate, or liberal — angry. Military readiness is not a partisan talking point. It is not a convenient backdrop for cable-news sound bites. It’s the difference between deterrence and chaos, between a clear chain of command and a brittle, politicized substitute. When a cascade of firings and abrupt removals of senior officers occurs from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to intelligence directors and other four-star leaders —the republic deserves more than the faint chirp of a perfunctory press office; it deserves vigorous, public scrutiny from every member of Congress, includi...

The recent death of  Ismael  Ayala-Uribe in an ICE facility was a preventable failure and shines a light on the lax oversight by Representative Obernolte. Ismael died within days after being held in the Adelanto immigration detention center. He complained of fever, pain, and shaking and his condition was flagged as life threatening. Yet an hour and a half after a “code blue”, which is a code for cardiac/respiratory arrest, GEO medical staff cleared him to return to his unit.  Three days later, he was pronounced dead. Oversight is meant to be the bulwark against these kinds of abuses. Rep. Jay Obernolte whose district includes these facilities, is supposed to provide oversight, demanding accountability, initiating hearings, pressuring federal agencies. But Representative Jay Obernolte has failed to meaningfully exercise that role, the consequence is that innocent lives are left exposed. There has been no public inquiry to obtain justice for Ismael coming from his office. T...

Apparently, the  Supreme Court  decided ICE agents weren’t harassing enough people. Because in 2025, the gravest threat to American liberty isn’t corporate monopolies or political corruption—it’s the horrifying possibility that federal agents might not have free rein to stop every brown person within a 20-mile radius of San Bernardino. Crisis averted. In their latest stunt, the justices blessed Trump’s immigration raids, giving ICE the authority to stop people for the crime of being brown on a Saturday night.  That’s not exaggeration—that’s the standard they just endorsed. For them, racial profiling is less a constitutional violation and more of a nostalgic throwback to the good ole Bracero days. ICE agents can now storm into job sites, grocery stores, bus stops, or even schools, and point to someone’s language or skin color as justification. Parents dropping their kids off at elementary school now live with the gnawing fear that a routine morning could end in detention a...

In 1994, California Republicans thought they’d found the perfect wedge issue: Proposition 187. The ballot measure promised to strip undocumented immigrants of health care, education, and other basic services. It was Pete Wilson’s cynical ploy to save his career, and for a moment, it worked. But in the long run, Prop 187 backfired spectacularly—it radicalized a generation of Latino and immigrant voters, turned California deep blue, and buried the state GOP in a grave of its own making. Enter Rep. Jay Obernolte, dusting off that same failed playbook and pretending it’s fresh. He wraps himself in MAGA’s flag and cheers on Trump’s war against immigrants: militarizing the border, cheering family separations, backing bans on asylum, and defending the grotesque spectacle of children in cages. He even backs Trump’s fantasy of mass deportations—a scheme so cruel and so costly it would make Prop 187 look like a bad dress rehearsal. Let’s be clear: Obernolte isn’t standing up for taxpayers. He is...

  There was a time when conservatives like Rep. Jay Obernolte wrapped themselves in the flag, preached about “peace through strength,” and warned that weakness abroad invited danger at home. That era is over. Today’s conservatives aren’t defending America’s global leadership—they’re destroying it. By coddling Russia, equivocating on Israel, sneering at NATO, and abandoning the very idea of soft power, the right is appeasing our enemies and leaving the United States exposed. Take Donald Trump’s latest  excuse-making . After Russian drones violated Polish airspace—an unmistakable challenge to NATO. Trump does what he always does...chicken out, suggesting it “may have been a mistake.”  A mistake? This isn’t a toddler spilling milk—it’s a nuclear-armed authoritarian power testing NATO’s resolve. To wave it away is not just naïve—it’s appeasement. It tells Vladimir Putin he can push further without consequence, that America no longer has the will to defend its allies. Instead ...

The first major domino has fallen for Congressional Republicans.  This happened in the senate where Senator Joni Ernst will not be seeking reelection in 2026. This is a cause to celebrate here in the Inland Empire because being the bluest state in the Union our California-hating Republican should be scared because they are about to be shown the door whether they like it or not. There is wave building here in the Empire and I think it will culminate with the passage of Prop 50.  With the passage of Prop 50, Obernolte will have to do one of three things. He will either retire, which I don't think it is likely because he has the resources to compete. However, I don't think those resources will be enough to overcome a Democratic backlash.  Second, he can double down on his support for Trump, Elon, and the billionaires. I think this is the most likely scenario. He is already dodging townhalls, is cagy on the release of the Epstein files, and supports the building of concentrat...

  Above is an overview of the precincts that 23rd Congressional District won in 2024. As I said in an earlier post, I believe that Victorville, Adelanto, and parts of Hesperia make up the majority votes that Dems should focus on. However, as you can see above, Dems have won in other areas of the district as well. Redlands, Loma Linda and Barstow as well. You can also see that Dems won in parts of Fort Irwin and Baker.  The most surprising result of my analysis is Joshua Tree. I didn't know it was that Democratic and many precincts were won there.  The overall weakness is turnout. In 2024, the base Democratic cities only were able to turnout 50-55% of voters. That is why I think this race is winnable. With the right coalition we can overcome Obedient Obernolte's stranglehold on the district.  

Welcome Everyone to my blog. It's been about 10 years since I last published. I admit I let the blog languish a bit. I decided to get back onto the saddle because with President Trump in office it has been a wild ride so far and I don't want to miss it.  Also, I feel this is the best way to be involved. In addition, I have a permanent residence here in the 23rd Congressional District and I feel determined to write about it and its culture. I loved the city of San Bernardino, and I do miss writing about the city, its politics, and the enjoyment of the political battles that were won and lost.  However, it is time to take on the mantle here in Yucaipa and learn about its politics and its culture. Let me tell you it is completely different here than it was in San Bernardino, but San Bernardino has prepared my well for what is to come.   At the moment I am gathering data about the district and will post at least weekly about my findings, observations and interests. T...