Jeremia Kimelman

calmatters.orgThe top-two primary promised to change California politics. Voters say: mehCalifornia's top-two primary was designed to create moderate candidates and reduce partisanship. Instead, November races are as partisan as ever.

2 Dec 2024

Happy first day of a new #CAleg session to those who celebrate! I made a Starter Pack that I plan to maintain w/ all of the current session legislators: go.bsky.app/52JpVv6 If you see any that I missed (I used Digital Democracy from @calmatters.org to just search for each name) please let me know

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

Ben Christopher

@frombenc.bsky.social

4 June

California voters are overwhelmingly Democratic and have been for a generation. So why is it so rare for two Dems to end up on the general election ballot statewide? From me and @jeannereporter.bsky.social on why the state just can't quit partisan match ups. calmatters.org/politics/202...

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

CalMatters

@calmatters.org

3 June

Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton were leading in the race for California governor in early returns Tuesday night, a nailbiter befitting the most unsettled gubernatorial race in recent memory. Data was updated June 2, 2026 at 11:26 PM. cal.news/43KLYbO

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

Yousef Baig

@yousefbaig.bsky.social

1 June

Kalshi gives Xavier Becerra a 74% chance of becoming California governor. His campaign also just got a $39,200 check from the company days before the election @jeremiak.com calmatters.org/politics/202...

calmatters.orgPrediction marketplace Kalshi gives Becerra high odds of winning. They also bet on his campaign.The company gave Becerra’s campaign $39,200 just days before the primary while giving the former attorney general a three-in-four chance of winning the office.

8 Apr

✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻

ProPublica Guild@propublicaguild.org

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

calmatters.orgTech giants are spending more than ever to shape California politics. See how muchTech giants involved in AI and cryptocurrency spent $39 million last year to influence lawmakers and policy. It's the start of what could be a spending blitz in the upcoming election.

27 Mar

I do love making bar charts that go _way_ up and to the right

Jeremia Kimelman@jeremiak.com

Last year, Meta and Google spent tens of millions of dollars to buy influence in Ca. politics by contributing to campaigns, lobbying, and making payments to nonprofits on behalf of sitting officials. Why? Mostly to fight AI regulation. My latest for @calmatters.org calmatters.org/politics/202...

Makes me think about how much worse all of this is going to be as "AI" video generation becomes more lifelike, allowing them to lie alongside synthetic videos that align with their talking points

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social

Imagine how much they’d be lying about what happened without all the videos showing it from multiple angles.

calmatters.org40,000 people died on California roads. State leaders looked awayAs driving deaths have skyrocketed across the state, the governor, legislators, the courts and the DMV have failed to act.

11 Dec 2025

My @calmatters.org colleagues Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler published the fourth piece in their 🔥 investigative series about how state leaders, elected and appointed, have done little to address the mounting death toll from drunk drivers on California roads. calmatters.org/investigatio...

Tellingly, the people with power to do something about the rising death toll don't want to talk to reporters about it. From today's piece: "Gov. Gavin Newsom declined an interview request." and DMV chief "Steve Gordon... declined or ignored CalMatters requests for an interview."

give.calmatters.orgDonate to CalMatters' 2025 Year-End DriveBack independent journalism for all Californians. Gifts tripled in CalMatters’ Year-End Drive. https://cal.news/yearend2025-share

11 Dec 2025

This kind of important work is only possible at CalMatters because we're nonprofit, nonpartisan news focused on the issues facing America's biggest state. If you find the work we do valuable, support us so we can keep covering California in 2026. give.calmatters.org/campaign/746...

Part 2 from June focuses on the failure of the state courts to report vehicular manslaughter convictions to the DMV, allowing roadway killers to improperly keep their driver's licenses. calmatters.org/investigatio...

calmatters.orgThey were convicted of killing with their cars. No one told the California DMV.A CalMatters investigation found that courts didn’t report hundreds of vehicular manslaughter convictions to the DMV, prompting officials to belatedly take many drivers’ licenses.

calmatters.org15 DUIs, still driving: California's failure to take repeat drunk drivers off the roadAs alcohol-related roadway deaths spike across the state, a CalMatters investigation finds California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country.

11 Dec 2025

Part 3 was published at the end of October and documents how California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country even as deaths spike. Robert and Lauren write: "California’s DUI enforcement system is broken. The toll can be counted in bodies." calmatters.org/investigatio...

The whole series is very much worth your while so I'm going to thread the other three pieces. Here's the first one by Robert in April about how the DMV routinely allows dangerous drivers to keep driving, even after they kill. Sometimes more than once. calmatters.org/investigatio...

calmatters.orgWhy California’s dangerous drivers get to keep their licensesThe California DMV routinely allows deadly drivers to operate on our roadways, a CalMatters investigation has found.

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

CalMatters

@calmatters.org

31 Oct 2025

As election day approaches, nonprofits, political parties and a billionaire have spent nearly $26 million on ads and other communications in an effort to convince voters to support or oppose Prop. 50 – the most of any ballot measure in recent state history. bit.ly/47l7aI4 📊 @jeremiak.com

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

ProPublica Guild

@propublicaguild.org

16 Sept 2025

Our members handed out flyers and buttons at the @IRE.org gala tonight! Our message is clear: We deserve a fair contract now! Support us by signing our petition. actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

9 Sept 2025

Looks like Charles Munger Jr. is in for another $10 million, bringing his total contributions to California's Prop 50 opposition $30 million. So it's basically him and $5 million from a Republican SuperPAC cal-access.sos.ca.gov/PDFGen/pdfge...

poets.orgFor a Student Who Used AI to Write a PaperNow I let it fall back in the grasses. I hear you. I know this life is hard now. I know your days are precious on this earth. But what are you trying to be free of? The living? The miraculous task of…

10 July 2025

An excerpt from "For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper": But what are you trying to be free of? The living? The miraculous task of it? poets.org/poem/student...

10 July 2025

Used the Internet Archive's news chyron data to get a sense for how much MSNBC, CNN, Fox and the BBC were talking about different topics. Increase for Epstein, lots of discussion of Zohran after his primary win, Musk flits in and out, not nearly as much as I expected to see for "Intifada"

10 July 2025

And then like anything else in the attention/cable news economy, Trump is in a league of his own.

A woman whose house burned down in the Eaton Fire earlier this year couldn't cash a ~$900k check from State Farm because, as somebody in the check-hold department of her bank said, the insurer's account had a negative balance. The largest property insurer in the state. A negative balance.

CalMatters@calmatters.org

Scoop: A check from California’s largest property insurer, which says it has paid billions of dollars in claims from the LA-area fires, has taken more than a week to clear so far. buff.ly/tjkXQY2 📝 @levisu.bsky.social

cal.newsDonate to 2025 Anniversary DriveKeeping the public informed and the powerful in check for 10 years. Safeguard independent news for California’s future. https://giving.classy.org/campaign/696431/donate?c_src=social&c_src2=share

Reporting like this is only possible with lots (and lots) of donations Support @calmatters.org independent journalism today so we can keep covering California for another 10 years cal.news/4knbJor

calmatters.orgGavin Newsom ordered state workers back to the office. Why he backtrackedNewsom argued state employees needed to boost productivity and rebuild public trust by working in-office nearly full-time. Why delay? Politics, critics say.

Was Gov. Newsom's return to office mandate a ploy for contract negotiations? @mayacmiller.bsky.social looks into it for her first story @calmatters.org calmatters.org/politics/202...

Posted and deleted this like three times because I got the mention wrong and then forgot (??) to put in the URL. Geez, I'm even worse at social media today than normal

n.prImpostor uses AI to impersonate Rubio and contact foreign and U.S. officialsThe State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence.

Which, you know, might be a good reason for high ranking government officials to not conduct business on commercial platforms like Signal? Maybe? Among other things (record retention laws, adding journalists into the chat, etc)

NPR@npr.org

The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence.

I know I’m old because one of the best emails I got today was from my doctor letting me know my cholesterol is way down. Hell ya

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

Mikhail Zinshteyn

@mzinshteyn.bsky.social

youtube.comMasked, Armed, Forceful: Finding Patterns in California Immigration RaidsYouTube video by Evident Media

New 3-minute documentary from @calmatters.org @sergioolmos.bsky.social @bellingcat.com @evidentmedia.org show comprehensively how widespread the immigration raids in the Los Angeles area have been. Doc geotagged/verified 100+ videos of raids These occurred at: -15+ Home Depots -Private farmland

The disaster in Texas is so sad for the families and communities who lost somebody or are still searching for them. May their memories forever be blessings 🙏

npr.orgHere's a timeline of the catastrophic Texas floodsNPR has compiled a timeline of when local, state and federal officials posted warnings on social media as well as the timeline of events as presented by local officials.

And as somebody who lives near the American River, this is _terrifying_: “The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet within 45 minutes” More than 6 inches a minute… www.npr.org/2025/07/05/n...

A (super) negative downstream effect of election map-based coverage and descriptions like “deep red state” Gross idea even before you consider that kids died and kids can’t vote in the US

Ghostly Bree@mostlybree.kitrocha.com

I'm not just mad about this shit because I'm tired of seeing it (tho I am) It is scary to me that people legitimately don't seem to understand enough to know that 20% of the population of Texas voted for Trump. That is it. Out of every 5 people in Texas, 4 did not vote for this.

kut.orgWant to know who Elon Musk's lobbyists wined and dined? It's a Texas-sized secret.Musk's lobbyists spent thousands to wine and dine elected officials. But exactly how they accomplished Musk's goals is more of a mystery.

4 July 2025

I spent a lots of time in (and complaining about) California's lobbying data so I _love_ to read about the deficiencies of other state's disclosures. The latest from @lmcgaughy.bsky.social goes through what you can and can't learn from Texas transparency reports www.kut.org/politics/202...

TX doesn't require lobbyists to disclose what bills or issues they talk about in private meetings. CA does - sort of. There's a spot on the form where the lobbyist can write the topics discussed and many write bill numbers but not all. I've seen a filing with the bills all combined like "AB12345"

4 July 2025

But the major similarity I see between the two states: neither of the two currently provides much transparency if it's not accompanied by substantial, subsequent reporting. So if you read some nonprofit journalism that you like maybe throw that newsroom a few $$? I _promise_ you that they need it.

And since she's talking about Musk's companies: SpaceX, Tesla, and X all lobby California officials and last year they spent a combined total of nearly $660,0000, roughly the same amount for 2023.

4 July 2025

Differences I noticed between Texas and California's disclosure requirements? TX has a daily threshold for reporting gifts, under which they don't need to be disclosed. CA has an annual gift limit ($590 last year) capping the amount an official can receive from a single source.

3 July 2025

I used to live one block off of DeKalb Ave more than a hundred and twenty years later and sure do wish it had looked like this

Lee Toma@leetoma.bsky.social

Streetcar with bicycle racks, 1898

3 July 2025

According to the lawsuit, people are being held in an “ICE basement holding area in downtown Los Angeles” where conditions are “dungeon-like” More reporting from @wendyfry.bsky.social and @sergioolmos.bsky.social on the immigration raids in California

CalMatters@calmatters.org

A lawsuit filed Wednesday by civil and immigration rights groups accuses federal authorities of unleashing an unconstitutional siege by snatching workers and U.S. citizens off Southern CA streets and denying them food, water and the right to speak with an attorney. cal.news/4ewFH87 📸 Carlin Stiehl

Incarcerated firefighters in California currently earn between $5.80 and $10.24 per day and get an additional $1 per hour when deployed to an active emergency. In 2026, the state will start to pay them $7.25/hour in line with the federal minimum wage. The state's minimum wage is $16.50/hour.

CalMatters@calmatters.org

In a historic policy change, California is moving to pay incarcerated firefighters the federal minimum wage during active fires. That effort took on a new urgency after hundreds of incarcerated firefighters were deployed to battle LA's deadly wildfires cal.news/3GkRz0A 📝 Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

Just me or is it super annoying that the Javascript `.includes()` string method doesn't accept a regular expression?

Jeremia Kimelman reposted

ian bremmer

@ianbremmer.com

big beautiful bill passing would make the budget for ice larger than most of the world’s militaries

I get that our society is obsessed with celebrities and the allegations (now convictions) against Combs are v. serious but it's THE headline for news outlets across the political spectrum on a day with a newly constructed Florida concentration camp and major legislation before the US House?

“Many a man has landed there, because of an incautious word or too much confidence in supposed comrades or friends.”

This post is unavailable.

calmatters.org‘This tax could kill this industry.’ California cannabis operators brace for increaseCustomers will pay slightly more for legal weed after California’s excise tax is raised. Some lawmakers want to reduce it as the industry struggles with slumping sales.

The tax on legal weed in California went up 4% yesterday, presenting another challenge for a struggling industry that just had one of the lowest quarters for cannabis sales in years reports @akoseff.bsky.social for CalMatters calmatters.org/politics/202...

calmatters.orgTaken: What happens after an LA immigration raidTheir families won’t know what happened to them. They’ll be shackled, whisked away to another state, forced to subsist for days on potato chips, apples, water, and the occasional cold sandwich.

1 July 2025

What happens after a Los Angeles immigration raid? @sergioolmos.bsky.social, @wendyfry.bsky.social, Anat Rubin and Lauren Hepler spoke with men arrested off the street about how they were treated in government detention and, ultimately, how they were pressured to leave the country.

Jeremia Kimelman@jeremiak.com

"The masked agents... wear blue jeans or battle fatigues. They approach Latino men, at times yelling and carrying assault rifles. When someone runs, they’re taken. When they don’t answer a question, they’re taken. When they can’t produce papers, they’re taken." calmatters.org/investigatio...

Just wondering, what do y’all type in the little emoji picker when you want to use this one? 🤌

calmatters.orgCalifornia police are illegally sharing license plate data with ICE and Border PatrolLAPD and the counties of San Diego, Orange, and Riverside have repeatedly shared automated license plate reader data to federal agencies

13 June 2025

Law enforcement agencies across Southern California violated state law more than 100 times last month by sharing information from automated license plate readers with federal agents, reports Khari Johnson and Mohamed Al Elew for @calmatters.org

Khari Johnson@khari.bsky.social

Law enforcement agencies are violating California law and sharing license plate reader data with federal authorities calmatters.org/economy/tech...