A law requiring voters to present identification in one California city has overcome a major obstacle after a judge tossed a state lawsuit against it.On Friday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Nico Dourbetas granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against Huntington Beach filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta earlier this year. The lawsuit challenged the validity of Measure A, an amendment to the city charter that requires voter ID for municipal elections beginning in 2026 and that passed with 53% of the vote, the LA Times reported.Bonta previously argued that Measure A "disproportionately burdens low-income voters, voters of color, young or elderly voters, and people with disabilities." The lawsuit also claimed it violates SB1174, which bars all local governments in California from "requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot." Far-left Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law in late September.But Dourbetas ruled that the Huntington Beach ordinance and state law are not in "conflict.""The City’s Charter is permissive ... and thus currently presents no conflict with state elections law," he said, according to the Orange County Register.'We anticipate this fight isn’t over.'Huntington Beach officials have since praised the ruling.City Attorney Michael Gates called it "a massive black eye to the state of California.""What the state of California needs to know, if they haven’t found out already, is Huntington Beach is not going to be intimidated or deterred," he said in a statement.Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark claimed that her city and the judge's ruling stood up to "attacks by Governor Newsom and the State.""This is a great day for our City," she and other officials said in a collective statement, according to the Times.However, they likewise acknowledged that an appeal is likely."We anticipate this fight isn’t over," Gates said."We will not back down and will continue to fight for the City," added Van Der Mark.Indeed, AG Bonta's office indicated as much in a statement about the ruling on Friday. "The court’s decision does not address the merits of the case. We continue to believe that Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy clearly conflicts with state law, and will respond appropriately in court," the statement said.This is hardly the first time Huntington Beach, a Republican stronghold in otherwise purple Orange County, has defied woke policies in California. Folks there fought back against lockdown measures in 2020 and voted in March to outlaw the Pride flag on municipal buildings.Earlier this month, they elected Lisa Lane Barnes to serve as city clerk. Lane Barnes, who was endorsed by the Republican Party of Orange County, made voter ID a central campaign issue.H/T: Mario NawfalLike Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Biden-Harris administration's Department of Justice has quietly and mysteriously dropped the charges against two Jordanian nationals who allegedly attempted to breach a Virginia military base in May.Hasan Yousef Hamdan and Mohammad Khair Dabous, both in the country illegally, were accused of attempting to enter Quantico Marine Corps Base near Triangle, Virginia, while posing as Amazon delivery drivers, Blaze News previously reported. 'This whole case is more than curious.'After they failed to produce access credentials, guards instructed the men to wait in a holding area for a secondary inspection. Instead of following the directive, the men reportedly attempted to proceed into the military base. Guards swiftly deployed vehicle denial barriers and prevented the men from entering. One of the Jordanian nationals illegally crossed the southern border approximately a month before the incident, and the other man allegedly overstayed a student visa. Due to their illegal immigration status, the men were previously turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but they were released from federal custody.The two men were facing misdemeanor trespassing charges after the May incident. However, in July, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia ordered their release on the condition that they attend their immigration proceedings and avoid military installations, Blaze News previously reported. They were released from detention after posting bail for their alleged crimes.On Friday, the Washington Times reported that the Justice Department "quietly dismissed the charges" against Hamdan and Dabous. The U.S. attorney in eastern Virginia dropped the charges in the interest of "the ends of justice," which the Times referred to as "boilerplate language" that failed to reveal any details about the decision.Lawyers for the two men blamed the incident on a language barrier, claiming that Dabous was attempting to complete a delivery when he failed to understand the guard's instructions.The Times reported that by September, it appeared prosecutors believed the event was a misunderstanding, yet they did not move to have the charges dropped until October 3.Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Times, "This whole case is more than curious.""The government had many, many opportunities to dispel the notion that there was something more nefarious about this than met the eye. And they took a pass every time," he noted.Congress requested more information about the incident, but according to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the Biden-Harris administration has been "delinquent" in answering lawmakers' questions. Green told the Times, "We are aware that one of these men entered through the southwest border, claimed asylum, and was released into the interior just a month prior to the incident at Quantico.""The circumstances surrounding this event remain concerning, and I urge the Biden-Harris administration to respond without further delay to Congress and the American people," he said.The U.S. attorney's office and Hamdan's lawyer declined a request for comment from the Times. Dabous' legal representation did not respond to the news outlet's request. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Jose Ibarra, the suspected murderer of University of Georgia student Laken Riley, is currently on trial for the gruesome crime that shocked the nation as it highlighted the impacts of the border crisis created by the Biden-Harris administration.Sources at the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Ibarra is a member of Tren de Aragua, NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley reported. The New York Post made a similar report back in March.TDA is a gang that formed in Venezuela and has largely controlled the black market in the country as it declined under socialist policies. Gang members have also reportedly acted as enforcers for the Venezuelan government against its perceived enemies.The gang has been connected to murders, violent thefts, extortions, and human trafficking rings as members have expanded their area of operations.Ibarra, like many other Venezuelans, took advantage of United States' open border and illegally crossed into El Paso, Texas, in 2022. He was released into the country, where he eventually ended up in New York City. While there, he was arrested for lesser crimes but was released before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could put a detainer on him.A roommate of Ibarra and his brother, who is also a member of TDA, testified they were able to get from New York City to Athens, Georgia, in September 2023 by going to the Roosevelt Hotel, where they received a "humanitarian flight.""On January 20th, the protection of criminal illegal aliens in America ENDS once and for all," President-elect Donald Trump's campaign said on Monday in response to the revelation. Prosecutors are calling Riley's murder a crime of opportunity. Ibarra allegedly encountered her while she was out for a jog near the college. Data from Riley's smartwatch revealed she fought off her attacker for almost 20 minutes before he apparently used a rock to crush her skull.TDA has been in the news since the gang came to prominence in late 2023. The gang has been connected to murders, violent thefts, extortions, and human trafficking rings as members have expanded their areas of operation. Before the border crisis started in 2021, TDA mostly stayed within South America, having followed other Venezuelans who escaped their crippled nation.TDA is present in states such as Texas, New York, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, and Illinois.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Big-name brands have ended their advertising boycott against Elon Musk's X after approximately a year of refusing to support the platform.Comcast, Discovery, Disney, IBM, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Warner Bros. have resumed their ad spending on X, with Musk thanking CEO Linda Yaccarino for her work on bringing the companies back onto his platform."Just want to say that we super appreciate major brands resuming advertising on our platform!" Musk wrote. "Thanks [Linda Yaccarino] and the whole X team for your hard work in restoring confidence in our platform and ensuring that advertising content only appears where advertisers want it shown."In November 2023, the brands mentioned above (along with Apple) dialed back their ad campaigns after claims their branding appeared next to "anti-Semetic content" and "hate speech," AdWeek reported.'The censorship apparatus is coming to an end.'Without the major companies, brands like Karma Shopping and Canles Shoes became the top ad-buyers on X. Overall, ad revenue dropped by a reported 98% year over year, but Musk remained principled in his cause."I'll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it," Musk told CNBC at the time.Political commentator Ian Miles Cheong called the boycott a failed effort "the moment Donald Trump won the election.""The censorship apparatus is coming to an end, and the advertisers know it. Beyond that, advertisers can undoubtedly see the strength of X, and depriving themselves of profits for the sake of sticking it to Elon clearly doesn't work," Cheong added. — (@) The new report comes after claims in September that there would be a mass exodus of advertisers from the platform over concerns of "extreme content" that could damage brand images.However, that was after X announced a lawsuit against major advertisers in August, following a House Judiciary Committee report that pointed to an illegal boycott against the company.The World Federation of Advertisers, which represents some of the world's largest companies and advertisers, was accused of directly organizing boycotts and targeting disfavored platforms, content creators, and news organizations in an effort to demonetize them.BlazeTV host James Poulos said the smoke surrounding the advertising conflict was cleared once the nature of the report was revealed."Rather than mild-mannered normies afraid of controversial content on X, advertisers operate as a cartel of far-left propagandists, reaping profits from taxpayers on government contracts while conspiring to silence free speech at odds with their radical ideologies."Concurrently, many left-wing celebrities are announcing plans to leave X. This includes MSNBC's Joy Reid, who said she doesn't want to support the platform, and ex-CNN host Don Lemon, who claimed he disagrees with the new terms of service. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The highly anticipated “Gladiator II,” starring Denzel Washington in the role of Macrinus hits theaters this Friday. One person who isn’t excited about the sequel, however, is Jason Whitlock. His disappointment stems not from the movie itself but rather from what Washington decided to reveal about his role in the film. “I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken. I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It’s ‘Gladiator.’ It’s the kiss of death,” he said. Shemeka Michelle, who joins Jason on the program, expresses her confusion. “Over the course of his career, he never did a sex scene or any type of strong kissing out of respect for his wife, … yet you go and kiss a man,” she says, adding that Washington could have easily given his “kiss of death” on the cheek. “They have to pledge allegiance to the alphabet mafia. … In some form or fashion, they always have to let you know, ‘I don't hate the gays’ or ‘I don't hate the trans. I'm really a friend,’” she tells Jason. “I think there is a right of passage in Hollywood and in the music and entertainment industry that you have to promote that lifestyle,” Jason agrees. “You can't reach that level of stardom in Hollywood without going through that right of passage.” As for Washington’s profession of Christianity, Whitlock says he’s skeptical now. “He's gone his whole career and had a pretty rock-solid reputation, had presented himself as some sort of Christian. I had always questioned it, and now I have the proof,” he says. Washington could have said, “Hey, you know what? I know that's a big movie, but I'm good. I'm worth 200 million, 300 million, 400 million — whatever. I'm good. I've had enough. I'm not going to kiss a man,” Jason sighs. To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip above. Want more from Jason Whitlock?To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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